Bird Cage Collage Cards

A few weeks ago I worked on some cards using the Abigail Rose papers and some card layouts and ideas from Gail Ellis, another demonstrator on Pinterest.  I kept the colors scheme very simple and love the look that these cards have.  

There's a cute new set of stamps in the catalog with parakeets and a bird cage cut out.  However, I already have a lot of bird stamps and bird cages, too.  So I used some of my old stamps and cut outs to redesign Gail's cards.  

I used Abigail Rose designer papers for the cards, some vintage lace and several older bird stamps and cages including Free as a Bird stamp set.  

Seriously, I love how they came out!  I had an old Tim Holtz bird cage die cut, one of the Bigz dies that I had never used before.  I also used the new Designer Tags cut outs for the tags on the cards.  The flower die is from the Pretty Pillowbox.  

I love the muted colors and the fun "collage" style.  I call the set of cards a Mix & Match.  Once you stamp and emboss and cut everything out, you can mix and match the items on any of the cards.  

For the last card, I kept things simple.  It's mostly a sheet of the designer paper that makes this card so wonderful.  Then I added some tags, flower and saying.  The Designer Tag dies really makes the cards.  For the color scheme, I used Petal Pink for the accent color.  I think the card would look pretty if you colored in some of the flowers on the designer papers, too.  Maybe next time I will try it!

Quiet Meadow Cards

I like to buy stamp sets that come with dies that can be used for all sorts of things.  This stamp set, Quiet Meadow and its coordinating dies, Meadow Dies, comes with so many different shaped cut outs.  You can use the dies in this set for backgrounds on a variety of cards, especially flower cards.  There are large dies, fern dies, tall dies, flower dies, butterfly dies and more.  It's really one of the best sets to use.

I love the simplicity and soft colors in this card.  I got the idea from Gina Connor.  It's hard to see, but I embossed the white piece with the Subtle folder.  The butterflies are cut in both cardstock and vellum on the first card to give it a fluttery look.  

On the first card, I put gold ribbons and champagne rhinestones and on the second card, I used silver twine and silver rhinestones.  The first card has dimensionals under the leaf cut out and the second card has them under the gray flower.

For this next card, I wanted to do something simple.  You can see that I cut out the design and used that as the focal point.  I used paper from the Fine Art Floral designer package for the background.  The vertical stamp is from the Create With Flowers set in last year's catalog.  

This is the same card, only using a softer color from the designer pack.  I like the darker one better; it gives the card more contrast and really highlights the cut out.  The idea came from Viv's Visuals on Pinterest.  

For this card, I demonstrated a new embossing technique.  Run your cardstock through an embossing folder and rub it every so gently with the Versamark pad.  Pour on your powders and heat it until they melt.  I used gold embossing powders on my card and I love the vintage look that it gives the card!  This card was a big hit in my stamping class.

I got the idea from Kayla McCreadie.  I can't wait to try this idea on other cards, too.  The cut out flowers are cut from white and gold vellum, giving the card a soft look.  

After I made the card, I thought that it needed vanilla cardstock instead of the white. I softened the edges of the scalloped piece using a blending brush and some gold metallic Encore ink that I had from years ago.

And lastly, I made this sparkly card using copper foil paper for the accent layer and for the small flower cut outs.  The large flower cut out is sparkly rose-colored foil paper that I had from a few years ago.  I stamped the background of the rectangle with the script stamp from Very Versailles.  Then I added some of the script from Quiet Meadow to fill it in.  I embossed the flowers using copper embossing powders.

After I made the card, I thought this one would also look nicer in the vanilla cardstock.  Then I found some shiny papers from Love You Always designer paper pack.  The cards are much prettier in person.  The heat embossing and the foil papers give the cards a wonderful look.  I got this idea from Claire Daly.  

I loved using this set of wonderful dies.  I will be making more things with them, for sure.  Which card did you like the best?  They are all different techniques using the same stamp set and dies.