I know you're going to have to look very carefully to see that there is an embossed edge at the top and bottom of the poinsettia card below. In this case, we've used a heavier vellum which didn't crack when we embossed it. If you're using a lighter weight vellum, the trick is to sandwich it between a couple of sheets of computer paper before you put in into your embossing folder. When you protect your thinner vellum like this, you are less apt to have rips in your image. You'll want to experiment with your particular folder and how many sheets of protective paper you need on your vellum.

I love the intricate line design in this poinsettia from Penny Black. We were able to leave this without a lot of colouring, because the design is so complete on its own. These are the type of stamps that allow you to make quick yet elegant cards, which we all need this time of year. The embossing powder we used is called Moonstone from Stampendous. It is a lovely warm champagne colour. I hope you are starting to collect your thoughts about your Christmas card designs. It's never too early!

Paper Cuts has designed a great new die to create three windows in a flip card. If you are tired of trying to measure where your dies need to sit to create a three window look, you will love this new one piece die! The card designs below were made with printed paper and some simple stamping. Because the shape of th window is circular in the centre, your 1 and 1 1/8 inch round punches will work well to layer up on the tabs. The blue card is a good example of using up some of your printed paper, and she added a die-cut bee to the middle circle. The pink card has a stamped layer and then we used two small verses and a small die cut on the tabs.

Although both of these cards are missing verse panels, hopefully you can see what your 5 1/2 by 10 inch layout looks like. There are some great visual directions on the back of the die package showing the width of each panel, etc. I found the die very user friendly. The possibilities for this design are endless!

When you start designing this card, you'll find scads of small stamps and dies that you didn't remember that you had which are perfect for this card.

This beautiful dandelion card was made by Bev with two stamps from Northwoods. The cluster was stamped in Hero Arts Cerulean Blue onto white glossy cardstock. The left side and across the bottom of the panel was gently distressed with Broken China. Then, the large single head was stamped and embossed three times with Judikins white embossing powder. The cardstock is a light grey speckle which adds to the dandelion dots.

If you're very frustrated with all the white embossing powders you've tried, you'll need to break down and buy Judikins White. It is a lovely fine grained powder which allows for exquisite detail. It is one of the few powders that I have used that is truly 'white' and not off-white. They do not sell in smaller jars, only in a 2 oz. container, which presently sells for $9.95. If you're not ready to think about the impending fall, this might be the perfect summer card to whip up.

There is a cute fold on this wine card that Bev did. You may not be able to see it in the photo, but we have used the small semi-circle notch die to close this card. This set has a number of great interchangeable wine related stamps, allowing for lots of versatility. The bottle, glass and grapes were all coloured with Twinkling H2Os, so they have a nice shimmery finish.

Here is an open version of the card, showing the sloped cuts which overlap as in the top photo.

Here is a half-opened version of the card showing that the grape cluster is stamped 4 times, and the notched die which holds the front panels together when the card is closed.

Once you have finished making your wine cards, I hope you have time to put your feet up and enjoy some!

You know we're are having a lot of fun with these pigment powders. While demonstrating, I have amassed a huge pile of watercolour paper with various coloured backgrounds. I am often asked what I am going to do with this stack of treasures. Below you can see a few cards that were made with the powders. I'll be honest, in the samples below, I did emboss the image first onto watercolour paper, before I started to add my colours.

A number of people feel that they need explicit instructions to play with these powders, and my response is "just go ahead and play!" The questions I get are... "do I spray the watercolour paper with water first, or, tap on the powdered colours first, then add water?". The answer is 'yes'. You will want to try out a number of different water spray bottle. I do find that some of them have such a 'pointed' spray, that my powders get chased away. On the other hand, if your spray bottle has too light of a mist, it takes forever for you to get enough water on the watercolour paper to get the fun 'explosion' effect. Other than water colour paper, I would recommend playing with high gloss cardstock or photo paper. Each one of these surfaces will give you a different look and they are all well worth some experimenting.

The clear stamp shown in the photo was used on the pink-yellow card. It is a image by Marianne Designs and it is very reminiscent of her embossing folders. Get out your colours and play!

Last week Magenta introduced the following new product. I have been able to try these new pigment powders and am happy to report that they are wonderful. I have to say that the powder is very similar to Ken Oliver's Color Bursts which I also carry. The difference for me would be mostly the colour selection. If I had to confess, I really like this smaller jar from Magenta with the plastic lid. If I wanted to use large amounts of the powder, I am able to remove the plastic lid and scoop some powder out with a paint brush. However, because the colours are so concentrated, your second option is to pierce a hole in the lid with a push-pin and tap the powder out, as described below.

My price for the entire set is $54.95, instead of $59.25 purchased separately at $3.95 each.

Each of the 15 colours is available in a small plastic jar containing 5 grams of powder.

Directions for using smaller amounts:
Pierce the lid with a push pin.
Remove it, invert the jar, and tap the bottom of the jar to sprinkle the powder on watercolour paper or any other type of absorbent paper.
Use a fine spray bottle to spray water on the paper to activate it.
For storage, push the pin back into the hole in the lid.

This is a sample of how the powders will mix with water, on watercolour paper:

Below is a link to Magenta's blog page featuring some other ideas for using these wonderful powders:

http://www.magentastyle.com/2015/08/nuance-powders-and-masks-poudres-nuance.html

I need to apologize to anyone who has written a comment on this blog in the last year. I have warned you before that I am not computer savy, and I missed the fact that I needed to go in and approve the comments before they can be posted. Don't give up on me. I promise to try and keep on top of this as I really am interested in your comments and I appreciate the time you take to leave them.

Stencils are reappearing in a big way these days. It's not that they ever really went away, but the new influx is fast and furious. These two stencils are by Magenta and sell for $4.50 each which is an excellent price compared to some of the brands on the market. To create the soft background, Bundled Sage Reinker was added to a mini mister and sprayed through the stencil.

The top stencil was put on using Rangers' Texture Paste. I really like this paste because it will accept inks for colouring. Don't forget to soak your stencil in a warm water bath after the paste application, so the paste doesn't dry on your stencil. A number of the stencil pastes on the market actually work like a resist and will not accept inks to be added on the surface. You can usually colour the previously mentioned pastes by adding reinker to the paste before you use it through the stencil. With the stencil repositions, we went in with a finger dauber and the distress ink colours to colour the surface of the dried texture paste. There are so many stencils and stencil-related products on the market right now, you'll want to get out your old stencils and see what new looks you can achieve.