Spellbinders

Graphic 45 | It’s Your Day

March 28, 2013 by Yana Smakula 1 Comment

Designer Yana Smakula is here today to show off some fabulous Graphic45 from their Secret Garden collection!

The beautiful intricate pattern of the lavender paper makes the large expanse of pattern appear lush and full, instead of feeling like white space since the paper is the only element. The curving arc across the top of the patterned paper – cut with a Spellbinders A2 Curved Borders One die – is the perfect soft way to top the block of pattern off. A straight line would have been too harsh and graphic to match well with the other design elements.

This card also has a design element that could serve double duty. The seed packet cards are tucked into a pocket created behind the patterned paper element – that pocket could also serve to hold a gift like a gift card or tickets.

Supplies | Cardstock: Dovecraft (Premium White). Patterned Paper: Graphic 45 “Secret Garden” (Sun Kissed). Die Cutting Machine: Spellbinders (Grand Calibur). Dies: Spellbinders (A2 Curved Borders One). Stamp: Technique Tuesday (Wildflowers). Ink: Tsukineko. Gems: Dovecraft. Adhesive: Dovecraft. Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile (Corner Chomper).

Designer: Yana Smakula

Yana Smakula is a newlywed from Ukraine (which is in southeastern Europe) with no kids but two black cats. She loves to travel across the world and meet new people, discover new cultures and just explore. So far together with her new husband she’s been to a few places in Europe (Poland, Check Republic and UK), Africa (Egypt, Tunisia and Israel), Asia (China and Sri Lanka) and USA. Their next dream destination is Madagascar, because they hear the nature there is simply breathtaking! Yana fell in love with the U.S. while living here (in Las Vegas, NV) as a high school foreign exchange student when she was a teen. She enjoys scrapbooking, mostly about her travels. Her other passion is cardmaking – she enjoys trying new products and techniques, experimenting and creating in different styles. She’s also very much into stamping (although she didn’t realize it until she took a close look at her cards and noticed almost all of them use stamps!). To learn more about Yana, visit her website.

Filed Under: Card Annex, Play Tagged With: Dovecraft, Graphic45, pockets, Spellbinders, Technique Tuesday, Tsukineko, We R Memory Keepers, Yana Smakula

Pebbles | Hello Friend

March 20, 2013 by Nancy Nally Leave a Comment

Designer Sharon Callis is back again today for our American Crafts family feature week with another card project using more of the same fabulous Pebbles and Dear Lizzy products that she showed us yesterday.

Whereas yesterday Sharon showed a cute country styled look, todays look – although created from virtually identical products with just a few changes – is much more vintage, even Art Deco in style. This is a great example of how products can be versatile!

With 36 sheets in the Pebbles Basics Cardmaking Paper Pad, Sharon was able to use one of them to make a coordinated die cut for her card.

If you’ve got jewelry that is broken or that you’ve outgrown style-wise, have you ever considered upcycling it for your crafts projects? Metal is coming back for use in papercrafting, but it can seem expensive to use on a disposable project like a card. Recycling may be the answer, as Sharon did on this card. The result is money-saving, unique art!

Supplies | Card: Pebbles (Basics Cardmaking Paper Pad 1). Embellishments: Pebbles (Walnut Grove Tags, Country Picnic Layered Paper Flowers), American Crafts ‘Dear Lizzy’ Lucky Charm (Flag and Label Stickers). Die: Spellbinders ‘Nestabilities’ (A2 Filigree Delight). Gems: Habico. Adhesive: Xyron (Mega Runner). Jewelry: unknown (upcycled).

Designer: Sharon Callis

Sharon Callis lives in Ireland and has been a crafter for over twenty years. In 2011, Sharon was named ‘Cardmaker of the Year’ by Cardmaking and Papercraft/ Quick Cards made Easy’ Magazines in the UK. Sharon’s work has been featured in publications such as Creative Cardmaking, Papercraft Essential, Create and Craft TV, Cardmaking and Papercraft as well as on various craft companies Facebook pages and blogs. She currently designs for Xyron, gel-a-tins and Little Yellow Bicycle. In addition to her passion for papercrafts, Sharon also likes to do a wide variety of crafts: knit, sew, cross stitch, machine embroider, plastic canvas, costume design, woodcraft, dollshouse miniatures, sketching, home decor, model making and baking. To learn more about her, visit her blog.

Filed Under: Card Annex, Play Tagged With: American Crafts, American Crafts feature, Pebbles, Sharon Callis, Spellbinders, Xyron

Pebbles | Many Thanks

March 19, 2013 by Nancy Nally Leave a Comment

Designer Sharon Callis is here today to continue our week featuring the American Crafts family of brands. Today the focus is on Pebbles, with a supporting role by Flag and Label Stickers from the new Dear Lizzy “Lucky Charm” collection!

The card foundation is the new Basics Cardmaking Paper Pad 1 from Pebbles. They’re so fun and so convenient to work with – they provide ready-made coordinated card bases that work with Pebbles collections! (Retail is $6.99 for a pad that makes 36 cards – that’s less than 20 cents per card)

With the foundation in place, the pre-made embellishments by Pebbles and Dear Lizzy layer beautifully on top and are perfectly coordinated. The American Crafts specialty paper with it’s detailed texture turns the die cut into a grounding element for the smaller embellishments.

Supplies | Card: Pebbles (Basics Cardmaking Paper Pad 1). Embellishments: Pebbles (Walnut Grove Tags, Country Picnic Layered Paper Flowers), American Crafts ‘Dear Lizzy’ Lucky Charm (Flag and Label Stickers). Specialty Paper: American Crafts. Die: Spellbinders Shapeabilities (Persian Motifs). Adhesive: Xyron (Mega Runner).

Designer: Sharon Callis

Filed Under: Card Annex, Play Tagged With: American Crafts, American Crafts feature, Dear Lizzy, Pebbles, Sharon Callis, Spellbinders, Xyron

Court Orders Spellbinders to Pay Over $500k in Attorney’s Fees

March 14, 2013 by Nancy Nally 3 Comments

In twin orders issued by US District Judge Neil V. Wake on March 4th, Spellbinders has been ordered to pay a total of over $500,000 in attorney’s fees to QuicKutz and Lifestyle Crafts as a result of Spellbinders’ recently dismissed patent infringement cases against the two companies.

QuicKutz was awarded reimbursement of attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $449,788.73, and Lifestyle Crafts was awarded $62,239.85. Amounts were determined based on itemized bills submitted to the court.

Spellbinders is appealing the dismissal of the patent infringement cases and has not yet indicated whether they plan to appeal the award of attorney’s fees in the case. The company declined comment to Scrapbook Update.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Lifestyle Crafts, Quickutz, Spellbinders

Technique Tuesday | Thinking of You

March 11, 2013 by Yana Smakula Leave a Comment

Welcome back to Technique Tuesday week on Card Annex! Thanks for joining us as we feature the latest product releases from Technique Tuesday at CHA Winter 2013!

Designer Yana Smakula brings us a card that is a great reminder to remember to make use of those sentiments that are often “add on” elements in a stamp set. We often forget they are there, but they can be the primary reason to reach for a stamp set if you remember that they are there! This sentiment is from the new “Wildflowers” stamp set:

The sentiment is slightly small for the die cut that Yana wanted to use it on, so she added pearls on either side of it to both fill the space and highlight the text.

Supplies | Cardstock: Dovecraft (Premium White). Patterned Paper: Graphic45 (Secret Garden). Die Cutting Machine: Spellbinders (Grand Calibur). Dies: Spellbinders (Gold Corners One, 5×7 Detailed Scallops, A2 Bracket Borders One). Stamp: Technique Tuesday (Wildflowers). Ink: Tsukineko. Gems and pearls: Hero Arts. Sewing machine: Dragonfly. Adhesive: Dovecraft Foam Dots. Ribbon: Dovecraft. Sugar Pick: Jillibean Soup (Red/Brown)

Designer: Yana Smakula