Spellbinders

More Than a Thousand Words

February 12, 2013 by Britt Bass Leave a Comment

Sometimes there are no words. Whether it be love, loss, or just a note, some cards convey a message even without a sentiment. This card is clearly an “I Love You” card but, because I’ve used so many familiar icons for Valentines and love (hearts, arrows, etc.) a sentiment is not necessary.

[Editor's Note: Britt used a lot of circles in this card - but can you find the visual triangle that she made in the middle of it?]

Supplies | Cardstock: DCWV (pink), American Crafts (red). Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs (chevron, glitter, corrugated). Stamp: Jillibean Soup for Hampton Art (arrow). Ink: Clearsnap (Fireberry), Ranger Tim Holtz Distress (Antique Linen). Buttons: Forever In Time. Twine: Hemptique. Die Cutting: Silhouette Cameo (hearts), Spellbinders (circles).

Designer: Britt Bass

Britt Bass has been papercrafting since the age of ten when she was given her first scrapbook for Christmas, 1995. Her love of cardmaking is only a few years old, but she has taken to the craft with passion and enthusiasm. She loves many different styles and is particularly partial to tools of every shape, size, and function. She currently serves as a design team member for DCWV, Hampton Art, Craftwork Cards (USA), and Heartstring Designs and her work can be seen in the pages of several issues of Designed to Color. Britt is a crafty social media junky with active, craft dedicated pages on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. If you want to see more of Britt’s work, she posts card inspiration and design team projects on her blog, Pink Paper Crowns.

Filed Under: Card Annex, Play Tagged With: American Crafts, Britt Bass, Clearsnap, DCWV, Fancy Pants Designs, Forever in Time, Hampton Art, Hemptique, Jillibean Soup, Ranger, Silhouette, Spellbinders, Tim Holtz

4U

February 11, 2013 by Nancy Nally Leave a Comment

Have you ever considered using a layout as inspiration for a card? Designer Yana Smakula’s card was inspired by this layout by Kelly Goree!

This quick and easy card features a wonderful die set from Spellbinders and Becky Fleck called Say What?.

By adhering the speech bubbles using different heights – 1mm and 2mm foam dots – of dimensional adhesive, as well as leaving some flat, it created more depth and interest on the card.

Supplies | Cardstock: Dovecraft (Premium White). Patterned Paper: Echo Park (So Happy Together 6×6 pad). Die Cutting Machine: Spellbinders (Grand Calibur). Dies: Spellbinders (Say What?). Pearls: Hero Arts (Light Green). Alphabets: American Crafts Thickers (Rockabye White, Amy Tangerine Foam Journal White). Adhesive: Dovecraft. Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers 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: American Crafts, Amy Tangerine, Dovecraft, Echo Park, Hero Arts, Spellbinders, We R Memory Keepers, Yana Smakula

My Valentine

January 27, 2013 by Nancy Nally

Doesn’t the texture on this card make you just want to reach out and run your fingers over it? Designer Yana Smakula used a brand-new-not-yet-available-in-stores M-Bossabilities embossing folder from Spellbinders called “Dotted Flower” to create this beautifully embossed background. Even without any color added to it, the texture is so stunning that it provides plenty of interest to the eye.

With the opulent texture on the card, only a few light touches are needed to decorate it. Yana choose another brand new Spellbinders product, this time one of their new Shapeabilities dies, to create a label frame to anchor her sentiment sticker and heart embellishment with. A few light touches of pink in the floss and pearls some on pins) are all that is needed to finish this off!

Sometimes less is more in card design, especially when you have a strong element like the embossed background on this one. Elements like this should be highlighted, no buried!

Supplies | Cardstock: Dovecraft (Premium White). Pattern Paper: Trimcraft (First Edition Rose Garden 12×12 pad). Die Cutting Machine: Spellbinders Paper Arts (Grand Calibur). Embossing Folder: Spellbinders Paper Arts (M-Bossabilities Dotted Flowers). Dies: Spellbinders Paper Arts (Framed Tags 1 Shapeabilities). Floss: We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy. Pearls: Dovecraft. Stick Pin: Pebbles. Sticker: Making Memories. Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper). Adhesive: Dovecraft (Foam Squares).

Designer: Yana Smakula

Filed Under: Card Annex, Play Tagged With: Dovecraft, Making Memories, Pebbles, Spellbinders, Trimcraft, We R Memory Keepers, Yana Smakula

CHA Winter 2013 | Spellbinders Media Mixáge

January 26, 2013 by Carla Sylvester 1 Comment

With the current trend in mixed media, the paper crafting world and the jewelry world are starting to cross paths. At CHA Winter 2013, Spellbinders introduced one example of this intersection with its new line, Media Mixáge, created in parternship with jewelry mixed media artist Susan Lenart Kazmer. The line expands on Spellbinders’ popular nesting dies by offering nesting dies that coordinate with a line of metal bezels and flat blanks.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: CHA, News Tagged With: CHA Summer 2013, Ice Resin, Mixed Media, Spellbinders, Susan Lenart Kazmer

Love is Black & White

January 17, 2013 by Britt Bass 2 Comments

My usual mojo escaped me for this card so I turned to a favorite (and often free!) tool that I’ve been using since I first started making cards: card sketches. I used the latest from one of my favorite challenge websites, Deconstructing Jen. Sketches are great for jump starting creativity and, if you often find your cards lack balance or flow, following sketches can help strengthen your design sense. I find that the more I see good design the more I use good design.

If you need some great resources for card sketches, try Mojo Monday, Pagemaps, and Cardabilities.

Also, I used a non-traditional color pallet for this Valentine because the craft-o-verse can get red and pink CRAZY this time of year. I like to make a few Valentines that a husband or boyfriend wouldn’t be embarrassed to open at work! These colors are pretty muted, so it’s important to give the layers some dimension so the card still feels dynamic and interesting.

Supplies | Patterned Paper, Cardstock Elements, Letters: Fancy Pants Designs (Country Boutique). Cardstock: The Paper Company (Black), DCWV (Cream). Washi Tape: Queen & Co. (Black and White Stripe), Martha Stewart (Gold). Die Cutting: Spellbinders (Grand Calibur, A2 Matting Basics A). Sketch: The Deconstructed Sketch (No.84).

Designer: Britt Bass