Lunar New Year Challenge | And a Happy New Year feat. Taylored Expressions + $50 Giveaway!

I'm back with my second card for the June Lunar New Year Challenge featuring products from our sponsor Taylored Expressions. If you missed my first card for the June Challenge, please head to this post HERE. Taylored Expressions is sponsoring a $50 Gift Certificate this month so you'll definitely want to play along for your chance to win!

You may recall other variations of these products posted in January HERE and HERE. I had stamped, coloured and heat embossed both the Little Critter dragons and Mini Strips - Holiday sentiments back then, then saved them for this card. 

I used the largest of the Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stacklets to create  the frame on the card base. This adds a subtle texture without being too distracting from the rest of the elements. 

Next, I cut a bunch of stars using both the Starstruck and Gathered Stars Dies from Cherry Pop and Gold Glitter cardstock and arranged the dragons inside the largest gold stars. 

After gold heat embossing the sentiment from Mini Strips - Holiday on Black Licorice cardstock and popping it on the card with foam strips, I embellished the card with a few gold pearls.

Visit the June Link-Up Party post HERE to read the rules, see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | May 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and since we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long, that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to My Favorite Things, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Catherine Pooler. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in May!

I haven't had a lot of time to craft these last few weeks but, luckily, I still had the leftovers from the February Challenge sitting in a pile on my desk. I had assembled several of Catherine Pooler's Circle Landscape dies using all the pieces I had die cut back then so this was relatively easy to throw together at the last minute.

The colours featured here are Cupcake, Cherry Pop, Mulled Wine, Matte Metallic Gold and Glitter Gold cardstock. The card base was cut from Mulled Wine to coordinate with the top and bottom pieces in the circle.

The Cupcake panel was cut with Taylored Expressions' Rays Pierce & Cut Plate. Before attaching the circle to the front panel, I die cut the Lucky Word Die from Black Glitter Foam and cut off the y. After gauging the position of the die cut word, I stamped two words from Lantern Festival to complete the sentiment.

I glued the Rays Pierce & Cut panel to the card base, then I attached the assembled Circle Landscape close to the top of the panel. After glueing the die cut Lucky Word to the circle, I die cut small hearts from the Hearts-n-Tags Dies in Cupcake, Cherry Pop, Mulled Wine. I stacked the hearts three high and glued them to the circle.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For the month of May, we are opening up the possibilities and invite you to make cards for Mother's Day, mother figures and other inspirational women in your life. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, think Mother of Dragons! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our May Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on May 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on May 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the June Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the May Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies:

Spellbinders | More BetterPress feat. Thank You Blooms

My love affair with the Spellbinders BetterPress Letterpress System continues with this duo of cards using the Thank You Blooms Registration Press Plates from the BetterPress Place & Press Registration Collection. If you missed my last post featuring the Blooming Garden Press Plates, you can find that HERE.

This pair features two very different looks using the same colour palette. The inks and coloured cardstock are from Taylored Expressions. This first card features Pink Champagne, Mint Julep, Gumball and Macaron mini ink pads. 

I experimented with using full size ink pads and, while it's easier and faster to use larger ink pads, the ink can get all over the surrounding areas and into the flatter areas of the BetterPress dies which is not ideal. 

I pressed these inks and the Thank You Blooms on to a Porcelain BetterPress A2 Cotton Card Panel and trimmed 1/4" off the top and bottom so it measures 4.25x5". I also cut a strip of Silver Glitter Cardstock, which I adhered to the back of the panel before attaching it to an A2 card base cut from Gumball Cardstock.

I was torn between leaving this as it to show off the beauty of the BetterPress Letterpress look and adding a few embellishments but decided to leave it as is and I'm glad I did! This is one of those cards that is hard to resist running your fingers across. LOL

This second design is much more bold and not only features the same Taylored Expressions inks in Pink Champagne, Mint Julep, Gumball and Macaron but also the coordinating cardstock colours.

This time, I started by taping pieces of Pink Champagne, Mint Julep, Gumball and Macaron cardstock to form an A2 panel. As I inked up the different quarters, I pressed the coordinating ink colour into its coordinating colour of cardstock. It's such a cool look, wouldn't you agree?! I wasn't sure it would work and I did go through at least three trials to get this result.

I fussy cut the pressed image, taped it to a panel of Silver Glitter Cardstock and fussy cut it again so the image would have a beautiful sparkly border around it. I wasn't sure that would work either but I knew want I wanted in my head and I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

Finally, I heat foiled a sentiment from (retired) Mini Sincere Sentiments using Speckled Prism Hot Foil on Taylored Expressions Poppy Seed Cardstock. I cut a panel of patterned paper from my stash and, luckily, Spellbinders has just stocked Doodlebug's Swiss Dot Rainbow Petite Prints 12x12" Cardstock Paper Pack, which includes some great polka dotted options. I finished the card by adding a few Silver Pearls.

I hope you enjoyed today's projects! I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. :)

Be sure to check out the Lucky You Sale, as well as the Cardmaking Super Star Contest!

Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | My FIRST BetterPress Experience feat. the Blooming Garden Press Plates!

I finally did it! I caved and got a Spellbinders BetterPress Letterpress System!! I held off for as long as I could and now I wish I hadn't waited but you know how these things go. It's definitely hard to spend the money up front but it's actually quite affordable compared to most machines nowadays. Plus, I feel it's really worth the results and one set of plates can go very far!

Since the texture is the best feature of these products, I tried hard to make sure that my photos showed off the letterpress dimension because that is what is the main selling point. Otherwise, the press plates just look like an ordinary stamp and that isn't enough to make me want to buy it!

This first card features the Blooming Garden Press Plates from the BetterPress Place & Press Registration Collection. This is the first of its kind in the BetterPress line because what it does is allow you to use different ink colours with different pieces that fit together like a puzzle.

You can use up to four different colours for the stem/leaves, large flowers, small flowers and sentiment, which is exactly what I did. The BetterPress requires inks with a firm pad so you can use any ink pads with this feature. You can, of course, buy from the BetterPress Ink Collection but it's not necessary.

I used Taylored Expressions mini ink cubes in Oyster (stems/leaves), Lavender Glaze (big flowers), Confetti Cake (small flowers) and Blueberry (sentiment) on a Pebble A2 Cotton Card Panel. Due to the large surface area for the grey and lavender pieces, I actually switched to the full size ink pads in order to get good coverage fast.

I trimmed both sides of the cotton panel down to create a 4" x 5.5" panel. Then I used a Corner Chomper to round the top with the 1/4" side and the bottom with the 1/2" side. I added pieces of coloured cardstock in Blueberry, Lavender Glaze and Confetti Cake to coordinate with the inks.

I love the muted look of these softer tones on light grey cardstock. The sentiment was pressed in the darkest colour and I almost wish I had used one of the other three colours to keep it very soft. The Blooming Garden Press Plates come with two other sentiments so I may have to try a new combination of soft colours and make a gift set.

Seriously though, I can't stop oohing and aahing over the texture and look of the press plates both on the cotton panels and, yup, regular cardstock which is exactly what I used for the second card. I used Lawn Fawn Fog cardstock, which I cut down with the Precision Layering A2 B Dies.

Next, I heat foiled one of the Inside Card Glimmer Sentiments with Pastel Mint Hot Foil, which is a perfect match for the Confetti Cake ink.

In order to achieve the letterpress look with this particular cardstock, I used temporary adhesive and attached it to a second panel of cardstock, then removed two of the shims from underneath the chase. The impression here was far greater than on the cotton panel so I could've used a thinner piece of cardstock or removed all three shims.

Again, I used the Taylored Expressions mini ink cubes in the same orders as on the first card:  Oyster (stems/leaves), Lavender Glaze (big flowers) and Confetti Cake (small flowers).

To finish, I simply glued this panel on to an A2 card base cut from Lavender Glaze cardstock. It was so tempting to add some embellishments to both these cards but I wanted to keep them simple and show off the gorgeous letterpress texture!

I hope you enjoyed today's projects! I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below.

Be sure to check out the Super Surprise Box offer, as well as the Cardmaking Super Star Contest!

Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Taylored Expressions | Bold Text Lunar New Year Cards

Hello, crafty friends! For the next little while, you'll be seeing loads of Chinese New Year cards from me an I hope you don't mind. I had all of my Taylored Expressions bins out and, after my last set of cards, realizing that On the Block - Happy had been retired, I was quite sad. I decided I had to use some of my other large sentiments and numbers to create more cards.

The new Lunar New Year Challenge is off to a great start and I hope you'll join us, either by linking up a new creation to the January Link-Up Party, following us on Instagram or by leaving a comment on our posts and entries!

Of course, I had to make another another two-for using the same supplies because why not? It's convenient and after die cutting the Cap It Off Numbers, I was able to swap the Cherry Pop Cardstock and Gold Glitter Paper to create two versions anyway.

I stamped Get the Word Out - Happy using Cherry Pop and Mulled Wine ink cubes to create an ombre effect. I also cut a shadow from Black Glitter Cardstock.  This particular sentiment strip from Mini Strips - Holiday was gold heat embossed on Black Licorice Cardstock.

The gold glitter stars were cut from the Starstruck Dies and the textured background was created using the Diamonds Piercing Plate. The stars and numbers were glued directly to the textured panel and the other two elements were popped up with foam strips.

This second design features a lot more black than I normally like to have on a Chinese New Year card so I definitely won't be sending it to an elder. I do love the impact it has on the overall design though.

This time, I gold tinsel embossed Get the Word Out - Happy on Black Licorice Cardstock and love how it turned out!

The top sentiment strip is from Mini Strips - Easter and the bottom sentiment strip is from Mini Strips - Grad. Both were gold heat embossed on Black Licorice Cardstock and, like the first card, die cut using the Mini Strips - Flag Die. The background features the Rays Pierce & Cut Plate, which I used on my last set of cards.

Please visit the Lunar New Year Challenge blog to see what the amazing design team has created and I hope you're inspired to play along. We look forward to seeing what you make.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!

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