VIDEO | Taylored Expressions | Diamond Masking Stencils Freebie ft. Max & Millie

Today's video features the December 2020 freebie from Taylored Expressions! With every purchase of $100 or more in the Taylored Expressions webstore, you will receive this set of two Masking Stencils - Diamonds for free. If you're familiar with Taylored Expressions masking stencils, you are going to love this one! If you haven't used Taylored Expressions masking stencils, I hope you'll be inspired to grab a few of them because they can really add that wow factor without much effort.

Everything you need to know is included in the video so I'll keep the verbiage in this post short, especially since it's photo-heavy. ;)

All three cards feature the Max & Millie stamp set. Max & Millie Dies are also available if you prefer to add dimension but I wanted to share how easy it is to create one-layer cards with stencilling and no masking paper over the images.

I drew my colour inspiration from the new Pastel Blender Brushes. On this first love-themed or birthday card, I inked the diamonds with Salt Water Taffy, Lavender Glaze, Mint Julep and Pink Champagne mini ink pads. To finish, I added sparkling crystals to emphasize the frame.

Oh my second card, I used all five ink colours, starting with Peaches 'n Cream and Mint Julep in the middle, then added Salt Water Taffy and Lavender Glaze on the right, and Pink Champagne and back to Lavender Glaze on the left.

I love this pastel rainbow, framed with Lavender Glaze, highlights adorable Millie so well. She's so cute pushing her little cart of cheese!

To embellish this card, I added clear drops to the holes in the cheese. It adds that big of dimension and visual interest to an otherwise simple card.

My third and final card is my favourite! This image of Max is my favourite, especially with that MEH sentiment. LOL This time I used the diamond masking stencils in a freehand and whimsical way by starting in the bottom left hand corner and working my way up to the top right hand corner.

Again, I created a rainbow with the same five ink colours and inked up parts of the diamonds. I love the way the colours blend into one another. It's so pretty and I want to play with this design more!

To finish, I added a few crystal stars above Max's head, which adds to his bewildered look. The little stars add just the right amount of sparkle to this fun card. All of the images were stamped with Oreo ink on Sugar Cube cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. All of these colours are listed in the supply links below.

Thanks so much for watching!

Supplies: 

Studio Katia | Paws for Kindness Duo

Hello, dear friends! I thought I'd take a break from making Christmas and winter cards and use this adorable friendship set called Paws for Kindness. Both the girl and boy with their cat and dog are super cute so I had to feature both of them on their own cards with customized sentiments. All three parts of the frames were created using the Dotted Patterns Set 2 dies.

I started by stamping and heat embossing the images on watercolour cardstock. Then I watercolored them with distress inks and you can find all those colours in the supply links below.

I set the images aside to dry and trimmed my card bases and outer frames from linen cardstock.

I die cut the frames again from watercolour cardstock and stamped and heat embossed the sentiments. Then I ink blended the backgrounds and splattered the panels with sparkle shimmer spritz.

I cut the frames a third time from graphite and silver glitter cardstock, one for each of the cards.

To finish, I adhered the two inner frames flat with liquid glue and popped up the outer frames and images with foam tape. Both cards were embellished with watercolored hearts and Bluebell and Bora Bora pearls to match their ink blended backgrounds.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Evelin T Designs | Baby, It's Cold Outside

Today's fun winter card features the Baby, It's Cold Outside stamp set from Evelin T Designs' latest release. I just love this big illustration of a monster sledding! I haven't been sledding in ages and the monster's excitement makes me want to go, except I'm getting old and can't tolerate the cold much anymore so maybe not. LOL

I started this card by selecting distress ink colours for my image. Then I stamped the images and sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  I die cut the background from a retired arch die from My Favourite Things. If you're looking for something similar, I've provided an alternate in the supply links below.

I also stamped tiny snowflakes with Versamark Watermark ink before ink blending the background with three shades of blue distress ink. I watercoloured the image, dried it with my heat tool and fussy cut it. To create the shaker, I added acetate to the front panel and used foam tape to build walls to house the sequins and seed beads from Studio Katia.

I love this idea for winter cards in lieu of holiday cards or in addition to Christmas cards. No doubt, this winter will feel extra long and we can all use as much happy mail as possible! I'm tempted to make a bunch of these in different colours.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: