Tips- Layering Identical Cuts

This tip is a really easy way to add a little bit extra dimension to any card creation! You'll need a decent pair of scissors though. Stamp your focal image once on your cardstock. Stamp the image again on another piece of the same kind of cardstock. Cut that one out and place over top of the original image with pop dots. It gives a neat, subtle shadow effect. This effect in more complex layouts is often called paper tole. It can be as simple or as complex as you wish, so it's a really great technique for all types of cards and skill levels! *photo removed for publication* Supplies: Stamps: Sweet to the Core (gel-a-tins) Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy Paper: Chocolate Chip, Spring Moss, Old Olive, White Accessories, etc.: Regular and Long Rectangle Nestabilities, Double Stitched Ribbon

Fall-To Colours

As much as I hate to say it, I swear I saw what looked to be snow clouds today. I am not ready to say goodbye to summer, but I am finally ready to start making holiday cards. In keeping with the festive theme, this week's fall-to colours are easily applied to holiday creations. Combine a grey-ish or beige neutral (like Sahara Sand or Kraft) with colours from the Rich Regals family (or equivalent). I went with Kraft, Burgundy, and Artichoke. I cheated a tiny bit, there's some Olive in the paper, and technically the ribbon is a closer match to olive than artichoke...

This card came together very quickly, and I'm thinking it may be a contender for hand-delivered holiday cards (the ribbon knot would make it a 2-stamp card, which gets too costly)

Supplies: Stamps: Believe, Holiday Wishes (PTI) Ink: Rich Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy Paper: Kraft, White, Retired Holiday DP, Burgundy Accessories, etc.: Wide Olive Grosgrain, long rectangle nestabilities

Hope you have a good weekend! I've got a busy one ahead of me!

Borders

I used the spiral punch to create the punched edge border. The circle and main pieces are both popped up with dimensionals.

Supplies:

stamps - Pocket Silhouettes, Live Your Dream, All Holidays

paper - kraft, perfect plum, pale plum, white

ink - pink pirouette, perfect plum

acc - pink pirouette gg, spiral punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, dimensionals

Tips: Using Borders, Edges, or Boundaries on Cards

This tip was completely inspired by PaperCrafts 101. I was looking for some fun clean and simple ideas and loved all the ideas involving borders. Borders are just a fun way to add a little something to your card without taking away from a focal point. You could go with scallops, a series of cut out images on the side of your card, a cut fringe, a line of punched out shapes, you get the idea!

I went with a line of punched out shapes using a punch I had to have- the Spiral Notebook punch. I wanted something really simple, so I adhered some striped paper to a 4.25 square base, punched all along the side, added some ribbon, then a little sentiment circle.

Supplies: Stamps:Holiday Mail (gelatins) Paper: white, dots and dashes, olive Accessories: Notebook punch, circle punches, ribbon

Embrace Embossing Powders

Embossing powders are one of those supplies that we all seem to have. Once you got serious about this hobby, you likely picked up a heat gun and some powders. It also seems to be one of those supplies that you either LOVE or HATE. I know some people don't categorize embossing as a simple thing, but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy to use. So easy, that sometimes you use it on everything... A couple tips:

• Find a decent metal tray with an edge to do your embossing in. I have the base of the 48 Pack of Prismacolors . It came in a metal box, and it's great for embossing in. I have found that if I heat emboss something in a metal container, there is less paper warping, since both the front and back gets heated pretty evenly.
• If you do emboss in a metal container, be careful. It's easy to burn yourself, as well as your embossing powder.
• Static reducers are good, I have held off on getting one at this point. (It's just not one of those "fun" supplies to buy, however cheap they may be). If you plan on doing any embossing as part of a mass production line, look into getting an embossing buddy. I've also heard that dryer sheets work, but I've never tried them.
• As convenient as the Powder Pals are, I find that a scrap piece of paper works out best. I have a LOT of colours of embossing powder, and there is nothing as annoying as finding bits of colour in your white powder after you've melted it. The Powder Pals always seem to retain little flecks of powder here and there. Scrap paper is scrap, you can take a new sheet with every new colour.

Here is my card. I need a wedding card this month, and thought a copper theme would be pretty. Think of how extremely dull this card would be if that swirl motif were not embossed!

Supplies: Stamps: All Year Cheer, Baroque Motifs Ink: Versamark Paper: Copper, Shimmery White Accessories, etc.: Copper EP, white organdy ribbon, pop dots