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Lately, I’ve been having a lot of fun with cardmaking. It’s the perfect detour from crocheting. I need something to do because I’ve noticed that I can’t crochet for long hours anymore, my shoulders and hands/fingers hurt. I’ve made cards off and on for years and even sold some back in the day. And just a couple of years ago in Oregon, I had a small gift shop at the church I was attending where I made a bunch of cards for. I really like having my own stash at home for hubby and I all ready to reach for when that special occasion comes up. It saves time, money, and gas plus I like giving handmade gifts.
Well, my cardmaking skills are still a work in progress, but it’s fun to make these cards. For this set, I decided to play with vellum which is a very delicate paper, and to me, very elegant. I got a package of 65 lb., so they are strong enough to be a card base. Both cards are the standard A2 size and so I inserted a top fold card inside each one that I cut to about 3-3/4″ x 4″. Then I got really brave and broke out my heat gun, white embossing powder and ink pad! I’ll list all my supplies at the end of this post and where you can buy them. Anyway, I used a flower stamp set on the corners of the vellum and heat set them. Then I added some Nuvo drops to the flowers and topped it off with pearls.
The “Celebrate” sentiment comes from an intricate die and I also die cut a circle and a square and I turned to make it a diamond underneath the sentiment. I really like how it turned out. Now, I’m needing some work on my heat embossing skills but I look forward to getting better with practice.
And, I’m really excited that next week, I’m getting an electric die cutting machine – The Gemini Jr.! YAY, no more cranking the handle on my manual Cuttlebug (though I love it!). It was hurting my shoulder and arms so with the Gemini Jr., I turn it on, feed my plates through it and tada…I have my dies or embossing done!

- Cuttlebug Version 3 Die cutting machine
- Cuttlebug Magnetic Plate
- Benecreat 6 Sets Cutting Dies (square, circle, heart, flower)
- Darice Vellum 65 lb. 8-1/2″ x 11″ Value Pack
- Nuvo Crystal Drops – Copper Penny and Bright Gold
- Scor-Pal Scor-Buddy Mini Scoring Board
- Teflon bone folder
- Heat Gun (here and here)
- Ranger Clear Embossing Ink Pad
- Ranger White Embossing Powder
- The Paper Company 8-1/2″ x 11″ Pastel Color Assorted Cardstock (pink and lilac used)
- Self-adhesive flatback pearls (used white and pink)
- Scor-Tape
- Kaiser Craft Die Release Tool
- Art Glitter Glue (here and here)
- Large round clear stamp block
- Melitta Coffee filters Pack of 600 to hold embossing powder as I worked (or pick up at any grocery store)
- EK Tools Craft Tweezers
Gorgeous! You have such an eye for beauty. So happy you are getting the electronic die cutter–I do all the cranking, and it's tough! But I don't have arm or shoulder problems…I can't imagine how it would hurt otherwise. Keep blessing everyone with your creativity and beauty! 🙂