maria russell designs

Clean & Simple Cards with SomeBunny – CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

| marialrussell

Hello everyone!  Maria here with you today and I am super excited to share my very first post as a member of the CAS-ual Fridays Ink Squad.  It is definitely a dream come true for me!  I have always admired the talented girls on the Ink Squad and when I received the good news that I made it on the team, I was happy and terrified at the same time!  I hope I will be able to inspire you in this amazing journey and get creative with me.

For today’s project, I am showcasing the SomeBunny stamp set with the Bunny Fri-Dies, and the Best Day Fri-Dies.

I started out by die-cutting the two bunnies on some Neenah Solar White Card Stock.  I placed the die-cuts back on the negative piece and lined-up my images, and held it in place with low-tack tape.   I used my stamping tool to stamp the images using Memento Tuxedo black ink.  I colored the images in with my Copic markers.

For my first project, I wanted to make a birthday card using the adorable Bunny holding a balloon.  I cut another piece of some white card stock and stamped the little stars using some light gray ink.  I wanted the stars on my background to look like watermark so that these images wouldn’t overwhelm the whole card design.  I also die-cut the “Best Day Ever” using the dies and adhered these pieces onto my card panel with my Nuvo Liquid adhesive.

To finish my design, I adhered my little bunny with some foam tape, and added Glossy Accents to the balloon.  Here is my first card:

 

I love the simplicity of this birthday card.  Here’s another look:

I really love the white-on-white background and the glossy accents on the balloon just gave it a little something extra!

For my second card, I did the same technique by stamping the little stars on my card panel with the same light gray ink.  I die-cut another piece of some white card stock to create the frame for my cute little bunny.  I stamped the sentiment onto the frame, and adhered this piece on my background panel with some foam adhesive.

To finish my design, I stamped 3 little stars next to the bunny with some light blue ink and added Stardust Stickles to the moon.  Here is my second card:

I am in-love with this stamp set.

The stardust stickles added a little touch of whimsy to the design.

I hope I have given you some inspiration today to create some clean and simple cards.  Please don’t forget to use my coupon code below for 15% off your order at the shop.  Isn’t this the best day ever?

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Enjoy the Ride with Paper House Productions

| marialrussell

Hello Paper House Productions fans!  I cannot believe that time flew by so fast and I am sad to say that this is my last blog post for Paper House Productions.  I have been so FORTUNATE to be able to work with the AMAZING products by PHP, the talented design team and of course, everyone at Paper House Productions.  It has been a great journey to be a part of this design team which is why I chose “Enjoy the Ride” theme for my project today.

 

For our final project, we were asked to pick out our FAVORITE product from the Paper House Productions.  Mind you, this wasn’t an easy task!   I LOVE the paper pads, the stickers, washi tape, traveler’s notebook, etc.   However if there’s one thing that I’ve been loving (and buying) the most even before I got on this design team, it’s always been the stickers!   Sometimes when I want to create a beautiful card without stamping or doing a lot of fancy stuff, I always make cards with stickers.  I also love adding stickers to my scrapbook layouts and planners.

 

To start, I stamped an A2 size card stock with my background stamp with a mint green ink and die-cut the same with my Stitched Wonky Die.  I also die-cut another piece of white card stock to create the frame.

 

I have been dying to use this Stickypix “It Takes Two Cardstock Multi-Pack” stickers because I absolutely love everything in this pack.  It has all of my favorite color combination – Mint Green, Light Blue, Red, Pink and Gold.  I picked the bicycle, stars and flowers on this pack.

 

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This card took about less than 10 minutes to make and can be easily mass-produced.   Here’s my card:

 

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I just love the gold-foil details on the bicycle and the flowers.

 

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I also simply adore the little stars in the sticker pack.  I added a couple of them on my card.

 

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It has been a great pleasure working with The Paper House Productions and the talented Design Team for Winter/Spring Term.  Thank you everyone for this amazing journey.  It really has been a great ride!

 

XOXO,

Maria

 

SUPPLIES:  Sticker Pix It Takes Two Cardstock Multi-Pack Stickers

(We’re) Made For Each Other – M.F.E.O. with Ghost Inlaid Technique

| marialrussell

Hello Kat Scrappiness fans! I hope you are all having a great week so far.  I’m back on the blog today sharing with you this cute card, featuring the Punny Snacks stamp set, the Condensed Lower Case Alpha Dies and the new Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Dies.  I love the new scalloped dies so much.

I don’t know about you, but I like to keep a stash of “just-because” cards to give to family and friends.  I love the “Ghost Inlaid Technique” that I added to this card using the Condensed Lowercase Alphabet Dies and even though it looks complicated, it really isn’t.  I have a process video for you all today (linked below) so I will keep this blog post short.

Here’s what the card looks like.  I added some cute girly, eyelashes to the soda image on the left side.

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Also added some black polka dots to the whole background to finish it off.  I LOVE the cute little smiley faces from the Punny Snack stamp set.  They are adorable!

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This M.F.E.O. Quote is one of my favorite scenes from the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.  I thought it was really funny!

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Here’s the YouTube process video if you would like to see how I made the card:

I hope I have given you some inspiration today.  Please visit www.katscrappiness.com today the supplies I used.  They’re also listed and linked below.  Have a wonderful day!

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Woodland Buddies by Not2Shabby

| marialrussell

Hello everyone! I am guest-designing today at Not2Shabby shop and I made three cards, showcasing the Woodland Buddies stamp set.  I have a process video for the birthday card, which I will link below.

 

I was supposed to join the YouTube Hop last month but my camera stand gave up and I couldn’t film the process for the other two cards that I made earlier.  I ordered a new one but it took awhile for the new camera stand to arrive, which is why I’m only sharing this now.

 

Here’s the first card that I made:

 

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Close-up:

 

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For the second card, I used one of my favorite dies by Simon Says Stamp, a Sunburst Stencil from MFT Stamps.

 

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To finish my design I added glossy accents to the hearts.

 

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I have a process video for the 3rd card.

 

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I really love the cheerful rainbow background!

 

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Here’s the YouTube video:

 

 

 

I hope you like my cards today.  Please visit http://www.not2shabbyshop.com to purchase the stamp set and other products I used today (not affiliated).  Thank you so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Father’s Day Card with Dad’s Tools stamp set by Kat Scrappiness

| marialrussell

Hello my crafty friends, Maria here with you today on the blog!  I hope you are all having a great week so far.  Father’s Day is fast approaching and it is time to honor all the AMAZING dads out there.  The new Dad’s tools – 6×8 Layered stamp set is perfect for this type of occasion, or you can even make just-because cards.  It doesn’t always just have to be for one day out of the year.  I know if my Dad were here, I probably would make him a card at least once a month.

I started out by stamping my images on Neenah solar white card stock, using my Tim Holtz Tonic Stamp Platform.  I think it is a must-have tool for stamping layered images.  Since this stamp set did not have matching dies, I used my Brother Scan N Cut2 to die-cut the images.

I used the biggest of my Cross Stitched Rectangle dieto die-cut the blue patterned paper taken from the Gotta Have Gingham Petite Paper Pack 6×6 by Lawn Fawn.  I then used the third piece of the Cross Stitched Rectangle dieto die-cut a piece of silver card stock. I placed this card stock onto my We R Memory Keepers embossing folder and run it through my die-cutting machine to emboss this piece.

I adhered my blue patterned paper onto my card base and then layered the embossed silver cardstock on top for my foreground.  On another piece of white card stock, I die-cut the word Dad with the Uppercase Condensed Alphabet Dies.  To give it some dimension, I used my foam adhesive to adhere the word Dad onto my card.

I stamped the sentiment on a black card stock with my Versa-mark ink and used my white embossing powder then set it using my heating tool.  I also adhered the hammer and screwdriver images from the stamp set.  I finished the design by adhering my blue enamel dots on the four corners of my silver card stock embossed piece.  Here’s the card.

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I honestly struggle with masculine cards so designing this was a bit of a challenge for me.  However, I love how this turned out.  Here’s a close-up look:

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I hope you got inspired today.  Don’t forget to use my coupon code “MARIA10” for 10% off your order at the shop.  The supplies I used are listed and linked below.  Have a wonderful day!

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A Day at the Beach Penpal Flipbook – Sun Drenched Paper Pad Collection

| marialrussell

Maria Russell CircleHello my crafty friends!  I hope you’re all having a great day so far. I am back to share with you my process on how I made this Flip Book for my pen pal in Australia.  She loves the beach and the Sun Drenched 12×12 Paper Pad collection, the Embrace Today Stick-on Pockets with the Carole Shiber Polka-Dotted Soft Pink and Honeydew washi tape would be perfect for this project.

 

I have a process video below to walk you through my process.  Here are some photos of the finished book.

 

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Here’s what’s inside the flip book:

 

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Process Video:

 

 

Paper House Productions Supplies: 12×12 Sun Drenched Paper Pad Collection, Embrace Today Stick On Pockets, Carole Shiber Soft Pink and Honey Dew Washi Tape.

Love You to the Moon & Back Scrapbook Layout

| marialrussell

Hello my crafty friends!  I am super excited to share my project today.  Mother’s Day is fast-approaching and I wanted to create a scrapbook page layout, showcasing the Large Alpha dies, the “Love You to the Moon & Back” script sentiment dies by Kat Scrappiness, plus other supplies available at the shop.

I started by inking my 12 x 12  white card stock with my ink blending tool and my Worn Lipstick and Fossilized Amber distress oxides.    I spritzed my background with water and dabbed it with my paper towel.  I love the look of distress backgrounds especially on white card stock.

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I matted my mom’s photograph on Gina K Designs Black Card Stock.  I also stamped my flowers and leaves using the Lawn Fawn Fab Flowers 4 x 6 stamp set.  I die-cut my images using the Lawn Fawn Fab Flowers dies.

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Using the Large Alphabet Dies, I die-cut the letters M-O-M on Gina K Designs Black Card Stock.   I adhered the die-cut pieces onto my layout using my Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive, lining it up with my T-square ruler to make sure that they are evenly spaced and perfectly aligned.

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I adhered my mom’s photograph onto my layout.  To finish my design, I added the rest of my embellishments.  Here is my layout:

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Here’s a little close-up!  Isn’t she beautiful?!  My mom is an amazing, strong, beautiful person, inside and out.  She has taught me how to become independent, and be able to do things that I couldn’t even believe it’s possible.  I am such a lucky person to have a mom like mine.  I love her to the moon and back!

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I hope you like my project today and got inspired.  I have listed and linked the supplies I used below.  Don’t forget to use my coupon code “MARIA10” for 10% off of your order at Kat Scrappiness.  Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

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Kat Scrappiness Large Alpha Dies with Lawn Fawn

| marialrussell

Hello my crafty friends.  I am back today to share with you a simple Valentine’s Day card, showcasing the new Large Alphabet dies and Christmas Red Sequins by Kat Scrappiness,   Lawn Fawn Sweet Friends stamp set and Lawn Fawn Sweet Friends coordinating dies, plus other supplies available at the shop.

I started out by stamping my images on Neenah Solar white card stock and I colored the images in with my Copic markers.   I cut another 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 piece of Bristol Smooth white card stock and used my Tumbling Hearts stencil to create my background, with my Worn Lipstick distress oxide ink and the ink blending tool.

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I wanted to create a Valentine’s Day shaker card and also use the new Large Alphabet Dies.  I chose the letters, X and O and used my die-cutting machine to cut my background.  I covered it with my acetate and used my foam tape to create my shaker window.  I have been meaning to use the Christmas Red sequins and thought that this was the perfect color to use as my shaker element.

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To finish my design, I added my little Froyo images and stamped my sentiment.  I also added the little strawberries to the Froyo and covered it with glossy accents.  Here is the card:

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Isn’t this adorable?  I hope you like my card today and got inspired.  Please visit www.katscrappiness.com for inexpensive dies and craft supplies.  Don’t forget to use my coupon code “MARIA10” for 10% off your order at the shop.  The supplies I used are listed and linked below.  Have an amazing day!

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Chocolate Shaker Card with Kat Scrappiness

| marialrussell

Are you looking for a simple Valentine’s Day card without all the hearts and romantic stuff? Or just a simple “just-because” card to brighten someone’s day?  For my project today, I am showcasing the Layered Chocolate Bar 6″ x 8″ stamp set, the Chocolate Lover’s Sentiment stamp set, Sparkling Manhattan sequin mix, Distressed Edge Rectangle dies and the Wonky Wavy Stitched Rectangle dies.

I started out by stamping the layered chocolate bar stamp using my Tim Holtz Tonic stamp platform with my memento tuxedo black ink.  I used my precision-cut scissors to fuzzy-cut the images.

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I also cut the little chocolate squares to add to my project.

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It has been awhile since I made a shaker card so I thought I’d make them today.  I die-cut my 110 lb. white card stock with the wonky wavy stitched dies.  I die-cut the middle using the second of the largest piece of the distressed edge rectangle dies to create the window.

I cut a piece of acetate to cover the window and adhered the chocolate bar at the bottom left side corner.  I added some 3M foam tape.  I decided to use my Cinnamon Swirl Mix sequins for my shaker element and the chocolate squares but since the sequin mix I used is not available anymore at the store, you can also use the Sparkling Manhattan sequin mix.  to finish the design, I stamped my sentiment using my Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink to give it a little bit of color.

Here’s the close-up of the card:

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I love this stamp set because the chocolate image looks so realistic!  There are so many possibilities using this stamp set.

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I hope you all got inspired to create this simple “Just-Because” card, or a “non-romantic” Valentine’s Day card that you can give to a friend to brighten up their day!  I have listed and linked the supplies I used below.  Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful day!

Maria Russell Signature Logo

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