Category: Crafty Meraki

For You for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Hello friends! Today I would like to share one of my most used card layouts – a “circle” as a small scene background with critters (it’s much less intimidating to me than creating an scene using the entire card front). You’ll see me use this often but I think changing up the specifics always gives it a different look. For example, there are lots of options for creating the scene background:

  • In this case, I used a die cut circle with a flat bottom. You could also try a full circle, oval, rectangle – pretty much any shape!
  • You could also use a stencil (or create your own with a die cut) and just stencil onto your card front.
  • Check your stash for stamps that might also make a good background (or use any background stamp along with a shaped stencil).

For this card, I started by creating an ink blending panel using Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Inks (no Blueprint sketch here – that’s just the awesome blue those colors create when mixed together!).

Next, I die cut that panel first using the Crafty Twinkle Slimline Die and then cut a semi-circle from that panel using a die similar to the Stitched Semi-Circle Die from Sunny Studio Stamps. I also cut a second panel from silver glitter cardstock from the same semi-circle die to layer underneath.

I glued both panels together using liquid adhesive and then attached to the card front using foam tape for added dimension.

Now to add some critters! I decided to use the Owl Yours stamp set from Crafty Meraki. I stamped the images using a Copic friendly ink and colored them with a combination of light gray markers (C00, C1, C3, W00, W1, W3, W5). I was going for the look of a white owl to pop on the bright background I had already created.

I then attached them to the background with foam adhesive and finished the card with a simple sentiment that would work for any occasion (I’m thinking I will use this for a baby card). This sentiment is from the Floral Hugs stamp set by Crafty Meraki.

If you find yourself overwhelmed at creating scene cards, be sure to give this simplified version a try!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Celebrate for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

I have another “die cuts only” card to share today! Sometimes when I get new products to play with it’s fun to come up with unexpected ways to use them together. My initial thought was to make a scalloped background and cut the celebrate die from white – which probably would have worked too – but then I thought about flipping it and I ended up with something that was a little bit more “me”.

I started by cutting a number of the middle sized frames from the Timeless Frames die set in different shades of purple. For this project, I would suggest using thinner cardstock (this was 65lb weight paper). Patterned paper might be fun to try too! You can then trim the frames into strips to use for the next step.

Next, I cut a piece of thin copy paper slightly larger than the “celebrate” die cut from the Celebrate Tag Slimline Tag die set. I covered the copy paper with adhesive and added the scalloped strips to cover it completely.

I ran that entire piece through my Gemini Jr with the “celebrate” die – crossing my fingers that it would cut through the layers and it worked like a charm!

I attached the die cut to my card base using foam adhesive for a little dimension and finished with the die cut “you” from the same set cut from black cardstock.

Originally, I thought of this as a birthday card but really you could send this card to anyone you want to celebrate!

Thanks for stopping by!

Samantha

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Love and Hugs for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Sometimes great products make you do crazy things – like me making a card with no white and no stamping! But in the end I had a card that was both super easy to create and eye catching.

Be sure to check the Crafty Meraki blog for details on how this was made!

Thanks for stopping by!

Samantha

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Rainbow Butterfly for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

It had to be done! The minute I saw the Meraki stamp set there was no doubt that someday I would be coloring that butterfly in rainbow colors.

I started by picking some favorite Copic combinations to color in the butterfly and then added just a little bit of sparkle to the pink parts of the wing. Because rainbow and sparkle go together like peanut butter and jelly, right?

I then fussy cut the butterfly. A little tip on the antennae – I initially just cut them clean off of her head, and then trimmed them out separately and glued them back on behind her head (you might be able to tell they are a little bit shorter than the original image). I always use a black felt tip pen to run along the edges of images that I fussy cut – I think it makes it look a little more finished.

I initially tried placing the butterfly on a plain white card front which wasn’t bad but I knew I had the Shine On stamp set with the perfect floral border backdrop for her. I wanted to keep the focus on the butterfly so I chose to heat emboss the background in gold rather than color it.

Finally, I added the sentiment from the Meraki set (also embossed) and added the card front panel to a base.

I’ve been so deep into Christmas card making lately, it was nice to change it up! Hope you enjoy it too!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Christmas Round the Block for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

This was one of those times where an original idea morphed into something different and pretty interesting. I knew I wanted to use the Round the Block die with some of the smaller images from the Magical Christmas and Christmas Miracle stamp sets. The snowflakes and ornaments fit perfectly in the circles.

The ornament card was the first one I made:

I traced the circles from the Round the Block die onto the white background paper so that I could stamp all of the ornaments. I erased the circles and added the kraft circle die along with the yarn and tag.

I was planning on making a second card with the snowflakes in exactly the same way but realized I could just use the die itself as a template and avoid tracing and erasing the circles at all:

If you’re worried about the die moving, use a little low tack tape to hold it in place.

After I had the snowflakes stamped, I realized there was enough space to add more snowflakes in between the first ones I stamped so I just shifted the die and used the edges of the first snowflakes I stamped to line it up:

Add a sentiment and viola – a perfectly spaced grid of snowflakes! And if there is one thing I love it’s a perfectly spaced grid that came together that easily! This just made the Round the Block die a really handy tool – different images or only use some of the circles for smaller grid.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Happiest of Holidays for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Today I wanted to share an idea to add a little more versatility to your Crafty Plaid Slimline Die by Crafty Meraki! Instead of using the entire plate, use another die or punch to create patterned shapes like these ornaments.

I started by die cutting the Crafty Plaid Slimline Die from red cardstock. I then used a circle punch to create three circles from pink and green cardstock and then punched the same shape from the red plaid die cut.

After gluing those pieces together, search your stash for a bow or ornament topper shape to each circle. Place them on your card front with dimensional adhesive with gold or silver cord.

Finally, add a sentiment of your choice (this one is from the Crafty Meraki Magical Christmas stamp set.

Additional Ideas:

  • Try die cutting the plaid die from glitter card stock – it would look great against a dark navy or green cardstock!
  • Simple shapes work best – even basic squares and rectangles could be made to look like Christmas gifts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Superstar for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Today I’m sharing two 4 bar sized cards made with the Superstar Heffy Doodle collaberation set! In my opinion, the sentiments are the very best part of this set so I wanted to keep them the main focus.

For this card, I first heat embossed the small star images and sentiment with white (clear would work too) embossing powder. The best part of this white on white technique is that you can’t really see where you are stamping so the stars truly end up with a random placement! Just make sure you don’t overlap the sentiment.

After the embossing cooled, I ink blended using Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Inks.

Finally, I attached the panel to the card base using foam tape.

For my second card, I randomly stamped the same small stars around the border of the card panel using a dark aqua ink – just pick you’re favorite blue! Each star would get stamped three times before reinking to create the variation in color.

I then ink blended the edges with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Inks and added the sentiment with black ink.

The final touch was one single gold embossed star near the sentiment (it kind of worked with the sentiment to me – only one gold sparkly star in a sea of blue stars!).

You could use these same techniques with the diamond or sparkle images from this set for more variations!

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Merry Christmas for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Today I’m sharing a card made with one of those smaller, often forgotten about, images from a larger set. This little gift is included in the Christmas Miracle set from Crafty Meraki (along with some beautiful poinsettia and holly images).

Quick Tips:

  • Smaller images like this are perfect for a grid layout! You can approach this a few different ways – I chose to lightly pencil in the grid lines and stamped the images using a block (just make sure you erase the lines prior to coloring).
  • Other options might include using a stamping platform or just totaling winging it and embracing a more “wonky” grid!
  • I had to go rainbow colors for these but any color scheme could work here! I colored these with Copics but any coloring medium would work here.
  • And this little image also works year round – just change the bottom sentiment to Happy Birthday!

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Hello for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Today I’m sharing a card made with a combination of a few of the new Crafty Meraki stamp sets – Shine On for the floral border and Little Things for the sentiment. I love the Shine On stamp set because the floral images look masked but the work is all done for you!

Quick Tips:

  • I started by embossing the image and sentiment with gold embossing powder on Bristol Smooth cardstock (my favorite paper for blending). This would also look great embossed in white.
  • Using blender brushes, I added color using distress oxide inks in Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire.
  • Once dry, be sure to wipe the embossing using a clean, dry cloth to remove any extra ink.
  • The “hello” die cut from Heffy Doodle is just the right size to fit in the center and anchor the stamped sentiment.

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Joy for Crafty Meraki

Samantha VanArnhemLeave a comment

Hello friends! I wanted to share a few tips on creating this card using the new Stitch-a-Cross Slimline die from Crafty Meraki that I posted during last months blog hop.

Quick Tips:

  • First of all, this die provides a wonderful amount of space for stitching! I went a little crazy pinning ideas (see my board here). I had to stop myself but Pinterest and Etsy are great sources of patterns to use on this die.
  • If stitching the entire die is a little overwhelming, consider die cutting simple shapes (like a circle) from it and stitching a pattern on a smaller canvas. (That’s next on my list to try!)
  • Once I saw the buffalo check pattern, I knew that was The One. Squares that are 5×5 stitches fit well on this die (it will take a little more than one skein of DMC embroidery floss to complete the squares on this pattern). It was a nice, simple pattern to work one while watching TV!
  • It was Pinterest to the rescue again to fine a sample font to spell out “Joy” – just search for cross stitch alphabets and find one that you like.
  • As a final touch, I wanted to add a little bit of green so I winged it with a few sprigs of greenery. Here’s a close up to get an idea of how those were added:

Final step – decide who you love the most of everyone on your Christmas card list! This is definitely not a card you would want to mass produce and you’re going to want to send it to someone that will really appreciate it. Or just keep it for yourself as a sweet display piece for the holidays every year!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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