In my customer facebook group, we have been playing with String Art. I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you today.

We do different challenges in the group and have a weekly drawing among everyone who participates.

So… what is the Back Porch Stampers?

It is a facebook group for everyone who is a customer of mine – whether its an order in my online store, a product share or my online classes.

Here is Tim’s version of the String Art!

And this is the Facebook Live that started it all!

WI started with sharing lots of birthday cards I received – and these are time stamps for the stamping if you want to fast forward:

28:18 Rooted in Nature – 2 cards

35.54 Tim’s string art

40:15 Animal Outing

*If you have purchased anything in my online store or an online class from me and aren’t in the Back Porch Stampers Group – here is where you go to request to be added: https://www.facebook.com/groups/backporchstampers/

I hope to see you there!

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Sometimes you may want to give a religious card that has extra meaning. Here are two examples.

This Bible verse in the Hold on to Hope set says so much.

To make it, cut an oval (from the Layering Ovals Dies) out of Soft Sky cardstock to frame the words. Add flowers from the Petals & More Thinlits Dies (which you can get as a bundle with the Petal Palette stamp set). The flowers were sponged with daubers and ink pads to make this soft look.

(You can see more uses for the Petal Palette stamp set here.)

For elegance and simplicity lay this silver cross on silver edged white ribbon on a white card.

The cross, cut out with Silver Foil, is from the Cross of Hope Framelits Dies and the ribbon is the 3/8″ Silver Metallic-Edge Ribbon.

Hopefully, these two cards will give you inspiration for those religious cards you want to make.

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Of course, there is the traditional way to use the Barn Door but lets look at some other ways first… like a cart of peaches! Extra large peaches (cut from the Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Series Paper) & extra large wheels.

Or how about a crate (cut the barn door in half) filled with flowers (from the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper)?

Or a Mermaid Slider Card made with the thinlits? (mermaid from the Myths & Magic Designer Series Paper)

It opens like this: (the video at the end of this post shows how to make all of these!)

Another way of just using the framelits is to draw around the rectangular shapes. (You can do the same thing with circles, ovals, and squares but we haven’t had a rectangular shape before now.)

Now back to the barn door! For this double door card, cut out two barn doors and score along one edge of each so it will open.

Isn’t this a perfect sentiment for this card – “We’re behind you all the way”? (That plus the cute animals are from the We Must Celebrate stamp set.)

And check out how the doors close! Use the extra strips that you get when cutting the door rails. By cutting those strips down, you can create little door handles that you can then slide a paper bar through.

Of course the Barn Door is good for many occasions – like this fun Halloween card. Who do all of those eyes belong to?

Tim’s Project

I asked Tim what he wanted to put behind his Barn Door and he immediately said – boots! (from the Country Livin’ stamp set)

He stamped both the boots and the barn door in Early Espresso Ink and then used a blender pen to give both shadowing and a “worn” look! Notice the easy way he attached the barn door to his card.

Finally, we have the traditional barn door card, similar to the one in the catalog!

You can watch us make all seven of these cards on this Facebook Live Video. (Be sure to follow our page so you get notified about the live shows.)

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The Sweet Soiree Memories & More pack is perfect for making quick & easy cards. Enjoy these 12 quick & easy card ideas.

This is one of the Sale-A-Bration items you can get for free with a $50 purchase so that makes it even better.

I laid out the 72 double-sided cards from this pack and a few stamp sets for some word choices. Thick Whisper White card bases and a few scraps of colored card stock completed these 12 cards … plus I have many more cards left over to make more!

First … a quick wedding card using two of the cards places at an angle. (sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet)

The “hello” is trimmed to fit the width of the card and put in the middle of two different colors of coordinating cardstock.

This birthday card uses one of the 3″ x 4″ floral cards with two more layers of cardstock, each a quarter inch bigger than the previous layer. Layer that on the white base and then add some circles on top for the sentiment (from Cake Soiree). Lots of layers for a quick & simple card.

Overlap two of the smaller cards  – one up and down and the other sideways – to create this fun layout. A bit of bling in the corner and finished! (words from One Big Meaning)

You can cut one at a diagonal to create a larger background when you are layering the cards. Notice the white lines on the Old Olive card piece. I also added ribbon to give it a popped up look. (words from Thankful Thoughts)

A Z-Card fold for this birthday card using words from Cake Soiree.

A quick birthday card using just two cards – one cut the long way to provide the background. (words from Happy Birthday Gorgeous)

You can use the larger cards to create a wrap for a gift card. (Words from Cake Soiree)

Shorten one of the larger cards and add one of the smaller ones to create this picture frame look. I cut out the heart from another card, added the sentiment from One Big Meaning and popped that up on the circle.

The card on the left (along with some other cards in this pack) would also make a great inside for a card. (Words from Thankful Thoughts and One Big Meaning)

A little fussy cutting from one of the cards adds to this card. (Sentiment from One Big Meaning)

For the last card – which is actually #13, making this a baker’s dozen,  the large “I love you”  is trimmed and laid diagonally across the card with pieces added from another card to fill in.

The Memories & More packs often get overlooked because people think they are just for scrapbooking. But they have some great sentiments for cards as well as lovely backgrounds.

**** and this pack is FREE for only two more weeks with a $50 order! Happy shopping (and enjoy the FREE gift you get from me when you order through my online store)

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Stampin’ Up! introduced a new product in their spring catalog called Brusho Crystal Colour (#144101). Brusho is watercolor ink crystals.

You can use them on water-washed paper to get some great effects with color! The product includes 5 colors – Brilliant Red, Gamboge (orange), Moss Green, Prussian Blue, and Yellow. And by mixing and matching these colors, you can get all sorts of effects.

I recently played with the Brusho crystals on a Facebook live. It was fun to see the different patterns that come just by sprinkling the crystals.

Whether you use a spritzer or aqua painter, you can get a great look.

Sprinkle the brusho and then spritz with water. Or use your aqua painter for a more watercolor look.

After the Facebook live, I took the colored sheets and turned them into cards. There really is no end to the patterns and color combinations that you could come up with.Tim even got in on the fun and created this dragon card

This is the Facebook Live where Tim and I played with the Brushos. We go live every Thursday at 1 pm Central and we would love to have you join us. Each week we share different techniques and/or stamp sets.

Follow us on our Facebook page to get notifications.

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