Category:

TGIF

TGIF – Sweet Valentine Wraps with Kelly

by Betsy January 22, 2021

written by Betsy

TGIF! Got crafty weekend plans? I hope to squeeze in a little stamping time – I always get inspired to create when we pick and pack orders – I saw some fun combinations ship out and it has me wanting to create some more! 😊

Kelly is here today with a sweet project using some of our new release items…some fun inspiration as we head into the weekend.

Hello friends! It’s Kelly here today for this week’s T.G.I.F.! I’m so excited to be here sharing some cute Valentine’s Day inspiration to give to friends and family! I’m sure you’re all looking forward to getting your new goodies, and with The Greetery’s speedy shipping, you might already have yours!

I love that my post comes so soon after the new release so I could try some new things with these adorable products! I was dying to try the Forget-Me-Nots in some other colors and after seeing Betsy’s gorgeous examples, I couldn’t wait to create some in pink!

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I love red gingham and flowers for Valentine’s Day so I used the Speed Tagging stamps and die to create the cute tag bases. I set those aside and got to work on the mini Boxwood Hearts! Aren’t these wreaths just the cutest thing? I especially love the sweet sentiments that are included, which I added directly in
the center of the tags.

The next step was to die cut and color the flowers. I used ink and a blender brush and then added some extra details using a colored pencil. I love how Betsy does this and it really enhances the detail on the flowers. I also added some glitter for some sparkle and shine.

I created the tags to go on these small Muslin bags that are perfect for Valentine’s Day treats! I also stamped the “Sent with Love” sentiment, which is from the new Lovely Blossoms stamp set, directly onto the muslin bag. I first ironed the bags so that they would be crisp and flat. After ironing them, I was able to lay them into my mini MISTI and stamp the bags. It allowed me to add as much ink as I needed to get nice, crisp images!

I made some muslin bags like this for Christmas and I was pleased with how many treats they could hold. The bags look small, but when you’re filling them up, they actually hold quite a bit…just enough to let your Valentine know how “sweet” they are! Ha ha! You could also use these muslin bags to hold a
gift card, lip gloss and lotion, handmade soap, earrings, etc! I love putting Valentine’s Day gifts and treats together and these were such fun to create! Thanks for joining me today and I hope you have fun creating for the special people in your life!

January 22, 2021 18 comments

TGIF + Nature Lover Sneak Peek #1…

by Betsy January 15, 2021

written by Betsy

Happy TGIF! I hope you have some crafty plans for the weekend! We’re in the middle of a blizzard, so I think I’ll be cozying up in my craft room, finishing up some projects for next week!

Thanks for stopping by today! I have a few things to share with you, the first of which is the first sneak peek of our Nature Lover collection. This new product collection is coming to the shop next week Wednesday, January 20 at 10am EST (note that this release is happening on Wednesday instead of our usual Friday).

The Nature Lover collection is filled with nature-inspired designs, with a little bit of love on the side. This collection includes many items that I think you’ll enjoy creating with all year long. Is there anything in the sneak peek that makes your heart go pitter-patter?

And since it’s TGIF, I didn’t want to leave you without a project today, so I thought I’d share something I posted on Instagram earlier this week. If you remember the Make & Tell Tuesday from this post a few weeks back where I showed the “black magic” technique, I had another of those backgrounds lying on my work table…

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It was calling me to finish it up into a card, and I thought it might be fun to add some brighter pops of color to the design by heat embossing some flowers over the top of the leafy background. I added the small flower clusters from the Blooming Branch set using some American Crafts bright-colored embossing powders in shades of pink and yellow. I again used the Opposites Attract stamp set to finish it off with a sentiment. Just like the other cards I shared using this technique, the background was stamped with leaves and branches from the All Blessings Flow set.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I will pop in tomorrow with another peek at our Nature Love collection before we start the full reveals and projects on Monday!

January 15, 2021 41 comments

All Sneak Peeks TGIF

4 Seasons with Norine + Save the Date!

by Betsy January 8, 2021

written by Betsy

TGIF everyone! It’s been one of those weeks…I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely ready for the weekend! I’m hoping to spend some time in my craft room creating with some of the new goodies we have headed your way soon, which leads me to a Save the Date announcement! We’ll be releasing a new collection of products soon called Nature Lover…sneak peeks start a week from today and the new products will go up in the shop on Wednesday, January 20! I hope you’ll stop by for the fun!

But for today, we have Norine joining us with an amazing project where she has so skillfully combined several different elements into one incredibly beautiful design! Let’s dig in…

Hello Greetery friends, Norine here with you this Friday! I’m buried under a blanket of snow, munching on the remaining crumbs of gingerbread spice cookies with a hot cup of sweet coffee, solidly straddling the seasons, card-making-wise. I daresay there are elements of all 4 seasons in the bits and pieces I’ve assembled for my “thank you” card today.

I’m also straddling the mediums with some of the die cuts layer-stamped and others colored with Copic markers. I think it makes for an interesting if eclectic effect!

I didn’t actually get to use the BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden or the BotaniCuts Mighty Oak dies from the release last fall, so I’m making up for it today. All of the pieces from both of those die sets are die cut from Classic Crest Solar White cardstock and then colored with Copics before assembling.

Next, I stamped and die cut (or actually, die cut THEN stamped – it’s so much easier to get a nice even die cut margin all around doing it in that order) the layered images of the birds in the Robin & Wren set, the green bough in the Hoop Wreath set, and the mini eucalyptus branched from the Petite Eucalyptus set.

Once I had all the pieces colored and die cut, I started playing with the design and I ended up with this sweet arrangement of branches, boughs and birds. Oh, and mushrooms!
The four seasons are represented (in my mind, at least) by the evergreen bough and eucalyptus branches – winter, the birds – spring, the mushrooms – summer and the oak leaves and acorn – fall. I tried to stay with “frosty” colors as much as possible to give the card an appropriately January feel as I am sending it out mid-winter.

I used the “thank you” stamp from the Hoop Wreath stamp and die set, and splattered the card when finished with black watercolor paint. To visually weight the scene, I added a narrow strip of blue plaid patterned paper from my stash to the very bottom.

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Once again, I am delighted by and impressed with the ease of combining multiple stamp and die sets from The Greetery, and how well even different coloring mediums play together!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

January 8, 2021 47 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – Unconventional Trees, 2 Ways

by Betsy December 18, 2020

written by Betsy

TGIF time! We’re heading into the last weekend before Christmas and I hope you’re all doing well.

I had a little time to create this week, and wanted to share a couple of different ideas I had for creating trees using some unconventional supplies. While your holiday cards are likely finished up and already on their way, these fun trees would also be perfect for post-holiday thank-yous or even winter birthdays.

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My first unconventional tree was inspired by my dad (hi Dad! 😊). He’s always making cute stuff out of old barnwood and other supplies, and lately he’s been making some really cute trees. I took his idea and turned it into a paper version using our Shiplap Builder die. I mitered several planks to create the tree. My dad was probably able to just whip that out in no time, but it took me a bit to figure out the best way to get it just right! The planks were sponged and splattered before diecutting, like I showed in THIS video. I used Frayed Burlap and Weathered Wood Oxide inks along with some white gouache for the white-washed effect.

Once my tree was assembled I embellished it with some diecut leaves and branches. These were cut using a few different dies – the BotaniCuts Mighty Oak and Inside & Out Berry Branch. I always seem to have a little pile of these on my desk left from other projects and they were perfect for this.

For the background, I wanted some texture, but also didn’t want to distract from the tree, so I layered some Inside & Out Berry Branch diecuts over my background, cut from the same paper. I added a few splatters and gold stars as well, cut using the Pinwheel Party die.

My next tree uses the Macramé Openwork Base die to create a cute fringe-y tree.

To create the tree, I used the straight openwork die from the Macramé Openwork Base set and cut it twice, directly side-by-side, like this:

Then I trimmed it down to the height I wanted my tree to be – I used the twig and pole hangers from the Boho Banner die as the center of my trees, so I trimmed down my fringe portion just a bit shorter than that, to allow for the trunk to extend beyond the tree. Then I just used my paper trimmer to trim each side from the lower outer corners to the center of the strip like this…

You can use as many layers as you’d like, depending on how “fluffy” you want your trees to be – I used two layers for mine. On my project today I used white cardstock, but colors are cute too as you can see from the other trees in my photo – they use two layers as well, but cut from different shades of green cardstock.

For the background on this one, I created a shiplap background using the same ink colors and technique that I mentioned above. I added some white ink splatters and gold stars to finish it off. The sentiment is from the Tree Trimmings set and was heat embossed with white over the shiplap background.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope these ideas for creating trees using unconventional supplies got your creative juices going! Happy weekend!

December 18, 2020 27 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – With Love at Christmas with Kay

by Betsy December 11, 2020

written by Betsy

TGIF time! We had a few technical difficulties today, so this post is coming a little late! Kay is here today with a beautiful project that’s definitely worth the wait, using a mix of a few of our newer and older holiday products…

It is already December 11th and although most of my Christmas cards are already in the mail, I am still making them just because I love to. Christmas cards are my favorite to make and honestly, I make them all year long. So today I have one to share with you using some older and newer Christmas products from The Greetery.

For the background, I used the Frosty Flakes stencil and and blended Wilted Violet Distress inks onto Bristol Board cardstock. I blended mostly just around the edges leaving the center lighter to make my focal point pop.

I stamped the images from the With Love At Christmas in pretty pinks and purples, cut them out with the coordinating dies and added them to my card with foam tape. The Joy sentiment is from the Written in Ribbons Holiday stamp set and it was cut out with the coordinating dies and added with foam tape as well. The wishing you sentiment is also included in the Written In Ribbons stamp set and it was heat embossed with white embossing powder.

I hope you have enjoyed my card today, and I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and making lots of fun cards and Christmas projects!

December 11, 2020 19 comments

TGIF

TGIF – Floral Hoops with Dawn

by Betsy December 4, 2020

written by Betsy

TGIF time! Dawn is here today with some more pretty inspiration using a few of the products from our newest collection! Let’s hear all about it from Dawn…

“I knew when I first laid eyes on the circle dies from the new Hoop & Fringe die set, that they’d be great basics to use for lots of different applications all year long! I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to try them out on some cards that really showcased those circles and you know I don’t need any excuse at all, to play with more flowers! Ha! Put them together and they’re a match made in heaven! And while I’ve just showed a pair of examples today, for how to use these simple circle dies, goodness, the possibilities with them are really endless!

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I cut out several of the circles from white card stock and the beauty of the Hoop & Fringe dies, is that you get not only that hoop die cut, but also the circle inside it. Don’t toss those circles! They’re gold!

As you can see here, I used the hoops in conjunction with some popped up Hoop Wreath floral die cuts for one look. And then used lots of those circle centers, with lots more Hoop Wreath florals (adhered flat this time) to create a completely different look!

The sentiments are both from the same set, Opposites Attract. But also, note that while I used the same circles, the same sentiments, the same florals, and even the same color combo on both cards, notice how different they each FEEL because of the vastly different background colors!! I could have changed either of these cards up entirely, just by swapping out the background for the red from this color combo, or even that curry color!

PRO TIP: This is just another way you can really PLAY with color! You can work with a color combo you love, but pull out one of the colors from your group (that you might not automatically think of) and use THAT one to be the focal color or the background color or even the leaf color! That way, you’re still using colors you love, but you’re stretching your creativity by changing up the way you use those colors! It will grow your skills as an artist and will give you more confidence when working with color!”

December 4, 2020 9 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – 25 Days of Christmas Tags + New Products + Sneak Peek!

by Betsy November 20, 2020

written by Betsy

Happy Friday! We have so much going on for today’s TGIF post – even a few new products in the shop today! Check them out HERE, details below as well. 😊

First of all, we’re excited to be playing along with Tracy McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event. If you’re not familiar, go check it out! Twenty-five days of Christmas tag-making inspiration and prizes. Play along to win – details HERE.

Several of the Inspiration Team members are playing along today as well. Hop around to see what they created!

Dawn McVey
Kelly Lunceford
Angelica Conrad
Laurie Willison
Kay Miller
Norine Borys
Heather Nichols

I created a couple of sets of tags to build up my tag stash as the holidays continue to sneak up on us. These were created using some new Speed Tagging Prints papers that coordinate with our Speed Tagging die. In case you’re not familiar with our Speed Tagging collection, here’s a quick video showing these papers and the matching die in action…

This first set of tags uses the Classic Christmas Speed Tagging Prints. I paired these tags done in classic Christmas colors with some natural elements…acorns from the BotaniCuts Mighty Oak set and pine cones from the BotaniCuts Pine Bough set.

I also incorporated lots of stamped leaves and sprigs using the All Blessings Flow stamp set. I love the classic colors and prints in these papers. And it’s so satisfying to run that big tag die through my die cutting machine and cut all those cute tags all at once! 😊

The sentiments were all stamped using the Speed Tagging Christmas Sentiments stamp set. I didn’t add strings to the tags – I’ll do that when it’s time to tie them onto the gifts. For several of them, I adhered two identical tags together so that I could put a sentiment on the outside and a to/from on the inside. I just scored along the top edges of the tags and glued them together at the tops, above the scored line.

My second set of tags uses the new Happy Christmas Speed Tagging Prints and of course again the matching die. The Happy Christmas prints are done in brighter, more non-traditional holiday colors.

I once again used lots of sprigs from the All Blessings Flow set, but this time instead of pine cones and acorns, I paired them with some snowflakes from the Snowflake Soiree stencils and dies done in bright colors to match the tags.

I think I made pretty good progress on my tag stash, don’t you think?

Besides the new Speed Tagging Prints that were added to the shop today, we have a few other goodies as well.

Mason Jar Zip Bags
These cute jar bags are perfect for wrapping up food gifts and more. Generously-sized, with resealable zip top, simply add a handmade tag for a quick and easy gift wrap. These bags measure approximately 7″w x 9-1/2″ high and are food safe – 12 bags per pack.

Chocolate Crumbles & Holiday Sprinkles
We have some extra chocolate crumbles and holiday sprinkles from our Hug in a Mug Embellishment kits. These adorable non-edible clay accents are perfect to pair with our Hug in a Mug or Sweet Treats dies. These sweet sprinkles will not be restocked – once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Before I go, we need a sneak peek! Next week we’ll be showcasing our newest collection called Winter Wanderer. It’s filled some some really pretty stamps and dies…a little wintery, a little boho, and a lot of fun! Here’s a peek of some of what’s to come…

Have a great weekend! I’ll be back Monday with another sneak peek and then we’ll kick off the full reveals and projects on Tuesday. I hope you’ll join us!

November 20, 2020 43 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – Signed & Sealed Holiday Tags

by Betsy November 6, 2020

written by Betsy

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I’m back with today’s TGIF. I’ve been thinking about starting to build up my stash of tags for the upcoming holidays. So today I have a small batch of them to share with you!

These cute envelope tags were created with the Signed & Sealed set. It’s fun to fill them up with holiday greens and florals.

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These were simple to put together. I stamped the envelope and label from Signed & Sealed and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I then sponged the envelopes with Distress Oxide inks to add color, and added the stamped “liners” to the envelope flaps.

I stamped the labels with the “a gift for you” sentiment, which is also from the Signed & Sealed set. To fill them up, I tucked a sprig into each envelope, which were stamped with the Merry Sprigs set as well as a pine branch from the BotaniCuts Pine Bough die.

Thanks for joining me today! I hope you enjoyed these little holiday tags…have you started on yours yet? 😊

November 6, 2020 25 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – Woodland Christmas

by Betsy October 30, 2020

written by Betsy

Happy Friday! It’s TGIF time. I’m taking a turn for this week’s TGIF and I have a project for you today that uses some of our BotaniCuts dies that were released this fall, but today I’m giving them a holiday twist.

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I’ve been thinking about the mushrooms from the BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden and how fun it would be to glitter them up for a snowy woodland holiday card. I also added in a couple of acorns from our BotaniCuts Mighty Oak die, and pine sprigs cut with the BotaniCuts Pine Bough.

I also scattered in some small snowflakes using the Frosty Corners die. I glittered everything up using the glass glitter from the Hug in a Mug Embellishment kit.

I layered all of my woodland diecuts over a wood slice, cut of course using our Wood Slices die. I inked that up with some Distress Oxide inks. I layered that over a buffalo plaid background that was created with our Square Dance die and Stencil – such a fun and quick way to create a pretty background! I diecut the Square Dance die from burgundy cardstock, sponged it with black ink using the stencil, and layered it over a red card base – instant buffalo plaid! I finished it off with a sentiment from the Sentiment Suite: Christmas set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this holiday twist on these autumn products! So fun to change things up and just play with different ideas!

October 30, 2020 14 comments

All TGIF

S’more Inspiration with Laurie

by Betsy October 23, 2020

written by Betsy

It’s TGIF time and Laurie is here with a fun project using our S’more Holiday set to create these clever money cards. A fun way to wrap up some Christmas cash…who doesn’t love getting a little green at Christmas? 😉

Hello friends! It’s Laurie here with a quick little project perfect for a holiday gift. The new set, S’more Holiday, is so versatile and works for several occasions, but I just love the sentiment “Christmas Cash”. It works for a great little gift cash card using those adorable s’mores.

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To create this card, I made a card base that is 7” x 6 ¼”. Folded in half, this is the perfect size for adding in cash. I cut down the front with a little bit of an angle so the cash shows through when the card is complete. I stamped “sending” and “Christmas Cash” directly on the white card base. Next, I stamped and die cut the S’more sentiment in a fun bright red ink.

After stamping and die cutting the marshmallows, the little chocolate bar and the s’more stick, I added those above the sentiment. To add one final detail, I die cut the Graham Cracker Cuts Die from kraft cardstock and added a little bit of brown ink distressing around the edges. I tucked it inside the card front at an angle which also helps to hold the cash in place.

To finish it off, I added a little Christmas Cash, secured with a little decorative washi. This is definitely a quick and easy project! Hope you enjoy!

October 23, 2020 6 comments