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Norine Borys

TGIF – Frosty Thank You with Norine

by Betsy December 10, 2021

written by Betsy

Happy Friday! It’s TGIF time and Norine is here today with the most beautiful wintery thank you card. Her timing is perfect…we’re supposed to get our first winter storm of the year today, so I’m in the mood for some frosty goodness. 🙂

Hello Greetery friends, Norine back with you today with a thank you card that is a bit of a cross-over between Christmas and Winter. Your choice. It can be anything you need it to be, and if you’re finished Christmas card crafting then this card has you covered for the thank yous that come next!

I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t set out to make this precise card. I didn’t have anything specific in mind and no particular inspiration, so I just sifted through my Greetery sets and pulled all the ones that appealed to me in the moment…..

which ended up being a stack like this! Ultimately I used only a fraction of these stamps/dies, but that’s an indication of how the creative process works for me some days.

The first stamp set I was inspired by was the red rubber Fond of Foliage background stamp, which I inked up with three shades of blue/green inks – Ranger Distress Speckled Egg, Bundled Sage and Stormy Sky. I spritzed the stamp liberally with water from a mister bottle and closed the stamp positioner onto a watercolor paper panel, leaving it closed for a minute or two, to really soak into the cardstock. I chose those colors because I felt that they nicely straddled a Christmas or Winter theme.

Once dry (helped along with my heat tool) I stamped a second layer of unfocused detail around the edges and 2 corners of the panel, using Iced Spruce Distress ink and the Big Plans background stamp.

Next, I stenciled and glitter embossed a snowflake die cut from the Snowflake Soiree die and stencil set, I die cut the pine boughs with the Botanicuts Pine Bough die set from watercolor paper and painted them with the smoosh technique and more Ranger Distress Ink colors. I layered them together, then touched the edges randomly with Embossing paste and Silver glimmer paste, then touched the paste in sparkle glitter and let them dry.

I die cut a leafy branch from vellum paper with a die in the Signed, Sealed With A Kiss set, and die cut both the inside and outside die cuts from watercolor paper using the Inside and Out Berry Branch set, painting them with varying shades of blue/green ink/paint. Then I hot foiled the Opposites Attract Thank You sentiment using Spellbinders Sky Bright Glimmer foil and die cutting afterwards. I die cut extra layers of the “thank you” sentiment to give the greeting extra oomph. Then I layered all the components together and adhered the layers, with the snowflake to finish on top. Some clear flat sequins finish the card.

Thank you for your interest, for stopping by today and have a lovely day!

December 10, 2021 23 comments

TGIF – Holiday Box Top Berries with Norine

by Betsy October 8, 2021

written by Betsy

Happy Friday, friends! It’s been a totally fun week, but I have to admit, I’m ready for the weekend! We’ll be working hard here today to get as many of the release orders out the door as we can! One thing to note…Monday is a postal holiday. We’ll work hard to get as many out as we can Friday and Saturday AM, and then *hopefully* we’ll be able to get the remainder out on Tuesday when the mail picks up again after the Monday holiday! We know waiting isn’t fun! 😊

Anyway! Norine is here today to round out our week with the most gorgeous project using some of the goodies from the new release. Bonus! 🙂

Hello Greetery friends! Welcome back to another TGIF post! I have one more project to share from the Christmas Time release that hit the store yesterday!

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I made this card, using the Ornament Box Top Vertical stamp and die along with the Winterberry stamps and dies and the Pine Wisp dies. Actually, there’s also a few sprigs of greenery from other Greetery sets that I had stashed in my leftovers bag from other projects. I had the card put together and finished (I thought) but it just didn’t seem full enough and the L.O. bag was within reach, so that’s what I turned to!

I started by stamping the vertical Ornament Box Top onto Neenah Solar White cardstock, and trimming the sides slightly smaller than A2. While the stamp was set up in the MISTI, I stamped a few more, for some other just-in-case situation, including one with red ink.

Next, I stamped the base layers of the large Winterberry clusters then added the detail layers with stamps. I also deepened some of the shaded areas with some Copic markers, then I die cut the whole berry cluster. I die cut the three smallest wisps in the Pine Wisp set from heavy weight white cardstock then colored them with Copic markers as I’m not as adept at ink blending color onto the wispy pine needles without bending and mashing them.

To give the pine wisps a frosty, freezey appearance, I smeared some embossing paste onto my craft mat, added liquid glue to it and smooshed them together until it was the consistency that would easily stick to the wisps when brushed on with a palette knife. Then I poured clear glass glitter over the paste and set them aside to dry and harden. The liquid glue added to the paste makes it softer and more malleable and helps it stick to paper, and then once the adhesive dries, it gives the paste a more translucent quality which which helps the glass glitter/snow remain the focus!

I adhered the Ornament Box Top panel to a folded card base, then using the coordinating dies for the Box Top stamp, I die cut the Merry and Bright banner at the top, and the 100% guarantee badge at the bottom from the red stamped panel. I die-cut extra layers for each of those shapes and stacked and adhered them together before gluing them to the card base, right on top of the original images. Then I assembled the Winterberry bouquet along the side, lining up the straight cut edge with the stamped design and adding in the Pine Wisps and a few small leftover stamped leaf die cuts in my stash. I used strong liquid adhesive to adhere the cluster to the card front, because that gave me a quick minute to tug and tuck until I was satisfied.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you got some inspiration for your own paper crafting projects!

October 8, 2021 22 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – Signed & Sealed Florals with Norine + Save the Date!

by Betsy August 6, 2021

written by Betsy

Happy Friday! It’s time for our weekly dose of Friday inspiration, but before we get to that, a bit of fun news! We have some new products heading to the shop next week! We’ll be sharing sneak peeks and a day of projects before the new products go up in the shop next Friday, August 13.

And now let’s turn it over to Norine for all of the details of the beautiful project she has for you today!

Hello Greetery friends! It’s another Greetery Inspiration Friday, and I’m happy to be back to share a pretty little card incorporating bits and pieces from some of the older Greetery products! My goal was to create a visual of opening an envelope and having tumble of flowers pour out!

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I began with a lightly inked Shiplap die cut background, adhered to a card panel and folded card base. Then I stamped and die cut an envelope from heavy weight white cardstock. I stamped the outline in grey/brown ink and a liner in blue, visible only faintly behind the flower bouquet.

I stamped a variety of flower images from the Merry Sprigs, Print Shop Fresh Floral, Simple Things and Print Shop: Floral Frames stamp sets, then die cut them all and used a few to create the bouquet. (Some left over for next time is always a good thing!) I used the Pretty Postmarks sets to stamp and die cut the blue postage stamp. (I notice in the shop, that the Pretty Postmarks stamp set is out of stock, so fingers crossed for it’s return soon)

I arranged the various flowers and leaves into a gracious bouquet and taped them on the backside of the envelope die cut. With the shiplap planks, and the envelope and stamp positioned at a slant, I wanted at least the greeting to be oriented as close to perfectly horizontal as possible.

To accomplish that, I laid the envelope onto the card front, with all the components lightly tacked in place, then positioned the sentiment stamps on the envelope, lining them up with a T-square ruler butted against the left side of the card. Then I removed the envelope and put it (with bouquet) into the MISTI, and picked up the perfectly placed sentiment stamps by closing the door of the MISTI down onto the envelope. I like how it provides a solid focal point in the midst of everything else all tilted and askew!

It’s a pretty basic card design, just a little time consuming to stamp and die cut all the flowers, but if you keep an envelope of leftovers from other projects, you’re already halfway there!

I hope you like my card today; thanks so much for stopping by today and have a great weekend!
cheers, Norine

August 6, 2021 24 comments

All TGIF

TGIF – Springy Birthday with Norine

by Betsy March 19, 2021

written by Betsy

Happy TGIF! I hope your week was great and hopefully you’ve had some spring sunshine in your neck of the woods! Winter was back here to remind us that it’s not spring just yet. But Norine’s helping us out today by sharing a birthday card that feels like a breath of fresh spring air!

Hello Greetery friends, Norine back with you today with a quick card that is pretty simple but still has big impact!

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I started by using the Brick Layer die in two different positions to die cut a design on an A2 sized card panel. Rather than popping out all the die cut pieces, I covered the back with adhesive to keep them in place.

Next, I reached again for the Print Shop Floral Frame stamp set from the recent release and stamped a few more leaf clusters as well as a flower/leaf design. I die cut the stamped images and set them aside momentarily.

Then I ink blended with the Banner and Bough Stencil to create the banner. It is from last year’s Holiday Season release and has Christmas themed greetings that fit the banner but I didn’t let that stop me from making a birthday card today!

I selected one of the “Happy Birthday” greetings in the Sentiment Suite: Birthday stamp set and cut it in half. Then, via the magic that is a MISTI stamping tool, I was able to manipulate the stamps to curve and fit on the banner exactly as I wanted. I stamped with Versafine Onyx black ink and heat set with clear embossing ink.

I used some Glad Press ’n’ Seal to keep my arrangement together once I’d fiddled and futzed, then added liquid glue to the back and adhered it to the card front as a single unit. I trimmed the card panel slightly smaller than A2 size and matted it with some patterned paper in my stash. To finish the card off, I added a few matching enamel dots.

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a lovely weekend!

March 19, 2021 14 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: Taste of Summer with Norine

by Betsy August 14, 2020

written by Betsy

Happy TGIF! Norine is here with some amazing summery cards…I love that she made these all from leftover stamped images from her stash. They’re so perfectly coordinated, you would never guess they were created from leftovers!

Hey Greetery friends, Norine here! I’m so happy to be back with you today sharing a couple more cards I created to boost my stash! Birthday and Thank You cards are always needed and my supply was getting low.

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One thing I love so much about The Greetery’s designs is the way they can work together so well. The style of stamp sets, the subjects and their scale are compatible with one another and make it very easy to combine elements from several sets to build cards scenes. Often the best way to do this is just by dumping out a collection of leftover pieces from other card-making efforts and seeing what looks nice together. Because of the effort it takes to perfectly line up stamps when creating stamp-layered images, I usually die cut several pieces of the shapes first, then I can pop the die cuts into one die cut opening to produce several choices of colors and shades. I figure if I’m going to the effort to stamp one image, why not a small stack for later use? Like today?

I stamped those images “fresh” for this card, but I combined them with the jar and string tie from the Just Mason Around stamp set. I wanted to create a scene that would be reminiscent of coming in from watering the garden with a fresh picked bouquet that is bundled and ready to take to a friend. Will I use the mason jar to transport them? Quite possibly! (I love giving store-bought flowers in an old mason jar for a more home-spun feel!)

I combined the stamped and die cut elements, including one of my FAVorite die cut elements in all of The Greetery’s offerings – the little bundle-tie from the Fit To Be Tied die set! The sentiment is from the Sentiment Suite Happy Birthday set and is cut out with a die from the Sentiment Suite Basics Die set.

I adhered everything to a patterned paper card panel from my stash, allowing some of the floral elements to overlap the edge of the card.

Next up is a classic example of what I was mentioning above. It wasn’t actually my intention to make this card before starting but as bits and pieces were laying on my desk and getting shuffled together, I saw that this would make up quick and cute into a sweet little thank you card!

I stamped nothing new for this card except the sentiment, simply combining leftover pieces from other card making sessions. I tend to use predominantly one brand of ink, but even when I do use other inks, I still make consistent color choices that allow the disparate pieces to play nicely together.

The blue jar is from the Just Mason Around stamp and die set, and the green bottle is from the Bottled Up stamp and die set. I used leftover peaches from the lovely Print Shop – Peachy Keen stamp and die set, along with some lemons and leaves from the older Lemon Blossom stamp and die set. Finally, I added a couple of leftover green fronds from the BotaniCuts Palm Die set and the sentiment from the Sentiment Suite Thank You set.

Creating the scene with all of it’s variety of pastel colors I wasn’t sure what kind of background paper would work, so I was delighted to find a pastel plaid paper in my stash to supported the color scheme without demanding too much attention to itself!

I don’t know…I feel a little right now, like I do when I manage to make something from a fridge full of leftovers that nobody suspects is recycled anything. Surprised, smug and secretly pleased! But also the tiniest bit guilty for not “making more of an effort”. What are your thoughts? Can you relate?
Thanks for stopping by today! We always appreciate your interest!

August 14, 2020 19 comments

All TGIF

More Destination: Summer Projects with Norine…

by Betsy July 31, 2020

written by Betsy

Happy TGIF! Norine is here today with some fun inspiration using a few of the products from our latest release!

Hello Greetery friends! It’s Norine back with you today to share a couple of projects with you! Because of COVID mail delivery and moving to Canada for the summer, my last shipment from The Greetery was too late for me to participate in the release posts, but I’ve since had a chance to play and I’ve incorporated a few different sets for today’s projects.

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The products in the most recent release speak to me deeply. First the little images and components in the Destination sets – with everything from desert (my winter home) to tropical (my favorite vacation destination) to North Woods (my summer home)! And then the peaches! My very favorite fruit that I will only buy in one location (Ontario Canada) at one time of year (late August) – anywhere else is just not worth my time. So those are the images I gravitated to for today’s cards, but I still also have all the heart eyes for the watering can in the Sprinkled With Kindness set, and the florals in the Budding Beauties – Summer set and more!

For my first card, I made a little map to our cottage where we spend the summers. You can find us down a sunny dirt road, deep in bear country, and I’m actually not kidding about that. But even with bears for neighbors, it is the best place on the planet and the only thing that improves it, is when family or friends are here to enjoy it with us!

See what I mean?

I started by stamping a card panel of textured blue cardstock with the Windowpane Plaid background stamp and some light brown grey stamping ink. I used a colored pencil of a slightly lighter shade to color in between the narrow strips, then added white colored pencil criss-cross lines in the center of the plaid squares.

I’m sending this card to someone who isn’t coming to visit us at the cottage this summer (boo COVID) so I wanted to specifically say “wish you were here” and not having a stamp set with that exact greeting, I pulled out my trusty typewriter and created a custom sentiment strip. I love the “all over the map” appearance of this card and I look forward to creating other variations on this theme. After all, I didn’t use any of the other maps, or the matching stencils, or other little icons included in the stamp and die sets so there are more cards waiting to be made!

When I said I didn’t use the map dies, I was actually lying. I did, just not for a map design! I thought one would make a very cool background design to layer up against a blue ink blended background with some peaches and hibiscus on the front!

I stamped the layers of the smallest of the peaches in the Print Shop Peachy Keen set, along with the leaf clusters, and also the hibiscus stamp layers in the Destination Summer stamp set. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set and is stamped on vellum paper and gold heat embossed and cut to a narrow strip that I have wrapped around the layered map die cuts.

I die cut three layers of cardstock from the Waterfront Map die and layered them together. Then I arranged the stamped and die cut fruit, leaves and flowers on the front and added foam adhesive to the back side to prevent sagging. Then I glued everything to a 110 lb cardstock card base and added a few crystal sequins to finish the card.

Thanks so much for checking in with us today and we hope you have found some fun ideas to inspire you in a creative way!

July 31, 2020 7 comments

TGIF

TGIF – Fresh-Picked Lemons with Norine

by Betsy June 26, 2020

written by Betsy

Happy first Friday of summer! There’s something extra special about summer Fridays isn’t there? I’m looking forward to some sunshine this weekend, and Norine is here to kick off our weekend with a bright and cheery project…

Hello Greetery friends! Norine here with you today to share a card that is a mash-up between several different stamp and die sets! Just the kind of project I like!

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I really, really wanted to use the Lemon Blossom stamp set as it’s new to my stash and I definitely have a thing for lemons. (Have you visited my website???) So, I started by stamping some lemons and leaves from that set using Altenew dye inks, and die cutting them with the coordinating dies. For a sweet “homespun” look I stamped the Windowpane Plaid background stamp onto a piece of cardstock with a navy blue ink.

I found a pretty blue patterned paper in my stash (Doodlebug Design Floral/Graph) and die cut a placemat with the Cozy Cup Coaster Die. I cut it in half diagonally to imitate a cloth folded over the edge of a table. Next, I stamped and die cut one of the small floral designs from the Balloon Bouquet stamp set. Then I die cut some streamers with from bright yellow cardstock using the Twisted Crepe dies. Instead of die cutting the individual twists to create the shaded side of the streamers, I colored them with an alcohol marker.

Finally I picked a greeting from the Just Mason Around stamp set. I arranged all the elements onto my plaid card panel and adhered them in place. I stamped the sentiment tight up to the streamer flower cluster to anchor it on the card so it wouldn’t appear to just be floating aimlessly. Once again, I’m delighted by another combination of 6 different stamps and dies! i love how the various Greetery designs compliment one another for endless creative possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Before I go, just a note to keep you in the loop because so many of you have been asking about restocks. We had hoped to do a major restock today, but things were slower in getting to us than we anticipated. We’re working through the enormous shipment of dies we just received, but we’re also waiting on a few more things. Since we want to make your shopping as easy as possible, we’re going to wait to restock until those items we’re waiting on are here so you’re not having to place separate orders for bits and pieces. We’ll be working through the weekend, and we’re expecting the restock to happen early next week! I’ll pop in here on the blog when it happens. Thank you for your patience!

Have a great weekend!

June 26, 2020 11 comments