All Posts By

Diana Nguyen

A Way With Words

Paper Hugs

January 9, 2021

Have you sent more cards in 2020 than in previous years? I definitely have – and I think it is something that should continue. So I am making some generic cards to be sent anytime – I thought the Paper Hugs sentiment is perfect just to send out for any reason.

This is a fairly straight-forward card and easy to mass produce. I started with a white card base and inked it up with some Distress Oxides. I used analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel) to make blending easier. Splatter with water and then soak up with a clean paper towel. I used a die cut out in the white corner with a die from the Butterfly Insert .

The Butterfly Insert comes with some funky letters that I thought contrasted nicely with the elegant calligraphy of the A Way with Words Hugs lettering. Both the butterfly front wing and the shadow to the word Hugs was cut out of pale blue foil.

Because I get bored easily, I do like to make variations when I mass produce a card. So here is another one with different colors and using the word “free” instead of “paper”.

Thank you so much for looking and I hope you had a crafty start to the New Year!

Elizabeth Craft Designs products used:

Kid Glue

Other products used:

Distress Oxide Inks

White card stock

A Way With Words

Building a Christmas Scene

December 12, 2020

The mantel is my favorite place to decorate for Christmas. It’s in the family room and where we spend most of our time and I like to go all out on it. So I was very excited to get the Hang the Stockings set – there are so many pieces in this die set and at such a good price! To really deck out the scene, I added a lot of details using the new release from Suzanne Cannon as well as some older sets.

The fireplace die set is very large so I started with a 5″x7″ card base. I found some textured beige paper to be my wall so I trimmed that down to 4.75″ x 6.75″. My fireplace is white so it was two die cuts straight from card stock to make the detailed fireplace. For my stockings, I found some Christmas patterned paper. To make that yellow glow behind the fire, I used Distress Oxide Fossilized Amber on a very dark gray cardstock.

After the basic setting, I looked through the other dies I had to see what could work around the fireplace. For the green swag, I die cut the pine bough from the Create A Wreath from green card stock and used different green Copic markers for a variety in hues. The poinsettias were created with the smallest two flower dies from Christmas Accents.

The twin trees and presents are from the Flourished Christmas Minis 2 and Flourished Christmas Minis 3. I trimmed all the flourishes off the trees and used just the lid of the presents for smaller gifts. There’s even a stack of 3 presents because when it’s a great gift, I buy multiples! Lol! I’m not a fan of Christmas shopping at all.

I hope you like my warm little Christmas scene and have inspired you to see your dies in other ways!

Elizabeth Craft Design Products Used:

Other products used:

Foil paper

Patterned paper

Red, Green, White and Black cardstock

Distress Oxide Inks

Copic markers

A Way With Words

AWWW Christmas Slimline Card

November 14, 2020

I’ve really enjoyed making slimline cards because it really opens a lot of possibilities for layouts. You can still have a very clean and open card with lots of details because of the extra space.

Slimline Christmas card in traditional colors

To make this slimline card, I started with a white layer (8.75″ x 3.75″) that I sponged a bit of Fossilized Amber and Antique Linen very lightly in the the corners.

Whenever I do a project that has a lot of die cutting, I will cut all of them out at the same and do extras so I don’t have to go back and forth. And since it’s Christmas card making, I am sure I will use the extra pieces somewhere else.

Out of white cardstock: Die cut at least 3 holly sprig and 2 branches of the berry sprigs from the new wreath builder set and the new flourished Merry Christmas die.

Out of red cardstock: the new flourished Merry Christmas die and two runs of the berries

Out of green cardstock: at least 5 pine needle

Out of light brown cardstock: 2 sets of the top of the pinecones

Out of dark brown cardstock: 2 sets of the bottom layer of pinecones

Out of gold cardstock: the coordinating snowflake from the new flourished Merry Christmas die

Out of black cardstock: one Elegant Ornament

All the elements for the greenery

Use Copic markers to add color to the holly sprigs and the berry sprigs. Add the red berries to the holly sprig and a touch of white with a white gel pen. I also sponged a corner of the pinecones with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide to add some depth. Once all my pieces are done, I lay them out on the sponged white card base and adhered everything down. The two Merry Christmas die cuts were offset and the two pinecones in front were popped up with foam tape. The gold snowflake was also adhered to the flourished lettering. The 9″ x 4″ black card base frames the design.

Thank you so much for looking!

Elizabeth Craft Designs product used:

Other Supplies used:

Black, white, light brown, dark brown, green, red, and gold cardstock

Distress Oxides

White Signo gel pen

A Way With Words Uncategorized

Always and Forever

October 10, 2020

How many COVID weddings have you attended in 2020? If there was ever a time to make a special wedding card, this is the year! I know many brides who have had to change their wedding plans to something smaller and even online. I had a great time making this card to suit someone in particular – a bit rustic, a touch of blush with some elegant lettering.

I started with some paper from the Through the Lens-Wood which I think is discontinued but the new Worn Wood collection is just beautiful and would work also. I lightly sponged the edges of this Florals 1 dies with a light pink ink and the leaves from Florals 2 with different shades of green Distress Oxide Inks. The paper is muted with a sheet of vellum (glued on the corners which will be where the flowers go so that the glue markings will be hidden) so that the words will pop a little more.

I like to have all my pieces cut and colored so they are ready to go. I’ve also learned that having extras is faster going back and preparing them.

I glued all my pieces as shown above, adding some trimmed off berry branches. As you can see, I used some white craft drops for the berries. The center of the flowers I used some light yellow chunky glitter. I did not like the end results much so I went back and added a ring of glue around the yellow glitter to add a green chunky glitter. I love it now!

The flowers frame a simple white sentiment made from different word dies – I do love mixing up these dies to form my own sentiment.

Before I popped it onto my 5 x 7 card base, I did add a bit of olive green matting to my wood piece.

I love how dimensional this card is and that all the colors are a bit muted.

Thank you so much for looking!

Elizabeth Craft Designs products used:

Other products used:

White and Olive Green cardstock

Distress Oxide Inks

Chunky glitter

A Way With Words ModaScrap Uncategorized

Gate-fold Birthday Card

September 12, 2020

Hello! Diana here with a monochromatic birthday card for a dear friend of mine. She is such an elegant older lady that I wanted to convey that same elegance in the card – so I broke out some shimmery ribbon and pearls.

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This card ended up being a square 5 3/4″ by 5 3/4″. On the page to buy the Gatefold – Elegant Roses die is a great YouTube tutorial oh how to create the gatefold. I used a lavendar cardstock for the gatefold and some one- sided designer paper for the inside of the card. I folded the 5.5″ x 11″ paper in half so that the inside of the card is white. I added a row of pearls to the top and bottom of the folded inside.

Now the inside flips open to showcase the message inside.

To decorate the inside, I used the Butterflies Spray stencil (you can also make your own by die cutting the Butterflies Spray from cardstock and using the negative) and sponged a light smattering of butterflies in purple ink. I also stamped the sentiment “Have an awesome day” and balloons from the Happy Birthday collection. From a slightly darker purple paper, I die cut Happy Birthday as well as the butterfly from the Butterfly Flourish die set.

I used Copic markers and a white jelly pen to color and add details to the stamp and die cut.

The butterfly above the ribbon is also adorned with the same pearls as the row under the gatefold.

Thank you so much for looking!

Elizabeth Craft Designs products used:

Other products used:

Lavender, purple and designer paper

Want2Scrap adhesive pearls

Copic markers

White gel pen

A Way With Words

CAS Baby Love card

August 8, 2020

Hi, Diana here with a clean and simple baby card. I’ve had several friends have a baby recently and they have been on my mind because with the limit of visitors to hospitals and even homes, it’s important to send some love!

I made my own blue paper by swiping different shades of blue paint from the Watercolor Palette on watercolor paper and die cut the onesie from the Little Ones die set and the words “Baby” and “love” once the paint was dry.

The flourished ornament is die cut from silver Mirrorcard stock. Because the card design is so simple, I added dimension and interest by die cutting the word “Baby” out of white card stock another 5 times to pop up the word Baby. I find this more effective for dies that have delicate elements to it – it will also go through the mail much better.

I arranged all the dies as in the picture above on a plain white background with a dark blue card base.

Thank you so much for looking!

Elizabeth Craft Designs products used:

Other Products used:

White and dark blue cardstock

Watercolor paper

Silver Mirrorcard stock

A Way With Words Joset Designs

Congratulations!

July 11, 2020

Hi! How many hobbies do you have? And have you ever combined your hobbies? I love the cards with the machine stitching, cross- stitching, watercoloring… It’s a surprising amount of things you can pull into your cards. Today I am doing a very easy one – adding origami paper to my card. My son got these and gave me the “less cool” ones and I thought they were perfect to use with the Asian Accessories die set.

I die cut the lantern out of 4 sheets of origami at a time – which is a great time saver since the paper is thinner than regular card stock. The paper is so very pretty and also has a nice, almost velvety texture that adds to the card.

To start the card, I trimmed a sheet of white card stock to 5 5/16″ x 4 1/8″ and sponged the top a soft blue. Using an awl, I poked two small holes at the top and strung a gold wire through it. ( I lost the packaging but I think it is 24 gauge or thinner.) I found this to be a lot easier to control than twine and love the shine to it. I popped up 3 lanterns with foam tape on them. The strings that attach the lantern to the wire was cut from black card stock that had the double sided adhesive on the back. Carefully put one side in front of the wire and the other on the back.

The final addition is a the die cut of Congratulations covered with Silver Sands Microfine Silk glitter with a black drop shadow. I’m looking forward to when I could use this motif for a party invitation!

-Diana

ECD products used:

Congratulations die

Asian accessories die set

Silver Sands microfine glitter

Double sided adhesive tape

Other products used:

Patterned Origami paper

Black and white card stock

Blue ink

24 gauge craft wire

foam tape

A Way With Words Cardmaking

Walk in Peace and Kindness

June 13, 2020

Today I am sharing a very clean and simple card – some days we just need that kind of thinking – or more likely for me, all that I am capable of at the moment. Lol!

Recently Els did a Friday tutorial (Sparkling Zen cards)on using the glitter on the bamboo dies. It inspired me to go through my set of stamps to see what saying would go with it. Normally, I find the stamp first and then choose the embellishments. I found this lovely sentiment from A Bit of Fragrance Collection by Suzanne Cannon. I think it is just a wonderful reminder during these crazy times.

After creating my glittered bamboo, I set them aside to do the background. I chose a stitched edge rectangle and sponged the edges a soft blue and green as pictures. After arranging (but not adhering the bamboo) to the card, I carefully stamped the sentiment in the open space. I then glued the bamboo stalks on and the entire thing to a white card base. Very easy but the glitter makes it a fancy card to me.

Thank you so much for looking!

Diana

Elizabeth Craft Products used:

Other products used:

White card stock

Green and blue distress ink

A Way With Words Paper Flowers

To a Special Mom

May 9, 2020

I remember when I was little, I had this pin with this fuschia pink enamel on it – not sure what it was except the colors stood out to me and that my mom liked it. I never thought of it as a color my mom would like (not sure what my child-brain thought a mom-appropriate color was supposed to be) but for whatever reason, this stood out to me. So I am making a card with that color in mind – with a some simple flowers thrown in because what’s a mother’s day card without flowers?

I love combining different fonts to make emphasize certain words

The white card base is 5.5″ x 6.5″ and I covered the edges of the front of the card with washi tape. I laid the washi tape right against the edge to save me some measuring and sponged the top blue and bottom green with a very light hand. I wanted a very soft look.

I love peeling off the masking tape to reveal that clean line between white and sponged edges.

Next, die cut all the letters and the word Special out of a fuschia pink card stock. I wanted the word Special to stand out and the large script lettering from A Way With Words Special Delivery was perfect. The Alphabet Retro Trio comes in 3 sizes so I used the medium one for the “To A” and the largest for “MOM.” This is a great companion set for any of the A Way With Words dies – opens up so many possibilities and combinations.

I also die cut the flowers from Bunch of Flowers die set from the same pink and a lighter shade – I did not want too much pink so I added a couple of purple flowers. To add interest to the flowers, I drew white stitched lines along the edge with a Signo white gel pen. The center is a silver flat rhinestone. The leaves from the Curvy Leaves dies set were colored with 2 different shades of Copic green markers.

I adhered all to the card base as shown above. I liked it but something was missing. I decided to add a stitched border around the masked area to add to the frame and pull in the stitching from the flowers.

Now I’m done.

A very small touch but I think it really finished the card.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom, aunts, grandmothers, and maternal figures out there. You are more important and special than words can say.

Elizabeth Craft Designs products used:

(Note: The leaves and flower sets that were used for this card are no longer available. I suggested 2 other die sets that will work beautiful as well.)

Other:

Glue

Other products used:

White, pink, light pink, purple, and lavender card stock

Green pen and white Signo gel pen

Copic markers

Silver rhinestone

A Way With Words Silk Microfine Glitter

Miss you card with Alcohol inks and Silk Microfine Glitter

April 11, 2020

Hi, there!  The good thing about having to clean out your craft room and then putting it all back in is that you are reminded of all the craft supplies that have been neglected.  I pulled out some alcohol inks today to make a clean and simple cards with the perfect word dies for times such as these.  Who wouldn’t be cheered by such a vibrant card?

So vibrant!

I started with some alcohol inks – Flamingo, Wild Plum, a touch of Purple Twilight and some Gold Mixative.  I just did a strip of it across the Yupo paper instead of covering the whole thing.  I tend to make a mess when I do that so going for a more controlled look here.

I trimmed it down to fit an A2 black card base and added a Miss You die cut in white across the bottom third of the card.  I pulled out the gold touches by adding a butterfly covered in Sand Dunes Microfine Glitter and added some clear beads from my stash.  I don’t remember who made them but you can get a similar effect using Crystal Effects.

Touches of the gold mixative

Such a quick and easy card – and so easy to change up using whatever alcohol inks suits your fancy. 

Thank you for looking and stay safe and healthy!

Diana

ECD Products used:

Other products used:

Tim Holtz alcohol inks

Yupo Paper

Water beads

Black card stock

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