Easy Spring Card Making with Spellbinders Rub-Ons | Little Leaps & Spring Blessings

Hello there, crafty friends! It’s Marie here again from Marie Nicole Designs. I am always so excited to be here on the Spellbinder’s Blog to share some of my creations with you. Today is no exception!

For my card trio today, I have created a set of cards featuring the rub-on designs, Little Leaps, and Spring Blessings. These are so fun, so colorful, and SO easy to use! Let me show you how I created with them!

I started with the Little Leaps rub-ons. These froggy gentlemen just make me smile- they are so cute! I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, a beloved character from the collection of children’s stories written by Beatrix Potter.

I chose to add the frog on a bike to my first card, but I also needed some sort of background for him. So I first took some Distress ink colors that coordinated with the colors in the images. For this one, I used Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, and Squeezed Lemonade. Three colors that are bright, but also have a greenish tint to them so they can coordinate with our green frog.

I added the ink to just the bottom of the card front, blending the colors a bit where they overlapped so I could achieve a lovely graduation of colors from one side to the other. Then, to add a bit of pattern or texture, I took a pencil eraser (yes, just a plain ol’ pencil!) and used it as a stamp, dipping it into white pigment ink and stamping it onto my blended areas. I love how the achieved look resembles waterdrops!

Then, for the easiest part- adding the rub-ons! These stick so well to your paper. Which is good for applying, BUT be sure to have your placement for them decided beforehand, AND place them carefully. Once they touch your paper, they may not want to move! I added the frog to the right-most side of the card, and then added the sentiment behind him. You CAN also overlap these rub-ons, which is what I did with the sentiment. You can see that it continues over the wheel of the bike. I think that helps the card to appear less one-dimensional!

My second card also uses the Little Leaps rub-ons. This is a frog blowing bubbles, so OF COURSE I had to do a bubble background!

I again used my Distress Inks for this. Instead of ink blending them directly onto the paper, however, I first squished some of the ink onto a slick surface to act as a palette. I used three colors- yellow, cyan, and magenta. These are the primary colors, but they are a brighter hue in order to give me a better match to the brighter colors in the frog images. These are also the three colors a typical printer uses, so you can achieve a great spectrum from these three colors if you choose to use them!

Now, I added just a little water to my ink. Not so much that they were super runny, but just enough that I could use a little cap from one of my spray bottles to dip into it and stamp onto my background, creating rainbow circles that mimic the look of bubbles. I did this with different sizes of caps, and I really love how the bubble background turned out!

To add my frog in a creative way, I cut a circle of acetate and added the frog to that. Again, it gives the appearance of a bubble. To help the edges of the acetate bubble stand out a bit more, I used the gold paint marker I usually use for highlighting wax seals and added a gold rim to the acetate bubble. Fabulous!

I also didn’t have to worry about how to adhere the bubble to the background. Since my rub-on image is not see-through, I added little foam shapes behind the bubbles and the frog, and then adhered it to the card. This helps the bubble to stand out with some dimension without having to see the adhesive. It’s such a simple card, but I really love all the elements that went into it!

My third card features the Spring Blessings Rub-Ons. The crosses and florals in this set are absolutely GORGEOUS! I love them so much, and I want to go back and make some bookmarks for my own personal use!

For this card, I first cut out an arched window from the center of my top card panel. This panel is cut down about a ¼ inch smaller than the card base, which gives a nice matting. Behind the arched window, I added some acetate to adhere the cross onto. I centered the cross on the window and left a little room at the bottom where I added the sentiment.

Behind the window, I wanted to add a bright sunrise, so I took some Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a piece of low-tack tape, and just ink-blended on rays, moving the tape a little after each ray to cover the sky. Then, I ink-blended the bottom portion a solid color and splattered it with some gold splatter. Once I added the window over the background with some thin foam, I immediately fell in love with this whole card. So pretty!

That’s it for today’s trio of cards. I hope you enjoyed stopping by the blog!

Until next time,
Marie Nicole

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other supplies

Distress Ink, ink blending tool, pencil, white pigment ink, various sizes of bottle caps, foam adhesive, liquid adhesive, scissors, paper trimmer, acetate