Friday, August 31, 2007

Three for You Punch Box

This will be real short - catching up on posting recent projects. This little lovenote card is simple, quick, and cute. This size card is great as a card on a gift or as a little note to leave hidden for someone special. I loved the story Judy told us at stamp club about these little cards reminding her of the little cards/notes that she and her husband left hidden around the house for each other and that she has continued finding some even now after he died a couple years ago.

The card was made using the Three for You Punch Box. The punch box comes with a large punch that punches the 3 flowers in a row, a stamp set (9 die-cut stamps - no trimming needed!), 3 ink spots (mini inkpads, 2 of which are new in colors - Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomagranate), and the large tin to hold everything.

Notice the texture of the Wild Wasabi card base. This is the new textured card stock that is available in a 12" x 12" assorted package of in colors. The 12" x 12" size card stock is perfect to use for these 3" x 3" love notes. Or if you like them pre-cut and pre-score with envelopes, the love notes are available also in the regular card stock in some colors.

The Wild Wasabi base of the card and the Groovy Gauva layer on it were stamped with stamps in the punch box in Wild Wasabit ink. The ribbon is the double stitched ribbon which comes in each of the new in colors.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Theresa

Some Useful Links:
September Special - starts Sept 1. 30% off 6 different sets!
Holiday Mini - September 1 through November 30.
Recruit Special - Free family of ink pads (up to $57.95 value) ends Sept. 30.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Corner Rounder can be used to Scallop!

Wow! I am way behind posting stamp club samples. This one is the last one from July's meeting. I will also (within the next few days) post the 3 we made this month at stamp club.

Scallops are a big thing lately in papercrafting - scalloped circles, scalloped ovals, scalloped edges everywhere! You can buy individual punches to get scalloped shapes and I LOVE the new circle one in the catty - we used it on a August stamp club card so you will see that one soon! BUT those punches only give you that one particular size. What if you want a really big circle? You either have to buy yet another punch (and they only comes in so many sizes) OR you can learn to use your corner rounder to scallop ANY size shape!

In the card above, the scalloped circle has a diameter of 3 3/8". You can't buy a scallop circle punch that big. So instead you can cut a circle using your coluzzle circle template (the third biggest circle). I will show the procedure with another card below.

One note though - in the sample above and to the right, I used the corner rounder that just retired at the end of June. With the sample below I used the new 3/16" corner rounder that is available in the new catalog. You get a little bit different scallop pattern - scallops that are a little wider with the old one compared to the new one. Both are a nice scallop pattern though, just slightly different.

The first step for these cards was to cut a circle. In both these card samples I used the 3 3/8" circle on the coluzzle which is the third from the largest on the template (that I marked with red sharpie on my template).

Next take the corner rounder punch and remove the corner guard (yes it comes off - some have never realized that)!
With the punch upside down so you can see where you are punching, punch along the edge of the circle. Line it up so the next punched scallop starts right where the last punched scallop ends. It might take a little practive to get the spacing just right.

After you have scalloped your circle, cut the layered circle just one size smaller. Stamp your image, color, sponge the edge if you like and layer it on the scalloped circle. The rest of both cards just involves layering and embellishment with ribbon and stamping a sentiment.

Supply List: (all found in the Stampin' Up! catalog)
Card 1:
Stamps- Year after Year, Hugs & Wishes
Cardstock: So Saffron, Rose Red, Whisper White, Rose Red designer paper.
Inks: Rose Red, markers - So Safrron, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery
Other: White grosgrain ribbon, retired small corner rounder punch, Coluzzle.
Card 2:
Stamps- Year after Year, Hugs & Wishes
Cardstock: Whisper White, Lovely Lilace, Almost Amethyst designer paper.
Inks: Lovely Lilac, markers - Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery
Other: White grosgrain ribbon, retired small corner rounder punch, Coluzzle.
Card 3:
Stamps: Autumn Harvest (Holiday mini, can't be ordered until after 9/1/07), Season by Season.
Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive, Really Rust, Whisper White
Inks and Colors: Basic Brown, Creamy Caramel, Water color crayons - Old Olive, Really Rust, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie
Other: new 3/16" corner rounder punch, Chocolate Chip tafetta ribbon, Coluzzle.

Have fun scalloping!
Theresa

Helpful Links:
Upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog - starts September 1st.
Special for New Recruits - get the demo kit and get a FREE family of ink pads!
August Special - ENDS IN 2 DAYS!!! Get free Love Notes and Envelopes with Three for You punch box.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Shadowing Technique

Wow! Things suddenly got really busy around here and I realized I hadn't posted for a while. Today I will post another stamp club card we did in late July. This card involves a very easy technique called shadowing. It is simple but gives a very striking look to an image.

The card shown here uses the new stamp set, Baroque Motifs. I love this set - I find myself using it for everything lately. It makes fast elegant cards.

The large swirly image is first stamped in Blue Bayou Classsic Ink (one of the new In Colors) on a 5 1/4" x 4" piece Blue Bayou card stock. Some of the little flowers/asterisks are also stamped in Blue Bayou. The large swirly image is then stamped again (cleaned in between) in the Craft Whisper White ink. The white image is slightly offset from the darker blue bayou image. This creates the shadowing effect. Of course getting the white image lined up just slightly offset is really easy when you use the Stamp-a-ma-jig. The sentiment (Cherish from Baroque Motifs set) is stamped in Blue Bayou on white and is then layered on a piece of Not Quite Navy card stock which is a perfect compliment to the new Blue Bayou In Color. The corners of the Not Quite Navy are punched using the Ticket Corner Punch. The whole Blue Bayou card front is layered on a folded 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" Whisper White card stock base (half a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" card stock) which leaves a 1/8" border of white is all the way around (can't really see the white border on the white background here).

Shadowing can be done with many different stamps and even with the Stampin' Around wheels! You can use different colors (try different craft colors and different "shadow" colors). Have fun with it!

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Lunchbox Tins!

Plain white lunchbox tins are available at a lot of craft stores. They can be turned into beautiful treasure boxes with just a little bit of designer paper! They are fun to decorate and make great recipe card holders, greeting card holders, jewelry boxes...

My daughter (Cecilia) has been wanting one of the decorated lunchboxes to keep her treasures in for almost a year! Bad mom that I am, I kept saying yes I will make one for you and she picked out the papers, etc but then I would forget or postpone! Well, then she asked if I could make her friend (who loves pink) a decorated box to put some jewelry and trinkets in that she was giving her for her birthday. So then I had a deadline and made the box right away!

That of course led my daughter to complain (rightfully so) that I could make her friend one in just a few days but she has been asking for almost a year and hasn't gotten one! That was enough guilt - she now finally has one (see the green one below) well except for figuring out some decorative stuff on the front since she is so picky (or I should say she has definite opinions that are usually the opposite of mine)!


These lunchboxes are very easy to decorate and there are many different methods. Most are covered with patterned paper (i.e., Stampin' Up! Designer Series papers) and ribbon. If you are local in MN you can even trace a pattern I made for the top and for the paper around the latch. Some people attach the paper using sticky strip while others glue the paper down with mod podge and then coat the decorated box with mod podge to give it a protective coating. I use the mod podge. A useful hint on using the mod podge - make sure you use a generous coating on the box to glue the paper to the box if you want to apply the protective coating over the paper later. If you don't have a good coating under the paper, it will bubble up when you coat the paper afterwards. But even if you see some bubbling of the paper as you coat it afterwards, don't panic because most of the bubbling goes away as the mod podge dries! Also, you can get mod podge that is glossy or it comes in matte finish also. I used the glossy on all the ones shown here except Cecilia's (the green one). The glossy gives you a shiny (glossy) finish and the brush marks show up more. I think I kinda like the matte finish better and will probably use that from now on.

All the boxes shown here are fairly simply decorated with just two coordinating designer papers. The double-sided designer papers make picking coordinating patterns really simple! The Headline Alphabet was used for the lettering on these boxes (and I covered the stamped letters layered on cardstock all in modge podge also). Use your imagination! You could apply punched flowers, cut out stamped images, brads and eyelets (the new Crop-a-dile punch and eyelet setter punches through these boxes)!

Friday, August 3, 2007

My Very first Blog Post!
Special Fold Lovenote

Hello Stampin' Friends!

I figured a blog would be a good place to share pictures of stamp projects along with directions. I am learning this blogging by trial and error so we'll see how I do on this!

If you want to make sure you get notification whenever I post a new entry, make sure you subscribe (top right, sidebar). Otherwise you can just check into this website every so often and see if I have posted. The address is: http://mystampinobsession.blogspot.com/

So, what will my very first posted project be? How about one of the cards we did at Stamp Club on July 29th! I have a small group that just started up for the new catalog year (5 plus me). Anyone is welcome to join us each month, so take a look at the schedule below (Events Schedule at the bottom of the page). I will also have another group starting up in January if you want to get on the list for that.

Special Fold/Designer Paper Lovenote:

I love using the double-sided designer papers especially for a project like this where both sides will be visible! Since the paper is heavier than the single-sided patterned papers, it works well without even layering it on cardstock.

These special fold cards can be made any size by adjusting the size of the square of paper that you start with. In this case, starting with a 6" x 6" piece of Petals & Paisleys designer paper results in a 3" x 3" little lovenote that fits perfectly in the mini square envelopes that Stampin' Up! sells.

The special fold used for this card is actually very simple but it makes a card that looks impressive. Looking at the card opened might help explain the fold.
Fold the designer paper in half to get a long rectangular piece. Unfold, turn 1/4 turn and fold in half again. When unfolded, the paper should have creases that make 4 squares. Turn the paper over and fold diagonally (meet one corner to the corner opposite to it). Do only one diagonal fold. Now collapse/fold the sheet so that the diagonal corners come together.

This fold is more easily seen in the picture below:
With the folding complete, you end up with the 3" x 3" lovenote. On the front of this particular one, I folded down one corner to expose the designer paper pattern of the inside. Then Baroque Motifs was used to stamp the little medallion on the front (in Tempting Turquoise and Regal Rose). A square rhinestone brad (from the fire colors) embellishes the medallion.

Well, you will have to check back soon to see more postings of exciting projects! Let me know what you think of this way of sharing stamping ideas!

Theresa