April stamp club - Spring has sprung!

With Easter just around the corner, I couldn't resist taking a break from our normal creation of cards to make this cute little basket:

It was made with the Envelope Punch Board, and it's oh-so-easy!

All it really involves is a piece of card stock and a few folds, cuts and glue dots!

The best thing about this project is, not only did we use the punch board for the basket, but it's also used to make that adorable little bow! 

Two more uses for our favorite new tool! 

Bonus!

I found directions for both on a video by Deb Valder here:

http://stampladee.com/page/2

Make your basket, fill it, and brighten someone's day TODAY!

"Card in a box" Challenge - First Results

In a couple of previous posts I showed you the two projects that I had made named "card in a box".

 I also provided a link for directions. 

They are all the rage right now - you can find tons of them on Pinterest.

At stamp club I showed them how to make the box itself. We didn't complete the project because there are just too many options! If you going to spend time to make an elaborate card such as this, you may as well make it to be the way you want not what I want!

So, I issued a challenge to all participants of my stamp clubs: finish the box!

I asked them to either bring it to the next club or email me a picture of their completed box and I would put it on the blog to share with everyone.

Here are the results so far:

Ronnie P.'s box:

And here is one from Lisa B:

See what talented stampers they are?

I love both projects! Don't you?

I hope I get some more to share!

Another card in a box!

My mom is celebrating her 80th birthday!

I knew that I needed a very special card for this very special occasion.

Since I have been playing around with the "card in a box" I knew that one was what I was going to make for her. 

Browsing many samples online, I came across a beautiful one that I knew I had to CASE. Here is mine:

I love the colors of that Designer Series Paper - Afternoon Picnic. 

Plus, my mom loves roses, so Stipple Blossoms was the best choice of stamp set to use for her.

The colors used for stamping the flowers are: So Saffron and Crushed Curry, Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant, and Pear Pizzazz for the leaves. I "stamped off" first to get a lighter color ink on the solid, larger part of the leaf.

I also used the Bring on the Cake set for the greeting, and Papillion Potpourri.

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 I used a Sizzliits alphabet set for the numbers and cut them out with my Big Shot. The Bitty Butterfly and the Elegant Butterfly punches coordinate with images from the Papillion Potpourri set, so I didn't have to worry about cutting those out.

I used the directions found here:

http://www.serenestamper.com/2014/01/card-in-box

I followed her directions for making a 6-inch card. I do like her instructions because she also offers directions on how to make a smaller card - one that will fit in a medium (or, A-2) envelope- like I posted previously. 

I used a different design from the same Designer Series Paper pack to make the matching envelope. I used the Envelope Punchboard to do this - it's so easy! (As you can see, this picture was taken in the car because I forgot to photograph it before I delivered it!) Hahaha

The card itself is easy, but a little time consuming. My tip is that you may want to either punch your elements out or use framelits to make the process a little faster; cutting each piece is what took me a while.

I used my Tombow glue for this project. 

 It offers an incredible bond but also, because it is a liquid glue, it allowed me a little time to reposition things if need be, while it was still wet.  This would not have been possible with Sticky Strip because as we all know, once you put a piece down with that, it's there to stay!

I have stamp clubs this week and next. I am going to walk them through the basics of the "card in a box", but offer them a challenge to finish it. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Or, YOU, for that matter!

Try this fun fold and email me a picture! I can share your card on the blog for all to see and to be inspired by your creativity.

Have fun!

I finally got new stuff!

I didn't preorder anything this year from the Occasions Mini or Sale-a-bration catalogs like I normally do. This year, I had to wait until the end of January to place an order (gut-wrenching!) - so I'm a little late on showing you new things. 

BUT, my first shipment  arrived yesterday.  Now it's like Christmas all over again! I'm so excited to share with you what I have so far.

One of my favorite stamp sets from the Occasions Mini catalog is called Happy Watercolor. It has two flowers, sentiments, and stamps that look like you applied a watercolor "wash":

I love this set! I especially love that stamp that looks like watercolor wash!

Here is a card that I made that shows that particular stamp used as the background.

I stamped it in Pistachio Pudding and Pool Party. Then, I stamped the flower in black StazOn ink. I used ink pads and a blender pen to color. The colors are: Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette and Primrose Petals.

I stamped the flower two more times on white card stock, colored them and cut them out. I adhered them with Dimensionals to get a 3-D effect.

This technique is called "3-D Paper Piercing". Here is the page from the technique-book class I offer (DSU) that explains paper piecing:

Can you see that the snowman's hat and scarf are a patterned paper? The snowman was stamped on the blue paper and I just followed the lines to cut out, and glued them right on top of the snowman that I had stamped on the white paper. 

On my flower card I did not use patterned paper but the technique is still the same. By adding Dimensionals to each layer, now the name changes to "3-D Paper Piecing". Cool!

This card also features the Fancy Foil vellum in gold, the gold baker's twine and the gold foil sheets -  all available in the Occasions Mini catalog.

The mini catalog also features new fringe scissors. I do not own them. I guess it would be a lot easier to do this fringe in one fell swoop then to cut them individually like I did!

This card is a CASE, of sorts. I combined a couple of different elements from several cards that I saw. The layout itself came from my card seen on Pinterest by Billie Moan. The dimensional flower idea was from a different demonstrator - Heidi Baks.

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On that card, you saw how I used the "wash" stamp as a background and colored the flower.  But, what if I don't feel like coloring? That's what's awesome about this particular stamp - you can use it to color an image as well!

I just added a little glitter and, presto! - it was done.

Two more new products were used on this card: The Decorative Dots embossing folder for the Big Shot (FREE with a $50 purchase!) and the Watercolor  Wonder Designer Series Paper.

In case you're wondering - the colors are Island Indigo and Gumball Green. This card is in that CASE of a card by Michelle Humphreys.

Love, love, love, playing with my new goodies!

More to come soon!

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The Occasions mini is in effect until June 1.

Sale-a-bration, our annual special, runs until the end of March. With every $50 that you spend, you can choose one free item from the Sale-a-bration brochure!

You can check them out online! Just visit my website and click on "shop":
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dandyspandy/