Ferns and Botanicals ... a Super Soft Version ... and a Surprise

Sometimes, it's fun to design a card that is super soft and pretty.  That's what I have for you today.  This one holds a little surprise for you, too! 

The ferns are from one of my most favorite stamp sets ever ... Butterfly Basics.

The leaves are cut from our Botanical Builder Framelits Dies.  I cut them from watercolor paper and then 'painted' them with various shades of reinkers.  They are attached with dimensionals.  I used the same DSP for the card and the envelope liner.

Did you figure out the surprise yet?  I used our Filter Paper for the stamped ferns layer!  It's artistically rumpled and then attached to a piece of white CS.  It gives the look of tissue paper but it's even easier to work with it on a project.  Please do give this a try.  Filter paper is good for more than you may realize.

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Vintage Taupe Card

I think it's time for a little more vintage today... this time in taupe.  I've added a layer of filter paper over my DSP and embossed it with one of my favorite embossing folders.  I added pearls to my butterfly and then added a couple of Metallic Rimmed Pearls to my embossed strip of CS.   

The butterfly is double, for added interest and texture.  My color story is Tip Top Taupe and black, along with the soft white of the filter paper.  It makes for a nice color combo.  

I've been making a lot of cards lately with no designated text, so I can grab them and adapt them to the occasion for which I need a card.  This one would work for most any occasion.  

Are you looking forward to our new Holiday Catalog?  It will be here soon and you're going to love it!

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Tin of Cards

I have found that it is usually best for me to steer away from some of our kits, believe it or not.  I feel like it sometimes shuts down my creativity, rather than challenges it.  Not so with the Tin of Cards kit.  I was interested in it right away and really enjoyed putting it all together.  Maybe I should admit that, with kits, a big part of the problem is that I don't get around to completing them.  I've promised myself to do better in that regard!  I made all the cards, easily in a day, and then did some quick decorating of my tin.  I used some jute ribbon and made a filter paper flower, using the Flower Medallion Punch. The dividers are inside.  I didn't get a photo of those. 

So... would you like to make a bunch of really cute cards... quickly and easily?  Try our Tin of Cards.  I think you'll really like it.

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Tiny Filter Paper Flowers in A Shaker

I've had so many wonderful comments on my filter paper flowers from various posts that I think you'll like what I have for you today.  I have some tiny paper flowers to share with you!

On one of my antiquing trips, I found this cute little vintage shaker.  The holes were a little larger on this one, so it was super simple to put the floral wires through them.  I added a Mossy Meadow CS backing (from smallest framelit) instead of using filter paper, like I'd done with my larger flowers.  This was easier and I recommend it over the filter paper for the backing.  It's stronger and you won't have to spritz it to dye it.  My flowers, as when I made the larger ones, are spritzed with reinker/alcohol mixture.  These are in all our new In Colors.

I used the next to the smallest framelit for the flowers --- cutting all 8 layers at one time.

You can get 4 flowers from the circle piece in your package of filter paper.  Fold over all the long pieces and you can get 5 flowers from it all.  Remember to cut all 8 layers at one time.  This means you can make 9 flowers from 1 package of filter paper.

Wouldn't these make wonderful centerpieces at a party ... or you could just make one bouquet and tuck it into a decor arrangement in your home.  This would also make a wonderful little gift for someone!

For more info on filter paper flowers, do a search on my blog, as I have several posts on it all.

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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More Filter Paper Flowers

Welcome back to another post on playing with our filter papers.  The more I work with them, the more I love them!  In today's post (and my next post), we'll be making more flowers.  I've made filter paper flowers for a long time now... ever since we've had our Floral Frames Framelits and our filter paper.  It's always fun. 

If you need a review of the process, click here.

Here are my filter paper flowers.  These are cut with the next to the largest of our floral framelits and then spritzed with reinker/alcohol mixture.  For added depth of color, I gently brushed an ink pad over each to darken the tips of the petals and then spritzed it all again with shimmer.  I think they're beautiful.  There are so many ways to make beautiful flowers but this is one of the easiest of all and a ton of fun.

Remember, here's how they were cut:

You can use the largest or the next to the largest framelit for this shape of flower.  You will notice that you have 3 other flower shapes that you could use for a slightly different flower.  Try each one and see which size you like the best.
Tip:
To get a perfect center for your brad, fold your scrap piece in half both ways (I marked mine so you can see it better.) and lay your flower back into the negative part of your scrap.  You can easily see where your center is going to be now.  I've used the next to the largest framelit.  I think it makes a great size for a flower.

Remember, you can use filter paper with punches to make your flowers, too.
Click here to review some I've made in the past.

Come back again soon to see more filter paper flowers.  In my next post, I'll share an entire bouquet with you. 

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

'How To' Tips for Snip and Spritz Flowers

Today, I have some tips for you for making the Snip and Spritz Flowers.  If you're like me, you enjoy watching a video tutorial but also find it helpful to see photos of the process... step by step.  That's just what I have for you today.  Let's jump right in.  First of all, here are my 3 flowers again:

You can experiment with other colors for spritzing your flowers.  Let me know if you come up with one you really like.  I love when you share!  To review, mine are Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss, and Hello Honey.

Here's how I made them:
- Open your package of filter paper.  You'll have 4 long pieces and 8 circle pieces.
- Cut all 8 circles at once with the largest or next to the largest Floral Frames Framelits and set aside.
- You can make a paper flower with it at another time (See my next post!)

Tip:
To get a perfect center for your brad, fold your scrap piece in half both ways (I marked mine so you can see it better.) and lay your flower back into the negative part of your scrap.  You can easily see where your center is going to be now.  I've used the next to the largest framelit.  I think it makes a great size for a flower.

- Attach Sticky Strip along one side of one of the long pieces of filter paper.

- Remove backing from Sticky Strip and fold paper over in half.
- Attach another piece of Sticky Strip to the edge. 

- Remove backing and fold over again.
- Attach 1 more piece of Sticky Strip but leave the back on this one for now.

- Using our wonderful Fringe Scissors, start cutting this last piece into fringe.  The tape actually stops you from cutting too far.
- When you've fringed the entire piece, remove the backing from the last piece of Sticky Strip and start rolling the piece of filter paper up into a flower.  Roll as tightly as you can.

Tip:
For a small flower, just roll up the 1 piece of filter paper.  For a larger flower, roll a second piece (prepared using the steps above) of filter paper around your first rolled piece.
You'll have 4 long pieces of filter paper in your package, so you can make 4 smaller flowers or 2 fluffier flowers.  This is how I made my flowers, because I wanted them fluffy.

-Spritz with a color of your choice or leave it white.

Click here for a video on making the snip and spritz flower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fecl-k3k_Us

I hope you found the pictured tutorial helpful and, if you haven't made these flowers yet, get going on it because they're beautiful and soooooooo much fun!!!  I'll have more about filter paper flowers in my next post and we'll use that floral piece I had you set aside in my tutorial today.  Then, in the following post, I'll share how I used all my flowers in a beautiful bouquet.  Have a great day!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Snip and Spritz Flower with Blackberry Bliss

Today, I'd like to share my 3rd gift box which I decorated with my Blackberry Bliss Snip and Spritz flower.  Isn't this a gorgeous color?!!!  I love it!  This gift box is actually one of our boxes with a round window on top.  I wanted to use this one for the size of it, so I covered the inside of the window with some punched flowers so that, when you opened the box, you wouldn't be looking at the glue side of the bottom doily.

Again, I've used 3 lace doilies (as in my previous post).  The white one is kind of pleated/scrunched a bit to make it smaller than the 2 beneath it.  I spritzed those 2 doilies to coordinate with the flower.  I've also used some of our Blackberry Bliss ribbon.  It is gorgeous and it's so easy to work with it.

 Come back soon to see all 3 gift boxes again, along with some 'how to' tips for making the flowers.

Click here for a video on making the snip and spritz flower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fecl-k3k_Us

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Snip and Spritz Flower with Tangelo Twist

As promised in my previous post, today I'll share my gift box that I decorated with my Tangelo Twist Snip and Spritz flower.  This box is one of our Kraft Gift Boxes.  After all my previous ideas I shared with you on using ribbons, I have yet one more great one for today.  Let's take a look.

Did you figure out how I did it?  I laid my Tangelo Twist ribbon onto my Craft Mat and laid down a line of Snail Adhesive onto the ribbon.  Then, I carefully picked it up and laid it on top of a piece of our Burlap Ribbon.  I pressed it down a lot, to make sure it stuck.  Then, I wrapped the ribbons around my box and pinched in the place where I wanted to tie it off.  I tied it off with a double layer of Linen Thread.  I usually angle cut or V-cut the ends of my ribbon, but I decided that this one looked better straight.  I really like the look.  This would be a cute border for a scrapbook page!

For texture, dimension, and detail, I've used 3 lace doilies under my flower.  The white one is kind of pleated/scrunched a bit to make it smaller than the 2 beneath it.  I spritzed those 2 doilies to coordinate with the flower. 

Come back soon to see my next flower.  We'll be using Blackberry Bliss.  It is gorgeous!!!

Click here for a video on making the snip and spritz flower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fecl-k3k_Us

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- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

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Snip and Spritz Flower in Hello Honey

In my previous post, I showed you 3 gift boxes I decorated with my Snip and Spritz flowers.  I promised to show close-ups and give more details in my next posts.  Today, let's start with one of our new In Colors, Hello Honey.  It is a beautiful shade of yellow and perfect for making Snip and Spritz flowers.  I used mine to decorate one of our Tag A Bag Gift Boxes.  Take a look at how it turned out.

To avoid the temptation of having candy treats around, I filled mine with filler... all ready now to add something good on top of it when I need a quick and cute gift for a special someone.
Tip:  
When you're able to use a neutral color of filler like this one, I use what's called caremail Eco Packing.  It comes in a huge bag in the mailing section of Staple's and it's only about $5.00.

If you need a color to coordinate better than just neutral, try cutting tiny slivers of coordinating CS, crumple it up and add to your beautiful gift box.

I used 2 different designs from our Lullaby DSP to wrap around my box.  The ribbon is Lost Lagoon, which I love using with Hello Honey.
I've added a 'crumpled' doily (spritzed first) beneath my flower, to give added texture and detail to my project.

Come back soon to see my next flower.  We'll be using Tangelo Twist. 

Click here for a video on making the snip and spritz flower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fecl-k3k_Us

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Snip and Spritz Flowers

You've seen lots of flowers that I've made over time.  They are all fun, quick and easy.  Today, I'd like to share another technique for beautiful flowers... created with our filter paper.  With 1 package of filter paper, you'll be able to make one framelit flower (more on that later) + 2 snip and spritz flowers.

Here are my fringed flowers, made with filter paper.  These are so much fun!  I used our new fringe scissors to make them.  After you see how cute they are, scroll down and click to watch the video so you can make your own.  I used mine to decorate some packages.

 Click here for a video on making the snip and spritz flower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fecl-k3k_Us

In my next posts, I'll be sharing some close-ups and more details on these gorgeous little flowers.  Come back soon and check it out.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Punched Filter Paper Flower Tutorial

Happy March!  Let's begin the new month with a touch of Spring --- a punched filter paper flower and card, AND tutorial.

Here's the card I made with my flower:

Here's how you do it:

Gather together 3 scallop circle punches:

• 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch
• 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch
• 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch

Your filter paper package contains flat papers and circles.  I used the flat papers for this project.

Punch 4-5 circles for each size.  (I used 5 for my flowers.)

Important Tip:
When you punch out a circle from the filter paper, sometimes it gets almost stuck in your punch and the edges come out a little fuzzy.
If this happens to you, place a piece of scrap paper over the filter paper and punch both layers together.  It comes out crisp and clean every time.

Stack up all your layers together, lay them on your piercing mat and pierce a hole through all the layers.
Tip:
Insert your brad and push it gently into the mat.  Now you can pick up all the layers of your flower in one piece.
Bend the prongs back to hold your brad in place.

Fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff, fluff...  The more you do it, the better your flower looks.

Now you can decide if you want to leave your flower white or spritz it with some reinker in your Stampin' Spritzer.  I decided to go with a Calypso Coral, to go with the card I had in mind for this project.

Here's another view of my card, using the punched filter paper flower.  I have added DSP (Tea for Two) to the envelope flap so it will coordinate with my card.

So now it's time for you to gather up your punches and filter paper and get to work.  What will you create today?  Will you leave your flower white or choose a color?

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.