Sketch Template Series, Part 3

Today's post brings us to Part 3 in our sketch template series.  I really like this sketch a lot and find it quite useful and versatile.

 

Here's what we made with this sketch:

Jenn's card makes use of circle and square punches.  I love how she used just a tiny bit of stamping in the top corner.

For this card, I used the A Round Array stamp set with the papers from the Sent with Love Promotional.  My sentiment is stamped directly onto the cotton ribbon.

I had both my sea stamp sets out, playing with them and decided to make a second card with this template.  I used the cotton ribbon for my 'flag' piece.  I grunged it up a bit with Soft Suede ink.

I love how Lynn layered her squares for this design.  Isn't this a great card?

- 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.

Sketch Template Series, Part 2

Are you up for another great sketch template?  Here we go for today's sketch #2 of our Team project.

I have several cards today, using this template.  You may notice that we are keeping these simple.  Our goal is to share that you can make great cards without them being overly complicated.  While it's fun to make a super fancy card with all the bells and whistles, the reality is that we don't have time to make every card be this way.  You may also notice that it is incredibly fun to make a simple card that looks really great.  It is very rewarding.

Sketch #2 has a border down the front, rather than covering all the front of the card.  Notice how Jenn used a cute little scallop border tucked into one side of the card.  This card showcases the pinwheel die, which works so well with the Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP.

This is a card I made from the Dude, You're Welcome Kit.  I'll be sharing more of these cards soon.  I also used the little 'speckled' stamp from the Paper Pumpkin Welcome Kit.  I just love that stamp!

This card showcases the Tea for Two DSP and the Oh, Hello stamp set.  I stamped over the En Francais background and then cut the layers out with our framelits.

I cut the embossed layer a little shorter for this card, to show how you can vary the design.  You could also change the card to a landscape orientation. 

So there you have it.  Some great cards that look great and feel great to make!  Have you tried a template sketch yet to jump-start your creativity?  Get going now and have a super day!

Everybunny Loves a Framed Bunny Project

I love bunnies.  There is just something so cute about them ... unless, of course, they're eating up your plants and vegetables.  That has been known to happen to us --- a lot.  So... I decided to create bunnies that won't do anything but look really cute.  In today's post meet Bob, my super cute (and nice) bunny.

Here is my Crumb Cake bunny, sporting our new Natural Trim ribbon.  I love this ribbon because it adds a ton of texture to any project and it's really easy to work with it.

I added a cute little banner to this framed project, using our Hearts A Flutter Framelits.  The paper is Tea for Two DSP.

 

Tip:
To create a banner that will 'hang' from our linen thread, I scored a little line at the top of each banner piece where I wanted to fold it over (about 1/4" from the end) and then I added a line of Liquid Tombow adhesive and folded it over the thread.  It stays in place beautifully.  I also added a dot of Liquid Tombow at each end of the thread, to attach it to the frame.  The ends of each banner piece are loose.

What bunny would be complete without a fancy tail.  This tail is a flower from our Artisan Kit.  The kit has all kinds of cute buttons and flowers in it, along with some gorgeous lace.

To complete the frame, I added a strip of ribbon flowers.  Now our bunny can live in a beautiful place and he won't eat a bite of the flowers, I promise.  

Here's a peek at all you get in the Artisan Kit.  Doesn't it just wake up your creativity?

For further inspiration, here is a peek at some display boards (from the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference) using items from the kit.

So, have a great day and a great weekend.  I'm off to deal with Day 6 in my Work Like a Dog mission.  It's going well, but I'm getting a little tired.  I'm thrilled to say that I've crossed off a ton of items from my To Do list.

Up next:
Baby bunny framed projects...
More Spring projects...
April class schedule...
This and That...

Coming soon --- This and That --- a smash book.
For now:  Sign up on FB to win a free vacation, compliments of Stampin' Up!  Click the link and watch a video to learn more about a smash book.

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.

Fancy Gift Boxes

I took a good look at the boxes that packaged our Essentials Designer Fabrics and knew they were too nice to throw out into the recycle bin.  I came up with some fancy gift boxes.

Remember my large Filter Paper flowers?  I knew they'd look great on a fancy gift box!

I made coordinating gift cards for them, too, by adding coordinating DSP to the flap on the envelopes.

I even put matching tissue paper inside each box.  Now, we just need to add a nice gift and give it to someone very special.

Come back soon to see my manly gift boxes.  Have a great day and a great weekend.

- 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.

Pop-Up Posies... Popping up Some Fun!

I love kits.  They satisfy your need to be creative, even when you're short on time... and they challenge your creativity to use them in unique ways.  

The Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit is just plain tons of fun.  Would you like to see what all I've made with it so far?  Here you go! 

The kit comes with 3 different kinds of precut flower pieces, embossed tags, Baker's Twine for the tags, fancy brads and even a stamp, so you can stamp on the tag.

I used a stamp from Tea Shoppe for the tag on the card above.  I've added a little heart clip to my card, too.  Don't you love the Tea for Two DSP?

You don't have to make cards, either.  They can be used for other projects as well.  You can use the flowers on the tags for a fabulous look to your gift packages.

Come back for my next post and see more projects using this fabulous kit. 

2 Little Mini Albums

In addition to our banner, we made a little mini album at our last Hostess Scrapbook Club.  I made 2 DSP versions, to show you the potential for these.

I had some retired gift bags left over from a previous Stampin' Up! catalog, so I used those.  You could use most any kind of little paper bag.  I've made lots of them using paper lunch bags and punched an entire row of holes along the spine and then added lots of ribbons to coordinate with the papers.  For these little albums for club, I just punched 2 holes and then added a little CS piece for the spine.

Here's how you go about making a paper bag album:

Choose the paper bags you'd like to use.  I think 5 works well for this project, but you could use a few more if you'd like to do so.
Using your grid paper, mark your holes.  Punch 2 or 3 bags at a time, using the Crop-A-Dile.

Choose your papers and your ribbons.  NO... I did not use these ribbons with these papers.  The ribbons are for one of my bags and the papers were for the albums for club members.  I didn't want you to think I'd lost it:)
Your measurements for your papers and your little spine piece of CS are based on the size of your paper bags.

These are the sizes I used for my pages --- 3 1/4 X 5 1/2" DSP or CS.  If you want to stamp on the inside pages, then use a very light DSP background, such as First Edition, or cover every page with DSP and attach stamped embellishments.  The CS for the spine is a 3 1/2" square.
I scored it at 1 1/2" and again at 2" and then marked the holes and punched them, to line up with the holes in the paper bags.

When you make a mini album using paper bags, you create a natural pocket in between each page.  You can cut CS pieces and add tabs to them, using these --- 1 per pocket --- to add further stamped images and photos.  You can add stamped images and embellishments to every page.  If you make a mini album for a vacation trip, you can add tickets and mementos inside the pockets.  The possibilities are endless.

I used a 12" piece of ribbon for the tie, to hold the mini album together.
Optional:  Add a second sprig of ribbon in a coordinating color.

Close-ups:

 

Now I stopped at this point and sent everyone off to add the finishing touches to their own albums, following their own path of creativity.    

Here is an old album I made using paper lunch bags.  I cut them down slightly, so they'd be more of a square.  This one has a lot of pages.  

Another option:

If you don't want to use paper bags, then just use CS pieces, cut to the size you'd like for your pages.  Attach them together the same as I did my paper bag album and embellish them to your heart's content.  You won't have the option of having pockets with pull-out pieces, so you'll just add your photos directly onto your pages.  You can make a mini album be pretty much whatever you can dream up! 

So... start dreaming and then go create!!!  Let me know what you come up with for your mini album!   

Come back soon and see my next posts:  more calendars, more wreaths...   lots of fun waiting for you!

- 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.