Fringe Christmas Tree Décor

Still with the Christmas tree theme from yesterday, I wanted to share with you these awesome trees I made - they're great for décor. Warning: glitter was involved in their creation :)

To make these, first I determined how tall/wide I wanted the tree to be; then I cut the sheet of 8.5x11 to size appropriately. For my trees, I cut the paper in half, so I started with a piece that was 11" x 4.25".  (This will make the base 8.5" wide). Then I cut my sheet diagonally in half again. You can use the Diagonal Score board to score the line first, just to be sure that your cut is where you want it.

I used two sheets of paper per tree (which will give 8 triangles). Then I had fun with the Fringe Scissors and cut on the angled side of each of the pieces. You can cut in deeper at the bottom than you can at the top … I almost cut off a few tops of trees! Ooops! I ran a line of Sticky Strip up the 11" side and adhered two pieces together. Then I put more adhesive up each long piece, and stuck them into place, pressing firmly. 

Once the tree was all stuck together, the glitter came out! I used both Crystal Effects and loose glitter, as well as the Dazzling Details alternately to make sure there wasn't a single branch that was missed. ;)

Two small stars cut with the Stars Framelits top the tree nicely! You can see the other tree I made in the backdrop of the Advent Calendar.

Supplied used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Snowflake Thinlit Tips

Some of my most favourite Stampin' Up! products are tools - I love punches, framelits, the punch boards,etc. So when I saw the Snowflake Thinlit die in the Holiday Catalogue, I knew I had to have it. I've played with it many times, and while sometimes it's hard to remove small bits of paper from it (especially from the very delicate pieces), I love it!

I have a three tips for this card: The first is to put a sheet of wax paper between the die and your paper. It will make removing those delicate pieces a breeze! The second tip is that if you want to extend your flip card to give some writing room, you should use a regular sized card base (8.5" x 5.25"). And lastly, if you put a little bit of Tombow on the punched scallop oval and let it dry, it will be repositionable. This means that you can use it to keep the card closed (and still be able to open it)!

Supplies Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

 

Lovely As A Tree - Glitter Reflection

This card is more of a wintry card than a Christmas card, and I just love the glittery landscape! 

To make the reflection, I first punched a couple circles out of post-it notes and added them to the background paper. Then I lightly sponged  some ink over the whole sheet. 

Then I stamped Lovely As a Tree over the moon - and stamped a second image shifted to the right (since the stamp isn't wide enough to cover the full landscape). 

Now comes the fun part - glitter! I put some Crystal Effects along the horizon, under each of the trees, and all across the bottom half of the background. I "lightly" sprinkled the glitter on the paper (which translates to: glitter went everywhere!) For the reflection, I stamped the trees onto wax paper and pressed it right onto the wet Crystal Effects/glittery section of the card. I pressed the image into the Crystal Effects and left it there to dry. The next morning, I peeled the wax paper off, and the result was beautiful!

Supplies Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Shaving Cream Tutorial - FMS158

As promised yesterday, here's the tutorial on how to do the shaving cream technique… it's a super fun way to create your own patterned paper. And the great thing is that when you use your Stampin' Up! reinkers, you'll have coordinating cardstock on hand too!

Before you start, gather the following items:

• Shaving cream (a dollar store can will work just fine if your spouse isn't keen on you stealing his ;)
• Reinkers: you should choose 2 or 3 coordinating colours. You may wish to have them all handy though, cause it does get addictive!
• A container or paper plate to contain the shaving cream
• Popsicle stick, piercing tool, or paint brush for mixing the colours
• Pre-cut cardstock that you'll be using as your canvas
• Piece of stiff cardstock/box board to wipe the shaving cream off the card
• Paper towels for easy clean up

Spray some shaving cream into your container. You really don't need a lot - the more you put in, the more you'll have to remove when you want to make a new pattern/change colours.
Smooth out the shaving cream using the popsicle stick. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, and even having some peaks can contribute to a varied pattern. Experiment :) Drip some drops of reinker onto the shaving cream. I found it was better to squeeze the bottle a bit and then flick my wrist to that the drops were smaller .. it made more opportunities for colour mixing with an equal amount of ink used.
With your mixing device (popsicle stick, piercer, or paint brush), swirl through the colours a few times to get the effect you're looking for. It's a balance, but you don't want to over-mix or it'll look too muddy. The larger the device you use, the bigger the strokes will look. In this pic, I used the piercer. See below for when I used the paint brush.
Place your pre-cut cardstock on top of the shaving cream and press down gently to make sure you have contact with all the ink.
Lift the cardstock out of the shaving cream.
With your boxboard piece, scrape the shaving cream residue off the cardstock. Wipe any excess off with paper towel.
Repeat with different colour combinations :) You will need to set your masterpieces aside to allow them to dry.
Another option when you've pulled off one sheet and want to make another pattern conserving shaving cream is to smooth it back out mixing the colour as you go. This will give a deeper colour as a background.
Once it's smooth, add in some more reinkers, and mix again slightly .. this is where I used the paintbrush to give some broader strokes.
These are the two sheets that were made with the same 'batch'. The first one was just mixed with the piercer and the second was made with the paintbrush (and the coloured shaving cream). These are the two sheets I used for yesterday's card.
And tada! Here's the finished project with one of my other designs.
I used the sketch challenge over at Freshly Made  Sketches to put it together.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial - I'd love to see some of your creations! I will say that it was incredibly fun and the next time I play, I'm going to make a 12x12 background paper!! 

Supplies used:
Stamps: Four Feathers, Gorgeous Grunge, Kinda Eclectic, Good Greetings
Ink:  So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake
Reinkers: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Paper: Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Embellishments: Gold Baker's Twine 
Tools: Bird Punch, Feathers Framelits, Snowflake Card Thinlits

Pop-Up Gingerbread Men!

At last night's card class, one of the fun cards we made was this pop-up gingerbread card. The inspiration for this card came from Julie Davison's floating pop-up card. 

To make it, start with your regular 8.5 x 5.5" card base and then cut it in half so you have two pieces 4.25 x 5.5". Then score each of those pieces at 1/4". Apply sticky strip to one of the sides and then set these pieces aside for now.

Then you'll want to stamp 6 gingerbread men on your Very Vanilla paper with the Baked Brown Sugar ink ... mmmm, I can almost imagine them baking! Cut out all 6 using the gingerbread framelit in the Scentsational Season bundle. We're stamping and cutting 6 men, so that both sides will be stamped - it just helps give that finished look!

Apply some adhesive to the back side of one of the men and put on a strip of plastic packaging material; then attach one more gingerbread man on top of the plastic (you can use a window sheet, or a transparency sheet too). I just cut some strips from plastic packaging to keep it from going in the trash ;) Don't forget to vary the heights of the plastic strips if desired.

Now pick up one of the pieces of Baked Brown Sugar cardstock that you had set aside and pull off the plastic backing to expose the adhesive side. You can just stick the gingerbread men to the sticky part along the edge. You'll want to then press the other piece of Baked Brown Sugar cardstock up against it to seal them in.

I cut a couple small pieces of Very Vanilla cardstock with the Finishing Touches edgelit die to cover any imperfections that you may end up with when you're butting the pieces up together. Put one on both the front and the back of the gingerbread men.

I also stamped the 'num-num' from the Oh, Goodie stamp set .. too funny! Then just decorate the front of the card and you're all set! 

Supplies used:
Stamps: Oh Goodie!, Mosaic Madness, More Merry Messages, Scentsational Season (retired)
Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Well Worn Designer Series Paper (retired)
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar
Tools: Finishing Touches Edgelits, Simply Scored, Scentsational Season framelits (retired)
Other: Sticky Strip

Explosion mini-book

By following these steps, you'll have a cool accordion folding (explosion) mini book that you can use to display photos - or whatever you'd like! 

1. First start with 2 12x12 sheets of paper and your Simply Scored tool. (Fig 1)  Fit one sheet into the corner of the tool.

2. Score a straight line at the 6" mark from top to bottom of the sheet, effectively scoring it in half. 

3. Rotate the sheet 90 degrees and then flip it upside down (so that the mountain from the previous score is face up).

Fig 1 

4. Score another straight line at the 6" mark from top to bottom of the sheet.  You should now see the sheet divided into 4  6" squares. 

5. Put the Diagonal Plate onto the tool and put your paper back onto the Simply Scored with the same orientation you just used. 

6. Score right from the top left corner all the way to the bottom right corner (Fig 2).  You will now have two squares in opposite corners and 2 triangles in each of the other corners. 

7. Repeat steps 1-6 for the second sheet.

Fig 2

 8. Fold your creases - remember to fold 'mountains in' and 'valleys out' (Fig 3).  Use a bone folder if you want to get crisp folds.

Fig 3

9. Fold the sheet so that triangle sides come in together and meet in the centre.  You will have the squares being on the top and the bottom. (Fig 4).  If you followed the mountains/valleys when you scored and folded, the paper should naturally fold together to have a 6" compact square. 

Fig 4

10. Repeat with the second sheet. 

11. Put some sticky strip or other strong adhesive onto one of the full squares (Fig 5).  You don't want to use a liquid adhesive that will buckle, and snail isn't quite strong enough! I like to use Sticky Strip.

Fig 5

12. Open the papers up and layer the square with the adhesive onto one of the solid squares from the second sheet.  It doesn't matter if the adhesive is on the sheet facing up or down; just make sure that the mountains from the triangles are facing the same direction (Fig 6). 

Fig 6

13. Once the sheets are stuck together, you can fold it back to make a compact square and decorate - you can add a ribbon closure, and any embellishments you want! In my sample, I added a third sheet to allow for more photos to be added (Fig 7).  

Fig 7

I don't have a finished project to display quite yet - it's a birthday surprise!  Have fun making your own!

Mounting clear mount stamps - some tricks

Do you have trouble with air bubbles, or placement of the clear image sticker when you're mounting your stamps?  Or do they sometimes not stay on your block when you're stamping?  I recently learned of a new technique for mounting clear mount stamps and I'd like to share!

1. First peel off the thicker paper lining from the stamp, keeping the rubber in the sheet with the other stamps (Fig 1).  The other method punched out each stamp individually before mounting, but by leaving them in the sheet, it should give you some extra leverage when you're moving the stamp around.  If you're able to remove the paper lining without ripping it, set it aside and keep it (I'll share a tip/technique for that another time).

Fig 1

2. From the image sheet, peel off one side of the paper revealing one half of the sticker (Fig 2). There is a slit going down the centre of each sticker that will make this step easy.

Fig 2

3. Peel the sticker off the sticker sheet by holding onto the side of the sticker that still has the paper cover on it.  This will make it easy to hold onto and manipulate without having the sticker stick to your fingers!

4. Still holding the non-sticky side of the sticker, bring it over to your stamp sheet to the exposed foam side of the stamp.  You can line up the exposed side of the sticker to the foam. (Fig 3)

Fig 3

5. Carefully adhere this portion of the sticker to the foam backing and smooth it onto the foam. (Fig 4)

Fig 4

6. From behind the sticker, peel off the remaining paper backing slowly revealing more sticker. (Fig 5)

Fig 5 

7. Press the sticker onto the foam as the sticker is peeled off the backing. (Fig 6)

Fig 6

8. Repeat for all the stickers and stamps.  If you do end up with a small air bubble, you can poke a hole into the sticker with a poking tool - just be careful not to poke too far into the foam!


9. To make the stamps stick really well to my clear blocks, I add a little bit of Tombow glue to each stamp.  (Fig 7) If you run a bit of glue on the stamp and let it dry on its own, it makes a repositionable bond … don't put on too much glue, or your clear block will get really sticky and goopy.  Also, be sure that the glue has dried completely before sticking it to a clear block, or else the bond will become permanent!

Fig 7

You may have noticed that the stamp set pictured above is the exclusive Reason To Smile set ... Don't forget that for the month of July, you will get an opportunity to purchase this exclusive stamp set for only $5 with any $60 order!  The stamp set has a retail value of $25.95 and is available in both Wood and Clear mount.  Only 4 days remaining on this promotion! Contact me today to place your order :)

Make a Cake Flip card instructions

I'm a couple weeks late with the instructions on how to make the card that I mentioned here ... but better late than never, right?  

Step 1:  Cut your cardstock to 5.5" x 6.75" - you'll end up with 2 cards plus a remaining strip from a regular 8.5 x 11" sheet.  Bonus!

Step 2: On the 6.75" long edge, rest your paper at 5.5". You will cut down from 1.25" to 4.25" See Fig 1

Step 3: Flip the paper 180 degrees and repeat step 2. You will now have two cuts 3" long 1.25" away from each edge.  See Fig 1

Fig 1

Step 4: Turn the paper 90 degrees and measure the paper to 4.25"  You will now make 2 cuts: (1) from 1.25" to 2.75" and (2) from 4" to 5.5"  See Fig 2

Fig 2

Step 5: Flip the paper 180 degrees and repeat step 4.  Your paper should now look like the one in Fig 3 when you turn it back so that the 6.75" edge is at the top.

Fig 3

Step 6: Keeping the cardstock with the long edge at the top, set it onto the Simply Scored.  I put my markers at 2.75" and 4" so I wouldn't lose my place.  You will want to score first at 2.75" just down to the first cut mark.

Step 7: Now score from the lower cut mark to the edge of the cardstock still at 2.75".  I used a ruler to line it up as you won't have the benefit of the marker to guide you for this step.  See Fig 4

Fig 4

Step 8: Flip your card upside down in place so that the 'mountains' and 'valleys' are reversed.  When you normally score paper, you should always fold the 'mountain' (bumpy) side in to give the best crease.  By flipping the card upside down at this step, we're making it so the card will naturally fold in opposite directions to give it that swinging feeling.

Step 9: Score at 4" just down to the first cut mark.

Step 10: Now score from the lower cut mark to the edge of the cardstock still at 4" - again I used my ruler to assist.  In Fig 5, you might be able to see that the scoring marks we're making at the 4" are the valleys and on the other side of the ruler (at 2.75") is the mountain.

Fig 5

Step 11: Once all the cutting and scoring are done, fold the card on the scoring marks and use your bone folder to solidify any creases.  You'll see how the centre piece we cut swings in Fig 6.

Fig 6

Step 12:  Now to embellish however you want!  I stamped a bit on the Midnight Muse with the flourish from Elements of Style (in Midnight Muse) to add a bit of interest.  The Summer Starfruit piece is 4" x 2.75" and the Whisper White piece is 3.75 x 2.5 in my sample (Fig 7).  I also used Make a Cake and Petite Pairs for the sentiment. Depending on the stamp you choose to use, you will need to keep in mind the placement of it for when the card is 'closed'.  You don't want it completely hidden on the left side so you can't see it!

Fig 7

Step 13: On the reverse side (Fig 8), I recommend stamping after you've adhered the layers, only to prevent adhering that piece upside down ... not that I did that or anything ;)

Fig 8

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial ... I'd like to see what you create!

Supplies:
Stamps: Elements of Style, Make a Cake, Petite Pairs
Ink: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit
Paper: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White
Tools: Simply Scored, Fiskars Paper Trimmer (retired - any trimmer will work, with the exception of the guillotine style Tabletop trimmer)
Other: Basic Rhinestone