Notecard Gift Set -- ScrapbookPal.com

Hello again!  Have you ever met a crafting product that just made your heart happy?  I did this month.  It's called Scor-Tape.  It's not pretty, the way most things that I fall in love with in the papercrafting world are, but it is just about the most useful stuff I have ever used.  It comes in several widths -- what I used is 1/4" -- and it is a seriously strong adhesive that sticks to anything.  Plus it comes on an enormous roll for a ridiculously reasonable price.  I LOVE IT!!! (Okay, I'm sorry for shouting.  I just get really excited when I'm in love...)



So I thought for my project to highlight it, I would tackle two of the adhesive-using projects that have given me the biggest fits over the years -- boxes and accordion flowers.  With both, I have tried several other adhesives with mixed (mostly aggravating) results.  I had taken to hot gluing, which worked pretty well, but was a little messy and bumpy and then there's all that waiting for the glue gun to heat up... At any rate, this Scor-Tape is my new best friend.  Both the box and the accordion flower came together beautiful and feel as solid as a rock.  I also used the Scor-Tape to adhere the lace and it worked beautifully.

I'm also still in love with the Viva Decor Pearl Pens I highlighted earlier in the month, so I used the Gold and Cream colors to highlight details on the box and on the stamped image on the accordion flower.  I also used them to created that big pearl in the center of the flower.  The tip of the pen is so fine that you can create accents from teeny-tiny to huge and bling-y.  Love that!


To go inside the box, I created 6 very simple notecards with coordinating paper from the same Basic Grey line that I used for the box.  To create this I cut regular 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cards, then added a 1 3/4"x5 1/2" strip of patterned paper and another strip punched with a Martha Stewarts border punch.  But just to add a little touch of special, I accentuated the border punch strip by adding a line of pearl drops with the Cream Viva Decor Pen. Just right!

As for the accordion flower, I had promised the lovely Ann that I would do a tutorial highlighting especially how to use the adhesive, and I really tried, but the video was out of focus and it crashed my computer when I tried to put it together.  So I came up with a list of instructions and tips to help.


1.  I used the Tim Holtz accordion flower die to create the one pictured above, but you can create your own by cutting a strip of paper (I like about 1 1/2"x12") and scoring it every 1/4" or so.  Then fold it like an accordion.

2.  Take your accordion strip and bend it so that the first and last flat surfaces of the accordion overlap.  Apply Scor-Tape to the last flat surface and adhere the two together.

3.  Punch or cut a small circle (about 1") to be the base of your flower.  Apply two strips of Scor-Tape to it in  a "+" shape.

4.  Press the center down so that the side you want to be the bottom is facing up.  This will save you a lot of grief, because you'll be able to just grab your pre-adhesived base circle and attach it rather than trying to lift your flower and get it to the base.

5.  Press your base firmly into the center of the accordion flower.  Decorate the center as desired.

And just a note -- if you are using the Tim Holtz die, it doesn't really score the fold lines -- it perforates them. Which is all fine and good, because it folds really easily, but it also tears if you're not careful with it.  (I've had the same problem with made-from-scratch versions where I was a little too eager with the scoring tool.)  If that happens, don't panic.  Just lay your accordion strip out flat and lay the two pieces together as if they hadn't ripped, then secure with a small piece of scotch tape.  No one will be able to tell. :)

Thanks again for stopping by!

Materials used:  Adhesive -- Scor-Tape; Pearl Accents -- Viva Decor Pearl Pens; Patterned Paper -- Basic Grey; Border Punch -- Martha Stewart; Stamps and Scallop Circle Punch -- Stampin Up; Distressing -- Colorbox Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan; Lace -- Fancy Pants; Magnetic snap to keep box closed -- Basic Grey

"Wish Big" Birthday Ensemble

My baby sister just turned 21, and I'm so excited to show you the card and present I made for her.  I think this is my favorite card I've made to date!  I actually finished it a few weeks ago and I've just been enjoying looking at it on my shelf ever since...  I love the colors and the happy energy of it -- it totally matches my sister's personality.

 

I used kraft paper (surprise, surprise) as the base and embossed it with my Cuttlebug.  I cut a 4 1/2" wide scalloped circle and layered it with a plain circle and the "happy birthday" paper strip along the bottom.  The cake is made by cutting rectangles in various sizes with scallop borders cut to size (I set all that up in my Gypsy), then rounding the top corners and stacking, using foam adhesive to make it 3d.  I added a paper medallion -- don't you think the stripey paper makes it SO fun?!  The "wish BIG" stamp is from Stampin Up, and I added a touch of color with watercolor pencils.

For the banner at the top, I just used my hot glue gun to attach this mini-pompom trim.  I had a tiny strip of this yellow-with-black-dots paper leftover (it was the back side to one of the other papers), so I turned that into an extra layer for the banner just by snipping pieces off and then snipping tiny triangles out of each one.

I took an extra minute to add some of the same trim to the gift bag, plus I found a strip of a very similar paper (from a totally different paper line and manufacturer) in my scrap drawer, so I turned that into a little fringe.  So cute!

Materials: Patterned Paper -- Scribble Scrabble; Stamp -- Stampin' Up; Embossing -- Provo Craft Cuttlebug "Happy Birthday" folder; Die Cuts -- Cricut "George" (rectangles), "Plantin Schoolbook" (scalloped border on cake), and Mini-Monograms (scalloped circle, plain circle) cartridges.

Now on to the present. I saw a tutorial on how to make an infinity scarf out of an old t-shirt on our local lifestyle show Studio 5 and knew that was just Ange's style. It was very easy and quick to make. It actually took longer to make that flower clip than it did to make the scarf! I put the flower on a clip instead of sewing it on to make both pieces more versatile. It was also very inexpensive, since I just used t-shirts from my "I like these colors but not these shirts" stash. Isn't my sister gorgeous?!

Happy birthday, frister!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I really, really love Christmas!  I would seriously start celebrating in mid-September if I could get away with it, but somehow that's not okay... unless you're Costco, I guess.  The people around here want to celebrate things like Halloween and Thanksgiving, the weirdies... :)  But one of the benefits of being a crafter is that you have a great excuse to start your own personal celebrations early -- after all, you've got to be prepared ahead of time, right?

This month ScrapbookPal.com sent me the "Joys of the Season" cartridge to play with, and I was very very happy.  This is one of my all-time fave cartridges -- I love the elegant shapes and all the different goodies on the cartridge.  My first assignment this month was to create a card, and I did start out with that in mind, but then I thought, "What good is a card at Christmas without some chocolate to go with it?!"  So I turned my card into a big tag for a jar of Candy Cane Kisses (oh, yum!).

I used my Gypsy to size everything on this tag just right, but I'll give you the basic measurements. I cut the ornament tag base at about 4", then the wreath at about 3 1/2" and Santa at about 2 3/4".  I used adhesive foam to give dimension to all the different layers.  I also used Creamy Brown chalk ink for distressing, and these awesome Glaze pens to add some accents.  The smaller tag is just a die-cut from this Basic Grey paper pack with a couple little paper strips added.

These Glaze pens are so cool, because the create a raised effect like embossing.  I was just going to use them for accenting my die cuts, but then I read on the package that they can write on glass!  Well, that's just cool, right?  So I used them to add some vine-y artwork to my jar, and it turned out beautiful.  They write really smoothly on the glass and dry quickly.  (It didn't show up very well in the first photograph, so here's another with a white background so you can see it better.)

Bonus projects!  Like I said at the beginning, this cartridge is one of my favorites, and I use it for all sorts of projects.  I thought I'd include a little trip down memory lane, sharing some of my favorite Joys of the Season cards and other goodies:

An explosion of color!

I decided to try my hand at the Mojo Monday contest this week, and wow, using this paper collection really created an explosion of color and pattern. So fun! I was also thinking about the current contest over at the fabulous Bitten By The Bug blog and decided to give it a go, so I chose a summery theme and created my sun with yellow buttons. The pp is from SEI, and the little buttons for the sun are mounted on a clear acrylic circle. I cut the tag and the S with my cricut (TBBM and MM cartridges, respectively). I cut the little gift bag with TBBM (love the bigger size with my new Expression!). I think this little set will be perfect for my cute little cousin turning 12!

Here's a close-up of that cute sun:


TFL!

It's never too early for a little more Christmas!

I had SO much fun with this week's Bitten By The Bug challenge! Regina asked us to use the nutcup from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for a Christmas project, which is really a great cut. It's cute as is, or it's a great blank canvas for all sorts of decoration! I cut the box at 5 1/2", which made a very good size nutcup. The finished project is about 3" tall, plus the ribbon. I added these adorable Hero Arts stamps, which I colored with Prismas and Gamsol and added some stickles just for fun. The round journaling spot above is from 7Gypsies, and I used a Stampin Up scallop punch for the circle behind it. PP is all from Pebbles, Inc. Check out all the other BBTB creations this week -- you'll definitely feel the Christmas spirit begin to flow! (And if you're still not in the mood for Christmas, there is a really cute Halloween take on it, too.) TFL!

Thankful Hearts

I've been AWOL for a bit because we went to California and DISNEYLAND! It was really fun, and I've got a cool autograph book/album in the works that I'll post when I get the pictures printed and put in. It was a blast, and I'm so glad I took the time to make the book before we went so now I can just slap the pictures in, journal, and be done!

In the meantime, here is my project for Regina Easter's "Bitten by the Bug" blog this week. She sent me some fantastic Cornish Heritage Farms stamps to use on this bag from the TTBM Cricut cartridge -- you've gotta check out all the amazing designs on her blog this week, plus there's a link to Cornish Heritage and a cool contest they're sponsoring. It's http://www.regina-bittenbythebug.com.