Ode to the Ornament Punch - Part 1 - recap

The Ornament Punch was a Stampin' Up offering for about a year before I bought one for myself. “It's soooo cute” my friends said. “Makes great Christmas tags!” proclaimed Mom, “It even has a stamp set that goes with it!” Today the Ornament Punch has about 3 stamp sets that use it as a base design, but what I have come to love about it is all the things this beautiful yet basic shape can do all year long.

Today, I'm using it as a border punch.

Supplies:

Ornament Punch from Stampin' Up item #119847

1-1/2 x 12 inch strip of card stock or paper (or 1-1/2 x length of project). Shown here: Peach Parfait from the In Color 2010-2012 12 x 12 collection #124338 available through my Stampin' Up demonstrator website.

graphing ruler (this one's a “Tim Holtz”, but there are a variety available in the drafting department of office supply and craft stores. I confess that while I am a hard core Stampin' Up demonstrator, I do have a few dalliances with Tim Holtz' products....)

Directions:

Mark the center line (CL) of the back of your card stock strip. Draw parallel lines each 1-7/8 inches, perpendicular to the top edge. These are the center lines of the ornament. Position the card stock so that it rests against the backstop (hinge) of the punch, with the CL at the bottom point of the ornament. Punch at each CL.

Notice, I have marked my punch with a sharpie extra fine point, to help me keep my paper parallel.

Yes, I know that I am a nerd.

Turn your card stock around, and mark the center of each area between ornaments. Punch in the same fashion as the first side. Because there's not much card stock to brace against the hinge of the punch, marking the punch is very helpful to keep your design straight.

Optional: Nip a little quadrant of ornament off the square end, as I have done here to keep the flow of the pattern.

The “leftover” pieces can also be used to create a border design. 100% used – love it!

Items shown here:

#124301 Very Vanilla 12 x 12 Card Stock

#121078 Neutral 12 x 12 Textured Card Stock in Basic Gray color

#119847 Ornament Punch

#125598 Labels Framelets

#124338 In Color 2010-2012 12 x 12 Card Stock in Peach Parfait (available only until May 31, 2012)

You can get all these products online through my Stampin' Up independent demonstrator website www.creativeflare.stampinup.net by clicking on the "Shop Now" link and entering these item numbers.

also shown: Going Gray card stock (discontinued)