Paper Pumpkin can be at your door...

This is one of the coolest crafty things and I just had to let you know about it... The Paper Pumpkin is a card kit that you receive via UPS monthly, it comes with everything you need to make a stash of fabulous all occasion cards.  Stamps, ink, pre-cut card stock, embellishments and instructions.  Paper Pumpkin is a stamp class in a box - at your convenience.  It's different every month - endless variety!  Right now its 50% off, so it's a great time to give it a try.

If you'd like to try before you buy, Stampin' Up has a "Try It" kit (132600) that you can order from  my website www.creativeflare.stampinup.net that is a little journal making kit, comes with 2 passport sized journals and embellishments, cling mount stamps and a stamp block for 16.95 plus shipping and tax.  They're so cute and a great back to school gift.

Enjoy!

Convention 2013 Make & Takes - Tag a Bag Gift Box

Gift bags were last week, this week we're starting off with a fantastic yet simple gift box.  The box and food-safe acetate sleeve are part of the Tag a Bag gift boxes kit.  I love these fresh summer colors, but can you imagine it in Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, and Pool Party with Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper for a hostess gift at Thanksgiving?  Or Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, and Whisper White with Season of Style Designer Series Paper for Christmas time with ?  I can!  Yum!

To dress it up we made a lid by scoring a 4-3/8" x 6-7/8" piece of Bermuda Bay card stock 1" in from the edge on both long sides.  You can round the corners with the 3/16" corner rounder punch, or use paper snips to round and taper the edges for a professional finished look.  The lid was stamped with the Hello, Lovely and Gorgeous Grunge stamp sets in Bermuda Bay ink for a subtle  tone-on-tone look. Versamark ink would also work well, especially if you wanted to emboss with Iridescent Ice embossing powder for a little extra shine and sparkle.

The "feathers" were created using circle punches:  2-1/2" for the Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe DSP  feathers, and 1-3/4" for the Coastal Cabana feather.  

1) Punch your circle out of each color of card stock, 

2) Place the punched card stock circle back in the punch to chomp a football-shaped piece from one side.

3) Fold the resulting football shape in half  - long ways - and snip with scissors to create "feather-y" edge.  

Pierce the top of each feather, along with a little tag from the "You're the Best" stamp  - stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe ink - attach to the Summer Starfruit (2') ribbon using some linen thread and tie it all together with a bow...  With a box this cute it doesn't matter what the treats inside look like.  

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Tag a Bag gift boxes: (item #130927 $6.95)  8 boxes with sleeves.  6-7/8" x 2-1/8" x 2-1/2".

Summer Starfruit 3/8" stitched satin ribbon (item # 126846 $8.95 for 10 yards)  24" length was perfect for this project.

Ink:  $5.95 each

Bermuda Bay (item# 131171)

Crisp Canteloupe (item #131176)

Card stock:

Bermuda Bay (item #133197 $6.95 for 24 sheets 80# weight)

Coastal Cabana (item #131024 $6.95)

Calypso Coral (item #122925 $6.95)

In Color Designer Series Paper  (item # 130136 $21.95 for 40 assorted sheets)

Hello, Lovely Make & Take, part V - the final chapter

Making cards is such great therapy.  Ironically, what's caused minor household stress around here is the bit of basement flooding that happened Monday... since the basement is where the office/craft room is, I'm cut off from my stamps and card stock.  So, today I'm sending cards as therapy, rather than making them. The restoration guys are giving it about another 3 days to be completely dried out... Then I can clean up the craziness and get back to crafting!  Fortunately, we did not have any significant damage to our belongings, but the crate where I had all my Stampin' Success magazines got wet.  While the property manager and maintenance guy were working on the house, I was sitting in the corner with my heat tool, drying out my magazines.  Made me feel as if I was doing something useful, and the Stampin' Success collection will survive :)

On with the show!  The cap of this make & take was the attractive little gift bag.  The idea of the project was to bling the cards, decorate the envelopes, wrap them in the gift bag and have a quick and useful gift.  This cutie little bag makes it a total success.   

My bag differs only slightly from the model below, I had used some of the ribbon from my kit for my cards. Instead of wrapping the bag with the new Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta ribbon, I made a bow and stuck it behind the Old Olive card stock banner.  The Silver Glimmer paper was cut with the 1-3/4" circle punch. Glimmer paper is great - all the bling with none of the fuss of regular glitter.  and those are the little rhinestone basic jewels on the banner that have been part of the theme of this project.  A little fold of Calypso Coral Chevron ribbon adds a little extra color and texture.

"Hello, Lovely" is a great stamp set to have.  There's an eclectic variety of 10 stamps including sentiments and decorative elements.  I especially like the "Thank You - You're the Best" sentiment, because you can use it together as shown, or you can cut it in two and have a "Thank You" banner and a "You're the best" arrow to use separately.   A little retro, a little vintage, a little modern... works well with other sets or all on its own.

Everything for these projects can be purchased from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Previously unlisted supplies:

Tag a Bag gift bags: 131370 $3.95 for 10 bags.

Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta ribbon:  131206 $5.95 for 10 yards

Calypso Coral Chevron ribbon:  130018 $8.95 for 10 yards

Silver Glimmer Paper: 124005 $4.95 for (2) 12" x 12" sheets

Other possible color combinations for this project are: 

These palettes coordinate with the Eastern Elegance, Epic Day, and Birthday Basics designer series papers.  Imagine what you can do with that!

This project is so flexible, there's an amazing amount of tweaks you can do - adding designer series paper or even going with a monochromatic theme.  Great for planning a stamp camp or class, or getting a jump on your holiday gift giving.  Fast, fun, gorgeous, done!

Enjoy!

Hello, Lovely Make & Take, part IV

Here's card #4 from the make & take - the original, if you look at the instruction guide on yesterday's blog, just had the sentiment "You make me happy" stamped in the lower right hand corner, and the ornate square pattern on the envelope.  I decided to incorporate all of it on the card front.  

"You make me happy" is stamped in Coastal Cabana on Whisper White card stock, trimmed and attached with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The ornate square is stamped on the card front using the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I added a 1/2" strip of double-sided Crisp Canteloupe designer series paper - it's all from the same 1/2" x 12" strip cut for the first card, just flipped over to the pattern on the reverse side for this card.  Rhinestones, a Bermuda Bay card stock hexagon, and a Old Olive chevron keep the color theme going.  

All supplies available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net.

Enjoy

Hello, Lovely Make & Take - part 3

This blog is my take on the "&" card in the bottom right corner of the idea sheet.  Ampersands are hot right now, probably because of their curvy, free-form appeal.  The original was simply the "&" stamped in Bermuda Bay classic ink, and then just stamped off 3 or 4 more times, creating a little visual echo on the corner of the card.  I kept with this original idea, and added a little bling.

I stamped an extra "&" onto a separate piece of Whisper White card stock, cut it out and used some Stampin' Dimensionals to give it some pop.  The "you" and "ME" stamps come from the "You make me happy" stamp in the set, stamped in Old Olive and Crisp Cantaloupe and trimmed to fit the card.  Also from the set is the arrow fletching stamped in Coastal Cabana on the top left.  The chevron banner is more of the same strip I cut to make my first card of this series.  The kit came with ribbon and glimmer paper for the gift tag, there was enough to make the silver heart and add just a sniglet of ribbon to this card.  

Enjoy!

Stampin' Up Convention 2013 - Hello, Lovely Make & Take part 2

Here's the second of the make & takes from the kit (see previous blog entry).  The original pattern had the arrows in Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, and Old Olive.  The chevrons were made using the Hexagon Punch and Bermuda Bay and Old Olive card stock.  A little paper piercing added some dimension to the corners.

Supplies - available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Hello, Lovely stamp set - set of 10 (wood mount item #130240 $32.95; cling mount item #130243 $24.95)

Note Cards (item #131527 for 20 cards and envelopes)

Bermuda Bay card stock (item #131197 $6.95)

Old Olive card stock (item #100702 $6.95)

Coastal Cabana classic ink (item #131175 $5.95)

Crisp Cantaloupe classic ink (item #131176 $5.95)

Old Olive classic ink (item #126953 $5.95)

Hexagon punch (item# 130919 $15.95)

Piercing tool (item #126189 $3.95)

Essentials Paper Piercing Pack (item #126187 $7.95)

Stampin' Pierce Mat (item #126199 $4.95)

Adorable Treat Bags

Here's an uber-adorable gift bag to make for sweet party favors ...

Supplies:

1 sheet 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper 

Stampin' Trimmer (126889 $29.95)

Simply Scored Scoring Tool (122334 $29.95)

Simply Scored Diagonal Plate (125586 $11.95)

Adhesive (SNAIL shown here - 104332 $6.95)

Paper Snips (103579 $9.95)

Ribbon and decor...

Step 1.  Cut paper to be 8-1/2" by 12".

2.  Place long-ways on the Simply Scored Board (aka S2B) and score 1" from the "top" and 1-7/8" from "bottom"

3.  Turn 90 degrees and score at 2-7/8", 5-3/4", 8-5/8", 11-1/2" - this will form the sides of the bag (2-7/8" square)

4a. Score the gusset (optional):  slide the paper 1/2 segment to the right and score at 1-1/2 and 7-1/4.  This will divide the first and third sides of the bag in half for folding when not in use. (score lines are at 1-7/16 and 7-3/16)

4b.  Score the bottom angles of the gusset:  Place the S2B Diagonal plate on the S2B and score from the 

1-7/8" score line (the bottom of the bag) to the center line of the gusset.  Do this for both side gussets.    

4c. Turn the paper 90 degrees, and score the other angle of the gusset from side center line to bottom line.

5.  Using scissors, trim along vertical score lines from bottom edge to 1-7/8" line.  This forms the bottom flaps of the bag.

6.  Mountain-valley fold the bag sides and gussets as appropriate, use adhesive along 1/2" side tab to secure bag together.

7.  Fold bottom tabs of bag under and secure with adhesive.  To make the bottom of the bag sturdier, you can place a 2-7/8" square of card stock in the bottom of the bag.   

8.  Fold top 1" edge down to create bag "top".  Punch holes for ribbon on non-gusset sides (optional). 

9.  Now you're ready to decorate! I used 3/8" Stitched Satin ribbon in Summer Starfruit (126846 $8.95) to create my bag handles.  Other embellishments are Calypso Coral card stock (flower -Blossom Punch 125603 $16.95) and Summer Starfruit card stock with "Dream" sentiment (Loving Thoughts set 125843w $29.95/125845c $23.95)

 It's a very versatile pattern, you can make them as tall or short as you like, add a decorative edge instead of reinforcing and ribbon, or keep it simple by stamping on 12 x 12 card stock and using that in place of the Designer Series Paper.

Enjoy!

    

Beautiful Bee Boxes

I love making boxes!  There are loads of cool box templates available out there on the great big internet, but I favor taking apart boxes found around the house.  This "template" is a hexagonal Haci Bekir Turkish Delight box that came from the World Market.  Yes, the Turkish Delight was delicious.


Supplies:
2 sheets 8-1/2 x 11 card stock (here I used Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue by Stampin' Up)
1 sheet 12 x 12 card stock for the bottom (Crumb Cake by Stampin' Up)
1 sheet Designer Series Paper - it's double sided and a little thicker than average paper.  Of course, it's by Stampin' Up.

The decor on the box is my little "sneak peek" into the new catalog, I just got the Mosaic Madness bundle (item 132733c/132734w), and the Label Love bundle (item 132722c/132723w) which is the stamp set plus the coordinating punch "bundled" and discounted.  One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is getting all the new stuff first.

The foofy flower is 7 layers of filter paper, spritzed with Marina Mist ink (put 4 drops of Marina Mist ink in a Stampin' Spritzer and fill the rest of the way with water).  Spritz until you are satisfied with the color saturation and dry with a heat tool.  Cut 3 - 4 layers at a time with the Floral Frames Collection framelets and the Big Shot, stack and pierce in the center and secure with a brad.  Scrunch the flower layers to the center individually and when you're ready, attach using a Stampin' Dimensional.

First, I take apart the box.  The cool thing about this one is it is held together by folding.  In it's original form no glue or tape is required.   The box size is about 1" deep by 6 3/4 inches corner to corner.   Contact me at creativeflarecards@gmail.com and I can send you a poster board template with instructions to recreate this box, cost is $10 (shipping included).  Whoever originated this box was a genius, and I can't find them in stores anymore...

To use colored card stock, however, it does have to be broken down into parts.  There is an "inside" flap for each top and bottom (above).  Trace these on to 8 1/2 x 11 card stock.  The top is 1/8" bigger all around.

Trace the "outside" pieces on double sided Designer Series Paper (top) and Stampin' Up 12 x 12 card stock.  A light tack masking tape is a big help here.  Thicker paper is better, and I highly recommend Stampin' Up's card stock because it is heavier (80# weight) than most craft store card stocks.  This DSP was a Sale-a-Bration score from a couple years ago....

Cut out all 4 pieces and score using a straight edge and stylus.  It is helpful to have a soft surface underneath like a piercing pad or some grid paper.  Yes, the ruler is a "Tim Holtz" tool....

Place a generous amount of adhesive on the connecting tab of the inside flaps.  I used SNAIL adhesive, but Sticky Strip works well too.

Adhere to the inside of the paper or card stock exterior.  The edge of the inner tab should be flush with the score line on the middle of the exterior tab.

Fold along score lines.  

The fold follows an in-in-out pattern, curling over on itself.

Fold all the sides in, making sure to fold each successive side over the previous side tab.

 

Fold the inner flap over - this will hold all the other folds in place.

Repeat same steps for bottom card stock pieces.

Now it is ready to decorate!  You can have a lot of fun with these, they obviously are great candy boxes, and are great for small gifts, gift cards, jewelry, etc.  They're fun boxes for end-of-year teacher gifts, too.

Enjoy!

Bee Box with Nestabilities Dahlia pattern

Bee Box with Stampin' Up Labels Collection framelets and Blossom Builder Punch.

 The name "Bee Box" comes from my 5 year old, who compares it to the hexagonal designs in honeycomb.

5 x 7 Note Pad Covers

These 5 x 7 note pad covers are easy to make and fun to give.  They can be decorated like a card, but have a usefulness that keeps on giving.  

Supplies:

12 x 12 card stock - any color (Stampin' Up's card stock really is the best for this, it is heavier weight than most card stocks available in stores)

Sticky Strip adhesive, Tombow multi-purpose glue or another super strong craft glue

Simply Scored board and stylus

5 x 7 note pad, available at office supply retailers

Extra paper and card stock for decorating.

1.  Score 12 x 12 card stock at 3/8", 5-7/8", 6-1/8" and 11-5/8" (3/8" in from both sides, and a spine down the middle.

2.  Turn card stock 90 degrees, and score at 3-3/4" from the inside.  This will form the pocket that the note pad backing slips into.  Also convenient for ephemera, notes, receipts, photos, etc...

3.  Fold and crease along all score lines using a bone folder. 

4.  Fold "pocket" flap up to the inside of the folder and trim off 1/2" inch from each edge, just along the pocket.  Just outside the score line from step one works well.  This makes room for the edge flap to fold in and stick down.

  

5.  Attach Sticky Strip or a bead of glue along the inside of each edge flap. Fold edge flaps over the pocket flap and secure.  If you are using glue, it may require weighing down with a paper weight for about 10 minutes or until the glue dries.  I like to angle the edges of the edge flap by trimming the top and bottom edges starting from 1/8" in from top and bottom edges outward to the top edge of the score line.  You can see what I mean in the photo below.

6.  Once the glue has dried, or tape has set, following the edge of the pocket, snip the edge flap about 1/4" in from the inside to free the edge of the pocket.

7. Decorate your note pad and your folder as desired!  Here, I cut a 5" by 3" strip of paper, and punched one edge with the Scallop Trim Border Punch.  Then scored it to fit over the edge of the note pad, and secured with Sticky Strip.

Enjoy!

Spring Break Scrap Card Challenge 4

This is a 5x7 notebook holder (see my previous blog on how to make those).  The base was left over from a class, and I cobbled together some fresh elements for the front.  They make great little gifts, and fit nicely into a hand bag.  The Blossom Builder petals were adhered to a 3/4" card stock circle using a glue gun and low temp glue sticks. The center was rumpled, flattened, and sponged for texture and interest. I'll add a sentiment nested on the label in the lower right corner when I'm ready to give it away.

Supplies by Stampin' Up:
Sizzix Big Shot:  Labels Framelets die, Oval Accent Bigz Clear die; Punches: Boho Blossoms, Scallop Edge Border, Blossom Builder Punch;  Ink:  Old Olive; Card stock:  Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Midnight Muse, More Mustard; Paper: Pocket Full of Posies; Tools: sponge daubers, stampin' sponges
Other:
Nestablilities Lables 2; glue gun and low temp glue sticks.