July's Paper Pumpkin

What a great kit this is!  Paper Pumpkin never fails to delight.  The quality of the supplies blows me away every time.

Here is how this month's cards look put together according to the instructions, and here is my quick and easy variation.

To make this, I simply substituted the Basic Gray pattern paper from the Neutrals Color Stack for the beautiful DSP included in the kit, and layered it with Cucumber Crush. I punched the butterfly used on the right-hand card, from the center of the DSP on the left-hand card. The white card stock piece went on top and covered all the holes. I got four butterflies (three small, one large) from the sheet.

Having punched out a couple of the note-card die shapes to make these cards, the leftover bit reminded me of a window with a window box full of flowers.   Here is what it became:

I used my long-bladed scissors to carefully cut the frame out, then evened up the four sides.  You may be able to do this with a paper trimmer, but be sure to hold the piece carefully in place as you cut.
 
Starting with a card base of Whisper White layered with Tempting Turquoise, I punched out seven blossoms from a scrap of Melon Mambo with the Tree Builder Punch and glued them to the back little "stems" at the bottom. Coloring the bottom of the stems in Cucumber Crush, I left the centers white. 

I cut a bit of Whisper White cardstock just a 1/16th" smaller than the outside of the window frame, and sponges a background of grass and sky using Soft Sky and Cucumber Crush.  Early Espresso and Cucumber Crush with the Sprinkles of Life stamp set gave me a nice tree for the view.  I taped this down on the card before attaching the window to it.

Two slivers of Whisper white became the cross-members on the window, attached with Crystal Effects.  I used the tissue paper from the Paper Pumpkin kit to make the curtains, and a bit of ribbon for the tie-backs.  To attach the curtains, I used a thin line of Crystal Effects on the top of the window frame, and pleated the tissue paper as I pressed it into the glue.  The ribbon tie-backs were looped and stuck together with a glue dot.  The window frame was popped up over the background with very thin slivers of Dimensionals cut from the edge of the pack.  Now, I stuck bow to each tie-back with a glue dot, and used another to attach the tie-back to the "wall."

I put another thin strip of Whisper White across the top of the curtain to make it look neater.

If you read my post dated October 8, 2014,  you'll find that though I know I can make pretty things; I have not considered myself to be a truly creative person, and have always felt that coming up with something new was really quite beyond me.  However, today this little window card has made me feel that I am, at least for this moment, a little more creative than perhaps I thought.  It's rather nice. 

Happy Crafting!
--Gosia


 If you would like to try a Paper Pumpkin Kit yourself, please click here to order.

Paper Pumpkins are available in one, three, six, and twelve-month quantities, and as a monthly subscription.  Past kits are available by order for subscribers only.

July Class Projects

We had such a blast this weekend making all our cute cards.  Along with the Cheesy Birthday card and the Sweet and Simple card, we made these three as well (supply menu follows each card:)

Wonderful Watermelon

Cased from Michelle Reynolds, this delightful and easy summery card is a clever way to use the  Work of Art stamp set.  During class we decided to emboss the Watermelon Wonder background square with polka dots to give it a little more interest, but this is the original card with the plain background.  The seeds were made with the Tree builder punch from Basic Black card stock.  If you don't have the apothecary accents framelits, try one of the framelits suggested below.

Breezy Butterflies

This is a design I've seen in several places on line, with several variations.  I decided to give it soft summer colors, although if the weather hadn't been so hot lately, I might have gone brighter. The stripes of color are embossed, but I left the butterflies plain.  Variations made in class included: embossing the butterflies in a fine texture, and popping the butterflies up.  You might also want to try arranging the stripes in a different order, so that the butterflies are not in a diagonal line.  I used Crisp Cantaloupe card stock on the card above, but if you don't have any, Blushing Bride is a great substitute and works very well with these colors.

Clever Cupcakes
The design below is featured this week on Split Coast Stampers.  It is a lot of fun, and of course I had to mess with it just a little.

My first change from the original was to add the ribbon, and layer the sentiment over it.  I also outlined the candle on the bottom circle with Watermelon Wonder.

Next, I had to add some embossing to the flap.  I made a second card, but accidentally taped the cupcake medallion down before the pattern paper, so I used my 2-1/2" circle punch to make a frame for the paper, and just taped it down around the cupcake.  I like the way it looks better when the card is open, but not as much when it is closed.  Having the DSP poking through gives more pop to the cupcake.  I also taped the circle of Bermuda Bay back behind the cupcake, framing it completely. This change I do like quite well. On this card, the candle is moved as well. 

The third card I made with a different pattern paper, used the sentiment for the closure, moving it down; and added a small bow to the ribbon.

I think I like this placement of the elements best, as the card is balanced both when closed and when opened half-way like this.

When you open these cards all the way, they looks like this:

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Sweet and Simple

Cased, somewhat altered from Marelle Taylor's card.  I was happy to find such a great idea using this retired wide ribbon and designer paper from my stash.  Stampin' Up! products never really retire, they just go to the back of the craft room....

The main image is from Thoughts & Prayers,
stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.
Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla
The little flowers are punched out of Lost Lagoon
and decorated with Pearl Basic Jewels

You will need to choose your own designer paper--I suggest the 2014-16 In Color Paper Stack
Paired with one of the Lost Lagoon Ribbons, or redesign this card in your own favorite colors.

I would love to see your version--send me a picture or a link in the comments!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A Cheesy Happy Birthday

What can be more fun that Giggle Greetings?
I found this card on Pinterest and just had to CASE!

Using an assortment of circle punches (1/4", 1/2", 1", 1-1/4") , make a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock into a slice of Swiss Cheese. Attach it to the card front with Dimensionals.
Just add a few strips of Designer Paper or Color Stack, using Snail Tape.
Color your main image with Stampin' Write Markers.
I used Markers and the Paper Color Stack from the Brights Collection.
You'll also need a larger circle to punch out the cheese.  The Circle Framelits are perfect.
I also used a Blender Pen to soften and shade the color on the plate.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Baby Card, Quilter's Style

Maybe it's the fact that my cousin recently gave birth to twin baby boys that has me thinking cute and cuddly so often.  When I saw this cute purse by Jose Wiggers on line, I just loved the pattern for a quilt.


 

A warm blanked, the Zoo Babies stamp set, and two shades of blue on Vanilla make this sweet baby card. (Supplies list at the bottom of the post.)

This sketch is today's Monday Mojo, and blanket was made using a technique from one of my quilter's books, which I have, but will probably never use for actual quilts.  I have to put a limit on my hobbies somewhere!





Here's how to make the blanket: 
First, select your colors.  You can use pattern paper or Designer Paper, but I chose to use solids, and gave them texture by using a different embossing folder on each one.  Fine patterns work best. I used Night of Navy, Marina Mist, and Very Vanilla.

Because you will be working on the diagonal, your strips must be longer than the width of the blanket.  My blanket was to be about 3-1/8" x 3-7/8, so I made my strips 4-1/4 " long, although I could have made them even longer.  The strips are 5/8" wide.  I made 3 of each color.


Emboss all three strips at once to save time.



 
Now, cut a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2 piece of Very Vanilla card stock, and cover it with paste from a glue stick.  It is important to cover the whole card, because you will be working with lots of tiny squares of paper, and they will try to escape if they can!

Carefully line your strips on top of the Very Vanilla card stock.  Make sure  the 5-1/2" edges are perfectly straight; trim with scissors or a paper-cutter if needed.

  

Use your paper trimmer to slice across the stripes, to make these new multi-colored strips.  I used the same measurement of 5/8" to make my patches square.  If you want, you can get diamond shapes by just making the new strips a little wider or narrower than the first go-'round.   

Tip:  a rotary cutting blade will work better than a v-tip slicer, because you are cutting through two layers and all that embossing.  If you do use your v-tip slicer, you may need to go back and forth once to get a clean cut.


Here is what the strips look like when they're arranged diagonally & offset:





  



 This is the look that you're going for as you put your "blanket" together.

Now take another piece of Very Vanilla, this time cut to 4" x 3-1/4.  You may use your glue stick again, or if you prefer, Snail Tape or Fast Fuse.

Tip:  the glue stick will allow you to slide pieces over a bit if you don't lay them down perfectly right away.

Line up your strip diagonally across the Vanilla card so that the corners of the squares that hit the edge of the card match up pretty well.  You can see that both the corners of the Marina Mist square at the bottom and the Night of Navy square at the top line up to the edge of the card.  If your patches are diamond shaped, the angle will be a little different.
 

Line up the colors corner-to-corner across the "blanket."  Go in both directions from the first strip that you put down.  Notice that the strip furthest to the left is offset.  This is optional; it may or may not be convenient to do this to get the best coverage. 

 Turn the "blanket" over and carefully trim any strips that are sticking out past the edge.











 Here's what it will look like so far:

 Now, use the scraps to fill in any part of the design which still needs to be covered. 











Turn over and trim again.



Lastly, (looking at the front) you may want to trim the quilt using your paper trimmer so that the corners of the top and bottom rows meet nicely with the edge.  As you can see in the picture above, there is a little Vanilla sticking out between the blue blocks.  I trimmed the top and bottom, and then squared up the sides.



There's your quilt!

I layered mine on yet another piece of Very Vanilla (measure your final blanket after all that trimming to get the right size) before putting it on my card. 

The rest is a matter of using your blanket the way you want on your card.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

For some other fun card making blogs, try Mojo Monday,  Cardmania Challenges,  Scrapper's Delights, and Splitcoast Stampers

Envelope Punch Board Purse

 
I really enjoy making little gift boxes and gift bags, so I was very happy to find this new way of making a cute little purse using the Envelope Punch Board.

I wanted to be able to use the purse as a way to give standard A-2 cards and envelopes as a gift, or to be able to tuck in a card with a gift of candy or other goodies.  I was very happy to find that I could make the purse using only one 12 x 12 sheet of DSP, with a few scraps of card stock added to give more interest to the flower.









 I made the handle for this purse from a 3/4" x 11" strip of Very Vanilla card stock with the Bohemian Washi tape, but you could also use one of the great 1/2" or 5/8" cotton ribbons in the matching colors.

For this purse, the numbers you want to remember are 3" (do not score!) 4 1/2", and  1 1/8"

For the Gingham Garden DSP purse shown at the bottom of the page, the numbers are
2 3/8" (do not score!) 5", and 1 1/2

(These are not the measurements of the purses, but the placements of the punch-outs and score lines.)

Watch the video tutorial for complete, step by step instructions and measurements. Supplies list is below.

Here's the Gingham Garden version.
Supplies list is below.