Blog contest drawing

I will be drawing the winner of the blog contest on Monday.  If you want to still enter the contest, you still have time.  If you post my website in your blog favorite links list, please email me with a link to your website.  Thanks!

Marqee Card

I finally had some time to try this cool technique out.  It's called the magical marquee card.  Jan Tink has a great video HERE.  It wasn't that difficult to make but sure has a lot of wow factor.  I included the front closed view and the inside open view.  The "curtains" magically open as you open the card and it reveals the cute little raccoon.

Milk Carton wedding favors

A friend wanted a couple samples made up for potential wedding favors.  Honestly, as cute as these acetate box favors were, they were a bear to put together.  They both turned out pretty cute though.  If you are die cutting the acetate, I recommend that you use an extra shim with your premium crease pad to get the best crease marks on the box as the acetate does not crease as easily as the cardstock.

Lion Couple Scrapbook page

The gave my loving lion a girl lion to love.  Follow instructions HERE to create lion.  The girl lion is the same but without the mane piece.  The legs were created by cutting a butterfly piece in half and rounding out the sharp corners.

The scrapbook page dimensions are as follows:

Base is 12 x 12 Ruby Red cardstock
DCWV Rustic stack designer papers.  Cut bottom stripe strip 11 3/4" x 1/2".  Cut bottom floral print 11 3/4" x 2 1/2".  Cut top strip strip 11 3/4" x 3".  Floral overlay strip on top is 11 3/4" x 1 1/2".  Title was cut out using my Cricut with SCAL.  Journaling plate is the top note sizzix die.  Cut 2 strips of paper 1/2" x 12" and punch out the pinking heart border on both pieces.  Put the journaling plate down first, and then glue the pinking heart border piece down over the top.  Place pictures on page before gluing the top pinking heart border piece in place.  Picture mats were trimmed to 6" x 3 7/8"

Loving Lion

I just love making the easel card.  Instructions for making the easel is HERE.  This cute little lion is really easy to make.

You need the following Stampin' Up! Punches:

1 3/8" Circle in More Mustard - HEAD
3/4" Circle in More Mustard - EARS & PAWS
1/2" Circle in So Saffron - EARS
Small Oval in So Saffron - MUZZLE
small heart from Heart to Heart in Pink Pirouette - NOSE
Extra Large Fancy Flower in Really Rust - MANE
Extra Large Two Step Bird in More Mustard - TAIL
1 3/4" Circle in More Mustard - BODY
Teardrops for eyes (see HERE for details).

Supplies needed:
More Mustard ink pad
Dusty Durango ink pad
Well Scripted stamp set
Dusty Durango cardstock
Very Vanilla cardstock
DCWV Rustic paper stack
Dusty Durango polka dot grosgrain ribbon

Lion Assembly Instructions:

1. Sponge the jumbo flowers with dusty durango ink.  Sponge the mustard and saffron pieces with mustard ink.  
2. To make the lion tail, clip the leaves off of the floral stem from the jumbo bird punch.  Attach the bird wing onto the end of the stem with a dimensional.  
3. Glue the 1/2" circles onto the 3/4" circles for the ears.  Glue onto the back of the head.  Attach the small oval onto the face with dimensionals. Attach the small heart with dimensional onto muzzle.  Glue teardrop eyes on.  Add white highlighting with uni-ball white gel pen.  Draw on brows, lashes and mouth with black zig pen.
4. Glue the 2 jumbo flowers together to make the mane. Glue the body piece onto back of mane.  Attach the head with dimensionals.  
5. For card front, cut dusty durango cardstock 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".  Layer floral print 5 3/8" x 4 1/8".  Cut a piece of striped paper 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" and cut corner to corner.  Cut the 2 triangles in half.  Pick the 2 triangles that have the pattern going in the same direction and attach to the front of the card.  
6. For the sign, cut a piece of very vanilla 2 1/2" x 1 1/2".  Cut dusty durango layer 2 5/8" x 1 5/8".  Stamp greeting with dusty durango ink.  
7. Cut a piece of floral print for inside of card 2" x 5 3/8".  Tie ribbon around top of floral print and tie a knot.  This will stop the card from sliding down on the easel.  Base of the card for the easel is dusty durango cut  8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  Scored on long side at 4 1/4" & 6 3/8" to create easel.

Mini Milk Carton Carrier

Hi all, I was home sick today and got a chance to play with some of my new Stampin' Up! goodies.  Following are instructions for making this mini milk carton carrier.

• Die cut a couple of the Sizzix Mini Milk Carton boxes out of Regal Rose cardstock
• Decorate each of the boxes by cutting a strip of the Sending Love Specialty DSP 1 7/8" x 7" and gluing around the outside of the box.  
• Cut a strip of pretty in pink cardstock 1/2" x 7" and punch with the scallop trim border punch (Sellabration) and glue around box.  
• Punch DSP with scallop circle and fold in half.  Pinch the box closed and secure with a colored binder clip. I got these in the dollar section at Target.  
• For the carrier, cut 2 pieces of real red cardstock 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" square.  Score in 1" on all 4 sides.  If you have a score pal, score at 1, turn the square and score at 1 on the next side, etc.
• Clip the ends of each square as shown.  Assemble into a box bottom as shown.  
• For the hanger, cut 2 pieces of real red cardstock 1 3/4" x 5".  Use the 1" Circle punch to punch a hole at the top of one of the pieces (about 3" from the end of the punch to the end of the paper as shown).  Line up the other piece of cardstock behind the punched one and line up the punch over the top of the already punched hole and punch again (I recommend this technique over trying to punch through both pieces of cardstock at the same time which could jam your paper punch or create an unclean punched hole).
• Use sticky strip or other strong adhesive to tape a hanger piece on the inside of each box as shown in picture.  Tape the 2 boxes back to back and be sure to tape the hangers together at the top as well.
• Cut a strip of DSP 7/8" x 11".  Wrap around base of boxes and glue in place.
• Stamp and color the owl from Whoo's Your Valentine? stamp set and mount on real red cardstock.  Mount onto side of carrier with dimensionals.

I hope you all have fun making your own little milk carton carriers!

Teardrop Substitute with Stampin' Up! punch

You all know that I use the Martha Stewart teardrop for my eyes as I love the shape and how they look on the finished pieces.  It has been hard for people to find and even the Fiskars teardrop has been a little hard to find.  Another good substitute is to punch the small flower with the Boho Blossom punch and then cut one of the petals off as shown.  I placed a Martha Stewart Teardrop on the left and the Fiskars Teardrop on the right.  As you can see. the size is the same and the shape difference is small.  So, if you haven't been able to locate either of the teardrop punches, now you have a good substitute using a punch you may already have.

Ornament Punch substitute tutorial

As many of you may know, the ornament punch that I like to use in a lot of my punch art is a Stampin' Up! punch that was featured in the holiday mini catalog last year.  The sale of this punch ended on 12-31.  The fact that I love to use this shape forced me to come up with a good substitute for the shape.  Following is the instructions to make it.

This is a picture of the ornament punch next to the 2 punches you will need to copy the shape.  You will need the 1 3/4" Circle punch and the Large Oval Punch.

I punched the 2 pieces in a different color so you can see the 2 pieces layered.  First, line up the large oval over the top of the circle with 1/4" of the circle showing at the top.

Trim away the excess at the top of the circle.  After trimming away, it will look like this.

To get the pointier bottom, locate the bottom center of the circle (you can usually just look and get close).  Trim away a small amount one each side from the bottom center of the circle.  This picture shows the right side trimmed away.

The shape isn't as perfect as the ornament, but as you can see, when I line up the ornament over the cut shape, they line up very closely (with the exception of the really pointy bottom.  But, you could cut the bottom center to be pointy instead of rounded if you prefer).

If you don't have the ornament punch but do have the Large Oval punch, you could punch it out of a heavier cardstock and use that as a template with the 1 3/4" Circle punch outs to make your own ornament going forward.

I think this will only be a temporary substitute as I am confident that Stampin' Up! will add the ornament punch to the new annual catalog that comes out in July.  Happy punching!

Ornament punch substitute

Yes, the dreaded day came and went.  The Stampin' Up! holiday mini catalog is no more, and the ornament punch went out with it.  I have a very good feeling that the ornament punch will make a grand new appearance with the new annual catalog that comes out in July.  Those of you lucky enough to buy a punch before December 31st, are very happy indeed.  Those of you that weren't able to buy a punch, have no fear.   This weekend, I will be posting instructions on how to make your own ornament substitute by using 2 other current Stampin' Up! punches.   I was able to make a shape that was virtually the same as the original (less the ornament top).

Of course, I will NOT be using the ornament punch in any of my new tutorials until it is reintroduced into the current Stampin' Up! catalog.  There are more new punches to play with now!  I won't be getting them until this coming week and then I hope to share some ideas using those punches.  It's year end for my job, so I'll be working late night hours for the next week, but hopefully, will still be able to carve out some time in the late evening to work on tutorials.

I currently have 3 ideas done for the new valentines class.  I don't know if it will be complete by Monday, but I will try.   Thanks to everyone that continues to check back and follow my blog.

New Years Baby

I couldn't resist making one of these cute little new years baby card.  Sorry I didn't get pictures taken for this tutorial, but you all should be able to figure out how to put the pieces together.

You need the following punches:

Ornament in blush blossom for head
Wide Oval in blush blossom for body
1 3/4" Circle in blush blossom for belly
Small Oval in blush blossom for feet
3/4" Circle in blush blossom for hands
1/4" Circle in blush blossom for toes
1/2" Circle in pirouette pink for cheeks
Small Oval in blush blossom for arms
1/2" Circle in blush blossom for ear & nose
1 3/4" Circle in white for diaper
Large Oval in black for top hat
Round Tab in black for top hat
Modern Label in soft sky for sign
teardrop punch in black for eyes (martha stewart or fiskars)

Assembly:
1) For feet, cut small oval in half and then round out sharp corners.  Glue 5 of the 1/4" circles on each foot for toes.  Overlap the circles.  Sponge edges of toes and feet with pirouette pink ink.  Color on highlights with blender pen and pink pirouette ink.
2) Punch large oval in white.  Line up 1 3/4" circle over the top of the punched hole and punch the diaper.  Glue onto 1 3/4" blush blossom belly.  Draw on belly button and add highlight with pink pirouette and blender.
3) Sponge wide oval, ornament, small ovals and 3/4" circles with pink pirouette.  Attach belly to wide oval body with dimensional.  Glue feet onto belly.  Glue arms onto body.
4) Stamp and punch new year sign.  Glue onto belly.  Attach hands with dimensionals.
5) Trim 1/2" circle (blush blossom) into an oval for nose.  Sponge with pink and attach nose to face with dimensional.  Glue on cheeks and ear.  Draw on mouth, eyelashes and eyebrows with black zig pen.  Add highlights to eyes, nose and cheeks with white uni-bal gel pen.
6) Cut black round tab in half.  Cut off rounded lip at bottom of tab piece so that both sides are straight.  Punch a tab in red (you don't need the whole tab).  Clip away a strip for the top hat.  Attach top of hat to large oval rim with dimensional.  Glue hat to head.  Glue head onto body (use the ornament top as the "neck")

Card dimensions are as follows:
Card base 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" in riding hood red
Bassill Bling paper in Sparkle color  4 1/8" x 5 3/8"
Glitter cardstock for scallop border -1" x 5 3/" (then punch with scallop border punch)
Sei designer papers (my wooly scarf collection) 4 squares - 2" x 1 1/4" in size (2 stripe and 2 dots)
riding hood red taffeta ribbon

I hope you all can follow these instructions.  I couldn't find my camera and I didn't want to go searching for it.

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to pop on here at Midnight (central) and wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!