Little Black Dress Pop 'n Cuts

Christmas came a bit early at my house; my box of preorder goodies from the new Spring catalog arrived!  Though it was hard to choose, the first thing I tried was the new Dress Form Pop 'n Cuts die and the coordinating All Dressed Up Framelits and stamp set.

Oh my is this set going to be fun!  Pop-ups have never been so easy (or so cute!)

The dress is glammed up with a string of pearls.  And see the delicate medallion trim?  That is the new Delicate Details Lace Tape.  It is self-adhesive so it is a dream to apply.

This is the inner pop-up portion of the card cut with the card base die with the Dress Form insert in place.

And this is the base which is generic and can be used alone or as the card base for the pop-up.

There are two slits at the bottom that are for holding the card closed.  I slid a piece of cardstock into the slits before adhering the pop up to the base.

 Isn't this the cutest little dress!!!

 The All Dressed Up stamp set has "dress" related sentiments.

On the front, I used more new things.  The banners were diecut with the Hearts A Flutter Framelits -the middle banner was stamped with the coordinating stamp set.  And the new Designer Series Paper is called More Amore-soft and sweet!   You can see how the card is held closed by the slits in the corners.

I have a couple of other ideas for variations of the pop-up so stop back soon!

Scalloped Envelope Box Tutorial

I am getting this little box of mini Hershey's Chocolate bars ready to send to my Grandma who celebrated her 100th birthday in October.

This simple box is made with the Scalloped Envelope die.  I have made this many times but have never written a tutorial.   A couple of past posts that show different ideas for decorating it can be found HERE and HERE.  

Scalloped Envelope Box:

1.  Die cut two Scalloped Envelopes.  Overlap the bottom flaps and adhere them together.

2.  Fold on the scorelines and place Sticky Strip on the side flaps.

3.  Cut two pieces of cardstock 1-1/2" X 2-1/4".  Adhere the flaps with the Sticky Strip to form the sides.

4.  Cut two Scalloped Envelopes from Designer Series Paper and cut off the scalloped flap.  Adhere to the box and glue the flaps to the side of the box.  Decorate with more DSP, punched shapes, etc.

Supplies used:  Cherry Cobbler Cardstock, Snow Festival Designer Series Paper, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Scalloped Envelope Big Shot Die.

Glitter Paper Framelit Ornaments

With our middle son in Florida for college I was trying to come up with some mailable ornaments for his small apartment Christmas tree.

I used the Red and Gold Shimmer paper and die cut it with the Holiday Ornaments Framelits and the Snow Flurry Big Shot Die.

It was tempting to add more embellishments but to keep these flat for mailing I refrained and just added Gold Elastic Cord (retired).

Swatchbook Gift Bag Tutorial

Family recipes are special treasures.   I have been working on several projects to collect family recipes from both sides of our family and make recipe books.  

The Orchard Harvest Swatchbook Digital Template was a huge timesaver for this.  All the graphic layouts were in place and I just added the recipes.  And to make it extra special I came up with a custom-sized gift bag made out the of the coordinating Orchard Harvest Designer Series paper.

One version of the recipe book is of my mom's desert recipes.

On some of them I added notes about the origin or special ways Mom makes the recipe.  This cake recipe is from a cookbook that came with her Sunbeam mixer in 1957.  Still a favorite today!

I made another version of recipes from Tom's mother.

Lots of traditional Polish recipes.

I made one for all of Tom's siblings and our nieces and nephews.  It was so fun when we gave them to to everyone at a recent family gathering to hear the comments reminiscing about the foods.    

To make the gift bag:

1. Cut a piece of DSP 11" X 12".  If there is a directional print on one side you will need to pay attention to which way the pattern will go.

2.  On the 11" side, score at 1", 5", 6" and 10".

3. Turn the paper 90 degrees and score at 1" and 9".

4.  Fold on all score lines.

5.  Clip the corners of the tabs at the bottom.

6. Fold the top 3 inches down on the scoreline.

7.  Use Sticky Strip on the sides and bottom to assemble the box.

8.  Punch two holes about one inch from the top on each side of the box.  Thread a knotted length of ribbon through one hole and out the other.  Fold a 2" X 4" piece of DSP in half and punch a hole in the corner.  Thread this one the ribbon and tie another knot.

9.  Pull the ribbon until the knots are snug against the box.  Add a second ribbon to the back in the same manner.

Poinsettia Gift Box

The Wrapping Up the Holidays session of UStamp has begun... if you are looking for all kinds of gift and packaging ideas you will find lots of them!  

My first project is a box for presenting a poinsettia plant.  The panels on the side and card are done with a multi-color embossing powder technique.  No two will every be the same!

Primrose and Gray

For this sympathy card, I used the color combo of Primrose Petals and Basic Gray.

One very nice thing about Stampin' Up Designer Series paper is that the designs can be used for so many styles of projects.  The dotted Gray and Vanilla strip is from the Howlstooth and Scaryingbone pack which is mainly for Halloween but on this project it has an entirely different feel.

The card base is stamped tone-on-tone with the flourish from the Everything Eleanor stamp set.

The focal image is stamped in Basic Gray ink and colored with markers going from the darkest colors at the center getting lighter toward the outside plus a few darker highlights following the shading of the image.

One trick I like is to outline the image with a Sahara Sand marker to make it appear more realistic.

The flower is layered on the medallion stamp (also from the Everything Eleanor set) punched with the 2-1/2" circle punch and a Raspberry Ripple doily that was diecut using the Delicate Doilies Sizzlet.

Acetate and Tissue Christmas Ornaments

The Technique Boutique session of UStamp featured 40 projects each using a different technique.  I choose to design Christmas ornaments with the Acetate and Tissue technique.  This pretty technique makes unique ornaments - no two are exactly alike.  The Christmas tree ornament has a custom box and the baby in the manger ornament is part of the card front.   It is adhered with a single glue dot making it detachable.

Even though the live session has ended you may still sign up by clicking on the blinkie below.