When is a Flower not a Flower?

Today over at the Practical Scrappers Blog, we are giving you 9 ideas that will answer that question. My answer?


When it's a BUTTERFLY!

This card is destined for someone I've never met in person but who I've become online friends with through my ScrapHappy group. (If you are interested in joining Scraphappy just click on the link.) We were challenged by Stacey Julian at Big Picture Classes to send out "Happy Mail" so this is what I am doing. What is Happy Mail, you ask? Real letters and cards that you send for no reason other than that you were thinking of that person and wanted to let them know in a non-electronic way! WAY better than the usual bills and junk mail fliers you find in your mailbox, right?

Anyway, I'm off topic. Here is a quick tutorial showing how I made this butterfly out of my flower punch.

Step One: Stamp this image from Mixed Bunch. I used Midnight Muse ink on Summer Starfruit card stock.

Step Two: Punch it out using the coordinating Blossom Punch.

You are left with a flower that looks like this. Can you see the butterfly hiding inside it?

Step Three: Cut out the butterfly as shown.

Easy right? Now you just need to attach it to your card or layout and embellish as desired.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you haven't yet seen all the other ideas of what to do with your flower punch, I encourage you to pop over to the Practical Scrappers Blog and check them out.

Here are your links for Stampin' Up! products used on this card.

Mixed Bunch Stamp Set

Blossom Punch

Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper

2012-2014 In Color 8-1/2 x 11" Smooth Card Stock

Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad

Lacy & Lovely Stamp Set

Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

Thank You Notes in a Box

Inspired by the easy creativity of my Upline Sandra I tried my hand and making a box to contain a set of Thank You notes I had made for a friend. It was surprisingly easy! You know that adage "measure twice, cut once"? REALLY important as it turns out!! LOL! The first box I made was too narrow but ... c'est la vie! Next one was perfect.

I used the new Natural Composition Specialty paper (although I forgot to get a picture of it for you!) - this one ...

It worked out better than I'd anticipated. This paper is thicker than most of our card stock and is easily sturdy enough for box making.

To keep the cards from falling out of the box I simply wrapped a strip of Very Vanilla card stock around it and embellished it as you see.

The notes themselves are super simple but that's really all you need, right?

Here are close ups of them all.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm thinking this might make a good class - what do you think? Speaking of classes have you seen my new Christmas class yet? Click on the picture below to be taken to my Eventbrite site for all the details.

Here are your links for products used in today's project:

Natural Compositions Specialty Designer Series Paper

Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper

Decorative Label Punch

2-1/2" Circle Punch

Blossom Punch

Delicate Doilies Sizzlits Die

Something Fun for my Scrap Room

One of the projects I did last week allowed me to get my hands messy - more than usual that is! A long time ago I purchased a couple of simple wooded initials from Michael's with the intention of covering them with paper and hanging them in my scrap room. But they have languished in a plastic bag ... until last week!

I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like initially (pun intended!!) but just try to picture it as a plain wooden letter A with a white painted finish.

Got that image in your head?

Great, because NOW it looks like this ...

There are two layers of paper on this but you can only see the top layer. When I first started I was kind of just playing so really didn't know where things would end up. I figured a base of some First Edition Specialty  DSP would be a good base to build on. Then I ended up covering it all up with one of the patterns from Comfort Cafe DSP. The sides still show the First Edition paper - under the ribbon. 

As decoration I cut out lots of butterflies using my Beautiful Butterflies Die for the Bigshot. The antennae are made out of a small piece of black floss (from my stash) hot glued into place. A couple of rhinestones finish them off.

The sentiments are by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday.

I used phrases that match my crafting philosophy.

A word about the ribbon. The dark orange colour in the paper is Cajun Craze - a wonderful deep brownish-orange (a close match to my wall colour - see below) but I did not have any ribbon in this colour. What's a perfectionist girl to do? Take some simple white grosgrain ribbon from her stash and rub it all over with Cajun Craze ink of course! Note to self: wait several hours before tying and gluing it down so the ink has sufficient time to dry!!

Here it is on my wall. A temporary position to be sure but I love how it compliments the paint colour. I have many ideas percolating on how I can change my Scrap room/Office around so once that happens I'll move it to a more prominent spot and show you pictures.

Here are your links for Stampin' Up! products used on today's project:

First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper

Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper

Beautiful Butterflies Stampin' Up! Bigz Die

Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Just for the fun of it!

The title really says it all. I wanted to play with one of the new stamp sets from the 2012-13 IBC so I just started stamping and having fun. The stamp set I was playing with was Daydream Medallions. My upline Sandra had featured a card (and this one too) on her blog using this set and it got my creative juices flowing. I wanted to use it on a layout though and here it is.

Usually when I start a layout I know what pictures I'll use but this time I started with the oddest of things ... that scalloped tulle ribbon. I'd created a card using the ribbon to make a flower and had a large piece left over that I though would look cool layered onto a layout. It's Early Espresso in colour which led me to pick the First Edition Specialty DSP, the Crumb Cake card stock base and then the Comfort Cafe DSP pieces. With the basic building blocks in place it was time to hunt for a photo. This one is incredibly blurry as it was taken with someone's cell phone but as it's the only one I have from that night, it's a keeper. 

And then it was time to start stamping.

I started by stamping the largest image onto the blue floral patterned paper in approximately where the corners of the photo would end up. But since it is barely discernible, I took the next size down image and continued stamping up into the top left corner of the layout and down into the bottom right corner. The embellishments were made by stamping more images onto different coloured card stock and using the Floral Frames Framelit dies (which are designed to fit the stamped imaged perfectly) to cut them out.

I popped up some layers using Dimensionals and added rhinestones to the centres for added bling. I also scattered some smaller rhinestones around the embellishment clusters.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture (maybe click on it to make it bigger) but I sprayed the Early Espresso card stock title letters with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz to give them some added texture.

I had a lot of fun creating this layout and can see many uses for this stamp set - both for layouts and cards! Thanks for stopping by today. Here are your links for the products featured in this post.

Daydream Medallions stamp set
Floral Frames Framelits Dies
Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
First Edition Specialty DSP
Comfort Cafe DSP
Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents
Early Espresson 3 1/2" Scalloped Tulle Ribbon - available August 1st!

First Girls Weekend

One of the blogs I like to stalk is Shimelle Lain's. She runs a regular challenge called Starting Point where she  gives you the base of a layout and then her finished layout and you give it a go with your own products. Here is the link to the most recent Starting Point post.

Since I am now the proud owner of a whole box full of new Stampin' Up! products, I got busy this afternoon. Here's what I came up with ...

It's a bit out of my normal style but I have been watching Shimelle (and her alter-ego Glitter Girl) create layouts with piles of layers and I just love them! 

Here's the finished layout.

This is the Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper and it is SO YUMMY!! Soft Suede (my favourite of the Neutrals), Cajun Craze, Pool Party, Very Vanilla and Midnight Muse - one of my new favourites from the 2012 - 2014 In Colours Collection.

And the butterflies ... as soon as I saw the new butterfly punch and matching stamp set I knew it would be on my first order. It does not disappoint! Other new items are the Ticket Duo Punch, the Simply Serif Alphabet stamps, the Flowering Flourishes stamp and the Bigz Alphabet Typeset dies for the Big Shot.

Aren't those little butterflies darling?

Here are the links to all the products. Thanks for stopping by.

Comfort Cafe DSP

In Colours 12 x 12 smooth card stock

Elegant Butterfly Punch

Papillon Potpourri stamp set

Flowering Flourishes stamp set

Simply Serif Mini Alphabet stamp set

Ticket Duo Punch

Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die