Something NEW from something OLD

Another of my A&P Show entries. I had spotted a wreath someone had made using the paper that comes packed round our orders and thought how clever that was. After a bit of trial and error I got one plaited up and formed into a wreath shape : ) I also used that paper to layer together to forma thick mat to cut the hanging bit from.

For the flowers I wanted to use some other freely available coloured paper so thought about all those magazines my Mum gives passing on to me. Score! Glossy paper with lots of bright colours and you can use our punches on it if you punch out 3 or 4 pages at a time. I used the 2 3/8″ scallop circle, 1 7/8″ scallop Circle, Fancy Flower and the Blossom punches plus the Boho Blossom for the small flowers on the hanging part. Punch ’em, Scrunch ’em and Stitch ’em together with a button!

Wee Gran

This was one of the projects I displayed at Dunkleys. Its a small canvas of my Great Grandmother, who was a tiny woman hence she was our Wee Gran.

The DSP is from the Newsprint pack and I over stamped it using So Saffron ink and the  the block pattern stamp from Clearly for you then over stamped that with a few of the butterflies in Soft Suede. The canvas was inked with a sponge with Melon Mambo Ink and then the edge covered with satin ribbon.

The flower Bouquet is nested in a V formed by ripping the paper down and curling it back. The flowers are all handmade from Stampin’ Up! Punches. The White ones are single  and the pink ones doubled layers of the cross flower from the Itty Bitty Punch set which is making a come back in the new IB&C so Yippee! The larger yellow ones from the Boho Blossoms Punch. I used floral art stamens to add a special touch, the petals were all painted with a touch of Shimmer Paint for a subtle dazzle. Of course the flowers have all been tweaked into shape with my trusty tweezers! I stamped and cut out a few of the butterflies to add depth and the title is layered die cut letters.

Vellum – all you ever wanted to know

OK my knowledge probably isnt as broad as that title but I can certainly share some things I learnt on Wednesday at our second meeting of the Rolleston Stamping and Craft Group. They are a great bunch of girls and we had so much fun so if you are interested I have added details of our next meeting at the bottom of this post.

I have had some questions about vellum so these answers may help you too.

What weight is Stampin’ Up! Vellum?

Our Vellum Paper is 17lb text weight. The Vellum Cardstock is  65 gsm which is heavier than most vellum card stocks. They are both A4 Transluscent White, Acid and Lignin Free and available in packs of 20 sheets

One says Vellum Cardstock and one is paper whats the difference?

The Vellum Paper isn’t strong enough to “construct ” with so it’s not suitable for card bases or boxes but its great for overlays.

Its only white. Can I colour it?

You sure can. Use Ink Pads, Stampin’ Write Markers or Water Colour Wonder Crayons to colour your images. Give the ink plenty of time to dry so it doesn’t smudge. Colour it on the front for more vibrant colours or on the back for softer more muted colours.

What do I use it for?

You can use it in lots of different ways! Tear it, Emboss it, Dry emboss it, Stamp on it, Punch it and make flowers with it! Layer it over photos or images, use it as a window or frame. Try printing your journaling on it for a scrapbook page.

What can I stick it down with?

As Vellum is translucent you will be able to see most adhesives but there are a few tricks to “hide” it. Try using brads or eyelets. If you use  Mini glue-dots  then you can adhere  small flat-backed pearls, ribbon or other embellishment over the top  to cover the glue-dot. Or try putting the glue dots under stamped coloured images. Glue stick’s don’t work well on vellum. But I have used the Tombo Multipurpose Glue which wasnt too bad.

HOT TIP!

If you are using Vellum for a journaling block, lay it over a sheet of grid paper and line it up straight using the lines. As Vellum is translucent you can see the grid lines through it to keep your writing on the straight!

Here is the card we made, I got to be a “pupil” as the lovely Christine was teaching this time. The next meeting of the Rolleston Stamping and Craft Group is November 24th between 10 and 12 Email me! to find out more….

Inaugural South Pacific Punch Art Blog Hop!!!

Hello and welcome to the Inaugural South Pacific Punch Art Blog Hop!!!
We are a bunch of Stampin Up demonstrators from New Zealand and Australia who love our Stampin Up punches. We have gotten together to showcase a selection of the punches you can purchase from Stampin Up. We know we will inspire you and encourage you to use those punches in new and beautiful ways. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think to go in the draw to win some yummy scrummy punch art blog candy (offer not available to SU demos).

This is gonna be a long one so grab yourselves a cuppa if you havent already and prepare to be AMAZED! Mildly Wow-ed would be OK too. LOL

With any luck you arrived here from the incredibly talented Clare Mcilhatton so you will be right into the swing of things.

I have chosen 4 punches yes FOUR! Scallop Square 119884 and all of our hearts, Small Heart 117193 , Full Heart 119883 and Heart to Heart 119881

So lets start off with the Scallop Square. I’m going to share a few nifty tricks to get more from your punch

Stamp first and then with your punch upside down line it up diagonally over the words to centre them. Punch, then just snip off the top and bottom. Pop a brad in the “bubble” at each end and you have a classy wee label

Extend the Scallop Square by joining two together to make it wider.

A mini Word Window again stamp before you punch. Check it out on the card with the bust babe below.

I seem to have had a bit of a thing going with paper flowers of late  so here are a few more. The marigolds are made from the Small Heart, the Camellia and Cosmos from the Full Heart. All of the flowers centres are created using flowers from Boho Blossoms Punch. Over the next few days I will share the projects I have made with them and if you ask very nicely in the comments section HOW to make them too.

Each petal is half of a small heart! The trick is to colour the pointy end of each petal and then when they are all stuck in place and dry, the tweaking with tweezers. I used a toothpick and Tombo Mono multi glue which I just squeezed out onto a bit of scrap paper so I could pick up tiny bits for each petal. Each flower is formed onto a base of either a small circle or flower  shape. To shape the petals, fold the side of each petal up and then a quick sideways tweak in the centre. the central flower is snipped in towards the centre a little between each petal and then tweaked down the centre of each petal.

The White background for this card is embossed with the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder. The leaves are from the two-step bird punch and to mimic Marigold leaves I have snipped in along one edge to make them feathery.

I made the camellia with the Full Heart. I used the hearts whole, shaping and curling the tops  over and then a firm tweak with the tweezers to add a crease down the centre of each heart. The middle of the flower is made up of 3 of the multi pointed flowers from the  Boho Blossoms Punch. I just snipped in almost to the middle lots of times in each petal then mounted them on top of each other to get the fluffy look.

The “Clematis”/”Cosmos” flower is made from the Full Heart cut in half. The ends were randomly trimmed with the Scallop Square to give the tattered look to the edge. Then it was just lots of tweaking with the tweezers to shape the cardstock.

This is my first Top Note Box  I used the gorgeous Sunny garden DSP to create a patchwork top and used the extended Scallop Square sentiment I showed you earlier.

Side view you can see the Vintage Vogue swag along the box and the added dimensions of the flower.

Last but not least here is my sister’s Birthday Card.  I managed to use all three heart punches for this one. Happy Birthday Sis! and as the card says “Call me when its time for cake!” that’s  the little mini Word Window I showed you up above which I mounted on two leftover bits of Scallop Square. The post of the sign is another mini word window!

P.S just a note to all you blog readers out there cos I would hate for you to be under any false impressions.  Although I represented the sentiments on the card as from me I am not nor have I ever been a Busty Blonde Babe! Just so we are clear on that.

Here is a pic of all the bits you need to make my lovely lady

To enter for the Blog candy Prize you must comment on each blog post and then Email Clare! with your full name by 10 am Friday 5th November when she will draw a random name as the winner!

Just in case you get lost here are all the bloggers in order. But right now you are off to visit Pauline Bennets Happy Hopping

1. Karen Southwell –  www.kareniescrafts.blogspot.com

2. Carol-Ann Torrie  http://queen-of-scraps.blogspot.com

3  Sally Williams          http://www.sallycancraft.com/

4   Julia Leece –                    http://www.juliascards.blogspot.com/

5    Amy                                  http://ladybugsanddaisychains.blogspot.com/

6   Melissa Davies                   http://beedevinedesigns.blogspot.com/

7  Michelle Dyson                   http://www.stampinkpaper.blogspot.com

8     Clare Mcilhatton               http://craftycowcreations.blogspot.com/

9      Lisa Bullock                     https://daffyscrapper.wordpress.com

10   Pauline Bennetts –       http://paulinebennetts.com/stampede/

11  Tia Routledge                   http://craftingwithtia.weebly.com/my-blog.html

12  Emma Kirton                 http://www.emmakirton.blogspot.com/

13 Angie Jones                      http://angiescraftfusion.blogspot.com/

14 Andrea Buckland        http://creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com

15   Steph Gray                        http://stampinsteph.wordpress.com/

Great Great!

This is my double Layout entry. Double page layouts I find are always a bit harder as the pages need to complement and balance each other. I liked this design because although there are a lot of photos on the pages it still doesn’t look busy because of the way the photos are arranged. The flowers added the finishing touch and were created using the 5 petal punch, corner rounder and my trusty tweezers! I also added some sponging to the edges with Soft Suede and So Saffron circle to th centre.

I used the Very Vintage Stampin Wheel with a Certainly Celery cartridge for continuous inking to cover both pages. Then let it dry well before watercolouring some bits using Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze ink pads and the Aqua painter pens.

The DSP is from the Greenhouse Gala pack, the cardstock elements are Basic Black, Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red.

Tools used Circle Scissor, Five Petal Flower and Two Step Bird punches, Big Shot and Scallop Circle Die plus the Corner rounder.

Ways to use up those flowers

Ok so now your getting a wee collection of flowers here are a couple of ideas to use up some of them

Add them to 3 D projects. I’ve done a canvas using them but I can’t show you that yet as I’m entering it in a competition soon.

Christmas Rose Mini Tutorial

I was so pleased with my little Christmas Rose boxes and have had lots of comments on them so here is a quick wee Mini Tutorial on how to make the flowers.

Mums Birthday card with you.. guessed it

FLOWERS

Poor Mum I was so busy with the Quilt and Craft Show and my sick little one that I clean forgot about my poor Mum’s Birthday. Whats worse is it was a big one, her 60th so I went all out on her card and used two of my favourite new colours Concord Crush and Blushing Bride with accents of Pear Pizzazz. The Pear swirls are from the Priceless stamp set and the wee stamped flowers and sentiment from Level 1 Hostess Set Afterthoughts. I love that set, so useful! I also used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to emboss the Pear Pizzazz strips and the punched butterflies.

Of course you will recognise the wee roses on the front panel but the Concord Crush ones are punched out using the Boho Blossoms punch and then tweaked with my trusty tweezers. I added the smallest half pearl from the Basic Pearls pack (119247) on page 140 of the IB&C. Each pack has 150 pearls, 50 each of 2mm, 3mm and 5mm for $11.50. They certainly add a special touch to your project.

Left over circles into pretty flowers

If you had a go at the roses from my last post you will have had some punched out circles left over. Well I hate wasting things so I make them into a more stylised looking rose/flower.

First of all you need to cut your circle like one of those snake coils we used to make and hang from the ceiling as kids. Ok for those of you who had a sheltered childhood see the picture below.

Have fun ladies I would love to see some of your creations so feel free to email me a pic

Crafters Anonymous Colour Challenge

Over at Crafters Anonymous tonight they had a Colour Challenge. We had to choose from a list of colours and use a  minimum of 3 including ORANGE. Yes Orange! Well Peach Parfait is one of the new In Colours and I had a new flower design using the Fancy Flower punch I just had to try from here.

I’ve used my Fancy Flower Punch box yet again but sideways this time and stamped with the direct to stamp technique using Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz Stampin’ Markers and the flower swirl from Vintage Vogue.

I think my flower looks something like its supposed to so yah for me!