ROSY CELEBRATION

In honor of New Year's Eve and the upcoming Rose Parade, 

I thought I would feature this Rosy Celebration card.

Even though the card may look fairly complicated to create, it is really quite easy. 

Keep reading, and you will find a complete tutorial on how to do it.

I love the crispness of the white lines against the Berry Burst background.

Ready? Here we go!

SUPPLIES:

Fresh Fig cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Birthday Bright stamp set

Berry Burst ink

Fresh Fig ink

Big Shot

Rose Garden Thinlits

Stamping sponges

Silicone Craft Sheet

Paper Snips

Green Glue

Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Whisper White cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Using two of the new In Colors, Berry Burst and Fresh Fig, sponge the colors onto a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Whisper White cardstock. Be super careful with the Fresh Fig, as this is a very dark and intense color. You can always add more.

Working on the Silicone Sheet with the gluing saves lots of frustration. Another way of adding glue to these delicate thin pieces, besides dropping glue directly from the bottle, would be to squirt a little puddle of the green glue onto the Silicone Sheet. Then, gently picking up some of the glue with a piece of sponge (dedicated to glue work), carefully sponge the glue to the backs of the diecut pieces and stick in place. The glue will not adhere to the Silicone Sheet. It is really a great tool to keep on hand.

Start out with one large rose and two smaller roses die cut from Whisper White cardstock, using the Rose Garden Thinlits. Arrange the roses over the sponged piece, not letting the pieces touch at all. Have a few extra of the roses that you can cut apart for this next step. Add pieces of the die cuts to the edges to fill up the space. Simply trim off any pieces that extend beyond the edges. You can even reuse the pieces that are cut off in another spot. They don't need to be complete roses, just give the impression of them.

Once you are satisfied with your glued-on rosy arrangement, adhere this to a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Fresh Fig cardstock. Then attach this piece to the card base.

On a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the banner in Fresh Fig and the word in Berry Burst. Use the appropriate Framelit to cut it out. Itt can also be fussy cut. Attach the sentiment to any spot on your card with Stampin' Dimensionals that maybe isn't perfect. Or anywhere you want.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Stay safe when you celebrate!

Rosy

Smiles.

SNOWMAN ORNAMENT

Each and every Christmas since my precious granddaughter, Stella, was born in 2007, I have made her an ornament for Christmas. Hopefully her mom and dad will save all these handmade treasures for her for when she is older and has a Christmas tree of her own.

Well, in February of this year of 2017, we welcomed our second grandchild, Enzo, into our family.

That means I now have TWO ornaments to make each year. 

This year it was a bit hairy since I fell down the steps just four weeks before Christmas and was laid up awhile. I hadn't had a chance to create these precious ornaments before the big tumble. So I was stressing it big time.

About a week before Christmas I ventured down those same stairs to finally make the annual ornaments. I must admit that I had a real blast making them. And it was so wonderful to be back to crafting again!

Below is the ornament that Stella and Enzo have to add to their trees for Christmas 2017.

I know it doesn't show up in the photo, but I added to the embossed snowflakes a little bling in dots of Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue (Green Glue to me!) covered with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, and clear Wink of Stella on the cute little snowman. I also used a white gel pen to add the white dots around the scalloped circle.

Stella really liked her snowman ornament. Enzo, at just ten months, liked it enough to have it head directly into his mouth. As everything does. We rescued it in time though. 

I hope you and your families had a wonderful and safe Christmas. If you live in the Midwest, try to stay warm. It is CHIL-LY here today and it is predicted to continue. Brrr. 'Tis the season I guess.

Snowglobe

Smiles.

JOY

I just wanted to take this opportunity to

wish YOU AND YOURS

Joyful

Smiles.

RUDOLPH CANDY CANE POUCH

Hey, at this time of the year, EVERYone loves candy canes! Right? Wrong. I hate 'em. But they are cute. I will give them that.

Thanks to Pootles and her crazy adorable idea, I have discovered a cute way to present these infamous candy canes in a little decorative pouch. Actually, I just got the basic idea and the tutorial for punching and folding the pouch itself. The reindeer part is mine.

The Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper (page 5 of the Holiday Catalog) is simply perfect to create these pouches. They are exactly the right size and have great designs on both front and back -- since both sides will be visible in this project.

For the mounted deer, I used the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set (page 116 in the Annual Catalog) and its coordinating punch (page 208). The way I have my little guy colored, doesn't he look like the proverbial "deer in the headlights"?

Add a bright red satin-y bow to hold the candy canes together -- and you have a cute presentation.

A silver Metallic Foil Doily (page 194) makes a great backdrop for the oval created from Garden Green cardstock and the Stitched Shapes dies (page 214).

My girls created these pouches at the most recent Stamp-In.

Would you care to learn how to make these easy treats? If so, read on for the tutorial.

SUPPLIES:

Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set (page 116)

Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper

Garden Green cardstock

Real Red cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Black ink

Big Shot

Stitched Shapes Framelits

Cookie Cutter Builder Punch

Envelope Punch Board

Silver Foil Doily

Colored Pencils

Paper Snips

Red Ribbon

Candy Canes

Stampin' Dimensionals

Tear and Tape

DIRECTIONS:

Choose one piece of the 6" x 6" paper from the Quilted Christmas DSP.

With the Envelope Punch Board, punch and score the DSP at 2 1/2". Rotate it a quarter turn, and lining the arrow up with the previous score line, punch and score again. Do this one more time. BUT, on the fourth rotation, ONLY PUNCH -- DO NOT SCORE! Round this last corner.

Fold on the score lines, but not too crisp. As Pootles advises, you want it to be pouch-like. Fold the bottom triangle up, then the left-hand triangle over that. Put a strip of Tear and Tape along the bottom diagonal of the right-hand flap, and press down to seal the pouch closed.

On Whisper White cardstock, stamp the reindeer head in black ink. Use colored pencils to color him. On a scrap of Real Red cardstock, stamp just the nose. Cut the nose out and adhere it over the first nose. Use the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch to cut Rudolph out.

From Garden Green cardstock, cut an oval with the Stitched Shapes Framelits set. Mount the deer onto the oval. Glue the finished oval to the center of one of the silver metallic doilies. Attach this with a few Stampin' Dimensionals to the pouch front.

Tie two candy canes together back-to-back with a red ribbon tied in a gorgeous bow.

Insert the candy canes into the pouch.

Peppermint

Smiles.

STAINED GLASS POINSETTIA

 As long as I've been on something of a vellum kick lately, I might as well bore you with one more vellum technique, as well as an additional way of attaching vellum to a card.

To do the Stained Glass technique, first stamp your image on vellum with VersaMark ink.

The next step is to choose an embossing color for your creation. I chose gold. So, go ahead and emboss your stamped image in your chosen embossing powder. Once it has cooled, tip the embossed side downwards and get to work with Stampin' Write Markers. You can also do this with other media, such as colored pencils, but the results will be more ethereal. While coloring within the upside down embossed lines, you don't need to be particularly careful. I used three shades of red/coral on the flower and three greens on the leaves. Oh, yeah. Also a few yellows/oranges on the little centers.

After finishing the coloring on my poinsettia, I realized I should have left more pronounced white splotches so they would have shown up better in my final card.

The photo below shows my work in progress.

Once your coloring is finished on the back side, let it sit awhile to dry. As always, when working on vellum, ink tends to sit and not dry too readily. You can hit it with the heat tool, but you do risk some warping with the addition of the heat.

A close-up of my poinsettia shown from the correct side:

Tilt the card towards the light 

and you pick up the incredible richness of gold embossing:

To continue on in the gold embossing on vellum, I did the sentiment on a strip of vellum in the same manner. To attach this strip, I applied a few glue dots to the back of it right behind the letters to disguise the adhesive.

To use this vellum poinsettia in my card, I first attached it to a layer of Whisper White cardstock that was cut to about the same size. No need to be careful how this is adhered; it will be covered up.

I then adhered this layer to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base of Cherry Cobbler. My poinsettia layer was cut slightly smaller than the base.

To hold everything in place, I cut a window in a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Cherry Cobbler for the poinsettia to show through. Once this frame is attached to the card base around the edges, it holds everything securely and neatly in place.

Have you ever given this quietly impressive technique a try? 

Vellum

Smiles.

SANTA SUIT GIFT CARD HOLDER

'Tis the season. With less than two weeks left until Christmas, lots of us are running around trying to get things done. One of those things can involve gifts and gift cards. At times, folks are frustrated with the presentation of gift cards. Rather than just put this plastic card inside a card or envelope, it's so much more fun to give when they are enclosed in something that is almost a gift in itself.

While I wish I could take credit for my gift card holder design, there are a plethora of variations on this design all over the Internet, especially Pinterest. So, why, as they say, reinvent the wheel? I grabbed the basic premise and made it my own.

Stick with me and I'll share the instructions for making 

your own cute Santa Suit Gift Card holder at the end.

A little added interest to the inside of the gift card holder:

It's so easy to just slip off Santa's belt to get inside the package!

I bet you have one or two gift cards that could use a cute home. Here's how to do it:

SUPPLIES:

Real Red cardstock

Basic Black cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Silver Glimmer Paper

A retired stamp set, but there are so many that could be substituted

Real Red ink

Black ink

Simply Scored tool

Tear and Tape

Punches:   3/4" Circle Punch

                3/4" Square Punch

                1 3/8" Square Punch

                Trim Punch 

DIRECTIONS:

Use a 2 3/4" x 9 3/4" piece of Real Red cardstock for the base of this gift card holder. With the Simply Scored, score at 3 1/2" and 7". Fold on the score lines.

Slide the 3/4" Circle Punch halfway down the center of the shortest section, and punch.

Put strips of Tear and Tape along the two short sides. After peeling off the backing, adhere the sides together to form your pocket. The long unpunched flap folds down to encase the gift card.

On a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the greeting in Real Red. Punch this out with a 1 3/8" Square Punch. Adhere this right below the punched half circle. Stamp To/From in black below the greeting.

Punch the white trim on Santa's suit from a 2 3/4" x 1/2" and 3 1/2" x 1/2" strips of Whisper White cardstock. (If you don't have this trim punch or a substitute, simply use two straight pieces of white cardstock.) Adhere first the vertical strip down the center of the front, followed by the horizontal strip across the bottom.

TO MAKE THE BELLY BAND (BELT): Take a 1/2" x 6" strip of black cardstock and wrap it around the closed gift card holder, overlapping in about the center. Trim one end to form the point of a belt. Adhere the belt together so it will slip easily on and off the gift card holder. Punch a 3/4" square from silver glimmer paper. Adhere this to the center of the belt. Add a 1/2" square piece of black cardstock to the center of the silver buckle.

Don't forget to add the gift card!

Are you doing well with all your Christmas preparations? With having fallen down the stairs just two weeks ago, the doctor assured me that I would be well for Christmas, "but probably not the preparations". So I am struggling. I mean, there is a certain amount that HAS to be done, right?

Gifty

Smiles.

SANTA CLAWS

At the gallery where I sell my work, I have several designs of cards boasting a focal point all ready for coloring. These are going over well at the gallery, so I thought I would also include some old-fashioned Santas for people to color and send to others. 

The vintage Santas, unlike the others, have not been selling well. So, the last time I worked my day at the gallery, I opened one up, and went to coloring it myself with my markers. 

This Santa (Father Christmas on page 114) has so much intricate detail, it can be almost overwhelming to decipher what is what in the image. I have a feeling that's what is keeping people from buying them.

Anyway, this is the way mine turned out. 

Now, as I was about to start taking these photos, Fred was on the floor looking curious and interested. All of a sudden -- LEAP! -- and there he is in my photo shoot.

I just did not have the heart to scoot him off. So, I finally laid the card flat (with him in the background) and took a few close-up shots.

The photo below is actually larger than life (!). It's interesting to see it this magnified. It is obvious from looking at it that my eyes are not as good as they used to be. There are so may spots that I thought I had colored completely, but are actually still white.

Meanwhile, Fred is unmoved.

What are your feelings about items that are made and marketed as ready-to-color? 

Fred-dish

Smiles.

QUILTED CHRISTMAS

This quartet of quilted cards have already appeared in previous Paper Seedlings blog posts. I know.  But today I am going to treat you to a tutorial on how to make these lovelies for yourself. They are unbelievably quick and satisfying to create.

SUPPLIES:

Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper (page 5 in the Holiday Catalog)

Garden Green cardstock

Real Red cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

3 1/4" square scrap of cardstock (for base)

Big Shot

Quilt Builder Framelits Dies (page 5 of the Holiday Catalog)

Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive (what I call "green glue")

Small red/green buttons

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Add a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of Real Red cardstock to the card base.

Now, to building the quilt:

The green quilt base is cut from a 3 1/2" square of Garden Green cardstock. You will need four bases to create all four cards. Run this base through the Big Shot with the square quilt Framelit. Make sure they are all centered because this will act as your frame. Cut all four bases. 

Choose four prints from the Quilted Christmas DSP. Cut one quilt frame from each of these pieces. (I nestled the Framelit into the corner of the paper so I could actually fit four of these on a sheet, giving a total of sixteen cards!) Push out all the components of each design on its own pile so you can keep the designs separate and easy to access. You should have four green bases and four piles of DSP pieces to work with. (For these cards, you will not be using the frames that result from cutting the DSP pieces. Save them for a future project!)

Before you begin "quilting", adhere the 3 1/4" square scrap of cardstock to the back of the green base, using small dots of glue. This will give you a base into which you can insert your patterned quilt pieces.

At this point, I just placed a few of the quilt pieces where I thought they would look nice to make my pattern. Once you are happy with your quilt pattern, the other three patterns will then fall into place. Remove the just placed pieces, and using a small amount of the Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive, start with the square in one corner. By using this glue, you have a few seconds to adjust the placement of each of the pieces. Putting your quilt together only takes a few minutes. Really.

You don't have to put a button -- or ANYTHING! -- in the center. But I like the way it sort of finishes off the card. So add a small button to the center if you like that look.

Attach the finished quilt to the card front.

Once your first card is finished, you have three more to create. Have fun!

I should note that the quilting products used in this project are part of the Stampin' Up! Year-End Sale. They will only be available as long as supplies last. So, get yourself to my store and order the components before they're gone!

Quilted

Smiles.

AN ACCIDENT AND WORKING WITH VELLUM

I don't know if you've missed me or not. I usually publish blog posts on Sunday and Wednesday. Well, this past week, Sunday went fine. Wednesday not so much.

You see, Monday evening I had quite an adventure. My first (and hopefully only!) ride in an ambulance!

About 6:45, I was descending down to my Creation Station, all excited about listening to Christmas music and doing Christmas-y crafting . . .  Well, let's say I didn't quite make it. My slippers did their job and made me slip. Yes, I fell headfirst down eight steps, finally lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs on my stomach with my right arm pinned beneath me and one foot still on the bottom step, bumping my head against the wall several times on the way down and a few more times when I landed at the bottom. And I know I made an infernal amount of noise. Not a pretty scene I'm sure.

My husband called 9-1-1, and soon I had four people tending to my needs. Since my neck and back hurt the most, they backboarded me and got me into the ambulance. Once in the ER, they did a CAT scan from the top of my head to my pelvis. Amazingly, NOTHING was broken! But I am really banged up and bruised. I hurt all over. And it seems to be a new episode each day. One ache improves and another pops up to take its place. Then the old ache returns the next day. Every time I brush my hair or scratch my head, I find another tender spot on my skull.

Suffice it to say, I was in no condition to write a blog post when Tuesday evening rolled around. I debated and debated about giving it a try. After all, I had made a commitment to put out two posts a week, Sunday and Wednesday. I hate to slack when a commitment is involved. Feeling guilty and that I'd somehow failed myself, I decided to forego the Wednesday post.

It is now Saturday, and I feel somewhat more human. Somewhat. So, I thought I would try to do a Sunday post in stages. That's where I'm at right now.

Anyway, with all that happening, I have adopted a new personal theme song. 

I will let BJ Thomas do his thing to entertain you with it: 

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head: 

Well then. Now that my sordid story has been told, on to the real purpose of this post.

As any papercrafter knows, working with vellum can be tricky and frustrating. 

The lovely strip on which my sentiment is stamped is vellum.

One of the biggest problems presented by working with vellum is that of attaching it to something else. In the case of this card, I simply cut the strip about an inch longer than I needed. I crisply folded the extra 1/2" on either side to the back of my embossed cardstock, taping each end on the back of the piece. It is incredibly easy to do and gives a beautifully finished look.

The other problem you are almost sure to encounter is that, instead of soaking into the vellum like it does on more traditional papers, ink tends to simply ride on the top of the surface, never truly drying. Give it a try. Stamp something on vellum. Wait as long as you want, until you are so sure it MUST be dry. Swipe your finger across the stamping, and I can guarantee that it will smear. 

The way to alleviate this lack of drying and remove the possibility of smearing is to sprinkle the surface with clear embossing powder and heat emboss it. Simple to do. And it looks wonderful.

If you choose to go this route, always remember to rub your Embossing Buddy over the surface of the vellum before stamping. Otherwise, it is difficult to remove stray embossing powder before heating.

In the photo below, you can see the slight shine of the embossing on the letters.

I love the embossed poinsettias on the backdrop for this highly detailed ornament. I'd thought about adding a bow of hanger of some sort to the ornament, but felt it detracted from the overall effect too much.

Now, with two more tricks up your sleeve, 

you are ready to go out and tackle the lovely world of vellum! 

I haven't been downstairs to create since last Sunday. And I'm feeling so sorry for myself. When I'm awake, I have been trying to keep myself busy with sewing on components of an old Stampin' Up! Christmas card kit, fussy cutting images I'd prepared long ago, and putting together a new stamp set I got in the mail today. I hope I don't run out of these projects before I can get back to my regular crafting. All my unfinished Christmas projects are waiting for me downstairs. Woe is me.

Have you been busy with papercrafting projects for Christmas? What have you been working on?

Fallen

Smiles.

PEACEFUL PINES

Before the November Stamp-In workshop, I warned the girls that one of the cards they would be making incorporated a nontraditional element.

This is the card with the weird element:

A little bit of a close-up of the area where the nontraditional element is used:

Another preview of the card:

Not a lot of dimensionality in this card, which makes it so easy to mail. I love when that happens!

A photo of the nontraditional material. Any guesses?

Still wondering?

Following are the supply list and the instructions for making this card.

SUPPLIES:

Always Artichoke cardstock

Whisper White cardstock

Always Artichoke ink

Retired "Peace" stamp

Big Shot

Softly Falling Embossing Folder

Sizzix tree dies

Paper Snips

Sequins

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

Fibrous material

Elmers Glue

Water

Flat paintbrush

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Glue stick

Tombow Multi Adhesive 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Always Artichoke cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Run a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock through the Big Shot inside the Softly Falling Embossing Folder. (I put the lesser amount of dots at the top; maybe you'd like to switch that around. I think I would the next time I make this card.)

Using the 3" x 3" piece of white cardstock, add glue stick all over one side, being careful to cover it completely with glue. Take the fibrous material, and carefully center it atop the gluey cardstock. You can either force in wrinkles, as I did, or leave it smooth. Your choice. Press this down so it adheres nicely to the glued square. Carefully fold the excess edges of the fiber to the back of the square and adhere it in place so you have neat and even edges. Lay this piece on top of scrap paper and paint watered-down Elmers glue all over the surface. Then, holding the glued piece over a container of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, drop the glitter all over it. Tap the excess glitter back into the container and close it. (Spilled glitter makes a humongous mess!) Set this piece aside to dry completely.

Cut the two trees out of Always Artichoke cardstock with the dies in the Big Shot. With a fine pointed scissors, trim out all of the straight line that runs up the center of both of the trees. It is way easier to do than you probably think it will be. NOTE: Several of my girls chose to leave the straight lines in their trees. It is a personal preference. I simply think the trees look more natural without that straight line going through the center.

Go back to your glittery piece. By now, it should be dried. Adhere it to a 3 1/4" square of Whisper White cardstock. Glue this over the embossed piece.

With tiny drops of glue in a few key places, add the trees, so one meets the top of the card and the other meets the bottom, with the trees overlapping each other. 

Add a few sequins/star to the sparkly background.

Stamp "PEACE" in Always Artichoke ink onto a 1/2" x 1 1/4" piece of Whisper White cardstock. Use a few Mini Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere this to the bottom alongside the trees.

Now is the time for the big reveal. The fibrous material I keep referring to is simply the wrapper from a women's sanitary product. Why throw valuable items away when they can be used as art supplies? Have you ever saved for a project what others would consider garbage?

Fibrous

Smiles.