Polished to Perfection

JustRite Christmas Day 11- Christmas Ornaments

 

Now it wouldn't be possible to blog 12 days of Christmas Projects without their being a few Christmas Ornaments in the project mix. We created this ornament by stamping 4 of the borders from the JustRite Christmas Stamp Ensemble. We were able to create this ornament using Spellbinder's Nestabilities Dies- Circles and Scalloped Circles. To create this 3-D ornament we die cut the stamped image using  the Scalloped Circle Die. Then die cut the interior with a circle die.  Use a slightly larger scalloped die and cut out a mat from Christmas Paper. Place the Christmas Paper diecut on the cutting plate of your die cutting machine and place the border frame on the mat. Match the circle nestability to the die cut of the frame. Place the circle die on the mat and die cut.  This will ensure that your layers will be a perfect die cut match. 

To assemble the 3-D Ornament adhere the border frames to the mats and using the score-it board score on the center line. Repeat for all 4 Borders. Set the borders aside. Using the 25 pt Times New Roman Font -Create a stamp design in the center of the Harmony Classic Circle III Stamper Grid. For this design we used the 25 pt to write the word Christmas and then the 50 pt font to place the date below it. When stamping the designs for this ornament we used Versamagic Brick Red Ink on white cardstock.To get the vintage feel we tapped the surface of the white cardstock with Versamagic Pumpkin Spice ink.

Die cut the Christmas 2008 with a smaller Circle Nestability. ( making sure the circle will be able to spin freely inside the border frame. Stamp 2 images. To give the interior circle a finished edge we used a Rubberstamp Tapestry Holly Peg Stamp from the Cardinal Set. Ink the stamp and stamp the holly image twice each time ( this will give the holly border more depth). Travel around the outside of the circle designing a holly border for the inner design.

Place a piece of fishing line between the 2 stamped circles (Christmas 2008) and adhere the circles to create the inner design of the ornament. Now assemble the four border frames to create the 3-D Ornament. Add beads to the top and the bottom of the design leaving extra fishing line to add the bottom design. To create this we used the Let it Snow designer center from the 10 Designer Centers and border set. Now the possibilites for Ornament designed using this system is endless. 

This ornament was much harder to photograph. It was actually the first ornament we designed. A special thanks to Angela for bringing this ornament from design concept to live. The photos are Senior class pictues of her daughter. Which I think is a great way to use all those photos that are in a box somewhere.  Each side of the ornament (4 sides) has a different Senior photo.  Aren't these fun!! They would be great gifts for Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles.  Or great Girl Scout projects.  

  

 

Angela and I would love to see what we inspire you to create. If you create a christmas ornament leave a link here.

JustRite Christmas Day 7- The Perfect Secret Santa Gift

Of course there will have to be 12 Days of JustRite Christmas.  Today's Project was created by Angela Barkhouse- for those of you who read my blog often - you know that Angela & I love to collaborate on projects.  So of course when she saw that I was hoping to blog 12 Days of JustRite Christmas - she was up for helping with the Challenge.  Any excuse to use our New JustRite Toys-Right!!

This project was inspired by a project Taylor Van Bruggen designed months ago.  And we were so happy on Monday when we read Sharon Harnist's Blog to find out that she too had been inspired by Taylor's project.  She created a stunning Coupon keeper (if you ask me too nice for coupons!!).  Sharon has written fabulous instructions on how to construct the folder itself. So you can visit her post for those instructions. Here we will just concentrate on giving the altered file folder a Christmas Twist.

Angela decided to make a paper wrap to enclose her Agenda holder.  The image stamped on the front is from the JustRite JB 08150 Christmas Stamp Ensemble. ( remember to purchase your wood block separately) The font is Times Roman - 50 pt, and the date is TImes Roman 25 pt - which is available in the JB 08060 New Times Roman Font set.(296 Characters- 3 sizes of font). The stamped image was then double matted with 2 diecuts using Spellbinder's Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. She used her Small Harmony Rectangular stamper to personalize the file tab.

 

Here's a view of the inside of her folder.   And here are some close up photos:

For the interior embellishments Angela used the JB 08120 Harmony Classic Circle II Stamp Ensemble borders (this is the set that comes with the wooden stamper) and designed the messages inside the center of each border using the expanded Curlz Font in 25 pt.  The first pocket of the Agenda holds a tag for items on her wish list - (yes you all should have a wish list tucked in a special place that your family can find!!). 

 

The second pocket contains a list for all the Christmas Parties she will be attending.  Angela used her Cricuit -Tags Bags Boxes and More Cartridge to diecut the tags and since the tags tops looked like wreaths she decided to dry emboss them using her Snowflake A2 Embossing Folder. Then she added holly and bow die cuts.  Next we dug through my stash of toys to see how we could decorate the note paper on the tags.  I love Rubber Stamp Tapestry's peg stamps and this set was perfect for decorating each note a little different and the tiny present peg in this set fits perfectly in between the star designs in one of the borders.  Here is a closeup of the right side of the Agenda Folder.

 

And here you can see how cute the tiny peg present stamps are stamped between the swirl designs in this border.

Sorry for the color variation in the photos..this paper is really bright red!!

Here are photos of how we decorated the note paper.

Stop back tomorrow to see the next Fabulous Projects Angela & I designed!!

Rubber Stamp Tapestry's - CHA Introductions

For those of you who love Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Peg stamps - you will be excited to see that Susan has introduced ten new sets for Spring:

Spring Blooms, Rose Trio, Spring Offering, Peppermint Petunia, Yumy's Garden, Summer's Gold, Southern Dogwood, Moonlit Vase and Blue Eden.  These sets are now available in your favorite stores.  To view the new sets visit Rubber Stamp Tapestry.

Plus 5 new clear sets: Nature Plate 4, Nature Plate 5, Corner & Heart Doily, Tatting and Crochet and Fabric and buttons.  Here is a close up of Nature Plate 4:

Don't you just love this set!! Butterflies and beautiful vines and ferns.  This set will breathe new life into  your collection of Tapestry Peg Stamps.  The possibilities are endless.

It was so hard to decide which of the new sets to start designing with (since I loved all of them) as always the endless possibilities are swirling around in my head.

I began my card by stamping my sentiment in versamark and embossing it with Adriondack Clay Embossing Powder. The sentiments are from Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Word Plate 1- I love the versatility of this set. Notice that I left room to stamp a little of the delicate vine to the left and the right of my sentiment.
Next I stamped the delicate vines using an image from the New Nature Plate 4 clear stamp set. I stamped the vine using Versamagic- Hint of Pesto -this is a multi surface ink that looks like chalk and is available in dew drops.

The first  peg set I decided to play with is "Spring Offerings" I just adore the little vase. I decided to create the three beautiful bouquets of flowers which I framed using my scalloped nestabilities. I determined from my nest which scalloped oval would be the right size for 3 ovals on my 5" x 7" card. Then I cut and embossed the three ovals. In order to highlight the embossed edge of my ovals I placed a smaller scalloped oval inside my diecut oval (to work as a mask/stencil) and using Pebble's Shimmering Chalks I chalked the embossed edges of the scallop. I used my yellow shimmering chalks to color two of the scalloped diecuts and then I chalked the third image with a orange shimmering chalk.  This 3rd diecut will be my center image.

Next I placed my vase near the bottom of my scalloped oval diecut.  Using the VersaMagic Aloe Vera, I added tiny leaves to the vase.  Then I added tiny flowers using Versamagic - Mango Madness, Pink Grapefruit and Perfect Plumeria.  To give the vase additional depth and dimension, I chalked the right handside of the vase with mauve chalk.

For this design I really wanted a wide ribbon, but my assortment of wider ribbons was very limited - so I improvised and selected a section of paper from a sheet of paper from Best Creations which gave me a beautiful stripe to place behind my images.  I used foam strips to mount the diecut images on my card to add extra depth to the design. 

Sorry for the laspe in my posts....but don't worry- I have been busy playing with tons of new products - so stayed tuned....March will be filled with tons of new projects!!

Tonic Studio's Butterfly Punch Card #2

Here is a sneak peek at today's card...I'll be back this afternoon to share with you the directions...but I just couldn't wait any longer to share it with everyone!!  I told you I was having a blast with this butterfly border punch from Tonic Studios!!  See you soon!!

Sorry for the delay in posting instructions with CHA just around the corner - I have lots of deadlines to meet.   Now I just love the possibilities of this Tonic Studio Butterfly Boot Punch.  You can use it as a single image or you can use it in the Border Punch System.  You can link the butterfly designs or you can vary the heights of the butterflies, which is what I chose to do in this design.  I envisioned a beautiful garden with butterflies flying above it.  I started by punching the butterflies then using -a peg leaf stamp for Rubber Stamp Tapestry I placed the leaves under the Butterflies leaving room for the Daisies using Versacolor Fresh Green. The daisy peg stamp is from the SFL 34034 Pansy & Daisy  peg stamp set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. I stamped the daises in purple brillance ink and then I highlighted the center with  Sky Blue Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens.  Next I used the leaf peg stamp to design a daisy border across the top once again leaving room for my Daisy to be stamped next.  Using the stamped leaves as a guideline I then used my Melon Spica Micro Glass Flake Pen to highlight the leaves.  I used my Cuttlebug Swirl A2 Embossing Folder to dry emboss the purple cardstock is from the World Win Papers.  The Purple and White and the Green and White Polka Dot Ribbons are from Creative Impressions.   The background paper is from A2Z Essentials.  I then punched the butterflies up the side of my 5 x 7 card...I love that this punch can be used in both directions.  For a little bling I added rhinestones from KaiserCrafts and I used my clear Spica pen to the last butterflies I punched. I so wish my photgraphs showed off the Spica's better.                  

Tonic Studio's Butterfly Border Punch - Card #1

Furthering my quest to use the scraps I keep generating I designed this card.  Don't you just love the Tonic Studio Butterfly Border Punch??  Yep...those beautiful tiny butteryflies and dots are a border punch!!! I love anything with butterflies and I have been dying to use this punch since I got it...and every once in a while I have been playing with it..punching it into scraps envisioning all the cool things I could do with it once I finished all my Christmas Projects....I am sure you will see several projects using this punch.  To view the other projects I have made using Tonic Studio Punches go to the category typelist of the right handside of my blog and click on Tonic Studios- this will allow you to see all the projects I have posted using Tonic Studio Punches. 

I decided to use black cardstock for my card so that the butterflies would pop and I decided to add a Peel Off Butterfly Sticker also from Best Creations.

I used my Copic Sketch Markers to color in the Butterfly so that it would coordinate with my paper.  I used the following colors:

Here is a photo showing you the beginning of the Copic Coloring of the butterfly:

All of the glitter paper from Best Creations is suitable for additional Copic Color to be added into the design I need to play a little more to see how much shading can actually be acheived on this printed cardstock.

I decided not to do any shading of the butterfly as I didn't want to draw to much attention to it- as this might throw off the balance of the card. This particular set of Peel off Stickers also came with some beautiful floral stickers which I added just below the punched butterflies.

Next I used my Heidi Swap large clear Thanks stamp and embossed it in super fine detail balack embossing powder from ranger.  Then I added in Seafoam White and Gold Embossed Flourishes use my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Flourish Plate 1 Set - in the same way I added them to yesterday's Cherish Card.  Stop back in tomorrow to see the next card I designed with this great punch!! 

Cherish Love - With Flourishes

Angela - is always getting after me to use my scraps ---or at least organize them - so as I was designing my congratulations card it occurred to me that just by adding a few stamped flourishes to the paper from Best Creations I could easily make a beautiful simply card.  I am sure that many of you would love to have the time to stamp and make intricate cards...but sometimes just simply is striking.  Here is a picture of the entire 12 x 12 sheet of paper:

Here is just the section that I started this card with:

I simply added in some black flourishes like yesterday's card - embossed in superfine detail black embossing powder from Ranger.  Then I added the Word Cherish from Heidi Swap embossed in black and then I decided that I needed to balance off the white on the right hand side of the card by adding some white flourishes on the other three sides of the paper.  Then I began thinking about the things that I Cherish and I decided to add the word love- which is from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Word Phrase set.  (Wahoo!! I am really getting to use this entire set!!).  I added the bottom love first and then decided to stamp it an extra time just to emphasis how much I Cherish Love..wether it be from my husband, my family or my frriends it is an essentail ingredient for my design process!!  For a little extra detail I used my Tonic Corner Punch.  I just love making designer paper my own!!  Now that I have showed you how simple it is to enhance your designer paper maybe you will be inspired to try it too!!...it's lots of fun!!!

Congratulations - using Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Newest Peg Stamp Release - Heart Buttons

My personal design challenge for 2008 - is to get more out of each of my stamp sets.  AKA - use them more than once!! As I was posting last night's card I kept thinking about a design using the new Heart Buttons SH020021 Release from Rubber Stamp Tapestry in a more black and white format...which is where last night's design started...but as my husband put it - the finally design had a real bumble bee look with the black and golden rod. So I went to bed thinking about how many other designs there were to be made with this versatile set.  I also thought it would be nice to show you more step by step photos of the design process and to remind everyone - that you don't always see my first attempt at a design - sometimes the designs just fall onto the paper and sometimes what seemed like a great design idea does not translate into paper or perhaps what at first seems like a mistake becomes a brilliant discovery. So today I thought I take a little time to share with you the design process. 

First I started by die cuting a scalloped rectangle with my Spellbinder's Nestability set in White Luster from The Paper Cut. (I love this white cardstock because it is Copic Compatible and readily available in many Brick and Mortar Stores.) Then I placed my die cut on a piece of scrap paper and I stamped the tiny leaves from this set in graphite black brilliance. I purposely stamped each leaf twice before re-inking - so that I would have depth in my vine work and I also stamped the image off the scalloped edge so that part of the image was on the die cut and part of the image was on the scrap paper.  Then using the Congratulations form the Rubber Stamp Tapestry Clear Phrase Stamp Set - I stamped the word in graphite black brilliance. 

Next I die cut a slightly larger scalloped rectangle using my Spellbinder's Nestabilities set and I also decided to dry emboss it with the Cuttlebug A2 Textile Folder. I placed these together and tried to decide which designer paper I would use next.  I decide on GP051 from Best Creations.

Now the 12 x 12 sheet of paper is absolutely stunning - but as you start chopping it up for cardmaking - you begin to loose the strength of the design.  So I used the large Flourish from Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Flourish Plate 1 set to strengthen the paper design by embossing in super fine detailed black embossing powder from Ranger.

Wow- what a big difference a few simple flourishes can make. Next I stamped a few tiny heart buttons in Rocket Red Brilliance....but I chose to only stamp the image on the card the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stamp of the ink...the first stamp I stamped onto scrap paper as I wanted the heart buttons in the background to be softer so that I would be able to build my hearts up from the back to give them a more 3 dimensional layered effect.

Next I added in more tiny heart peg stamped images in Rocket Red Brilliance - by re inking between each stamping to get a deep red heart button which would sit at the top of the design and then I added additional stamp images which were the 2nd and 3rd stamped image of the same ink loading of the stamp.

Next I decided to color in the button holes of my buttons using my  B110 Copic Sketch Marker.

Now along the way I did put a smudge on my project which allowed me to try something that I certainly would not have dared to try on my finished stamped image...I dry embossed the entire stamped image with the A2 Textile Cuttlebug Embossing Folder...I didn't think it would work ...but it did and I loved the dimension it added to the card. And since the embossing folder is slightly translucent I could also decide which part of the textile design I wanted to use for the center of my card.

I hope seeing how the card was designed inspires you to design your next Creation.  My next New Year's Resolution was to use the scraps left over from my projects...so stop back tomorrow to see a fast simple card I designed using the leftover pieces of the Best Creation's Designer Paper.

Rubber Stamp Tapestry's Newest Release - Heart Buttons

I just love Susan's newest peg stamp set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry.  My last post used the tiny heart button peg stamp to make the candy hearts on my cupcakes, tonight I thought I show you a card using the whole set -SH20021 Heart Buttons.  Traditional I stamp my peg stamps on white with versacolor colors, but when my new stamp set arrived and it had these beautiful daisy bunches I wanted to stamp them in white so I decided to emboss almost all of the stamped images on black to make them really pop.  Using my Spellbinder's Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, I diecut a large gold oval (Worldwin Goldenrod) and dry embossed the scalloped oval using the Cuttlebug A2 textile Embossing Folder.  Then I diecut a slight smaller black oval (Worldwin - Deep Black), from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Word Phrases I chose the word Hello and the word Friend. Using a versamark watermark pad I inked  and stamped these in the center of the oval and then I stamped the mini floral cluster (the daisies) around the words and embossed them using seafoam white embossing powder (Ranger).  Embossing on black is very tricky. I used an embossing buddy between each color of embossing powder and I also used a small paint brush to remove any excess embossing powder before I heat set the image.  Since my designer paper's floral center were black I used my copic black 110 marker to color in the center of the daisies. Here is a photo of step 1:

Next I stamped the tiny leaves and embossed them with Mint Green Embossing Powder (Ranger). I purposely chose a brighter green -to use on the black cardstock.

Then I stamped the tiny decorative embellishment and embossed it in Adriondack Butterscotch Embossing Powder.

Next I stamped the tiny heart buttons using a Cherry on Top embossing  Jelly Powder from Gelatins- and yes it smells like cherries!! I love the scent and the color red is gorgeous!!

After I stamped the tiny hearts I used my copic black marker to color in any of the button holes that were stamped over another color of embossing powder.  This ensured that the heart buttons visually appeared to be on top of my stamped floral image.  Since even being extremely careful I managed to get a few small speckles of embossing powder on my black cardstock, I also used my black copic marker and colored over the black cardstock on the outside of my scalloped image to hide the specs.

For the last peg stamp I decided to forgo embossing and use glaxay gold brillance ink to stamp the itsy flower as I wanted a more subtle image as my design was rather full.Next I cut a mat from black cardstock and embossed this with the textile A2 folder. Then I matted this with Doodlebug's black bouquet the ribbon is from Memory Makers

For those of you who haven't yet played with these peg stamps I hope the step by step photos show you just how easy they are to use!!  I consider them to be a stamping basic since they are so versatile!! have fun creating...and as always thanks for stopping by!!

Today I thought I would add a new section to my blog called TREASURES OF THE DAY:

I am an extremely challenged bow maker and in 2007 I did several projects using One Heart One Mind Paper that required bows and written instructions for those bows.  Today as I was surfing blogs I found this great video tutorial from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts that shows you in video format how to make these bows-  Great JOB Dawn.  Just click to see Dawn's YOU TUBE VIDEO!!

Happy Cupcake Day aka Valentine's Day

Now I must confess that the inspiration for this card came as I was devouring my sample box of Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Chocolates which I had purchased to make an altered wrapper for...but as I was unwrapping the ???? chocolate of the box and peeling off the cupcake baking cup - it occured to me that that I could make the cutest cupcakes with mini cupcake baking papers. Although I didn't realize how long tonight's design would take to create....I could have baked and decorated 3 dozen cupcakes faster. But finally it all fell together and I am quite happy with the final card.

I purchased Wilton Love Heart mini baking cups and cut 4 wedges out of 1 cup... when I think of baking for school Valentine's Days Parties - I always think of cupcakes!! Next I drew a cupcake to fit inside my cupcake baking paper (don't worry about how it looks as no one is going to see it). Using Decoart snowtext writer I frosted the top of the cupcake using a pallete knife and then I sprinkled it with white glamour dust.   For the Tiny heart buttons I used the button heart from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry Peg Stamp set SH020021 Heart Button.  I stamped this using gold rocket red brillance ink and then I cut out the stamped images and placed them on the wet frosting. My cupcakes took quite awhile to dry since they needed a fair amount of frosting to make them look 3D. Here is a closeup view of them:

The polka dot ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the Happy Cupcake day stamp is from Lockhart Stamps. I used Brillance black ink to stamp the image onto the polka dotted ribbon.  The background is the heart A2 Cuttlebug embossing folder .  The dollie background was created by cutting 2- 4" dollies in half and placing them behind my matted heart image.  The delicate silver corners are Peel-Off Stickers from Best Creations.  In the closeup you can also see that I added delicate silver peel off stickers to my cupcake papers as well.

Decorate a Heart Shaped Box of Chocolates

Everytime I visit the Rubber Stamp Tapestry Booth at CHA - I admire Susan's vinatage photo stamps. Today I finally got to play with Sweet Sisters PHS 942004-H.  I had purchased this small box of chocolates last week to decorate and when my stamp arrived today the light bulbs went off and I decided this stamp would be perfect for my heart shaped box of chocolates.  I chose a heart shaped box with red roses on the top of the box.  To create this project I removed the cellophane wrap and stamped the sweet sisters stamp on white paper using Adriondack Jet Black Ink. Then I decided to use my copic markers to give the vintage photo a vintage tint.  I colored the faces using Copic E21- Baby Skin Pink.  I used RV-10 - Pale Pink to tint theyounger girls dress.  The older sister's dress I tinted in YR20 - Yellowish Shade.  I colored the sisters hair with Y17- Golden Yellow.  The roses and the hair ribbons I colored with R29-Lipstick Red.  For the background of the stamp I used B24-Sky.  The two tiny hearts and the love script are from my Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Flourish Plate 1 set.   I used my square scalloped nestabilities to make the black kromekote frames and the crimson red square.  For a little extra bling I added gold and red rhinestones from Kaiser Crafts.  For the final touch I used my Krylon Gold leafing pen to edge the actual box of chocoaltes. However the chocolates from the box did not survive the design process!!!  yum!! yum!!

Thanks for visiting!!