Monday, November 29, 2010

Square Treat Box Tutorial

This is only my second tutorial and the first one, masking, was pretty basic, so please don't make fun of me. This box is really very easy. You start with one 5" x 5" piece of cardstock; score it at one inch all the way around.
Cut four corners up to the score line as shown below; fold all score lines.
Add double sticky tape to the one inch tabs on the outside and fold into the box adhering securely.




Finished box.
Using the largest square, cut 4 squares from the Spellbinder Classic Squares Large set, emboss 2 only. Using the largest square from the Spellbinder Class Squares Small set, cut one square from patterned paper and emboss.
Adhere 1 unembossed square to the bottom of one embossed square, twice. Add patterned paper to the top of one embossed square.
Cut one 3" x 3" hinge and score at the 1" and 2" mark. Fold on score marks. Cut one tag from a Spellbinder tag set. Score at the midpoint and fold.
Add double sticky tape to the outside top and bottom inch of the hinge, leaving the center strip free of adhesive. Turn the plain paper square upside down so the embossed area is on the bottom. Line up a quilting ruler to mark off 1/4" of the square. Eyeball the hinge, placing it against the ruler and 1/4" from each side. Press down firmly.

Add double sticky tape to the inside of the hinge, covering the 1" strip and snug the box into the hinge matching the sides. Lay the tag against the front of the box with the scored line on the top of the box (this part will be adhered to the cover). Mark the hole in the tag on the box. Punch the hole in the front of the box with a 1/8" hole punch. Flatten the hinge so it lays on top of the box. Tip the box up on it's side and press the left side of the box bottom against a ruler or the side of your score pal. Press your lid against the same ruler or score pal on the left side and press the two pieces together. This will ensure your pieces match.

Add double sticky tape to the bottom of the box and adhere it to the bottom square.
Your box now has a lid.
Put double sticky tape on the top of the tag and position it on the edge of the box as shown using removable double sticky tape and matching the holes. Close the lid and press, open the lid and secure firmly.Take a 5" piece of 3mm tape and fold it over a toothpick. Insert the ends of the ribbon into the 1/8" hole. Leaving an 1/8" free on the inside, add 3mm scoretape to the inside of the ribbon and fold it together. Add scoretape to the underside of the ribbon and adhere to the inside of the box.
At this point, you can remove the toothpick and color it to match your box. I used my copics for this, they work great. You can also cut a piece of patterned paper 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" to cover the inside bottom of your box. Add candy, place the tab over the ribbon, pull the ribbon through the hole in the tab with the toothpick and insert the toothpick into the ribbon. Decorated toothpicks from places like Cracker Barrel would look good with this box.

Decorate as you wish on the outside. This stamp is from Lili of the Valley and the box is for a friend who is retiring soon.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with me, I'm new at this so something might not make sense. These little boxes can be used for treats or gift certificates. A gift card will not fit.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

SSCC #11 - Christmas Challenge

A Christmas Story: Chapter 1: I stayed up until 12:30am Thanksgiving night in order to take advantage of the new Walmart Cricut Cartridges that were being released. I specifically wanted Jolly Holidays - have you seen the cute houses on that cartridge? HAD to have it. Now, everyone who knows me knows I'm in bed by 8:00 +/- every night, very rare exceptions. Of course, I'm usually up at the crack of dawn, too. So, 12:30am was HUGE for me. I read that the store would be open at 12:01, foolishly assumed the on-line stuff would be for sale at that time. By 12:30, I realized it wasn't gonna happen, so I went to bed. Chapter 2: Got up at 5:00am and the cartridge was sold out on line. Poop! So, I sulked. My husband, who is ever eager to fix my problems, suggested going to Walmart. I don't think so. Well......how bad could it be? So, about 8:30 we start the 40 minute trek to a local Walmart. Chapter 3: Parking lot half filled (what's up with that?) Zipped right into a parking place just cars from the door (God loves us). The tiny scrapbooking aisle was filled with cartridges (Yahoo!). But none of the new ones and no place for them to hang. Drat! We actually ran down an employee, who asked another employee (two Walmart employees at one place - have you ever seen that?) who eventually stopped a manager (our cup overfloweth) who said "I think they're in electronics (????) but the cartridges are gone :( " My husband, ever eager again, decided to check (he rarely believes what people tell him - even me sometimes but that's another story), all the while musing about Cricut Cartridges in Electronics (what a bone-headed idea) - and (Hallelujah Chorus here), there were two left. I bought one. We reasoned that because they hid them, no one could find them and we got lucky. A salute to the bone-headed idea. The End.

I've been in love with the Magnolia Snowmen since I first saw them. How can anyone resist that face? I used the Spellbinder Ornament Nestability Die, stamped the snowman on it, used my airbrush on the edges and colored the snowman with my copics. I love the Flower Soft Polar White for snow. I like to paint first with Tulip Metallic Paint, matching the color of the glitter or Flower Soft I'm using on top. It has a fabulous texture to it and a very tiny tip for getting into small areas. If you happen to miss a spot with your overlay, it won't show as much. I sprinkled the Flower Soft on top, gave it a tiny press (don't press hard, you'll flatten the paint) and waited for it to dry. You could mix a tiny bit of glitter into the Flower Soft to add some extra sparkle. All in all, I'm pleased with how this card turned out.

Paper: DCWV The Christmas Stack; Stamps: Magnolia Frosty with Snowflake, Sentiment: Hot Off the Press Inc.; Spellbinder Heirloom Ornament; Tulip Metallic Paint White; Flower Soft Polar White; Spica Baby Blue; Crystal Stickles; Martha Stewart Border Punch; Ribbon: Flourishes; Copics: [Background Airbrushed with B00, B91, B97][Scarf B93, B95, B97][Snowman N0, N1, 0, R20][Outline N2]

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

MSL Challenge - Punch it Out - Black Friday Blow Out Sale

StampingScrapping.com's Black Friday Blow-Out sale starts at 7pm EST on Thanksgiving Day:

TONS OF 40-70% off items
The whole store is ON SALE at least 10% off(except minimum pricing policy items)
Items added all weekend and on Cyber Monday
FREE GIFTS WITH ALL PURCHASES OVER 75.00
TONS OF FREE MERCHANDISE given away! The more you spend the MORE value we add into your box!
A drawing will be held from ALL orders UNDER $75.00 and 4 PEOPLE will WIN THEIR ORDER FOR FREE! If your name is drawn, you will be given a coupon code for your entire order total good for 1 full year!
Cindy and Kevin want you to know how much they appreciate & love their loyal customers and friends. They wish you all the happiest Thanksgiving with your family and friends and hope you know that they feel you are all extended family. They would invite you over for Thanksgiving but they will be a bit busy marking stuff down, packing and shipping your orders instead :) This commercial message has been brought to you by the StampingScrapping design team who would also like to add their good wishes for a happy, healthy Thanksgiving Day. Now, on to our featured entertainment:

The Magnolia Stamp Lover's Blog challenge is to use a punch. I originally started with a circle punch and then I thought, "I can do better than that". So, I pulled out my McGill punches and proceeded to make a flower. These are pretty simple to make, I had this one done in about 10 minutes. Actually, it's the second one, the largest petals made a flower too big for this card, so I moved to the second largest set. In doing that, I forgot a step I used in the first flower; I edged the petals with a gold stamp pad. I didn't do that on the second flower, but I still have the first one to use on a later project. Don't you love the new Tim Holtz edge dies? This one cuts two different edges, I love this one. You could use it to make a Matchbook card and use the pointed end to fasten the card.

This is a closer view of Tilda. I do so love the new 0000 copics. They're so soft. I covered the star with Spica Gold and the top of Tilda's dress with Spica Clear.
The flower center was covered with Versamark and then embossed with gold embossing powder. This added a little zing to the center of the flower. The tag in the back was cut from white cardstock printed with part of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and inked on the edges.

Paper: DCWV The Paper Stack, Beckett Radiance; Stamps: Studio G, Magnolia Star Tilda; Punches: McGill Star Lily, Crystal, Birch Leaf, Starburst; Spica: Gold, Tim Holtz Sizzix Die Ornate; Clear; Copics: [Skin E00, E01, R20][Hair YR23, Y21, YR31][Star: E55, Y28][Clothes R0000, R000, R00]

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Grab your hot cocoa....this is a long one

With a nod to GinaK, this card set is for my husband's cousin, Nancy. She's been buying my cards from the first time she saw them and that gives me more money to play, so thanks much, Nancy. (I know she's busy taking care of her boyfriend who's been ill and is going through chemo right now, so she won't take the time to read this). I created these six cards because she asked for more 'birthday' and 'thank you' cards. Ironically, most of the thank you cards find their way back to my mailbox because I'm apt to send her flowers or cards for no reason other than I love her. The first time I got one of my cards back, I didn't know what to think; it was strange to receive a card that I created. But now I'm honored, I get 'thanked' twice, once when she buys the card and once when she sends it to me.

This card was created with a Flourishes stamp set: A Guiding Light and Stampin' Up sentiment and Spellbinder Classic Rectangles. I created it for the man in her life. The embossing folder used throughout is the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss, the lines were embossed on my MS scoreboard and the paper is Beckett Radiance. Copics are all in the 0000 range to keep it simple.
Flourishes Sunflowers paired with a Flourishes' sentiment, Spellbinder Classic Ovals and Kaiser pearls. Copics:Y11, Y19, YR16, Y18, YG03, G82, G94, YG63.

Flourishes Calendar Set 2, Flourishes' sentiment, Kaiser Pearls, Spellbinder Classic Ovals . Copics: YR02, Y38, YR81, G94


Flourishes Peaches and Cherries, sentiment, Kaiser pearls, 3-D Crystal Lacquer Country Red, Spellbinder Classic Squares. Copics: R39, R29, R24, R20, YG03, G82, YG63, G94.

Flourishes Calendar Set 3, sentiment, Kaiser pearls, Spellbinder Classic Circles. Copics: RV21, RV06, G94, G82.
Flourishes Calendar Set 3, sentiment, Kaiser pearls, Spellbinder Classic Circles. Copics: B69, B63, Y15, G94, B66. I packaged all six cards and envelopes in an acrylic box wrapped with a big bow. Hopefully she will come to the 'cousins once a month get together' so I can give them to her with a strict admonition - do not send one to me lol.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

MSL Challenge - a sketch for you

The Magnolia Stamp Lover's challenge this time is a sketch which I've shown below. I've taken a little license with mine - all the elements are there, just not in exactly the same place. The left rectangle is actually on the center rectangle and the words are in the background paper. This is the sketch....and if you want to see what the other design team members did with it, please check out the Magnolia Stamp Lover's blog.

and this is my card...
and here's the inside. I've made several cards of this style lately. They are very easy - 4.25 x 11 inches, scored from the left side on the long side at 3.5" and 9". Fold and decorate.

Paper: My Mind's Eye Sweet Dreams; Stamp: Magnolia Holly Letter; Kaiser Craft Red Pearls; Copics: R46, R59, E40, E42, YG01, G94, E43, G99]. Cindy doesn't currently have the Holly Letter in stock, but if you e-mail her, I'm sure she can get it for you. The scroll was a digi stamp I found on the internet.

And don't forget to checkout the Spellbinder's Blog Hop starting tomorrow....

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Santa Claus is coming to town

First of all, in case you don't know, I am on a design team for StampingScrapping.com. I started out buying at a store with exceptional service and ended up with a friend for life. Cindy and Kevin Echtinaw, like a lot of people in this economy, struggle with keeping the doors open on a small business. They don't ask for help, they ask for customers. And once you order from Cindy, you discover what customer service really is. In fact, if customer service were in the dictionary, they would have Kevin and Cindy's picture - lol. I tell you that to tell you this: Cindy offers blog candy on the Stamping Scrapping Design Team Blog - for every 100 new followers, she gives away a gift certificate. And the Design Team Blog is filled with tutorials, hints, and new products. So, pop on over there and give it a peek. Stay to browse, follow, and good things are going to happen to you. I promise.


I turned this card topsy turvy. I started with a 4.25" x 11" piece of paper scored at 3" and 9" on the long side. The latch is from an old Sizzix die I've never used (not the only tool in my stash I've never used, believe me). A hint for adding this to your card: assemble the latch and put a piece of removable tape on the front. Add your adhesive to the back keeping in mind it will need to open down the center and you can't cover the slit and prong, so keep your adhesive off of the middle, add your latch to your project and then remove the tape. Easy Peasy! Another technique I like for a snow effect is using Tulip white metallic paint to cover an area before I put on glitter or flower soft. It gives a dimension that flat glue doesn't. Left alone it has a really nice shimmer to it and the nozzle on the tulip paint is very tiny so you can get into the smallest places. I will be concentrating on Christmas cards until Christmas, so if you're a friend that reads my blog, this card could be in your mailbox soon.


The tree is from the Santa Collection 08 - there are 3 trees, I cut one out; Cindy doesn't have it in stock, but I'll bet she'll be glad to order it for you if you contact her at: (stampingscrapping@charter.net). Other supplies are: Paper: DCWV Christmas Stack, Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Frosty with Snowflake; Sizzix Latches Die; Kaiser Rhinestones; Ribbon: Stash; Tulip Metallics White Paint; Sparkling Ice Glitter; Silver Stickles; Spica Clear; Copics: [B000, B91, B95]
Things I wonder: How Sophie Allsopp on HGTV's Unsellables can paint a bathroom white wearing a little black dress and stilletto heels. I can't look at a paint can without getting it all over me, the cat, and the trees outside. What do you suppose she knows that I can't figure out?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Musings....

Saying that the last few days in Central Illinois have been beautiful is like saying Tom Selleck is OK looking. We all know that Tom Selleck is a stone fox, too hot to handle. I've been a fan since his first western, ironically, I never watched Magnum, thought it was cheesy. But when I saw him in the Sacketts, based on novels by Louis Lamour, it was love at first sight. Of course, I loved him in Lassiter and then High Road to China. Quiqley Down Under is my all time favorite Tom Selleck movie with Her Alibi a close second. Do you have a favorite Tom Selleck movie and are you watching him in Blue Bloods (I haven't missed an episode).

Things I wonder: Have you seen the Glade commercial? You know the one - the lady smells the wonderful fragrance of the glade and is immediately transported into a meadow where she dances in her June Cleaver dress? She's surprised by the applause of her husband who found her dancing in her living room in front of the Glade dispenser, whereupon she blushes at being caught. I wonder why her husband didn't have her committed, my husband certainly would have if he came home and found me dancing by myself in our living room. And I wonder why commercials are so far removed from our everyday reality. To tell the truth, now in the back of my mind, I believe smelling Glade makes you hallucinate, and probably would be discouraged from throwing it into my grocery cart.

Musings....

Saying that the last few days in Central Illinois have been beautiful is like saying Tom Selleck is OK looking. We all know that Tom Selleck is a stone fox, too hot to handle. I've been a fan since his first western, ironically, I never watched Magnum, thought it was cheesy. But when I saw him in the Sacketts, based on novels by Louis Lamour, it was love at first sight. Of course, I loved him in Lassiter and then High Road to China. Quiqley Down Under is my all time favorite Tom Selleck movie with Her Alibi a close second. Do you have a favorite Tom Selleck movie and are you watching him in Blue Bloods (I haven't missed an episode).

The card that follows has nothing to do with Tom Selleck. But it has a lot to do with digital paper. I ordered this paper off of the Internet which has millions of patterns that you can buy in your pajamas at 3:00am. This pattern set is called Angel Dust. I imported this sheet into Microsoft Word, changed my margins to 0 (some printers will not allow this), enlarged the digital paper to cover an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and then printed it on my Epson Artisan 50. It doesn't completely cover the page, but it only leaves a 1/16th of an inch around the page. I cut off the unprinted area, divide the sheet into 4ths and covered my Bazzill cardstock. The flowers on the lower left are part of the paper set which also comes with ornaments, borders, filligree, frames and lots more. And I can take the paper into Photo Shop and change the color if I need to. This makes much more sense to me than buying and stacking paper I may never use. The gold frame was cut using a Cricut cartridge, distressed with a dark distressing ink to tone it down and layered on top of a transparency printed with the words to Silent Night. I colored Tilda with pastels because I wanted her to pop off of the darker paper. I'm pleased with this card.


Paper: Angel Dust Digital Paper & Embellishments, Bazzill; Stamp: Magnolia Star Tilda; Cricut Cartridge 'Happily Ever After'; Transparency; Spica: Gold; Distress Ink Frayed Burlap; Copics: [Skin R20, E00, E01][Clothes V01, V0000][Star E55, Y28][Hair E33, E21, E30]

Things I wonder: Have you seen the Glade commercial? You know the one - the lady smells the wonderful fragrance of the glade and is immediately transported into a meadow where she dances in her June Cleaver dress? She's surprised by the applause of her husband who found her dancing in her living room in front of the Glade dispenser, whereupon she blushes at being caught. I wonder why her husband didn't have her committed, my husband certainly would have if he came home and found me dancing by myself in our living room. And I wonder why commercials are so far removed from our everyday reality. To tell the truth, now in the back of my mind, I believe smelling Glade makes you hallucinate, and probably would be discouraged from throwing it into my grocery cart.

Monday, November 8, 2010

SSCC #10 - yellow & black

The challenge (which I host this time) for the Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central is yellow and black. I combined a digital fence and pumpkins for the background. The moon was cut out of yellow/gold paper with a Spellbinder's circle die and then embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The swirls were outlined in yellow Stickles. "Boo" was stamped on one of the bats. Tilda with Thistle was popped up on foam.
Paper: Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with Thistle, Make It Crafty Eerie Background, Stampin Up sentiment; Spellbinder Classic Circle Small, Nested Bats; Cuttlebug Divine Swirls Embossing Folder; Stickles Yellow, Crystal; Spica Pitch Black; Smooch Illuminate; Copics: [pumpkins Y17, YR16, YR18, YR09, E08, YR000, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG0000, YG97][Fence E31, E43, E33, E57][Skin R20, E00, E000][Hair BV0000, BV000, BV00][Boots BV29, C5][Clothes BV23, BV25, BV29][Thistle YG91, YG95, YG93, V04, V06]

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Stupid cops on TV...

Things I wonder about: Why do the police on all the TV cop shows yell, "Police, stop", when they are still two blocks from the suspect? Don't they watch cop shows? Don't they realize what's going to happen? Do they think: just this once, maybe the suspect will stop and put their hands out to be cuffed?

Pretty ribbons of blue....with Blog Candy

My good friend Wini has lots of Blog Candy today - with a Cricut Blog Hop. Check it out....

The current challenge on Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central was to use ribbon on your project. Let me tell you about ribbon. I have a gazillion rolls of ribbon. My daughter works at a local craft store and has a nice discount. When this store puts holiday ribbon on sale, she gets a discount on top of the sale price. Over the years I've built up such a supply of ribbon that I have trouble storing it. The more ribbon that gets 'hidden' away, the less it gets used, the less it gets used, the more I add to the collection. Have you ever seen "Catch 22?" If you cruise my blog, you'll see I rarely use it. That's because I usually can't find it when the mood strikes. Well, I'm on to a new method of keeping track of my ribbon and have used it a lot more in recent weeks. I'll tell you about that in a future post when I have all my pictures ready to go and all my ribbon converted from the old system to the new. Now, on to the card: I'm going to run out of this paper soon. It sat in my stash for a year before I used it the first time, now I find it's the first paper I reach for. It's bright and cheerful, sure to make anyone who receives it smile and it goes with everything. I covered Tilda's peony with a Prima rose.

Paper: Making Memories Cheeky Collection; Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with Peony; Spellbinder Labels 10, Prima Fairy Tale Rose French White; Copics: [outline B95][skin R20, E00, E000][Clothes E50, E51][Stem G24][Hair Y21, YR31, YR23][Shoes E43, E44]

Things I wonder about
: Why do the police on all the TV cop shows yell, "Police, stop", when they are still two blocks from the suspect? Don't they watch cop shows? Don't they realize what's going to happen? Do they think: just this once, maybe the suspect will stop and put their hands out to be cuffed?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Reduce, reuse, recycle...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Have you ever had something in the dishwasher that you needed but the dishwasher wasn't full enough to run yet? And everyone in my house knows just how I feel about putting my hands in soapy water (these hands create art!) lol. I've found if you look around, you can fill it with things that need washing but you haven't thought about putting in your dishwasher. We have detachable shelves on our fridge door. All of our food is clean, how the shelves get grunged up is a question I'd like to have answered. I can move the shelved items to a large shelf in the fridge, pull off the door shelves and add them to the dishwasher. Do you wash your combs and brushes in the dishwasher? I do. Vases, your coffee pot (assuming it's from a drip coffee maker), your soap dishes and soap dispensers from the bathroom, some bird feeders, your plastic garden shoes. Some people would say yuch! Not in my dishwasher! But that's what it's for, to clean stuff. I just have more stuff than dishes.

MSL Challenge - Purple & Black

The new challenge for the Magnolia Stamp Lover's Blog is Purple and Black. My card base is black and there are various colors of purple on the card. I used my airbrush on the background and a digi wishing well. The little bridesmaid is popped up on foam. Do you think maybe she's wishing about a wedding in her future? I love my stamps, they will always be precious to me but I find myself reaching out for digi images for backgrounds and for storage concerns. Don't tell my husband but if you count the individual stamps in clear stamp sets, the unmounted and wood mounted stamps I have, they probably total close to 8000. I have 24 drawers filled and two or three tubs of special occasion stamps. My Halloween stamps use a whole large tub as do my Christmas stamps. I am running out of room.


Paper: Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Bridesmaid, Imag-e-nation Digi Wishing Well, Stampin Up sentiment; Prima Flowers #535575; Copics: [skin R20, E00, E000][wishing well E31, E33, E43, E57, C3, YG17] [Background Airbushed BV04, G24][Flowers G24, Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze][Clothes BV11, BV23, BV25, Spika Lavender & Clear][Hair E19, E09, E07][Wings Smooch Illuminate]
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Have you ever had something in the dishwasher that you needed but the dishwasher wasn't full enough to run yet? And everyone in my house knows just how I feel about putting my hands in soapy water (these hands create art!) lol. I've found if you look around, you can fill it with things that need washing but you haven't thought about putting in your dishwasher. We have detachable shelves on our fridge door. All of our food is clean, how the shelves get grunged up is a question I'd like to have answered. I can move the shelved items to a large shelf in the fridge, pull off the door shelves and add them to the dishwasher. Do you wash your combs and brushes in the dishwasher? I do. Vases, your coffee pot (assuming it's from a drip coffee maker), your soap dishes and soap dispensers from the bathroom, some bird feeders, your plastic garden shoes. Some people would say yuch! Not in my dishwasher! But that's what it's for, to clean stuff. I just have more stuff than dishes.