Glimmer paper medallion

I thought I would see how the glimmer paper worked for the accordion fold medallions.  They look really pretty in real life.  I wish you could see this paper!  It has such a pretty sparkle, without all the mess of glitter.  I did have a harder time making these medallions.  The paper has a very thick  backing, slightly plastic-y feeling.  I made the medallion/ accordion fold rosette/lollies (I have seen so many different names for this) the same way I have in the past, scoring across between each scallop.  Then snip a cut between one scallop to the center.  Fold back and forth.  One one start your folding up, on the second, start your folding down, so that they end up nesting together when you attach them.   These do not want to stay together!  I ended up using sticky strip to get them to stay.   Oh, I should mention that the scallop circles come from the perfect pennants die.  They have that cute little cut out between the scallops that gives them a doily look.  In fact, one of the women at stamp camp Saturday said they might work for snowflakes, which is what inspired me to use the glimmer paper.  Thanks Marirose!   You also need something strong to stick your medallion to your

card.  I used a large circle of sticky strip, which worked perfectly. Then I remembered I had some pop-up glue dots. They also worked great and were a little faster.  I used the stamp set "Perfect Punches" for the image.   This set is great because each image works with a Stampin' Up! punch.  I used my markers to ink up the stamp because I wanted two colors.  The colors I used were Riding Hood Red and Garden Green.  Then just use your scallop circle punch to punch it out and you're good to go. 

This card came together fairly quickly but it really looks great in person.  If you haven't tried Stampin' UP! glimmer paper, I suggest you give it a try.  It comes in red and silver 12 x 12 sheets.  perfect for Christmas and Valentines Day!  

  

Poppin' Pastels

This technique is a blast from the past for me.   Probably for a lot of other stampers too!  It is called Poppin' Pastels and it uses versamark and chalk to create really soft and pretty colors.  I made a card like this so many years ago. I found it in with my "Lovely as a Tree" samples.  Lovely as a Tree is also a blast from the past.  It is one of the first stamp sets I ever purchased, long before becoming a demonstrator.   I decided I would do this technique again with some updated colors.  For this card I used Cajun Craze for the base, and Early Espresso as the accent.  More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Always Artichoke are the chalk colors.  The first thing you do is stamp your images in versamark ink.  Versamark is clear and slightly sticky.  It is used for embossing with embossing powder, and for pastels/chalk.   I took a picture of this step, but as the ink is clear, it was silly to post it :)   Next you add some chalk to a sponge dauber.  I used More Mustard first.   The image starts to appear in the chalk.  Its really fun to see the first time you do this technique.  Next I added Cajun Craze, followed by Always Artichoke.  The greeting
is stamped in a new set called "Hand-Penned Holidays".  This set is just beautiful.  It comes with four sentiments,  "With Love", "Merry Christmas", "Give Thanks" and "Happy Halloween".   I used Give Thanks on this card.   I added some ink distressing to the edges of the
main image piece by sponging on some Early Espresso ink.   I also added some 1/8 taffeta ribbon in Early Espresso, as well as an Early Espresso button.    The bottom card here is another variation, using a different sentiment, that I thought would work for fall birthdays.  Masculine Fall Birthdays? Those of you who have read my blog before know that I have a problem making masculine cards :)   I am trying to remember to make them every once and a while because when ever I need one, I don't have one on hand, and I usually find out I need one at the last minute and don't have time to make one.

 I hope you enjoyed my Blast from the past technique and stamp set.  Even though it is one of my oldest stamp sets, Lovely as a Tree is still one of my favorites!  This last picture is one of my sponges and daubers.  I found this storage container at the container store and love it!!  no more accidentally getting pinkish red colors when I want true red.  I can store my sponges by color and know exactly which is which.  Funny how I like to have a very organized craft room, but my linen closets and pantry are a mess!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Grandma's shadow box

My lovely Grandmother has recently moved into an assisted living home.  The apartment that she moved into has a shadow box outside the door, that you can decorate any way that you like.  I was asked to decorate it for her.  It took me a while to think how I was going to do it.  I think I felt it had to be just right for her and I was a bit intimidated with it.  I finally decided on an Irish theme.  Grandma is 100% Irish through and through and loves to let you know.  I wanted to use some pictures of her life, and I settled on these three.  The one on the bottom is Grandma and Grandpa. Then I used a wedding picture because she is just so pretty in it. The smaller picture is her with her sisters and brother.  I really hope she likes it.  The part I thought you might be interested in is the paper quilt square.   This idea was a technique challenge a long way back at my favorite stamping website www.splitcoaststampers.com.  It is really quite easy, yet so pretty.  I cut 3/4 in. squares from different patterned papers in shades of Garden Green.  You can use larger or smaller squares depending on the size of your projects. I sketched out my pattern on some graph paper.  You can find some great quilt square patterns on quilting websites if your stuck for an idea.  I then started placing my papers onto the sketch.  Once your happy with your pattern, you can start gluing them down. 

Glue them right onto your graph paper, it will help  you keep them in line.  I made a heart and a shamrock because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use.  Once  you've got it all glued down, you can trim around the graph paper.  This looks really nice even if you stop right here, but if  you want to kick it up a notch, run the whole quilt square through an embossing folder. I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder on mine.  I put my square on a Chocolate Chip square, and then added a scalloped square in Garden Green. 

I had made a few squares as I was trying to figure it all out, so with the left overs I made up a couple cards.  I turned the shamrock into a birthday card.  My moms birthday is in March, and being Irish too this card will be perfect for her.  And Im actually several months ahead of schedule

which it insane for me!  I left the heart blank for now, you never know when you may need a card, and it will work for many occations.  Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Pool Party?

I find that I keep grabbing the new color "Pool Party" for my fall cards.  Sort of odd to think of "Pool Party" as a fall color, but it is one of the color combinations in the new Spice Cake designer series paper, and I just love the way it looks against the Early Espresso paper.   If you are ever looking for new color combinations to try out, a good thing to do is look at the combinations used in the patterned paper packs.  I dont know that I would have paired Pool Party and Early Espresso otherwise.   For this card, I used an embosse resist tecnique.  The main leaf image is embossed with a clear embossing powder, then rubbed over with ink to reveal the leaf below, but still allow you to see the newsprint paper underneath.  When embossing on the newsprint paper, be carefull and go slow, it is a bit thinner and the paper can darken a bit if it gets too hot.   I used sponge duabers to apply the ink over the embossed leaves, then wiped off

excess ink with a tissue.  I also used a bit of Early Espresso ink on the piece of  Pool Party paper to show the detail of the houndstooth embossing folder.  I have been using that embossing folder alot, it reminds me of fall! Love it! I used the stamp set French Foliage, I really like the look of the leaves on this set.   Some other little details are the tiny tags on the crochet trim ribbon.  The little tags are from the Jewlry tag punch, stamped with the Tiny Tags stamp set.  This is the first time I used the crochet trim ribbon, and I really like it.  I also finally opened up my Vintage Trinkets pack and used the tiny safty pin.  Lots of new stuff going on with this card.  I hope you liked it! Thanks for stopping by!

More Spice cake!

I saw this pretty card on one of my favorite websites today, (www.splitcoaststampers.com) so I had to case it.  Case is a term used by stampers to mean "copy and share everything".   The card used my current favorite paper, so it immediately caught my eye.  I also liked that it was clean and simple.   I changed it up just  a tiny bit from the original because I wanted to make another accordion fold flower so it matched the box I made thursday (http://bethrush-bethspapercuts.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-love-with-spice-cake.html ) and also because I wanted to use a bit less of the patterned paper.  I may have a paper hoarding problem, not sure : )      Here is a link to the original if  you would like to check it out :  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2056037?&si=SUO  I like Jen's use of ribbon, and her flower is really pretty. 

In Love with Spice Cake!

Spice Cake paper that is!  The Spice Cake paper is just gorgeous!  I actually had a hard time cutting it up this morning.  I will definatly get another pack before it goes away in January.  Today I am still working on projects for this weekends Stamp Camp.  I'm a bit behind schedule :)   I like to make 4 cards and 1 non-card at each stamp camp.  I also wanted to use the Spice cake paper.  I think I am going to go with this Fancy Favor box as my non card item.  I think these might be cute on the table for Thanksgiving, too!
The box is super easy to assemble because it is a die cut.  It is the Fancy Favor Die, by sizzix, exclusively for Stampin' Up!  Its a really nice sized box, easy to fill but not too big that you break the bank making it look full.  I filled mine with carmel corn.  yum! And the carmel corn matches the paper- how great is that?!   Its popcorn selling time again for the boy scouts so I'm loaded with boxes of pop corn.  So, this project will help my son out with his popcorn sales too!

 One tip for making the box is to glue on the strip of patterned paper before assembing the box.  Its just easier.  I added a scallop circle rosette to the front of the box for some extra pretty! I showed how to  make the scallop circle rosette in a previous post if you would like to check that out:  http://bethrush-bethspapercuts.blogspot.com/2011/09/scallop-circle-rosettes.html  The carmel corn is in a seperate clear bag, sold in a pack of 50 for $4.95.  Those clear bags are great to have on hand for a quick thank you to a co-worker, neighbor, teacher, whoever. 
I hope you liked todays project!  If you live in the Elmhurst Illinois area and would like to attend a Stamp Camp, please contant me.  You can also order Stampin' Up! at my online store. 
thanks for stopping by!!
beth

Happy Fall!

I love fall colors, don't you?  So pretty!  I am working on projects for some upcoming stamp camps and I thought fall would be a great theme.  You may remember a few weeks ago I was struggling to make a masculine card.  Somethings that I think are masculine, my husband tells me still look feminine.  What can I do, I'm a girl.  I like pretty things!  So, I'm hoping that this is masculine enough.  I love that strong tree.  I made the image by using my markers to ink up the stamp, lightest color to darkest color so you don't get Early Espresso in your More Mustard marker (don't you just love those names? too funny).  Once I had the stamp all inked up, I sprayed it with my Stampin' Mist stamp cleaner.  You can use water, I just like the way my Stampin' Mist bottle sprays.   You can also find little spray bottles where they have travel size hairsprays at the grocery store.  As the colors started to run a bit, I  stamped the image onto some watercolor paper.  I really like the look of this.  I finished the card off with some great paper from the Frostwood Lodge designer paper pack. This is a great paper pack with several different wood grains.   For a bit more color on the card base, I punched out a large circle in Cajun Craze and embossed it with the new houndstooth embossing folder.  Houndstooth reminds me of fall for some reason.  The tree is from one of my oldest stamp sets Lovely of a Tree.  An oldy but goodie that is still going strong in the Stampin' Up! catalog.  The "Happy Birthday" is from Curly Cute.  As I typed that I now think maybe I should have used a more masculine font :) 
Colors used: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, and Bravo Burgundy.

Merry Winter

I love this snowman set.  I think it is super cute.   As I try to decide what sort of Christmas card to make for my Christmas card swap, I thought I would make some pretty and some cute.  Here is my "cute".   The set is called "Merry Winter"  and it has those cute little snowmen, the sled, and some little phrases like "love doesn't melt", "snow much fun", "snowy days, frosty nights, warm  hearts", and "merry winter".    So cute!  I decided to make a "JOY FOLD" card.  This style of card opens two ways, sort of like two cards that fold in together, and has a whimsical look to it. I thought it worked well with the fun snowmen.  The card base is Wild Wasabi.  I added texture to the front flap with the new Snow Burst embossing folder.  The other side of the Wild Wasabi card has a piece of Wild Wasabi designer paper in a stripe.  The smaller Real Red card has a strip of Wild Wasabi scalloped paper that I made with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.  I have used this punch like this before and had questions about it because people didnt recognise the tiny scallop.  Thats because I cut the punched strip in half.  I just love that little scallop!
So cute!!   Some other elements that I added are hearts from the Heart to Heart punch, and small oval punch that reads "love doesn't melt".  The oval punch is actually what holds the front card closed.

Finally, here is the inside.  I used a great stamp set called Christmas Greetings.  This is a nice set to have for the insides of cards.  It is nicely priced at only $10.95 and has "Merry Christmas" as well as "May the joy and love you feel this holiday season extend to every day throughout the year."   Very nice.  I hope you enjoyed my "cute" Christmas card.   Thanks for stopping by!!

Chirstmas swap

I am in a Christmas card swap with some other stampers, so this week I am going to make a few Christmas cards and then decide on one to use for the swap.  This is the first one I made. It uses a stamp set from the  holiday mini called "The Sounding Joy".   I think this is a very pretty set, the font on the words is just gorgeous.  I chose to feature the "Let Earth receive her king" stamp.  I stamped the words in versamark on a piece of 3x3 vellum and embossed with silver embossing powder.  You have to be careful when you heat the embossing powder on vellum, go slowly so you don't scorch the vellum or make it curl.  I stamped a second piece of 3x3 whisper white with the stamp that has the lyrics of "Joy to the World" in a star shape. and layered that under the vellum paper.  You can still see the lyrics under the vellum, but they look very soft.  I wanted to use the new mini brads to attach the two 3x3 pieces together.  The mini brads are so cute and dainty.
I used to just eyeball where I wanted brads or eyelets to go, but a few years back I bought the Stampin' Up! Mat Pack and now can't live without it.  The Mat Pack comes with three pieces, a small grid board to use when hammering eyelets of doing other things that you want to protect your surface from, or just to line up your layers.  The second piece is a template for paper piercing, spacing eyelets, brads, buttons.   The last piece is a foamy piece that you put under the template when paper piercing.  You can see in the picture that I lined the cardstock up with the template to decide where to place my holes.   I then added the brads and matted the 3x3 pieces with a piece of 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 brushed silver cardstock.  To add some more texture I added some ruffles Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon.  To make the ruffles, I placed some sticky strip on
 the back of the brushed silver cardstock, and pinched and folded the seam binding ribbon along the sticky strip until I liked the way it looked.   I then added the image to my card base with dimensional stickers, or, as I call them in class, "puffies".   I folded my card a bit differently from a standard fold.  The base is 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 but I added another fold line to the front, so that when it opens, you can see the inside and the outside at the same time.  
The inside reads "Rejoicing with you in the birth of Christ our Lord, and wishing you all the blessings of His love." because really, that's what its all about.

Thanks for stopping by!

 . 

more halloween treat holders

While making my little bat yesterday, I had some left over pieces from the 'Perfect Pennants' die.  When I saw the scalloped circles laying there, I just had to see if they would work as accordion fold rosettes.  Happily they do, and they look sort of like lace.   The pieces I had left from the bat were black, and I was in Halloween mode, so I made this little sour cream container style treat holder.   The bat stamp is from the 'Batty for You' set.   The directions for the accordion fold rosettes are very simple.  Score across the circle from scallop to scallop, all the way around the circle.  Make a snip along one of the lines, to the center of the circle.  Fold back and forth all the way around.  Glue the 2 pieces together and your done! Directions for the sour cream style container can be found at this post from a few days ago. sour cream container  Thanks for stopping by!

Batty for You!

This little guy was posted on Stampin' Up! CEO Shelly Gardner's blog.  I thought he was so cute, I just had to make one of my own.  This Bat uses a few of my favorite 'Big Shot' die cuts, "Petal Cone" and "Perfect Pennants", both on page 221 of the Catalog.   You need to cut out 2 of the petal cone dies and 2 pennants to complete his body.  If you don't have the pennant die, you can make your own triangle wings by making a 3 1/2 by 5 rectangle, then cutting it on the diagonal. 
Once you have all your pieces, you can start turning them into a bat.  I tried all my circle punches to make the cut out for the head, but they all made too deep a cut and I just wasn't happy with them.  On my table was my sticky strip, so I tried that, and it was the perfect size. The important thing with this step is to make the cut out on the side of the petal cone die that has the flap.  I didn't do this the first time and when I assembled the bat, I didn't have a nice side to adhere the flap to,and I had to make it over.   On to the wings.  Some texture is added to the wings by running
them through the 'Spider Web' embossing folder.  Another boo boo I made when I made mine, was that I wasn't thinking about the raised/recessed sides of the embossing folder.  When I went to stick the wings on my bat, the right side had the web texture sticking up, the left side down, so I had to do one of the wings over again.   After you have your wings nicely webbed, you can add some detail to the bottom of the wings with your circle punch.  It worked best to start at the far tip of the wing and work your way in, so you get a nice tip, (guess how I know!).  To make them match, hold your first wing up to the second and trace where you want to punch your circles. Score your wings 1/4 inch in so you have a flap to use to attach the wing to the body.  You should score after you add any texture, like the webbing I used, or you will lose  your score line when you use your embossing folder, like I did.  Aren't you glad that I made all these mistakes for you so that you don't have to repeat them?

Once I had the body all put together, I sprayed it with my Silver Foil Smooch Spritz.  The picture doesn't pick it up, but it looks great and less flat with the spritz.  I need to use this stuff more often.  Some glimmer brads in 'Real Red' give his eyes a spooky look. The fangs were made with the points of a star punch.   I punched some holes in the sides to make a ribbon hanger, and added a Happy Halloween decoration to the bottom.  Hope you enjoy him!

yet another rosette post

One more project using an accordion fold rosette.  I needed a quick thank you and so I thought about a "sour cream container" box.  These are super quick to put together and I think they are really cute.  You need a 5 x 7 piece of paper, Concord Crush Designer paper used  here.  Roll it up like a toilet paper tube and adhere.  You need something strong, so I chose sticky strip.  Next you pinch one end closed and adhere with more sticky strip.  IMPORTANT: You need to fill it now, because if you keep going, you will be too late,  ask how I know : )    Once you get it filled with  your treats, you can pinch the other end closed, but at an oposite direction than your other end.   At this point you can decorate your container any way you like.  Right now, that means an accordion fold rosette from my scallop circle punch.  I  have explained this process a few posts down, scroll down and check it out, an while your at it, scroll down and check out some things even further down just for fun.

I made leaves by making a figure 8 with some Pear Pizzazz ribbon, and attached it behind my rosette with a clear rhinestone brad. I made a tag with a very cute set called "Tagtastic".  This is a hostess set that you could earn free by hosting a workshop, or if you come to my "Stamp Camps" and fill up my customer punch card.   I hope  you have enjoy three days of accordion folds.  I need to get to work on ideas for my upcoming Stamp Camp, I may add this little guy to the projects.  If you are in the burbs of Chicago, join in the fun!