On the weekend, I had some free moments at my job to brainstorm card ideas. I came up with a couple for using with the Daisy and couldn't wait to try them today! My first idea didn't work quite the way I wanted so I went on to the second idea.
I started by stamping a 4.25 x 5.5" Basic Black matte using the Diagonal Stripe stamp and Versamark and then heat embossed it with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. I really liked that effect!
Using the Daisy Punch, I punched six daisies from Basic Black. I also punched out six of the medium size blossom on the now retired Blossom Bunch Punch. I used a sponge dauber to dab Versamark on the ends of each daisy petal and embossed with gold. After using my Heartfelt Creations Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit to shape the small blossom punches, I stamped them with Versamark and embossed the whole blossom, one half at a time, with gold. AMAZING!
I adhered two daisies together and then two of the gold blossoms. A Dimensional adhered the gold blossom to the daisy. This was repeated to create two more flowers. I then colored a Clear Faceted Gem with a black Sharpie and adhered it in the centres of each daisy. Wow!
Next, I cut a strip of Gold Foil and stamped the sentiment with Jet Black Stazon using my MISTI to ensure a clean stamp on a slippery surface. I then used the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch to punch each end. A gold Sharpie was used to ink the edges so that the lighter core of the paper wouldn't show.
I threaded four strands of Basic Black Solid Baker's Twine through the openings in the tag and applied Mini Dimensionals to the back of it. I also taped the twine on the back to prevent the tag from sliding around. The tag was placed at the bottom of the striped embossed matte and the ends of the twine were taped to the back. The matte was then adhered to a 4.75 x 6" Basic Black card front.
The daisies were adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.
For inside the card, a Very Vanilla matte was stamped with the smaller daisy and stem and embossed with gold to complete the card.
I must say that I am LOVING this card! It turned out even better than I imagined that it would! Unfortunately, the photos do not do this card justice. It is so difficult to get good pictures when you use foil on your cards!
I was one of the lucky ones who ordered and received the mini egg cartons early into the Occasions Catalog. Today I got to use them and I'm so sorry I didn't buy more even though they are being retired!
Besides being just overly cute in their "mini-ness" they are so much fun to color using the Stampin' Spritzers!
I started by filling a Stampin' Spritzer almost to the top with 70% alcohol and then added 40 drops of Night of Navy reinker (I wanted this color to be really dark rather than muted) and shook it up.
Placing an egg carton in my "spray booth" (an old shoebox) I proceeded to spray the outside of the box. I was surprised by how well it turned out! Spraying the outside of the egg carton took about 2/3 of the mixture.
I labelled the spritzer and then mixed up another one, this time using Sweet Sugarplum and using only 20 drops of reinker. After spraying, I mixed one more batch using Tempting Turquoise, again using 20 drops of reinker. This carton took pretty much the whole batch of color but since I couldn't seem to get all the color out of the Stampin' Spritzer, I labelled it and set it aside for another time.
The cartons dried quite quickly on their own while I cut up paper to embellish the boxes.
For the Night of Navy box I created a belly band using some of the new Eastern Elegance DSP. I also wound some Night of Navy Baker's Twine around the belly band, securing it with a little Fast Fuse Adhesive. I die cut a stitched square from some of the new Thick Very Vanilla using the Stitched Shapes Framelits and a scalloped square from Night of Navy using a die from the Layering Squares Framelits. These were adhered together using liquid adhesive.
The Basket Builder Framelits were used to cut the basket from Night of Navy and the flowers from the DSP. The basket was assembled using liquid adhesive and the flowers were shaped using a stylus from my Heartfelt Creations Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit.
The basket was adhered to the Very Vanilla square using Dimensionals and the flowers with Glue Dots. Rhinestones were added to the flower centres. The completed square was added to the belly band using Dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped on a strip of Thick Very Vanilla using Night of Navy and then the ends flagged using the Banner Triple Punch. It was adhered to the egg carton using Foam Adhesive Strips. I used Fringe Scissors on Night of Navy card stock to create my own fill for the egg carton.
For the Sweet Sugarplum egg carton, I started by stamping flowers on Watercolor paper using Basic Black Archival ink. After heat setting, I used my Watercolor Pencils and Clear Wink of Stella to color in the flowers, die cutting them using the Basket Builder Framelits.
The basket pieces were die cut from Tip Top Taupe and Early Espresso and assembled using liquid adhesive. The stitched square was die cut from the Succulent Garden DSP and the scalloped square from Mint Macaron. After adhering them with liquid adhesive, the basket was adhered with Dimensionals and the flowers with Glue Dots. Rhinestones were added to the centres.
Lace doily halves were added to the back of the scalloped square and then a length of the now retired Glitter Ribbon Combo was tied around the egg carton, anchoring the ribbon with a glue dot on top of the box. The squares were then adhered to the top of the box using Dimensionals. A strip of Sweet Sugarplum had its ends flagged and the sentiment was stamped with Tip Top Taupe. It was adhered to the top using Foam Adhesive Strips and rhinestones added. Fringe scissors and Mint Macaron was used for fill.
Finally, the Tempting Turquoise egg carton was created. It was done in the same way as the previous carton but Festive Birthday DSP and Tempting Turquoise was used for the squares, Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie for the basket, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Crushed Curry and Emerald Envy for the eggs, Chocolate Chip for the bunny and Melon Mambo 3/8" Stitched Ribbon. The sentiment was stamped with Melon Mambo on Thick Whisper Whtie. Fill was created using Melon Mambo card stock and Fringe Scissors.
Here's a final look at all three projects, though it's hard to take a photo of all three together in my Foldio 2 setup!
I'm so pleased with how these all came together–I can't wait to give them to the recipients!
Friday night, my stamping ladies did a little gardening, though a green thumb was not required!
Succulents and dragonflies were the focus of my class as we created a darling pot of succulents with a matching gift card.
The Succulent Framelits are so much fun to use to create a vast array of colorful succulents. All six framelits required for the largest succulent can be fit onto a 4.25 x 5.5" piece of card stock and run through the big shot at the same time so this means that you save paper AND time!
In designing the succulents for this pot, I did a Google search to get some ideas for how to color the plants. Little did I know that succulents come in all the colors of the rainbow! Such fun!
I did a little experimenting with different colors of card stock and ink before deciding on my final choices. I save small strips of card stock just for the purpose of testing my ideas for colors. It is amazing what you can discover by sponging various ink colors onto different colors of card stock. For example, by sponging Wisteria Wonder with Pool Party, I was able to create a kind of Periwinkle Blue color.
In the end, I designed three types and sizes of succulents because I knew it was important to mix sizes and colors to produce a balanced design.
You can view the following video explaining how the succulents were created and assembled. This particular video shows a slightly different method to those portrayed in the photographs in this blog post. The succulents created in my class were fuller looking and more realistic as detailed in the notes below.
In addition, the second video shows the assembly of the pot and uses two types of moss to add further texture to the finished project.
Large succulent:
Wisteria Wonder card stock was cut with all six framelits; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Melon Mambo was sponged on the tips; double Dimensionals were used to adhere the two largest bottom layers as well as the next layer; liquid glue was used to adhere the remaining pieces.
Medium succulents:
Mint Macaron card stock was cut twice with five of the framelits to produce two separate succulents; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Old Olive was sponged on the ends of each petal; double Dimensionals were used on the two largest layers and liquid glue for the remaining pieces.
Small succulents:
Sweet Sugarplum card stock was cut three times with the three smallest framelits to produce three separate succulents; Old Olive was sponged lightly over the petals and then the tips were sponged with Melon Mambo; the layers were adhered using liquid glue.
After sponging the pieces for each of the succulents, a large-ball stylus from either the Heartfelt Creations Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit or one from the McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit was used to shape each piece. The piece was placed in the palm of the hand and the stylus was circled over the middle until the piece "cupped."
To add further dimension to each piece, a bone folder was used to curl each petal downward. Double Dimensionals were also used to create separation between the largest layers and to produce a fuller looking succulent.
Once all the succulents were assembled, it was time to prepare the pot.
A sheet of newspaper from a community paper was crumpled tightly into a ball and then carefully undone. It was re-crumpled but this time ensuring a smooth, top section to the ball. A glue gun was used to apply glue to the bottom and sides of the metal pot and the newspaper ball was pushed inside to adhere it. Some tutorials for succulent pots found on Pinterest use half a styrofoam ball to form this part of the pot but that adds to the cost. I much prefer using the easily attained newspaper!
Pieces of moss, in both natural and green were then hot-glued to the top of the newspaper. Some tendrils of moss were allowed to fall outside of the pot for added interest. After gluing enough moss to cover the newspaper, the pot was turned upside down and tapped to remove any loose moss.
The front of the pot was determined and the arrangement of the succulents was chosen. Each succulent was glued in place using the glue gun. A glue eraser was used to rid the pot of any clinging glue gun trails.
A glue dot was adhered to the middle back of the pot rim; two more were adhered to each side of the pot's rim. A length of the 5/8" Burlap Ribbon was adhered to the glue dots and tied in a bow at the front of the pot.
Finally, a dragonfly was die cut from Gold Glimmer paper, shaped slightly, and adhered to one of the succulents in the pot with Glue Dots.
To create the accompanying card, a 4 x 4" card base was cut from Old Olive. Mattes of 3.75 x 3.75" were cut both from Mint Macaron and Whisper White.
On the Mint Macaron matte, the sentiment was stamped in Basic Black. The dragonfly, from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.
The edges of the matte were sponged generously with Pool Party and then, less generously with Old Olive. The matte was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.
A dragonfly was stamped offset on the Whisper White matte using Pool Party and then adhered inside the card.
Using the Envelope Punch Board, a matching envelope in Mint Macaron was created. The flap of the envelope was stamped with another dragonfly using Pool Party.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my projects and viewing the video tutorials! If you have yet to order the Succulent Framelits or the Dragonfly Bundle, you can purchase them in my online store! Just think what you can create with these products!
I am an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and the use of and content of the classes, services, or products offered on this blog is not endorsed by Stampin' Up! I enjoy sharing my love of creating with others and helping them to make beautiful cards with stamps and paper!
