January's Projects at-a-glance

 Project  Notes

STAMP SETS:  

     ■  "Aviary" stamp set

     ■  any stamp with a small, long sentiment (for the blue band)

CARDSTOCK:  

  
     ■  White (regular size, main body of card)

  
     ■  a blue ~ to match a button and the blue

          ink of the owl - 3/4" X 4.25"

     ■  a(ny) green ~ for the leaves

INSTRUCTIONS/TUTORIAL:  

Corner-round the two right corners of the white CS, one thickness at a time (Punching two thicknesses at a time will either break ~ or wear out more quickly ~ your punch.)  

In black ink, stamp the birdcage onto white cardstock.

Stamp the owl inside it in blue.  (Which blue you use doesn't matter; just make sure your owl, blue band, and blue button match.)

Cut out the birdcage leaving a slight margin all around it, and cutting off the round hanger at the top.

Position your birdcage where you want it on the card, and lightly mark on the card where the brad or eyelet (for the new hanger) will go.

Attach the brad or eyelet birdcage hanger.    Note first:

~ If doing an eyelet, you can run your linen thread through the eyelet before applying it, holding the thread up at the top.  This makes it look like the thread is actually going through the hanger ~ because it IS!!! 

~ If you're doing a brad, you can just run the thread around it.

Punch your leaves; the Sizzix "Little Leaves" die was used in this card; I also used the leaves (lots more of them) in the bird punch. 

Run some linen thread through the button.

Stamp a message onto the blue band.  (vertically is how this card was done)

 Project  Notes

STAMP SETS:  

     ■  "Baby Blossoms" stamp set   (Since you'll be doing 2-step stamping, the clear set is handy.)

SUPPLIES:

     ■  Ticket corner punch

     ■  Framed Tulips embossing folder

     ■  Stamp pads:  Always Artichoke, Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry

     ■  Small sharp scissors for cutting out the label (the mini Top Note)

EMBELLISHMENTS:  

      ■  Ribbon - Rich Razzleberry taffeta - 18"

      ■  Optional (I didn't use, but it would be pretty to add) tiny pearls where the ticket-corner punches are.

CARDSTOCK:  

     ■  Springtime Vintage DP - 2-3/4" X 4"

    
     ■  Rich Razzleberry cardstock - 3" X 4-1/4"

    
     ■  Vanilla cardstock - main card piece (you will want to look closely at whatever DP you use to make sure that you are matching the background colors ~ like this card could have had a white or cream base card because there is none of either color in the DP. 

INSTRUCTIONS/TUTORIAL:  

Impress the embossing folder onto the card, taking great care to make sure it's centered.  This may take a little practice until you figure out how to do this in such a way that it's centered top to bottom, and left to right.  If you mess up, you can most likely just cut it out and use it as a separate layer piece on another card.  )  

Punch the four corners of the DP with the Ticket Corner punch, and adhere to the Rich Razzleberry piece. 

Tie the ribbon around this piece

Adhere to the card.  (No need to pop this up with Dimensionals; I did, but then realized I actually diminished the effect of the embossed tulips.) 

Stamp the dotted mini Top Note from "Baby Blossoms" onto Vanilla CS

Next stamp your sentiment. 

Next stamp the leaves of the tiny rose inside the oval.

And last, 2-step stamp the little roses.

Cut out this tiny Top Note piece leaving just the tiniest edge of white all the way around.  (That's always how I do that.)

Pop up this piece with Dimensionals and adhere to card.

(The little cut-out rose in the lower right corner is optional; it's there for only ONE reason(!):  my card accidentally fell onto a corner of a black stamp pad(!), and I had to cover it up somehow!!!)

CARD PROTOTYPES:  Here are the three cards that inspired the one I made.  I took the color scheme and ribbon placement of the top one, the tulip border and basic background format of the one on the left, and the inside sentiment and rose of the one on the right!  (On that last one, they stamped all those roses!!!  So you could make that card without having the DP!)

 Project  Notes

STAMP SETS:  

     ■  Any stamp set with a leaf or two that you like  (The artist of this card used just one leaf.)

     ■  Any sentiment stamp you like

CARDSTOCK:  

  
     ■  White - 4-1/4 X 8-1/2"; score at 5-1/2" ("Hot dog cut")

INSTRUCTIONS/TUTORIAL:  

You can make a template with three square "windows" by punching 3 1-1/4 squares about 3/16" apart out of paper ~ which is thinner and therefore, when you sponge, you won't have as deep a "window" to fill.  If you don't know what I mean, try it on both CD and paper; you'll figure it out pretty fast.  However, I provided one for you in your kit.    

Stamp your sentiment in the lower right corner.  If it's a shorter one like this (in the picture), then you'll be able to line your template up with the bottom of the card.

Get any two colors of ink you like together.  If you like the above color scheme, you can use a "yellow" ~ like So Saffron, More Mustard, etc.  The other color could be Really Rust, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, etc.  We tried them all, in various combinations, and they all looked good!  You just can't do it wrong!! 

Place your 3-window template over the card (making sure to allow a little margin above your sentiment) and sponge the yellowish color in various random areas.  Then sponge the rusty color in other areas, merging the two, of course. 

Next stamp your leaves (or whatever image you want, really!) in black.  If you want to have stamped off images (as above), then you will need to re-ink, stamp once "elsewhere" (on your envelope is good, putting the whole image onto the envelope, not having part of it off the edge) and then stamp off onto your card.  (as above)  You have to stamp your first impression of the stamped-off image on a completely solid piece or you will have an edge!

And that is IT!!!!  VERY fast and easy!!!!!!!  You could do these assembly-line style and get a bunch made up one time!  You could use different stamps and colors and make them for babies, birthdays (feminine), thank you's, sympathy, etc.

 Project  Notes

STAMP SETS:  

■  The only stamp I used on this card was "Oval All" for the sentiment.

CARDSTOCK:  

■  Main card:  Soft Suede (5.5 X 11", but DO NOT SCORE!)

   
■  Matt pieces for the square on the right and the oval:  Black

■  Drawers:  Any lighter neutral color ~ Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, etc.

EMBELLISHMENTS:  

■  3 to 6 brads for the drawer handles (depending on whether you want one drawer handle in the middle, or one on each side)

■  "Newsprint" DP  (You could even use an actual page of sheet music!)

■  Ribbon of your choice (in the original prototype they used lace; I tried vanilla grosgrain but didn't care for it, so I ended up using vanilla organdy (retired)

■  They used lace for the bow; I used white organdy ribbon.  (Taffeta or silk would be pretty, too.)

■  Tiny silk roses - I took mine off of a rose swag I have up in the house, but you can use any small rose ~ silk, punched, ribbon rose, or whatever you have on hand!

SUPPLIES:  

      ■  Scallop (straight-edge) punch

      ■  Curly  Label punch

      ■  Scalloped Oval punch

      ■  Large (not the biggest) Oval punch

      ■  Sponges for edges of drawers and dresser

      ■  Crumb Cake stamp pad

INSTRUCTIONS/TUTORIAL: Click on the picture to go to the web page where the tutorial is; you'll still need to click on that tutorial for it to begin.

CARD PROTOTYPE:   Here is the original card:

What looks like a bit of "shine" at

the top left of the card, is actually a tidbit of

lace hanging out of the drawer!

OTHER VARIATIONS:  Here are some other variations of this card.  This shows how you can be very creative with whatever stamps, ribbons, papers, and embellishments you have!!!!    

See the May Class for BABY dresser cards!

(These are not the ones we made; just samples.)