Technique Tuesday - Paper Bows

Have you seen all of the cute paper bows showing up on packages and cards lately?  If you like big bows for packages (think Christmas!), go out to my website and order the Gift Bow Bigz L Die from the Holiday Catalog.  These bows are so cute and will dress up any gift you are giving.  I don't know about you but I never seem to have one of those store-bought bows in the right color!  Now you can make one in any color you want. 

But what if you don't want a big bow?  What if you have a small gift (think Tiffany's!) or a card that needs a bow?  Sit back and learn how to make a cute bow for that purpose....

Here's what you will need:

• Piece of cardstock or Designer Series Paper (I used Birthday Basics DSP)
• Large Oval Punch
• Glue Dots
• Scissors

 From your piece of paper, punch out four ovals and cut one strip approximately 1/4"-3/8" wide and 2" long.

 On two of the ovals, put them together and then cut a "V" out of one end of them.  You can do this separately but if you do it together, they will match.  Next, using a glue dot, fold and glue the other two ovals as shown.

 Take a glue dot and glue the two cut pieces together at the center

 Using a couple of glue dots, attach the loops to the base pieces.  Trim the base pieces along the sides where they stick out further than the loops.

 Attach one end of your strip to the back using a glue dot.  Wrap it around and glue it to the back.  Trim off any excess.
Too cute!


Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Stampin' Up!'s Punches...

Here is another card from my recent Punches class.  This is one of the wonderful reasons for attending Stampin' Up!'s Convention every year - swaps!  This year's punch swap gave me such great ideas.  The creative artist for this punched beauty is Laura Haffke.  Thank you Laura!

Instead of making it a normal size card, I cut off the bottom of the front and made it a flap card.  My one "tip" on this card if you want to recreate it is to take that leftover piece and place it along the bottom edge of the flap and run them through together using the Honeycomb embossing folder.  This way, you can hid the backing of the scalloped border and your honeycombs will line up on the back side.

Here's what you will need to duplicate this card:
Stamps:       Chalk Talk
Inks:          Early Espresso
Paper:      Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Epic Day DSP
Other:        Linen Thread, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Signo Gel Pen,
                   Ovals Framelits
Punches:   2 1/2" Circle, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle, Small Heart, Owl Builder, Extra Large Oval, Scallop Border

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Rocky Raccoon....

Here is a card that we made last month at my punches class.  I have to give full credit to the creative artists who figure out that they can make something like this adorable raccoon from punches!  In this case, Trudy Freas swapped a card using the raccoon at a Punches Swap at Convention.

My twist?  I added a tree made from the scalloped circle from the Circles Collection framelits.  The trunk of the tree was made by cutting off the sides using the Ovals Collection framelits.  I then embossed it using the woodgrain embossing folder.  The paper was the Early Espresso Core'dinations paper so we were able to get the two tone look on the trunk.

 

Since this was a Punches class and just constructing these little beauties took a long time, the cards were not "finished" on the inside.

Here's what you will need to duplicate this card:
Stamps:       Banner Greetings
Inks:          Garden Green
Paper:      Early Espresso Core'dinations, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Other:        Fancy Fan, Cloudy Day (retired)  & Woodgrain embossing folders, Linen Thread, Black Pen
Punches:   Elegant Butterfly, Bitty Butterfly, Full Heart, Bird Builder, Modern Label, Extra Large Oval,
                   Large Oval, 1 3/4" Circle

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Technique Tuesday - Washi Tape...

Have you joined the Washi craze?  I hadn't until I got a bunch of it at convention.  Now I am finding all kinds of fun things to do with it.  Here's one - create a new background with it.

 Here's what you need to create this background:

• Washi Tape - 3-4 coordinating patterns
• Piece of Cardstock - your color is only dependent on if you have any Washi that is transparent.
• Embossing Folder - I used the Argyle
• Sponge and Ink (not shown)
• Sanding Block (not shown)

 Begin in one corner of your cardstock and put a piece of your first of Washi at an angle.

 Continue lining up each strip of Washi with the next.  I leave a bit hanging over which helps hold your cardstock in place.

 Here's what it should look like when you are done placing your Washi.

 Here are the two ways you can handle the Washi tape ends.  You can trim them off with scissors or,

 Just fold them over to the back!

 Next take your Washi background and run it through the Big Shot with your embossing folder.

 Lightly sand the top of the embossed pattern.

Sponge the top with a coordinating ink color (I used Basic Gray).

 Here is the card that I made with the background.  The little bat is made using the Owl Builder punch.  His wings are made using the owl vest.

Finally here is the inside of the card where I used the Washi tape horizontally.

Here's what you will need to duplicate this card:
Stamps:       Seasonal Sayings, Tags 4 You
Inks:          Basic Black, Basic Gray, Only Orange (marker), White Craft
Paper:       Only Orange, Whisper White, Basic Black
Other:        Witches' Brew Washi Tape, 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon (Black), Owl Builder Punch, Label
                    Bracket Punch, Argyle Embossing Folder, Sponge, Signo Gel Pen, Black & Orange Glitter

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Technique Tuesday - Quick Tip.....

Here's a quick tip today.  You have probably seen several cute things that you can do with those left over embellishment containers.  I know I have seen lots of great ideas.  Here's a quick tip on how to get the labels off of them easily and below are some ideas on what to do with them.

 Take your Heat Gun and heat the label up.  This works best with the newer labels which have a plastic coating on the top.  You can tell this by the glossiness of the label.

The warmth of  the heat gun heats the adhesive enough that you can just pull the label up without leaving any residue!  No Goo Gone or anything...

So now, what do you do with these?  Here's some ideas:

• In a recent Technique Tuesday, I showed you how to use them to dye your crepe filter paper flowers.
• Dye ribbon using the same technique as the flowers using reinkers and rubbing alcohol
• I use them for all of the little pieces at my classes.  Each attendee has their own little container at their seat which holds ribbons, pearls, brads, small punched items, etc.
• Take an empty ribbon spool, cut it down to fit inside the container and spool your Baker's Twine on it.  Then punch a hole in the side using a Crop-A-Dile.  Set an eyelet in it and run the twine through for accessing.
• Fill them with candy and make them the center of a flower using the Floral Frames Collection framelits.  Place them on a wooden stick for a stem and put them in a pot full of candy to hold them up.       

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

Happy B-Day!!!

My hostess just loves Stampin' Up!'s  Honeycomb Embossing Folder and asked if I could make card using that.  Sure!  So I got out to my favorite site for inspiration - Splitcoaststampers.com.  I found the perfect card and did a little bit of twist to it.  Here's the result.

 I just love the Core'dinations papers and am thrilled that Stampin' Up! offers them in every color family now.  Here I used the new Baked Brown Sugar Core'dinations paper for the Honeycomb embossing folder and then sanded it.

I had to dig out my Nature's Pace stamp set out of my retired to get a bee for the card because the bee from Backyard Basics was just too big for this card.

Here's what you will need to duplicate this card:
Stamps:       Happy Day, Occasions Alphabet, Nature's Pace (retired)
Inks:           Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar
Paper:      Baked Brown Sugar Core'dinations, Crushed Curry, So Saffron
Other:        Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Petite Curly Label Punch, Pearls

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams

My Friend .... From Stampin' Up!

Here is a card we made recently using the Elements of Style (retired) and My Friend stamp sets.  If you don't have the Elements of Style stamp set, you can always use Flowering Flourishes stamp set.

Here's what you will need to duplicate this card:
Stamps:       My Friend, Elements of Style
Inks:         Calypso Coral, Soft Suede
Paper:      Soft Suede, Calypso Coral and Very Vanilla
Other:        Scallop Border punch, Crumb Cake seam binding, Floral Fusion Sizzlits, Pearl

Forever Stampin',

    Cathy Williams