CCEE1839 Set-Back Stamping

Maryann ends up her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers challenge with a fun technique that I had never done before -- Set-Back Stamping.  She said she was inspired by Jennier McGuire's tutorial, using stamps and dies, something different to the normal layering.  If you'd like to try it, here's a link to Jennifer's blog post.

Like Jennifer did in several of the cards on her blog post, I used fun foam to raise the middle panel of my card.

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this fun technique.

Scor-Pal Pinspired Project - One-Sheet Box

The Scor-Pal is the perfect tool for making a box -- one-sheet or otherwise.  My pinspired project for today was inspired by this One-Sheet Box made by Einet Kessler:

This is my version of Einet's box:

Her instructions were very clear, and I had no trouble following them:

To start, score a piece of double-sided 12" x 12" cardstock at 3" and 9".  Turn the sheet a quarter of a turn, and score at 3", 5 1/2", 8 1/2" and 11".

With the four score lines horizontal, cut out the top left and right corners -- down to the second score line, as shown (the sections with the Xs should be removed).

Cut along the four outer corner squares from the edge to the score lines, to create the four tabs.  Fold at the score lines.  It might be a good idea to fold on all the score lines to get crisp edges.

Adhere Scor-Tape to the center panels, as shown in the photo, and fold in the side tabs.

Remove the paper from the tape, and adhere the center panels to the folded in flaps.

At this point, your box is completed.  You may decorate it any way you wish.  I just added some candy to the inside, folded over the lid, and added a wide wired ribbon.

You could make this cute little box fit any occasion, simply by changing the cardstock.  Here's a Halloween version . . .

. . . and a Christmas version.

You could probably make one in about 15 minutes.  I hope you give it a try!

Gnomes Bake Shop

I'm playing with some Christmas dies from CottageCutz today that are part of their Christmas Release (Part 2), but Part 3 is on their website along with some new Halloween dies, both of which are on sale at 25% off.  Check them out!

I'm a big fan of fun-fold cards, and today's card is a Center Step Card.  If you're unfamiliar with this technique, you can find a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.  This is my card for today.

Cardstock used for this card are as follows:

Brown - 5 1/2" x 11"
Red - 3 1/8" x 4 1/8"
White - slightly larger than 3" x 4"
Patterned paper - 3/4" x 5 1/4" (3 pieces)

I die cut the pieces for the bake shop from brown and white cardstock.

Using Copic markers and some distress ink, I colored the pieces and constructed my bake shop.

I then cut the gnomes from white cardstock . . .

. . . then colored and constructed the figures.

Following the directions from the Center Step Card tutorial, I cut, scored, and folded my card base from the brown cardstock.

After die-cutting the white piece of cardstock with the second largest Wacky Stitched Rectangle die, I layered the red and white pieces onto the center of the card; then glued the three strips of patterned paper -- trimming down the vertical strips to size.

I then added the bake shop and gnomes to finish the card.

CottageCutz dies used on this card are:

CCEE1838 Baby Cards

Maryann continues again this week as hostess for the CCEE Stampers and asked us to create a card using "baby" as our inspiration; for example, new baby, baby shower, grandbaby, baby animals or even just a baby-sized card.  I made a card which does not reflect the gender of the baby, so it could be used for both a baby shower or a new baby.   I pulled out a fun Karen Burniston die (Tag Book Pop-Up Card) as well as a CottageCutz die (Stork w/Baby), a Memory Box alphabet set and some stickers.

To see some more baby-themed cards, check out the CCEE Stampers blog.

Cream and Gold Christmas Tree

A few weeks ago someone on Facebook wondered how the Karen Burniston Christmas Trees Pop Stand would look in white and silver.  Never one to overlook a challenge, I made one, which I liked very much.

Pleased with how this card came out, I decided to make a similar one in cream and gold.  A couple of years ago, I had bought a 12" x 12" pad of gilded cardstock that had some really pretty designs.  I used a couple of them on my card, along with a gold Christmas sprig from Martha Stewart and the Karen Burniston Merry Christmas phrase die.

When you open the card, up pops the Christmas tree.

I decided that some gifts would look good under the tree.

I really like this die set and anticipate that I will be using it many times in the future.

Elfin Laundry

CottageCutz has some new dies in the store -- Christmas (Part 3) and some really cute Halloween ones, as well.  Both of these sets are on sale at 25% off.  Be sure to check them out.  I'm actually using a die from the Christmas (Part 2) release.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a Christmas card though.  You could use it for a thank-you note AFTER Christmas.

To start my card, I cut the tree portions from some green cardstock, the tree trunks and clothespins from some tan cardstock, and the rest from white cardstock.

Using the packaging as a guide, I colored all the pieces, -- sponging the tree parts with distress ink and coloring the rest with Copic markers.  I then constructed all the pieces, which took quite a bit of time -- those pieces are really small.  That's actually why I like CottageCutz dies, all the detail!

I then cut my card base:

White - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4"; and 3" x 4 1/4"
Red Plaid - 5 1/4" x 4"

I used some more distress ink and sponged in some color at the top and bottom of the small white panel, giving just a hint of sky and grass.

After layering the plaid and small white pieces onto the card base, I carefully adhered all the die-cut pieces.

I then stamped the sentiment at the top, and my card was complete.

The CottageCutz die used on this card is:

CCEE1837 Fortune Cookie Day

Maryann continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers.  This week she told us that it is Fortune Cookie Day and asked us to use this to inspire an oriental-themed card.  I don't often make oriental cards, so this was a pleasant change to my stamping style.  I used a couple of old MFP Stamp Shop stamps as well as some patterned paper from a pad I bought many years ago.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more oriental-themed creations.

Wizard Houses

As a big Harry Potter fan, one of the first things to pop into my head when I saw the new Karen Burniston House Pivot Panel die was Hogwarts with its four wizard houses.  I thought it would be fun to cut out the houses in the colors of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.  I didn't have these dies in time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge last week, the theme of which was "HOUSE.," so this is actually my second card for the challenge.

I used the new House Pivot Panels die along with the Tag Book Pop-Up die to create my card.  The front of the tag book has character stamps from Students of Magic and Masters of Magic from Kindred Stamps, colored with Copic markers  The sentiment was printed on my computer and cut out with a Die-Namics word bubble die.  I cut a strip of woodgrain patterned paper with the tag die.

For the inside, I wanted to have a bit of scenery, so I adhered some lightweight sky and grass paper onto a white piece of cardstock and cut out the pop-up panel from the House Pivot Panels die.  In her video, Karen Burniston suggested putting additional background panels cut from the Twist Panel Pop-Up die on either side of the background panels; but, because I was putting trees from the Evergreen Pivot Panels rather than houses on the outside two house panels, I chose not to do that.  I wanted as much of the background scenery to show as possible.

I cut the house die pieces from cardstock from the Harry Potter Cardstock Collection from Character World and added some House pennant stickers from Kindred Stamps.

Here's a close-up of the houses so that you can see them more clearly and also see the pennants.

By the way, I'm a Hufflepuff!

We Three Kings

I like to make Christmas cards all year long -- even when it's 90 degrees + outside.  And CottageCutz has made it very convenient.  Their Christmas release (parts 1 and 2) are both currently on sale at 25% off in the store.

One of my favorite Christmas carols is We Three Kings.  That's what inspired my card for today.

I found a website that provided free printable Christmas carol lyrics.   I printed the song sheet for We Three Kings that I wanted to use for the background of my card.

It printed out at 3 1/4" x 5 1/8"; so when I cut my cardstock, I cut the black piece 3 1/2" x 5 3/8" to give just a little frame around the song sheet.  The white base is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".

After cutting the song sheet down, I mounted it on the black piece of cardstock and set it aside.

I wanted to try the technique Inlaid Die-cuts for my ornament, so I cut the various sections of the ornament die in black, tan, blue, gray, and yellow.

I laid the black ornament piece onto some white scrap paper and drew around the edge.

After cutting out the shape just inside the line, I ran the paper through my Xyron sticker maker so that the adhesive would be on the front side.

After carefully placing the black ornament on the paper, I started to fill in the spaces with the colored pieces . . .

. . . until it was completely filled.

To attach the ornament to my card, I threaded a piece of black twine through the hole at the top and taped it at the top to the back of the sheet music panel, placing some foam pop dots behind the ornament -- and gluing the music panel to the white card base.

I then pulled the twine tight and adhered the ornament to the front of the card.  And my card was completed.

The CottageCutz die used on this card is: