Monday, March 25, 2013

Friends and Easter

Good Monday morning!  I'm back after an amazing release week with another Friends of Speedy TV challenge.  This week our focus is on Easter, it's just a few days away.  I am always thrown off when Easter is early.  For my card, I embossed the sweet new bunny from Spring Things with white embossing powder.  I gave him some embossed grass, from Scenic Selections,  to hop through.  Afterwards, I connected the grass with my glue pen and embossing powder.  I also wrote my sentiment with a glue pen and embossed it with the white embossing powder as well.  It seems that I have no Easter sentiments in my Mark's Finest Papers collection.  Who knew?  Once my scene was all set up, I got out my colored pencils and colored it all in!  A mat, two rounded corners and some white ric-rac finish off my card. 
Let's not forget that Mark's Finest Papers offers a free stamp set for one lucky participant.  This week the set is called Island Life.  What a peaceful set!  Here's a look at it:
Thank you for stopping by!  I wish you a wonderful day filled with plenty of crafty time!

Details  - Stamps: Spring Things (MFP), Scenic Selections (MFP); Paper: Crumb Cake, Sweet Tooth White; Ink: Versmark; Accessories: White embossing powder, heat tool, Quickie glue pen, corner rounder, scor-tape, white ric-rac, stampin' dimensionals.

Friday, March 22, 2013

A Scor-Pal Flip Top Box

I'm back with another fun Scor-Pal project.  This time I've got a box for you.  I really love that you can make it out of one sheet of card stock and some patterned paper.  After a few scores, cuts and embellishments, the flip top box is ready to fill and give away. 
Here is what you need to get started:
  • One 4 1/2" x 10 3/8" piece of card stock
  • One 4 1/2" x 2" piece of card stock
  • One 2 5/8" x 3 5/8" piece of patterned paper
  • One 2 5/8" x 2 3/4" piece of patterned paper
  • One 2 5/8" x 7/8" piece of patterned paper
  • One 2 5/8" x 3/4" piece of patterned paper
  • Scor-Pal
  • Scor-Tape
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Punch or Die Cutting Tool
  • Embellishments, as desired 
First, place your 4 1/2" by 10 3/8" piece of card stock with the 4 1/2" side of the paper against the top fence of the Scor-Pal.  Score at 7/8" on each side.
Turn your card stock so that the 10 3/8" side is against the top fence of your Scor-Pal.  Score at 1/2", 1 1/2", 2 3/8", 6 1/8" and 7".  For a quick and simple solution to 1/8" scores that are not marked on your Scor-Pal, check out Diana's video tutorial
Without moving your card stock, score at 2 7/8" and 9 7/8" between the two horizontal scores made in step 1. 
With your pencil, make a mark at 1" and 3 3/8" the top and bottom of the card stock.  Draw a line from your pencil mark to the intersecting score lines 1/2" in front of the mark.  Draw a line from the top and bottom right corners to the score line 1/2" before it. 
Trim away corner pieces as shown  here.
Cut on score lines as indicated by red lines in the photo.  (One line was drawn previously).
Burnish all of your score lines.
Add patterned paper pieces, as shown.  Add Scor-Tape to the four tabs cut on the sides.  I used some patterned paper from the Fancy Pants Designs Hopscotch line.  I sponged the edges of my patterned paper and the edges of my card stock for definition.
Turn the card stock over and add Scor-Tape to the end flaps, side flaps of what will be the box front and the square tabs of the box top.  You can see the adhesive positioned in the photo.
 Remove adhesive backing on the ends and adhere down.
Adhere box base together by removing backing off tabs first and adhering to the bottom of the box.  Then remove backing off adhesive on the side flaps and secure to the outside of the box.  
Next, adhere flip top together.  Remove backing from Scor-Tape on square tabs first and adhere to the top of the box.  Remove backing from the Scor-Tape on the angled flaps and secure to the side of the flip top.  Here you have a completed flip top box.
Optional: If you would like to make your flip top box lid more secure, follow these additional steps.  Place your 4 1/2" by 2" piece of card stock with the 4 1/2" side against the top fence of your Scor-Pal.  Score at 7/8" on both sides.
Use a punch or a die to create a cut out along one edge of your insert. This will allow easier access to the contents of your flip top box. 
Line outside edges and edge opposite of the cut with Scor-Tape and burnish your score lines.
Remove backing from your Scor-Tape and insert inside of the flip top box, with the top edges aligned.
Embellish as desired.  I embossed a butterfly on vellum, trimmed it out and popped it up off the front of my box.  Then I stamped a sentiment on a small flag, sponged the edges and attached it to the back of a Fancy Pants Designs Hopscotch Mingled Button.  I tied a raffia bow and secured a random button to it's center.  I then attached it to my flip top box lid.
 I thank you for reading my tutorial today.  Happy crafting!

Details: Stamps: Fluttering By (Verve); Paper: Vanilla (MFP), Fancy Pants Designs Hopscotch dp, vellum; Ink: Crumb Cake, Versamark; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape, Fancy Pants Designs Hopscotch Mingled Buttons, white embossing powder, heat tool, wide oval punch, pencil, ruler, scissors, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals, raffia, random button, crystal effects.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Seed Packets - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

March Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

 Featured March 19
Garden Bunny
Featured March 20
 Spring Things
Featured March 21
 Glad Glads
Featured March 22
Seed Packets

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on March 23,2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday March 22,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"News From The Woods"
 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:             "Corn Ears"
The fourth and final day of this month's hop brings us to my favorite stamp set this of the release!  Here at the "Storie Family Farm" we garden and oh boy, do we garden!  It's my husband's thing so you know that it is my thing too.  We started off with a small garden and it continued to grow.  Now we have two vegetable gardens, an herb garden, a greenhouse, and numerous fruit trees.  I work for a school district so my summer job doesn't really pay very well, but I do make up for it with all the fruits and veggies that I can or freeze!
Thanks for stopping and staying a while!  Off you go to see what Sue has to peek at!
 
Details - Stamps: Seed Packets (MFP); Paper: Favorite Natural (MFP), Crumb Cake, Ruby Red; Ink: Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Certainly Celery, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Stripes embossing folder, sponge dauber, crop-a-dile, MM black eyelet, twine, corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals, glue dot.

 

Glad Glads - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

March Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

 Featured March 19
Garden Bunny
Featured March 20
 Spring Things
Featured March 21
 Glad Glads
Featured March 22
Seed Packets

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on March 23,2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday March 22,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"News From The Woods"
 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:             "Corn Ears"
More Spring!!! Are you excited?  I am very excited and I want to color these gladiolas in every shade.  However, I started with  my very favorite color,  purple.  I had thought of  using a border punch on the outside edges of my image panel, but opted to go softer.  I tore a bit of mulberry paper and then sponged the edges and did some delicate embossing.  I hope you like it!
I offer my apologies to those who tried to come by earlier to see my post.  We had some high wind warnings forecast for all day yesterday.  Earlier in the day, those winds claimed the power at work and last night, it knocked out our internet, cable and phone!  Thanks for coming back!
 
Have a great day!
 
Details - Stamps: Glad Glads (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White, GKD White, mulberry paper; Ink: Tuxedo Black,  Crumb Cake; Accessories: SU Perfect Details Texture Plate, SU Rhinestones, Copic Markers, sponge dauber, Scor-Tape, white gel pen, Sakura clear star gel pen.



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Spring Things - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

March Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

 Featured March 19
Garden Bunny
Featured March 20
 Spring Things
Featured March 21
 Glad Glads
Featured March 22
Seed Packets

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on March 23,2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday March 22,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"News From The Woods"
 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:             "Corn Ears"
I made a couple of cards for the release of this set.  One is featured on my Mark's Finest Papers blog here.  My second card shows off the cute picket fence, butterfly and bunny from Spring Things. First, I stamped and masked my bunny.  Then I stamped my fence over the masked bunny.  I stamped my butterfly on a separate piece of card stock and colored everything.  I trimmed out a portion of my butterfly and drew in some antennae.  Then I popped up my butterfly over the antennae and stamped my sentiment.  A couple of rounded corners finishes off my card.
Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to head over to Sue's blog to see what she has done with this wonderful set.
 
Details - Stamps: Spring Things (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White; Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Copic Markers, corner rounder, Copic multiliner, dimensional adhesive.
 

 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Garden Bunny - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

March Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

 Featured March 19
Garden Bunny
Featured March 20
 Spring Things
Featured March 21
 Glad Glads
Featured March 22
Seed Packets

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on March 23,2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday March 22,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"News From The Woods"
 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:             "Corn Ears"
I wanted to create something sweet with today's set called Garden Bunny!  I opted for soft coloring and light sponging to show off this cute little rabbit.  I layered some oval and curved a sentiment banner.  I think this would make a nice birthday card for a little girl.  You could change the colors for a boy or add a number for personalization!
Thanks for coming by today!  Don't forget to head over to Sue's blog for another peek at the new set!

 
Details - Stamps: Garden Bunny (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White, Pink Pirouette, GKD White; Ink: Rich Cocoa, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: Nestabilities, paper snips, sponge dauber, Copic & Touch Twin Markers, stampin' dimensionals, Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape.

News From The Woods & Corn Ears - A Mark's Finest Papers Bonus

Here's comes today's bonus post in order to kick off the March Mark's Finest Paper's Release.  My first card starts us off with a palindrome, a word that is the same spelled backwards.  The palindrome is Mom...or Wow, as it appears in the new stamp set, News From The Woods.  I don't know if there is a special name for a palindrome that creates another palindrome even when it is turned upside down. I routinely examine new sets by turning them upside down and flipping them over (clear stamps are great for that) and that is when I saw "Mom".  While Mother's Day isn't right around the corner, it is coming.  I thought this turned out cute with a sweet little raccoon peeping out from his tree and the heart shaped rhinestones conveying his love!  I have another card featuring News From The Woods up on the Mark's Finest Papers blog today.  You can check it out here
The next set is called Corn Ears.  It's the free set this month with the purchase of all four regular sets being released this month.  You will see later in this week's blog hop just how complimentary this set is to some of the others.  I love this corn image.  It makes me eager to plant my garden.  I just love picking corn just before dinner.  I also don't mind blanching and slicing it off the cob to freeze it for later use.  It's so nice to pull home grown corn out of the freezer in the midst of winter!!  I just want to mention a few details on my card.  I doodled an outline of my corn image and then popped it up off the base.  I embossed my card base and then brayered over the embossing with white craft ink. 

Thanks for stopping by for my second post of the day!  I'll be back with one more later on this evening!

Details - Wonderful Mom - Stamps: News From The Woods (MFP); Paper: Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla; Ink: Rich Cocoa; Accessories: Recollection heart shaped rhinestones, corner chomper, sponge dauber, Copic Markers.  A-maize-ing - Stamps: Corn Ears (MFP); Paper: Marina Mist, GKD White; Ink: Tuxedo Black, White Craft; Accessories: Finial Press embossing folders, Classy Label die (Verve), Copic Markers, Copic multiliner, brayer, So Saffron wide grosgrain ribbon, Scor-Tape, corner chompers, Scor-Pal, stampin' dimensionals.

Friends and Movement

Good morning on this Monday!  Today promises to be a long day for me with three posts, a full day of work and an evening training.  Not to mention all the Mom jobs that we all know and love.  However, you didn't come here for my sad story, you came to find out about today's Friends of Speedy TV challenge.  For my card, I decided upon a waterfall card with an assortment of Mark's Finest Papers butterflies!  I used butterflies from Daffodil Greetings, Cracked Hello and Scenic Selections.  I grabbed a partial sentiment from Garden Art and repeated it several time.s  For my background, I stamped on patterned paper.  That's a fun technique I don't use nearly enough.  I stamped my butterflies off two times and then randomly stamped them all over the patterned paper.  I sponged the edges of each sheet of patterned paper to finish them. 

If you have never made a waterfall card, they aren't as hard a they look.  You can follow this tutorial on Speedy TV by Jane Chambers.

Let's not forget that Mark's Finest Papers offers a stamp set to participants of the challenge.  This week, the stamp set being offered is called I'm In Stitches.  You can see it below. 
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Daffodil Greetings (MFP), Cracked Hello (MFP), Scenic Selections (MFP), Garden Art (MFP); Paper: Favorite Natural (MFP), Early Espresso, BG Basics White dp; Ink: Rich Cocoa, Early Espresso; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-tape, Copic Markers, Spica Atyou Gold glitter pen, SU brads, 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, sponge dauber.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Friends and St. Patty's Day

Hello again!  It's Monday and time for another Friends of Speedy TV challenge.  This week we are making St. Patrick's Day cards. It's time to get in the mood for green.  This time of year always makes me happy.  It often coincides with better weather, plants starting to bud and appreciation week for Classified Employees in schools or Pixie week.  I'm a classified employee (teacher's aide) and I work with a bunch of fun people.  Pixie week is always a hoot too!  It gives me a reason to create with a special person in mind!

My card today is very simple with a bunch of shamrocks thumped and masked to create a border across the bottom third of my card.  Then I stamped my sentiment over the top.  I thought my Argyle embossing folder was fitting for this challenge so I embossed a layer underneath!  I borrowed the sketch from CAS(E) this sketch!, designed by Lisa Arana

Don't forget that the generous owners of Mark's Finest Papers offer a stamp set to one lucky participant and this week the set is called Big Boy Toys. 
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Details - Stamps: Lots of Luck (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White, Early Espresso; Ink: Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi; Accessories: Sakura Clear Star gel pen, Argyle embossing folder, scalloped border punch, stampin' dimensional.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Friends and Inspiration

Time again for another Friends of Speedy TV challenge.  Today, we are using an inspiration photo.  I have attached it below so that you can see how my card developed.  I had to with the most obvious aqua color that was present in the picture.  I added the other neutrals I saw in the photo too.  The double scored line that separates my image and my sentiment is derived from the panels and molding featured in the photo.  What I find most obvious is that I chose a window and draperies.  I needed to create a scene outside the window, so I sponged some clouds and added birds in flight.
Here is the photo we used for today's challenge.







Here is the stamp set that is offered up by Mark's Finest Papers for one lucky participant in this week's challenge.  It's called In My Den and I think I could just as easily used the wing backed chair to convey the relaxed state of the photo.
Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope to see your card linked up in the gallery on Speedy TV!
 
Details - Stamps: Enjoy The View (MFP), Scenic Selections (MFP), Pussy Willow (MFP); Paper: Vanilla (MFP), Sahara Sand, In Color dsp; Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black, Sahara Sand, Pool Party; Accessories: Gold Gel Pen, paper snips, sponge dauber, Scor-Pal, corner chomper.