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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Paper Rosette Made With Martha Stewart Snowflake Edger Punch

This pretty paper flower is made using a MS Edger Punch that embosses as well as cuts
 I'm not sure if this punch is available any longer, because I had difficulty finding the exact name for it.  It punches little snowflakes and embosses a snowflake in between each cut.  It makes a beautiful border design and a lovely paper rosette!

Martha Stewart's punches are made by EK Success
 This paper rosette was made by cutting two 12 inch strips of Daisy White CTMH cardstock.  One piece is 1" wide, the other is 1 1/2" wide.  The cardstock is easy to punch because it isn't too thick.  After scoring it in the middle of each snowflake, the smaller strip was sponged with Crystal Blue CTMH ink.  The strips were then accordion folded, glued at the ends to make a continuous loop and then hot glued into a pinwheel.

The layers were put together to form one flower prior to hot gluing
The tips of each "petal" were adorned with CTMH's Bitty Sparkles and the center is a Silver Shimmer brad measuring 5/8' across.  The finished flower is 2 3/4" in diameter.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Paper Rosette Made With Threading Water Border Punch From Fiskars

Dreamin' B & T Decorative Paper from Close To My Heart
 The two strips are 12" long.  One is 1" wide, the other is 1 1/2" wide.  The strips are punched with the Fiskars edge punch. Each peak and valley is scored and folded accordion style.  The ends are glued together to make a continuous loop with makes a little lamp shade looking thing.  See below.
B & T paper is now double sided with different designs.  Either side would be pretty as a rosette.
 I stacked the smaller layer on top of the larger rosette before hot gluing to make one unit, rather than two separate flowers.  I then made a seam binding ribbon flower on sticky tape to adhere to the top of the rosette.

Pretty pinwheel pictured with the Fiskar's Threading Water Border Punch
This is a perfect flower to add to a card intended for mailing.  I would probably use an oversized envelope with a little padding if I didn't want it to get smooshed.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Making Paper Flowers With Decorative Edge Scissors

Paper rosette using Fiskars Edger Scissors and Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears
 A 12" x 1 1/2" piece of Mischief B & T paper from Close To My Heart was cut using this pair of Fiskars scissors.  I'm not sure of the name of the cut edge because it doesn't say on the scissors, like some of the Fiskar's scissors do.
Possibly this is Majestic or Imperial Fiskars Decorative Edger Scissors
 After the strip was cut, scored, folded and glued. It was time to embellish. I love Tim Holtz's Ideology line and used two pieces from his Sprockets and Gears set.  The top layer is a clip and brad from CTMH.
The layering of Tim Holtz and CTMH products looks great on this paper flower
 This last flower is also made with an unidentified pair of Fiskars Edger Scissors.
CTMH Mischief B & T Paper cut into a strip for a pretty pinwheel rosette
 I store all of my Fiskars scissors in a bag designed for them. Unfortunately many of them are not labeled, so I don't know which scissor to give credit to for the pretty edge cuts. I've had these for probably a decade, so remembering isn't an option!
Possibly this is the Postage Stamp Edger from Fiskars?
 The weight of Close to My Hearts new B & T papers is perfect for this type of handcrafted embellishment.  Some of the lighter weight decorative papers don't hold up as well to all the handling of cutting, scoring and folding.
This is a single layer paper rosette embellished with a large gold  Shimmer brad from CTMH
As I continue to make more paper flowers with the rest of my  Fiskars Edger scissors collection I'll post more pictures.  If you know the names of the ones I've already posted, please let me know.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Tattered Torn Paper Rosettes Tutorial

Here are step by step instructions on making a paper pinwheel or scruffy looking rosette.

Martha Stewart Double Loops Punch Around the Page Edger Rosette Flower

3 1/4" Paper Rosette (approximate finished size)

This rosette was made using Close to My Heart Grey Flannel cardstock.  Their cardstock is a good weight for most punches.  It isn't too thick and therefore doesn't jam the punch. 

The edge punch was used without the corner punch to make this pinwheel rosette

It is a double rosette with two different flower strips assembled together to make one flower.
1" and 1 1/2" strips 12 inches long scored every 1/4" 
 After cutting, scoring and folding accordion style, the ends are glued to make one continuous circle.  They look like little lampshades at this point.  I use hot glue to hold them flat into a pinwheel.

Embellished with House of 3's Parisian Anthology Corrugated  Elements
 The butterfly from House of 3 was glitzed up with CTMH Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel and Sparkles from their Red, Pink, & Purple assortment. It is flying on a Pin Clip from CTMH. The other components to the embellishment are also from CTMH and are layered together.  They include pieces from the Foundry Metal Accessories and a few retired items.


Saturday, August 27, 2011

How to Make Your Own Smash Book Video.wmv




This is my very first video.  For the blog post that has the links to the calendar makers please go here.  Thank you for watching.  :-)

Paper Flowers Made With Fiskars Decorative Rotary Blades

Paper Rosette made with Fiskars Deckle Rotary Cutter Blade
This flower was made with three 12 inch strips of CTMH cardstock. The widths are 1 1/2", 1", and 1/2".


  After cutting one side with the Deckle Edge rotary blade the strips were scored at 1/4" intervals.  The strips were folded accordion style and then the ends were glued together.
Folded paper layered onto each successively larger strip
I decided that I wanted the flower to be one layered flower rather than 3 separate flowers glued on top of each other.  So at this point it looks sort of like a little lampshade.  I used hot glue to get the rosette to hold it's shape once it is pushed down into a pinwheel.

Embellished with a pretty bird from House of 3's Parisian Anthology Corrugated Elements
This would look stunning on a scrapbook layout or a large card.  The finished dimension of the flower is 3 1/4" across.

Fiskars Squiggle Rotary Blade cut CTMH's Sonoma Paper
These strips are also 12" long and 1 1/2" and 1" wide.  They are also cut only on one side with the Squiggle blade.  The other side is cut with a straight blade.

Fiskars blade is for a 45 mm cutter
Embellished with CTMH's Heirloom adhesive backed resin flower
This flower was made with two layers.  Flowers can be made with as many pieces of  paper as desired.
Fiskars Tiara Blade Paper Rosette
The dimensions of the paper for this rosette are the same as the previous one.  It looks like extra layers because a striped paper was used, but there are only two strips.

All papers and embellishments are from Close to My Heart for this pinwheel.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Tutorial on Making Paper Flowers From EK Success Edger Punches

EK Success Morocco Lace Edge Punch with Paper Flower

1 1/2" and 1" Strips after punching
This is some inexpensive paper from a very old paper pack from long ago.  It is printed on one side and is kind of thin.  The strips are 12 inches long.  I scored the paper in between each of the lace shapes and then accordion folded them. I glued the ends to make a circle. One big and one smaller circle, based on the size of the paper.

EK Success Bracket Edger Punch with Rosette Flower

This is the same unknown brand, thin paper.  It worked okay for this punch, but I wouldn't use it for more intricate punches.

This one I scored every 1/4" inch.  Folded back and forth, accordion fold style, then glued.
They look sort of like little lamp shades at this point.  Next I hot glued them flat into rosettes.
Lots of paper rosettes made from different punches, die cuts, and scissors
At this point, it is even more fun because the middles need to be embellished!
Double layer paper rosette flower prior to filling center with embellishment
Some of the flowers I hot glued as layered flowers and others, I glued separately and then stacked them on top of each other.
Single layer paper rosette
The embellishments on this pinwheel/rosette are from CTMH's Elemental Complements Dimensional collection.
Shorter flowers are great for scrapbook pages and cards to be mailed.  The taller ones are good for cards delivered in person or sent in boxes with gifts.  They are also really cute on home decor items.  I have a few on some mirrors, boxes and other frames that I've made.  If you click on the highlighted links you'll see a couple of examples.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Martha Stewart Fence Edger Punch Paper Flower

Paper Flower made with MS Fence Edge Punch
Recently, I realized that all the paper punches, die cuts and other tools that I've acquired could possibly help me make more interesting paper flowers.  And so my experimenting began! (Mad Scientist evil laugh could be inserted here if this was audio blogging.)

1 1/2" and 1" strips after punching and gluing ends
When making the pinwheel/rosettes that are on lots of my artwork, I usually score the card stock at 1/4" increments.  I decided to do the same with these.  After hot gluing them flat.  I stacked them.  Added a button and voila!  A new flower design.
I think this flower will look great on an Autumn card

This is only the beginning!  I have tons more to try out!

Supplies are all Close To My Heart except thread and of course, the wonderful Martha Stewart punch.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Black and White Hello Card

Photographed in daylight

I really like monochromatic and two color designs.  Whether it is in quilts, home decor, or paper crafts.... it doesn't matter to me.  I'm always drawn to the simplicity of fewer colors.  The other day I had stamped this big floral background stamp with black ink on white cardstock but didn't use it because I decided it should be embossed.  So this was my leftover discard from that day.  Of course, I rarely throw stuff away so it's been sitting here waiting to be made into a card.
Photographed with flash
The card appeared to have a bluish tinge to it when photographed by the window.  And it appears more grey in the bottom photo.  So I posted both with the hopes that you'd believe me that the card is black and white.  Not bluish, nor greyish.


  • Stamp sentiment is from CTMH.  The white organdy ribbon and pearl adhesives are also CTMH.  
  • Black ribbon is from SU! as is the background stamp.  
  • Layered labels are cut from Spellbinder's Nestabilities. 
  • The flower is from Michaels.
  • Cardstock is from my scrap stash so it is probably CTMH or SU!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Cricut CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge Bundle



CTMH is delighted to introduce the exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut®Art Philosophy cartridge. Simply plug the cartridge into your Cricut®* Personal Electronic Cutter machine (sold at retail stores) and you’re ready to cut any of the 700 shapes with the touch of a button! The exclusive images are incredibly versatile, and many are designed to be used with specific My Acrylix® stamps for real eye-popping power!

When you purchase the Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridge, you’ll also receive three exclusive D-size stamp sets designed to perfectly coordinate with images on the cartridge. Plus, they’re including three sets of Dimensional Elements that work in tandem with the cartridge as well. You can mix and match to your heart’s content! Stamp on your Cricut®shape; cover your Dimensional Element with a Cricut® shape; or cut, stamp, and then cover! You’ll be all set to create uniquely beautiful artwork with incredible ease.


Collection includes: 1 – Cartridge (700 images: font, shapes, and 3-D items) 3 – My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets 3 – 9" × 12" Dimensional Elements (3 sheets of different shapes)
Creative Feature Keys: Layer, Decorative Layer, Tag, Card, Font, Font Layer.

Recommended blocks for included stamp sets: 1" × 1" (Y1000), 2" × 2" (Y1003), 2" × 3½" (Y1009), 3" × 3" (Y1006).

Cricut® is a registered trademark of Provo Craft & Novelty, Inc. All rights reserved.

$99.00   Z1686  Click here to purchase

Excess Postage

Please click on image to get a better view

A few days ago it occurred to me that since I almost always have to pay extra postage to send the cards I have made, because of the embellishments I've put on them, why not super size them?  So size no longer matters to me!  This card is 6" x 6".  It is my challenge entry into Day 173 Vintage with Yellow at 365 cards.


This shows the embossed detail

The embossed sentiment is from Sizzix.  It is part of a two folder set: Chandelier & Thank You Textured Impressions.  The lace and ribbon are from my stash.  All other items are from Close to My Heart.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

6 x 6 Vintage Garden Green Card

Vintage poster is from Dover

This is my offering for the Day 172 Vintage Plus Green challenge on 365 Cards.

I have had so much fun digging through my stash and finding retired papers that are perfect for these challenges this week.  This B & T designer paper is from  CTMH's Veranda collection. The ribbon, buttons, metal accessories, some paper flowers and Garden Green cardstock are all from CTMH.  The other flowers are Prima.  There are two different types of thread, two different punches (Fiskars and SU!) and some vintage lace also on this card.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Easy Lace Flowers

The card is 5" x 7" and opens in the middle to reveal the gorgeous That's Amore paper.
Today's Vintage Card challenge on 365 Cards is to have the dominant color Pink.  I knew immediately that I'd have to use some of my all time favorite B & T paper from CTMH.  It is retired and I've been hoarding it. This challenge was the excuse I needed to get it out of it's package and stroke use it.

Pink became the dominant color when the ribbon belly band and flower were added.


This lace is about an inch wide. According to the spool label, I bought 4 yards for $1.19.  It was a Long time ago.  I ran a piece of thread with a hand-sewing needle down the thick long side of it and gathered it to make a circle. A couple of quick stitches to close it and voila, a flower!

I ran a brad through the middle of the pink paper flower and glued a piece of paper to the back of all the layers. Paper, lace circle, paper flower, brad with a pearl adhesive gem stuck on top.  This was then glued to the belly band with a pop-up glue dot.

(The pink ribbon appears darker in the photo than in real life. It looks a little 'off' here. Sorry :-{ )



Ingredients:
Classic Poster from Dover
Lace
Ribbon SU!
All other items are CTMH:
Blush and Chocolate cardstock
That's Amore B & T
Colonial White Brad
Chocolate Ink (for distressing)
Edge Distresser
Pearl Opaque Adhesive Gems
Paper flower
Pretty Pins


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Card Sketch Day 170 Vintage Plus Blue


I'm having so much fun with these Vintage Plus .... sketches from 365 Cards.  Today's dominant color is blue.
For the vintage-y feel, I went with embossing vellum with the Textile Cuttlebug folder.  I love the look of vellum and embossed vellum is just so cool!


  • The card stock, marker and brads are Not Quite Navy from SU!
  • Patterned B & T paper is retired from CTMH.
  • Stamped image is from the Childhood Portrait CTMH set 
  • Opaque Adhesive Pearls CTMH
  • Flower - unknown brand from Michael's
  • Scallop Punch - SU!
  • Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edger Punch

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Whoo Hoo! Frosted Designs Design Team Member!

                                               Frosted Designs

I'm so excited to be a part of the Sketch Along Tuesday Card Team!


This will be such a fun experience to share with all of you. I can't wait to get started in September!


Please check out Frosted Designs to see what great work they've showcased in the past.  Play along with their varied challenges.  There is something for everyone!

Card Sketch Day 169 Vintage Plus Black


Yesterday, I posted about the Vintage Plus Red Card Sketch at 365cards.blogspot.com.  Today's challenge is to make a vintage inspired card with black as the dominant color.  Easy Peasy!  I love black!

The floral frame is an old SU! background stamp that I embossed with clear powder after stamping on Daisy White CTMH CS with black SU! craft ink.  I cut the center of the background out and mounted the frame on the black card base with foam tape.
The other images are from CTMH.  The cameo and frame in the center are from the Sweet Moments set (C1467) and the sentiment is from the retired Annotations set.
The white gathered ribbon on the inside top of the frame is from House of 3, Parisian Anthology.  The black grosgrain ribbon on the bottom is from SU!  Also from SU! are the punches that I used to mount the sentiment.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

National Stamping Month Pair-a-Phrase Double Stamp Set



August-September Constant Campaign
To celebrate National Stamping Month in September, Close To My Heart is offering their first-ever double stamp set! You can get the exclusive My Acrylix® Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set FREE when you place an order of $75 US / $82 CAN from August 15 through September 30, 2011. You'll love this double set—two D-size sets in one envelope—which includes lots of clever phrases and coordinating images you'll use in your handmade cards all year long. The double set has a retail value of $35.90/$39.90, which drastically increases the value of your qualifying purchase! Have double the fun stamping during National Stamping Month with CTMH's new Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set!