Tutorial Tuesday - Mini Sewing Kit

I have agreed to do a craft fair soon which is a charity fundraiser to raise funds for a little boy who is very ill - see sidebar for more information.

So I have been very busy making up lots of cards and other goodies to sell. One of the items I have been making is a mini emergency sewing kit so I thought I would do a quick tutorial on how to make them.

This is what we are making:

  And these are the finished kits all prettied up in their own little packages:

 Start with your mini sewing kit.

Then you need the following:

Base (wisteria wonder in this case) 10cm x 9.5cm - score halfway along the 10cm side ie at 5cm,
and score along the shorter side at 3cm.

Tab (also wisteria wonder) 3cm x 5cm

Designer series paper (Berry Blossoms - retired) - two pieces - one 9.5cm x 6cm and one 2.5cm x 4.5cm

Two flowers punched out using Boho Blossoms punch

A brad.

You may need to rejig the measurements if your sewing kit is bigger or smaller. I use my grid paper from Stampin' Up! (106587 Grid Paper (100 sheets) £7.95) to help with measurements when I'm making up these type of projects - I find it really helps to be able to sketch it out before cutting out card stock that might be the wrong size!

Using sticky strip fold up the card along the score line to make a pocket for your sewing kit.

 Round the corners of your card tab and the designer series paper (dsp) tab using a corner rounder and glue the dsp on to your tab base. Score down the middle of your tab (at 2.5cm).

Attach tab to your base.

 Scrumple up your flowers to break down the fibres in the card and then carefully peel the two layers apart.

Layer all four flowers, use your paper piercer to make a hole, and secure with a brad (I used one of the the FREE brads from the Everyday Enchantment offer - last chance to order today!)

Attach flower to your designer series paper (approx 2cm-2.5cm from the edge).

Glue paper to base and then  fold up like a book.

Use the flower to catch the tab so that your little case stays closed up.

If you liked this tutorial and found it useful I'd be really happy if you left me a comment to let me know :-)

Unfortunately everyone needs a sympathy card now and again and this first one was made using the set Everything Eleanor. The card base is River Rock and the image is stamped on Naturals Ivory Card using Early Espresso ink. The sentiment is from a retired set.

This card is based on Sharon's shoebox swap at our first ever Tartan Stampers mini convention. If you sign up with me you would be eligible to come along to all Tartan Stampers events (space permitting). Look up for more information on signing up online in the next day or two!

And the main floral image on this last card is from a stamp set that you will be able to get for FREE starting from Wednesday. Check back then for more details of this special offer.

Love & Laughter

Some wedding cards made using the beautiful Love and Laughter set in the Summer mini catalogue.

Stamp set: Love & Laughter

Card: Brushed Silver, Basic Grey, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Grey

Ribbon: Whisper White Organza

Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

 This one uses the Bird Builder punch, small heart punch and Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and card.

Please contact me to place your order. Remember there are only 3 more days to take advantage of the Everyday Enchantment offer.

Lovely as a tree

Lovely as a Tree is one of the stamp sets that has been in Stampin' Up!'s catalogue forever! I don't know what would happen if it retired!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sincere Salutations
Designer Series Paper: Mocha Morning
Card: Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory

The sentiment on this last card is from a retired set that was in a previous mini catalogue and that sadly never made it in to the main catalogue. Remember the current summer mini catalogue ends on 31 August 2012, so if there is something you have your eye on in their please don't wait too late to order. I would hate for anyone to be disappointed.

Thinking of You...

Just a couple of quick cards for you today. The first uses stamps from French Foliage and Sincere Salutations. The flower is made using the Fancy Flower punch. To get the softer effect all you need to do is punch out the flower twice. Crumble it up lots until you break down the fibres in the paper then gently ease the two layers apart. You will then have four flowers you can layer up.

For this next card I dug out my pastels that I got with my stater kit way back when (February 2008 to be precise). I haven't used these in such a long time and they were languishing at the back of my craft supplies.

I stamped the dress and sentiment from the Love and Laughter set using Whisper White Craft ink on Basic Grey paper. Then I used a sponge dauber to gently pat some yellow pastels over the stamped images. I used some hairspray to help set the pastels after I was finished and I had gently brushed away the excess pastels.

A small heart, scallop trim border and some satin ribbon all in Daffodil Delight complete the card.

More Easy Events cards...

 Another couple of cards using the Easy Events set and a sentiment from Tiny Tags.

The Bashful Blue version...

And the Pretty in Pink version

Tomorrow I have a cute punch art card to share with you.

Hope to see you then.

Lion punch art

I often surf the net looking for ideas and inspirations for my cards and scrapbook pages.

 Pinterest and Splitcoast Stampers are great places to find ideas. 

But usually what happens is that I start work on a particular design and then I add to it and change it so that my finished project ends up nothing like the original.

However when I saw a card over on Crafty Thinkers blog with a cute lion made from punch art I couldn't change a thing (well my lion faces the other way and I have used More Mustard instead of Peach Parfait but otherwise it's pretty much the same). I hope I have done justice to the original.

Be back tomorrow with some new samples for you.

Tutorial Tuesday - Get Well Soon Tissue Box Card Tutorial

I promised you last week that I would post a quick tutorial on how to make the tissue box card. 

This time I made a more masculine version using soft suede and naturals ivory card stock and papers from the Beau Chateau designer series paper pack.

To make the mini tissue box first of all cut your designer series paper to 3½” x 2¾”.
Score at 1/2" and at 5/8" on all four sides.

If you are using Stampin' Up!'s Simply Scored Tool you are going to want to have your markers at notches 4 and 5 from the left hand side. Now the second marker won't sit in but you can place it along side so you remember which line to score/

Once you've done that your piece of designer series paper should look like this. (I've flipped it over as the score lines show up a bit better on the reverse).  Hopefully you can see the score lines ok.

 Now go ahead and cut off all four corners. You want to cut along the innermost of the two parallel lines in each case (or the one in line with notch 5 if that makes more sense!)

Use the Simply Scored tool to mark the centre of your paper as shown. It doesn't matter how noticeable this is as you are going to punch out the centre anyway using the large oval punch. Go ahead and do that now. I don't have a photo of this step cos I know you can manage to punch it out without a diagram!

 Fold your box along all score lines.

Take a scrap piece of Soft Suede card stock and use the large oval punch again - not too near the edge. Then using your scallop oval punch cut out the frame as shown.

Attach the frame to the top of your tissue box (its underneath in the photo below so you can't see it), and then fold in the sides of your box. Put glue on all four corners and hold it down while it dries (or use a handy half pack of designer series paper or whatever you happen to have lying around your craft desk to hold it in place, nothing too heavy though).

 I used Tombow for this but you could use Sticky Strip if you prefer.

 

When it's dried it should look like this upside down.

Then just add a tissue. I found that about a third of a standard sized tissue folded in half is about right.

Take a small piece of soft suede card stock approx 2½” x 1¾” and round the corners.

Glue the underneath of your box, making sure the tissue has glue on it as well and attach to the card stock.

And there you have it - one small tissue box to go on front of your get well card.

To finish off the card I distressed all the edges. I also crumpled up a piece of card stock and then carefully peeled the two layers of card stock apart. This gives an almost leathery effect which doesn't show up too well in the photo, that is great for masculine cards in place of ribbon.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.

Back tomorrow with some more cards.

Well hopefully I survived Rewind and did not get washed away! At the time this is scheduled to post we should be about ready to strike camp and head home :-(

I have some easel style cards to share with you today. I really like making this style of card. It's something a bit different from a normal card but still quick and easy to make.

This first one uses the cute little whale from the Fox and Friends set.
Card, paper, ribbon and ink are all Marina Mist.

The next two cards use a stamp from the Easy Events set.

For this one the card, ribbon, paper, brad etc are all Pretty in Pink.

And today's 80's video 

Birthday Card in a Box

Pam Morgan demonstrated this idea at convention 2010 and I am only now getting around to trying it out!

It's a little tealight in a box with a matching mini birthday card.

 

The paper is from the Nursery nest pack and the cardstock used is Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo. 

The box window was cut using a framelits die.

 And as I've been sharing a birthday card with you today then it seems only right to share this video.

Some new baby cards

Hopefully we have not been washed away yet and we are still enjoying our 80s music!

Today I have a couple of new baby cards for you.

the first uses Pretty in Pink and I attached two pieces of paper from the Subtles Collection Designer Series Paper Stack to a Whisper White mat. I die cut the letters using the Timeless Type alphabet dies and then ran the whole piece through the big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. The gorgeous pleated ribbon comes ready pleated for you (thank goodness) and is available from the Summer Mini catalogue (see link over there >>>).

 And the same in Bashful Blue but this time I added the letters after embossing the background.

Today I leave you with some classic 80s music! Can't believe that after all these years I finally get to see Adam Ant (assuming I am not trapped in a festival mud pit somewhere!!!)