Secret Garden Varigated Petnias

 Did you ever see varigated colore Petunias?  I really love the bold stripes and colors.  I know the Secret Garden Stamps are supposed to coordinate with the dies but I thought who says I have to use the die that matches exactly?  Right?  so I used the daisy flower stamp to stamp a bunch of different colors (here Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point and Sahara Sand and then diecut them out using the small flower die centering it and this is what I got.  I thought it was cute.  I hope you do too.  The sentiment is stamped in white onto black CS and heat embossed using detail white embossing powder.  The sentiment is from the Vintage Verses set from Sale-a-bration.  All the flowers are mounted using dimensionals in various depths.  Mount the whole thing onto Melon Mambo CS base.

I did add Dazzling Details to the center - what else? to add a little sparkle.  I think that should be my middle name.....

Enjoy!

Lynda

Easy punched candy wrappers

 Wanna see a cool trick?  I hate wrapping something and then having to stick something on top and I figured out how to make a cute little candy wrapper using any punch.

These measurements are for the Hershey's nuggets.  I took a piece of DSP 4 1/2 inches wide.  Fold in half so it is 2 1/4 inch wide- in this picture, the fold is on the left.  The height of each piece is 1 1/4 inches.  Cut to the dimensions shown later here.  (picture order got screwed up- sorry!)

The width of the band depends on the height of the punch because you have to slide it in to punch it out.

 This is what it looks like after you cut the corners. I took a long piece and cut a bunch of them at the same time to save time making multiples.

Slide the folded band sideways into the punch the pull out the band through the punch as shown.   If the belly band is too fat, it is hard to pull through the other side of the punch like this.

 Then punch the butterfly using only one side of the punch.  It is better to to the right of the fold than to the left- if it is too tight, it will tear as you try to put it together. 

 When you unfold it should look like this.    Now the mechanism:  Cut a slit on one of the butterflies from the top half way, and the other one from the bottom half way as shown with the pencil mark.

 So you slide the one butterfly over the other as shown.

 Here is the completed band- or a little ring- or whatever.

 Slide in the nugget and a cute little party favor!   This is the dimension of the folded piece with the fold to the right.  If you are using thicker cardstock, leave a smidgeon more room because it will not bend as well.

T

 You can do the same with any punch. This was the bat punch using the same idea. Thinner belly band to squeeze into the punch as shown.

 When you unfold and put a little slit halfway - one from the top, another from the bottom and voila! a bat candy treat!

 I was trying to make a point about how easy this was so I used a copy paper with the blossom punch.  Folded it in half to figure out the diameter of item you want to wrap and the left over becomes the part that you punch.
Used the Blossom punch to punch the flower, cut slits on opposite ends to tie it on.  It thought it would make a lovely disposable napkin rings for a wedding or any event.  What do you think?

Lynda

a simple Madison Avenue

Base card is Wisteria Wonder.  Take a piece of Whisper White CS and stamp the leaves in Pool Party, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria wonder and repeat with Pool Party.  I mounted the stamp on acrylic block with Perfectly Placed Guides so that the stem lined up with the line of the stamp so that  I could stamp without using the stampamajig.  Stamp the sentiment from Vintage Verses in Island Indigo and add a little bling between each stem to add a little sparkle.  Easy peasy practically one layer card. 

Hermelinda's birdcage RAK

I was leaving out of town and met up with Hermelinda on the way out of town and she surprised me with the most delicate and  beautiful thing ever.  It is a birdcage made out of 4 birdcage diecuts , lined with soft pink vellum paper with the bird and stem from Bird Builder punch on each of the sides with soft green and blue vellum and decorated on the top with this gorgeous flower in the same soft pink vellum and leaves made from the bird punch in the green and a butterfly on the other side in blue, all tied together holding a beautiful little key.  She even had it so that one of the sides without the bird would open by sliding the string with the key- genius!   I held it all the way afraid it will get crushed and then had to fight the kids clamoring to get the candies inside until I could at least take a picture of it.  I had it hanging from the lamp arm at my hotel for the whole trip just admiring it. I think it embodies why I love this craft so much.  Creativity at its finest.   The colors are absolutely gorgeous.  I keep saying this to her but seriously, you are amazing and I am honored that you have chosen to be my friend.   I think you need to start a blog to show all your creative works!!!!

Chalkboard two-way

 The challkboard look is so popular these days so I wanted to showcase it in  my workshop  but using another technique in combination.  The base is daffodil yellow- although it is hard to see.  Take a scrap piece of whisper white with the small writing from French Foliage set stamped on it in black and place it on each corner- left upper and right lower as shown. 

Take a black cardstock and stamp the images in Whisper White Craft pad (and it does not matter if the flowers and leaves overlap since you will decide what you want on top by how you color.  The sentiment is from Sale-a-bration Vintage Verses and teh flowers and leaves from Secret Garden but any solid image will work.  You can use a sponge to smear the ink a bit to make it look 'chalky'.  Then take your watercolor pencils to color in the flowers however you wish.  I chose yellow  to match the basecard then added some orange.   Rip the corners to reveal some of the stamped writing.  Add a line using the white watercolor pencil if you wish.   At the end, I used Dazzling Details to add a little sparkle to the center- but warning- if you do this at a make and take, let time to dry.  Very pretty but simple.

Pinwheel wishes your way

Another simple make and take from my last workshop.  Take a base of Primrose Petal.  Swipe the bottom of the card with embossing buddy then use versamark pad to stamp the sentiment from Wishes your way.  Sprinkle with Pool Party Embossing Powder and heat emboss.

Take a piece of Very Vanilla CS and emboss with Cloudy Day EF.  Stamp the stem from Sweets for the Sweet set in Primrose and cut it out and glue on the Vanilla CS as shown adn poke a tiny hole a little further down the line where the pinwheel will be secured. 
Diecut the pinwheel using More Amore DSPand use the Mini Brad to secure and place the brad through the hole on the Vanilla CS at the end of the stick.  Now tape the vanilla CS to the Primrose base but only around the edges - that will allow the pinwheel to turn.  The take 2 little strips of Pool party CS , emboss with Needle point border EF then distress on both ends.  Attach to card as shown.

I thought thin streamers blowing in the wind look would have been fun but could not figure out how to do it- I think I need some thin sparkly streamer paper....

My Valentine make and take- late posting

 I had a bit of trouble with my blog sign in and some "Cookie" problem  and could not figure out how to clear it so had difficulty posting on my blog- now that my IT genius brother cleared it up for me in a matter of 2 seconds (after 4 weeks of frustration by me) I can get back to posting the backlog of posts I had to share with you.

 This was one of my make and takes for last month- trying to find a good way to use the hearts from the More Amore Specialty DSP. The Very Vanilla base looked too plain so I added the elegant lines EF.  

   I wanted to use the tags from That's the ticket so I stamped the ones I wanted using real red ink and punched it out with the Ticket Duo Builder punch.  Then I added a strip of real red CS and embossed the hearts from Adorning Accents- perfect for Valentine.  Then the heart from Hearts a flutter was stamped and diecut. I added a little banner from Boyond plaid stamped with crumbcake.  I think this is one of my most versatile stamp right now- using it for backgrounds, fabric, add a little texture, love it!  And then of course my favorite accent from the spring catalog - the 5/8 flower trim and added a few pearls for that little sparkle.

Sorry so late posting this.  But the layout would work with any accent  using the other tickets.  More to come.

Lynda

Lynda's Fancy Favor Box Candy Dispenser

 I had a medicataion dispenser a while back and thought it would make a cute candy dispenser as a smaller version but I wasn't sure how to do it so I sketched and thought about it and with  Valentine's Day approaching, I finally got around to putting it to paper and making it for my DH.  I wanted the box to be not too big and after couple of different trials found the Fancy Favor bag to be the perfect size.  This is the side view with the box filled with Reese' pieces but I think a lighter candy like taffy or something bigger would be better and would not spill out as much- although this was really cute. 

I decorated the top with a topper using a DSP from More Amore. 

You take the fancy favor die, diecut a piece.  One of the middle panel, cut 1/12 inch up from both sides and cut across the center as shown.  If you want to emboss the box or stamp on it, best to do it now.

When you put the box together it will look like this.

You want to make another sheet to reinforce the front flap and the bottom. Cut sae color cardstock 3x 2 5/8" and score a smidgen less than 1 1/2 inches as shown.

It will fit in like this but don't do it yet. 

You need the side mechanism which will make this work. I tried several different methods and I think this is the easiest.  Take a piece of paper 1 at least 3 inches long by at least 1 1/2 inches.  fold it half along the long side. ( this is a scrap I had more like 3x 4) - in the picture the fold is across the top.  Cut a little wedge off the bottom about 1/4 inch and another about 1/4 inch away at the same angle as shown. 

Put the whole thing- fold on top and the bottom taps hanging over as shown and circle punch - this is a 2 1/2 inch circle punch and punch to just beneath the a 1/2 inch mark.

Now you have the mechanism for the door. 

Unfold and cut in 2

Depending on how much you want the drawer to open, you need to make the cut.  I thought about 45 degrees were good.  You score at the dotted line and cut 1/4 inch out so we can tape it down.

Put one of the taps as shown- this is the right side, (left side would be mirror image) put tape on both sides of the tab to tape down to the cover.  If you want a brad, ribbon or some pull mechanism in the front, this is the time to do it.

After you tape the mechanism to the sides and any pull mechanism for the front, I would put the reinforcing panel as shown and tape it down so the inside looks neat and you have a stronger drawer front.

Fold the mechanism in as shown and close the drawer.

As you open the drawer now the mechanism will catch and you have this adorable dispenser!

See mom?  all those years with my nose to the math books did pay off!

Enjoy!

Lynda