Gift box using One Sheet Box technique

For the one sheet box technique I went onto Splitcoast Stampers to have a look at the tutorial and get the scoring measurements.  I did adapt the measurements as my sheet of card stock was a slightly  different size.  I would recommend you use a sheet of normal printer paper first to practice on.

All the paper used was from my stash.  On the pink background I used a Martha Stewart border punch Doily Lace Edge.  The apron is a die from Marianne D called Apron and the ribbon used is a Stampin Up one.  On the reverse side of the box I used MFT Gift Card Pocket Vertical, inserted a Hero Arts Long & Cute tag and embellished the outside with a sentiment from Lili of the Valley die cut with a Spellbinders Circle.

When using the box as a gift I intend popping in 2 small glass jars with either homemade spice mixes or jams.

Flourishes - Gerbera Daisies

Yet another in the series of small (75 x 65mm) cards.  This time I used the Flourishes image from the set Gerbera Daisies coloured in with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The leaves are from a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is Hero Arts Mini Messages.

Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Urban Tapestry

A bit more of a dappled background using left over watercolour paints with the Tim Holtz / Stamper's Anonymous Urban Tapestry set.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Say it All with the border punch on the left hand side being Martha Stewart's Chequered Square.

With me easing into retirement I thought I would have a lot more time to create - I am still making cards and projects in the evenings but am tending to spend more time learning to draw and paint in all different mediums.  To take the pressure off of me I will start posting twice a week in future.

Valentine's Day card - PKSC - 06 June 2012

A belated Valentine's day card using, from the background up :

Spellbinders A2 Polka Dots on Creative Memories paper stamped with Penny Black Sent with love in Distress ink Peeled Paint
Small hearts - Stampin Up Three Hearts punch in SU Rose Red card stock
Martha Stewart Lattice Heart Deep Edge punch also in SU Rose Red card stock
Frog is from PKSC - 06 June 2012 stamped in Archival Olive ink on watercolour paper coloured in with Distress ink Peeled Paint and a blender pen.  The lips are a Distress marker Worn Lipstick and the cheeks were touched up with pink chalk
Sentiment - Peachy Keen Valentine Cupids in Archival Olive ink die cut with MFT First Place Award Ribbon

Clear Dollar - Pet Angels

I have had this topper lying around for ages so am unable to remember what dies were used behind the image or how I coloured it in but think it may have been with Copics.  Being passionate about animals and understanding how distressing it is when they leave us, I find this Clear Dollar Pet Angels is a set I use over and over again.  The sentiment is from the same set.  The border punch used on the background paper is an old Martha Stewart one.

Peachy Keen - PKSC-06 June 2012

This might seem like an unusual get well card but my family would probably expect something like this from me.

The stamp set is from Peachy Keen - PKSC - 06 June 2012 and the cute bird, pot plant holder  and sentiments are all from this set.  They are coloured with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The grass is a tiny grass stamp from Art Impressions.  The plant is a Cottage Cutz die called Fern with the flowers being from an old Cuttlebug die with no name.  The embossing folder is Craft Concepts Leafy Flourish.  The border punch is Martha Stewart Pine Needles.

Just love the inside saying :

Cottage Cutz - Hanging Monkey

Yes, I know I use Cottage Cutz dies a lot on my cards, but I really do like them.  As a fan of punch art I find these dies perfect - I don't have to buy all the different punches to make them !  The problem is also the storage of the punches - dies are just so easy to store !

Starting from the background, I found the paper in my stash, the green leaves are from a Martha Stewart border punch called Branches and I used Distress inks Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint on them.  The Cottage Cutz die - Hanging Monkey - was Distressed inked with Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.

The sentiment was stamped with Archival Coffee ink and it is from the Kaszazz set called Express Yourself Occasions.

Punch Art - Lion

I took a lot of artistic licence with the making of this punch art lion.  With animals I have not seen I find it easier to make them up out of proportion but with being up close and personal with a number of lions on a regular basis I found this one quite difficult.  I think I will call him Tsau! after a very special white lion I know.

The punch recipe is :
Face - Spellbinders Circle Small - third smallest which is 1 5/8"
Mane - 2 x Martha Stewart deep edge border punch Daisy Fan joined together and lined with a Spellbinders Circle Large - fourth smallest
Muzzle / cheeks - 2 x 3/4" circles
Tail - Stampin Up Build a Blossom
Legs - Stampin Up small oval
Paws - Stampin Up Modern Label trimmed down
Fringe - hand cut
Nose - heart from Owl Punch
Eyes - I have a bag of already punched out eyes, so not sure where I got them from

Background stamp is a Hero Arts one called Aged Print Frame Archival Coffee ink.  The sentiment is from Kaszazz - Happy Birthday and it is also stamped with Archival Coffee ink.  The green paper from my stash.

Hero Arts - Untitled Postmark

I took the thank you image from this Hero Arts Untitled Postmark set, inked it up with Stampin Up Whisper White and stamped it onto a piece if blue cardstock.  The sentiment is also a Hero Arts one from the Mini Messages set and it is stamped in Archival Cobalt.

The flowers and button are from my stash and the yellow border punch is a Martha Stewart one called Beaded Arcs.

Cottage Cutz - Tree of Nature

Another Cottage Cutz die which I recently acquired is this Tree of Nature set.  It was fun to assemble and took no time at all to die cut the tree and leaves in white, colour them in with markers and then cut out the flowers using different coloured pink scraps.

I did not centre the die correctly when I adhered it so I had to trim the sides of the card to match up.  Then I decided the card was too narrow so set about "widening" it with the pink insert which looked a bit bare so I used the Martha Stewart Rainbow Drops edge punch to finish it off.  The sentiment is from a SU set.

Inkadinkado - Friendly Advice

I needed a plain card in a hurry the other day and remembered I had a stamp set with this cute saying on.

The sentiment is die cut using Spellbinders Labels 9 and the border punch is a Martha Stewart one called Garden Trellis.

Bildmalarna - Mimosa - Basket

This very handy size box is to be found at Stempeleinmaleins Blog complete with instructions and photo's.  The box is quick and easy to make up as long as you remember to glue the paper and trimmings before assembling it - much easier that way.  I did forget to do the ribbon as suggested so had to make another plan.  The box open looks like this :

And from the bottom looks like this :

I stamped the Bildmalarna Mimosa - Basket image on watercolour paper and used a blender pen and variety of different markers to colour it in.  The blush on her cheeks is made using Pebbles Pastel Chalks with a brush bought from Peachy Keen stamps.  The border punch used is a Martha Stewart one.



Katzelkraft - Chat Kipling - again

This is definitely a set of stamps I will get a lot of use out of.  The images are so detailed that it is not necessary to add any colour to them.

On this card I framed the image using a Sizzix Oval - these dies are narrow ovals and come in really handy.  The border punch is a Martha Stewart one, the sentiment is from Clear Dollar's Something to Crow About and it was punched out using the Stampin Up Word Window punch.  The die behind the sentiment is a Clear Dollar one and the black die cut behind that is from Memory Box Pastry Labels die.

Cottage Cutz - Shower Peepers

Another Cottage Cutz die which I will be getting a lot of use out of.  This chick is holding a sign which is also from Cottage Cutz called Marker Sign.  The sentiment is from the Clear Dollar set Thoughtful Notes.

The paper and the Nestabilities shapes are from my stash.  The border punch top and bottom of the striped paper is a Martha Stewart one.

Whimsy Stamps - Hot Air Balloon Die

With so many different companies offering dies I find it difficult to focus on which ones I will use - I want them all !! 

This Whimsy die is another which is different and allows the crafter decide on what to do with the balloon part.  I opted to use a patterned piece of paper then I must admit I did struggle a little to stick the strips in as the main die was cut using cardstock and the balloon was cut using paper.  It would have helped if I had used the same thickness cardstock for both.

I stuck the balloon onto a Spellbinders Labels 18 which I edged with Antique Linen Distress ink.  Next came a Spellbinders Oval, matted onto a rectangle.  Both the yellow and the burgundy paper are from Creative Memories.  The photo corners are an EK Success punch and the border top and bottom are from a Martha Stewart border punch.



Gift Holder - recycled

Whenever I see a container with potential I pop it away for possible future use.  I was going to make a gift box for these 12 hand crafted cards I wanted to give to a friend but, as per usual,  I ran out of time. 

I grabbed hold of some new paper I had just bought at Simply Creative here in Cape Town.  The paper is called DCWV The Bella Armoire 12 x 12 pack.  The most time consuming part was to trim the paper to the shape of the box - that took all of 5 mins !  The top is a Martha Stewart border punch done on both the black patterned paper and then a strip of white cardstock popped in behind it.  The ribbon used is from Kaszazz in Australia.



Sizzix - 3D Pop-Up Sleigh with Santa

I made these 2 sleighs as a decoration for the Xmas table.  The sleighs are from Sizzix and the Santa is Art Impressions Santa Front & Back with the gift sack trimmed off.

The sleigh was made with quite thick cardstock and I did not use the inside box which comes with the die as it was too small.  Instead I made up one wide enough to accommodate the image.  I decorated the back of the box with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and the sides are normal white cardstock run through the die, embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder and trimmed with a Martha Stewart border punch.

The image was stamped with black Momento ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloured in using Copics.  There was a problem with one of the Santa hats so I used red Stickles to cover it.  I then filled the sleigh with some praline chocolates which sat on my desk for quite a while.  Obviously DH did not spot them !!

Magnolia Doohickey Dies - Paris Night Xmas theme

I do love the simple features of this Magnolia die and when I thought about using it for a Xmas card all I had to do was search through my Cottage Cutz dies to find a suitable Santa hat and wreath.  I found the hat in Santa Down the Chimney and the wreath is from Deer w/Wreath.

The star border punch is a Martha Stewart one and I think the sentiment is a JustRite one but not entirely sure.  It is punched out using the SU Word Window punch.

House-Mouse Designs - Birthday Cake

Although I have a couple of House-Mouse stamp sets I cannot recall having used them.  Their designs are very distinctive and I am not sure whether or not I like them.

For this stamp I decided to use Copics to colour it in only because I was wanting to fade the pink on the waterlily leaves - the outer row under the water.  I used Distress Ink for the water.  The image is framed with a Nestabilities Labels Four die and then matted onto a Labels Seventeen die in pink cardstock.  Under that is a Martha Stewart border punch in cream.  The background paper is from my stash and was a little too bright so I toned it down with a layer of vellum.  The corners are from an EK Success punch, the flowers are from my stash with the leaves being from a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is from a Clear Dollar set called Something to Crow About and it was punched out using a SU punch called Word Window.

Kraftin' Kimmie - Stella Strawberry

I have had this stamp for a while now not knowing what medium to use for colouring in.  I chose Copics but felt I could have done a better job.  Blame it on a dreadful head cold and no voice.  Most frustrating !

The card and the image were die cut using a Go Kreate set, the sentiment comes with the Kraftin' Kimmie set and I used a Clear Dollar Design Label die to frame it.  The scallop design on the edges is from a Martha Stewart punch.  I used Antique Linen Distress ink to shade the white cardstock the image is stamped onto.