Simple Stamping Honey Bee Cards

As Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, we love to teach others about stamping & card making, and to show how easy it is, with just a few basic supplies, to make a lovely card.

But most of us crafters, don't like to stop there! Once you're bitten by the bug, you want to learn how to make more spectacular cards, so today's cards are an example of how to make a very simple card, and how to easily step it up and make it a bit more special.

My first card is about as simple as it gets! I used the Honey Bee Stamp set, and stamped the Hive image in Crushed Curry & the other images in Memento Black ink. I used half a sheet of Thick Whisper White card, folded in half to make my card base. But, if you are a beginner card maker, I'd suggest getting a pack of our Notecards, as they come with envelopes, so helps to keep the initial cost down. The only other thing you'd need would be a block to mount your stamps on. I also used a yellow pencil (raid the kids colouring pencils or treat yourself to a set of our watercolour pencils) to colour the stripes on the bees.

If you ordered those 5 items (stamp set, Crushed Curry & Memento black ink pads,  clear block & notecards) it would come to just £46. Until the end of March this would also entitle you to a free item form our Saleabration promotion. You could choose the beautiful Golden Honey paper (while stocks last) which coordinates beautifully with the Honey Bee stamp set.

For this card, I stepped up the same layout, by stamping the same images, using the same inks on to a piece of Whisper White cardstock which measures 3 3/8" x 5" (8.5cm x 12.5cm). This time, I coloured the stripes on the bees using a Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Pen. I adhered my stamped piece to a piece of Basic Black Card measuring 3 1/2" x 5 1/8" (9 x 13cm) and attached that to the front of a card base made from half a sheet of Crushed Curry card. Still simple, but requires a few more supplies, which really make the images 'pop'!

For the final card (for now!) I've used exactly the same layout as the middle card, but this time I've also used die cuts cut using the Detailed Bee Dies.You can save 10% by buying the stamps and dies as a bundle (until June 3rd)

Instead of stamping the hive, I die cut an aperture, in both the whisper white layer & the basic black layer, using the Hive die. I cut the honey comb from basic black card, and adhered this between the 2 layers, so that it showed in the aperture. I stamped, coloured & cut the flowers & the bees, and attached the flowers using wet glue, & the bees using stampin' dimensionals.

Come back next week & I'll show you how I used some of the Golden Honey paper, to step up the same basic layout for a real 'Wow' card!

Hope you like my cards!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane x

Basket of Daisies

It's getting to that time of year when we're all fed up of winter weather and long for some spring sunshine. So I thought a basket of pretty flowers might cheer us all up!

Today's project is based on one I saw some time ago by another demonstrator. I've redesigned the basket so that it would fit a 9cm sphere of floral foam which I had in. I'm really pleased with the result!

The flowers were punched out of Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Gorgeous Grape, Mango Melody & Melon Mambo Cardstock, using the Daisy Punch & the Medium Daisy Punch. You'll need about 6 large daisies & 12 medium ones in each colour.

Work the petals of each daisy by running your bone folder along it to start it curling. Then glue 2 of the same size & colour together, with a dab of Tombow, so that the petals are off set. When the glue is dry, using a floral pin and your paper piercing mat, push the pin through the centre of your daisy. Now run it through your hand to curl the petals up more. At this point you can also remove the pin, and rub the daisy, gently, between the palms of your hands to curl it even more.

For the small daisies, I then simply put the pin back through the central hole. For the larger daisies, put the pin through a small daisy and then through a large one, as in the close up above, to give a fuller flower. Then, simply arrange the flowers in the floral foam in your basket.

Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane

Basket Instructions

Cut your cardstock (I used Gray Granite) to 7 1/8" x 7 1/8" (18cm x 18cm)

If you are using a trimmer, use the ruler on the track, to accurately score to 2 1/2" (6.5cm) only, at 3 1/8" & 4" (8 & 10 cm). It is important that this measurement is accurate.

If you are using a scoreboard, mark each of the 4 sides at 2 1/2" & 4 5/8" (6.5 & 11.5 cm)
Use these marks to line up a ruler on your card at 2 1/2" (6.5cm) from the top, and score from the top to your ruler at 3 1/8" & 4" (8 & 10 cm).
Tip: Use a pencil to make your marks on the card, then, when you've finished this part, erase your pencil marks. This will stop you getting these marks confused with the marks you'll be making later! (Ask me how I know!! )

Your card should now look like this diagram

Now connect the ends of all all the score lines, using your scoring stylus, to score an octagon in the centre of your card, as in the diagram below.

Turn your paper through 45° so that the corner points upwards, and place your ruler horizontally (corner to corner) across the middle. Now move it up to line it up on the 2 score line junctions just above the ruler. Score on both sides of the octagon from the octagon to the edge of your card. Turn through 90° and repeat. Keep repeating until your card looks like this.

Mark all 4 sides at 1 3/4" & 5 3/8" (4.5 & 13.5cm)

Cut up all 8 score lines that are vertical or horizontal in the diagram, just to the central octagon.

Line your card up on your trimmer, so that the 2 marks adjacent to one corner are on your cutting line, and remove the corner. Repeat for all 4 corners.

Your card should now look like this (dashed lines are scored, solid lines are cut)

Fold & burnish all remaining score lines.

Now bring up 2 of the corner flaps and overlap them, leaving the central flap inside the basket. You may find it helpful to place your floral foam sphere, temporarily, inside the basket at this point, to check how much overlap you need. Adhere the 2 corner sections together, leaving the central flap loose.

Repeat for the opposite side, ensuring that the overlap is the same on both sides.

Use the Braided Border Punch on a piece of card of A4 length (or 11" long if you are using American sizes) to make the handle.

If you would like the handle to be fixed, Assemble the 2 remaining corners in the same way as the ones you've already done, but adhere the end of the handle between the flap and the 2 corner pieces i.e. adhere all 4 layers in the order (going from outside of the basket to inside) corner flap, corner flap, handle, inside flap.

Alternatively punch holes in each of the 3 sections (2 corner flaps & inside flap), being careful to ensure they all line up, and use a brad to connect the 4 pieces in the same order as above. This method enables you to move the handle, which makes inserting flowers around the handle area much easier.

Now put your floral foam sphere inside the basket, and use floral tape to attach it to the 2 loose flaps.

Decorate with your flowers.

Rooted in Nature Frame

Last month, I showed you how to make a picture frame, so I thought I'd show you the first one of these I did. We're very lucky to have a caravan in beautiful Snowdonia, but it had bare walls & we felt it needed some personalisation.

Our view from the caravan is of quite a few trees, so I used that as my inspiration for this frame. The images are all from Rooted in Nature or the, now sadly retired, Lovely as a Tree, and the little Copper element in the centre, is from the Leaves Trinkets.

Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane x

Instructions:

You will need 2 pieces of A4 Cardstock, cut them in half lengthways, to give you 4 pieces measuring 29.7cm x 10.5cm.

Score each of them, on the short side, at 3cm, 6cm & 7.5cm

Now turn it so that the narrow section is towards the bottom and score at 28cm.
 Also score at 3cm to 1st score line only.

Cut away the pieces marked on the template below, noting that you will cut from the end of the 2nd score line to the base of the short score line, at the left hand end. On the right hand end, you will remove all except for a small tab.

Fold & burnish all your score lines. You will be folding each piece into a triangular tube and attaching the section shown at the top of the template to the section shown at the bottom.

Apply tear & tape adhesive to the back of the bottom section. It's easiest if you use 2 pieces, 1 on the part that will attach to the top section, and the other to the part which won't be covered by the top section.

Now fold up each piece into a triangular tube and attach the top section to the larger piece of tear tape.

Using tear tape adhesive or wet glue on the tab, attach one section of your frame to the next one (tab end, connecting to non-tab end) by attaching the tab to the inside the tube. You should have a square end going inside a mitred end.

At the same time, remove the cover from the remaining tear tape which you previously attached to the bottom section and attach this to the back of the other section, making sure your joint is square.

Repeat, adding in the other sections, until you have a square frame.

Cut a piece of card (the backing card from our DSP or foil card is perfect for this) at about 27cm x 27cm.

Cut a piece of DSP to use as your background, you'll need it to be smaller than your backing card, but larger than the aperture of the frame. Approximately, 24cm x 24cm. Attach this centrally on your backing card.

Using Wet Glue or Tear Tape, attach the frame onto your backing card, ensuring that you keep it square as you do it.

Now attach your image(s) that you want to frame.

tams# 39499

Product List

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set

[148217]

£39.00

Leaves Trinkets

[146343]

£7.50

Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock

[106577]

£8.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

£9.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

It's My Stampin' Up Anniversary!

Today is my Stampin' Up! Anniversary. It's 2 years since I took the decision to join, and I still love Stampin' Up! products!

Saleabration is always a good time to join up. The joining offer, which is always good value, is even better in Saleabration! And this year is no exception!

At other times of the year, if you choose to join, you get  £130 worth of your choice of products, a business pack & discount on future purchases, all for just £99! A real bargain.

But during Saleabration this year, you also get a stamp set of your choice from the Annual or Mini catalogue (Host sets & Saleabration sets are excluded) , a mini paper cutter, and a sampler pack of Designer Series Paper absolutely free!

I've got the mini paper cutter, and I love it! It's a really handy guillotine style paper cutter. Perfect for trimming card fronts to size. And if you like to take a few crafting items with you when you're travelling, it fits into a bag really easily!

The 6"x6" DSP sampler pack contains 4 each of 12 double sided designs, from 6 different Designer Series Paper packs from the Mini Catalogue & Saleabration Brochure.

Once you join, you can choose whether to develop your own little business, remain as a hobby demonstrator, just buying for yourself, or to let your membership simply lapse. It's entirely your choice! But if you do decide to stay, you'll get 20% off all future purchases (it actually works out as 1/6 off, once you take VAT into account) and up to 25% off if you progress your business.

I'd love you to join my team. Contact me if you're interested!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jane x

Milk Carton Style Box for Small Yankee Candle Jar

I love Yankee Candles, so this was an obvious choice for a box! And I love the Brightly Gleaming suite even more!

Instructions for the box are below. I made mine in Pretty Peacock Card, and decorated it with the Brightly Gleaming paper. To finish it off I embossed some of the baubles from the Christmas Gleaming stamp set in Copper, on Very Vanilla card, then punched them out with the matching punches. The greeting was also embossed in copper & comes from the same stamp set.

A bow in the matching very vanilla & copper ribbon, was the perfect finishing touch to keep the box closed.

Hope the person I gave this to likes it!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane x

Instructions:

Cardstock:  8" x 10" (20cm x 25cm)

Score on the short side at 2 3/8", 5 3/4", 7 1/4" (6cm, 14.5cm, 18.5cm)

Now turn to the long side, with the narrow section at the top.

Score at 23/8", 4 3/4", 7 1/8", 9 1/2" (6cm, 12cm, 18cm, 24cm)

and, to the first score line only at 3 9/16", 8 5/16" (9cm, 21cm)

Score diagonal lines, from the end of the short score lines to the bottom corners of the rectangle below, as in the template.

Fold & burnish all the score lines, noting that all folds will be mountain folds, with the exception of the diagonal lines and the horizontal fold at the top of the diagonals. These will be valley folds.

Cut up the score lines at the bottom, and remove the small rectangle on the bottom right. Wedge into the remaining tab.

Use Tear &Tape on the tab & fold over to join the left hand side. Fold in the bottom sections & use Tear & Tape or Tombow to adhere.

Push in the sides to form the milk carton top.

DSP to decorate: 4 of 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" (5.5cm x 8cm)
                             2 of 2 1/4" x 1 3/8" (5.5cm x 3.5cm)

tams# 39657

Product List

Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock

[150886]

£8.25

Christmas Gleaming Bundle (En)

[153006]

£46.75

Very Vanilla/Copper 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Classic Weave Ribbon

[150394]

£7.50

Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

[141636]

£5.50

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

£9.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Peekaboo Box for Lindt Snowman

For this little stocking filler box, I've used the Let it Snow Designer Series Paper, and decorated it with a greeting from the Tiny Keepsakes stamp set, and a glitter enamel dot from the Toile Tidings suite.

I love the way the snowman peeks out through the hole in the box!

Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane x

Instructions: 

I used a piece of the DSP cut to 7" x 5 3/4" (18cm x 14.5 cm)

On the short side, score at 1 1/2", 4 1/4",  5 3/8" (4cm, 11cm, 13.5cm)

Now turn to the long side, with the narrow section at the top.

Score at 1 3/4", 3 1/4", 5", 6 1/2" (4.5cm, 8.5cm, 13cm, 17cm)

and, to the first score line only at 2 1/2", 5 3/4" (6.5cm, 15cm)

Score diagonal lines, from the end of the short score lines to the bottom corners of the rectangle below, as in the template.

Fold & burnish all the score lines, noting that all folds will be mountain folds, with the exception of the diagonal lines and the horizontal fold at the top of the diagonals. These will be valley folds.

Fold down the top section and use a 1" circle punch to punch a hole approximately centred just above the 2nd score line, as in the template.

Cut up the score lines at the bottom, and remove the small rectangle on the bottom right. Wedge into the remaining tab.

Use Tear & Tape on the tab & fold over to join the left hand side. Fold in the bottom sections & use Tear & Tape or Tombow to adhere.

Push in the sides to form a milk carton top.

I punched holes in the top section, a short distance in from the edge, and used ribbon to hold the top closed.

To decorate, I stamped the sentiment using Real Red ink on Whisper White card, and punched it out using the 1" circle punch. I mounted that on a circle of Real Red card, punched out using the 1 1/8" scalloped circle punch.

I used a dimensional to attach the sentiment to the front of the box, and finished it with one of the Toile Tidings glitter enamel dots.

tams# 39654

Product List

Tiny Keepsakes Cling Stamp Set (En)

[150460]

£19.00

1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch

[119868]

£12.00

1-1/8" (2.9 Cm) Scallop Circle Punch

[146138]

£15.00

Toile Tidings Glitter Enamel Dots

[150433]

£7.50

Simply Scored

[122334]

£28.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Fold Flat Gift Box using Let It Snow Designer Paper

Today's box is a fold flat gift box, which means you can make several of them & keep them handy for when you need them, without taking over your storage space with lots of boxes!

It's a fairly simple box, although, as it's quite a good size, you do need to make it in 2 parts. I've used the lovely & fun Let it Snow Speciality Designer Series Paper to decorate mine. I love those little Snowmen!

Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by

Jane x

Instructions: 

You'll need 2 pieces of cardstock, each measuring 7 3/4" x 8 1/4"   (19cm x 21cm)

Score both pieces on the short side at       3 5/8", 7 1/4"    (9cm, 18cm)

Turn so that the narrow section is at the bottom

     and score on the long side at         1/2", 4 1/8", 7 3/4    (1.5cm, 10.5cm, 19.5cm)

Now score on piece 1 to the first score line at 3 5/8" (9cm)

           and on piece 2 to the first score line at 4 5/8" (12cm)

Fold & burnish both pieces and remove all the shaded sections, as in the templates below.

Piece 1

Piece 2

You now need to attach the pieces together using Tear & Tape, joining tab A to side A. Your box should now look like the template below.

 Now fold the box up so that you can attach the tab (left hand side of above template), to the other end (right hand side of above template) to form a basic box.

Round the corners on the tabs at the top & bottom and use the 1/2" circle punch to cut a central thumb notch where your tabs will tuck in.

To decorate, you will need 5 pieces (or 6 if you want to decorate the bottom of the box) of DSP all cut to 3 1/2" square.

tams# 39625

Product List

Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper

[150393]

£13.00

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

[140490]

£7.75

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[138995]

£6.50

Detailed Trio Punch

[146320]

£19.00

1/2" (1.3 Cm) Circle Punch

[119869]

£5.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com