Square Card

This is one of my first square cards that I've ever made. I got the idea from my SBS sister Lesa's recent post. Anyways, I got a fiskars circle cutter (see 2nd photo) for Christmas and wanted to see just what it could do.

I cut out a 4" circle and then remembered Sarah's tutorial on using the slit punch to create a scalloped circle (she uses the coluzzle). I cut out a 2" circle in the middle and began scalloping. It didn't match up perfectly each time (you'll see that card on my next post), but I was thrilled to have my first scalloped circle! I need to make some thank you cards for Christmas, so I thought a flower with rich colors would work well.

The trick seems to be having a 1" border left intact on the large circle. The card measures 4-1/4" square. The green circle is 3" in diameter, and the red one is 2-3/4" in diameter. I just used the gold circle that I cut out of the larger circle in the first step, and the white circle is 1-3/4". I used DP from the Dollar Store and $1 Michael's clear stamps (series 7, I believe). The "Thank You" image didn't stamp too crisply, so I re-stamped (I guess that's the beauty of clear) and then went over the letters with a brown glitter pen. Overall, I'm tickled with my circle cutter and the cute cards it made.

Recipe
Stamps: $1 Michael's clear
CS: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, White, DP from Dollar Store
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Fiskars circle cutter, a brown glitter pen, slit punch, sponge

Pop-Up Christmas

Today was the day of rushed stamping and my first pop-up card. I'd seen a tutorial somewhere, but I can't remember where. My kids were supposed to be taking a nap, but they were noisy, disobedient, and I ended up changing one's diaper three times!! So I was rushed. I wish I had had more time to spend on the pop-up image, but these will have to do.

1. I started with the inside of the card with a sentiment, the cardstock measuring 3-3/4" x 8" and then I folded it in half.

2. Once it is folded, figure out how far from fold you want the pop-up image to stick out without interfering with your sentiment. I chose an inch, and even drew a pencil line on the back to help guide me.

3. Using your word window punch, slide the folded cardstock all the way into the punch, aligning with the pencil line and punch. Repeat on other side.

4. Now score between the rounded holes and reverse the direction of the fold (from inward to outward) of the pop-up portion.

5. To adhere to the inside of the card, I folded the white cardstock and only put adhesive on one side. I slid it in the card while mostly folded. Then I opened it up, applied adhesive to the other side, and folded it closed and pressed down. (Otherwise it won't close because it fits too tight.)

Decorate and embellish as usual. Sorry if this is scatter brained. My kids are driving me nuts right now. Early bedtime for sure!

By the way, I used DP from the dollar store as well as dollar-store scrapbooking stickers to decorate my card. I was in a hurry, and sure enough, when I got my groove on finally, my kids started invading my stamping area.

Click here for an even cooler pop-up card tutorial.

Oiled Paper Experiment

I'm doing a little experiment. NOTE: this technique is not recommended for scrapbooking. The other day I was helping my kids do a Nativity stained glass window using oil. And then I got an idea. (We'll see how bright it is a few days from now.) I'm oiling paper to give it a translucent look, which kind of mimics vellum. But my method is much cheaper thus far.

So the first picture is my stamped images on white cardstock. (Use thinner paper for more translucence. Prolly 24 lbs. paper would be nice.)

Stamp your images as you'd like them to appear. You can use black ink, watercoloring or whatever.

The second picture shows that I flipped the images to the back side of the paper, because we're going to oil it from the back. It reduces any chance of ruining the image. Place image face down on a Viva paper towel. Now pour some vegetable oil over the paper and rub it in with a wadded paper towel or cotton ball.

In the last picture you can see that the wrong side of the images are a muted version of the original.

Place your oiled paper in between two layers of paper and then paper towels and let sit under a heavy book for a day or two. The oil *should* all get absorbed so that you can use it for card making. I'll post my results in a few days so we can see how my little experiment worked.

I'm thinking that you could oil a sheet of paper and then stamp on it with craft ink, too.

*My kids' stained glass window pictures set on paper towels for two days and are now hanging on a window with no oil marks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.