Poppystamps and Card Maker Blog Hop: Happy Fall

Welcome to the Poppystamps and Card Maker Blog Hop!

I am super excited to be part of a an amazing group of talented ladies to bring you this blog hop.  If you are hopping along you should have reached me from Lezlye Lauterbach's blog.

My favorite season is Autumn and there is much you can do with it as a theme.  One of my favorite things to do is to reflect and give thanks.  Therefore, my offering for you today is a card themed around thankfulness.

This card is a standard A2 cardstock in a dark brown.  I layered a leafy patterned paper and then a harvest golden color of card stock.  Then I created an Autumn sunset with distressed inks on top of white cardstock.

I used Poppystamps Viva Tree Die [901] to create the tree and leaves.  I die cut the tree several times in a harvest orange, gold, green and dark brown to get extra leaves.  From there I cut of the leaves and attached them to the tree on the card.

Next I cut out a Poppystamps Woodland Fawn Die [1014] in a light brown followed by the Poppystamps Woodland Fawn Die [945].  I cut off part of the scarf that comes with [945] to create a shorter scarf for the baby fawn.

Finally, I stamped the Danke greeting on a cream cardstock and layers each size of the Classic Ribbons Die [1005].  After assembling the greeting, I trimmed off a little of the squared off end to shorten.  Then I attached it to the card with a small green bow on a paperclip.

To finish the card, I added a cream cardstock inside with Poppystamps' So Much Cling Stamp [CS308B] greeting stamped.  It may be a little difficult to see but I hand-colored the leaves, stem and greeting with markers of different colors to continue the multi-colored theme inside the card.

I hope you have enjoyed the card and are inspired to incorporate Autumn backgrounds and themes into your card-making endeavors.

Before you go, there is a contest with a great prize to be won courtesy of Poppystamps!  The prize is both the 1084 Leaf Silhouette, 1031 Thank You Background die.  To be entered you must leave a comment on each blog you visit as no one knows which blog the winner will be selected from.

You have until 26 September 2014 to leave a comment.  Poppystamps will be selecting the winner(s) from comments and announcing it the Poppystamps Blog.  Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment (and/or subscribing to my blog).

Your next stop is on the hop is Theresa Momber's blog.  If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, please visit the Poppystamps Blog or the CardMaker Blog.

Christmas Folding Screen Card

09/10/2014

Christmas Folding Screen Card

Greetings!  Today will be my last post as a Poppystamps Design Team Member.  It has been my pleasure creating for you over the past year.  For my final post, I selected a folding screen card. 

The folding screen card began with a piece of cardstock cut down to 5 1/2" by 11".  Then I scored at 2 3/4", 5 1/2" and finally 8 1/4".  Fold on the score lines so it will open as a screen.

Next I used the Poppystamps Grand Flower Box die to create the feet.  I centered the window box as shown in the image below and then ran it through my Big Shot.  I folded it in half so it would cut two at a time instead of running it through 4 times, I only had to do two.  Additionally, I ran it through before adhering the panels on.  

 

Next, I cut panels to line the screen.

I cut four panels in the following sizes:

2 1/2" x 4 5/8"

2 3/8 x 4 1/4"

I chose to alternate colors but you can use all the same. The smaller of the two sizes above is approximate for the height. I had to trim off just a skosh from the bottom so there would be a border.   After cutting I adhered the two colors together and then adhered them to the screen.

Next, I cut white cardstock into an 8 1/2" x 4" section and used the Poppystamps Puffy Cloud Border die to create a mask. I used the mask in various positions and sponged a turquoise color to create one big panel of sky.  Once completed, I cut four sections to 2 1/8" x 4" and numbered the back so that when I reassembled it on the card, the sky would appear continuous.  Then I adhered each section to the appropriate panel.

Once you have added the innermost panel, then you can decide what scene you would like to create.  I kept it pretty simple using the Poppystamps Snow Flocked Tree for panels 1 and 4.  Then I used Poppystamps Santa's Magic Sleigh for the panel 2 followed by both Poppystamps Woodland Fawn Dies.

To finish, I used the Merry Christmas greeting from the Poppystamps Merry Christmas Background.

To add more pizazz you could cut some small squares and tie some twine around them as presents in Santa's sleigh or add some ornaments from Poppystamps Christmas Baubles Die [1040] or some flocking on the branches of the tree.  

I hope you give the folding screen card a go for your holiday card making projects.

Thank you again for a wonderful year! Happy Holidays.

Puffy Cloud Border	snow Flocked Tree	Merry Christmas Background [1065]	Woodland Fawn
[923] DIES- Santa's Magic Sleigh	[945] DIES- Woodland Fawn	[821] DIES- Grand Flower Box

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Welcome Fall with Heated Copper

08/31/2014

Welcome Fall

Hello everyone.  Hard to believe it is the last day of August.  Where has the summer gone?

In my area, there is an annual Apple Festival and the yummy cider brings thoughts of Fall to my mind and to my post for your today.  I used a heated copper technique thanks to a friend who had some spare copper roll.

I wanted to showcase how Poppystamps dies can be used to cut thin (.003) copper sheeting so I used three different dies and ended up with my main card and two additional variations.  I hope you enjoy!

I cut an A2 card as a top fold.  Next I cut a smaller darker brown rectangle and ran through an embossing folder to create the wood-grain texture before moving onto heating the copper.  

In order to heat copper, you must have a heat proof surface.  I used an old half-sheet baking pan flipped over.  I  used a mini-torch (think Creme Brulee kitchen torch) as my heat source.  After it cooled, I carefully cut it with a paper trimmer.  The edges can be sharp so be careful not to get cut. It is a good idea to heat the copper outside if using a butane mini torch. 

I had a few missteps in running the dies through.  The frame around the leaves is very delicate and stuck to my cutting plates. Then I thought to add a piece of cardstock below the copper, then the copper and then the [1064] Maple Leaf Poppystamps die.  I ran through my Big Shot a couple times in order to be assured a clean cut as the copper is thicker than cardstock.  Problem solved!  It didn't stick to the cutting plates.  You can simply (but carefully) peel back the cardstock and you have the copper ready to adhere to your card.

Your could use foam adhesives to give some height or glue circles or hot glue.  I used a combination of glue dots and foam adhesive squares to adhere to the card.  Inside, not shown, I simply put a vanilla color of cardstock and stamped [CS308B] Thank You So Much greeting from Poppystamps.

My second example with heated copper is a Christmas card using [1056] Viviro Ornament and [CS307B] Holidays Sparkle Cling Stamp with [1005] Classic Ribbons Die.

The last example uses a the [1028] Delaney Butterfly Poppystamps Die against a plain black background.  This card is quite flexible and can be used for a thank you, sympathy or even to say hello.  

This will be one of my last posts as part of the Poppystamps Design Team.  I will be stepping down in September.  I want to thank Poppystamps for the wonderful opportunity to be part of their Design Team for the last 12 months.  I have made a lot of friends among the talented ladies on the team and hope that I have inspired some of you to get crafting with Poppystamps.  I appreciate each of you taking the time to stop by the Poppystamps blog and view my creations. 

Have a wonderful Autumn and Holiday season.

Viviro Ornament	[CS307B] Holidays Sparkle	[1005] DIES- Classic Ribbons	Maple Leaf
Delaney Butterfly

Christmas Luminary

Christmas Luminary

For my posting today, I chose to make a Christmas luminary.  I did not provide dimensions just some general guidelines as you can easily size this up or down to your liking.

Supplies you will need:

Poppystamps Winterflake Frame [905]

Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettia [902]

Cardstock

Adhesives

Flameless battery-powered tea light

Embellishments

This is relatively easy to reproduce and customize.  For my luminary I began with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock.  There are a couple of key considerations here.  Do you want a bottom of the luminary or just one that will sit over a battery-powered flameless candle?

For the luminary, determine your desired dimensions.  You will want two wide sides and two narrow sides (to mimic a paper bag).  Score where you wish them to fold but on the last side make sure you have a little extra that you can score and use to adhere the sides together.

My luminary is about 7" tall and my front and back panels are about 3" wide with my side panels a little over 2" inches wide (plus a little extra to adhere on the last panel).  I cut two sheets of vellum the size of my wide panels.  Then I cut ovals into my wide panels. I used glue dots to adhere the vellum to the inside of the luminary before assembling.

Next, I cut out the Small Blooming Poinsettia [902]  and the Winterflake Frame [905] dies from Poppystamps.  I trimmed the Winterflake Frame [905] by cutting out the middle section of the frame and formed the ends around my ovals.  Next I assembled several layers of the Small Blooming Poinsettia [902] and adhered to the vellum with a couple of glue dots.  

You can choose to repeat design on the back panel of the luminary, forgo the back panel (and not cut it out so it is solid) or use a different design.  You can also simply cut shapes such as the Giovanni Snowflake and let the light shine through.

I used miniature tea battery-powered tealights (never use an open flame) to create the flickering light inside which are found at most craft stores.  You can get as fancy as you'd like with ribbon, glitter or other embellisments as well.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!  

You can find all the great Poppystamps dies used to create this luminary (and many other projects) by following the links below:

[905] DIES- Winterflake Frame  [902] DIES- Small Blooming Poinsettia

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