Peony popped frame

There is a great SCS technique challenge that calls for a dimensional frame on your card.  I thought this would translate well onto a T slide card.  The finished dimensions on this card is 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 (A2).  The T Slide card can be adapted to any size card.  The slide mechanism works best if you make sure that there is at least 3/4" frame on all sides around the sliding center piece.  This allows for the sticky strip and the mechanism slides smoother as well.  Again, the card is so much prettier in person.  The flower has dazzling diamonds glitter all over it and the frame is glittered designer paper (DCWV)

Watermelon T slide card

I'm having so much fun with the T-slide!  For this one, I had a cute stamp by Rubbernecker and I thought it would be fun to make some punched watermelon slices to go with it.

For the base of the card, follow the T-Slide Tutorial.  For the watermelon slices, you will need the Large Oval and the Wide Oval Stampin' Up! Punches.  For the bite marks on the watermelon, you will need the Punch Pack flower punch.

Punch the Large Oval in Garden Green as shown.   Line up the Wide Oval over the top of punched large oval and punch the watermelon rind as shown.  Punch the wide oval out of real red cardstock.  Sponge the bottom half with craft white ink .  Glue the rind onto the red oval.  Cut the red straight across between the rind ends.  Draw the seeds onto the watermelon with a black zig.  Punch bite marks onto the watermelon with the flower punch from the punch pack set.

T-Slide Cupcake card

I just found out yesterday that I'll be a guest tutorial artist on Split Coast Stampers in January 2011 with my T-Slide card!!!!!  How cool is that?  I'm having fun making my cards.  For this card, I made a full size stamped piece for the front.  Then, simply adhered it to one side of the sliding mechanism.

Here is the T-Slide Tutorial from earlier this week.

The stamps are from Rubberneckers. For the cupcake, I angle cut the bottom of the 1 3/8" square and rounded out the bottom edges.  I then drew some lines on it with copic markers.  For the cupcake top, I punched half of the scallop circle out of a glitter paper.  The cherry was punched with the 3/8" circle and attached with a glue dot.  The card is so much prettier in person, as I have glitter all over it and many of the elements are cut out and popped on the front.

T-Slide Technique

Finally getting this up!  I had to watch the last episode of Lost, so I was a bit distracted! 

I got this idea from a book called Flip, Spin & Play which is for cool scrapbook elements.  I thought that this could be adapted to a card.  The 4 pictures in the book was a pretty bad presentation of the technique and most people probably couldn't figure it out.  I spent a lot of time just looking at the finished product to figure out how the mechanism even worked!  But the good news is, it's rather easy to make, once you figure it out.

1)  Cut the following pieces out of your main color cardstock (in this card, it's Pink Pirouette)

• 5" x 5" 
• 3 1/2" x 1 1/4"
• 4" x 1"
• 4 1/4" x 1"

2)  Using the Fiskars paper cutter, line up the 5" piece of cardstock at the 3/4" mark on the RIGHT side of the cutting rail.  Lift the cutting rail and position your blade at 3/4" on the rail.  Lower the rail and pull the blade to the 4 1/4" mark.  Turn the cardstock clockwise to another side and follow the same steps.  Turn the cardstock clockwise again, and follow the same steps.  At this point, you will have 3 cut sides.

3)  Place the piece onto a scoring board (or use a ruler and a scoring tool).  At the 3/4" mark, score from one cut line to another cut line as shown above.

4)  Keeping the cardstock in place, score at 2 1/4" from one cut line to another.  Score at 3 3/4" from one cut line to another.

5)  Place the piece back onto the Fiskars cutter.  Line up the left side at the 3 1/4" mark.  Lift the rail on the cutter and position the blade at the 1 7/8" mark on the rail.  Drag the blade to the 3 1/8" mark.  Move the cardstock a little and cut another line right next to the first.  Cut the small slot of paper away.

6)  Score at 1/2" on the 3 1/2 x 1 1/4" strip (This is the piece that will "hover" at the center of the card).  Add some strong adhesive (like stricky strip) to the 1/2" scored end.  Stamp your greeting on the strip.  Try to keep it closer to the end with the score so that the greeting doesn't peek out when the slide mechanism is closed.

7)  Slide the above piece into the slot as shown below and secure with the sticky strip at the center of the score mark.  The first picture is the front side of the card.  The second picture is the backside when you flip it over.  

8)  Create the T slider by placing the 4" x 1" strip at the top and glue the 4 1/4" x 1" strip at the center as shown.

9) Place a line of sticky strip along the 1/2" scored mark as shown.

10)  Attach the T slider to the sticky strip as shown.  Center the slider so that 1/4" extends on each end of the 1/2" Scored piece as shown.  Add a tab, circle punch, scallop punch (as shown in finished card), etc. to the end of the T slider so you can easily grab and pull.  You could also tie on a ribbon.  If you want to stamp a greeting on the T slide, I recommend waiting until after the card is assembled. Pull out the T slide and then stamp your greeting.  It's the best way to make sure the whole greeting shows in the proper place.

11)  Apply sticky strip all around the outer edge of the 5 x 5 piece.  You need to use a strong adhesive to keep the card firmly in place.  Be sure to leave a little space on each side of the T slide piece for your pull tab.  EDIT: The tab has a tendency to stick against the edge of the paper when sliding back into place.  To avoid this, put a pop dot or thin dimensional on each side of the tab to create a little "clearance" for the tab to slide back into the card (this step is not shown in the picture).  Apply to your card base.  You could cut the cardstock at 5 x 10 or make it larger for a small border.  In the sample, I cut the polkadot paper to 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 and then taped to a card base 5 1/2 x 5 1/2" 

I stamped the flower from A Good Egg stamp set (SU!) with Pretty in Pink ink pad and then use a glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter to add highlights to some of the flowers and dots.  Tied on vanilla satin ribbon.

The cute little inchie bears are by Rubbernecker Stamps.  Colored with copic markers.  Popped with dimensionals.

The greetings are from Small Sayings and the Hugs & Wishes stamp sets (SU!).  For those of you that are curious, the polkadot paper is from the old retired Spring Flowers double sided DSP by Stampin' Up!

For a printable version of this tutorial, click on this link:

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D8472508_837_657778083

For a cool variation on the standard T-Slide, check out my Triple T-Slide Card.

For an A2 Cutting Diagram and instructions, go Here.

More T-slide card ideas:

Cupcake card

Watermelon card

Pretty Peony card

Thinking of Hoo card

Under the Stars card

Cute Birdie card

Doggie Birthday card

Robot Love card

Happy Together

The Sky's the Limit

Build a Bear becomes a girl!

This tutorial is for those of you that aren't bear fans.  The build-a-bear sizzix die can be adapted to a lot of different characters - one of which is a cute little kid.  These instructions are for making a girl.  You could easily leave off the pony tails and make a boy.  If you want instructions on making a jointed kid, check out my class for the Build a Bear (with lots of great outfits for your paper doll).

Stampin' Up! Punches Needed:

Build-a-Bear Sizzix die - Blush Blossom for body

1 3/8" Circle - Blush Blossom for face & chocolate chip for hair

1/2" Circle - Blush Blossom for ears and nose

Scallop Circle - chocolate chip for pony tails & pretty in pink print for skirt

teardrop (or teardrop substitute) - in black for eyes

Ornament - rose red print for shirt

3/4" Circle - rose red print for sleeves

Word Window - white for waist band

Full Heart - rose red for shirt

Heart to Heart - pretty in pink for hair bows

1/4" Circle - pretty in pink print for hair bows

Instructions:

1. Die cut build a bear out of blush blossom cardstock.  Clip off the ears and hair.  Trim one of the 1/2" circles into an oval for the nose.  Punch 2 of the 1/2" circles for ears.  Sponge edges of all blush blossom pieces with pretty in pink ink.
2. Attach nose with dimensional.  Glue on ears.  Glue on teardrop eyes.  Add detailing with uni-ball white gel pen and zig detail black pen.  Attach face to head with dimensional.
3. For hair, cut 1 3/8" chocolate circle in half. Clip on edge to create bangs.  Clip scallop circles as shown for ponytails.  Sponge chocolate pieces with chocolate chip ink.  Glue bangs and ponytails to head.  
4. For hair bow, glue 2 small hearts on each side of 1/4" circle.  Make 2 bows and use a glue dot to attach to ponytails.
5. For the shirt, glue the full heart on top of the ornament.  Attach to body.  Turn body over and clip away excess.
6. Clip away bottom of each 3/4" circle for sleeves.  Glue sleeves onto blouse.
7. Glue 2 word windows together for waistband of skirt.  Cut scallop circle in half and glue onto waist band.  Glue skirt onto blouse, turn over and clip away excess on each side of the skirt.

Ballerina

Hello all, by now, several of you are hopefully creating some fun poseable build-a-bears!  Here is a freebie for all of my loyal readers.  To make the bear, follow the instructions HERE.  Instructions for the poseable bear is in my newest Build-a-Bear class.

Stampin' Up! Punches needed:
3/4" Circle
1" Circle
1 3/4" Circle
Eyelet Border

Punch half of 3/4" circle in white.  Line up 1 3/4" circle over the top of 3/4" punched circle as shown.

For tutu, cut a strip of pink designer series paper (I used pink pirouette polkadot) 1 1/2" x 12".  Punch entire length with eyelet border punch.  Spritz the strip of paper with water (or Fabreeze).  The paper will soften so you can easily gather the paper as shown.  Cut a strip of DSP 1/2" x 1 3/4" for the waistband.  Fold the 1/2" x 1 3/4" piece in half lengthwise.  Use a strong adhesive like sticky strip to fasten the gathered tutu piece to the strip, fold the strip over the top and fasten on each side.  

For the toeshoes, punch slightly less than half of a 3/4" circle and then line up 1" Circle over the top and punch as shown.  Round out each end.  Cut a ribbon about 8" long, fold in half and attach to back of each shoe.  Wrap ribbons around legs once and tie in place

Blog Candy Winner

Congratulations to the winner of my blog candy drawing for my followers milestone.  The follower selected is Robin.Christine at http://robinscraps.blogspot.com/.  Robin, please contact me with your mailing address and I will send your goodies!

woo hoo!

Hello everyone!  I just hit 100 followers, another milestone!  To celebrate, I want to offer some card candy.   This reward is up for grabs to all of my followers.  I will draw a random name from my followers list on Sunday and they will get a super goody package!  I'm going on a stamping retreat with my girlfriends this weekend and there may just be some finished projects in there as well.

If you aren't a follower and would like a chance at winning, please sign up to follow me.  That's all you have to do.  Thanks to all of my loyal followers and email subscribers!  I am working on getting 1000 email subscribers as well.  When that happens, I will be offering another super prize drawing for all of my email subscribers.  Thanks!!!!!

great place for sketches

Hey all, I wanted to share this awesome place for scrapbook and card sketches.  I've always found that it's much easier to make a card or page when you know what the layout will be ahead of time.  I bought a binder called Page Maps by Becky Fleck months ago and it has been very useful.  I didn't realize she had a website and shares for free new sketches every month. Check it out!

http://www.pagemaps.com/

Ornament Punch order details

Hi All, I've gotten details from several readers that you can order the SU! Ornament punch either through your demonstrator or at http://www.stampinup.com/.  This is a write-in item as it isn't in the current catalog or mini-catalog.  The item number is 116794 and the price is $15.95.  If you don't have this punch, you have to buy it!!!  I use it for just about every punch project I do.  Of course, if you don't have access to SU! punches, you can check out my ornament punch substitute instructions HERE.  I have quite a few readers outside the US and Canada.  For those readers, you may not know that the SU! punches are manufactured by EK Success.  Several of the punch shapes that SU! sells can be found wherever EK Success is sold.  Several of the punches are exclusive to SU! such as the ornament, butterfly, boho blossoms & heart to heart (I believe) but the basic shape ones are not.  Hope this helps those readers that really want to create my punch art but have no access to SU! punches.  Happy punching!

Build A Bear card

I had to put this cute little bear on a card.  I used the To The Nines designer series papers by Stampin' Up!

Build-a-Bear Gets a Makeover

I bet all of you people who don't like the sizzix build-a-bear die will change your mind after seeing this little guy!  Presenting the new and improved Build a Bear.  tada!

Build a Bear Notes Holder
Build a Bear Eissel Card

It's amazing how you can make something so much better by adding some punches!  You will need the following Stampin' Up! punches:
1 3/8" Circle for the head
3/4" Circle for outer ears
1/2" Circle for inner ears
Small oval for muzzle
Ornament for belly (or ornament substitute)
Heart to Heart (small heart) for nose
2 teardrop eyes (if you don't have a teardrop punch, see teardrop substitute)

Other supplies:
Sizzix Build-a-Bear die (Stampin' Up!)
Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel carstocks
Basic black for eyes and nose
chocolate chip ink pad and sponge
uni-ball white gel pen, zig detail black pen
dimensionals, mono liquid glue

1. Clip off the top of the ornament and round out the bottom.  Sponge the edges of all cocoa and caramel pieces with chocolate chip ink pad.
2. Attach belly to body with dimensionals
3. Glue ears onto head (line up the ears on the die to the 3/4" circles for placement).
4. Glue heart onto small oval. Clip away top of heart.  Attach muzzle to face with dimensional.
5. Glue eyes on and add detailing with gel pen and zig.
6. Attach face to head with dimensionals.
7. Add ribbons, etc.  You could punch a heart and attach to chest like original die.  I left that off.

What a way to start the day

I was driving to work today and traveling on the freeway going about 65 miles per hour.  The car in front of me all of a sudden lost their muffler.  It came flying at me at 65 miles per hour!  Needless to say, even though I swerved to miss it, it still struck my car on the driver side.  Thankfully it didn't cause me to lose control of my car or hit another car trying to get out of the way.  Thankfully my insurance has deemed it a comprehensive claim so I don't have to come up with the deductible.  Funny, when I called to submit the claim, I was told that if the muffler was sitting stationary on the road and I hit it, it would be considered collision but since I was hit by a moving object, it's considered comprehensive.  Go figure.  I just hate the pain of taking my car to a body shop and having to find other means of transportation for a day or 2.

Internet browsers

Hi all, it appears that sometimes certain elements of my blog sometimes don't show up in Internet Explorer.  I personally stopped using IE a long time ago after trying out Google Chrome.  This browser is so much faster and personally, I think safer as well.  If you haven't tried out this free browser yet, you should give it a try, you will be happy you did!  Incidentally, anyone that has had problems viewing my blog in IE, had no problems with Chrome.

http://www.google.com/chrome

Bunny Behind card

I thought it would be fun to do an easter card with Peter Cotton tail and showing his fluffy tail from behind.  I finally broke down and used my Parisian DSP which is retired and I wish I had bought much more of it!!!

Stampin Up Punches needed:

body parts punched out of parisian dsp and tail punched out of textured white cardstock

Ornament - body

1 1/4" circle - head

Small oval - ears

Butterfly (cut in half) - feet

Boho Blossoms - tail

Create the fluffy tail by misting the boho blossom pieces with water (I like to use Febreze).  Wad up pieces to wrinkle.  Unfold and let dry.  Glue pieces together (layering one at a time).  Fluff up edges.  Sponge edges of body pieces with chocolate chip ink.

Card layers measurements:

6 x 12 kraft or caramel colored cardstock folded in half for base of card

5 7/8 x 5 7/8 flower print Parisian DSP

2 x 5 7/8 striped DSP

4 1/2 x 3 polka dot DSP

sign die cut with Nestabilities Label #1

Well Scripted stamp set for easter stamp in chocolate chip

kraft taffetta ribbon

Popcorn Bear

I spotted this cute little bear on SCS and fell in love.  So I got several sets and this is my first creation with Popcorn Bear and I actually dug out my copic markers and used them!  You can see from the photo but several of the flowers are cut out and popped for dimension and they are also glittered with dazzling diamonds.  The background paper with the daffodils was stamped (SCS technique challenge for this week).

Carrot Cone

I saw this technique tutorial on SCS and just had to adapt it to a carrot treat cone!  For the basic cone instructions, go HERE.  To create the carrot, follow the instructions below.

Cut a circle 8 inches in diameter.  If you want longer "greens", cut the circle bigger.  The circle needs to be pliable to mold it.  Lay the circle on some paper towel and spritz with water (I prefer to use febreze because it  makes the paper a little softer and it smells good to).  Wad the circle up into a tight ball and then flatten back out as shown.

Pinch the center of the circle and gather up the edges until you have a semi folded cone in your hand as shown.

Cut 1 inch off the tip of the cone as shown.

Apply a strong adhesive like sticky strip on the inside rim of the cone and then adhere the tip of the cone around the edges of the cone as shown.  You will need to fold and pleat the edges of the paper to fit nicely onto the edge of the cone. For the outer edge of the cone, I punched a strip of certainly celery cardstock with the scallop border punch, sprayed with water and wadded it up, flatten back out and glue in place around outer edge of cone.

Fill cone with treats and then gather the top closed and tie closed with a celery satin ribbon.  You could attach a hand stamped card if you choose.  I created a card (that isn't shown in the picture) that features a little Bunny Chow poem (stamp by Inky Antics)

Hopping on his way to a picnic lunch,
a bunny paused for something to munch.
He reached in his basket for a treat,
something tasty for us to eat!
Not lettuce...not carrots...
it was Bunny Chow!
Who needs vitamins, anyhow?