Boxes in a Hurry

Boxes in a Hurry

Using the Gift Box Punch Board is so easy, it literally is something anyone can do.  With no cutting apart from sizing the paper or card you are using, it is a dream to use.  I love how easy it is to produce exactly the size and shape of box to suit a gift.  The boxes look lovely without any decoration but we crafters find it difficult not to add something, don't we?

I needed to quickly make up some boxes for a display (the night before) and I thought I would share these simple but gorgeous examples.

 This photo shows 3 different sizes.  The large square white box was stamped on all four sides in Tip Top Taupe using the White Christmas stamp set.  I then dotted the 2-way glue pen over the ink and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds and the glistening snow effect came to life.

 
The tag on the top was made using the Banner Triple Punch, the largest tag in Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, the middle one in Tip Top Taupe and the top one stamped in Tip Taupe again using the White Christmas stamp set. Gold ribbon attaches the tag.

  

This smaller square box is simply made from a retired 2014 DSP which I love and wrapped with  red ribbon (retired) and gold 1/8" ribbon.  The flower is scrunched white filter paper held together with a brad and edged with Dazzling Diamonds.  I used one of the Tags and Labels Framelits for the tag and edged it with the Real Red Stampin' Write Marker and Dazzling Diamonds.  The greeting in Real Red is from the Lots of Joy stamp set.

For a complete change of pace the small rectangular box is Soft Sky cardstock, decorated with Flowering Flourishes stamp in Soft Sky ink on all four sides.   The tag is 2 sizes of scalloped circle punches with the flower head stamped on the smaller and edged with Soft Sky Stampin' Write Marker.  I tied the Baker's Twine so that the stamped tag hung at the same level as the stamped image underneath.  I just love the understated elegance of colour-on-colour stamping.

With such uncomplicated but delightful packages, there is an almost instant resolution to the last-minute "what am I going to wrap this in?"      

Unfortunately I can't show the products as I normally do (some computer glitch) but on the day of posting (1st October 2015) the Gift Box Punch Board is one of the items in Weekly Deals which you can view at my online store via my website.

Keep on crafting

Lorraine

Frozen Birthday

Some members of one of my craft groups needed a birthday card for little girls who are huge Frozen fans and I was given a brief of blue, white and glitter.  Here is the lovely card we made.

 The base card is white, the mat Soft Sky stamped and sponged randomly with Soft Sky, Pool Party, Mariner Mist (stamped off to soften the colour) and (retired) silver metallic ink.  The balloon has a white base lightly sponged with Soft Sky and Pool Party before heat embossing the silver greeting.  Dazzling Diamonds add glitter to the edge and front of the balloon and Dimensionals give the floating appearance.  Silver and white Glimmer Paper and Rhinestone Jewels add  more glitz.

Three other retired products were used - Snowflake Card Thinlits die, Bigz Alphabet Typeset and Endless Wishes stamp set.  There are lovely snowflakes in the current catalogues which would work just as well - not sure why I didn't use them.  I can feel another version happening!

This card can easily be adapted as a Christmas card, replacing the balloon with a Christmas tree or two or perhaps a die-cut ornament and adding a greeting in place of the number. 

I've added the list of products used for easy reference.

Until next time

 Lorraine

Craft Fair Canberra

After months of producing lots of wonderful items to sell on the stall my upline and I share, we finally saw the fruits of our efforts in all their gorgeous Stampin' Up! glory displayed in our allocated area.  The stall looked really lovely and we were grateful for all the kind comments and many purchases of our goods.  We met so many new people as well as caught up with our many Craft Fair friends from previous years.  One of the sections of the stall was dedicated to Christmas and this photo shows a selection of one of the many hanging decorations we offered.

These decorations were made using the retired Holiday Ornaments Framelits, embossed and/or stamped cardstock and various DSP's.  Dazzling Diamonds added the absolutely essential Christmas glitz and our stall visitors loved them.  I have also made many of these decorations for different occasions - versatility is tops.  Can you tell I just love the framelits?

The snowflakes in my post Snowflakes Galore were also part of the Christmas section of the stall, hanging just above the decorations in the picture above so you can imagine what a stunning display this was.  

It is wonderful that most Stampin' Up! products live on after they retire from the current range, they can be used over and over again and the projects never look tired.  We sometimes forget that many people only see projects after the tools/papers are no longer available so in a selling environment like a stall there is a great opportunity to offer our favourite old projects in modern colours - love it!

I do put together kits for the beautiful ornaments in the photo, contact me through my website if you would love to make one.

Keep on crafting, until next time

Lorraine

Snowflakes Galore

Although we don't have snow for Christmas in Canberra, there is something magical about these gorgeous natural elements, even more so when they are reflecting lights.  I just love this paper version of snowflakes and the added decoration and edging gives the effect of flickering lights.  They look wonderful anywhere - hanging on a tree, in a window or suspended from the ceiling.  I hope you enjoy the photos.

I originally made the snowflakes with 8 segments but with different thicknesses of the paper/cardstock used the 6 segment version evolved. This group looks so pretty on the white Christmas tree.

The photos below show the detail of the central decorations, you can use anything you like here to achieve the look you are after.

The next photo shows the use of double-sided paper with a newsprint pattern, not your usual Christmas theme but the glitter on the centrepiece and edges of the loops add just the right amount of bling for celebration.

The multi-coloured snowflake below looks completely different from the white ones and I love the traditional Christmas colours. 

For a complete change these lovely autumnal tones make a beautiful decorative piece for any time of year.

You are most welcome at one of my snowflake classes, contact me through my website.

If you have been inspired to start making your own snowflakes the products you need are shown below.  Some of the central decorations were made using retired Stampin' Up! products so I have not listed them.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

Christmas Card Collection

I love Christmas and it's time to start making the cards I want to send out this year as well as share them at class.  My first little group is all about the lovely new Merry Moments Designer Series Paper and the Tree Punch.  The DSP has such a variety of patterns that it is easy to make quite different cards, keeping the layout basically the same.  The hardest part is deciding which patterns to use but this is hardly a problem, just adds to the fun.

For the first cards I used the stars from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set as a background on white card stock then simply layered the punched trees using Dimensionals, defining the tree edges with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and dotting Dazzling Diamonds on the tiny dots in the DSP design (I used a biro-style glue pen on the dots).  Rhinestone Jewels add some extra glitz and the greeting is from the new Lots of Joy stamp set. 

 

Reversing the layout gives a lovely variation and so easy to do.

On the third card I added some sponging around the edge, what a soft finish this gives.

For the other 3 cards I used Merry Moments DSP as the background, Silver Glimmer Paper, Silver 1/8" Ribbon and red satin ribbon from a previous catalogue.  The white greeting is heat embossed and the mounted greeting is on one of the new Lots of Labels Framelits.  Dazzling Diamonds highlights the diagonal stripes and tiny circles on the trees and adds some glitz to the card stock mats.

I really enjoyed making these cards, they are not difficult or hugely time consuming but look gorgeous.

Have fun making your own version, the product details are shown below if you would like to purchase them from my online store.

Until next time, happy crafting.

Lorraine

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Cards for Ronald McDonald House

 I am thrilled to be hosting a fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House.  Stampin' Up! has strong links with this wonderful organisation and having cards available for use by people staying at the House needs a constant supply.

We craft people are great at making cards, right?  So let's get together and have a fun day using the brand new SU products, enjoying each other's company while preparing a lovely presentation for RMH.

To join the fun just go to my website http://lorrainespencer.stampinup.net and RSVP your preferred session.

Until then, happy crafting.

Lorraine

Embossed Vellum

I was recently invited to spend an evening with a group of ladies who wanted to learn something new and I suggested using vellum.  We made 2 quite different cards so I could show them how easy it is to achieve different effects using similar products.  Whisper white notecards were used.

The first card had a strong coloured mat, the sample here has Island Indigo cardstock.

The vellum was stamped with the background stamp Something Lacy using Versamark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  The vellum was mounted on the mat using snail under where the gold ribbon was later wrapped with a small dot of multipurpose glue in each corner, hidden under an embossed area.  Snail was used to mount the mat on the card.  

To finish off, 2 flowers from Flower Shop were stamped on vellum, one using the Island Indigo Stampin Write marker, the other in Encore Gold Metallic ink then punched out with the Pansy punch.  The flowers were joined using part of a Dimensional and Sticky Strip adhered them to the ribbon.  A Basic Pearl was added for just the right touch.

For the second card we used very soft coloured mats, the one shown is Very Vanilla.  The vellum was stamped with the Something Lacy stamp and white embossing power was used.  We coloured the design on the back of the vellum, the Stampin Write markers used on the sample below were calypso coral, mariner mist, coastal cabana, crisp canteloupe and pistachio pudding.   Venetian Crochet trim was attached to a narrow strip of mat cardstock using snail adhesive and Dazzling Diamonds was sprinkled over this to disguise the sticky line and add a little sparkle.  The ends of the crochet trim were attached to the back of the mat.  The ladies were amazed how such strong colours could be tamed using this technique.

2 hearts were cut using the Hearts Collection framelits, the mat coloured cardstock heart was stamped with a greeting from the stamp set For Being You (SAB) using one of the markers from colouring and the second heart was in plain vellum.  These were edged with Dazzling Diamonds, joined with a tiny dot of multipurpose glue and a Basic Jewel placed over the glue.  A dimensional attached the hearts to the card.

These cards are so versatile and so enjoyable to make, I have made quite a few for various occasions and I hope you will try them too.

Until next time, keep on crafting

Lorraine 

If you would like to purchase the products used please visit my online store via my website

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First Blog Ever

My First Post

After many unsuccessful attempts over the past year I am thrilled to be writing my first blog ever.  I have had so much help from my friend to finally achieve this, could not have done it without her.  So, here it is, my first blog ever!

I recently spent a wonderful day at the Stampin' Up! Partytime Event in Canberra, learning tips and tricks and achieving another first which was presenting one of the projects.  The presentation was a great experience and I thought I would share the project with you.

Using all elements of the Bouquet Bigz Die from the Occasions catalogue, Filter Paper and Dazzling Diamonds from the Annual catalogue I demonstrated this gorgeous gift embellishment:

After glittering each of the pieces the 6 individual segments were formed by stapling the petals together.  It was then just a matter of assembling the circle of segments in hot glue and adding the centre section to the glue.  I neatened the back with a scallop circle in white (I forgot to mention that in my presentation)

I am definitely not up to producing videos but if you would like instructions either at a class or as a flyer just contact me via my website 

The matching card uses just one segment of the larger project.

This hanging version has been lightly spritzed to highlight the definition.  Wouldn't it look wonderful hanging on a pew or a chair or even in a special place at home?

This is a beautiful table centrepiece which could be colour coded to suit the occasion.  I added a few tiny silver hearts from the Confettit Stars border punch in the Occasions catalogue. 

I hope all those who looked at my blank blog page (not sure how it got

 out there) find this page more interesting.

Until next time, keep on crafting 

Lorraine

If you would like to purchase the products used in this project please visit my online store

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