Archive for Buttons
Wish Big
Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2009 | Comments
Thank goodness it’s Friday! I am so glad to see this week done as it has probably been one of the most unproductive weeks I’ve had in months. I have had no end of computer troubles for the last 2 weeks and have wasted no end of time trying to sort things out. I thought I had gotten it all resolved last week, but go figure more problems cropped up this week. As a result it hasn’t left much time for stamping. I was able to pull together a quick card to share with you today, but I’m sorry to say I don’t have a video for you.
This is totally a Kristina Werner-inspired Card, with the layout slightly adapted, and made using all Stampin’ Up! product. With all the frustration and stress I’ve been feeling lately my mojo has been kinda low – whenever that happens I usually turn to some of my favourite bloggers for help – it was Kristina that bailed me out once again *lol*
Today’s card is a really fun NO STAMP card. It’s quick and easy to do (well, other than the paper piercing). In the little snapshop to the left you can see a close-up of some of the elements I incorporated into the card. The word “wish” was die cut out of fun foam, while the word “big” was die cut out of Soft Suede CS. And of course I added buttons….I so love buttons for a quick and easy touch to any project!
Here’s how I made the card:
- Take a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Soft Suede CS and fold it in half using your bone folder to create a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card.
- Take a 3 3/4″ x 4 1/2″ piece of Pretty in Pink CS and paper pierce all around the edges using a paper-piercing tool.
- Lay a 5 1/2″ piece of Soft Suede ribbon across the top of the Pretty in Pink CS about 1″ down from the top edge. Bring the ends of the ribbon around to the back of the CS and stick them down using Snail adhesive.
- Tie a 14″ piece of Soft Suede Polka Dot ribbon in a bow around the first piece. Trim the ends of the ribbon on an angle.
- Take a 1/2″ x 3 3/4″ piece of Pumpkin Pie CS and stick it about 1/2″ up from the bottom edge of the Pretty in Pink CS.
- Die cut the letters big out of Soft Suede CS using the Big Shot and the Stampin’ Up! Billboard Decorative Strip die. Stick them to the Pumpkin Pie CS as shown in the picture above, using 2-way glue.
- Die cut out the letters “Wish” from white fun foam (from my local craft store) with the Stampin’ Up! Timeless Type Alphabet Junior set and a Big Shot. Stick them onto the Pretty in Pink CS piece so that the bottom edge of the letters just slightly overlap the Pumpkin Pie CS. Stick them down using Tombow Multi-purpose adhesive.
- Thread two buttons from the Sherbet collection with coordinating slivers of CS. Stick them onto the Pretty in Pink CS as shown in the picture using a mini-glue dot for each.
- Center the Pretty in Pink CS piece along the bottom edge of the Soft Suede CS and stick them down using Stampin’ Dimensionals (leave about a 1/4″ around the left, right and bottom). You’re done!
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Paper: Soft Suede CS (115318), Pumpkin Pie CS (105117), Pretty in Pink CS
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), Big Shot (113439), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Stampin’ Up! Billboard Sizzlit Decorative Strip die (114510), Stampin’ Up! Timeless Type Alphabet Junior (115951), Decorative Strip Spacer Platform (113477), Decorative Strip Cutting Pads (113479), Soft Suede Polka Dot ribbon (115612), Sherbet Designer Buttons (116312), Tombow-Multi-purpose glue (110755), 2-way glue (100425), tweezers, paper-piercing tool (116631), mat mat (105826), white fun foam (non-Stampin’ Up!)
Sparkle & Shine Embossed Christmas Card
Posted: Monday, November 30th, 2009 | Comments
I hope all my American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Just a quick reminder before I move on to the details of this card, if you haven’t yet taken advantage of our 50% off all digital products sale, there are less than 12 hours left in the sale. As of midnight tonight, the sale is over. You can see full details on the sale if you scroll down the page a bit.
As you can see from the photo above, today’s card features a combination of heat embossing (the ornaments) and the use of a Texturz Plate (the Whisper White CS).
You can watch a video of how I made the card here:
Directions:
- Take a 2″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Real Red CS and temporarily stick it to your grid paper using Dotto adhesive. Run an embossing buddy over the CS.
- Ink up the Sparkle and Shine Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel using your Encore Metallic Gold ink pad. Roll the wheel along the 2″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Real Red CS.
- Sprinkle gold embossing powder onto the image and tap off the excess. Heat with a heat tool.
- Take a 1 3/4″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Brushed Gold CS and scallop one 5 1/2″ side using the Scallop Edge punch. Punch a small hole in each scallop using the 1/16″ handheld circle punch.
- Stick the stamped and embossed Real Red CS strip onto the scalloped gold CS strip, making sure to leave about a 1/4″ scalloped border showing.
- Lay a 7 1/2″ piece of 5/8″ Real Red Grosgrain ribbon along the left edge of the Real Red CS strip – align the edge of the ribbon with the edge of the CS. Bring the ends of the ribbon around to the back of the CS and stick them down using Snail adhesive. Set aside for a moment.
- Take a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Whisper White CS and emboss it with the diamonds pattern of the Stampin’ Up! perfect details Texturz Plate. Refer to the video for the correct “sandwich”.
- Center and stick the Whisper White CS to a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ Real Red card front (created by taking a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Real Red CS and folding it in half).
- Stick the Real Red CS strip from step 6 onto the card front, about a 1/4″ in from the left edge of the Whisper White CS.
- Stamp the Merry Christmas greeting from the Christmas Punch stamp set onto a piece of Whisper White CS using Basic Black Classic ink. Punch it out with a wide oval punch and sponge the edges with Real Red Classic ink and a wedge of Stamping Sponge.
- Die cut the label from Brushed Gold CS using the Stampin’ Up! Lots of Tags die set and your Big Shot.
- Center and stick the oval to the Brushed Gold label with two Stampin’ Dimensionals. Stick the matted greeting onto the card front using two Stampin’ Dimensionals.
- Take a 6″ piece of Real Red Grosgrain ribbon and tie it in a knot around the first piece. You’re done!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I’ll be embedding the video into this post once it’s uploaded. I also hope the colors are okay for you, my computer completely crashed last week and I’m on a new laptop – so of course the colors shown on the screen are different from the last computer.
Also, be sure to check back a bit later because I wanted to share with you my all new papercrafting and scrapbooking monthly kits.
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Stamps: Sparkle and Shine Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel (116545), Christmas Punch (Level 2 hostess set)
Ink: Basic Black Classic ink (101179), Encore Metallic Gold Ink (101017)
Paper: Whisper White CS (101730), Real Red CS (102482), Brushed Gold CS (102935)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), 5/8″ Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon (109052), Fine Galaxy Glitter (114286), heat tool (100005), Gold Embossing Powder (109129), Embossing Buddy (103083), Big Shot (113439), Standard Texturz Impressions Pad (114614), Standard Texturz Silicone Rubber (114615), Stampin’ Up! Perfect Details Textruz Plate (115962), Stampin’ Up! Lots of Tags Sizzlit 4-pack die (114508), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Scallop Edge punch (112091), Jumbo Stampin’ Around Handle (103661), 1/16″ handheld circle punch (101227), Wide Oval punch (112082), Stamping Sponges (101610)
Glittery Winter Thanks Card
Posted: Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | Comments
Whew! What a week we had last week. As if things weren’t already challenging enough, on Wednesday of last week my computer decided to stop working. Although thankfully I had MOST of what I needed copied onto my external hard drive, somehow – and I have a feeling it was “user” error – the user being me - I lost absolutely ALL the videos I have filmed over the last year. I cried. Yes, it seems silly to cry over videos but we’ve had so many little glitches and problems with computers and shipping and items I’m waiting for on backorder – that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. When I looked in the mirror this morning, I swear I saw more gray hairs and bigger bags under my eyes *sigh* So I spent a good part of the end of last week and the weekend uploading software to the family computer so that I can use that until my computer is fixed. While I’m relieved to have a back up, now I’m constantly “fighting” with my kids over who gets to use the computer *lol*.
Anyways, onto today’s card. I have to confess, I’m getting pretty tired of Christmas cards since I’ve been making them since September, so today I decided that instead of another Christmas card, I was going to make a winter-themed thank you card. I find that the Christmas Cocoa designer paper is perfect for winter-themed projects – there’s no obvious Christmas “symbols” on the DP – just winter symbols (i.e. snowflakes). Besides, we still have MONTHS of winter left, and it feels silly making spring cards in January and February!
Today’s card was inspired by THIS card of Kristina Werner’s (one of my favorite bloggers). I used her card layout and general design features to create my card, only using all Stampin’ Up! product. I decided to step my card up a little by adding glittery snowflakes using Stampin’ Up!’s Fine Galaxy Glitter and Heat and Stick powder.
You can watch a video on how I made this card below:
Directions:
- Take a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Real Red CS and fold it in half using your bone folder. Run your embossing buddy along the bottom 1/2 of the card.
- Randomly stamp the snowflake from the Patterned Pines Level 1 Hostess Set (or you can use the Serene Snowflakes stamp set) onto the bottom of the card front using VersaMark ink.
- Sprinkle Heat and Stick embossing powder onto the stamped snowflakes. Melt the Heat and Stick powder with your heat tool. Quickly sprinkle on the gold fine galaxy glitter onto the Heat and Stick powder. Heat set with your heat tool. Set aside for a moment.
- Take a 3″ x 4″ piece of Whisper White CS and stamp your greeting from the Heard from the Heart stamp set along the top edge of the CS in Soft Suede Classic ink. Round the top two corners of the Whisper White CS piece with your corner rounder punch.
- Stick a 1 1/2″ x 4″ piece of striped Christmas Cocoa DP along the bottom edge of the Whisper White CS. Take a 5″ piece of ribbon and lay it across the seam of the DP. Bring the ends of the ribbon around to the back of the CS and stick them down with Snail adhesive.
- Thread three buttons (2 red and 1 mustard) from the Playground Designer Buttons collection with coordinating slivers of CS. Stick the buttons onto the DP as shown in the picture of the card.
- Center and stick the Whisper White CS piece onto the card front using 5 Stampin’ Dimensionals. You’re done!
I hope you enjoyed this card! Please scroll down to the next post to see the winners of the Everyday Elegance Class.
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Stamps: Patterned Pines Level 1 hostess set (116525), or use Serene Snowflakes (115438), Heard from the Heart (111644)
Ink: Soft Suede Classic ink (115657)
Paper: Whisper White CS (101730), Real Red CS (102482), Christmas Cocoa DP (116770)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), mini glue dots (103683), Playground Designer Buttons (116313), 5/8″ Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon (109052), Fine Galaxy Glitter (114286), Heat and Stick powder (100625), heat tool (100005)
Autumn inspiration & a tutorial on altering your buttons
Posted: Thursday, August 20th, 2009 | Comments
Well, I just realized that I broke my own rule today. What rule you ask? The rule of never showing projects featuring a stamp set that is not yet available for purchase. To me there’s nothing worse than falling in love with an image only to discover you can’t get it yet – since I personally hate waiting to buy something I like, I try to spare you all the agony too *lol*. So what happened? Well, my mini catalogue pre-order arrived yesterday and this stamp set was in it (it’s called Wandering Words) – it just so happens that this is one of my favorite new stamp sets in the mini and I got carried away in my excitement and couldn’t resist playing with it and the new Autumn Meadows DP. It was literally as I was uploading this card that it occured to me that I had broken my rule. Oh well – sometimes rules *need* to be broken right? *lol*
See the button on my card? Notice that it’s Really Rust color coordinates perfectly with the CS and DP? But Stampin’ Up! doesn’t carry Really Rust buttons – so where’d it come from?…….I altered it and I’m going to show you how. It’s so easy that it’s addictive. Since I didn’t need any more Really Rust buttons I decided to create a black button and show you how I did it (after all, Halloween is just around the corner!).
First off, you’re going to need buttons. Now buttons with a smooth finish (such as the So Saffron button shown in the picture) are easier to alter than buttons with little nooks and crannies like the circular cream-colored buttos in you can see in the picture above. You’re also going to need a craft ink pad or Stampin’ Spot in your desired color, some clear embossing powder, a heat tool and tweezers. The best tweezers to use are ones that have an angled tip and are spring-loaded (you have to squeeze them to open the tip). These tweezers were a part of the Stampin’ Up! tool kit which is no longer available, so if you don’t have any you can probably find them at your local craft store among other places.
You want to insert the tip of your tweezers through the holes of the button. Notice that the tips of the tweezers are just barely sticking out of the holes. Ideally you want to keep your tweezers in this position so that you can really press your button into your ink pad without tearing up the surface of your ink pad.
You’re now going to press your button onto the surface of your ink pad. Because this button had a little “dip” in the center of the button front, I actually found it easier to remove my tweezers and then use my finger to squish the button against the ink pad. I then inserted my tweezer tips and picked up my button again. Make sure you also ink up the sides of the button.
You can see from the picture above how well my button is covered in ink.
Now with all other colors (other than gold and silver) I would emboss with clear embossing powder, but because I wanted the black to be really intense, and because Stampin’ Up! carries black embossing powder, I decided to use that instead. So still holding my button with my tweezers, I dipped it into the embossing powder, making sure that the sides were covered as well. Don’t worry if embossing powder gets on the back of the button.
Once your button is covered with embossing powder, heat it with the heat tool until all the powder melts. The reason you need to emboss your buttons after coloring them is because on it’s own, the craft (also known as pigment) ink won’t dry – it’ll just smear off. Make sure you heat the back of the button too in order to melt any of the powder that ended up there (that way it won’t accidentally smear onto your project later).
Give your button a few minutes to cool thoroughly before removing it from the tweezers. Scrape off any ink/embossing powder from your tweezer tips and then clean with a damp sponge or paper towel before putting them away. If any of the embossing powder accumulated in the center holes of the button you can CAREFULLY clean it with a paper-piercing tool or needle – just be careful you don’t scratch the surface of your button or you will scratch off the color.
That’s all there is to it! Now I’m really sorry, but I just have no more energy to keep typing right now, so at some point tomorrow I’ll update this post with directions on how I made the card and a full supply list. I was up until 1 am last night because I just couldn’t sleep (I had too many ideas and thoughts floating around my head *lol*).
“From owl of us” card, a faux thread tutorial & the winners of the Fun and Fast Notes workshop planner
Posted: Friday, August 7th, 2009 | Comments
Today I thought I’d share with you a pretty easy card I created using Stampin’ Up!’s Owl Together Now stamp set – of course I added my current favourite accessory (can you guess? *LOL*). Since someone asked me yesterday what exactly I mean by creating a faux thread look with my buttons I decided to share a quick tutorial with you.
Once you’ve selected the buttons you are going to use on your project, you then need to cut a very thin sliver of CS in colors matching your buttons. You are also going to need mini glue dots.
Insert your thread into your button as shown in the picture to the left. One of the things that you need to keep in mind when you are working with cardstock slivers is that they are very fragile – you cannot handle them in the same way that you handle thread. When using a needle and thread you would poke the needle & thread up through one hole and then bring it down through the other hole, pulling your thread as you go. If you try to do the same with your CS you’ll end up breaking it. That’s why, as you can see from the picture I insert both ends from the top and then gently pull it downwards until it’s snug against the button. Now whatever you do, do NOT trim the ends of the CS sliver yet. That will come in a moment.
Once you have pulled the CS through the holes as far as they go, flip your button over so that you are looking at the back, hold the CS slivers apart and then stick a mini glue dot onto the button, in between the two CS slivers.
Once your mini glue dot is in place, carefully trim the ends of the CS sliver and stick them to the mini glue dot – make sure they don’t overlap in any way otherwise they will add too much extra bulk when you are ready to place your button on your project.
That’s all there is to it! Pretty easy don’t you think? The biggest advantage to creating a faux thread look is that your “thread” always coordinates with your buttons. While you could leave your buttons without thread (i.e. “naked”) I find that they look unfinished that way, that’s why if I have the time, I’ll create faux thread. The other advantage is that you don’t have to go out and buy all sorts of threads. And if you’re wondering whether or not it takes much more time then the traditional way, not really. With needle and thread you have to get your thread, cut it, thread it through the needle, thread your button and then tie it off at the back. So all in all, it’s about the same investment of time.
Here’s the recipe for the card:
- Mat a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Designer Paper (DP) from Stampin’ Up!’s Tall Tales collection onto a 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ piece of Old Olive CS.
- Take a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Chocolate Chip CS – fold it in half with a bone folder to create the card base. Center and mat the Old Olive CS (with the Tall Tales DP) onto the card front. Set aside for a moment.
- Stamp three owls from the Owl Together Now stamp set onto watercolor paper (I use Stampin’ Up!’s which is 140 lb weight) in Basic Brown ink.
- Color in the owls using an aqua-painter and the following Classic inks: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and So Saffron. Cut out the owls with a pair of paper snips (cut them out close to the line – you do NOT want to leave a small border of white around them). Set them aside for a moment.
- Stamp the branch from the Owl Together Now stamp set onto a 2 1/4″ x 3 1/2″ piece of Whisper White CS. Color in the leaves with a blender pen and Old Olive Classic ink and the branch with a blender pen and Close to Cocoa Classic ink. Stamp a greeting underneath the branch in the bottom left corner of the Whisper White CS piece in Chocolate Chip Classic ink.
- Mount the owls onto the branch using a Stampin’ Dimensional for each. Mat the image piece onto a 2 1/2″ x 3 3/4″ piece of Chocolate Chip CS. Set aside for a moment.
- Take a 2″ x 4″ strip of Old Olive CS and scallop one 4″ side with the Scallop Edge punch. Mat a 1 1/2″ x 4″ piece of Tall Tales DP on top of the Old Olive CS strip so that only the scallops show to the left edge of the DP. Stick this onto your card front. Stick the matted image piece to your card front.
- Take three buttons and create faux thread as per the tutorial above using slivers of coordinating CS.
- Mount the buttons onto the card front using mini glue dots.
- Cut a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Whisper White CS, center and mat it to the inside of the card – this will be the piece you use to write on – you can stamp and color it if desired. You’re done!
All supplies used are Stampin’ Up!. You’ll find a full supply list at the end of this post.
Okay, now as promised I’m going to announce the winners of the Fast and Fun Notes Workshop Planner. This was a blog give-away for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators only. If you’re not a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator don’t worry because I’ll be announcing some secret comment patrol winners next week and I’ll be having another give-away open to EVERYONE fairly soon.
And the winners are……
1. Laura
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am
Another great project!
2. Janet
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:19 am
I too love everything you put together for us. You have absolutely stunning ideas each month and my customers LOVE to make your projects. Thanks for your inspirational ideas.
3. Kathy McDowell
August 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pm
What a great planner! I would love to win this. I love pulling out the older set to jazz it up a bit! Thanks much for the chance to win!
4. Cindy Vernon
August 1st, 2009 at 11:56 am
I would love to win this and use my fun and fast notes.
5. Yvonne Metz
August 1st, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Another great ws Planner! I LOVE your Class planner and KNOW I will absolutley LOVE these too! I have this stamp set and LOVE it…
Thanks for all you do!
If your name was drawn, please email me at andrea@demotodemo.com and put “Workshop Planner Blog Winner” in the subject line. If you already purchased this planner then you can choose any one of our digital planners instead (either class, workshop or Simply Scrappin’ Kit planner). Thanks to everyone who participated!
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (100908), Creamy Caramel Classic ink (103220), Close to Cocoa Classic ink (103139), So Saffron Classic ink (105213), Basic Brown Classic ink (104315)
Paper: Whisper White CS (100730), Old Olive CS (100702), Chocolate Chip CS (102128), Tall Tales DP (115678), So Saffron CS (105118)
Accessories: Playground Designer Buttons (116313), Button Latte (114333), Mini Glue Dots (103683), Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049), Scallop Edge Punch (112091), Bone Folder (102300), Aqua Painter (103954), Blender Pens (102845), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)
Andrea Walford 
