Category: Ribbon

Categories
Fun Fold Designer Series Paper General Heat Embossing Ribbon Texture

Send a Card that Gets to the Point!

Gray card with teal and white patterned paper, a satin ribbon accent, and a detailed pink flower with the greeting "hello".
Learn how to create an easy fun fold and do some heat embossing!
Gray card with teal and white patterned paper, a satin ribbon accent, and a detailed pink flower with the greeting "hello".
Triangle Point Belly Band Card

Hello! Let’s get right to the “point” – this week on my Facebook Live Class, I taught how to create this Triangle Point Belly Band card. It’s an easy fun fold that closes with two points and a belly band. I CASEd the fold from Jackie Bolhuis over at Klompen Stampers, and I think it’s a lot of fun!

To start, it’s just an easy 5 ½” x 11” piece of cardstock – so it does use more cardstock than a regular card base of 5 ½” x 8 ½”. But I promise it’s worth it! You’ll score at 3 ½” from each end. Then, make a few cuts with your Paper Trimmer. Boom! You’ve got the foundation of a neat card.

When we’re talking fun folds, I always say that a non-crafter needs to be able to open it without an engineering degree – and I never want the inside writing to be visible on the outside of the card. This fold fits the bill completely.

I used the beautiful Delicate Desert Designer Series Paper for this project. I really like that I was able to incorporate THREE different patterns! Sometimes you can only use 1-2 patterns before it feels too busy.

The Delicate Desert DSP features Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Pale Papaya, Soft Succulent, and Gray Granite. Individually, some of these colors don’t appear in my crafting very often. But somehow, Stampin’ Up! has put them together and created something wonderful! The patterns are full of texture, and several patterns remind me of textiles you’d find in the American Southwest.

I took inspiration for my project’s colors from the Designer Series Paper itself and used Gray Granite, a color that I tend to struggle to use. I think that, since it has both gray and brown undertones, I’m never sure what colors will mesh well. With the Soft Succulent in the Designer Series Paper, it’s gorgeous! And of course, I had to incorporate a pop of pink!

As far as techniques in this card, I did a simple heat-embossed sentiment. For the flower, I don’t know what you’d call the technique, but I used my Stamparatus and stamped in Gray Granite – it is a light enough color that it allowed me to see the image to color but not really stand out. After coloring with my Stampin’ Blends to get some variations in the depth of color, I stamped the image again in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Black Embossing Powder.

The inside of a card showing the pointed flaps, a green background with a rectangle of white for writing and accented with a piece of the pattern from the card front.

The fonts in the Irresistible Blooms stamp set are so lovely! And the line images for the flowers are seriously so gorgeous. I have used this stamp set A TON since they released it to demonstrators back in February, and there are still so many projects I want to CASE or design on my own!

If you haven’t gotten Irresistible Blooms for yourself yet, I can’t recommend it enough. And when the dies come back in stock in a couple of weeks, you’ll want to grab those, too – they cut out the stamp images, and there are also a couple of detailed dies that are “irresistible”! I think the beaded curtain piece (at least, that’s what I’m calling it) is my favorite, but the circle window with beading is really great too.

Do you struggle with card design inspiration? Or just enjoy watching others create to find some ideas for your own crafting? I’d love to have you follow me over on YouTube. Click this link to watch the video for this week’s project, and be sure to subscribe to my channel while you’re there! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I’ll be back soon with more design inspo for your crafting!

Categories
Sampler Designer Series Paper Dry Embossing Project layers Ribbon

Favored Flowers Sampler

Sampler with four panels using black, Calypso Coral, and Petal Pink
Favored Flowers Sampler

Good morning! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, whether you were enjoying the big game or getting in some good crafting!

Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to watch my Live from last Thursday. You can catch the replay here. I shared how to create this inspirational paper crafting sampler using the Sending Support stamp set and the Favored Flowers Designer Series Paper (both FREE items during Saleabration!).

Samplers are a great paper crafting project because they allow you to showcase several different patterns from a stack of Designer Series Paper, and they also make a great gift! This sampler can be used in an 8” x 8” frame, or you can mount it on an additional piece of Designer Series Paper to fit it in a 9” x 9” or 12” x 12” frame.

I especially love using Vellum on my samplers (and cards) to add texture and shapes without adding distracting colors or covering up that Designer Series Paper. We actually have several Vellum options right now – the Vellum Basics leaf pattern is what I used for the top left panel, and for the bottom right panel I embossed a piece of regular Vellum Cardstock using a new (SNEAK PEEK ALERT!) embossing folder that will be available on March 1: the Basics 3D Embossing Folders are a set of three folders that you’ll have to have!

Vellum Basics panel
Vellum Cardstock dry embossed with Basics 3D Embossing Folder

The Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Designer Series Paper was a great addition to the bottom left panel, as it added a lot of shine, a little complementary color, and some flair. And finally, I brought in the 5/8” Rose Gold and White Ribbon for the bow in the top right panel – it’s a wide ribbon, so tying it in a bow is too bulky for cards. It was just right for this project!

Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Paper
Rose Gold & White 5/8″ Ribbon

If you’d like to receive the kit to create this sampler yourself, make sure to place your $50 order TODAY in my online store – and please use host code SFMHQYVT at checkout so I know you want the kit! This order will qualify for a free Saleabration item, too! Orders of $75 or more will also receive a pack of the Pastel Adhesive-Backed Sequins as a thank you from me.

Please reach out if you have any questions. Until Thursday, happy stamping!

Categories
Ribbon embellishment Texture Twine

Using Stampin’ Up! Ribbons in Your Paper Crafting: Add Textures You Itch To Run Your Fingers Across

Ribbons wrapped around kraft tags
These ribbons are different widths and textures so your project can be tailored to your vision.

Ribbon is an easy way to take your project beyond “just a card.”  Stampin’ Up!, which is known for its color coordination, carries ribbons that match the ink/cardstock colors! Being able to decorate a project with a coordinating ribbon gives your project a polished look when it’s complete.

Ribbons wrapped around kraft tags
Stampin’ Up! ribbons are different widths and textures so your project can be tailored to your vision.

Stampin’ Up! ribbons are available in many colors, as I mentioned. There are also many different materials, textures, and styles, so you always have a ribbon for your needs.

I find the Linen Thread and Baker’s Twines to be the easiest ribbons to work with. Tying a bow is very similar to tying your shoes, so you won’t feel like you’re having to learn a new skill just to decorate your card. Whether you tie a bow directly off the bolt of twine and attach it with a glue dot, or you wrap it around a panel of cardstock first, your bow is guaranteed to look great without a lot of fuss.

I have a couple more options for tying bows with twine. First, you can double the length of twine before tying, resulting in a double bow. Second, you can wrap your twine around a panel of cardstock several times before tying the bow. Both options add a lot of texture without adding much weight or thickness to your project.

Twine is also a great way to secure certain embellishments (like leaf or jingle bell trinkets) to a project. Simply thread the twine through the eye of the trinket before tying a bow or knot to secure it to the project.

One last idea: wrap twine around your fingers 3-4 times, secure the coil to your project with a couple of glue dots, and add a label over part of the coil. This looks fancy and doesn’t require any tying!

Christmas Greetings card with red Designer Series Paper, three pine trees, and gold twine coiled behind sentiment banner
Gold trim coiled on card and secured under sentiment banner.

Now to ribbons. There are probably as many ways to tie bows as there are crafters! No matter your method, you will want to practice tying a few bows before tying one on a project. Loosen and tighten the loops until they are the desired size, both loops are equal, and the loops and tails sit on the project the way you want. For extra security, you can secure the completed bow with a glue dot if desired. One other tip: use a pair of reverse tweezers to hold the first knot tight while you tie the loops to your satisfaction.

In this short video, I show how to use reverse tweezers as an extra set of hands when tying a bow.

Now to some ideas that don’t use bows.

  • Wrap a piece of ribbon around a panel of cardstock, securing ends on the back side with glue dots or scotch tape – this adds ribbon but doesn’t add bulk to your project
  • Wrap ribbon around a panel of cardstock, tying in a knot – this method can be useful for masculine cards
  • After determining where you want ribbon on your project, put down a couple of glue dots or a bit of adhesive runner, lay ribbon on top in a “z” pattern, and add a sentiment strip or label on top of the ribbon. This method gives a different look and adds less bulk than a bow
  • Wide ribbon can be cut lengthwise and left with threads hanging to give a shabby chic effect
  • Some ribbon can be deconstructed entirely, leaving just threads to be tied into a bow or knot
  • Certain ribbons gather nicely to create a ruffle on your project – use adhesive runner and glue dots to secure this completely

Finally, to make sure that your project looks polished, trim the ends of your ribbon: for wider ribbon, either flag the ends or cut at an angle; narrow ribbon looks best with ends cut at an angle.

I hope you’ve found some of these ideas inspiring! Make sure to check out this article for other crafting ideas you can incorporate in your projects.