Dress card by Diana

Hello! Diana Fisher here with you today to share a tutorial on how to make this darling dress card from one of Samantha Walker's newest dress Silhouette files.

After you download the studio file, separate the pieces and set them into separate corners on your mat. You can then load all of the paper at once and make one cut. 

You can see here that I choses a palm tree pattern paper from Samantha Walker's collection Summer Lovin' from Carta Bella for my dress pieces, cream card stock for the dress base and a green card stock that matches the palm trees for the dress straps and center accent. 

After I cut them, here is what they look like off of the mat. 

After assembled, here is the pretty little dress. I resized this to just a little over three inches wide so it will fit the card, so you can image how small and cute it is assembled here. 

I want the dress to pop off of the card, but not be all alone on a white card base, so I get to work making a background with a large background stamp. I also cut a label using my die cutter to anchor the dress to the card. 

For a final touch, I tie some gold twine around the waist of the dress and then use foam adhesive to pop up the label off the card base and then the dress off the label.

The finished card is just perfect for sending a quick "thinking of you" note to a friend.

Stencils with Silhouette Studio Files by Diana

Hi! Diana Fisher here today to talk a little bit about creating a custom stencil using a Silhouette Studio file. 

After I finished my stenciling, this is the finished card that I made. Read below for more on how I achieved this look.

I started with the Card Triple Heart Corner Pocket studio file from Samantha Walker.

After I ungrouped the pieces of the card, I isolated the single hearts. Then I created a pattern of falling hearts that you can see below.

You can buy a stencil material to cut out stencils you plan to use for a long time, but if you are just going to use this stencil a handful of times, you can use a 80 - 100 lb paper that is stiff and will hold your pattern well.

I held down the stencil with a small piece of taps and began to put down my colors. I started with a light pink and got a nice base color for the hearts.

After getting a good pink color, I began to add a little bit of a hot pink color. This is a raspberry ink from Avery Elle.

I added the color so that it was richer at the top and lightened as it progressed to the bottom. This works well with the falling hearts pattern I have on this card.

After I had the colors just the way I wanted, I removed the tape and the stencil. This is the fun part! 

As you can see above in the first picture, I then decorated my card using a sentiment from For All You Do Vintage Labels Stamps from JustRite, some vellum and sequins. I wanted the stencil to be the star on the card, so a minimal sentiment and embellishments did just the trick.

I hope you enjoyed my stencil tutorial today! 

Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular Day 4

I love this time of year! Don’t you? It’s fun to have the kids home from school, we’ve been actively engaging in swim team, having water fights in the backyard, and forgetting that it’s dinner time because the sun doesn’t want to go down. While they run around in the sun, I can enjoy their fun kid noises from my home office as I busily create new things for you to create with. I’ve been especially anxious about sharing my new Spellbinders™ sets with you!

This summer I have two new sets releasing with Spellbinders...a set with a Parisian theme...which is perfect for all your girly projects...and the second set a botanical themed set with a whole new concept in die cut crafts...just wait...you’ll see what I mean in just a minute...
Here is the first project I created:

Spellbinders Supplies:
Grand Calibur® 

S5-146 Botanical Swirls and Accents MSRP $29.99 (used in the first project)

S5-145 French Frills MSRP $29.99 (used in the second project)




















Cross Promotional Partners Supplies:

JustRite stamps Ooh La La French Frills clear stamp set (New CHA Summer 2012!)

JustRite stamps Botanical Swirls Label cling rubber stamp set (New CHA Summer 2012!)
Other Supplies:

colored card stock (pink & brown)

various ink (pink and brown)

make-up applicator powder puff

wax paper

Today I’m going to share the steps to create the card wrap pictured above with the Botanical Swirls and Accents set.

First I cut a 8 ⅛ x 8 ⅛" square out of card stock.

{Die preparation hint: this is a very intricately detailed die...please run the die through your Grand Calibur® machine with wax paper first to make die releasing easier...or you can lay wax paper over your project as you cut your card stock. This is what I did--makes releasing the paper from the die a piece of cake.} Here's a video link that also references the wax paper tip...you'll love the detailed dies that Kim Hupke shares in this fantastic clip.

Next I laid my corner piece from my Botanical Swirls set exactly over one corner of the 8 ⅛" square. Make sure that the edge of the die is exactly on the edge of your paper. Then I taped the die into place.

Then I ran it through the Grand Calibur® machine. Then I removed the die and positioned it into the next corner.

After the second corner was cut, I removed the outer edge of excess paper so that it didn’t get caught in the machine. (You can also see that my wax paper is getting smaller. I remove the cut corner portion of the wax paper each time I release the paper from the die.) I repeated this 1 time on each corner until all 4 corners are cut.

This is the portion wax paper part I remove after each corner is cut.

Then I embossed it with using the base plate, rubber mat and pink plate and ran it through the machine again.

After embossing each corner I quickly stenciled the high points of my embossed areas with a light pink ink, and then repeated the process until I embossed and inked all 4 corners. (Yes, that is a make-up powder puff I used to apply the ink with...you can get them cheap at the drug store and they wash up great.) The inked areas really highlight the embossed areas as shown in the photo below.

Next I folded the corners into the center, making sure to fold only at the dotted line. (You don’t want to fold the delicate design area.)

Then to crease the flaps so that they laid down flat, I ran it through my Grand Calibur one more time with my base plate, the rubber pad, and my pink embossing plate. I made sure the embossing rubber mat was touching my embossed leaves so that it didn’t flatten my project as I run it through to crease the folds.
I placed a black 5 ½" square card insert into my card wrap. You can get creative with your card insert, but I just left mine simple here as I’m only demoing the card wrap portion of this project today.

Then I used the large leafy window die to cut the artisan shape for my card wrap seal. I didn’t use the leafy frame, but rather the insert from the center of the leafy frame. I stamped that with my NEW coordinating stamp set from JustRite stamps called Botanical Swirls Labels.
Then I cut the a smaller artisan square using the smaller square die from the set (which has 4 holes punched in it which makes it perfect for threading ribbon.) Then I stamped this piece with the “Love You” stamp from the Botanical Swirls and Labels set from JustRite.
Then I layered my labels onto one another, and thread black checked ribbon through two of the holes on my smaller label, and secured it around my card wrap.
Here are few other ideas for this set:

I wanted to mention that if you start with an 8 ⅛ X 8 ⅛" square (like we did in the project above,) your result will be four corners that fold into the center without overlapping each other. See how the corner looks in this picture below?  That is what you are looking for when using this die to fold a card wrap.

However...

If you start with a square that is 7 ¾ X 7 ¾", your result will be overlapping edges when the corners are folded in. This can be desirable if you are trying to create an envelope instead of a card wrap. You will want to trim the inside corners that are created as you fold as to not add bulk in the folded corners. Then you can glue the overlaps down to seal them like an envelope and leave one of the flaps unsealed for the envelope opening.
Another idea is to buy or create a square envelop and then use the triangle die from this set to simply cut a lacy design in the envelope opening flap.
This set has so much potential for all kinds of projects. I would love to see what unique ways you find to use this set. I can't wait to see what YOU create!


For even more ideas with the botanical set, you should click HERE. Kim Hupke introduces even more fantastic ways to work with this set.

 Next project...

I made this project (or should I say projects) with my Paris Frills set...Oh My Heavens!!! Let me just say...this set has addiction written all over it! There is so much fun girly stuff all in one set!

Do you want to know how I created that 3D Eiffel tower??? 

Well I’m not going to tell you today...you will have to come back tomorrow.

It’s so easy peasy lemon squeezy...

I only use one die...and a little adhesive.

Really!

And those dress forms in the card above...well I’ll show you how you can use your Grand Calibur® like a letterpress to really show off the emboss detail of these fun dies.

One more thing...If you come back, I’ll also show you my new coordinating stamp set that I used on this card. 

So please come back tomorrow to see a few more tricks and ideas.

Now for the contest info:

The Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular! 

Begins on June 21st and will end on June 28th, 2012. It consists of 24 individual prizes and one grand prize drawing. Enter the Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular! by visiting the participating blogs each day.

At the end of each blog post, click on the "Enter HERE" to open the entry form. You may only enter once from each blog each day.

Spellbinders™ will randomly draw one winner from each participating blog to receive that blog’s newly revealed dies. The Grand Prize Winner will be randomly drawn from the pool of entrants who sent entry forms from each and every participating blog during the 48 hours each blog was open. For the full list of official rules please click RULES.

The contest is now closed!

Don’t forget to enter at today’s other participating blogs!

Debbie Olson

Michelle Woerner

Questions? 

ContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us

No entries will be accepted at this email address.