Joan's Weekly Challenge Window Top Card

Front of card when closed

This photo shows the window in the top of the card.

When you open the card, the doily and flowers are inside.

We have a fun challenge for you this week at Joan's Gardens.  We want you to create a "Window Top Card".   You can get all the information about the challenge on Joan's Blog.

This is a 5.5" square card.  A piece of design paper from the Bo Bunny "Gabrielle Collection" was attached to the front.  Open the card out flat, then tape the Cheery Lynn "Italian Flourish" doily die in the center of the design paper,  Run it through your die cut machine.  Be sure to run it through until all the detail in the doily is cut.  Remove  the cut doily from the center of the card.  I found that the design paper stuck to the white card stock even though they were not glued together so I cut another "white" doily with the same die for the inside.  The edges of the cut area were sponged with green ink to give it a finished look.  A piece of green card stock was placed on the inside of the card.  The doily was attached (have glue on back of it) by closing the front of the card and placing it in the same position through the opening so it fits perfect when the card is closed. 

The flowers were created using two Martha Stewart flower punches: the "Cornflower" and the "Cosmo" punches.   The ends of the petals were sponged using the same color as the flower to darken just the ends.  The flowers were then shaped with the tools from the Flower Tool Kit.  The stamens were created using three medium punched suns.  They were cut as I have explained in earlier posts and layered to create fullness.  The green leaves do not show up very well in the photo because they are the same color as the back ground.  I used the Oak Leaf punch then sponged the edges and shaped them also with the tool kit.  The flowers were first attached to the doily then the leaves and Martha Stewart branches tucked in to give it fullness. 

On the front of the card I attached a sentiment from JustRite.  The sentiment is from the "Birthday Sentiments Set" and the frame from the JustRite "Just A  Note Set".  They were stamped with black VersaFine ink and clear embossed.  It was cut out with scissors then attached to a piece of black card stock.  I cut around it again leaving a small black border.  Two Martha Stewart butterflies and a yellow silk bow were attached to complete the card.

Hope you will join us this week. 

Pink and Yellow Flora Grande

Good Morning.  Today I am posting one of the cards I designed for the Heartfelt Creations blog post this week.  You will want to check out their blog today to see lots of gorgeous cards created by the design team and to see a sneak peek of new the Springtime Cardinal Collection. This collection is debuting on April 12. There will be 8 new PreCut Sets. These new sets coordinate with existing exclusive Heartfelt Creations dies manufactured by Spellbinders.

I want to let you know this is my last week on the Heartfelt Creations design team.  With the blessings of Heartfelt Creations, I have decided to resign from the design team but will continue to design cards to promote all the Heartfelt Creation's new releases for Joan's Gardens.  I want to thank Linda and Emma Lou for their continued support.  It has been a pleasure and real honor to serve on the design team.  Starting with the next release April 12, Joan will be posting the cards I design using stamps in the new collections.  I love designing with Heartfelt Creations stamps and Joan is very happy to have samples ready to post when she announces these new releases.

You know how much I love to work with flowers so working with the Flora Grande stamps has been so fun.  Here are the Heartfelt Creations products used to design this card:  HCPC 3375 Flora Grande 1 PreCut Set; HCPC 3374 Flora Grande 2 PreCut Set; HCPC 3376 Distressed Leaves PreCut Set; HCPC 3377 Sympathy Sentiments; HCD 711 Decorative Dutch Iris Die.

This is a 5.5” square card. The designer paper used is Webster’s Pages. The sentiment was stamped with VersaFine black ink and clear embossed directly on the design paper. The flower was created by white embossing three sizes of the Flora Grande flower. Three different colors of card stock were used: light pink; pale yellow; and bright pink. There are three large light pink flowers, three medium size light yellow; one small dark pink and two small light pink flowers. After embossing and cutting the flower out, scissors were used to cut between each of the petals. Each petal was then shaped using a stylus and tweezers. The flowers were layered together using liquid glue. Two leaves were stamped on a bright green card stock and sponged with a darker green after they were cut out. The flourish was die cut and glued to the card, then the flower was attached with a dimensional glue dot. The two leaves were glued under the flower.

Thanks for stopping by.  Tomorrow I will be posting a card for the new Weekly Challenge at Joan's Gardens.  

Daisy Explosion Box

Explosion Box

Lid of Explosion Box

Explosion Box Inside

I showed you the lid to this explosion box a couple of weeks ago and promised to show you the inside later.  I forgot to do that, so I am doing it today.  This box was created using the following stamps/dies from Heartfelt Creations:  HCPC 3325 Daisy Patch Bouquet PreCut set; HCPC 33324 Daisy Patch Swirls PreCut Set; HCPC 3318 Daisy Patch Flowers PreCut Set; HCD 703 Daisy Patch Diecuts; HCPC 3363 Inspire Me Sentiments; HCD 702 Decorative Butterfly-Border Die

I designed a Tea Cup explosion box for Joan's Workshop last week and it had a larger base in order to accommodate the tea cup.  This explosion box is 11.25” square when opened out. Start by scoring at 3.75 inches from all 4 sides then cut out all four corners so you have a “t” shape. The lid is 5 7/8” square. Score at 1” from all 4 sides. Cut a 1” slit up toward the middle section on both score lines on one edge. On opposite side, do the same thing. Cut corners diagonally. After decorating, fold on score lines and attach corners with ScorTape to create lid. Use the largest Classic Square Nestability to cut 10 squares. Emboss 5 of these with your favorite embossing folder. Use the second largest Classic Square Nestie to cut 5 more squares and emboss these also. Cut five squares with the Nestability, next to the largest, Lacy Square die using a coordinating color.

The Daisy Patch Swirl was stamped in green on the smallest squares for the inside of the box, using Olive Pastel Chalk Ink. The Daisy Patch Bouquet was stamped in green three times using the same ink. Two of these will be layered for the inside middle of the box and one for the box top. All the leaves were colored with a green chalk pencil. Using the three smallest single daisy stamps, many were stamped using Rose Coral Chalk ink. They were cut out with the matching dies. All the flowers were shaped and layered then placed over the images that were stamped with green ink. Pearls were added. On the lid two Decorative Borders were layered on top square, then the arrangement placed between them. A punched border was added around the bottom of the lid then trim added along the top of it attaching both with ScorTape. For the front of the closed box, embossed squares were added to each side, then the sentiment was stamped and cut out and a Decorative Border placed on top.

Explosion boxes are so fun to create.  Hope you will give it a try.

Joan's Gardens Tag Challenge

It's tag time!  Tomorrow the new tag challenge begins at Joan's Gardens.  Today you can go over and vote for your favorite tag from last week.  Today I have done something completely different from my other tags.  I used white card stock for my tag base.  It is the same size as the manila shipping tags I have been using in the past.  It is covered with design paper from a KaiserCraft design paper I have had for a while called "Lilac Avenue Collection". The corners were rounded using a corner rounder punch.

Don't you love this Iris from Heartfelt Creations Collection!  It is one of my favorite flower stamp sets and Joan has lots of them in stock right now.  I used two sets:  HCPC 3371 Dutch Iris Oval PreCut Set and HCPC 3373 Dutch Iris Medley PreCut Set.  The Iris in the oval was stamped and colored with colored pencils and OMS.  I cut it out with scissors to make it very dimensional.  In order to create layers, I stamped the single Iris, colored it,  and cut it out with the matching Iris die. I then cut out the bottom section and  part of the top portion to create a dimensional look.  These pieces were shaped using the Flower Tool Kit and attached with large dimensional glue dots.  I also shaped the green leaves to help them look dimensional.  It is so easy with the large white flower tool from the kit.

The background is one of those new die Cheery Lynn cut doilies you can now purchase from Joan's Gardens.  Don't you love all these new doily dies!  I used the Cheery Lynn "Canadian Kaleidoscope" doily.  It was a little to wide for my tag so I cut out one of the points to make it slightly smaller.  I pulled it together at the cut seams and pushed it down in the center.  It is attached with a foam dot to the tag.   The cut out area doesn't show because I layered the Iris over the cut portion.  The sentiment and frame are from the JustRite "You Inspire Me" stamp set.  I know - I use this set so much but it is so pretty I can't resist.  I used the new Spellbinder "Parisian Accents" under the JustRite sentiment and another piece from that set up at the top of the tag.  These pieces helped to give a dainty look to the tag.  A pretty lavender silk bow was added at the top.  The butterfly is from a sheet of Martha Stewart butterflies.  Yellow Stickles was added to the stamen of the flower and lavender rhinestones added to the sentiment and at the top.

I want to encourage you to create a tag for this week's challenge.  Tags are so fun to make and can make any gift very special.   Joan is going to have a great surprise for one person who enters the challenge this week.  Please go over to Joan's Gardens to see Joan's beautiful tag and to get all the details about the challenge.

All products used on this tag can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Thinking of You Violets

I thought Spring was on the way but now I'm not sure.  It has been snowing on and off all day long!   Even though it is cold outside, it must be warm enough to melt the snow shortly after it hits the ground.  I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of all the Spring flowers and one that I love are the violets.  I don't have them in my yard yet, so I decided to create violets with punches.  Below are the punches I used:

Name of punches used:  small ovoid petal;  medium ichyou leaf, small snowflake; medium birch leaf; small sparkle or sun

 This is a 5.5" card.  The background is a deep violet card stock.  The  yellow layer was created using the Martha Stewart "Pansy" border punches.  The white layer was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Victoria" embossing folder.  Five violets were created and attached the the card front. The Flower Book from Joan's Gardens has the directions for creating this pretty little flower. The sentiment is from an older JustRite set called "Thinking of You".  I wanted to use this sentiment because  it matched my punched violets so well.  It was cut out with a  large scalloped Nestability die.  A pretty violet silk bow was added to complete the card.

You can purchase the punches and all the other products in "bold" from Joan's Gardens.

Tomorrow I will be working on a tag for the Joan's Gardens Tag Challenge.  I think you will want to create a tag for this week's challenge.  I'm going to tell you a little secret -- Joan is going to have a wonderful surprise for someone who enters a tag in the challenge this week.  I am sure you won't want to miss out.  Remember you can create any type of tag you want using any stamps or embellishments you want.  It is so easy to enter this challenge.  Hope to see your tag this week.  Tomorrow you can go to Joan's blog and vote for your favorite tag.  The new challenge will begin on Tuesday.

Magnolia Tutorial and Die Cut Doily

Today I was very anxious to create a card using one of the new Doily Dies that Joan's Gardens is now carrying.  Oh my gosh, you are going to love these doily dies.  The Cheery Lynn doily I used for this card is called Italian Flourish (DL103)   Isn't it a dainty doily.  I could not believe how easily it cut out.  I have two others I will be using in the next few days. For this card I used some more new products I just received from Joan's Gardens.  The design paper is from the BoBunny "Timepiece Collection" paper pad.  What a perfect paper for my magnolia.  The corners were die cut from the new Spellbinder "Parisian Accents" die cuts.  I have been looking for some pretty corners and I love these.  There are a lot of other beautiful pieces in this Spellbinder set.   The sentiment is from one of the new JustRite cling stamp sets called "Vintage Oval Labels".  This set has gorgeous frames and flourishes, but the frames were too large for this card so I just used one of the sentiments and cut it out with a Big Scallop Circle Nestability.  The bow was made from silk ribbon.  All these products can be purchased from Joan's Gardens. 

I wasn't planning to get the response I did for the magnolia flower I created yesterday.  You are all asking for a tutorial so since you come here to learn new things, I thought I better teach you how I did it.  I had no instructions so maybe someone else has a better way of doing it.  I just looked at the design paper I used yesterday and tried to figure it out. Here are a few pictures I hope will help you. 

The punches I used were shown yesterday.  To create the stamen, I used one tan medium sun and four light yellow medium suns.  I used the card stock from Joan's Gardens that she carries special for creating flowers.  In this picture, in the first row, you can see I used a dark red marker to color the tips of each point of the sun.  I did this on both sides.  I also created a red circle just below the points. This is what it looked like on the design paper I used yesterday. This sun will be the bottom of the stamen.  In the second row, at the top you can see how I cut each point of the sun in half down toward the enter.  I marked it with a black marker so you can see it. For this stamen I used four suns cut this way. In the third row, I used only one sun and cut between each point. This sun will become the very top of the stamen.

Here you can see how I used the tools from the Flower Tool kit to weaken the fibers in each sun.  You use the large white tool and go around in circles and the sun will start to weaken and curl up.

In this picture I am layering all the suns.  Start with the gray sun first; add a dot of glue to the bottom of one of the yellow suns and push it way down into the black shaping mat, with a small stylus from the flower tool kit, making it curl up.  Keep adding suns and pushing down into the mat with each sun you want to add. Now take the yellow stamen that was cut between the points and push it down until it is a really tightly closed sun.  Add a pool of liquid glue down in the center of that sun and roll it between your fingers shaping it into a cone.  It takes a little time for the glue to stick and hold its shape.  Add some liquid glue down in the center of the other stamens and even a little between each layer and insert the pointed sun down in the middle.  Press all the points in until it has formed like the picture below.

This is what the stamen will look like when you are done pressing in all the points.

I used 13 medium pears to create the magnolia.  For this flower, I sponged ColorBox Yellow Cadmium Chalk ink lightly around the edges of the petals, including the backside.  I used ColorBox Amber  Clay chalk ink to sponge the stem end of each pear. 

To create the flower, you need a base.  I used a 1/2" green circle, large Sky Flake, and a small snowflake.  You need to condition each of these pieces, using your Flower Tools so they will cup.  This will help shape the flower.  To start, glue the Sky Flake to the center of the circle.  This is your starting base.

Start creating your flower by adding a tiny bit of glue on the stem end of the pear.  You are going to add seven pears to the Sky Flake.  Push each petal down for a few seconds, with a stylus, to help set the glue.  Add all seven petals to complete the first row. 

Next, you are going to add a drop of glue to the center of the small snowflake and add it to the center of your flower.  This helps to give stability for adding the next row. You are going to add the other six petals on this row. When adding petals on this row, alternate them so they look like a real flower.

After all the petals are added, add glue to the bottom of the stamen and attach it to the center of your flower.  There you did it.  You now have a magnolia.  I think it is amazing you can use a Pear and Sun punch to create a beautiful flower!

I hope this tutorial was helpful and now you can make some cards or boxes with a beautiful magnolia that you created yourself. 

Magnolia Punched Flower

I have been so excited to post this card.  I created that beautiful magnolia with the three punches shown above.  Using the medium pear punch, 13 ivory pears were punched.  The petals were sponged with dark grey ink then shaped using the Flower Tool Kit.   Using the medium sun punch, one ivory and three light yellow suns were punched.  A dark red marker was used to color the tips of the ivory sun.  All the punched suns were shaped and layered with the ivory sun on the outside.  The stamen in the center of a magnolia is cone shaped.  I was very pleased with the way it turned out.  It really made the flower!  The flower was placed on three leaves I stamped from a stamp in my stash (I don't know the name).

My inspiration for this flower came from the design paper used from the K&Company "Julianne" paper pack.  I think it turned out looking pretty close to the flowers in the paper.  What do you think?   Can you tell, I really love working with the punches from Joan's Gardens to create lots of different flowers. 

For the center of the card, I die cut the Nestabilities "Fleur De Lis" pendant using ivory card stock.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "You're So Sweet" stamp set.  It was black embossed on ivory card stock and cut out with the Nestabilities Lacy Circles die then layered on top of the Fleur De Lis Pendant. The final embellishment was a few green pearls.

All the products used to create this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

I just received a box from Joan's Gardens and in it are some of the new Cheery Lynn Lacy Doily dies she is now selling in her store.  Now I am very excited to go make a card using one of them.

Thanks for stopping by.  Would love to read your comments about my magnolia.

Joan's Weekly Challenge #11

This is a card created for the new Weekly Challenge at  Joan's Gardens. Here is what you need to do for this week's fun challenge:

• Use the colors Peach and blue (teal)
• Use some Butterflies
• Add something Frilly

My card is 5.5" square card.  The background was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Victoria" embossing folder.  The bottom was punched with the Martha Stewart "Flower Bed" border punch and layered over a piece of blue card stock.  A piece of ivory trim was placed along the cut edge.  The base card is ivory.

Isn't that a huge blue flower!!!   I decided to make up my own flower.  I used the Mega Elongated Leaves punch to create this big flower.  I love to use the card stock from Joan's Gardens; it is the perfect weight for shaping the flowers. The Flower Tool Kit was used to shape each petal.  I really like out the stamens turned out.  I used the Martha Stewart Cosmo punch and punched out one blue flower and cut each petal in little narrow strips down to the center of the flower.  The coral center is three large punched suns that were cut and shaped into a stamen.  The coral stamens were placed inside the blue ones.  To give it a different look, I used Stickles right on the end of the points of the coral stamens.  I think it looks "cool". I hope you can see that in the closeup picture.

A coral Nestabilities lotus pendant was die cut to place under the flower.   Ivory Mega Ferns were punched for leaves.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "You Inspire Me" stamp set. Three coral Martha Stewart Sticker Butterflies were added to complete the card.

I hope you will join Joan's challenge this week.  You will have until next Thursday (March 31) morning 6:00 AM EST to link your card/project. A winner for the prize will be chosen from a random drawing and will be announced Friday morning (April 1). You can enter more than once.

A winner will be chosen from the Random Drawing for week #11 challenge will receive a small Blossom Punch. They will also be entered in the end of the year $100 gift certificate drawing.  I am sure this is a prize you would love to win! 
You won't want to miss seeing Joan's beautiful card this week.  She used one of the new doily dies she now carries.  You can see it here.

Martha Rose

Today I am posting a card I created for the Heartfelt Creations blog post today.  This card was created using the beautiful Martha Rose.  Isn't it pretty.

This is 5.5” square card. The rose image was stamped six times. The image was colored using colored pencils and OMS. One image was cut into a 5.25“ square. The top corners were punched using the Martha Stewart “String Lace” punch, and the bottom edge created with the matching border punch. Three of the rose images were cut out with the Nestabilities “Large Label” dies, using the three largest dies in the set. Two of roses were cut out and parts of the petals were cut away so I could make the rose dimensional. The rose on the side is also dimensional. The edges of all three sections cut out with the die, were colored using a Krylon 18kt Gold Leafing Pen so they would stand out. Each layer was attached with dimensional dots. The added pieces to the roses were also attached with dimensional dots and the bottom edge had liquid glue applied and pressed down so it does not stick up in the air. The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark Ink and black embossed, then cut out and placed in the lower corner.

The Heartfelt Creations Stamped Used:  494G Martha Rose; HCPC 3363 Inspire Me Sentiments PreCut Set

Be sure and go over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog to see all the gorgeous cards created by the design team this week.

Joan's Gardens Tag Challenge #11

Tag created for Joan's Garden's Tag Challenge

Box with matching tag

It is time for another Tag Challenge and I want to Congratulate Glenda Brooks who is the winner for last week's challenge. Your tag is gorgeous Glenda. When Joan first started the Joan's Gardens Tag Challenges, I thought I would have a hard time creating one every week.  Boy was I wrong.  Now I look forward to creating tags and love looking at all of them in a box ready to use when birthday times come.  Almost all my family has a birthday in the summer so I will be ready with tags.

This week I decided to create a tag to match the box I posted yesterday.  This tag was created on a large manila shipping tag.  You can purchase a whole package of these from Joan.  They are always so easy to use for the base of your tag and are a great size to add plenty of embellishments.    A piece of the Graphic 45 design paper was added to the body of the tag with a small piece of striped paper at the top.  I did use a Martha Stewart punch to create a border along this piece.  It doesn't really match the lace on the box but does have points like it.  The same flowers were created and layered up the tag.  The sentiment is from JustRite Stamps "Birthday Sentiments" and the frame from "Just A Note".  These sets are 1 5/8" in diameter and I find I use them constantly.  They are just the perfect size to tuck in a little sentiment on either a card or tag.  Coral sheer ribbon was added for the hanger. 

Hope you will join in on the fun at Joan's Gardens Tag Challenge this week.  Anything goes so you can create a tag with supplies you have, for any occasion. Joan created a gorgeous tag today using one of the new Doily Dies she now carries.  You won't want to miss going over to see it here.  I want to thank all of you who join us in this challenge and also thank everyone for voting on your favorite tag.  Will you be the next person to win the tag challenge.  Hope so!

Covered Box for Joan's Gardens Workshop

This is the box everyone created at Joan's Gardens Workshop.

Punches used for flowers on this box.  The first punch is the "Sakuras"; and the smaller flower is a "Blossom".  The stamens were created with the "Sky Flake" and "frilly snowflake". 

Doesn't this look like a fun project to complete at a workshop!   Joan wanted to use this  Cosmo Cricket Box and cover it with Graphic 45 design paper.    She asked me to help her design the embellishments.  We decided to use flower punches and show some of the techniques to create very realistic flowers.

 The flowers I decided to use on this box were "made up" but I think they are really pretty.    There are two different sizes, each with different stamens. The flowers were punched out of ivory card stock.  They were taught how to cut toward the center of each flower in order for it to shape better.  They then used tools from the Flower Tool Kit to soften the fibers in the card stock so they could shape them to look very realistic.  Rather than coloring with markers, we taught them how to use sponge daubers and apply different colors for a softer effect.  The colors sponged on the flowers were: Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress ink; dark brown dye based ink,  and ColorBox Rose Coral Chalk ink.  The colors were blended well until each flower matched the design paper.   After shaping the flower and stamens, they were glued together then attached over the Sizzix die cut leaves.  There is a piece of acetate over the opening in the front of the box. 

Joan has all the products in stock if you would like to create one of these boxes. 

Tomorrow I will be posting a gift tag to match this box for the Tag Challenge at Joan's Gardens.  Hope you will come back to see it.

Tea Cup Explosion Box Tutorial

This weekend Joan had a workshop at her home and I had the privilege of designing the products she would be teaching.  She wanted to use the Sizzix Big Die "3-D Tea Cup" for one of the projects.  Isn't it a great tea cup.  To give a surprise element to the project I asked if I could design an explosion box and have the tea cup in the center.  She loved the idea. 

To create the explosion box I started with a 12x12 inch piece of pink card stock.  Not all 12x12 card stock is exactly 12 inches so I cut it down to 11 3/4 inches.  I needed the box as large as possible in order for the cup and saucer to fit perfectly in the center.  This piece was scored at 3 3/4" on all four sides.  For the lid, use a 6 1/2" square piece of card stock and score it at 1 inch on all four sides. 

To create the box, cut away the four corners, cutting right on the score lines,  and your piece will look like this.  Use a bone folder to crease all the score lines.  The sides of the box will be held up with the lid and will fall down to show what is inside.

For the lid, cut a 1 inch slit up to the score line.  Do this on both ends of that side.  Turn the lid completely around and do the same thing on the opposite side.  Cut off the corners at an angle starting from score line cutting out to the edge. By cutting the corners off, the pieces will fit better when taped down.  Decorate the top of the lid first, then put ScorTape on each corner and tuck them in to create the lid.   

The products used to decorate this box are: as mentioned above the Sizzix Big Die "3-D Tea Cup;  JustRite "You Inspire Me" and "Mother Nature's Gifts" stamp sets; Martha Stewart "Monarch butterfly trim" punch; Martha Stewart "Monarch Butterfly" punch; Sizzix Corner Flourish #2; Sizzix Branch with Leaves; Nestabilities Lotus Pendant; Pink and Purple vellum for the flowers.  The saucer that comes with the die was too large so I used two Nestability ovals:  the smallest Petite Oval Lg and the second smallest Classic Oval Scallop.  The cup was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I did not emboss the handle to make it look more realistic.  The trim on the lid was something in my "stash".  It was attached with ScorTape. All products used for this project can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Two other projects were completed at the workshop and I will show them tomorrow.  I think every one had a great time working on this project.  Joan's next workshop will be in June.  These workshops usually fill up even before she announces them, so if you would like to attend, be sure and email Joan for date information and to make your reservation.  There is no charge for her workshops.  You can see the other projects and read about the workshops she had this weekend at Joan's Gardens.

A few weeks ago, I showed you a lid from another explosion box I made.  That one is a different size and I will post that box again showing the inside, and will give you the dimensions.  Watch for that one later this week.