Merry Christmas

 

Don't you love being able to create cards using dies!  I think most of us have enjoyed this new trend in card making.    Today I have another Christmas card designed by using a variety of dies. 

 Before I tell you about my card, I wanted to announce that you can save 20% on everything in the Ellen Hutson, LLC "Die Domain Category" November 15th through Sunday, November 17th on IN-STOCK items only.  I know a lot of you who follow my blog are collecting the Susan's Garden flower dies by Sizzix, (Sizzix, Susan Tierney-Cockburn Thinlits Dies)  so be sure to check these dies out while they are on sale.     Once you are ready to checkout, you need to type diedays13 in the promotion code box to receive the 20% discount.  All the details are explained in the Ellen Hutson Newsletter.  You can sign up to receive Ellen's Newsletter by going to the Ellen Hutson Home Page - you will see a space to add your email address.

For my card today I created a 6"x6" card.  For snow in the background I embossed a piece of white card stock with the Sizzix "Dots" embossing folder. The Merry Christmas sentiment is a beautiful die cut by Memory Box called "Merry Christmas Tidings".  I placed a piece of white card stock over a piece of red card stock and die cut the two pieces together.  Once it was die cut, I did not separate the two colors.  I brushed on glue all over the back side of the red die cut, and placed it on the embossed piece I was using for the background.  Once it was dry, I picked out all the white die cut pieces from around the sentiment, which created a red background for the white die cut.  Because the two pieces were die cut together, the white die cut pretty much embedded into the red, but there were a few places that popped up and needed to have glue added behind it then pressed back down in place.  This was a very quick and easy way to get the colored background in this die cut.

On the bottom of the card I and cut four pieces of white card stock to create snow banks.  Ranger,  Distress Dry Glitter, Clear Rock Candy,  glitter was added along the edges of each snow bank.  The the trees were die cut using the Impression Obsession "Fir Trees" die.  There are two trees on the left and the tallest one is on the right.  I cut a small portion off the right side of that larger tree.  The deer are also from Impression Obsession.

Be sure to go over to Ellen Hutson, LLC to check out the great sale in her Die Domain Category.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend.

Products used:

Memory Box, Merry Christmas Tidings

Impression Obsession, Fir Tree Dies

Impression Obsession, Small Deer

Impression Obsession, Deer Trio

Sizzix Hero Arts, Textured Impressions Christmas Words and Dots embossing folders

Ranger Distress Glitter, Clear Rock Candy

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Pillow Boxes

I promised to show you pillow boxes I created with the We R Memory Keepers Pillow Box Punch Board.   I am so totally impressed with all 5 of these Punch Boards.  I wouldn't say this unless it was true . . .  it is super simple to make boxes, bags or envelopes with these fabulous We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards. It really only takes a few minutes to create them.   All the boards are in stock and ready to ship out at Ellen Hutson, LLC.  You can make many sizes; the Pillow Box on the top is 12" long, in the middle is a 6" and a 5" Pillow box.  You can even make one just 4" long, shown on the bottom row.  I used a textured, pearl card stock, Christmas card stock, and the white box was created with white card stock, and embossed with an embossing folder, prior to putting it together.

The Flowers on the Christmas boxes were created with The Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies and the flower on the birthday box was made with Susan's Fuchsia dies.  These boxes will be perfect for small gifts or treats.

The We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards are not very large, so they are very easy to store.  The scoring tool stores in a slot at the bottom of the board.  The board pictured is for creating the pillow boxes.

I have now used all the punch boards and posted them on my blog. To see things made with them on my blog, click on this LINK, and scroll through each post. I am very impressed with all of them and sure you will enjoy having them to create envelopes/boxes/ bags in a variety of sizes.   

Below are the links to products at Ellen Hutson, LLC

 We R Memory Keepers Pillow Box Punch Board

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Susan's Garden Fuchsia dies

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Snowy Tree Tutorial

I am still working on getting all my Christmas cards designed.  I love snowmen, so today I used a very cute snowman by My Favorite Things.  Both the Snowman and sentiment come on this stamp set.   I used the Memory Box "Frosted Christmas Tree" and have a tutorial below on how I created the dimensional snow.  

For the background I used the Sizzix, "Dots" embossing folder.  The white piece of card stock 5.5" square.  I started by stamping the My Favorite Things "Pure Innocensce-Trim the Branches Snowman" using VersaFine Black ink. The Sizzix embossing folder is only 4.5" wide so I had to embossing one side then line it up on the other side and run through a second time.  I embossed it so the "heavier" flakes were on top.  If you look at the card, you can see there are not as many dots on the bottom portion.  The snowman was colored using Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen big brush markers.  I sponged on some like blue chalk around the outside of the snowman.  The sentiment was stamped on a piece of white card stock and the ends punched with the corner of a square punch.  A slightly larger piece of red card stock was cut and punched the same way and layered under the sentiment. 

I added the Memory Box "Snowflake Corner" to the upper left corner.  A large and small Martha Stewart snowflake punch was used to add silver glitter snowflakes.  I used a variety of color of Stickles on the snowman to give him some sparkle.

Snowy Tree Tutorial

 I used the Memory Box "Frosted Christmas Tree.  It was die cut using green card stock.

Place the die, face down, with the die cut next to the Craft Mat.  Spread Modeling Paste over the entire die, being sure to get the paste touching the card stock.

 Cover the entire surface as shown here.

 

 Next, using the tool you spread the paste with,  tap down in the paste to create "ripples".  This will give your snow some texture.

 Carefully pull the die off the die cut tree. This is how the "snow" will look.  It is very easy to smear the paste, so be very careful about touching it.

 With your tree on a clean surface, pour over Rangers Distress Stickles dry glitter, while the paste is "wet".  The glitter will stick and give the snow some sparkle.  Pick the tree up by the very top and shake off extra glitter.  After the paste was completely dry, I added some Diamond Stickles on some of the high points of the snow, for additional sparkle.

I hope you will give this technique a try; it really added a nice texture to the tree.

Here are the links to products used, available from Ellen Hutson, LLC

Sizzix, Dots Embossing Folder
My Favorite Things "Pure Innocence-Trim the Branches Snowman" stamp
VersaFine Black Ink
Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen big brush markers
Memory Box "Snowflake Corner"
Memory Box "Frosted Christmas Tree
Rangers Distress Stickles dry glitter, clear rock candy
Diamond Stickles 

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Susan's Garden "Pink Vanilla" Poinsettia Instructions

I love to fill my house with poinsettias during the holidays.  Today I challenged myself to create another variety of poinsettia using the Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  When I did a research on the Internet, I found one called "Pink Vanilla".  Isn't it a beautiful color.

 Here is the picture I found for Inspiration.  I think mine turned out very similar.

I used a vanilla colored card stock ( you can use a very pale yellow)  to die cut all the poinsettia pieces.  I always die cut eight of each size petal, plus extra large petals for the leaves, for each flower.  All the petals were shaped using the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit.    I used Derwent Inktense Block Set colors to shade the pink on each petal.  These are water soluble ink blocks that can be used dry or wet.  When wet, they create a translucent ink-like paint that can be worked over when dry. I used a Tim Holtz Water Brush to pick up some of the hot pink ink and brush it on in a random fashion on each petal.  It doesn't take very much ink to accomplish this.  I love to watercolor using the Derwent Inktense Block Set Colors.  After the ink was dry, I sponged on a light coat of the yellow green Susan's Garden Pan Pastel.  I used a dry cloth to wipe off any loose Pan Pastel because I only wanted a "hint" of the green on the petal.  I followed the directions Susan's gives in her Poinsettia video on how to cut the die cut piece for the stamen.  After cutting the stamen, I added  Green Viva Paper Pen dots to the tips, then added just a few sprinkles of yellow Flower Soft on the ends.  The Flower Soft stuck in the Paper Pen dots.  Be sure you don't get too much on because you want to see the green dots with just a little yellow on the tips.

The leaves were also die cut using Vanilla card stock so I colored them first with the Yellow Green Pan Pastel then sponged on Forest Moss Distress Ink with a sponge dauber.

I hope this helps you to create another style Poinsettia with Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies and products.

Below are links to Ellen Hutson, LLC  for products used:

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Susan's Garden Pan Pastels

Derwent Inktense Block Set 

Tim Holtz Water Brush

Viva Decor Paper Pen, Susan's Garden 3 Pack

Flower Soft, Lemon

Ranger, Forest Moss Distress Ink

Sponge Daubers

Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue

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Cute Candy Box

 I love giving you new ideas for the holidays.  Today I have a cute little box that was very fun to make and will be great to fill with candy for gifts or for stocking stuffers.  This was created with the We R Memory Keepers "Candy Box Punch Board". If you like to create your own envelopes, boxes or gift bags, you are going to love how easy they are to create with the We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards. You will be amazed at how easy and how quick they are to create.  So far I have shown you the Envelope Punch Board, the Gift Box, Gift Bag and today the Candy Box.  There is one more I will be showing you very soon -- it is the Pillow Box Punch Board.  

 I used a piece of 12"  card stock to make a long box.  You need a piece of paper (or card stock) 7" wide and can make the length any where from 4 to 12 inches long, depending on how you want the box.  The board is very simple to use and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.  If you are like me, you have lots of design paper or larger pieces of card stock you would like to use up, and this is such a great way to make something useful with it.

 I decided to decorate the top of my candy box with a few new items I had fun using, from Memory Box.  I stamped the sentiment on a tag then added the little snowmen using the "Mini Snowmen Dies".  These are tiny but so cute.  I used a very fine marker to draw in the face and scarves then glued on the hat, which I colored with a black marker. The Jingle Bells are very cute.  I cut them out of shiny gold card stock and added a die cut bow.   Below is a picture of both the "Jolly Jingle Bells" and "Mini Snowmen Dies" I used the Memory Box "Crisp Bows" to tie the Jingle Bells together.  These bows are also great for creating little packages with a bow on top.  Behind the tag I added two "Impression Obsession Pine Branch" die cuts.  

How are you doing getting all your Christmas cards and projects completed?   I have a good start, but still have lots to do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Here are the links to the products I used:

We R Memory Keepers "Candy Box Punch Board"
Memory Box "Mini Snowmen" dies
Memory Box "Jolly Jingle Bells" die
Memory Box "Crisp Bows" die
Impression Obsession Pine Branch die

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Susan's Garden Speckled Poinsettia Tutorial

 It is always exciting when I discover something new and can share it with you.  Today I created a poinsettia with "speckles" -- I believe these poinsettias are called "Candy Candy Poinsettias".  I love how it came out.  This Susan's Garden poinsettia is on a 5.5" square card but I have also used it on a gift bag below.  I have prepared a tutorial below for you, so you can create this beautiful poinsettia.

 This poinsettia was added to a gift bag created with the new "We R Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punch Board".  The sentiment is from the Heartfelt Creations "Yuletide Sentiments PreCut Set". 

 This is a side view of the Gift Bag.  You can use a paper width of 10", 11" or 12" for your bag.  The length can be any where between 4" & 12".  I used a piece of 12" design paper for my bag because I wanted it tall.

 Here is the product I used to create the speckled look on my poinsettia.  It is called "Goose Bumps Texture Spray".  When you use it, you want to hold the bottle about 6" from your project and just lightly mist.  The more spray you get on your project the less color will show through if you are going to sponge ink over it.  I die cut all my poinsettia pieces using white card stock.  Next I added the Goose Bumps Texture Spray, which leaves little "bumps" on the paper.  You can either wait for it to dry or use your heat gun.  Don't over heat because the spray will turn tan if you over heat it.  It doesn't take long for it to dry.  Once it is dry, I sponged on Ranger, Picked Raspberry Distress Ink with a sponge dauber.

 You can see how different each petal looks.  The first petal has a lot more spray on it than the others.  Each one will always be different.

 All the petals were shaped with the tools from Susan's Garden Tool Kit.  I die cut 8 petals of all six sizes to create this poinsettia. 

 This is a picture of the bottom layer of poinsettia petals.  Once they are shaped, add four petals - one on every other point of calyx (base), then go back and add the other 4 petals.  It give the flower more dimension when you assemble it this way (it almost looks like you have added two layers).

I created three separate layers for this poinsettia.  Eight petals were used for each layer.  I only used the three largest petals (all the same size on each layer). The glue I used to assemble my flowers is "Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue".

In a picture above, the leaves are only sponged with "Pine Needles" and "Forest Moss" Distress Ink.  Once I was ready to add the petals to the back of the flower, I decided to sponge on just a little of the "Picked Raspberry" to pick up a little of the flower color.

Once I glued all the layers together, I added glue to the front and back of some of the smaller petals and stuck them in around the stamen.  Also some additional larger petals were added under the flower before the green leaves were glued on to create a larger flower.

 I love using Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies to create my poinsettias because it is so easy to create many different sizes and they always look so realistic. This is the largest poinsettia I have created so far with her dies.

What do you think about this technique.  Do you plan to give it a try?

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I hope you will leave a comment and let me know if you like this technique. Have a great weekend.

Products used from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies 

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Goose Bumps Texture Spray

We R Memory Keepers Candy Box Punch Board 

Ranger Picked Raspberry Distress Ink 

Ranger Pine Needles Distress Ink

Ranger Forest Moss Distress Ink

Sponge Daubers

Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue

Heartfelt Creations "Yuletide Sentiments"

 

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Fall Wreath

 Do you find it fun to recycle something very plain to create something beautiful you can be proud of.  I recently was shopping in Target and found a very plain wreath, in clearance, covered with dried leaves.  I knew instantly I could dress it up with flowers I could create with Susan's Garden dies.  All of Susan's flowers can be used to create beautiful cards, but think of all the other uses you can use them for too. With these dies, you really can become a "florist".

 This is the wreath I purchased.  I created four different flowers using Susan's Garden dies: two Gazania flowers in Autumn colors, and yellow Yarrow, from the new (second)  flower collection.  From the first collection I created a sunflower and some small mums using the Susan's Garden Mini Lily dies (tutorial here).  In addition I added some other embellishments I had.  If you are interested in making your own pine cones using Susan's Garden "Mini Petal" dies, here is the link to my tutorial.

This wreath will be beautiful hanging on the wall or I can add a candle, inside glass, in the middle of it, for a beautiful centerpiece on the table.

Yesterday I gave you the link to Susan's directions for creating "Yarrow".  Today I am giving you the link to her directions to create Gazania flowers.

 Gazania come in many different colors.  Since I was creating flowers for Autumn, I chose this gazania picture for inspiration for petal color.

 

Well I hope I have given you some inspiration to dress up something you would like to recycle.  When you add flowers you create with Susan's Garden dies, everyone will admire your work. 

Thank you for stopping by today.  Do you have a flower you are waiting for me to post from Susan's new Susan's Garden Collection?  I have created all the flowers, and will be happy to help you with any of them - just leave a comment below.  

Links to products at Ellen Hutson, LLC for creating the above Susan's Garden flowers:

Susan's Garden Gazania Flower Dies
Susan's Garden Yarrow Flower Dies
Susan's Garden  Mini Lily Petals
Susan's Garden Mini Petals
Susan's Garden Sunflower Dies
Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit
Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue

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Susan's Garden Rose and Gift Box Tutorial

 

How I love creating flowers with Susan's Garden dies. Today I created a box with a new tool, We R Memory Keepers Gift Box Punch Board, that is available at Ellen Hutson, LLC and created a gorgeous rose to match flowers in the design paper, plus baby's breath, with Susan's dies. First I will tell you about the flowers.

I used the Susan's Garden Rose dies to create this pretty rose.  I love how they always turn out looking so realistic.  I die cut the petals using 60# ivory card stock.  The base of each petal was colored using Susan's Garden yellow Pan Pastels.  Next the petals were shaped with the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit.  To match the flowers in the design paper, I sponged on burgundy ink around the edge of each petal, then assembled using Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue. 

 In the Susan's Garden new collection, she has dies for creating "Yarrow".  So far, I have created these flowers in yellow and in white, which were shown in my display board of new flowers in the Susan's Garden Collection.  I love to see Baby's Breath with roses, so decided the white yarrow could be used to go with my roses.  The yarrow is very easy to assemble, and so much fun to see this cluster of flowers come together.  I followed Susan's instructions, which you can see here.

This beautiful rose is displayed on a box created with the new We R Memory Keepers "Gift Box Punch Board".  I know all you are going to want this tool in your crafting supplies. It took just a couple of minutes to create this box.  The Gift Box Punch Board has directions right on the tool for creating 8 different size boxes.  The directions are very easy and I know you will love creating boxes for some of your holiday gifts.  The directions also include metric measurements. 

A picture of the Gift Box Punch Board opened up.

 The box I created is 4 inches square.  This is a picture of the heavy weight, double sided, design paper scored and punched, ready to assemble.  The design paper I used is from K&Company.

Next, to assemble the box, you use the score tool to crease all seams.  The four corners have little notches to hold the box together.  You can best see the notch on the far left side in this picture - all four corners are notched for assembly.  First you attach two opposite sides together with the notches as shown here.

 When you attach the other two sides together you have this box.  The opening is only on one end.  If you want to decorate the box with flowers, or other embellishments, you can decorate the other end of the box so it can be saved, and it will be opened from the bottom, or you can attach embellishments to just one of the top flaps.

 This is what the closure will look like when closed. 

I wrapped around some ribbon and attached my rose and baby's breath on top.

I have received questions about who I now design for.   I am no longer designing for Joan's Gardens.    I design for Susan's Garden, for Susan Tierney-Cockburn, and am a freelance designer affiliated with Ellen Hutson, LLC.  I receive a small commission when customers click from my blog to purchase at Ellen Hutson, LLC. I want to thank you for shopping through my links.   I greatly appreciate your support.

Here is are the links to the products you can purchase from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

We R Memory Keepers, Gift Box Punch Board
Susan's Garden "Rose" dies
Susan's Garden "Yarrow" dies
Susan's Garden "Flower Tool Kit"
Susan's Garden "Pan Pastels"
Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue

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Believe in the Magic of Christmas

The snow has been falling all morning so I decided to create another Christmas card. For the background I used a new background die from Poppy Stamps called "Diamond Background".  I love the diamond shapes on this die cut.  Behind the die cut I attached an embossed background using the Sizzix "Dots" embossing folder.  It looks like falling snow.   The tree is from Memory Box.  When you die cut this tree, and if you run it back through with the embossing pad, it embosses snow on the bottom of each branch.  Since I used green card stock for the tree, before I removed it from the die, I pressed the VersaMark "Dazzle" watermark stamp pad down over the openings so I could add white embossing powder for the snow.  After adding the ink, remove the die and pour on the embossing powder, then heat set.  I love how realistic this tree looks.  

In the upper left corner I added a poinsettia created with the Susan's Garden "Poinsettia" dies.  Under the poinsettia are two Poppy Stamps die cut "Berry Sprigs".  To color the berries on this sprig, I added Seedless Preserves Distress Glitter.    The sentiment is from the Heartfelt Creations "Holly Berry PreCut Set" (HCPC3551). 

 Below is a link to the products I used from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Poppy Stamps "Diamond Background"

Poppy Stamps "Berry Sprig"

Memory Box "Frosted Christmas Tree"

Sizzix, Dots, embossing folder

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

VersaMark "Dazzle" watermark stamp pad

Distress Glitter, Seedless Preserves

Ranger White embossing Powder

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Susan's Garden Birdhouse with Bougainvillea

 

Today I wanted to display the Bougainvillea on this cute 3-D Rounded Birdhouse by Susan Tierney-Cockburn.  The Bougainvillea were created with the dies in the Susan's Garden "Bougainvillea" die set.  You could create this very thin leaf flowers with either card stock, vellum, or tissue.  When I assembled the birdhouse I held the seams together with Washi Tape.  It doesn't matter what the design is, because it will be inside the birdhouse.  This tape is very flexible and holds well on the seams.

 The petals on the Bougainvillea are very thin, so I decided to see if tissue paper would work.  I liked the outcome.  To shape this thin paper, I used the smallest loop tool from the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit.  Gently press down around the edges of each petal to make it curl up.  You can view Susan Tierney-Cockburns instructions here for creating her Bougainvillea.

Here are the pieces I have prepared to assemble six Bougainvillea. Crafter's Pick The Ultimate Glue was used to glue the pieces together.

 Here is a closeup of one bougainvillea flower.

Here are links to the products used from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Susan's Garden "Bougainvillea" die set 

Sizzix, Susan Tierney-Cockburn, Big XL Die, Birdhouse, Rounded 3-D

Washi Tape

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Crafter's Pick, The Ultimate Glue

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