Inspired Step Fold Card

It's time for another Heart 2 Heart challenge!  This week, we've got a color challenge for you:

I gotta say, I struggled with this color combo.  These are not colors I normally use, and all I could picture in my head was Halloween images.  I pulled out every Gypsy and Creme Brulee pattern paper I could find, and just wasn't feeling it. 

Then an early morning wake up call (thanks to Bentley) dragged me out of my nice warm bed.  He normally doesn't wake up until the kids do, but for some reason he was whining at MY side of the bed at 6:30 am. 

I grumbled (translate: swore) as I let him out into the -30C/-22F morning (then I regretted swearing at him as I watched him dance on his freezing little paws as he tried to do his business). 

How can you stay angry at a face like this? 

The point of this story is that the sunrise in the freezing horizon was a perfect shade of Creme Brulee, and I had one of those "a ha!" moments right there in my furry slippers and I knew exactly what I would do with this color combo:

Don't you love it when inspiration hits you smack in the forehead at the most unexpected time?  All my favorite craft projects happened this way.

 

I was up anyway, so I went straight to my craft room and had this done before anyone else woke up.  I masked, sponged and stamped the scene onto a 4.25x5.5" piece of White Daisy cs, cut and scored the Gypsy cardstock into this modified step card fold that I've been wanting to use, trimmed the pieces off the scene to fit onto the card base, inked the edges and stuck them down.  The ribbon was a last minute addition, and I restrained myself from adding any more embellishing. The finished card is a standard 4.25x5.5", and I made it in my PJ's :) 

Honestly, it took me longer to photograph this than it did to make it. I learned that Gypsy purple is a difficult color to capture with my camera...I tried every setting, played with the white balance and the lighting, and still could not capture the yumminess that is Gypsy. You gotta see this color IRL, it's real purty.

Here is a side view of the modified step card fold I used:

And the inside is prettied up a bit too:

I first noticed this awesome card fold on Barbara Diane's blog, with her lovely card here, and have been looking for the pattern ever since.  I searched and googled for a template to make this card, and found some side step folds and some step folds, but couldn't find this one, so...since I had to figure it out anyway, I thought I'd save you a few headaches and share :)  The template is sitting on my Martha Stewart Score Board, which I only bought because I had a 50% off coupon, and thought I'd hardly use it.  It has come to be one of my favorite tools. Sorry, I only have a .jpg for you, but you can click the pic to make it bigger.

I'll call it an 'Outside Step-fold Card'

Not inspired by freezing in your PJ's to let your dog out in the morning?  Check out the amazing projects from the rest of the H2H design team...they are sure to inspire you!  (Their links are over in my sidebar) 

Link your project up to Heart 2 Heart to play along with our color challenge, you have the whole month to play along!  *Remember that you are required to use mainly CTMH products and link to the page where we can leave comments for your work of art. 

We have 2 generous new prize sponsors for March,  Angie Parchey and Lori Brown! Pop on over to their blogs and leave them some love.  And, we're announcing our new Guest Designer chosen from our past Top Ten winners.....head on over to Heart 2 Heart to see who it is!

Thanks for visiting!

Lorrinda

Recipe:

All products CTMH:

Cardstock: Gypsy, White Daisy, Black

Stamps: D1436 The Present, C1408 Live Inspired, C1257 Happy Birthday

Inks: Gypsy, Creme Brulee, Black

Black satin ribbon from my stash

Techniques: Step fold card, masking, sponging

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoreboard, Paper trimmer, sponges

Big Red Blog Candy

My friend Leisa from Big Red Scraps is celebrating 200 followers!
Congratulations Leisa!

To celebrate she is giving away some yummy candy:

Drop by her blog and plan to be there for a while, she is SO talented!

Leisa also hosts a searchable CTMH gallery site for everyone to share their CTMH artwork, called

 Big Red Scraps, Paper Creations using CTMH products. 

Isn't she a doll for setting up a gallery for all of us to use?



A Cold Care-Package Card...

The challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is to make a card using anything that makes you think of the word COLD.  Ice cream, icicles, snow, Popsicles...Brrrr!!

Well, I kinda took the word COLD a different way...sniff sniff...because I got me a doozy of a cold right now, I was inspired by my medicine cabinet:

Here's a close-up of the cute little birdie:

Yep, that's actually itty bitty birdie Kleenex tissue :)

When you open the card, it's a care package!

This care package includes a pocket pack of Kleenex tissues, Halls throat lozenges, Neo Citron cold medication and a tube of lip balm.  Now that I think of it, I should've included some instant chicken soup too...I'll add that next time I make one.

CTMH Supplies used:

Cardstock: Sky, White Daisy

Pattern paper from Mayberry Level 2 pack

Stamps: C1396 Love Birds, D1013 Playful Caps (retired), C1079 Playful Lower Case (retired), D1308 All Decked Out (branches), D1467 Trees & Things (leaves)

Inks: Black, Sky, Honey, Pear, Smoothie, Cocoa.

Z1377 Color-Ready Kraft Borders

White Grosgrain Ribbon

Other Supplies Used:

Martha Stewart Score Board

Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four

Scor-Tape

Kleenex, Halls Breezers, Neo Citron Cold and Flu, Avon Lip Balm

What makes you think of the word COLD?   Check out what all the super talented gals on the DT have done this week, I promise you'll be impressed!  The links to their blogs are in my sidebar.  Go and leave them some warm comments!

Play along with us at H2H this week...whip out your CTMH products and create a card that makes us think COLD.  I know there are more appetizing ways to use COLD than I have here, and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  We still have prizes from our awesome sponsors up for grabs, and we'll be looking for our next Guest DT member from all the entries we get.

If you're interested in making one of these Get Well Care Package Cards for yourself, I had to design the box since I couldn't find a template for what I needed, so I took some photos and made up a tutorial for you!

COLD CARE PACKAGE CARD:

You will need:

* 2 pieces of cardstock: 7.25"x10" for the box, and 6"x11" for the card/top.

* pattern paper and stamps etc. to embellish it.

* a strong tape adhesive like red-line tape or Scor-tape works best to hold the box together.

* a scoreboard helps, but you can make do with the track in your paper trimmer.

* a bone folder for scoring

Take your 7.25"x10" piece of cardstock for the box:

Score it along short edge (shown in red) at 0.75", 5.25", and 6"

Rotate cardstock, and score along long edge (as shown in red) at 1.25", 2", 3.25", 4.5", 5.5", 6.75", 8", and 8.75"

Trim off the parts shown in black: 

Trim off the bottom parts shown in black as well, and then CUT along black lines as shown to create tabs,fold them all in (valley fold) and valley fold along the score lines marked with green stars too:

Here is a closer look at the top, you now have to add score lines to the top squares as shown, 0.5" in from each edge, then valley fold those score lines in:

At the top, fold center tabs up, fold top tabs over them as shown to create a little box:

Now, stick that box down to the base as shown, using a strong adhesive tape:

At the end, fold and adhere the tabs as shown to create the end boxes:

Do the same thing at the other end as well.

Should look like this, go ahead and stuff it to make sure it all fits:

For the card top, take the 6" x 11" cardstock, and score it (shown in black) along long side at 0.75", 5 3/8", 6.25", and 10.75"

Valley fold at all score lines:

Tape the box inside with strong tape, tape at back and front edges as well:

Should look like this:

Now decorate it as desired, and fill it with your goodies!

I hope this tutorial can be followed, I put it together in a cold medicine haze.  Please let me know if you try to make it and it's totally not working?

I'm going to go back to bed now.

Thanks for visiting today!

Lorrinda



I {heart} Heart 2 Heart's Close To My Heart HEART Challenge!

I dare you to fit more "Hearts" in my title! 

Did you ever notice that when you write the same word over and over it looks like it's spelled wrong? Or is it just me?  I am having flashbacks of writing lines on the chalkboard during recess...I will not talk to my friends in class.  I will not talk to my friends in class.  I will not talk to my friends in class... I was a bit of a chatterbox and I had a mean Grade 5 teacher, after about 10 lines I was terrified that I was spelling 'friends' wrong and thought he would make me do it over.  Simple but effective punishment.  I tried telling my kids this story, and all they wanted to know is "What's a chalkboard?" Seriously?  Part of the punishment involved cleaning the chalkbrushes at the end of the day, those of you who can remember chalk at school know what I am talking about.

Back to now...
the challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is to make anything with a HEART on it! 

I feel sorry for elementary kids today, poor things will never know the pleasure of having to fill 4 chalkboards with lines...
But they still get Valentine treats and a party, so we made treat 'bags' for my kids' classmates, and we had an assembly line going for my heart project.  Gotta say I'm sick of hearts for a while:

Here's the finished product.

Here is a close up:

Here's a peek at what's inside:

And here is the pattern to make them, super easy!

*The complete product list is at the bottom of this post. 

I used our new Kraft cardstock for the base.  The kids did the stamping,folding, and filled the treat bags.  (My son complained the whole time, "Do I have to stamp all of them?" Which sparked the whole discussion about writing lines on the chalkboard...)

I did all the cutting and the gluing.

Got hearts on the brain this week?  Join us at Heart 2 Heart for our HEART challenge! Anything goes, as long as it has hearts on it and is mostly Close To My Heart products.  Check out the projects my friends on the Design Team have made (their links are over on my sidebar), you're sure to love them!  And I hope you play along! You have all month to join us, we have prizes and everything!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lorrinda

Recipe:

All products CTMH:

Cardstock: Kraft, Holiday Red and White Daisy

Stamps: D1254 Soul Mates hearts and borders

Ink: Holiday Red

Red ric rac

Liquid Glass to adhere ric rac ribbon

Other:

Small celophane bags and candy treats from Walmart

Tools:

Cuttlebug Script Embossing Folder

SU Scallop Border Punch

Cricut Accent Essentials to cut red hearts and cut out circles.

MS Score Board

Valentine Chocolates with a twist

Quick post today...
My kids' school is having their annual Bazaar tonight, and once again I was asked to bring a decorated cake for the Cakewalk. If you've never been to a cakewalk, it's like musical chairs...but when the music stops, if you are standing on the right number you win the cake. Several cakes are donated, and participants purchase tickets to enter the walk. Money raised is for charity.

Anyway, with it being so close to Valentine's Day, I chose a Valentine theme for my cake this year:

Yep, it's ALL cake, even the little chocolates are cake balls dipped in white chocolate. I must admit, this is not my original idea...I got it from bakerella.com  If you're not familiar with Bakerella, you're in for a treat! She has the cutest ideas, and awesome tutorials so you can make them too.

The best part of this cake, is that I made lots of the cake balls, so I got to snack while I was decorating it!

Thanks for visiting today!

Lorrinda

Kiss Me!

The challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is STAMP KISSING!  Not that I need an excuse to kiss my stamps :)

No, we mean the Stamp Kissing Technique. If you're not familiar with this technique, we have featured a fabulous video tutorial by our Guest Expert this week, the one and only Tresa Black, that shows several variations of stamp kissing...

Now that you've watched the video, get out your stamps and start kissing them!

Here's what kisses did for my stamp:

I seem to be on a pink kick lately, which is weird because it's not one of my favorite colors, must be all the Valentines in the air this month. This card actually started with the ribbon which set the mood for the paper choice, funny how one element can inspire the whole card...

I inked my stamp in Baby Pink, then inked a background stamp in Hollyhock and "dirty kissed" them to create a patterned flower outline. To stamp the centers, I inked the background stamp in Hollyhock, then kissed a clean center stamp on it to get the pattern, then stamped it in the flower centers. Then I cut them out, and inked the edges before using them on the card.
The hardest part of this card was the punched border...those corner punches are tricky to line up with the punched edges...my hard learned tip: punch the border mat first, then cut the inside layer piece to fit. If you cut your center piece first, then try to border punch the mat, it'll never be even. This pearl of wisdom came to me after about 4 attempts...so I'm sharing it to save you some paper.
 
Pop on over to H2H to see how my friends on the Design Team used the Stamp Kissing Technique on their projects. Our Feb. Guest Designer Aaron, is also playing along with us this week! You are sure to be inspired to play along.  Check out their blogs and leave them some love! 
Corina
Melinda
Debbie
Karen
Lisa
Jessica
Mary
 
We'd love to have you join us for this week's Kissing challenge...we have a couple of awesome prizes from our sponsors up for grabs this month, and you may get invited to be an upcoming Guest Designer if you make it into the Top Ten. So show your stamps some love this week, KISS them!
 
Thanks for popping by today!
Lorrinda
 
Recipe:
All products CTMH unless noted
 
Cardstock: White Daisy and Hollyhock
Pattern Paper:  Sweetheart Level 2 Kit
Stamps: B1306 Cottage Floral, D1335 Intrinsic Backgrounds, D1412 Noted Backgrounds, D1406 True Friends.
Inks: Baby Pink, Cotton Candy, Hollyhock
Buttons: Z1370 Pink Assortment
 
Border Punch: StampinUp
Pink satin ribbon from my stash? 

Paper Cubed (P3) February Valentine Challenge

Time for our February challenge at Paper Cubed!

This month is, you guessed it....Valentines! 

I've had this image of a heart of roses in my head for a while, and I finally had a reason to make it! It's too much for a card, but works great for a box! Is there anything better than roses and chocolate...together? (Ok, maybe diamonds...but I did put pearls on it!)

Here's the top:

And here's the inside:

I found the template for the triangle box HERE, enlarged it and printed it out onto pink cardstock, and cut it out and assembled it.  Then I made some hearts for the top and bottom also out of pink cardstock, with some smaller hearts as accent pieces for layering.

I made the rolled paper roses (There are several video tutorials for rolled paper roses on YouTube) out of 3 different shades of pink cardstock, these are tiny...I started with 2 inch square pieces of cardstock, spiral cut them, and rolled them around a toothpick!   You can see in the photo, the roses are a bit smaller than the Hershey kisses. I stuck them together with  tiny dabs of  CTMH Liquid Glass, and inked the edges in a deeper pink color for some definition.  Then I and added some seed pearl beads to the centers for some pretty bling. Once I had them all made (it didn't take that long, I did them while watching a movie), I glued them all onto a heart shape of pink patterned paper, edged it in gathered CTMH pink crochet ribbon, and stuck it down onto the pink cardstock heart top. I finished it off with a double bow out of pink satin ribbon, with a pearl center accent. After it was all together, I thought the sides of the box needed something, so I stamped heart images on it, added some half pearls, and finished the edge with pink satin ribbon. 

The finished size of this box is roughly 6"W x 6"L x 2.5"D.

I filled it with Hershey's caramel kisses for the photo, but I think I'll use this pretty box for a small gift. This would be perfect for a gift of jewellery or maybe even event tickets. Not sure just yet who the recipient will be...but I have a couple of weeks until Valentine's Day to decide.

Do you enjoy making more than just flat cards and scrapbook pages out of paper? February is the perfect month to try your hand at a gift item, altered item or home decor piece!  Or maybe you have a fabulous 3D card fold or mini album to show off?  Why don't you join us at Paper Cubed?  You have the entire month to play along.  We'll choose the Top 3 entries as well as have a random prize draw at the end of the month.  Pop on over to P3 now to see what the talented Design Team has created for February.  We'd love to have you join us! 

Thanks for visiting today!

Lorrinda

Recipe:

Cardstock: CTMH in Cotton Candy, Hollyhock and Blush

Pattern Paper: pink polkadots on white from CTMH Sweetheart Level 2 kit

Stamp: CTMH D1245 In My Heart

Ink: CTMH Hollyhock and Blush

Ribbon: CTMH Z1384 Pink Collection

CTMH  Z1336Pearl opaques

Seed pearl beads from my stash

CTMH  Z679 Liquid Glass

Scor-Tape used to assemble box

Triangle Box Template from http://elizabethallan-blog.blogspot.com/