border punches | If The Glue Sticks…Embellish

Deconstructed DS 112 and 113 Challenge

Posted on August 9, 2013 by debbrooner

You get 2 Deconstructed challenge cards this time because I didn’t get 112 done until after the deadline. I’ll start with 113.

I came up with a technique I hadn’t thought of before. I decided to place a row of pearls at the bottom of the card and I wanted them evenly spaced. Most of the time I just eyeball it but the more pearls there are to be placed, the more likely that they will go wonky. I laid my row of pearls (still on their backing) where I wanted them on the card and then placed a sticky note directly below them. I then made little tick marks to show where each pearl was to be placed and then put the pearls on the card. The sticky note ensured that not only were the pearls evenly spaced but that they were all the same height. Wish I had have thought of that a long time ago! Here is the picture with the sticky note in place:

All of the papers are from American Crafts “Color Crush” 6×6 pad.

I white embossed both the turquoise hexagon and the sentiment and then used an embossing folder to add dimension to the sentiment hexagon.

Sentiment: unknown; Hexagons: Hero Arts Hexagon Stamp and Cut ;Martha Stewart edge punch: Lattice Arch; Cutttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dot

This is DS112. Love the colors of the striped paper! All of these papers were from the My MInd’s Eye 6×6 pad called “Memorable”. I really liked this pad because the papers are two-sided. There are lots more color options that way.

Sentiment: unknown; leaf die cut: Sizzix Little Leaf; Stickles

25 Christmas Cards Part 6

Posted on December 19, 2011 by debbrooner

Okay, this is frustrating- I finished the blog for the last 3 cards, hit the “save” button and….nothing appeared on the page. Hopefully things will work out better today and I can finish up this series.

This would be a quick card to make if you had a lot to do. The card front was run through an embossing folder and lightly swiped with Versmark ink then dusted with green PearlEx. The deer was embossed and the sentiment was stamped with Versamark and green PearlEx was brushed on. I used an edge punch to make the ribbon and added a piece of hendmade paper behind (next time I would probably lay a thin strip of the handmade paper on top of the ribbon, not under it). That’s it! The background could be stamped, as could the deer, if you don’t have any way to use the embossing folders.

Sizzix Triad Leaves, Sizzix Reindeer #2, Martha Stewart Arch Lattice, Hero Arts Holiday Sayings

This is the first card I made. It is a Silhouette card and I didn’t do a whole lot to it. I did emboss the front, use pearls instead of cutting out berries and green pearls insted of brads.

christmas_card_C001244_20509, Sizzix Triad Leaves

I used American Crafts Pearl paper in white to make the trees. The paper shifts from white to gold when it is moved. Love it! The trees are Silhouette die cuts and the background is handmade paper with a small gold floral print. I cut another piece of the paper, turned to to the back side and used it as a floor for the trees . It never hurts to look at the backside of handmade paper- often it is usable as well.

Well, that ‘s it. I hope you enjoyed these cards and that some of them were springboards for your own creations. Write me a comment and send me pics of the cards yiou made.

25 Christmas Cards Part 5

Posted on December 14, 2011 by debbrooner

I had cut out the green background quite a while back, not even thinking about using it as a Christmas embellishment, but I needed something to use as a backdrop for my stocking and it seemed to work. Again, I used the offset function to cut out a red mat . Easy peasy. I thought the stocking turned out super cute, and the Silhouette cut through my glitter paper like butter.

irregular_squares_mesh_background_C00378_21585, 4_christmas_icons_C01274_20509, Sizzix Dotted Flower Rings, Hampton Arts A Very Merry

I would NOT recommend this next card if you are doing a whole bunch- unless you plan to start making them in January! The cutting out? Very quick. The gluing to the card? Not so much! After I got all of the pieces on the card I decided it needed something more so I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the triad leaves folder. I don’t remember what font I used for the Joy banner but it is great to be able to use any TrueType font with the Silhouette. Because the berries were so small I used Stickles instead of red cardstock.

whimsical_tree_C20091012182328_20508, Sizzix Triad Leaves

I don’t usually do square cards because I don’t like either the extra postage due if the card is mailed in a square enelope, or the half-filled envelope that you get from mailing a square card in a regular rectangular envelope. However, this card needed the square format to work, so half-filled envelope here it comes. I added a some Stickles Icicle glitter to the doily that I cut out and embossed the Noel with a swiss dots folder. This was a very fast card to do.

If you don’t have a Silhouette you could use a purchased paper doily and stamp the Noel on a piece of cardstock.

noel_title_C00539_20387, doily_lace_decoration_C00600_20387, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot, A Lost Art background script

I used the same resist technique that I did for one of the Tiny Bundle cards, but the background stamp I used this time was an alphabet collage. This too was a very quick card. The silk ribbon I used was some that I had purchased quite a while ago. It was so pretty I was hesitant to use it, but use it I did, to good effect.

Ali Edwards Good Cheer, Tim Holtz Seasonal REflections, Unknown Alphabet Collage

What can I say? This card is busy ! There’s the embossing (2 different folders), 2 different patterned papers, 3 colors of cardstock, and 3 different die cuts. MOJO Monday would probably be proud of me, but I must admit it gave me a bit of a tic to look at it after it was finished. I did like the bird on the branch embossed piece , though. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ionk and dusted with Spring Green PearlEx.

3_borders_C00678_20509, artisan_label_set_C00178_41853, Sizzix Bird on Branch #2, Cuttlebug Paper Lace #2, Hero arts Holiday Sayings

Not quite enough room for the last 3 cards, so see you tomorrow.

The Old 1-2 Lace Punch

Posted on June 2, 2010 by debbrooner

I have been playing with my border punches lately and thought I would show you the results. It is possible to use the punches to make paper lace strips to jazz up your artwork.

The first method I tried was punching cardstock strips on both sides, with the designs matching like mirror imaging. The secret to this is marking your strips before you do any punching. First, place your paper strip in the punch and then take a pencil and mark both edges of your punch.

I’ve used red pen so you can see what I have done more clearly. These will be the marks you will use to line up the second edge.

Punch the first edge, rotate, and line up the punch with the marks.

Punch the second edge. If you lined up the punch correctly your lace should be symmetrical .

Depending on the punch, changing the width of the strip of paper used may result in very different looks. You will need to play with your punches to see what you come up with. I found out it is possible to use a strip that was only ½”, but a 1” strip is a good place to start. These are the test strips I came up with:

You will notice that I also made strips with offset punching. These have to be done a little differently. Marking the edges of the punch on the strip will not work with this method because the marks won’t be visible.

After punching the first side of your strip, decide where you want your offset to start. In this case I wanted it to start between the flowers and halfway through the little dot.

Take a Post-it note and lay on the table, sticky strip face up and on the right hand side. You are going to align your strip to 2 places on the sticky note: the un-punched edge of the strip sits on the bottom edge of the sticky note and the marking for the offset lines up with the right-hand edge, on the sticky part.

Note: I trimmed the top off of the sticky note before taking the picture, so it looks shorter than yours will look. Line the middle marking on your punch up with the right-hand edge of the sticky note