I hope you will all join me over on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ScrappyEvie/ this Wednesday, September 20th at 7:30 pm EST for the Grand Opening get-together of my business; The Paper Creative LLC!! Please share the date with all your paper crafting friends! I cannot wait to tell you about my business and all about being brave in your paper crafting! In the meantime, have a look around the site here and you will get a little head’s up of what to expect from The Paper Creative LLC. The grand opening event will announce shopping specials and deals, classes I will be offering, and all other kinds of info about me and my business. Thank you so much for considering me for your paper crafting needs and classes 🙂
Don’t let the small size of this project fool you-it’s a 3″x3″ square “One Sheet Wonder” folding album and holy wow can it fit a lot!
So, last week I was beyond burnt out and needed to just sit down and do some mind-less crafting (FYI, these creative moments most often become one of our best and most productive ever, so never feel bad for taking the time for some mindless crafting!) I didn’t intend to create a teaching project, but here are.
It started with this little album I have had sitting around. I watched a tutorial on it months ago, I have no idea who’s You Tube this came from. I had no idea what I was ever going to do with it. But here I was on a Thursday night at 12:30am needing to get my creative bugs out. So, I grabbed this little guy. He has a total of 29 pages that needed some panels, so I grabbed my scrap paper folder, picked out the most random, most colorful scraps in it and cut 29 little 2 3/4″x 2 3/4″ squares. I stacked them all up and just started adhering them to the pages. NO rhyme or reason.
So, that was fun. I was already starting to feel good and inspired. But now these little pages needed some decorating. Now, if you are like me, and you always make more embellishments than needed when you are making your projects, you probably have a container somewhere of all these random bits and pieces. Mine was literally exploding! lol!
Yeah, just a bit overwhelming! lol, but I took a deep breath and started sifting through all the goodies. Starting with the front page square, I picked out some fun colorful elements. When I was done with the front page, I realized i unknowingly had put it together using the color and composition techniques. That was totally unexpected, as this was supposed to be a no-brainer project. Turns out, this made me even more motivated and made me feel even more creative! So, page by page as I went through this, I turned it into a game. Using only what was in my box of goodies, I challenged myself to use color and composition theories in putting each page together.
The page spread above is an example of composition. The big pink flower started life as a cluster, but I snipped off the leaves and smaller cluster that were attached to it and used them on the facing page. This, as well as using the same color accessory embellishments, bridges the two pages together, regardless of the different backgrounds.
The page spread above is some color theory and balance: both pages use pinks and blues and are balanced with the colors as well as the color temperature (meaning; blue is on the cool side of the color wheel and pinks are on the warmer side of the color wheel.)
The spread above shows a good example of balanced composition, use of complimentary colors from the color wheel, and utilizing texture to add depth (the blue and gold washi strip on the left panel and the orange “snowflakes” on the right panel.)
Before I realized it, it was 3 am! Lol, and I felt great and surprisingly ready to sleep. And I slept great that night! But most importantly, MY BOX CAN SHUT AGAIN!!
This blog post is just highlighting some points from this project, but I did do a walk-through video of each page, explaining the theories and techniques I used. Hit the link below to head over to Stamp the Fun Up on You Tube and check it out! Let me know if this helps inspire you!
Yep, I went there lol. You know as a paper crafter, or crafter in general, that we are always thinking 2-4 seasons ahead! It sounds crazy but hey, greatness takes time! I have been spending the week loading up my Pinterest with Autumn and Winter color palettes and color inspirations and you really need to see them!! I cannot wait to start putting idea boards together for my “Fall O’We’en Season” projects!! Head on over to the Pinterest, check them out and find all kinds of other colorful inspiration for your crafty life!
Woot woot Last Call! You can still sign up for my Altenew Workshop this Sunday, at 1pm est. Share to all your crafty peeps! This workshop is a must if you want to learn all the pro-tips to get the most of your embossing folders, and *BONUS* how to use coordinating stencils with them! Spots are limited, cost is $25 Venmo or Pay Pal accepted. Comment on this post saying, “Yes I can’t wait!!” and which payment method you prefer so I can get you the class tutorial before Sunday. I will be using the Altenew Daisies embossing folder (but feel free to use your favorite floral embossing folder if you don’t have Daisies) We’ll be creating three cards! The techniques you will learn can be used for many different styles of embossing folders, so you will be able to get more bang for your crafty buck. This is the exact same class I did at the Great Lakes Mega Meet this year, so if you couldn’t attend those classes (both sold out in record time!) then you definitely don’t want to miss this. Become an embossing folder wizard! I am so excited!! This is a crazy fun class that will blow your crafty mind! Tell your friends!! I can’t wait to craft with you!!
I was completely inspired by the color palette in this month’s inspiration photo. So soft and light, but still warm enough for summer. I loved that Lavendar color. My go-to products for this project were all from Stampin’ Up, because I knew I wanted some great coordinated cardstock and inks to pull off my take on this project. Below is the color palette I chose from my cardstock. Stampin’ Up! does such a great job with their coordinated cardstocks!
I started with a 5″x 5 ” card base. I chose my layers: a fuchsia weathered layer to back the geometric patterned paper for the front and just a simple layer of soft yellow on the inside. I inked the edges of the yellow in ink that coordinated with the card base, and both layers on the front got inked edges in coordinating colors as well. I adhered these down, then went right to making the details and embellishments.
I absolutely love this new die set from Stamin’ Up! There is a matching stamp set, but I only have the die set. I cut out all the embellishment pieces I wanted for the front of the card, including the ticket for the sentiment. Now, because this is only a die set and I don’t have the matching stamps to add interest to the flowers, my quick and simple yet effective go-to technique to add texture and depth, is to simply run a coordinating ink pad over the die cut, or to press the die cut into a coordinating ink pad. Always start this technique with light pressure and repeat for more pressure, because once to add the ink, you can always add more but you cant remove it.
For the sentiment banner I cut a strip of card base scrap, ran it through a wood plank embossing folder and did the same tone on tone inking technique to bring out the wood grain. I stamped my sentiment also in coordinating ink.
I did not attach any of these embellishment to the front of the card yet, because I wanted to do the stamping on the inside of the card.
This is one my favorite Stampin’ Up! stamp sets ” Artistically Inked” because it’s very forgiving with the stamping, and even looks better if you get sloppy with it and overlap the stamped images.
The next step was to make the pop-up that runs through the middle of the card. I chose to make this out of acetate, so it wouldn’t take away from the stamped background. Making this was super easy. Measure the length of your card, cut the acetate to the length and width you want and fold it in half. Then, fold each half in half. You want a “W” when you’re done. My piece is roughly an inch wide. I knew I needed to use glue dots to hold the acetate down, so, to help hide the glue dots, and to give a bit of texture to the acetate, I ran it through my spatter embossing folder.
Next, I stamped the inside sentiment. Then it was time to take my remaining scraps to cut the flowers to adhere to the acetate pop-up. I used liquid glue to adhere these and let them set up overnight because it can slip off the acetate, so I would suggest using glue dots for embellishing acetate if you need the project done quick. And that was it!
I had so much fun seeing this card come from an idea to a project and can see so many more uses for this acetate pop-up. Imagine it with snowflakes for winter! At the top of the blog post, under the inspiration photo, is the link to hit the Inspiration Station blog to hop along and join in the fun this month! I would love to see your take on the inspiration photo so please feel free to tag me on IG @scrappystampthefunup or leave me a comment here on the Facebook page: Stamp the Fun Up. The list of Stampin’ Up! supplies I used are listed below and you can head over to the Shopping Links page to snag them from my Stampin’ Up! shop. Can’t wait to see you next month!
Inks: Lost Lagoon, Fresh Freesia, Calypso Coral
Embossing folders: Strips and Splatters mini embossing folders-these come as a two-pack
Cardstock: Subtles pack, New Core Colors pack and Bright & Beautiful 6″ x 6″ designer series paper.
Earn a $5 USD | $6 CAD coupon for every $50 USD | $60 CAD spent (before shipping and tax).
All coupon codes will be emailed right after a qualifying purchase has been made. Customers can shop, purchase, and earn coupons as a guest if they provide a valid email at checkout. However, customers should be encouraged to create an account on our online store.
Woot woot!! Hit the Stampin’ Up! link under the “shop” tab to get yourself some coupons!! THIS DEAL IS ONLY AVAILABLE FROM SHOPPING ONLINE, NOT IN-PERSON, so make sure you create a customer account on the Stampin’ Up! website so you can get your coupons emailed to you. The last day of this promotion is July 31st, coupons will be emailed starting August 1st.
It’s coming up fast but there’s still time to sign up. This workshop is $25, PayPal or Venmo accepted. Email me at: stampthefunup@yahoo.com with your payment preference so I can send you details. Sign-up ends Monday, August 7th. Tutorials are ready to go out so the sooner you sign up, the sooner you can get started on the projects if you wish! Don’t have the Daisies 3D embossing folder? No worries, this workshop is packed with tips for getting more use out of your 3D embossing folders, coordinating stencils, and many other pro-tips and techniques. Use your favorite floral embossing folder to craft along-every lesson can be applied to nearly any floral embossing folder.
Welcome to July! Comin’ in hot lol. I had so much fun putting this project together as my interpretation of the inspiration photo. I loved the play of light in the water and tried to re-create that with paper, rather than trying mixed media or paint or some other medium. Let me know what you think! (Below is this month’s inspiration photo)
To play up the light and water effects, I started with a blue marbled 5 x 7″ card base. I did this project landscaped to get more real estate for my water look.
Next, I used designer series papers from the Stampin’ Up! Bright and Beautiful 6 x6″ paper pack for the water-colored frame layer.
I used the Color Layer Goldfish stamp set from Hero Arts to add the bubbles, plants and fish which I stamped with Altenew Crisp Dye Inks in Starlight and Hunter Green-I wanted to keep the water scene of this card low-key to offset the colorful kitties, so stamping in these colors on the layered blue paper from the Bright and Beautiful pack worked perfectly.
Next (and to cover an inky boo-boo, lol) I stamped the sentiment from the same fishy set, in the Starlight blue ink on a scrap of the marbled blue paper. (Pro-tip: incorporate you scraps and use the same inks for as much of your project as possible to keep the flow and feel of the whole look consistent and easy on the eye.) The sentiment was edged with the Starlight blue and raised up on Altenew dimensional foam tape.
Next, using another fabulous piece from the Bright and Beautiful pack that had the feel of those beach ball colors, I die-cut some curious cats from the Tim Holtz Thinlits Sizzix “Mischievous” die set.
I adhered the kitties with the adhesive foam tape as well to finish the card.
I hope this card inspired you. Remember, even if you are not a great artist, you can still re-create a look you want like I did with the paper here, to replicate the water look. You can do it!!
To snag the Altenew and/or Stampin’ Up! supplies I used in this project, click the “shop” button to get to my shop links. Thanks for stopping by! see you next month!
Also, you can still access my other blog for more crafty inspirations by visiting.
Woot woot! The first post on the new blog! I love being on the design team for The Inspiration Station. I love getting inspired and challenging myself and I hope you get inspired by the hop as well. It’s been so hot and dry here, this month’s inspiration photo was perfect!
Most of the time, I don’t really copy the inspiration photo. However, I really saw this photo in scraps, and I had to go with it. My project replicates the background of this photo, but was constructed with scraps of paper.
I literally began this project by taking my sleeves of orange, yellow and white scrap cardstock and laying some down on a piece of copy paper, to replicate the colors of the inspiration picture.
When I got the scraps layed out how I wanted, I had to carefully glue them down without moving them, so I set some boxed on one side while I glued down the scraps, then swapped the boxes over to the other side and glued the rest of the scraps down. I did set a heavy book over the whole thing and let it set up overnight.
The next day I layed out where I wanted to cut out an oval die-cut to represent the sun in the inspiration photo, and also layed out the Cross Weaves embossing folder by Altenew on the scrapped paper.
I cut out an area for the embossing folder and ran that through my manual crank machine (Pro tip: manual crank machines are best for 3D embossing folders because you can control how much pressure you put on them with shims. Then I cut ut the oval for the sun. I glued the embossed panel to a black cardstock frame and then glued that onto a red 6 x6″ top folding card base.
Next, I took the cut-out oval “sun” and ran that through the Decorative Florals embossing folder from Altenew. with all the warmth from the inspiration photo, I felt like it needed some tropical flowers. I also inked around the edge to smooth out the rough edges from die cutting.
I then glued the oval onto the embossed panel card base.
To mimic the silhouetted foreground of the inspiration photo, I die-cut the flowers from the Altenew Winter Rose stamp and die set, out of black cardstock. I then used the detail layer of the corresponding stamp set to emboss with black embossing powder.
I attached these to the base with adhesive foam tape. To finish this project off with a sentiment, I used my versa mark embossing ink pad to smoosh over black cardstock. I then poured black embossing powder over the spot and heat set it.
I used the Fancy Hello die from Altenew for the sentiment, cutting it out of this embossed area.
I hope you like this project and are also inspired by the inspiration photo.
Check out the blog and all the projects! If you try any of these techniques, please tag me on IG @scrappystampthefunup, I would love to see your work@! Until next time, have fun crafting!
To snag the Altenew products used in this project, hit the shop tab for my affiliate link.
