Custom Color Baker's Twine Tutorial and Sunny Fun Flip Flop Card

Hi everyone, sorry for my long absence. Today I am uploading this fun card!

I started making this card using a 3x6” card base of Melon Mambo cardstock (a 6x6” piece folded in half). I drew up templates for the base, strap and liner. I cut out the template and traced the flip-flop on the front of the card using a standard pencil, then I cut out the flip flop shape with paper snips, making sure that you left part of the area along the top uncut so that the front and back of the card weren’t cut apart. I tried to cut inside the lines so that the pencil mark didn’t show, but if you have any remaining marks, you can clean them up nicely with a kneaded art eraser.  I ran the entire card through the Big Shot in the Polka Dot embossing folder.  I cut the strap out of Tempting Turquoise cardstock and stamped the Solid Stripes on using Tempting Turquoise ink for a tone-on-tone look. I stamped the sentiment with Basic Black on a white tag. (I cut this tag out by hand because my Small Tag Punch has gone AWOL, but you can use the small tag punch here.) I stamped the flip flop image from Sunny Fun using Black Stazon on a scrap of white cardstock.  Then I colored the image using a blender pen with Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise classic ink. I cut out the colored flip-flops (I cut outside the line, you don’t have to cut very close) and glued them onto the tag. Then I punched a hole in the top of the tag using my Crop-o-dile. I looped my Tempting Turquoise dyed Baker’s Twine through the hole and glued it to the center of the strap with Tombow Liquid Glue.  I used the new Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet punch to cut out the middle flower out of Tempting Turquoise cardstock and the more detailed flower out of Daffodil Delight cardstock.  I glued the two flowers together and then glued them onto the center of the strap to cover up where the baker’s twine was attached.  Then I cut out the liner from Whisper White cardstock, stamped a sentiment and attached it on the inside.

Tutorial for making custom colored Baker’s Twine - If you would like to see another example where I used Soft Suede dyed Baker’s Twine, please see my earlier post. http://mnfroggie.blogspot.com/2011/05/card-that-started-blog.html

I wear gloves while doing this. The ink is no-toxic and will not hurt you, but it will stain your hands.

I did this using Stampin’ Up! white Baker’s twine.

Cut the desired length of baker’s twine. 

Put about 2 teaspoons of water in a small container. I am using a clamshell case for a small stamp, but any small container will do.

Add about 5 drops of Classic Ink reinker. Here I am using Tempting Turquoise.

Swirl to mix.

When it is completely mixed, coil up the twine loosely and press it into the reinker.

Move it around and squeeze it as necessary until it has absorbed the color.

 Remove the twine from the container and gently squeeze it to get out the excess liquid.

You need to let the string dry completely before you put it on your card. You can dry it faster using a heat gun, or you can just hang it up and let it dry overnight.

Your finished product will match your cardstock beautifully.

Polka Dots & Toile and a Tutorial for a Different Shape from the Decorative Label Punch

This is my second post today. This card is inspired by this handbag from Henrietta’s Handbags. I loved the mix of polka dots and toile. Also, I have been wanting to make a red and black card, so I added some red to this card. Here is what I came up with.

I stamped the toile style flower from Elements of Style stamp set in Basic Black onto a 3-7/8” x 5-1/8” piece of Very Vanilla cardstock.  Then I glued a 3” x 3-7/8” piece of polka dot paper from the Love Letter Designer Series paper pack to the bottom of the Very Vanilla cardstock.  I attached a strip of Real Red 1-1/4” grosgrain ribbon across this cardstock and mounted it on Basic Black (4 x 5-1/4”) base and then on a Real Red card. I made the bow and attached it with Glue Dots (For the tutorial on how to make the bow, please visit my previous blog post at http://mnfroggie.blogspot.com/2011/05/sunny-fun-flip-flop-card-brad-bow.html) I stamped the sentiment with Basic Black on Very Vanilla cardstock. This sentiment is from the Just Believe stamp set.  The little label with the sentiment is attached to Real Red cardstock punched with the 1-3/4 x 7/8” Oval punch and then Basic Black cardstock cut Scalloped Oval Punch. I added a self adhesive rhinestone gem to each side of the label.

And now for the best part! Would you believe that little label is made using the Decorative Label punch?!! See the tutorial below to find out how to do that.

Stamps: Elements of Style, Just Believe 

Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla 
Ink: Basic Black 
Accessories: Real Red 1-1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Rhinestone brad, self adhesive rhinestones, 1-3/4 x 7/8” Oval punch and then Basic Black cardstock cut Scalloped Oval Punch, Decorative Label punch, glue dots 

A New Shape with the Decorative Label Punch

1. Stamp your image on a piece of cardstock. I used a smallish scrap here, but a full size piece will work just as well. Insert the cardstock so the stamped image lines up with the curve of the “second shoulder” on the punch. (See photo to help you with placement.)

2. Your image should be toward the top of your punched cardstock.

3. Adhere a sticky note to the bottom of your punched label, this will help you guide it so that you can punch it a second time.

4. Insert the label into the Decorative Label punch upside down, just enough so the curve of the “second shoulder” lines up to give a rounded edge. See photo below for placement.

5. Punch out your image. The final shape should look like this.

Thanks for visiting! If you would like to purchase any of the items shown here today, please visit my business website www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net

Sunny Fun Flip Flop Card & Brad Bow Tutorial part 2

Here is a bright and fun card for you today!

The stamp set, Sunny Fun is a new one just released in the summer mini catalog. I colored the images with blender pens and Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango inks. I added little self adhesive rhinestones to one the sets of flip flops. Then I stamped the flip flop with the flower on it onto Melon Mambo cardstock and cut it out. I added a pearl to the center and glued it onto the main image with Multipurpose Liquid glue. I love brad bows, they are such a great way to use the wide ribbon! The bow is actually just a length of ribbon gathered into a rhinestone brad. See below for a step by step tutorial on how to make these bows. After I made the bow, I adhered it with Glue Dots and added a little liquid glue for strength.

Stamps: Sunny Fun 

Paper: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White 
Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango 
Accessories: Blender Pen, Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Daffodil Delight 1-1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon, self adhesive pearls, self adhesive rhinestones, Rhinestone brads 
Techniques: Watercoloring with Blender Pens 

Brad Bows Tutorial part 2 – for use with thick or heavy ribbon, such as 5/8” grosgrain, 1-1/4” grosgrain or 1/2" stitched poly ribbons

1. Open up the prongs of your brad.

 

2. Fold your ribbon in a loop (like a breast cancer ribbon).

 

3. Bring the loop down so that it covers where the ribbon crosses itself.

4. Gather the ribbon in the center in your fingers and stick it between the two prongs of the brad.

5. Wrap the prongs of the brad around the ribbon, so that they lie next to each other.

6. Adjust bow as you like and trim the ends. Attach to cardstock.

I hope you enjoy making these brad bows. You can see another example of this type of bow in my next post!

Thanks for reading my blog and tutorial!

If you would like to purchase any of the items used here, please visit my business website at www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net

A Tutorial for Making Brad Bows - part 1

Hi everyone! Are you enjoying May? We are finally having some nice weather here in Minnesota, and we're even seeing a hint of those "May flowers". That has me in a flower mood, so this is what I came up with

I used the new Fabulous Florets stamp set. I made the tulip embossing smaller, to fit on a 3-1/4" x 4" piece of cardstock and sponged the raised areas with Pretty in Pink ink to make them stand out. (To see how to use the Framed Tulip embossing folder to emboss a peice of cardstock smaller than its standard size, please see my previous post. http://mnfroggie.blogspot.com/2011/05/springtime-card-and-tutorial-on.html) The stem was stamped in Wild Wasabi ink, and I matted the image on Wild Wasabi cardstock. The base is Whisper White and the strip across the back is Pretty in Pink cardstock stamped with flowers from the same stamp set using Melon Mambo ink. To make the main flower, I inked the image in Pretty in Pink ink and then used a Melon Mambo marker to define each of the petals. After I had highlighted each petal with the marker, I huffed on the stamp and stamped it on Whisper White cardstock, cut it out and mounted it on a dimensional. To get a Melon Mambo colored brad, I rubbed the top of a 5/16" Jumbo brad into my Versamark pad, then dipped it in Melon Mambo embossing powder. I held it with a clothes pen and used my heat gun to melt the embossing powder. Then I let it sit for a few minutes in the clothes pen to let it cool down. And finally, there is a tutorial below on how to make the bow.

Stamps: Fabulous Florets 
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink 
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, (Versamark - to make brad) 
Accessories: Framed Tulip embossing folder, 5/16" jumbo brad, sponge, Pretty in Pink 5/8" satin ribbon, piercing tool, paper snips 
Techniques: Sponging, Brad Bow

Brad Bow Tutorial
I recommend using this technique with thin or average weight ribbon – 1/8” or 3/8” taffeta, crocheted lace, 5/8” satin, 5/8” organza, 1/4" grosgrain or 1/2” seam binding. I will post a tutorial on how to make a brad bow with thick or heavy weight ribbon later this week.

1. Open up the prongs of your brad.

2. Poke a hole in your cardstock where you want your ribbon to be.

3. Fold your ribbon in a loop (like a breast cancer ribbon).

4. Bring the loop down so that it covers where the ribbon crosses itself.

5. Gather the ribbon in the center in your fingers and stick it between the two prongs of the brad.

6. Close the prongs of the brad (bring them back together) and insert them in the cardstock.

7. Open up brad on back side of the cardstock.

8. Adjust bow as you like and trim the ends.

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and that you try making your own brad bow.

If you would like to purchase any of the items used here today, please visit my business website www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net

Don't forget to check back later in the week for the part 2 of my brad bow tutorial! Have a great week and happy stamping!

Springtime Card and a tutorial on changing the size of the Framed Tulip Embossing Folder

Hi Everyone and Happy Mother's Day! Here is a springtime card that I love and the directions on how to make it. Hope you enjoy it!

On the card base, I used the Very Vintage wheel in Baja Breeze ink, so it doesn't show up a lot in the photo. Then I stamped the flowering branch image from the Easter Blossoms set on 2x5.5" sheet in soft suede and then sponged on some soft suede ink. To add a little color, I scribled over the blossoms with a pretty in pink marker, quickly and messily, no need to stay inside the lines.

I embossed a 3-1/4" x 4-1/4" piece of Crumb Cake Cardstock with the Framed Tulip embossing folder, see below for directions. Then I heat embossed the girl with white embossing powder, then sponged around the image and over the embossed tulip edge heavily with crumb cake ink to give it some depth. I also sponged a little soft suede ink around the edge. Added a brad with ribbon tucked in it and adhered. For the sentiment, I stamped in soft suede on whisper white and then sponged on more soft suede ink.

Then my favorite part of this card... the faux flower soft! I saw this somewhere and for the life of me I can't rembemer where! (middle aged brain) Sorry, I would love to give the credit to whoever came up with this idea. I made the faux flower soft by distressing a piece of pink pirouette paper until I had accumulated a little pile of pink paper fuzz. I put tombow multi glue on the basket image and added the fuzz to give a basket of flowers. I love this so much, because it allows me to use this image for any occasion, instead of it being just for Easter cards.

Stamps:Easter Blossoms, Very Vintage Wheel
Paper:Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, First Edition, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
Ink:Versamark, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink (marker), Crumb Cake (for sponging)
Accessories:White Embossing Powder, Baja Breeze seam binding, Subtles glimmer brads, large oval and scalloped oval punch, sponge, distressing tool, tombow multi glue, framed tulips embossing folder
Techniques: Faux Flower Soft, Big shot Embossing, Heat Embossing, Sponging

And last but not least, here is the tutorial on changing the size of the Framed Tulips embossing folder.

1. One side of your cardstock needs to be about 4-1/4” wide (the width of the embossing folder) but the length other side can be changed. For this tutorial, I am using a 3-1/4” by 4-1/4” piece of cardstock.

2. Insert your cardstock all the way into the embossing folder (to the hinge). Make sure that it is centered.

3. Put embossing folder into the standard sandwich, and insert it into the Big Shot, but only crank it in only until the cardstock has gone through a little more than halfway, then turn the crank backwards to back the folder out of the machine.

4. When you open your embossing folder, one half of the cardstock will be embossed. Turn it around so that the embossed area is moved away from the hinge. (Don’t flip it over).

5. Line up the cardstock so that the design on the sides fits into the grooves of the embossing folder and the unembossed edge is inserted to the hinge.

6. Once again, place your embossing folder into the standard sandwich, crank it in into the Big Shot until the cardstock has gone through a little more than halfway, then turn the crank backwards to back the folder out of the machine.

7. Here is what the finished product looks like.

Thanks for reading my tutorial and Happy Stamping!

If you would like to purchase any of the products shown here on my blog, please visit my Stampin' Up business website at www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net

The Card That Started a Blog

Hi everyone. I had a lot of interest today after I posted this card on Splitcoast and Stampin’ Connection.  A lot of crafters wanted to know how to make the knot. I was planning on making up a tutorial for a class I was teaching this weekend, and it seemed like it would be nice if I had a blog to post it to. Time to get off the fence and just do it! So here it is, my very first blog post.

 I fell in love with the Open Sea stamp set as soon as I saw it and knew right away that I wanted to use it to CASE this lovely card by darleenstamps. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1868780

I changed the stamps and added a fisherman’s knot, but kept the color scheme and layout. For the knot I used white baker’s twine dyed with soft suede reinker.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Sincere Salutations 

Paper: Soft Suede, Basic Black, Very Vanilla 

Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede 

Accessories: Black Brads, Baker’s twine, soft suede reinker, distressing tool, sponge, blender pen, dimensionals 

Techniques: Cutting out-of-the-box, sponging, distressing, dyeing ribbon, watercoloring with blender pen, fisherman’s knot 

Tutorial for a Sailor's Knot

Here’s how I did the Sailor’s Knot on the card I posted today. In this tutorial, I am using two different colors of acrylic yarn. I did that so you could easily distinguish between the two strands.  I think this is hard to explain with words, but hopefully you can figure it out with the pictures.

1. Cut four lengths of string. The length should be at least twice the length you want the finished knot to be, but even longer pieces are easier to handle. (This knot can be done with just one piece of string, but I like a thicker knot better. For the finished card shown in the link above, I used a thickness of three strands of baker’s twine, each 8” long.)

2. Take the first piece of string and arrange it in a loop like this, the top tail should hang down.  The loop should be on your right and the two tails on the left.

3. Lay the second piece of string across the loop of the first piece. The lower part of the second string should be a short tail and doesn’t move. The upper part of this string is what moves.

4. Move the top of the second piece of string beneath the upper tail of the first piece.

5. Then place it over the lower tail.

6. Then thread the second string under the lower part of the loop of the first string and over the tail of the second string.

7. Thread the second string under the top of the loop in the first string, now your knot has been created.

 8. After that, you should hold all four ends and pull the knot closed.

9. If you pull hard and tight, you will end up with something that looks like this.

10. That’s okay, just play with it and loosen it up a bit until it looks like the finished knot you want. Sometimes I have to work with the two strands to get twists removed.  Your finished knot should look like this.

11. To attach this to a piece of cardstock, I secure the knot with glue dots and anchor the endson the back of the cardstock with sticky tape. It the knot is made of thick string, you may want to use dimensionals to attach that piece of cardstock to your project. (Baker’s twine is thin enough that I didn’t feel the need to use dimensionals.)

Thanks for reading my tutorial and Happy Crafting!!