You're Totally A-maze-ing

Here is a card I would like to share with you today.

When I first saw the Totally Amazing Stamp Set, I fell in love with it right away! What I loved was that it included such fun greetings to go along with the maze images! To make this card,  I made punched or die cut circles in the following sizes and colors, 1” Pacific Point, 1-3/8” Pear Pizzazz, 1-3/4” Daffodil Delight and 3” Poppy Parade. I adhered all of these circles on a 4x5 ¼” card front using Snail, and then embossed the entire thing in the Snowburst embossing folder.  I stamped the greeting in Poppy Parade on a strip of Whisper White and cut one end of that with a ¾” circle punch and used my Paper Snips to cut a banner end on the other side. I matted that with a strip of Daffodil Delight cardstock and cut the ends to match. I attached the greeting to the card front using a Pear Pizzazz Glimmer brad (from the In Color Glimmer Brad pack). Then I used Sticky Strip to attach the card front to the Pacific Point card base (snail isn’t strong enough for this application.) I used a Maze Game on the front, these cute embellishments come as a four pack in the Occasions Mini Catalog. Before I attached it, I took the back off and decorated it. Make sure you do this carefully so you don’t lose the two little balls inside the maze.  I decorated the back by using sponge daubers and Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil delight and Pacific Point Classic Inks. I just inked up the daubers and the twirled then in a spot to leave a circle of ink. After that was done I reinserted the back into the maze. I attached it to the card front with Sticky Strip, once again you need a strong adhesive for this.

The end of the school year is coming up and this would be a great card for a graduate! I gave it to my college age daughter and she loved it!

Thanks for reading my blog! All items used to create this card are available from Stampin’ Up! If you would like to purchase any of the stamp sets shown here, get them before they retire! The Totally Amazing stamp set and Maze Games are in the Occasions Mini Catalog, which ends April 30^th. Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz inks and cardstock and the In Color Glimmer Brads are on the “While Supplies Last” list and could sell out at any time, they will definitely be gone when the main Idea Book and Catalog retires on May 31^st. You can purchase them on my business website at www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net

Bra Card and Tutorial

Here is a fun card for today!

                      Stamps: Fine Flourish 

                      Paper: Blushing Bride, Basic Black, Whisper White 

                      Ink: Versamark, Pretty in Pink 

                     Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Heart Framelits, Pinking Hearts Border Punch,

                                Crimper, Sponge Dauber 

                     Techniques: Bra Card, Heat Embossing 

I have seen several examples of bra cards over the years, and to be perfectly honest, I thought they were cute but something that I would never need to make. As it turns out, I had a perfect reason to make one. My friend, Kristin, is a young woman currently battling breast cancer. Her age (late 20’s) and the type of cancer that she has, meant that she needed not only chemo but a complete mastectomy to prevent the cancer’s return. In her incredibly brave and optimistic spirit, she decided that she was going to celebrate the fact that she was getting new boobs in any size she wanted! So this card is for her, I hope it brings many a smile to her face!

The design is not something I had a pattern for; I just kind of made it up as I went along. So I wrote up this little tutorial for you. This isn’t my original idea, but I have no clue who came up with it first!

Bra Card Tutorial

1. You want a template that is heart shaped. I don’t have anything that was large enough, so I used the largest heart framelit (the one with scallops) to trace out a shape. If you trace along the inside of the framelit, it is the perfect size to fit into a standard A2 envelope. After I traced the shape onto a piece of copy paper, I cut it out straight along the edge of the scallops to give a nice rounded heart shape.

2. Cut out a card base of Blushing Bride cardstock. Trace that shape onto the base, so that the top of the heart is on the side opposite the fold.

3. Cut out your shape, this will be your card base.

4. Optional – If you would like, you can add a little cleavage using classic ink and a sponge dauber. I used a little Pretty in Pink ink here (I tried Blushing Bride ink first but for me it was too dark.)

5. Using the large scalloped framelit from the Hearts Framelit set, cut out a piece of Basic Black cardstock for your bra cups. (I cut it really crooked here, but that is just my own carelessness and not necessary! J) You can cut out the entire heart or just the top two-thirds. You will be trimming it down in a later step.

6. Cut the black scalloped heart down the center to separate the two bra cups.

7. Stamp a lacey image on the bra cups in Versamark and heat emboss with white embossing powder. I used the Fine Flourish stamp for this card.

8. Punch a long narrow strip of white cardstock with a border punch to use for the bra ruffles.

9. Use a crimper to ruffle the border punched strip.

10. Put a piece of sticky strip on the back of the bra cup along the ruffled edge. Gather your crimped border punched strip along the ruffled edge to add “lace” to your bra. Trim off any excess ruffle when you get to the end of your bra cup.

11. Attach bra cups to card front.

12. Open up the card and looking at it from the inside, trim off the black cardstock along the edge of your card base.

13. No you can see that you have shaped the bottom of your bra cups.

14. Punch a strip of Whisper White cardstock down both sides and run it through the crimper. Attach it with sticky strip or multipurpose liquid glue above the bra cups to create the straps. Trim it off at the top of the card (the fold). Here’s your finished product.

15. Tip - I don’t have a photo of it, but I used the largest non-scalloped heart it the framelits pack to create card liner for inside my card, it works perfect!

Thanks for reading my tutorial. As always, I love comments!

All items that I used to make this card are available from Stampin’ Up! The 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up Idea Book and Catalog only lasts until May 31st, so don’t miss out! If you would like to purchase any of the items shown here, please visit my business website at http://www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net/

Out of the Box Bouquet Card and Tutorial

Hi everyone! I have a card with an Out-of-the-Box image for you today. For those of you who would like to learn how to make out of the box images, make sure to check the bottom of this post for a step by step tutorial. It is a great way to get a big “wow” on your card without having any special tools.

                      Stamps: Elements of Style, Thoughts and Prayers

                      Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Melon Mambo DSP, Pink Pirouette DSP

                      Ink: Melon Mambo & Versamark; Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Pear

                             Pizzazz & So Saffron Markers

                      Accessories: Black, Silver, Melon Mambo & Wild Wasabi Embossing Powders; Labels

                             Framelits; Pink Pirouette 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon

                      Technique: Out-of the-Box technique, Heat embossing

The main image is from Elements of Style. I heat embossed the image with black embossing powder on Whisper White cardstock. Then I colored it using Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz and So Saffron Markers. I cut it out to a 2x3” base using the technique described in the tutorial below. I matted it with a 2¼”x3¼” Melon Mambo mat and then matted that with a 2½”x3½” Whisper White Mat. I stamped the sentiment (from Thoughts & Prayers) in Melon Mambo Classic ink on a piece of Pink Pirouette Designer Paper (from the Subtles Collection Paper Stack). The I cut it out using Labels Framelits and hand cut a Melon Mambo Mat for the label.  The card base is Melon Mambo and is a standard A2 (4¼” x 5½”) size.  The Whisper White Card front is 4x5¼” and the is a 1¼”x5¼” strip of Melon Mambo Designer Paper (from the Brights Collection Paper Stack) along the bottom, and I added a Pink Pirouette 3/8” Taffeta Ribbon. The hummingbird image is heat embossed using Wild Wasabi embossing powder, with a touch of Silver embossing powder on the wing and tail tips and Melon Mambo embossing powder on the throat. You might notice I had to give my main image a little leaf-ectomy (i.e. I cut off a few leaves) so that it would fit in the space on my card.

Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you enjoyed my card today. I love comments! (hint, hint J)

Out of the Box Image Tutorial

1. Stamp image on cardstock and color as desired, then cut it along one side so that the image sticks out a little past the cut line. When you get to the image, stop cutting, pick up your cutting blade and start again on the other side of the image. This will give you a straight cut line down along your image without cutting off any of it.

2. Continue to do this around all four sides of your image. For this image, you can see I cut it so there is a 2x3” rectangle in the center, but I didn’t cut off any of the flowers or leaves that extended outside of that shape.

3. Only along the edge of the parts of the image that extend outside the box, cut along the edge so that you cut away the excess cardstock. See the leaf in the top corner on this photo. Stampin’ Up!’s Paper Snips are perfect for this, they make it really easy to get into the little corners of your image.

4. Continue doing that all the way around so that the parts of the image extending outside the box are all cut out. Here I have also cut along the flowers at the top of the image.

5. This is what your final out of the box image will look like, with parts of the image appearing to overflow the cardstock, isn’t it pretty?!

6. I recommend matting the image with a piece of cardstock that is ¼” wider and longer than the box you created. It makes the out of the box image have a more dramatic effect.

Thanks for reading my tutorial. I would love to hear what you thought of it!

All items that I used to make this card are available from Stampin’ Up! The 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up Idea Book and Catalog only lasts until May 31^st, so don’t miss out! If you would like to purchase any of the items shown here, please visit my business website at http://www.trina_kuriger.stampinup.net/