Matchbook Treat Tutorial

A nice lady on SCS asked me to provide her the directions for making the coffee packets I made on this post. Feeling brave, I decided to make a tutorial to post on my blog as well. It’s my first tutorial, so I’m quite nervous about posting it. Please feel free to leave me some nice constructive criticism in the comments. Okay (deep breath), here we go.

Materials Needed:
Cardstock
Designer paper
Stamped images
Strong taper runner adhesive (glue glider pro used here)
Glue dots (mini and craft used here)
Scoring tool
Paper trimmer
Stapler
Embellishments
Goodies for inside your matchbook (coffee packets, tea bag, and Ghirardelli chocolate used here)

Step 1: Cut your covers to the selected size. The measurements for the different types of treats are as follows:
Coffee sticks: 3” x 10 ¾“ (4 sets can be made from one 12x12 sheet)
Tea bag: 3” x 8” (3 sets can be made from one 8 ½ x 11 sheet)
Chocolate: 2 ½“ by 7 ¼“ (4 sets can be made from one 8 ½ x 11 sheet)
Step 2: Score your covers at the following measurements on the long side:
Coffee sticks: ¾“, 6”
Tea bag: 1”, 4 ¾“
Chocolate: ¾”, 4”
Tip: If you are making several of these, score your lines on your uncut sheet of paper first and then do your cutting. This will save you some time.

Step 3: Attach your stamped image to a panel of your designer paper and attach to the front of your book. Align the top of your image with the score line for an even border. For 1/8” borders the panel and images should be cut to the following sizes:
Coffee stick panel: 2 ¾” x 4 ¼”
Coffee stick image: 2 ½” x 4”
Tea bag panel: 2 ¾” x 2 ½”
Tea bag image: 2 ½” x 2 ¼”
Chocolate panel: 2 ¼” x 2 ¾”
Chocolate image: 2” x 2 ½”
Step 4: Attach your goodies to the inside of the matchbook. For the chocolate and the tea bag, I use a craft glue dot on the back side to hold the treat in place. Align the bottom of the packaging along the bottom score line. For the tea bag, make sure you scoot the bag up to the top of the packaging as much as possible to avoid stapling your tea bag. For the coffee sticks, attach your sticks to a 3” x ½” strip of paper with staples. Place a mini glue dot on the back of the packets and use your tape runner to apply adhesive to the back of the paper strip. Align your paper strip with the bottom score line and press down to ensure good adhesion.
Step 5: Embellish your matchbook as desired. Here I used flowers, brads, and ribbon. If you are using ribbon, make sure you do not glue it down the front as you will need to gently push your ribbon up to add the staple at the end.

Step 6: Fold all your score lines with a bone folder and add your staple to the bottom of the packet. Remember to push the tea bag up again to avoid stapling the bag.

Variations: You can substitute the inside packet with lots of things: creamer packets for a coffee and creamer set, fun size M&M’s, small gummy bear packets, etc.

Tips: A Scor-Pal won’t work for this since the score lines are fixed at set intervals. If you are making LOTS of these, I recommend using a solid image or stickers for efficiency. Also, set up your steps for an assembly style project: cut out all panels at once; score covers first, then cut; stamp all images at once; set up all your embellishments; etc.

Does this make sense? If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments.

Materials Used:

Cardstock: Bazill

Paper: My Minds Eye, Basic Grey, K & Co

Inks: Memento - tuxedo black, angel pink; Brilliance - coffee bean; Distress Ink - Weathered Wood

Stamps: MFT - Hot Stuff; Whiff Of Joy - Lizzie with Muff; Stampin Up - Bundle of Joy

Embellishments: ribbon, glazed brad, flower brad, Prima flowers

Coloring Tools: prismacolor pencils, OMS, Copics, Sakura Glaze Pen

Thanks for stopping by!

Copics

My LSS has been hosting Copic classes taught by the amazing Jen Del Muro! I took the first class a couple of months ago and just took the second class on Saturday. Jen went over the uses of the blender pen, grounding images, shading with multiple colors, coloring black items, and coloring embelishments. She is such a great teacher, if anyone reading this is in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, I highly reccommend you take her classes. She's teaching at Scrapper's Boutique in North Richland Hills. This store is just the cutest little place, and the owner, Cherie, is great! The card we made during the class used the main image from MFT's Flopsey's Flowers. Since I was on a roll, I came home and made this card for a birthday gift:

Flopsey used to really stress me out because I could never color him quite right. Now that I know a few more techniques, I think he's looking much better!

Thanks for stopping by!

Memory Book

My friend's grandfather died recently and I mentioned how many memories she had of him and how she wanted to write them down. With this in mind, I created a memory book for her to write stories of her granparents, attach pictures, etc. I purposely left the pages inside unlined so she would be free to add anything she wants to them.

I made the notebook using a pair of 8x8 covers and 1-1/2 inch coil from Bind It All. The covers were covered in designer paper from K and Co and sponged with London Fog ink to give them an aged look. I wanted to leave some blank space on the front for her to add a picture of her grandparents to the cover. To continue with the aged look, I used a Tim Holtz nameplate to frame her family name and I added Diamond Glaze to the inner oval to give it a shiny look.

The little tag attached to the key ring translated to "Memories of my Grandparents". This key ring is a left over part from my camera's broken strap. It sure came in handy for this project. I think it adds just the right touch.

I also created a simple card to complement the notebook. I think this is the fastest card I've ever made. It only took 10 minutes to make!Here's a picture of the set together: I apologize for the long post and so many pictures!! Did you make it to the end? If so, thanks for hanging in there!

The Waltz

Week 3 of My Favorite Things' challenge brought to us the waltz. Everytime I hear a waltz, I visualize ladies in gorgeous old fashioned gowns, elbow length gloves, dashing men in tuxedos... Sigh, I was so born in the wrong period. Of course, if I'd been born then, I'd have no internet... so I'm good in this day and age. Lol. I made this card thinking of all the elements that would go into making a perfect dance. Passion or love, a cute dance partner, and a great pair of heels!!

I kept the color palette to black and white with a touch of color and sparkle. Also, I used 3 images since the waltz is danced on a three count measure.

Supplies:
Paper: Bazill cardstock, Neenah paper
Stamps: MFT - Boho Blossoms, Flopsey's Flowers, Window Shopping
Misc: copics, pearls, stardust pen, pink ribbon

Be sure and stop by to show all the participants some love on SCS. Everyone is putting so much effort and enthusiasm into their cards! I know I'll have some TOUGH competition at the finals.

Thanks for stopping by!

MFT Week 1 Finalist!!

Ohmigosh!!! I was selected as the MFT So You Think You Can Stamp's Week 1 finalist!! I'm so totally on cloud 9 right now. With all the AMAZING projects that were submitted, I was honestly not expecting to be chosen even for the top 3, much less be made a finalist. Kim has already posted this week's challenge on the forum here, and this week we're going RETRO!! Make sure you stop by and admire all the great entries from last week on the SCS gallery here.

If I have time to play this weekend, I'll post some cards Sunday night. Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Dirty

MFT is having another challenge over at the Splitcoast Stampers Forum!! This week's So You Think You Can Stamp challenge is to make a card that has an unexpected flip, swing, or twist. Kim purposely left the challenge rather vague which was driving my overly analytical mind B-A-N-A-N-A-S! Lol. After much thought and consideration, here's what I came up with:

I added an extra flair to this swing card by cutting the inside panel with a Label One nestie instead of a traditional rectangle. I decided to add quite a few different elements to this card, including: rhinestones, diamond glaze, lots of paper piecing, and liquid applique. Can you spot them all on the card?

Here's what the card looks like on the inside:

The girls skin is colored with copics and the tub, dress, and TV were colored with prismacolors. The floors were made using a journaling pen, a copic marker, and diamond glaze. The mirror in the bathroom scene is a metal flower with a tiny mirror fitted inside. The hem on the girl's outfit is puffed up with liquid applique that I painted pink with reinkers and a tiny brush.

Supplies:

Paper - Basic Grey: Sultry, black cardstock, pink paper

Stamps - MFT: Time for the Bubbly, Maid for You; SU: Baroque Motifs

Inks - Memento: Angel Pink, Tuxedo Black, London Fog

Extras - pink rhinestones, liquid applique, diamond glaze, metal brad flower, round mirror

Color Tools - Copics, prismacolors, OMS

This challenge took several of us out of our comfort zones in many ways. Although I like to stick to familiar territory, I'm glad I got the chance to participate and explore new techniques. I'm looking forward to the next challenges and new techniques. Care to join along? Check out the MFT forum for all the information and details HERE!

Button Bunnies and CKC

This week's MFT challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers is to use buttons on your card. Since I hadn't inked up my Snuggle Bunnies set, I decided to take advantage of the challenge and break in my new polymer. Also, the scraps I had left over from the Double Dutch challenge were at the front of my scrap folder so I decided to go ahead and use them. I just love the combination of pink and brown. The bunnies are paper pieced from two separate scraps of paper.
Supplies:
Paper: Bazill, Basic Grey, The Paper Studio
Inks: Memento – Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Angel Pink; SEI – Tobacco
Embellishments: button brad, button, embroidery floss
Misc: cuttlebug, classic circle nestabilities, pop dots, glue dots

As I had mentioned before, last weekend was the Creating Keepsakes convention in San Marcos. We went and had a GREAT time!! We took several classes, including some on card making, scrapbooking, making mini albums, and flocking. Overall the classes were really good. Some classes were better than others, but that’s to be expected when there are several vendors/instructors with different teaching styles.

The vendor faire had a lot to choose from. Although I was surprised at the rather limited selection of stamps, there was still plenty to choose from. There was a huge selection of supplies including embellishments, copics, nestabilities, acrylic supplies, glitters, papers, and tools. Several vendors had some great make & takes and cute demonstrations going on throughout the faire. I definitely recommend this convention as it was a great resource for new techniques and new toys. I plan on going next year if they offer something similar close to home.

Thanks for stopping by!

Double Dutch Challenge and Whiff of Joy

Double Dutch has a fabulous sketch for this week’s challenge. Since I had some time last night, I decided to make another card for Whiff of Joy’s design team challenge and combine it with Double Dutch’s sketch. Here’s the resulting card. I’m very pleased with the way this card came out! I used my brand spankin’ new Prismacolor pencils and gamsol to color in Willow. Since the sketch has a lot going on and I was planning on using several bling elements, I decided to keep the coloring soft. Her mug is coated with Diamond Glaze for a shiny finish. I also decided to add a rhinestone flourish to one of the corners and a clear button threaded with pink and brown floss for a finishing touch. All the panels are edged with Rich Cocoa ink and the smaller brown panel is distressed and edged with Angel Pink chalk ink. The shaker card was made using my classic circle nestabilities, acetate, pop dots and chunky glitter. Gina K has a great tutorial on making shaker cards here and here. If you’re interested in participating in Whiff of Joy’s design team call, please visit Katharina’s page for more details. You can also see the other two cards I’ve submitted here and here.

Supplies:

Paper: Bazill - chocolate brown; Basic Grey; pink cardstock

Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Rich Cocoa; Versamagic - Angel Pink

Embellishments: pink rhinestone flourish; brown/pink embroidery floss; clear button; white chunky glitter

Misc: acetate; Diamond Glaze; classic circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Whiff of Joy

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Although I did do some papercrafting related stuff this weekend, I didn’t actually create much. I did, however, take one of the Whiff of Joy colored images and make it into a card for their design team challenge. If you’re interested in joining, please read Katharina’s post HERE.

I sized this card to 5 ½ x 5 ½ to keep the image proportional to the card. The yellows on this picture are a bit off. In real life, they’re much softer and muted. The light yellow background panel was stamped with the flourish in the Baroque Motifs set from SU in Memento Paris Dusk. The main image panel was softly sponged with a soft yellow ink to give it a glow, at least that’s what it looks like in real life! The sentiment is from the Michael’s dollar bin; it’s stamped in green ink then edged and sponged in blue and yellow inks. With such a beautiful image, I decided to keep the card clean and simple.

Supplies:
Paper: white, yellow cardstock; K&Co paper
Inks: Memento: paris dusk, tuxedo black, willow green; yellow ink
Stamps: Willow with Baby – Whiff of Joy; Baroque Motifs – Stampin Up; Once Upon A Time – Michael’s dollar bin
Misc: green sheer ribbon; pop dots

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Pencils v. Copics

Happy Friday everyone!

I recently started investing in coloring mediums for my cards. Now, I’ve used color pencils and markers in the past, but I didn’t really have a good understanding of which ones to use and how to use them. Since I’ve slowly been purchasing Copics and since they are so pricey, I decided to take a beginners class at Scrapper’s Boutique. The classes are given by the wonderful Jen Del Muro and it was absolutely FABULOUS!! Since then, I’ve been experimenting more with my markers and practicing my new blending techniques.

Now, I’ve also been following Paula Tracey's blog for a while now and realize the value of color pencils and OMS (odorless mineral spirits), so I recently purchased some OMS and a small set of Derwent color pencils. At first, this technique seemed so time consuming to an instant gratification type gal. But now, as I continue to practice with this method, I find that I’m appreciating color pencils more and more. For one, there is something therapeutic about coloring and blending and shading. It just seems to soothe me in a way that blending with markers doesn’t. Crazy I know. Another reason is I can buy way more pencils than copics with the same amount of money, so that tiny speck of frugality in me is very pleased.

I know that there are several people out there that are very attached to one coloring method or another, but not me. I like them both! I like the soft dreaminess of color pencils and OMS and I like the vibrant pop I get with copics. So for now, I will continue to practice and learn both methods and use the one that suits my mood and my card the best.

Here are some side by side comparisons of the same stamp using copics and color pencils. Now keep in mind that I only have about 12 copics and 12 color pencils. Also, I’ve only been coloring with copics sporadically for a few months up until last week when I attended Jen’s class and I’ve used color pencils for about two weeks now. So the work here is far from professional or technically correct! They’re just for comparison purposes. Thanks for stopping by.

Prickley Pear Submissions - Long Post

I finally had time to edit and upload my pictures for the Prickley Pear Design Team call. The deadline is tomorrow evening and I just hit SEND on my email to them! Since this and the Whiff of Joy design team are my first submissions ever, I'm not sure that I'll be picked. However, I think the experience is worth it. With so many experienced and talented papercrafters out there, the competition is bound to be tough! The rules asked for three samples and here's what I came up with.

The first one is a birthday card I made for my sister. I haven't sent it to her yet, but I will! Sorry Jess. I used The Poppies stamp set from MFT and combined it with a PPRS sentiment to complete the look. I finished out the inside and used Veramark to make a tone on tone pattern on the black paper using the larger nautical star from PPRS. The cute little 3-D star on the outside was made by cutting a silver star out with the cricut and making straight line scores from each tip all the way down. Once your star is completely scored, the star is folded in an alternating pattern: tips are folded up, sides are folded down. I used a pop dot to attach it to the card.

Stamps: MFT - The Poppies; PPRS - Rock & Roll sentiment, nautical stars
Paper: black, white, silver cardstock; DCWV - All Dressed Up
Ink: Memento - tuxedo black, angel pink; Versamark
Other: pop dots, copics, silver and rose glitter markers

The second item I made is a layout showcasing Aldo playing his new guitar. He's very proud of this new guitar. I really enjoyed making this page. I started out with one concept, but my project moved in a different direction and I just ran with it. I made a charm using polyshrink and the same stamp as the background. It was my first time using the polyshrink in the oven and it worked great; it just takes a few seconds and it’s done. I plan on displaying this at work.

Stamps: PPRS – Flourished Guitar
Paper: cream, copper, navy blue cardstock
Ink: Memento – rich cocoa, paris dusk; Brilliance – coffee bean
Other: chocolate suede leather lace, jewelry wire, K & Co rub on, polyshrink, chipboard embellishment, UTEE, Mod Podge

The last item I made came together very quickly once I knew what I wanted the project to be. Aldo suggested I alter a cigar box I had a home, but I found this box at Michaels and it was already white and ready for altering so I went ahead and picked it up. I painted it with thinned green acrylic paint using a wet sponge for a see through effect and lightly sanded it once it was dry. Using black ink, I stamped the imaged around the four sides of the box and the inside of the lid. I sanded the box again to take away some of the ink. I tore a piece of 8x8 designer paper at an angle and attached it to the lid of the box using Mod Podge. The finishing touch was the Happiness embellishment that sits across the front of the box.

Stamps: PPRS – Funky Floral
Paper: DCWV – Once Upon A Time
Ink: Memento – Tuxedo Black
Other: white keepsake box, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, sanding block, Me and My Big Ideas – Happiness embellishment

Creating the projects for this design team call has been a fun learning experience. I had the opportunity to try new techniques, use new stamps, and create items that are outside of my comfort zone with pleasing results. And, as a bonus, I now have a handy gift ready for future use! Thank you for reading my long post. :)

Whiff of Joy Designer Call

Whiff of Joy is holding a Guest Designer Call!! I just received two stamps that I purchased from them and they are amazing!! I purchased them from Stamper's Dream and received them within 2 days!! I just had to pull them out and start playing with them right away. The images stamp so crisp and clean and they are so much fun to color. The first stamp I played with is Willow with Hot Chocolate. I stamped two images side by side and colored one in with Copics and the other one with color pencils and odorless mineral spirits. It was such joy to use these stamps that I've decided to submit some samples for their Designer call. Keep watching this post for more samples as they become available. If you're interested in submitting as well, click on THIS link to go to Katharina's blog for instructions.
This is the first sample I'm submitting for the designer call. It's a matchbook style coffee packet holder. It was so easy to make that I'm thinking this will make great little gifties for RAK's and those random occasions that pop up. Here's some details on the card front before I start talking about the inside: I stamped the image on white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored the image in with Copic markers. The panel was edged in orange ink and attached to my favorite My Mind's Eye paper. The small flowers are from My Favorite Things, they come in white and I painted them with brown and orange ink and layered them using a mini brad in copper. The wrapper was made using chocolate colored Bazzill cardstock from the Preppy paper pad.

I purchased a box of these individual coffee packs from Wal-Mart for about $1. In order to attach them, I first stapled them onto a small strip of cardstock. I then glued the cardstock along the bottom score mark, folded the score mark up and stapled the packet once along the bottom. Since the packets are so long, I used a little bit of double sided tape to hold them against the cardstock so they don't flop around so much. I'm thinking that with assembly line style production, these cute little gifts can be done in no time at all!!

I plan on adding a few more entries before the deadline, so please check back often for more Whiff of Joy creations. Thanks!

ETA: Please check out this and this post for another Whiff of Joy entry. Thanks!

Say Charge!

Well, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the Prickley Pear submissions, but I did take some pictures of a card I made for the weekly MFT challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. The challenge was to use an uninked set. Since MFT had a great sale a couple of weeks ago, I actually had several sets to choose from! I'm going to have to give my new MFT stamps some serious love soon!
I stamped the main image onto white cardstock (I use Hammermill cardstock) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the image with Copic markers and kept the scheme with the pink, grey, and black. I attached a tiny hot pink gemstone to the center of the flower on the bag for a little more pizzaz. The sheer black ribbon is attached with a We R Memory Keepers designer grommet. I found the grommets on clearance at Hobby Lobby a few days ago.

I finished out the inside to complete the card. For some reason, I always have a harder time deciding on the inside layout than the outside! Go figure! I made a black border with the Fiskars Treading Water border punch and made a circle tag using one of the smaller images from the stamp set. The edge of the tag is inked in Memento London Fog and attached with pop dots, but the picture doesn't show it that well.

Stamps: MFT Say Charge

Paper: DCWV - All Dressed Up; Hammermill white cardstock; black, pink, and silver cardstock

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento London Fog

Accessories: pink satin ribbon, black sheer ribbon, We R Memory Keepers Designer Grommet, Copic markers, pop dots, rhinestone

That's it for today. Thank you for joining me.

Creating Keepsakes Convention

My mom, my aunt, and I are going to our first Creaking Keepsakes Convention in San Marcos. I'm so excited!! We've signed up for several classes including the Latest and Greatest with Basic Grey. I'm hoping we learn lots of great new techniques (well new to us anyway!) and find some great products at their vendor's faire. It's going to be a great girls' weekend.

I'm going to try out for my first design team ever!! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps is doing a design team call for a one year term. I've completed a card that is going to double as a birthday card for my sister and I'm working on a layout/altered chipboard binder page that will portray my husband's musical prowess :). I still need one more piece to complete, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to make. I'm thinking of doing an altered item, but I'm not sure what...

If I get a chance this weekend, I'll take pictures of the two items and post them next week. Byee.

My First Blog

I'm starting my very first blog!! I never thought I would be a blogger, but I'd like to try out for a couple of design teams and they highly encourage the use of blogs to promote their products. So... here I am. In the future I hope to post some of the projects I've made, tutorials, and other announcements related to scrapbooking and just life in general. Feel free to stop by from time to time and take a look around. See you soon!