Clearly Delightful

Ornament accents and beaded chains

Today is the last day of the sneak previews for the Dec 1 releases for CD Stamps, and the stamps I'm showing today are called Ornament accents, Ornament string, and beaded chain. They all coordinate to create beautiful Holiday packaging, tags, gifts and cards!

But first, sometime today, these DT members will be previewing their creations with these stamp sets.

Linda Anderson
Alexandra Maldonado
Suzanne Dean
Candy Fosta

I was tasked with a 6x6 page, a card and a type of packaging.
Here is my 6x6 page.  My 2-1/2 year old is finally old enough to help with the tree decorating this year, so this page will be perfect for remembering those moments!

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Ornament accents, ornament string, beaded chain
• CS: basic grey wassail, white, watercolor
• INK: Brilliance black, ruby red, always artichoke, more mustard, sahara sand
• ACCESS: nestabilities, red brads, word window punch, stickles, vintage spun twill, SU dimensionals, sewing machine

CARD
A festive little holiday invitation ornament card.

 

1. I stamped the ornaments on watercolor paper in Brilliance black and watercolored, then added stickles.

2. Layer the watercolor paper panel onto designer paper and sew together.

3. Add ribbon and sentiment diecut. Attach card front to folded card base.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Ornament accents
• CS: Basic grey wassail, watercolor
• INK: Brilliance black, always artichoke, ruby red, more mustard, creamy caramel, pumpkin pie
• ACCESS: Iridescent Fine taffeta ribbon, spellbinders label diecut, sewing machine, waterbrush, sponge, SU dimensionals, stickles

For my last preview, I made some stamped wrapping paper and a tag. Stamping this paper took about 4 minutes.

Once I wrapped the gift box, I used a sponge and creamy caramel ink and sponged the edges and corners to give the package an aged appearance.

The tag is a cuttlebug diecut and I used a 1-3/8" circle punch cutout to layer it over.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Ornament string, Ornament accents, Beaded chain
• CS: watercolor and ruby red for tag, wrapping paper for package
• INK: ruby red, always artichoke, close to cocoa, pumpkin pie, creamy caramel
• ACCESS: iridescent fine taffeta ribbon, cuttlebug diecut, circle punch, stickles, waterbrush, sponges

Hope these ideas were at least a little inspiring, and thank you for stopping in, it means so much that you visit!
Happy Stamping,
Laurie Wilson

Snowflakes and Cookie Creations

Good morning!  

If you missed it, be sure to check out Lori McCroskey's blog... she put up a SUPER HUGE blog candy yesterday that includes one of each of the December 1 stamp releases.  Y can enter to win just by commenting with an idea!

The sneak previews for CD Stamps today are Snowflake tags and Snow Diamonds.  I will also show you the December Stamp of the month, called Cookie Creations.

The other DT members who created some awesome gift ensembles with these 2 coordinating stamp sets:

Nancy Grant
Joan Ervin
Tori Wild
Candy Fosta

I was tasked with making 6x6 scrap pages and a card and one other item.   Here is my scrap page.  I left it without any date or sentiment since I have yet to fill in the photo area.
This page was fairly quick to pull together.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Snow diamonds, snowflake tags
• CS: white, pacific point, certainly celery
• INK: Pacific point, baja breeze, certainly celery
• ACCESS: silver brads, blue brad, baja breeze stripe ribbon, circle punches, sewing machine

CARD
Here's another quick project, a holiday card.

I diecut a piece of copy paper with my nestabilities and used the copy paper as a mask to sponge the color on first.

Then, I stamped the line of diamonds around the edges and the snowflakes and sentiment.
 
SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Snowflake tags
• CS: white, pacific point
• INK: pacific point, baja breeze
• ACCESS: white satin, sewing machine, sponges, nestabilities, copy paper

STAMPED RIBBON

I used my Palette white canvas ink to stamp on some 1" wide grosgrain ribbon.  A quick way to pretty up a package with my own decorated ribbon!

In order to get the snowflakes evenly spaced, I lined the ribbon over my stamping grid mat and used the marks on the mat as my guide, stamping the snowflakes 1/2" between points.
 

The December Stamp of the month (SOM) is called Cookie creations and it is 33% LARGER than other months!  You get a free SOM with a qualified purchase over at CD Stamps during the month of December. 

I made just one sample with this set, but these other DT members made some cute projects with the December SOM:

Tori Wild
Candy Fosta
Linsey Rickett
Katie Renz

For my card, I made a little "truffle cup" for the main sentiment medallion.  It was really easy, here's the directions.
 
First, diecut your scallop circle (or any other shape) and snip between each scallop approximately 1/4"-3/8" deep.

Next, glue your layered images or punchouts onto the snipped scallop and gently fold the scallops upward.  Now you have a paper truffle cup!

Finished card!

Supplies:

• STAMPS: December Stamp of the month SOM Cookie creations
• CS: baja breeze, chocolate chip, white, vanilla, SU manchester DP
• INK: Chocolate chip, close to cocoa, creamy caramel
• ACCESS: satin ribbon, antique copper brads, nestabilities, circle punches, sewing machine

Thanks for stopping by again today, be sure to check the other DT members blogs I mentioned sometime today, as they may post later than I do.

Check in tomorrow for the LAST sneak preview before the December releases at Clear Dollar Stamps!
Happy Stamping weekend!
Laurie

Asian plants stamp set

HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY!  I'm probably the only one sitting at home today, so I'm just showing another sneak preview. 

Before the previews, I need to tell you about some awesome BLOG CANDY that Lori is offering over at Clearly iStamp!  All you need to do is comment to be entered to win a BUNCH of stamps and some other papercrafting supplies!

The set I'm showing you today is not really a holiday set, it's called Asian plants, and it's one of my favs this month.  I made a couple cards to show you, and the other DT members who used this set are listed below.  Check out their creations too when you get the chance!

Linda Borneman
Lorelie Kim
Kim Teasdale
Candy Fosta

The first card I made, I like everything but the stitching around the oval.  Ovals are really hard for me to sew around, so the stitching stinks on this one!  After a couple tries, I just settled for what I got.  I figured it could be considered the crooked look.  :o)

1. Stamp bamboo in black pigment ink on oval shaped watercolor paper and heat emboss clear embossing powder on the images.
2. Sponge all the different sky colors and blend together by sponging them into each other. Start with light colors and sponge a little larger area than you think you want. The darker colors will take away the lighter colors edges. I used River rock in the middle, More mustard on the lower right and lower left, not quite navy on the upper left, and chocolate chip around all the edges. Use a tissue and wipe over the embossed images to clean them up.
3. Stamp and layer the sentiment panel. Adhere to main oval panel.
4. Cut an oval out of Granola DP, adhere onto river rock CS, then onto Not quite navy layer and sew together. Sew around big oval. Trace around small oval centered over big oval cut. Sew around the traced oval.
5. Assemble ribbon over panel. Adhere oval panel centered over sewn oval hole. Attach brads. Attach panel to river rock card base.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Asian plants
• CS: river rock, not quite navy, basic gray granola, chocolate chip
• INK: Black pigment ink, river rock, more mustard, not quite navy, chocolate chip
• ACCESS: Granola brads, sewing machine, blue bayou ribbon, clear EP, heat tool, sponges, SU dimensionals

The next card and candy tin I made I am much happier with.

1. Stamp berry branch repeatedly in Brilliance black ink on watercolor paper and color.  Add clear laquer over berries.  Allow to dry.  Sponge around edges and over branches, wipe with tissue.  Trim two branches and piece over tin. Layer panel on black, baja breeze and red CS.

2. Stamp sentiment and punch out.  Apply versamark ink and clear EP, use heat tool, apply several coats. Put into freezer for 2 minutes and bend in all directions to crack the EP, for the cracked glass technique. Layer on coordinating circle punch outs.

3. Assemble and sew base of card, add ribbon and sentiment medallion.

SUPPLIES for berry branch card:

• STAMPS: Asian plants
• CS: red, black, baja breeze, watercolor, urban prairie
• INK: Brilliance black, baja breeze, real red, garden green
• ACCESS: Vintage spun twill, sponges, waterbrush, clear laquer, circle punches, snips, brads, mini glue dots, sewing machine

On the last card I used flower soft on the flowers and the soil of the pot. Instructions for flower soft are in my previous sneak preview post.

 

1. Stamp the flower and double leaf in Brilliance black all over the base watercolor paper, watercolor images and layer onto bravo burgundy CS, sew together.

2. Stamp flower pot image in Brilliance black, watercolor panel, sponge around edges, layer onto chocolate CS, sew together and add brads in corners.

3. Add flower soft to soil in pot and flowers.  Add ribbon across base panel and tie knot. Adhere focus panel.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Asian plants
• CS: handsome hunter, bravo burgundy, chocolate chip, watercolor
• INK: Brilliance black, handsome hunter, bravo burgundy, close to cocoa, sage shadow
• ACCESS: chocolate satin ribbon, CTMH bitty brads, waterbrush, sponge, flower soft and glue, sewing machine

Here's a close up of the flower soft on the image.  Almost brings it to life!

Thanks for stopping by today, I have 2 more days of sneak previews, check back tomorrow!

Laurie

Gumdrops, Lollipops, Spots and Flower Soft

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Hope you are all at home relaxing today (inbetween cooking and eating!).

Today's sneak preview is for a 2x7 stamp called Gumdrops and Lollipops and a mini tag set called Treats for my sweet.  I'll also show a separate 2x7 stamp called Spots a plenty that I used with a stamp from a summer release.

Before I go into my projects, I'll list the other Clear Dollar DT who used these stamps. You may want to check out what cute Holiday gift packaging they created too!

Kelly Hampton
Katie Renz
Linsey Rickett
Candy Fosta
Lori McCroskey

I was tasked with using the December stamps for a scrap page project, and I also made a mini card.

My scrap page is a birthday page for my little girls album. She'll be 3 next June... nothing like getting ahead!

 

1. Stamp and color the 2x6 watercolor paper strip with the Gumdrops and Lollipops stamp. Layer it on 2-1/4x6 celery CS and 2-3/8x6 soft sky CS. Sew together.

2. Die cut ovals and adhere together. Apply stickles to scallops.

3. Sew 5-3/4 square Designer paper onto baja breeze 6" square CS.

4. Stamp and color candy images.  Assemble all the pieces of the page as shown.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Gumdrops and Lollipops, Treats for my sweet
• CS: basic grey Urban prairie, baja breeze, certainly celery, retired soft sky, watercolor, white
• INK: Brilliance black, certainly celery, pink pirhouette, baja breeze, barely banana, rose red
• ACCESS: kiwi velvet ric-rac, silver brads, sewing machine, oval nestabilities, SU dimensionals, waterbrush, sponge, stickles, mini glue dots

Here is a fun and sweet, non-traditional Holiday mini 3x3 notecard.

1. Stamp on 2-7/8 square watercolor paper, and color in.

2. Add stickles, beads and ribbon knot.

3. Sponge around edges.

4. Adhere onto folded 3x6 base CS.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Treats for my sweet
• CS: watercolor, baja breeze
• INK: Brilliance black, baja breeze, certainly celery, pink pirhouette
• ACCESS: pink velvet ric-rac, waterbrush, seed beads, mini glue dot, sponge, stickles

The next stamp is called Spots a Plenty, and I used it on the background of this card.  This stamp is so versatile with several sizes of dots randomly placed on a 2x7 space.  I used a neat new product called Flower Soft on this card for Charlie Baby's blanket.

1. Stamp spots in rose red ink on rose red paper, sew onto celery card base.

2. Sew strip of Eva paper onto base, adhere velvet ric-rac to strip.

3. Stamp and color in Charlie on watercolor paper, layer on rose and celery CS.

4. Apply flower soft to blanket per directions below, attach panel to base, adhere buttons and stamp sentiment.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Charlie Baby, Spots a plenty
• CS: rose red, certainly celery, watercolor, Basic grey Eva
• INK: Brilliance black, creamy caramel, blush blossom, close to cocoa, certainly celery
• ACCESS: Eva buttons, waterbrush, kiwi velvet ric-rac, Flower Soft and glue, sewing machine

APPLYING FLOWER SOFT

1. Apply the Flower soft glue over area you want to apply the flower soft.  I used the tip and spread the glue around so that it wasn't too thick.  (Too thick makes your drying time longer)

 

2. The flower soft is packed into the jar. Using your fingers grab a clump of the flower soft and sift it between your fingers until the pieces fall apart and fall onto the glue.

 

3. Apply liberally and pile it on.  Using your fingers, smoosh the flower soft into the glue, making sure all of the glue is covered.  Don't worry about mashing the flower soft, it bounces right back.

 

4. Tap off excess.

 

5. Press into the flower soft again to finish the edges and to make sure all flower soft pieces are embedded into the glue. Allow to dry, mine took about 20 minutes.

 

Doesn't Charlie's blanket look like a thick soft crocheted throw?

 

That's all for today!  Check back in tomorrow for another CD Stamps sneak preview, Asian Plants!

~Laurie

Trees, trees, everywhere

Good Morning!  It's sneak preview time again, I can't believe it's been a whole month already!  This month went fast!

This December 1 at CD Stamps they will be releasing 4 different coordinating sets of stamps that are designed for easy and lovely Holiday packaging and gift making, and 1 asian style stand alone stamp set. 

Today is the sneak preview day for Christmas Tree Delight (wheel stamp) and Tree Delight Tags.  These two sets coordinate, one is a stamp that can fit on your 2" clear wheel handle, and the other is a mini set that you can make tags with.  You will be amazed at what the CD design team has done with this set of stamps!

These following DT members also created gift sets with these stamps, check them out sometime today!

Jen Ofiana
Jan Hunnicutt
Nancy French
Candy Fosta

Lori McCroskey

I did something different than the rest of the DT.  I used the stamps to create a 6x6 scrap page, a card, and a quick Holiday packaging idea.
Here's the 6x6 scrap page.

1. Stamp the Christmas Tree Delight 2"x7" stamp onto watercolor paper in Brilliance black ink.
2. Watercolor using waterbrush and dye inks.
3. Sew or adhere moss CS onto red CS for base.
4. Adhere tree strip onto red CS strip. Adhere layered strip onto 6x6 base.
5. Die cut scallop circle and cut white photo base circle. Adhere together.
6. Tie vintage spun twill across page.
7. Adhere circle over twill.  Adhere buttons.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Christmas tree delight wheel stamp
• CS: real red, mellow moss, white, watercolor
• INK: always artichoke, ruby red, more mustard, bashful blue, mellow moss
• ACCESS: Basic grey granola buttons, linen thread, vintage twill ribbon, sewing machine, scallop nestabilities, waterbrush, stickles on snow

Here's a 4.25" square card, quick and simple, yet with just a but of detail.

1. Stamp tree on watercolor paper, color and cutout.
2. Stamp tree and snow and sentiment on white CS, adhere to red CS and sew together.
3. Tie ribbon over stamped base, paper pierce below sentiment, and adhere onto the sage shadow card base.
4. Adhere colored tree over one tree on base with pop-up foam dots, and add stickles to ornaments on tree.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Tree Delight Tags
• CS: sage shadow, real red, white, watercolor
• INK: real red, bordering blue, Brilliance black, creamy caramel, sage shadow, so saffron
• ACCESS: paper piercer, waterbrush, pop-up dots, ocean tides satin ribbon, sewing machine

The last thing I made is this quick packaging idea for a gift card.  I used an SU kraft open end envelope as a slider holder.

1. Seal the envelope by wetting the seal and adding some adhesive to each side and folding the flap down.

2. Cut a sliver of the end off of the sealed end, to create the open part for your slider.

3. Using your SU horizontal slot punch, punch the slot in the end you just cut off, about 1/4" from the end.

4. Begin decorating your envelope front. I stamped the Christmas tree delight stamp in SU craft white.

5. I used my white gel pen and added highlights to the bulbs for some character.

6. I colored the trunks with creamy caramel marker, and added stickles to the stars.

7. For the base of the card that slides, I cut red at 6-1/8 x 3-3/8, black at 6 x 3-1/4, and kraft at 5-7/8 x 3-1/8.

8. Place the gift card (I just used an old pharmacy card as my template) centered side to side and near the bottom of the kraft CS, but leaving an extra 3/8" - 1/2" at the bottom for punching the ribbon slot later.

9. Using your slit punch, line up the punch bottom with your penciled lines, but cuting about 1/8" below your line. Do this on both sides and the bottom.  This will create a TIGHT fit for your gift card.

10. Make sure your card fits snuggly before putting your piece together.

11. Stamp and decorate the kraft CS.  Punch the horizontal slot at the bottom of the decorated kraft CS.

12. Line up and center kraft CS over black CS, trace the slot hole, punch out. Using black and red CS, trace the slot onto the red base and punch out. Finish assembling your sliding base card.

13. Thread your ribboon through the lower slot on the card as shown on the left, and slide your card into the envelope holder.

14. Slide in all the way, except lining up the top of the card with the top of the envelope.  Thread your ribbon tails through the front and back of the envelope slot and tie.

Here's the finished slider!

 

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Christmas tree delight, Tree delight tags
• CS: kraft, red, black
• INK: SU white, black, SU markers to color
• ACCESS: slit punch, horizontal slot punch, sewing machine, vintage spun twill ribbon, stickles, sponge, envelope, white gel pen

Thanks for stopping by!  Check in tomorrow for a new set of packaing stamps being previewed!
~Laurie

Altered wooden tea box

I got a bunch of these wooden tea boxes on clearance for .25 cents each at a local grocery store, and I decided to pull one out and alter it.  I think it would make a nice peppermint candy dish decoration.
 

I didn't measure anything, I placed each side of the box over the designer paper and traced to get the right sizes. For the ends, I removed the lid and traced around the notches and snipped them away.

Applied all designer paper with ModPodge.
 

Then I decorated and embellished the covered box.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Poinsettia Petals by www.CDStamps.com
• CS and PAPER: baja breeze, always artichoke, white, SU designer series paper
• INK: Ruby red, Bravo Burgundy, Baja Breeze
• ACCESS: Sponge, branch punch, oval nestabilities, antique copper brads, glue dots, SU dimensionals, red velvet ribbon, pearl stickers, sticky strip, red loop string

Hope you might be able to use this idea as an inspiration for your next altered item!
Until next week, Laurie

Herd it's your birthday card

This is just a card today.  No techniques or step-by-steps.  In fact, it's so simple there's no close up photos.
I made a card for my husband and my almost 2-1/2 year old wanted to help.  I decided I would let her pick out all the colors and the stamp for daddy's card.  I was quite surprised at the colors she picked, I was ready to color a pink and purple cow!  I asked her what color for each item and she said white for the cow, brown for the spots, the ear needed to be brown too.  She even picked the ribbon color to be brown, the flower to be orange and the grass to be green.  She must have remembered the cows she saw at Paw-paws house in east Texas this summer.

I had to search through my patterned papers quite extensively to find, not only a pattern that would work with the image, but one with colors that match the image.  I almost gave up until I saw this design from my SU manchester paper pack.  The greens don't quite match, but it doesn't look too bad.  I had my daughter sit with me while sewing and she loved that, she really thought she was helping.  She even stuck her hand in the baja breeze inkpad and slapped it inside the card, but I forgot to take a picture of that for you.

Here are the supplies:

• STAMPS: MFT Punny farm
• CS: baja breeze, chocolate chip, watercolor, manchester DSP
• INK: close to cocoa, SU white, blush blossom, garden green, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, brilliance graphite
• ACCESS: CTMH bitty brads, SU dimensionals, sewing machine, jute string

Just had to share this little card tonight... be back later this week with something more informative.
Happy Stamping, Laurie Wilson

Liquid pearl drops without points and bound button hole slots

Hey folks!  Here's my weekly post.   Peggy emailed me asking me if I knew how to make the liquid pearls not pointed, and I didn't really know, but decided it was a good challenge!  So, after some playing around I found a way to make your dots not pointed, but I must be honest that it took A LOT of practice. That means wasted product.  So, whenever you are ready to try this for yourself, you might want to buy the cheap liquid pearl stuff, Scribbles (r) shirt paint from Hobby Lobby to practice with. It is only .99 cents for a 1 fl. oz. bottle, twice the size of Liquid Pearls (tm).

You will need a piece of copy paper and a hole punch, I found that the 1/8" circle works the best, your project CS and liquidy pearl paint.

BELOW:  Mark and punch your holes in the sequence that you want your pearly dots.

BELOW: Start by holding your punched copy paper over your project where you want the dots to be.  Hold your paper in place and carefully glob the pearly stuff over the hole.

BELOW:  Move the tip of your bottle in a circular motion over and around the blob.  This takes practice to lift the tip away without leaving a pointy blob, but once you get the hang of it, it's a cinch!

BELOW: Once all your holes are covered, carefully lift the copy paper up.  There might be a few points made, but they are less pointy than if you blobbed it on without the punched paper guide.

Now, gently tap your project on your desk, making sure that your project is flat and horizontal.  Do not tilt at any angle or your blobs may end up sideways.

I was unable to capture of photo of this step happening, but it is the same kind of gentle motion that you would do to cake batter in the pan, if you wanted to get all the air bubbles out of the batter... you gently tap the pan on the counter a few times.

BELOW:  Here are the blobs I made with my punched paper guide and AFTER I tapped the horizontal project a couple times. You can see how uniform in size they are and they are not pointed

STEP-BY-STEP WITHOUT PUNCHED PAPER GUIDE:

You could follow the above steps without the copy paper, and just make blobs free-handed, but I found the punched copy paper made my blobs all the same size and I didn't have to worry about different size blobs that I get when I free-hand it. Below are pictures of how I did the blobs free-handed.

Make your blobs like normal, and here you can see the points.

BELOW:  This is what it looks like after I tapped the CS while horizontal, a few times. You can see that the points are no longer prominent, but you also can see how I was not able to get my blobs all the same size either.

Now allow all your pearl blobs to dry.  Mine took approximately 30 minutes.

POUCH CARD

I CREATED THE SLOT FOR THE CARD USING THE "BOUND BUTTON HOLE" TECHNIQUE FROM Lori McCroskey's BLOG.  She has a complete tutorial with step-by-step pictures on how to create the bound buttonhole, I simply changed the size of the button hole slot to fit a notecard.  The finished size of my button hole slot is 1" x 4-1/2".  Full list of supplies is at the bottom of the post.

BELOW:  I also decided to make some freehand pearl blobs on my finished card and tapped the project while horizontal a few times as I described at the beginning of this post to make the points disappear.

BELOW:  I marked my button hole slot with a pencil on the inside of the folded 8-1/2x11 card base.  I marked it at 1/2" away from the top and the sides and then drew 45 degree angles from the corners until they met.  This was my guide for where to cut using the Xacto knife (see Clearly iStamp blog for complete instructions on the bound buttonhole)

 

LEFT:  Since my button hole slot was so much closer to the edge than Lori's, I had to snip away the folded back cardstock on the top and each side so that it didn't hang over the edge.

For the button hole slot, I followed the remainder of Lori's instructions and then finished my card by

1. stamping on the front of the base CS

2. sewing the base CS all around the edges, this closes the inside off completely, so if you are going to add brads to yours, you'd want to add those prior to sewing around the edges.

3. Stamped the butterfly outline on Eva paper and cut out wings and stuck on with mini glue dots near the center, so that I could bend the wings a little outward.

4. Stamped and sewed the tabbed pull out card together.

DIMENSIONS FOR CARD:

The purple base of the pull out card is 4-1/4" x 3-3/4" tall, not including the tab sticking up.  Including the tab sticking up, it is 4-1/4" tall.

The base that has the slot in it is a regular A2 size card base, 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" folded (5-1/2" x 8-1/2" unfolded).

Here is the finished card and holder together.

SUPPLIES:

• STAMPS: Butterfly wings by www.cdstamps.com
• CS: PTI white and plum pudding, Basic Grey Eva paper
• INK: SU Perfect plum
• ACCESS: Stickles Iridescent white paint (similar to Liquid Pearls), sewing machine, round tab punch, tape, mini glue dots
• TECHNIQUE: Bound Button hole by Lori McCroskey

Thank you for stopping by today, and I sure hope it was worth it!  Hope you have a wonderful stamping weekend!

Laurie Wilson