Gift box wrapping a DVD and making crumpled flowers

 Gift wrapping can be a chore or,
 a creative canvas to express your feelings.

I made this DVD cover from cardstock as a gift for a friend who held a workshop for me recently.

It contained a DVD box with clear stamps in it.

 On the front side I "wheeled" the friendship stamp around the Island indigo cardstock, then scored and folded my box... with the new Stampin' up ScorePal.
 (more on that later).

I added a piece of Concord Crush Embossed houndstooth cardstock and a sentiment:

Just because from the "Notably Ornate" stampset.

 I wrapped it with a piece of lace ribbon punched from Lucky Limeade cardstock.

I think these colours go beautifully together: rich, bright and vibrant.

The box is topped off with a crumpled flower made with the Fancy Flower punch, 5 petal punch and the Boho Blossom punch.

Here's the basic Tutorial for making these pretty flowers.

 You will need:

*Fancy Flower Punch (punch three from vanilla cardstock)

*5-petal punch (punch three from vanilla cardstock)

*Boho Blossoms punch (punch three of the largest blossom)

# Paper piercing tool

# Brad and perhaps a mat pack (so that you dont ruin your table).

# A spray bottle of water or isocol. 

# Dimensional or glue dot to stick to your project.

 1. Layer your punched flowers onto the paper piercer, from largest to smallest blossom.

 2. Then push your brad through the centre hole to hold it together.

 3. Begin scrunching each layer of petals upwards.

If you are finding the cardstock a bit difficult to crumple with your fingers give the whole flower, or each layer a spray with your spray bottle. This makes the paper fibres more pliable, but be gentle they are delicate when wet.

If you used Isocol (rubbing alcohol from the chemist) you can add some shimmer paint and it will dry quicker.

4. When it's almost dry you can unfurl your petals to the desired shape of your bloom.

Just remember the amount you spray will determine how long it takes to dry.

If they are still a little too damp, they wont stick to your adhesive, so set them aside to dry.

 And there you have it crumpled flowers - they look a bit like Gardenias I think.

You can sponge them with ink if you want to deepen the colour or just spray on a bit more shimmer paint for added sparkle.

Enjoy!!!

Scrapbooking the days of Summer

During the holidays we managed to get out into the bush a couple of times for walks, even though it threatened rain with overcast skies. One of the days we visited Girrakool National Park. We walked as far as the caves, crossing stepping stones over rain-filled creeks and had some good conversations along the way.

I really like this stampset: "Kindness matters" because it has butterflies designed to go with vintage style pages. It seems to match a lot of my stampsets at the moment. 

 For a small 6 x 6" page there is a lot going on starting with some

 "flower garden" embossing on the Elegant Eggplant cardstock.

Distressed edges on the patterned paper

Punched flowers from the Boho Blossom punch with added PEARLS

Embossed vellum butterflies (Beautiful wings embosslit)

 and of course the photo that has been cut out with the Beautiful butterflies die.
And the corner has been sprayed with shimmer paint mist for added sparkle.

Its appropriate that I have used the kindness matters stampset from Shelli Gardner's collection as the layout was inspired by one of her gorgeous vintage cards.

Time for a Teacher's gift

This  year we had one of the only male teacher's in Jessie's school so no flowers and butterflies on the teacher's gift this year...

 I thought about boxes of chocolates and christmas ornaments,

then we decided on a pen and note pad holder to put on his desk.

 The stampset is

 "Zoo Review".

There's a lion, giraffe, zebra, penguin and polar bear so we went for an African animal theme, with lots of mud splatters and script on the background from the

 "French folliage" stampset.

My favourite set for making a vintage style in Early Espresso and Soft Suede inks.

The only pen I could find was bright orange so I have attached it with a piece of Pumpkin Pie Wide grosgrain ribbon and a silver brad.

And for the frame in the background I have used "notably ornate" in Early espress ink.

The arrow shaped post-it notes are stuck on the clear acrylic photo frame that I picked up for $2 each at a stationary shop.

Now to make a matching Thank you card...