Monday, November 28, 2011

Glitter Window Holiday Cards

I have been stamping and card making for many years and today I would like to show you a fun technique that I learned a long time ago that is always a wow when giving a card.

You will need:

- Cardstock

- Punch - here I am using the Martha Stewart Anywhere Snowflake. I love this punch, because it is magnetic - you can place it anywhere on a piece of paper. You don’t have to worry if it will reach or not!

- Packing Tape

- Glitter

Cut your cardstock to fit the front of your card.

Place the punch in the center of the cardstock piece. To line this up nicely, I put the bottom of the punch on the back of the cardstock piece and make sure it is lined up evenly with the sides of the cardstock. Then you can place it on the top of the punch and the magnets with secure it together. Punch your shape.

Put your cardstock on a slick service, here I am using a glass mat. You could just use a piece of acetate or a plastic bag. The point is to not have the tape stick to your table. Place a piece of packing tape over the punched shape with the sticky part facing out the front of the card. Press into place.

Turn over the card and pour glitter on the tape. Burnish the glitter into the tape and pour the rest back in the bottle.

You can now mount your completed piece on the front of your card. If you don’t mind the tape on the back, you can do this technique on the front of the card so the recipient will see through the front to the inside of your card.

I finished my card by stamping a Christmas greeting. I love cards that are simple with that wow factor. You could definitely make 100 of these cards to send to everyone on your Christmas card list.

Happy Stamping!

Whitney

Tukwila Paper Zone

Friday, November 25, 2011

Holiday Gift Tags With Fun Flock

Hi All! I am so happy to share a fun product with you all, Fun Flock embellished gift tags! Do you remember Fuzzy Posters from your childhood? Well, this product is Fuzziness in a jar! Paper Zone carries it in a variety of colors and I want to share a project with you that I made with the red flock.




The supplies needed for this project are the following:

Red Fun FLock, Black Memento ink pad, Quickie Glue Pen, rubber stamp, gift tag (I made my own by cutting white cardstock to 2.5 x 4 inches and snipping 2 edges off.) and Copic Markers (I used BG10 and R46).

Step 1: Stamp you image with the back ink onto the tag. Step 2: With the red Copic marker color in the scarf and hat or where ever you want the flocking to go. This is done to ensur the flocking really stands out and looks solid as some of it will rub-off slightly after application.

Step 3: Using the Cool Shadow Copic Marker color the inside edges of the stamped image to give it some dimension.

Step 4: Using the Quickie Glue Pen apply glue to the red areas where flocking is desired.

Step 5: Pour some flocking over the glue and press down with fingers. This is a similar process as applying glitter, but you want to make sure and press the flocking into the glue to ensure a lot of it stays.

Step 6: Finish off tag by adding an eyelet and ribbon.

Happy Black Friday! As you are out shopping for gifts, don't forget about the wrapping and making the package as memorable as the gift! Making holiday gift tags is one of my favorite holiday traditions, it's something I look forward to every year!




Happy Holidays!


Christina

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Simple Scallop Christmas Tree Card

Supplies you'll need:

1 sheet Astrobrights Celestial Blue cardstock

1 sheet Esse Texture Verde cardstock

1 sheet white cardstock

scrap of Green Grocer cardstock or any kraft-colored cardstock

Colorbax Frost White Pigment ink pad

Kaisercraft round red rhinestones

Kaisercraft blue flower rihinestones

scissors

Fiskars cloud edging scissors

Aleene's tacky glue

Cut two 1/2" x 8 1/2" strips from the green cardstock. Scallop the whole length of both pieces with the scissors.

Cut the strips apart into 6 separate pieces for each layer of branches. Snip the ends of the pieces at an angle as in the photo for a more "branchy" look. The bottom layer will be 6 scallops long, then 5 for the next, then 4, 3, 2, etc. until there's just one tiny scallop for the top layer.

Rub just the scalloped edge of each branch section against the white ink pad surface to give it a "snowy" look. Let them dry completely.

Cut a 1/2" square from the brown bag paper. This will be the tree trunk.

Cut 5" x 1 3/8" piece from the white cardstock. Scallop the long edge. This will be the snow.

Trim the blue cardstock to 7" x 10" and score down the middle so the card will fold to 5"x7". The Score-It-All board sold at Paper Zone makes this part very easy.

Glue everything in place with the tacky glue onto the front of the card referring to the photo for guidance on the finished result. Attach a flower rhinestone for the "star" on top of the tree and round red rhinestones for the "ornaments" on the tree branches.

Happy Card-making!

The Beaverton Team

Monday, November 14, 2011

Christmas Tree Card


Hi Everyone

Even though I am still anticipating Thanksgiving and the yummy feast we will have, I have started creating my Christmas Cards. I tend to find multiple ideas and can never decide on the one I like best, so I end up making a few of each one. Here is one idea that I really liked. Using 1/2 of a circle of cardstock, you create a Christmas tree by scoring a few lines and then folding the cardstock on those scores.

Ingredients for this card:


5 inch circle of double sided cardstock - I used Crate Paper - Wintergreen
5.5x8.5 Cardstock for the base of the card
Circle Cutter
Adhesives
Embellishments

Step 1

Cut a 5 inch circle out of your cardstock and cut the circle in half.





Step 2


Starting at about 2 inches down on the flat side, score a line through the 1/2 circle to create a base of about 2 to 2 1/2 inches.




Step 3

Fold along the score line. Using the flat side as a guide, line up your paper and create a new score line.





Step 4

Fold the score in the opposite direction as the first score and repeat the process of lining up the flat side as a guide and scoring another line.



Step 5

Fold your score line in the opposite direction and follow the previous step.




Your Christmas Tree should look like the picture below. If you want the color scheme to run the opposite way, then just reverse the folds.




Step 6.


Using adhesive, glue down the folds on the tree. Place the tree on your card and embellish as desired. I used American Crafts Ribbon, a clear rhinestone, and a Merry Christmas stamp.





Happy Crafting


Sandra

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Folded Tag Flower

Hello from Portland! A few weeks ago our super creative sales associate Mary made this lovely card for our store and it's become one of our most asked-about samples. It's a simple flower embellishment made with gift tags! You can customize it about a million ways and it's a great way to use up scraps. Today we'll show you how to make it with some of our holiday 12x12's.
Here's what you need:2-sided paper, tag & circle punch, 1/8 & 1/16 hole punch, scissors, adhesive, bone folder, brads, pencil, and metallic marker (optional).


Start by punching 8 tags out of your paper. Our tag punch doesn't make a hole, so we punched an extra tag out of scrap, folded it in half, and punched a 1/8" hole at the top. We used this as a template so the hole would be in the same place on all the tags. Fold the tag diagonally, using the tag's scalloped top as a guide. The left edge of the tag should be right under the scallops. Flip it over and cut off the excess so it's square. Fold the right edge (the one you just cut) back over itself, and crease with a bone folder. You can use a metallic marker to outline the edge, so it really pops.Repeat 7 times!Punch a circle out of paper. If you're using scraps you can choose a coordinating color, but we had enough to punch a circle out of the same 12x12 we used for the tags. You can use any size circle punch, so long as it's big enough to hold all 8 tags, and small enough that it doesn't show over the top of the tag. Our circle is 2 1/2". A little tip from Mary: it's easiest to attach the tags in quadrants. She punched an extra circle out of scrap, folded it in quarters, and snipped the top edge of each corner. Lay this template over your circle and mark a line for each quadrant. She also put a hole in the center so we could pre-punch a 1/16" hole for the brad we'll add later. Put adhesive on the backside of the tag, underneath the scallops. We took the opportunity to try out our new Stamp Runner from Tombo, and it worked perfectly! Stick your tags to the circle--points towards the center (above the hole for the brad), and the diagonal fold up against the pencil marks.Once you've got 4 tags stuck down in your quadrants, you can fill in the empty space with your 4 remaining tags.Pop a brad in the center and you're finished! You can attach this to a card, a scrapbook layout, the top of a gift box, or......Make another tag flower with the folds on the opposite edge, and you can stick them back-to-back for a super cute ornament! We're can't wait to put up our tree and cover it with tag flowers!Happy folding!-Portland Paper Zone

Monday, November 7, 2011

Holiday Maple-Bacon Bread Pudding

I LOVE BACON and this was so yummy, I had to share! It's great during the holidays for brunch or dessert and will have your guests begging for the recipe! Be warned - this is not your grandmother's bread pudding! Serves 8-10.

HOLIDAY MAPLE-BACON BREAD PUDDING
6 cups - 1/2" cubes stale bread
4 large eggs
3-1/2 cups - heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 cup 100% pure maple syrup, divided
1-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. pure vanailla extract, divided
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened + more for preparing the baking pan
1/3 cup coarely chopped toasted pecans, plus more for garnish
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 lb. bacon, cooked, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly butter a 9x13 baking dish. Pat bacon with paper towel to remove excess grease. Crumble half (8 oz.) of cooked bacon and leave the other half (8 oz.) in strips. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in 3 cups of the heavy whipping cream, milk, 1/2 cup of maple syrup, brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, pecans, salt, and spices. Add the bread and stir well. Mix in melted butter. Let sit for 30 minutes so the bread will absorb the egg mixture. Stir in the bacon cumbles to the bread mixture.

Pour into the prepared dish. Bake about 1 hour - until firm when pressed in the center. Cool about 20 minutes. Serve with Maple Cream Sauce.

MAPLE CREAM SAUCE:
In a small saucepan, heat the remaining cream, syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Cook until the sauce just begins to bubble. Remove from head. To serve, cut the bread pudding into 8-10 pieces. After plating, drizzle with the sauce with 1/2 slice of bacon and a small amount of toasted pecans. TIP: You can crumble the rest of the bacon if you don't want to serve slices...

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Give Thanks! A Yummy Thanksgiving Table-Setting...

Hello PZ'ers!

Now that Halloween is over, it's time to jump right into one of my favorite holidays - THANKSGIVING! A time to get ready for some home cookin' and family fun. This week I decided to show you a fun and yummy table setting that any guest would love!

Materials you'll need:


- Assorted Sheets of Paper & Cardstock (Thanksgiving-Inspired/Complimentary fall colors)
- 1 Sheet of Handmade Paper (may vary in size)
- Adhesive (Glue dots or ATG Gun work best)
- 6.5" x 9.5" Clear Bag Sleeve
- Floral Wire
- Raffia (natural colored twine)
- String or colored twine
- Thanksgiving Stamp & colored inks
- Assorted buttons
- Resee's Pieces
- 1/16" hole punch
- Scissors
- Crafting blade or paper trimmer
- Tape

Step 1) Candy Corn Treat Bag

To make your candy corn treat bag, you will need your clear bag sleeve, raffia, string, adhesive and candies.

First, wash your hands and seperate your Reese's Pieces to only use the yellow and maybe a few brown candies. (Eat up the rest!)


Second, cut your bag at an angle (see the red line I drew just as a reference). You want the bottom to remain sealed and the top to be open.



Third, you will put clear adhesive on the edges and fold each half in. I used the ATG gun which puts the perfect amount of glue with no dry time necessary.



(It should look like a kite when you are finished.)


Now this is a trickiest part, you will then have a cone; however, there will be the inside of the bag (with the sealed bottom) where the candies will go and the inside where you placed adhesive (this will make a cone too). If you place your candies in the part that is not sealed at the bottom - unfortunately, they will fall out and you will have to eat them. Silly thing to make note of but I don't want anyone to be confused with the two.


You will then need to bundle up a handful of the raffia and trim it to size. I put a little piece of tape at the bottom to keep it all bundled together when I place it at the top of our treat bag.


Take some of the wire and wrap it around tight holding the clear bag closed and the raffia in place.



I took a small swatch of the handmade paper we will be using on our table mat to tie it all together. I used a glue dot to adhere it around the wire.



Tie it off with some string and raffia and you are ready to start the next step - the name tag!

Step 2) Name Tag

Take three colors of paper and trim them to size:

- 4" x 3" (red)
- 3.75" x 2.75" (gold vellum)
- 3.5" x 2.5" (green cardstock)



Adhere and center each piece on top of each other.



Stamp your message in the center and write your guests name on the back.

(Tip: Lightly rub the stamp pad on the edges to create a more vintage feel to the note.)

Punch two holes in the left corner of the card and string on some matching buttons. Tie it off and you are done!

Step 3) Table Mat

To tie the whole look together, I created a matching table mat that can be used once and tossed.

(Tip: Don't want to throw it away? Laminate it then put it in your Thanksgiving box for next year.)




I took two pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock to use as my base.



I glued them together overlapping about 5.5".



I trimmed one of our handmade paper sheets down to (4) 14.5" x 8.5" sheets. There was also remnants from the trimmed edges that I used for the top of the candy corn treat bag and to wrap the silverware in. Center and adhere to the brown cardstock base. There should be about a 2" border of brown cardstock.

Step 4) Assemble and enjoy!

Set your table, wrap your napkin and place your treats on your guests plate. You are now all done! I hope your friends will enjoy this tasty table setting as much as I do!


Happy November & Happy Crafting - Feel free to leave comments or send your own thanksgiving-inspired craft ideas!

- Stephanie