The Indie Bloom Collection

We have recently received in a new 12x12 collection of paper from Basic Grey called Indie Bloom. This collection is bright and colorful and full of great patterns. The collection also has some great embellishments that coordinate so well with the papers.

I decided to make a few different gate cards with this collection, and am so excited on how they turned out. I used 3 different papers:



Senora - Tortilla

and Tres Chic.


I also used the canvas boarders and the layered stickers and for these cards. The canvas boarders are my favorite embellishment from this line, and I am going to have to buy some more paper so I can use more of them!!!


Here are the instructions to make a simple Gate-Fold Card.


Ingredients

1 - 11 x 4.25 piece of cardstock for your card base
1 - 3.25 x 4 inch piece of coordinating patterned paper
1 – 2 x 4 inch piece of coordinating patterned paper
1 - 1.5 x 3.5 piece of cardstock for a closure
1 – 1 x 3 piece of cardstock for stamping a message
1 magnetic disc – I used the Basic Grey Magnetic Discs.
Embellishments
Scoring tool

Step one

Score your 11. x 4.25 piece of cardstock at 3.5 inches and 9 inches. Crease the score lines.

Step 2

After choosing the pattern design you like best, adhere the 3.25 x 4 inch piece of patterned paper on the larger fold and the 2 x 4 inch piece on the smaller fold.

Step 3

Stamp your message on the 1x3 inch piece of cardstock. After this dries, adhere it to the 1.5 x 3.5 piece of cardstock. You now have the closure for the card.

Step 4

Place adhesive on the left half of this piece. Position and adhere it to the front of your card. Put the positive and negative sides of the magnetic disks together. Peal off the seals and place the magnetic disc on the right side of the closure and adhere it to the card. After this sets, the magnets will be able to detach from each other easily.

Step 5

Embellish your card as desired.



Happy Crafting

Sandra

Life of the Party!

We have had Basic Grey's 'Life of the Party' line in for a while, but it is so cute I had to make something with it. Here are directions on how to make a birthday card with matching gift bag. You will need the following supplies: 2 different pattern papers, solid cardstock, solid color bag, happy birthday stamp, ink pad, scissors, twine or ribbon, dimensional foam tape, hole punch, 1" circle punch, and the Epic Six Letterpress machine used to diecut the banners.

In the picture above you can see the whole array of papers from this line, basic cardstock, the $.99 birthday stamp, and the twine. Start off by cutting your green cardstock to 10"X7". Next, score it right in the middle so you make a 5"X7" folded card.

Next, using the Epic Six machine and the banner cutting dies cut out five of the smallest size; three of one pattern and two of the other.

Next, arrange the cut out triangles in an angular pattern acorss the length of your green 5"X7" card and adhere down using the double sided foam adhesive to give the banner dimension.
Then, punch two holes at either end of your card just above the line of the banner. Tie knots on the underside so it stays put.

After that, cut a small piece of solid cardstock to 1.5"X2.5" and stamp 'Happy Birthday' on it. I prefer to use VersaFine ink because it goes on the easiest and it stamps clearly.

Lastly, mount the sentiment with the foam tape and adhere it to the bottom right corner of the card and Voila!

Now it's time to make the matching bag! First, I printed out the word 'HAPPY' on pink text weight paper. I also cut out the second smallest size of the banners from the cutting dies.

Next, using your 1" hole punch, cut out the letters you printed making sure they are centered.

Now, mount the cut out letters using the same dimensional foam tape and adhere them to the little banners.

Next, we need to thread the twine through the banners. The dies do cut out a little notch which works great for flat ribbon. However, since I am using a fibery twine, it is much easier to punch holes and thread them through that way.

Again, punch small holes in the top of the bag so that the twine can thread through. Make sure to tie knots so it will stay put. I also used more foam tape to hold the banner onto the bag. Next, I stamped 'birthday' on plain red cardstock and attached it under the banner.

Here is the completed bag! One great way to personalize this is to spell out the gift recipient's name or any other sentiment on the banner.

Happy Crafting!

-Malyse

Thinking of You

Ingredients:

1 – 8 ½ x 11 Carnival Vellum cardstock

1 – 8 ½ x 11 Classic Crest Natural White cardstock

1 – 12x12 Basic Grey Hello Luscious ‘Succulent’

1 – 12x12 Basic Grey Hello Luscious ‘Inviting’

Basic Grey magnets

Kaiser flowers, Flower punches, 1 or 2 buttons

American Craft jute or twine

Your favorite greeting stamp

ColorBox dark brown chalk

Hole punch

Adhesive

Scoring board

Trimmer

Now that we have all our ingredients, let’s get started!

First we’re going to trim the 8 ½ x11 Carnival Vellum Coco cardstock down to 5x7 ½.

Using your Scor-It board, begin at the left side and score your coco piece at 1 ½ inches, and again at another 3 ½ inches in. When folded, you should have a ½ inch of overlap.

Next is the inside. Cut down the Classic Crest Natural White cardstock to 3 5/16x4 ¾ “, and the Basic Grey Hello Luscious ‘Succulent’ card stock (this is my most favorite paper in the world right now!) down to a 3 ¼ x ½ strip.

I like to lightly ink my patterned cardstock to give it a slight distressed look (pictured above). For this card I’m using ColorBox dark brown chalk. Once done, use your favorite adhesive and adhere this strip to the top of your Natural White piece. This piece now gets adhered in the center of your scored coco piece. Done with the inside!

Now let’s place our magnets. This is where the overlapping of the sides comes in handy. You’ll want to make sure you are placing your super strong, super flat Basic Grey magnets on the top of you side panels, not beneath .

One – (negative) magnet will go on the left side panel, about an inch from the top, within the ½ inch overlap. A second – (negative) magnet will go on the same panel, about an inch from the bottom, within the ½ inch overlap. Now, here is a trick for perfect placement of your + (positive) magnets. Let them do their job and connect to the –‘s from beneath. Remove the sticker on each to expose adhesive and lastly, close this panel on top of the right panel, thus transferring/adhering your +’s to the right side panel . PRESTO! Give them a good press to make sure they are there to stay!

Let’s get busy working on the right side panel. I am a lover of layering, so we are going to cut down a piece of the Natural White cardstock (that we used on the inside) to 2 3/8x4 7/8 and the Basic Grey Hello Luscious ‘Succulent’ (that we used on the inside) down to 2 ¼ x 4 ¾. This piece you are going to lightly ink the edges, like earlier. Adhere these two pieces together, centering.

This layered piece is now ready to be centered and adhered to the right panel, covering/hiding the magnets. Garnish the right top corner with Kaiser paper flowers, flower punches and a button or two . Waala! Right side is done!

Left panel, here we come! More layering. Your Natural White piece measures 1 3/8 x 4 7/8. For the patterned cardstock piece on this side I used Basic Grey Hello Luscious ‘Inviting’ (my 2^nd favorite!).

We’re going to cut a portion of this 12x12 to 1 ¼ x 4 ¾ . This piece gets inked, like we did on the other patterned pieces. And like before, we will adhere these pieces together.

Once done, this piece will be set aside for a few minutes. Now get your favorite sweet-talking stamp. I used Memory Box’s ‘Make Me Smile’. I stamped this image on the same Natural White cardstock, with the same ColorBox dark brown chalk. Cut tightly around the image. Sizing will depend on the size of the stamp you are using. Layer this piece on top of the solid side of your BG HL ‘Succulent’, and trim around, leaving just a peak of that gorgeous color showing. To jazz it up further, I added a piece of the flipside of that paper. Punch a hole in the end.

We’re getting sooo close!

Now we are going to bring back the piece that was set aside, as well as about 10” of jute/twine. Fold the twine in half and put through the hold in the stamped tag. Hold it there while you put adhesive on the back of the tag. The tag now gets placed off centered on our layered, waiting piece, making sure the twine is still through the hole, but hanging loosely. Now place a little double-sided tape along the top, backside of this piece. Pull the twine over the top snuggly and secure the ends into the adhesive, allowing them to stay put.

(I’m kind of sad this is coming to an end…)

Lastly, my fellow crafters, use your favorite adhesive (mine: ¼” ATG!) and adhere this last and final piece, centered, to the left side panel. Your card is now complete!

XOXO, Teresa in Shoreline

Oh Baby!! Crafters Challenge

Paper Zone is happy to announce our spring Crafters Challenge!! Because there is nothing as new and fresh as a newborn baby, this spring we will be celebrating life's little bundles of joy. We will even be having a special Baby Event in May (stay tuned for more information on that!). So we challenge you to create a "baby" themed project that will inspire us all. It could be a baby shower invitation, a scrapbook page, a baby shower favor, nursery decorations, you decide!

To enter the Crafter's Challenge you must use 3 of the secret ingredients below in your bouncing baby creation. To enter, please email pictures of your project to blog@paperzone.com, or post pictures of your entry on Paper Zone's facebook wall. Entries must be received by Friday May 27th. The winner will be announced May 31st.

The winning submission will receive a $30 Paper Zone gift card!!












The Secret Ingredients are:

• American Crafts Fabric Paper "Dear Lizzy" line

• Felt (any color)

• Basic Grey Buttons (any color)

• Liquid Pearls (any color)

• Cosmo Cricket 12 x 12 Upcycle in "re:love"

• Cosmo Cricket 12 x 12 Upcycle in "re:peat"

Multiple entries are allowed.

Paper Easter Eggs

Decorating Easter eggs does not have to involve messy dyes or boiled eggs. Here is a quick and easy way to use some leftover scrapbook paper and make some super cute eggs. All you need is some cardstock paper, an oval punch and adhesive (preferably an ATG gun). I used Making Memories 12 x 12's from the Pitter Patter line and Basic Grey 12 x 12's from the Kioshi line. I really like the colors and think that the patterns offset the solids really well.

These eggs are super easy to make. Just punch a stack of ovals in a variety of colors and patterns. I used a scalloped edged oval punch, a smooth oval would be great too.

Each egg takes between 8 to 10 punched ovals. You can use less, but the more punches you use, the more intricate and beautiful the egg becomes.

Next, fold all of the ovals. You don't even need to score the folds. Just be very careful to fold the ovals down the center, especially if using a scalloped edge. You want to be sure that your edges all line up once you start the gluing. Also, remember when folding that the outer side of the paper gets adhered, so fold the color/side that you want visible on the inside.

Next, start gluing them all together. An ATG gun makes this a snap. Runner adhesive would work too. Put adhesive on one outer edge, add a folded piece, add adhesive to the next edge, add another piece and so on. Keep adding pieces until you have an accordian egg of about 8 to 10 pieces. That easy!

You can use pieces of all the same color, all solids or all print, you decide. I love this project, because, like dying eggs, each egg is unique and kids can have fun picking the papers and images they want in their egg. You could also try making some eggs out of the blooming seed paper and plant them after Easter.

For the final touch on my basket, I used my favorite Martha Stewart fringe scissors on some tissue paper to make some tissue grass. This is one basket that won't spoil or make you fat! Enjoy.

I hope you all have a wonderful and lovely Easter weekend,

Kim

Holiday Crafters Challenge

I am excited to announce our next Crafters' Challenge, featuring holiday product available at Paper Zone!! The prize for this challenge will be a $35 gift card at Paper Zone. . .just in time for Christmas!! We received so many great entries for the Halloween challenge, I cannot wait to see what is submitted for Christmas. We have 6 great items for you to choose from to make whatever your heart desires: a card, an ornament, a scrapbook page. . .surprise us! You must feature 1 of the 2 Stardream papers (in either Mars or Emerald) PLUS two of the other Secret Ingredients. The Secret Ingredients for this challenge are:

Stardream Paper in Mars (text or cover)
Stardream Paper in Emerald (text or cover)
Jovial Office Tabs by Basic Grey
Jovial Poinsettia Doilies by Basic Grey
Noel Christmas Collage 12 x 12 paper by Making Memories
Noel Glitter Gem Buckles by Making Memories
If you are up for the challenge (and we know you are!) email a photo of your creation to blog@paperzone.com or post a picture of it on our Facebook wall. All entries must be received by December 10th. Multiple entries are allowed.

So, get those creative juices flowing and wow us! --Kim