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

New American Crafts Nightfall Collection

Hi Everyone! I am happy to share with you the most

recent offerings from American Crafts, the Nightfall Collection!

I made this card and envelope set and want to show you how easy it was to create.

First I selected the matirials for the card. I chose a few pieces of patterned paper, a Facets card in Terra Cotta and some of the dimensional stickers.

After that I cut down the paper for the background (the blue polka-dot paper) to 4x5.25, rubbed black ink around the edges and mounted it to the a2 Facets card.

Next, I created an embellishment for the card by punched an oval out of the yellow patterned paper and placing one of the dimensional stickers on it.

Then, I cut a strip from another piece of patterned paper to measure 1.5 x 5.25 inches and mounted that to the card before adding the embellishment.

Next, to add a sentiment I stamped "thanks" to a small yellow strip of paper. Then I glued down all the elements to the card.

Then, to spruce up the envelope I wanted to make a liner. This was really easy to do, I just traced the envelope flap onto the paper I wanted to use as the liner. Then cut it out and scored it so that it would fold easier.

Finally I added one of the chalk-board labels to the front of the card to finish it off. These labels are also part of this new collection that just arrived in stores; they are the coolest thing!

Happy (soon to be) Fall!

Christina

Upcycle and Tiny Type: In Use

Hi all
I was so excited to get my hands on the new goodies from Cosmo Cricket and to put it to use. I want to share with a you a few ways I used this fun new product!

Fist up: Super Simple Card!
All you need for this card is a piece/strip of the borders paper, a circle punch, the yellow sheet from the Mini Deck, Tiny Type stickers and some glue.

First punch the designs out of the paper with the circle punch. (tip: use your punch upside-down so you can exactly where you are punching!)

Next add a sentiment to one of the circles with the Tiny Type stickers.
Finally glue the circles to your card. Wasn't that easy? (I used some foam adhesive to stick one of the circles to the card to add a little dimension.)

Next up: 12x12 Scrapbook Page!
For this project I used the 12x12 paper, Mini Deck, stickers and Tiny Type from the Upcycle line.

First take the alphabet paper out of the Mini Deck and cut apart the letters for the title.
Next arrange the elements on the base paper. (I used a few strips cut from the Border 12x12 sheet and a pink page from the Mini Deck.)
After arranging the elements on the page glue down. (I used some foam adhesive to pop up a few of the letters in the title to add some dimension ,just like I did on the card.)

Next take the clear Tiny Type and element stickers to finish the title.
As you can see I used the Tiny Type to spell out 'cutie' on the pink label sticker.With that you have a finished page!
I would love to see what you make with this super cute paper and stickers!
Happy crafting, Christina

Spring Mini Book

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share with you a cute little mini book I made a few weeks ago in a class that I took at our Seattle Paper Zone. The class was taught by Christina Clouse, you can learn more about her on her blog here. Christina was a wonderful teacher, the first part of the class was all about techniques; we learned about punches, spray inks, creating unique embellishments, embossing chipboard and so much more. The rest of the class was devoted to creating the mini book. If you would like to make one you are in luck! Christina has scheduled an encore class on April 10, you can learn all about it at our website here.

This book really was a delight to make and now share!

Happy Crafting!
Christina

Family photos were taken by Sonja Hunt