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Author Archives: Carolyn

Easter Bunny treat boxes

04 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Carolyn in 1 1/4 inch circle, 3/4 inch circle, 3D projects, Big Shot, Boxes, Candy Wrapper, Dies, Extra Large Oval, Gift bags, Home decorating, Kids party, Punches, Small Heart, Word Window

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Candy Wrapper die, Easter, Easter Bunny, Easter craft, Easter crafts, Easter decorations, Easter gifts, Gift box, little Easter gift, Stampin Up

Hello

Given we’re starting to head towards thinking about Easter crafts I thought I would show you some pictures of some little Easter gift boxes I made last year for our Easter brunch.

Candy wrapper Bigz die easter treatsThese are made with the Stampin’ Up! Candy Wrapper Bigz Die which is retired from the current catalogue, but thankfully making a return at a whopping discount in the current Clearance Rack *.

Here is a close up of one:

Easter Bunny gift box

The eyes are made with circle punches, the nose is an upside down small heart punch, and the ears are made from the extra large oval punch and the word window punch (cut off). I drew on the whiskers but you could probably be fancy and use twine.

These looked so cute on the table and lots of mini eggs fitted beautifully inside.

I hope that kick starts you thinking of some cute Easter craft!  Thanks for reading.

Caro x

*As always, please let me know if you’d like to purchase any of the Stampin’ Up! products you see on my blog, or any of the other products in the catalogue for that matter 🙂

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“Scribble scrabble” butterflies

02 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Carolyn in Beautiful Butterflies, Big Shot, Bitty Butterfly, Butterfly (retired), Dies, Elegant Butterly, Kids craft ideas, Punches, Using up scraps

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Beautiful Butterflies, butterflies, kids craft, kids craft ideas, Stampin Up

Hello

One of the things that my little boy loves to do is make a “scribble scrabble” – a piece of paper where you scribble colours all over it to make a pretty picture.

Scribble scrabbleHe loves making them, and sometimes we use them as wrapping paper or the background for a card.

The other day it occurred to me that they would make gorgeous butterflies, so I got out my Beautiful Butterflies die and the Big Shot, as well as my butterfly punches and set him loose.   He adores being allowed to play with “Mummy’s precious toy” (AKA my Big Shot!).

Scribble scrabble butterfly IMG_2682

Scribble scrabble butterfly

Beautiful butterflies

 

This next photo shows you how to make the largest butterflies from the Beautiful Butterflies die – fold a piece of paper in half and line the fold up along the edge of the ‘half’ butterflies on the die.  This way you get 6 butterflies out of one run through the Big Shot.

Beautiful Butterflies negative image

 

This is his ‘art work’ after spending a happy half hour with his butterflies and a glue stick.

Scribble scrabble butterfly artYou could use the same technique to make gorgeous butterflies for grown up cards and decorations.

Thanks for reading

Caro x

 

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Fish tank craft

28 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in Kids craft ideas, Using up scraps

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kids craft, kids craft ideas, kids paper craft, paper craft fish tank

hello 🙂

Today I wanted to show you something that has nothing at all to do with card making, but still a fun little bit of paper craft I did with my son recently.

We had been out for dinner to a restaurant where he was mesmerised by a beautiful fish tank full of the most beautiful tropical fish.    So we decided to make our own!

Kids paper craft fish tankThe background is a blue piece of A4 paper.   The sand is torn from yellow A4 paper and the seaweed is made from strips of green paper stuck on top of each other to give depth.   We didn’t stick them all the way down so the seaweed looks a bit like it’s moving in the water.

And then the fish!   Let a 4 year old loose with a roll of fish stickers from a $2 shop and you end up with a beautiful tropical aquarium!   You could equally draw your own fish and cut them out.

Thanks for reading!

Caro x

 

 

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House warming gift tag

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in Gift tags & wrapping

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Tags

Express Yourself, gift tag, house warming gift, personalised gift, Postage Collection, Stampin Up

Hello

I had the nice job of needing to wrap a house warming present for a good friend on the weekend.   I also only had approximately 5 minutes to do it in!    I decided to make a quick gift tag out of a mailing label I had lying around.   (I keep a stash of these as it is so easy to make a nice personalised gift tag with so little effort!)

 

House warming gift tag

 

I was wondering what stamps I had that were suitable for a house warming gift, when I found the little chair image from the Postage Collection set (a hostess set in the current Stampin’ Up! catalogue).   The ‘congratulations’ greeting is from the Express Yourself set (also a current hostess set).   They are stamped in Baked Brown Sugar.

Here’s the tag on the gift.

House warming gift tagQuick, simple, but I think effective?

Thanks for reading

Caro x

 

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Tea light candle holder

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in 3D projects, Boxes, Gift bags

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gift boxes, gifts

Because I hadn’t posted on my blog for a few months, I am showing you something I did at Christmas time in February!  I guess you could get really organised for next year and make some now!  Or you could change the colour scheme and this would make a nice little housewarming or thank you gift at any time throughout the year.

Tea light candle holder boxes

I got this idea from a video on YouTube by Pootles Papercraft. **    They were so easy to make.  These are a batch I made for some of my son’s various teachers.

I think I might have found myself a new ‘go to’ quick gift – some nice candle holders with a little decorated box of tea light candles to go with it.

Thanks for reading

Caro

** I didn’t follow the directions in the video perfectly (the video shows you how to make a fold flat box).  I didn’t bother with the fancy folds described in the video to make my boxes fold flat.   I just cut a simple flap and stuck it down like a normal box.  If this doesn’t make sense leave a comment and I’ll try and explain what I mean 🙂

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Fishin’ Around cards

18 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in Baby cards, Birthday, Cards, Circle treat cups, Kids cards

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Tags

Banner Greetings, cards, Fishin' Around, Stampin Up, Stampin' Write Markers

Hello – thanks for reading my blog!

When I first got this year’s Stampin’ Up! catalogue, one of the first stamps that jumped out at me was the Fishin’ Around one.  At only $15.95 – bargain!    It is perfect for a kid’s card (which I make a LOT of!) or even for an engagement, Valentines Day or wedding card.    It is also great for colouring in – one of my favourite things to do when I’m relaxing.

I needed a special card for a very special 1 year old’s birthday recently, so finally inked up this stamp.

Fishin' Around birthday cardThis is a 13 x 13 cm Bermuda Bay square card with a 12.5 x 12.5 cm Whisper White layer.  I sponged around the white edge in Calypso Coral to match the fish.  I stuck a circle treat cup over the coloured in image to make it look like a fish bowl.   The stamped tag is from the Banner Greetings hostess set.     I wrote the birthday boy’s name with my Dazzling Details glitter glue.   I also put a couple of dots of this in the treasure chest to make it sparkle.

I’ve had lots of fun making these cards in various colour schemes.   Here is a picture of some of my coloured in images (all using Stampin’ Write markers)

Fishin' Around colouringYou can probably see I’ve tried to add some ‘treasure’ to the treasure chests.  Here are a few close up pictures to give you a better idea:

Fishin' Around with treasure :-)

Fishin' Around with glitter treasureI don’t have pictures of this I’m sorry, but I’ve also made a few where I’ve used rhinestones or glitter in the bubbles against a lightly shaded blue background.

Thanks for reading!

Caro x

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Star Wars punch art Yoda birthday card

17 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/8 circle, Bird Builder, Birthday, Cards, Jewellery tag, Kids cards, Masculine, Owl, Punches, Tag, Word Window

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Tags

cards, punch art, Star Wars, Yoda

Yesterday I mentioned a card I’d made I was just a little bit excited about.   This is it – a Star Wars Yoda card for my Star Wars obsessed brother.

Yoda punch art card I got the basic idea from this post on a blog called Little Miss Scrappy.

It took me a while to figure out all the bits and pieces so I thought I’d share the ‘card menu’ with you in case you want to make it yourself.   I used a retired colour called Certainly Celery for Yoda’s body as I have so much of it still, but there are lots of greens in the current Stampin’ Up! catalogue that would work well.

Yoda

Yoda punch art

Head – 1 3/8 inch circle punch.  It is hard to see from the picture, but I used my bone folder to make score lines in the top half of the circle for his wrinkles.

Ears – 2 of the wings from the bird punch in Certainly Celery and 2 wings from Chocolate Chip

Eyes – I used 2 of the medium sized circles from the owl builder punch in Whisper White and 2 of the smallest sized circles in Chocolate Chip.  I also cut one of the medium sized circles in Certainly Celery and cut it in half to make the eyelids.

Mouth – I drew this on with my Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write marker.

Body – I used a retired extra large tag punch in Crumb Cake (the shape of the top of the tag gives him shoulders).     The ticket duo builder punch, an oval punch or a trimmed off decorative label punch from the current catalogue could also work well.  You could also just cut out a rectangle!

Belt – I used a Word Window punch in Basic Black and trimmed off the ends to fit.

Robe – I cut a tag punch out of Very Vanilla and cut it in half lengthwise.  I then folded each piece in half lengthwise to make the flaps of his robe.  I had to trim the folded part just slightly to make it perfectly match the shoulder line.   The arms of the robe are a word window punch cut in half, with the rounded edges glued behind the main part of the robe.

Hands and feet – I used the feet from the owl in the owl builder punch.  Tip:  don’t try and cut and glue the teeny tiny owl feet!  You will drive yourself mad!   Far better to cut out an owl body and use the body as somewhere to stick the glue on and hide the body behind Yoda’s robe.

Light saber – I used the end of a piece cut from the (retired) jewellery tag punch in Basic Black for the handle.  You could equally use the end of a word window punch.   I used a word window punch in Coastal Cabana for the ‘sword’ part, but sponged it in Old Olive and silver ink to make it look like it was glowing.

Background

I tore a piece of Soft Suede card stock to look like the rough ground.   I used my computer and printer to print the greeting on a piece of Bashful Blue card stock (this is also retired – I am using up my stash!) Soft Sky in the current catalogue would look just as good.

I hope you enjoy making one of these if you have a Star Wars fan in your life!

Caro x

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Quick butterfly card

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Carolyn in Birthday, Bitty Butterfly, Cards, Elegant Butterly, General occasion, Kids cards

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Tags

Butterfly card, card dimensions, Stampin Up

Hello

I am sorry for the long break between blog posts.   I haven’t had a lot of time to craft or blog over the past few months.    I finally had a chance to get back to a little card making today so thought I had better update the blog at the same time!

Like usual, my card making was inspired less by a brilliant idea, and more by the nature of the birthday party my son would be attending that day!   Today he had a 4th birthday party for a little girl who loves all things pink and ‘princess-ey’.

I only had about 5 minutes to make the card, so resorted to one of my stand by card layouts:

Butterfly card

This is really simple – a standard sized card cut from half a piece of A4 card stock, with the stripey paper 10cm x 14.2cm (ie, 0.5 cm smaller than the card dimensions on each side to leave a small border).  This is in Melon Mambo.   I sponged around the paper in Melon Mambo to make it look like it has a border.  A strip of ribbon and an embellishment popped up on a dimensional and you’re done.

Butterfly punch embellishment

For this card I used the Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly punches with a little ‘diamond’ stuck on top.     You could equally have an oval or circle punch with a greeting.

Just a simple card to show you today.   Stay tuned tomorrow for the other card I’ve made this afternoon, which I’m really rather pleased about!

Thanks for reading

Caro

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Storage idea: sponge daubers

17 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 3D projects, Boxes, Thoughts and comments, Tutorial

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Tags

sponge daubers, Stampin Up, Storage, wood mount case ideas

Hi

Today I want to show you a fabulous idea I got from a fabulous Stampin’ Up! demonstrator in the UK – Sam at pootles.com.uk.   If you haven’t checked out her blog and videos on YouTube you must.  Now.  I insist!  (But please do come back!)

Look at my new (and OK, I admit, extremely anally retentive!) way to store my sponge daubers!

Sponge dauber storage box

I use these little daubers all the time, but spend ages in my drawer hunting for them, and then cleaning them before I use them to get rid of the last hint of colour from the last time I used them.  No more! Inspired by Sam’s blog post I bought a new set and  I now have a lovely little box with a sponge dauber for every colour I own.

The sponges are stored in one of Stampin’ Up!’s wood mount cases (you can now buy the cases in lots of 4 and they are soooooo handy!)

This is my box on the inside:

Wood mount case sponge dauber storage box

Sam at pootles.com.uk has a great video on how to make the inserts for the box.

I ended up changing the dimensions Sam gives for the inserts just ever so slightly for mine.  I used 9 strips of card stock 12.5 cm long and 2 cm wide, notched at 1 inch spaces.  (I know that is a weird switch between metric and imperial, but trust me, it’s easier that way!)   Then I used 4 strips of card stock 17.8cm wide with notches every 1.8 cm.  This gives you 5 rows of 10 spaces each for your sponges.

Card stock inserts for sponge dauber storage

To make the notches I made 2 cuts with my scissors on either side of my pen mark (perhaps 2mm apart) and just removed the tiny bit of paper in the middle.

One of the things Sam doesn’t show you in her video is how she got the little circles of colour on the colour chart in her box to show which dauber goes where.    Watching the video, she says it was a very messy process to do – and that I can believe!   So before I made my own box I did some thinking about how I could avoid the mess of inking up all the sponge daubers all at the same time.

I decided to make a 2 sided cover for my box.  A front cover where I could control the mess and dab on one colour at a time, and a blank grid to go on the inside where I will let the daubers ‘do their thing’ over time. (I also took the opportunity to re-arrange and re-ink my ink pads as I opened each one – oh, I was in my own little organisational-nerd heaven this afternoon!)

I cut a piece of white card stock 12.5 x 17.8cm and used my ruler to draw a grid the same dimensions as the notches in the card stock.   I used a few mini glue dots on the blank spaces in my ‘cover’ grid to stick it to the plastic on the cover of the box.

Thanks to Sam for a brilliant idea – and I am so chuffed to have all my daubers so neatly arranged 🙂

Thanks for reading

Caro x

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Ben’s birthday card

16 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/4 circle, Cards, Kids cards, Punches, Star, Using up scraps

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Tags

5th birthday, 5th birthday card, Birthday card, Kids cards, name card

Hello!

Today we had a 5th birthday party for a little boy called Ben.   Here’s the birthday card we made this morning:

letter, circle and star kid's birthday card

 

The colours are Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade (now retired, but Real Red would look just as good)

I used the 1 3/4 inch circle punch and a star punch as well as using my Big Shot and an alphabet die set to die cut the letters.

My son – and creative director! – insisted Ben needed ‘jewels’ on the card – so he stuck on 5, for a 5th birthday.  I’m actually quite impressed – he stuck them on really quite straight!

The little birthday boy seemed very chuffed with his card – so job done!   I was actually really pleased with how it turned out – sometimes the simplest cards are the most effective I think?

Thanks for reading.

Caro

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Carolyn Dalton

Independent Stampin Up! Demonstrator

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