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Tag Archives: Punches

What to do with all this colouring in?

29 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by Carolyn in Birthday, Bitty Butterfly, Elegant Butterly, General occasion, Punches, Small Heart, Thoughts and comments, Tutorial, Using up scraps

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cards from colouring in, Punches, tips for punching small paper

I’m pleased to report in finally starting to feel a little better! Still off work, but I’ve graduated from lying down all day to being able to sit up for a few hours at a time. Progress!!!

Today I realised how many notebooks of scribbles and coloured in pictures I have lying around the house. 

I have a lot of long teleconferences in my job. One of my favourite things to do while listening on long calls is some doodling/colouring in that my son likes to call my “scribble scrabbles”.  

  
Today I decided to make some cards out of one of my “scribble scrabbles”.  First – to my punches!  Today I used large and small butterfly punches and a small heart punch:

   
 
Tip: the small heart punch is brilliant for using up the edges from paper where you’ve needed to leave spaces between larger punches.  However it can be tricky to use the punch with very small pieces of paper!  Here’s a quick tip: put the small piece you want to punch on the sticky side of a post it note. Too easy!

   
 
 

I had a lovely time sorting through my pile of old card stock and mixing and matching with punches. A great way to use up scraps! Here are some of the results of my playing today:

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
   
It felt so nice to be making something today!

Thanks for reading

Caro 

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Cut out card technique

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/4 circle, Baby cards, Birthday, Cards, Decorative Label, General occasion, Punches, Tutorial

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card making technique, cards, Punches, tutorial

Yesterday I showed you a card I made with a cut out image in it.   I think of this as a peek-a-boo card!

Baby punch out card

Today I wanted to show you how to make it.

Step 1:  fold a card blank.   I used my 1 3/4 inch circle punch, but you could use any shape you like.     Centre the punch at the top of the front of the card and punch out an image.

IMAG0168Step 2:  stick the image on the inside of the card so you can see it through the open circle on the front.  Tip!  Do not try and glue this from the inside.  Close the card and stick the image to the inside of the card through the hole on the front.   This will make sure you get a perfect alignment.

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Step 3: decorate the front of the card however you like.  This will probably mean covering over the circle you’ve cut out, but this doesn’t matter.  We’ll fix that later.   I’ve kept this card front really simple:

IMAG0171

The hole is hiding there under the purple card stock.

Step 4: Once you’ve decorated the card, open it, and cut a circle on the inside from the same hole as the first one you cut.

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(Note: this picture is upside down from how you’d see it if you were punching yourself!)

This is how it will look like when finished:

IMAG0180

And you’re done!  A very simple card but pretty effective I think?

My mother is sitting here while I’m typing this and she says to say it’s so simple even your mother could make it! Here’s a picture of a card we made together this afternoon using the same technique:

IMAG0209

 

 

 

This technique also works with other punches.  Tomorrow I will show you a couple of cards I’ve made using the same technique but a different punch.

I hope you enjoy making some of these.

Caro x

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Simple quintessential flower card

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 3D / pop up, Birthday, Cards, General occasion, Punches

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Tags

cards, flowers, Punches, simple cards

Hi

Just a quick post today to show you another way to use the Quintessential flower stamp from Stampin’ Up! (or the Five Way Flower stamp in the current catalogue).

IMAG0076

I love the layers you can achieve with a stamp like this and coordinating punches.  And I always love to put a little button in the middle 🙂

Enjoy!

Caro x

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More balloon cards

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/4 circle, 1 inch square, 3D / pop up, Birthday, Cards, Cupcake Builder, General occasion, Kids cards, Punches, Using up scraps

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Balloons, cards, Hot Air Balloons, Punches

Hello

Yesterday I showed you some hot air balloon cards I made using the Stampin’ Up! A Little Treat stamp, which is now retired.   I said I would show you how you could make one of these cards even if you didn’t have this stamp set.   I thought of 2 ways you could do this: using the Stampin’ Up! cupcake builder punch and a square punch with a pair of scissors.

Method 1 – the cupcake builder punch

The first way is to use the cupcake base from the cupcake builder punch as a basket.

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You can see that the base is not quite ‘square’.  That doesn’t bother me when I’m sticking the hot air balloon on the card at an angle, but you can always cut just a small amount off to make it straight:

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Here are some hot air balloon cards made with the cupcake builder punch baskets:

IMAG0057You can also use the cupcake tops as clouds!

IMAG0066You can also give your basket a little ‘bling’:

IMAG0075

Method 2 – Using a square punch

Another way to make a basket is to cut a square and cut down the sides to make a basket.

IMAG0067Here’s a balloon made out of a square punch basket:

IMAG0068

(I can’t help myself and had to use up a tiny scrap of lace I’d had lying in my scrap pile!)

I hope you enjoy making some of these.

Caro

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Easel cards part 2

13 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 3D / pop up, 3D projects, Cards, Extra Large Oval, General occasion, Kids cards, Punches, Tutorial, Uncategorized

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Tags

3D, cards, Kids cards, Punches

The other day I showed you some drink labels for a party I’d made using an easel card layout.  This is another card technique that is really quite simple – but usually gets a ‘wow’ from the person who opens it up.  Who doesn’t love minimum effort and maximum wow?!?

Easel cards are really versatile – labels, place settings, cards, grown up, kids … anything really! I’ve found that kids particularly love these because they have to figure out how they work.   It can also be a nice way to display a photo on your desk or kitchen bench.

Today I want to show you how to make the card.  First though, some pictures!  Here’s an example of a kids one from the front:

photo-1

And as an ‘easel’:

photo-7And some “grown up” butterfly ones:

photo-5photo-4I think this last one is the first card I ever made after going to a class run by the very talented Sally Ann Williams (check out Sally’s blog at http://www.sallycancraft.com)

[And yes, I’m still sorting through my old photos!!!]

Making the cards

To make these cards you need 2 pieces of card stock.  I like to use these dimensions: Piece 1 – 21 x 11 cm and Piece 2 – 11 x 11cm.  Why these dimensions?  Well, an A4 piece of card stock is 21cm along the short side, so it’s easy to just cut at 11cm to make your first piece.

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Step 1 – score Piece 1 across the short edge at 5cm and 10cm in from the long edge.

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Step 2 – fold the 10cm score line over as a valley fold.  Then fold the 5cm score line as a mountain fold (ie, back on itself)

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Step 3 – decorate Piece 2 (11cm square) however you like.  This will be the front of your card.  I’ve found it can be quite effective to leave your square plain and actually decorate a separate 10.5 x 10.5cm piece of card stock and layer that onto the front of the card. This gives you a nice layered/framed effect.  In the two butterfly cards I’ve shown you above I’ve done two layers – a 10cm x 10cm white piece and a 10.5 x 10.5cm mat.

Step 4 – put some glue onto the ‘folded back’ section.  This is where you will stick the front of the card.  I’d recommend using Snail Adhesive from Stampin’ Up!.  I’ve tried other glues from Officeworks and $2 shops but in my experience they are not strong enough for an easel card and lose their stick after a few days.

20130808_133102

Step 5 – stick on your card front!  This picture gives you the idea of how the card is stuck together:

photo-6

Step 6 – you need to add something to the base of your card to make the ‘easel’, ie, to prop the front of the card on so it will stand upright. You want a finished card that works like this:

photo-3What can you use to prop up the card?  It can be anything that is thick enough for the front layer to rest on and stay upright.  This could be a button, a piece of thick ribbon, or a punched shape raised on dimensionals as I’ve used here.  (Dimensionals are double sided sticky foam dots sold by Stampin’ Up! which add height to embellishments on your projects).

Here is an example of how I’ve used punches and dimensionals to make a “prop” for the easel card:

photo-2

I’ve cut 3 large oval punches in brown card stock and stuck them to the card base.  I’ve then stamped and punched a white ‘For you’ image and used dimensionals to stick it in the middle of the punched ovals to give some height to prop up the easel card.

You can also use plain ribbon if it is thick enough, like this:

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Or a button, like this:

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Note: if you use a button the card won’t sit quite as nicely when the front is closed.

Hopefully that all made sense – feel free to leave me a comment if you’d like me to explain anything!

[BTW: The red card in the pictures is one I made while I was writing this post so I could take photos and demonstrate the steps.  I broke my own rules and stuck the square piece on before I decorated it, so I could show you another way to prop the card up.   I now have to figure out how to decorate the front!)

Thanks for reading – I hope you enjoy making your own easel card.  Or if you have tips on how I can make mine differently I’d love for you to share them!

Caro x

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Simple scallop frame with punches

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/4 inch scallop circle, 1 3/8 circle, Punches, Tutorial

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Tags

Punches, tutorial

Yesterday I showed you my favourite baby card to make.   One of the clever tricks involved in making that card is the scallop ‘lace’ around the neck and legs of the jump suit.

I wanted to show you step by step how to do this – as it is a really good trick for making a scallop border as well.    To make these ones, I used the Stampin’ Up!  1 3/4″ scallop and 1 3/8″ circles punches.   You could use any size punches though, as long as the circle punch is slightly smaller than the scallop punch.

Step 1:  Punch a circle, leaving enough room around the edges for the border

photo

photo-1

Step 2: position your scallop punch around the punched out circle to make an even border

photo-2

Punch – and voila!   A gorgeous little scallop border.

photo-3

If you were going to make the baby onesie card, you would need to cut the border roughly in half (always measure against the card!) to stick around the ‘leg holes’ or ‘neck hole’.

I like this technique though as it also makes a really nice border for a stamped image. It can also make a cute flower.

Such a simple technique, but really effective.

Enjoy!!

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My favourite baby card

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Carolyn in 1 3/4 inch scallop circle, 1 3/8 circle, Baby cards, Cards, Tutorial, Using up scraps

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baby cards, cards, Punches, scraps

One of my favourite things to make is a card for a new baby.   Today I wanted to show you my favourite card to make of all time – a little “onesie” baby card.

IMG_1402

It might look a little tricky, but it’s really quite straightforward once you get the hang of it.   The main tools you’ll need here are a craft knife and ruler and/or straight hands with scissors!, a scallop punch and a circle punch that is just slightly smaller.   I’ve used the Stampin’ Up! 1 3/4″ scallop circle punch and 1 3/8″ circle punch.

I’d love to say I came up with this idea all by myself – but I used a tutorial kindly shared by Stampin’ Up! demonstrator Becky Jensen.    This is such a great tutorial – step by step instructions with pictures of each step.

The only changes I’ve made to Becky’s basic design (which is in inches) are:

  • I’ve used standard Australian sized card (10.5 x 14.8 cm)
  • I’ve cut the arms at 4.5cm
  • I cut small strips of scrap designer series paper to decorate the arms instead of using the scallop edge punch for the arms.
    I have made these cards using the scallop edge punch to decorate the arms as well (it matches the scallops at the neck and legs) but I must have given them away so don’t have any pictures.  I’ll have to make some more!

Once you’ve made a few of these, you will probably feel you can use your trimmer to cut the section out to make the arms and body (ie, cut in 4.5cm and then cut down to the leg).  Once you master that, these cards are ridiculously quick to make.

These are so much fun to make I always seem to make them in batches.  These cards are another good way to use up little scraps of paper you don’t want to throw out.

Here are a few more pictures:

IMG_1403

IMG_1404

Here are some packaged up for sale.  They look so cute all lined up together!

IMG_1401

I hope you enjoy making one of these cards next time you have a new arrival to celebrate!

Caro

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Kids robot cards

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by Carolyn in Cards, Decorative Label, Horizontal Slot, Kids cards, Modern Label, Owl, Punches, Small Heart, Tag, Uncategorized, Word Window

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cards, Kids, punch art, Punches

I while ago my little boy was invited to his friend’s robot birthday party.  So of course me being me, I had to think of a cute little robot card I could make for him.     After a bit of hunting around on Google, I saw this cute little card by Teneale Williams (someone else who’s blog gives me lots of great inspiration).

Modifying Teneale’s idea a bit, here is what I came up with:

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I used some corrugated paper I found at a $2 shop as it seemed to be very ‘robot-ey’, but normal card stock would work too.

My little robots are put together out of Stampin’ Up! punches:

Head – Tag punch

Body – Decorative Label punch

Arms and ears – Word Window punch (Tip: glue a word window on the reverse side of the head to make the ears)

Legs – Modern Label punch or Word Window punch

Mouth – Horizontal Slot punch (this is retired now but you could use a smaller circle (eg the eyes from the owl punch), the candles from the cupcake punch, or cut down the word window punch or draw on a mouth)

Eyes – I used the eyes from the Owl punch with some googly eyes stuck on, but any small circles would work.

For decorations I used the Small Heart punch, the heart and waistcoat from the Owl Builder punch.   One one of them I stuck lollies on the body.

These were so fun to make I soon had a little robot army!

20120713_122033

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Card layout for using up scraps

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Carolyn in Cards, Cupcake Builder, Fancy Flower, General occasion, Punches, Using up scraps

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card layout, doilly, DSP, Punches, scraps

So far I’ve focused on little projects and ideas for using up left over pieces of pretty paper.   If you’re anything like me though, you probably have a pile of paper that you have been saving for a rainy day, because it’s too beautiful to throw out, or because you haven’t quite figured out what to do with it.

Today’s post is a suggestion for a simple card layout that can use up some of that gorgeous paper by turning it into cards.   These cards are really easy – if each one takes you 10 minutes I’d be surprised!  Probably more like 5 once you get the hang of it!

This Soft Suede card is 14 cm x 14cm.   The Pool Party background is 13 cm x 13cm and the DSP (from the free Everyday Enchantment set from Stampin’ Up!’s 2012 Sale-a-bration) was 12.5 x 12.5cm.    I added a doily, a Pool Party and Whisper White circle and used the Cupcake punch and matching stamp set to make the centre embellishment.

20121210_154540The great thing about this card layout though is that it can work with pretty much anything in the middle.    Here’s another one with a Fancy Flower in the middle.

20121210_154551

Pretty much any flower, heart or circle punch would work, as would a butterfly.  You could also turn it into an age birthday card by adding some die cut numbers in the middle.   The possibilities are endless really!

Thanks for reading.  I hope you’ve gotten some ideas to try out in your own card making 🙂

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Carolyn Dalton

Independent Stampin Up! Demonstrator

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