Baby Keepsake Flower Ornament and instructions!

I was asked by several people for instructions on how I made the Harvest Blessings flower ball ornament.  The flower ornament is known as a “kusudama ball”.  Although the idea is not mine, I decided to create step-by-step photo instructions because I myself had to search quite a bit on the web for instructions (some were clear on certain aspects while not-so-clear on others).  I had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to glue the whole thing together so it is my hope that my instructions will be clear enough for anyone to create their own kusudama ball.
Here is another finished project using a different fold, this time a baby keepsake ornament using an adorable digital image from *Wink*Wink Ink called Special Delivery.  I made this for the *Wink*Wink Ink August Challenge #2 of using metal (I added silver bead caps to the origami flower centers) :

 

I created these instructions so that you may print them out and practice putting a kusudama ball together.  The first set of instructions show how to create the flower from the Harvest Blessings ornament. The second set shows how to create the flower from the baby keepsake ornament.  The third shows how to put the whole thing together.  I use 3” square sheets, but you may use larger pieces for an even bigger kusudama!  Don’t let the amount of square sheets scare you.  Do what I do and fold throughout the day, especially during commercial breaks of your favorite shows!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding my instructions.

NOTE: You will not be able to read the directions embedded in some of the images even if you click to enlarge photos. 

You can find downloadable pdf files by clicking HERE.

 

 

Baby Keepsake Ornament Recipe

Digital Stamp: *Wink*Wink Ink Special Delivery

Paper: My Minds Eye

Accessories: Glue Dots Continuous Glue Lines, silver cording, beads, bead end caps, pink rhinestones

Paper Works Co. sketch and ODBD

Happy Sunday everyone! We are recovering from a little party we threw for our sons’ 9th and 11th birthdays yesterday. When we throw a birthday party it’s always for the both of them since they’re birthdays are only 2 weeks apart. I posted some yummy goodness at the bottom of my post.

For my card today, I was invited by Peggy of Paper Works Co. to be a guest designer for their sketch this week which was “Round, Round, Round” and here’s what I came up with using the new Bless This Home set from ODBD:

Do you like my medallion? Would you believe me if I told you they were made of tags? Here’s a great way to make a medallion using a tag from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags set:

Depending how intricate you’d like your medallion to look, cut as many or as little as you’d like. I used 6 for my card:

This is what 4 tags put together would look like:

To figure out how to evenly space them out is to just tinker with them and the best way to achieve that is to use Removable Glue Dots:

I was contacted by Glue Dots to make a particular project for them so I’ll be working on that for the next few weeks…please stay tuned!

I hope you play along with this week’s Paper Works Co. sketch!

Card Recipe

Stamp: ODBD Bless This Home

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Paper: Basic Grey Cappella pad, Stampin’ Up! Basic Brown

Accessories: Spellbinders (Fancy Tags, Classic Circles Small), Bow-Easy, Martha Stewart Deco Shells corner and border punches, diamond rhinestones, Removable Glue Dots

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One of my sons wanted a Lakers cake and the other wanted a Sonic Unleashed cake so I decided to make each their own red velvet cupcakes. I was my first time using a piping bag and as you can tell, I need more practice. Oh darn! I’m just going to have to make MORE cupcakes!

Oh, and remember my McMahon Five Designs strawberries card? It made me want to make these for the party as well:

There’s something about Dahlia…

As in the beautiful Dahlia fold, but with a little twist! I started off wanting to create a card with a Dahlia fold flower with a scripture center. When I realized that my Dahlia flower was too small for the scripture I had to rethink the idea. I also didn’t want to toss the 8 folded circle aside as it took me a while just to do them! I started tinkering with the Dahlia pieces and came up with this card using The Living Bread set from ODBD:

I discovered you can make beautiful corners! Just start off by punching 8 circles from two-sided designer paper and follow the Dahlia fold instructions found HERE then…

I used a Mini Glue Dot in step 2 to keep the two pieces in place. I then added buttons to the centers of the “Dahlia corners” to keep the folds flat and I loved how it turned out!

I’ll have another mini tutorial this week using a Spellbinder Fancy Tag so stay tuned!

Card Recipe

Stamp: ODBD The Living Bread

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red

Paper: Stampin’ Up (Basic Brown, designer paper), Core’dinations Scarlet cardstock

Accessories: Cuttlebug Brocade Window, Bow-Easy, brown buttons, Zva Creative Pearls, round and teardrop rhinestones, white organza ribbon, Mini Glue Dots

Lace Flower Video Tutorial

I'm so glad you stopped by today because I am posting my VERY FIRST VIDEO TUTORIAL! Yes, I was a little nervous (Ok, A LOT NERVOUS! I took take, after take, after excruciating take!) but photos wouldn't have explained or showed the technique as well as a video. Please be kind with your comments, even if I did have to clear my throat during the tutorial at one point...LOL! Here's my completed card with the lace flower:

Card Recipe:

Stamp: ODBD Happy Birthday

Ink: SU Ruby Red, Walnut Ink distress pad

Paper: Graphic 45, SU cs (Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla)

Accessories: Tattered Angels Nature Butterfly Font Chip, Glimmer Mists (on lace flower and butterfly chip), Spellbinders Large Oval, Fiskars All-A-Fleur border punch, lace, Michael's mini brad, cream satin ribbon, CB ef

I sprayed my lace flower with Suede Glimmer Mist to make it match my card and to add subtle iridescence. The color intensity will vary depending on how heavily you spray your lace.

I hope you've enjoyed my little tutorial on how to make a quick and simple but elegant lace flower.

Flock your Glimmer Screens!

Ok, I haven't done a tutorial for some time now, largely because I haven't come up with something new. I usually tinker around with my massive amount of cardmaking arsenal, trying to figure out new and creative ways to use old products. For this tutorial the old product I'm talking about is Liquid Applique.

You've seen those awesome designer flocked papers from K & Company and others. Now you can flock all kinds of papers with Liquid Applique and Tattered Angels' Glimmer Screens!

Let's get started!

The butterfly is a Tattered Angels product called Glimmer Glass and they are a MUST HAVE!!! They are preshrunk plastic with beautiful designs on the front. Grab your heat gun and heat them up. They'll get soft and pliable. Just bend until you have the desired shape and let cool. On my butterfly I added Icicle Stickles to the back.
The paper for the large butterfly die cut is from Graphic 45 and if you haven't discovered this paper company then go check them out! They have fabulous shabby chic prints! Card Recipe:

Stamp: ODBD Hope

Ink: Versamark, Walnut distress, Antique Linen distress

Paper: DCWV Rustic Stack, Graphic 45 Botanicabella, SU cs (Bravo Burgundy, Close To Cocoa, Very Vanilla)

Accessories: Glimmer Glass, Framed Fonts, Glimmer Screen, Glimmer Mists (Suede, Deep Plum, Iridescent Gold), Icicle Stickles, white ep, Basic Grey Rose/Blush Opalines, Fiskars Effervescence border punch, Liquid Applique, Fiskars Effervescence border punch

ODBD carries white Liquid Applique and if you're feeling adventurous SCACD also carries red, black, blue and green.

I hope this tutorial was informative! If you have any questions about this tute, please don't hesitate to contact me!

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Little tidbit: I have so many punches that I couldn't keep track of the names of them for my card recipes. It was taking me longer and longer each time to search for the names online so I decided to label them once and for all for super quick reference :).

Fluffy TIOT #24 with tutorial!

I'm up to 4, YES, FOUR BOYS until Wednesday evening...then I'll have 7...SEVEN...kids here (4 boys and 3 girls) until Friday night and it's just going to be little 'ol me! It's a lot of work, but well worth it for the brothers and cousins to be able to spend some time together. I just hope I SURVIVE! LOL!

For today's SCACD TIOT we were challenged with Clearly Summer -using acetate in our project. I decided to make a Fluffy Magic Card which I haven't done in ages! I'm sure there are many different techniques out there for magic cards, but I'll show you how I made mine:

Here's how it came together:

It's very handy to have a Stamp-a-ma-jig when doing this technique to get perfect alignment. I aligned my acetate and acrylic block at the corner of the Stamp-a-ma-jig. Do this for the watercolor paper or cardstock, too.
Color in your image.

After I let the Stickles dry on the flower I placed my stamped acetate over my colored image. I made a folded strip of cardstock to hold the two pieces together.

Create a sleeve for the "magic" by cutting a window on the front and adhering a "screen" to the inside. Front view:

The back will not be shown so there's no need to make it look pretty. Just make sure to seal the back securely.

You want a space between the sleeve and the screen:

Slide your image into the sleeve:

Once you make your first one it's really easy and kids really get a kick out of seeing the "magic" happen right before their very eyes!

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Fluffy from Anki's Sweethearts Series 2

Ink: Staz-On Black

Paper: SU Bella Rose designer series pack, SU cs (Old Olive, Rose Red), watercolor paper

Accessories: Grafix acetate, Dress It Up Color Me Pink buttons, Distress Stickles (Worn Lipstick, Scattered Straw), watercolor markers, hole punch, white satin ribbon, Spellbinders Classic Large Rectangles

I hope my tutorial made you want to try out this technique. I also hope to keep my sanity after this week!

Stitching, Flower Soft and Storage!

I knew I wanted to use this Butterfield paper by Memory Box:


I also knew I wanted to sew the outlines of the hills. Then I saw all those wonderful straight lines of the sun's rays and I figured why not go all the way and sew those outlines, too! Well, the card took me longer to complete, but I'm so glad I did all that sewing...it gave me a nice "quilted" look: ODBD shopping list:

Scripture Collection 1

Memory Box Butterfield 6x6 paper pad

Glimmer Mist Honey Dew

Flower Soft Sweet Pea

Glimmer Screens Winter Trees

Other supplies: MS butterfly punch, mini pearls, Versamark pad, black ep, white thread, sewing machine, Nestabilities oval, SU Pink Passion ink pad

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I had remembered seeing small glass capsule charms and I wanted to fill it with something...anything! Then, Kathryn from the wonderful KDT blog offered a challenge to create a "thank you" card for the men and women who serve in our military. I hadn't entered many challenges but I knew I wanted to be involved in this one because I am so grateful to those who put themselves in the front lines of war to help protect our freedom.

Here's a simple and easy tutorial using Flower Soft and Glimmer Mists that I used to make this card:
What you'll need:

Mini glass capsule (by Darice, found in the beading/jewelry making section)

Flower Soft Ivory

Glimmer Mists in Sapphire and Candy Apple Red

Wax paper

Place a small amount of Flower Soft onto a sheet of wax paper. Spritz some Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist on the Flower Soft.

The wax paper allows you to mix the Flower Soft around the small pools of Glimmer Mist color. I used the handle of a paint brush to help coat the Flower Soft evenly. Using another clean sheet of wax paper, repeat the process with the Sapphire Glimmer Mist.

Once the colored Flower Soft is dry layering the colors in the capsule. I used the end of a paint brush to press the Flower Soft down so I can make nice, even layers. Cover with the cork and VOILÀ! Easy Peasy!

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A quick, simple and AFFORDABLE storage solution for your collection of punches...an over-the-door shoe organizer!!! I got the stylish canvas organizer at Target for only $12.99, a super deal! It doesn't take any space at all. I placed my punches that I don't use very often on top, because, let's face it - I am vertically challenged! The punches I use on a regular basis are near the bottom for quick and easy access. This one is already filled with a few pockets I had to double up on so I'll place another one on the other side of the door. I hope you found some of these ideas helpful. Thanks for stopping by!