Papercrafting with Polly

Zinnia Bouquet and Butterflies

Zinnia Bouquet

It's flowers again!  With so many flower dies I could blog a different one every day!  Today I am spotlighting the Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background.  The background die makes it easy to cut matching background papers for each flower.

Zinnia Gold Mirror – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet, Zinnia Bouquet Background and Stitched Squares; Memory Box stamp Seeds of Happiness; design inspired by Jean Okimoto.

I wish you could see this "in real life" -- the shiny gold mirror paper really catches your eye.

Zinnia Pink Orange – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background; Impression Obsession die Cutwork Border; Penny Black clear stamp set Happy Snippets.

This card is similar to the one above with the addition of a border die and ribbon.

 

Zinnia Hello – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background; Savvy Stamps die Hello; design inspired by Louise Charlton.

Add some rhinestones and a die cut greeting for a quick card.

 

Zinnia Bright Orange – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet, Zinnia Bouquet Background and Stitched Rectangles and Stitched Squares; Memory Box stamp Happy Day; design inspired by Jean Okimoto.

For this card I embossed the flower die (tops) on white cardstock by using the tan rubber mat with my die cut machine.  Then I watercolored each flower and adhered them over the green stems.  I added Wink of Stella glitter pen to the centers.

Now for the Butterflies

Here are the Impression Obsession dies I used on the following cards:

Butterfly Block

Square Ornate Frame

Butterfly Block White – Impression Obsession dies Butterfly Block; Lifestyle Crafts die Nesting Rectangles; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.

I cut the Butterfly Block from white cardstock then cut a frame using the nesting rectangle dies.  The picture does not show it well, but I cut the butterfly again and popped it up on top of the first butterfly for added dimension.

 

Butterfly Block Painted – Impression Obsession dies Butterfly Block; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.

Wow -- lots of color!  I colored the Butterfly Block with Copic markers and then to add more interest, I took my Versacolor embossing ink pad and "sponged" ink all over the image and heat embossed it in clear.  This really makes the color shimy and vibrant. 

Square Ornate Frame – Impression Obsession dies Square Ornate Frame and Butterfly Block; Memory Box die Stitched Squares; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.

The Ornate Square Frame (which I did not use on this card) comes with an ornate corner piece.  I created a frame using the Memory Box Stitched Squares then adhered the corner pieces to the underneath side of the frame.  The butterfly is from the Butterfly Block die.

And a Few Miscellaneous Cards

Here are some more samples I made recently ... I hope they give you some inspiration:

Forest Birthday – Impression Obsession dies Forest and Greetings Edgers; IO Cover-A-Card stamp Bark; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.

Super easy card and great for a man's birthday.  I stamped the kraft card front with the Bark stamp (6" x 6") then cut the trees (all one die) and sponged them with Vintage Photo Distress ink.  I adhered the trees to the card with scor tape rolls (see Tip below).  The Impression Obsession Edgers dies cut the top of the word out but leave the bottom attached.  I cut the bottom edge to about 1" and adhered the edger word to a strip of brown cardstock.  This strip was popped up with mounting tape.

Tip:  To pop up a very skinny die like the trees on this card, cut a 2" to 3" piece of Scor tape (double sided tape).  I use 1/2" wide or 1" wide Scor tape.  Adhere this tape to a non stick surface like a Craft Mat or your desk surface.  Working with the length of the tape, use your fingertips and roll the tape into a roll.  You can adhere this roll to the back of the trees cutting it to any length you need.

Mountain Birthday Wishes – Impression Obsession dies Boy with Flowers, Mountain Landscape Layers and Puppy Set; design inspired by Harriet Head and Darlene at darscraftycreations.

I wish you could see the card Harriet made using the same paper and mountain die set.  It is truly awesome!  The paper is the Believe collection from Bo Bunny and one of the papers contains all these colors (and more).  The Mountain die set has three mountain profiles so you can "build" your mountains in any number of ways.

Paint Strokes – Paper Smooches clear stamp set I Heart Art; Paper Smooches die Paint Strokes; design inspired by Michele Boyer

Rush Arrow – Poppystamps die Rush Arrow; Penny Black clear stamp set Happy Snippets; design inspired by Jeanne Jachna

I love this very graphic die.  I used the same Bo Bunny Believe paper for the backgrounds behind each arrow.  Another idea for this same layout would be to stamp sentiments in some or all of the arrow openings.  Be creative and have fun!  The die also comes with a skinny arrow die.

 

Boddington Treescape – Memory Box dies Boddington Treescape, Puffy Clouds, Auto Parts, Tiny Village, Stitched Circles and Butterfly Delights; sentiment stamp by Amuse Artstamps; design inspired by Jeanne Jachna

My friend Molly recently moved to Virginia and this is the card I sent her to welcome her to her new home.  I embellished the Boddington Treescape scene with cars, houses, sun, clouds, butterflies and a sentiment.

 

Wedding Cake Card – Impression Obsession dies Wedding Cake and Love Doves; Spellbinders label die

Here are the dies:

Wedding Cake Card – Impression Obsession dies Wedding Cake and Love Doves; Spellbinders label die

 I am sorry there is a shadow on the middle and top of this card. 

Adhesive Tip:  Adhering the two trim pieces on each cake layer can be very tedious and messy if you use glue.  White shows every imperfection -- ask me why the my first card took forever to complete!  So my tip is to use Stick It Adhesive Paper.  Take a piece of cardstock, white in this case, and adhere it to one side of a Stick It double sided adhesive sheet.  Cut the cardstock away from the Stick it sheet and die cut the trim pieces from this now self adhesive paper.  Important: Be sure to cut the cardstock side so the adhesive side is the back of the die cut.

Now all your tiny trim pieces are self-adhesive and easy to apply to your cake layers.

If that's not clear, stop in and I will show you how to work with Stick It.  It is sold in a packet of 5 sheets (8" X 12¼").

Dimension Tip:  It is hard to tell in this photo, but the cake layers are curved.  To do this I put a double layer of  foam tape behind the center of each cake layer.  I also added dimension to the wedding couple by die cutting three extra couples from chipboard, gluing them all together then coloring the sides of the chipboard black. 

I added dimension to the doves, the cake layers and cake stand by die cutting these pieces from fun foam and gluing the cardstock die cuts to the top of the foam.

Here's another card made with the same Wedding Cake die.  This one also features the Impression Obsession dies Ornate Frame Rectangle and tiny flowers.

Sunshine Birdhouse – Taylored Expressions die Little Bits Birdhouse, Picket Fence and Picture Perfect – Sunny Days; TE embossing folder Walking on Sunshine; Memory Box die Marshmallow Clouds, Resting Birds and Mini Heart Collection; design inspired by Jean Manis.

Just a happy and colorful card that anyone would love to get.

 

I know it's hot and you are probably burrowing into your air-conditioned home, but should you decide to pop out and shop at The Stamp Act, you will be rewarded with a FREE make and take card that's perfect for summer.  I would love to be relaxing in a hammock with a cool glass of lemonade, a good book and a powerful fan! 

Stop in soon!

 

 

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Hello Friends.  I hope you had a good weekend and are looking forward to a great week.  It's spring which means lots of wind in El Paso, but since that and a little dust are about as bad as the weather gets here, I don't mind it.  It is annoying that the wind shakes a storm of little twigs out of my mature elm trees all over the back yard, but compared to the massive floods my brother has had in Houston and the upcoming tornado season in my sister's hometown of Dallas, I will take a few little twigs.  I hope the weather is pleasant where you are.

Today's blog is all about Penny Black stamps and dies.  Penny Black is known for her gorgeous floral images and her dies are just as artistic and unique.  For the cards I will share with you today I used new dies, but per usual there are even newer dies coming soon!  Be sure to check the What's New Page  to see all the dies and stamps in stock and on their way!

 

Sweetest Sound -- Two sweet little birds sitting on a branch take center stage on this card (Penny Black die Sweetest Sound II).  I die cut a circular frame from two Spellbinders Classic Circles dies and mounted it over a background stamped with the music score from Penny Black's clear stamp set Footnotes.  The large flowers were cut with Penny Black die Pinwheel and the smaller flower with PB Tweet Things. I also used two Memory Box dies: Create Art and Tender Leaves.  The card's design was inspired by Jill Foster. 

Playful Posies – Penny Black die Playful Posies is so sweet and it includes three more flowers that I did not use on this card.  I stamped the background with an old Notebook paper stamp from Hero Arts (it's so old they just reissued it in their latest stamp collection!)   The notepaper edge is punched with EK Success Binding Edge punch.  The cute little H.e.l.l.o. sentiment is from Penny Black clear stamp set Snippets -- if you don't have it get it -- it's been extremely popular and Penny Black just released a new set called Happy Snippets (see it here.)  Design inspired by Jill Foster.

 

Butterflies – This butterfly flew out of the store as soon as I made this card!  But good news:  he's already on his way back! The solid butterfly comes from a set (Penny Black Flights of Fancy) with several other smaller butterflies in different poses.  The overlay butterfly (appropriately called Swirling Wings!) is a perfect match.  I die cut the background greenery with Taylored Expressions die Bloomers Greenery and added the sentiment using Penny Black die Doodles.  Design inspired by Heather Telford.

 

Petal Power – Yes you've seen this flower before.  It's from Penny Black clear stamp set Petal Power, a classic set with lots of flowers, leaves and sentiments.  Speaking of sentiments, the happy sentiment on this card is from a new Penny Black clear stamp set called Sprinkles and Smiles.  Design inspired by Marion Vagg

 

Birdhouse – This birdhouse from the Penny Black clear stamp set Fly High makes a colorful house for all the birds of spring!  I stamped the birdhouse then colored and cut it out.  The background was stamped with Penny Black stamp Letter; to get the "splotchy" look, ink the stamp, dab off areas with a baby wipe then stamp on background.  I distressed the background with Distress Inks Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain and colored in a patch of green using Copic markers.  Next I made an oval frame using  Spellbinders die Classic Ovals and popped it up with foam tape.  To complete the card, I die cut the feathers (Taylored Expressions die Fine Feathers) and sponged them with two colors of yellow ink.  The birdhouse was popped up over the frame and the cute little sentiment was stamped on the wonky frame (both are in the Fly High stamp set), cut out and mounted over the feathers and a messy thread nest.  Design inspired by Jill Foster.

 Penny Black Medallion

 

Blue and White – The new Penny Black die Medallion is so stunning.  I die cut it from blue cardstock and cut the separate center medallion from yellow cardstock.  The Cricut Cuttlebug embossing folder Rebecca forms a perfect frame for this handsome die.

Love – Look how different the medallion looks as a background image.  I die cut the Impression Obsession die Boy with Flowers from dark grey cardstock and a rectangle to mount him on using Memory Box Pinpoint Rectangles die from lighter gray cardstock.  The sweet "love" die comes with the Medallion. The pretty papers are from Penny Black paper pad Beau Jardin.  Inside the card I die cut Happy Mother’s Day using an Impression Obsession die and mounted it on a background die cut with Paper Smooches die Notebook Basic.  You can see the inside of the card in out Gallery here.

 

Purple Medallion – For a quick and easy card for just about any occasion, die cut the Penny Black Medallion and mount it on a background embossed with Taylored Expressions embossing folder Dotted Lattice.  The sweet little bow was cut with Paper Smooches die Baby Bow.  Add a few gems and you're done!

 Penny Black Pillow Box

 

Pillow Box – The Penny Black die Pillow Box includes a die to make the pillow box and the little stitched label shown above.  In addition it includes dies to cut the Happy Birthday Ice Cream Cone shown below, plus decorative little stars, hearts, button and another smaller stitched label.  The pillow box is just large enough to hold a gift card.  To complete the pillow box above, I die cut Penny Black Leaves and sponged them with inks then mounted them behind a butterfly (Memory Box die Cascadia Butterfly 3) and the label stamped with a sentiment from Penny Black clear stamp set Snippets.

Ice Cream Cone Striped – Penny Black die Pillow Box; Taylored Expressions die Label Stacklets 2; design inspired by Elizabeth Allan

Ice Cream Cone Plaid – Penny Black die Pillow Box; Memory Box die Pinpoint Squares; design inspired by Judy Jung

Va Va Voom – Isn't this the cutest card?  I stamped the new Penny Black cling stamp Va Va Voom in black ink and colored it with colored pencils.  The sentiment is from the Penny Black clear stamp set Sentiment Collection and the clouds are from two sets (both retired) Memory Box die Puffy Clouds and Poppy die Fancy Clouds.  Design inspired by Judy Jung who has a precious bichon named Cooper!

New Make and Take

It's graduation time and our free make and take card this month is perfect for any graduate.  We will be using special die cut paper from The Paper Cut and a boy or a girl graduate die from Impression Obsession.  Please stop in any time and make a graduation card.

And speaking of graduation, we have everything you need to make or decorate graduation cards, party favors or other paper crafting projects. Stop in and see our selection.

Have a great week and I hope to se you soon! 

 

 

 

 

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