A Gilded Rose

Good morning my friends! It's another glorious day in East Tennessee!

Today's post is part of Kylie's JANUARY International Highlights Blog Hop.  I'm really enjoying being in the hop.  I've found some incredibly talented crafters because of it! I'm sure you have too!  I hope you'll make sure to visit everyone.  Don't forget to vote on your favorites! I hope that includes me. ;-)

To vote, click on this icon. 
Once you get to Kylie's page, look for the little heart in the top corner of each photo

I am absolutely IN LOVE with Stampin' Up!'s Foil papers, and the Gold is my favorite! So, naturally, I had to use it on this project.  I used a few different sets to create this card, but I couldn't help it. They were meant to be!

I used the Abstract Impressions set for the sentiment.  But you may not know that it has a die set that coordinates with it.  That GORGEOUS gilded rose piece is one of the dies.  It is absolutely stunning and makes easy work of cardmaking!  I also used the sheet music background stamp.  I love the subtle way it enhances the card.  OOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!  Couldn't this be a fantastic "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" card?!!! OOOOH MY!!!!!  YES!!!!!  :-D

*ehem* back on track! lol.  Do you ever have those "SQUIRREL!!!!" moments? Oye!

The other set I used was the First Frost bundle.  This one is in our 2018 Holiday Catalog, but THANKFULLY it's going to be carrying over into the 2019 Annual Catalog! YAYAYA!!!  It's gorgeous and the dies are to die for!! HAHAHAHAHA  Uh-HYUCK!  Anyways, sheesh I kill me! BUAHAHAHA! ok ok ok. I stop.  lol

As I was saying, I used the framelits you see to the right of the stamp set.  I have used them many times for sentiment pieces on cards. They're PERFECT for it!  I mean, they layer beautifully and make the words stand out.  Don't you think?

You can see the sheet music background really well here.  I used versamark for the ink. I just love that look!  If you don't have versamark in your stamp room, you need it! Truly!

I wanna share a little trick with you.  When I layer papers like I did with the sentiment, I try to cash in on as much of that valuable real estate as I can.  Once the top layer is put on, you lose out on all the paper behind it right?  Well, not if you cut it out too!!

As you can see here, I used the framelits to cut the gold and the white, but then I also took one of the layering square shapes and cut out the middle of the gold foil.  There's no reason to waste that paper and I now have a gold "stamp" that I can use on something else later!

And LOOK!  You would never know I had done that, if I hadn't shown you. :-)

Isn't that a handy trick?  Of course, you can use this tip anytime you're layering layers on layers. I do it all the time!  And I have a little stash of all those pieces that I've cut out, ready to use on something else.  Now, that's really getting more bang for your buck!!

I hope you've enjoyed today's post.  I absolutely fell in love with this card! It's classy and elegant, but still simple and easy to replicate.  Feel free, by the way! :-)

And as always, 

Happy Crafting! 

If you'd like to purchase the supplies used to create this card, all you need do is click on the photos here.  They'll take you directly to my webstore!  Enjoy!!

Product List

Petal Pink 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146985]	Lovely Lipstick 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146970]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	First Frost Clear-Mount Bundle [149943]
Sheet Music Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143970]	Abstract Impressions Photopolymer Bundle [148348]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]

Precious Parcel Card Kit & Alternatives

Well hello there Stampers! How are you this fine day?  Actually, it's late here. VERY LATE! lol.  But sometimes a girl has to wait til everyone's in bed asleep before she gets a minute of quiet time to gather her thoughts. Ya know?

Sale-a-Bration kicked off on Thursday and I'm having a FANTASTIC time with it so far!  Everyone LOVES the promotions (buy $50 worth of products and get special limited time products for FREE), and the sign on incentive (get $175 worth of products for only $99 and FREE SHIPPING!!!).  Of course they do! All of the FREE flyin' around can make your head spin!  But hey! It's only once a year right?  Use some of that Christmas money on a few stamp sets for yourself. :-)

One of the GORGEOUS free products in the Sale-a-Bration catalog is the Precious Parcel Card Kit.  Now, this kit may very well be perfect for beginning papercrafters with it's no stamping required design, but it's also one of the most beautiful card sets I've ever seen! 

I mean, Look at it!! Isn't it beautiful?  The Victorian mailbox, the vintage colors, and that adorable envelope, just sent my heart a-flutter! Each card has a little insert that you can write love notes or other greetings on. It's just the cutest card set ever!

It's SO CUTE!  BUT upon first glance, it looks very limited. It doesn't appear to have much room for modification. So, I set out to make some alternative projects with it.  I'm very happy with what I've come up with, and I hope that you will be too!

Enter here, two totally different treat packages! As you can see, the one on the left is made from one of the cards. A little nip here and a tuck there and viola! A 3D Post Box.   The box on the right is actually made by disassembling one of those glorious envelopes!  Anytime I get my hands on an envelope with a pattern on the inside, I'm compelled to take it apart and use it in my projects, so I knew I would do SOMETHING else with one of them.  The difficulty came in deciding which side of the envelope to use because the inside is a beautiful blue spotted design.  SO CUTE!! 

The deciding factor was when I realized what the final box would look like by using the white and striped side out.  You are gonna FLIP!!! Check this out! I couldn't have planned it better if I TRIED!! Which I didn't. It just happened this way. But what a happy result! :-D

Isn't it SUPER ADORABLE?!!  Not only does that GORGEOUS stripe go perfectly all the way around the top of the box, but it also creates the perfect envelope on the inside!! I just love it!

So, how did I get the box from the envelope?  Easy Peezy, my friends!

First, you carefully open the envelope completely.  Take care not to tear any of the flaps.  Then, you'll want to score 1" to the inside of the prescored lines on the body of the envelope.  Go ahead and score right down the flaps too. Just 1" on all four sides.

Then, you're going to cut away some excess parts of the envelope until you're left with this:

Notice that I have made a cut into the striped rectangle in the upper left? I've actually done that on all four sides.   This photo shows it better:

The next thing you're going to need to do is fold and burnish some lines.  Start by fold and burnishing all four flaps to the original fold lines.  Then, while that flap is folded, go ahead and fold the folded flap onto itself again, lining up with the 1" scored line.  That sounds complex, but you can see it fairly clear here:

Notice in this photo I have put tear'n tape on those four little tabs.  I put it on both sides of the tabs to help hold the whole thing together tighter. You don't have to, but I like my boxes to be STURDY!

Ok, the next thing you'll do is open all those folds and attach your tabs into place to form the box.  Once you have all four tabs secured and your rectangle is formed, you can start folding the flaps back over the tabs into the middle of the box.  Start with the two short sides first, and then the base of the envelope, and finally the pointed top (as pictured here). Notice the tear'n tape along the edges. I did that on all four flaps.  Again, STURDY! ;-)

See how beautiful the inside of the envelopes are?  I will likely take another one apart and do it inside out so I have a box with that gorgeous print. It's so pretty!

I am thrilled with how the stripes lined up on the box this way!! :-D

The next thing we need to do is make the box top.  For this, I used a piece of window sheet cut at
5 13/16" x 4 1/2" And then score all four sides at 1".  You'll need to put a little OOMPH to get the window sheet scored and then burnished. But make it crisp!

All that's left to do is cut the four little corners off completely.

There you go! Now, just slide the lid into the base of the box and you're done!  I embellished the box simply with one of the notecards from the kit and a bit of braiden linen.  Pretty much everything I used came from the kit, so this will be an easy project to replicate.

It holds 12 dove chocolates......... If you were wondering. ;-) I just LOVE Dove Dark Chocolate. It's my absolute FAVORITE!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and I hope you rip apart some envelopes!  Just be gentle about it. hehe.

Please leave a comment below and let me know if these instructions were easy to understand, or if I could improve this post in any way. I love hearing from everyone!

I hope you have a wonderful day and

as always,
Happy Crafting!

A Steampunk New Year!

Happy New Year!!  I hope you all had a safe and fabulous one.  My little household watched movies until midnight and then toasted the new year with a bottle of sparkling cider.  And while it was a relatively quiet evening for us, I did receive some fabulously entertaining text messages from a good friend of mine who (along with her husband) must have been having a fantastic time celebrating!! HAHAHA!

Now that the festivities are over, it's time to do a little creative therapy in the craft room.  I'm actually quite pleased with how today's project turned out.  I tried a new (to me) technique that I'm now TOTALLY in LOVE with!!!  And, since I was already being adventurous, I played around with some other variations of that technique and discovered all sorts of fun and interesting things!  When was the last time you "threw caution to the wind" and tried something, just to see what it would do?  I highly encourage you to try it sometime! It's quite exhilerating!! hehe. 

I tried the "BLACK ICE" technique for the first time today.  I can not even begin to tell you how incredibly AWESOME it is!!  OH MY GOSH!!! LOOOOOVE!!!!!!   It is quite literally the coolest technique ever! I was so excited about it, that I completely forgot to take a photo of just the background layer before I mounted the other overtop of it! haha.  OOOPS!!  But I do have this one where you can see a good bit of it, as well as the die cut piece that I had iced up too. 

But then, I got really excited to see if I could do the same technique on a piece that was die cut, and would it turn out the same.  The answer is, YES! And it's awesome too! haha!  The two smaller gears were cut from a sheet of copper foil that had the black ice technique used over the whole piece, but the gear cluster was cut and then black iced. 

If you've never had the pleasure of knowing what the "BLACK ICE" technique is, I'll tell you.  You start with a piece of foil paper. It's your choice which color you use.  Each will create a different effect.  I used copper foil for my project. 

The first thing you'll do is take a black Staz-on ink pad and "scrape" it down the front of the foil piece. You would want to put more emphasis on the edges to get a nice dark edge, and then lighten your touch as you go down the middle.  For the die cut piece, I tried to kinda go darker and lighter in various areas of it. 

Once you've got the black accents how you like it, use the heat tool to set the ink.   And then, you'll want to cover the whole piece with versamark.  Just take the pad and scrape it from top to bottom all the way across until you have a good even coating.  Of course, you can add texture by going lighter or heavier. 

Once your piece is covered with versamark, you'll want to pour clear embossing powder over the whole thing.  Don't forget to gently tap the back to get the excess off!

Now is where the Magic Happens!!  It is the most fantastic thing ever!!  You are going to use the heat tool to melt the clear powder over the entire piece. 

Since I was playing with the embossing powders and heat tool, I figured I should play a little bit too.  This photo shows (if you look closely) 3 different sections of embossed area.  I wanted to see what the end result would be if I mixed some of our embossing powders.  Here's what I got. 

The far right strip is just copper and black powders mixed evenly.

The middle strip is copper, black and gold with more gold than the others. 

The far left strip is the same mixture as the middle, with more copper added in. 

I actually like this mix and I really like the way it looks on my steampunk card.  It kindof gives an antique look!

 You can really see how distressed it looks around the edges of my top layer.  I just love all the texture and detail in this card! SO AWESOME!!

 The final touches to the card, were to use the oil spot stamp to give some detail and distress. I used soft suede and it worked perfectly!

Then, I stamped my sentiments.  In truth, I might not have used these sentiments with this card, but I'm using it in a display for the Geared up Garage suite and I am only using those stamps.  They still look fantastic with it, but I might have used a more whimsical sentiment otherwise.   Either way, It's a GORGEOUS card and I absolutely LOVE IT!!! 

Way to set the bar high for card samples this year, Dana!! hahaha. 

Well, there you have it my friends.  A super fantastic Father's day card made with the Geared Up Garage Suite in the brand new 2019 Spring Occasions Catalog.  It truly is one of my absolute FAVORITE masculine stamp sets.  I know you'll love it too!!

If you already have a demonstrator, make sure you go get this set! If you don't already have one,  I would truly love to be your demo and get these products sent out to you.  If you'd like to have a catalog, I can help you with that too! ;-)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this quick little tutorial and fabulous card!

And as always,
Happy Crafting!

SALE-A-BRATION, Join My Team, and the Craft & Carry Tote

Hello there!

I just wanted to pop in for a minute and share an INCREDIBLE promotion that's going to start in a few days!

For those who already know Sale-a-bration, you know it's an AMAZING time of year for Stampin' Up!!  For those who don't, be prepared to have your mind BLOWN!

Here are the basics:
*For every $50 worth of product you order, you can get an item from the Sale-a-bration catalog for FREE!

Now, we're not talking about just a chinsey little sheet of dimensionals or something. We're talking an EXCLUSIVE stamp set! or perhaps a whole pack of designer series paper?  All of the items in the Sale-a-bration catalog are LIMITED TIME EXCLUSIVE to THIS YEAR's Sale-a-bration!  You won't find them in any other catalog EVER!!  That's pretty flippin' amazing isn't it?!  AND, there's NO LIMIT to the number of FREE things you can get! WOWZA!!!

Here is the Spring Occasions Catalog, chock full of fabulous NEW goodies to shop from!

Of course, let's not forget that amazing SALE-A-BRATION Catalog! EVERYTHING in this catalog are FREE gifts you earn with your purchases!


And you know what?  That's not even the BEST THING about Sale-a-bration!!

WHAT?!!!!!   That's right!!!  That is NOT EVEN the BEST THING!!

The absolute BEST THING about Sale-a-bration is the recruiting promotion!!

Ok here it is:  Who doesn't love a fabulous discount on items they were going to purchase anyway?  I know I do!  You can sign up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator and earn 20% discount on everything in the catalog (all the time!). Now, that deal goes on always. So, ok Dana.  That can't be the "BEST THING".  Well, you're right.  That's not.

What if I told you that during Sale-a-bration, you can sign up for the "discount club" and not only receive that 20% discount on everything in the catalog all the time but, you can ALSO get $175 worth of product for only $99 (plus tax)!!!!!  OOOOOH BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!!!! (in my info-mercial voice!)  Yes, you will get $175 worth of product for only $99, but you will also get FREE SHIPPING ON THAT ORDER!!!  WHAAAAAAT?!!!!  YAYAYAYA!

And there's one other thing to add to that! Remember the Craft & Carry tote I showed you a couple weeks ago?  If you sign up on January 3rd (or as soon after as possible) you will also have the option of adding that tote to your kit and making your order a total of only $129 (plus tax)!!!  That's a $20 savings on the tote alone!!!

Let me break this down for you:

Option #1:
Receive $175 worth of product (YOUR CHOICE) for only $99 (plus tax), PLUS receive 20% discount on everything in the catalog straight out the gate.

or

Option #2:
Receive $175 worth of product (YOUR CHOICE) PLUS the Craft & Carry tote bag for only $129 (plus tax), PLUS receive 20% discount on everything in the catalog straight out the gate.

Either option is a fantastic, amazing, INCREDIBLE deal!  And, I would LOVE to have you on my team!!

Now, if you're worried about sales minimums and whatnot..... don't!  You don't have to sell a single thing if you don't want to.  If you'd like this to just be a "discount club", you are more than welcome to do that and no one will pressure you into anything else.  However, the option will always be available for you to sell and make some extra money to *ehem* feed your habit? ;-)   The choice is yours and I will be here to support you, no matter which route you choose!

So whaddaya say?  You ready to get that discount?  YAYA!!!!  I hope so!  Now, You'll have to wait until the 3rd to get this incredible deal.  Lucky for us, it's only a couple days away!

If you want that bag though, make sure you're ready ON January 3rd (or as close as possible) because those bags are going to go SUPER FAST!!!

Here's a link to sign up (to make it easy)!  Just remember that this deal goes active ON JANUARY 3rd!

I am SO EXCITED to offer this opportunity for you to join my team!  Crafting is so much more fun when you have friends to share it with!!  Don't you agree?  If you have any questions ahead of time, please feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email.  I'd love to chat with you about Stampin' Up!

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!