No Sew Cushion

Okay, so I can sew, but only if I have to.  I hate having to get the machine out, find the extension cable, thread the whole machine up etc.  I will try anything to get out of sewing.

So you can imagine how happy I was when I came across a tutorial for a no sew cushion, so I thought I'd try it out with SU! fabric. 

Now, the tutorial I saw was made using fleece, but so long as you use pinking shears, this method works with the SU! fabric just fine. 

The fabric I used for my main cushion is the Beau Chateau (#122336). For my method photos below I used Candy Cane Christmas fabric (#121715).

For a good sized chair cushion, like the Beau Chateau one, I used two pieces of fabric, 18" x 18".  The SU! fabric is 18" wide, so I used two different pieces.  This is good as it means you have a reversible cushion - a different pattern on each side. :O)

Once you've cut your cushion squares, cut out a piece at each corner measuring 3" x 3".

Do this on all four corners, so you end up with a cross like shape (as above).

On each side, cut up to the right angled edge to make several even strips. For my cushion I cut at every 1/2". 

It's then just a case of tying your strips together. I used a reef knot method (right over left, then left over right). Do this on three sides.  Put your 15cm cushion insert in and then finish off knotting up the fourth side and you're done!

This is my chair cushion turned over to the other side.  It was really quick to do - I did mine in about 2 hours yesterday afternoon.

Hope you like the tutorial! TFL! Joanne x

Quick and Easy Treat Card

Hello Everyone!

Well, it's that time of year when you may want to give your kids' teachers a gift for putting up with them all year! If they're anything like my boy, they have quite a few teachers and several teaching assistants too. So I've devised this small little treat box with attached card.

They're quick and easy to make and hold two Lindt Lindor chocs (I prefer these to Ferrero Rocher), so they're quite cheap to make too and make a sweet little gesture. Here's how you do it.

First, take a piece of cardstock measuring 10.5cm x 29cm.  It's basically half a sheet of A4 with a smidgeon taken off the end, as shown above.

On the short side, score at 2cm and 8.5cm (check the picture, because I seem to confuse people with my descriptions of short and long sides and where to score!)

On the long side, score at 1cm, 4cm, 7cm, 10cm, 13cm and 21cm.  On the diagram above, I've marked with dotted lines where you need to cut and shaded the areas that need to come off completely.

Basically, you should end up with your cardstock looking like this.

On the first rectangle of the actual box body, mark the centre (as shown above). This makes it easier for the next part.

Take your Modern Label Punch, turn it over and centre the mark in the middle. Then punch out. The mark is just my way of making sure I get my punched shape in the middle.  If you haven't got the Modern Label Punch, you could always use the Word Window Punch, that fits too.

Place Sticky Strip on the narrow 1cm strip right at the end.

Fold it up to the edge of the 13cm score line and stick down.

Fold in the left and right flaps at the edge of the box. Place Sticky Strip on the top edge of the bottom flap and fold the top one down over it, sealing the box.

Add your treats and then seal the other end of the box in the same way. Fold down your card flap and you're done! All that needs to be done is to decorate your box in any way you want.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. TFL! Joanne x

Blurred Vision Technique

Hello Everybody!

I love stamps that I can colour in.  And there are a few sets in the new Summer Mini catalogue that are perfect for this. I think my favourite is Bordering on Romance that I've just acquired.

Sometimes though, I can be very lazy. I want to use my line drawn images, but I can't be bothered to colour them in.  This is where the "Blurred Vision" Technique comes in!

The image on this card is from the Bordering on Romance set.  I stamped it onto Confetti Cream cardstock. I prefer to use that for this technique as it has a more "rustic" look to it. The image was stamped with Soft Suede ink, but you can use any of the water based Classic ink pads to suit your colour scheme.

You then either take a blender pen or a watercolour brush and gently go over the lines, smudging the ink to make a softer outline and a more "blurred vision" look to the image. Once I was happy with how blurred I'd made it, I inked the edges with Soft Suede to blend in with the artwork and give a more aged, vintage feel.

The image was then matted onto Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette cardstock. The patterned paper I used is from the Beau Chateau range of Designer Series Paper. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped onto a banner cut from the Petal Cone Bigz L Die. The card was finished off with a few butterflies from my all time favourite Embosslits die - Beautiful Wings. I hope you like this card and have a go at the Blurred Vision technique!

Card recipe:

Stamp sets - Bordering on Romance #125482, Teeny Tiny Wishes #115370
Cardstock - Pink Pirouette #116203, Soft Suede #119982, Confetti Cream #106558, Very Vanilla #106550
Ink - Soft Suede #115657
DSP - Beau Chateau #122357
Embellishment - Pearls #119247
Embosslits Die - Beautiful Wings #118138
Bigz L Die - Petal Cone #121810

TFL! Joanne x

Summery roses

I think it's about time I uploaded something again, don't you?!

This is a card I made yesterday. You like? Here's a little tutorial on how I made the roses.  They're probably the simplest flower you'll ever make (bar just punching them out!)

First of all, take a square of paper and round the corners.  For the roses on my card I used one piece of 3" x 3" for the large rose and two pieces of 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" for the smaller roses.  Round the corners with scissors (this isn't an exact science, just snip the corners off basically) and draw a spiral onto your paper with pencil.

Now you need to cut around your pencil spiral with scissors.  I should just point out that you don't need to use squares of patterned paper, you can use punched circles if you have circle punches that are big enough!

*GASP!* What has she done?! ;O)  You need to crumple your spiral to help soften and break the fibres in the paper to make it more malleable when it comes to rolling your rose.

Now here comes the fun bit! Starting from the outside edge, roll your spiral in towards the centre.  Don't worry if you do it too tight, just loosen your grip and your roll will relax out a little. Don't worry about it being neat, these roses are supposed to be "abstract"!

When you get to the end, place a dab of glue or a glue dot on the centre bit of your spiral and stick it down as shown. It should keep the bloom in place no problem.  If not just add a bit more glue.

And there you have it! The sky's the limit with these roses.  It's a great technique for using scraps of patterned paper or cardstock.  You could add a bit of bling with Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Shimmer Paint or Crystal Effects. 

For the card above I used the following:

Cardstock - Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose

Ink - Pumpkin Pie

Designer Series Paper - Pink Flamingo

Ribbon - Pretty in Pink Tafetta, Old Olive Grosgrain

Button - Playground Buttons

Sentiment - Sincere Salutations

Border Punch - Vintage Lace

All products Stampin' Up!

Treat Cups Tutorial!

A few days ago I promised a tutorial based around the marvellous treat cups we now have in the Mini Catalogue. Well, here it is!

Okay, so first of all I start by doing my little picture.  For this card I'm using my favourite, the bubblegum machine again.  First I stamp the base, then I line up my 1 3/4" punch by the base and punch my hole for the treat cup, then I use my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the little lid on top of my treat cup hole.

Next, I place my image over my mat (DO NOT stick it down yet!) I can then line my punch up over the hole and punch the hole out of the mat as well.

I then take them apart and sandwich my treat cup between my picture and the mat as shown. The treat cup has double sided tape on and is easy to line up on the mat. Then it's just a case of adding adhesive to the picture and placing it on top.

Next I take my actual card and punch a hole about a third of the way down. You don't need to use the 1 3/4" punch for this, you just need a hole that's big enough to get your treat through.  For this card I used a 3/4" punch.

Next, you need to make a "door" to cover your 3/4" hole, so you can keep your treats in place when they're not being eaten! 

Take a piece of co-ordinating cardstock sized at 2" x 2 1/2" and attach a punch tab to the end of it. This will be your door. Stick double sided tape around your matted picture, just on three sides, and attach it to your card.  Your little door should slide in from the left and cover the hole.

Fill your card with your chosen treat and slide the door into place.

Add your finishing touches, and there you have it - a gorgeous treat cup card!  They can seem fiddly to make at first, but once you get the hang of it they're very straight forward.

The materials used for this card are Real Red and Whisper White cardstock, a piece of patterned paper from the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Papers, 1/2" striped grosgrain ribbon in Real Red, Real Red ink and the Something Sweet stamp set and treat cups. The punches used are 1 3/4" circle, 3/4" circle and Round Tab Punch. All items are from the Stampin' Up! current catalogues.

Hope you like this card.  Remember, if you have any questions, or if you'd like to purchase anything from Stampin' Up! I'd love to hear from you!

TFL! Joanne x

Easter Bunnies!

I had a wonderful day last Thursday at the Stampin' Up! Training day here in Sheffield.  It was lovely to get together with everyone again. These are the swaps that I did for the day.  With Easter edging ever closer I thought I'd give everyone a little Easter gift.

As you can see it's a little pouch that can hold a delivious bar of chocolate!  The best fit for this pouch was the new Galaxy Bubbles bar, or one of the Kit Kat Easter bars fits well too.  Whatever you choose will be equally delicious if it's chocolate!

Here's a quick run down on how to make it.

Basically, you just need to cut a 2 1/4" strip from a sheet of A4 cardstock, along the length of it, so you have a nice long strip. I used Bashful Blue and Old Olive.

This needs to be scored at 2", 2 1/2", 7" and 7 1/2".

Using the SU! Large Oval punch, punch out an oval in the 2" section.  Add some Sticky Strip as shown.

Fold it over and press down hard so it won't come undone.

When you fold the flap over, you will notice that there is a gap.  Cut a 1 1/2" wide piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, cut it with the Lacy Edge border punch and stick it to the bottom.  Cover the edge with Caramel gingham ribbon and your sentiment.

Inside, stick a little piece of Velcro where you want the flap to close, just underneath the oval.

Now onto making the bunny!  All the punches used are Stampin, Up! The cardstock used is Creamy Caramel, Regal Rose and Basic Black.

Ink all your pieces in their corresponding ink colours to give them some depth.The picture above is quite self explanatory, but for clarity you stick the two petals from the 5 petal punch onto the ovals for his ears, then stick them behind the 1 3/8" punch which is his head. You can leave his ears as they are but I think it looks cute to fold one over and stick it down with a glue dot!

 The 3/4" punches go on his face as his cheeks and the little heart from the Heart to Heart punch goes on top.  Cut a small rectangle of Whisper White cardstock to slip underneath his cheeks for his teeth. Stick the two little 1/4" black circles on for his eyes and add a little glint with white pen.

I'm really pleased with these bunnies. I think they would make lovely card fronts too, whether for Easter or a new baby!

TFL and Happy Easter! Joanne xx

Cracked Glass Technique

I've started trying out various techniques and this is the latest one I've been doing with my class.  I love thisone, it's so effective. Here's what to do:

Stamp your image (this one is from Pocket Sillhouettes and uses Perfect Plum and Old Olive inks).  Then ink the whole piece with Versamark.

Cover the entire piece with clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  If you use UTEE, you only have to heat it once and you're done.  If you use normal clear embossing powder, you will have to repeat the embossing process another four times to get a good thickness.

Then it's just a case of bending your image to create the cracks in the UTEE/embossing powder.  Don't be shy - it does take some oomph! At first I was gingerly bending it, but you really do need to almost fold the cardstock to get it to crack.

You can then leave the image as it is, or if you would like your cracks more prominent, sponge on some Close to Cocoa ink and then wipe off the excess with a paper towel. 

And here's the finished card! The cardstock used is Perfect Plum, Old Olive and Very Vanilla. 

The stamp sets used are Circle of Friendship, Pocket Sillhouetts and En Francais background stamp.

It was finished off with a bucklet from the Hodge Podge Hardware and Chocolate Chip tafetta ribbon.

The lace edging is done with the Eyelet Border Punch.

TFL! Joanne x

Dashed Clever!

That Stampin' Up! Scallop Edge Punch that is. Not only can you make lovely scallop edges on anything that will stand still long enough, you can make your own ric rac! Here's how to do it:

First of all, take a strip of cardstock 1 inch wide (I used SU! Ruby Red) and cut your scallop as normal. You can make your cardstock strip thicker or thinner if you want thicker or thinner ric rac, but I think this is a nice size.

Now, this is the clever bit. Flip your strip over and feed it back through the punch. To get the ric rac look, the opposite scallops must be off centre. The best way to achieve this is to line up one of the "humps" dead central with the third guideline in, on the left of your punch (where my pencil is pointing to). Then cut away again as normal.

And look what happens! Ric Rac Paddywhack! As if my magic! No more buying loads of ribbony ric rac or paper frills - you can make your own!

As you can see, I made a card with it. This is made using the lovely little birdie from the Fun & Fast Notes stamp set and the Holiday Treasures and Designer Series Papers in Old Olive. My ric rac is made with Ruby Red cardstock and finished off with white grosgrain ribbon. The edges of the birdie picture were finished off by distressing with my cutter kit (great for hiding not-so-straight edges if you're a bit cack handed like me!)

Now I'm off to try and work out how to make scallop squares. I may be some time......

Hope this was clear enough for you. Any queries get in touch!

TFL! Joanne xx