Corner Punch Medallion Tutorial

There are many creative uses for medallions. And doing this has spawn a couple of other ideas. I am working on those ideas now. I love my Martha Stewart punch sets. I keep playing hoping to discover a new trick..Here is one.
Here are the different medallions you can achieve using the different designs of the corner punches.


Product List:
Any corner punch from the Punch around the page sets
Card stock
paper trimmer or (ruler and craft knife)
Tweezers




These are just some of the designs that you can achieve using the different corner punch designs.




Using your paper trimmer, cut 1 1/2 inch strips of card stock.




Take your 1 1/2 inch strips and cut them into 1 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch squares.




With the bottom of the punch facing you, take your square shape and carefully slide it into the punch corner side down.




Slide the square down so that the corner of the sqaure matches and is even with the bottom corner of the punch. It will just about rest on the corner, and must be exact. Punch down.




Pull the square out and rotate the square so that the next corner is ready to be punched.





Turn it once again and punch. At this point, you may have a better handle on the square if you hold it with tweezers.





Turn once again to punch the last corner.




This is your finished madalion.




This is a layout I did where I used the medallions on top of a punched strip.



Let us know what other ideas you have for these medallions. I would love to hear!!

Something new coming to Swirlydoos!!!

Swirlydoos is proud to introduce to you our brand new monthly challenge~~~~.SwirlyHues ~~~~ Our Design Team has been working like crazy and keeping the details of this challenge super top secret! Even the most skilled interrogators have failed at their attempts to squeeze information from us!

They tried really hard though...

Come on over to The Swirlydoos Blog on 9/10/11 and get all of the details including information on our inaugural prize!!

This challenge will be open to everyone, not just our subscribers! Come on over and join in the party....swirly style!
We're going to get your Mojo going!!

An Angel Gets His Wings...

While most of us are celebrating the holiday, there are others grieving over the loss of their beloved Angel. Lennon was a light in a world that could sometimes be so dark.
Yesterday, Precious Lennon lost his battle with cancer..and the light was dimmed..But for only a moment...
Karen (Lennons grandma) has been a friend of mine for a long time. She befriended me a few years back, when she invited me over to her Memories To Last Circle Of Friends/Critique Group at Scrapbook.com. We had a very special group of ladies. That is where I got to know her and her beautiful family. No I have never met them in person, but those of us who have formed online friendships, know that these friends are real.
When Karen first told us about Lennons diagnosis, we all thought, he is young, treatment is successful now a days... A situation that leaves everyone begging God for answers. We were hopeful through the ups and downs that Lennon would beat this illness... We hoped , we prayed.

I am sure sweet Lennon taught his family to love fiercely, forgive greatly, and to cling to God...even in their darkest moments. If this was his legacy, then he lived a powerful life. And so during the families darkest hour, there shown a Light...The Spirit Angel that will light up the Heavens and shine, once again.

Postage Stamp Paper Background

I was inspired by Spellbinders new Postage Stamp Nesting Dies. They are so cute!! Becca Feekin (my fave cardmaker) uses them so creatively. I wanted to create a larger scale for background paper for a 12 x 12 inch layout. You know how I love Diecut papers. Then I noticed Gabrielle Pollaco (whose work is always beyond beautiful) had matted her Webster Postage Stamp Die Cut paper. I love the effect when matted.This one would be hard to make a template because the ready made postage edge papers are 12 x 12, so they cant be matted unless you piece it like Gabi explains how she does it. So I devised a way to do it so that you can create any size you wish and still have a 12 x 12 layout if you cut down your pattern paper. Voila!!
So here is my tute on creating the look without having to piece your mat.

Product List:
1 piece of 12 x 12 patterned paper
1 piece of 12 x 12 solid card stock in a coordinating color
Paper trimmer or (ruler and craft knife)
small cutting scissors
marking pen or pencil
1/2 inch circle punch
adhesive of your choice. I use my ATG Gun









If you are going to do a 12 x 12 layout, then cut your patterned paper 1/4 inch smaller around than your solid card stock. So cut it down to 11 1/2 x 11 1/2. That will give you a 1/4 inch mat border.Leave your card stock 12 x 12.





Turn your pattern paper over to the wrong side and starting in the middle of the edge, mark a small dot. Then mark a dot in 1 inch increments almost to the edge. You can see there is room for another dot, but you don't want to go to the end. There is about 1 1.2 inches between the last dot and the corner end.





I turned my circle punch over and using permanent marker, marked 4 lines inside my punch to divide into quarters, That made it easy to measure the semi circles I cut out easily. Line up your marks and punch half circles out. Move to the next dot, and continue punching all around the page until all the dots are punched.





Adhere your pattern paper over your solid card stock. Using your scissors, hand cut inside the punched circles,1/4 inch away from the edges of the half circles.




Your page should look like this. A beautiful large postage stamp.




I hope you enjoy creating with this shape!!
Thank You to Spellbinders and Gabi for the inspiration!!

Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday***8-31-11***

Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday..And the last day of August..Do I smell a hint of autumn in the air... I think not. This is Florida...Still hanging in the 90's with no relief in sight. But who am I to complain...I have electric and running water unlike some of my friends and family in the north. Hurricane Irene took them down. Here is to a quick recovery!!
Well as promised I used different stamps for my layout this week, but I had to throw in more from the botanicals collection. I still cant get enough.
I love my collection of antique sewing machines. I have 7 of them, plus my grandma's old factory Singer from the 1930's, and my more modern computerized Husqvarna. My singer featherweights are my fave! My husband has one apart that he is custom painting for me. I cant wait till it is done. Wait till you see this new baby in a couple of months. I am having a REALLY hard time picking out the color. Candy Apple Red sounds gorgeous... He will use automotive paint just like on a car. so head on over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog to see the beautiful work that the rest of the Design Team has done!! Cardmakers will be amazed!! Thank you Joelle for the link to the marble tiles!! Love you!! You will also see a sneak of the next collection..CHRISTMAS!!! Oh the stamps are gorgeous!
Anyway. I though it fitting to pay tribute to my machines. I included the Tim Holtz sewing die, some old patterned paper and a few randomly placed buttons. I didnt sew on this one..I just plain forgot to...


I didn't want to overdo the dress form die, I wanted to keep it's simplicity to a minimum. I wrapped some ricrac around the spool. I Glimmer Misted some seam binding and tied it around the waist. Then used a cute Blue Moon bead trinket and hung it with a safety pin. I stamped all around the layout, then diecut and Glimmer Misted the same flowers and adhered them over the stamped images for dimension. I added a small dot of Stickles to the center of each flower. Also in the Swirlydoos kit.

The flowers were created from the Rose Creations Die and the Botanicals collection of stamps in various sizes. I did not stamp the leaves this time, but left them a beautiful green using Glimmer Mist.
I did some layering using papers from Swirlydoos August Main Kit and Technique kit. I cut strips of old dress pattern tissue paper, stamped it using a background word stamp, then gathered and adhered it under one of the layers. I printed up the title using Microsoft word. See post below in the morning for complete instructions on creating this LO.

Products Used on This Project

HCPC 3409 Tropical Floral Swirls PreCut Set
HCPC 3407 Botanical Floral 2 PreCut Set
HCPC 3406 Botanical Floral 1 PreCut Set
472186 Rose Creations Shapeabilities
HCPC 3405 Leaf Medley PreCut Set
472123 Foliage Shapeabiliies
HCPC 3323 Large Elegant Word Background

Other Products: Tim Holtz paper Glimmer Mist Tim Holtz Sizzix Ssewing Die Basic Grey Buttons Stickles old pattern tissue paper Kaisercraft paper Prima paper Colorbox chalk ink Bluemoon trinkets McGill punch starburst

Cut out a square within the background paper and diistress and ink the edges. Layer another piece of patterned paper underneath and cut out another square smaller than the last and distress and ink that piece as well. Cut strips of old pattern tissue paper, stamp with Word background stamp, ruffle and adhere to the inner background paper. Back the open area with a piece of solid cardstock. Place photo to the side of the middle solid area and place the title to the side. Stamp the flower stamps around the outer border and color the flowers and leaves with Glimmer Mist. Stamp, die cut and color the flowers in different sizes. Layer a few to form the roses and leave others to layer over your stamped and colored images done around the border. Dot the middles with Stickles for a little sparkle. Die cut, stamp and color the leaves as well. Bend the leaves slightly for dimension. Arrange the flowers and leaves around the page. The Dress form was diecut from chipboard and patterned paper. A ribbon was tied around the waist and a small trinket was pinned to the knot. The small die cut spool was wrapped with ricrac.A few buttons and a butterfly were placed around the page as shown.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I was just going through Swirlydoos Camp pictures...Goodness did we have a lot of fun!!!!! This was taken on the last day. Some of us had our remotes for the camera. Otherwise we would have been missing someone...Lots of fun I say. I cant wait till next year!!
Top row from left to right:
Kim, Jen, Kathi, Robin, Krissy, Sherri, Lisa, Jan
Middle is Peggy
Bottom row is Me, Meg and Shelly...

Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday***8-24-11***

Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday!!I know you are probably wanting me to change up the stamps that I am using, but I cant help myself, I loooove The Botanicals Collection!! I keep finding ways to do the flowers. I promise, I will find new ones for next week...I already started on a new one. I used my August Swirlydoos add on Kit to create this layout. It had the wonderful Resist papers from Tim Holtz. I also used Dusty Attic from the Swirlydoos special order that Krissy opens up sometimes.

I created the pendant in the middle of the Dusty attic flourish. I was inspired by Prima's new tiles and I thought they looked like jewelry pieces. Or Mosaic Pieces used for jewelry, so I started creating a tutorial on how to make them. The piece I used was not stamped but rather colored and pearlized to simulate ivory and set in a jewelry piece. I used my inchie stamps to create patterns on some of my pieces but left this one plain and placed tiny letter stickers on it to spell the name of my Photo subject. Eve is the granddaughter of a dear friend of mine and the light of her life.

I created the flowers while being inspired to use gesso and mists from a fun challenge we are doing at Swirlydoos for the Swirly Girls Challenge (SGC). Tammy started a wonderful challenge to use Gesso, Mists and Masks...Thank You Ms.Tammy. The flowers in real life look like real petals. While experimenting, I liked the way it turned out!


I love the tiny Glitz letters. I have them left over from Grandma's Garden kit. I think I just used the last of my "E"s. I really adore the Martha Stewart Cherish punch around the page set. I hope there will be more designs coming soon. I love the sets!! The punch around the photo is an EK Success border punch. Did you know EK Success makes the Martha Stewart punches?? No wonder they are so nice!! I wonder if Miss Martha herself helps in designing the punches..hhhmmm...I know I have a LOT of designs in my head that I would love to see become border designs. For stamps too.

Just another view of the flowers and leaves. Below you will find instructions on how I created and constructed this LO. OK, off to work on a new butterfly file for you all.

Products used:

HCPC 3406 Botanical Floral 1 PreCut Set

HCPC 3407 Botanical Floral 2 PreCut Set

HCPC 3405 Leaf Medley PreCut Set

472123 Foliage Shapeabilies

472186 Rose Creations Shapeabilities

Other Products:

Tim Holtz resist paper

Glimmer Mist

Lindys Starburst Spray

Gesso

EK Success edge punch

Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page Set "Cherish"

Glitz tiny letter stickers

Plaid stencil

Mcgill flower punch

Prima pearls

Bazzill card stock

butterflies

sewing machine

Instructions:

Punch around the page with MS Cherish set. Mat the photo with edged punch card stock and adhere to patterned paper. Sew around photo border and mat border. Adhere to background paper. Used a stencil to add print to paper in opposite corners. The flowers were diecut, painted with white gesso, then sprayed with 2 different colors of Starburst Spray while the gesso was still slightly tacky. When dry, the flowers were stamped with soft black ink. A small flower was punched and added to the middles of the flowers and finished with a pearl in the center. The Leaves were diecut from green card stock and enhanced with Glimmer Mist then stamped. they were shaped slightly for dimension. Arrange flower and leaf clusters onto layout. The Dusty Attic flourish piece was sprayed with Glimmer Mist and a handmade tile was placed in the center. Used tiny letters for the name in the tile and for the title on layout. The butterflies were added last.

Heartfelt Creations Wednesday 8-17-11

Happy Heartfelt Creations Wednesday!!
This week I did some more flower making using the Botanical Garden Collections stamps with the coordinating Spellbinders and Donna Salazar dies. The papers are DCWV the "Mariposa" pack...I have been hoarding them for a while. They are beautiful!

The flowers were stamped and die cut. the middles were created by stacking 4 sun punches and scrunching them up.

I used some watercolor paints to color the butterfly, then added Rock candy Stickles on them as always.
I stared out wanting to create Geraniums because the leaves reminded me of Geraniums, but as always my flower making took a different coarse. LOL... You will find the instructions for creating this layout below. Have a Happy Wednesday!!

Products Used on This Project

HCPC 3406 Botanical Floral 1 PreCut Set
472186 Rose Creations Shapeabilities
HCPC 3405 Leaf Medley PreCut Set
472123 Foliage Shapeabilities

Martha Stewart Garden Gate punch ,EK Success scallop edge punch, McGill star punch ,DCWV Mariposa papers, Recollections pearl swirls ,Glimmer Mist Olive Vine, Sizzix Sizzlets alpha dies "Endless Love" ,Archivers ink.

Instructions:

Cut 2 strips of coordinating paper (to match background paper) one larger than the other. Edge punch and ink both long sides of each strip, using a different punch for each strip. Adhere one strip onto the other then adhere to middle background paper. Mat photo and adhere to middle of page. Create the flowers by die cutting and stamping 3 different flower layers and spritz some water onto layers and wrinkle slightly for a realistic look. When dry, stack the different layers and fluff up a bit. The stamen is comprised of 3 punched stars that are stacked and bunched up, then adhered to the middle of layered flowers. The leaves are die cut stamps and sprayed slightly with Glimmer Mist. Let dry thoroughly before placing on layout. Arrange the flowers and leaves onto the layout then adhere the pearls swirls as shown and place butterflies randomly onto layout. Die cut title is placed last over top of photo.

Swirlydoos August Round Robin***Hot Hot Hot***

At Swirlydoos we have a few wonderful challenges every month. One of the hottest challenges is the Round Robin Challenge. Every month Peggy hosts this most wonderful Challenge and rocks it every single time. Occasionally, we give Peggy a little vacation and someone substitutes the hosting, but Peggy is the one Swirly Goddess that never fails to challenge us with a theme or a twist. And this month we are heating it up with Hot Hot Hottness or any variation thereof!!!! Manda started us out with a Hot LO of her man Johnny Depp, followed by Erica's LO of Mr Hottness himself Derek Jeter (oooh that's my Yankee!!) But everyone knows who my dream man is. My Dolce and Gabanna hot honey David Gandy...Oh dear, what else can I say...He's so damn HOT!!! And if you follow the cake thread over at Swirlydoos, you will know what I mean...

I used the August kit Poetry En Prose to create my hot layout. Love love the Marah Johnson gate die cut paper. I cut a piece out of the middle to create the open gate and backed it with some patterned paper. The title letters came from a past Swirlydoos kit and I used Lumiere paint to color them. The paint is so beautifully luminous! Love it!!

I mixed the Prima, Petaloo and my own flowers mixed with Spellbinders leaves for my flower cluster. My own flowers are mixed die cuts from the Spellbinders Donna Salazar Rose Creations die set. I followed my Swirly Hibiscus flower tutorial. I used blue cardstock then sprayed on some Tattered Angels Chalkboard spray in the middle of the flowers in the gorgeous new color Inchworm. Love it!!
Head on over to Swirlydoos and check all of the challenges. I am sure you will be inspired by one of them!

God he's so damn HOT!!!!

Heartfelt Creations Wednesday 8-10-11

Hi Everyone,
Heartfelt Creations is pleased to introduce the Decorative Basket Collection. The Decorative Basket Collection is a definite must have for all crafters. This collection features classic basket images that will be a "go to" set time after time. You can arrange endless styles of flowers into these baskets, use them for party favors, harvest baskets, Christmas baskets...the possibilities are endless. This collection features 5 new precut stamp sets and one exclusive Heartfelt Creations die manufactured by Spellbinders.

It has been raining forever here in Florida..I could not get a decent photo of my layout. And I am not entirely happy about my creation this week. So I may do a "Do Over"!!! But I created 2 little sweet baskets for my layout. Please visit the Heartfelt creations Blog for more inspiration of the beautiful work the Design Team did with the Decorative Baskets Collection!!

Spellbinders sent the Design Team some new release dies. I used the Fancy Labels Die for my sentiment journaling.

Just a close up of one of the baskets.
Products Used on This Project

HCD 714 Decorative Layered Basket Die
472186 Rose Creations Shapeabilities die
472177 SpellbindersFancy Tags 3 Shapeabilities
HCPC 3412 – Botanical Floral Basket PreCut Set
HCPC 3407 Botanical Floral 2 PreCut Set
472123 Spellbinders Foliage Shapeabilities

Other: Martha Stewart Wild Flower deep punch around the page punch set Martha Stewart scalloped hearts edge punch Martha Stewart French Scroll corner punch Martha Stewart butterfly punch large and small K&Company Paper Kaisercraft pearls

Die cut leaves from Foliage die and used as a mask around the border of background paper. Ripped a few spots from around the border, inked the edges, folded back the very edges of the torn paper and placed a coordinating punched card stock behind the torn out spots. Creating a lace peek-a-boo effect. Layer on top a coordinating pattered paper punched around the page. Cut out a circle, and using the corner punch, punch the design around the perimeter of the circle (my video tutorial). Place tiny pearls around the circle. Cut the inside of the circle out creating a ring. Adhere to center of page. Mat the photo with strips of the heart scallop punch and adhere photo to middle of ring. Die cut and stamp 2 baskets. Place on layout as shown. Place tiny pearls on bottom of basket design. Die cut and stamp some flowers and adhere to the baskets. Dot the middle of flowers with tiny pearls. Die cut the small leaf vines and place in baskets as well. Die cut a Spellbinders label, stamp with the sentiment and adhere to LO. Punch out butterflies and place randomly around page.

Swirlydoos August Poetry En Prose and Blog Hop.

Welcome to Swirlydoos August Kit Reveal Blog Hop!!!

If you've arrived here from Maiko's blog, then you are on the right track! If you are one of my regular followers then head on over to the Swirlydoos Blog and join in the fun!
This month, I mixed it up a little. I did 3 layouts, a canvas project and another alphabet tile tutorial. Of course created the butterfly tutorial to match the kit. I will leave the flower tutorial for another day. Here are my DT reveals for the beautiful August kit "Poetry En Prose"...


You may remember this layout as a tease and my reveal for Heartfelt Creations. A match made in Heaven for me. You can see my post from Wednesday for details and closeups.

This Layout was done on a 12 x 12 canvas. Lisa Valentine took the She Art Class, and I purchased a wonderful book called Collage Couture. Lisa was my inspiration as she did a canvas, but what I learned was in the book. The canvas was a gift to my daughter for her birthday yesterday as she is on the home stretch of her Culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu. Transferring from Portland Oregon to Orlando Florida so she can do her externship here close to home. A true Floridian at heart, the mermaid symbolizes her return to home having risen from a tough year in Portland.
The quote reads..."She turned her cant's into cans and her dreams into plans".

Just some closeups of the canvas.

I stamped the edges of the canvas, and on one side I stamped a small sentiment to my daughter.


A close up of the mermaid. I created the body from punched circles that were inked and layered. The fins were run through my crimper then inked as well.


This next layout is my sisters grandaughter Nikki in her summer dress.

I left the birdcage in the raw state. I stamped and die cut some Heartfelt Creations leaves.


The letters were created from a new tutorial for alphabet tiles that will be found at the end of this post.

I mixed Prima, Petaloo and my own flowers for the cluster.

I also created a new butterfly file to match the kit perfectly. I will post the file at the end of this post as well.


This next layout is of my friend Tanya on her wedding day. The strip was created with one of my Martha Stewart punches. The roses were created using Heartfelt Creations Botanicals stamp and Donna Salazar Spellbinders Rose creations die.

Another butterfly form the new butterfly file.

Just a closeup of the leaves and flowers.

Another closeup of the trellis I created for the flowers.

Another closeup of one of the butterflies.


REMEMBER, to qualify for the grand prize you need to:
1) visit all of the blogs, including Swirlydoos, in order to qualify.
2) Be sure to leave a comment and become a follower of each blog (if you haven't already). This way we know that you have joined in the party! This is what you can win. A beautiful Bo Bunny Mini Album kit!! it really isn't so mini.
You have through 5pm Eastern time on Sunday August 7th to complete the hop!! All entries will be entered into the drawing for our Grand Prize!!! This month's prize will this completely gorgeous kit made up of Bo Bunny product!!
You are at the end of the Blog hop. I hope you enjoyed this months reveal and been inspired!! Winner will be announced on the Swirlydoos blog on August 8th. Good luck and thank you for joining us!!


Down load a copy of the butterfly file.

These are the files for the Alpah Tile Tutorial. Just follow the same directions as in the Faux Scrabble Tile tutorial. If you print the files on 5 x 7 card stock, you will end up with a tile that is a little less than one inch. You can cut a 1 inch mat and adhere tiles to the mat to create a 1 inch tile.