Autumn Inspired

We’ve had a busy and fun-filled week here at Stampin’ Central.  Spending time with friends while stamping and chatting the night away is always a great way to spend an evening! 

This project I’m sharing is one of the items my club members made at their most recent meeting. 
I was inspired by one that I made while at a pre-convention event and thought the gals would have fun re-creating it.  After a bit of trial and error, I did successfully resize it to use standard 8 1/2” x 11” cardstock.  I love the changing seasons and all the colors of the fall leaves, so pulled out my new French Foliage stamp set (found in the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog) as well as a few new ink colors and had a grand time putting this together.  This is what it looks like when it’s opened for display:

As you can see, plenty of room for your favorite Autumn photos and journaling.  This little scrapbook card was a huge hit!

PROJECT RECIPE: 
STAMPS:  French Foliage, Wonderfully Worn (background), Elements of Style, Friends Never Fade
PAPER:  certainly celery, cajun craze, crumb cake, old olive
INK:  certainly celery, cajun craze, crumb cake, old olive
ACCESSORIES:  Leaves #2 die, Two Tags die, embossing stylus, dimensionals, craft knife, sponges

Quick and Easy

While playing around with Stampin’ Up!’s My Digital Studio software, I found the most beautiful background paper images.  These can be printed out on cardstock or computer paper and turned into incredibly quick, easy and gorgeous projects.  I completed the two cards above in just a matter of minutes! 

Don’t you just love how sparkly the background is?  I used my favorite new Stampin’ Up! product … Gold Glow Smooch Spritz and sprayed it all over the front of the card base.  The trick to not getting it too blotchy is to keep your bottle about 12” from the area you want to spray – this resulted in a nice even mist.


PROJECT RECIPE:
My Digital Studio Software:  Summertime Splendor – Gerbera background paper
Stamps:  Vintage Vogue
Paper:  Whisper White, Dusty Durango, Daffodil Delight
Ink:  Dusty Durango
Accessories:  Hodgepodge Hardware, ribbon, piercing tool, smooch spritz, scalloped oval punch

Frayed Ribbon

I’ve spent the past few weeks peeling, cooking and freezing 500 pounds of tomatoes.  Ok, so I’ve definitely exaggerated on the 500 pounds – but if you’re the one doing all that peeling and cooking, you can call it any amount you want!  Anyway, I’ve have these photos on my desktop for a few weeks now and finally have some time to get this little tutorial for the frayed ribbon posted … before I start the tomato process all over again next week.

I found this idea for a cute pocket card somewhere on the internet last  year, it has become one of my favorite ideas to play with and the frayed ribbon looks beautiful with this.  I’ve also found that the new In-Color ribbon from Stampin’ Up! is so incredibly easy to work with for this process.

First:  Take a piece of ribbon approximately 8” long and cut off one of the binding edges as shown in the photo below:
Next, begin pulling out the individual fabric strands and set them aside in a nice little pile.

What you do with the leftover scrap piece is up to you … I sometimes toss them in a jar and use them under layers for a “fringed” look … sometimes I just throw them away because my collection has grown too large.

Take the pile of ribbon strands and twist them around a few times, like you were making a rope (this makes it a little easier to poke through your hole).  Fold it in half and push it about halfway through the front of your eyelet (or punched hole).  Now take those loose ends hanging out the front of your eyelet and push them through the resulting loop, carefully adjust and tighten the loop and trim the top of the strands to your desired length. 
If you don’t want the looped finish, you can just twist the strands at one end, poke them through your hole, pull about half of the length through and tie the front and back – just like you would do with a regular piece of ribbon.  Again, trim the ends as desired.


Did you follow all that?  It really is a super easy technique that gives a wonderful and different finished effect.  I hope you give it a try and would love to see your end results!