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HOW TO MAKE A BOKEH BACKGROUND FOR A HIBISCUS WREATH CARD

I’ll start by letting you know that Stampin’ Up! has a three day SEASONAL SALE kicking off today.

If you live in Australia, head over to my online store to make the most of these great deals – www.stampinup.com.au/?demoid=4009307

The card I am sharing with you today is one that I made for a recent Global Design Project challenge.

Let me show you the steps I took to create this card.

I used the second smallest circle from the Stylish Shapes Dies to create a stencil.

Then I used a small Blending Brush and Pool Party ink to colour the bokeh circles around the outer edge of the card. Each of the circles varied in depth of colour to create the effect you can see.

A second white panel was given the bokeh treatment for the card insert.

After I finished the bokeh background I went on the stamp, colour and die cut five hibiscus, from the Happy Hibiscus Bundle.

I tried to only ink up the largest of the hibiscus trio.

I transferred some ink from the Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad and added some Clear Wink of Stella to Clear Block E.

I keep a couple of empty Stella brushes to use for this colouring technique. The ink and clear Stella ink are combined and then painted onto the stamped image. I start lightly and slowly build the colour intensity.

After the five hibiscus flowers were coloured and dry, they were then die cut. I then went back over the stamens with the Real Red Blends Pens.

I repeat this process using Granny Apple Green ink and the two leaf outline dies to cut five each of the leaves.

Using lots of Stampin’ Dimensionals, i spaced and overlapped the flowers to create a tropical wreath. Then I tucked under and adhered the leaves around the wreath.

The greeting, from the same stamp set, was stamped in Pool Party before being cut with the largest of the banner pieces from the Stylish Shapes Dies set. Then it was positioned over the wreath and attached with dimensionals.

The final step was to add some Glossy Dots for that little touch of bling.

I’m not sure what I will have for you later in thw week – stay tuned.

Until then, happy stamping.

If you live in Australia, you can order any of the products I used to make this card by going to my online store. Just click on any of the images below.

Product List
Paper Snips
[103579]
$21.00
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HOW TO MAKE A MINI ALBUM USING CARDS AND ENVELOPES

For today’s mini album I continued to use the Joyful Images and Joyful Sayings Ephemera Packs.

I also used the Gold Dipped Mix & Match Cards & Envelopes – Garden Green, Night of Navy, Real Red and Gold.

To start making the mini album take two of the envelopes and glue the flaps together. Take care to align them accurately.

Trim away 1/16″ from the outer edge of each envelope. This will create pockets for photo inserts.

Repeat this until you have two sets of envelope pocket in each of the three colours.

For the photo inserts cut cardstock to 6″x 4″ in each of the colours. Attach a coordinating tab to the card base – I used the Keeping Tabs Punch to create the tabs. Then I attached slightly smaller pieces of Basic White card to each side of each photo insert.

Take six cards, three in each colour, and fold them in half and burnish them with a bone folder. Glue a colour matching card over each pair of glued flaps. This adds more pages to the album.

In the image below, the page with the Christmas tree is one of the cards that was glued over the joined flaps.

Take the same number of cards and carefully cut them in half. Adhere each half over the envelope pocket – be careful not to use too much glue toward the centre of each page because you want the photo insert to fit inside the pocket.

Take a circle punch andcut a semicircle in the side of the pocket to allow easier access for the photo insert.

Rather than adhering the backs of the envelopes together, I cut a 1″ strip from the folded edge of a number of cards. I used this as a hinge to join envelopes – again giving many more pages to the album.

The image below is an example of two envelopes being joined together with one of the card hinges. Idecided to use the cards because Basic White card was not quite the correct shade of white.

Each of the hinge joins, throughout the album, were decorated to enhance the look of the join.

There are so many elements in the Joyful Images and Joyful Sayings Ephemera Packs that can be used to decorate the album. These pages are perfect for journalling, keeping gift tags and other Christmas memorabilia.

.After joining together all the envelopes and then placing the photo inserts in each pocket the album is ready for a cover and ribbon clsure.

The album has 32 pages and 12 photo inserts.

For the album cover I used a piece of Real Red card 10 3/4″x 6 3/4″ with a spine of 1 1/4″.

I embossed two pieces of Real Red card, measuring 6 1/2″x 4 1/2″, using the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder.

Before adhering these embossed panels to the front and back of the album cover I wrapped a 32″ length of Night of Navy & Gold Glittered Ribbon around it and tied a bow.

To finish the mini album, I added a wreath from the Joyful Images Ephemera Pack and a greeting from the Joyful Sayings Ephemera Pack. These were both attached to the front of the album with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

From tomorrow I will have some Happy Hibiscus projects to start sharing with you.

Until then, happy stamping.

If you live in Australia, you can order any of the products I used to make this card by going to my online store. Just click on any of the images below.

Product List
1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch
1″ (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch
[119868]
$21.00
Paper Snips
[103579]
$21.00
Bone Folder
[102300]
$14.00
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HOW TO MAKE A 3D CHRISTMAS GIFTBOX

For this collapsible giftbox I started with 2 A4 sheets of Garden Green cardstock.

The finished box measures 4″(W) x 4″(D) x 3″(H).

The four 4″x 3″ panels are joined to create the sides of the giftbox. These are the perfect size for cards, of the same size, from the Reindeer Days Memories and More Card Pack.

Once the sides are joined and the cards adhered to them, the top and bottom square 1/2″ flaps were trimmed/wedged and folded folded into the box.

I added some elements from the Joyful Images and Joyful Sayings Ephemera Packs to the top of the box.

This giftbox can be folded flat for easy storage.

Tomorrow I will share a Mini Album I made using the same range of Christmas products.

Until then, happy stamping.

If you live in Australia, you can order any of the products I used to make this card by going to my online store. Just click on any of the images below.

Product List
Paper Snips
[103579]
$21.00
Bone Folder
[102300]
$14.00