321 Stamp: Launching Creativity

Leapin' Leprechaun!

St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday. I always loved making sure I was wearing green when I was a kid so no one would pinch me — and I'm not even Irish! This cute Leprechaun card was made by SU demonstrator Diane Simpers, a member of the 3-2-1 Stamp team. It starts life as a Top Note die, an exclusive die for the Sizzix Big Shot machine available only through Stampin' Up. Cut one in Glorious Green, Blush Blossom and also your favorite brown or caramel for his beard. Cut and layer your Top Notes to make the base of his hat and face. The eyes and nose are circle punches of course and the mouth is just hand drawn with a black marker. I belive that the brim of his hat started out as a strip with the ends rounded -- or you could cut a strip from a larger circle and you'd get that same rounded effect. Diane always shares the most creative ideas at our team meetings. I'm off to make some Leprechauns in time for March 17!

Creating with Kat: From Tinkerbell to Sock Monkeys

Now there's a headline to grab your attention! Kathy Melvin, who we call Kat, is another Stampin' Up Demonstrator in my group and she's just so creative. I wanted to share two projects that she brought to a recent team meeting. The first features designer paper from the beautiful SU paper package called Rasberry Tart. Would you believe she found this frame at a local dollar store?! The butterfly accents are made with Stampin' Up's exclusive butterflies die for the Big Shot die cutting machine. What a great background for the Tinkerbell die cut that Kat found at the store -- and love the pink "Attitude" saying. Here's a close up -- just a great decoration for any little girl's room.

Now on to the Sock Monkey part of this post. Sock Monkey is one of those Stampin' Up sets that you either love or hate -- seems to be no middle ground. As a child of the 1960s and 70s, I can remember my neighbor having a Sock Monkey that some relative had made -- and he always seemed a little scary to me. But Kat has mde such a sweet version -- and she does not even use any images from the Sock Monkey set.
See that sock print paper for the monkey and banana-themed background paper? Scanned copy of fabric!  And Mr. Monkey is punch art, pieced together from various sizes of circle and oval punched shapes. Here's a close up.
Thanks so much for sharing Kat!!

Stair Step Card How-to

I've seen lots of stair step cards lately on the web -- cards with an accordion base that staggers your focal point elements so it creates a little scene when the card is open. I used the Stampin' Up stamp sets Cheep Talk and Good Friend to create my version. The larger bird is even standing on some "grass" -- made by using Olive Patterns Designer Series Paper with the top edge cut with a bunch of little 1/2 inch cuts so it's paper grass. The ink colors are Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Pacific Point and Chocolate Chip. A Stamp-a-ma-jig helps you get the big birds beak and legs on just so -- and is great for positioning the baby bird on the branch.

This was one of the projects at my Feb. clubs and this time of year meant more people than usual were out sick -- so here are the how-tos so they can figure out how this was done:

- Base card stock (summer Sun in this case)  is 4¼” by 10½”. Score at 1¼”; 2½”; 4¼”; 6”; 8¼”
- Fold accordion styles so there are mountains and valleys.
- Panel sizes for layers with 1/8” border: front panel – 1” x 4” (on this card that's the Good Morning Sunshine Designer paper); center panel 1½” x 4” (our grass layer for this version is 1 7/8” x 4¼”)
Back panel: 4¼” square or regular size 4¼” x 5½” (mat layers are ¼” smaller each direction)        

Want to make a horizontal card? Start with 5½” by 10½” card stock and score using the same increments. There are various versions of this card out there online. However, I like how the scoring numbers are somewhat even and easy with this combination. Here's another view from the side so you can see how things are attached -- and I used the Tombow liquid glue with the green top to attach the items that had been cut out -- love that glue.

The possibilities with this style card are so fun -- think a Nativity scene at Christmas with eh wise men traveling to see the baby Jesus. Or thing a circus card with a lion jumping though a ring of fire (just steal some flames from a camping stamp set and place those around your ring and you'd have a ring of fire!) It's also nice to use the front panel where the Good Morning Sunshine paper is on this card as a place for a greeting. Use your imagination as you stair step along! Enjoy!!! — Catherine

Circle Treat Holder Video Tutorial

 It's been too long since I posted so I'm back and with a video tutorial that shows how to make this cute circle treat holder that includes a little 3" square note card with a Ghirardelli chocolate square inside. It starts out with a 6 inch circle -- cut with the SU Circle Scissor then embossed with the Texturz embossing plates in the Big Shot. The video will show how to do both. Also -- I do say the measurements for things on the video -- but here they are as well. You'll see how I cut off just a tiny edge of the circle which was not embossed -- then scored 1 3/4" from that. Use that line as your horizontal guide to score 1 1/4" from each side of the circle. You'll see that concept in action when you watch the video. Enjoy!