The Observation Car

Everyone at the Hagerstown SDV seemed to enjoy the pretty pleated paper project that we did for summer.  So, I changed the colors and the theme to” fall “for our FREE make/take at the upcoming Central Penn Crop.  BoBunny sunflower paper made a colorful pleated autumn border.  It’s easy to fold with help of the Scor-pal.  A punched strip (Martha Stewart) holds the pleats in place.  Then a pumpkin (Hero Arts) colored with Copic markers and embellished with Sizzix curly-que diecuts sets the tone for the season.  Be sure to attend the crop and learn to make this project for yourself.

8x8 Pleated Pumpkin Page

After attending the Central Penn Crop and preparing for the Hagerstown SDV, I got into a scrapping mood. Then a couple of folks e-mailed me about the mini Magnolia stamps and I came up with this 8″x8″ page. The word stamp is from JustRite and the little girl is from Magnolia stamps. By the way, they are an angel company and you can use their stamps to make items to sell. I colored with Copic markers. I like the look of stitching on the tag, but it is faux! I ran the edges on the Scor-Pal to make holes with the Scor-Bug. Then I connected the dots with a pen to look like thread. May Arts ribbon tops off the tag. All paper is from Stamp Express quality cardstock. You can find all the products we used at our on-line store.

8x8 Blue Skies Page

When I saw the tutorial on SplitCoast Stampers this week it brought back many memories. They are featuring pleated paper. Several years ago we took Margaret to a trade show where I signed her up for a class called “Pretty Pleated Paper”. After the class she came to my door in tears and wanted to go home. It was so tedious that she never finished her samples. Plus we had to get someone else to teach the class. While the pleats do give a special look to scrapbook pages or cards, it can be unbearable if you have to score and fold using a stylus and ruler. With the Scor-pal now available, projects like these can be completed in minutes. This card uses our own quality cardstock, colorcore paper with embossed Swiss dots, and a dogwood stamp from JustRite. The pleats were made on the Scor-pal and secured with Scor-tape. All these products are available at our on-line store. To see the tutorial look at www.splitcoaststampers.com.

Pretty Pleated Card

Make your paper arts more interesting by using various textures on your project. You can add depth by embossing with stencils and embossing folders. But you can also draw lines with a stylus and ruler or your Scor-pal and bonefolder. That’s what we did for two of our House Mouse cards. The green boards were made with lines 1/2″ apart. Then a green inkpad was wiped over the top. The textured corner was done on the Scor-pal with lines in two directions 1/4″ apart. Then a brown inkpad was wiped over top. The textured paper flowers were embossed in a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Try these techniques yourself with different designs and colors. Next week we’ll do some texturizing with some unusual papers.
The House Mouse stamps from Stampabilities are the featured mouse of the month for June. We will be using them in the class on June 4th. They were colored with Copic markers, added to our own quality cardstock, and stamped with Memento ink. Die cut shapes are Spellbinders Nestabilities. The flowers are a punch by McGill.
Cards shown are in the mouse kit with the stamps at our on-line store.

Textured Wood Look Card

Textured Corner Card

Textured Flower Card

My mom has always displayed the greeting cards people send her. She stands them up on the buffet in the dining area so her friends can admire them. Step cards are ideal for this as they stand on their own and look great. Since they take a lot of folding, and folding is easier if scored first, I recommend using the Scor-pal or Scor-buddy. Of course you can just use a ruler and bone folder, but it takes a lot more time and patience.
Here are the directions for a step card. Start with a piece of card stock 5&1/2″x10&1/2″. Score at 2&1/2″, 4&1/4″, and 6″. Then line up the left edge at 3″ and score at 4&1/4″. Slide your 6″ score line to the 2″ groove and score again at 4&1/4″. Fold on all the score lines to make a set of steps. Then you can decorate each step with stamped images, stickers, die cuts, ribbons or punch outs. I used an image from Stampavie (colored with Copic markers), die cuts from Sizzix, a punch out from Martha Stewart, and ribbon from May Arts. Nestabilities were use to cut the stamped image and the frame.
For something different you might want to try the side-step card. Here are the directions. Start with a piece of card stock 5&1/2″x8&1/2″. Put the short side of the card stock against the fence on your paper trimmer and line up the long side on the the 2&3/4″ mark. Start your blade at 1″ and cut a slit to 6&1/2″. Then score the 2& 1/2″ section at 4& 1/4″. Score the 3″ section at 1″, 2″, 3&1/4″, 4&1/2″ and 6&1/2″ ( score just to the cut line). Fold the score line at 4&1/4″ down. Fold the first score line on the right side down, the next up etc. to make the steps. Now decorate. Again I used a Stampavie image, Accucut die cuts, Fiskar flower punch, Hero Arts butterfly, Copic markers and words from JustRite.
Check our on-line store for all the tools and supplies you’ll need for making these cards. Then decorate to your heart’s content. They are really fun to do.

Step Card

Side-Step Card

We had such a good time at the Gettysburg Scrappers Dream Vacation event that I want to share some of it with you.  Our booth featured make-it/take-its with Margaret keeping it lively.  The Scor-pal and Copic Markers seemed to be a big hit.  Here are some photos of the gals working on the projects.

We also introduced two new stamp companies; Just-Rite and Stampavie.  Two of the 12″x12″ pages we had on display are below.  All images were colored with Copic markers.  Bo-Bunny’s double sided paper got a lot of raves as did the Scor-tape.  These products are now selling on our web store with the exception of the Bo-Bunny paper. That will be coming soon!

If you have never attended an SDV, consider the upcoming one in August at Hagerstown, MD.  We’ll be there! If you’re interested go to their website at www.eventpathunlimited.com/events/

Let Your Dreams Take Flight page

Sweet Spring page

Below are some pics taken at our vendor booth at the Gettysburg SDV. Perhaps you’ll see yourself in some of these.

These stamps will be the “apple of your eye” for September cards and scrapbook pages.  The House Mouse of the month this time is really “a-peeling”, especially if you like coloring  and blending with the Copic markers.  Below are 2 samples of the same stamp.  We mounted one on a big apple and put the words inside.  The second one is quite simple with a scored and sanded frame on Colorcore cardstock.  Words that match this stamp are ” an apple a day keeps the mice at play”.  How cute is that?  Come to the store to see more examples.  One is a t-slider card that was too complicated to show here, but very clever.  If you LOVE these mice, sign up for the next Mouseketeers class and create some projects of your own.  It’s always the last Tuesday of the month.  And in addition to snacking on crackers and cheese, you also go home with the stamps

Stamp: Stampabilities
Markers: Copic
Cardstock: Paper Cut
Apple Pattern: Stamp Express
White Circle: Cut with Nestibilities

Stamp: Stampabilities
Markers: Copic
Plain Cardstock: Paper Cut
Green Core’dinations Cardstock: Scored with Scor-Pal and sanded
Designer Paper: Unknown

Of course you could score with a ruler and stylus or bonefolder.  But once you try the Scor-pal you’ll never go back.  What a wonderful tool.  You can fancy fold cards, make bags and envelopes, boxes, and folders easily.  And the Score-tape holds everything in place without letting go in an hour, day, or week.  Here is a card we created for our free make-it/take-it table at the store last week.  We scored diagonally on a piece of Core’dinations cardstock in two directions,  Then we sanded for an unusual background.

You’re a “Tweet” Heart

Card: Lt Blue Cardstock from Paper Cut
Layers: Core’dinations Cardstock
Scalloped Ovals:  Nestabilities dies by Spellbinders
Bird Stamp: All Night Media
Tweet Heart Stamp: Impression Obsession
Bird colored with Staedler watercolor pencils & Dove blender pen
Flower: Prima

Wahoooo!  Our store, Stamp Express won the contest drawing for tons of color core cardstock from the Core’dinations company.  We are very excited!  Instead of the same color throughout, or a white core inside, this cardstock has various colors inside the color that you see.  So, when you tear or sand the surface the inside color shows through.  Very Cool!

Before we knew that we won the prize, we used this cardstock at the Scrappers Dream Vacation in Camp Hill, PA this weekend for a make-it/take-it project.  See the sample below.  We embossed the diagonal pattern on the color called latte using the Scor-pal. Then we sanded the embossing so that it would look like a waffle cone.  After tracing the cone and cutting it out, we added a scoop of strawberry ice cream (pink printed paper) and a ribbon for more color.  Add this to a Ben & Jerry’s page, or as we did here to Ghiradelli’s in San Francisco. This would also make a great addition to a card or altered book.

See how some of the scrappers at the SDV enjoyed working with this fabulous paper when they made the project with Margaret guiding them.

Photos from the SDV:

Margaret teaches