Paper Amour

There's still time...

The entries have started pouring in for my October contest!!!

You have until Saturday at 11:59 pm pacific time to get your entry in!

For full details, go here: PAPER AMOUR CONTEST

Don't miss your chance to win!!!

Spiceberry "MERRY" Banner

It's time to show you how I embellished the Spiceberry banner - now that I'm mostly recovered from the flu... (thanks for your well-wishes. If you can avoid this nasty bug, I'd advise it. It's a bad one!) 

I wanted to create some pleated rosettes to mount my "MERRY" letters on, so I began with some 1 3/8" wide strips of dictionary paper.

 For each rosette, I adhered two strips together end to end. I used 1/8" wide red liner tape for this because I know, never in a million years will it come undone.
 

 After the strips are adhered, I pleat them. Just a simple accordion fold - about 1/4" tall.

 

 
Then, to create the rosette, I adhered the two ends of the pleated strip together. You want to make the pleats come together and create a ring.

Then, you have to kind of wrestle the rosette into shape. It's not going to want to do this. It would rather stay free form and loosey-goosey. But you are the boss. Push one side of the pleats all in toward the center while flattening out the ring. 

Now - before you start wrestling, it's helpful to have some help standing by...
 

 

See that little red circle? That's your help. I punch out some cardstock with a circle punch (I used a 1 1/2" circle, but any size is fine as long as it's smaller than your rosette.) Put a nice big glob of thick white craft glue on the center of your circle. Then, once you wrastle that pleated strip into submission, you're going to grab that circle and hold it down onto your rosette so it stays nice and round and beautiful, like it should.

 

I like to hold it myself for about a minute, just so it knows who's boss.

 

Then I'll bring in more help so I can move onto the next strip that needs to be pleated. Find anything small and heavy that can sit atop your rosette until the glue is dried and there's no threat of that little thing popping up and trying to be a ring again. (Believe me - they'll do this when you're not looking.) Spice jars work great.

 

Once the rosettes are all dry, you can add them to your banner.

I wanted my banner to be sparkly, so I applied some white glue with my fingertip to the edges of each rosette (and my letters too!) and dipped them into white glitter. (See the white glitter all over my table? It's also probably all over my face and pants and dog. Such is the nature of glitter!)

 

I adhere the rosette and all subsequent layers with my nice thick, white craft glue. I use Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue. It dries super quick and never runs where I don't want it.

 
So there you have it. Don't those rosettes just add the most lovely dimension? I just love them! It's a merry banner, for sure.

Just a quickie...

I am officially the third person in my household to succomb to whatever nasty bug decided to visit our house.

Swine?

Not sure.

But a 101 degree fever and chills/sweats/aches/pains have me relegated to the couch.

Be back when I'm better! In the meantime, be sure to get your entries in for my October contest!

Spiceberry Banner - Part One

I began working on another banner this week... using Spiceberry papers. I think this is my favorite of the newest Memory Box paper packs... the colors and patterns are so lovely together and evoke such warm, Christmassy feelings. It's so lovely.

There's no real rocket science to my technique for the base of the banner... it's almost exactly the same as my Boo Banner, except for the measurements... I wanted this banner to be a little more narrow across the top of each pennant. Here are my measurements for each pennant:

 
I plan to put the word "MERRY" on my banner - so I'm making seven pennants. One for each letter and one for either end of the banner.

 
Here are the seven pieces laid out, with their top border pieces all cut and ready for assembly.

 
I decided to forego matting with more Spiceberry paper (like I did on the Boo Banner) and just use dictionary paper as my mat. I adhered each pennant to a page and trimmed around it with pinking shears to make a nice mat. I know I'm in a rut with the dictionary page thing... but I love it. A dear friend told someone "It's Cate's signature..." Call it a signature, a mode of operation, a rut... I love me my dictionary pages. (And I'm not running out soon, I've got two dictionaries that are over 2500 pages each!)

 
Here are the pennant pieces all trimmed with dictionary paper...

And here they are with their top border pieces added.

Aren't they just lovely? I want wrapping paper in all these prints... wouldn't it just be gorgeous under the tree? So pretty!

Come back early next week for the tutorial on finishing the banner... I'm going to show you a fun technique for little circular fan shapes to back the letters.

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Reminder!

Just wanted to put a little bug in your ear...

My October contest runs through the end of the month - which means time is running out to get your entry in.

See full details here... OCTOBER PAPER AMOUR CONTEST.

Hope to see your entry soon!

Spiceberry Card

Today I'm going to show you a card I made from the lovely Spiceberry paper pack.

Sometimes I want to build my card from patterned papers instead of working on a blank notecard... I begin by cutting three pieces from three different prints. The stripe is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2, the red print is 4 1/8 x 5 1/2 and the white poinsettia print started out as 1 x 5 1/2, then was punched with a border punch to give it the scalloped edge.

 

I adhered this scalloped strip behind the right edge of the red piece, then scored the left side 3/4" from the left edge.

 

Adhere the scored flap behind the strip print and you have a note card!

 

I added an ornament stamped from the 'Night Before' clear set. I stamped it, embossed it with gold detail powder, then punched it with a 1 1/4" circle punch... used a scrap of stripe print and a little wire to add the hanger and it's an ornament! It's mounted to the front of the card with foam tape to add dimension.

 

Next, I wanted to try something new. Clear Snap recently sent the Memory Box blog team some samples of their newest products, and in my box I had several colors of Smooch inks. I wanted to add some detail to the centers of the poinsettias on the red print, so I grabbed a bottle of Gold Lame Smooch. It's in a sweet little bottle that reminds me of a fingernail polish bottle, but the brush inside has an extra fine tip for detail work. Perfect to making teeny tiny little dots. They're difficult to photograph, but add so much to the card in real life. (If you click on any of the photos, you can see a much larger version of it and can enjoy the details better!)

 And there you have it. A quick, easy card made from Memory Box's perfectly coordinating prints - embellished and made even more beautiful with stamping and detailing.

I don't know about you, but this card makes me want to eat peppermint bark and hot chocolate by the fire!
 

Advent Calendar background card

I LOVE the new Advent Calendar clear set... the mixture of fonts and shapes is so fun - and the possibilities are endless with this fun set.

As I sat looking at it the other day, though, I was struck with this thought: "Why not use the whole set as a background?"

And so I did!

I started with some Opal Soiree cardstock and Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson ink. I just left all the stamps on their original backing and inked them on it. I figured this was WAY easier than removing and rearranging them all on a clear block!

Once the image had dried (always give your Brilliance images LOTS of time to dry) I cut out the image in a square.

I mounted the square on two mats in Sapp and Boysenberry and placed it all on a square card I made out of Silver Soiree cardstock.

I added a Snowflake Jewel to the '25' spot, adhered a thin wooden tree I'd embellished with Colorbox Sparkle Fibers (FUN!) to the front and tied on a ribbon.

What a fun card. It was quick and easy, but really has the feel of something special. I'm thinking it will be the perfect addition to a gift basket for someone special this Christmas.

Contest Time!

For the month of October, I'll be hosting a contest here on Paper Amour!

You have a whole month to put together an entry - so I'm hoping to get lots of participation.

And the prize? $100 in Memory Box products!!!

All you need to do to enter is create a scrapbook layout or a home decor item with one of Memory Box's new Halloween stamps.

Maybe you'll want to use the Shady Window stamp...

Or the Tendril Collage...

Or the Web Crawler stamp...

Whichever stamp you choose, (and there are lots of other great choices!) I can't wait to see you entries.

Once you've created your entry, upload it to an online gallery and post a link to your creation here in the comments. Or, email a jpg of your entry to customerservice@memoryboxco.com. Submissions must be received by 8:00 pm PST on October 31st.

Happy creating!!!

(The fine print: If you've won any $100 prize from a Memory Box blog in the past six months, you are not eligible for entry. If you've won a smaller prize, go for it! The more entries, the better! A winner will be chosen from all entries and posted here on Paper Amour on November 2nd.)

Reader Banner - Corina's "Spiceberry Noel"

I had to share this lovely banner made with Memory Box's Spiceberry paper pack. It was made by a reader, Corina, using my tutorial last week.

Isn't it just lovely? I love the big poinsettia "O" in her word.

I'm so glad she shared it with me - and agreed to let me share it with you!

Great job, Corina!

(If you're inspired to create something you've seen here be sure to let me know and link me to your creation - you might just find yourself featured on Paper Amour like Corina!)