Greet the Season with Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape and Dashing 6x6 Prints by Jean Okimoto

Christmas will be here in 7 weeks - let's make some quick cards with the Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape.  The beautiful pattern repeats about every 14 inches and each section yields 3 or 4 sections that are perfect for this design.  You can make a  lot of cards with each 4-½" x 11 yard roll!

Hi, Jean Okimoto here, combining some classic holiday elements with a simple, contemporary greeting. Here's a preview of what we'll be using:

Attach Watercolor Woodland tape to white cardstock and cut circles with the 3-¼" Stitched Circle Layers die.  

Cut a ¾" x 3-¾" strip of the dark green Dashing Stripes and Dots print.  Cut a ¾" x 3-¼" strip of the red plaid Dashing Holiday print.  

Cut a matching label from the Dashing Holiday 6x6 set - then trim the corners with a corner rounder.

Cut "NOEL" from silver glitter paper with the Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet set.

Cut, score and side-fold a white A-2 card. Attach red duct tape to a scrap of lightweight cardstock and punch ¼" accent dots.  Assemble the card - use foam dots for the greeting label.

Another tip before you leave...here's an easy way to preview background colors for these beautiful translucent wide washis.  It's not on today's card, but I'm just using the Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape here as an example.  

Create a large swatch by attaching  a generous section of tape to a clear material... use scraps of acetate,  or recycle empty Memory Box poly bags. You have a few, right? Slide strips of cardstock behind it to preview the colors - without wasting any of that beautiful tape or having it accidentally stick to your cardstock.   Not exactly rocket-science, but it saves a lot of time and cardstock.  

I have swatches of my Poppystamps and Birch Press Designs wide washis too.  The polybags are pre-punched for hanging displays - so just use a binder ring or shower curtain ring to keep all of the swatches together and organized.

 Thanks for visiting...keep warm and enjoy the fall colors.  If you're in the Seattle area and have a long weekend,  join us for the MERRY + QUICK cards class at Impress on Veterans Day.  We're making quick-and-easy cards that don't look quick and easy!

See you next week...

 

 

 

Supplies

 

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

WT498 Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape

94342 Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

30036 Stitched Circle Layers

The Chandele Star on a Blended, Spritzed Background by Jean Okimoto

The delicately simple Chandele Star would look great anywhere.  Layer it over metallic artpapers, felt, wood, glittered or glossy cardstock - or a watercolored background.  Hi, Jean Okimoto here with an easy ink-blending technique that's great for creating quick colored backgrounds for your holiday diecuts.

Cut a 4-½" x 3" strip of watercolor paper.  Ink a 4" soft rubber brayer with Fresh Greens Kaleidacolor - lift and roll the brayer repeatedly (about 20 times) so it's fully-inked.  Spritz it lightly with water.  Roll the spritzed inks onto the smoother side of the watercolor paper.  Let the colors blend for about a minute, then dry the inks with a heat-tool.  

Spray it with Imagine's Gold Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  Airdry it for a few minutes, then heat-set.  Cut it with the 2-¼" x 3-½" Stitched Rectangle Trimmings die.  We're using just the inner rectangle here.  

Cut Chandele Star and the biggest Shining Star from smooth white cardstock.  

Stamp the greeting - from the Merry and Bright Mistletoe Clear Stamps Set - on a white A-2 card with the turquoise ink from the Fresh Greens inkpad.

Assemble the card.  Add ¼" punched circles of gold glittered paper.

Hope you're enjoying the fall and winter holiday ideas from our Design Team.  We love sharing our designs and techniques with you and hope they'll inspire you to create unique handmade holiday cards this year.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies

 

94321 Shining Star Set craft die

94317 Chandele Star craft die

30082 Stitched Rectangle Trimmings

CL5246 Merry and Bright Mistletoe clear stamp set

Greet the Season with a Dashing Holiday Rosette by Jean Okimoto

A candycane rosette - folded from a Dashing Holiday 6x6 print - creates a unique Christmas greeting.  Add coordinating prints, bright red glitter accents and a Joy Airy Script diecut for a very special card.  Happy weekend - Jean Okimoto here with a contemporary design today.

Cut a 3" x 6" horizontal strip of the Dashing Holiday candycane print.  Cutting it horizontally makes it easy to fold along the grainline.

Here's a tip - scrunch a piece of waxed paper and rub it briskly over both sides of the paper to reduce friction and make it easier to score.

Score it in ½" increments on one side of the paper.  Turn the paper over and score it in ½" increments beginning at ¼" - at ¼", ¾", 1-¼", 1-¾" - up to 5-¾". Cut the paper into three 1" x 6" strips.  Pleat the paper along the scored lines.  Trim ¼" from one short end of each strip to adhere (and conceal) the cut edge in the fold.  Use strips of ScoreTape to join the short ends to form a pleated ring.

Cut 1-½" and  ¾" cardboard circles  with the Circle Basics dies.  Spread one side of each circle with a strong craft glue (like Tacky Glue) - leave a ¼" unglued border around the edge so any excess glue won't squish out.

Lay the pleated ring on a flat surface and press it down so it lies flat - with the reverse side of the paper on the top. The inner cut edges should meet in a small circle in the center.   Press the 1-½" glue circle onto the center and hold it until the glue begins to set up.

Turn it over, adjust the pleats, then press the ¾" glue circle onto the center.  Press it until the glue sets up. Cut a ¾" circle of red glittered cardstock and cover the ¾" cardboard circle.  

Cut a 3" circle of red cardstock.  Pressure-emboss it (offset to the left) with the 2-¾", 2-½ and 2-¼" Circle Basics dies.  Cut a 3-½" circle of the gray and white text pattern. Cut the dark gray Dashing Strips and Dots paper with the 4-¾" x 3-½" Wrapped Stitch Rectangles die.  Cut a 1" x 4 strip of the gray and white dottted paper.

Cut Joy Airy Script from chartreuse cardstock.  Leave the dot over the "j" in the die until you need it.

Attach everything to a white A-6 card.  Add three ¼" circles of red glittered cardstock.

Unique cards like this require extra time, postage and post office handling - but I think they'll be enjoyed and appreciated by the special people in your life.

Thanks for visiting...have a great weekend!

Supplies

 

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

94325 Joy Airy Script craft die

30094 Wrapped Stitch Rectangles

30087 Circle Basics Set

Snow Bunny Can Be a Polar Bear Too! by Jean Okimoto

The Snow Bunny Deep Edge Die Set is great for other winter friends too...like this furry felt polar bear cub.  Add a Starry Burst background and "cheers" from the Merry and Bright Mistletoe Clear Stamps Set and you've just created another Christmas card!  Hi and Happy Halloween to everyone celebrating - Jean Okimoto here with more reasons to add the Snow Bunny set to your Memory Box collection.

Attach adhesive label paper (or a sticker sheet) to white wool-blend felt and diecut some Snow Bunny pieces for the bear.  The paper layer stabilizes the felt and keeps liquid adhesives from soaking through.  Cut the eyes and nose from black cardstock.  Cut the ears with the 1" Circle Basics die.

Cut all of the the accent pieces - except the small ear circles - from the Dashing Holiday 6x6 prints.  Cut the small ear circles from the Dashing Stripes and Dots print.  

Assemble the polar bear - use foam dots near the ends of the scarf.  

Cut turquoise cardstock with the 4-¼" Square Basics die.  Cut it with Starry Burst - save the 2 bigger stars.  Attach little pieces of silver glitter paper behind the star cutouts.

Stamp the greeting from the Merry and Bright Mistletoe Clear Stamps on white cardstock with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide.  Emboss it with detail clear powder.

Attach everything to a top-folded 5-½"square white card. Add the 2 saved stars.   Square cards require extra postage - but I hope you'll agree that this one's worth every penny of it!

The new Dashing Holiday and Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 prints are the perfect mix of holiday designs, plaids, stripes and dots.  They've even been designed so the very holiday-ish designs have non-holiday prints on the reverse side so you can use them for other occasions.  The versatile reds and charcoals will be perfect for Valentine's Day.  The Deep Edge dies collection is designed for mixing and layering prints - view them here, then imagine all of the ways you can use them

Thanks for visiting...see you again on Saturday!

 

Supplies

 

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

30097 Snow Bunny craft die

30087 Circle Basics Set

30088 Square Basics Set

94356 Starry Burst craft die

CL5246 Merry and Bright Mistletoe clear stamp set

Chandele Star and Chandele Snowflake by Vicki Finger

I have a new project for you today featuring some fantastic items from Memory Box's latest Holiday 2019 Release.  I fell in love with this Chandele Star Die and knew I wanted to make it shiny & sparkly!  Those are my two favorite colors after all! 

I also used the coordinating Chandele Snowflake Die to both die-cut and to dry emboss my background panel. Just FYI, this word is pronounced "shan-dell" just in case you are like me and want to make sure you are pronouncing things correctly. 

I have a huge bin of scraps that I try to use as often as possible.  I noticed I had one in a coordinating color that had been die cut and had also been heat embossed - ON THE WRONG SIDE!  This is exactly why I keep those scraps.  So I took the Chandele Snowflake Die and using an embossing sandwich, dry embossed the image into this scrap card panel of Peacock Metallic Cardstock.

Then I die-cut the Chandele Snowflake from White Glitter Cardstock.   This die does cut each of the tiny dots and other pieces that are shown in the image, but I am just not that patient so I wanted only the white glitter snowflake to put behind the Chandele Star Die.

I chose a light pool colored glitter cardstock and die-cut the Chandele Star Die from that.  Then I used the Memory Box Shining Star Set to die cut a simple Star shape in the largest size to go behind the Chandele star and the next size down to cut one from white to go behind the die-cut Chandele Star. You'll probably have to open the image in a new tab to see the color differences, but I promise you it's there.  I definitely needed that White to make the glitter cardstock die cuts really pop. 

I wanted to add a few simple embellishments, so I added a jewel in the center of the star and also at the pointed tips of the star.  I also chose to cut the "Peace" word die from the same white glitter cardstock.  I tried a few different colors and the white definitely was the right choice.  Who doesn't wish for a little peace around the holidays? 

Originally, I had planned to line the star up in true North/South orientation, but when I was playing around with orientation before I adhered it, I liked it better in this "tipped" to the left version, which also does a better job of highlighting the Chandele Snowflake.  I used foam tape on the back-side of the snowflake to give it a little bit of dimension. 

Between the Shimmer Cardstock, the Glitter Cardstock and the little gems, this card is absolutely breathtaking in person. Thanks for stopping by today!  I love it when you take the time to leave me a comment!  

 

Supplies

 

94319 Chandele Snowflake craft die

94317 Chandele Star craft die

94321 Shining Star Set craft die

CELEBRATE with the Antique Greenery Label, Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape and Dashing Stripes and Dots by Jean Okimoto

Celebrate the season with the new Antique Greenery Label and Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet Set - layered over the Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape.  Hello - Jean Okimoto here - thanks for joining last week's Holiday Blog Blitz.  We appreciate your comments  -  and special congrats to my posts' winners Lin Brandyberry and Chandhini - enjoy your prizes! 

Cut green cardstock with the frame from the Winter Tree Oval Frame set.  Pressure-emboss the inner oval offcut with the Antique Greenery Label using the plates and embossing mat required for your machine.  

Here's an easy way to create the glittered greeting label. Attach a strip of Couture Creations doublestick tape to a scrap of the green cardstock and cut the narrow label section again. Cut the letters for "CELEBRATE" from red cardstock with the Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet.  Press the letters onto the sticky label, then brush iridescent glitter around the letters, covering the rest of the adhesive.

Attach Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape to green cardstock for a frosty, translucent coordinating background.  Cut it with the 4-¼" Square Basics die.  Diecutting seals the edges with a crisp, clean finish.

Cut a 1" x 4-½" accent strip of red cardstock.

Cut ¾" x 5" accent strips of the brown dots and stripes from the new Dashing Dots and Stripes 6x6 Set.  

Attach everything to a side-folded 5-½" square white card - offset the oval frame so the red peeks through on the left side.

Add red gem stickers.

It's time to prep for the holidays at the Impress holiday event on Saturday October 26th!  There'll be a swag bag for the first 25 people at the 10:00 AM store opening, demos from 10:00-Noon, special displays - and a 10% shopping discount!  Bring your Memory Box, Poppystamps, and Birch Press Designs wishlists and take advantage of the savings and holiday inspiration.

Thanks for visiting...see you again on Saturday!

Supplies

 

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

94309 Winter Tree Oval Frame craft die

94342 Mini Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

94340 Antique Greenery Label craft die

30087 Circle Basics Set

WT501 Twas the Night Wide Washi Tape

Blog Blitz Day 4 – Starry Burst, Vintage Varsity Alphabet, Dashing Holiday, Dashing Stripes and Dots by Jean Okimoto

Welcome to Day 4 of our Holiday Blitz!  Meet my new favorite die - the beautiful, versatile Starry Burst that's perfect for celebrations through the year.  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a just-in-time Halloween design for you.

Cut dark orange cardstock with the 3-½" x 4-¾" Rectangle Basics die.  This great set of 16 dies is temporarily out of stock at Memory Box - but it may be available right now at your favorite retailer.  

Diecut the rectangle with the Starry Burst - leave it in the die.  Remove the 5 little stars.  Pressure-emboss it to add extra dimension and shadows  - use the plates and embossing mat required for your machine.  Attach pieces of clear tape behind the little star cutouts and brush black glitter onto the exposed adhesive.

Cut Swirling Ghosts from watercolor paper - we're using just 3 of them here.  Attach scraps of black cardstock behind them for their eyes.  

Attach lime green duct tape to lightweight cardstock and cut "BOO" with the new Vintage Varsity Alphabet dies.  It's a cool stitched set that's perfectly-sized for cards and tags. Cut the "I" and punch a ¼" circle to create an exclamation mark.

Cut (and punch) the pieces again from black cardstock.  Layer them - slightly offset - for dimension.

Cut accent strips of gray dots (¾" x 4") and gray stripes (1" x 5") from the new Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 set.  

Cut a gray and white plaid strip (¾" x 4-½") from the new Dashing Holiday 6x6 set.  

Attach everything to a side-folded 5-½" square black card.

Here's a chance for you to win the great Starry Burst die! Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, October 20th at 11:59pm EST.  One winner will be selected at random from the comments to win the Starry Burst.  Visit the blog from Monday, Oct 14th- Sunday, October 20th to see more of the new release and for a chance to win a prize each day.  Winners from the blitz will be posted on the Outside the Box blog on Monday, October 21st at 6:00pm EST.  Good luck!

Thanks for visiting...enjoy creating with the great dies, 6x6 prints and wide (4-½" wide!) washi tapes from our latest release.

 

Supplies

 

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

PP1001 Dashing Holiday 6x6 pack

94356 Starry Burst craft die

94341 Vintage Varsity Alphabet craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

99192 Swirling Ghosts

Blog Blitz Day 3 - Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape, Dashing Stripes and Dots, Mini Vintage Varsity Peace by Jean Okimoto

Welcome to our Holiday Blog Blitz - and a chance to win one of the great new items on today's card!  Hello, Jean Okimoto here, introducing our new Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape.  It's a beautiful holiday print with a hand-colored look  - and it's 4-½" wide x 11 yards.  That's a lot of tape for your holiday cards, tags, layouts and collages!  

Although the red stripes are hard to see here - the 24-sheet Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6" set complements the Dashing Holiday 6x6" prints.  You can quickly create 16 beautiful 3-sheet combinations of the prints/stripes/dots for your holiday projects.

The Dashing Holiday set is also designed to work well after the holidays.  The reverse sides of the "very holiday" prints are versatile stripes, plaids and diagonals you can use throughout the year.  

Attach a strip of Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape to white cardstock.  Cut a section with the 2.6" x 3.6" Pinpoint Rectangle Layer die.  

Cut accent strips of the red (¾" x 3-½") and green (1" x 4") stripes.  Cut a ¾" x 5-½" green dotted accent strip from the reverse of the green stripes.

Attach a strip of lined doublestick tape behind red cardstock and diecut "JOY" using the Mini Vintage Peace Varsity set.  Leave the letters in the die - just remove the tape liners and the center of the "0."  Cut a circle using the 1" Circle Basics die.  Press the letters (still in the die) firmly onto the circle and use a pokey tool to transfer them to the circle.

Attach everything to a green A-6 (4-½" x 6-¼") card.  Add ¼" punched red glitter dots.

Want to win a wide roll of the Watercolor Woodland Washi Tape?   Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, October 20th at 11:59pm EST.  One winner will be selected at random from the comments to win the washi tape.  Visit the blog from Monday, Oct 14th- Sunday, October 20th to see more of the new release and for a chance to win a prize each day.  Winners from the blitz will be posted on the Outside the Box blog on Monday, October 21st at 6:00pm EST.  Good luck!

Big thanks to everyone from last weekend's HOLIDAY GREETINGS - SIMPLY ASIAN class at Impress.  Special thanks to Jenny and Ann for your great snacks - we certainly appreciated them after that origami bird!  Thanks to Erin and Lynne for helping everyone fill their shopping baskets too.

Thanks for visiting...don't forget to add your comment to today's post - and all of the design team posts throughout our holiday blitz!

 

Supplies

 

PP1002 Dashing Stripes and Dots 6x6 pack

94338 Mini Vintage Varsity Peace craft die

WT498 Watercolor Woodland Wide Washi Tape

30065 Pinpoint Rectangle Layers

30087 Circle Basics Set

Color-Lift Distress Oxides with the Grateful Autumn Clear Stamp by Jean Okimoto

Create a watercolored background with the large, leafy Grateful Autumn clear stamp and Distress Oxides - then add the dimensional Thankful Jotted Script for a quick card.  Our new fall and winter clear stamp sets are great for color-lifting, watercoloring and layering.

Hello, Jean Okimoto here with another fall design featuring one of our newest clear stamp sets.  We'll begin with the watercolored background today.

Brush - or sponge - Distress Oxides onto the smoother side of a 6" square of watercolor paper.  Set it aside to air-dry.  The colors I used here are Carved Pumpkin, Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn and Abandoned Coral.

Have two sheets of facial tissue and an extra acrylic block nearby.

Spritz the large leafy branch stamp with water - it should be very moist, but not drippy.  Press the moist stamp firmly onto the watercolor paper for about a minute.  Carefully remove the stamp and lay the two tissues  over the wet paper.  Press the tissues onto the watercolor paper using the extra acrylic block.  Remove the tissues and heat-set the inks.

Diecut the design with the 3-¾" x 4-¾" Pinpoint Rectangle Layer die.  

Cut the delicate Thankful Jotted Script from metallic bronze cardstock.  Cut the background script from green cardstock. Attach the bronze script to the green background.  

Stamp "for this day" - from the Grateful Autumn stamp set - on green cardstock with Pinecone VersaFine Clair.  Dry the ink and trim the strip. Attach everything to a side-folded 5-½" square natural card.  Add orange gem stickers.

Special thanks to Roxy, Anne and everyone at Stamps and Memories Hawaii for a great HOLIDAY GREETINGS - SIMPLY ASIAN class!  Thanks also to Norine, for the great cookies and to Roxy for the beautiful orchid lei and more cookies!  Hope you liked the cards - and the Memory Box, Poppystamps and Birch Press designs we introduced to Hawaii.

We're having another HOLIDAY GREETINGS - SIMPLY ASIAN class at Impress on October 12th.  Join us if you're in the Seattle area - the class techniques include origami, a bit of stamping and a lot of layering. 

Thanks for visiting...see you again next week!

 

 

Supplies

 

CL5243 Grateful Autumn clear stamp set

94076 Thankful Jotted Script craft die

30065 Pinpoint Rectangle Layers

Diecut Winter Greenery for a Cool Cat Halloween Scene by Jean Okimoto

The Winter Greenery Clear Stamps and Die Set creates a spooky Halloween setting for Cool Cat as we enter October with a Challenge inspiration card.  Add a bright Playful Boo and gem stickers - that's it!  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a simple fall design to delight someone before Christmas greetings fill their mailbox.

Stamp two separate Winter Greenery leafy branch images on white cardstock with Brilliance Starlite Black.  Dry the ink, then diecut them with the coordinating die.

Cut Cool Cat from black glittered craft foam.  Attach a scrap of bright orange cardstock behind it for creepy glowing eyes.  Attach the diecuts to a side-folded white A-2 card.

Here's a quick way to attach little letters...attach Couture Creations tape behind orange cardstock.  Diecut Playful Boo - leave it in the die.  Remove the centers of the letters with a piercing tool, then remove the liners from the remaining portions.  Firmly press the letters - still in the die - onto the cardstock.  Easy!

Add turquoise gem stickers.  Why turquioise?  I tried bright scary green first, but it looked like a big intersection of synchronized green traffic lights. Not very safe, not attractive.

Big thanks to everyone from Sunday's PAPERSTYLE 2020 calendar or notecards class at Impress!  So many diecuts, stamps, inks and little bits and pieces -  we're ready to welcome the new year.  Thanks for your fresh garden grapes Robin...a healthy snack to balance our salt and pepper potato chips!  Thanks also to Ann and Lynn for helping everyone fill their shopping baskets and prep for 2020.  No classes for me here this weekend - see you all again at the HOLIDAY GREETINGS - SIMPLY ASIAN class at Impress on October 12th.

Thanks for visiting our blog - hope you're enjoying our fall designs!

Supplies

 

94087 Cool Cat craft die

99875 Playful Boo

CL5235-D Winter Greenery clear stamp and die set