Another Duo of Christmas Cards, Part Deux

Hello everyone!  I am so glad you stopped by today.  I have another duo of Christmas cards to share with you today using the Robin's Nest red and black Christmas Collection, along with Tonic punches and dies from Purple Cows, our sponsor this month. And best of all, the Christmas collection is 20% off this month.  So, if you are looking for some beautiful papers for your Christmas projects, I know you are going to love these.

Supplies used:

The Robin's Nest:  Hunter Classic Glitter with Gold Glitter CS, Red Glitter Stripe CS, Red Snowflakes CS, Christmas Glitter Words CS, Red Distressed CS, Silver Glitter on Creme Swirl CS, Ruby Red diamond drops, Champagne dew drops
Tonic Studio Daisy Circle Die, Daisy Border Punch (Purple Cows)

Winter Snow corner punch, Winter Snow border punch (Martha Stewart)

Mini Snowflake Rosette die (Sizzix)

Cherry Cobbler ribbon (Stampin Up)
Diamond Stickles 

Directions:

Trim a sheet of Hunter Classic Glitter with Gold Glitter CS to 7" x 10".  Fold in half to make a base card measuring 7" x 5".  Cut a piece of the Red Snowflakes CS slightly smaller than card front (6-3/4" x 4-3/4"), punch corners with snowflake corner punch, adhere reverse (red) side to card base.

 Cut two strips of Red Snowflakes CS and adhere along edge, as shown.  

Die cut a scrap of Hunter Classic Glitter with Gold Glitter CS using the Daisy Circle Die.  Then cut out the center with a 1-3/4" scallop die.  

I found this copyright free image of candy canes online.  

Cut out one cane and trace onto Red Glitter Stripe CS, reversing one so you have a a cane going in both directions.  I also traced onto the right side of the paper only to ensure my stripes were going diagonally.  Erase any pencil marks left.

Insert both candy canes through daisy circle die cut before adhering to card base.  Cut out "Merry Christmas" words from Christmas Glitter Words CS.  Adhere to card front with pop dots, as shown.

I needed a little more glitter, so I added a light coat of Diamond stickles to the snowflake borders, and Champagne dew drops, as shown.  The stickles do not show up well in the photo, but they really add to the whole piece.

For my second card, trim Red Distressed CS to 4-1/2" x 12", fold in half to make top folded base card that measures 4-1/2" x 6".  Distress edges and apply Old Paper distress stain.  (NOTE:  If you are making lots of these, you can certainly skip this step).

I trimmed a sheet of Red Snowflakes CS to 4" x 6" and applied Old Paper distress stain.  It has a green undertone, perfect for Christmas.  Punch around the page with the snowflake punches and adhere to card base.

Trim a scrap of Hunter Classic Glitter with Gold Glitter CS to 1-3/8" x 3-3/4" and adhere to center.

Add the little green daisies (from the die cut used in the card above) to various snowflakes, as shown.

Die cut a mini snowflake rosette from Silver Glitter on Creme Swirl CS.  Add Ruby Red diamond drops to center of rosette.  Adhere to center portion of card with two small pieces of red ribbon.

There you have it.  Another duo of Christmas cards that I hope have inspired you and helped get those juices flowing to make some yourself.  As I've said before,  this collection makes it is so easy to make beautiful, quick and easy cards for the holidays.  And since they are on sale this month, I hope you will take a moment to check out the Robin's Nest online store for more of their matching products to make your holiday cards fabulous.  And don't forget to visit the Robin's Nest blog for tons more inspiration this month using this versatile collection.

Have a wonderful week, and a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Barbara Rankin

http://blackholeartstudio.blogspot.com

Halloween Paperbag Mini Album Directions

Hello again, and welcome back.  I am always glad to have you stop by.  As I promised in my previous post, I am going to share with you my directions for making this mini paperbag album.   For this post, I am only sharing the supplies used to make the book, since my previous post includes the supplies I used for embellishing the book after it is put together.  If you missed it or would like to see it again, here is the link to that post.

This book started out as packaging inserts, that is, pieces of cardboard to protect the box contents.  I knew as soon as I saw it that it was going to be the beginning of a fabulous book.  Well, here is a picture of the front cover, what do you think?

Supplies used:

Corrugated cardboard packaging for cover (9" x 5-1/4" x 1")
Cover:  6" x 9" for outside (2), 3" x 5-1/4" corrugated cardboard scrap for outer spine, 3" x 6" for inner
             spine, 5-1/8" x 8-5/8" for inside (2)
3 Orange, 3 Black Paper bags (9" x 4-3/4")(Michaels)
Paper bag sizes:  4-1/2" x 7-1/2"for bag front (6), 4-1/2" x 6-1/4" for bag back (6), 4-1/2" x 2-1/2" for
                           bag pocket (6), 4-1/2" x 5" (pocket flaps)
Paper bag pocket tags:  6-1/4" x 4-1/2" and 7-1/2" x 4-1/2"
Small pockets formed by bottom of paper bag:  #8 black tags (Ranger) or cut CS to measure 3-1/8" x 6-1/4"
Small ring binder (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock:  Black Bats Glitter, Pumpkin Glitter,  Bones Orange, Ghost Camo Glitter, Halloween Glitter Stripe, Haunted House, Orange Glitter Crackle, Pumpkin Heads, Purple Bats Glitter, Purple Glitter Crackle, Spider Web Glitter, Witch Accessories Glitter (The Robin's Nest)
Martha Stewart PATP spider web punch set
EK Success 1-3/8" square paper punch
Maya Mists: Orange Juice
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists:  Black Magic, Fully Purple


Directions for making the book:

These scraps of cardboard came in an appliance box, or something like that.  The white piece was already folded and looks very much like the beginnings of a book.  And guess what, it is going to be a mini album very soon.  I tore off the top paper layer on the larger piece of cardboard for that shabby chic look.  Measurements are listed above, so you would, of course, change them to suit your album cover.  These instructions apply to my piece of cardboard.  You can, of course, make your own from chipboard cut to the same size.

Spray corrugated cardboard spine with Orange Juice, Black Magic, and Fully Purple mists.  Let dry.

outside spine cover

Adhere black bats glitter spine piece to inside spine.  Make creases where the book folds before the glue dries.

book inside

Make tiny slits where the book folds and then turn excess CS over and adhere to the inside.

Mark and punch holes for the binder rings.  Do not attach the binder ring yet.

Mark holes on outside and punch

Adhere Pumpkin Glitter card stock (CS) to outside cover, mitering corners and turning excess CS to inside.

outside cover

Then glue two Black Bats Glitter CS to the inside covers.  Add ring binder to the inside spine now.

inside cover

 The binder ring brads show on the outside of the book.

You will need to cover that by adhering the cardboard spine to outside cover.

cardboard spine adhered to outside cover

Trim off open end of envelopes to measure 8".

Trim various printed papers using measurements given above.  I laid my papers out first to decide which ones would be my covers and spine, and which ones would be placed on each of the paper bags front, back, and pocket sections.  I have listed above all of the Robin's Nest papers used in the making of my book.

Adhere each piece to your paper bags.  You can arrange the papers in any order you desire.  You will need to punch two holes along the bottom edge of each of the bags to accommodate the ring binder.  

To make a thumb hole, punch half of the 1-3/8" square punch in the top of each bag to allow for easy removal of your tags.

Glue each of the bag bottoms down to form pockets for insertion of tags. Below is pictured an orange bag with pocket on the left, a black bag covered, with flap, on the right.  Each bag will have a pocket on one side and an opening with a flap on the other.  I used black #8 tags for the pockets formed by folding the bag bottom up (left side of book).

To make the pocket flaps, I again chose coordinating, but contrasting, papers and cut them to size.  I punched each flap using the spiderweb PATP punches, and made a score line at the 2-1/2" mark from the punched edge.

In order for the PATP punches to punch accurately, your flap has to measure 5".  This, however, is just slightly too large to insert into the 4-3/4" wide paper bag.  So, I trimmed off slivers from both the top and bottom, angling my cut from the edge of the punched web to the edge that will be inserted inside the bag.  Adhere flaps to the bottom gusset of each bag, as shown in photo.  You want to be able to insert a tag when you open the flap.

To make the tags, I cut 6 pieces of black CS to 7-1/2"  4-1/2", and 6 pieces to 6-1/2" x 4-/2".  Then I adhered various print papers to each tag, trimming the print papers slightly smaller (1/4") than the tag.  Two tags will be inserted into each paper bag.  The shorter tags fit in the back gusset of each bag.

I hope you have enjoyed my book in progress.  I will continue to post my progress throughout the month.  You can follow along if you like now that you can make your own book, or simply do your own thing.  You are the artist.  So have fun with it.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful week.

Barbara

Tunnel Card with Classic Glitter Swirls

Hello again, Robin's Nest fans, and welcome back.  I am so glad you stopped by today because the Robin's Nest Design Team continues to showcase the beautiful Classic Glitter Swirl papers this month.  I have been making cards for almost two decades now, so I have a plethora of card ideas stored away in the recesses of my mind.  I have always been extra fond of interactive cards, cards with different types of folds, dimensional cards, moving cards, etc.  So, I want to share with you a fun card that really is easy to make, but looks like you spent days working on it.   It is often referred to as a tunnel card, and here is my finished piece, inside and out.

Supplies Used:

The Robin's Nest:  Black Glitter Swirl on White CS, Silver Glitter Swirl on Black CS, Pink Glitter Swirl on Pink CS, Summer Pink Classic Glitter CS, Black Classic Glitter CS
Classified Mini Dew Drops
Spellbinders die (S5-041-Floral Doily Motifs)(Classic Circles)
1-3/4" circle punch
Black India Ink (Stewart Superior)
Flower Stamp and die (My Favorite Things)
Decorative edge punch (Martha Stewart)

Directions:

Cut Black Classic Glitter CS and Black Glitter Swirl on White CS to 5-1/2" x 8-1/2".

Fold Black Classic Glitter CS in half to form card front that measures 5-1/2" x 4-1/4".  Make score lines on the Black Glitter Swirl on White CS  at , 2-1/8", 4-1/4", and 6-3/8".  Set card front aside.

 Reverse side of Black Glitter Swirl on White CS

Center circle die over the center (4-1/4") score line and cut out an opening.

Reverse side of Black Glitter Swirl on White CS

Fold along score lines as follows:  valley folds on both outer scores, mountain fold on center score.

It should look like a "W" when folded properly.

Cut a circle frame in Pink Glitter Swirl on Pink CS with the floral motif doily, then center the same size circle die used before and center it over the doily to make a frame.  Set the circle aside.  We will use it later.

Glue the pink frame to the card inside, as shown.

Open card front and lay flat, open this inisde card front a lay flat.  Adhere both pieces, wrong sides together, only along the outer edges and up to the first fold on each side.

When you close the card, the center will pop up, like this.

Adhere circle die cut through frame opening, as shown.

When you open the card, you can still see the circle piece through the frame, just like you are looking through a tunnel.

A view from above

Next, I cut 2" x 5-1/2" strips of Pink Glitter Swirl on Pink CS and used the decorative edge punch along each edge.  Adhere strips to each side, as shown.  

Figure 1

I thought the design got lost a bit, so I took a strip of the Summer Pink Classic Glitter CS and place beneath the strip as far as it will go.

Mark through one of the design's openings that is furthest out but will still allow you to cut a straight line.  In this case, you will not be able to include the scallops unless you fussy cut a scallop shape.  This really is not necessary.  Let's keep it simple.

My strips measure 3/4" wide to accomplish this.  I placed a strip beneath the decorative border and glued it in place.  Then I cut off the excess on either end.

This allows your eye to see the design a little bit better.  You can compare this photo to Figure 1 above.  I also added 1/4" strips of Black Classic Glitter CS to the outer edge on both sides.  She finished photo above.

Stamp sentiment onto scrap of Summer Pink Classic Glitter CS.  Punch out with 1-3/4" circle punch.  

Open card and adhere die cut piece through opening.

Cut Silver Glitter Swirl on Black CS to 4" x 5-1/4" and layer onto card front.  Punch another strip of the Summer Pink Classic Glitter CS with the decorative edge punch and layer across the top of the card.  This time, I added a 3/4" strip of the Black Classic Glitter CS and adhered it beneath the pink strip.  Now this color really stands out.  I wanted to show you the difference you can achieve by using darker, lighter, or similar colors of card stock strips.

I had a tiny strip of the Black Classic Glitter CS left, so I punched it once again.  The strip was thinner and did not give me the whole design, but I like it.  It is going to be perfect for my next step.

Dew Drops, of course.  I added silver metallic mini dew drops from the Classified Mini Dew Drops collection along the black decorative strip.  It really pulls out the beautiful silver flourishes in the paper.

To finish off the front, I still need a focal point.  I stamped the daisy flower twice on Summer Pink Classic Glitter CS with black ink.

A little trick I learned along the way.  Not sure who to give credit to, but an easy way to align your die to cut out a stamped image is to first tape the die to a scrap of paper, forming a "hinge", and die cut the scrap.  You can then swing the die up without removing it and align the opening in the scrap over the stamped image.

 You can then tape the scrap down, and swing the die back down over the opening and stamped image, and proceed to die cut as usual.  This gives you a nice, close cut to your stamping.

I glued a second die cut frame to the front, inserting the stems of the two flowers beneath the frame.

To keep it dimensional, I added a few foam dots to the back of each flower head.  The picture below is from the side to show you some of the dimension.  

So,  I hope you enjoyed my tunnel card today and will give this gloriously scrumptious glitter swirl paper a try.  It is on sale for 20% off through the end of August.  Needless to say, these papers are so beautiful and elegant, and they work so well together.  I have really enjoyed working with them.  So go ahead, check out the Robin's Nest online store, and be sure to come back to the Chattering Robin's blog for more inspiration from the Design Team using these fabulous papers!    

As always, thanks tons for stopping by, and have a wonderfully creative week!

Barbara