Thursday 25 March 2021

Friendship Loaded Card & Gift Box

 Friendship Loaded Card

& Gift Box


Hello Again, welcome to my next project for Couture Creations using the 'Blooming Friendship' Collection.




This time I created a loaded card and gift box. I thought, what could I put into pockets that a friend would like. I wanted it to be a 'Gift' as well as a card.  So the front pockets house, a calendar, pretty paperclip, sentiment tag/bookmark, handy notepad, and a teabag and pocket.  These little things can be used for more than a day so your hard work can be seen/used for at least a year.  So here goes....


This is the ensemble of components that I gathered together to create this layout.



I started by using the embossing folder.  I had to half of the A4 sheet, then the other half.  Remember to use the silicon embossing mat to give a good deep impression.



Once that was done, I followed my diagram to score, fold and cut to create the gift box. This diagram with the measurements are in a previous project that I did last year with the 'Peaceful Peonies' collection?




I then cut out the seed bag to hold the tea bag and the little notepad.  I cut one A4 sheet of copy paper for the notepad pages.




Staple the pages to the end that has the 2 fold lines, making sure you staple them to the correct side.  Glue the bag and notepad to complete.


Once the gift box was created, I decorated it with the elements as shown.  I mounted the flower with a double-sided foam square and glued the rest.

To create the card, I cut an A4 sheet of kraft cardstock down the middle lengthwise, then cut 5 1/2" away, on the larger piece I scored and folded 5/8" from one end. With the larger piece I aligned the largest flower die to the fold line and did a partial cut, this created a pop-up at the top of the card.  I then used the same embossing folder and embossed it. I added a piece of lace to the back page before folding over and gluing the flap down.



Next was the front pockets.  I used the calendar as a guide for the pocket size.  The top 2 pockets in the photo just had a folded edge while the bottom pocket had an allowance of 2/8" then the folded edge.  The corner areas had to be slit so they could fold nicely.  The pocket heights were staggered.  Glue them all together.



So now it was a matter of fussy cutting the flowers and tag sentiment, ink the edges, dress-up the paperclip, and back and glue the tag together. Stamp the music and friendship stamps onto white card, ink and distress the edges.  Use a circle punch around the 'Besties' sentiment, and glue them all in place.  Glue the pockets in place.


Add everything to the pockets and the card should fit nicely into the box.


Once everything was in place, I used a glitter pen and placed accents randomly over everything (sparkle just makes it come to life). 





The finished project.

Couture Creations Products used:-

CO728099             Blooming Friendship - Paper Collection, Page 5A/B, Postcard and Stickers
CO728110     Blooming Friendship - Stamp/Die - Blooming Flower
CO728129     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Backgrounds & Borders
CO728130     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Cherished Friends
CDEIPLU032   Dye Ink - Cappuccino
CO728095     Stayz Alcohol Ink - Matte Jet Black
CO727948     Blending Brush - Medium
CO727381     Stamp Press
CO723620     A4 Embossing Folder - Cherish Me Collection 





Other Products:-
    Kraft cardstock, distressing tool, stamp press, lace, string,  muslin/cheesecloth, large paperclip, tea bag, calendar, glitter pen, double-sided foam square and glue.



To find a store near you that stock these Couture Creations products, click on the following link:- 


My Blog link is:-




Thanks for joining me...


Tuesday 16 March 2021

Thank You Friend Shaker Card

 Thank You Friend

Shaker Card


Hello again, welcome to my next project for Couture Creations using the 'Blooming Friendship' Collection.  This time I created a shaker card. 




I started with the stamping and heat-embossing. I had to first stamp the flower, 2 mugs and the cookie onto white card and heat-emboss with silver glitter embossing powder.  The word 'friend' was created by embossing the stamp 'friendship' onto heat-resistant acetate (the heat from the heating tool will warp normal acetate)and embossed it with white embossing powder, then trimmed it down to just have 'friend'.

Once that was done I started making the shaker frame.  I aligned the 2 larger flower dies over the stamp and cut them out together.  While they were still taped together I then cut the same frame out of foam. I then slid the postcard under the newly created frame to make sure the wording was positioned where I wanted it.  Using the frame as the guide, I then placed the 2nd largest die over the postcard and die-cut it. I used the large die to cut the acetate.  I glued the frame to the acetate then the acetate to the foam.   To make the silver accent frame, I laid the 2nd largest die over the silver cardstock and using a pencil, I just traced around the inside and outside and cut it out using a craft knife.

I glued a couple of sequences directly onto the postcard cutout, added the rest into the well of the frame. I aligned the postcard cutout into the frame and held it there with a couple of strips of tape so I could flip it over and glue it to the card front.

Next I glued a background mat from the silver card to the cardbase then topped it with the designer paper that was distressed around the edges.

I glued the shaker frame to the card front. I fussy cut the 2 mugs and cookie. I added a foam square behind the bottom of the cookie cutout and one behind the centre of one mug.  I arranged them as per the photo and glued them in place.  I finished by adding a few blue branches from the ephemera pack.  I thought it needed something, so I got my water-brush out and grey dye ink and randomly painted around the flower near the silver frame.



A sideways view.


A closer look at the layering.



The finished project.


Couture Creations Products used:-

CO728099             Blooming Friendship - Paper Collection, Page 1B & Postcard
CO728107     Blooming Friendship - Ephemera Set
CO728110     Blooming Friendship - Stamp/Die - Blooming Flower
CO728123     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Tall Hot Chocolate
CO728125     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Cookies
CO728130     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Cherished Friends
CO724990     Embossing Powder - Sparkles - Silver/Silver
CDEIPU035          Dye Ink - Grey
CO727166     A4 Glitter Card - Silver
CO723978     Heat Tool
CO727381     Stamp Press
CO726809     Craft Knife

Other Products:-
    Card base and white cardstock, distressing tool, sequences, heat-resistant acetate, white foam, double-sided foam tape, cardboard, glue and water-brush.



To find a store near you that stock these Couture Creations products, click on the following link:- 


My Blog link is:-





Thanks for joining me...




Monday 8 March 2021

Blooming Friendship 'Cherished Friends' Layout

 Blooming Friendship

'Cherished Friends' Layout





Welcome to my next project for Couture Creations using the
'Blooming Friendship' Collection.






I thought I would do a layout this time. As part of this project I wanted to challenge myself and see how many ways I could use the flower die & stamps.  So here goes....



This is the ensemble of components that I gathered together to create this layout.


I started by embossing.  The sentiments were embossed on heat-resistant acetate (the heat from the heating tool will warp normal acetate) and the brickwork stamp was embossed on white cardstock.



I stamped the music stamp onto white card before die-cutting out some leaves.  I wanted a 'frame' so I used the 2 middle dies from the large flower set to create it.  I thought the embossed brickwork gave the frame more character.  The middle also came in useful (never throw anything away until you are finished)


Next was to see if I could make a 3D flower from these dies.  I chose 2 red coloured cardstock and cut 1 of the large die and 3 of each of the 2 smaller dies.


I quickly dipped each piece into water before folding and scrunching them into a shape.



I put them in the sun for a bit to dry and then carefully unravelled each piece to see a new flower.  I chose one of each colour and glued a smaller flower to the centre of 3 of the larger flowers and added a stamen or two as well.


This was a surprise die.  It is a mosaic tile but I found I could get 4 different sized flowers from it.
 


I solved the problem I was having with aligning the dies to the stamp.  First I placed each die over the acetate image. I drew a mark on the top of the acetate sheet and then on top of each of the dies.  I then coloured in each of the areas with alchol markers.  Once I got that sorted, I stamped and embossed the image 4 times, then die-cut them out.  


I carefully rolled the underside of each die-cut with the ball tool to give them some dimension. Between each layer I added a double-sided foam square and muslin and secured them all together with a few stamens and glue.


A closeup of the finished flower.


The front 'photo' page measured 4" x 6".  The other were trimmed down off-cuts arranged to make an interesting cluster. I distressed the edges on all sides and added cardboard behind various areas to create a pile so I could have some 'tuck spots'.  Once I was happy with the arrangement, I glued it into place (slightly off centre to the right).


A sideways view of the stack of papers and flower.


A closeup of the top right area.



I was just a matter of playing around and see what looked good where and glue it down.  The sentiments look like they are floating in mid air.



A closer look at the bottom left area.



Once everything was in place, I covered the photo area with a piece of paper and lightly sprayed the entire page with some glitter spray.  You can see the large flower sparkles in this photo. 


The finished project.

Couture Creations Products used:-

CO728099             Blooming Friendship - Paper Collection, Page 1A&B,4B,& 5B
CO728110     Blooming Friendship - Stamp/Die - Blooming Flower
CO728113     Blooming Friendship - Die - Ancanthus Corners
CO728115     Blooming Friendship - Die - Wine and Dine
CO728116     Blooming Friendship - Die - Mosaic
CO728118     Blooming Friendship - Die - Friendly Branches
CO728129     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Backgrounds & Borders
CO728130     Blooming Friendship - Stamp - Cherished Friends
CO728117     Blooming Friendship - Die - Coffee Break
CO728118     Blooming Friendship - Die - Friendly Branches
CDEIPLU018   Dye Ink - Light Blue
CDEIPLU032   Dye Ink - Cappuccino
CO724963     Embossing Powder - Basics - Glacier White
ULT200001    Cardstock - Snow White
ULT200024    Cardstock - Verde
ULT200038    Cardstock - Jungle
ULT200067    Cardstock - Garnet
ULT200068    Cardstock - Carnelian
CO727948     Blending Brush - Medium
CO723978     Heat Tool
CO727381     Stamp Press





Other Products:-
    Distressing tool, stamp press, ball tool, heat gun, heat-resistant acetate, stamens,  muslin/cheesecloth, spray glitter, cardboard and glue.



To find a store near you that stock these Couture Creations products, click on the following link:- 


My Blog link is:-





Thanks for joining me...