Let's all get Punchy!!

Today is our last official VC_Rocks Blog Hop for this session of our group.  It is always such fun to renew freindships and make new ones - everyone is so much fun!  I always go thru a period of withdrawal after we close up shop - wow, next week!  Oh no ...

You may have arrived here from Debbie's Blog - www.cleverandcute.blogspot.com - she always has such cute stuff.  Remember, if you get lost along the way on this Hop, you can always go back to our home base - www.vcrocks.blogspot.com

Our theme for this Blog Hop is Punches - somewhere, we are to use our Stampin' Up! Punches on our cards, projects, etc.

My first card was cased - can't remember where I saw it first a couple years ago, but I made a note to make it someday - and .... today is someday!

Here's the recipe, the directions are quite simple and you can figure that out.  I used:  Round Tab Punch; 1 1/4" Round Punch; Whisper White, Melon Mambo and Old Olive cardstock; Signo Gel Pen    I had some green ribbon with stripes down the side but it wasn't the right green so I made my own with the white gel pen - I also made the dots in the center of the flower with the gel pen.    Hope you like it - it's sitting here on my desk with the petals wide open today - thank you, sunshine, for touching my flower.

My second card was a fun one - as you undoubtedly know by now, I do love my punches, so for this card, I used a bunch of them!  

What fun to make this card!  I can't remember all the sizes of round punches I used - I started out with the 2 1/2" Round Punch for the body and went from there ... also:  Ticket Corner Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch for the hands and feet and Natural Twine for the tail.  If you want the exact sizes, I can measure the circles and let you know - just send me an email to stampershirley@gmail.com and I will get back with you.

My last card is a simple one but I always forget to use my Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and this was perfect for this.  A friend sent me a card similar so I changed the colors and made my own.  

I used the (retired) Designer Label Punch for the flower pots and cut them down a bit on the ends.  The colors I used are Not Quite Navy, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip; also, Natural Hemp Twine on the middle pot.  So simple and perfect for a flower-loving friend of mine - hope she likes it.

So that is my take on the Punches theme - hope you enjoyed your stop here and here's your next stop ....  Ellen's wonderful Blog - she's the Punch Queen, by the way and you can find her at www,blinkthinkink.blogspot.com - and our home base is www.vcrocks.blogspot.com

Have an awesome day, tell me which card is your favorite and I will draw from the entries and you will receive that card.  Just leave a comment by Tuesday, August 16th.

Hugs and may God Bless you, Shirley

Bows, Bows, and more Bows

What fun it is to make these bows!!  My good friend Shari taught me how to make them and now I can't stop!  I did change my directions a bit to make a fuller bow - hers were more like flowers but I wanted bows.   You know me, I have to change things once I follow directions.  I even had to buy a bigger tote to hold them all .... but won't they look wonderful on my packages!  I've made way over 30 so far ... and now I need to make a bunch for Christmas.  Just so you know, I used retired Stampin' Up! DSP for all my bows - another great way to use up that big box of retired SU papers!!

They are so easy too - but be warned, making them are addicting!!


Materials:  Glue Dots or Dimensionals; SNAIL Adhesive; Sticky Strip and/or Glue Dots, Brads; 1/16" Circle Punch; 6" x 12" piece Double Sided DSP’’

Cut DSP as follows:  Cut into three pieces, each 4”x6”.  Cut two of those pieces into strips 1”x6”, giving you 8 strips.  On the last large piece, cut 1” off the short end, giving you a 1”x4” strip.Cut the remainder into four strips, 1”x5”.  You should now have:1 strip 1”x4”, 8 strips 1”x6”, 4 strips 1”x5”.

Put four of the 1”x6” strips facing the same pattern up.  Put adhesive on one end of each.  Twist each piece into a loop, attaching one end of a strip to the other side of the other end ...  like if you put an "A" on one end and a "B" on the other side of the other end, then twist and adhere "A" to "B" .... like this:

Hope this picture helps - sometimes the twisting doesn't look right, so I undo and re-loop, so play with it.  Also, I have found where you put the ends together makes a difference in how your bow looks, so experiment.

Do the same for 3 more of your longer strips, then punch a hole in the bottom of each loop and attach the four together with a brad or with some SNAIL to hold them in position.  Repeat the above steps with the other 4 strips of 1"x6", but flip the papers over first to show the other pattern.  Note:  I punch my hole near the edge on the first group, a bit farther up on the next group of 4 loops and a little farther up on the other group of loops - this helps them to next a bit easier.

 Add a few Glue Dots or some Sticky Strip to the inside of the two bows and adhere together, altering the direction of the loops. Make a smaller bow with all 4 of the 1”x5” strips, putting your favorite pattern on the inside.  Punch holes and add brad.  Add Glue Dots or Sticky Strip as before, working the bows together - it's a tight squeeze .... Roll the 1”x4” into a circle loop with your favorite side out.  Adhere with Sticky Strip in the center.  

And there's your bow ... now wasn't that fun??!!!  Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer.  My email is   stampershirley@gmail.com .... so send me pix of your bows!!

Another option:  If you look closely at the turquoise and gray bow at the top of the picture, you will see that I used all one side for the longer loops, then the other side for the 1"x5" loops.

And here's another picture - I don't particularly like the other side of this retired paper, so I made the whole bow with one side of the DSP.  And it's Christmas paper (well, snowflakes are close enough!)

Hope and pray you are well, and your family also.  My hubby had two procedures done yesterday now he sees another doctor next week to see when the next surgery is, as they had to wait for these results.  We would appreciate your prayers and kind thoughts as we go thru all this.

Not sure I will get a post done for tomorrow, so be sure to come back on Saturday for our last (boo hoo) BLOG HOP for the year ... maybe I better find another group to hop with monthly so I post more often, huh!

God Bless and have a most excellent day!!  Enjoy your creative side every day!

Hugs, Sassy Shirley

Lattice Folding is Fun!!

Hello on Monday ... I have been busy making some things, so hopefully I will have time this week to get some new posts for you.  My hubby has a surgical procedure on Wednesday so I will be taking care of him that day and making him comfortable and feeling loved.  That's my job, you know, and I do love it!

Today's post is 3 Lattice Folding cards ... my friend Robin did an online class on how to do them but I just couldn't get my cards to look as great as hers, so I went back to my old faithful way.  I will keep trying, Robin - it's me, not you .... hope you enjoy these cards.

These are so easy when you do it this way ... if you have some Stampin' Up! Grid Paper, cut a section measuring 5" by 3 3/4".  This is the measurement for my cards because I matted them before attaching to the card.  If you don't want to mat, then cut accordingly to your card size.  If you don't have this paper, use graph paper or make a template - the squares are 1/4" apart.  On one edge of your template, draw a line from the first line diagonally to the 3rd square, then from the next square, draw a line diagonally to the 2nd square.  Repeat in this order down the page until you run out of squares.  Fold your template and your cardstock or designer paper in half, making sure you have a nice crisp fold - use your bone folder!!  Insert your unfolded edge of your paper inside your template folded edge and cut on the lines - how simple!  Make sure you are cutting the lines on the fold of your cardstock or designer paper.  The grid paper makes this soooo easy.  

When you are done cutting, unfold your paper and fold every other triangle up, continuing to the bottom.  

You will want to cut the top one off completely, saving it to attach to the bottom area.  

Tuck each corner under the next corner ... does that make any sense at all?  It will when you make your Lattice Folding card!!

This next card was made with Vellum and I added a strip of red and a strip of black underneath for a different effect, also adding a couple of black and red brads to the corners.  

If you have any questions, just ask and I will try to answer.  I am not the best teacher but I do love to play!!  I have seen cards that cut every other square (every 1/2" instead of 1/4") so you have bigger triangles and not as many.  I purposefully did not add embellishments or sentiments to the cards so you can see their beauty, but you can add whatever you want, wherever you want on your own cards.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot .... you can tape up the cut marks on your grid paper and reuse - over and over if you want!  lol

There are a lot of variations to this card - I hope you enjoyed this little lesson - please share your Lattice Folding cards with me at stampershirley@gmail.com .... I will post all the cards here at a later date and I will draw a name from all the cards in my inbox by this Friday nite, August 12th and that person will receive a little something from me. 

And guess what .... this weekend is our next (and last) VC Blog Hop!!  Trust me, you will NOT want to miss it - some awesome ideas will be waiting for you on Saturday morning.  

Until next time, have fun being creative, take care and 

God Bless you, Shirley