Jill's Peridot Pendant

 

I received this picture from Jill Kollmann of the Premo Pearl clay pendant she made. The embossed background is made with my Paisley stamp. Thanks Jill for sharing your beautiful work!

Sneak Preview

 

Here's a sneak peek at my new Octagon stamp set coming in February.

The "No Leftovers" cards

 

 

Here's the little project I demonstrated at the CHA convention last week. I call it the "no leftovers" card because if you follow the cutting guide below you will have no leftover pieces to throw away or save for later. Just add your own touches of color to the basic black and white base pieces and you have some quick and eco-friendly cards. Enjoy!

cutting guide

 

CHA again

 

Here's another picture from the convention. Me and a couple of beautiful ladies Carol Duval & Dee Gurenig.

CHA2010

 

Hi Everybody, I had a wonderful time at The Craft & Hobby Association convention. This event is always like a homecoming. I get to catch up with old friends and meet a whole bunch of new ones, What fun! Here's a picture of MaryJo McGraw, Karen Thomas, Cherryl Greene, Donna Kato and lucky me!

Washi Paper Pendant card

 

Materials:
Japanese Washi paper (or sturdy wrapping paper)
Brown cardstock
Red cardstock
Gold cardstock
Foam plate liners
Chipboard
Gold embroidery thread
Brads
Double-sided tape
Foam mounting tape
1 ½” punch
½” punch
Paper cutter
Scissors
Paper piercing tool

Steps:
Cut the Brown cardstock to make a folded 5 ½” x 4 ¼” card. Cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 5 ½” x 2”. Cut the gold cardstock to measure 5 ½” x 2 ¼” Layer the gold and red cardstock onto the front of the brown card and set aside.
For the pendant, you will need a 2” x 2” piece of Washi paper, a 1 2/2” chipboard circle and a 2” x 2” piece of the foam plate liner. NOTE: The foam plate liners are sold in office supply stores. They are used to protect the finish of china plates when stacking them. If you cannot find this product, several layers of tissue is an acceptable substitute.
Put a small piece of double-sided tape on the chipboard circle and attach the foam to it. Trim the foam to fit the circle. Put a small piece of double-sided tape on the back of the Washi paper and place the foam/chipboard on top of the tape. Trim to Washi paper as shown and make small snips all around the circle as shown. Put double-sided tape all around the edge of the chipboard. Pick up the circle and begin pressing the little snips onto the double-sided tape, all around the circle until they are all adhered. Use the piercing tool to put a small hole in the center of the Wash paper circle and put a brad through the hole, splaying the points open on the reverse side. Now you have a small round quilted pillow. Tape two small pieces of embroidery thread to the back of the quilted circle. These pieces are the ones you see at the top of the card, threaded thru small slits at the top corners of the red cardstock and taped down on the back of the red piece. Attach more thread to the back of the circle making sure it hangs down from the center to the bottom of the card. You will be attaching the three small pendants to these threads as shown. After all thread is in place, adhere the quilted circle to the card as shown. Attach the ½” circles to the threads with foam mounting tape or pop dots. Be sure to put two little circles back to back with the foam and thread between them. Let the three small accent circles swing free. Enjoy!

Washi Paper Card steps

 

 

 

 

Washi Paper Card steps

 

 

 

 

Washi Paper Card steps

 

 

 

 

The Super Show

That's what The Craft & Hobby Association is calling the big convention at the Anaheim Convention Center on Jan. 22 & 23. I'm preparing materials for some demos I'll be doing in booth #871, The Stamping Details booth. I'll be releasing my brand new line of papers called "Paisley Party" at the show. If you are planning to attend, please come by and say hi! I'd love to see you.

Nine Fold Card

Nine fold card

Materials:

8 ½” x 11” cardstock
8 1.2” x 11” text weight paper
paper cutter
double sided tape or glue

Steps:

Cut the cardstock in half to yield two 11 x 4 ¼” panels. Fold them in half to make two 5 ½” x 4 ¼” cards. Set aside.
Using a paper cutter, trim 1/8” away from one side of the text weight paper. Trim away 1/8” from the top of the text weight paper.
Crease the paper from upper left to lower right corner and from upper right to lower left corner making a large creased X. TIP: lay the corners at the edge of a table to make creasing easier as shown in photo.
Now crease the paper from left side to right side and from top to bottom like a window pane. Press all the folds tightly and make sure all points match. Reverse all the folds to make them flexible.
Lay the paper open with all four diagonal creases in the “mountain” position as shown in the picture.
Place your hands under the paper on either side and press the sides together. The top and bottom “mountains” will fold in and bypass each other to form the paper into a pyramid shape. See pictures.
Fold the two bottom corners of the pyramid flat along the base to the center crease. Flip the pyramid over and do the same on the other side. This will make four little flaps. See picture.
Open up each of the flaps and reverse the direction of their creases so that the folds are now on the inside of each flap. It will look like a little house.
Position the folded paper to the inside of one of the cards with the point of the “house” roof next to the center fold of the card. Attach with double sided tape or glue to all edges of the paper on both sides.
Press the card shut. When you open it, the fully extended paper will fold out.
This card makes a cute visual joke using my “Just a Little Hello” set of stamps with the tiny hello at the center of a large piece of paper.
Decorate the card any way you wish. Enjoy!

Nine Fold Card steps

Nine Fold Card steps

Nine Fold Card steps

Nine Fold Card steps

First card making challenge of 2010

Happy New Year! Here's our first card making challenge at my yahoo group EnjoyMichaelStrongstamps. The rules are simple. Create a card with a pocket. Any kind of pocket is OK. There are only two other requirements. Something must fit into the pocket and be removable from the pocket and you must use a MSRS. That's it! Three winners will be chosen on January 31 and awarded prizes. Each will receive a set of my brand new Cloisonne Octagon stamps. This is a picture of a card I made using one of the three designs in the set. Good luck!