Little Paper Shop Release Day: {Sweet} & {Flower Frenzy}!

ETA: Just a quick note to let you know that I hope to be back soon. I've been feeling really awful & struggling to get some posts put together. Things are just weighing super heavily the last while & I've been having a hard time coping with still being sick, so I couldn't get it together to post. I hope to post tomorrow night.

Thanks for your patience,
XOX
mel


ETA: Sorry, I have been MIA (Migraine in Action) for a couple of days--and will probably still be for a bit, since life has extended it's boundaries on all sides--to get in the way of blogging. I'm jonesing for it though & I'll see you soon! :O)


Oh no! this was set to post on autopilot while i slept off a migraine, but i had it set for Pm instead of AM. so it never went out. Duh, sorry. You can still catch the sale, if you like, though. :O)

Today's the release for {Sweet} & {Flower Frenzy}!

Click the pics to go to the store & see these in detail:

You can see the Little Paper Shop galleries for
some gorgeous inspiration here
&
You can still register to help stamp out Alzheimers ($5.) here

Happy Tuesday!

P.S. If you're in the market for new stamps, hurry over

(they're on sale.) :O)

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LPS preview of {Flower Frenzy} & FABRIC (embossed, stamped, & with gesso & Copics)

The ol' mojo needed a colour challenge in a BIG way; know what I mean? (Look Ma! no turquoise!) hehehe ;o) New colours for a new stamp set, oh joy of joys...

Can't wait for you all to see this lovely set from Little Paper Shop that releases tomorrow (!!!) It's called {Flower Frenzy} Turns out it's also a frenzy of my faves: flowers, sassy flourishes, & flexible sentiments.

The flowers in the set are really flexible technique wise too. They cut up nicely (this card has the same flower cut three ways), but most excipating of all, there are both solid & outline blooms, so you can do all your faves 2 step, paper piece, do the wet into wet reinker painting technique that's so hot right now.

Well, why am I listing techniques to YOU? You all know a million things to do with two varieties of stamps at once, LOL. BUT... hopefully today's post has something you might not have tried yet: embossing & faux watercolour on fabric with Copics. Yup, it's Mod Podge & Gesso to the rescue again! ;o)

1-Little Paper Shop Colour Challenge
2-Emboss fabric (Cuttlebug folders or other method)
3-Stamp on fabric & Copics on Gesso
4-Cheap tricks: Create a custom chunky Scallop
5-Jazz up black & white patterned papers
6-New curvy tab with SU's round tab punch

-1-

LPS Colour challenge



Inspired by these soft spring colours? Come play along with us!
You can read all about the challenge
& enter to win {Flower Frenzy} (!) on the LPS Blog here.

-2-

...emboss fabric
(with Cuttlebug folders or other methods)

• fabric
• mod podge or other adhesive
• cardstock
• embossing folder (and rolling pin/machine)
• Optional: template & scissors or die cut
• Brayer & pigment or metallic ink (heat gun to set)
  

Step 1) Make fabric piece

A) Glue fabric to cardstock. I used Mod Podge.
B) Leave as is or coat in matte medium (reduces shine) ink it or paint it...
C) Trace template onto cardstock backing (or try Nestabilities)
D) Cut the shape out out



Step 2) Emboss Fabric piece



Step 3) Directly ink or brayer fabric piece & I would add a step & heat set it (I forgot & the white ink all rubbed off)

-3-

...stamp on fabric
& Copic faux watercolour on Gesso

• Scrap of fabric (i like fine weave thinner fabric)
• Gesso (or other primer)
• Paint brush (clean well after use) :O)
  
• Stazon ink, clear embossing powder; white pigment ink & white e.p.
• Heat gun
• Copic markers (B13 Hydrangea Blue, and RV11 Pink, shade with bit of R-29 Lipstick Red)
• Scissors, paper piercer, needle & thread
• Zigpainty pen for dots
• Perfect Plum & Pink Pirouette SU cardstock
  
• Glass brad from Creative Imaginations
  

Step 1) Paint fabric with gesso



Step 2) Stamp colour & cut flowers, then repeat process for leaves

The {Flower Frenzy} blooms are stamped in Stazon & embossed in clear. The leaves are stamped & embossed in white.)

Colouring with copics on Gesso: Copics are really great over gesso; it keeps the fabric from sucking up all your ink. The gesso lets you get a faux watercolour effect with Copics (and it's easy to blend other water-based markers without any of that pilling you can get on Copic papers.) Letting the Gesso cure very well (over night or more) means less transfer of gesso onto your Copic markers.



Step 3) Adhere flowers & leaves to embossed fabric shape



Step 4) Pierce to create lines for stems



Step 5) Stitch stems, mat image & embellish

-4-

...create a custom chunky Scallop
& jazz it up...

Use anything round (in whatever size you like) to make big chunky scallops. me love free!

• Anything round in the size you like
• Patterned paper (or not) This was a gift from the lovely sweet talented Maria.
  
• Pencil
• Tim Holtz Design ruler (or your fave)
• Scissors
  
• Optional: Paper piercer, needle & thread
• Gems
  
• Markers (SU: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink) & a water brush.

Drawing the Scallop shape:

Step 1) Mark the center at the base of your paper using a ruler

Step 2) Trace one circle centered in the middle

Step 3) Draw a straight line across at the depth you want your scallop to stop curving at (to guage where to put side circles.

Step 4) Draw the remaining circles (however many you like) on either side of your middle circle

Step 5) Cut along your lines to create the scallop shape. Stopping at the line.

An Nifty Option? If you're really liking your custom scallop, you can make it into your own template: After you cut it out, trace it onto a scrap of cardstock before you add it to your card--to save for future use. If you're like me & things get lost on you, consider scanning it and filing it on your computer. (i lurve u my leetle compuker!)



Embellishing the Scallop shape:

Step 1) If you like to paper pierce, you can create a guide line on the back of your paper:

If you created a template in step one up there, just trace it. If not just trace the same circular object again higher up. :O)



Step 2) Pierce along guide line through the your scallop paper (flatten the raised piercing holes on the front, with a bone-folder or your finger nail, if you want them to show less.)



Step 3) Stitch along scallop (beads are neato too) :O)



Step 4) Add some jazzy colour! To paint papers using markers: rub colour from markers onto an acrylic block or glass plate, or whatnot, and then pick up colour with a water brush.

I love black & white papers since you can add colour to just sections:
(no duh huh?) ;o)



Step 5) Paint the edge at bottom of the stitching.

-5-

...jazz up black & white patterned papers

It's fun to use whole coloured sections of Black & White pattered paper for matching originality-ness (really, so people can see the differnce and know how hard you worked for them. MUahahaha.) ;o)

Coloured with Stampin' Up! water-based markers: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink)



I love your ruler Tim!
(Tim Holtz Design ruler for lining bits up)

-5-

create a new curvy tab
(with SU "round tab" punch)

Well this may be old hat to you guys n galz, but it's new to me...so I thought I'd share it with Ya. I like the curvy little shape that this Round Tab punch has for a nifty little shape for a tag:



It's just a strip of cardstock punched from the side:

The word love is from that loverly {Flower Frenzy} set. :O)

If you'd like to see loads of ways to use the Round Tab punch
please see this post:

Ironically enough, it's the one card that uses this same image layout (flourishes as plant leaves) & the same stem technique. I'm repeating myself, LOL.

And there you have it...

meaningful

My friend Allison has always been an inspiration on so many levels.
Please read her moving & purposeful post HERE
and help Eric de la Cruz in his battle with CHD and red tape.
(Isn't it amazing that we can try and make a difference,
no matter how powerless we may feel sometimes?)

And you can check out the gorgeous creations made by
the LPS design team by clicking icons in the side bar -->

Love,

P.S. On the silly side of blogging. There was a hair in my candy! ;o) For those of you who actually read my incessant rambling, did you notice the weird line in yesterday's email update, where it said hair a couple of times with Copic colours? I mistakenly left it there when I was pasting the links for the Copics I'd used (saves a smidgen of time.) Had to laugh at myself for that one. Ick, hair in a candy post! Snort!

(today the ol' blog should be called:
LPS also stands for Lovely Perfect Stamps)

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{Sweet} Surprise Box (LPS sneaky preview) & template

Edited to Add: ACK in my sugar rush, I almost neglected to let you know that you could win this set; just visit the Little Paper Shop blog here & read all about it (winner will be announced tomorrow: Monday)

I'm in love with the newest delectable stamp set from Little Paper Shop (available in just 2 days!) Makes me feel like a kid in a Candy Shop! ynuk ynuk ynuk. This is the first time I've made a box with a window. Let me tell you, they are as addictive as sugar!

When this window box is chock full of sugah (like me--i drank a rock star. Bad hopped up stamper! Those energy drinks just cannot be good for ya. Gotta stay awake somehow though! LOL) Well anywho, when the box is full, the candies hide the gumball machine...and then it's a nice little surprise when everything is all gobbled up! :O)



1-New & Nifty: sneak peek at the new LPS set {Sweet}!
2-Stamping 3 kinds of 3D candies
3-Creating a surprise box (template & tutorial)
4-Inspiration

{Sweet} from LPS

This is a wee sneak peek of the newest set from Little Paper Shop
It's called {Sweet}
It's being released on Tuesday May 26th!

I can see myself using this set over and over and over. It lets ya play with lots of colour & all the glittery shiny goodies that you have in your stash! YUMMY!

-2-

...make 3D candies

Stamp: {Sweet} from LPS (releases on Tuesday May 26!)

• Paper: (used here: Neenah White)
• Black ink & clear embossing powder
• Copic markers: (R29 Lipstick red, RV11 Pink, R59 Cardinal, YR07 Cadmium Orange B-16 Cyanine blue G14 Apple Green, Cadmium Yellow Y15 R-29 Lipstick Red, BG45 Nile Blue, BG-15 Aqua
• Silver Zig painty pen
• Sakura Stardust glitter pen
• Crystal lacquer
• Clear plastic envelope or any packaging (for candy wrapper)
• toothpicks or squewers (for Lollipop handles)

Gumball machine:

A) Stamp 2 gumball machines

B) Colour the top of one & the bottom of the other

C) Start with the gum ball machine with the bottom coloured and adhere punched out circles to the globe part of it for dimension. (These are 1 inch in diameter) It makes it like a chipboard embellishment--nice & sturdy.

D) Cut out the globe with the gumballs that you coloured & adhere it. Add sakura glitter pen & Crystal lacquer to it:

Wrapped Candies :

A) Stamp 2 of each candy (4 all together: 2 small & 2 large) These are embossed in black.

B) colour one (I used Copics so the colours wouldn't bleed when lacquered.

C) Cut the ends off of the coloured one



D) Stick the coloured candy ends onto the uncoloured candy



E) Cut little bits of clear plastic for the 3D candy wrapper (this is just a clear envelope, or it was a clear envelope in a former life, teehee)



F) Adhere clear plastic to the uncoloured candy middles

G) Stick Coloured center on top of the clear plastic

H) Finally, add Crystal lacquer & glitter. Then eat 'em!<--or maybe not. ;o)

Lollipops:

A) Stamp Lollipops & colour (I used Copics so the colour wouldn't bleed)

B) Glue sticks to the Lollipops (I stuck 'em on with Crystal lacquer & these sticks are cut from the bottom of wooden handles Qtips. toothpicks or squewers would work well.)



C) Cover the to the lollipop with Crystal lacquer



D) Add glitter (this is Dazzling Diamonds)

-3-

...make a box with a sweet surprise inside





A bit of chatter about the Template:

When I started to use this template, I was confused as to why the bottom tabs were designed the way they are (it's an old SU template that I took the dotted lines out of.) The tabs left a strange portions sticking up inside at the bottom of the box, huh?...

But then I thought 'why not stick a sweet little gumball machine on those strange tabs & when the candy is all eaten out of the box, there'll be a surprise! GRIN! (I am still 5 years old at heart) hehehe

Maybe that's why it was designed like this, not sure...There's the original template here as well (with the dotted lines) to use as a score guide, if you like.

Click to Download the Template PDFs
(or click the pictures for the JPG versions) :O)

• & Naturals White cardstock for box
• Acetate
• Hobby blade (aka Exacto knife)
• Tim Holtz Design ruler
• Scissors
• Paper piercer (or large needle) to score
• Needle & thread (to embellish with stitches)
• Oh So Sticky tape (or other strong adhesive)
• Dimensional foam tape
• Ribbon

Step 1) Create the box:

A) Print box template
B) Roughly cut it out & score lines (where the little ticks indicate--or use the score guide as an indication if you prefer.)
C) Score the window, line up ruler with the score line & measure in 3-8 of an inch



Step 2) Score gently around each side of front to make a guide for cutting the window (I'm using a paper piercer for a thin score line.



Step 3) Cut the window. The score line acts as a nice groove for your blade. I treated myself to a fresh blade replacement. What a HUGE difference that makes.



Step 4) Use cut out cardstock scrap from window as a guide to cut a piece of acetate. This is a card box cut up. I love the sturdiness of them.



Step 5) Dry fit window & trim if necessary. Add adhesive to the window. (This is Oh So Sticky Tape)

Cut the box out in detail & crease the folds...



Step 6) Stick window inside the front of the box



Step 7) Pierce & stitch around the window, if you like



Step 8) Add a scrap stamped gum ball machine to stick to the back of the fancy one



Step 9) Adhere fancy gumball machine to the scrap one (so that it will show through the window when the box is assembled)



Step 10) Adhere the two large flaps together as shown & assemble the box (the small flaps should be on the outside--I realized after I took this photo, sorry)



Step 11) Attach candies with Foam tape or dimensionals



Step 12) Add a box (just loop a bunch of that really affordable skiny satin ribbon & tie it in a knot & cut the ends then add a candy

and...that's all she wrote! (the sugar wore off) ;o)

or did the sugar wear off???...
-4-

Two kinds of Inspiration
options for Ya:

1. Inspire your creative spirit: more sweet projects with this sugary set by my Fabulous LPS Peeps ---> Icons in the sidebar at right. :O)

2. Inspire your giving spirit: Stamping for a great cause! It costs $5.00 to register; there are challenges & giveaways, but most inspirational of all: raising money for the Alzheimer's Association.

'Jen Tapler and Susanna Boyd have been hard at work organizing "Stamping Out Alzheimers": an amazing event that you won't want to miss!! For a mere $5 donation you will have access to exclusive challenges and fun prizes from numerous different companies. And the best part..... 100% of the proceeds go directly to the Alzheimer's Association!

Little Paper Shop is hosting a sketch challenge on the Stampin' out Alzheimers forum and would love for you to join us. At the end of the event we will be drawing one name from all the entries to win 4 - 4x6 stamp sets. That's over $60 in value! But the only way to enter is on the Stampin' out Alzheimer's forum! Hope to see you there!'

LINKS up there offer a spot to sign up. :O)

Here's the sketch, if you'd like to register & play along:

Cute sketch, huh? No need to have LPS stamps to play,
but if you've got 'em feel free to ink 'em!!! ;O)

Hope your day is sweet as honey
& rich with creativity!

(today the ol' blog should be called: Sugah Rush!!)

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