Caardvarks G.C.D. Blog Hop! (& new purse box templates)

Happy Tuesday!

Today's 3 projects were made to celebrate the

Caardvarks G.C.D. blog hop:

(please click on the photos if you'd like a closer look)

a purse box...

lined inside & out with the sweetest
G.C.D. papier (Paris Nights):

a card with a soft colour scheme made with
Party it Up paper:


And a gift set made with a combo of those two
G.C.D. paper Collections:

1...Caardvarks G.C.D. blog hop!
2...Materials used in these projects
3...how to make the purse box (I'll add photos later so this post is not too long for now) :o)
4...the templates

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I'm so excited about this because there are big prizes for you guys to win--not to mention, a plethora of stunning inspiration from the Caardvarks Crew AND the G.C.D. gang as well!

It's a 3 day blog hop!


Day 1: Blog Hop Order:

Please start at Jenyfur's blog if you're not already hopping:

Jenyfur
Lauren
You are here--> Mel
Lori
Tanis
Adela
GCD Studios Blog

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my projects today use these G.C.D. Collections:

Paris Nights
(the nicest papers I've ever used!)
&
Party it up
&
GCD Shades of Black stickers
&
GCD Shades of Black
die cut Chipboard

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...make the Stylized Purse box:

This is just...

• a rectangular box
• with 2 shaped pieces for the front and back
• a curvy label like piece for the purse flap
• & the fastest handle from the GCD Paris Night Collection!

A full pictorial for how to make this purse
box is in this post here:

Step 1) Print the templates & cut them out

Step 2) Trace the purse shapes onto the Paris Night Collection paper & cut them out. (This paper is velvet AND it has shimmery fabric like texture! It's unreal. I want to mount panels of it on the walls of our home!)

Step 3) Adhere the shapes to black cardstock to strengthen for the crazy purse feet.

Step 4) Cut the purse pieces from the black cardstock

Step 5) Adhere them to the text (also from Paris Night)

Step 6) Cut 'em again

Step 7) Trace the box template & line it with more gorgeous text paper. Make 4 side pieces each measuring a harir over 2-1/2" x 3 1/8" (Two to match the lining & two to match the outside velvety-ness.)

Step 8) Make the handle by gluing a thin Paris Nights scallop die cut piece onto a thick one

Step 9) Adhere the handle in between the side pieces.

Step 10) Stick the front & back onto the rectangular box (so that it sits up behind the full part & the feet show blank space between them.)

Step 11) Trace & cut the purse flap. Bead it & stitch it.

Step 12) Adhere the flap to black cardstock, trim around it to frame it (and to hide the stitches.)

Step 13) Make a decorative label (this uses CGD Shades of Black stickers, more Paris Nights die cuts, a dollarstore metal piece, & some swarovski crystals.)

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Box Base:
(measures 4.5 inches wide &
fits standard A2 cards & envelope)


Purse Shape & Flap:


PDFs are also available, here:

Box Base (no score lines)
Box Base (score guide)

Purse Flap
Purse Shapes

Next stop in the hop is
the lovely Lori!

Hope you have a delightful day!

If you get lost, please check out the list above or Caardvarks HERE. Enjoy!

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UH OH! all those ghosties & those witchies have been released!

GASP!

Today's the Little Paper Shop release day for the new spooky Halloween sets. And the design team challenge was to make something trick or treat-ish that's not a card, so I dug this up...

I can't wait to fill this graveyard hill box with treats for
two twin ghosties girlies I know. (These two look just like 'em!) teeheehee.

1...New & Nifty LPS sets {Jena Witch} & {Boo}
2...how to make a graveyard hill box
3...the box template

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{Jena Witch}:


{Boo}:

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...make a graveyard hill box:

• Stamps (from {BOO})
• Silver & Black pigment ink
• Clear embossing powder & heat gun
• Black and white cardstock & a white pencil
• Grey Core'dinations cardstock (Roy G Biv Super Assortment)
• Template for rounded box/basket (below)
• Scissors & double-sided tape
• Tombow Monomulti
• Silver wire & cutters (and a pen to make spirals)
• Glitter & googlie eyes
• glue (I used a Quickie glue pen & Crystal lacquer.)
• Scraps of watercolour or other heavy paper
• BasicGrey Periphery paper
• Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder

Step 1} Build the box. (The template & a pictorial are linked below if you'd like to make one)

To get the template on black cardstock, I printed it out on white cardstock, cut it out, traced it on black cardstock with a white pencil & then cut it out again.



Step 2} Make the ghosts:

• Stamp the ghost from {Boo} (embossed in silver)
• Cover them with glitter
• Trace them on watercolour paper to make backs
• Sandwich the stamped images & backs (with the wire & adhesive as the filling.)
• Curl the wire around a pen to get the spiral
• Give the ghosties 2 sizes of googlie eyes

Step 3} Make a scene! (All these stamps are from {Boo} too) :o)

The tombstones are embossed in black ink & clear embossing powder (on grey Core'dinations cardstock) then embossed with the sentiments in silver.

The coffin is embossed in silver on BasicGrey Periphery paper then embossed with RIP in black.

The scenery: The soil is more BG Periphery torn & then coloured with Copic markers. The hill behind is BG Periphery covered in black ink & embossed with a Swiss Dots folder. The whole scene is glittered with a Sakura Quickie glue pen.



Step 4} Stick the ghost & scene on the box



Step 5} Cut fringe on the box edges for graveyard grass...

....and that's it ghouls and boys! ;o)=

(By the by, the wire makes the ghosties repositionable,
so that we kids can can have fun playing with 'em!)

Click here to download PDFs

(or click the pics for the JPG versions):

Click here for a pictorial on how to build it

Want some inspiration? Check out my LPS peeps. :o)
(They're so talented it's scary!)

Allison
Ann
Bonnie
Cindy
Heather
Jessica
Julia
Julie
Silvia

Thank You SO much for taking the time to pop by!

P.S. 3.5 months until Christmas (NOooooo! say it ain't so!) Now THAT is frightening! ;o)

BUT have you seen the new LPS winter digis? They are stinkin' CUTE!

{Katie Igloo} .......and.... {Katie Skating}

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{Boo} LPS release (& DIY grungey text Halloween paper)

More Halloweeniness! What's your favourite thing about Halloween? I love the sense of playfulness and that "anything goes" feeling--seems to translate into cardmaking as well. You can just distress everything so no worries about so-called "mistakes."

This is for the LPS Challenge to make a Halloween card. Doesn't get any easier than that! Hope you can join us LPS peeps to make your own card! :o)=

1...the new & nifty LPS set {Boo}
2...your 2 chances to win it! (LPS Halloween card challenge)
3...make your own grunge text papers
4...schtuff done to make this card

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This cute pumpkin (and the corner spider web) are just a couple of stamps from the new set called {Boo} Coming Tuesday to the Little Paper Shop.

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(a.k.a. win this new set!)

{Boo} and LPSC33 Challenge to create a Halloween card.

2 ways to win {Boo}:
(more details on the LPS blog here)

1) Leave a comment on the LPS blog HERE (One random winner)
2) Play along with the challenge to make a Halloween card

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...DIY grunge text papers



I love text papers, but I'm broke & I don't drive, so I can't just go out & buy up all kinds of text papers...(plus I adore having customized one of a kind text.) Here's one way to make your own grunge text patterned paper--on a budget & in a hurry.

• cardstock (any neutral you like)
• printer & computer (black & white ink prints more affordably) :o)
  
• grunge or texture, text file, & ledger image (or just use the 2 files here-if you like 'em)

the ledger just happens to say "October" (eerie fluke!)

This grey text paper was made (digitally) this way / with these layers:

1) Create a new photoshop file (8.5 x 11 inches for a full sheet) & fill it with pure black

2) Layer over that black file with texture: You could one of the 10 free high resolution grunge textures created by Amber (I used one as a photoshop brush in black & white at 100% opacity & flow) OR any grunge paper/texture you like & any settings you prefer...

3) Add white/coloured text: (I pasted this text in a text box in photoshop-using Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat typed in MSword in Underwood Champion (a free font from dafont) & then pasted from the word document into the photoshop text box.)

...and it was printed this way (for depth):

1) Print a sheet of four ledger papers (I used MS microsoft picture manager)
2) Print the grey text paper over it

Here's a great tutorial describing how to make Halloween grunge paper by saltyfrog

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...make this card
(click the photos for close ups)

• {Boo} from LPS: spider web & pumpkin stamp
• makingmemories 12x12 Toil Mocha Paperie (Item# 31001)
• Black ink, clear embossing powder, & heat gun
• White acrylic paint
• Any text/background stamp
• Exacto blade
• Paper piercer, black thread, & needle
• ZigPainty pen (gold end)
• Ribbon (vintage silk)
• Scor-pal (or another scoring tool)
• Strong adhesive (I used Scor-tape & Tombow)
  
• Scissors & paper cutter
• Mod podge & vintage book page
• Nestabilites Label die
  

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...for the pumpkin & details



Hopefully this pic lets you see the distressed texture on the pumpkin.
Please click it if you'd like a closer view.

Step 1} Stamp pumpkin, emboss it & cutting it out (this is on book paper glued to cardstock with Mod Podge-for more details on that please see today's other post9already posted.) :-)

To distress the pumpkin, I scratched it up & coloured it with Copic markers (brown & grey) and pulled up some of the Copic with a colourless blender. The colour stays in the cracks & scratches.

Step 2} Make a curly pumpkin vine (with two tendrils) by wrapping gold wire around pliers

Step 3} Ahdere the wire tendrils with two pieces of super strong double sided tape (or attach it using your favourite method.)

Step 4} Cut a little pumpkin leaf, colour it with the gold end of a ZigPainty metallic pen & shape it. (I just shaped this leaf using scissors on a piece of fun foam.)

Here's the finished leaf & tendrils:

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...for the textured frame
(painted embossing)



If You like making your own textures, then this might be fun for ya. It's super simple: just emboss black in in clear, paint over it, stamp in it, clean the stamp, & sand the embossing. Don't you love the way stamps can impress letters & backgrounds into paints and other goopy things?

Step 1} Make a mat by cutting it with Nestabilities Label die. Stamp & emboss spiderwebs in the corners of it. (Since it's acrylic you could stamp this neatly, but I went the crazy & crooked route for a Halloweenesque look.)



Step 2} Paint over embossed spider webs (with white acrylic paint) and texturize the paint by pressing any text stamp into the wet paint.

Please note(!): cleaning the stamp as soon as possible is very important when working with acrylic paints. In fact, the white you see in the photo on that rubber stamp is not even paint. The paint is actually replaced with white pigment ink. I applied the ink after I scrubbed off the white paint...in order to photograph a realistic example....(so You could see the look of it, without the paint drying on my stamp.)



Step 3} Sand the embossing to reveal more of the black colour & get some distressed texture.



Step 4} Make the mat into a frame & embellish it...

A) Make the mat into a frame by cutting away the funky shape made in the center from the repeated spider web stamp (with an exacto blade).

B) Embellish the frame by piercing then stitching & filling in between the stitches with the gold end of a ZigPainty pen.

and that's it...

Here's hoping that your Halloween crafting is a blast!

P.S. Please scroll down or click here if you'd like to see today's other post (digital découpage with myGraphico) embossing:o)

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