Halloween Card & Treat Bag

Hi all, we have another treat from Waltzingmouse Stamps DT member Sandie Dunne. She has created this really fantastic Halloween Card and Treat Bag…. enjoy!!

Hi! It’s Sandie here and today I am sharing a Halloween Card and Treat Bag set I made featuring  Waltzingmouse Stamps Boo and Friends & Peek a Boo Sentiments

The card measures 4.25″ x 5.5″ and the papers I’ve used are ‘Enchanted’ by Authentique. I’ve matted them with black and orange cardstock. I cut the spiderweb circle with nestabilities and mounted my ghost on 3D foam. I added some Spiderweb corners and some Eerie bats to embellish.

Copics markers used – C3, D5,C7, C9

The treat bag is simply a cellophane bag cut down to size. I used the same patterned papers as on the card. I cut a strip of stripey paper about 2″ deep, folded it in half, slipped it over the top of the bag and stapled it closed. Then I used nestabilities scalloped circles and classic circles for the sentiment. I adhered the sentiment, from Peek-a-Boo Sentiments with 3D foam and added a bat to tie it in with the card.

Waltzingmouse Stamps products used – 

Boo and Friends

Peek a Boo Sentiments

Other products used –

Dies – Eerie Bats & Spiderweb Corners

Orange & Black cardstock

Authentique “Enchanted” 6×6 paper pad

Sandie

xXx

Guest Post with Sandie Dunne – Waltzingmouse Stamps

Hi all, we have another gorgeous guest post for you today, from Sandie Dunne of Waltzingmouse Stamps. She is here to show us how she created a fun beach scene using the My Island stamp set.

Supplies

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps My Island

Distress Inks – Frayed Burlap, Mustard Seed & Spiced Marmalade

Black Ink

Patterned Papers

Cardstock

Embellishments – Seashells & Fishing Net

3D foam dots

To create your scene first stamp out the background with Mustard Seed

Then stamp the sunset with Spiced Marmalade on top

And finally add your palm tree island with black ink.

I created a shadow on the palm trees by offsetting with Frayed Burlap distress ink.

Design your card base deciding where you want to place your image. Cut a piece of fish net a little larger than your image and adhered into place with hot glue.

Because the fish net is quite thick you will need to double up on 3D foam dots.

Adhere your image onto the card front. I added a little more fishnet offcuts to the left of the image.

Stamp the sentiment onto a piece of coordinating card and rip across the bottom. Adhere it just slightly under the image. Finally, hot glue some seashells around the card.

This set contains many more elements for creating scenes. It would also be ideal for scrapbooking your vacations, family BBQs, creating invitations and other greeting cards. You can also avail of the My Island cut files, which you can find HERE

Thanks for looking!

Sandie

Guest Post with Sandie Dunne – Waltzingmouse Stamps

Hi all, we have another gorgeous guest post for you today, from Sandie Dunne of Waltzingmouse Stamps. She is here to share the process of creating a beautiful layered card. Working with layers can be intimidating to some, so check this out!!

Adding lots of layers to your cards can give it a rich, luxurious feel. You can also have many surprise elements like pull out tags and gift card envelopes to make your card that little bit extra special.

Supplies –

Waltzingmouse Stamps Vintage Garden – Packet Seed & Vintage Garden – Produce

WMS Cutting Edge Dies – Stitched Tags

Kaisercraft Porcelain Rose 6.5″ x 6.5″ paper pad

White & Pink Cardstock

Red & Green distress  ink

Black Ink

My card base is 147mm x 294mm folded in half.

I cut the layers at:

 Bottom Panel  – Pink Cardstock – 143mm x 143mm, Patterned paper 140mm x 140mm

Top Panel – Pink cardstock – 120mm x 120mm, White Cardstock – 117mm x 117mm, Patterned Paper 114mm x 114mm

Set to one side

Taking Black ink stamp out the packet seed onto white cardstock

Ink the Strawberry from Vintage Garden – Produce and stamp it onto a scratch piece of paper, then restamp into the middle of the packet seed. Twice stamping gives it a more distressed look.

Stamp the sentiment from Vintage Garden – Packet Seed, in black ink, across the Strawberry

Using your scissors, cut around the outline, leaving a little bit of white outside the line.

Taking the Stitched Tags Die cut out numerous tags of different sizes, in coordinating patterned paper. Also, cut some doilies in half.

Layer some of the doilies between the bottom and top panels, on each side. The layer more doilies and the tags behind the Packet Seed. Add twine/ribbon through the top of some tags  – you can also add flower/buttons.

Embellish the card with more die cut flowers and add some pearls/liquid pearls to the centre of each one. Finish the card by adding some white pearls.

Sandie

xXx

Guest Post – Waltzingmouse Stamps

Hi all, we have another gorgeous guest post for you today, from Sandie Dunne of Waltzingmouse Stamps. She is here to share a clever project idea with us.

Using stamps with computer generated text is an ideal way to personalise your cards. It’s quick and simple to do and it adds that little extra touch to make it special.

Supplies used on my card: 

Stamps: Big Day Additions

White/Blue Cardstock

Dies – Heart Border, Heart & Key, Heart Corner, Lotus, Pretty Poinsettia & Honeycomb

Embellishments – Buttons, Floss/Twine & Pearls

Open MS Word and a new blank document. Click on Insert -> Text Box -> Simple Text Box.

Measure the die you will be using to cut out your sentiment – in my case this was the Labels 25 Nestabilites and it was 3″ in height x 4.75″ in width. Set the size of the text box to match. Doing this gives you an idea of how large/small you want your font.

Type your text and position it where it needs to be.

Remove the outline from the Text Box.

Print your page.

Taking the stamp, hover over the text until you are happy with the position and then press it down.

Cut out using your die of choice.

Assemble your card and give to the happy couple!

We love this clever technique from Sandie, its a beautiful way of personalising a handmade card even further!

Guest Post – Waltzingmouse Stamps

Hi all, we have another gorgeous guest post for you today, from Sandie Dunne of Waltzingmouse Stamps. She is here to share a gorgeous spring scene card with us.

Giveaway!!

Oh and big hint….make sure to read all the way to the end to see the fabulous GIVEAWAY hidden in this post!!

Good morning! Today I have a quick and easy Spring themed card to share with you.

This card showcases Spring Baskets from Waltzingmouse Stamps – a wonderful set which not only covers Spring but also incorporates Easter and Mother’s Day.

Supplies: 

Spring Baskets stamps

Staz On Ink (if you are using watercolours)

Distress Markers

Distress Inks – Shabby Shutters & Tumbled Glass

Watercolour paper

Spring coloured papers & cardstock

Stamp a scene, using various stamps from the Spring Baskets set, onto watercolour paper with Staz-On ink. If you wish to colour with alcohol markers you should use Memento ink.

Once you are happy with your scene, colour it in and trim the panel to size.

Taking Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass, sponge the background to create a ‘sky’ and ‘grass’

Create a border around the edges, about .25″ from all sides.

Make the card base and cut all your papers/card to size.

Layer up the papers & card adding the scene panel with 3D foam tape or dots. Embellish as desired. I simply cut a pennant and 2 ‘washi’ strips from the patterned paper and added a button flossed with baker’s twine.

If you’re feeling more adventurous you can find the WMS Spring Baskets template HERE – perfect for using this stamp set with.  For more Waltzingmouse Stamps inspiration why not visit the Pinterest Board, or pop onto the Forum & Gallery.

Sandie

xXx

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Giveaway!!

To brighten up someone’s day, while we await those first signs that Spring is finally here, we are going to have a little giveaway. One lucky commenter will win the Spring Baskets stamp set used on today’s project.

Here’s what you have to do.

* Leave a comment here telling us what your very favourite Waltzingmouse Stamps product is.
* Hop over to the Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog and leave a comment on the tutorial post.

That’s it! Easy peasy.

We will pick a winner on Thursday, February 26th.

Guest post: Spring Super-Star

Hi all,

Today we have another guest post from Kajsa Kinsella from The Northern Shores. Kajsa is from Sweden originally and is an avid crafter and baker. She has lived in county Wicklow since 2013. She runs her Northern-inspired Bakery and Craft Business from here and also teaches various crafts to adults and children.

Kajsa is going to show us a lovely tutorial today on making a Spring Super-Star.

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What you will need:

• Turquoise Blue, Apple Green, Light Pink and Sun Yellow Card Stock
• Matching Patterned Paper – I used The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” by Rowena Stott
• White Card Stock
• Regular Scissors & patterned craft scissors
• Ink pads
• Spring inspired Stamps
• Matching Gems
• Glue stick & PVA Glue
• Tweezers, Thin Paint Brush and Hole Punch
• Ribbon

Step 1

There are a good few rectangles used in this project, so keep them in neat separate piles-this gives you have a good overview and can you easily see which one to use next. With a regular scissors or a paper guillotine, cut out eight large rectangles of card-two of each colour, measuring 21cm long by10cm wide. Fold each one in half neatly and press firmly on the fold to make it crisp.

We then cut the medium size rectangles with a patterned craft scissors out of pretty paper-these should measure 18cm long by 8.5cm wide. Fold these as well.

Now cut the smaller size pieces out of the same card stock as before-they should measure 14cm wide and 7.5cm wide and should have straight sides and fold.

Finally, we switch to white card stock and cut out rectangles, again using the craft scissors which measure 10cm by 4.5cm. Fold the same way again.

Step 2

Open up one rectangle each of the three coloured sizes and glue them together as you can see in the picture-But-ONLY glue the top parts together-not the entire square or you won`t be able to open up your star later. Keep going and make eight of those one-sided star pieces, then leave them aside to dry for a while.

Step 3

Now we come to the fun part-Beautifying! Take the smallest white rectangles, choose some cheery, spring-inspired stamps and go to town in decorating them. I have listed the ones I used and I stamped with green, yellow, turquoise and pink ink. Attach one side of the rectangle to the layer of three and let dry.

Step 4

Find some matching small gems, hold them with a tweezers, dab on some PVA glue with the paintbrush and place them on the stamped images. It`s gorgeous!

Step 5

Then we’ll glue the other side closed-don`t be tempted to glue both sides at the same time-the parts will slide apart and glue that isn’t where it’s supposed to be, is indeed very messy! Complete all eight and leave to dry.

Step 6

Here comes the assembly part-check the eight star parts and make sure all sides are straight and neat-the care you take now to make sure all is aligned will certainly pay off later. So, now we glue the parts together back to back as you can see on the picture. Let dry again thoroughly. Do not glue the first and the last side together.

Step 7

Complete your star by holding the first and the last side together-isn`t it amazing! Punch a single hole through both layers-you might need to take one side at a time-eight layers of card might be a little tough to pierce in one go!

Step 8

Cut a piece of a cheerful ribbon, fold in half and push through both holes. Make a loop, tie the ends together and hang it up where the sun shines on it. So simple and yet so beautiful!

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We hope you enjoyed this fun tutorial from Kajsa. It’s a beautiful spring time project but is very versatile as it could be changed to suit any season or event!

Happy Crafting,

The Crafting Ireland Team

Guest Post: Padded Valentines Heart

Hi all,

Today we have a guest post from Kajsa Kinsella from The Northern Shores. Kajsa is from Sweden originally and is an avid crafter and baker. She has lived in county Wicklow since 2013. She runs her Northern-inspired Bakery and Craft Business from here and also teaches various crafts to adults and children.

Kajsa is going to show us a lovely tutorial today on making a beautiful padded heart.

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What you will need:

• Blue and Pink Card Stock
• Pretty Paper – I used Vintage Rose Collection by Pink Petticoat
• Small Paper Doilies
• Vintage Angel Scrap embellishments
• Pink and Blue Ink Pads, Pink
• Gingham Ribbon
• Shiny Flower Gems
• Sewing Machine & white Sewing thread
• Glue Stick
• Toy Stuffing – I got this from ebay

Step 1

Use the large heart from the template below and cut out two hearts with a pinking shears.

Step 2

Cut out two hearts with the help of the smaller template in pretty floral paper. Use a craft scissors for these. Glue one each to the centre of a larger heart.

Step 3

Load your sewing machine with white thread and lay the two hearts back to back. When you sew them together, make sure they don`t slide apart. Place the ribbons on top of each other-blue ribbon facing the pink side and pink ribbon facing the blue and wedge them in at the top of the heart between the layers. Sew in place and keep sewing but remember to leave a gap for the stuffing. Use the back of a pen or a wooden ladle to gently push the stuffing into the heart-don`t over stuff it, or the seams will separate. Sew the heart shut and trim off any loose ends.

Step 4

Dab the edges of the little doilies with pink and blue ink respectively. Cut out the Cherub images and glue one to the centre of each doily. Decorate around the edges with green flower gems for the pink and clear gems for the blue.

Step 5

Dab a little glue to the back of each doily and attach it to the centre of the heart- pink to pink and blue to blue.

Step 6

Tie a knot high up on the ribbon and loop a pretty bow.

There we go-a loving Valentines gift or decoration for the boy or girl of your choice!

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We hope you enjoyed this lovely tutorial from Kajsa today!

Happy crafting,

The Crafting Ireland Team

Guest Post: Valentines Card by Waltzingmouse Stamps

We have another guest post from Waltzingmouse Stamps  today by the wonderful Sandie Dunne….enjoy!

Hi, it’s Sandie here with another quick and easy tutorial. This month I am making a Valentine card featuring Woodgrain and My Heart stamp sets from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Woodgrain & My Heart
• Plain White Card 250gsm
• Standard Circle Nestabilities LG
• Red & Black Ink
• Ribbon, Baker’s Twine & Charm

Fold the white card and make a card base 120mm x 210mm. Cut a front panel 115mm x 205mm. Taking the 2.75″ circle die cut out a circle slightly off centre towards the bottom right of the front panel.

Position the front panel on top of the card base – do NOT adhere it at this point – and stamp the heart from the My Heart stamp set with red ink in the centre of the circle. Set the card base aside.

Taking the front panel, stamp the chevron border with red ink across the top.

Then, using black ink, stamp the sentiment, which is made with two stamps from My Heart.

Finally, add some ribbon, and a bow just under the chevron border.

Adhered the front panel to the card base with 3D tape or dots, positioning the circle over the stamped heart.

Add some baker’s twine through the loop of the heart charm and adhere to the right hand side of the stamped heart with a strong wet glue.

Stamp a sentiment inside, or add an insert to finish the card.

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We hope you enjoyed this tutorial from Sandie. It is such a gorgeous card and very easy to replicate or adapt with any other stamps you have!

Guest Post: Christmas Cards

Hi All,

Today we have a guest post from Katie Brett of Chantilly Rose Crafts. She has created a fantastic tutorial to show us how to make some gorgeous, quick and easy cards. These would be perfect for those last minute cards needed!

What you will need:

• Card base
• Stamps
• Patterned acetate (or stamp and create a pattern on some plain acetate)
• Adhesive
• Washi tape
• Pearls

Step 1
Cut a piece of snowy acetate the same size as your Kraft card blank, to act as a slip cover.

Step 2

 

Choose your stamps (I used a set from Sheena Douglass), and stamp your design directly onto your card blank with black Memento ink.  I used old scraps of card to mask off the back side of my card blank.

Step 3

Your card should now look something like this.

Step 4

Cut a ‘banner’ shape from white card, and stamp a sentiment.  I used a sentiment from the Mulberry Wood range, from Crafter’s Companion.

Step 5

To attach your acetate slip cover, add a line of tape using a tape runner to the back of the card, and place the card blank inside the acetate cover.

Step 6

To cover the visible tape, I used some washi tape in a music design on the back of my card.

Step 7

Fix your sentiment on to the acetate using foam pads, and add some self adhesive pearls to the top left hand corner of the card (or, embellish as you wish).

Your card is now complete!  Quick, easy, and very wintery!

Guest Post: Waltzingmouse Stamps Holiday Ornaments

Hi All,

We have an exciting guest tutorial on the blog today from Waltzingmouse Stamps! If you have come across Waltzingmouse Stamps (WMS) before you don’t need me to tell you how stunning their stamps are. Personally I have lots of their sets and they are definitely my go to sets, especially their amazing sentiment sets!

Today we have Sandie Dunne from the WMS Design Team with a fantastic tutorial on how to create these gorgeous holiday ornaments.

Holiday Ornament Tutorial

What you Will Need: 

Stamps: 2011 Holiday Ornaments, Ornate Ornaments & Alpine Christmas

Spellbinders Nestabilities:  2011 Heirloom Ornaments & 2012 Heirloom Ornaments

Inks: Festive Berries & Evergreen Bough distress inks, Versa Color Gold, Stampin’ Up Baja Breeze & Tuxedo Black Memento.

White Card

Coordinating ribbons

Glue

How to: 

Step 1 – Stamp the bauble designs onto the white card and cut out using the nestabilities. For each bauble you will need 5 pieces plus one for the back – 6 in total.

Step 2 – Score 5 of the pieces directly down the centre and fold in half, with the stamped side facing inwards.

Step 3 – Taking the un-scored shape, and with the stamped side facing down/white side facing up, adhere the ribbon. (I wasn’t happy with my stamping on this one so I turned it over and stamped again on the other side, both sides are stamped.)

Step 4 – Assembling the paper bauble.

Firstly, as you have 5 shapes you will have 3 of one colour and two of the other colour. Take two shapes from the colour you have 3 of (in this case, green).  Spread glue along half of one of the shapes, and press it firmly against the matching half of the un-scored shape, covering the ribbon. Repeat with the other side.

Next take the two shapes in contrasting colour (red) and repeat, adhering the shapes to the surface of the first layer.

Finally, take the remaining shape and adhere it to the centre. Allow some time for it to dry completely.

You can make a range of different sized, shaped and coloured baubles using the stamp sets and dies listed in the products at the top of this tutorial.

Here are a couple more I’ve made using the very same technique

On the Blue & White bauble I’ve heat embossed some snowflakes (from the Alpine Christmas stamp set) with clear embossing powder which is hard to pick it up on camera but it’s much clearer ‘in the flesh’.

We hope you enjoyed this fantastic tutorial from Waltzingmouse Stamps and give this a go, its a brilliant little project as a holiday gift or decor. Stop by their Facebook page and tell them we said Hi!!

Happy Crafting!