RobinsCraftRoom.com

Countdown to Christmas! Day 8 – A New Take on an Old Fold

Aloha, all!

     OK, for at least a day or two, I'm back on track to my once a day blog posting!  And for today, I have a brand new tutorial to share with you.  This one is a set of instructions for one of the projects that I showed off on last month's Royal Blog Tour – it's a Slimmed Down Diagonal Double Pocket Card.

     You'll recall that all of the projects from the Royal Blog Tour featured the stamp set, Punch Pals.  (As an aside, I've never been able to figure out why "Punch," when fewer than half the stamps in this set really work well with Stampin' Up!'s punches – but I digress!).  This project uses two of the stamps on two fun bookmarks to insert in the folds of the card, as well as part of one of the stamps for the greeting on the front of the card.

     What's really fun about this card is that it uses a 6" x 12" piece of Stampin' Up!'s Designer Paper so you can get two cards out of one piece of Designer Paper.  Not only that, the card can be folded AND layered on some coordinating card stock AND still fit in an envelope (Stampin' Up!'s Small Open End Envelope) that can be sent through the U. S. mail with no extra postage.  Nice bonus!

     For this card, I used a sheet from the Jolly Holiday set of Designer Papers – see how nicely the two sides of the same sheet complement each other so well?!   This card is mounted on two layers of card stock, one Old Olive and the other Cherry Cobbler, both of which coordinate with the colors in the Jolly Holiday set, as do the Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain and 5/8" Satin Ribbons and the Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Seam Binding.  I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch on the Old Olive Layer to add just a bit of elegance to this cheerful little card.

     I know you're going to want to make quite a few cards with this fun fold, so here's the tutorial!  I hope you have fun with it!

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Diagonals on the Double!

Aloha, all!

After posting yesterday's tidbits from Robin's Craft Room, I started making LOTS of Diagonal Double Pocket cards, which will form the basis for most of our Christmas cards this year.

Since I was doing so many cards, I started feeling like I really knew how to make these wonderful little cards.  So, having created the Robin's Craft Room video monster, I dug out the camcorder and made a video tutorial.  So, herewith, I share the video!

As I reviewed it prior to publishing it on YouTube, I found one area that I felt needed a bit more explanation.  I realized as I was making that second diagonal fold that I didn't explain well enough why I made the fold in the steps that I did.  If you fold the left side piece under the right side piece and THEN make the diagonal fold towards the center fold, it just doesn't come out as crisp as if you make the diagonal fold, then fold the left side behind it, then complete the diagonal fold by folding that last piece up to cover the second diagonal fold.  The temptation if you try to fold both pieces on a diagonal at the same time is to try to keep the edges aligned, and that can result in a not-so-crisp edge on the diagonal.

Is that clear as mud??  If so, I'll be glad to give you a one-on-one demonstration in Robin's Craft Room (if you're in East Hawaii), or even make a video of that fold just for you if you're not!  As always, I've available by phone (808.854.6145) or e-mail!

So far, I've made 20 of the DDP cards, and hope to have another 20 done tomorrow morning.  Then I have to get started on our Christmas letter!

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Great Use for the Diagonal Double Pocket Card

Aloha, all!

Yesterday was a lazy day, and my husband and I capped it off with a quick trip to our local snorkeling ponds.  And, yes, our "local" ponds are written up in most Hawaii travel guides!  So they are well worth the trip for anyone. 

But I digress.  As I floated on the surface watching all the various, wonderful fish–even a small eel–swim in and out of their pukas, I started thinking about my next project, which is to (finally!) make our own Christmas cards.  We’ve already received quite a few ourselves, and many of them have a newsy letter to help us catch up with our far flung family and friends.  I want to do the same, but I also don’t want to distract from the pleasure they may have from receiving a hand made card.  Seeing the fish swim in and our of their pukas (oh, sorry–a puka is Hawaiian pidgin word for a hole or opening in something), I thought of the pukas in the Diagonal Double Pocket Card (or maybe I should now call it a Diagonal Double Puka Card).  That’s when the light bulb went on (didn’t scare the fish, though).  I would use one of the pukas in the DDF card for our Christmas letter!

Here one example of the finished product.  But I have made some adjustments to the size of the card, and for a couple of reasons. 

First, the size paper I used was 8" x 10", cut from Stampin’ Up! 12" x 12" Designer Series Paper.  The reasons for cutting the paper to 8" x 10" were:

1. One of the strips that is left is 4" wide, which is a very useful size.  For example, I can use it as a layer on a 4-1/4" x 5" card front with a nice 1/8" border all around. 
2. I can cut the 2" strips left on the other side for bookmarks or for other layering projects.
3. The height of the finished DDF card becomes 5", which allows me room to have the top of a nice bookmark shown off in one of the pukas, and have the entire project still fit in a standard sized envelope.

I also cut my computer paper to 7-1/2" x 10" (after I print on it).  Paper folded from that size fits nicely in the other puka. 

The paper for this particular project is a sheet from the Frosty Days Designer Series Paper (113057), some Chocolate Chip Card Stock, and chocolate rub-ons from the Old Saint Nick Rub-Ons pack (112844). 

Have you made YOUR Christmas or Holiday cards yet?  If not, there’s still plenty of time to order the supplies that you need–and receive free shipping if your order is more than $70!  This offer is good until December 23rd.  (Hint:  don’t wait that long to order stuff for Christmas.)  You can order online or by calling (808.854.6145) or e-mailing me to place your order for you. 

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Diagonal Double Pocket Card – Part I

Aloha, all!

I’m back on the Big Island of Hawaii after having spent a day in the Big City of Honolulu yesterday.  I am truly amazed by all the shopping opportunities that abound in a large city, compared with what we have here near Hilo, Hawaii.  But then my dear husband, Harry, reminded me that I don’t even like to shop!  That brought me back down to earth, and back to thinking about how I’m going to spend my week making gifts for this holiday season.

As I’m having a Stamp Club meeting this week, I decided to show them how to make a card that can also be a gift.  It’s a Diagonal Double Pocket Card, and you can insert many different kinds of gifts (flat, of course).   I made two bookmarks to put in this card.  They feel colorful and Christmas-y to me!

The Designer Series Paper is from the Frosty Day set (113057), with coordinating Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss card stock (two of this year’s In Colors–111347 for a sampler of all six colors) to form the back of the bookmarks.  For the front of the bookmarks, I stamped two images from the stamp set, Punch Pals, (109489) on the Whisper White Card Stock (100730).

I finished off the front of the card with a felt snowflake cut with the Sizzix Big Shot and the Snowflake #2 Die (113460).

I like to make a one-page set of instructions for my Stamp Club projects, and have made one for the basic Double Diagonal Pocket Card.  Try using it with some of Stampin’ Up!’s great Designer Series Paper!  I have samples of all the papers in the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog.  I’ll be happy to help you select the perfect paper to make your OWN Double Diagonal Pocket Card!

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