Fun Folds – An Oldie-but-Goodie! – And Some Blog Candy!

Aloha, all!

     When I'm stuck for a project that has to be done on deadline, I love going back into my blog's tutorial files to find something I haven't thought about in a while.  Today I was definitely on deadline, and I definitely found something perfect for my project!

     Today is the third summertime blog hop for the summertime online group for Stampin' Up! lovers called VC Rocks.  It's a group that opens to everyone in May each year, but closes for membership at the end of June.  It's a fun group and not so big that we don't get a chance to get to know the whole group by the end of the summer.  Even thought the group's membership is closed, its blog is not, and a lot of our fun projects are open for everyone to enjoy – including this blog hop!  Just click here to see the list of all the members of the hop and click the links to go to everyone's blog!

     And now for my own blog hop project!

     Our theme for this month's hop is, Rock Your Creativity with Fun Folds or 3-D Projects.  Oh, my, fun folds are always, well, fun!  And I found one that I originally made back in 2009 to help with my project for the hop.  It's called a Diaper Fold Card.  It was also just what I needed to use to make some fun Thank You notes for a couple of my customers who just placed online orders at my Stampin' Up! store.

     I made two projects for this weekend's blog hop, both of which are sized to hold a 3" square note card.  For this project, I used the Designer Series Paper (DSP) set, Flowerpot (did you know that DSP is on sale this month – buy 3 get 1 free?!).  The project really does need DSP that is printed on both sides, as both sides will show in the finished project.  All of Stampin' Up! current papers are double-sided, so I'm in luck here! 

     To decorate both the pocket card and the note card, I used butterflies punched with both the Elegant Butterfly Punch and the Bitty Butterfly Punch.  Don't they go so nicely together?!  For the pocket card, I punched Night of Navy, Crushed Curry and Lost Lagoon Cardstock, and added some Pearl Basic Jewels as accents. For the greeting on the card, I first stamped the "Thank You" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set and then punched with the larger Elegant Butterfly Punch.  This actually would work with quite a few of the greetings in the stamp set!

     I also found that, if I placed the 3" square note card into the pocket first, I'd do a better job of placing the greeting so that it looks nice with the project put together.

     Here's the second project, made using a sheet from the Lullaby DSP Set.

     I just love those muted tones of Crisp Cantaloupe and Hello Honey on the opposite side of the Hello Honey printed sheet.  So it was fun using the stamp I chose from the Lots of Thanks Stamp Set – it's somewhat muted, too!

     The one thing that's really different about this pocket card is that I punched a 1/4" hole on either side of the flap, using the 1/4" Handheld Circle Punch and ran a piece of Hello Honey 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon through them to tie a bow in the front.  Punching through all those layers required a bit more hand strength than I thought I had – but I made it work.  If you've still got a Crop-a-dile around your crafting area, that might be a better choice for this particular project.

     Again, I placed the 3" square card in the pocket before placing the greeting on the front.  I punched the greeting using the 1" Square Punch and then cut a 1-1/8" square out of Crisp Cantaloupe Cardstock. After I adhered everything together, I thought a piece of the ribbon might look nice on the little card.  At this point, the only way to securely adhere the ribbon was with a stapler.  Why not?!  Lots of people use staples.

     The cards are already in the mail!  But I could probably be talked into making another one and sending it off to someone who comments on my blog post today (hint!).  You can even select whatever Designer Series Paper you'd like me to use (not the small DSP stacks, though – the paper's not large enough). 

     The instructions for making this card, including a video that I also made in 2009, are right here on my blog.  Just click on the Tutorials and then scroll down until you see the Diaper Fold Punch listing and click there.  Oh, what the heck!  I can make it simple – just click here!  I'll announce the Blog Candy winner on my blog post on Thursday, July 31st.  So you have a few days to post!

     Thanks for joining in the VC Rocks Blog Hop – and don't forget to catch all the projects by going to the VC Rocks Blog and clicking on the other links!