Fun With My Punches – Take 2!

Aloha, all!

     Today is one of those days on which I meeded to have a blog post that featured something fun with my Stampin' Up! punches.  This is the weekend for the June Blog Hop of one of my online Stampin' Up! groups, "VC Rocks," and the theme for this month's Blog Hop is "Rock your Creativity with Stampin’ Up! Punches or Stampin’ Up! Sizzix Dies."   I chose to play with my punches AND some Sizzix Framelits for my project.

 

     The layout for this card is NOT my original idea.  I was browsing through some online magazines and found not only the sketch but also the idea for making a card with the sketch from the Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking July 2014 issue.  So this is a CASE – Copy And Share with Everyone –  using Stampin' Up! products for this month's VC Rocks Blog Hop!

     I think it's so much fun to see what other paper crafting groups do with products that they have available to them.  Of course there's no rule that says I can't have the same products available to me.  But I like Stampin' Up! products so much that I usually can follow most sketch or color challenges – no matter where they originate – with Stampin' Up! products!

     First let me tell you what Designer Series Papers I used for this project.  All the prints are from the Flowerpot Designer Series Paper set.  I wasn't sure I liked this set until I bought it and started using it.  I personally find it difficult to tell what all 12 of the designs of a set are like with the way that the papers are rolled up for their photographs in the new Stampin' Up! Catalog. But now that I know what this paper looks like, i'll definitely be buying some more!

     Now for the punch/die part of this project.  For the hearts I used the brand new Stampin' Up! Sweetheart Punch.  Oooh, I like this so much better than the old Full Heart Punch.  That was certainly a nice punch.  But I really like the curved sides of this heart that end up in the nice curved point at the bottom. 

     For the circles behind the hearts I could have used either some punches OR a Sizzix Die.  Here are how my choices ended up with my using the die rather than the punches.

     To make the circles with punches that fit well with this heart, I would have chosen to use the 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" Circle Punches. The way to do this is first to punch the smaller circle in the paper you're going to use for the circle.  (You'll need a larger piece of paper than I show here – I just need to conserve display space here!

     Then place the paper with the 1-1/4" circle punched in it into the 1-3/8" Circle Punch.  Skootch (technical papercrafting term!) the paper around a bit so that the already-punched circle sits evenly inside the larger punch.  It still isn't quite centered all around in this picture, but it's hard holding onto a punch AND a camera at the same time!

     But when all was said and done, for this project I liked the circle I could make using two of the Sizzix Circle Framelit Collection – the second and third smallest of the framelits in the collection.  I placed them both on the paper together and quickly had the three background circles done. 

     These are the steps I took in making this card:

1. Cut Whisper White Cardstock 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" and fold to make a 4-1/4" w x 5-1/2" high card base.
2. Cut Flowerpot Designer Series Paper 2-1/8" w x 5-1/2" high and adhere to the center of the card front using SNAIL Adhesive..
3. Stamp "thank you" from the Sassy Salutations Stamp Set onto the bottom of the Designer Series Paper strip using Jet Black Stazon Ink.
4. Cut all three circles from the Designer Series Paper and adhere them to the strip as shown using Multipurpose Liquid Glue.
5. Punch three hearts using the Sweetheart Punch from three different floral prints in the Designer Series Paper set.
6. Adhere the three hearts over each of the three circles using Stampin' Dimensionals.
7. Add a medium size Rhinestone Basic Jewel to each of the hearts.
8. Done!

Now more about our VC Rocks Blog Hop!  The "VC" stands for "Virtual Convention," and most of us in the group can't make it to the annual Stampin' Up! Convention in July, so we're having our own fun with classes, creativity and conviviality.  If you didn't come here from the VC Rocks Blog, you can go there by clicking here.  You'll see links to all of the blogs that are in this blog hop – and it's definitely worth checking them all out!