Miss You - Double Z-Fold Box Card!

This card is soooo fun! I love how it looks and it's so easy to make. I made two versions of the double z-fold card. I did one that was horizontal (shown here) and one vertical (coming soon). So many ways to play and decorate. You can do a wider band across or narrower or several. So many options.

Here are the dimensions for this "Miss You" card:
Card base:  4-1/8" X 11. Score at 2-3/4" and 5-1/2".
Band is 1-1/8" X 11". Score at 2-3/4" and 5-1/2".

The layer pieces are 1/8" smaller than the flap so 2-5/8" X 4" for the card layers.

1 X 5-3/8", 1 X 2-5/8" (twice) for the band.

Here's the folded look. It fits into an A2 envelope with ease.

I have to stop and say - aren't the colors gorgeous! Grape, Berry and Lime mixed with Vanilla - yum!! And, party foul on my part when I designed my card, I didn't realize that the Everything's Rosy paper pack had been discontinued. It was my fave! But, you can use any coordinating DP for the butterfly trio dies and it will be wonderful! I love the bow on the mason jar die cut out! You could put it anywhere on the jar and you could change the sentiments out to birthday or anniversary or friendship - it works for so many things!

Here's the card open - see that cool box effect.

And, here's a slightly blurry top view - so fun!

The cool thing is that when you stretch it out to the full length - it lays completely flat so it's easy to write a note to the recipient. :)

I hope you'll try making a double z-fold box card. Play around with the width of the band and have a blast!

All supplies (except for Everything's Rosy) are in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Happy Stamping!

Pocket Card Tutorial - Happy Valentine! Fuse Tool!

What happens when you use the fuse tool on a 4X4 mini album pocket page? Fabulosity!!

The three "layers" of the pocket card were stamped and glued first. The bottom layer is the happy die cut and the small heart die from the heart die trio. They're glued to a piece of cherry cardstock. The quickie glue pen is PERFECT for this step.

The top layer is using the stamp set Punny Valentine on vellum cardstock. I love the variation with the black card base, the cherry and the vellum.

The middle layer is clear sequins and more mini hearts cut with the heart die trio. I have three sets of those heart dies because there are many, many times I want to cut multiple hearts and they're so economical, it was easy to add the three sets to my collection of dies.

The cardstock width is 3-1/2" so that even with the seals, it will fit on a standard A2 card.

Once I had all the pieces and parts for my pockets, I went to my fuse tool. The fuse tool needs at least 15 minutes to heat up. You want it to be good and hot and ready to go when you start making your pockets.

"How do you make the pockets?," you say. "I'm so glad you asked! Let me show you!"

1. Prepare your items for your pocket. And, place the pocket that you're ready to seal on a stack of paper (if you have grid paper you'll help yourself out tremendously!) and a hard surface. Do not use your silicone cutting mat or any plastic surface as you'll change it forever...don't ask me how I know *headsmack* LOL! and sigh! ;)

Line up the filled pocket on the grid lines. (this pocket has some of our patterned paper and some of the Valentine heart sequins).

 2. Use the fuse tool ruler and line up the opening over the grid line where you're going to make your seal.

3. Place your heated fuse tool over the pocket and pull towards you to seal shut. You'll want to experiment with different thicknesses to know how slowly to pull your tool to seal the pocket. And, it has to be really warmed up to work effectively.

There are some really great YouTube videos on using the fuse tool if you want more guidance or more ideas on using the tool.

Here's the inside. Super simple and you can see the teeny staples that are holding the pocket to the card.

Here's a side view of the pocket. After I fused the pockets, I added a little bit of the cherry cotton ribbon from the January collection and used the tiny attacher (another awesome tool!) to adhere it to the card. Doesn't the pocket look great on the washi strip! (tuxedo collection)

So, what do you think? Definitely add the fuse tool to your collection of stamping and scrapping tools. You'll have so much fun creating and making pockets as it has a heated slit tool as well to add pockets where they weren't before!

All of these supplies are available in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

And, if you use the code JANUARY10 before the end of the month, you'll get 10% off of your order!! Woo hoo!!

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Birthday Girl! Double Dutch Fold Tutorial

This birthday stamp makes me so happy. It's so cute and sweet and I just can't stand how adorable it is! lol! This stamp set was part of the April collection and I'm happy to report that it's coming back in the new catalog! Woo hoo! So, if you didn't pick it up already, there's still time. It has some awesome sentiments to go along with this sweet image. :)

This is a double dutch fold and it's way easier than you might think. The bottom fold is just a wrap around from the back. So, the top folds over and the back piece is scored around the sides and there you have a super simple wrap. Here's what it looks like with the bottom "gate" open.

Here's with the top flap open.

And, this is the inside all together. Isn't that fun!

Here is is again. The birthday girl and cupcake are colored with copics. I love the look on the pinstripe cardstock, don't you?!

And, here are the card measurements and scoring instructions. This is how I set it up for my class so that everyone had the measurements as it went around the room.

Hope you've enjoyed this look at a Double Dutch Fold! This stamp will be back in my webstore on June 15, 2015 so click here to check it out: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

And, I have a Facebook page for my a muse creations so here's the link for you to check it out: https://www.facebook.com/amethystcatdesigns . Like it and share it if you'd like. :)

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

We Just Fit - Layered Border Tutorial

Hello! Remember me? My poor neglected blog. Hope you're sticking with me.

 Here's a fun masculine birthday card with a custom border piece that could be made with so many different cardstocks and papers. It would look great on scrapbook pages too!

First, let's take a look at the stamp. This super cute puzzle piece is from My Punny Valentine which is available through February 14th. Although it's wonderful for Valentine'so day, it's also perfect for birthdays, anniversaries and for autism causes. Yep. A puzzle piece is the symbol for autism and I think it is awesome that we have a stamp for it! Close-up, you can see that the puzzle piece is popped up on the classic stitched die tag and has a bit of the border piece too.

The background of the card has the puzzle piece stamped all over and little dots of gold from the signo gold gel pen added. It's subtle but a fun little touch.

So. How do you make the border? First you start with three card stock strips. I used onyx, onyx petite polka dot and gold shimmer. I glued the gold to the polka dot to start.
First you layer the gold/polka strip at an angle over the onyx strip and trim the right side.

Then you take where you trimmed and line it up on the left side of the onyx strip and trim again on the right. This gives you the same angle on each piece that you cut.

You do it a third time and trim. If you do too big of an angle, you kind of overlap the bottom of the strip or you may only get two overlaps. But, that's no problem. It still gives you a cool border look.

Here's what the finished border looks like beside the one in process.

And, there's a close-up. Isn't that fun? I can't wait to make it with our patterned paper packs and with other cardstocks.

Since the outside has so much going on, I kept the inside simple.

If you want to pick up this stamp before it goes away on February 14th, shop my webstore.

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Partial Die Cut Tutorial - Charming Gardeners Notecard

A "charming" partial die cut using Charming Gardeners. I've seen these but hadn't done one myself. What better way to learn than to figure out how to teach it, right? :)

This is an A1 card - 3-1/2" X 5" when folded. I started with a cocoa base, a toffee layer stamped with the hexagon background and a lemon whip layer for the partial die cut.

So, how to make it - the following pics are on orange cardstock so that it's hopefully easier to see how it's done. And, yes, I need to take some goo gone to the back of my dies to remove the washi tape residue. :)

Step 1: Stamp your image on a piece of cardstock and line up your die over the flower. I used an oval from the oval nestabilities. Using a pencil, lightly draw a line on the inside edge of your die on either side of where you want your partial die-cut to go. I did about 1/4" of an inch in length on either side.

This is how it looks when the die is removed. The arrows are pointing to the lines on either side of the flower.

Step 2. Cut straight down from the edge of your cardstock to the inner edge of your drawn lines. Don't cut out from the image. You want to go straight to the line edge because otherwise you'll cut too much from your image to get the effect you want.

Step 3 is to cut around the rest of the exposed image between your two side cuts. Don't worry about being too precise here as you can always go back and clean it up. In our case, we're going to add glitter so the edge won't matter as much.

Step 4. Slide your die back in place going behind the part you just cut out and lining up the inside of the die on the lines you just drew. Use washi tape to hold it in place before running it through the die-cut machine. I used the Grand Caliber but it will work on any die-cutting machine you have.

Here's another view with the full oval shown.

Step 5. Run it through the die machine and remove the die and voilà! A partial die cut!

This is what it looks like once it's cut. Notice that the scissor cut goes to the drawn line which is lower than the die cut. That's okay - it's right next to the image so won't show when glued down. Carefully erase the pencil lines and continue on with your card. Isn't that fun? And, it's easy once you do one or two. :)

So, here's the front again. I added lemon whip glitter to the flower petals and then stamped and glittered on the inside as well.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. Have fun making your own partial die-cut cards!

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Have a wonderfully creative day!

Fun with Splash and Feathers! (and, sanding too!)

 Ah - splash! So many possibilities with these wonderful color sprays. I love them!

This card has several techniques so let me start with the overall look and then break it down. First, you cut an oval from a piece of mermaid cardstock and then stamp feathers in versamark on the card and french roast insert piece. Why stamp in Versamark, you ask? When you stamp in versamark and then go over the stamped image with the sanding block, it brings out the image and it makes a wonderful background.

Here's a close-up. It's imperfect and fabulous! You aren't looking for perfection. You want that sanded, textured look. Isn't it great?!

Once you have the background done, take the script background and stamp it with versamark and then heat emboss it with satin pearl embossing powder. Then, use a piece of cardstock and mask off half a feather and "splash" it. Take a paper towel and remove the excess splash. Then, take your cardstock and mask off the first side and splash the other and repeat until all the feathers are done. This will give you the feather spine and it looks so cool. Once all three feathers are done, splash them all with Golddust Splash and then you'll have a lovely shimmer on your feathers. Tie a little vanilla twine around them and pop them up over your sanded feather background. :)

Here's a close-up of the feathers. Aren't they great?!

And, here's the inside - a strip of sanded Versamark feathers.

So, what do you think? Are you going to try sanding over versamark? It works best over a white-core cardstock like the A Muse cardstock.

If you need some feather stamps, check them out in the holiday stamps in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Thanks - A Partial Word Die-Cut and Modified Z-Fold Card Tutorial

 What happens when you take one of the fabulous word dies from A Muse Studio and only cut part of it out? Awesomeness! That's what happens - awesomeness! :)

 Here it is from an angled view to the side - you get the modified z-fold effect this way. You take an 4-1/4" X 11" piece of sugar cardstock and score it at 2-3/4" and 5-1/2". Put it aside and work on the die cut part. You could do it directly on the cardstock fold but I decided to make it a little easier.

Take a piece of 4-1/4" X 3-1/4" piece of cardstock. I used hibiscus as it was a great match to the patterned paper I picked to use from the Fiesta paper pack.

Center the word die at the top center of your 4-1/4" side of the cardstock.

Turn the cardstock 180 degrees and line it up so the top of the die is on the cutting plate and the bottom of the die and the rest of the cardstock is hanging off the edge a little. Use a little washi tape to hold it in place.

Add the cutting plate on top and as you can see, a bit of the word die is hanging out of the edge. You don't want the bottom part of the word to get cut that's why you need part of it to be outside of your cutting plates. *note - make sure your die is straight before you cut it out. I took the photo and then realized that I was askew so fixed it before cutting. ah... the little things. :)

Once you cut it, you have this lovely result. Okay - you actually have all the little pieces that you need to trim off from the letters but after you do that - you have this lovely partially die-cut word. :)  Layer that piece on the fold and trim to a straight line. Then, layer a patterned piece on the bottom edge to finish off the card.

I cut out the full word on a piece of the patterned paper and used a quickie glue pen to attach it to the top of the partial cut layer. You wouldn't have to do that but I liked the look of it. :)

Oh - I also added a top layer of patterned paper that I cut with the medium scalloped border die. A tiny strip of hibiscus finished off the look.

This would be so fun to do with the Merry or Noel die and add a little Santa Mail stamp or Cozy Back stamp to it. Will have to do some more playing.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and hope you'll give the partial word die-cut technique a try!

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Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Halloween Gatefold Window Card - Sugar Skulls

Sugar Skulls and slate cardstock are the pairing for this Halloween card. Technically, sugar skulls or calaveras are part of the Mexican Dia De Los Muertos celebration or the Roman Catholic All Souls Day but in the stamping world, you can bend the rules a little so this sugar skull is doing double duty as a Halloween design.

It's a simple gatefold card but this one has a window. :) To make this, score the 8-1/2" X 5 1/2" cardstock at 2-1/8" and 6-3/8". This gives you the "gate". Then, open the gate and place any shape die that you like and put it inside the card with the blade face up and close the "gate". Run it through your die-cutting machine and when you open it, you'll have a wonderful window in your card.

The circle die will leave an impression on your card base so cover it up with a little Mysterious Manor paper and then close the gate to figure out your placement of your ocean circle. Color the skull with tombow markers and cut out. Add the popped up sugar skull to the inside circle. Stamp a Halloween sentiment and you're good to go. Oh - and aren't the Wicked Web spiders on the outside a nice creepy touch?

If you don't want your "gate" to flop open, you can tie some orange/onyx baker's cording around the top and bottom of the card.

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Have a wonderfully creative day!!