Background Made with Blendabilities

I saw this technique demonstrated on Pinterest, and it was if a light came on.  I have been struggling with this concept for a while, so now I know how to do it - create wonderful backgrounds to cards etc using the new blendabilities.
I wanted to make a video of these but I couldn't get my camera working.

The flower in the card was stamped on a background made with blendabilities and then punched.  The centers were punched from a separate part of the background.

Here are some sample backgrounds I have made using a different combination of markers:

Just think what you could do with these?

Blendabilities Background Tutorial

Supplies Needed:

1. Blendabilities (usually the darkest tone) - three colours with one being a neutral.  Here I have Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, and Pumpkin Pie.
2.  Glossy cardstock cut into 4 pieces (4 1/4 by 5 1/2")
3.  Rubbing alcohol (I used 99% but 70% will work just fine) in a spritzer container
4. A large sealable plastic bag (ziploc).  Could be any brand
5. Tape to secure bag to table.

Method:

1.  Gather your supplies:

The colours used in this tutorial are:  Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, cherry Cobbler and Pumpkin Pie.

A piece of glossy cardstock.  Photo paper does not nearly work as well.


2.  Tape a sealable plastic bag securely on your table which has a protective cover on it. Before sealing all the way around, place a piece of cardstock underneath the bag in the middle.  This will help identify the size of the field you will be working in.

3.  Scribble all over the top of the plastic bag using all the colours in a most random fashion.  Be sure to work only on the area identified by the piece of card stock underneath the bag.

4.  Spritz the area with the alcohol in the spritzer - generously.  Make sure the area is really wet.

5.  Take a piece of clean glossy cardstock and place it over top of the spritzed surface, gently rubbing all over the surface with your finger.

6.  Gently lift the piece of cardstock off the plastic bag.  The colour will have transferred from the bag to the piece of cardstock.  Each piece you do will be a surprise.

If there are any white areas on your sample, lift some colour off the bag.

7.  Let dry.

8.  Be sure to write on the back of the sample what colours you used.

Addendum:
I tried the technique on photo paper and it works okay, but will do if you don't have glossy card stock. The colours did not mix as well. Here's a sample I did:

 The colours I used were:  Pumpkin Pie, Smoky slate, Old Olive, and Crumb Cake.

St. Patrick's Day Pop Up Shamrock

This card was inspired by a video I saw last week on Pinterest.  It was made by Maria Fennelly here and in the video she relates step by step how  to make this Pop Up card.  Although there are a lot of stamps and punches involved,  I thought it would make a unique card for class.

Supplies Needed:

1. Two pieces of 12 by 12 DSP in any shade of green - here it is Garden Green
2. One 8 1/2 by 12 Whisper White or Very Vanilla card stock
3. White tea lace paper doillies
4. Hearts framelits
5. Four Frames stamp set
6. Teeny Tiny wishes stamp set
7. Label Love stamp set
8. Flower shop stamp set
9. Perfectly Penned stamp set
10. Gorgeous Grunge stamp set
11. Garden Green ink
12. Pansy punch
13. Artisan Label punch
14. Decorative label punch
15. 8" White satin ribbon
16. Bone folder
17. Simply Scored

Making the Shamrock Card

1.  Cut 1" off two sides of the DSP making it 11 by 11"

2.  Score at 5 1/5" on each side.

3.  Fold in half.  Burnish with bone folder

4.  Fold in half again.  Burnish with bone folder

5.  Place largest of the heart framelits on the folded corner slightly over the edge.

6.  Cut with Big Shot

7.  Open up the die cut and you have the Shamrock card.

8.  Fold the card in half and burnish with the bone folder.

9.  Take one of the scored leaves and fold it into the middle on both sides.

10.  Now fold the card closed and you have your card.

Decorating the Inside

1.  With the second largest heart die, die cut 2 hearts using the Whisper White cardstock

2.  Using the third largest heart die, die cut 4 hearts using the remnant left after die cuting the main card.

3.  Attach one white heart to the top unscored leaf and adhere a DSP heart to it.  To the bottom leaf attach only the white heart.

4.  Cut the remaining 2 DSP hearts in half and attach to the scored leaves.



5.  On a separate piece of Whisper White, using Garden Green ink, stamp one of the images from the "Four Frames stamp" set and punch with the Decorative Label punch.  Adhere this to the top heart.

6. Using the" Gorgeous Grung" stamp set, again using Garden Green ink, stamp randomly on the lower heart just to give it some dimension.  Then stamp the word "Congratulations" from the "Perfectly Penned" stamp set.

7.  Stamp 2 flowers from the "Flower Shop" stamp set, and punch out using the Pansy Punch.

8.  Make one of the petals on each of the flowers into a petal thus converting them to a shamrock.

9.  Attach the stem to the fold of the card, making them the pop up element.

Decorating the Outside

1.  Adhere a doillie to the top.  Adhere a DSP heart on top of the doillie.

2.  On a separate piece of paper, stamp the sentiment "For You" from the "Label Love" stamp set and punch with the Artisan Label punch.

3.  Loop an 8" piece of Whisper White Satin ribbon on top and adhere with glue dots.  Adhere the sentiment using dimensionals.

Your card is done.

Stepper Box - a Tutorial

 Supplies Needed:

1. DSP 6 1/2 by 12" for outside cover of box
2. DSP 4 7/8 by 10" for lining
3. Cardboard  4 pieces 5 by 2 1/4" and one piece 1 by 5"(I use the cardboard from the DSP pack)
4. Boxes - 4 pieces 6 by 6" of coordinating cardstock
5. Lid - 1 piece 7 by 7"
6. Various Embellishments
7. Glue stick
8. Double sided tape
9. Sticky Strip
10. Bone folder
11. Pencil and ruler
12. Scissors for cutting paper

Making the box:

1. Place the pieces of cardboard equally spaced on the back of the 6 1/2 by 12" DSP

With a pencil, make marks at the top and bottom of each piece. This lets you know where to place the pieces after applying glue to them.

 Apply glue to the each of the pieces of card board and apply to the DSP matching the pencil marks.

 Fold the tops and ends over the cardboard pieces. Burnish with bone folder.

Unfold, then make a special fold at each corner.  Matching the fold marks, fold each corner over the end as shown below. Glue this down well.

 After all 4 corners folded, tape sides and ends with double sided tape.

Remove cover of tape from both sides first and adhere them.  Then removed the tops of the tape on the ends and tape the ends.

Your corners should look like this.

Apply glue using the glue stick generously on the DSP that will be the lining of the box( the 4 7/8 by 10" piece).  Adhere to the front piece and burnish the entire surface with the bone folder.  Make sure there are no air bubbles and that the edges are adhered well.  Set that aside to dry.

Making the Boxes:
For each of the 6 by 6 piece of coordinating cardstock, draw a line using a pencil and ruler, from corner to corner on both corners.

Start folding.  Take one corner and fold it to where the pencil marks cross in the middle

Fold that fold in half.

Do this for all four corners.  Then unfold all the folds, and your piece should look like this:

With a pair of paper snips, make a cut from the fold line on either side of a point.  Cut only to the middle square

Apply glue generously to the tips next to the cut line, fold over and glue down.  Then apply glue, again generously to the rest of the cut area.

Fold this glued piece in half so that the point is adhered to the middle (where the lines cross in the middle. 
Do the same on the opposite side.

 Burnish those folds well, and then fold them in half along the fold line.  Fold the tabs on each end forward.  Do this on both sides.  Hold both ends up. Then apply glue to the remaining end and fold it up and over the ends being held up.

 

 When done, the ends meet in the middle of the lip.

Do this for all 4 small boxes and the lid for the box.

 Attaching the boxes to the inside:

Test the folds on the body of the box and make sure the box folds well, and that the liner has been adhered well. The smallest strip will be on the left and when closed will be on the outside of the box.  Make sure you do not adhere a small box on this piece.

Do a test placement of the boxes before adhering them with sticky strip.

Before taping them to the inner box, decorate each box.  It is a lot easier now that once the boxes are attached.

Once decorated, apply sticky strip to the back of each box

Remove the tape cover and attach to the inside of the box.

Embellish as desired.  Close the box, add the lid, and embellish as desired.  Below is your finished box