Merry Christmas and a Gift!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I have a sweet little shadow box to share today and, as a holiday gift to all my readers, I'm sharing a printable download so you can make one for yourself!

I have been saving this tiny vintage ornament box for years, knowing it would be perfect for a Christmas scene, but I never quite got around to using it. I came across it a few weeks ago and decided I would not let another year go by without creating something. I thought it would be a waste to use the original, so I took it apart and scanned it, then printed it out.

Tim Holtz's Christmas Paper Dolls are the perfect size for this little box. I glued some strips of fiberfill to the bottom for snow, then added tiny trees, the paper dolls, and a tiny deer.

The front is embellished with Tim's tinsel twine, a vintage ornament, number token, and a die cut branch. I cut tiny snowflakes from glitter paper using a die from Karen Burniston's Evergreen Pivot Panel set.

Click on the image above to get the full sized scan for downloading. I printed it out on heavy  8.5" x 11" cardstock, adjusting it so it filled the full sheet.  It came out much lighter than it looks in the scan (which I actually liked better!) - you can experiment to see what works for you. Then, just cut it out and score where you can see the fold lines, fold it up, and you're ready to decorate!

You can find the supplies I used via the links below.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! Thanks so much for all of your comments, pins, and support over this past year. I haven't had as much time to create as I have in other years, but I'm hoping 2019 will be full of creativity!

Karen Burnsiton Designer Challenge - Ink It!

Hi all! Hope your December is off to a great start. It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. This month our theme is 'Ink It.' I love this challenge because I've gotten lazier and lazier in my cardmaking - using lots of designer paper and not much in the way of inks and stamping. Not good for a blog called Stamptramp! It was really nice to pull out all of my supplies and get creative - I haven't been doing that enough lately and I really miss it.

I decided to create a woodsy feeling Christmas card. The base is plain kraft cardstock. On the front, I stamped a woodgrain image from Tim Holtz and embossed it with Ranger's Weathered White embossing powder. I love the look of weathered wood it gives!

The chunky letters were created by cutting multiple letters from thin cardstock with dies from Karen's Alphabet set. I stacked about five cutouts, gluing each one down securely. The top letter was cut from foil covered cardstock and glued on last. The edges were colored with a silver Sharpie so that they blended in. To give it an aged appearance, I dabbed it with black and silver paints. The wreath was created from a piece of wired greenery.

Oooh, the best part, right?! I told Karen I feel like I'm overusing this Twist Panel die, but it's so much fun and so easy to use! And SO perfect with Tim Holtz's Blueprint stamps.

I just got Tim's small stamping platform and thought I'd experiment with using it to color the Blueprint images. Especially when stamping on watercolor paper, it's so nice to be able to restamp if the image isn't very clear the first time you stamp it. For this card, I stamped first with Archival ink - very important to use a permanent ink since I knew I wanted to watercolor these images.

After that, I colored the stamp with markers and stamped again. I used a waterbrush to pull the color into the image, but it wasn't intense enough, so I ended up coloring it directly (I still think it give it a cool look tho!). After it dried, I reinked the stamp, this time with clear ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder. I think the embossing really makes the image pop and kind of redefines the lines. I'm quite sold on stamping platforms now!

Don't those images just pop now?! You can barely see the shine from the clear ep, but it really adds a lot of dimension. The background on the card was made by coloring the greenery and pinecone stamps with markers and then stamping randomly. On the bottom I used a text stamp to give more interest. Finally, I used a greeting from Karen's Holiday Word Set to add a sentiment.

You can find the supplies I used via the links below. Oh, and Simon Says Stamp is offering an adorable Tiny Wreath Builder stamp and stencil set from Gina K free with ANY purchase right now! If you haven't seen the wreath builder stamps and stencils, they are so cool. And of course perfect to use with your stamping platform! I think I am going to go do a little shopping. :-)


Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for a fantastic new tutorial and lots of inky inspiration from the whole team!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Christmas Tree

Hi all! It's time again for Karen Burniston's monthly Designer Challenge. This month, Karen chose the theme 'Christmas Tree'.  Sometimes I ask my husband for ideas and he suggested I make a scene where people were chopping down their Christmas tree. I adapted that to a less ambitious scene where the tree has already been loaded up!

On the front of my card, I used the sleigh from Karen's Sleigh Pop Up die set to create a wintry scene. The background was created with the tree die from her Outdoor Scene set. The sleigh is filled with gifts that were made using dies from the sleigh set, and a twine-wrapped tree from the Christmas Trees Pop Stand set.

On the inside, I used the new Christmas Trees Pop Stand to create a woodsy scene, adding a deer that was cut using another die from the Outdoor Scene set.

You can find the dies I used via the links below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for a new video tutorial and lots of inspiration from the team!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Happy Fall, Y'all!

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a pretty fall accordion card I made for this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. Our theme is 'Happy Fall, Y'all' and I thought that a flurry of colorful leaves would be perfect for this theme.

I combine a couple of different techniques for my card. First was Karen's Staggered Charm Accordion, where she flipped the orientation of the panels. To that, I added the 'floating gear' idea from a card I made a few years ago. Since it might be hard to figure out from just looking at it, I thought I'd do a quick tutorial (I'm on a roll!) so you could make one of your own, if you wanted.

Read on to see how it all came together...

Begin by cutting two panels from kraft cardstock and two panels from transparency/acetate using Karen's Charm Accordion die set.

Cut the kraft panels in half and cut out the center pivot panels. Cut just the center pivot panels from the transparencies, leaving a tab on each end to attach to the card.

Stamp the kraft panels with a woodgrain stamp and ink the edges with brown ink. Cut three charm frame connectors from transparency. Cut six hinges from black cardstock and heat emboss with silver powder.

 To create the leaves, use the wrinkle-free distress technique to color two panels of watercolor paper.

Next, using a small brown ink pad, apply ink directly to the cutting side of the leaf dies from Karen's new Autumn Elements die set. Be sure and get it on the embossed veins.

 Die cut leaves from your prepared paper.

Sponge brown ink on the outer edges of the leaves. Sponge additional ink on the leaves, if desired.

Assemble the card as shown above, first linking the panels with the hinges and brads. Adhere the clear panels using the small tabs, being sure to align them carefully. Add the leaves and clear charm frame connectors to complete your card.

To finish the front (and to hide the tabs and brad ends!) I cut a panel from kraft core'dinations using the Charm Accordion die, cut it in half, removed the center, and adhered it to the front. The sentiment is from the new Word Set 7 - Autumn.

You can find the supplies I used via the links below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for an awesome video and lots of fall inspiration from the whole team!

Rare Oddities Pop-Up Tunnel Card

Hi all! When I posted my last card in the Graphic 45 Facebook group, one of the members commented that it was a bit too complicated for them. I agree that it can be overwhelming when you first start making any type of pop-up or folded card, so I thought it would be fun to show a card that has a similar feel to it, but is much more simple to construct.

What takes this one from simple to fabulous is all the amazing Graphic 45 papers! I am on a mission to stop hoarding all of my favorite papers and release them into the wild. Rare Oddities was one of my favorite papers from a year (two?) ago and I thought it would be perfect for this card.

I used some of my favorite new dies from Karen Burniston - like this cool Halloween sentiment - and lots of fussy cut elements. Follow along below to see how I made it.

Begin by cutting two pieces of black cardstock measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" (an 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock cut in half). Score one piece in the center at 4 1/4". Score the other in the center, and then halfway between the center and each outer edge - from the left side your scores should be at 2 1/8",
4 1/4", and 6 3/8". Fold on all score lines as shown and burnish with a bone folder.

Adhere a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" panel in the center of the mountain-folded card. Align the 4 3/8" oval die from Karen Burniston's Ovals - Crosshatch die set in the center and use your die cutting machine to cut through both layers of paper. If you don't have a die, you could hand-cut this section.

 Refold the card and ink the inside of the cutout with black ink.

Cut decorative elements from paper. Here I'm using Graphic 45's Rare Oddities paper (retired). Adhere a 4 1/8"x 5 3/8" panel to the center of the single-folded card.

To create the pop-out element for the backing card, score a panel in the center, and 1/4" from each side. (My panel was a bit small, so I added strips to widen it.) Fold as shown and apply adhesive to outer tabs.

With both pieces lying flat, align the center fold of the small panel with the center of the card and adhere. Pop center panel out as shown and retrain the folds.

To create a frame for the opening, nest two oval dies from Karen Burniston's Ovals - Crosshatch die set as shown and die cut.

 Adhere frame and other elements to card as shown.

Fussy cut flowers or other elements to add to card. Die cut spider web and spider, both from Karen Burniston's Halloween Scene collection.

 Adhere die cut and fussy cut elements to the card as shown.

 Apply adhesive to the outer edges of the frame panel.

Adhere frame panel to backing card, aligning edges carefully. Retrain all folds. Decorate front of card as desired.

 I just adore tunnel cards. It's so much fun adding little elements here and there and building a scene.

Here you can see how it folds up when closed. So cool!! It is a bit bulky because of the paper I used and how many layers there are - it will most likely need extra postage.

If you've never made a tunnel card before, I suggest using plain cardstock and making a sample card before you start cutting into your fancy papers. I do this with almost any new pop-up die or card fold and it makes it much less stressful when you don't have to worry about messing up! You can also play with where you'd like to place your elements, etc. My biggest problem with cards like this is knowing when to stop!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It's been ages since I've done one and it was a lot of fun - I might have to do this more often. :-)

You can find the supplies I used via the links below. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Graphic 45 September Challenge - Pop-Up/3D

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so absent lately - it seems like this summer has flown by. I've had a lot of different things going on and just haven't had a lot of any time to spend in the studio. I always plan to enter something into Graphic 45's challenges, but it seems like I always run out of time and never get something made. This month, I actually have something to share!

Recently, my friend Cyndi came up with the coolest idea for a pop-up tunnel card and taught our little group of crafty friends how to make it. I had just bought the Imagine paper collection and couldn't wait to dig into it for this card.

I mean....right?!? Unfortunately Cyndi's been really busy and hasn't had a chance to post a tutorial for this card. I am bugging her though, and hopefully she'll get one made up, because everyone needs to make this card. It's so much easier than it looks and you can keep it simple (no clue how to do that!) or go crazy with the embellishments (I am well-versed on that).

Here is a top view so you can see all of the layers. The windows are cut with graduated sizes of label dies. I believe these are by Spellbinders.

So many layers! I have always been so obsessed with tunnel cards/books...it's so much fun making little scenes.

This is such a fun card if you enjoy lots of fussy cutting. The Imagine collection has to be one of my all-time favorites from Graphic 45. There are so many great elements to cut out! It's hard to see, but even the house and tiny balloons on the very back of the card are 3D. This is truly one of those cards you have to see in person to really appreciate!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! You can find the supplies I used at Simon Says Stamp via the links below.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Houses

Hi all! It's time again for Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge. This month, the theme is Houses. I couldn't wait to use dies from Karen's latest release! I thought her new House Pivot Panels die would make adorable haunted houses. The awesome thing about the House Pivot die is that it can be used alone, or with the Twist Panel and Tag Book dies. How cool is that?

I kept the front fairly simple, decorating it with papers from Tim Holtz and dies from Karen's Halloween collections.

The tiny houses were cut from various Tim Holtz papers and embellished with Tim's trinkets. The sentiment behind the panels is one of my favorite dies from Karen's new Halloween Charms collection.

You can find the dies and other supplies I used via the links below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for another of her incredible videos and tons of inspiration from the whole team!