Thursday, February 24, 2011

Making Rosettes...the Old Fashioned Way!

My First Rosette
I was talking to my friend, Maureen, today. She had posted several rosettes on her blog that she made with her Tim Holtz die. I told her I had just recently made my first rosettes and she asked me to post a picture. This is a Valentine I made for my husband to take to one of the ladies at the doctor's office.  He had an appointment on Valentine's Day. The doctor has three great ladies who work in the office and he asked me if I would make them cards.  It made me so happy I did when he came home and he told me they all really liked them and one of them said that it would be the only Valentine she received.  

Basically, all I did was cut strip paper and punched it with my Fiskars Apron Lace border punch. The best way to fold it evenly is to score between every other scallop on one side and then turn it over and score between the scallops you did not do on the first side.  Then fold on the score lines like a fan, put the two ends together with adhesive, shape it into a circle and glue down.  The width of the strip of paper will determine the diameter of your rosette and the length will determine how many pleats it has.The trickiest part for me was holding it in place while I was gluing it. 

I saw the instructions for this on a blog and I wish I could give proper credit, but I don't remember where I saw it.

Since I told you there were three cards, here are the other two, plus a picture of what I made for some of my younger nieces and nephews.  That is all of the Valentine cards I think I made. Most of them could be used for other occasions as well, but because of the bulkiness of the first three, they would probably have to be hand delivered. 

I know my photography is not very good - I will work on it!

Thanks for looking,

Happy Crafting,
Marianne

Sunday, February 20, 2011

A Generous Giveaway! Open until March 6

Cindy at Scrapping Room has a big giveaway on her blog! She has three prizes and first prize is a Your Story book binding system.  Go over and check it out.

My Valentine for My Valentine

I know Valentine's Day was almost a week ago, but I wanted to share the card I made for my husband this year. He gave me the ultimate compliment, telling me he thinks it is the best card I have ever done. I was so happy he liked it that well.  He is my biggest fan when it comes to my card making and scrapbooking. The idea for his card came from the cover of last year's February issue of Card Maker Magazine. I loved it then and went back and found it when I was looking for ideas this year. I added to my collection of Fiskars border punches with this heart punch just to make this card. Being a Fisk-a-teer, I tend to love my Fiskars tools! My version of the card is changed up a little from the magazine. They had a greeting on the front with a bow where I have the big heart in the middle.  I didn't have a stamp that really fit in that space and I really didn't want to use ribbon on this card. I actually liked the idea I used once I got going on it.

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Crafting!

Marianne

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Making a Bow for a Package


Start with 8 1/2" sheet of paper. Cut in to nine 3/4" strips.
(The tutorial I originally saw said you can use
 a magazine, but because the scrapbook paper is more
stiff, it holds its shape better.
This is a tutorial for a challenge in the Fiskateer 2.0 CHA On-line Crop.  This is an easy way to make a blow for a package. I think I posted a picture of the first bow I made about a year and a half ago.  It was the first challenge I completed as a Fiskateer.  
Leave three full-length. Trim 1" off of three. Trim 2" off of two and trim one to 3 1/2"
  
Make a double loop and glue ends
(Works best if they are long and narrow)


With loop at each end, glue in the middle

 



Starting with the longest working to the smallest, stack and glue the pieces and put the small ring in the middle 

After you tuck the loops here and there, you will have a bow


You may have noticed the finished bow isn't the one I have the strips cut from.  It is the one I made a long time ago.  In the tutorial I suggested you make the pieces long and narrow.  The ones I made for the tutorial were a little to short and wide.  The pieces didn't tuck in well and it just didn't turn out as well as this one.  I do hope someone will give this a try...takes about 5 minutes. I would love to give credit to the person who I learned this from, I am pretty sure it was a Fiskateer Lead, but I am not sure.