Pretty Kitty Note Cards and Box- The Purrrrr-fect Gift

It's no secret I love cats.  My cat Miles is such a blessing to me.  He is such a loving cuddly boy, I can't imagine our home without him.  I had always been a dog person until one night, out of the blue, my daughter calls from college to tell me that she had found a litter of kittens under the steps at her dorm.  She was keeping one male kitten in the closet in her dorm room and feeding it tuna out of the can.  She was frantic because the RA was forcing her to take it to the animal shelter.  Before I knew it, I was on the road to Susquehanna University to pick up a cat.  I never knew that it would be love at first sight. He has become my crafting buddy.

So when Stampin' Up came out with the PRETTY KITTY stamp set, I was very excited.  I had just gotten the fabulous STAMPIN' BLENDS alcohol markers so I know my coloring would look flawless and vibrant.  With five adorable cat images, the first thing that came to mind was a set of note cards.

 Five different cat images meant five different cards in the set.  The sentiments made it easy to make the notecards for a variety of occasions.  Here are my samples. One is for a birthday.

One for encouragement.

One for friendship.

One to say "hello."

And one to say "sorry."

All five cards use the same colors and design but could easily be changed to suit your personality.  I used a POOL PARTY card base and a 2 in by 4 in strip of TWINKLE TWINKLE designer series paper to make the banner.  BASIC BLACK BAKER'S TWINE and ARTISAN PEARLS were used for embellishment.  I stamped the cat image in MEMENTO BLACK INK on the largest circle of the STITCHED FRAMELIT DIES. The coordinating NIGHT OF NAVY card stock scallop was cut using the LAYERING SCALLOPS FRAMELIT DIES.  

For coloring the cats, I used the SMOKY SLATE, CRUMB CAKE and BRONZE STAMPIN' BLENDS.  These amazing alcohol based marker blend so beautifully, I feel like an artist. I used OLD OLIVE, CALYPSO CORAL, PINK PIROUETTE, MELON MAMBO and DAFFODIL DELIGHT BLENDS to color the other images.  I adhered the scalloped circle to the card front using STAMPIN' DIMENSIONALS and used a GLUE DOT  to adhere the BASIC BLACK bow.  I fell in love with these cards and immediately thought of a friend who would love them too.  So then it was time to make a gift box for the cards and envelopes.  I pulled out my amazing ENVELOPE PUNCH BOARD. I used a piece of 9 in by 9 in card stock.  On the first side I punched and scored at 3 1/2 in and 4 1/2 in.  Then following the score marks, I punched and scored the remaining three sides.  

Check out the video tutorial below to see how to construct the box:

  Here is the finished product.

I used the same designer series paper for the belly band, cutting it into a 2 by 12 in strip.  The circle and scallop used on the front are the same size as the cards.  I used BASIC GRAY card stock for the box and adhered a 5 1/2 in by 4 1/4 in piece of POOL PARTY card stock to the front.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  I hope you find inspiration for your own projects.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the products mentioned in this blog post, click the link below to go to my online store.

The Wexford Stamper Online Store

Please come back soon for more tips and projects.

Happy Stamping,

The Wexford Stamper

Barb Reed

PETAL PASSION- PART 2 in 3D

I'm sure you noticed from my last blog post that I am IN LOVE with the Petal Passion Suite in the new Occasions Catalog.  So much that I couldn't contain my joy in just one post.  This post highlights some of my 3-D projects using the products from this amazing suite.  The first is a beautiful tall bag using the amazing PETAL PASSION DSP (145589) and the STAMPIN' BLENDS (147475).  Easy to make and a big WOW for the gift giver.

The finished bag is 9 inches tall and 3 inches by 3 inches at the base.  I was inspired by a POOTLES video where she made a large bag for Christmas.  I used a 12" by 12" piece of the DSP.  Using my scoreboard, I scored the first side at 2 7/8", 5 3/4", 8 5/8" and 11 1/2".  On the other side, score at 2 7/8".  After scoring, I creased all the score lines.  A long the very skinny side, I cut off the bottom strip measuring 1/2 in by 2 7/8 in.  Then holding the paper in the original position you had when starting your scoring, cut up each score line from the bottom to the horizontal 2 7/8" score line.  These are the flaps that will close up and make your bottom.  Now before using adhesive, get out your STAMPIN BLENDS and color in random flowers on the bag.  You want some to be colored on all sides.  It's your design so you decide what's best.  When you are happy with your coloring, add adhesive to the front side of the long skinny strip on the edge of your bag. Carefully adhere to the other side of the paper to form your box.  Fold in the bottom flaps and use adhesive to close.  Remember the top stays open.  Carefully pull together the top, encouraging the paper to fold nicely along the sides.  I then used a hole punch and punched two holes in the top of the bag, tying with SOFT SKY SATIN RIBBON.  

For the embellishment on the front of the bag, I cut out the largest scallop from my LAYERING SCALLOPS DIE CUTS in Daffodil Delight.  I stamped the flower image and the bird image from the PETAL PALETTE stamp set (145788) on a piece of Whisper White card stock using MEMENTO INK.  I colored them in using my BLENDS, cut them out using the PETALS AND MORE THINLIT DIES (145655) and adhered them to the front of the bag.  This beautiful bag can hold a lot of goodies for that special someone.  I think I will be adding some Easter eggs.

My second project was a note card set.  I was trying to decide on my March Customer Thank You gift and these came out beautifully.

I used the STAMPIN UP NOTECARDS & ENVELOPES (131527).  I was inspired by Angie at Chic N Scratch's card design but I wanted to take it a step further and make the gift box.  I love the black and white color scheme with a little dash of POOL PARTY on the bird. For the cards, pick the design from the PETAL PASSIONS DSP that you like.  I chose the vines.  I cut each piece at 4 3/4" by 3 1/4" and adhered it to the front of the card.  I then took a piece of Whisper White card stock measuring 2 1/2" by 2" and stamped the bird image and the THANK YOU sentiment.  I pulled out my DARK POOL PARTY STAMPIN BLEND and lightly colored the bird.  Before adhering it to the front of the card, I took a small piece of the BASIC BLACK SHIMMER RIBBON and carefully stapled it to the paper just above the bird's back.  I then adhered the piece to the card front.  That's it.  I made three more of the same design.  Now it's time to move on to the gift box.

To make the box, I used the amazing ENVELOPE PUNCH BOARD (133774).  I used a piece of BASIC BLACK cardstock cut at 8 1/2" by 8 1/2 ".  The first "punch and score" is at 3"and  the second at 4".  Rotate your paper and following these lines, punch and score all four sides.  Fold and crease all score lines.  Place your paper so the larger flaps are at the top and bottom of your work surface.  At the top, cut off the tiny squares, on the bottom only cut along one side to make two flaps.  Using adhesive, assemble the box.  Cut a 1 1/2 in by 8 1/2" strip from the BASIC BLACK card stock you have left.  This will be your belly band.  For the front side of the box, cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock measuring 5 3/8" by 3 5/8" and use that to mat a piece of corresponding DSP (5 1/8" by 3 3/8").  For the images on the belly band I stamped the leaf image and the FOR YOU sentiment on the circle before adhering the bird image that was stamped on Whisper White and die cut using the coordinating dies. I used DIMENSIONALS. The circle is 2 1/8 " in diameter and I used a scallop from the LAYERING SCALLOP DIE CUTS.  Carefully wrap the belly band around the box so that the ends are on the front.  Then cover the ends of the strip with the circle you made with DIMENSIONALS.  What a great gift.

My final project was a Spring inspiration.  Here in Pennsylvania, the weather is still cold and yucky so I thought is was time to start my SPRING FEVER STAMPING.  This gift box would be perfect for an Easter gift.

In the picture above, I used WISTERIA WONDER, PEAR PIZZAZZ, POWDER PINK, DAFFODIL DELIGHT and SOFT SKY card stock to make my spring boxes.  The box I made is a perfect size for 3" by 3" mini notecards but can be used for all sorts of gifts.  Start with a piece of cardstock cut at 10 1/4" by 8 1/4".  Before scoring, use the leaf image from the PETAL PALETTE stamp set and stamp randomly tone on tone all over.  Then on the long side score at 2", 3 1/2", 6 3/4", and 8 1/4". Score at 1", 2 1/2", 5 3/4" and 7 1/4" on the short side. Crease on all the score lines. Holding the card stock in the portrait position, cut off the corner square as well as the squares directly beside and above it. The remaining corner squares are the flaps, cut the score line on the inside up to the first horizontal score line.  Do this on all four corners.  Assemble using TEAR 'N TAPE.  Use a corner rounder on the lid flaps if you like.  To make the tag, use a 1 7/8" Whisper White circle, cut using the LAYERING CIRCLE DIES and corresponding LAYERING SCALLOP DIES (colored card stock of choice). Stamp the sentiment using ARCHIVAL BLACK INK in the center of the circle.  Using the dots image, stamp across the top and bottom of the circle using the coordinating color.  Adhere the circle to the scallop and then to the top flap on the box.  I used DIMENSIONALS to do that.  I only but them on the top of the scallop circle so I could adhere it at the left center of the box and leave space on the right for the gorgeous WHISPER WHITE 1/4" ORGANZA RIBBON.  

Hope these projects got you inspired to start on your own spring projects.  If you would like any of the products used in these projects, check out my online store below.

The Wexford Stamper Online Store

If you have any questions about anything in this post, please comment below and I'll get back to you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Barb Reed

The Wexford Stamper