October! I love October!

The air is getting cool. The leaves are turning colors. Kids are planning Halloween costumes and me? I’m buying candy corn. I love the fresh, soft and sweet taste of these seasonal tri-colored confections. I eat them all month.

But then by November 1st, I can’t stand’em for another year.

Yet, this crazy cycle inspired today’s project using the Limited Edition Pumpkins Nestabilities®, and Harvest Borderabilities® Petite die templates. My little candy glass is perfectly sized to sit right by my keyboard and keep me company while I create and write. I hope it will inspire you to create your own “desk mate” for October or other season of treating!

Instructions:
Cut two 1½x12″ strips of the yellow, white and orange papers. Cut one 2″x12″ strip from the orange paper. Using the 2″ orange strip, cut/emboss S4-226 Harvest Borderabilities Petite (two times). Color the borders and die-cut leaves with metallic rub-ons to give definition to the embossing. Adhere the borders to the glass. I trimmed off the outer parts of the strips at the leaf, as shown here.

Then to make the strips lay horizontally, I snipped the top part of the center leaf and stretched the borders down. I adhered a tiny die-cut acorn to cover the openings. Add the die cut leaves around the glass.

To make the pumpkin “picks,” glue the yellow, orange and white strips together creating stripes. Cut/emboss four #4 pumpkins from the stripes. Stamp the sentiment onto the pumpkins. I chose “Sweet on You.” If desired, sand the pumpkins and add some metallic rub-ons for a distressed look. Glue two pumpkins back-to-back with the bamboo stick at the center. To make one shorter, trim the stick with wire cutters. Cut/emboss On the Vine Borderabilities® Grand from brown checked paper. Trim it to add vines and leaves to each of the large pumpkins.

Taking your 3″ of reserved paper, glue these strips together closer than the for the large pumpkins. Cut/emboss the #1 pumpkin from this. Using a head-pin and jewelry tools, add a green bead to the pin and string it onto the pumpkin, giving it a “Z” turn so it can hang from the glass like a charm.

To finish it up, add the charm to the glass, add some yummy candy corn, place your picks in the candy and ENJOY!

NOTE: Just wanted to remind you that Spellbinders is teaming up with Tattered Angels for a blog hop. Why not hop on over to Terre’s Blog: Terre’s Scrap Therapy for an amazing project using Tattered Angels products and, of course, some Spellbindersâ„¢ products too!

Happy day and enjoy those October treats, Eli

I love the fall. The weather starts to cool off. The leaves begin to turn and it is a great time of year to snuggle with loved ones. It’s also a great time (with all the approaching holidays) to get engaged. I thought it would be fun to create a fall-themed engagement card. I loved the technique Margie used on her Savvy Saturday post: Partial Impressabilities. So I wanted to use the same technique on this card:

After you collect your supplies, it’s time to cut apart your Impressabilities template so you can emboss just a portion of it. It is super easy. I just grabbed a pair of hardy scissors and snipped the fine metal pieces connecting the paisleys to the frame.

The sandwich for embossing with Impressabilities is as follows:

• White Master Mat
• Impressabilities template
• paper, misted with a little water
• Tan Embossing Pad
• White Master Mat

I built this sandwich upside down so you could see it better. Just remember the paper must be in between the Impressabilities (or other embossing element) and the Embossing Pad. Feed your sandwich through the Wizard to emboss.

Using the Core’dinations cardstock gives me a fabulous design element right within the paper. Just do a little sanding to bring out the core color. When I use Impressabilities, I actually like to sand both sides so I can see which one I want to use. I chose the one on the right.

Trim the piece to a square and save the scrap as you’ll be using it later. Finish up with the Wizard by cutting/embossing Labels Four die template and only cutting Small Deckled Mega Rectangle from the cream/gold paper.

Using brown ink, stamp {FALL} onto the Labels die cut. Add a little shimmer to the ink with a glitter pen. For the inside sentiment, stamp CONGRATULATIONS onto the scrap of red Core’dinations cardstock. Add glitter pen. Write “on your” with the same pen and add letter stickers for “engagement.” You’ll probably need to trim the sentiment block just a bit before adding it to the Deckled rectangle.

Now let’s put it all together. Adhere “Fall” label to cardstock using Foam Adhesive. Add letter stickers onto the bottom, using a heart brad with an “O” sticker on it as shown. Mat onto cream/gold paper and adhere to card base made from Orange Core’dinations cardstock. Add the sentiment to the inside and you have a beautiful fall, engagement card.

I say we can all Fall in Love with that…Eli

Today we’re getting back into our Savvy Saturday mode, and what better to do that with than a card boasting our newest die templates!

This card features the S5-019 Labels Eight, S4-210 Lattice Pendant,  S4-110 Classic Oval Large,  S4-112 Classic Oval Small, and S4-234 Ribbons Tag Trio 2 die templates, I2-1002 Impressabilities™ Butterfly, as well as F-005 Gold Premium Craft Foil, 7gypsies patterned paper, Clearsnap ink and Hero Arts stamps.

I started by cutting/embossing black cardstock with the largest (#6) of the Labels Eight die templates.  Then I cut a piece of Gold Premium Craft Foil with  the S5-019 Labels Eight (#5) die template.  To get the finished border around the Labels Eight die cut, as well as the I2-002 Impressabilities™ Butterfly embossing, I used this sandwich:

• White Master Mat
• Impressabilitiesâ„¢ Butterfly
• Labels Eight die template, cut side facing up
• Die cut of Gold Premium Craft Foil, gold side down, fit into Label die template
• Tan Embossing Pad
• White Master Mat

By feeding it into my Wizard™, it resulted in an embossed die cut!  With a piece of fine sandpaper, I sanded the top of the die cut to reveal the silver color.  I adhered it onto the black die cut.

Next, I cut/embossed a black oval from S4-110 Classic Oval Large (#5).  Then I cut a Gold Foil Oval from the S4-112 Classic Ovals Small (#5).  Using the same sandwich as above, but I replaced the Impressabilities™ with the Center piece from the the 4-210 Lattice Pendant. I fed it into my Wizard™ and the shape of the Center embossed into my gold foil oval.  Again I sanded the detail for more definition.

I trimmed the 7gypsies patterned paper 6×4.5″ so that it made a nice  background for the Labels Eight die cuts, which are big, measuring at nearly 5.5″ long!

I also cut/embossed the Long Rectangle Tag from the S4-234 Ribbon Tag Trio 2 set.  I used the the back side of the 7gypsies pattern paper.  Then I stamped a sentiment on it from Hero Arts, distressed with Clearsnap Black pigment ink and set aside.

I arranged and adhered the Labels Eight and Classic Oval die cuts on top of the 7gypsies patterned paper as shown.  I mounted the patterned paper onto a piece of black cardstock.  Taking the stamped Ribbon Tag Trio 2 die cut, I strung a 1 3/8″ wide ribbon (the openings are 3/4″, allowing for thicker ribbon!) and wrapped it around the front of the card, and adhered it to the back side of the black cardstock.

Here are a few more examples from our fabulous Design Team:

Holly Simoni’s layout features her daughter and her love of horses.  Holly used S4-215 Renaissance Hearts Borderabilities®, S4-206 Renaissance Hearts Pendant and S5-018 Labels Eight.  Her supplies include 7gypsies pattern paper, Clearsnap ink, and Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

Christy Farneth-Kerr’s card is Magically Delicious!  She cut an opening in the front with the S4-189 Labels Three,  and covered it with S4-207 Kaliedoscope Pendant.  She used the S4-216 Kaliedoscope Borderabilities® cut from Premium Craft Foil and from cardstock to make the other elements.  Christy folded a Pendant to make the iris flower element.  Other supplies include Chatterbox paper, The Paper Company paper, and Flower Soft adhesive.

Kimberly Crawford employed reverse stenciling to get the 2-toned effect on this S4-206 Renaissance Hearts Pendant card.  She added Clearsnap’s Smooch to the small heart accents.  Kimberly used My Mind’s Eye paper, Clearsnap ink, Hero Arts stamps, and Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L supplies.

So if these Pendant ideas get your mojo flowing, be sure to enter the Pendant Party, and you could win some fabulous prizes!

Happy Saturday!

Beth

Hey everybody. One of the big buzzes right now is the economy. As crafter’s we often have a propensity to buy, buy, buy, but let’s look at a way to use up some pieces from your stash.

After seeing Beth’s post on Saturday about squares, I wanted to do another card inspired by that. I wanted to create as much depth, elegance and beauty that I could using very little paper. Conserving my stash and my cash.

So, in my version, I used two types of paper: Core’dinations blue cardstock and Chatterbox’s artsy.licious Fine Paper in Alabaster. The extra oomph in this card comes from embossing with Spellbindersâ„¢ Impressabilitiesâ„¢ Template. It essentially turned one paper into two. Here are the supplies (plus my Wizardâ„¢ and some adhesive):

Instructions:

• Cut/emboss four S4-129 Classic Scalloped Squares, Small from cream paper.
• Cut four straight edge S4-126 Classic Squares, Large and adhere them to the center of the scalloped squares.
• Cut largest die S4-129 scalloped square. Spray with a fine mist of water or other embossing agent such as Paper Glide. Emboss with Butterfly Impressabilitiesâ„¢ (or if you prefer, try Snowflakes, Flowers or Paisley).
• Sand the debossed side of the scalloped square to reveal the light color of the core. (See, now it looks like a totally different paper!!)
• Using cream paper again, cut another square scallop, one size larger than the original squares. Trim it to make 2 small squares and one larger rectangle.
• Stamp sentiment onto scalloped rectangle. I sanded the paper first to knock down some of the shine and it stamped better.
• Put it all together with your fave adhesive.

Now, imagine a couple of words that could go inside the squares, spelled out, such as G-R-A-D, L-0-V-E or B-A-B-Y…now I know the gears are turning.

And I hope they keep turning. Grab some squares and create to your heart’s content…

Eli