Don’t forget our Spellbinders™ and Tattered Angels month-long blog hop! Today, we would like to spotlight our Design Team Member Linda Duke! See what she has in store for you by visiting her blog.

Everyone says “think outside the box” but have you ever thought of “the box?” So thinking inside the box, I went into my “box” of Spellbinders™ die templates to find S5-019 Labels Eight, S4-226 Harvest Border Petites and S4-227 Pumpkin Nestabilities®.

Hmm…with gift giving season coming up, I’m thinking I would try my hand at making a box! Since Halloween is just around the corner, why not make a little treat box. See where I’m going with this…box! LOL!

First we need to cut/emboss four S5-019 Labels Eight die #6 (#1 being the smallest) with My Mind’s Eye Fall In Love Collection.

Your cut sandwich will be (from the bottom):
White Master Mat
Magnetic Spacer Plate
S5-019 Labels Eight die #6 (cut/ridge side UP)
Cardstock
White Master Mat

After cutting your cardstock, remove the Magnetic Spacer Plate and grab your Enlarged Embossing Pad for your emboss sandwich (from the bottom):
White Master Mat
S5-019 Labels Eight die #6 (w/ cardstock, cut side UP)
Enlarged Embossing Pad
White Master Mat

Then score 1/2″ from each short side and 1/2″ on the bottom of the long side of all four S5-019 Labels Eight die cuts. Make sure to cut the corners at the bottom to make the tabs easy to fold.

Adhere to each side making four walls but do not connect the last sides together yet. We need to embellish the walls first before completing the frame of the box.

Taking your S4-226 Harvest Border Petites, cut/emboss the leaves border (this particular border cuts all the way around to make a great accent piece) and stencil with Clearsnap Colorbox Fluid Chalk Chestnut Roan. You’ll need to cut/emboss/stencil four times (for each side). Trim to fit inside the scored lines - approx. 1/2″. Then line up the borders to make a straight line as shown and adhere.

Using the S4-227 Pumpkin Nestabilties® die #3, cut/emboss with orange cardstock and with Sparkle ‘N Sprinkle Burnt Orange Flocking Powder, I textured the pumpkin. Determine which side will be the front of the box and adhere the pumpkin. Mist Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Raven onto a small flower, dry and add Hero Arts Pearls in the middle. I used Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps Seasonal Calendar/Halloween image and the black pearl pin to go with that glimmery flower.

Now you can put the last sides together to form the frame of the box by using wet adhesive. Then cut 4.5″x 4.5″ size piece of cardstock to make the bottom of the box. With wet adhesive, edge the bottom four sides of the cardstock and then drop it in on top of the scored edges of the box frame. Let dry.

To finish it off, add your favorite Halloween treat and you’ve got yourself a box! Now remember to think inside the box for your next project!

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday!!
MargieH

A very cool Savvy Saturday from Eli on how to put all the techniques covered in the last couple of weeks into one project! So I thought I’d try my hand at making a project with letterpressing, partial impressing, chalking and adding to the equation with flocking!

Today I’d like to share my altered piece - an 8×10″ artist canvas panel that I had for awhile. I used a fall theme and plan to display it in my hallway during the season and through Thanksgiving!

Here’s my list of Spellbinders™ goodies I gathered for the project: I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish, I2-1010 Impressabilities™ Pebbles, S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf and S5-019 Labels Eight die #6 & #4 (die #1 being the smallest).

First I cut and letterpressed my frame with the S5-019 Labels Eight die #6. I used the I2-1010 Impressabilities™ Pebbles to press with and inked with Clearsnap Colorbox Ink in Warm Red. For more details on this technique, please click HERE for Beth’s helpful tutorial. I also chalked the frame to give it some yellow coloring to match with the leaves in the picture. Then I cut my picture using the S5-019 Labels Eight die #4.

I used the Partial Impressabilities™ technique for my border at the bottom of the canvas using Core’dinations The Chocolate Box collection. For more information and helpful tips on how to do this technique, please see HERE.

Then I cut all the S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf (all three die sizes) with My Mind’s Eye Fall In Love collection. As you can see I have cut and partial impressed two of the leaves. To keep the chalking in the equation, I used the chalk technique that Eli had done on the largest S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf (die #3). I first cut the leaves. Then covered the I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish piece with embossing ink and embossed with the S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf. I used the embossing ink because I was too slow (my pigment ink I wanted to use was a little dried out) and the ink kept drying up on me! LOL! So I thought why not embossing ink and it worked like a charm for me.

Embossing sandwich (from the bottom) is:
White Master Mat
Copy Paper (for protection)
I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish (inked side up)
S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf with paper embedded (ridge/cut side up)
Tan Embossing Pad
White Master Mat

For the flocking part, I used Sparkle’N Sprinkle Burnt Orange Flock. Moving quickly, I removed the die from the I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish and covered the inked area with flock. Then I removed the excess, the result is a subtle flocked image in the leaf. The rest of the leaves were a straight cut and emboss process.

I painted the edges of my canvas panel and the edges of my layout page from My Mind’s Eye Fall In Love collection. Adhered all the pieces as shown. Note that I used foam tape to give dimension to some of the leaves. Lastly, I added my title which was originally white fabric letter stickers but added fall colors with chalk and done!

You can make these canvas panels as personalized gifts for loved ones during the upcoming holiday season. Can you believe it’s almost October? Happy Fall!
MargieH

Today’s Savvy Saturday is all about  Letterpress.  This technique dates back to the year 1450, with thanks going to Johannes Gutenberg, as the main method of printing until the invention of offset printing. That is today’s history lesson.

You can do this technique with Spellbinders’™ Impressabilities™!  I started by playing with ink.  I rolled my brayer across an ink pad, then onto the I2-1004 Impressabilties™ Flowers.  I built my sandwich this way:

• White Master Mat
• Inked Impressabilties™ (ink side up)
• Paper
• Embossing Mat
• White Master Mat

Feed the sandwich into the Wizard™.  One pass in the Wizard™ will emboss the paper and transfer the ink into the debossed areas. This is the result with Clearsnap ColorBox White Pigment Ink and black cardstock:

Then I tried acrylic paint. This is the result with Ranger’s paint.  This is a fast drying acrylic paint, and despite working quickly, I am not 100% happy with the coverage in this example. We’ll come back to paint another time.

So then I got to thinking, if ink works, what about ink and embossing powder? I used the brayer to apply Clearsnap Top Boss Watermark Ink to the Impressabilities™, fed the sandwich through the Wizard™ and then applied Sparkle and Sprinkle’s Outerspace Embossing Powder. I heated the paper to melt the powder. Oh my! Its beautiful! Check this out:

Then I did the reverse stencil technique with Clearsnap Black Pigment Ink and S4-234 Ribbon Tags Trio  2, the oval shape. I stamped “thank you” from Hero Arts onto the label with the same ink, and added ribbon from my stash.  It needed just one more thing, so I cut an oval using S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small #4, from the same patterned paper, which is Fancy Pants Caroling.  I mounted that onto black cardstock.

I love the texture and sheen from the embossing powder, don’t you?

Spellbinders™ Die Templates used: S5-019 Labels Eight, S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small #4, S4-234 Ribbon Tags Trio 2, I2-1004 Impressabilities™ Flowers.

Here are a few examples from our Design Team Members:

 Janine Blackwelder also used Impressabilities™ Flowers for this bookmark.  She cut the Impressabilties™ apart and letterpressed a small section.  Clearsnap ink, Hero Arts stamps, and the S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small as well as S4-113 Scalloped Classic Ovals, Small were used on this project.

Julie Overby embossed her chipboard letters with Impressabilities™ Flowers. On the card she used S5-019 Labels Eight; 12-1004 Impressabilities™ Flowers;  Cardstock; Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket and Maya Road chipboard; ClearSnap Colorbox Ink.

Have a wonderful Saturday!
Beth

PS. Don’t forget to go over to “When Creativity Knocks!” - and vote for Impressabilities™ in the Great Crafter’s Tool Hunt…you could win something cool and we would win ultimate fame and glory (maybe even a trophy? who knows). Click HERE for more info.  Voting closes September 8 at midnight PST.