Find ideas, instructions and materials used to make a variety of paper-craft projects using Stampin' Up! products. As an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator in New Zealand I love to share my passion for creating things with paper including cards, boxes, gifts and decorations. I find that making things is a fun and relaxing past-time which relieves stress and gives me a purpose to be active every day. If you have any questions or want to learn more about Stampin' Up! feel free to contact me.
My next Mailbag Make focuses on the lovely Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper. This paper is very beautiful with it's many subtle colours and detailed images of birds, feathers and flowers. I discovered three projects online which are perfect to showcase this paper.
My first card is made from a design by Julie Davison which allows the sentiment to take centre stage, surrounded by the beautiful floral side of the DSP with a colourful bird cut from the paper.
Bird Ballad Card using Stitched Nested Labels Dies
My next card I cased from a Dutch demonstrator named Elly Rijnvis and it is the first time I have tried a double easel card.
Front of Double Easel Card
I've made a lot of easel style cards in the past but this is the first time I've tried a double easel one. I really love the way it shows off both sides of the designer series paper!
Double Easel Card
To add a little more dimension to this Mailbag Make I have included a little birdhouse I learned how to make from a video by Silke Trapani, a demonstrator in Germany. Of course it was a perfect match for the designer series paper with a fussy cut bird and some flowers to decorate the front of the birdhouse.
Mini Birdhouse with chocolate eggs inside
Have a look at my sneak peak video of this Bird Ballad Mailbag Make for more details and to find out how to order yours.
I hope you like this Mailbag Make and I'd love to see your completed creations!
I find it interesting where I get inspiration for my projects sometimes. It is usually the normal places like YouTube and Pinterest, but this week I found inspiration in a different place. I organised my sewing room and came across a 'magic' needle case and then found an unused kit with instructions for making one.
That led me to thinking I could make something similar with cardstock. So after a day of fiddling around with paper, ink, ribbon and designer series paper I came up with several versions.
Front of gift card holders
I know there is something called a 'Never Ending' card and I have made one in the past, but this card version is smaller and a lot quicker to make. You can open it from the left or right side over and over again which is why I decided to call it an 'Endless' card.
Back of gift card holders
My first attempt at re-creating the magic card holder was using the Itty Bitty Birthdays stamp set and Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper.
Inside of card when opened from the left
You could also called it a 'Left & Right Hand Opening' card because you can open it from either side.
Inside of card when opened from the right
The original needle case uses ribbon to attach each side. I made one small card with ribbon however it loosened up once I put the tea bags inside the card.
So I decided making it with cardstock or designer series paper (DSP) in place of the ribbon was the best option.
The size of the cardstock you need to make this card depends on the size of the contents (e.g., gift card or tea bags).
I used images from the Tea Together stamp set for the card I made in my video. The outside was created with two pieces of Night of Navy cardstock cut to 3-1/4" x 3-1/2" (9 x 8 cm) which I embossed with roses in white.
I decorated it by stamping the teapot and teacup in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink before colouring the images with Stampin' Blends (the colours I used are listed in my video description on YouTube).
The inside was made with two pieces of 3" x 3-1/4" (7.5 x 8 cm) Whisper White cardstock. Again I used the Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to stamp the sentiments and flowers which I coloured with Stampin' Blends.
I used four strips of 1/2" x 4-1/2" (1 x 12 cm) DSP instead of ribbon to create the mechanism which allows the card to be opened from either side as shown in my video. This also allows you to see the beauty of both sides of the DSP.
It's amazing what items can trigger creativity and inspiration. I can hardly wait to discover something else in my home to recreate as a card!
