Pick of the Week - The House That Stamps Built

Pick of the Week ~ Swiss Cheese Gate Fold Card

Feb 182019

Happy Monday, everyone! Today is my turn to share a Pick of the Week with you. A few weeks ago, RI Rock Star, Esther Asbury created a fabulous card for one of our challenges and she used my Cheese Heart Mouse stamp as the focal image. I’d forgotten how cute he is and decided I just “had” to try to put him to good use myself.

Knowing it would be my turn soon to create something for our Pick of the Week post, I had to put my thinking cap on. Needless to say I was coming up empty, until one sleepless night last week when a few ideas started rolling around in my head. Geez… Why they wait until 3am is beyond me, but at least the creative juices finally started flowing. So in the middle of the night I decided I’d bring back a simple oldie, but goodie… a gate fold style card. But with a bit of a twist… to go with my sweet Cheese Heart Mouse I became obsessed with the idea of making the gate flaps look like swiss cheese. Ha!

After a bit of tinkering with how to keep the card closed, everything else just seemed to fall into place as I had envisioned it. It’s a pretty simple card really, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out considering I rarely do any stamping anymore these days. Here is my final result.

The supplies used are as follows:
Repeat Impressions stamps 4205-G, Cheese Heart Mouse and 8608-D, Special
8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ yellow card stock, plus a scrap piece of the same
4 1/8″ x 5 1/2″ white card stock
Momento Tuxedo Black ink
Ranger Beach Ball Yellow ink
EK Success 2″ Circle Punch
McGill 1 11/16″ Circle Punch
Marvy 1″ Circle Punch
1/4″ round paper punch
Sponge or dauber
Markers
Dimensional tape
3M Double-sided tape
Scor-pal
Scissors

Start by cutting the card stocks to size. Then use the Scor-pal to score the yellow card stock for a gate fold card. The Scor-pal board is pre-marked for a gate fold which comes in very handy. But if you don’t have their scoring board then just position your card stock the wide way and measure in 2 1/8″ from both ends and score.

I wasn’t sure when I got this idea if the big punch would work as I had hoped, but it turned out just fine. So after scoring the card stock, fold it closed on the score marks and then slide both the flaps into the punch together (the base of the punch will actually be inside the closed card at this point). Just eyeball it for as close to centered as you can. Punch out the big circle that will create the frame for the mouse.

Now I used my scrap piece of yellow card stock to punch out 2 circles… one with the 1 11/16″ punch and one with the 1″ punch. Then I sponged yellow ink around the edges of both circles. These circles will be used as the closure for the card.

Apply a small piece of double-sided tape to the back of the larger circle, taking care to position the tape close to one edge. Affix the circle to the front of the right gate panel with a good portion of the circle extending beyond the edge of the gate.

Affix a small piece of dimensional tape to the back of the smaller circle. Fold the gates closed and affix the smaller circle to the left gate panel making sure that this circle overlaps the other one a bit. This is the “latch” that helps to keep the gate closed.

Now that we have the mechanics of the gate done, its time to have some fun and turn the rest of the gate panels into swiss cheese. Use the 1″ and 1/4″ punches and to create the look you like.

After you finish punching, open the card flat with the outside facing up. Put a piece of scrap paper under the yellow card stock. Using the yellow ink and a sponge or dauber, apply some ink around the circle cut outs to add a bit of dimension.

Fold the card back to closed and slide the white card stock panel inside. I recommend not affixing it to the card base yet in case you have an “oopsie”. With the white card stock in position, ink up the mouse with black ink and stamp it inside the circle. If you are pleased with the results then go ahead and stamp the sentiment an inch or so below the mouse. But if you mess up don’t despair, just flip the white card stock over and try again. Use markers to color the mouse.

While you have the mouse stamp handy, ink it again and stamp it on a scrap of the yellow card stock. Color the mouse hands and add some highlights to the cheese. Use scissors and fussy cut out the mouse hands along with the cheese. Use a small piece of dimensional tape and affix this cheese on top of the cheese stamped on the white panel earlier.

Use a little double-sided tape and affix the white panel inside the yellow card base. Slide the larger yellow circle under the smaller one to close the card. It may want pop open at first, but by pressing it closed and letting it sit for a bit it will be just fine.

I hope you enjoyed my middle of the night brainstorming and might give this card a try. And remember, Pick of the Week stamps used are always available to you at a discount, but only for the week they are posted.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope you’ll join us for our next challenge starting on Wednesday.

Happy stamping… always!

~ Wendy

For this week only (Feb. 18-24, 2019), get 20% Off the stamps used in Wendy’s creation above when you use the coupon code POTW21819

Pick of the Week ~ Valentine Treat Card

Pick of the Week

Feb 112019

This week here at The House That Stamps Built, it is my turn to do a Pick of the Week. This quick and easy Valentine greeting is “full” of goodies and quick and easy to make. If you have some foil wrapped chocolate hearts then you can make a few of these before LOVE day. I will “reveal” what is inside at the end of my post.

First the supplies are everything that most of us have on hand.

I chose two stamps to use with my project, 1204-I LOVE, and I thought the 1219-C Love Letter went very well with this project. As you can see the supplies are very basic. You will need a piece of kraft card stock measuring 6 1/4″ x 5 1/2″, score on the 6 1/4 inch side at 2 3/4″ and 3 1/2″, fold score lines both mountain folds. You will need a piece of coordinating card stock measuring 5″ x 2 5/8″ for you to stamp on. You will need a piece of ribbon about 12″ long, and oh 3 yummy chocolate hearts. These are Reese’s Peanut Butter hearts (my hubby’s favorite).

I dug around in my tool drawer and found my stamp position tool (yes I still use this tool.) I stamped it once on the acrylic piece that comes with this tool and then using that as my guide I stamped the LOVE a total of three times lining it up pretty close. I then decided where I wanted my ribbon and made just a small pencil mark and then random stamped the love letter on the bottom.

I added my ribbon with glue dots and added some black splatters - I like red, white, kraft and black combination.

Oh I think I said I would show you what was on the inside well here is the card opened. I used some double sided foam tape to hold my chocolate hearts inside. I can assure you they won’t be there very long.

Why not grab some supplies and make a couple of these before Valentine Day. A trip to the store for chocolate hearts and you have a card and a giftie.

~ Shirley

For this week only (Feb. 10-17, 2019), get 20% Off the stamps used in Shirley’s creation above when you use the coupon code POTW21119

Pick of the Week ~ Upcycling for Cardmaking

Pick of the Week

Feb 042019

Hello, it’s my turn for a Pick of the Week and this go around I’ve decided to do a bit of upcycling. So, here is the definition I found on the subject.

Upcycling: Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless and/or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

I saved this paper bag and cut it down to use as a back drop on the card below.

To obtain additional texture on this, I crumbled up the paper bag, unrolled it and then used vintage photo distress ink direct to paper to bring out some of the creases. I then adhered it onto a piece of white cardstock using Distress Collage Medium in vintage. The 6806-U Sheet Music stamp was used for the next layer. I tore the cardstock and distressed it a bit too, then painted on some more collage medium. The canvas heart was left over from last weeks card, so I stuck that on here with another die cut for added interest. The 6104-J Birthday Vertical sentiment is stamped onto the back of the paper bag (plain side) and layered with dark brown cardstock.

The collage medium in vintage brown was really fun to work with. Great glue to get all the bits and pieces onto the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Laurie

For this week only (Feb. 4-10, 2019), get 20% Off the stamps used in Laurie’s creation above when you use the coupon code POTW2419

Pick of the Week ~ Frame and Sentiment Cards

Pick of the Week

Jan 282019

Today Wendy, owner of Repeat Impressions is allowing me to pick a few stamps that I enjoy working with. I challenged myself to make a card with no images, just making a sentiment the focal point of the card. In order to really highlight the sentiment, I used some of Wendy’s frames - love, love, love these frames. Here is what I did.

I am just crazy about the 3114-I Just hand over the stamps sentiment. There is a huge category of stamping verses and sayings - check out Stamping Verses and Stampers Christmas Carols - really cute and some really funny! The frame for this one is called 1514-J Billboard Border.

This one uses the large “thanks” from the set of unmounted stamps called Thanks Plate 10000 and the frame is 10504-Q Wavy Oval Frame Lg from the Frames ~ Oval & Round set.