Envelope Tutorial!

So many of us make our own cards to give to people, but how many of you create a matching envelope? I usually stick mine in a run of the mill pre-made bought envelope that is either too big or too small for my card, not to mention plain and boring!

If you have the same problem, then worry no more!

I am here to solve your boring envelope dramas!

I came across this tutorial on the Scor-pal website with a fabulous envelope formula, and just had to share it with you guys! I've changed the formula a bit by converting it to Metric measurements. If you're using inches, then stick with the formula on the scor-pal website. :)

Here is the envelope I created:

I used double sided paper by We R Memory Keepers (a great way to use up old papers in your stash!), stamp and border punch by Fiskars, VersaMagic Jumbo Java Ink, and olive satin ribbon.

Here is the all important, never fail formula that will work no matter what size your card is:


Paper Size Formula:


1. Measure the size of your finished card.
2. The width of your paper will be the length of your finished card, PLUS 3cms.
3. The Length of your paper will be the width of your finished card x 2.5.


Score Lines Formula:


1. No matter how big or small your envelope is going to be, always score 1cm in along the longest sides.
2. Turn your paper so that the longest sides are at the top and bottom. Subtract 3cms from the width of your card - this is where your first score line will go. (e.g. if your card is 10cms wide, subtracting three with give you 7cms. Score the first line at 7cms).
3. Add the width of your card to the first score line PLUS 1cm. (e.g. 10cms (width) + 7cms (first score line) + 1cm = 18cms). This is where your 2nd score line will go.

There you have it! The secret to creating a perfect envelope every time!

Now I'll show you how I created my envelope:

You will need:

* A Scor-pal or other scoring tool
* A paper trimmer
* Scissors
* Double sided tape
* Corner rounder punch
* Double sided paper

These will give you the basic envelope shape. To customise, you will need:

* Stamps of your choice
* Inks
* Double sided foam mounting tape
* Ribbon
* Scalloped border punch

My finished card size was 10cms Wide x 14cms Long. All measurements in this tutorial are based on a card the same size. Replace my measurements with your own if your card is a different size.


Step 1:

Cut your double sided paper to 17cms x 25cms.

If using double sided paper, it is best to leave the plain side for the outside of the envelope, and the heavily patterned side for the inside of the envelope. This is so you can decorate the outside with stamps, and the person's name and/or address. For this tutorial, I have done all the scoring on the plain side of the paper so that you could see the score lines clearly in the photos. For you, make sure the plain side of the paper is face down when scoring. :)

Step 2:

Score lines at 1cm in from each of the longest sides like so:

Step 3:

Following the score lines formula above, score 2 lines down the width of your paper.

For my card, my score lines were at 7cms and 18cms.

Step 4:

Cut the scored tabs off each corner like so:

Step 5:

Use a corner rounder punch to round the corners of the tabs in the centre of the envelope. You will need to remove the guard from the punch to be able to access the corners properly.

Use a border punch on the top flap to create added interest. I used a scalloped edge punch, but any border punch would look cool!

Fold the middle flaps inward. Place double sided tape along the edges of the bottom flap, and fold up to adhere to the middle flaps.

Your envelope should now look like this:

That's the basic envelope finished! Now it's time to decorate!

Step 6:

Cut a piece of matching patterned paper to fit the bottom flap, leaving a 0.5cm border around each side. The bottom flap on my envelope was 7cmx x 15cmx, so I cut my paper to 6cms x 14cms. Ink around the edges, and adhere to the bottom flap leaving a border around each edge.

Stamp "Best Wishes" scalloped oval onto orange side of patterned paper with brown ink, then cut around the scallops.

Wrap ribbon around the top flap of the envelope using double sided tape, and tie in a bow on the left hand side.

Mount scalloped oval onto the right hand side using double sided foam mounting tape, overlapping the ribbon.

Ink around the edges of your envelope.

Your envelope should now look like this:

This leaves the other side of the envelope plain so that you can add more stamping, or the person's name etc.

Here is a close up:

If sending through the post, leave the bulky embellishments out, and just decorate the envelope with stamping, or patterned paper.

I secured my envelope shut with a small bit of adhesive tape in the centre of the top flap. If you're sending in the mail, use a long strip of adhesive. If you're hand delivering, you could secure the envelope shut with a ribbon wrapped around the whole envelope instead of just the top flap.

Other ideas:

* You could create the envelope out of plain white paper, then ink and stamp until your heart's content before folding and sealing!

* Create the envelope with the same papers that you used for your card for a uniform look. Why not make a matching gift box too?!

* Use stamps to spell out the person's name and address. Check out this gorgeous mail art envelope from Rachel Greig here. Doesn't that look awesome?!

I hope you liked today's tutorial!


If you're interested in buying a Scor-pal, you can get both Imperial and Metric ones from Stamp and Scrapbook Madness HERE.


Happy stamping!

~Sarah~

Christmas Creations!

Hello stampers!

I have 2 new entries to share today!

First we have a lovely Christmas gift box from talented youngster Emily Shultz:

Emily used this pizza box tutorial as the basis for her design, but changed the dimensions so that her box would fit a CD inside it for her dad. :)

Here's the inside:

From Emily:

"Once I had made the actual box template, I cut a square hole in the top. I used the baubles from the Kaisercraft “Doodled Christmas” clear stamp set on the lid, then embossed them with AED hot set powder and glittered them with AED white fizz glitter. I glued a square of “Striped Circles” chatterbox cardstock on the back of the lid to show through. I stuck the squares and the letters on to say Merry Christmas Dad. On the inside of the lid I used the back of “tie plaid” chatterbox paper and embossed the tree from Kaisercraft “Doodled Christmas” clear stamps. I also added kindy glitz to the star and punched out circles with DM on them as baubles to the tree".

Fantastic work Emily!

Next we have a gorgeous Christmas table decoration from Laurence Schmitz of Belgium:

Laurence used this template from Stampington as the basis for her design. Here's a close up:

From Laurence:

"I used recycled cardstock and covered it partially with gesso, stamped the text with brilliance ink and used a punchinella with green acrylic colour. The leaves are from a napkin and I used UTEE ,wire, beads and other embellishments. Stamps by Collections, and See D's".

Awesome work Laurence! What a cool idea - I'm totally going to have to give this a go!

That's it from me for the moment! I'm off to work on another tutorial for you all. :)

~Sarah~

Magic Box!

Hi everyone!

Today I have a very cool "Magic Box" that was sent in by Giovanna from Italy:

Giovanna used this tutorial as the basis for her creation. Gio's box is a little different as she has used match boxes instead of the square origami boxes:

From Giovanna:

"Before assembling the boxes I've sprayed them with Glimmermist (using a plastic tablecloth as a stencil) and stamped with CherryPie and Aladine stamps".

"The I've cut a rectangle from a cardstock and glued on it the three matchboxes, every one on a different side" (left, back, right).

Gio has then used some lovely beads as handles for the matchbox "drawers". 

Excellent work Gio!

OK stampers - only a few more days to get your entries in! So go and get inky! :)

~Sarah~

Money Box!

Hi stampers!

I've been blog hopping again and this time I came across a gorgeous money box made by French stamper Murielle:

Wouldn't this make a gorgeous "wishing well" type box for a wedding, or baby shower etc?! Here's the view from the top:

Murielle has used stamps from Whiff of Joy on her money box and coloured them with watercolour pencils. See more pics on her blog post HERE. (It's in french, so make sure you pick "English" in the google translator in the sidebar).

Murielle is on the design team for Whiff of Joy Stamps and has the most amazing and detailed creations on her blog - well worth a look so get comfy and check out her blog here. Such stunning work! I'm sure you'll add her to your favourites list!

Thanks for letting me share your gorgeous work Murielle!


I'll be back tomorrow with a new entry. :)

~Sarah~

I'm back with lots to show!

Sorry guys - I went AWOL there for a bit! I've had a very busy weekend - the low point being having to take my poor little man to the hospital for stitches after he fell over on the kitchen tiles and banged his head. :( He was very brave though, and now has 4 stitches and a bravery award from the doctor! LOL! He's doing really well, and has been jumping around the house giving me a heart attack all day! LOL!!

Anyhoo, it's time to see some more entries!

First up we have this lovely little gift satchel from Danielle Sheehan:

From Danielle:

"I stamped onto vellum using my Basic Grey paisley stamp set with white Stazon ink. I used scraps to make the box template, tag, flower and strip at the top and used the "thankyou" sentiment from the Darkroom Door Full Bloom collection for my tag also".

Great work Danielle!

Next we have this ultra-cool sewing kit box by Tania Davey:

Tania was inspired by those cute little sewing kits you get sometimes when you stay in a hotel - so she traced around one of the boxes whilst on holiday, then came home and created her own!

From Tania:

"I stamped the girl (Stampotique) and the Words (Making memories) then stamped again and cut them out to use as a mask. Then I stamped again with my huge text stamp, then inked the edges".

Awesome idea Tania!

Last but not least we have a gorgeous little pizza box from 10 year old Natasha Rumble:

From Natasha:

"I used pink bazzill as my base then I used some stripy paper for the top. Then I made the flowers with a martha stewart punchs then i coloured them with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I coloured in a "Whiff of Joy" stamp with distress inks. Next I put a charm on some chain".

Lovely work Natasha!

If you're looking to part with some of your hard earned cash, then pop on over to The Stamping Queen as they are having a store-wide 2nd Birthday sale! Sale is on now until Tuesday 27th October, so you'd better hurry! They're also doing giveaways during the sale over on the new blog, so check it out here.

I'll be back tomorrow with another gorgeous box that I found whilst blog surfing! :) And there is another tutorial on the way too which you won't want to miss!

Stay inky!

~Sarah~

Exquisite!

I was blog hopping the other day and came across Swedish crafter Rimna's blog after seeing her work featured on Inspirational.

On Rimna's blog I found the most exquisite gift box, so I emailed her straight away for her permission to share it with you guys! I am happy to report that she said yes! So check this out:

Absolutely gorgeous, don't you agree?!

But wait, there's more - check this out:

The decoration on the top pulls up to reveal a tag hidden inside the box! What a fabulous idea!

Rimna used a stamp from Swedish stamp company Inkido for the greeting on her tag.

The papers used are from Melissa Frances, and the box itself is a small paper box that she got from her medicine cupboard! She just cut the slit in the top and inserted her tag after she altered the box. :)

Simply stunning! This is such a cool idea!

Thanks for sharing it with us Rimna!

Pop over to Rimna's blog to see many more gorgeous projects!

~Sarah~

Gift Bag Tutorial!

Well, I've been promising you another tutorial, and I've finally had a chance to do it! :)

Today I'll be showing you how to create this lovely little gift bag:

I used this tutorial at splitcoast stampers as the basic idea for my gift bag, however I changed a few things like sizing and decoration. :)

So, to make a bag like mine, here's what you will need:

Materials:

* Plain white cardstock (untextured).
* Silver cardstock
* Kaisercraft stamps - Pennyroyale Collection
* Ink for embossing (I used TH clear Embossing Ink).
* Silver embossing powder
* Double sided tape
* Kaisercraft rhinestones
* Silver ribbon
* Glue (I used Scotch Tacky Adhesive).

Tools:

* Scor-pal or other scoring device
* Cropadile
* Scalloped oval die cutter or punch (I used nestabilities).
* Fiskars Effervescence Border Punch.

Method.


Step 1:

Cut a piece of silver cardstock to 11cms x 11cms. Using your Scor-pal, measure in 2cms from each side, and score a line the length of each side. Your silver cardstock should then look like this:

Step 2:

Score a line that runs diagonally through one of the small squares in the corner. Your score line should go from the very corner of the cardstock to the point where the other score lines meet, like so:

Do the same for all 4 corners.

Step 3:

Fold the sides inward at the 2cm score lines to create the sides of your box. Fold the corners in at the same time. Your paper should now look like this:

Glue the flaps down using a fast drying glue. You now have the base for your bag!

Step 4:

Cut your plain white cardstock to 10cms x 30cms. Stamp randomly over the whole piece with 2 different stamps using TH clear embossing ink.

This ink is perfect for embossing as it stays wet for longer leaving you enough time to stamp a fairly large area, and sprinkle over your embossing powder before it dries.

Step 5:

Sprinkle on Silver embossing powder and heat emboss using a heat tool.

I used the new American Crafts Zing embossing powder and it is great - I highly recommend it.

Step 6:

Now it's time to attach base. Attach double sided tape around the top and bottom edges of the side of the box base. Starting in the middle of one side, attach the bottom edge of the white cardstock to the box base. Make sure you're using a very strong adhesive so it won't come apart.

Keep going around all four edges. When it comes time to overlap the white cardstock, adhere a strip of double sided tape to the outside edge of the left hand side, and in inside edge of the right hand side. This will ensure a strong bond so that your bag won't bust apart. Your bag should now look like this:

Notice how the sides are rounded - make sure you don't crease large folds at each corner other wise you'll end up with a square box instead of a bag. :)

Step 7:

Cut a strip of silver cardstock to 2.5cms x 30cms, and punch a scalloped border using the Fiskars border punch.

Adhere double sided tape to the back of the scalloped border and attach to the bottom edge of the bag like so:

Again, start in the middle at the back of the bag, and overlap at the end.

Now doesn't that look pretty?! :) Of course, you could use any type of scalloped edge punch - ribbon or lace would look awesome too!

Step 8:

Die-cut a 5cm diameter scalloped edge circle out of silver cardstock using Nestabilities shape and a Cuttlebug machine. You could also use a scalloped edge circle punch.

Using the Scor-pal, or other scoring tool, score a line down the centre of the circle, then glue to the top lip of the box, with half the circle on the inside, and half the circle on the outside. Make sure that when you glue it on, it lies at the centre of the front or back side. Repeat for front and back. It should now look like this:

Using a Cropadile, punch a hole through the centre of each scalloped half-circle. This is where your ribbon will be threaded through.

Step 9:

Add Kaisercraft Rhinestones to the centre of each stamped image for a bit of bling! Here's a close up:

Step 10:

Fill your goodie bag with your gift, and tie a silver ribbon through the holes at the top to keep the bag closed.

Voila! One very stylish gift bag!

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial!

I am loving my new Scor-pal! If you are interested in buying one, you can get them here in both metric and imperial from Stamp and Scrapbook Madness. Stay tuned for a full review on the Scor-pal before the end of the month. :)

~Sarah~

A few tid-bits!

Hello stampers!

I have just finished making something cool for the tutorial I promised you, and am in the middle of uploading the pics as we speak! So make sure you check back later on tonight to see the latest tutorial from yours truly.

In the mean time, I have some exciting news! I can now officially announce that I will be teaching classes at Erina Scrapbook Store, starting in January! I have lots of exciting classes planned (not just scrapbooking!), so if you live on or near the NSW Central Coast, I'd love you to come along! Read the announcement here.

In other exciting news.......oh wait......I can't tell you that bit yet!!! LOL! Stay tuned for another very exciting announcement! :)

I'll leave you for now with this awesome Ooky Spooky limited edition kit from Tarisota Collections:

See the full list of included goodies here, and what's more, the first 10 orders will receive some very cool Fiskars halloween stamps for FREE:

Very cooooooooooooool! Order it here.

I'm off to upload the tutorial......

~Sarah~

Christmas Gift Box!

Hello again stampers!

Today's entry was sent in by Marianne Verschoof from The Netherlands:

Marianne's cute little Christmas box is going to hold candy as a gift for her neighbours - what a lovely idea!

Here's the back:

From Marianne:

"I folded a pink paper which i stamped with several stamps into this cute box with a decorative border. I decorated with Penny Black stamps and colored them with aquarel pencils.".

So gorgeous Marianne!


I can't wait to see what else will land in my inbox! So go get stamping! :)

~Sarah~

You guys have been busy!

Hello everyone!

You guys certainly have been busy - I have lots of new entries to share with you!

First for today is this very clever fabric shopping bag by Vicky Fernando:

Vicky used Adirondack Dye ink to stamp onto fabric which she added as a feature on her bag!

From Vicky:

"I used denim for the outside, & 100% printed cotton for the inside lining. The finished bag measures approx 18 inches x 14 inches".

"For stamping on fabric, the image will give great results if stamped onto wrinkle-free, tightly woven fabric, & as you need a hot, dry iron to set the image, cottons work best. Use your DYE inks, & stamp first onto scrap fabric, then when you`re happy with the stamp chosen, stamp onto the fabric. Allow a few minutes to dry and then iron on both sides of image without moving the iron about (just press for a few seconds at a time). If you want to make sure your image can pass the washing test, use a good fabric ink, otherwise, just heat set and wash gently".

Here are some close ups of the stamping:

Cool idea Vicky!

Next we have a lovely little pizza box which was sent in by Benedicte Skjelanger from Norway:

Benedicte used this tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers to create her box.

From Benedicte:

"I have used bazzill canvas cardstock to make the box, and I have decorated it using patterned paper and an old book page".

"The stamp is from Papirloftet.no and is called "Amor Gifter Seg" (Amor getting married) and is one of my favorite stamps! I used roses, leaves, rub-ons and charms on top of the box, and I have also decorated the inside of the box".

Lovely work Benedicte!

Now last but not least for today we have this sweet gift card box that was sent in by Lynne Quinn:

Lynne saw a similar box in a store, and came home and made one just like it! How very clever!

Lynne has used Santa & Merry Christmas Stamps by Darkroom Door, and a swirl stamp on the inside of the box. The box itself was made with Stampin' Up "Old Oliver" card stock, and "Ebony and Ivory" patterned paper from Kazazz.

Lynne's box holds handmade Christmas cards. The poinsettias were made with Quick Kuts dies, the cards were made with Stampin' Up white card stock, Quick Kuts dies, oval Nestabilities, and a Merry Christmas stamp from Darkroom Door.

Great work Lynne!

That's all from me for today - I do have another entry to share, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow morning! :) Aren't I a tease?! LOL!

Stay inky!

~Sarah~