Saturday, January 19, 2013

My Calypso Friend

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Happy Saturday, peeps!  Do you have some stamping/fun time scheduled today?  I have a little free time, I hope I can get some in!  Meanwhile, I wanted to share a card with you that highlights some of the new mini catalog products:  Tea for Two Designer Fabric, Itty Bitties and the Borders Scoring Plate.  I love orange hues almost as much as I love blues, so when I saw the Tea for Two fabric, I knew it would be on my wish list!
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But before I worked on the fabric, I cut my cardstock and embossed a little line of dots & scallops at the bottom border.  Can you see it there?  A big thing to remember when using the Borders plate is that you must work on the BACK of your project!!!!  I’ll give you a couple other hints at the end of the post, too!  Then I cut a strip of fabric about 10” long for my card with my pinking shears and gathered it on my machine with a basting stitch.  That step was rather moot, as my thread ended up breaking just before I adhered it to the card, so I didn’t bother to re-sew, just sort of hand-gathered it on top of a line of sticky strip.
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I added another line of sticky strip on top of the gather and adhered my ribbon.  The final touch was the image from Perfect Punches and the little bird from Itty Bitties:
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There are so many fun little images in that set, I find myself looking for ways to use it!
So here are some tips I have found helpful for using the Borders plate:
  • Remember to have your project face down before you emboss!!!
  • Use blue painter’s tape (my hubby wanted to know when I was going to return his and I told him NEVER—go buy some new) to anchor your project in place.  I used little bits, but do be careful, as it is not foolproof and it will tear the cardstock or paper if you don’t use a gentle hand when removing it!  I speak from experience!  This tape is also good for anchoring your dies in the Big Shot!
  • A piece of waxed paper rubbed on your cardstock along the embossing area beforehand helps the stylus emboss smoothly.
  • Hold your stylus upright, perpendicular to your project, not at an angle, to get the best embossing.
  • If you butt your cardstock all the way to the top of the scoring plate and don’t get that last little area embossed because of the way the overlay is created (if you own one of these, you’ll know what I mean), do your embossing, remove the overlay and finish that last little bit without it.
Hope those tips help a little.  The Borders plate looks intimidating, but it is definitely a cool tool that helps to add interest to your cards!  If you have any questions, please shoot me an email!!!  Again, I cannot always answer your questions from the comment screen, so email is best!  And be sure to come back tomorrow for the Paper Players challenge!

Cassidy managed to get my church bulletin from my Bible and found fun ways to play with it:
Reading:
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Arranging (she seems to like doing this to a lot of things):
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and making it fly in the air!
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Enjoy your day!

11 comments:

mudmaven said...

Oh my this is gorgeous! I had been resisting buying any more fabric, but now .... going to have to put it on my next order! Beautiful! ~chris

stampwithsandy said...

So pretty, Leanne! I love coral, too, and really love your fabric ruffle. Great card!

None None said...

I love the ruffle you created and this is such a cheery card! Thanks for the tips on the border plate. I haven't ordered it yet, but plan to do so when SAB is in full swing. I hear you on the blue painters tape - a little will do the job. I did find an easier product to use - post-it tape available at your local office supply store or on line. I use it for masking, holding my Framelits in place. It's reusable so I keep a few small pieces stuck to my Big Shot so I am not always tearing of a small strip.

Sherry Eckblad said...

Just beautiful. Reminds me of curtains.

MarvA1ix said...

Where do you come up with these wonderful ideas? You are so clever. I love the ruffle of fabric on a card. Never saw that done before. Simply stunning. Might have to make one up for my open house display :)

Unknown said...

wow, wow, WOW! That fabric ruffle is AMAZING girl! Love these colors, too:) Hope you are having an awesome weekend! *hugs*

Bonnie said...

That is some pretty fabric and it made a delightful card! I love Cassidy's creativity with that bulletin!

Tracey McNeely said...

A beautiful ruffle on your card LeAnne, just fantastic!

Darlene Gabriel said...

What a gorgeous Calypso card. You make this colour look wonderful. I love the gathered fabric here and this sweet sentiment.
Fun to see all the things Cassidy can do with your bulletin .......I only thought we could read it;)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the tips! Especially the blue tape. Me thinks I need to go out & raid hubby's stash now :) I need help with those skinny EF's. Maybe if I can get them straight, I'll order more LOL!!
Happy Sunday!!

Linda said...

I love those pink PJs so sweet!
Very pretty card. The embossing looks great and it must take some time to do make it look so good.