'Imagine The Possibilities' Interactive Ladder Folio and Tags featuring Blockheads Stamps and Products!

Hello Stamping Friends!

Could you imagine the possibilities of the many uses for a fun and exciting mini interactive expanding portfolio?  I did when I was inspired to design one using architectural and astrological imagery available from Blockheads Paper Arts!  The Ladder Folio I designed has 3 pockets where I imagined I could write down my 3 wishes on the matching decorative tags I made.  I could also tuck in notes on my goals and keepsakes relating to my wishes!   The Ladder Folio is perfect for scrapbook pages, embellishing an Altered Book page or for mini books of any kind!  The possibilities really are limitless so lets get started on the construction before you dream away the rest of your day ;0) 

Just a note:  I apologize in advance if any of the line spacing, links or fonts are really weird in this tutorial!  Blogger doesn't support Mac users and even though I'm using Firefox as they suggest my posts still go completely nuts in places once I publish regardless of how much I edit the html before hand :0(

The Ladder Folio Construction!

To construct the Ladder Folio I used the following supplies:

Black cardstock, 

Martha Steward Scoring Board

Paper Trimmer and Scissors

pencil and ruler

Xacto knife

Circle punch

Double sided sticky tape

This is another tricky project to do like my Spring 3D Pop-Up Easter Egg Card, so I made a template based on the measurements of my ladder folio design that I created just for this project for you to use.  My tutorial will walk you through each step so I'm sure you'll be able to follow along!  Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments section if you get lost!

From black cardstock I cut out:

one 3" x 11" panel, one square 3" x 3" panel, two square 3.25" x 3.25" cover panels.

 

The long panel is the ladder part of the design.  Score the fold lines on a score board.  I really like the Martha Stewart version because it has grooves evenly spaced across the entire board.  Also score the fold lines on the three envelopes too.  Punch half circle notches out of the envelopes with a circle punch.

Cut out the sections with an Xacto knife.

Fold the ladder section like an accordian, starting and finishing with a mountain fold.  Adhere the back square panel to the last fold with double sided sticky tape.

 

 

Fold the envelopes with the top flap folded backwards and adhere together with strips of double sided sticky tape on the side flaps.

All the main components of the Ladder Folio are now ready for stamping! 

 

 

The Stamping!

To decorate the components of the Ladder Folio I used the following supplies:

Blockheads Paper Arts rubber stamps:

Stargazer Sheet

Architecture Sheet AR501

Backgrounds For All Occassions BG501

White cardstock

Brilliance Platinum Planet pigment ink

Versafine Onyx Black instant dry pigment ink

ColorBox Fluid Chalk inks:

Lavender, Wisteria, French Blue, Prussian Blue

Stipple brushes

Marvy corner punch

Marvy Tag punch or Spellbinder die

Paper Trimmer and Scissors

pencil and ruler

Post-It notes

I started off by stamping the front of the three envelopes with a combination of two background stamps, the retro border and the diamond background.  Placing the two stamps on the acrylic block together as one unit makes stamping the design much easier!  I also used a scrap piece of paper to mask the half circle notch to ensure I didn't stamp on the inside of the envelopes too.  I used Brilliance Platinum Planet silver pigment ink to stamp the images and put them aside to dry.  

I also stamped the retro border image onto the 7th and 8th fold of the accordian in Brilliance Platinum Planet and used post-it notes to mask the areas I didn't want to stamp.

I created a colourful background by applying Lavender and French Blue Fluid Chalk inks to white cardstock with stipple brushes.

For the covers of the Ladder Folio and the tags I stamped the following:

2 of the Stargazer collage, 2 of the Architectural collage and one of the second Architectural collage that comes with the stamp set as well as the 'Imagine the Possibilities' saying in Versafine Onyx Black onto the coloured cardstock and cut out one each of two of the images to make two 3" x 3" square panels for the covers and a narrow panel for the saying.  The remaining images I used to punch out 3 tages.

 

At this point I used a corner punch on the three panels so that all the card edges would be emphasized when I applied the darker inks in the next step.

 

I applied Prussian Blue Chalk ink to just the outer edge areas of the blue sections with a stipple brush.

And did the same to the purple areas with Wisteria Chalk ink.

Everything is now ready to start assembling the Ladder Folio!

 The Ladder Folio!

Double sided sticky tape and permanent adhesive tape runner 

Permanent glue dots and Crafter's Pick Ultimate glue

Purple/Blue Ladder Fibers, Silver cord and Silver elastic cord

Silver metallic paint pen 

Triangle hole punch

Mini purple staples

Galvanized wheel washer

Sticker jewel

Foam tape

Start assembling the Ladder Folio by sliding the first envelop through the first slot and fold the flap over the first rung of the ladder.

 Adhere the envelope flap to the back of the first ladder rung.

Do the same for the second envelope.

The third envelope flap goes through the top narrow slot and adheres to the back of the last ladder rung.

 Edge the two black cover panels with a silver metallic paint pen and adhere them to the Ladder Folio panel with double sided sticky tape.

 

Then adhere the two stamped panels to the Ladder Folio covers with permanent adhesive tape.

At this point I made the 'closure' for Ladder Folio out of the 'Imagine the Possibilities' panel.  I attached the stamped panel to a slightly larger piece of black cardstock and then adhered the two ends of a length of silver elastic cord to the back with double sided sticky tape and also secured the ends with mini purple staples.  I wanted the staples to show but you could always hide them by adhering the stamped panel to the cardstock after stapling!  To make up for the thickness of the elastic cord apply two strips of foam tape to the back of the cardstock and then adhere to another piece of black cardstock.

 

Adhere the 'closure' panel to the front cover of the Ladder Folio with permanent glue dots.

 

Punch triangle holes in the three tags.

And embellish with purple/blue ladder fiber and silver cord.

Embellish the front of the 'closure' panel with a galvanized metal washer that looks like a wheel cog and a sticker jewel in the center for extra bling!  I used Crafter's Pick Ultimate glue to adhere the washer.

The finished Ladder Folio can be displayed standing up and held closed by pulling the elastic cord round to the back.

 

Or it can hang up on a wall with all the ladder rungs expanded for easy access to the little envelope pockets!  You could have many of these decorating your work space or your crafty space with all sorts of goodies tucked into the pockets!

 

I hope you enjoyed my project and will stop by every week for another of my Blockheads Design Team tutorials!  Don't forget to also check out my fellow Design Teamster's blog for more Blockheads creations!  Karen has a great faux linen technique for you to try out!

Stamping Hugs!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Blockheads Design Team

Calendula Mother's Day Card featuring Blockheads Rubber Stamps!

Hello Stampers!

Thanks for stopping by my blog to check out my latest Design Team tutorial for Blockheads Paper Arts :0)  I'm sharing with you today an awesome Mother's Day card featuring the Blockheads large 'Calendula' flower and 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment rubber stamps!

Here's a shout out to all the Moms out there!  Don't forget that May 8th is Mother's Day here in the USA and in South Africa!  My Mom gets to celebrate twice a year coz she lives in the UK with my sister and UK Mother's Day was April 3rd this year ;0)

The main feature of my card is the gorgeous large Calendula flower and sentiment stamp available from Blockheads Paper Arts.  If you want to get your hands on these stamps there are a couple of options available for you!
You can get the individual stamp image or as part of a full flower sheet.  
The sentiment stamp is available as part of the Daisy half sheet or the 
Daisy Verses sentiment set!

Before inking up the Calendula flower stamp mask off the 'calendula' word portion of the stamp with sticky tape or the sticky part of a post-it note.  Ink up the stamp with black Memento dye ink and remove the mask.  TIP:  Memento dye ink is recommended for use with markers and watercolour techniques because the ink doesn't bleed when you colour over the stamped lines!

Stamp the large Calendula and the 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment onto a sheet of white cardstock or paper suitable for use with Copic markers.  I actually like to use Strathmore Bristol 300 Series smooth paper which you can easily pick up at any arts and crafts store!

Colour the Calendula flowers with Y11 Pale Yellow then add shading with Y17 Golden Yellow to just the petals and blend with Y11.   Colour the flower centers and add depth to the petals with Y38 Honey and blend with Y11.  Colour the stems and leaves with a combination of G000 Pale Green, G82 Spring Dim Green and G85 Verdigris.  Shade and add depth with the two darker colours and blend everything together with G000.  Create a suitable sky background with pastel pencil Spectrum Blue 32B and blend with a Dove blender pen.

  

I decided to split the image into two sections and used a rectangle Quickutz/Spellbinder die to cut out the two panels.  I started with the bottom panel and faced the die down so I could see exactly what I would be cutting out.   

But in these next photos you'll see it wasn't as easy to eye-ball the placement so I turned the die around (i.e. cutting side up), decided on the placement and penciled in some registration marks so that when I turned the die back round again I could line it up perfectly.

  

TIP:  use pieces of repositionable sticky tape to hold the dies in place!

Cut mats for each panel and the sentiment panel from sage green and yellow cardstock.  Layer and adhere in place with permanent tape.

 
I used white cardstock for my folded card and cut a mat just slightly smaller than the folded card from sage green cardstock.   Emboss the mat with a Cuttlebug plaid design.  The embossing folder is actually part of the Winter Wonderland set but I think that plaid design can be used all year round!

Cut a length of yellow ribbon with a white flower design and adhere it to the center of the embossed panel with double sided sticky tape.  Fold the ends and adhere to the back of the mat.  I also cut a slightly larger mat from yellow cardstock and adhered the embossed panel to it and then both mats to the white card with double sided sticky tape.

Adhere the sentiment panel on top of the ribbon slightly off center and the two flower panels on the left hand side of the card with double sided sticky tape.  Embellish the finished card with a large brass leaf charm.

  

  

The charm has a hollow back so I used a 3D pop dot to attach it.  The 3D pop dots are very cool to use coz they're obviously much thicker than regular pop dots!

The result is a very striking floral themed card that any Mom will be proud to receive ;0)

Happy Mother's Day and as always Happy Stamping!

 

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

Blockheads Design Team Member

DominoART is celebrating it's 9th year! Come join us!

Hello Stampers!

I'm the owner of the Yahoo group DominoART and we are celebrating 9 years of being online this month!  Woohoo!

I'm throwing a B-Day Bash with games and contests so if you've been wondering what all the craze is about with game art then there's no better time to come and join us than now!

There are two very easy ways to join the DominoART group!

Via email at dominoart-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or the web!  All the DominoART words above are clickable links and will take you straight there!

I hope to see you there soon :0)

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

"Pretty As a Picture" Poppy Watercolour Painting Oval Card featuring Blockheads stamps!

Hello Stamping Friends!

"Pretty As a Picture" 
Poppy Watercolour Painting Oval Card

I've got another Egg shaped card for you today featuring more of Blockheads Paper Arts rubber stamps and products!  I designed this oval shaped card for those of you who wanted some Spring/Easter inspiration but needed something a little bit easier to do than my Spring 3D Pop-Up Easter Egg Card ;0)

This one will be a snap for those of you lucky to own some of the new grand or mega Spellbinder dies but don't worry those are not a requirement at all coz you can easily make your own oval templates!

The main focal point of this card is the gorgeous Poppy rubber stamp available from Blockheads!  This image lends itself to so many stamping techniques but for this tutorial I wanted to show you how you can create a watercolour painting with rubber stamps and then turn it into a beautiful handmade card that will surely be treasured by all who receive one ;0)  So lets get started...

Ink up the stamp with any dye ink in a light neutral colour, I used Ancient Page Stone Gray, and remove most of the ink by stamping it onto a piece of scrap paper.  Immediately stamp again onto a sheet of paper designed for use with watercolour paints/pencils or markers.  The stamped image should be faint but still visible enough for you to see for colouring.  

 

I coloured the flower and the background with a combination of pastel pencils and watercolour pencils and blended them with a Dove blender pen to create the look of a watercolour painting.

 

I don't have any large oval Spellbinder dies yet so I made my own out of chipboard and traced the shape onto my poppy painting, cut it out and then edged the oval with a broad point black paint pen.  

 

At this point I decided to punch up the colouring of the petals a bit more and added just a touch of R27 (red) Copic marker and blended it a bit with a Copic colourless blender.

I then stamped the sentiment 'For You' from the Blockheads FL501-2C Sentiment Stamp Set in Memento Tuxedo black ink onto the same paper I used for the poppy painting (so the shade of white would match) and used a Spellbinder die to cut out the oval shape.

Then based on the size of my poppy painting I made more chipboard oval templates to create the mat layers for the poppy panel and also the sentiment piece in red, white and black cardstock.  I cut the large red and white mats out with scalloped 'Cloud' Fiskars scissors - those larger Spellbinders dies would make this part so much easier, going to have to get some of those for sure!  I used black cardstock to make the folded oval shaped card with a flat part at the top where the card folds and a flat part at the bottom to allow the card to stand.

 

I then glued the large red oval to the white mat (the same white paper I used for the poppy painting) with a permanent adhesive tape runner and also adhered a piece of black and red ribbon, available at Michaels, to the red mat and secured the ends with double-sided sticky tape to the back of the white mat.  

Then attached the layers to the black folded card and adhered the poppy painting to the red mat with permanent adhesive and assembled the sentiment piece too.

  

Next I cut a swirly flourish out of black cardstock with a Sizzix die and trimmed off the left hand swirl to use on another part of the card.

 

I attached the main flourish to the sentiment and then the whole piece to the front of the card with permanent adhesive tape.  I also put a dab of glue onto the small flourish piece I trimmed off and adhered it to the card by tucking it behind the poppy layer.

I finished off my Poppy card with a beautiful bow made from the same ribbon I used on the mat layers.  I cut the ends of the ribbon into dove tail points and adhered it to the card with a glue dot.

I hope I've inspired you to try your hand at creating watercolour paintings with your rubber stamps and turning them into beautiful cards sure to please!  I don't think this card will make it to the trash can, do you? :0) 

For more inspiration please check out my other tutorials and also pop on over to see what, Karen, my fellow Blockheads Design Teamster is up to!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week! 

Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
Blockheads Design Team Member