On the 4th Day of Christmas

 

 We are sharing this quick & easy Gift Card Holder with you that will be very helpful this holiday season!

By using Shelly's Images PRECOLORED "One Last Stop" digi image, you can have all your gift card holders done in no time at all!

Let's get started!

Here are the materials you will need:

• 1 piece of card stock cut 8 1/2" x 4 7/8"
• design paper cut to three sizes ... (1) 4 3/4" x 2 7/8" for front cover (2) 4 3/4" x 1 7/8" for inside and lower front flap
• 1/8" Scor Tape (or red line tape)
• Shelly's Images precolored image
• embellishments of our choice

STEP 1:  After cutting your card stock (base card) to 8 1/2" x 4 7/8", score it at 2" and 5 1/2"

 STEP 2:  Cut designer paper to 4 3/4" x 2 7/8" and adhere to card front.  (This is a great way to use up those scraps.)
 

STEP 3:  Cut designer paper to 4 3/4" x 1 7/8" for the lower portion of the card front as well as the inside top panel.  (This way you will easily see the edge of the gift card enclosure panel. )

STEP 4:  Position a strip of 1/8" Scor-Tape to the left & right sides of the INSIDE of the lower panel.

STEP 5:  Adhere lower panel to inside back panel and your gift card holder is ready to decorate!

STEP 6:  Print & mat Shelly's Images PRECOLORED "ONE LAST STOP" digi image and adhere to your card front.  Add embellishments & sentiments to your liking!  VIOLA!  DONE!

ONE LAST STOP COLORED VERSION

 Be sure to stop back tomorrow for DAY 5 of our 12 Days of Christmas for more crafting fun! OH!  and if/when you make your gift card holders using Shelly's Images ... PLEASE stop back and share the link ... we'd LOVE to come to your blog and see your creations!  Happy Holidays!

HAVE FUN!

Shelly's Images Elf in Training!

Darlene

Tutorial Tuesday - Refilling Copic Markers

Happy Tuesday y'all and Happy Chilly Fall!

Grab your coffee - I've found a new favorite for my Kuerig machine 'Vanilla Mocha' with Heath Bar Creamer - YUMMO!!!

I've been colorin' like crazy lately and of course, all my Copics seem to need a little 'refillin' lately!

Well, I've got a simple way I thought I'd share with you to refill your markers.

So, all you need is is a Copic ink refill and matching marker that needs refilling.

Also, to make less mess if you have bad aim - I always have a piece of my trusty cardboard. =)

Remove cap of ink refill and cap of Copic Marker (the Broad tip end)

Carefully drop refill liquid onto broad tip end of the marker.

It takes a little time, but you don't have to spend the Moo-lah on the little refiller thing-a-ma-jiggy (yep, that's the technical name) AND you don't have to pull out the nib and potentially make a bigger mess with a spill.  =)

Happy Refillin'!  

Squash Fold Card Tutorial

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday!!!

Tuesday means it is time again for a Tutorial here at Shelly's Images and today I thought I would show you how to make this super simple "Squash Fold" card.  

This card can easily be made into any square measurement.  I happen to have both 5 x 5 and 6 x 6 square envelopes so I chose to make a 6 x 6 card for this tutorial.  **Don't forget...it costs more to send square cards**

For my 6 x 6 squash fold card I am starting with a 12 x 12 inch piece of card stock.  For a 5 x 5 squash fold card begin with a 10 x 10 inch piece of card stock.  My card stock is Bazzill Yam.
Score at 6 inches.  For a 5 x 5 card score at 5 inches.

Now turn the paper and score at 6 inches (or 5 inches for a 5 x 5 card).  Your paper should now have 4 equal sections scored.

We are ready now to score diagonally from one corner of our card stock to the opposite corner.  Only make ONE diagonal score.  For the 6 inch card it is a little hard to fit it on the score tool.  So here I have lined up one corner at the top with the middle score line. 

Now carefully fold the card open and score from one corner to the middle point.   

 Repeat the last step for the other corner so you end up with one full score line going from one corner to the opposite corner.

 Now fold along each score line and use the bone folder tool to make a nice fold.  Unfold and repeat for all score lines.

 To fold our squash fold card just fold in the sections that are made with the diagonal score.  The diagonal score will meet in the center.

 Here is another picture that shows the card folding closed.

Be sure to check back on Thursday to see my finished squash card and all of the other wonderful projects from our DT. 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial today.  And I hope you will try one of these fun folded cards!

Tutorial/Technique Tuesday

DID YOU KNOW . . .

that you can mail your dimensional cards in a clear box?

That's right!  I learned this recently and wanted to share it with all our Shelly's Images readers.

I have grown to LOVE making homemade paper flowers and hated to see them get smashed & out of shape when trying to package them for mailing!  

I wanted to put them on a card and send them in the mail to my friends without having to house them in a ton of tissue paper and a bubble bag.  Even for those store bought dimensional flowers (as used on the card below), this process works GREAT!

I have purchased both A2 & A6 size plastic boxes online at clearbags.com.  When I make a card with a lot of embellishments or homemade flowers on it, I immediately place it in one of these clear boxes.

 If I am preparing these for sale at the local craftshow or to my family/friends, I add a section of tissue paper (enough to wrap the card so it's still a surprise when opened), along with a 3' section of white organza ribbon and a small white tag.

 If you want to HAND DELIVER the card, you can wrap it in the tissue paper OR, you can simply wrap the outside of the box with the ribbon and place your sentiment on the little tag! 

 If you choose to MAIL it via the US POST OFFICE, you only need to follow a few easy steps:

• Use a piece of clear packing tape on the ends to secure it from popping open,
• Place your address label on the front,
• Adhere $1.95 (US) postage.

That's all there is to it!

After showing my mother & her gentleman friend my "special" cards and how to send them in these clear boxes, this is what they have been doing for those "special" people who don't live close by or that they don't see very often.  They said they always get wonderful comments back from the recipients saying "what a fabulous surprise they received in the mail today"!!

I'm sorry to say I don't know how this process would work for our friends 'across the pond' ... but you could put one together, take it to your mailing facility and see what they say!

Well that's it for me today!  PLEASE come back on Thursday when we will have another fun challenge to share with you!  Hope to see you then!!

How to make your own "Pearl" Embellishments

Ready for another tutorial here at Shelly's Images?

Today I am going to show you my technique for making Hot Glue "pearls" or embellishments.  

Hot Glue Pearl Template File
http://www.4shared.com/file/T8qDazvY/gluepearltemplate.html
(technical difficulties...to get this file just copy and paste the above link into your internet browser)

I hope you enjoy our tutorial and I hope you try this technique.  If you use our tutorial be sure to share your projects with us.  We love seeing projects inspired by our tutorials.

We have many, many tutorials here at Shelly's Images.  Visit the labels area on the right side of our blog to see lots of categories for our projects and tutorials.  Or click our "Tutorial Library".  

TUTORIAL TUESDAY

Hi girls, it's me Amanda again, hope you're all are doing fine! Today I'm gonna share an oldie, but a goodie, a criss-cross card, and you don't need a bunch of stuff. So let's begin: You Need:

a piece of cardstock side 12 x 4 inch, a scoringtool, tape, knife.

Score at 4 and 8 inch and fold it.

Cut diagonal at the left and the right stroke, as shown.

Put some tape left and right at the bottom, after that fold the card together. A little tip, if you want to decorate the inside, you first have to do, before closing the card with the tape.

For finishing it, you need an extra piece of papier, just a little smaller than 4 x 4 to put into it. Now you can decorate it as you please. This criss-cross-card is 4 x 4 inch, you can adjust the size easy, only you need more paper, for a 6 x 6 you need to cut two strokes 6 x 12, socre at 6 and glue the 2 strokes together, the middle piece would be a double then.

I hope you like it, and if you're curious how mine turned out, you just have to come back on Thursday, we have an awesome new challenge for you, and the team made some real great and gorgeous creations to share with you, really spectacular!!!

Greetings Amanda for Shelly's Images DT

Tri Shutter Card Tutorial

Welcome to another Tutorial/Technique Tuesday 

here at Shelly's Images.

I know you've seen this fancy fold card tutorial around the internet but it's worth showcasing once again.

It's the TRI-SHUTTER FOLD CARD.

I have made several of this type of card for this fall's craftshow ... it always carries that WOW! factor.

LET'S GET STARTED!
You can created TWO Tri-Shutter cards from
ONE 12x12 sheet of cardstock
(at least 80# weight or more is best for this style).  

For your base you will need to cut your 12 x 12 paper
at 5-1/2" x 12".
Then with your 12" length across your Scor Pal,  
score down at 2", 4", 8", 10".

Next you will need to TURN your paper,
and 1-1/2" in from each side you will CUT 
between the 2" & 10" Score Lines.

(HINT:  I score my line first ... then use my craft knife and cut down through the score line.)

Now accordion fold your score lines ...
REVERSE the fold on the middle panel ...
It will look like this, looking DOWN on it ...

Now it's time to choose & cut your design panels.
 (HINT:  I have made myself a template and marked the dimensions for the inside panels on each section ... that way I don't have to read over again & again from my notes or remeasure each time.)

 Today I'm making a children's birthday card using  Winnie-The-Pooh so I'm going to use cardstock panels that match the rub-on stickers I have to decorate the card with.

AND HERE'S MY FINISHED CARD!
Isn't it cute?

BELOW is the card closed ...
You will notice that when you close it, the two 'inner' longer panels do show  ... which means that I should have positioned Eeyore more to the right on the top panel ... and maybe cut my sentiment panel so just the word 'friends' showed on the bottom panel.

SEE THERE ... we are learning together!!!  LOL!!

(NOTE TO SELF:  look at the card in 'closed' position before adhering characters!) 

Well that's my tutorial for you today!
I hope you'll give this fancy fold a try, then come back and share it with us!

PLEASE BE SURE TO COME BACK THURSDAY FOR ANOTHER FUN CHALLENGE!

Have a FABULOUS, FUN day!

Tutorial Tuesday: Glittered Glue Snowflakes

While I’m not quite ready for cold weather and the S-word (SNOW), there’s nothing wrong with a little planning ahead for some neat homemade ‘winter’ embellishments.

So, what are we making today?  Well Glittery Snowflakes made from Glue and Glitter.  =)

Now, anyone who knows me knows, my idea of playing with glitter is using STICKLES!!  No mess is a big deal in my house – my long haired over-fed furbaby Gizmo tends to park his portly little fluffy body on my studio table on a pretty regular basis.  See below -

So, for me to get the 'REAL’ glitter out is a big deal!

What you’ll need – it’s pretty simple – and you probably have around your studio already.

White glue (I used Elmer’s Glue, but any white glue should work)

Glitter (I used silver glitter – pick your color)

A piece of clear Acrylic (I cut a piece off my new paper trimmer packaging).

White piece of paper with a snowflake on it (I stamped my snowflake in black ink on the white paper – Stamp was from Studio G Stamps).

Place the acrylic sheet over the snowflake image (above)

With your white glue, trace the snowflake on the plastic – use your judgment because with the glue, it will likely spread depending on the size of the spout. 

I tried to take a photo of what it looked like while still on top of the stamped image.  As you can see, I didn’t trace ALL of the stamped snowflake in glue.

Here’s a better photo – this is what it looked like when I was finished glue tracing.

So, take your messy glitter, dump it on your white glue snowflake – carefully tap off as much excess glitter as you can, but be careful – the glue will need to dry so it doesn’t get all smudgy.  You can dust off any remaining glitter once it’s dry.

I let my snowflake dry for at least 24 hours.  I didn’t want to try & use a heating tool since the snowflake is on acrylic (which may warp and melt with heat).  I ALMOST got the heating tool out, but then rethought that thought and figured it was important enough to share with you all.  =)

Carefully peel your glittery snowflake off the acrylic sheet and add it to any project you’d like.  =)
Of course, I haven't gotten that far (using it on a project yet).

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  My apologies if you try this and your entire family has some form of glitter on them for several weeks to come.  My hubby just mentioned that I had it all over my face and the cat looked a bit ‘glittery’. 

Yep, that’s what happens when you get the real glitter out.

Hugs & Happy Days!