Tutorial Tuesday - Double Z to Diamond Fold

I've been having a great time lately producing cards using ALL DIFFERENT FANCY FOLDS and came upon a fabulous discovery that I think you'll enjoy!

I started out by working on a Double Z-Fold 

card using the following instructions:

• One 5 1/4 x 12" piece of cardstock for card base (you get TWO out of a 12x12)
• Two 1 3/4" x 5" piece of cardstock (or patterned paper) for side panels
• One 3 3/4" x 5" piece of cardstock (or patterned paper) for inside of card

 STEP 1:

Score the 5 1/4" x 12" piece at 2", 4", 8" and 10"

STEP 2:

Fold second score line in.

STEP 3:

Fold the first score line back.

(sorry for the blurry photo)

STEP 4:

Repeat Steps 2 & 3 on other side of cardstock.  

Your card base is done.

Now you can decorate the outside & inside panels to your liking using designer paper, images & embellishments.  Here is how I finished my card which AT THIS POINT is a DOUBLE Z-FOLD creation.

I have used one of the images from Shelly's 'CARNATIONS' set for this creation.

NOW HERE COMES THE TWIST!

 I discovered that with just a few more FOLDS, you will have created Shelly's 'Diamond Fold Card' but in the smaller A2 size!  How cool is that!  

All you have to do is mark the CENTER of your inside panel (top and bottom) ... then with the card opening DOWN ... fold the four corners into those center lines.  It will look like this:

(again sorry for the blurry photo)

I seem to be having technical difficulties so from this point I will use Shelly's photos from her tutorial on the larger sized Diamond Fold card.

 Unfold all of the folds and open your card base out flat.  You will see little triangles.  Fold these triangles down as shown here.  Once all corners are folded lay your card down flat and again use the bone folder.  This will help your card stand up nice.

 All of the folds are now done and you are ready to start decorating your card.

If it helps ... you can refer to Shelly's post HERE for better clarity.  

The only difference between her's and mine is the FINISHED CARD SIZE.  

The process is the same!

Here is my finished 'Diamond Fold' card using Shelly's 'APRIL SHOWERS' image.

 I hope you will give these two Fun, Fancy Folds a try and please, share a link if you do, we'd love to come and see what you've created!  Remember, we have SEVERAL tutorials to help inspire you.  Just click on the TUTORIAL LIBRARY logo in our sidebar to find one that catches your eye!

Hope to see you back here on Thursday for another Terrifically Thrilling Thursday Challenge!

Spotlight On...

...Baby

Here is a wonderful project from Stephanie to inspire your Baby projects using our Chick digi stamp.

Be sure to visit Stephanie's Blog for more details on this wonderful project.

Don't forget to check our "labels" in the right sidebar for more categories to give you lots of inspiration.

Stella Says Sketch with Bugaboo

Happy Sunday and welcome to today’s Stella Says Sketch Challenge!

We're playin' along with Bugaboo Stamps again this week for their Stella Says Sketch Challenge.
Ready to get sketchy with Stella, Shelly's Images and Bugaboo??

It's always fun to play along with this challenge - because we get to swap images and designers!  =)
Jackie Rakoski from the Bugaboo Team whipped up a great card using the Shelly's Images Honeybee Digi – don’t you just LOVE it?

Our Stephanie Landon got to play along with the Bugaboo Stamps - Make It Snappy - Thanks a Bunch Digi - A fabulous Springy card!

The rules are simple: Create a Project based on Stella's Sketch above and post a link to it on Bugaboo Stamps' challenge blog, Catch the Bug,  by 5/20/12 at 6:00 AM EST to be entered a random drawing for FOUR digi prize packs - seven (7) (using a Bugaboo image only), four (4), or two (2) using any image AND one winner will also win a prize from Shelly's Images!

Happy Craftin'!

TTT Challenge Winners - How does your garden grow?

Wow....these entries are stunners!  Thanks so much to everyone who entered our challenge this week.  We know this one was a bit more specific so we appreciate you taking the time to create a project that fit in to our theme.

The Gold Medal Award winner is Pia from Pias Papir og Perler.

Congratulations Pia!  The DT and I LOVED the creative project you made.  It is so unique and so clever and great for this challenge.  Great work!

Our Silver Medal Award winner is Trish from Trish and Treasure.

Trish, the team and I loved the detail and "frillyness" of this amazing project.  The colors work together so well.

And, Our Bronze Medal Award winner is Lis from My Craft Blogumentary.  Lis, your coloring on this image is outstanding.  We love all the elements you chose and the papers you used.  So pretty to look at.

And the Top Hat Award (first name out of the hat using random.org) is Alyce from Kit and Clowder. Alyce, even though you are our random winner this week this project is definitely worthy of any of our prizes.  Your coloring of this image is stunning.  And the elements that you added give so much texture, interest, and an airy fairy tale feeling.  Just beautiful!

Winners...An email will be sent shortly to each of you at the address listed with your inlinkz entry.  Your email contains your voucher code to use to redeem your prize.  If you don't get an email within 4 hours of this post please email Shelly at shelly@shellysimages.com

 Our Gold Medal and Top Hat winners both receive a $3 Gift Voucher.    And our Silver and Bronze Medal winners both receive a

"$3 off an order of $6 or More" (buy one get one free) voucher to our store. 

All medal winners this week can find the medal badge to display at their blog *here*. We hope that all of our winners this week will proudly display their winning badge.

Time to start creating for our new challenge.  I can't wait to see what you will enter.

Terrifically Thrilling Thursday Challenge

Happy First Terrifically Thrilling Thursday Challenge of May!  

Wow - can you believe it's already May?!  

Well, today to get the month kicked off, we're going to give you quite the challenge.....or at least it was for me!  =)

"Don't PUNCH Me!!!"

What's that mean??  NO PUNCHES and NO DIE CUTS

Understand why it was such a challenge for me??  =)

I PUNCH EVERYTHING!!!

And on top of this little challenge, 

we're featuring the "CHICK" digi.

You may have seen this cute little fellow's sister all dolled up for Easter, but today we have not just your average chick, but one that is equally as cute for many, many creative possibilities!

Here's a LOVELY Spring Chick by Darlene, complete with flowers. But she has to sit in time out because she used punches or dies.  ;)  

Stephanie's Welcome a Baby into the world

A little hatchling from Pandy

Here is Sammi's cute chick.

 Amanda's little chick hatched from a beautiful blue egg.

 Jen's chick is beautiful on this clean and simple card.

And a Uniquely Different Chick by me, Min

Please remember our 

Challenge Rules:
1. Link directly to your blog post entry,NOT your entire blog.
2. Shelly's Images are NOT required (but we'd LOVE to see them).
3. New projects ONLY ... NO back linking.
4. Your entry must follow the theme.  The entry can be any type of project so long as it follows the theme.
5. Only FIVE entries per challenge PLEASE. Any additional entries will be deleted in an effort to keep our challenge fair for all participants.
6. Challenge entry ends at 12:00 Noon (CST) on Wednesday. 

Tutorial Tuesday - Felt Flowers

This time of year I can NEVER enjoy enough flowers - Real, Artificial and even FELT Flowers!

Some time ago I showed you how to make some Felt flowers - yep, I love me some felt!  

Well, I've been trying to use up lots of supplies in my studio (so I can justify adding more to my stash) and my FELT is something I've been trying to use up.

So, I'm gonna show you how to make some cute ROLLED flowers out of felt today.  Yes there are dies you can purchase to make these flowers, but why spent the moolah on a die when you can do the same thing with a piece of felt, some sticky tape and a pair of scissors.

Really - this is All you need!  

Piece of Felt, Super Sticky Tape and a pair of GOOD scissors that will cut 2 layers of felt.
So, here's a little pic tutorial step by step - Please ignore my nails that are in terrible need of a manicure.  =)

Okay, so first, cut a piece of felt about 7" long and 2" wide.  This size will change depending on how BIG you want to make your flower.  The more you make - you'll find which size and style works for you.
I like to make mine small enough for cards.

Along one LONG edge, use Super Sticky Tape to run the entire length.  I use the 1/8" Scor-Tape - thanks to my sis Shelly, I LOVE this stuff

Fold and stick down the second untaped long side against the taped long side.  Make sure the tape is stuck WELL!  This flower will be roughly 1" high when complete.

Grab your scissors and snip the folded side of the felt about every 1/4" about 3/4 of the way down. 

 Do this for the entire length of the felt piece.

This is where the FUN begins.  Begin rolling the flower.  I usually put some type of glue right in the beginning (so it sticks) and then a good amount of tape at the end.

 ROLL ROLL ROLL until you get to the end of the flower.  

Make sure it's good and stuck together.  

This is a pick of the bottom of the finished flower.  You can glue a round piece of felt to the bottom if you want - if I'm putting it on a card, I just stick some good sticky on the bottom - no need for extra felt.

Now you can tinker with the petals and make it look like a flower.  You can add button in the center, bling, or just leave it along like I did on this one.  

VOILA - here you go!  Add this cute little sucker to a card and brighten someone's day!

Be sure to check back on Thursday and see the finished card with this flower.

AND - if you like this cute little rolled flower, you can jazz it up a little bit and make this fun SPIKEY Flower (pretty unique name, huh).  This flower is made by cutting ALL the LOOPY part of the flower once you've rolled and stuck it.  I added a little bling into the center of this one for a snowflakey look.

So there you have it - your own little felt flower garden for your cards!

Thanks so much for visiting today - be sure to stop by on Thursday and check out our new challenge and inspiring projects the design team is busy creating! 

Hugs & Happy Days!

TTT Challenge Winners - Show us what you got!

Thanks so much for all of the amazing entries this week for our "Show us what you got!" challenge.  It is soooo hard to choose winners with so many amazing projects.

The Gold Medal Award winner is Gunn from Ms Plum's Place

Gunn, I am so happy to see your entry here.  Seems like forever since I caught up with you in blog land or at CDAC.  This project is STUNNING.  And as a self professed addict of sentiments, I have to say that this one ranks at the top of my list.  I love all of the additions from the black pearls to the metal pieces.  Just beautiful!

Our Silver Medal Award winner is Desire from Doing Life.

Desire, this is another stunning project.  We loved the easel fold and all of the additions and embellishments.  The rafia through the metal pieces and buttons adds a warmth and nice texture.  And the sequins somehow magically fit right in.  Thanks too for the quarter fold instruction.  I need to bookmark those so I can give those a try.

And, Our Bronze Medal Award winner is Debra from Designs by DJ.  Debra we loved the technique you used on these fantastic cards.  The effect is so pretty and soft.  And I love that you kept the rest of the card simple so the beauty of the technique and your coloring could really stand out.  Really, really pretty!

And the Top Hat Award (first name out of the hat using random.org) is Gina from Gina's Krafty Place. Gina, I love the red and black colors you chose to go with this image.  And the blush on her cheeks is the perfect addition.  ;)

Winners...be sure to get to the store right away to register if you haven't already.  Just click store in the top tab and enter your registration.  Your gift voucher will be added to your account.  Gift vouchers expire after 30 days.  If you are making a new registration please be sure to email Shelly at shelly@shellysimages.com.  Sometimes full names aren't used at blogs which can be confusing with registration.  So just email me to let me know which registration is yours.

 Our Gold Medal and Top Hat winners both receive a $3 Gift Voucher.    And our Silver and Bronze Medal winners both receive a

"$3 off an order of $6 or More" (buy one get one free) voucher to our store. 

All medal winners this week can find the medal badge to display at their blog *here*. We hope that all of our winners this week will proudly display their winning badge.

Time to start creating for our new challenge.  I can't wait to see what you will enter.