Learn to Stamp and Scrap with Lynn Larson

Happy Easter - Punch Bunny Goodie Bag

Happy Easter Everyone!  I hope you have a fun day planned with your loved ones today!  We are having a big breakfast and our dinner at our house.   I love to not only craft for occasions, but I also love to cook and entertain!

I want to share an adorable little gift bag that I made for Easter this year.  My kids will each be getting one of these goodie bags.  

 

I love making cute little punch accents for my cards and 3D projects.  This cute little Easter bunny is certainly no exception.

I am not sure if you can see the stenciled clouds in the  sky of the bag in this photo so here is a close-up...

 

The bag was just so plain and white until I added the clouds and the blue sky in the background. 

I love the way these little bags turned out.   I hope the kids like them!

Happy Easter to all and thanks for taking time out of your day to stop by and visit!

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

 

TUTORIAL - Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!

Today is the day when I share how to make the fabulous flowers you have been sneaking a peak at on my blog!  Many people thought these flowers were made out of fabric or tissue paper...they are actually made from CARDSTOCK!

SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED:

Cardstock

Scallop Circle Punch

Crimper

Paper Piercer and Mat

Brad

Begin by getting out your favorite color cardstock for your flower...then punch out three scallop circles.

Once you have your circles punched, it is time to run the circles through your paper crimper. 

I run the circles through multiple times at different angles.  You will feel the fibers of the cardstock start to break down when the circle becomes more bendable.

After you have run the circles through the crimper - approx. 6-10 times each - it is time to crumple each individual scallop circle into a ball and roll it around.  I play around with them in my hands quite a bit and bend them and crumple them.  You will feel the fibers really break down and get loose.

Once you have manipulated the cardstock and broken the fibers up enough, you can then pick at the edge of your scallop circle and separate the layers of the cardstock so you then have two pieces.

The cardstock should peel apart easily.  If it pulls hard or wants to start to rip, but crumple the cardstock up again and continue to crinkle it and manipulate it.

Stack your peeled cardstock pieces with the fuzzy side up that was from the inside portion of your original cardstock.  You will have six pieces when you are finished.

Stack all six layers together, fuzzy side up, slightly offsetting the placement of your layers so they are not directly lined up on top of each other.  This will give your flowers a more realistic look.

Once piled together, poke a hole in the center with your paper piercer and insert a brad of your choice.  You really won't see the brad when the flower is finished, it is just there to hold the layers together.

Start working each individual layer of the flower up around the brad and crinkle it to start forming your flower.  Do this with each layer until your flower is complete.

When all layers are crumpled you can spread out the layers as much as you like to make a fuller, fluffier flower.

So there you have it, your finished flower!  Aren't they awesome?!  I like to punch out layers and carry them around with me so I can work on them during some down time - either watching TV, while in a doctor's office waiting, during a break or lunch at work...

Check out all the flowers that I made the first time I started playing around with them.  I REALLY like these flowers and have many projects that I am putting them on.  I will be sharing some of those projects with you over the next week or so.

Oh, I should mention that I used the five petal flower to create the leaves.  I just cut some of the petals off the flower, ran them through the crimper and attached them to the flowers using my Tombo two way glue.  So stinkin' easy and so elegant looking!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to LEAVE ME A COMMENT and let me know how you liked this tutorial.  I would love to hear what you are creating with these flowers!

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

 

Flowers, flowers everywhere...

I have been a little flower crazy the last couple of days.  Check these out!

 

How FAB are these flowers???  I have a couple of surprise projects up my sleeve that I am working on and will share with you next week.  I am just so in love with these flowers that I thought I would at least share these.  Hope you like them.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the flowers and what YOU would like to see them used on.  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

Merry Christmas!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season filled with lot of love, happiness and good health.  May you enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends. 

Glitter Overload:))

Today's card is one that I made with my niece, Katie, this weekend.  Katie spent the weekend with me and we stamped/crafted for hours Saturday night and for about an hour Sunday morning before the snow hit and she had to make a "quick escape" while the roads were still good.

This card uses various punches and some paper tearing for the card itself.  TONS of icy glitter were used throughout the card to make an icy snow appearance.  I just love the "little" snowman - he has such a cute face!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay tuned over the next couple of days for more samples from our card making weekend - including some of Katie's cards.

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

 

Punch Art Frame

Today I hosted a holiday party for my Stampin' Up! downline.  We have a pot luck dinner, a Yankee Swap and a small, individual gift that we make for each person attending.  Today I made a ham and the girls brought things like scalloped potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, brown and serve rolls along with pumpkin and apple pies for dessert.  De-lish!!

For our Yankee Swap, we each bring one handcrafted, wrapped gift (valued at approximately $10).  I assign each package a number and then we draw numbers from a basket to see which gift we are lucky enough to take home with us. 

I wanted to share the gift that I made for my Yankee Swap...

 

How cute is this punch art altered frame?  The frame is a pretty good size - approximately 7" square with the hole for the picture about 3.5" square and is made from wood.  The wood was unfinished so I painted it twice using white acrylic paint and let it dry before embellishing it.

The background uses Bashful Blue cardstock for the sky and Whisper White cardstock for the snow.  I tore strips of Whisper White cardstock to make the snow look uneven and like there were hills.  Sponging the edge of the torn cardstock in Bordering Blue ink added some dimension and depth to my "snow hills".

As you can see in the photo, I made the blue cardstock more modulated and uneven looking by sponging on and also spritzing on some Ballet Blue ink.  I also added a little blush to my little guy's cheeks by patting my finder into some Pretty in Pink ink and dabbing the ink onto his face.  

The snowflakes are from the Serene Snowflakes stamp set (my favorite snowflake stamp set of all time!) and white craft ink.  Once the snowflakes were stamped, I added some Winter White Embossing Powder and heated them up to make them stand out a little more.  Faux stitching done with white gel pen around the inside frame window and the outer border completed the look of my frame. 

Each of the elements on the frame were inspired by different projects I have seen.  The kid with the snowball was an idea that I got from Jackie T (I don't remember her last name....sorry!).  She also had the cool idea for the faux snow that is made from rolling up a scrap of white cardstock so it is thin like a pencil and then grating it on a cheese grater to create your own snow.  I added some glue to my project, sprinkled on the faux snow and then added a touch of Dazzling Diamonds glitter to finish it off.

If you are interested in attending a Punch Art Class, I have a "holiday" punch art class scheduled for November 29th and another Punch Art Class scheduled for December 29th.  You can check out my class schedule or contact me for more information. 

Happy stampin',

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com

 
 

Punched Bear Altered Oval Box

I had a class for Stampin' Up! demonstrators that are part of my group on Sunday.  Here is one of the projects that we did.

 

I have been making these little boxes in all different shapes for many occasions using different punched art on the cover.  This time I thought it would be neat to use my punches to create a bear.  Sophia and Andrea created a version of this cute little bear.  I decided to make it and add some of my own touches to it.

The side view of the box shows the punched scallop eyelet border around the lid.

 

I did a lot of sponging around the pieces of the bear, the box lid and the edges of the box itself to create dimension and detail.  Faux stitching finishes off the box and the stitching on the bear.

I hope you enjoyed today's project.  If you would like to receive email updates of my blog posts, be sure to go to the link in the left column, about half way down to sign up.

See you all soon and thanks for stopping by!

Lynn Larson - www.learntostampandscrap.com        

Rudolph Punch Card

Check out this cute reindeer card!  This is one that Maurine Henry brought for us to make at a shoebox swap.  I made the card and Maurine supplied everything to make it with.

 

As you can see, this card was made with a variety of Stampin' Up! punches including the Wide Oval, various size circles, Window Punch, etc.

How many of you are going to be playing around with punches and making this card?  Leave me a comment and let me know what you will be making with this idea!

See you all tomorrow!

Lynn

Happy Halloween!

I hope that you and your family have a very Happy Halloween today!  This is my favorite time of year with the crisp air, the changing leaves, the pumpkins and of course, Halloween.  I just love decorating for the season and seeing houses decked out in all their Halloween glory.  My absolute favorite part of Halloween is seeing all the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes!  My kids are teenagers and too old to dress up, but my daughter bought her cat "Lily" a little pig costume.  Does that count?  Lily does look adorable in her costume if I must say so myself.  The poor cat didn't know what she was getting into when my daughter adopted her:))

I will leave you now with these adorable little spider treats that I made TONS of this year.  I sold most of them at a couple of craft fairs that I did over the last two weeks and also at my store. 

 

I saved a handful to pass out to a few special little trick-or-treaters.  I need to "bribe" people to come to my house to bring their kids since I live on a dirt road WAY off the beaten path of all the little munchkins looking for tricks and treats.  I actually get people that drive about 20 minutes to me to receive their goodies.  I don't get many people, but I get enough to admire how stinkin' cute the kids look in their costumes!

Have fun and stay safe!

Lynn

Level 1 Hostess Set - Punches Three Holiday Card

 

Here is a quick an easy Holiday Card made using the Stampin' Up! Level 1 Hostess Set called "Punches Three".  This stamp set is designed to use with our punces.  The one used on this card was the Scallop Square, Wide Oval and 1/4" Circle Punch.  I also used the fabulous new Holiday Treasures Designer Series Paper and the Alpine Ribbon Originals Chocolate Felt Ribbon.

You can earn your own FREE Punches Three stamp set by hosting your own workshop.  Contact me today to schedule your workshop and earn this fabulous set in time for the holidays!

Lynn