Creation Station: To Die For!

#stampinup   #creationstation   #faithfulinkspirations   Hello and welcome to Fall! I love this season. I love the vibrant colors. I love to watch the leaves turn and then fall. I love the crisp, clean air. I even love the rain! And it's sure been raining for the better part of the last week. It's all good--we need the rain!

Our Creation Station design team has some great projects for you and our theme is "to die for!" That's a little play on words:  of course, we're thinking about Halloween at the end of the month, but we're also thinking of Stampin' Up's fabulous line of Framelit and Thinlit Dies. We'll be showcasing these in ways you might not have though of. Are you ready to see what we've got? Let's go!

Spoiler Alert: My projects have nothing to do with fall or Halloween.

My first project to die for comes by way of a technique I learned from the fabulous Lydia Fiedler at one of her Understand Blue creative retreats. Lydia really wowed us when she showed us how to shrink Fun Foam. It's super easy to do.

I started with a piece of red Fun Foam and used the Christmas Greetings Thinlits to cut out the word "jolly." You just run your Fun Foam through where you'd put card stock in your sandwich. Easy.

Next, heat the Fun Foam image with your heating tool until it shrinks. My "jolly" not only shrank, but it curved--a bonus surprise! Here's the Fun Foam negative image and the "jolly" piece after I heated and shrank it. Fun, right?

I used this as an element on a super quick and easy Christmas card. I started with a Crumb Cake card base, cut lengthwise and added an Early Espresso mat that I'd embossed with the Large Polka Dot Embossing Folder.

Next, I used one of the Layering Ovals Framelits to cut out the taller house from a sheet of Candy Lane Designer Series Paper. I cut a just larger oval from a piece of Real Red Card Stock.

I stamped "have a" and "Christmas" from the "Holly Jolly Greetings" stamp set in Real Red onto Crumb Cake strips and flagged the ends with my Paper Snips. I curled the ends with my Bone Folder--I like to see "movement" on my flags.

I adhered the flags to the oval piece with some Snail Adhesive and then adhered the oval piece to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals. I added the Fun Foam "jolly" to the card using the Fine-Tip Glue Pen.  (PRO TIP: I used a stack of three acrylic blocks to weigh down the Fun Foam until it was good and stuck to the card.)

Next, I made a fun Christmas luminary. I'm kind of obsessed with the Pear Pizzazz/Island Indigo color combination--even for Christmas, so that set my color scheme. I started with a 10.5" x 4" sheet of Pear Pizzazz Card Stock. I scored this at 2.5", 5", 7.5", and 10", which leaves a half-inch flap at the end for adhering the box together.

I used the largest of the Christmas tree framelits from the Perfect Pines Framelits to cut a tree silhouette on each of the four sides of the luminary.

I cut four 4" x 2.5" pieces of Island Indigo Card Stock and then used the smallest Christmas tree framelits from the Perfect Pines Framelits to cut a silhouette on each. I backed each of these with a 3.5" x 2" piece of Vellum Cardstock. I adhered these to the back side of the Pear Pizzazz piece so that the front would have a layered look. (Of course, I trimmed off the extra Island Indigo Cardstock!!) I used Fast Fuse Adhesive to adhere the sides of the luminary together.

 
I cut four Christmas tree stands from the Perfect Pines Framelits set out of Island Indigo and adhered them to the luminary with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I didn't like that you could see the mess inside my luminary, so I decided to make a lid. I cut a 3.5" square of Pear Pizzazz Card Stock and scored each side at the 3" mark. I snipped the corners, so that I could square up the sides of the lid, and adhered the corners with a Glue Dot. (PRO TIP: Make sure you place your Glue Dots on the reverse slide of the flaps--ask me how I know.) Here's my pattern. The "x" on the bottom left flap shows where the Glue Dot should be placed.

I wound some 1/8" Silver Ribbon several times around a size D acrylic block, tied it in the middle, and then added it to the top of the box. Now it looks like a Christmas gift! I placed a battery-operated flickering candle inside. The glow is so soft and pretty.

I hope you think my projects are to "die" for and I hope I've inspired your creative juices. Please keep hopping around the Creation Station blog hop. I know our design team has awesome projects in store for you!! 

tams# 9417 Jolly Fun Foam Card

Product List

SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $7.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.00	Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309] $7.00	Paper Snips Scissors [103579] $10.00
Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [133739] $7.50	Heat Tool [129053] $30.00	Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies [139659] $17.00	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies [141706] $35.00
Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper [141981] $11.00	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482] $8.00	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119686] $8.00	Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [120953] $8.00
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] $6.50	Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139882] $20.00

tams# 9418 Perfect Pines Luminary

Product List

Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.00	Glue Dots [103683] $5.25	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] $10.00	Simply Scored [122334] $30.00
Silver 1/8" Ribbon [132137] $5.00	Perfect Pines Framelits Dies [139665] $27.00	Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101856] $8.00	Island Indigo 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [122923] $8.00
Pear Pizzazz 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131201] $8.00