Since the busiest gift giving season will soon be upon us (whether we want to believe it or not) I decided to create a set that shows you how to combine different tools to make gift embellishments and a card idea. Keep in mind that the flower idea can be made with many colors and even be a useful way to use small scraps (you know I enjoy those projects).
Flower
The Martha Stewart Punch Around sets are a great way to add a decorative border to any project. But instead of showing you how that works (you can see that here) I decided to make something that uses them in a different way. This simple flower just uses the corner punch!
Materials:
- The corner punch of a Martha Stewart Punch Around Punch
set- One letter-sized sheet of dark blue paper
- Paper trimmer or scissors
- Glue
- Button
Steps:
- Using the paper trimmer cut 20 - 1/2" x 3" strips of paper and 3 - 1/2" x 2" strips of paper
Note: If you have a different corner punch design, experiment with the width of your strips to see what makes the most pleasing design for the tips. I started with a wider strip and started narrowing it down until I liked the shape that was formed.
- Punch the design centered on both ends of all the strips.
- Glue 10 strips in a crisscross fashion and keep them flat.
- Do the same with a second set of 10 strips but curl them up when dry.
- Glue and crisscross the 3 smallest pieces and curl them as well.
- Stack and glue all three flower pieces with the smallest one at the top.
- Attach a button or other embellishment to the center.
Other ways to use this flower: frame several as wall art, add them to napkin rings, use as a gift topper or include one in a gift tag, scrapbook page or card design.
Rosette
Materials:
- The edge punch of a Martha Stewart Punch Around Punch
set- Martha Stewart Crafts Mini Scoring Board
- Martha Stewart Crafts Large Punch, Monarch Butterfly
- 1.25" Circle punch (punch one white circle and one dark blue circle)
- Paper trimmer or scissors
- Two 2" x 8.5" strips of dark blue paper
- Two 1.5" x 8.5" strips of white paper
- Orange glitter paper (in this case I used a sheet that is part of the Martha Stewart Crafts Designer Paper Pad, Carnival)
- Glue
Steps:
- Punch all four strips of paper along one side with the edge punch.
- Using the mini scoring board, score all the strips every 1/4" and fold them in accordion style.
- Glue the two blue pieces together (along the short end) making sure that the punched designs match up. Glue the opposite ends to form a band.
- Repeat the previous step with the white strips of paper.
- Push and glue the straight edged center of the blue paper (now a cylinder) down and centered over the blue paper circle. Place something heavy on the rosette until it dries.
- Glue the white folded paper over the blue paper making sure that the folded edges match up.
- Glue the white circle over the entire rosette and set it aside to dry with something heavy on top.
- Cut out a paper punch butterfly from the glitter paper. Slightly fold it in the center and glue it to the center of the rosette.
Stamped and embossed card
(a replica of a card I made just last week for a friend that is going to live overseas)
Materials
- 8.5" x 5.5" white card stock folded in half lengthwise
- Martha Stewart Crafts Around the Page Starter Set Stamp
- Dark blue ink pad
- Martha Stewart Crafts Heat Tool
- Martha Stewart Crafts Set Your Own Stamp Case
- Versa Mark ink
- White embossing powder
- Dark blue paper
- Paper trimmer or scissors
- Martha Stewart Crafts Large Punch, Monarch Butterfly
- Orange glitter paper (Martha Stewart Crafts Designer Paper Pad, Carnival
)- Glue
Steps:
- Stamp the fern design along the bottom of the card.
- Arrange the sentiment that you will be adding to your card using the Martha Stewart Crafts Set Your Own Stamp set. It's very easy and quick to do!
- Stamp your sentiment on the dark paper using Versa Mark ink. It will seem almost invisible.
- Before the ink dries dust white embossing powder all the letters. Shake off the excess.
- Heat the powder with the heat tool until you see that all the letters have been embossed. The powder will have a shine to it when it's completely set.
- Cut out the sentiment from your page using a paper trimmer. Allow for some room on either side of the message.
- Use scissors to cut out an upside down V (ribbon-like) ending to the strip of paper.
- Measure and cut the paper so that it fits on the front of the card only.
- Punch out the butterfly from glitter paper, slightly fold it in half and attach it to the blue sentiment paper "ribbon".
Origami gift boxes
I simply used the same steps that I used for this long ago project. Easy!
Martha Stewart craft tools always meet my expectations or exceed them. Their quality and versatility are of great importance to me because I do make a lot of handmade gifts and such and I know that I will be using them for a long time. One more thing, which may be minor for many is the fact that the tools are a neutral light color has always thrilled me to no end—they feel very me.
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