Cottage Paper: May 2014

Welcome to the May Pals Blog Hop. This is the first hop on our new day - the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Before we celebrate the release of the new Stampin' Up! catalog next month, we want to take time to say goodbye to our favorite retiring products. This month we are showcasing projects that feature stamps or accessories that are retiring along with the 2013-14 Idea Book & Catalog on June 4.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts (http://wildwestpaperarts.com/), stop 12 on the Pals Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog.

One of my favorite embossing folders is the Lattice which is being retired with the current catalog. (To see all the products on the Retired List in the Stampin' Up! store click here. Products are only available while supplies last!) It can be used in many different ways including embedded embossing in which layers of cardstock are embossed as a unit creating a look resembling quilting - very effective! Another way it can be used is to create a texture resembling woven straw. That is how I used it here on the hat brim which I then combined with ribbon and a Circle Treat cup to create a favor that could be used for lots of different spring events.

I used Midnight Muse cardstock, one of the 2012-2014 InColors, which is retiring at the end of this month. It is my favorite navy color. Another of the retiring InColors that I also love is Summer Starfruit. All of the 2012-2014 InColor cardstock quickly sold out and Stampin' Up! has just announced that they have obtained additional 2012-2014 InColor cardstock in a limited quantity. It is only available while supplies last! All products in these colors are available in the Stampin' Up! store while supplies last here.

I first punched a hole the size of the treat cup in a piece of Midnight Muse cardstock using the 1 3/4 inch circle punch. Punching the center hole first is an important step which will make it much easier to insure that the Circle Treat cup (not retiring! Yay!) is centered on the hat! Next I cut the brim using one of the Starburst Framelits. Just center the punched hole in your Framelit before you cut it. I then embossed the brim with the lattice folder and inserted the Treat cup. I used Sticky Strip to adhere the top of the Treat cup to the embossed cardstock but it did not adhere as well as I hoped. The problem is that, due to the embossing, there are only small limited places on the cardstock that actually touch the Treat cup. In the future I would try a liquid adhesive such as Multi-purpose Liquid Glue although I do not know how well liquid glue will stick to the Treat cup. I decorated the Treat cup with Midnight Muse stitched ribbon (also retiring) using Stricky Strip and added a Shimmery White flower punched out with one of the punches in the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I love this little flower and use it regularly on all kinds of projects. It too is being retired and I am very sad to see it go. I snipped down the flower to create petals and added a So Saffron candy dot. I used Sticky Strip to adhere the ribbon to the Treat Cup. (That did work!)

In order to get the treats out of the cup without destroying the hat I created a "door" on the back of the project from Shimmery White cardstock. I first used the Midnight Muse cardstock for the door but did not like the look with my white treats. I decided they looked better against the Shimmery White. For the "door" first used a 1" circle punch to cut out a circle from a piece of Shimmery White cardstock. I then centered a Circle Framelit over the punched hole and cut out a larger circle piece of a sufficient size to hide the bottom of the Treat cup. I then adhered that piece to the underside of the cardstock and the bottom of the Treat cup. The Treat cup has adhesive on the bottom side and and I used Sticky Strip to adhere the Shimmery White piece to the underside of the "hat". Once again I think I would use a liquid glue in the future. I then punched a 1 3/4" circle out of the Shimmery White for the actual "door". I used Multi-purpose glue and made the "door" removable by applying the glue to both pieces of cardstock and letting it dry completely before placing them together. In this way the "door" can be removed to retrieve a treat and then replaced! I wanted white candy in the cup so I filled it with Shimmer White Sixlets. This candy is available in many one color packages in the baking/cake decorating department of grocery stores, including Walmart. Here is a picture of the underside of the completed project.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Midnight Muse (126843 Retiring); Shimmery White (101910)

Accessories: Circle Treat Cup (116802); Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon (126847 Retiring); Subtles Candy Dots (130933);

Adhesive: Multi-purpose Adhesive (110755)

Tools: Lattice Embossing Folder (119976 Retiring); Starburst Framelits (132967); Circles Framelits (130911); 1 3/4 Circle Punch (119868); 1" Circle Punch (119868); Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (118309 Retiring)

Circles Collection Framelits

$26.95

Multi-Purpose Adhesive

To order click on the ordering tab above just under the header. You can email me privately with any of your papercrafting questions or ask them in a comment below!

The next stop is Colleen Mollema at Uncanny Crafting, stop 14 on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you next month.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Circle Treat Hat