Tutorial: How to make your own doilies using corner punches

Happy Memorial day everyone, hope you had a safe, fun weekend!

I want to share a little tutorial with you all today. While browsing various blogs lately, I've seen a couple of crafters using small doilies from Martha Stewart in their paper projects. There was even a post about it on Splitcoast Stampers, and apparently they're hard to find in stores. Well, not too long ago I was experimenting with some new corner punches and had a lightbulb moment. Was it possible to make my own doilies with these corner punches? I set out to try. Sure enough, I had some success! I've only experimented with a few different kinds of punches, and some worked better than others. For example, this Layered Arch worked really well, while the Modern Garland wasn't the best looking in my opinion. The Quilted Corner worked really nicely, as well. 

Also, the size of the circle is really important too. For the Layered Arches, I used the Nestabilities small circle #1 and it worked out almost perfectly. I found that I could use the small circles with more success than the large. 

Here are a few pics that will illustrate how it's done. You can click on them to make them larger. 

Although the punches have these slide out tabs for easy alignment of corners, you can still slide your paper circle right over them without taking them apart like other corner punches. 

When lining the circle up along the edge of the circle, try to make sure the punch design is centered evenly. Be careful not to have it angled to the right or the left, instead, aim the center of the design towards the center of the circle. 

Each time you punch around the circle, make sure to line up the left side of the punch as close as you can to the previously punched design without actually overlapping. It takes some time, but I think the results are worth it! If you are careful, you will end up with a doily like the one pictured above, with small bit of paper still attached. Some corner punches don't come totally perfect, but it's close enough for government work, LOL! It's easy enough to snip these scraps off with small scissors, or a craft knife. 

That's it! Your own doily to coordinate with the edge punches! And you don't have to search high and low for the precut ones, because you can make different sizes on your own. 

So here's a finished card with one of the doilies:

        

Pretty, isn't it? Now dig out your corner punches and give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie

Ink: Memento

Paper: Heavenly White, Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill, PTI

Accessories: PTI twill ribbon, seam binding, Nestabilities, Martha Stewart punches, colored pencils, OMS

Sweet Dreamings

Stampavie puts out some seriously adorable stamps designed by several talented artists, this one is by Penny Johnson. How sweet is this baby girl?! I used soft, serene colors to tie in with the Sweet Dreams theme. She's colored with a combination of Copics (BG 10,11 & 72) and Prisma colored pencils. I find it much easier to get a very soft gradient of color around the image with colored pencils blended with OMS.
I printed the little sentiment circle on my printer and cut them out with small circle Nestabitilites. The embossed strip behind the image is done with one of the borders from the Cuttlebug Frills set.

I applied some Stardust Stickles to the candle glow and the stars for a bit of sparkle. I love this card, probably because I used my all time favorite color--Stampin Up's Soft Sky. IMO, it's the prettiest color EVER!

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Stampavie

Ink: Memento

Paper: Heavenly White, SU, PTI

Accessories: Cuttlebug Frills borders embossing folders, Nestabilities, colored pencils, OMS, Copics, satin ribbon, PTI button, Stickles

Christmas Toys

I don't think I've ever made a gate fold card, this is my first time! I find myself so comfortable making a card ONE WAY, and never straying, it tends to get boring! I might be making more cards this way.....maybe, LOL! I try to force myself to create outside my sphere of comfort, just to change things up a bit, every once in a while.

The stamp is from Stampavie, colored with colored pencils and blended with OMS. The paper is Imaginisce.

Short and sweet, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Vivid, Perfect Match
Paper: PTI, Imaginisce, Stardream, The Paper Co.
Accessories: Red grosgrain ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Glass, Stickles, Uchida clever lever snowflake punch, brad

Mouse on a Daisy

Almost forgot all about this little guy from Stampavie! Isn't he sweet? When I saw those little puffball flowers, I immediately thought of using Flower Soft for them. But I only have white, so I HAD to try to color it. How? With reinkers! I simply took a piece of cling wrap, scooped a bit onto it, added a couple of drops of reinkers, smooshed it around and let it dry a bit before gluing it on. Dried pretty quickly though. And it colored beautifully. So now I know I don't hav eto buy every color of Flower Soft! I don't have the room for it anyway.

The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg collection. I love the colors! And actually, believe it or not I colored almost the whole image with Copics. I've been collecting some colors that seem to be 'missing' from my vast collection of colored pencils. I'm not fond of the flesh tones in colored pencil, so I started getting some in Copic markers. Then certain blue greens and pale aqua's weren't very good, so I added more Copics, LOL. Before I knew it I had enough to actually color an entire image. I'm still undecided about them, though, I don't think I'll be replacing my colored pencils any time soon.

Oh, and I made this card for the Stampavie design team call. Try, try again! Wish me luck!

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Stampavie, PTI sentiment
Ink: Memento, SU
Paper: Heavenly White, Cosmo Cricket, PTI, SU
Accessories: McGill Label punch, SU scallop punch, Copics, colored pencils, OMS, Flower soft, Liquid Glass, Prima Flowers, pearl, brown satin ribbon

Christmas Teddy

I've had this stamp in my collection, uninked since last Christmas! I NEVER do that, usually I have to stamp it right away, just to try it out. I think I may have bought it right after Christmas, was so sick of all things holiday, that I just put it away. I was very happy to discover a 'new' stamp when I was digging around my collection!

I hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie, Waltzingmouse Stamps sentiment

Ink: Memento

Paper: Bristol vellum, Imaginisce, The Paper Co., PTI

Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake border punch, McGill Label punch, rhinestones, polka dot ribbon, SU ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, Copic Spica pen, PTI button, silver cord

Noel's Christmas Letter

I don't know why I haven't tried this before, all monochromatic, neutral colors. I love the antique/vintage look it has! I only used my brown Distress inks to color this beauty, with just a little bit of red and green for tiny accents. I LOVE it! I'm not sure I can part with this card, LOL! I may keep it for a while, till I get tired of looking at it.

This is the new Christmas 2009 Sara Kay Collection made by Stampavie, available at 7 Kids College Fund.

Here's a neat trick for getting a 'label' die look even if you don't have the Spellbinders labels dies. Or sometimes you just don't have the right size/shape label die; use the Martha Stewart Flourish punch to punch each side of your paper exactly in the center, then use a corner rounder punch. And you have a label look in any size you want! I think it's pretty neat.

Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Stampavie, PTI sentiment

Ink: Ancient Page, Distress

Paper: Heavenly white, Bristol vellum, Basic Grey, Stardream shimmer cardstock, The Paper Company

Accessories: Martha Stewart flourish, snowflake/corner rounder, Fiskars apron lace & SU snowflake punches, glass glitter, Scribbles 3D paint, self stick pearl, SU wide striped ribbon, PTI button/twine, Copic Spica pens

Noel Charity

Lovely Noel is collecting for her favorite charity at Christmas. I LOVE these vintage children images by Sara Kay. So nostalgic! As usual, I colored the image with my colored pencils.

A couple of people have asked what kind of colored pencils I use, and my answer is--ANY kind! LOL! I have Prismacolors, Faber Castell Polychromos, Lyra, Koh-i-noor, Design Spectracolor (discontinued). I'm not particularly loyal to one brand, which pencil I use depends solely on which color I need or which paper I'm using. For example, if I'm coloring a digi stamp which is printed on smooth paper (then sealed with a workable fixative) Koh-i-noor works best. It lays down easily where the other pencils tend to be very light. So, I hope this helps some of you!

I decided to create a pretty snowflake stick pin for this card. I die cut some flower shapes out of wool felt, punched a snowflake out of shimmery cardstock, added a Swarovski crystal bead and threaded it all onto a bent silver stick pin. I get these pins from Fire Mountain Gems, but I've heard that you can find them in craft stores, too. It's an easy way to add a little 'gift' to a card that the recipient can remove and wear.

Hope it inspires, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie

Ink: Ancient Page, Distress

Paper: Bristol vellum, Cosmo Cricket, PTI, Coredinations, Stardream shimmer C.S

Accessories: EK Success fleur de lis punch, Spellbinders flowers dies, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, silver stick pin and clutch, Swarovski crystal bead, wool felt, colored pencils, OMS, sewing machine, Sakura Glaze pens, double faced satin ivory ribbon

Mouse in a Nutboat

I've been an admirer of Tina Wenke's artwork for a while. I always check out the latest clipart she has available on Pcrafter, hoping that there would be some B & W line art to use as digital stamps. No luck though. So, Stampavie decides to go and make some clear stamps with her drawings, woohoo! That's more like it!

I just love this little scene, so adorable! I colored it with my colored pencils, picking up the colors from the DP. The flower is a die cut using SU's daisies die, sponged with some ink, embossed for some dimension and layered with a button.

I really wanted to add a sentiment to this card, but couldn't decide what. New baby? Birthday? I have a really hard time with sentiments sometimes....

Oh well, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie

Ink: Memento, Distress

Paper: Bristol vellum, SU, K & Co., PTI, Bazzill

Accessories: SU Daisies die, yellow grosgrain ribbon, PTI button/twine, colored pencils, OMS, Copic Spica pen, SU scallop punch