Hey everyone – I decided to take the weekend off from blogging – I spent Saturday with my mom (also saw my dad, my niece & nephew, my brother and my sister-in-law). Sunday I was home and all my boys were here – they cooked dinner last night and mostly cleaned up. Just a nice relaxing sort of day.
Have you seen the new Triple Layer Punches in the Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini Catalog? I bought the Blossom Bouquet punch and it is so much fun – it is called a Triple Layer punch because it punches out three coordinating images from one punch – actually I think this one you could consider it to punch 4 – two of the layers actually punch out two pieces – the inside of the flower and the outside rim are actually separate. So here is a card I made for some of my classes this month based on a card in the Stampin’ Success magazine (the magazine that us demonstrators get).
I added an inside panel that is stamped with the Bold Blossom stamp set that coordinates nicely with the Blossom Bouquet punch. You can make lots of different flower combinations with this one punch. Let’s see if I can point out the different pieces – the first image you can punch is the large flower – in this card I have it as the background of each of the three flowers – one is Peach Parfait, one is Early Espresso, and one is Crumb Cake. The second image you can punch is a smaller flower with a flower ring around it – in this card there is a Crumb Cake ring on the Early Espresso flower. And it doesn’t look like I used the smaller flower on this card – but wait a minute and you’ll see it on my next version of this card. The third image is a small flower with the tear drops punched out and the ring again – on this card there is one in Daffodil Delight and one in Old Olive – the tear drop flower that is. The small circle punch is from the Bitty Punch set.
The great thing about crafting is that there really aren’t any mistakes – if something doesn’t happen the way you planned it is just a chance for you to get more creative – to come up with a different idea – no one else will know that you started out with a different plan other than yourself. And sometimes the new creation is something you like better than what you originally set out to do. So I took this card to a class on May 1st and ran into not one but two chances to get more creative – first I forgot the 3/4″ circle punch that I used to punch out the little flower stamped image – but who wants to cut that flower out – not me (well on some occasions I would but not this time) and forget trying to cut out a circle – its not going to happen. So what was the solution – to use the small flower image that is punched from the Blossom Bouquet punch. Problem number 2 – while demonstrating the punch – on the third image you have to make sure you push down until you hear the third click – if you don’t you get a partially punched tear drop flower – but after looking at it – I decided it would make a pretty flower just the way it was so i used it on a card too. So here is my second version of this card:
On this one I used the small flower twice – once underneath the Old Olive and once on the Early Espresso with a stamped flower in the center of it. And here is a close up of the partially punched flower –
See how the little tear drops didn’t punch out on one end. So what I did was put a dimensional under the center so it would pop up and allow the cut end of the tear drop to hang down. I actually like how it looks.
These punches are fun but you do need to understand how they work so that you can use them correctly and get the results that you want. First the punch should be used sitting flat on the table – not held upside down in your hand like we usually do with the old punches. Then you need to slide the selector to the image that you want and notice that there are stoppers for the 1st and 2nd punch so that it doesn’t go down all the way. It helps to listen for the clicks and practice a bit. In order to close the punch and lock it you need to have the selector in the third position – if you don’t it won’t lock shut because it will catch on one of the stoppers. It comes with instructions but it helps to see someone else using it. I’ve already started demonstrating in my classes and workshops – call me today if you would like to schedule your own.
