Radiant Technique

Radiant Technique-
This technique uses a template.  You can make your own by tracing a circle near the center of a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch card stock.

 Draw intersecting lines through the center of the circle to create spokes.  I have 16 spokes on the template below.  I have also done one with 8 spokes.
Place the card stock under the template and while holding securely in the center.  Sponge ink on the card stock in the open areas of the template. 
Decorate card front as desired.

This one is Crisp Cantaloupe with Soft Suede ink used for the sponging.   The card base is Pink Pirouette.

Here I have Cajun Craze sponged on So Saffron.  

For something a little different I randomly stamped over the template using a variety of coloers.

I used the 8 spoke template for tihs one.

Punch Art Balloons

 Punch Art Balloons

Supplies -
Oval and/or circle punches
Scraps of card stock
Baker's twine
Transparent tape
Dimensionals
Tombow liquid glue
White gel pen

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These are the punches I usually use to make the balloons.   Play around with sizes and shapes and even mix them up to get the balloons you want. 

I have punched one of each of the shapes from Not Quite Navy card stock (retired).   If I am making a lot of cards, I punch all the circles and ovals at one time in a variety of colors.

I use the owl punch for the 'tie' at the bottom of the balloon.  You only need the feet from the owl's body so use up those little scraps from around the ovals and circles that you just punched.

Here are the 3 feet I need.  I trim them down to a small tab above the foot - just enough to attach it behind the balloon body.

Put just a small dab of the liquid adhesive on the area above the owl's foot.  Place one of the circle or oval pieces on top of the glue covering all but the foot itself. 

 To add some dimension to the balloons, take a white gel pen and make a curved line and some tiny dots along one edge.

Cut several inches of baker's twine and attach it to the back of the balloon with a small piece of transparant tape.  

Place a dimensional over the transparent tape, if desired.    They are ready to construct your card.  Arrange them however you want. 

I like to tie the balloons together in a group.  The simplest way I have found to do that is to adhere the balloons as you want them to the piece of card stock.  Place a length of twine on the card stock below the balloons approximately where you want to have the bow.  Pull the twine down past the bottom of the card stock and adhere lightly with a piece of tape.  Tie a bow with the loose piece of twine. 

 I use a mini glue dot behind the bow to hold it to the card stock.  Carefully remove the piece of tape and trim the twine.

Here is the card I made with the three balloons.  Don't they make you smile?  

You can experiment with other shapes too.  I like to use hearts for anniversary or wedding cards.  Either all heart shapes or mix ovals, circles and hearts - I like both. 

Here is a card with the two heart balloons.    Let me know if you make balloons of your own.  I would love to see your ideas. 

DSP Starburst

DSP Starburst

Supplies - DSP, a variety of designs with coordinating colors. 
Coordinating ribbon, fairly wide
Stamps, ink and other embellishments as desired

Cut DSP into 4 x 1 5/8  inch rectangles.

Cut each rectangle diagonally to form two triangles.  I line up the opposite points in the cutting trough and cut.

This will give you two triangles.   And since the back side is a different pattern, you have 2 of the 8 triangles needed for this technique.

Here are my 8 triangles from the DSP Birthday Basics.  Quite a variety of colors and patterns.

 I used a scrap of card stock with a straight edge and made a horizonal line on the card front (3 1/2 x 4 3/4).  You can make sure you have the line equidistant from the edge by using the grid on the paper. Line up the card front piece on the base line of the grid paper and line up the edge of the scrap paper with the grid lines.  I used 1 1/4 inch.

Draw your line - this will help with placement of the triangles. The line will be covered.

Place the DSP strips along the line but do not adhere yet.  You can play and rearrange until you get exactly the look you like.

I had numerous that had up and down to their design (ballons, bakes, candles and party hats) so I moved them around trying to get them to look just right.

 Take the first triangle and add adhesive to the wrong side.  Place the narrow tip along the horizontal line with the tip where you want the center of your starburst.

Take the second triangle and adhere to the card stock next to the first triangle. Place the edges right next to each other but not overlapping. 

Continue until all 8 triangles have been added.  The last one should come out on the horizontal line or very close to it.  You can cover up the little difference with a ribbon.

This is the back.  Trim around the card stock to remove the excess DSP.

The trimmed card stock will look like this.   Wrap a ribbon around the card stock at the horizontal line.  I cut the ribbon about 2 inches longer than the length of the card stock.
Wrap about an inch behind on one side and secure with transparent tape.

Making sure the ribbon is straight on the front, wrap the other end behind the card stock and adhere with tape. 

Add a ribbon along the horizontal line.  This will help hide any gap between the last triangle and the horizontal line.   Decorate the bottom section as desired and layer it on card stock and a card base. 

 

Exploding Star Ornament

Exploding Star Ornament ( This is not an original design.  My sister found it on the Internet last year and we used it to make our family ornaments.  Pretty simple but impressive)

 Supplies needed:
DSP - Cut 4 squares of DSP.  I used 2 1/2 inch squares here and all the same paper.  You can vary the size and use 5 different papers for a patchwork look.
Coordinating ribbon - 1/8 inch works best
Coordinating button
Card stock in coordinating colors

 Fold the DSP squares diagonally.  The design inside at this point will be the design that shows when the star is formed.

Open up the DSP and fold horizontally so the inside design is now on the outside.  Repeat with a vertical design - making a + with the last 2 folds  with one diagonal fold.

 When open it will look like this.   Pushing up on the diagonal lines and folding on the vertical and horizontal folds will make ...

 a small square like this.    Be sure your folds are creased well.  If the edges don't match exactly it is okay. 

Here are all 5 folded and waiting to be assembled.  

Put adhesive on one of the small square sides.  Place two of the pieces together matching the outer points on the squares and the center of the squares. 

 Continue with the other 3 pieces.  DO NOT GLUE piece #1 to piece #5.  It should begin to look like a star. 

 Place a small strip of Sticky Strip lined up from the center to the outer tip of either the first or last square.  Remove the red film.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon about 5 inches long.  Place one end of a piece of ribbon on the sticky strip. 

 Make some decorative accents to cover the ribbon ends. I stamped a Mosaic Madness design on Very Vanilla.   I then used the Mosaic punch and 7/8 inch scalloped circle punch.

Place a short strip of Sticky Strip on the back of the accent you just made.  I try to place it horizontally so it will be perpendicular to the piece that you added to the DSP for the ribbon. 

 Place the accent over the ribbon.    Repeat this with the other end.

Trim the ends of the ribbon at thin angles.  The thinner the better.  Thread each end of ribbon through one of the holes on the button. 

 Slide the button down to the ornament.  Straighten any twists in the ribbon is neeced.

 Make an overhand loop and tied a knot in the ribbon.

 This is the finished ornament closed up.  It is cute but look at what happens when you...

 slide the button up so the squares fan out  and.................

 slide the button back down the ribbon until .....

the button rests on top of the DSP.  You get a star in the center of that ornament. 

This one used a 2 inch square.  It was a little harder to work with because of the size but still not bad.

Here it is opened and you have the star.