It's All In The Groovi !!

Hi Folks!  Another little piece of Groovi work from me to go along with Groovi Week at Claritystamp.  Check out the Special Offer on the website at www.claritystamp.co.uk/ groovi

So my offering for today is a little Pyramid Gift Box and as the title of this post says.......

It was Designed and Made using Groovi Plates and the Groovi Plate Mate!!!

Warning!!  This is a Step by Step Tutorial and I have added Pictures for each stage,
So it is Definitely NOT a short Post!!

I used the Nested Square, Nested Circle, Netting and the Snowflakes Groovi Plates 

along with the Groovi Plate Mate Kit and Groovi Border Plate 1. 

21 x 21 cm, 140 gsm Parchment, Claritystamp Parchment Embossing Tools, Parchment Scissors, Ruler, White Leaded Propelling Pencil, Cutting Mat, Low Tack Tape, Tumble Dryer Sheet 

two pieces of slim Ribbon.  

(No Glue or Double sided Tape needed)

All Embossing on one side of the Parchment (back)

Tape Parchment to Groovi Plate Mate and Insert the Nested Squares Groovi Plate.

Give Parchment a rub over with Tumble Dryer Sheet 

 Emboss the 7th Square from the middle 

Replace Nested Squares with the Netting Groovi Plate and emboss the area inside the Square

Remove Parchment From Groovi Plate Mate and Place it onto the Hard Side of the Mat

Center the middle lines of the Netting Pattern as in the photo below

You want a center line showing through horizontally and vertically

Take your Ruler and Pencil.  Mark a Dot 6cm out from the edge of Pattern on the Middle line.

Repeat for all 4 sides.

Take Parchment back to the Groovi Plate Mate change to the Nested Squares Plate

Align the Dot on your Parchment to the Bottom Right Hand Corner of the 7th Square

Now Emboss the Line going from right to Left

Do this for all 4 Dots.  You will now have 4 lines all 7 cm long as in photo below

Turn your Parchment Diagonally
Once again using the 7th from Middle Square
Place Corner of Embossed Square to Top Right Hand Corner of Nested Squares
(Left Hand end of Embossed Line to Bottom Right Hand Corner)
as in Photo Below (probably better just to look at photo lol)

Emboss down this Line and your Parchment will now look like this....and No it's not a Windmill!

Next use the Groovi Border Plate

(Plate with the Dashed Line and Scallops)

Arrange Parchment on Plate, use the Dashed Line to complete the Triangles as in the picture below

Next Groovi Plate in use is the Nested Circles, so place that into the Groovie Plate Mate

and using the Outer Curve of the Circle, Place your Parchment as in the next picture

(Outer Circle touching Corner of Triangle and Corner of Embossed Square)

Emboss the Curve between these points on  all 4 sides and you have a piece that looks like this

Now this is your basic box.

Oh, and as you can see from the next pic, I am using the Snowflake Groovi Plate

Emboss Snowflakes of your choice.  I went for two different sizes

You can of course use any of the Groovi Plates to add your desired decoration

Just remember to ONLY emboss in the Curved area

You all still with me!  Not nodded off to sleep! Or given up because I have waffled too much!

Grand, let us continue!!

The only bit left at this point is to mark a circle on all 4 Curves for your Ribbon to go through

Look at the Groovie Plate Mate, down the Right Hand Side you will see Symbols.  

Emboss the Small Circle.   

You can stop right here and have the basic box - just cut or use a single hole punch to cut out that little circle  for your Ribbon.
You would then cut away the excess Parchment with a Craft Knife or Scissors
You will of course have to read to the end to see how it folds together
(ha ha, you thought you were done! lol)

If you want to have a Fancy Edge then follow the next steps.

Look carefully at the next picture to see the placement of the Design.
It is time to use the Scalloped Edge on the Groovi Border Plate

The Scalloped Edge is in a straight line and I will show you how to turn that into a Curve

(I think the Parchment could be doing with another run over with the Tumble Dryer Sheet)
Place the Parchment onto the Scalloped Edge, (see picture below)
HOLD Parchment in place Do Not Tape Down. Use a Fine Ball Tool to Emboss ONE Scallop
Keep Ball Tool in place

With Free Hand Gently move the Parchment towards you until the top of the next Scallop is touching the Curved Line, Emboss the Scallop.
Repeat the Process until you have Embossed 7 Scallops

Just repeat around the curved edges of your design
 This is called 'In-Line Embossing'

Remove Parchment from Border Plate, Turn it over (Front) and place onto a Piercing Mat.
Using a 2 Needle Tool
Begin by piercing the inside Curve of the Scallop.
Hold your Tool as upright as possible.  

Keep going until all the Scallops are Pierced

 Next Pierce along the Outer Curve of the Scallops

 Taking Your Parchment Scissors Cut between the Holes on the Inside Curve of the Scallops
Insert Scissors, Slightly Turn Wrist (or Forearm) Then Snip.
Turn your work as you go along

Turn Parchment around and Cut between the Holes but making sure you
 DO NOT CUT the Point where the Scallops join together

 As you cut the final bit the scrap Parchment will fall away

 Cut Between the Holes on the Outer Curve of the Scallops, Turning your work as you go along

 Once all the Scallops are cut free from the Parchment, Transfer Your Parchment to a cutting Mat
Using Ruler and Craft Knife Cut along Every Outside Edge
you will be left with a piece as in the Picture below

Turn your work over (Showing the Inside)
Gently Fold inwards the edges of the Square

Fold Inwards along the Dashed Line

  (If you didn't cut away the Small Circle - Do so now)

Bring Two opposite Sides Together and Thread Ribbon through Holes
Tie a single knot.

Your Triangle within the design will sit along the edge of the square
Now bring the other two Sides together and Thread another Ribbon through the Holes
Tie a Bow
And if after ALL of that you need a reminder of what the box looked like
Here it is lol!!

So that's it Folks!
This Design is quite Versatile, especially as Barbara Gray has brought out those Lacy Borders!!!
I will definitely be buying them!
As I said before you can use any design from the Groovi Plates to decorate the box
Doesn't have to be a Christmas Design
And yes you could just cut out with a Die or buy one of the precut shaped boxes
but to give someone a gift with a very personal handmade box is something special!

I hope you all like this tutorial
(as long winded as it was)
I would love to hear from you

Happy Groovi Crafting

Hugs
Emma xx

Groovi Week !!!

Hi Folks!  Since Barbara Gray is having a Groovi Week over at Claritystamp HQ starting today, I thought I would pass on a few tips on edging your Parchment.  Have a look at her Blog to see more!

Here I have placed one of the Groovi Border Plates onto the Mat that comes in the Starter Kit.  I have taped the Border Plate to the Hard side of the mat.  Notice the 5 designs...all of them follow a straight line...handy!

One of the simplest Borders to do is the Double Straight Lines.  I cut my Parchment into a square then taped it to the Border Plate. I simply embossed the double lines from one edge to the other and repeated it around the square.  This gave me the initial framework for the rest of the card design.

Once I had embossed and coloured the main design I went back to the Border Plate and added a line of Dots around the frame.

I then went in with a Two Needle Tool and cut the excess away using my Parchment Scissors. When using these Scissors just place the tip of the points into the holes, turn your wrist towards you slightly and THEN snip.  This was then mounted onto backing sheet and card using Brads through the little corner square made by the lines crossing over.

For the next edging I have used the other Border Groovi Plate that comes with the Groovi Plate Mate. I embossed the Single Line to make a square for my design, and then I used the scallop edge. Now the tip for this is NOT to start at one end of your square (unless your line fits exactly), but to center the scallops evenly along your embossed line.  Do this for all 4 lines.  THEN go to the corners and emboss a single scallop. you can see from the photo how I have placed the Parchment onto the Border Groovi Plate.

I then went on to  use a Two Needle Tool to pierce inside and outside the Scallops which were then cut out with Parchment Scissors leaving a lovely delicate edging.  I embossed the corner Scallop and placed a bit of double sided Foam Pad for attaching to the card.

For this Edging I used the Single line again only this time I used it Twice.  I embossed one line first, left a space for piercing and then embossed the line again.  I then pierced a double line using a Two Needle Tool and a Grid.

I used a Ruler and a craft knife to cut as near the outside line as possible.  I then attached the slimmest Red Double Sided Tape to the back of the design.   Once this was mounted onto the backing sheet the tape did not show through due to the embossed lines and the whiteness the piercing made.

This edging was very straight forward. I simply used the Double Score Line from the first Border Groovi Plate at the top of the Page.  I coloured between the lines to match the backing sheet.  I pierced around the edge of the Parchment Design and cut with Parchment Scissors.  I then Pierced a hole in the cross over in the corners so that I could mount the design onto card with a Brad.

Well thats all from me today as I am off to Edinburgh in the morning to help my daughter get ready for an exhibition (and to get a bit crafty with her too).  My Groovi Plates will be coming with me too.

Pop on over to the Claritystamp Website to see the fabulous offer that Barbara Gray has put on for us.

http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/Groovi

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs 

Emma xx

Clarity Stamp Challenge # 30

Hiya Folks!  1st of the Month again...OMG August!!  Time is definitely moving too fast for me!

Today is the beginning of Challenge 30 over at the ClarityStamp Challenge Blog and the theme for this month is:

 BINGO (tic tac toe).

There is a Grid of 9 Squares on the Challenge Blog, and named in each square is an item with which you can use to create a card etc.  You can choose to go for a "Full House", a "Diagonal Line", a "Horizontal Line", "Vertical Line" or "Four Corners"  using what is named in the corresponding squares. 

But as in ALL the previous challenges, any Stamping or Stencilling has to be done using ClarityStamp Stencils and Stamps only.

The Winner (picked by Random.org) will receive a £50 Claritystamp Gift Voucher

and will also be given a guest spot to design a piece for the following challenge.

For My Design Team Piece, I have chosen to go for the central "Horizontal Line" 

the items in that line are Stencil, Grunge Paste and Stamp.

 Below are the ingredients that I used to make my Design Piece.  

(all except my Trimmer...too big to get in photo lol and two equal sizes of Grunge Board)
I used three Stencils and one Stamp

So I have made a cover for my latest Kindle!  I had to make a new one as this Kindle has a camera, front and back and my last one didn't.  So I had to make new...yes I could have bought one, but this was more fun!!!

I began with measuring out some Black Craft Foam to line the inside of the front cover and also some strips to go around the edges of the back cover.  I then trimmed a piece of Non Slip Matting which I coloured Black with a ProMarker.  I set these aside while things got a bit messy!









Front Cover: Grunge Board, Stencils and Grunge Paste. Masking off the areas I did not want, I grunge pasted the NDSC 13 DISH  Stencil first, let it dry.  Grunged the NDSC 3 TREE Stencil , let it dry (Remember you need to have warm soapy water handy to clean Stencils and Scraper ASAP) Back Cover: I used the Deckled Circle Stencil with the Grunge Paste.

Once Grunge Paste was Dry, I added a Flourish to the Dish.

I painted Black Acrylic to the Front and let this completely Dry.
I then Added Bronze Acrylic and before it was completely dry I wiped a fair bit away with a Baby Wipe.  I then repeated this step with Gold Acrylic and Baby Wipe.

The next step was to randomly add some Gilding Wax.  I used a Red, Gold and Green Wax using a bit of Kitchen roll to apply and to Polish it up.

Now at this stage, it looked ok but I wanted to give more of a shine along with old wood effect so I again had a play with the Acrylic paints.  This time adding Black and immediately removing it by using scrunched-up copy paper. I repeated the process with Bronze, Gold and Finally some more Black.  I also removed some of the Black from the Tree and the Flourish on the Dish with a damp (not wet) bit of Kitchen Roll. I then gave the whole thing a really good polishing.

I used a Craft Knife to cut out a small square so as not to obstruct the camera lens.

I used the NDC December 2014 STAG which was stamped in Gold Ink onto the Deckled Circle on the Back Cover

Now remember the Foam and Non-Slip Matting from earlier.  Well I attached the Matting with Hot Glue to the inside of the Back Cover, leaving a couple of inches excess at one end. I also added strips of Foam around the edges to nestle my Kindle into. I  then attached the excess matting to the Front Cover, this then formed my Flexible Hinge.  Once set, I coated a thick layer of Bookbinding Glue over the entire inside of Front Cover and added a thin sheet of Foam which hid the matting and gave me a cushioning for the Screen of my Kindle.

The last thing I did to finish off was to use a glue spreader to fill in the edges around the covers with Grunge Paste and then I painted the edges with Black Acrylic, just to make it look neater.

I am very happy with my new cover, Kindle securely fixed in, Camera tested (I was worried that the aperture was not big enough) Picture above was taken with the Kindle.

So Folks!  lots of combinations to have a play with this month.  Pop on over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at the wonderful Design Team Pieces that my Team Mates have created for your inspiration.  Looking forward to seeing all your marvellous creations.

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs

Emma x