Joan's Gardens - Summer Challenge - Guest Designer .

Hi Blogger's,

Today I'm thrilled to be sharing a tutorial as part of Joan's Gardens Summer Challenge.   Joan's store stocks so many wonderful stamps, dies, punches  and embellishments with the Heartfelt Creations range amongst them.

I have a little heart shaped basket template to share with you today and your challenge is to make and decorate your own basket.  Joan and Selma will pick the winner so decorate away, you know these girls love flowers ribbons and punched lace!

In my instructions I've listed the products I used  but feel free to make your version with this simply template as a starting point.  I hope you'll have fun with it, I've made a few of these for girlie gifts and they are always well received!

This first picture shows the front of my basket with the back shown below.

You can get the template for this basket HERE. I've also added the written instructions under the  Tutorials tab at the top of my page for quick reference.  So here's the product list and how I constructed and decorated my basket:

H C Products:            HCPC 3402 Bella Rose Heart PreCut Set

                                    HCPC 3394 Classic Bella Rose PreCut Set

                                    HCPC 3400 Bella Rosebud PreCut Set (Sentiment)

                                    HCD 712 Bella Rose Die

                                    Spellbinder Heart Die - plain and scalloped.

                                    Spellbinder's Classic Lace Border die

                                    Spellbinders Grand Calibur.

Other Products:

Card:                           Ivory Card, Cappuccino Card (light coffee).

Ink:                           VersaMark, clear embossing powder, Chalk inks in cocoa, mint.  Sakura Stardust Clear glitter pen.

Other:                    2 eyelets, 2 brads. Silent Setter. Fiskars  ‘leave it to weaver’ eyelet punch. Self-adhesive pearls. 5/8” coffee ribbon and scrap of green 3/8” ribbon.  Cream lace. Cream glass beads.

                                    Glue,  dries clear adhesive, Foam Tape.

Instructions: Basket – 

1.     Print the Heart Basket template directly to Ivory card.  I printed to A4 card with the setting set to borderless but this will print fine on American Letter size card. In fact it will give you a wider border for your punched handle.  Cut around the cutting line and score along the dashed fold lines. The printed side should be inside. 

2.     Place eyelets in either side ready to secure the handle .

(You could just punch holes and thread ribbon for the handle if you prefer.) 

3.     Place strong tape or  glue along the .5-inch flap and adhere to inside front heart shape.

4.            From along one long edge of the remaining Ivory card using a Fiskars ‘Leave It To Weaver punch; punch out a ribbon eyelet strip. Trim to .75” wide. Thread a length of coffee 5/8” satin ribbon through the punched eyelets leaving the first and last free. These are used to attach the handle to the basket.  Secure on the reverse with  glue or tape. Set aside.

5.              For Back of Basket: Using the largest Spellbinder scalloped heart die cut and emboss one heart from coffee card.  Using the 3^rd smallest scalloped die cut one heart from Ivory card.  Stamp the sentiment from Bella Rosebud using cocoa chalk ink. (A stamp-a-ma-jig will help placement.)

6.              Die cut a small piece of Spellbinders Classic Lace from Ivory card. Trim to sit over the bottom half of the heart. Add a strip of green satin ribbon to the top, securing at the back.  Add the sentiment to the centre of the heart with foam tape.  Add the pearls to the scallops.  Using  glue or strong tape adhere the completed back section to the back of the heart basket. 

7.              For Front of Basket: Stamp Image from Bella Rose Heart to Cappuccino card using  cocoa chalk ink and clear emboss. Trim or  cut image with matching scalloped die.  Lightly colour with  chalk inks and a cotton bud. Add accents with  clear glitter pen.

8.              Stamp single open rose, closed rose and rosebud to Cappuccino card using  cocoa chalk ink and colour with chalk inks. Using the matching dies cut all images and pop up over the main stamped image with foam tape. ( If you're new to Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies there are some great tutorials over at the H C Blog explaining how best to use them. I recommend checking these out before you start.)

9.              Gather a length of cream lace by taking a small running stitch along the top edge of the lace and pulling to gather. I leave the needle and thread in the lace so I can adjust as I attach the lace to the heart shape.  Using an awl pierce a hole in the dots placed in each scallop of the stamped image.

(This makes it easy to attach the lace.)

10.              Thread a needle with cotton, double it and secure with a knot. Insert the needle into the lace and come up from behind the stamped image into the pierced hole at the base of the heart.  Add a glass bead then take the needle back down through the same punched hole and the lace (without going back through the bead) and pull firm.  Continue in this way around the heart arranging the gathered lace as you go.  When you get all the way around the shape sit the lace to the back of the started piece and add a few tiny stitches to neaten off.  Take a couple of small back stitches to secure and snip off . Trim away any remaining lace..

11.              Use foam tape to attach the completed front section to the front of the heart basket.
12.       Using brads attach the handle to the sides of the basket.

      13.       Tie two bows in the coffee ribbon and secure  either side of the basket  to complete.

Easy peasy!!!!!!!   Hope you'll have fun with this .

Please visit Joan's Gardens for all the challenge guidelines.

Thank you Joan and Selma for including me in your Summer challenges and good luck to all those who enter.