I'm up for Method Monday this week at InStyle Stamps and I thought it would be fun to play around with some acetate! There are so many cool things you can do with acetate and I want to show you a couple of them today!

I am using a sheet of acetate for my card front that I cut down from a 8.5" x 11" piece that I bought in a pack. It can also be purchased in smaller sheets as well as in pre-scored cards. Once I cut my piece down to an A2 card size I simply scored it with my Sor-Pal.

The next thing I did to it was to run it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing strip to hit just the edge. It leaves a cool white look to the part that was embossed.

If the embossed part doesn't appear as dark as you'd like you can also sand over as I had to do with this card so that it would be more pronounced.

For my image I used Cupcake Chloe, one of my favorites from the Chloe collection from InStyle Stamps. She was colored to match the cute Sweet Shoppe papers from Collage Press. I then took a few of the papers from this collection and added them randomly to the acetate card base.

(I tried coloring in the flowers on the edge, another thing you can do with acetate if you have Copics or other alcohol based markers. It looked kind of cool but my colors weren't quite right. Instead of starting over I just used some Copic refill solution to "erase" the color! Remember when coloring directly on the acetate that you need to use darker colors)

I punched a circle from an extra piece of acetate then stamped a cupcake with Staz-on and added glitter to the edges using PVA glue and Stampendous! pearl glitters.

To attach my papers to the acetate I chose to add glue to the backs on the parts that would not show through the card. You can also use a really invisible glue such as Zip Dry or use eyelets. For the small acetate circle I simply added a dimensional adhesive (from Glue Arts U Cut It pak) behind the cupcake so that it would not show through.

Here's what the finished card turned out like. (The top view is below).

Thanks for joining me today! Why don't you give acetate a try? You should be able to find it at any craft store :)

-Cyndi

Method Monday with InStyle Stamps

Good Morning! Today I am in charge of Method Monday at the InStyle Stamps blog, but first I wanted to send you to --->THIS post to see all the details for the new InStyle Stamps Design Team Call!!

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite types of specialty fold cards...what Splitcoast Stampers has dubbed the "Joy Card". First you want to gather all of your supplies: cardstock, stamped or digitally printed image, embellishments, a trimmer and a scoring tool.

Above are all of my pieces precut. My bottom base card is 4.25 x 9.75. My top base card measures 3.75 x 7.5. To embellish the front of the bottom base my layer is 4 x 4. The layer atop my top base card is 3.5 x 3.5. ( My main image I chose to run through my Cuttlebug with a Layers 4 Nestabilties, but it could be any size square smaller than about 3.75 x 3.75.)

Using a scoring tool you want to score the bottom base card along the long side at 5.5 and fold. The top base card will be scored at 3.75 and folded. I used a Scor-Pal for my sample but there are many other ways to score a card.

Lay the 2 card bases out so that the larger is on the left, and both openings are to the center. If you want a layer on the inside back of your card add that now. Layer the open top base over the open bottom base so that the bottoms are adhered together. The left edge of the top base should be about 1/2 inch or slightly more in from the edge of the bottom base. First fold the bottom card closed, then the top one is closed to overlap the bottom.

This is a picture of how the top card is opened up leaving the bottom card still closed. I used a button attached only to the bottom card so that I can tuck the top card under (see last photo of card) The top card opens to the left (backwards)

Then the bottom card will open to the left as usual. A sentiment or message can be added to the inside. I used the digital anime image "Trent and Justin" from the InStyle Stamps web store.

This is the final card. Below is pictured the copics that I used and also a list of the supplies that I used.

Thanks so much for joining us today for Method Monday at InStyle Stamps! We would love for you to show us your version of a Joy Fold card if you create one! And don't forget to stop back in this Friday for our June Blog Hop!

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Trent & Justin digi (InStyle Stamps); Starbright, Starlight remix (Verve)
• Paper: Dude Collection pp (Prima); black cs (Bazzill); white cs (Neenah)
• Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
• Accessories: Labels 4 Nestabilties (Spellbinders); button (Autumn Leaves); Scor Pal; Copic markers; Black precision pen (American Crafts)

Method Monday Aperture Card

Good morning to you all! I am thrilled to be able to do the Method Monday post for InStyle Stamps for the day! (You may have also seen this post in the ISS blog today)

I have wanted to do an "Aperture" card for a while now and this was about as good a time as any to give it a try!

First thing you need to do is to gather all of your supplies. I used a Score-Pal for my score lines, but there are many other ways to score if you don't have one.

I am going to show you how to do a double fold card with the frame cut out of the front. I started with a piece of cardstock measuring 12" x 5.5". Your finished card won't quite be as wide as an A2, but its pretty close and will fit into an A2 envelope.

Score along the long side of the cardstock at 4" and at 8". Then you want to fold over the right side into the middle first then the left side into the middle on top of the other piece that was just folded in.

Next you want to decide what shape you want the frame to be in the front of your card. You could use a Nestabilities oval or rectangle to cut out the center of the front, or even a punch or Coluzzle. I chose to put a frame on the front then to cut out inside of that.

This is the Polka dot frame from Spellbinders. I cut it out of a separate piece of white cardstock on my Cuttlebug and then embossed it.

While the piece was still in the die I airbrushed inside the openings with a copic marker (My colors are all listed at the bottom of the post).

I then attached this frame to the front or top panel of my card. After that I used an exacto- blade and cut out the center of the frame on the purple cardstock that showed through. (I also made a second frame and attached it to the back of this panel on the inside which can be seen further down in this post)

This is what the front will look like at this point. Now its time to work on the inside.

The panel that shows through the frame I wanted to jazz up a bit. So I added a layered panel of cardstock with a grass border that I punched with my Martha Stewart Icicle punch. This was then centered on this part of the purple card base.

My main image for the front is this adorable bunny digi stamp, which is NEW sneak peek from InStyle Stamps and it will be available March 5th at the webstore! Its called "Sweet Treats". I closed the card front so that I could center the bunny in the middle of the frame. I popped him up with some dimensionals.

Here is the front of the card after I added a few embellishments...a touch of ribbon from my stash (Fancy Pants I think??), and some die-cut and airbrushed flowers from the same Polka Dot Frame set by Spellbinders.

I also dressed up the inside of my card a bit using another new sneak peek digi image which is also available March 5th from InStyle Stamps, called "Eggtastic"! It was so fun to color...more fun than real dyed eggs, KWIM?

You can also see where I added the second frame to the inside of the card so that it didn't look so plain. Below are the copics that I used to color these images. All of my supplies are listed at the bottom of the post.

So! Now its your turn to go try an Aperture card! Please play along with us and then leave a comment if you do so that we can go check out your creation! Thanks for joining me today! Have great Monday and a fabulous week!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Eggtastic, Sweet Treats (InStyle Stamps)
• Ink: None
• Paper: Purple, Green, Turquoise cs (Core'dinations); white cs (Neenah); stripes (Pinecone Press)
• Accessories: Score-Pal; exacto; cutting mat; Polka dot Frameabilities (Spellbinders); buttons (Basic Grey); ribbon (Fancy Pants); icicle border punch (Martha Stewart); Copic markers: RV00, RV02, RV06, RV09, V01, V04, V06, Y11, Y15, Y17, YR02,YR04, YR07, YG11, YG13, YG17, BG11, BG15, BG18, C0 & ABS1 (Imagination International)