Welcome everyone and happy holidays to all! So glad you could stop by to check out our sixth Blog Hop. Today’s die is the Easel Frame. There are many ways this die can be used, as you will see when you check out the links to the amazing designers’ blogs listed below.

When I designed this die, I wanted a frame that would mail easily. It holds a wallet size photo and folds flat to mail. The frame is easily assembled by adding three brads (or just a strip of double sided tape).

In the past, I have always used matboard as a base for the dies, but got curious about what other materials might work with the ScoreBoard dies. Turns out foamboard works fine! Consider starting a new tradition at the holidays of sending an updated school picture of your children to grandparents and other relatives that you may not see often.

I spray adhesived a piece of BasicGrey paper to one side of a strip of foamboard and then ran it through the Big Shot. The machine will resist a little and does compress the foamboard but all of the pieces popped out without a problem. I cut off the bottom easel section, leaving a mat with a window and back piece the same size. I also added a matboard “J” cut out using my Serif Essentials alphabet, some baby rickrack, red glitter snowflake and a beaded handle.

For more detailed instructions for this project, check out the latest issue of Totally-Creative, a beautiful e-magazine that contains 60 pages of unique holiday projects, complete instructions and interesting articles. Click here to sign up for a free trial issue! Need a last minute gift for a crafter friend? You have till Dec. 31 to get 2 subscriptions for the price of one!

I love how my friend Kim added the middle heart shaped mat inside inside the frame. The red and white color scheme is so nice and crisp! The tiny ornament punches are adorable and I’m guessing here that they are Martha Stewart’s. Am I right?

One more item of interest and invitation. The Sizzix blog is up and running! You will see projects and ideas from Sizzix designers including Karen Burniston and Brenda Pinnick, who you have seen on our Hops, along with me.

Many thanks to my great designer friends who took time out of their holiday preparations to bring you inspiration. Merry Christmas everyone!

Ann Butler
Fabrizio Martellucci
Brenda Pinnick
Jenn Ellefson
Candice Windham
Niki Meiners
Violette Clark
Cindi Bisson

Thanks for stopping by today! I can’t wait for you to see what the fabulous ScoreBoard designers have come up with for you this time. Every Hop, I am blown away by their creativity and style and so appreciate the time they put in to working on these projects, especially during the busy holiday season.

Today we have two bloggers new to the Hop: Debra Quartermain is a designer friend from Canada who works in all kinds of mediums, but I think my my personal favorites are the projects she creates with fabric. Debra designs cuddly little creatures from felt, fabric and fleece- you just want to hug them. We also have Violette Clark here for the first time (another Canadian)! I met Violette two years ago at CHA when we had a booth next to her in the License & Design Section. We spent a lot of fun time getting to know each other. Violette is a multi-media artist and loves to work with lots of color and techniques. She has a purple house- check out her blog!

The die we are working with today is the Business Card Box. This box is quite versatile. Not only does it fit business cards but it’s the perfect size for gift cards- very handy at this time of year! Another reason I like it is because it’s so quick and easy to assemble.

I decided to do a little surgery on mine. My project is a magnetic organizer. I plan on putting it on the refrigerator next to my calendar. I am constantly looking for a pencil, paper and post-its so I can make notes and write in dates/times while talking on the phone. After I had cut out the die and trimmed the top flap off, I inserted the black matboard die-cut in the Textured Impression folder and ran it through the Big Shot. Then I sanded off the raised part of the image down to the white core. I will tell you, my arm got tired- it took a while to do! It was then inked with a light blue dye ink. I printed out labels and adhered them to the die cut tabs and threaded ribbon through the back.

Black and blue matboard were layered on top of each other with a strip of white cardstock edged with a Martha Stewart punch design in between. The Crop-o-dile was used to punch two sets of holes to thread ribbon through for a pencil holder. Foam adhesive strips were placed under the blue layer for popped up dimension. On the back, three strips of one inch magnet tape was adhered to hold the whole piece on the fridge. I added black matboard die cut flowers randomly to the background along with a narrow ribbon at the top.

I also used a couple of flowers to decorate magnet clips I had found at Ikea a while ago. This will be good for coupons.

For a look at some more cool projects, check out the blogs of my talented designer friends!

Denise Clason
Jenn Ellefson
Bonnie Bruns
Korie B
Violette Clark
Karen Burniston
Candice Windham
Debra Quartermain
Cindi Bisson
Ann Butler
Niki Meiners