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Sylvia van der Steen

Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Happy Halloween

October 26, 2023

Hello everyone! My (Sylvia’s) turn on the blog again. At the moment I am enjoying a vacation in Mexico, where we hope to celebrate el Día de los Muertos with big parades and people all dressed up. It’s like a kind of Halloween, although it is not nearly the same celebration. If you are not able to be with your kids/grandkids during Halloween, let’s make them a card to wish them a Happy Halloween. Let’s get started!

step 1: Cut a piece of white cardstock of 15 x 21 cm (A5)/(6 x 8 inch) and fold it in half to create a landscaped card. Using a splatterbox, spray the front panel of your card with distress oxide in twisted citron and splatter with some black ink as well.

step 2: die cut the caterpillar in purple and lilac cardstock, die cut the hat, cauldron, poison, spoon, bat and skull from set 1707 Halloween accessories. Die cut the spoon twice (1x in black, 1 x green to match the poison). Assemble the caterpillar, cut a slit into the hat and slide the head of the caterpillar in. Glue the antennas on the hat. I slightly offset the face to give it a little bit more interest and I drew brows and lashes on the face as well. Hand cut an oval from the inside of the green spoon as if it is a scoop from the poison and glue the oval to the black spoon.

step 3: arrange all elements on your card, try if the caterpillar fits before glueing it down, so that you can adjust the body if necessary. Diecut the smallest banner from set 1329 in design paper, and the second smallest in bright orange card. Stamp the Happy Halloween sentiment from set CS 329 on the design paper banner and glue them on top of each other, on the top left side of the card. Finish the card off with some diecut bats and/or spiders.

Happy Halloween and happy crafting!
Love
Sylvia

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

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Uncategorized

Halloween candy wrappers

October 7, 2023

Hi everyone, it’s Sylvia today on the blog for you. We are already halfway through October and the fun, yet buzy time is rapidly approaching. In just 2 weeks it’s Halloween, so if you would like some quick candy wrappers, then here’s a simple tutorial for you. Over here in the Netherlands, the kids are starting to like the “trick or treat” part more and more, and although not everyone participates in the Halloween celebration, more families do, so let’s get started!

Step 1: pick some bright coloured cardstock in Halloween colours (black, bright green, bright orange, purple) and cut pieces of 2,5 x 6 3/4 inch (6,5 x 17 cm), score at 3 – 3,5 – 6 1/4 inch (7,7 – 8,8 – 16 cm). Fold every scoreline to form a matchbox that can hold a little bag of candy. (Please adjust given measurements, if your candybag is larger or smaller). From matching Halloween papers, cut a piece of 2 3/8 x 2 5/8 inch (6 x 6,6 cm) and glue that to the front of your wrapper.

Step 2: Decorate the wrapper with spooky diecuts and/quotes, like e.g. ghosts, black cat, cauldron, witch, broomstick, spiders, pumpkins etc. Cut and stamp a label and staple that in the center at the bottom, so that you can slide it underneath your decoration to keep the wrapper closed. If necessary, you could use a small piece of double sided adhesive to keep the candy in place inside the wrapper.

I hope you liked this easy tutorial. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I’d be happy to help you out.

Happy Halloween and happy crafting!

Love
Sylvia

Cardmaking Everyday Elements Joset Designs Uncategorized

Joy tags for Christmas

September 28, 2023

Hi all, Sylvia again here for you on the blog. Time flies, don’t you think? Before you know it, it’s Christmas again and this year I decided to start my Christmas preparations early (also because I have a vacation coming up in November, so less time to prepare). For today I would like to show you how I created some Christmas gift tags, using items from both Joset’s and Annette’s collections, because they combine great! Let’s get started shall we?

step 1: find a piece of coloured cardstock slightly wider than the word Joy. Tape the word die (including the inner circle on the O ) on the bottom edge of your paper and run it through your machine, but NOT all the way!! Make sure the top of the letters are not totally cut and are still attached to the paper. I like to run it through about 75% so that you can just barely see the “v” shape in the centre of the letter Y.

step 2: pick the 3rd largest tag from the nested tags set, slide the bottom part under the letters (so they won’t be cut off) and run it through your machine again. You might wanna handcut a bit in between the letters. Now you have a tag with the word JOY at the bottom edge.

step 3: decorate the tag to your liking with stamps and/or dies. As an example, I made the green tag with Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the blue one with Jack Frost. Finish the tag off with a nice piece of ribbon or twine.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to help you out. Have fun preparing for Christmas!

Happy crafting!

Sylvia

Soon to arrive:
2082 layered labels
2081 joy & merry

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3D christmas ornament

September 4, 2023

Hi all! Here is Sylvia again for you on the blog. I used to postpone making my Christmas cards as long as possible, which causes me to rush making them until the last moment. This year I decided to start early, as the end of the year is always hectic. So today I want to show you how I made this fun and easy 3D ornament, using only 2 different sets by Joset. And I have a little bonus card as well, made with the leftovers from the ornament. So let’s get started!

Step 1: using soft finish cardstock, diecut both rows of houses from set 1691 village edges, as well as the trees and the fence. Keep the little dropouts from the windows, you are going to need those! Using set 2065 shakers, diecut the solid circle in black, and (at least) four rings in soft finish cardstock. (if you want more dimension, cut more rings, as we are going to layer them). Cut the top of the ornament twice.

Step 2: Use the solid circle die to diecut the bottom of the house rows, so that they make a perfect fit in the ornament. (as you might notice, my back row has a gap at the side, I have fixed that). Glue the back row of houses on the black circle, layer at least 3 white rings on top of that.

Step 3: stack the dropouts from the windows in the exact same amount as the layer of rings you glued on (e.g. if you used 3 rings in step 2, use 3 dropouts on top of each other as well, so that your houses are at the same depth, 4 rings = 4 stacked dropouts etc) and glue the stacked dropouts at the back of the front row of houses. Glue the front row of houses in place at the bottom of the ornament.

Step 4: arrange trees and fence to your liking, cut off the excess. Glue another ring on top to make a nice finish. Glue the top of the ornament on back and front to make it extra sturdy.

As a bonus I made an extra Christmas card with the leftovers from the village edges. Here’s how to do that:

Step 1:  fold a piece of blue cardstock in half, put your solid die slightly over the fold so that it won’t cut all the way through and run it through your machine. Now you have a double round card with a top fold.

Step 2. Fold your card open, position the ring die on the front of the circle card and run it through but NOT all the way. Cut the imprinted circle by hand (see photo for reference). Now you have a solid circle card with a front open ring.

Step 3: Splatter some white ink or paint on the solid part. I used distress stain picket fence. Arrange the leftover houses from the first ornament (diecut the edges in the same way using the solid circle die) and arrange them on the card with the fence and some trees.

Step 4: diecut the bottom of the snowglobe 2 times, once as it is, once with an extra long piece of cardstock at the top that you can fold to make the card stand. Glue all pieces together, diecut the label in soft finish cardstock.  Stamp a sentiment from set CS 148 (or any other winter sentiment that fits) and adhere that to the bottom of the card. Notice my card fold on top isn’t exactly horizontal, I got a bit distracted when glueing the houses on, oops! (I guess that’s why my nickname is Silly 🙂

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to help you!

Happy crafting!

Love

Sylvia

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Blue dragonfly

August 14, 2023

Hi everyone, Sylvia here for you on the blog today with a cute “bug”card. As you might know, I really like to mix and match my dies to create new characters. For today I made this blue dragonfly (in Dutch we call them “waterjuffers”) and used mainly the grashopper dies for it. So let’s get started, shall we?

Step 1: cut a base card of approx 21 x 15 cm (8 1/2 x 6 inch) from the new Beautyful brights cardstock in a teal/blueish color. Also cut a panel from white card, using the second largest die from set 1695 fitted indented rectangles (you might wanna stretch it a bit, by diecutting it first from one side [not all the way through], shift your card to the length you need and then diecut it from the other side, aligning your die)

Step 2: diecut the following parts from the grashopper: head, face (save the dropouts), belly, upper largest hind leg, both antennas, 2 small hind legs (all from designpaper), eyes, mouth, nose from white cardstock

Step 3: diecut the body from the grashopper, the wings from the ladybug (all in vellum), the antennas from the small butterfly (in designpaper), 2 x the leaf from the grasshopper in a green colour of card or designpaper. Ink all edges.

Step 4: Colour the inner eyes black, the nose teal and the tongue pink. Assemble the head. Using the dropouts from the face, assemble the tail (as shown in the first photo), Attach the body to the head, then the dropout mouth, next the larger dropout eye, next one the smaller dropout eye and finally the upper hind leg to form the tail (see second photo for reference). Attach the antennas from the butterfly to the head as antennas, the antennas from the grasshopper as front legs, and the smaller legs as hind legs.

Step 5: Glue on the larger vellum wings on the back first (both pointing backwards), the smaller wings are glued on top of them (see photo for reference).

Step 6: Using stampset CS 316 stamp the dotted line in the lower right corner of your white panel, diecut the smallest banner from set 1329 and stamp that with the “buggs & kisses” sentiment from the same set.

Step 7: Arrange alle elements on your card, I popdotted the dragonfly to get a little dimension and glue them down.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to help you out.

Happy crafting!

Love

Sylvia

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Joset Designs

Bzzz…. busy

July 31, 2023

Hi everyone! it is Thursday again so Sylvia is here for you on the blog. Have you seen the latest release from Joset, Bugs & Butterflies? It is a really fun release with lots of insects and an additional stampset as well. I made this fun card with it, so let’s grab your supplies and get started.

First: using white cardstock diecut the full page of PE 46 (day by day) set no 1913 and cut it straight in the middle. I used the bottom half that has the 9 windows and saved the other half for an other project.

Step 2 Diecut the corresponding mats (also in the same dieset) once in black, twice in yellow. We need a full yellow set for the inside of the windows and alternate the black and yellow ones on the outside of the windows.

Step 3: diecut the parts of the bee in black and yellow as shown in the photo, diecut the wings in vellum and use ink of your choice on the honey pot. Assemble the bee and the honeypot.

Step 4: layout your yellow mats that will go on the inside of the windows very close together, so that you can stamp on them. I wanted the dash line to continue on multiple rectangles, so I layed them very close to each other and stamped them all at once. Stamp the bees on another square or rectangle and a nice sentiment on another.

Step 5: Cut a piece of black cardstock of 12 x 6 inch and make a top fold for the base of the card. Glue the white window part on top, glue the stamped yellow mats on the inside, so that you can see them when you open a window. Glue the black and yellow mats alternately on the outside of the windows and adhere the honeypot on the largest black square.

Step 6: cut 2 banners from set 1329 (stitched fishtail banner), one in white, one in yellow and stamp them with a sentiment of your choice. Adhere them on the inside of the card, slightly shifted. Adhere the bee on top of them.

I hope you enjoyced my busy (buzzzzzzzy…) card. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to help you.

Happy crafting!!

Sylvia

Soon to arrive:

2060 Bee

CS1329 bugs & kisses

Uncategorized

the most wonderful time of the year

July 20, 2023

Hi all! It’s my time on the blog again and today I have an early Christmas card for you. I really love to make Christmas cards year round and since it’s July already, you can never be too early, right? And how about a Christmas card with a summer feel to it, I bet Santa would like that as well, so let’s get started!

step 1: using Soft Finish Cardstock, cut a panel of 4 x 5 inch, ink it diagonally from the bottom right upto approx midway in a blue tone (I used distress inks tumbled glass and broken china) to represent the sea, and from the upper left corner to appox midway in antique linen to represent the beach.

Step 2: diecut all Santa parts, (except for his mittens, hat and fur trims), and his upper arm twice. Diecut the sunglasses from set 1803 (globe) in black, the small flowers from set 1625 (adventure edges) and the beach ball from set 2039 (Summer state of mind). If you don’t have that set (it was a limited edition), you might wanna use the beach ball from set 1541 (sandcastle).

Step 3: using set 1117 (fitted circles), diecut a small circle (the one next to the smallest in the set) from Soft Finish Cardstock. Use the smallest circle in the set to trace the inner part on the diecut circle, so that it looks like a floating device. Draw stripes (see photo for reference) and colour them alternately in red/white. If you end up with 2 red or white stripes next to each other, don’t worry, it will be covered up once Santa is glued in place.

Step 4: ink all body parts (that sounds a little weird) in a skin tone (I used distress ink tattered rose), his swimmers red, belt and sunglasses black, buckle yellow and the hearts of the flowers black as well. Colour all inner bits from the beach ball in a red colour, same as the floaty.

Step 5: Assemble Santa, use the flowers to decorate his swimmers, glue the arms in place (see photo for reference). His hands are behind his head, so you won’t see them. Glue the sunglasses on. You will want to trim his body slightly on both sides to fit the swimmers. Glue Santa on his floaty. I used a wobble behind the floaty to simulate Santa floating in the waves.

Step 6: Stamp the sentiment from set CS 148 in the upper left corner and glue the panel to a folded red card, slightly bigger than the panel (so approx 4 1/8 x 5 1/8 inch).

Sweat drops are made with glossy accents

I hope you like my summery Christmas card. If you have any questions, please let me know, I’d be happy to help you out. Enjoy your summer everyone! Happy crafting!

Love

Sylvia

other:

2039 summer state of mind (limited edition) beach ball

distress inks, versafine claire ink, black fineliner, wobble, OLO markers

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Joset Designs

You’re unique

July 6, 2023

Hi all! It’s Sylvia again for you on the blog today with a fun card. Our granddaughter will turn 4 in a couple of days and she is all into rainbows, unicorns and princesses. I have made her this unique card and will show you how to do that. Let’s craft, shall we?

Step 1: using Soft Finish Cardstock, diecut all parts from the zebra set (no 1616), make sure you use double sided adhesive tape on the back of the tiny parts, this will make it much easier to assemble later. Also diecut the rainbow and cloud from discontinued set 1151 (rainbow sky). If you don’t have that, do not worry, you can also use any nested circle set that you have in your stash. There are also clouds in set 1795 (once upon a time accessories). Worst case scenario, you could even draw and colour the rays and cloud. Also diecut the shell from set 1147 that will be used as horn for the unicorn. As a replacement for that one, you could use the same shell from set 1751 (which is a bit longer) or use the horn from the rhino set (no.1664).

Step 2: Colour the rainbow in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and purple with a medium of your choice. Use the same colours for the zebra stripes on the body (in the photo you see that I also coloured the stripes that go on the head, I decided later not to use them). Colour the hooves, manes and tail bright pink, the eyes black and the face a soft hue of pink.

Step 3: assemble the zebra/unicorn. Glue on the ears first before glueing the manes. Stick the stripes to the body in the colour order of the rainbow, so red, orange and yellow on the front legs, green, blue and violet on the hind legs. Glue the horn to the head.

Step 4: cut a base card of 8 x 6 inch and fold it in half to get a 4×6 inch card. Ink a base in soft grey for the unicorn to sit on. Glue the rainbow in the upper left part of the card, cut off the excess (save it for another card if you like). Diecut the smallest banner from set 1329, once in Soft Finish Cardstock, once in bright red card. Stamp “you are unique” from set CS 162 on the white banner and “#beyou” from that same set on the cloud. Glue the red banner slightly shifted under the white one.

Step 5: Place the unicorn on the grey inked part of the card, a bit off center to the right. Glue the cloud in its place at the end of the rainbow (it covers up any uneven ends) and glue the sentiment banner in its place. Finish the card by using some tiny diamonds randomly on the card.

I hope you like my card and that the instructions are clear. If not, please do not hesitate to ask, I will be happy to help you. Happy crafting (and happy summer vacation for everyone!!)

love

Sylvia

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Joset Designs

for a special dad

May 31, 2023

Hi everyone! Sylvia today on the blog for you with some inspiration for a Father’s Day card. We probably all struggle with masculine cards, so this might help. I need to give a little explanation on beforehand on where my inspiration came from. In the Netherlands we used to have a bedtime TV story when I was little. Every night at approx 7 pm Mister Owl read a story in the animal newspaper about something that happened in the forest. In that forest there lived a lot of animals, a.o. these 2 brothers, Ed and Willem Beaver, who were the handymen for all other animals. They are the inspiration for this card.

step 1: cut a base card of 21 x 20 cm and score at the top to create a slimeline card of 10,5 x 20 cm. Leaving the card folded, diecut the chain (2x) from planner set 2029 at the long side and cut it off totally at both ends from the top layer of the card to form a shaped border. This will be the front of the card. On the back of the card, line the card at the back with a small strip (approx 1,5 cm) of silver cardstock and glue both chain parts back in.

step 2: ink the centre of the front in a colour of your choice (I used distress ink peeled paint) and stamp some leaves from set CS 298 in the upper corners in a green ink.

step 3: diecut 2 beavers (set 1931) in Soft Finish Cardstock. Use the big round belly to draw an apron on (see photo for reference). Colour one of the aprons black (this is “Ed”), leave the other apron white (this is “Willem”). Colour all body parts for Ed in a dark brown, use a lighter brown for all bodyparts of Willem. Diecut one small round belly extra, cut in half, colour 1 half black, leave the other half white. These are the pockets on the aprons. Assemble both beavers, ahere the pockets to the aprons and glue the small round belly piece under/below the apron to mimick a belly. Draw black brows above the eyes of Ed (the black beaver).

step 4: diecut the toolbox, tools, and letters from set 2029 in a colour of your choice and assemble. I used woodgrain paper for the toolbox and a small piece of scrap to make a measuring tool. Draw some random paint splothes and spatters on the toolbox and colour them with a marker in different colours (as if the toolbox has been heavily used and stained with paint). Give both beavers some tools/screws in their hands and/or pocket.

step 5: adhere the beavers to the left and right of the card. Pop-dot the toolbox in between. Stamp “for a special dad” and “you’re my hero” above and below the toolbox.

If you have andy questions, please feel free to ask, I’d be happy to help you out.

Happy Father’s Day and happy crafting!

Love,
Sylvia

3 Comments
Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Let the adventure begin

May 15, 2023

Hi all, it’s Sylvia here for you today at the blog. Those of you who know me, know that I love to travel abroad to countries with a lot of nature, where I hopefully have an opportunity to spot wild animals. As I cannot travel the whole year I have made a fun safari card with animals as a substitute. It requires a lot of diecutting, so grab a coffee or tea and craft along with me.

Step 1: measure a piece of white cardstock of 21 x 29,5 cm (A4 size) and score halfway to form a A5 card

Step 2: use various shades of green ink (I use distress ink) to ink the front side randomly, leaving a white space in the centre (does not have to be perfect at all).

Step 3: diecut in different shades of green cardstock a whole lot of leaves & foliage, from different die sets and glue them randomly as a border at the front of the card, leaving the (white) centre part open.

Step 4: cut away the white centre along the edges of the glued leaves (see photo for reference)

Step 5: diecut the monkey, lion, giraf, elephant, safari jeep, prince and as many other animal body parts that you like. Assemble the “whole” animals, the jeep and its driver.

Step 6: Arrange the assembled animals on the front of the card, as well as all animal body parts. (see photo for reference). The legs, ears and tails (body parts) can be put anywhere between the foliage, you don’t have to show them in total, just a part will do.

Step 7: Put the driver behind the wheel of the jeep, glue them both on the inside of the card, so that you can see it peeking through the open centre at the front. Decorate the inside with the elephant and some stamps. If needed you can even add more foliage, to both the front and the inside.

Step 8: Stamp the sentiment on a large leaf and adhere to the front of the card.

Can you see how many animals are hidden on the front of my card? Just as in real life during a game drive, you cannot always spot all animals through the thick foliage…..

Happy crafting!

Sylvia

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

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