How To: Use Martha Stewart Punches effectively

We all love our MS Punches and they are one of our most prized possessions. But do we use them well? Do we really use them to their full potential? Well, often not!

Few years back I used to quietly admire my blogger friends who showed off their beautiful punches and hoped one day I too will buy my first ever MS Punch!! That triggered the process of buying (rather hoarding) MS Punches and I need not say anything much about it now ;)

Lately I realized I invested so much in these punches but don't really use them well. There is so much we can do rather than just punching out a simple border.

I personally find using a MS Punch a lot easier, mainly because:

1)      They are so handy

2)      They are so versatile

Let’s look at the nomenclature of MS Punches which itself is quite confusing at times. The border punches come in two forms:

A.      Martha Stewart Crafts Edger Punch

B. Martha Stewart Crafts Punch Around The Page – These have a coordinating corner punch.

Then, of course there is the other range of MS Punches like Punch All Over the Page, Circle edge punch and the usual craft punches.

It took me a while to figure out how to use the Punch Around The Page. And after some research I found these measurements on the net and also a very useful post by Paper Castle. She has also suggested sticking these measurements on the punch itself so that you don’t have to dig out a tute every time.

Measurements for Punch Around The Page Large - Paper sizes [In Inches]:

4 in

6 in

8 in

10 in

You can use these measurements in any combination to form a square or rectangle.

E.g. 4” x 4” square, 4” x 6” rectangle, 8” x 10” rectangle and so on.

Measurements for Punch Around The Page Small - Paper sizes [In Inches]: grow by increments of 1.75" up to 12"!

3.25 in

5 in

6.75 in

8.5 in

10.25 in

12 in

You can use these measurements in any combination to form a square or rectangle.

E.g. 3.25” x 5” square, 5” x 6.75” rectangle, 12” x 12” square and so on.

Here are some ways in which we can use these punches.

For illustration I am using MS Punch Around the Page Small - Ribbon Loop and MS Punch Around The Page Large -Double Arches. [Click to enlarge the pictures]

Good Day!

How to: Make Flowers without Punches or Dies

Hello there,

It's Isha here. I hope you all are having a great time and loads of fun with us since the Birthday celebrations are in full swing here at Lulupu. Before moving ahead, I want to let you all know which contests are still running so you still have a chance to win awesome prizes and goodies.

- March 2013 Challenge  (Till March 31st)
- Birthday Bash (Till March 31st)
- Crafty Quiz Contest (Ends tonight!!!!!)
- And lastly Photo Contest on our Facebook Page (Till March 30th)

                                  Go ahead and don't miss a single chance to grab the goodies ..

Now coming over to my post. Who says you always need dies or punches to make gorgeous flowers ? So here you have my take on making flowers without them. Have a look at how they turned out. :)

What do you think??

So today I will be be doing a pictorial for you that will feature how to make these lovely flowers without using any dies /punches . Lets get started -

Basic Supplies required:
1. Card stock (any)
2. Glue
3. Scissors
4. Water & Sprayer for misting
5. Inks (preferably Distress Inks)

STEP - 1 

Take few pieces of cardstock of your choice (any colour.)

                         

STEP - 2

As shown above cut them into circles, remember to cut them in little wavy shapes on the edges. You don't need a perfectly round shape.

STEP - 3

Now make some small V- shape cuts on the edges as shown above. Remember the more imperfect they are, the better it is.

STEP - 4 

 Now distress the edges and center with any color of your choice and Spritz some water over it. 

STEP - 5

Now bring the petals up from the center and give them a good scrunching!! 

Spritzing water is optional at this step since I did not spritz water on the opposite side in the previous step.

STEP - 6 

 Open them up and allow them to dry. If you have a heat tool go head save your time and if you don't have a heat tool put your head phones on and listen to your favorite songs till nature does its thing ... :P

STEP - 7

Put them all together with a dab of glue in the centers starting with the largest circle at the bottom and layering smaller ones over it till you're done with the smallest piece and your flowers are ready.

Ooops I forgot to mention, for the center you can use pretty gems, stones, pearls or pollen of your choice.

            Voila! The flowers are ready!!!!  And its time to use these super gorgeous blooms on my card

For this card I have used the pink flower. I have further distressed the edges with Picked raspberry distress ink. Coming over to the card, I have used the gorgeous pattern paper from  Prima zypher collection, doilies which I soaked in picked raspberry distress ink and added pearls and Pink Fabric Lace. Sentiment is from Hero arts .

And for the second card I have distressed the back ground and soaked doilies using Peeled paint and Mustard seed distress inks and have used brown fabric lace. Sentiment is from Hero arts. For the flowers I have used pollen in the center .

Hope you had fun making these flowers with me!!

And Happy Holi from the Lulupu Team to everyone in advance! Have a colourful, fun filled Holi and be safe.. :)

Love,

Isha

Supplies Used -

Lulupu Birthday Like 'N Win Facebook Photo Contest

What's up crafters? Having fun with our contests? We bet you are!! And you know what, we are having just as much fun as you guys because it is CONTAGIOUS! The enthusiasm you guys are showing in participation is more than enough to let us know that everyone on board is having a great time. So thank you all for that! It has been a fun month here at Lulupu! :)

But wait! Is the fun over yet? Nooo! It definitely isn't. There is just one more contest that we have up our sleeves with one more chance for one of you Crafty Cats out there to win some goodies.

Before we move on to our latest contest, let us refresh our memories and see which contests are still running where you have a chance to win a prize.

1. March 2013 Challenge - Our Monthly Challenge; this month's theme being 'Inspired' Celebration themed cards. You have till the end of the month to enter. One winner and Top 3 entries will be selected as usual. You know the drill, so we won't be going into many details there.
2. Birthday Bash Contest - This is on Facebook. All you have to do is share the picture on your blog and leave a comment on our Facebook page and share the picture. There's still time for you to do that if you haven't already.
3. Crafty Quiz Contest - This is still running and you can enter this contest till Tuesday midnight (26th March.)

The winners of the contests will be announced together on 31st March and the winners of the Monthly Challenge on 2nd of April. 

Now for this new contest! If you have enjoyed participating at the Lulupu Challenges throughout the year then we have yet another chance for you to win. 

We are having a Photo Contest on our Facebook Page. All you have to do is upload a picture of your project directly to the Contest page here and the photo with the maximum 'Likes' (rather, votes :P) wins the Contest. Simple, eh?

Here are the rules:

1. Since it's our Birthday month, we are inviting all cards with a birthday theme. They can be old cards or you can create new ones. Just make sure they're cards only (not scrapbook pages, boxes, etc.) and are made for birthdays.
2. You have to upload your picture with a link to the blog post with the card. You can upload the picture directly on Facebook, here.
3. Invite your friends to vote for you. Voting closes on 30th March, 2013. So the earlier you upload the picture, the more time you have to invite your friends and ask them to vote for you.
4. The photo with the maximum likes (votes) wins the Contest.
5. Only one entry per person will be allowed. So make sure you enter your best card for this! :)

What's the prize?

The winner gets a DCVW 12x12 stack of their choice! Yum! :)

The page is active already! So head on over there to enter and vote and win this thing!

Cheers! And All the Best!

Love,

Team Lulupu! :)

How To: Magazine Style File Holder

Hi Friends!

Its Snehal here. I hope you are having fun with us this month since the birthday festivities are on at Lulupu. Do check out our latest Crafty Quiz Contest. Am sure it will get you cracking and its on till 27th March only.

I am sharing a pictorial tutorial  for making this magazine style file holder.There are many video / pictorial tutorials available on the net for this with different measurements.I found this size the best since it works for me to organize my stamp sets.

 
Here is the tutorial.hope you find it helpful.

List of supplies used.

Hope you try this one.Its easy peasy isn't it?
Thanks for passing by.
HUGS!

Lulupu Birthday Crafty Quiz Contest!

What's up crafters? Birthday celebrations are still on here and we have something awesome planned for you this week. But before we forget, have you participated in our Guess 'N Win Contest that closes tonight??? You have till midnight to submit your entries and remember, TWO winners will be chosen randomly. So if all your answers are right, you have just as good a chance as anyone else to win some awesome goodies.

And now for this week's contest. Let us put your crafting knowledge to test and also see how much you know about your favourite Indian Craft Store - Lulupu - The Craft Lounge. :)

How To Play?

1. We have a few questions for you to answer. A random winner will be chosen from those who answer ALL questions correctly. The answers you submit will be recorded online, so don't forget to enter to your name so that we can identify you in case you win the contest! :)
2. You must be a follower on our Blog and LIKE our FB Page and if possible do spread the word. 
3. Leave a comment once you have submitted your answers.
4. And we have a request.. Please DON'T post any answers or hints in the comments. We want this to be fun and fair to everyone!

Have fun and good luck!!! :)

PS: since you mentioned that the last one was easy we hope you have fun cracking this one!

This contest is now closed and we are no longer accepting responses. 

How to: use die cuts to make a quick layout!

Hey there,

I hope you are enjoying all the birthday festivities here at Lulupu and participating in the fun contests and birthday challenge. Which reminds me, have you participated in our Guess 'N Win Contest?? You have till tomorrow night to submit your entries.. :)

Today, I have a layout to share with you along with a few in the making steps and how easy it is to use available die-cuts :)

My mum had visited us in Pune for a couple of weeks when my daughter Aadya was about 2 months old and yes I did capture a few pictures which I had wanted to put in my daughters first year scrapbook :)

When I saw this beautiful die cut from Sweet Nector Collection by K&Company that came in my DT kit from Lulupu, I knew it would be perfect for the pictures. I layered the die cut on a 12X12 sheet of paper to make my base.

Then I picked up the sketch at C'est Magnifique and started assembling my bits and pieces for this layout.
I placed my pictures first to see where they look good. I am not gluing down anything yet. Just figuring out the placement.

Next step was to gather my embellishments. Even though I love making my own, these days with a small baby to attend to, I am always looking for quick ways to complete my projects and still make them look pretty and thats when these beautiful ready made die-cuts and embellishments come in the picture :)

I started with a couple of die-cuts from Bo Bunny Noteworthy Ambrosia Pack and some pretty Fabric Lace  with adhesive backing (What more do I need?) *grin*

And then I added some more, layered the Doodlebug Designs "Sweet" tag over the Bo Bunny die-cut, added the gorgeous layered butterfly from K&Company and used American Crafts Foam Thickers to build my title.

And then it was just a matter of adding some flowers and journaling :)
Here is the final layout.

And here are some close ups.

Did you see how the die-cuts made my life easy and yet made the whole thing look pretty? I love them :)

The felt flowers were made using a heart die, but you can use a heart punch and make these from paper too :)

All you have to do is die cut some hearts from amazing wool felt and use them as petals.
You can chose to sew the petals together like I did or hot glue them. I used 5 hearts for each flower and stitched a button in the center to complete them.

I hope you had fun making this layout with me and will give die-cuts a try :)

Love!

Lulupu Birthday Blog Hop Winner

Hey There!

What fun we are having this month with the birthday celebrations! We are overwhelmed to see you all blog hopping with such enthusiasm. Thank you so much!!

As promised we are here to announce the Blog Hop winner who gets to take home this wonderfully put together scrumptious Crafty Goodness which includes a Fiskars 8 by 8 Stamp set and 3 cheerful Ink Pads

And the Winner is......

Congrats NAINA from 

http://aparnamagotra.blogspot.in/

And we also had a Lucky Blog winner remember?

The Lucky blog by Random  Gen was Shruti's blog and the lucky one who commented is no 7

Congrats PALLAVI from

http://www.justmesumi.blogspot.in/

You have a won a surprise goody from www.lulupu.com

Please connect with us within 48 hours to claim your prize at hello@lulupu.com!

Thank you everyone who joined us along the Blog Hop! We still have our Monthly Challenge#10 on and we hope you join in. 

Oohhh did you miss this? No Worries, we have more goodies for you to win!

1. try your luck at our Month Long Birthday Bash Candy which is still up for grabs till 31st March. Just leave a comment and share our link on FB to be in the running.  Click HERE for detail. 
2. The Lulupu Guess and Win Blog Contest is on till 20th March. Click HERE to participate

Till then,

Smiles!