This month we are focusing on two of our favorite border punches - upper crest and boundary waters. Here to show you new ideas sure to get your summer crafting started off with a bang here are four great projects from the Fiskars design team:
Designer: Kelly Purkey
Since it was released, the Upper Crest border punch has been a much loved and used tool in my stash! It gets pulled out for practically every project I do. But after all that use, I wanted to find a fresh way to use the cool bracket shape.
Instead of just laying the punched strips of paper onto the page, I folded them to create my own flower embellishments. They're simple to make and a fun girlie touch!
To make your flowers, start by punching a 12 in strip of cardstock with the Uppper Crest punch. The wider the cardstock is, the bigger the flower will be. My smallest strip was about 1 in wide by 12 in. Once the strips are punched carefully fold the paper back in between each of the brackets. Pinch the paper and make a crease at the bottom, letting the paper fold around in a circular shape as you move down the strip. Placing a glue dot behind each fold will help the flower keep its shape.
Once your strip of cardstock has been folded around into a flower, place a glue dot on the end to hold the flower together. Punch a circle using Round 'n Round squeeze punch and adhere it to the center of your flower. Then stitch a little swirl in the center of the flower. That's all you need to do create your own Upper Crest bouquet!
Designer: Kendra McCracken
It's the time of year when we grab our beach towels, the sunscreen, and a few other swimming essentials and head to the pool. I decided this year I wanted a way to keep track of everything in a lightweight bag. I also didn't have to worry about leaving it lying around unsupervised so I wanted it to be inexpensive. Being inexpensive, however, doesn't have to mean boring! With a few colorful fabrics, some fabric stiffener, and the Fiskars Wave Border Punch, I was able to easily create a drawstring bag with a whimsical, intricate border.
Using the 45mm Rotary cutter and the 18" x 24" Self Healing Cutting Mat, cut 2 panels of material, 26 1/2" H x 21" L. Cut 2 strips of contrasting fabric 4" H x 21" L. Cut a strip of a second contrasting fabric 4" H x 42" L.
Cut a strip of a third strip of contrasting fabric 5" H x 42" L. This should be the same fabric as one of the strips in the previous step.
Completely saturate this strip with fabric stiffener, removing any excess, and allow the strip to dry. The drying process can be shortened by drying it with a hairdryer but fabric is easier to punch if allowed to sit for a few hours afterward to completely dry and cool. It should feel stiff and brittle.
Punch one long edge of the strip of stiffened fabric using the Fiskars Wave Border Punch. When dry, cut the strip in half to create (2) 21" L strips.
Using fabric glue, adhere a punched strip of fabric to each panel so the tips of the waves are 7" from the bottom edge of the panel. Turn under the long edges of both strips of contrasting fabric from the first step 1/2" and iron to crease. Pin these to each panel so they overlap the punched strips. Top stitch the long edges.
Place the 2 panels right-sides together and stitch one side seam using a 1/2" seam allowance. Trim the raw edges of the seam allowance with Fiskars Pinking Shears and iron the seam open.
Turn under the top edge of each panel 1/2" toward the side without the trims and iron to crease. Turn the edge under again 5".
Using the 42" L remaining strip of contrasting fabric, fold each long edge to the center of the wrong side of the fabric and iron to crease.
This will leave you with a 2" x 42" strip. Pin this to the top edge of the connected panels 4 1/4" from the top. Fold each short end of the strip under 1", trimming off the excess if needed. This should leave each end of the strip 1" shy of reaching the sides of the panels. Top stitch the long edges leaving the short ends open. This will create a channel for the drawstring.
Fold the panels so they are right-sides together. Stitch the bottom and second side edge using a 1/2" seam allowance up to the bottom edge of the drawstring channel. Slip stitch the remainder of the seam along the top edge together. Trim the raw edges of the seam allowances with pinking shears and iron the seam open.
Using a safety pin or a paper clip, run a 1 1/2 yard length of cording through the drawstring channel and tie a knot in each end.
The bag requires very little storage space and can be folded and stored with the beach towels, ready for your next trip to the pool!
Designer: Lisa Storms
The 'Boundary Waters' Border Punch can be used over and over in your summer crafting, but it has many fun uses beyond the border. Here I used a border punched piece of cardstock as a mask to turn plain chipboard letters into a beach-themed title.
Start by temporarily adhering your letters onto scratch paper and positioning the punched strip in desired location.
I didn't both adhering the strip down and instead just made sure to hold it in place. I used a pearlescent blue ink, but you can just as easily use chalk, paint, color sprays, etc. I replaced the mask once the ink was completely dry and drew around the waves with a white pen to make the design really pop.
'Boundary Waters' pulls double-duty on this layout by rounding out the sun's rays. To make a straight border curve around the sun (cut out with the Ultra ShapeXpress using the 'Super Sized Circles' shape templates) I simply cut a small line at each big wave for flexibility. I applied adhesive around the circle's edge on the back to adhere the rays around.
For finishing touches to the layout, the 'Scallop Sentiment' Border Punch smoothed the transition between papers, and the "drip" from the Limited Edition 'All Scream' (ice cream ) Squeeze Punch added a few fun splashes to the title.
Designer: Susan Weinroth
One of my very favorite Fiskars tools has to be the new UpperCrest Border Punch. I love the punch’s unique design, and find it to be extremely versatile in so many of my paper craft projects. For this layout about our stop in Cozumel, Mexico on a recent cruise, I put my UpperCrest Punch to use to create a few scrappy frames on the page. I think that they have a fun eclectic look, perfect for the feel of my vacation beach photos.
I’m a “saver”, and I keep all of my patterned paper scraps sorted by color in hanging file folders - right under my desk – so that I can pull them out when I need a bit of one or another, and not let the leftovers go to waste. To create the frames on my page I pulled an assortment of bright beach-themed colors and started punching strips. I then used my MicroTip No.5 scissors to snip the strips apart at various intervals. Simply lay out the snipped apart strips around your page base, or individual photos, and lightly adhere them down. Then use your sewing machine to run a straight stitch along the edge for a continuous and finished look.
Finish your layout off with some Soleil punched sun accents and a big circular title block. Try using your paper scraps to create pieced-together frames on cards, or borders on pages, too!
By fiskars design team
