End of the Week Technique #18 - Paper Piercing

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Hey y'all. Happy Friday! I hope you're having a good day and getting ready for a great SuperBowl Weekend.

I can't believe I'm on my 18th EWT already. WOW! How exciting? I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am enjoying doing them. Today's EWT is one I have done at Stampcamps in the past but I don't think I have ever done on my own at home in the studio, and have never done on any cards here.

Paper Piercing can be as simple as adding pinholes to the centers of the scallops of punched out scalloped circle punch, or a few holes in the corner of a card to make a decorative angle, or around a card and connected with either marker for a faux stitched look or thread for the real deal. Or you can do what I've done on today's card and use it to outline a design element to leave an image of that element on your card.

I CASE'd my card from our Stampin Connect magazine, the monthly magazine Stampin' Up demonstrators get. It's full of ideas for us to use and I did. I changed it up a little and made it my own, but if you get the magazine you may recognize it.

Here's today's card-

Isn't is cute? My stampcamp girls loved it last week. The original card was a longer rectangle card. I chose to stick with a standard card size. I started with a base of Calypso Coral. I used the a-la-carte stamp Candy Conversations from our Occasions Mini. I just love this stamp. It takes me right back to my childhood (which since I'm only 29 isn't that far, hahahahahaha) when we used to all love to get those little boxes of candy hearts and read each one. You know, they don't even taste that good but for some reason I still find myself buying at least one box a year. How about you?

I used my Stampin Write Markers to color in the stamp. I used Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Pretty in Pink. I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get my alignment just right, but let me tell you my girls were fearless! They just stamped away. The original card had 2 rows of hearts, but as I knew I was going to have new stampers I chose to go a little easier route. We stamped onto Whisper White c/s and I have to tell you that even though the coverage is not perfect, I'm happy. Normally, this would have me running for my blender pens to fill in and correct the color, but those little candies are never consistent in color and often have little chunks missing where the white shows through, so to my own surprise and the surprise of many of you I'm sure, the imperfections were allowed to stay. (Hooray! Take that OCD!)

I triple wrapped our fabulous Calypso Coral Bakers Twine around the edge of the c/s and tied a cute little  bow. This whole piece then got popped up with dimensionals and the front was almost done. I actually saved the piercing for last.

On to the inside-

Very simple here. I used a sentiment stamp from P.S. I Love You and stamped it in Calypso Coral. I colored one of the hearts from the Candy Conversations stamp in Wisteria Wonder, stamped it on Whisper White c/s and let Tink have her way with it and then punched it out using my Small Heart Punch. I then Tombowed it to the inside corner of my card. The effect is a little sugared candy heart. How Yummy is that? Don't you just want to pick it up and eat it?

Now onto today's EWT. The original card had two pierced hearts, I chose to do three. I made a "template heart" using my Small Heart Punch. I used Red Glimmer Paper because it's so sturdy and I felt it would hold up longer. I opened up my card and laid the front of my card on my Mat Pack and laid my heart where I wanted my first heart to be. Then using my Paper Piercer I began to outline the heart. Of course, being me, I did it in a methodical way instead of just punching my way around the heart. You can do it however you choose, but here's how I did mine. I pierced at the "v" of the heart and the point of the heart first, then the center of both top rounded portions, the middle of both side rounded portions and in between the last spot and the point at the bottom. I then filled in in-between these spacing evenly. It only took a few extra punches.

*TIP* - Be sure to take your time and be aware of how much pressure and how deeply you are pressing on your piercer. You will get different size holes depending on how hard you press, because this will affect how deeply you go into your mat.

*TIP* - For finer piercing you can use a sewing needle. This looks especially nice in the Small Scalloped Circle Punch.

After you have your first heart punched move your template and place it where you would like your next heart to be and simply start the process again. Just make sure to only outline the portion of the heart outside the original heart.

Here's a closer picture of the front-

What do you think? I think it's something I need to remember to try more often. It definitely adds something to the card.

I hope you liked today's card and today's EWT. I hope it inspires you to try this technique. If you do, as always, I would love to see your efforts. If not this technique, I hope it inspires you to try something you haven't tried yet or something you haven't tried in a while. You know the motto of this blog- Just Try.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Today's Card Recipe-
Cardstock- Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Red Glimmer Paper
Ink- Classic Ink Pad- Calypso Coral, Stampin Write Markers- Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Pretty in Pink
Punch- Small Heart Punch
Bakers Twine- Calypso Coral
Accesories- Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Two-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Tombow, Dimensionals, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

If you need supplies to recreate this card or to create your own cards you can shop in my ONLINE STORE 24/7. Now's a great time to shop with Sale-A-Bration going on. $50.00 in purchases will get you FREE merchandise. How AMAZING is that?!?

Also, have you thought about buying our My Digital Studio, but been uncertain about spending the money for the purchase? What if I told you, you could get a FREE 1 month trial of our Fabulous digital content to try, NO Strings Attached? Interested? I would be happy to tell you more.


If you liked today's card I hope you'll leave me a comment. That's how I grow as a designer. Also feel free to hit the Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest buttons. Friends and Followers are always welcome too.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you have an Amazing weekend full of family and friends and of course time for stamping and designing. Hopefully I'm going to stop wheezing and coughing long enough to be able to design some cards for you for next week. Hope to see you back here then.

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the Rain

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It