Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Understand Blue Invents the Pinecone - Tutorial!

I invented the pinecone.

It's true. Again, Al Gore - Internet. Thomas Edison - Light Bulb. ME - THE PINECONE!!

I'm so excited about this. I've been on a punch tear lately, and I thought of this when I was punching out the little cats at Maker Faire. That new large oval punch is soooo perfect for a pinecone shape, that when the scallop border punch idea popped into my head I almost screamed and scared the pancake juggler that was standing at my booth.

Instead, I'm sure my face just contorted in a way that made him sure of his decision never to return to Austin.

Here's what I did.

1) Attempted to put several scalloped strips together and then punch. Hideous idea. Catastrophic failure. Almost busted my beloved wide oval punch.

2) Figured out how to successively punch the pieces, but then assembled them with dimensionals between the layers and added glitter and now it looks like a fat piney drag queen. Trust me - a picture of this hideous thing would just offend you. I tell you these things so that you know that there are no stampers that sit down like Cinderella and birds bring them ribbon and everything is perfect. Sometimes our trash cans are filled with little pinecone drag queens.

3) Finally, distressed each piece with my bone folder, pressed the edges of each piece into my white craft pad, assembled them with Snail Adhesive and had the pinecone I imagined, and not Priscilla Queen of the Desert.. (anyone? That was a fabulous movie if you haven't seen it.)

Then, you ask, how did I get that magical copper stripe? Well, here's how it happened. The little shoe organizer I have hanging inside my closet door that has ribbon and sponges and all sorts of things that don't really go anywhere else sometimes ejects random products in protest over being so full. It ejected some copper foil tape I bought at Hobby Lobby 8 million years ago the other day and was kind of in the back of my mind for a few days, in addition to resting on my floor.

Then, wiping away a tear as I used some of my hoarded copper cord and brads, I assembled the card with a cuttlebugged strip of Kraft Cardstock and some of the delicious Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, also hoarded.. The center of the loops of cord are secured with more copper tape.

I had that DD Pinecones set way back in the past, and I used to love it - I always added white to the edges for snow, and just really could never get enough of how it looked - so three dimensional and nice. So this is a little homage to pinecones past. And, to Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Hope you enjoy it and can use it!

21 comments:

  1. and the crowd goes wild.....cheers and more applause!! (whistling from the upper deck). I could not help myself....I am wrapped up in the drama of your invention. lol you go girl, congrates....your pinecones are my type of invention...luv them and will save to my favs.! tfs *~*

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  2. Lydia, you crack me up! I'd never spend all that time punching, but I'd love to see a video play-by-play and your pinecone drag queen, too! :)

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  3. And lest you think that I don't LOVE your pinecones, I DO! They're fabulous, just. like. you!

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  4. Aren't you clever ... these are fabulous.

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  5. love it...what a great use of punches....def. use this idea...thanks for sharing...Valita

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  6. Now, can you punch me a credit card dress to wear to regionals? One with working credit cards please...and the bills should go to anyone else but me or you!

    How cute are those? You are definitely getting the mileage out of the punches, girl! Nice job. Oh, and we have the Hardy Boys collection over here. I don't know why I never got into Nancy Drew. I guess I was a bit "darker" and got into Stephen King at a bit too young of an age. Once you read "The Shining" there is just no going back...lol! But, I did spend many a glorious evening with Laura Ingalls Wilder, so that counts for something.

    Have a great night!

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  7. Girl, You should run for president - this is awesome.

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  8. Lydia,

    Awesome discovery. I love it! You are on a roll with the paper punches, that kitty was too cute too. Keep going with the creative juices!

    Lisa Atha

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  9. You have definitely invented pinecones...good job, Lydia!

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  10. Hey I think you should send me this card :o) I love it, great job. Have a good day, Hugs n' Stuff, Lynne

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  11. Wow!! Love the pine cone!! Going to have to try that one!! You did a fantastic job on the card too!!

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  12. You had me rolling with the pinecone drag queen description. Seriously, rolling. very cute creation!

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  13. these are great...but, alas, i do not have the wide oval punch. just spent a gazillion on supplies, so i'm not in the market for more stuff soon. someday, maybe...

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  14. this is genius!!!! whi needs light bulbs when we can make our own pinecones!?!?!?!? Thank you somuch for sharing this with us!! i can't wait to try it out!

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  15. You are hilarious! I love the pinecones, I had inspiration to make tulips with the scallop edge punch and large oval punch, I think it will look beautiful! :D

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  16. Oh my gosh Lydia!!! These are amazing!! I love the idea - how creative you are. I'm adding you to my google reader and blog roll ASAP!!!

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  17. Okay, first off: I miss copper, too! Brads and cord and embossing powder...

    Second of all: that pine cone is genius. I love it!

    Third of all: The Cinderella reference cracked me up. I can just picture the stamper having mice and birds bringing ribbons and stamps at her work desk...

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  18. Has anyone mentioned yet that if you turn these upside down you would have some awesome tulips (okay you might have to shed a couple of layers or so - lol).

    Love this invention. When I showed them to my Upline she laughed herself silly because with all the pine tree's on my property the last thing she thinks I need is more pine cones to wrangle!

    What can I say at least these don't provide homes for the dread pinchy bugs!

    Blessings Brilliant Lady - Jean

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  19. WOOO, HOOOOOO! Someone on a list asked about your pinecones, and someone else took the time to find them and share - and I am SO glad she did!! These totally ROCK! You KNOW the whole stamping world is gonna be CASEing you, right???
    THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!

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  20. OH wow, I love pinecones on anything and this is SUPER!!! I cannot wait to try it out...
    Thank you SO much for the tutorial...
    Hugs
    Linda Gilliam

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