Sending heartfelt sentiments to a couple who have been married for over 62 years, can be tricky.  You don’t want a card to be too feminine or too masculine. You want it to reflect both of their interests and tastes.

This card was created using Karen Burniston’s Frame Pull Pop-up die. Since this would be my first time using this die, I cut a set of practice pieces from white cardstock so I can make mistakes without messing-up the printed paper.  This is a practice I am starting to do with more of my KB die sets and storing the practice cards with the die sets for future reference. (I also store my extra cuts and spare pies in tiny plastic bags and keep with the set as well.)

After watching Karen Burniston’s assembly video again, I made my practice card and then started playing with designing the card. Since the couple the card is for live in Pennsylvania where folk art is big, I thought about trying to a scherenschnitte (cut paper) or fraktur (hand-lettered and painted) card, but my time was limited. So, I looked for printed papers that would have the colors and geometric shapes that are popular with the aforementioned art forms. In going through my paper stash, I came across my tiny bags of shapes cut from junk mail using small paper punches.  This was a huge time saver, but it meant I needed to change up some of my papers I had planned to use because I found a beautiful heart that was graduated from light to dark as if it had been distressed with ink.

I had new Gemini sentiment dies that I when attempted to cut from heavy black card stock, I found I had to sandwich the cardstock and die between a folded sheet of wax paper to get enough pressure to cut the words out of the heavy cardstock. (My spouse added the dot to the “i” with a fine-tipped marker since I lost the dot on my worktable.)

Assembly time: Having the practice card to refer to, was a mistake saver. I referred to it often to find the glue points that make the card function. While I tried to follow KB’s tip to not glue the top edge of the front mat to the working edge of the from cover as it needs to be flexible, I forgot.  The cover pops up stiffly. (FOLLOW KB’s tip! Don’t over embellish the cover or the inside of the pop-up.)

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies:

• “Anniversary” Gemini by Crafter’s Companion GEM_MD_E_W_40
• “Happy Easter” Gemini by Crafter’s Companion GEM_MD_E_W_52

• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Co. 1070-Frame Pull Pop-Up

Paper Punches: 

• Fiskers 2 inch wide heart
• Martha Stewart Crafts rose leaf and large leaf punches

Paper:

• Cool Kid by Crate Paper
• Flower stickers from junk mail

Miscellaneous:

• Tombow Aqua Mono Liquid Glue
• Ultra Fine Tip Sharpies Black Marker
• 1/8 inch wide Sticky Thumb double-sided super sticky tape by American Craft