Author: ullycatdesigns

Dancing Animals

| ullycatdesigns

Nothing says “Hello Spring” like dancing bunnies and newly hatched baby ducks. These two cute interactive cards were made with the Spellbinders Spring Together with Lever Pull Cutting Dies set.

This is a great set of dies to use up those small pieces of cardstock scraps for the animals. I used a bluish opal polish on the eggshell to give it some luster. (I watched the assembly video for this die set before making these cards.)

The levers/mechanism pieces are cut twice and glued together to be sturdy.  For the Hello Spring sentiment, the words were cut twice from white and once from purple and then glued together.

The printed leafy mat was cut an 1/8 of an inch smaller than the solid green card base and the floral top background is 1/4 of an inch smaller than the card base. Once the position of the lever mechanism was decided, the line slit and pull-tab notch were cut on the floral layer. The notches were then cut on the leafy green mat and cardbase using the floral layer to line up the notches.

The thin trimmings of the mat layer were used as lever guides using dots of glue at the ends of the strips.

Two additional brads are used to attach the slotted levers to the floral background.  Foam strips were placed on the back to raise up the mechanism from the matting layer.  The leafy green mat layer was glued directly to the card base.

Using the decorative scraps trimmed from the front card layers, the backs of the cards were finished.

The back flaps of the cards’ envelopes were stamped with a bunny stamp from Craft Consortium.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Spellbinders – March 2021 Large Die of the Month set Spring Together with Lever Pull Cutting Dies – DOML-MAR21

Stamping

  • Craft Consortium -English Garden Clear Stamps by Hackney & Co.
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Pear Pizzazz

Papers

  • Park Lane – 8.5in x11 in 100# smooth white core cardstock – Watercolor Floral
  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • A2 green card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Elephants Say Thank You

| ullycatdesigns

A friend sent me wonderful rubber stamp set of marching elephants. This is my thank you card using the vintage stamps.

I had some handmade artisan papers that complimented the elephants and I used the paper as a background for the card front and then fussy cut the flowers and leaves from the leftover sections to create the card back and inside accents.

The elephants were stamped on grey cardstock with black ink and colored with markers. Nuvo Vintage Drops were added for accents to the floral coverings of the elephants.

Five fancy border frames were die-cut from marigold cardstock and glued together to provide dimension to the card and lift the large elephant off the face of the card.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Recollections – Fancy borders cutting dies

Stamping

  • Crafter’s Companion – A Taste of India by Sheena Douglass – Rubber Stamp set – Marching Elephants
  • Memento Fade-Resistant Dye Ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Crayola blending markers

Foiling

Papers

  • Bazzill 8.5×11 inches cardstock – Tiara
  • Park Lane – 12 x12 inch Premium Handmade Artisan Paper
  • Scrap blue and marigold cardstock
  • Xcut – Xtras Adhesive Vellum Sheets – Blue
  • A7 white card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Art Deco Foiling and Stenciling

| ullycatdesigns

Coordinating sets make crafting easy. PinkFresh’s Art Deco hot foiling plate and coordinating three stencils set make it easy to create a variety of backgrounds for card fronts. I was influenced by Jennifer McGuire’s video on using a similar PinkFresh foiling plate and stencils.

I hot foiled three backgrounds making two foiled lines and one solid foil using the foil leftover. (I accidentally foiled my solid hot foiling plate with the second solid foil piece. Make sure the foil has the backing side next to the paper, not the foiling plate!)

Using the three stencils I did two versions of coloring in the shapes on the foil lines backgrounds. On one background I took the stencil with mostly triangles and used the Citrine ink for the smaller triangles and the Sunbeam ink for the larger shapes. The nenext stencil I used the Poppy Red ink for all the shapes and left the remaining shapes white.  For the second colored background, I used a different colored ink for each of the three stencils. Because the Citrine and Sunbeam inks are only one shade different, I feel like the background with the white shapes is more interesting.

For the two “Thanks” cards, I glued the backgrounds directly to the card bases. Next, I cut four of the circle Thanks from white scrap cardstock and glued three of the die-cuts together. The single layer thanks, I glued to the colored background, while the foiled background received the layered die-cut.

The “Hello” card uses a black foiled sentiment from a Spellbinder’s frames and sentiment set. The sentiment and the inked background are adhered with foam squares. To add more interest, I glued tiny gold flatback gemstones from my stash. (I think they may have been in an advent calendar from Craftstash or Crafter’s Companion.) (A sticky tip tool is great for adding small elements like these gemstones to your projects.)

Because I used A7 sized card bases (5 x 7 inches), I needed to trim the bases down for the 5 ¼ x 4 inches foiled backgrounds.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Foiling

Stencils

Inks

  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Citrine and Sunbeam
  • Nuvo – Hybrid Ink Pad – Poppy Red

Dies

Papers

  • White cardstock
  • A7 white card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Flowery Thanks

| ullycatdesigns

Iris, cosmos and cornflowers stitched around a golden “THANKS” makes for a simple, but heartfelt thank you.

I used another stitched flower die from Spellbinders, this time the Small Die of the Month for April 2021. The die comes with separate letters to die cut the word “THANKS” as well as the larger background die cut with stitching holes.  Using very heavy pale blue cardstock, I die-cut the large piece to be stitched. I had a piece of junk mail that had large sections of matte gold and I die-cut the letters from that.

The larger flower petals and leaves were outline or chain stitched before filling in the centers of them using three strands of floss. The yellow stamens are French knots. While I knotted the floss ends when starting, I finished the flowers on the back side by adding dots of glue to seal the thread ends and add dimension to the stitched frame.

After gluing the gold letters on the front of the stitched piece, I added foam squares with glue to back side of the stitched piece behind the letters and attached to the front of the card base. The card base is an 8 x8 inches sheet of heavy white card stock folded in half using a scoring board.

If you enjoyed this stitched card, there are two more stitched card posts this week as well as pervious stitched cards:

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Scrap heavy blue and matte gold cardstock
  • 8 x8 inch heavy weight white cardstock

Miscellaneous

  • Blues, purples and green embroidery floss
  • Large eyed needle
  • Foam squares
  • Scoring board and tool

Stitched Flowers for a Summer Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

Bright yellow and orange flowers, stitched with shiny embroidery floss hoovering over a raised matte gold Happy Birthday make for a fun and cheery card.

I used a stitched flower die from Spellbinders that originally was part of their Large Die of the Month Club but is now available to everyone via their on-line shop. Initially I die-cut into an 8.5 x 5.5 inches sheet of pale-yellow heavy cardstock that was in my stash. I stitched it completely before trimming it down to the final 4.5 x 5.75 inches to fit on a 5 x 6 inches card base.

The larger flower petals and leaves were outline or chain stitched before filling in the centers of them using three strands of floss. The black stamens are French knots. While I knotted the floss ends when starting, I finished the flowers on the back side by adding dots of glue to seal the thread ends and add dimension to the stitched frame.

The Poppy Stamps “Happy Birthday – Poe Script” sentiment was cut three times from a gold piece of junk mail and glued together. The words were glued directly to the card base after determining the placement with the stitched frame. The frame was attached to the card base with thick foam squares.

For the envelope, I stamped the back with an older rubber stamp from Fun Stampers Journey using my favorite gold-like ink from Stampin’ Up called Crumb Cake.

If you enjoyed this stitched card, there are two more stitched card posts this week as well as pervious stitched cards:

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Fun Stampers Journey – Button Bliss – AT-0096

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Crumb Cake

Papers

  • Scrap heavy yellow and matte gold cardstock
  • A7 white card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Stitched Flowers for a Spring Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

Luscious purple, blue and lavender flowers, stitched with shiny embroidery floss hoovering over a raised matte gold Happy Birthday make for a simple yet elegant card.

I used a stitched flower die from Spellbinders that originally was part of their Large Die of the Month Club but is now available to everyone via their on-line shop. Initially I die-cut into an 8.5 x 5.5 inches sheet of pale blue heavy cardstock that was in my stash. I stitched it completely before trimming it down to the final 4.5 x 5.75 inches to fit on a 5 x 6 inches card base.

The larger flower petals and leaves were outline or chain stitched before filling in the centers of them using three strands of floss. The yellow stamens are French knots. While I knotted the floss ends when starting, I finished the flowers on the back side by adding dots of glue to seal the thread ends and add dimension to the stitched frame.

The Poppy Stamps “Happy Birthday – Poe Script” sentiment was cut three times from a gold piece of junk mail and glued together. The words were glued directly to the card base after determining the placement with the stitched frame. The frame was attached to the card base with thick foam squares.

If you enjoyed this stitched card, there are two more stitched card posts this week as well as pervious stitched cards:

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Scrap heavy blue and matte gold cardstock
  • A7 white card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Impossible Boxes for Photographers

| ullycatdesigns

Impossible boxes come in a variety of shapes from squares to hexagons. They are called impossible because to open them it seems impossible as the lid is attached to the box base and has to be fully pushed open to retrieve what is inside the box.

I made some boxes for my photographer friends to hold some small trinkets using Helen Griffin’s Simply Made Crafts’ Hexagonal Impossible Box Dies Set for the box. The way the box lid opens reminds me of a camera lens. The box will easily hold something 3 x 3 x 2 inches.

To decorate the box, I used Lou Collins’ TEXT{ures} wavy film strip die from her Vintage Travel Collection cut I twice in black.  On one box I had the film go over the box lid edge, cutting it apart so the box could open. The other I wrapped around the box.

Here are some brands of Impossible Box Die sets:

  • i-crafter – Square Impossible Box Base by Lynda Kanase
  • Simply Made Crafts Die Set Hexagonal Impossible Box Set by Helen Griffin

Videos and blogs on Impossible Boxes

If you enjoyed reading this post, please“Like” and “Follow” my blog.

Hourglass Valentine

| ullycatdesigns

Having made this hourglass card once before, I realized it would make a lovely winter Valentine with the Penny Black’s stamp sentiment “I love you to the moon and back” if I added a 3/4 inch moon to the scene. The Greetery’s Hourglass dies make this an easy card to create, but time consuming to cut and color all the pieces.

You can read about how I created my first hourglass card by clicking here. The video below will show you more on how I created this card.

You can view more Valentines by clicking here.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Dies

Stamps

Inks & Embossing Powder

  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Cosmic Shimmer – Detail Embossing Powder – Bright Gold
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz’s Distress Oxides – Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Prize Ribbon
  • Avery Elle White Ink Spray
  • Red, yellow and dark blue fine tipped markers

Papers

  • Heavy weight 8 ½ inches x 11 inches white cardstock
  • Colored, pearlescent, glitter cardstock scraps
  • Xcut – Xtras Adhesive Foil Sheets A5 – Gold – XCU 174419
  • Dura-Lar – Archival Polyester Film – .005 clear (Acetate)

Additional Supplies:

Stitched Valentine

| ullycatdesigns

Valentine’s Day is coming and a handmade card in masculine colors with a bit of stitching and soft bling, maybe just the thing for your loved one.

In playing around with the Spellbinder’s Layered Stitched Background dies, I realized that if put side-by-side, two of the backgrounds would fit on a slimline card for a #10 business envelope which would go well for the masculine card I needed to make for Valentine’s Day. The card is to be attached atop a chocolate bar.

I had enough large scraps of pearlescent coordinating green cardstock and a pale celery green textured paper to cut two each of the layers. (I saved all the out-cut pieces and tiny dots to use in other cards.) The card base is a brown flowery patterned cardstock with a white back cut into a 6 ½ inch x 9-inches rectangle, scored and folded in half.

The stitching was done with three strands of brown embroidery floss. Using clear tape on the backside to adhere the thread tails to the card.

A fine tipped glue bottle is the easiest way to apply glue to the fine lines of the top two layers of the die-cuts. (I cut the thicker, middle layer from the lightest color to add contrast to the two other shades of green and to make the medium green fine line detail pop.) Once the lattice layers were glued together it was easy to adhere them to the stitched layer.

Hot foiling the inside of the card needed to be done before the stitched panels could be adhered to the card base. Spellbinders calls their hot foiling system glimmering. (Here are two videos explaining the hot foiling process – Jennifer McGuire  and Yana Smakula) I have found their Quick Trimmer to be much easier to cut the foil with than scissors. I usually do a batch of hot foiling when I get out the Glimmer Hot Foil System heating plate and my die-cutting machine as it takes time to heat-up and cool-down. (I use a die-cutting machine that can take an 8 1/2 x 11 inches sheet of paper but the system can use a smaller 6-inch wide machine too.)

I did some small sentiments first on scraps of the green cardstock and a piece of cream cardstock using scraps of different foils. Some worked well, but some had issues. (I do these as practice runs as I only had one shot at the card inside.) I positioned my foiling plates and rose blush foil on the inside of my card and taped them down using low tack tape. (The plates moved slightly when I ran them through the die-cutting machine and made the sentiments a bit wonky. I should have taped both sides of the plates down.) A sand eraser is good for removing errant foil bits but be careful when using white corded cardstock as the eraser will wear away the color to white.

Once the foiling was completed, the stitched card layers were glued to the front of the card base.

The front sentiments “FROM ME TO YOU” (in Speckled Aura foil on cream cardstock) and “XOXO” (in Aura foil on dark green cardstock) are glued to other scraps to give them some firmer stability before being adhered to the card front with foam squares. Ten gold sequins were added to the tops of the stitching and where the lattice frames meet for a bit of sparkle.

A gold heart rub-on transfer was added to the back of the brown envelope. A chocolate bar will be bundled under the card-stuffed envelope and tied with a white ribbon for presentation.

You can view more Valentines by clicking here.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Foiling

Papers

  • Scrap colored and textured green papers and cardstock
  • Hunkydory – Adorable Scorable Patterned Paper Pack – Secret Garden
  • Brown #10 Business Envelope

Miscellaneous