Spring

Spring Pop-Up Birthday Card

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek Week for Karen Burniston’s June 2024 release of new dies and clear stamps. For this birthday card I used several of the new sets including: Tree Add-Ons and Happy Birthday Lorna Add-Ons die sets and the Birthday/Belated clear stamp set. The new release will be available on July 1, 2024.

Watch the YouTube video below to learn how the card was made.

Cardbase: I used double-sided patterned paper and cut a 4 x 12-inch rectangle and folded it in half.

Trees Pop-Up: From coordinating patterned paper, I cut the Tree Add-Ons main die and scored it at 6-inches from either end. The tabs created by this scoring are what will be glued onto the card. To attach the pop-up, train all the folds and flatten them out. Place the center fold of pop-up over center fold of card. Fold back tabs and glue in place. Decorate pop-up using dies in the set. A white fence was added to the center of the pop-out using a die in the Farm Edges set.

Sentiments: The “Happy Birthday” on the card front is from the new Happy Birthday Lorna Add-Ons die set. Inside is a stamped and heat embossed sentiment “It’s your birthday. Hope it is wonderful” made up of four different stamps in the Birthday/Belated clear stamp set. The middle size crosshatch die in the Labels – Crosshatch set was used to created the inside sentiment and personal message labels.

Envelope: This card fits into an A6 envelope which was decorated with a border strip from the patterned paper collection.

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Thank you for reading this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please like and leave comments 😊

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Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

  • Anna Griffin – 12×12 inch Double-Sided Papers – Paisley Papers
  • Green Envelope Scrap Paper
  • Red Coated Cardboard Packaging
  • Black, Blue, Brown, Pink and White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Envelope – White

Ink & Embossing Powder

  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Heat Tool
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Tweezers
  • Ball Shaping Tool
  • Foam Packaging as Flower Shaping Mat

Pop-Up Chick In A Basket

| ullycatdesigns

Wanting a basket to put a hatching chick pop-up ball in, I came up with a collapsible basket card for Easter using several of the new die sets in Karen Burniston’s February 2024 release.

How to make this interactive card:

Chick: Make two Mini Pop-up Balls – one entirely yellow and the other half yellow, half white. Assemble chick following Karen Burniston’s assembly video located at the bottom of the Mini Pop-up Balls page. Cut six of the top and bottom eggshell jagged pieces and one hexagon for the top of the egg from white cardstock using the dies from the Animal Add-on 5 die set.

Basket: Cut four of the basket pieces from the Wide Woven Basket Box Card set and assemble as shown in the KB assembly video at the bottom of the linked page. Trim off the side tabs on the four basket pieces. Watch the following video. Cut two of the largest crosshatch squares from brown.

Closure Sentiment: Cut the Shadow from the Happy Easter word set from white. Cur the words from yellow and ink bled to a darker yellow. Die cut eggshell and chick pieces following assembly video for Spring Animals.

Glue assemble chick to sentiment.  Cut eight of the smaller eye circles and two of the larger eye circles from the Mini Pop-up Balls die set. Glue four of the small circles onto one of the large circles. Cut a piece of string at least 24-inches long and glue one end on top of small circle stack. Glue the last four circles on top of the string end, thus sandwiching the string in center of the small circles stack of eight. Attach to top of stack the last large circle. Once the stack is dry, glue to the back of the sentiment and then onto top basket flap. Let dry with a weight on top of it.

Envelope: This card would either be hand delivered or mailed in a bubble pack envelope.

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Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please like and leave comments 😊

_______________________________________

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Hot off The Press – Paper Pazazz – 12×12 Single-Sided Paper – Soft Tints Green Stripes
  • Black, Blue, Brown, Orange, White and Yellow Cardstock

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • Tombow – Mono – Sand Eraser -512A

Miscellaneous

  • 24-inches of Baker’s Twine

Easter Bunny Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

I’ve been experimenting with taking Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion and cutting the pivot panel into a smaller string of shapes. For this card I used dies from her crosshatch circle and oval sets.

I made a template from heavy cardstock (110 lb) by first cutting a panel and then tracing around the dies to create a pattern. For the pattern, I used the second smallest oval for the center and the two smallest circles. (Make sure you don’t cut away the pivot mechanism at the top and bottom of the panel. The center point of the rectangle is the scored fold-line.) I fussy cut the pattern and then used it to trace onto my die-cut panels of double-sided medium-weight, patterned cardstock.

Now for the fun part – deciding what decorations to add. I pulled all my Easter and Spring dies out and tired various layouts to see what would fit.

after deciding to add a frame to dangle a charm from, I used the smallest crosshatch oval to die-cut the opening. Because the frame top was so thin, I used a needle and thread to create a string to dangle an egg charm. (The charm is made from two charms glued together.) The knotted thread ends were finished with dots of glue. (In hindsight, I would probably make the opening with a smaller circle so that the frame would be wider near the pivot points. See below, photos of another card that I cut a circle aperture.)

For the sentiment (in the Easter Charms Set), I traced around the outside of the die and fussy out to create a shadow for the words. I cut two of the sentiment and glued them together before attaching them to the shadow. To add some pizazz to words, I coated it with a glitter gloss and popped it up on foam squares over the flowers.

The flowers come from two different die sets, but the flowers are all the same. (This makes for quicker die-cutting when you two of the same die.) I find putting two flowers of similar colors together you get a fuller, more pleasing flower. I shaped my flowers using my fingers to curl the petal ends down while pushing the flower center down as well.

I mostly followed the packaging examples for the eggs, bunnies and chicks, but you can view the assembly video for the Easter Charms. I coated the chocolate bunny with a glossy clear gel after I had used the die to ink in the bunny’s eye with a white gel pen. I also added a tiny red grosgrain ribbon at his neck. For the Easter Bunny, I used a grey suede paper so he was fuzzy to the touch. (Here is the assembly video for the Spring Animals.)

After all the panels were decorated, I attached the frames and panels using there tabs as directed in their assembly video.

As you plan where your decorations will go, think about how thick they will be, if they will be attached using foam squares and if they will become catchpoints for the pivot mechanism or folds where the panels are joined. (I popped up a purple flower at an inside fold that some of the petals ended up creased and folded back.) I chose to keep the middle section as flat as I could, only popping up items on the outside panels/last panel.

The front panel introduces the Easter bunny theme while the back panel has a matted label popped up on foam squares for a personal message.

The card folds to fit into an A6 (4×6 inches) or larger envelope. It may require extra postage because of its thickness to post in the USA.

Below are photos of a similar string accordion card using the same papers, but with a religious theme and a circle aperture rather than an oval aperture in the center panel.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Dare2BArtzy – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Honey Bloomz by Andie Hanna – Buds & Bloomz-PP1049
  • Hot Off The Press – 8.5×11 Faux Suede Paper – Smoke Suede – HOTP-10434
  • Colored Cardstock and Paper Scraps
  • A6 Envelope – Ivory

Pens/Gels

  • Gelly Roll – Gel Pen – White
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 – Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 05 – Brown
  • INC – Scented Gel Pen .08 – Grape
  • Orange and Pink Fine-Tipped Makers
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer Brush Pen – Glitter Gloss
  • Ranger – Glossy Accents

Miscellaneous

Popping Egg Hunt Card

| ullycatdesigns

Easter egg hunts are a sign of Spring and new life.

For a fun Easter card that pops, I used some cute double-sided papers with sentiment toppers along with Karen Burniston’s Spring Animals, Bam Box Pop-Up, Crosshatch Rectangles and Labels, Crosshatch Circles and Label Charm Pop-Up die sets.

The card base is an extended gatefold with aperture windows cut through the front and side panels that allow two spring animals to peek out the card front. From a 12×12 sheet cut a 10.5×7-inch rectangle. Score and fold at 1/4-inch, 2 3/4-inches, 7 3/4-inches, 10 1/4-inches. Glue front panels (2.5×7 inches) to the side tabs. (I had to piece together my front panels using decorative strips of paper to hide the seams.)

Close card and layout your card front decorations using the smallest decorative label dies from Bam Box set to cut the windows. Tape dies in place using removable tape and open out cardbase and then fold back the front panels so that the dies will cut through both front and side panels.

Create two bam boxes per directions on assembly video. Assemble a bunny and a chick in an egg following their assembly video. (I used half of a cotton make-up removal pad to die the bunny’s tail.)

(I used a paper cutter to trim my sentiment toppers and a circle die to cut the wreath sentiment.)

Layout your inside decorations of the card using placement of the animals glued to the bam boxes in a flatten position making sure the animals will be seen through the windows. (I used fancy labels from two sets to create the personal message label – Label Charm Pop-Up and Rectangles and Labels Crosshatch.)

For the back of the card, I chose to glue a 30-inch piece of ribbon under a decorative panel to tie the card shut. Cut a scalloped rectangle using the new Rectangle and Labels die set and glued a sentiment topper from the Echo Park paper pad. Tie the card shut to get correct placement of ribbon before gluing decorative panel on to card back. (For my signature block on the card back, I fussy cut three eggs from the scraps of printed paper.)

The card fits into an A7 envelope decorated with one of the window off-cuts as a seal on the envelope flap. I like to enclose instructions on how to close the Bam Box. You can download the instructions below.

bam-boxes-sheetDownload

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

For more Bam Box projects click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Photoplay – 12×12 Double-Sided Cardstock – Bunnies and Blooms – Easter Egg – #BUN3746
  • Echo Park – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – It’s Easter Time – #IET300023
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara – 18-1002
  • Colored Cardstock and Paper Scraps
  • A7 Envelope – White

Pens

  • Pigma – Mircon 01 – Black
  • Pink Fine-Tipped Makers

Miscellaneous

Spring Picket Fence Card

| ullycatdesigns

This card was designed for Craft Roulette episode #153 whose perimeters were:

  • Project: Rounded Edge
  • Colors: 2 Blues + 2 Additional Colors
  • Element: Flowers
  • Random: Fussy cut

If you haven’t watch this fun Friday night YouTube crafting show https://www.youtube.com/c/CraftRoulette) which has a game show theme and hosted by Mary Gunn. Each week Mary and a guest crafter spin the roulette wheel to randomly pick four perimeters that crafters should use to make a card for that week. Mary and the guest crafter also  make cards using the perimeters during the remainder of the hour. Randomly chosen winners from each week’s submissions receive prizes. On March 17, 2023 the guest crafter will be Karen Burniston. (website: https://craftroulette.live/show)

For my Craft Roulette submission card I took an accordion fold design, I had made a template for, but hadn’t constructed yet.

Having experimented with Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion and cutting the pivot panel into other shapes. For this card I took inspiration from a pivoting die that Karen Burniston had designed for Elizabeth Craft Designs that had a house and a picket fence.

I made a template from heavy cardstock (110 lb) by first cutting an accordion panel and then tracing around a die-cut of the fence portion of the House Pivot Card die to create the fence pattern. (Make sure you don’t cut away the pivot mechanism at the top and bottom of the panel. The center point of the rectangle is the scored fold-line.) I fussy cut the pattern and then used it to trace onto my die-cut panels of patterned, pale blue cardstock.

After tracing the fence onto the panels I cut the fence out using a metal ruler and craft knife to cut all the straight edges and scissors for the curved parts. I used a small corner punch to round the accordion frame corners, folding the tab to be rounded as well.

Because my fence was cut from blue cardstock, I had to color or whitewash the pickets with an white opaque marker. The flowers are small flowers from the following Karen Burniston die sets: Fireplace Extras 2, Tiny House Pop-Up, Flowers and Bee, and Flower Pot Pop-Up. (The flowers in Flowers and Bee and the Flower Pot Pop-Up are the same.) I used yellow posy flatback gems as the purple flower centers. The grass was cut from a spotted green paper using the grass from Long Nature Edges.

“Happy Birthday” is a die cut sentiment using a navy-blue star patterned paper. A personal message can be written on the backside of the frames and fence posts.

The card fits an A2 size envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Dress My Craft – 12 x12 Scrapbooking Papers 240 GSM – Chickoo & Friends
  • Colored Cardstock and Paper Scraps

Pens/Gels

  • Faber-Castell – Pitt Artist Pen 2,5 – White -101
  • Gel Pen – Neon Orange

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Quickstik Tool
  • Pokey Tool
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Metal Ruler
  • Craft Knife
  • Pencil
  • Small Corner Punch
  • Small Ball-Tipped Stylus

Miscellaneous

  • Queen & Co. – Posies Topping – Golden

Who Is Door Dancing?

| ullycatdesigns

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Hoppy Day the dancing bunny of spring.

Interactive cards are fun and creating one with layers adds to the excitement. Hints of Easter baskets filled with eggs flank a blue door that when opened, reveals a cute white bunny that will dance when the pull tab is moved back and forth.

Both the doorway and bunny are craft die sets by Spellbinders. The doorway is the Open House Door Base using the door mat from the Open House Spring die set. (I have found that you can save on bundles from Scrapbook.com for the Spellbinder’s Open House collection.) For the dancing bunny, the March 2021 Large Die of the Month set Spring Together with Lever Pull die set was used. (I watched the assembly video for this die set before making this card.)

Die-cut the door from blue cardstock and then die cut the windows from the door. Using the door, mark its placement with pencil and then cut the three sides using a metal straight edge and craft knife. Trace the window placement from blue door to pink door and die cut the windows.

Die cut four door windows and a transom window from white cardstock. Use the large transom window die to cut window opening in the pink card front.  Adhere the vellum to back of pink card and then glue white window frame into window opening and onto vellum.  The door windows are created by sandwiching the vellum between the blue and pink doors. Glue the white door window frames to the front of blue and back of pink doors.

Cut two of the mail slots and four of the doorknobs from silver foil cardstock. Adhere the mail slots to each side of the door and three doorknobs to the front blue side and one knob to the pink side of door. Mark the door opening with pencil onto the background paper. This will let you figure out the placement of the bunny.

Once the lever pieces are double cut and glued together for strength, they can be linked used tiny brads. Using the assembled level to position the line die, cut the slit for the mechanism to slip into the backing paper.  Thread the level through the slot and add additional brads to affix the mechanism to front of card.

Adhere the bunny body first with foam strips and then the head. Cut the semi-circle notch on the top and background layers of the card as well as the card base before assembling the card front.

Using foam strips adhere the pink card with door to background piece avoiding the lever mechanism.

The door mat is colored brown cardstock with Aged Mahogany Distressed Ink with a black backing for the letters. Die-cut the half-circle for the pull lever on the card base before adhering front layered piece to card base.

The Easter baskets used the large eggshell from the Spring Together set with green foliage from the Open House Spring die set and freehand eggs and handles. The flowers are finished with dots of Nuvo Drops and a pink flower sequin.

Decorate the back of the card with scrap pieces.

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

Click here to see more dancing animals using these dies.

Click here to see see another door card using these dies.

Click here to see other door cards.

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Spellbinders – Open House Door Base Cutting Dies – S4-1131
  • Spellbinders – Open House Spring Cutting Dies – S4-1181
  • Spellbinders – March 2021 Large Die of the Month set Spring Together with Lever Pull Cutting Dies – DOML-MAR21

Stamping

  • Simon Says Stamp – So Talkative Clear Stamp Set – sss202385
  • Craft Consortium -English Garden Clear Stamps by Hackney & Co.
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Pear Pizzazz
  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Sunbeam
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Aged Mahogany

Papers

  • Craftwork Cards- Flying High 8×8” Paper Pad
  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • Clear vellum scraps
  • A7 white card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Chevron Bag-Part I

| ullycatdesigns

Quick and clever gift bags for small treats were needed and the Divinity Designs Chevron Background die provided the visual pop required.

I cut three the background die three times from coordinating papers to make each of these bags. Then I placed each pattern paper pieces in separate bags so as not to lose any of the pieces especially the tiny triangles. I also kept the thin L-shaped scrap pieces from the edges of the die-cutting to be used as bag handles.

Next, I glued the frame onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch piece of thin white paper placing dots of glue at the zig-zag points and the outside frame. (You will see that I used scrap paper for the backing that had black printing on it knowing that it would be covered with a another backing paper.)

Then the fun part of deciding on the positioning of the different papers within the frame and making a duplicate frame as well.

(I found that laying out the chevron strips and gluing the strips in place from the bottom up worked well with the duplicate frame as a guide in case of the strips being mixed-up.)

Once the glue has dried, trim the backing paper overhang away from the frame on both pieces.

Depending on the size of your paper, you may have enough scrap pieces to make the sides and bottom of the bag. (I found that a 6 x6 inches piece allowed for one side piece of about 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches and a bottom piece of 2 inches by 4 1/2 inches.)

The bottom piece is scored at 1/8 inch on the long sides and 1/4 inch along one end of the piece while the other end is marked where it needs to be folded by holding the bottom piece up to the bottom edge of the chevron frame.

Scoring the long edges of the side pieces at 1/ 8 inch is the first step for marking the sides. Using a pencil and a ruler draw a pencil line down the center each side piece. Mark a dot at 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the center line and draw a line from the center dot to each of the corner bottom edges to from a triangle. Erase the line that is in the center of the triangle. Score along the remaining pencil lines. Mountain fold the 1/8 inch edges. Valley fold the pencil line folds.

Glue the tabs of the bottom piece to the insides of the chevron pieces and side bottom pieces.

Glue the side tabs to one of the chevron pieces, using your finger to adhere the tabs to the front pierce. Glue the remaining side tabs using a long tool such as a pencil or pen to adhere the tabs to the back piece.

Glue the L-shape scraps to the inside of the chevron pieces. Then glue two 3 7/8 inches by 5 1/8 inches pieces of white paper to cover the bottom and side tabs and handle ends on the inside of the chevron pieces.  If you have a piece of leftover decorative paper that will fit the bottom of the bag glue it into place as well.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s bag from other other papers for a different look.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • WRF Studio – Romance 4.5” x 6.5” Design Paper Pad (230gsm Heavyweight Cardstock)
  • Lawn Fawn double-sided 6” x 6” patterned cardstock from my stash
  • White paper

Miscellaneous

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

Happy Easter!

| ullycatdesigns

This card is my second go at using the Spellbinders Spring Collection add-on dies for the Sunday Drive die set that makes a detailed classic convertible car. On this card I went with an Easter Bunny theme complete with colored eggs.

I used a tulip embossing folder from a recent issue of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine for the background. It took me a number of tries to find the best sandwich pieces to make this embossing folder work. (I ended up using the Glimmer plate, shim and platform to get the right pressure for the embossing folder.) This green background panel was adhered to the white card base using foam tape after it was decorated.

The car goes together as usual except I left off the folded roof layer as you wouldn’t be able to see the baby bunnies.  The adult bunnies have separate arms, heads and body so their poses have lots of possibilities and could be used separately away from the car.  I also added a floral swag with carrots and eggs as well as flowers to the back of the car. For the license plate, I used a white scrap behind the green “Easter” to make it pop and coated Nuvo Glitter Gloss over the plate and the “HAPPY” pendant. The taillights have Nuvo Glow Drops Neon in Shocking Pink for that bit of glow.

A circle the same size as the embossed circle has been inked using a make-up brush and Distress Oxides. It is glued to the green panel.

Once the car was assembled, and a yellow organza ribbon wrapped and taped to the back of the green panel, I used a plastic spring affixed to the back of the car to raise and allow movement for the car.

The “Just for you” sentiment is also from the same Simply Cards and Papercraft free gift set. It is heat embossed and fussy cut. I adhered it with foam squares.

Inside the card, the sentiment is from Riley and Company’s Funnybones series and reads “Everybunny needs somebunny sometimes.” It is stamped on some scrap Hunkydory Christmas insert paper.

The envelope is stamped on the front lower corner and on the back flap with bunnies from the Craft Consortium’s English Garden collection.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like, leave comments and follow Ully’s World.😊

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

Happy Easter!

MATERIALS USED:

Dies/Embossing Folder

Stamps/Inks/Embossing Powders

Papers

Miscellaneous

© 2021 Sue Small-Kreider/Ully Cat Designs