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Rainbow Threads

| ullycatdesigns

“Beautiful things come together one stitch at a time,” is the sentiment of this friendship card made with a new Lou Collins Text{ures} die and stamps along with some vintage stamps and heart die.

The Fabric Edging Die Set has a die that cuts a course woven strip of hessian or burlap which I used as the base for weaving embroidery floss in bright rainbow colors for the flaps of this asymmetrical-gatefold slimline card. Once the weaving was completed, I covered the back of the weaving with white cardstock cut ½ inch longer than the woven panel to use as a tab to glue to the 8 ½ inches x 4 inches rectangular card base.

For the lacy heart, two hearts were cut using the lace heart die by Moda Scrap of Elizabeth Craft Designs. Each heart is folded in half and the lacy side covered in Persian Red Nuvo Embellishment Mousse.

The solid part of the folded heart is glued to the inside of the flaps lining up the tips of the heart halves to make a whole heart when card is closed.

Before gluing the flaps to the card base, I stamped, and heat embossed the two sentiments in black detail embossing powder.

On the front of the card are three stamped and watercolored buttons from the Fun Stampers Journey Button Bliss set.

The envelope back is stamped with another sentiment from the same stamp set in a dark blue ink.

Hope you enjoyed this quick card. If so, please comment and like and follow this blog. 😊

Supplies used:

A Pumpkin Patch Kind of Halloween

| ullycatdesigns

Here is a quick layered card for Halloween or Fall greetings using one of the Birch Press layered designs.  It went together in less than an hour.

First decide on your colors. I knew orange for the pumpkins and then decided on autumn leaf colors for the four layers needed.  The dies cut an A2 size panel (4 ¼ x 5 ½ inches), I decided to go for a 5 x 7 inches card, so I also cut a 5 x 7 inches rectangle of an orange card stock and a mat layer of Terra Cotta card stock at 4 ½ x 6 ½ inches.

I cut layer A from Lemon, layer B from Terra Cotta and layer C from Orange. All the layers will give you lovely small leaves as off-cuts, but layer B also gives you large, veined leaves that can be used to decorate your card or save for other projects. You will want to cut a fourth layer for the backing. I cut my 4 ¼ x 5 ½ inches backing from Pumpkin Bread cardstock.

Using a green fine-tip marker, I colored in the pumpkin vine leaves and vine once the layers were all glued up.  (Another alternative would be to cut same green squares of paper to cover behind the lemon layer the pumpkin leaves.)

The sentiment was an extra one left from another project using Karen Burniston’s Halloween Charms.

Because the card has so many layers, I have opted to leave it as a single layer -postcard style card that will fit in an A7 envelope as it is too thick to send as a postcard.

Hope you enjoyed this quick card. If so, please comment and like and follow this blog. 😊

Supplies used:

Hello Summer

| ullycatdesigns

Can’t wait for summer? Here is a fun pop-up card reminiscent of summers long ago with the sweet treats of a day at the beach.

This card is made with Karen Burniston dies using the Tiny House Pop-Up to form a carton of ice-cold colas. (I used a 7 inches by 5 inches kraft paper card base and its matching envelope.) My inspiration for this card comes from Sandy Diller of the KB Design Team who made a toolbox from the tiny house, and cola commercials from the 1970s.

Cut one house and three of the cross bars from red card stock. Trim off top tabs from all the cross panels. Follow the package instructions for basic house assembly.

It is easy to alter the tiny house into a cola carton by not attaching the roof and adding a 2 1/8 inch x 1 ½ inch rectangle to the crossbar. Using a 1/4 inch hole punch to create the handle on the crossbar by punching two holes and cutting the space between them away.  Glue the remaining cross bars inside the carton on either side of the main divider. And glue cola bottles to the crossbars.

The KB charms are great for using up your tiny scraps. You generally need to cut the whole shape for your base pieces, but for the top layers you can cut just the parts you need from other colors, trimming off what you don’t need.

I used some distress inks and black and white pens to decorate the various food, beach, bottles and letters. The cola bottles are modified wine bottles with caps cut form the other bottle die in the set and the crimped bottom of the caps were cut with the saw die from the tool set. The sunglasses are from the Tiny Accessories 2 set using mirror cardstock for the lenses.

Striped paper has been cut to represent beach towels.

In going through my scrap papers, I came across a piece of wax paper that had an orange glitter ink painted on to it with white card stock glued behind it. I cut the sentiments of “Hello Summer” and “Hello Sunshine” from this special paper.

The envelope flap is stamped with the Lawn Fawn Happy Summer sentiment and ants finding a watermelon slice.

Other cards that use the Tiny House Pop-up die Set

Hope this fun card has provided some inspiration for your crafting. 😊

SUPPLIES Used from Dies R Us:

Other Supplies:

  • Colored and mirror cardstock scraps
  • Ranger Distress Ink – Vintage Photo and Cracked Pistachio
  • Stampin’ Up – Early Espresso ink pad
  • 5 x 7 inches kraft card base and matching envelope

#missionpoppable

Small Things

| ullycatdesigns

Being grateful for the small things of everyday life is sometimes all we can be. This card is for those times when we need to take in the beauty of a sunrise, a field of wheat, or a stary night sky.

The striped background is made from washi tape Van Gough painting extracts while the sentiment is die-cut using a Creative Expressions Craft Dies by Sue Wilson from her Circle Sayings collection called Grateful from yellow cardstock painted with Nuvo Shimmer Powders.

Using card stock in two shades of yellow for the card base and backing mat, the sentiment (cut twice and glued together) is glued onto the washi tape background while the background and bright yellow mat are adhered with thin foam squares.

A hint of what is to be found inside the envelope – “Find beauty in the small things” from the Alte New Whimsical Flowers & Quotes set – is stamped on the back flap in brown ink.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Pigments/Inks

Papers/Washi Tape

Miscellaneous

The First Sign of Spring – Crocus Tealight

| ullycatdesigns

When the crocus start blooming in their purples and yellows, spring can not be far behind. This tall tealight holder is reminder that spring is coming.

Th intricate die cut is a design by Christina Griffiths of Card Making Magic that was the free gift in Die-cutting Essentials issue 73. The pentagon base is from a Tonic Craft Kit 25. Colored vellum panels behind the die-cut cardstock sides defuse light.

Materials:  Cut two 5 inches x 6 ¾ inches (12.5 cm x 17 cm) rectangles, one 2 ¾ inches x 6 ¾ inches (7 cm x 17 cm) rectangle from heavy white cardstock, and five vellum rectangles 2 ¼ inches x 6 ¼ inches (5.5 cm x 15.75 cm). Die-cut a sixth panel from scrap cardstock to use as a stencil. Die-cut one pentagon from heavy white cardstock.

Die-cut Sides:  Score all three white rectangles along all four sides at ¼ inch (3 cm). On the two larger rectangles score down the center at 2 ½ inches (6.25 cm). Place die centered inside score lines on all five sections and cut. (Hint: Because this an intricate die, you may need to add cardstock shims to get a good sharp cut throughout the die. I rolled the die through three times to cut the thick cardstock.) Using fine tipped scissors or a craft knife and metal ruler, trim off the attached top and bottom pieces of the die-cut.

Vellum Panels:  Tape a vellum panel to the front of the stencil and turn the vellum and stencil over to color the crocus flowers through the stencil onto the backside of the vellum. Once all panels are colored, glue to the back of the die-cut panels. Once glued, touch-up the coloring on the backside of the panel. (Hint: Depending on what type of markers are used to color the vellum, ink can transfer to the white cardstock, so coloring the backside away from the cardstock is best.)

Assembly:  Trim away the squares created by the score lines on the white cardstock pieces and cut the tab corners off as shown in photograph. Fold the two double panel pieces down the center score line and burnish with a folding tool. Fold the five bottom tabs and burnish. Fold and burnish the six long side tabs.

With two of the panels lying flat on your work surface, align the panels and glue the two tabs together. Pinch until the glue sets. Repeat until all but the last set of tabs are glued. Allow glue to dry. Gently fold the glued sides and burnish by pinching the sides together to have crisp folds. Glue the final tabs laying panels flat and reaching in, to pinch tabs until glue sets. Allow glue to dry. Fold and burnish the last corner. Drop pentagon base into center of holder and work under the three seams. Glue tabs to bottom of pentagon.

Add your battery powered tealight. (Note: because this light holder is made from flammable paper, do not use candles with real flames.)

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Colors

Papers

Miscellaneous

Cloud Dreams

| ullycatdesigns

During these COVID 19 times when we all are having to be more isolated, it is relaxing to dream of traveling once again. Here is a card that depicts that dream.

This card is the second of a series to use my Ully Cat Designs’ Split-Slider Slimline template.

Split-Slider: Print split-slider template (download under Materials Used) onto light blue lightweight cardstock and then cut out the top panel and slider arm around the outer red cutting lines. (Note: The printed side of the cardstock will be the back of the panel and when assembled will not be seen.) Using a craft knife and a metal ruler, cut the top panel’s eight mini-easels on the red lines. Next, using a scoring tool, score the green and blue fold lines – green being valley folds and blue mountain folds.

Because the top panel is adhered on three sides to the card base and needs to be raised the thickness of the lightweight cardstock slider arm, place two layers of double-sided tape on the long sides and bottom of the panel making sure not to cover the red lines of the easels. A single layer of double-sided tape should be placed on each of the narrow tabs of the eight mini-easels. (If you are using tape that is wider than the tabs, trim off excess.)

To adhere the slider arm to the mini -easel tabs, first, using low-tack tape, tape the front side of the easels shut. (This will ensure that the easels are adhered to the slider arm in the shut/flat position.) Position the slider arm over the back of the panel, making sure there is at least an 1/8 inch/3 mm gap between the tape along the panel edges and the slider arm. Hold the slider arm in place and remove the backing tape on the lowest easel and adhere to the slider panel. Repeat removing tape backing and adhering each easel. Once slider arm is attached to easels, turn over and remove low-tack tape. Test the slider. You may have to help fold the easels into the fully opened position the first time to train them. Once satisfied with the slider/easels’ movement, remove panel backing tape paper and adhere to card base. (Hint: If parts of the mechanism is catching, place some clear tape over the edge that is catching such as I did with the circle on the pull-tab pictured below.)

Decorating the Easels: I have had these hot air balloon charms from Blue Fern Studios for awhile. To make the dirigible dangle, I’ve used some sturdy plastic strips cut from packaging as the posts to string the charm on monofilament fishing line. The smaller charms are on foam tape glued to the plastic strips. Clouds were embossed in dies using the embossing sandwich for my die cutting machine, then die-cut, inked with Distress Ink and then painted with Nuvo Glitter Gloss pen. Make sure you don’t glue anything that will impede the easels from moving.

Two white 1-inch circles were cut using a paper punch and glued to the circle pull-tab – on front and back side of the slider arm. A hole was punched to thread a piece of shimmery ribbon through as a pull.

More of the ribbon was used to decorate the front of the card. I was careful not to get glue inside any of the slider easels or their slider tracks.

The “enjoy the journey” sentiment charm is attached with foam squares.

Envelope: The back flap of the envelope was stamped with a Sara Davies Nautical Collection sentiment “Adventure awaits” to hint at the enclosed card is about.

I enclose a slip of paper with instructions on how to open the card. (See split slider CRX sheet download below.)

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

Split-Slider Slimline Template Series:

Day 1 – Split Sea Slider

Day 2 – Cloud Dreams

Day 3 – Triple Hearts

Day 4 – A Valentine for A Baseball Fan

Materials Used:

split-slider-template-1Download
split-slider-crx-sheet-3Download

Please note that this template is copyrighted, and Ully Cat Designs must be cited if you publish a card made using it.

Dies

Stamps

Inks

Papers

Miscellaneous

© 2021 Sue Small-Kreider/Ully Cat Designs

Lilies of the Valley

| ullycatdesigns

According to the Language of Flowers, a small book that Amazon Drygoods reprinted from its Victorian original, lilies of the valley mean a “return of happiness.” And so to, does this card promise happiness from it envelope through to its inside message.

Based on a panel die from Tutti Designs, that was die-cut twice (one white cardstock and one green paper), this card comes together with its sentiments. The front “With love” is a foiled strip on scrap cardstock. (Sometimes when my mojo is lacking, I make a batch of foiled sentiments to have on hand.)

Inside the sentiment is heat embossed onto vellum. The longer sentiment is:

“Let us be grateful

to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners

who make our souls blossom.”

Only liquid glue was used in the assembly of the card.

The back flap of the envelope was stamped with a Card Making Magic sentiment “OPEN immediately to release happiness!” to hint at what the enclosed card is about

You can see more Valentines by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks/Embossing Powders

Papers

Miscellaneous

A Drop of Sunshine’s Inspiration Box

| ullycatdesigns

Have to share some inspiration with you from a papercrafter who goes by the name Drop of Sunshine. I have been inspired by her mixed media creations, but she has shared some papers and digital kits to make things like this exploding box.

To access her free digital download that I am linking to, you need to be a member of Craftworld.com which is a free membership based site where papercrafters (and crafters in general) have a community to post and share their projects, get inspiration, and converse with crafters from all over the world.

I downloaded and printed the six sheets that make up this exploding exploding box digital kit on lightweight white cardstock. I followed Drop of Sunshine’s YouTube tutorial and only changed up the center decoration by cutting the four flower wreaths with no background into two cones, one spiral strip and one base mat. The two cones I glued one on top of the other and used the spiral to make the top of the tree. I fussy cut most of the individual rose blooms and leaves and shaped them by scoring, folding and curving the leaves with my fingers. The roses are in several sizes so the layers are largest on the bottom and the smallest on top again with folding and curving the petals with my fingers.

From scrap cardstock left from fussy cutting I made four small loops to act as ‘faux foam tape’ to raise the circle sentiments up. The other sentiment strips were curved and pleated using my fingers. I used a black pen to write the recipient’s name on one of the blank banners.

Below is all the flower and sentiments I had left over from the kit. I made the box in about two hours using only scissors, glue, ruler, scoring board and black pen.

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

Please check out Drop of Sunshine’s YouTube Channel too!