Making characters for cards can be fun. Several people have asked for a video on how I made the pirate characters on my 2023 pirate ship birthday card. These characters were inspired by ones John Watterson had made and shown on Karen Burniston’s Facebook Pop-Up Peeps page. Here is a video showing how I made them.
Inspired by a new Graphic 45 paper collection – Sunshine On My Mind that features watermelon papers, I created this A2 (4.25×5.5-inches) sized card using Karen Burniston’s Ovals and Heart Collage Pop-Up die sets.
Cardbase: Fold an 8.5 x 5.5-inch rectangle of card stock in half to form a top fold 4.24 x 5.5-inch card (or use a purchased A2 cardbase.) Tape the largest oval die so that the top of the die overhangs the fold. Die cut to form an oval folded cardbase. With a red marker color the inside edges of the cardbase. Repeat with green marker to the outside edges.
Using the same oval die, cut two ovals from green watermelon rind paper and two more ovals from red and black watermelon paper. Glue one of the red ovals inside the cardbase, fold cardbase in half and trim off red paper at fold. Repeat with the second red piece. Glue one green oval to the back side of cardbase. Trim at fold. Glue the last green oval to front of card.
InsideOutside
The card front will be the only complete oval. All other panels should have been trimmed to allow the cardbase to fold. (Note in photo that a hint of red shows on the back of the card.)
Back of card
Decorate the outside of the cardbase with sentiments cut from the collection pack papers.
Mechanism unlockedMechanism locked
Collage Mechanism: (Watch the assembly video for the Heart Collage Pop-Up located at the bottom of the linked page.) Cut the mechanism from red cardstock. Train folds and glue inside the cardbase. Allow the glue to dry before connecting the locking tabs. Cut sentiment panels from paper collection. Round the corners. Play with positioning of the panels onto the mechanism before permanently gluing in place. (I found that my side arms needed to be thin pieces and the top and bottom arms could handle larger panels.) Take the largest panel and fold in half before gluing over locking mechanism tabs.
Add other decorations to cardbase always checking for catchpoints to avoid.
Envelope: Decorated the back envelope flap with decorative strips from paper collection.
A few times a year, I get commissions from a pair of cats for cards to their humans. For Mother’s Day this year they picked an Anita Jerem illustration of two cats sleeping in bed under a heart dotted comforter. They like to use every year the sentiments from a Simon Says Stamp set Happy Meowther’s Day.
Cardbase: I used a purchased A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inch) plaid printed cardbase and matching white envelope. The image panel was adhered with double sided tape and the sentiments were stamped directly onto the image panel or cardbase.
Alcohol markers, not chosen Watercolor markers, not chosen
Front Panel: The Snoozing Kitties stamp works best with a stamping platform. Because I used StazOn ink a solvent ink, I only got one chance at stamping the complete image. I stamped the image on three separate pieces of cardstock and watercolor paper. Some images were faint in areas, so I filled them in with a 01 black fine tip pen before coloring. I experimented with watercolor brush markers and alcohol markers. I had more control over the intensity of color with the alcohol markers as well as a wider range of colors to choose (80 alcohol markers to 12 watercolor brush markers.) My chosen panel was the first one I colored with alcohol markers. Yellow cat colored with 37 pastel yellow, 38 pale yellow, 163 green bice and 120 black. Gray striped cat used 120 black, WG3 warm grey and WG5 warm grey. The comforter’s hearts were colored with 70 royal blue, 144 pale baby blue and 185 pale blue light. The shadows on the bedding wrinkles is WG1 warm grey. 70 royal blue was also used for the wallpaper stripes, while 185 pale blue light was used for the headboard. “Happy Meowther’s Day” was stamped in black over the wallpaper.
Inside Sentiments: All the sentiments inside the card are from the Happy Meowther’s Day stamp set. They include “Thank you for feeding me, cleaning up after me, and loving me more than anything else in the world. The feeling is mutual.” And “from the cats” with tiny paw prints and a heart. The heart is stamped in red while all the words and paw prints are in black.
Envelope: “Happy Meowther’s Day” is stamped on the back of the envelope flap in black ink with a red heart underneath it.
Just wanted to share the card fronts and light-up lighthouse card I made at workshops at the Orlando Stamp & Scrapbook Expo last week.
I took a class with Jennifer from Stamplistic on using the Spellbinder’s Better Press. We made a number of card fronts trying different techniques and papers. To get the letterpress look of an embossed plate, you need to use the thick cotton paper such as the Better Press papers. We learned to add sprays to the paper before stamping onto the paper for the crisp imprint and ink coverage of image. You can add a variety of ink colors to one plate, or use one of the new registration plate sets and print different colors in several printing passes. I found the Better Press to be a quick way to get professional and elegant looking images. The cost is more than rubber or clear stamps, but as long as you get enough ink on the plates, you get a professional looking image that you can then watercolor or color with alcohol markers.
Sabrina Leavell ofScrappy Tails taught a quick workshop on making a dimensional lighthouse with a Pear Blossom one light to make it light-up.
Lots of great and friendly vendors at the Expo too.
This card was made for Craft Roulette #210 whose parameters included Project must include action, Northern Lights colors, blackboard element(s) and oval(s).
Below is a recorded live video (37 minutes) that demonstrates how the inside-out card is made.
For a shorter experience watch the Craft Roulette process video below.
This card was made for Craft Roulette #209 whose parameters included a tri-fold card, sleigh ride colors, joke(s)or funny element and out of proportion. It has a number of insider jokes in it for that Craft Roulette fan to get.
The card uses a purchase A6 cardbase (4.625 in x 6.25 in) as a top fold and two pieces of decorative 6 in x 8 in paper.
This card was made for Craft Roulette #208 whose parameters included a joy-fold card, buggy ride colors, sticks and stones element and trim(s) or trimming(s).
For this joy-fold card I used the colors of a buggy ride to the lake to go camping with a fishing stick and campfire stones. The lake is made of blue rick-rack trim on acetate. All dies used are by Karen Burniston.
Cardbase: A joy-fold is basically a smaller card that interleaves with a larger card. My smaller card is an oval cut from acetate and sandwiched between some kraft splattered cardstock with the cardstock folded and glued into the larger purchased 5×7 cardbase. The larger cardbase had its front panel trimmed to 4-inches wide. The larger cardbase was covered with green grass paper inside (covering over the kraft cardstock) and its front panel covered with blue dotted paper.
Lake: The front of the oval acetate flap was covered with rick-rack using double-sided tape. A kraft cardstock tab was added to make it easier to open the velco fastener that keeps the card close and the bam boxes from popping open. The tab is stamped with “Lift the flap.” The sentiment of “Hello nature” is cut using the Word Set 6 – Summer set.
Tent:Watch the assembly video at the bottom of the linked page. The tent pop-up can be made with out the cording, but I chose to add the cording using tiny brads on another layer of grass green cardstock to attach it.
Animals: The racoon and fox are made with the Woodland Animals die set. They are glued to small bam boxes to make them pop-up. The fish are from the Camping Charms set and are colored with pink and mint green glitter brush markers. The fishing stick is also in the Camping Charms set.
Campfire: The pop-up campfire is made up of five dies that form the campfire pit and burning logs. It is part of the Tent Pop-Up set.
Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊
It’s time for the Karen Burniston April 2024 Design Team Challenge with the theme of Thirst Quencher. I chose lemonade as my thirst quencher and a card theme of a summer fete (festival or fair).
At a fete, there are generally small booths selling baked goods, drinks and other trinkets or handicrafts, so my card is a slimline (3 3/4 x 8 1/2-inch) card with three food booths using Karen Burniston dies.
Cardbase: Start with an 8 1/2 x 7 1/2-inch rectangle of a thick cardstock. (I used white.) Score at 3 1/2-inches and fold in half to create a top-fold 3 3/4 x 8 1/2-inch card base.
Booths: Cut three 6×3-inch panels of striped paper. (If you have longer than 6-inch striped paper cut them 7 1/2×3-inches.) Score and fold each panel at 3 3/4-inches. Using the pop-up center die from the Explosion Pop-Up, center the die on the fold of each panel. Train the folds as directed in the assembly video for the die set located at the bottom of the linked page. Glue pop-up panels inside card with the long side attaching to the inside top panel. Cover the bottom panel with grassy patterned paper. (I cut strips of the 6×6-inch patterned paper 1-inch wide to go through the pop-ups and cover over the striped paper.) I used a border print card layer to created the tablecloths on each booth table.
Posts and Banners: The posts are cut from glossy white cardstock using the Street Lantern die with the scrolling arms cut off. The pendant banners are made using the die from the Twist Panel Pop-Up set and threading them onto baker’s twine. The twine was wrapped around the knob top of a post before gluing it in place. (The two ends of twine can be taped to the front of the card to be covered over by the front panel.) The green bows that cover the looped twine on the posts are from the Street Lantern Pop-Up set. (I found it helped with the opening and closing of the card to place a small drop of glue at the top back center of each pendant to keep them from becoming catch-points, but still allowing them some dimension.) I used computer generated “Pies,” Lemonade” and “Cakes” printed on coiper paper and cut out with the banner label from the Lorna Label Pop-Up set.
Card Front: You will need to create a panel to hide the banner twine ends under. Cut a 3 3/4 x 8 1/2-inch of blue cardstock and a 3 3/8x 8 1/4-inch rectangle of dotted printed paper. Glue the dotted paper on top of the blue cardstock with an even border all around. Cut ten fishtailed banners from decorative paper using the die from the Twist Panel Pop-Up set. Cut the letters and shadows to spell out “SUMMER FETE” using the Mini Alphabet die set. Glue the letters onto the shadows and shadows onto the banners being careful not to cover the holes at the top of the banners.
Thread the two words on two separate pieces of twine. Die cut the “Enjoy the” from different colors using the Enjoy The Ride set. Once the placement of the words and banners have been established, tape the banner twine ends to the back of the panel. Glue the words and banners down onto the panel. Attach panel to cardbase front. (I used glue and double-side ½-inch tape.)
Pies: I created four pies using two different die sets. The top view lattice cherry pie and the key lime pie were created using the pie dies in the Baking Borders set. (I brushed the cherry pie red with a red glitter brush pen for some shine.) The horizontal pies were made with the pie die from the Picnic Elements set with the base piece cut from red and the crust cut from brown. All pie crust were inked with a light brown ink. The horizontal pie crusts had their slits inked red with an ultra-fine tipped red marker. I attached the horizontal pies using a foam square and a pop-up cube from a strip of white cardstock. (You could use the pop-up cube from the Oven Extras die set instead of making your own.)
Lemonade: The pitcher and glasses of lemonade were created from clear vellum with yellow cardstock behind. All the pieces were cut using the Picnic Elements die set. The pitcher is adhered to the pop-up base with a foam square and a drop of glue. The glasses are attached to a strip of clear packaging plastic with double sided tape all along the strip. The strip was threaded through the pop-up base and attached to the backside of the pop-up. (I covered the exposed adhesive on the strip with anti-static powder.)
Cakes: For these small cakes, I used the cupcakes in the Baking Borders set. I left the border base layer attached and trimmed off the excess behind the frosting. The bottom row has its center cake glued to the pop-up base while the upper row is attached to a pop-up cube.
Message Labels: The two white scalloped labels inside the card are for a personal message and are cut using the die from the Twist Panel Pop-Up set. (I did two to hide the seams of my patterned paper.)
Envelope: The card will fit into a #10 business size envelope.
Ully Cat's World 