Valentine’s Day

Sending Love

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek week for Karen Burniston’s February 2023 release!

Making sure your loved-one, who is far away, feels love at Valentine’s Day, is what this card is all about. It uses two new die sets from Karen Burniston’s February 2023 release along with some previously released sentiments and collage decorations. 

I started with a 10-inch by 7-inch rectangle and folded in half to make a 5-inch by 10-inch cardbase.

Next, I die-cut all my mats and decorative frames from patterned papers using the crosshatch rectangles from the new Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch. For the scalloped frame I used white copier paper and heavier white cardstock to cut all the labels and twist mechanism two flag arms. The small, scalloped rectangles and flag arms are dies in the Little Twist Panel Pop-Up die set.

Because my decorative papers were thin paper, I used a sheet of double-sided adhesive to adhere the paper to a piece of cardstock. I did this for the twisting mechanism and the folded panel that is glued to the twisting mechanism. Before I die-cut my Little Twist Panel Pop-Up, I watched the assembly video for the pop-up mechanism.

Using double-sided tape, I covered the inside and outside card panels with coordinating paper mats. (My favorite technique for using double-sided tape is to place around the edge of the card, lift the ends of the tape so corners are sticky, position the covering paper, you can shift the top paper a bit before you pull all the tape backing paper strips. See tutorial post,)

Fold all the scored lines of mechanism piece as directed in video. Using a ruler mark the center of the cardbase fold with a pencil. Glue one side of mechanism to cardbase lining-up the mechanism’s center hole with the pencil mark making sure the folded score lines of the mechanism arms line up with the casebase fold. Fold mechanism shut and glue other side to cardbase.

The center heart is cut from the Heart Collage Pop-Up set in two pieces. Slide solid heart into slotted heart and glue the back halves to the mountain fold of the folded panel mechanism making sure that the panel slots are not blocked by heart. Following the video assembly instructions, insert the two flag arms into the slots on the folded panel. Glue the flag tabs onto the back of the other flag. Adhere the panel to the twisting mechanism as directed in assembly video. Test and train the mechanism how to fold inside the card.

The card front is simply decorated with the scalloped frame which is glued only on the straight edge inside of the frame.

To have a white shadow behind the die-cut “Happy Valentine’s Day,” Trace the outer edge of the word die with pencil and fussy cut the shadow.Two tiny hearts from the Sending Love die set complete the front.

The inside decorations include more tiny hearts in corners of the decorative panels as well as two hot air balloons carrying hearts. The balloons are from the Balloon Collage Add-Ons and the hearts on strings are from the Little Twist Panel Pop-Up. The balloons are adhered to the card with foam dimensionals. “Sending Love” sentiment is its own die set. There are two scalloped white labels are from the Little Twist Panel Pop-Up to write a personal message.

As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I have decorated the back flap with scalloped heart from the Heart Collage Pop-Up set. The card is A7 envelope.

You can see more Valentines by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • American Crafts – The Color of Memories – 12 x 12 Printed Paper – Heart Flowers -320506
  • American Crafts – The Color of Memories – 12 x 12 Printed Paper – Tumbling Blocks -320330
  • White and Pink Cardstock & White Copier Paper Scraps
  • Fun Stampers Journey – 8.5 x 11 Cardstock – Banana Cream
  • A7 Envelope – Ivory

Miscellaneous

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Scrapbook.com – Double-Sided Adhesive 1/4 Inch Tape
  • Clear Double-Sided Adhesive 8.5 x 11-Inch Sheets
  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Piercing Tool
  • Pencil
  • Sand Eraser
  • Baker’s Twine
  • Stampin’ Up – Foam Dimensionals

Heart Flower Valentine

| ullycatdesigns

It’s the Karen Burniston’s Design Team February 2023 Challenge focusing on LOVE.

This hexagon flower card is a cross between an explosion box and a flower bud slowly opening. It uses two Crosshatch shape dies – Hexagons and Hearts as well as two sentiment dies – Happy Valentine’s Day and Word Set 13. An additional heart is the Circle Charm Pop-Up set.

Center Layer: Cut one of the second smallest of the plain edged hexagon in the Hexagons Crosshatch set of red 65 lb. cardstock. Cut six of the hearts in the Circle Charm Pop-Up set in red 65 lb. cardstock. Cut 12 strips 1-inch by 1/4 inch in red 65 lb. cardstock. (Strips need one squared off end that will be visible when the card is open.) Cut in white cardstock “love you” from Word Set 13.

Adhere “love you” sentiment onto hexagon parallel to a straight edge. Glue squared ends of strips to back side of the rounded tops of hearts. (Each heart should have two strips.) Place heart face up over an edge of hexagon and fold under the attached strips and glue to the underside of the hexagon. Make sure the top of the heart is just at the edge of the hexagon and not overhanging. (Overhanging hearts will make catchpoints that will be hard to open when flower is assembled.) Repeat with the next five hearts.

Fold hearts closed and test for catchpoints. Adjust attached hearts as needed to eliminate catchpoints.

Middle Layer: Cut one of the second largest of the plain edged hexagons in the Hexagons Crosshatch set in Pomegranate 100 lb. cardstock. Cut six of the smaller crosshatch heart in the Heart Crosshatch set in Pomegranate cardstock. Cut 12 strips 1-inch by 1/4 inch in Pomegranate cardstock. (Strips need one squared off end that will be visible when the card is open.)

Using thin foam squares, adhere center layer hexagon onto middle hexagon with points of smaller hexagon pointing towards the middle of each straight edge on larger hexagon. Glue squared ends of strips to back side of the rounded tops of hearts. (Each heart should have two strips.) Place heart face up over an edge of hexagon and fold under the attached strips and glue to the underside of the hexagon. Make sure the top of the heart is just at the edge of the hexagon and not overhanging. (Overhanging hearts will make catchpoints that will be hard to open when flower is assembled.) Repeat with the next five hearts.

Fold hearts closed and test for catchpoints. Adjust attached hearts as needed to eliminate catchpoints.

Outer Layer: Cut two of the largest hexagon in the Hexagons Crosshatch set – one red dotted Swiss and one white. Cut six of the scalloped heart in the Heart Crosshatch set in red dotted Swiss. Cut 12 strips 1-inch by 1/4 inch in red dotted Swiss. (Strips need one squared off end that will be visible when the card is open.)

Using thicker foam squares, adhere middle layer hexagon onto largest hexagon with points of smaller hexagon pointing towards the middle of each straight edge on larger hexagon. Glue squared ends of strips to back side of the rounded tops of hearts. (Each heart should have two strips.) Place heart face up over an edge of hexagon and fold under the attached strips and glue to the underside of the hexagon. Make sure the top of the heart is just at the edge of the hexagon and not overhanging. (Overhanging hearts will make catchpoints that will be hard to open when flower is assembled.) Repeat with the next five hearts.

Fold hearts closed and test for catchpoints. Adjust attached hearts as needed to eliminate catchpoints.

Glue white hexagon over the back of the red hexagon to cover-up strips and to provide a space to write a personal message.

Closing Band: Cut one strip of 12 inches by 3/4 inch in striped cardstock. Wrap loosely around widest part of closed flower. (Make such you can slide off the closed band before gluing closed.)

On white cardstock, trace around the “Happy Valentine’s Day” die to create a shadow for the words. Fussy cut the shadow. Die-cut the sentiment in red and use a pokey tool to weed out the words. Glue to shadow. Adhere the shadowed words to band.

The card will fit in an A2 size (4 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches) envelope. It may require extra US postage for its thickness.

You can see more Valentines by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park – 12×12 – A Perfect Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Snow Flack Swirl – APC135009
  • Bazzill – 8.5 x 11 – Embossed Dotted Swiss Cardstock – Red
  • Spellbinders – 8.5 x 11 – Color Essentials Cardstock 100 lb – Pomegranate
  • Recollections – 8.5 x 11 –Cardstock Paper 65 lb – Red
  • White lightweight cardstock

Miscellaneous

A String of Hearts

| ullycatdesigns

This is a quick fussy cut string of hearts using Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion die. The large red hearts and smallest dark pink hearts are from the Hearts-Crosshatch set while the medium size pale pink hearts and hearts with sentiments and arrow are from the Love Charms set. (I used a purple gel pen to highlight the candy heart sentiments.)

Below is a PDF file which you can download for a basic template of how to fussy cut the panels which are connected by the smallest hearts.

hearts-accordion-scan-of-prototypeDownload

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

A Twist and Pop Valentine

| ullycatdesigns

In cleaning up my craft room after the holidays, I came across a purchased Valentine I’d been sent many years ago with a stitched see-thru pouch with beads, sequins and the words “daughter,” sweet” and “valentine.” I decided to upcycle the card base with the pouch attached for a new Valentine.

The card base was an A6 size (5×6.5 inches). Ivory pearlescent on the outside and red on the inside. There were some tears of white on the inside where a sentiment sheet had been removed. (I hid the tears with red gingham ribbon adhered with double-sided tape.)

Using Karen Burniston’s Twist Panel Pop-Up and Heart Pivot Panels along with some of her word set dies, I recreated the card using two sheets of double-sided, printed cardstock from Craft Consortium.

I watch the assembly videos for both the Heart Pivot Panels and the Twist Panel Pop-Up before cutting and assembling my pop-up features.

Because I opted for an 8 x6 1/4-inches cardstock insert, I had to use a craft knife with a metal ruler to cut the ends of the mechanism arms free from the insert. I also die-cut a third arm from the insert cardstock which I cut-in half twice to make four strips to cover the red card base where the insert mechanism arms are cut from.

The assembly of the end panels and heart pivot panels were done as per the assembly video.  Cutting the decorative hearts from the intricate paisley cardstock makes for a somewhat non-traditional Valentine.

The sentiments inside were both cut from white cardstock but finished differently. The “love you” was also cut from a red glossy magazine page and glued off-set with the white underneath. The “Happy Valentine’s Day” had a shadow added underneath it. The shadow is cut by tracing the outside of the sentiment die on the back side of the decorative cardstock and fussy cutting. The white scalloped rectangle is cut using a decorative panel die from the Twist Panel Pop-Up set. It serves as a place for a personal message.

The outside of the card was decorated with leftover scraps of decorative cardstock and a die-cut heart I had in my stash. Because I changed the orientation of the card from a side-fold to a top-fold, I secured the see-thru pouch with glue dots and added tiny hearts to reflect the orientation.

The card will fit in an A6 size envelope. (I used an A7 envelope as I was out of A6s.) It may require extra US postage for its thickness.

You can see more Valentines by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – 12×12 Double-Sided Premium Paper Pad – Eastern Influences
  • A6 Recycled Card Base with Valentine Pouch
  • White Cardstock
  • Red Glossy Paper Scrap
  • A7 Envelope – Ivory

Miscellaneous

Puppy Love

| ullycatdesigns

Puppy love… a dog in your life brings great joy. This is a card from a fur baby.

The adorable dog face with its moving ears, along with the front sentiment die and large paw print die-cut are all from Lynda Kanase’s i-crafter Puppy Face Wiper Inset set.

Watch the assembly video before putting together. The video recommends decorating the front and back of the card before adding items to the inside.

I masked off a banner on the front of the card using low tack paper tape. Next, I did a light spritz of a brown sparkle spray to create a sand like texture. Remove the tape and glue die-cut sentiment strip in place.

I used a left-over strip of decorative paper and two 1/8-inch tall strips of cream cardstock to finish the front of the card.

The card back uses another decorative paper scrap and a die-cut paw print that has its paw pads inked. I found that by attaching the tiny paws pads to a piece of low tack tape, I could easily ink the pieces with a sponge dauber.

I found that the puppy face dies have stencils within them that I used to ink with a white gel pen make highlights.

I added the “love you” inside the card using a Karen Burniston word set.

As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I have decorated the back flap with an embossing folder and a paw die-cut. Both the embossing and die-cut were inked with a dark brown ink. The card fits into an A6 envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I the card made you smile and gave you inspiration. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • & Papercraft, issue 204 – Pawfect Pals designed by Adam Prescott
  • Brown Craft and Cream Cardstock
  • Blue, Pink and Black Cardstock Scraps
  • A6 Card and Envelope – Ivory

Inks & Pigments

  • Nuvo Sparkle Spray – Coca Powder
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Walnut Stain
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll 08 – Gel Pen – White

Miscellaneous

My Better Half

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes you just need to let your partner know that they are the better half of yourself.

I needed to do just that and chose some of my partner’s favorite colors and the cute Lawn Fawn “Let’s Toast” stamp set with its add-on pull tab die set. The double-sided plaid papers are Becky Moore’s Say it with Stamps for Photoplay on a green A2 card base.

First, I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored the toaster with a silver metallic marker. Next, I covered the main body of the toaster with Glossy Accents.  The toast, butter pat and butter dish I colored with blending markers and watercolor pencils.

Because I had never used this Lawn Fawn pull tab mechanism before, I found a video to watch for the assembly. It was easy to assemble, but since I had fussy cut my stamped images, I had to trim down the tabs of the mechanism for the toast to be attached to and not show the edges of the tab.

For the pull tab top, I used a scrap of the green plaid cardstock to cover the portion of the tab that shows when the tab is pulled up matching the vertical plaid line. After this cover was glued down, I added the brown oval with the arrow cut-out and folded it to fit the cut-out notch of the cart rather than using the scored fold mark.

The sentiments were stamped with Versamark Watermark ink and heat embossed with a black detail embossing powder onto white scrap cardstock. The front sentiment was cut out as a banner and adhered to the card front with foam squares and the interior sentiment was cut close and glued in place with its matching images.

To hint at the envelope’s contents, I stamped two pieces of smiling toast onto the back flap with brown ink.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks & Embossing Powder

  • Memento – fade-resistant Dye Ink – Tuxedo Black
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony
  • My Favorite Things – Premium Dye Ink – Milk Chocolate

Papers

  • Photoplay – Fall Plaids 6×6 paper Pad – Say it with Stamps by Becky Moore
  • White card stock scraps
  • A2 green card base and white envelope

Miscellaneous

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

Candy Hearts

| ullycatdesigns

Valentine’s Day is coming and a handmade card that reminds one of chocolates or the colorful candy hearts associated with the holiday maybe just the thing for your loved one.

These two cards were made with elements from the three shades pink cardstock cut once using the Small Die of the Month for January 2021 from Spellbinders.

The cherry blossoms and leaves were fussy cut from the center die. The leftover very light pink border from the cherry blossoms was layered onto the sending love card while the center heart cut out was used behind the cherry blossom heart.

Foiled sentiments from the coordinating Glimmer Kit of the Month complete the hearts which were adhered with foam squares.

Nuvo drops of contrasting shades at the corners complete the cards.

These card fronts were mounted using double sided tape to 6 inches x 4 ¾ inches white card bases.

The back flaps of the envelopes were stenciled with Distress Oxide ink and one had a glitter sticker added.

You can see more Valentines by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Foiling

Papers

Miscellaneous

© 2021 Sue Small-Kreider/Ully Cat Designs