Birthday Train

| ullycatdesigns

A lovely summer day in a Tennessee valley and the zoo animals are on a train outing to celebrate someone’s birthday.

This card uses Rubbernecker’s Animal Train slimline paper pad, some foam dots and a piece of clear packaging to create a cute interactive birthday card.

Cardbase: Cutting a 7 1/2 by 8 3/4-inch rectangle of white cardstock score and fold at 3 3/4-inches to make a folded cardbase of 3 3/4 by 8 3/4-inch. Glue a scenery page to card back panel.

Score and fold at 3 3/4 inches
Card back

Slider Mechanism: Take a background scenery page from the paper pad. On the back side draw two lines in pencil at 7/8-inches from the bottom edge and the second at 2 5/8-inches from the top edge. (You may need to adjust the width of the slot to accommodate the height of your foam dots. My measurements are for 1/4-inch foam dots.) Measure 1-inch from the right side (backside right) and draw a line connected the previous two lines. On the left back side, measure 3/4-inch to connect the earlier lines. Use a craft knife and straight edge (metal ruler) to cut out slot. Save cut-out piece.

Center the scenery page over the front panel of cardbase. Mark the corners of the page on cardbase and trace the inside of the slot with a pencil. Using a circle punch cut a thumb hole (half circle) on the left edge centered off the penciled slot markings.

Glue the slot cut-out piece over the pencil markings on card front. Cut a piece of clear packaging that is 1/2-inch wide and at least 9-inches long. Lay the plastic piece over the slot cut-out. Add foam tape around the plastic leaving the thumb hole side open. (Make sure tape does not extend beyond the corner pencil marks as it will show when the scenery page is adhered on top the foam tape.) Once Scenery page is attached, remove plastic strip and use hole punch to cut thumb hole into scenery page. Insert plastic strip into slot and test for ease of movement. Assemble train and follow directions in Train section to attach it to slider plastic arm.

Train: Cut out train with sharp detail scissors. (There are coordinating dies that you can purchase from Rubbernecker if you do not like fussy cutting.) The trick to fussy cutting is to move the paper through the scissors and not the scissors through the paper. For the engine window, poke a hole and cut from hole to the corners and then cut out the window.

Glue the train together overlapping the hook-up bars. Cut out animals and flag. Glue flag to last car.

Position train above the slot with the flag just peeking over the card edge. Make sure plastic strip is pushed to the back stop of the slot. Add foam dots to plastic inside slot positioned two to the center of each train car and engine.

With plastic strip still pushed to back stop, trim plastic strip to left card edge. Cut a piece of coordinating green from paper pad to a 3/4-inch wide by 3-inch strip. Fold strip in half and attach to plastic strip with double-sided tape. (You may have to trim and taper the ends of the green strip to fit into the slot track depending on where your foam tape is.) With a black permanent marker, draw an arrow on the green tab to indicate the direction to pull.

Add a plastic strip to the train chimney and attach with a glue dot a fussy cut cloud of smoke. Glue animals onto the train. Peel off the foam dots’ backing paper and attach the train to the slider arm.

Sentiments: Stamp “Happy Birthday” on to a piece of white cardstock and fussy cut a cloud shape around it. Position the cloud on foam dots so that the smoke cloud on the train does not become a catchpoint with the birthday cloud when the slider is pulled open. Decorate the sky with remaining images of smoke clouds, bird and butterfly, using foam squares and glue dots. The inside sentiment is a computer generated one which can be downloaded below.

wishing-great-adventuresDownload

Envelope: The back flap has an additional animal fussy cut and glued to it.

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

Materials Used:

Stamps

  • Rubbernecker Stamps – Clear Stamps – Sea Set -3207

Papers

  • Rubbernecker – 3.5×8.5 Paper Pad – Slimline – Animal Train
  • White Cardstock
  • Clear Plastic Packaging
  • #10 Business Envelope – White

Ink

  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Party Collection – All That Jazz
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Stamping Block
  • Craft Knife
  • Detail Scissors
  • Circle Punch – 3/4-inch
  • Metal Ruler
  • Pencil

Home Is Where The Heart Is

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for September. We were asked to use the Holiday House for a specific holiday. I have chosen Valentine’s Day.

I have been wanting to combine Karen Burniston’s House of Cards Pop-up set with some EZ-Lights for some time now. By using elements of the Holiday House die set – windows, door, gable string of lights – I was able to create a two-story house of cards that lights up. I also experimented with creating some double-sided coated cardstock using clear heat embossing powder.

Cardbase: I started with a purchased A6 (4.5 x 6.25 inches) cardbase with matching envelope. Because the cardbase was a wide side fold and I needed a short side fold, I cut the cardbase apart on the fold and used a narrow strip of cardstock to hinge the two pieces together which created a small gusset to accommodate the thickness of the pop-up inside. I cut two 4.5 strips of decorative paper with a patchwork design to cover the cardbase inside and out. Cutting the strips in half at 6-inches, I could adhere the four panels inside and out matching the design at the hinge. I trimmed on a paper cutter the edges to make a 4.5×6 inch card that will easily fit into the envelope with its thickness.

Coated Cardstock: After watching Jennifer McGuire do heat embossing on a full sheet of cardstock, I decided to try coated the thickest red cardstock I had (110 lb.) on both sides. I used a clear ink pad to coat my cardstock on one side and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it and used a heat tool to fix the powder into a coating. I repeated this several times on each side of the cardstock. The color darkened and the cardstock became thicker. The finish is not a smooth one, but rather bumpy like a stucco finish. (I found when I die cut the coated cardstock, the coating along the edges became opaque and, in some cases, chipped off. If I do this technique again, I will try doing only one coat of heat embossing.)

Windows and Door: Because the window dies in the Holiday House set cut two at once, I ended up die-cutting a window frame to act as my pattern to mark around on the back of the red card pieces and then cut out with a craft knife. I built my house of cards first, deciding which panels would need windows cut into them, and then removed them from the house, keeping the second story pieces separate from the end pieces. I cut the seven windows into the individual cards. The doorframe and door were glued on to the last end piece and a tiny, red heart from the holiday house set was glued to the front door.

House of Cards: Watch the video at the bottom of the linked page for the House of Cards set before starting. (I played with some practice card pieces I had cut to find the house shape I wanted to use.) Cut three of 4-card die. Cut windows into the seven selected pieces. The house starts with four cards creating an X. (Make sure the golf club cut outs are all facing out on the X. I made them facing in and the house wants to slip loose from the base after opening and closing a few times.) Make a square for the second story from four window pieces. Add the remaining three window panels and door panel to the ends of the X.

Attach the square over the center of the X. Attach the whole house to the white base. (It is easier to add the lights at this point before the gable pieces are added. See instructions below.) Glue the white base to cardbase.

Once the lights are adhere to the inside of the house (I ended up having one wire on the outside of the house by accident) cut eight of the gable lightblubs from the Holiday House set. Trim four of the pieces to have just nine lightblubs in the gable (that two lighblubs off each end before they turn) and four of the pieces to 11 lightblubs (thats trimming just one lightblub off each end.)

Glue the longer pieces to the opposite sides of the square looping the end lightblubs over the card joints. Add one longer piece to each end of the first story of the house. Use the remaining shorter pieces to fill in the sides still needing gable pieces.

Lights: EZ-Lights are just what they say – easy to install in a card. For the house of cards, I snaked the three wires that end in a light, up through the center x-structure before I glued the white base into the card. Once the white base was attached to the card base, I played with the positioning of the wires and battery/switch plate. I used clear packing tape to secure the light wires onto the walls of the house. (If the coating on the cards had allowed glue, I would have glued a red square of cardstock over the wires.)

(I found the best position of the plate is almost to the top edge of the card.) To attach the battery/switch plate to the card base, I sandwiched it between double layers of thin foam tape and then took a rectangle of card stock with decorative paper and covered the plate. (Before I attached the rectangle, I stamped a “push here” on the location of where the switch was.) Next, I cut triangles from the decorative paper to glue over the exposed wires on the cardbase.

Sentiments: To make the phrase “You make Home Sweet,” I used the “You” from the Thank You set along with the Home Sweet Home set. I spelled out the word “make” from the Mini Alphabet set. The “You are the Light of my Life” was computer generated and cut with the scalloped heart from the Crosshatch Hearts set. A white scalloped heart was also cut using the same die as a place for a personal message.

Envelope: A small heart from the Crosshatch Hearts set was cut from decorative paper and glued to the envelope flap to hint at what is inside.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Lawn Fawn – Photopolymer Clear Stamps – Push Here – LF1415

Papers

  • Photoplay – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Quilt From Cupid – CSC3460
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 110 lb Cardstock – Red
  • White and Black Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Gelly Roll – Gel Pen – Gold

Embossing Powder

  • Simon Says Stamp – Embossing Powder – Fine Detail – Clear

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

Stamping Up Some Fun

| ullycatdesigns

Last week I went to a cardmaking class taught by Donna Butler and had a chance to catch-up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Here are the cards I made.

FRACTURED SHUTTER CARD

Here is a video that shows the Fractured Card or Faux Shutter technique.

SO REFRESHING CARD

Donna’s daughter Sarah designed this refreshing notecard.

IRRESISTIBLE BLOOMS CARD

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

Jam Like A Strawberry

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #176 whose parameters included: a split in the middle, jolly colors, a fruit element and a heart.

My inspiration for this card came from the Berry Special die and stamp set that came in the Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103. (This magazine is available on the Craftstash website. Note that there are different country based websites for this online vender. Use the one that works for you to avoid unnecessary currency/customs fees.) It has a stamp that says “Jam like a strawberry” so I immediately thought of a jam jar shaker and went to my Queen and Company stash of shaker kits.

Cardbase: Using a 8.5×5.5 inch rectangle of heavy white cardstock for the cardbase, I folded it in half and used a bone folder to burnish the card into a 4.25×5.5 inch A2 size. The front and back panels of the card are covered with 4×5.25 inch decorative paper rectangles. The front has an additional strip of blue decorative paper near its middle. The back uses a thin strip cut from the front panel paper as decoration. I used the jar frame die to cut the aperture into the card front when only the front decorative papers had been attached. Next, I glued on the inside decorative papers and cut the aperture again.

Shaker: Queen and Company are known for their shaker kits which use pre-cut foam shaker frames with adhesive on both sides and clear acetate covers which take the tediousness out of making shaker cards. For the jar I used two acetate pieces and one foam frame that all had been dusted with an anti-static brush. I peeled off one side of the frame’s adhesive backing and attached a pre-cut piece of acetate. Adding the glitter, seed beads and strawberry slices to the frame, I dusted the next acetate sheet again and peeled off the adhesive backing on the foam frame and attached the acetate to enclose the shaker elements. (The chucky glitter had a lot of static electric charge and jumped to the tiny bits of adhesive at the foam edges.) The shaker is attached to the card by gluing a jar frame cut from the front of the card to the inside of the card and then gluing the shaker to the jar frame.

Decorations: Eight layered strawberries were cut using the Berry Special die set from pink and green patterned paper and black cardstock. The dies cut two stems, large and small strawberry outlines and fronts with seeds cutout as well as a plant stem with large leaves. I also used two of the large leaves on the card front. Seven strawberries are scattered on the card front and one large strawberry on the back. A red plaid paper sticker on a foam dot is at the top of the card front.

Sentiments: Using the stamps from the Die-Crafting Essentials gift set, I stamped in purply-pink ink the sentiment “Jam like a strawberry” on the jar tag which is tied around the jar lid with baker’s twine, and the inside sentiment “Thank you berry much!”

Envelope: Stamped on the envelope flap is “You’re the sweetest!” in purply-pink ink.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Queen & Company – Steel Dies – Love Jar
  • Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103 – Dies – Berry Special

Stamps

  • Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103 – Clear Stamps – Berry Special

Shaker Elements and Frame

  • Queen & Company –Foam Shaker & Acetate – Love Jar
  • Red Chunky Glitter
  • Pink Seed Beads
  • Dress My Craft – Polymer Clay – Strawberry Slices

Papers

  • Queen & Company – 6×6 Double-Sided Mat Stack – Flirty Florals
  • Crate Paper – 6×6 Single-Sided Patterned Paper Pad – Cool Kid
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Recollections – 8.5x11Cardstock 110 lb – White
  • Black Cardstock
  • A2 Envelope – White

Ink

  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Sweets
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Foam Squares

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Pink & White
  • Jot – Paper Sticker- Plaid Heart

Santa Coming Down The Chimney

| ullycatdesigns

This is the eighth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Santa’s coming. Can you hear him on the rooftop? He’s sliding down the chimney.

For this card I used Karen Burniston dies to create an accordion card with a pop-out fireplace with Santa’s boots dangling in the fireplace opening. (Before starting, please watch the assembly video for the Fancy Label Accordion located near the bottom of the linked page.)

Cardbase: I cut three Fancy Label Accordion panels from heavy white cardstock. I also cut four of the same panels from red decorative paper and two panels from green decorative paper. The green paper panels I adhered to a cardstock panel. (I realized I needed to cut one more green panel to cover the tabs when all the panels are glued together.)

The red panels I trimmed out the center label at the pivot points. Using the largest and second largest label dies in the set to cut a frame, I cut borders from two of the red center labels. For the back personal message label I used the largest of the label dies to cut a frame that went to the edge of the white label.

Fireplace: I cut the fireplace front and mantel pieces using the Fireplace Pop-Up. For the fireplace I glued a brick decorative paper to white cardstock and die-cut it using the embossing feature. I then trimmed off a 5/8-inch from each side of the fireplace so it would fit into the card. The mantel piece was cut from white and ink blended.

Bam Box and Boots: Because I was using a different mechanism than the fireplace mechanism, I recommend watching the assembly video for the small bam box. I tried both sizes of bam box, but you need to use the smaller one to get the fireplace to fit on the label and not catch when the card is folded closed. Glue three of the four decorative panels to the bam box. Before you add the rubber band to the bam box, cut the teardrop shaped holes for the boots (circled in red in photo below) using a sharp pointed piercing tool and scissors. (I used an old ice pick or awl.) If you plan to glue the bam box arched side to the fireplace, cut the holes in the panel just below it as shown in the photo circled in red. Attach the boots by slipping the tabs through the holes.

Assemble the bam box as usual.

I did not attach the fourth decorative panel on my card since I knew the arched side would be glued to the back of the fireplace. Test the placement of the bam box on both the fireplace and the pivot label before the glue sets.  Once the fireplace is attached to the panel, attach the mantel with the wider side glued to the fireplace.

Card Back: Every time I make an accordion card, I forget to save the decorative frame papers to glue on last, to cover the tabs that get glued as the card is assembled. This time I did it to the middle green panel.

Sentiments: “Ho Ho Ho” comes from cutting down the “Hooray!” in Word Set 4 while “Merry Christmas” is from Word Set 3. The Santa face is from the Gnome and Santa die set.

To get the word” Christmas” to stand-out from the red border paper I cut an additional “Christmas” in white and off set it behind the red word.

Envelope: The red “Merry Christmas” on the envelope flap and its green border are stamps from Anna Griffin.

CRX Sheet: The card recipient experience (CRX) sheet explains how to close the fireplace. it is a free download.

fireplace-accordionDownload

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

Other Holiday Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Anna Griffin – Treasury of Stamps & Dies – AG691T

Papers

  • Carnation Crafts – A4 Double-Sided Paper – Merry & Bright
  • Craft Consortium– A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Paper Studio – 8.5×11 Paper – Brick Wall
  • Red, Pink, Black and White Cardstock
  • A7 Envelope – Cream

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Walnut Stain and Aged Mahogany
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler and Emerald Envy
  • Marker – Ultra Fine Tip –Blue and Pink

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

Gatefold Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the seventh card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Waiting for the grandchildren to arrive to decorate the tree. It’s that peaceful moment when the dog is asleep before the fire and the chairs are ready for tired bodies.

For this card I used two Paper Discovery die sets by Olga Direktorenko – Timeless Room and Elegant Room as well as the Timeless Room embossing folder. These sets are available in limited quantities from Craftstash. Olga is an amazing designer of scene dies and stamps who lives in Ukraine.

Cardbase: A purchased A7 (5×7 inches) gatefold cardbase and matching envelope were used for this card. The inside was covered in a red and white striped wallpaper with embossed floor moldings made using the Timeless Room embossing folder. A red rug is in the center bottom. The outside has wreath paper from the same 6×6 paper pad as the striped paper.

Fireplace: The fireplace die cuts a detailed image that needs to be backed with black paper to make the details stand out.                                     The final touch is the snoozing chocolate labrador retriever in front of the fire.

Chairs: The chair die in the Timeless Room set has an outline die and then one other die that cuts all the detailed pieces that make up the dimensional chair. The seat back die has a stencil feature for tufting which I used with a fine-tipped black marker to add this detail to the chair. The cushions are from the same set. When attached to the inside flaps of the card, the chair extend slightly over the edge, but card covered by the tree on the card front when the card is closed.

Card Front: An evergreen tree sits in a red pot waiting to be decorated. The tree is from the Elegant Room set while the pot is from the Timeless Room set. The left half of the tree is glued to the left card flap. The yellow bells were added to balance out the banner. Both are from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit.

Card Back: A red strip covers the seam where the two pieces of paper meet. Ephemera from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit was used to decorate the back including a stack of Christmas themed books and a banner stating, “Handmade with love.”

Sentiments: The front banner “Warm Wishes” is from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit. “Merry Christmas” is part of the Elegant Room set and includes the frame. The two white ovals over the chairs are spaces to write personal messages.

Envelope: The back flap is decorated with yellow bells from a Spellbinder’s Christmas card kit.

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

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies & Embossing Folders

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Spellbinders – Mega Holiday Cardmaking Kit – Christmas – All Aboard
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • Black and White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Gatefold Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon- Hickory Smoke
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black, Blue, Brown, Green and Red

Adhesives

Tools

Magical Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the sixth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Fireplaces have a bit of magic in them on Christmas eve. This easel card plays into the magic complete with an elf sitting on the mantel shelf.

Hero Arts made the Stamp & Cut XL Fireplace set that was used to make this card along with Graphic 45 patterned paper Lets Get Cozy.

Cardbase: Starting with a purchased A7 cardbase, I cut it along its fold to have two pieces of 5×7 inch rectangles. Next, I cut a piece of the heavy weight pink cardstock 7.5-inches by 4.25-inches and folded at 2-inches and at 5.5-inches. (You may need to change the fold in the easel arm as I did, but you can cover the extra fold line with decorative paper.)

One tab was glued to the top of a cardbase panel and the other tab will be glued to the base of the other panel once it is decorated as the card front. Cover the bottom card base panel with a carpet like patterned paper. Also cover the back side of the case base with patterned paper. (I choose a wallpaper-like floral print and put a house border along the bottom edge to ground the back of the card.)

Fireplace: While designed to be a single layer die-cut, the fireplace can be cut multiple times to create a more 3D effect. The dies need to be clipped to separate the main outline of the fireplace from the mantel piece and the stocking from the rest of the piece. Cut one outline piece and one mantel piece from heavy blush pink cardstock. You will have to cut the mantel piece from the cardstock at its connecting points with a kraft knife. Cut another mantel piece to fussy cut the scalloped inner opening that frames the firebox. (I like to cut this piece to include some of the columns.)

On the outline piece, trace the firebox opening with a light pencil using the mantel piece die.

Using the layering stamps with two shades of brown ink for the logs and yellow and orange ink for the flames, create the burning logs within the penciled firebox. Using a blending brush, ink up the firebox to make sooty walls. Glue the inner firebox frame around the inked firebox. Use foam squares on the back of the mantel piece to adhere it to the outline piece. Blend some color onto the mantel piece.

Decorations: There are a number of decoration stamps in Fireplace Stamp & Cut set. I stamped both candles, the elf, tallest tree and the pinecones in greenery onto white heavy cardstock and heated embossed them before coloring with watercolor pencils. Next, I fussy cut them out leaving a long tab at the bottom of each to attach them to the fireplace I glued the tabs to the backside of the mantel piece and place foam squares on the backs of the pieces. The stockings were also stamped, heat embossed and watercolored. They are glued to the front of the mantel piece.

Sentiments: All of the sentiments were stamped, and heat embossed onto cardstock. The “ho ho ho” was stamped on pink cardstock to go at the base of the fireplace as if the sounds were coming down the chimney into the firebox. Crosshatch dies were used to cut out the larger sentiments of “Warm wishes” on a rug and “Merry Christmas” on a wall plaque. A second white rug was added for a personal message. The first rug is popped up on foam squares to act as an easel stop while the second rug is glued down for the ease of writing a message.

Envelope: The back flap of the envelope is stamped with a green elf to hint at the magic to come.

easel-card-sheet-2Download

CRX Sheet:  With many interactive cards, the recipient needs instructions on how to open and set-up the card. I create CRX sheets (card recipient experience) to include in the envelope. You can download for free the easel/double easel CRX sheet.

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

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Hero Arts – Stamp & Cut XL – Clear Stamps – Fireplace – DC295

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Let’s Get Cozy
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 Cardstock 110 lb – Rose Petals
  • White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Pigments: Ink, Watercolors & Embossing Powder

  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Aegean
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Black Soot and Saltwater Taffy
  • Hero Arts – My Monthly Hero Mini Stamp Cubes – Cup O’Joe, Lemon Drop and Creamsicle
  • My Favorite Things – Premium Dye Ink – Milk Chocolate
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red
  • Crafter’s Square – Metallic Marker – .05 In Point – Gold
  • Nuvo – Highly Pigmented Watercolor Pencils – Elementary Tones and Brilliantly Vibrant
  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Ink blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Heat Tool
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Water Brush
  • Kraft Knife

Burning Logs TV

| ullycatdesigns

This is the fifth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

In the good old-days of the 1950s and 1960s, the winter holidays meant snow, winter sports like ice skating on a homemade ice ring made in the backyard of 2×4 boards and a few inches of water frozen. On Christmas day the TV stations broadcast images of burning logs to replace the normal programing.

This card commemorates those childhood memories using dies by Hero Arts along with basic dies and stamps by other companies.

Cardbase: I used a purchase A7 (5×7 inch) cardbase and envelope. I covered the inside with papers that represent wallpaper and carpeting. The card back is also covered with patterned paper. Because I used 6×6 inch patterned paper and some designs I only had one piece, I placed borders of contrasting paper.

Pop-Up: I wanted this television set to pop-up inside the card, so once it was assembled, I made my own pop-up cube from scrap carpeting patterned cardstock (I would have used the wallpaper, but I had no more of it.) The pop-up cub is made from strip 2.5×7 inches, folded at .5-inches, 3-inches, 3.5-inches and 4-inches, and the .5-inch tab is glued onto the carpet panel inside the card, butted up against the fold and the other 3-inch end of the strip glued to the wallpaper panel.  The TV is glued to the front of the pop-up.

TV: As with many Hero Arts dies, you have to cut them multiple times and then fussy cut with scissors the decorative pieces such as the TV knobs, speaker box and legs. I cut the knobs, speaker and screen frame from a textured metallic gray cardstock and legs from woodgrain paper.

The whole television I cut once from black and twice from a thick cardstock in my junk mail recycling. The junk mail pieces I glued together. On the back of the black piece, I attached a piece of clear acetate using thin double-sided tape. Next, I trimmed the excess acetate. (Don’t attach black front to junk mail back piece until burning log screen is attached.)

White cardstock that was colored with markers and covered with glitter gloss was used for the flames while recycled kraft cardboard packaging was what the logs were cut from. Once the burning logs were assembled, they were glued to star patterned paper TV screen piece. Place a piece of wide clear packing tape over the backside of the junk mail piece and place the finished screen inside the junk mail frame. Glue the black front to the junk mail piece.

Attach the TV to the pop-up inside card. Play with the antenna placement so they won’t show when the card is closed. (I cut the antenna once from silver foiled packaging and once from the thick junk mail cardstock and glued together.)

Card Front: For this layered mat front, I used a 5×7 inch rectangle of holographic snowflake cardstock that I cut a 4×5.25 inch crosshatch rectangle out of the center. A 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of glitter cardstock was covered with a snowflake pattern plate attached with 1/8-inch wide double-sided tape. The open places in the center of some snowflakes had stickiness from the tape adhesive and was covered with an anti-static brush and powder.

Skaters: Hero Arts makes a paper doll die-cut series complete with a variety of hair and facial expressions as well as clothing and accessories. These mid-century styles ice skaters use the Winter Accessories set along with the basic Hero Lifestyle Forms and Faces sets. Markers were used to color the clothing.

Sentiments: Two die cut sentiments were used on this card. On the front is “Up To Snow Good” a pieced die set by Riley & Company. I cut it once from heavy white cardstock and colored the letters with a blue metallic marker. I used glue to attach all pieces to the snowflake pattern plate. Inside the card is “Happy holidays” a die set by Simon Says Stamp. The lavender rug inside the card is a place for a personal message.

Envelope: To hint at what is to come, the back flap of the envelope was stamped with an Art Impressions’ sentiment stamp in blue ink.

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

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Art Impressions – Unmounted Rubber Stamp – Scrapbook.com Exclusive – Sending a Flurry of Holiday Wishes! – 5085
  • Hero Arts – Fancy Dies – Hero Lifestyle Faces – CM500

Papers

  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Crate Paper – 6×6 Single-Sided Patterned Paper Pad – Cool Kid
  • Grafix – 8.5×11 Acetate .0075 – Clear
  • Honey Bee Stamps – 6×8.5 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Grain and Grunge
  • Hot Off the Press – 8.5×11 Holographic Cardstock – Snowflakes Blue – HOTP-10460
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Thick Smooth Cardboard Junk Mail
  • Thick Kraft Cardstock Packaging
  • Blue Glitter Cardstock
  • White, Black, Blue, Lavendar and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Misty Moonlight
  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Watercolor Pencil – Kitsch Flamingo
  • Crafter’s Square – Metallic Marker – Blue and Silver
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker –Fine Tip – Black, Red and Yellow
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Brown
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer -Glitter Gloss
  • White Gel Pen

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool

Pop-Up Fireplace

| ullycatdesigns

This is the fourth card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

Grand rooms to celebrate Christmas evokes feelings of another time that is both formal and cheery.

To create the 3D card front and inside pop-up fireplace, Crafter’s Companion Gemini Create-A-Card die sets were used along with a Paper Discovery embossing folder to create the textured wallpaper and moldings.

Embossed Walls: I made a room scene card a few years back using the same embossing folder to create the wall. Because I liked the look of the red ink blending and the white woodwork of that earlier card, I repeated it. I cut two pieces of heavy weight white cardstock, spritzed them with water and used the embossing folder with the suggested sandwich of embossing mat and thin plate to emboss in my die-cutting machine. (I used 3M post-It notes the last time I ink blended the wallpaper.) This time with low-tack paper tape, I masked off the columns and wainscoting molding before ink blending.

Cardbase: For the cardbase, I used a purchased ivory A6 (4.5 x 6.25 inch) card with matching envelope.The two embossed wall pieces go on the card front and the inside top panel. Because they are back-to-back, heavy layers of decorative papers need to go on the card back to balance out the weight of the two panels when the card is opened. The advent calendar numbers on the back are to suggest the counting of days until Christmas.

Card Front: I placed the embossed piece with the left column at the left edge of the card. The dies for the staircase are in the tree die set and cut just the banister and stair treads. I embossed a smaller piece of molded wainscoting to adhere the stair treads to with thin foam square. The railing backs-up to the column. Using a brown marker, I colored the hand railing before adding some greenery swags from the accessories die set and ornaments from the yuletide treasure set.

The Christmas tree is popped-up on thicker foam squares. I used some tiny holographic tinsel to create the illusion of a fir tree. More of the ornaments from the stairway are used with a glitter foam star as tree decorations. For the tree stand, I trimmed-down the coal shuttle from the accessories set after die-cutting it from black shinny packaging. The frame of the sentiment is cut from matte gold cardstock and the white sentiment pieced into the frame and glued in place with thin strips of cardstock on the backside, before being adhered to the card with thin foam squares.

Fireplace: Because the fireplace die is designed to be cut out from the cardbase, I had to modify it by cutting it from a scrape of heavy white cardstock and cutting a .25-inch tab across the top and a similar tab at the base. The four decorative molding pieces need to glued on to the mantel piece. I cut a .5-inch strip to go across the two side flaps of the hearth stone so the firebox has a white floor.

Next, I cut a 2.5-inch square of white cardstock and embossed it in the brick folder. Using gray and back Distress crayons, I colored the bricks to look sooty before gluing them in place to the inside wall of the cardbase. Using the flame and logs from the accessories set, I cut the pieces and then used some glitter inks to color the flames. The logs were cut from brown woodgrain paper. The fender or fire guard piece was cut from gold matte cardstock and glued to the backside of the mantel piece. (Fender is also in accessories set.) The carpet needs to be glued onto the bottom inside card panel before the mantel can be glued in place. Glue goes on the bottom of the hearthstone and the back top tab. I positioned the bottom piece to be a smidge from the cardbase fold. With the fireplace folded flat on the carpet, I lowered the cardbase top panel onto the flattened mantel piece to get the correct placement.

Room Decorations: With in the accessories set, there are the coal shuttle, holly and greenery garlands, a wreath and bow, two stockings and a picture frame. The mirror is a piece of sliver plastic packaging adhered to the woodgrain embossed cardstock frame with double-sided tape. Nuvo Drops were used on the holly strands for berries. A fine-tipped marker was used to create the striped stockings.

Sentiments: There is only one sentiment of “Happy Christmas” on the card front. The cream-colored rug inside the card can be used to write a personal message.

Envelope: To hint at what is to come, “Warm Wishes” has been stamped in red ink onto the back envelope flap.

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

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Embossing Folders

  • Paper Discovery – A5 Embossing Folder – Elegant Room
  • A2 Embossing Folder – Brick Wall

Stamps

  • Woodware Craft Collection – Clear Stamps by Francoise Read – Frosty Cup -FRS949

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • Recycled Cardboard and Plastic Packaging
  • Foil Cardstock Scraps
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • Woodgrain Embossed Cardstock
  • White, Black and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Real Red
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Oxide – Festive Berries
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink – Log Fire
  • Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink – Candlelight
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red and Brown
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayons – Hickory Smoke and Black Soot

Embossing Powder

  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Ebony

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Hero Arts – Blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Heat Tool
  • Mister Water Bottle

Miscellaneous

  • Holographic Tinsel
  • Nuvo Vintage Drops – Postbox Red