Holiday Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

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

For this turn-of -the century fireplace easel card, Anna Griffin’s Holiday Hearth Easel die set is the star of the make along with some of her stamps and foiled embellishments.

Review the printed instruction sheet included in the fireplace die set before starting card.

Easel Base:  The easel base die cuts in one piece which I cut out in a heavy weight gray cardstock. I added a maroon carpet to the base using the fireplace outline die on a 6×6 inch piece of patterned paper.

Fireplace Mantelpiece:  The mantelpiece die cuts a detailed fireplace front. Because I used a double-sided cardstock that had different shades of green on each side, I was able to save the waste pieces and adhere them back inside the die-cut piece with the use of tape on the backside.

I die-cut the fireplace outline or back twice. Once from gray and once from light green. On the light green piece, I cut-off the bottom flap (and saved it to be stenciled in white to act as wallpaper above the mantel.) I also die-cut just the bottom flap of the fireplace in gray to become the hearthstone that will slide under the easel stopper. The green trimmed back piece was glued on top of the gray back piece. Next the bottom flap of the fireplace was adhered to bottom edge of the back piece and then covered with the gray hearthstone piece. Glue in black brick hearth and fire grate piece. Add glue to the back of the top fireplace tab and, with the entire fireplace flat, adhere to the back piece. Play with the positioning of the back piece on the easel base and then glue easel base tab to gray side of back piece.

Fireplace Grate with Fire:  For the back of the fireplace hearth, I cut a 3.75-inch square of black cardstock which I embossed with a brick wall embossing folder. The bricks were lightly colored with a white Distress Crayon and blended to make a smokey backdrop to the fire. The burning logs piece was cut twice from brown (logs) and once from red, yellow and orange (fire) respectively. I used tape and glue to assemble the fire and logs. To position the burning logs, open the card into the easel position and adhere the piece onto the bricks with foam squares. (When the card is closed flat, the burning logs will look slightly high inside the firebox.)

Decorations:  The die set comes with a stocking die as well as dies for holly and greenery garlands. I cut the stockings from three different decorative papers and then cut the just the cuffs from white cardstock having to do some fussy cut trimming after the die cutting. The garlands are cut from two different shades of green mirror/foil cardstock. The holly garland has red adhesive gems added along with a tiny red ribbon bow. The dark greenery garland is glued onto the mantel edge. All other decorations are adhered with foam squares. Two gold foil stars sit on the mantel shelf and a gold wrapped present sits on the floor. Both are from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit.

Sentiments:  A dimensional sentiment sticker from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit was popped-up on an additional layer of foam squares to allow the fireplace gray hearthstone to slide under and act as an easel stopper. A blank foiled sticker from the same kit was added to the card base for a personal message that will be hidden when the card is set-up as an easel. The red “Merry Christmas on the envelope flap and its green border are stamps from Anna’s Treasury of Stamps & Dies.

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

Embossing Folder

  • Altenew – Geometric 3D Embossing Folder 6×6 – Brick Wall – ALT6206

Stencils

  • Funky Fossil Designs – Windy Day

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Echo Park – 6×6 Double-Sided 65 lb Cardstock – Homegrown by Alisha Gordon & Kasie Fry
  • Reminisce – 6×6 Double-Sided Papers – Christmas Wishes
  • Light Green and Dark Green Mirror/Foil Cardstock
  • Black, Gray and White Cardstock
  • Anna Griffin – Present Pop-Up Kit – A7 Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon – Picket Fence
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler and Emerald Envy
  • Craft Smart –Acid Free Ink Pad – White

Adhesives

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

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Fork

Miscellaneous

Butterfly Tree Pop-UP

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #175 whose parameters included a 4.25-inch project, Craft Roulette colors, a night element and a bottom border.

For this pop-up butterfly tree in a box, I used Karen Burniston’s large Bam Box Pop-Up, Butterfly Collage Add-ons, and leaves from Fun Flowers and Twist Flower Pop-Up. The tag is from the Tag Book Pop-Up. (I have made a Christmas tree like this project. Click here to see blog post.)

Box: The box is made of double-sided decorative cardstock cut into two 12 x 4 inches rectangles scored and folded at 3 inches, 4 inches, 8 inches and 9 inches. The middle squares are glued together to form a cross. Using strips of decorative paper for pull ribbons glued to the middle of each flap, I glued the remainder of the strips as a bottom flap border. Two adhesive-backed hook and ladder fasteners are the closures.

Tree: Utilizing the Bam Box die set, I cut six of the bam box strips, 13 of the bam box decorative rectangles and three each of the largest two fancy circles in the set from green cardstock. Because I like to let the glue dry before adding the rubber bands to bam boxes, I glue in stages. (See assembly video located at the bottom of the linked page and source of tiny rubber bands.)

Glue the decorative panels to the sides of each bam box for added thickness. (By sides I mean the sides that have the diagonal flap beside them. Not the side that has the smiley face or its parallel side.) These will be the sides seen between the layers of circles.

To assemble the tree, mark in pencil the location of the bam boxes on the bottom of each circle except one of the largest. Glue bam boxes to bottoms of five circles. The sixth bam box will be the top and the leftover, large circle will be the bottom.

To finish the tree assembly, alternate the direction of the diagonal inside flaps of the bam boxes, so that they make a zig-zag pattern when looked at from the side. By alternating the direction, the bam boxes will fold flat, and the tree will flatten into an oval shape. Use glue to attach each level. Once the tree is assembled, close or flatten the tree to position it on to a 4-inch square of green decorative paper that acts as the base for when the tree is in the box. Glue the tree to the square base.

Butterflies: (Watch the video at the bottom the linked page before starting.) Using the Butterfly Collage Add-ons die set, die cut all the dies from one color of doubled sided paper. Repeat with three other colors of paper. Die cut from black all non-moving butterflies four times.

Assembling the non-moving butterflies, use the black pieces as the base that the trimmed colored paper wings are glued to. On the double-winged one bend the wings up from the black body.

To attach the butteries to the tree, play with the positioning of the fluttering large butterflies on the tree in the closed position. If the butterfly stays within the green square base, it can be glued in place. I found that the flutter butterfly piece with the slot cut into it needs to be the piece glued to the tree, making sure the slot is not obstructed so the other piece can freely flutter.

I used green leaves cut from the decorative base paper to fill-in areas of the circles that were too close to the square’s edge when closed. Add in non-moving butterflies checking their position when tree is closed and that they are not creating catchpoints for fluttering butterflies.

Tag: My favorite gift tag to use for sentiments is in the Tag Book Pop-Up set. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment. Baker’s twine was used to tie the tag onto the pull-up loop.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it has provided some inspiration.

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments -271296

Papers

  • Stampin’ Up – 12 x12 Double-sided Designer Series Papers – Stargazing
  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Green 110 lb. Cardstock
  • Black Cardstock Scraps

Ink

  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad

Embossing Poweder

  • Cosmic Shimmer – Detail Embossing Powder – Detail Bright Gold

Adhesives

Tools

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

Miscellaneous

Sleighing It Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for August 2023 with the theme of ACCORDION dies.

I choose to use the Fancy Label Accordion die with the sleigh from the Sleigh Pop-Up and reindeer from the Christmas Animals set as add-ons similar to the new Cupcake or Fence Add-ons for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. I also used the snowflake frames from the Fancy Winter Frames set.

There are several ways of assembling this accordion card – prepare frames and attach them all together and then add the sleigh and reindeer – OR – prepare frames (adding snowflake frames to fronts of accordion frames only), make all the animals, sleigh and gifts and assemble each panel as you go adding the back snowflake frame pieces after you attach the accordion frames. The latter is the method I choose to follow. Watch the assembly videos for the Fancy Label Accordion and the Fence Add-ons (located towards the bottom of the linked pages.)

Frames: Cut four accordion frames from the Fancy Label Accordion set from heavy white cardstock. With scissors cut off the sides of the fancy label to form a pivot post on each accordion frame. Cut a total of 16 snowflake frames pieces from the Fancy Winter Frames set from blue cardstock. (I sprayed my frames with mica spray to get the metallic shiny frames.) Brush the accordion frame sides and the pivot post with glitter gloss. (I recommend doing both sides of the frame at this stage.) Glue blue snowflake frames onto the fronts only of the accordion frames. (Watch assembly video for the Fancy Winter Frames.)

Sleigh: Using red cardstock cut two sleighs. (If using decorative cardstock with a different pattern on each side, cut one red in reverse.) Cut two more of the lower portions, of the sleigh from silver foil cardstock making sure one is the reverse of the other. Fussy cut off just the sleigh runners. Glue runners to red sleigh bases.

Gifts: From the Sleigh Pop-Up set, cut a total of six gift boxes and four bows, making sure you have pairs of matching papers for each box and bow. (I used a glitter marker to add some accents to the bows.) Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame.

Bear: Cut two bears from white cardstock and two of the tummy and nose pieces from gray using the Winter Animals set. Cut from red two hats and scarves and two pompoms from white. Assemble as shown on the package. Use the main die to stencil the pink ears and black eyes, and the nose die to draw the mouth and nose in black. Assemble with the hat covering the opposite ear from the other bear.

Reindeer: Cut 12 reindeer from brown cardstock and 12 pairs of antlers from darker brown cardstock using the Christmas Animals die set. With a fine tipped black marker use the reindeer die as a stencil to color hooves and faces of the six of the deer and a white gel pen to color the ears. Repeat with the remaining six reindeer, but on the reverse side. Color all the tail as shown on package with white gel pen. Glue on antlers to one set of six reindeer. You will glue the remaining six pairs of antlers on when you assemble the card matching up the fronts and backs of them. (I made one reindeer have a red nose by using red Nuvo drops.) Cut six strips of red cardstock 6-inchs long and 1/4-inches wide for the sleigh shafts that the reindeer will be harnessed to.

Assembly: Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame. Glue the packages and bear to the back of sleigh. Start with the first frame and position the sleigh so that the front curling tip of sleigh is just inside the frame and a small portion of the back of the sleigh is over the other side of the accordion frame. (I placed my sleigh so that the shaft that will connect the sleigh to the reindeer will be approximately in the middle of the frame.) Glue the frame tab to the second frame. ( I used crafting clips to hold the frames together until the glue set-up.

Flipping the two frames over, I glued a shaft onto the back of the sleigh making sure it was long enough to reach the edge of the next frame. Next, before I glued the blue frames on , I brushed all the accordion frame sides with a glitter gloss then I attached the blue snowflake frames to the back sides of the accordion frames covering over where the tab is. Use weights to keep the frames from curling as the glue dries.

Cut two pieces of baker’s twine 6-inches long and ten pieces 5-inches long. (Use the 6-inch piece of twine for the rein deer that attach to the sleigh.) To make the harness on the reindeer start with the end of the twine on the back side going over the neck and back under the belly. Glue the end and bend to back of reindeer. Pull twine around the front of the animal and with a dot of glue, adhere the twine to the rear end of the reindeer. Glue the lead reindeer to to the second frame and glue the end of the harness twine to where it will be covered with the reindeer with with a 6-inch harness. Adhere second reindeer and wrap end of twine around the bear’s paw.

Add the next two frames following the same instructions for the second frame and reindeer. (In hindsight, I think it may be easier to assemble all the accordion frames together, adding one sleigh and attaching all the shaft pieces together. Then you can start adding the reindeer starting with Rudolph in the front, gluing down his twine harness, and adding the next reindeer and so on with each frame.)

When all the frames have been added with blue frames on both sides and front side of reindeer added, flip over and cut off the unused tab on fourth frame. Glue red shafts to the back side of shafts. (This covers the different patterned paper for my card, but also adds some strength to the folding mechanism.)

Glue the packages to the backs of the first packages matching them up. Then adhere the bear. Finally glue the sleigh in place matching up the edges and runner swirls. Use clips to keep the pieces in place until the glue dries.

Glue the remaining reindeer in place. Train all the folds. (I decided that the back side of the reindeer would look better with faces so I stenciled them on after the card was assemble.)

This card will easily fit into an A7 envelope, but it is thick, so a padded envelope or hand delivery is recommended.

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

Click here to see other Accordion cards

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • White, Brown, Gray, and Light Blue Cardstock
  • A7 ivory Envelope

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Pink
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Glitter Marker – Fired Brick – 193
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Nebula Blue

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Red/White
  • Nuvo – Vintage Drops – Postbox Red

Summer Sympathy Basket

| ullycatdesigns

Sympathy cards are never easy cards to do. I think of making them as part of my own grieving process, putting in loving thoughts to those left behind.

Karen Burniston’s Wide Woven Basket has become my go to for sympathy cards tailoring the flowers and decorations to the individual who has passed.

I use the following Karen Burniston dies Woven Basket Box Card, Wide Woven Box Card, tag from Tag Book Pop-Up, flowers from the Flowers and Bee and Flower Pot Pop-Up, and With Sympathy sentiment. I also tried the new Small Scenes Bam Box to pop-out the basket when pulled from the envelope. Nuvo Drops were used to make the small flowers’ centers.

(Please watch the assembly videos for the various dies that are located toward the bottom of each die set’s link page before starting a card.) For a detailed tutorial of a sympathy basket click here.

The folded card fits into a catalog 6×9 inch envelope. To mail the card, I fold a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11-inch white cardstock in half to fit inside the envelope and cushion the card in the mail.

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

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments -271296

Papers

  • Colored Cardstock
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • White Heavyweight Cardstock
  • White Catalog 6×9 Inch Envelope

Ink

  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad

Embossing Poweder

  • Papercraft Society – Embossing Powder – Matte Gold

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Heat Tool
  • Ball Tipped Flower Shaping Tool
  • Foam Mat

Miscellaneous

  • Ivory Organza Ribbon – 1/4-inch wide
  • Nuvo – Crystal Drops – Dandelion Yellow, Ripened Pumpkin, and Ebony Black

Celebrate with Cupcakes!

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #172 whose parameters included: Z-fold card, OLD, any colors and something from my mesk (messy desk.)

For this mini-slimline card, I used Karen Burniston’s dies to created a three panel accordion card with cupcakes. The main dies used are Cupcake Add-ons and Landscape Rectangle Accordion with decorations from Paper Frames Pop-Up and Happy Hour Charms.

Accordion Frame: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut three frames from heavy white cardstock using the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. Trim the rectangle panel to just a pivot post. Cut a total of six frames from patterned papers and cut out the pivot panels and tabs from all to have decorative frames. Glue the white frames together as shown in video. Adhere the decorative frames. Trim off unused tab.

Cupcake Panels: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut four of the cupcake panel die from the Cupcake Add-ons set from white cardstock. Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake icing piece from different papers. (I cut six from three different papers coating the yellow and orange papers with a glitter gloss. the sprinkles were die cut into the icing piece and colored with fine-tipped markers and gel pens.) Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake paper piece from different papers. Using die, stencil shadows onto cupcake papers. The sprinkles die and cherry decoration dies are included in the Cupcake Add-ons. The orange slice is from the Happy Hour Charms set. Adhere cupcakes to fronts of three of the white panels. Cut fourth panel apart into thee separate cupcake outlines. Glue decorated panels to pivot posts on frames. Decorate backs of panels using the white cupcake outlines to cover the pivot posts and the remaining six cupcakes to cover ends of panels. Glue the panels together using tabs. trim off unused tab.

Decorations: The ribbon streamers are in the Cupcake Add-ons set along with the hearts. The stars and circles come from the Paper Frames Pop-Up. Strips of decorative papers were also used from my scrap bag.

Sentiment: The white cupcake panels on the back are for either personal messages or the heat embossed happy birthday sentiment. When the card is closed the main sentiment is visible.

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

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments – 271296

Papers

  • Carta Bella – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Happy Crafting by Steven Duncan
  • Solid and Patterned Paper Scraps
  • White Heavy Cardstock 110 lb

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Saltwater Taffy and Salty Ocean
  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Citrine and Sunbeam
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Red and Yellow
  • Gel Pen – Pink
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Aqua Simmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Papercrafting Society – Matte Metallic Embossing Powder – Gold

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Craft Knife
  • Heat Tool

A Classy Card

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #169 whose parameters included: see-thru card, rustic garden colors, fashion element and a hexagon.

I made this card using all Concord & 9th dies and stamps. (See other shop cards.)

Cardbase: For this A2 (4.25×5.5-inches) card start with a piece of white cardstock 8.5×5.5-inches and scored and folded in half at 4.25-inches.  Cover the back of the card base with white brick paper.

Shop Front: Watch an assembly video to get the basics on the assembly. Cut the shop front from white brick paper. (My paper was double-sided with red and white bricks on the back side.) Fold on score lines as directed in video. Decorate and add window acetate before attaching to cardbase. I used white and blue cardstock to cut the side posts and just blue for the panel below the windows. I cut the planters from white cardstock and brushed gray ink over them to add shape to them. The greenery is peppered with tiny red flowers made with a red gel pen. The planters are adhered and popped up on the shop front with thin foam squares.

Shop Front Door: I decided to make the door window see-thru too, so I played with positioning the door and its windowpane die on the shop front. I only cut the panes into the front. Cut the door with pane die taped together with the door die and the decorative panel from blue cardstock. Ink edges of the decorative panel before gluing to bottom of door. (I used a white gel pen to freehand the lines on the panel.) I stamped the open sign (Fashion Shoppe Stamp set) and die-cut the sign base from white cardstock coloring string with a yellow marker. Die cut the door handle and plate from silver foil card and adhere to door side.

Shop Front Window: Cut a piece of acetate 4×5.25-inches. Use double-sided tape around all the window and door openings on the back side of the shop front.

Shop Assembly: Using double side tape, adhere bottom tab on shop front to bottom edge of front panel on cardbase. Cut a piece of decorative paper (I used a hexagon paper) 4.125×5.5-inches and adhere over the shop front tab and line-up with card fold. (I cut an additional hexagon strip to cover the top tab.) Decorate the inside of the shop before adhere top tab of the shop front . (I didn’t remember to decorate first and had to use tweezers to place all my shop pieces inside the shop.)

Watch fashion shop dies assembly video before constructing your outfits and merchandise table. (I used the mirror die to cut backdrops for my dress frames.)

Using double-sided tape on the front side of the shop front upper tab, adhere to card base as shown in the assembly video.

Awning: Die cut the shop awning from striped paper and fold along score lines. Glue the die-cut “Boutique” to middle of awning. I adhered the backside of the awning top tab with thin foam tape to the top of the card base.

Sentiments: The sentiment inside of “You’re classy from head to toe,” is from the Fashion Shoppe Stamp Set and stamped in a turquoise blue ink on a 4×5.25-inch piece of white cardstock. The sentiment piece was matted with a 4.25×5.5-inch piece of blue printed cardstock (backside of hexagon print.)

Envelope: The card fits into an A2 envelope. To give a hint as to what’s inside, a pair of shoes and a hat were glued to 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 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Brick Textures
  • My Favorite things – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Finishes and textiles EP-96
  • Honey Bee Stamps – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Bee Bliss
  • Recollections – 5×7 Embossed Solids – Neutrals
  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Matte gold Cardstock
  • Silver Foiled Cardstock
  • Heavy White Cardstock for cardbase
  • A2 Blue Envelope

Ink

  • Red Gel Pen
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Point – Yellow
  • Ranger – Distress Crayon – White
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Ranger – Distress Ink – Lost Shadow
  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Party Collection – All That Jazz

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStik
  • Scissors
  • Stamping Blocks/ Weights
  • Bone Folder
  • Blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth

Miscellaneous

  • Dura-Lar – .005 Clear Film – Acetate

Summertime Fun

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston design team challenge for July 2023 with the theme of “COLLECTION PACK CREATIONS” – using papers from collection packs of papers plus at least one die from the June 2023 release.

The collection pack that I chose to work with was Echo Park’s Best Summer Ever designed by Jen Allyson. The stickers reminded me of summers spent in the backyard with a blow-up pool, Dad grilling burgers, lots of watermelon and friends and family all around.

From the June release, I picked the Fence Landscape Accordion Add-On and Small Scenes Bam Box die sets. I also used two previously released die sets – Fireplace Pop-Up and Paper Frames Pop-Up.

Cardbase: I used a purchased A6 (4 1/2 x 6 1/4-inch) card base and cut papers to cover the four panels of the card.

Fence: The new fence add-on is a versatile die set. I cut one fence from a woodgrain embossed cardstock and did a partial die-cut to get one large post with the same die and cardstock. (I like the look the embossed cardstock gives to a white fence better than printed woodgrain paper which often has dark lines in it that makes the fence look pieced together.) Leave the tabs on the extra post and use them to glue to the fence so that it has three posts.

To make the fence pop-up I used the small strip pop-up mechanism in the Fireplace Pop-Up die set behind each of the three fence posts. Once the mechanisms are glued in place add grass from the fence set to the front of the fence.

Grill: I adhered the sticker to a piece of yellow cardstock and fussy cut it out. Next, I made bam box from the Small Scenes Bam Box die set. (See assembly video.) This smaller bam box is the perfect size for the grill sticker. I figured out which way I wanted the box to fold flat in the card and glued it in place. Grass (from fence set) was glued to the front of the bam box and then the grill over the grass.

Pool: I used two stickers to make the unicorn float in the pool. They were stuck together and then glued as one piece to yellow cardstock and fussy cut. I had a small bam box already made which was used behind the pool. (The key to installing bam boxes is to play with the positioning of the box and its attached element in both the open and folded positions.)

Decorations: There are lots of small stickers in the collection pack which makes decorating easy. I make some bluebell flowers to go behind the fence. Tweezers were needed to place the flowers after they were assembled. I ended up adding the pink flamingos because they were taller than the fence.

The string of lights was created using the circle banner dies in the Paper Frames Pop-Up set glued over a piece of baker’s twine glued to the corners of the card.

Sentiments: All the sentiments are either stickers or a journaling card which was used on the front of the card with sticker sunglasses added. A pink label was cut from the Paper Frames Pop-Up set for a personal message.

Envelope: The card fits into an A6 envelope with a slice of watermelon sticker on its back flap.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper and Stickers – Best Summer Ever designed by Jen Allyson
  • MemoryBoxCo.com – 8.5×11 Embossed Cardstock – Woodgrain
  • Blue, Green, White and Yellow Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Pink and White
  • #8 Rubber Bands

SHELL-ebrate!

| ullycatdesigns

With a nod to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus painting and Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid story, this birthday card is full of birthday shell-ebration!

For this 4 1/4 X 5 1/2-inch card, I used one of Karen Burniston’s new die sets – Small Scenes Bam Box – along with the previously released dies of Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday Shadow, Princess and Mermaid, Celebrate!, Frame Pull-Pop-up and Sea Charms.

Card Base: Starting with a 5 1/2-inch by 8 1/2-inch rectangle of heavy kraft cardstock, Fold in half to form a top-fold A2 card. Create a finger hole in the center of the bottom edge, cut a half circle through both layers using a 3/4-inch circle punch. Spray both sides of the cardbase to create a sand effect with brown and gold mica and glitter sprays. Let card base dry for an hour or two and place between sheets of paper with weights on top to have it dry flat.

Pop-Up Shell: Cut three shell shapes from creamy white shimmer or pearlescent cardstock using a scalloped shell die approximately 3 1/2x 3 1/2-inches in size. (I used one by Frantic Stamper.) Ink the shimmer side of two of the shells pink and the remaining one blue. Using a score board with one channel marked in black, score the shells from center tip to dips between scallops on the shimmer side of the cardstock. Trim off the end of the pink shells to fit the flap of the mechanism.

Pop-up Mechanism: Watch the die assembly video for the Frame Pull-Pop-up set located at the bottom of the link page. before, cutting the two pieces with smiley faces.  Glue the pull tab to the base piece. Trim off the corners as shown in photo. (I attached the brown kraft base to the card using strong doubled-sided tape instead of staples. Next, I did a light spray of white ink for sea form and a spritz of blue for water along the bottom edge of the card to blend in the base to the card.) Glue one of the pink trimmed shells to the base piece matching the trimmed edge to the tab. Put glue on base shell tab. Add the second pink shell with pink sides together to form top half of pop-up pull frame. Make sure shells are perfectly aligned overreach other. Test to make sure mechanism works properly and let glue dry. Glue blue shell to back of top shell, aligning all the edges. Test mechanism and adjust as needed.

Mermaid on Rocks: Follow the images on the Princess and Mermaid packaging to create mermaid. (I used stencil feature of the die to draw on fish scales on glitter cardstock using a permanent ink marker.) Cut the small pop-up mechanism in the Frame Pull-Pop-up set and glue inside pop-up shell. Glue on rocky backdrop from Small Scenes Bam Box. (I spritzed my rock with brown paint and had to trim the ends to fit inside my shell.) Fold mermaid to fit into the shell and glue in place. Add shell(s) from the mermaid set for decorations.

Sentiments: For “Shell-ebrate!” I used a shell charm from the Sea Charms set and trimmed off “Cel” from the Celebrate! die. The hyphen is cut from the “l.” Inside the card is “Happy Birthday using both the Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday Shadow sets. I cut two large shells from plain white cardstock and scored as shown before for personal message labels on the inside and back of card.

Envelope: The card fits into an A2 invitation envelope. I decorated the back flap with a glitter shell cut using the Sea Charms set.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Kraft, White, Yellow and Cream Cardstock
  • Glitter Cardstock – Greens and Pink
  • A2 Blue Envelope

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Abandon Coral and Salty Ocean
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Gel Pens – Blue, Pink and Black
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Antique Gold and Nebula Blue
  • Nuvo – Sparkle Spray – Cocoa Powder
  • Avery Elle – White Ink Spray

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Craft Knife
  • Scissors
  • Stapler
  • 3/4-inch Circle Punch
  • Clips
  • Flat Weights – Stamp Blocks and Cell Phone

Miscellaneous

  • Scrap Newsprint or Cardboard Spray Box

Sending A Hello

| ullycatdesigns

While more of a rarity to get a card in the mailbox these days, why not send a simple hello to someone you haven’t seen in a while. (Otherwise known as Happy Mail.)

This card was made using two of Karen Burniston’s new June 2023 release dies – Fence Landscape Accordion Add-On and Fun Flowers – and several previously released dies – Mailbox Pop-Up and Nature Edges. (The Nature Edges grassy strip is the longest of the straight grassy strips in all of KB’s dies. You could glue several together from the Fence Add-on, if you don’t have the Natures Edge set.)

Fence and Base: Cut one fence from the Fence Add-On set from white cardstock and trim off the four side tabs. Cut four of the grassy strips from the Nature Edges set from green cardstock. Lay grassy strip over the fence with an even amount of grass extending beyond the fence. Fold the excess grass over to form two tabs. Repeat for the remaining three grassy strips. Take two strips and glue the tabs over the tabs on the other strip to form a rectangular shape. Glue one side of the rectangle to the bottom of fence. Repeat with remaining grassy strips and glue to bottom of the other side of fence.

Mailbox: Using the Mailbox Pop-Up, cut two of the mail mailbox shape from silver foil cardstock. Cut two of the lids, making sure to reverse the foil side of the cardstock for one of them. Cut one wooden post from brown cardstock and one red flag. Cut one circle from silver foil cardstock. Cut two envelopes from white cardstock. Assemble envelopes as shown in assembly video and write “Hello” on the fronts. Glue front lid to bottom edge of main mailbox piece. Glue envelopes to side and lid of mailbox so that one envelope faces front and the other faces back. Glue wooden post to back of mailbox. Glue back lid piece matching notch to front so silver shows on both sides. Glue back mailbox piece onto front covering the post top.  Position on back side of fence and glue in place. Adhere silver circle and red flag over hole on front of mailbox. Cut a butterfly from the Fun Flowers set and glue over the hole on back of mailbox. (I inked my butterfly with a dark blue ink and filled in its body with a black marker.)

Flowers: The flowers glued to the fence are cut from the Fence Add-On set. Cut two of the bluebell flowers in blue and two of the tall stem in green and glue stems to the flower backs. Cut once the two small flowers from yellow, the two circles from brown and the two stems from green. Glue brown circles to the flower centers and the stems to the back of the yellow flowers. The pink bush flowers that are glued to the opposite corners of the grassy rectangle base are from pieces in the Fun Flowers set. For each bush, cut four of the long leafy stem from green, the five flowers in one die from pink and the tiny circles from yellow.  (I inked the three smallest flowers to be darker pink.) glue the four stems together to form a bush. Add a dot of glue to the three largest flowers and using a pick-up tool place one small dark pink flower in the center of a large flower, making sure to alternate the flower petals so no gaps show. Add another drop of glue to the center of small flower and drop in a tiny yellow circle. Fold all petals up to form a just opening flower. Glue to a top leaf on bush. Repeat steps until you have two bushes, each with three flowers. Glue bushes to opposite corners of the base rectangle so weight is evenly balanced and when the base is folded closed no leaf or flower overhangs the grass base.

Envelope: The folded card fits into an A2 (4.5 x 5.5-inch) invitation size envelope. I enclose the following CRX sheet to let the recipient know how to open the card.

mailbox-fence-sheetDownload

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