animals

Crafty Friends

| ullycatdesigns

Crafty Friends are fun to have and making special cards for such friends is both challenging and rewarding. This slimline mini-sliders card was made for an animal lover who appreciates interactive cards.

Instead of using my split slider template for this 9 inches x 4 inches card, I hand drew the five mini sliders and cut using a craft knife and metal ruler. (I miss cut and ended up having to reinforce the narrow bars between the sliders with additional patterned cardstock bars.) The coated Dress My Craft patterned cardstock was my last sheet of this vintage leafy print, so I had to make the slider panel work. Assembly is very similar to the assembly of the split slider template.

The foliage and floral dies used to decorate are a mishmash of dies from my collection. The elephant is one that I had assembled when I made another elephant card.

The foiled sentiment strip is one I had made during batch foiling session a while back. I used a die from a different Glimmer plate set to die cut the decorative scalloped edges.

Scraps of holographic ribbon were added between sliders to add some subtle sparkle to the card.

Inside the card I added a vellum strip to hid some tears around the half circle cut for a finger grip on the pull panel. A personal note will be added inside.

I glued 1-inch circles on the two points where the card recipient needs to place their fingers to hold and pull the slider panel up. A CRX instruction sheet is enclosed with the card to explain how to use the card.

Stamped on the back flap of a #10 business sized envelope in blue ink is a small elephant from Bus Cubbies stamp set sitting under the sentiment “Hello Friend” from Hello Friend stamp set.

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

If you enjoyed this card, check-out my original Split-Slider Slimline Series:

Day 1 – Split Sea Slider

Day 2 – Cloud Dreams

Day 3 – Triple Hearts

Day 4 – A Valentine for A Baseball Fan

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks/Polish

Foiling

Papers

Miscellaneous

© Sue Small-Kreider 2021

One in a Melon

| ullycatdesigns

When you are caught eating a melon at a farm stand you know you are one in a melon!

This cute little card is made from an Art Impressions Tryfolds by Bonnie Krebs. The set has six stamps and two dies that cut the apertures or windows in the farm stand and fruit stand.

I stamped the images on white cardstock with a permanent black ink that won’t run when wet and colored with watercolor pencils. Next I fussy cut the images.

The card base is made from two pieces blue gingham cardstock (5 ½ inches x 4 ¼ inches) and a piece of green gingham cardstock cut 6 inches x 4 ¼ inches. The green piece was scored and fold at ¼ inch on each end to form two tabs to glue the two blue pieces to form the tri-fold card.

I positioned my stamped, colored and cut out images following the layout on the packaging to determine the positioning of the front image. I traced the inside of the opening onto the card front and used the accompanying die to die cut the hole. Next, I glued the image in place on the front. I did the same for the middle image on the second flap, positioning the image so it shows through the aperture cut in the first image and then die-cutting the aperture. The final image was positioned, traced and then glue in place on the central panel.

The “Happy Birthday” is die-cut from green cardstock and glued in place.

Stamped on the back flap of an A2 slim envelope from Taylored Expressions is the sentiment from the stamp set “You’re one in a Melon!” green ink.

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

If you enjoyed this tri-fold card, check out some of my other trifolds:

Shabby Chic Trifold Card

Festive Foliage and Hearts – Trifold card

Santa Vintage Trifold

Sleepytime Dreams

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks/Watercolors

Papers

Miscellaneous

Santa is Coming Tonight

| ullycatdesigns

Santa is coming-open-wide

It’s Christmas Eve and the candles are lit in the windows to welcome Santa. This is the second house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

The house goes together easily by looking at the photos on the Poppy Stamps packaging. It does involve a lot of die cutting as there is only one die of each window type.  (I cut lots of the small pieces and store the extras in a tiny plastic bags that I keep with the die set.) To add depth to the porch and dormer windows I cut those pieces twice and glued together. The snowy pieces are cut from glitter paper and some of the window frames and siding have Nuvo Glitter Drops used thinly to give the illusion of melted snow.

Santa is coming-Side view

Papers Used: The house is cut from Bazzill heavy card stock in a 2014 color of Gold Coin. The dark blue, red and pale yellow come from monotone color packs of cardstock by Recollections. Note that there is a dark blue outline layer of the house that provides the window inside color as well as framing the outside edge of the house.

Santa is coming-inking door

I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Walnut Stain Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob (which wasn’t put on yet in the photo) and a wreath made from green scraps and a piece of red embroidery floss, complete the door. Greenery was cut from food boxes to get the thickness using a greenery die by Christina Griffiths and snipped into smaller pieces and glued to a wreath shape cut freehand.

Santa is coming-windows-CU

The windows all have tiny white candles cut from a thin white scrap and flames are cut from an orange envelope in my stash. I used the appropriately  named Candlelight – Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink to put a dot of glow behind each candle on the dark blue layer.

Santa is coming-Candles

I stamped Santa Sleigh on white cardstock and colored with colored pencils. I cut a strip of clear plastic packaging to sandwich between Santa and another piece of white cardstock. Before I glued the strip, laid-out the position of the house, Santa and the plastic strip on a slimline envelope to make sure all would fit inside the envelope.

Santa is coming-laying out

Other than having to trim a bit off each side of the eaves on the white card base, all fit.

Santa is coming-triming card base

I made pencil marks to note where the plastic would go on the backsides of the dark blue layer and Santa. The plastic is sandwiched between the blue layer of the house and the white card base layers.

Santa is coming-Santa gluing

The welcome mat, which acts as the easel stop, was stamped and heat embossed using a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up set. I used a blend of Ranger Black Sparkle and Recollections Ebony Detail Embossing powders that give the welcome mat a snowy sparkle. Once heat embossed, the mat was weathered using Antique Linen Distress Ink on a sponge dauber and cut out with the coordinating die. Foam pads where used to adhere the mat to card and make it tall enough to act as an easel stop.

The ”Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house

The envelope was stamped in read on cream envelope using vintage Disney stamps.

Santa is coming-card-envelope

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

Autumn Birthday Card Teepee Style

| ullycatdesigns

Autumn Teepee-front

This card was inspired by my curiosity about making a teepee card and for a Craftworld.com challenge to make an autumn birthday card. Video influences include Karen Burniston, Sam Calcott and Jennifer Mcguire’s takes on pop-up cards, teepee cards and peek-a-boo doors.

Teepee cards-so named because of the shape, are easy cards to construct from three squares of cardstock that are all the same. You score each diagonally from one point to the opposite point and fold in half to form a triangle. Then you glue one of the squares to the left side triangle and another square to the right side of the triangle/center square. I recommend watch Sam Calcott’s Mixed up Crafts video for a step by step. (My card is based on three squares of 5 ¾ inches squares.)

I wanted to add something new to the teepee card concept and having just watch Jennifer McGuire’s video on Peek-A-Boo Doors, I decided to add some flaps using the smallest circle die in the Lawn Fawn circle flaps dies. Because I wanted to use the flaps as a platform to set a small animal on using a pop-out cube, I needed another layer of paper on the card over my card base. (My card used textured orange paper cut from 5 ½ inch squares.) I also cut two additional circle flaps from the same orange paper to inlay behind the flap door. The pop-up cube to support an object is common, but I really learned the power of it from Karen Burniston’s Frame Pull Pop-up.

Autumn Teepee-side

I fussy cut all of the card’s flat decorative critters and foliage form one page out of the Craftsmart Spiced Pumpkin paper pad. The happy Birthday rosette is made from a foiled topper from a card kit and ribbon gathered by needle and thread and then glued to the back of the topper.

Autumn Teepee-back

The back side of the card has a white triangle for a personal message. The card is secured with a hook and loop square glued to one corner of the back flap and the connecting triangle.

Autumn Teepee-envelope

Designed for a catalog envelope (9 inches x 6 inches), the card will fold flat to fit into the envelope. A small diagram is enclosed with the card so the recipient will know how to stand it up for display. The back flap of the envelope was stamped with a fox.

 

Supplies

Dies

Stamps/Ink

Paper

Miscellaneous

Autumn Forest Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

Autumn Forest -inside

I am a paper hoarder and have been looking at this lovely set of forest animals Craft Consortium paper for months, taking it out thinking about what I could make from it. Putting it aside to see if the muse strikes.

A fall birthday for an animal lover became my muse. I used my favorite Lawn Fawn Scalloped Box Card Pop-up die set to cut the base and decorative squares for the card.  The papers are double-sided so I was able to mix and match the squared to be just flowers or flowers with the fox. I fussy cut the owl and oak leaves from another sheet in the collection. The birthday girl’s special day falls at that time of the year when some flowers are still blooming, but the occasional autumn leaf my drift down.

The main elements are cut from the inside covers of the 6×6 paper pad.

Autumn Forest-assembly -outside

Because I have made this box a lot, I have taken to use the largest stitched die in the set and extend cut a large square to make a stiffer back to the box and as a place to write a personal message.  To extend cut using a die cutting machine, simply place one edge of the die just off the edge of the cutting plat so it won’t cut when going through the machine.  Move the die to cut the other side of the square again placing the die edge just off the cutting plates. It may take you a few tries to master this technique, but once mastered you can expand the uses of your die collection.

To assemble the box I decorate the front and back sides of the flaps before I connect the tabs using red double-sided tape. (See assembly video) If you follow the steps in the video, you should have a perfect box.

Hot Foiling

I am just learning to do hot foiling using a Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling System. Having watched a number of videos on how to hot foil, I tried out a number of sentiments in rose gold foil. I used two of my first attempts on this card.

Autumn Forest -inside-CU

I used glue to adhere my elements on to the cross bars and a foam square to give some dimension to the owl.

Autumn Forest -front-Flat

When decorating always remember you can add elements to be seen only when folded closed.

Autumn Forest -back-Flat

If you want to have the full experience of opening up this card, click here to see video of the box card being opened.

https://spark.adobe.com/video/HnJo2aUX5ZHal

Supplies

Dies

Foiling

Paper

Miscellaneous

Go Dogs Go

| ullycatdesigns

GoDOGSgo-Front-cu

Go Dogs Go, the classic P.D. Eastman book that so many American children in the 1960s and 70s learned to read with, was the inspiration for this card using Lia Griffith’s 2017 Party Time stamp set for Fiskars.

I had stamped, water colored and fussy cut the cars and dogs and set them aside until I figured out how to use them.  I had thought about making an interactive card with them, but in playing with layouts for a slider type card, I decided I liked the flat glued down look on the brilliant blue cardstock better.

GoDOGSgo-all

Cut two pieces of blue cardstock 9 inches x 4 inches (230 mm x100 mm) and a third piece 9 ½ inches x 4 inches (240 mmx 100 mm). Using a scoring board, I scored the longest piece down both short sides at ¼ inch (5 mm) from edge to form the flaps to glue to the other two pieces.

GoDOGSgo-middle

Once the card was glued together, I laid out the position of the cars and pendants. I used the banner and sentiment from the stamp set for the “Go dogs Go” banner and then using a stamping platform, stamped my favorite Happy Birthday stamp on the last panel.

GoDOGSgo-last

Supplies

Stamps

Inks/Watercolors

Paper

Miscellaneous

 

When the Zoo Comes to You

| ullycatdesigns

Zoo Bus -Front-CU

When the zoo comes to you it’s party time!  I was inspired by this adorable stamp and die set drawn by Bonnie Krebs for Art Impressions of a bus full of animals.

Zoo Bus -Front-CU-rightUsing Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the images on white cardstock, I colored them with using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. Once the colors were dry, I used a silver gel pen to color all the chrome trim on the bus and hubcaps. Using the matching dies, I cut the animals and bus out. I cut a second bus out to act as a backing for the bus. I had colored and cut a set of spare tires, so I cut away the tires on the colored bus so I could add dimension of the tires being beneath the bus.

Zoo Bus -Front-CU-leftNext I played with the placement of the animals in the bus and once satisfied with their placement, I glued them to the backside of the blue bus. For the cake rack and the monkey, I had to add small slips of cardstock for supports for the foam tape that adhered them to the bus frame. The koala bear was also foam taped to the back bus using the die cut door opening as my placement guides. The tires were glued flat to the backing bus’s wheels. (And while I toyed with the idea of making the wheels on the bus spin – mimicking the children’s song – I deciding against it.) Doubled sided foam bits from my stash were sandwiched between the two bus layers for dimension. Baker’s twine was taped to the back of the colored balloons and poked between the bus layers and glued.

Zoo Bus -Inside -WUsing Stampin’Up Dapper Denim blue ink I stamped both outside “For You on your birthday” sentiment on white cardstock and then the large “Happy Birthday” inside the card. The “For You” I heat embossed with sparkly snow embossing powder which added sparkle, but embossed clear.

Zoo Bus -Inside -CUOn the top inside panel I added another Art impression’s stamp of a tricycle riding elephant that I had colored and fussy cut out with its hat flying off.

Zoo Bus -Front-WThe completed card has the bus doors being able to be opened to shoe the koala bear.

Supplies:

Stamps/Dies

Papers

  • White light weight card stock from stash
  • DCWV – Strips Box of Cards – 40 A2 Printed Textured Cards & Envelops

Inks/Watercolors

Miscellaneous