Boxes

Pop-Up Ball Grasshopper and Box

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team January 2026 Challenge whose theme is BUGS.

I made a Bitty Ball sized pop-up grasshopper in a bug decorated box using the die sets – Bitty Ball Pop-Up, Animal Add-Ons 6, Bitty Ball Double-Ups, Bitty Ball Access Tabs, Bug Borders, Happily Ever After along with the Oval – Crosshatch and Circles – Crosshatch.

Watch the process video to see how I made this card.

Box: Cut from 12×12 sheets of cardstock one 10-inch square and on 10.25-inch square. On a score board, score on all sides of each square at .5-inch and 1-inch. Cut the corners as shown in video above to form four tabs. Assemble the two box pieces as shown in the video and glue to the inside bottom an 8-inch square of decorative cardstock. Add another 8-inch square of decorative cardstock to the box lid. Decorate the box lid with the Bug Borders insects cut into individual insects. (I used the second largest Circles -Crosshatch die as a guild in the center of the box lid to aid in the symmetrical layout of the bugs.) Uses twine or ribbon to tie the box closed.

Sentiments: Cut from red paper “Happily Ever After” using the die set of the same name and glue to the underside of the box lid.

Grasshopper: (Watch the assembly video located at the bottom of the linked page for Bitty Ball Access Tabs.) Using the Bitty Ball Pop-Up, Bitty Ball Access Tabs and Bitty Ball Double-Ups die sets, cut enough pieces to make two pop-up balls. Assemble as show in the assembly video. (Hopefully you won’t have to replace the rubber band as I did, but think through the locations of the access tabs when you assemble your grasshopper, for easy access.) Cut the grasshopper legs, mouth and eye pieces using the Animal Add-Ons 6 die set. glue in place as shown in the video above. (Remember to not glue the top edge of the decorative panel under the eyes so you can slide the antenna under it and glue in place.)

Cut the two largest ovals from the Oval – Crosshatch die set from patterned cardstock and glue together. Glue the grasshopper onto the oval making sure that it is centered when open on the oval. Use a Velcro circles to attach the oval to the bottom inside of the box.

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Disclaimer: Karen Burniston products are provided free of charge by the manufacturer for review and use. All other items were personally purchased. Compensated affiliate links used where or when possible, meaning I will receive a small percentage commission from these manufacturers at no cost to you. This will allow me to add more content to my YouTube channel and help out a lot. Thank you.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Bazzill – 8.5×11-inch Solid Colored Cardstock – Candy Corn
  • Bazzill – 12×12-inch Double-Sided Cardstock – Easter Grass Marble
  • Keep It Simple – 12×12-inch Double-Sided Cardstock – Lucky Day Collection
  • Black, Pink, Red, White and Yellow Cardstock

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Score Board
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Tweezers
  • We R Memories – QuickStick

Miscellaneous

  • Blue Baker’s Twine
  • Velcro 1-inch Circles

Day 9 of 12 Days of Christmas Ovens

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Day 9 of my 12 Days of Christmas Ovens.

I’m using Tonic Studios showcase set Baked with Love that includes dies and stamps to make this Christmas oven treat box..

Watch video above for a tutorial on how to make the card.

___________________________________

Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please like and leave comments 😊

___________________________________

Disclaimer: Karen Burniston products are provided free of charge by the manufacturer for review and use. All other items were personally purchased. Compensated affiliate links used where or when possible, meaning I will receive a small percentage commission from these manufacturers at no cost to you. This will allow me to add more content to my YouTube channel and help out a lot. Thank you.

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Tonic Studios – Die Set – Baked With Love

Stamps

  • Tonic Studios – Clear Stamp Set – Baked With Love

Papers

  • Silver Foil Cardstock
  • Acetate/Clear Plastic
  • Black, Gray, Green and White Cardstock

Ink

  • Hero Arts – Alcohol-Marker Friendly Ink Pad – Intense Black
  • Mont Marte – Dual Tip Art marker – E2 Raw Sienna
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Paper Masking Tape

Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas Ovens

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Day 2 of my 12 Days of Christmas Ovens.

I’m using a Gingerbread House Explosion Box kit by Anna Griffin and dies and stamps by The Greetery to make this special treat box and Christmas decoration.

Watch video above for a tutorial on how I made the Box.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please like and leave comments 😊

___________________________________

Disclaimer: Karen Burniston products are provided free of charge by the manufacturer for review and use. All other items were personally purchased. Compensated affiliate links used where or when possible, meaning I will receive a small percentage commission from these manufacturers at no cost to you. This will allow me to add more content to my YouTube channel and help out a lot. Thank you.

Materials Used:

Dies

  • The Greetery – Wafer Thin Steel Dies – Bake Someone Happy

Stamps

  • The Greetery – Clear Stamps – Bake Someone Happy

Papers

  • Anna Griffin – Gingerbread House Explosion Box
  • Anna Griffin – Present Pop-Up Card making Kit – Ephemera & Sentiment Stickers
  • Anna Griffin – Carte Noel – Sentiment Stickers
  • The Paper Cut – 8.5×11 Glossy 10 PT Kromekote Cardstock – White
  • Silver Foil Cardstock
  • Acetate/Clear Plastic

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Ink Pad – Real Red & Shaded Spruce
  • StazOn – Solvent Ink – Jet Black
  • American Crafts – Metallic Marker – Silver
  • Gel Pens – Blue, Green and Red
  • Mont Marte – Dual Tip Art marker – E2 Raw Sienna
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black, Green & Red

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Double-Sided Tape – 1/8-inch wide
  • Foam Squares

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Heat Tool
  • Stamping Blocks
  • Scissors
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Paper Masking Tape

Miscellaneous

  • Candy or Small Baked Treat

Oh My Hearts

| ullycatdesigns

It’s the Karen Burniston design team challenge for February 2024 using the theme of “Oh My Hearts.”

For this challenge I chose to make some mini valentines that fit into a Candy Hearts Box.

Box: Review the assembly directions on the back of the packaging for the Candy Hearts Box. I used thin double-sided tape to assemble the box. Adhesive sequins were added to the hot air balloon printed on the cardstock. Three hearts were cut from all the hearts without words in the die set from coordinating papers. The top two hearts were attached with a strip of double-sided tape and the sides folded up. Two adhesive backed sequins were glued to the center of the hearts.

Ice Cream Card: A 2-inch by 6-inch rectangle was cut from decorative cardstock and folded in-half for a 2×3-inches top fold card. The inside of the card was covered with decorative cardstock. A second piece 3-inch by 5-inch rectangle of matching cardstock was folded in half and the tiered platform pop-up from the Mini Pops die set was used to cut in to the 3×5 rectangle following the assembly video at the bottom of the link page. Train the main platform’s folds and then center over the top fold card and glue down. Trim excess platform cardstock from edges of card.

Cut the scoop of ice cream from the Sweet Treats Charms set and color in the sprinkles with pens. Cut the silver dish from the bottom of the trophy in the Treasure Charms.

Cut candy hearts with messages using the dies in the Candy Hearts Box set. I cut free-handed the two tiny spoons from silver mirror cardstock. Adhere ice cream assembly to top tier of platform.

Spiral Hearts Card: A 2-inch by 6-inch rectangle was cut from decorative cardstock and folded in-half for a 2×3-inches top fold card. The inside of the card was covered with decorative cardstock. The spiral platform is from the Mini Pops die set and cut from white shimmer cardstock. Follow directions in the assembly video at the bottom of the link page or on back of the packaging for attaching the spiral. Add three sizes of hearts cut from the Candy Hearts Box set and glue to spiral platform. I had leftover hearts and labels from an Easter box project that I used to decorate the card.

Twist Panel Card: A 2-inch by 6-inch rectangle was cut from decorative cardstock and folded in-half for a 2×3-inches top fold card. The inside of the card was covered with decorative cardstock. Using the same patterned cardstock used inside the card, cut one twist panel mechanism using the Little Twist Panel Pop-Up die set. Cut the panel strip and the two banner halves from decorative paper. Follow directions in the assembly video at the bottom of the linked page or on back of the packaging to attach the twist mechanism, panel and banner. Trim the excess paper from edges of card before decorating. The banner ends may need to be trimmed back to fit into the card. Add hearts and check the positioning by closing the card while glue is still wet. I used the tiny heart in the Office Charms die set to decorate, but you could use other tiny hearts from other die sets.

The three cards easily fit into the candy box for a boxed set of mini-Valentines.

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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

  • Craftwork Cards – 8×8 Single-Sided Paper Collection – Flying High
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock

Ink

  • Gel Pens – White and Pink
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Scissors

Miscellaneous

  • Stampin’ Up – Adhesive Backed Seasonal Sequins

Easter Candy Boxes

| ullycatdesigns

Little candy treat boxes left by the Easter Bunny make the child in all of us smile.  

For these fun boxes I used the Candy Hearts Box in the December 2023 release by Karen Burniston.

The box is cut in one piece. (I used patterned paper which the striped paper had a white backside while the egg paper had stripes inside.) Before assembling, cut out the window with the square or hearts decorator dies in the set and back it with a scrap of clear acetate or plastic packaging. Then, adhere a contrasting frame cut with the same dies. Thin double-sided tape works well to adhere the plastic the inside of the box and for the long side tab, but glue will work as well.

I used stickers from the paper collection as well as “Happy” and the bunny from Word Set 2 and Spring Animals to decorate the boxes.

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

  • Violet Studio Designs – 8×8 Single-Sided Paper Pad – Hoppy Easter
  • Photoplay – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper Collection by Michelle Coleman – Bunnies and Blooms
  • White, Pink, Blue and Brown Cardstock Scraps
  • Grafix Dura-Lar .005 Clear Film (Acetate/Plastic)

Inks

  • Gel Pen – Pink
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

Little Ladybug

| ullycatdesigns

Celebrating Valentine’s Day often brings up visions of candy hearts and chocolate. This is a special display style Valentine card with coordinating candy hearts box and mini gift bag with a ladybug theme.

For this card and gift set I used four new dies from Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Hearts Add-Ons, Happy Valentine’s Day Shadow, Candy Hearts Box and Mini Gift Bag – as well as her previously released Fancy Label Accordion and Happy Valentine’s Day dies.

Before starting, watch assembly videos for the linked die sets. The videos are towards the bottom of the linked pages.

Accordion Frames: Cut four accordion frames using the Fancy Label Accordion die set. They will be decorated AND THEN they will be assembled. It is much harder to decorate a fully assembled accordion card when you cannot flatten the various moving panels and frames.

Hearts Add-Ons: The Hearts Add-On cut a pivot panel that attaches to two Fancy Label Accordion panels. It also has dies to cut decorative hearts in three sizes. Cur one hearts panel from a double-sided decorative paper. Train the folds on the panel as directed on the packaging. Decorate the heart panels on the front and back sides.

Once the panel is fully decorated, work on the accordion frames that it will be glued onto. Glue two frames together using the outer long tab. From one panel cut the label panel along the pivot point making sure to keep the label attached to the pivot bar. Cut the other label, but the cut will look different than the other panel. See photo below. Add glue to the back side of the hearts panel and attach it to one of the label panels. Add glue to the other end of the hearts panel and attach it to the other label panel. (I die-cut one pivot panel from ladybug paper to go over the back of the pivot panels as a decorative feature and to cover over the tabs from the other panels.)

End Frames: Cut two of the largest decorative labels from the Fancy Label Accordion set for use on the end frame panels. Using the stitched heart die from the Candy Heart Box, cut hearts out of the labels. Add labels to the end frame panels. Once the end frames are decorated, attach the end accordion frames to the center hearts frames. Cut off unused tab from accordion panel and glue over contrasting tab on back of card. Cut another tab to cover other contrasting tab. Glue the fancy labels together. (I die-cut one pivot panel from ladybug paper to go over the back of the pivot panels as a decorative feature and to cover over the tabs from the other panels.)

Sentiments: “Happy Valentine’s Day!” is made by cutting the shadow from white cardstock and using contrasting patterned paper for the words. The space for a personal message is on the right back panel and it uses the second largest label with dotted edge in the Fancy Label Accordion set.

Box: The Candy Heart Box is cut in one piece from double-sided decorative paper. Before the box is assembled, a large heart needs to be cut out of the front of the box. Using double-sided tape, adhere a piece of clear acetate or plastic to the inside of the box over the opening. Assemble the box as directed on packaging. (I used glue to assemble the box.) Decorate with hearts and add a scalloped white square folded over for a personal message.

Bag: (Watch assembly video) Using coordinating decorative paper, cut the two Mini Gift Bag pieces and assemble as directed on the packaging. (I used glue to assemble the bag.) Add ribbon or pom-pom string for handles. Decorate with leftover hearts from other pieces in the 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

  • Ink N’ Splatter – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Ladybug Days
  • 12×12 Double-Sided Decorative Paper – Pink Polka Dots and Flowers
  • White Cardstock
  • Grafix Dura-Lar .005 Clear Film (Acetate/Plastic)

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Pom-Pom String

Being Fishy Just For Fun

| ullycatdesigns

I’ve had some flat back fish embellishments in my stash for awhile and the Candy Hearts Box in the December 2023 release by Karen Burniston begged to be the container for these candy-like fish.

The box is cut in one piece. (I was able to cut it from an A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches/14.8 x 21 cm) piece of blue water patterned paper.) Before assembling, cut out the window with the largest of the square dies in the set and back it with a scrap of clear acetate or plastic packaging. Then, adhere the cut-out inside the box as a backdrop for the window.

The sentiment of “HB2U” (Happy Birthday to You) are cut using the Mini Alphabet and Numbers die set. Use the stitched medium size square die from the box set for the white label on the back of the box.

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

  • Papercraft Society – Sam Calcott’s Underwater & Nautical Box – A5 Size Papers -Water Background Cardstock
  • White, Red and Black Cardstock Scraps
  • Grafix Dura-Lar .005 Clear Film (Acetate/Plastic)

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Buttons Galore & More – Flatbackz Embellishments – Aquarium
  • Buttons Galore & More – Flatbackz Embellishments – Bug Eyes

Vintage Christmas Cards – House Box

| ullycatdesigns

Recently I came across some family Christmas cards I had designed with the help of my father who owned a letterpress printing press and had cuts (think metal stamps on wooden blocks similar to rubber stamps on wood blocks) made of my drawings. The printing press held an 8×10-inch frame which held the cuts and metal type (letters). Paper was hand-fed into the press which had an electric motor connected with a leather belt which turned the press wheel. From about age 8 and on I earned pocket money running the press to add people’s names to their store-bought Christmas cards, “From the Desk of” notepads and other small print jobs from family and friends.

The five cards that I am sharing this week were created before the computer drawing program Auto-CAD was widely available to individuals. (I know we didn’t have access to digital type fonts that Apple computers offered around that time.) I used rulers, India ink pens and protractors to draw the pop-ups.

The 1982 “From Our House To Your House” house box postcard was an outgrowth of my fascination with creating house boxes. I had been introduced to box making in a high school commercial art class where I created a blue and white farmhouse box for perfume. At college I expanded on the farmhouse box design by creating a cardboard embossing plate to add raised clapboard siding and roof shingles that was run through an intaglio press. In 1981 I had completed an internship at a historic house museum which was a red brick Victorian house.

The challenge with creating a house box on a postcard was how much would fit on a 5 3/4-inch x 3 3/4-inch postcard. I drew the box on an 8 1/2-inch x 11-inch sheet of paper and used a photocopying machine to reduce it in size.

My father was experimenting with a new technique for him using rub-on sheets of dots to create the coloring of sections of the drawing. He had three cuts made – one for the black drawing, one for the green roof, door wreath and greenery and the last one for the red bricks.

For one postcard, it took four runs through the printing press. We printed 400+ of these cards starting in October.

A few of our friends said they had cut and assembled the wee house box adding the suggest string loop.

Here are other vintage Christmas cards:

  • House Box

Mother’s Day Flower Cart

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston design team challenge for May 2023 with the theme of BEJEWELED.

My inspiration for this card was drawn from a similar cart made by a crafting friend Diana Bentham several years ago and a video by Anna Griffin.

Cart Drawer: The cart is based around the Slider Box. Watch the assembly video before die-cutting pieces. I used blue 100 lb. cardstock for the box and 65 lb. white cardstock for the drawer. A piece of sheer blue ribbon was used as a drawer pull. A Bam Box (see assembly video) is what pops up the message of “Thank you love you.” The sentiment is from Word Set 13 – Snow and Word Set 1 – Greetings while the rectangle is cut using one of the slider box decorative dies. Another decorative die with crosshatches was used to line the drawer with a polka dotted pink paper. The front of the drawer is decorated with the scrap from cutting the scalloped roof.

Cart Base: The cart’s frame made by die-cutting two of the Fancy Label Accordion panels and removing the center pivot panel to create a square frame with a tab on one side. Fold in half with tab side facing up. Glue the u-shape together. I took the two smallest of the off-cuts from the die cut to make the cart handles. (Glue the pieces back-to-back for stability.) Glue handles on to slider box at open end before adhering the u-shape frame to slider box.

Flowers and Pails: The flowers were cut from two shades of pink greeting card envelopes that I upcycled. The dies used come from three different sets – Flutter Charms, Flowers and Bee, and Flower Pot Pop-Up. (The flowers in Flowers and Bee and the Flower Pot Pop-Up are the same.) I used yellow posy flatback gems as the larger flower centers and sparkly resin gems for the smaller flowers. You can create some dimension to the flowers by shaping them with your fingers. I glued flowers on to scrap pieces of green cardstock that were glued into the silver pails.

The pails are cut from another upcycled envelope of holographic silver using the pail from the Adirondak Chair Pop-Up. I cut a front and a back for each pail, plus four more single-sided pails, cutting 16 pails total. Flowers are glued on both front and back of the six pails that line the cart’s sides. Four pails are glued to a small cube I made from matte silver cardstock and adhered to the center of the cart’s tabletop.

Roof Frame: The striped roof awning is cut from some digital striped paper using the large scalloped edged rectangle in the Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch set. It is held up by a frame made by die-cutting two of the Fancy Label Accordion in white cardstock and cutting off the center pivot panel and side tab. (My cardstock was lightweight, so I cut a third frame and cut it in half to back the lower portion of my frames.)

Fold each of the frames at 2 3/4-inches. Glue the frames on to the sides of the cart base, lining up the bottom edge of the white frame to the inside edge of the blue cart frame.

Cut three strips of white cardstock 1 1/2-inches long by 1/2-inch wide. Fold each strip in half. Pinch the top halves of the roof frames towards each other to form triangular frame. Glue together with the three strips. Scraps from the die-cutting of the scalloped roof were used to decorate the cart sides.

Roof Sign: For the roof sign the “Happy Mother’s Day” was die cut twice using a deep blue foiled cardstock glued to two of the crosshatch fancy label from the Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch set. A strip of white cardstock 5-inches long by 1/2-inch wide was folded in half and then the folded end was sandwiched between the two fancy labels and the labels adhered together. (You now have the equivalent of a large paper brad with two legs.) A slit was cut in the roof fold center for the legs of the sign to slide through and be glued to the underside of the roof.

Message Label:  A personal message can be written on the front of the cart’s label made from the smallest of the fancy labels in the Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch set and the green mat from the dotted label from the Label Charm Pop-Up set.

Wheels: For the wheels I made a template using middle plain and crosshatched circles from the Circles – Crosshatch set. Cut the plain circle from scrap paper and the place the crosshatch circle die in the middle of the paper circle. Trace around the center of crosshatch die. Fold the paper in half, then half again and once more in half to come up with eight sections of the circle. Using a see-through ruler, mark and draw 5mm wide spokes interesting in the middle of the circle.

Die-cut from brown mirror or foil cardstock two plain circles. On the back side of the circles use the paper template to trace the triangles that need to be cute out using a craft knife and straight edge. Color the back of the wheels with black marker.

Die cut two black circles using the larger of the circles from either the Flowers and Bee or the Flower Pot Pop-Up set. These will be the wheel hubs. Top hubs with Nuvo Drops and flat-backed pearls.(Allow Nuvo Drops to dry 24 hours before gluing onto cart.)

Glue wheels onto cart’s front posts. Trim off posts just below wheel hubs.

Finished Measurements: This is card/gift box is designed to hand delivered and measures 8-inches high, 6 1/2-inches wide and 3-inches deep.

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

For more Slider Box creations click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Spellbinders-Color Essentials Cardstock – 100 lb – Raindrop -CS-019
  • White, Black and Green Cardstock Scraps
  • Pink and Silver Holographic Recycled Envelopes
  • Brown and Deep Blue Mirror/Foil Cardstock
  • Matte Silver Cardstock
  • Ully Cat Designs – Digital 8.5×11 Cardstock – Blue Awning Stripes

Pens/Gels

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker Chisel Tip – Black
  • Nuvo Jewel Drops – Coco Blush

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Quickstik Tool
  • Scissors
  • Tweezers
  • Metal Ruler
  • Craft Knife
  • Pencil

Bling

  • Queen & Co. – Posies Topping – Golden
  • Craft Consortium – Designed by Hackney & Co. – Enamel Dots – Gardener Delight
  • Stampin’ Up – Wonderful Gems
  • Blue Sheer Ribbon 5/8-Inch Wide