CATS

What’s New Kitty Cat

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team December 2025 Challenge whose theme is SONG LYRICS. I made an A2 (4.25×5.5-inch) card using the new die and stamp sets – Playful Pop-Up, Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons, Cat Borders, Greeting Labels and Cat Sayings along with other Karen Burniston dies.

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

Cardbase: I cut a 5.5×8.5-inch rectangle from orange 100lb. cardstock. Then I scored and folded in half to create a 4.25×5.5-inch A2 side-fold cardbase. Using the largest die in the Rectangles – Crosshatch die set, cut four panels of decorative paper to cover the four card panels. (I ended up cutting three panels and using a large scrap of the decorative paper for the card back.)

Sentiments: Word surgery (i.e. – Die cut words being cut apart and glued back together to form new words) was involved to make the custom words for this card’s front. “What’s” is made from the “W” from the Go Wild die set and the “hat” from the word “Christmas” in the Merry Christmas die set. “New” is from the Happy New Year die set. Word Set 4 -Just A Note used the words “up” and “to say” as well as the words “Blessings” and “color” from Word Set 7 – Autumn, to make the words “pussy cat.” The three “WHOA” inside used the Mini Alphabet and Numbers set.

The stamped sentiments “Happy Purr-thday” and “HOME is where the CAT is” are from the new stamp set Cat Sayings. They were stamped in black ink on white cardstock and die cut using the Greeting Labels and Hearts – Crosshatch die sets. Cut an oval for a personal message to go on the inside.

Paw Print Border: Using the Cat Borders die set, cut one paw print die from black cardstock and one paw back die from pink cardstock. glue the two pieces together. Trim border to fit the card front as shown in the photos and video. Use the extra paw prints to decorate inside the card.

Playful Pop-Up: Cut one of the large die, one of the face plate and one of the “K” shaped mechanism in the Playful Pop-Up set from black cardstock. Assemble as show in the video above.

Cat: Using the Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons die set, cut from black, the large cat ears, paw arms, nose/mouth, and small oval eyes. From pink cardstock cut, the small cat ears, nose, tongue and paw back pieces. From white cardstock cut one set of large oval eyes and one set of whiskers. Assemble and install as show in the video. Use a white gel pen to add the eye and nose highlights. I

Envelope:  The card fits into an A2 (4.25×5.5-inch) size envelope whose back flap was stamped “Hope your day is PURR-fect!” from the Cat Sayings stamp set.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

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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

Stamps

  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Clear Stamps – Fall Phrases

Papers

  • Ms. Sparkle & Co. Paperie – 5.5×7.5 Single -Sided Paper – Rainbow
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 100 lb. Cardstock – Orange
  • Black, Pink and White Cardstock
  • Fraser Papers for William House – A2 Envelope – Genesis Text Milkweed Smooth

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

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

The Cat’s Meow Pop-Up Card

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek Week for Karen Burniston’s November 2025 release of new dies and stamps.

Today’s card uses the new dies of Playful Pop-Up, Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons, Greeting Labels and Meow! As well as Rectangles – Crosshatch and Sending Love. The dies and stamps will be available for pre-order starting November 24, 2025.

Watch the process video to see how I made this card. (I apologize for the video quality. I was having some technical issues while recording it.)

Cardbase: I used a 12×12-inch sheet of dark pink cardstock folded in half and used the scalloped rectangle die from the Rectangles – Crosshatch set placed with one corner over the fold to get a diagonal opening card base. Cut two full scalloped rectangles from light pink cardstock and four smaller rectangles from flower patterned paper. Glue flower panels to the inside of the dark pink cardbase trimming of diagonal corners. Glue remaining two panels to light pink pieces. Assemble card as show in video.

Cat Pop-Up: Using the Playful Pop-Up set, cut one of the largest die and the “Y” piece die from white cardstock. From gray cardstock, cut the decorative notched square die in the Playful Pop-Up set, and from the Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons, the paws, and large cat ears . From pink cardstock, cut two of the paw backing die, the small cat ears and tongue. From black, cut one nose-mouth piece and one set of small eyeballs. From white, cut one set of large eyeballs and whiskers. Follow the video above and photos to assemble.

Sentiments: The die-cut sentiments of Sending Love and the tiny hearts are from the die set of the same name. MEOW! is cut from light pink cardstock using the die of the same name. The shadows behind “Love” and MEOW! are cut from pink vellum. Pink sparkle heart embellishments finish the card front. “Big Hugs” is from the Cat Sayings stamp set. The labels are cut using dies from the Greeting Labels. The paw on the card back comes from MEOW!

Envelope: The card fits into an A6 (6 1/2×4 3/4-inches) size envelope.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please subscribe, like and leave comments 😊

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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

Stamps

  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Clear Stamps – Cat Sayings

Papers

  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Pink Icing
  • Core’dinations – 12×12 inch Textured 80lb Cardstock – Candy Shop
  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Cardstock – Joy to the World – Peace on Earth
  • The Paper Studio – 8.5×11 Pastel Pink Vellum
  • Black, Pink and White Cardstock
  • A6 Envelope – White

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Platform
  • Scissors
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Metal Ruler
  • Tweezers
  • We R Memories – QuickStick

Miscellaneous

  • Trinity Stamps – Embellishment Mix – Pink Sparkle Hearts

Surprise Quad Fold Pop-Up Christmas Card

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for CRAFT ROULETTE #281 whose parameters included a 4×6-inch card, coffee aisle colors, from a tree element, and outside the line. I chose to make a Christmas card with a Funn surprise inside this pop-up card using dies by Karen Burniston and stamps by Tim Holtz.

Watch the video below to learn how this card was made.

Cardbase:  The cardbase is made from 65lb kraft colored cardstock cut into two pieces of 6×8-inch rectangles and one 4×6-inch rectangle. The two large pieces are scored at 4-inches along the 8=inch side to form two 4×6 side-fold cards. The 4×6-inch panel is scored along the short side at 1/4-inch to form a tab. Assemble the card base as shown in the video above. The two apertures were die cut using Karen Burniston’s Squares – Crosshatch set.

Pop-Up Mechanisms:  Two Katherine Label Pop-Up mechanisms were used to animate the tree branches to reveal the cat laying in the Christmas tree. See the video above or watch the assembly video at the bottom of this linked page to understand how the mechanisms are cut out and installed. The moving tree branches are made with five or more of the fir branches from Karen Burniston’s Holiday Charms die set.

Decorations:  The Holiday Charms are used to create the double sided ornament and fir tree branch window decorations. Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Snarky Cats Halloween stamp set was used for the cat.

Sentiments:  “I know right from wrong. Wrong is the fun one.” on the inside drop down panel hints at what’s to come. It was stamped using Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Snarky Cats stamp set. Merry Christmas is a die cut using Karen Burniston’s Merry Christmas set. The white square diamond label is for a personal message is cut using Karen Burniston’s Squares – Crosshatch set.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

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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

Stamps

  • Stampers Anonymous – Red Rubber Stamps – Tim Holtz Collection – Snarky Cats
  • Stampers Anonymous – Red Rubber Stamps – Tim Holtz Collection – Snarky Cats Halloween

Papers

  • Astrobrights – 8.5×11-inches 65lb Cardstock – Grocer Kraft
  • Fun Stampers Journey – 8.5×11-inches Cardstock – Cranberry Bliss
  • White Cardstock

Ink

  • Cricut – Marker – Medium Tip 1.0 – Gold
  • Memento – Fade Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Score Board
  • Bone Folder
  • Pokey Tool
  • Scissors
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • WPear Blossom Press – Cardmaker’s T-Square A2

Miscellaneous

  • Gold Metallic Thread

Pop-Up Alice In Wonderland Birthday Card

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #254 whose parameters included a book binding card, candy colors, rhymes with “ogg” element, and letters (ing).

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

Cardbase: Start with an 11×4.25-inch rectangle of white lightweight cardstock. Score and fold at 5-inches and at 5.5 -inches. Cover the four panels created by the folds with decorative papers from the Stamperia collection (inside panels) and solid red for outside panels. Glue the .5-inch strip together to form the book binding card. Cut a 1 to1.5-inch wide stripe of black cardstock and score at .5-inches down the strip. Cover the book binding strip of card front and wrap over to back of card.

Card Front Image: Stamp the Alice in Wonderland image from Creative Expressions on a piece of licorice red cardstock in black and glue to front of card, trimming off excess.

Pop-Up: Watch the assembly video at the bottom of the linked page for Karen Burniston’s Little Twist Panel Pop-Up. Cut pieces from Stamperia decorative paper.

Sentiments:  “Happy Birthday” is stamped in black using the Craft Roulette sentiment stamps. A small white, fancy label die-cut from the Karen Burniston’s Rectangles and Labels set for a space for a personal message.

Envelope:  The card fits into an A2 (4.25x 5.5-inches) size envelope. The Cheshire Cat was cut from some of the Stamperia decorative paper and glued to the envelope back flap.

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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

  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch – 1233
  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Little Twist Panel Pop-Up – 1232

Stamps

  • Craft Roulette – Clear Stamps – Funn Sentiments #01
  • Creative Expressions – Rubber Stamp by Paper Panda – We’re All Mad Here

Papers

  • Scrapbook.com – 4.25×5.5-inch Smooth Cardstock – Peppermint
  • Stamperia –  8×8-inch Double-Sided Papers – Alice In Wonderland
  • Black and White Cardstock
  • Fraser Papers for William House – A2 Envelope – Genesis Text Milkweed Smooth

Ink

  • Memento – Fade Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 005 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Score Board
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks
  • Scissors
  • Paper Masking Tape

A Purrfect Birthday Pop-Up Card

| ullycatdesigns

This is the fourth in a series of cards that have shelves as the main element of the card.

This card was made with Waffle Flower dies, stamps and stencils.

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

Cardbase: The outer cardbase is an A2 (4.25×5.5-inches) made from an 8.5×5.5-inch rectangle of lightweight white cardstock.  The outside is covered with panels of decorative paper.

Pop-Out Shelves: For the popout shelves cut an 8.5×5.5-inch rectangle of either patterned cardstock or lightweight cardstock with decorative paper covering it. Mark the center of the rectangle at 4.24-inches at the top and bottom of the cardstock and place the Inside Pop-Up Shelves die’s dotted center line on the center marks. Run through a die cut machine and work the fold-lines to make the shelves pop-out. Die-cut just the shelves from a woodgrain paper. Cut the shelf sections out and glue to the large pop-up panel. Decorate with plants from the Shelf Add-Ons die set.

Cats: Add to the shelves, cats die-cut from black cardstock using the Cattitude die set. Stencil cats using the Birthday Kitties Stencil set onto white cardstock and fussy cut out for use on card front.

Sentiments: Using the Purrfect Sentiments stamp set, stamp “Everyday is caturday” on white cardstock and “Have a purrect birthday” inside the card. Add “You’re the cat’s meow” diecut Subsentiments Cat to the inside shelves.

Envelope: The card fits into an A2 (4.25x 5.5-inches) size envelope which has a cat stamped on its back flap from the Cattitude stamp set.

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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

  • Waffle Flower – Steel Craft Die – Cattitude
  • Waffle Flower – Steel Craft Die – Inside Pop-Up Shelves
  • Waffle Flower – Steel Craft Die – Shelf Add-Ons

Stamps

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Cattitude
  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Purrfect Sentiments

Stencil

  • Waffle Flower – Plastic – Birthday Kitties

Papers

  • Recollections – 8.5×11 65 lb. Cardstock – White
  • Stampin’ Up – 12×12 Designer Series Paper – Earthen Elegance
  • Black, Greens and Yellow Cardstock
  • Fraser Papers for William House – A2 Envelope – Genesis Text Milkweed Smooth

Ink

  • Memento – Fade Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Black Soot, Fossilized Amber, Hickory Smoke, Lumberjack Plaid, Prize Ribbon
  • Pigma – Mircon 05 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Red
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip –Blue, Green, Red

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Blocks
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Sponge Daubers
  • Paper Masking Tape

Miscellaneous

  • Waffle Flower – Subsentiments Cat – Diecuts

A Haunted Chair In The Pumpkin Patch

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the October 2024 Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge with the theme of a haunted location. I chosen an Adirondack chair in a pumpkin patch to be haunted.

Watch the process video to see how the card was assembled.

Cardbase: Cut two 5 1/2 x 11-inch rectangles from black cardstock. Fold each rectangle in half to form two 5 1/2-inch square top fold cards. Two pieces of patterned paper from Graphic 45 were used to cover the inside floor and front card cover.

Adirondack Chair: Watch the assembly video for the Adirondack Chair located at the bottom of the linked page.

Ghost Mechanism: Watch the assembly video for the Spinner Square Pop-Up located at the bottom of the linked page. The ghosts are from the Halloween Charms set and were cut once from white cardstock and had their eyes and mouth stenciled on using the die. They also were cut from glow-in-the-dark paper for their backs and to hide the black mechanism arm.

Decorations: The large pumpkins are from the Autumn Elements set and the smaller jack-o-lantern and green hands are from the Halloween Elements set. The background pumpkins were cut from the Graphic 45 papers. The black cat on the chair is from the Skeleton and Bat set. The Slim Pattern Plate – Spiders was cut from pearlescent vellum and the spiders colored black. Then it was placed on the diagonal on the card front.

Sentiments: The card front uses the “Happy Halloween” from the Halloween Charms set while the inside uses a Spellbinders BetterPress “Happy Haunting” sentiment. Other inside sentiments – “Boo!” “Sit for a spell” and “Hey Pumpkin” – are cut from the Graphic 45 papers.

Envelope: The card will fit into a 6×6-inch square envelope or a 6×9-inch catalog envelope.

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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

Press Plates

  • Spellbinders – BetterPress Letterpress System – Press Plate & Die Set – Halloween Icons

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper – Charmed
  • Lawn Fawn – 8.5×11 Lawn Fawndamentals – Pearlescent Vellum
  • Stampin’ Up – 6×6 Specialty Paper – Glow-In-The-Dark
  • Thin Clear Cello Packaging
  • Black, Orange, Purple, White Cardstock
  • 6×6 Brown Envelope

Ink

  • Spectrum Noir – Shimmer Gold Series Pearlescent Pigment – Peach Terracotta
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Gathered Twigs
  • Pigma – Mircon 005 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Chisel Tip – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Green
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Tweezers
  • Metal Ruler
  • T-Ruler
  • Glue Eraser
  • Craft Mat
  • Sponge Daubers
  • Blending Brush
  • Paper Masking Tape

Happy Meowther’s Day from the Cats

| ullycatdesigns

A few times a year, I get commissions from a pair of cats for cards to their humans. For Mother’s Day this year they picked an Anita Jerem illustration of two cats sleeping in bed under a heart dotted comforter. They like to use every year the sentiments from a Simon Says Stamp set Happy Meowther’s Day.

Cardbase: I used a purchased A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inch) plaid printed cardbase and matching white envelope. The image panel was adhered with double sided tape and the sentiments were stamped directly onto the image panel or cardbase.

Alcohol markers, not chosen
Watercolor markers, not chosen

Front Panel: The Snoozing Kitties stamp works best with a stamping platform. Because I used StazOn ink a solvent ink, I only got one chance at stamping the complete image. I stamped the image on three separate pieces of cardstock and watercolor paper. Some images were faint in areas, so I filled them in with a 01 black fine tip pen before coloring. I experimented with watercolor brush markers and alcohol markers. I had more control over the intensity of color with the alcohol markers as well as a wider range of colors to choose (80 alcohol markers to 12 watercolor brush markers.) My chosen panel was the first one I colored with alcohol markers. Yellow cat colored with 37 pastel yellow, 38 pale yellow, 163 green bice and 120 black. Gray striped cat used 120 black, WG3 warm grey and WG5 warm grey. The comforter’s hearts were colored with 70 royal blue, 144 pale baby blue and 185 pale blue light. The shadows on the bedding wrinkles is WG1 warm grey. 70 royal blue was also used for the wallpaper stripes, while 185 pale blue light was used for the headboard. “Happy Meowther’s Day” was stamped in black over the wallpaper.

Inside Sentiments: All the sentiments inside the card are from the Happy Meowther’s Day stamp set. They include “Thank you for feeding me, cleaning up after me, and loving me more than anything else in the world. The feeling is mutual.” And “from the cats” with tiny paw prints and a heart. The heart is stamped in red while all the words and paw prints are in black.

Envelope: “Happy Meowther’s Day” is stamped on the back of the envelope flap in black ink with a red heart underneath it.

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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:

Stamps

  • Colorado Craft Company – Clear Stamps designed by Anita Jerem – Snoozing Kitties -AJ408
  • Simon Says Stamp – Clear Stamps – Happy Meowther’s Day – sss202293c

Papers

  • White 65lb Cardstock
  • CraftSmart – A2 Printed Cardbase and White Envelope

Ink

  • StazOn – Solvent Ink – Jet Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Lumber Jack Plaid
  • Creative Craft Products – Dual Tip Alcohol Markers – 37, 38, 70, 120, 144, 163, 185, WG1, WG3 &WG5
  • Altenew – Watercolor Brush Markers – Spring Garden Set

Adhesives

  • Double-Sided Tape -1/8-inch wide

Tools

  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool

Owl And The Pussycat Valentine

| ullycatdesigns

It’s the Karen Burniston design team challenge for January 2023 using the Raising Platform Pop-Up die set.

For my card I chose a Valentine theme using excerpts Edward Lear’s 1870 poem “The Owl and The Pussy-cat.” The action in this card comes as a wave lifting the pea-green boat up in the sea near the edge of the sand.

Cardbase: I used a purchased 5×7-inch (A7) white cardbase and covered the front and back panels with decorative blue sea patterned cardstock cut using the largest crosshatch rectangle in the Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch set. Inside, I cut a 5×7 rectangle out of my one sheet of wave paper making the angle of the waves to match the angle of the raising platform base. From the scraps of wave paper, I pieced out the other inside panel leaving the bottom right corner without waves. I cut a sandy beach from patterned paper to cover the right corner. The edges of the beach were inked with blue ink and sea foam was added using a textured white paint. Trim off excess decorative paper from the card edges.

Raising Platform: (Watch the assembly video before starting.) From blue sea patterned paper cut, using the Raising Platform Pop-Up set, the “L” shaped mechanism piece, the largest label and a strip 1/4-inch by 2 1/2-inches. (Save the strip for use under the Boat section.)

(If your mechanism is cut from a one-sided patterned paper, cut a coordinating blue-green pattern paper cut two of each of the decorative diamond-shaped panels to cover the inside of the mechanism that is visible when assembled.)

Attach to inside of the card base as shown in assembly video/package instructions. Add waves cut from blue-green patterned cardstock using a die from the Tropical Scene set to the mechanism base making sure they don’t have catchpoints.

Owl: (Watch the assembly video before starting.) Cut two owls from brown, a triangle beak and a set of feet from yellow, one set of eyes from black and one oval from white using the Feathered Animals set. Glue white oval to back of one owl piece and attach black eyes. Add white dots to eyes as shown on packaging. Glue back owl piece to front and glue in the brown eye circles to back of head. Using the owl die, stencil on the feathers and wings to front and back of owl.

Cat: (Watch the assembly video before starting.) Cut two cats and two collars using the Cat and Dog set. Using die, stencil face on to one cat piece. Trim tag off one collar and glue to back cat piece and tagged collar to front cat piece. (I used markers and glitter brushes to color the collar.) Glue the green tab cut from scrap green cardstock used for the boat to the back side of one cat piece and then glue the other piece sandwiching the tabbed piece in between.

Boat: The boat is made by trimming off the two arm sections of the Raising Platform Pop-Up “L” shaped mechanism. (See photo for white sections to keep.) Train all the folds in the two pieces. Glue the tab to the inside of each piece to form the pointed front and back of the boat. Place one piece inside the other piece so that the untabbed tip of one piece points into the base point of the other and fold the sides to form a triangle. (See photo of inside of boat for folds.) Repeat with other piece. Glue the two pieces together making sure the boat is long enough to hold the cat and owl pieces.

Take the strip 1/4-inch by 2 1/2-inches cut in the Raising Platform section and fold in half. Fold again a 1/2-inch from the center fold and then 3/4-inch from the center fold. Repeat on the other side of the fold. (If using a one-sided patterned cardstock, cut 1/2-inch strips to cover the two ends that will show when assembled.) glue strip to bottom of boat as shown in photo.

Cut two more of the boat pieces for the inside of the boat. Trim off tabs and cut down the center fold to form diamond shapes. Glue in the cat and the owl inside the boat using their green tabs. Glue green boat diamonds inside the boat covering the animals’ tabs.  Trim off excess patterned paper as needed along boat top edges.

Fold strip on bottom of boat form a cradle that the boat sets on when placed on raising platform . Adjust strip’s folds as needed. Glue cradle to platform.

Train boat and platform to close properly.

Sentiments: I used computer generated sentiments sized to be cut using dies in the Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch set. I aged the pieces that were printed on cream cardstock by roughing-up the edges with a distress tool (knife sharpener) and crumpling the pieces and inking with yellow, brown and blue inks. On the inside sentiment I stamped in yellow a crescent moon in the clouds and on the front sentiment shooting stars in the corners. Tiny iridescent star confetti were glued randomly on the sentiments. On the card back credit is given to Edward Lear for the poem excerpts.

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

  • Penny Black – Clear Stamps – My Universe
  • Hero Arts – Clear Stamps – Galaxy Peek-A-Boo Parts

Papers

  • Kaisercraft – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Uncharted Waters
  • Love Cardmaking issue 4 – Digital Papers – By the Shore
  • Mrs. Sparkle & Co. – 5.5 x7.5 Single-Sided Paper – Woodgrain Color
  • Park Lane Paperie – 12×12 Printed Paper – Nautical
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Fun Stampers Journey – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Pumpkin Bread
  • Black, Yellow, White and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Pineapple Punch
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Vintage Photo
  • Hampton Art – Acid Free, Dye-based Mini ink Cube – Light Blue
  • Nellie’s Choice – Effect Snow
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Point – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Point – Brown
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker –Fine Point – Pink
  • Pigma – Mircon 03 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Crafter’s Square – Metallic Marker – Gold
  • Scrapebook.com – Glitter Brush Marker – Red Shimmer

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • This Calls For Confetti – Bokeh Bliss Teeny Tiny Mix
  • This Calls For Confetti – Leprechaun Gold Sequin

Vintage Christmas Cards – Room Scene

| 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.

In 1985 I designed a pop-up room scene featuring a fireplace tabletop Christmas tree and a cat. I used rub-ons that were popular at the time to created graphics. All the straight lines were rub-ons as well as the letters on the garlands. I used a plastic drawing template for the circles and arcs. The cat was a sticker that had been reduced on a photocopier.

These postcards were hand-colored with watercolors and markers.

On the back of the postcard was the first of my CRX drawings that showed how the finished pop-up should look along with cutting and folding instructions.

I believe this was the last of the family designed Christmas cards as my father discovered Graphics3, a family-owned printing business in Jupiter, Florida that made 3D pop-up cards and began ordering from cards from them.

Here are other vintage Christmas cards:

  • Room Scene