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.
Every so often, I get a commission’s from cats for cards for their human family. This card was a birthday card for their cat mom.
My inspiration for the card is from the stamped image on the back of the card by Dominic Phillips called Bad Cats Club which has a preciously stacked set of wooden crates with cats perched on them. (I also drew engineering inspiration from Karen Burniston’s March 4, 2023 virtual class for the stacked cubes.) To recreate this image in a 3D form, I used Karen Burniston’s Surprise Cube Pop-Up and Bam-Box Pop-Up dies and cats cut from paper and washi tape. The card is a gusseted slimline card with string wrapped closure.
Card Base: Because I was using specialty cardstocks that were 5 1/2 x 8 1/2-inches, I cut two 3 3/4 x 8 1/2-inches pieces and one gusset strip of 3/4×8 1/2-inches. The gusset strip was scored and folded lengthwise at 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch. The 1/4-inch tabs on the gusset strip were glued to the long backsides of the bronze metallic piece and woodgrain piece. Next, I worked on the flap closure. The inside of the card base is covered with a wide map pattern washi tape.
Flap: I watched the assembly video for the Long Flap and Closure before I began the flap assembly. A long flap and six spacers were cut from brown cardstock using Karen Burniston’s Long Flap and Closure die set. A decorative flap inset piece was cut from the woodgrain cardstock and another for the inside of the flap from brown cardstock. I used two long brass brads that I had to trim the legs to make them fit the card using metal cutting snips. The star decorative piece under the brads is from the Surprise Cube Pop-Up and pushed up from the cardbase by three spacers glued together. (Remember to think through the assembly of the card so that you have papers to cover over the brad legs. Also remember to add your string before covering the brad legs with a decorative paper.)
Tower of Crates: For the pop-up cubes I watched the Surprise Cubeassembly video and Bam Box assembly video before starting. From discussion with Karen Burniston on her Pop-Up Peeps Facebook page, I learned that as long as the cubes would fit into the cardbase when folded flat, you could glue the cubes in any manner. (Let the glue set-up before you test your cube tower opening….I had to glue my tower a few times because I was impatient and the power of three rubber bands was pretty strong.) I cut the decorative woodgrain papers from scraps I had in my stash. The cats were fussy cut from some printed papers in my stash and from some washi tape. The top cat is glued to a Bam Box which is glued to the top cube. (I attached the tower with a brad through the bottom cube and card base, much like you would for a ball pop-up animal that you want to be able to turn.)
Sentiments: I used the Happy Birthday die set by Karen Burniston and the paw prints from the Doghouse Tiny House Add-ons for the inside sentiments. The stamped sentiments outside came from the Bad Cats Club set and a Happy Meowther’s Day set.
This card will be delivered in person, so no envelope was created for it.
Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this gives you inspiration and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊
(Watch the assembly video before starting your card.) The pop-up fireplace is a bit different from other fireplace pop-ups that cut directly into the card base. For this fireplace, the pop-up mechanism is a separate glue in piece that could be used with other covers than the fireplace. With two sets of fireplace and room decor accessories, making a cute room scene is a snap. The same die is used for the mantel and the heath. I cut them from brown and black cardstock respectively and used black ink on mantel to age it and a white shimmer watercolor crayon on the black hearth to similar slate. The white shimmer crayon was also used on the fireplace brick to highlight the embossed brick.
There are lots of great Halloween themed dies in this release. The large bat, skeleton, small pumpkins and bow tie cat are all from the Skeleton Bat set. (I cut the handles off the pumpkins and used one to make the bat smile.) The slim pattern plates were used on the front and back of the card. (I find that the weight of the front and back of the card need to be equal or the back heavier for the pop-up fireplace to work properly.) For the spiders and webs on the card front I used a pearlescent vellum. On the flurry of bats on the back, I used a white gel pen to dot eyes on all the bats.
To make the candles and clock on the mantel pop-up along with the planters, cat and skeleton on the floor stand up, I used the tiny pop-up strip from the fireplace set. When folded into a cube, the pop-up mechanism has a long side and a short side with allow you to have different dimensions for your objects on the mantel and floor. The Fireplace Extras 1 is Christmas themed. I used the candles from this set. Fireplace Extras 2 has more everyday items like the clock, planter, picture frames and fireplace fender or fence that I used. (I couldn’t resist putting some skeletons in the picture frames!)
If you notice the vellum spider web and dangling spider in the fireplace, they are from the previously released Halloween Scene set. I cut one of the dangling boots in the fireplace set down to use as a base to glue a piece of thread to and then the spider.
I received an unusual commission from two cats who desired a card for their “Mom.” They requested that it show how much they loved her and appreciated how she cared for them.
The Simon Says Stamp “Happy Meother’s Day” stamps and coordinating dies were perfect for this card. Knowing that the cats spend a good part of their day watching the outside world at the living room window, I thought an actual photograph of their neighborhood would work well as the world beyond the window that the cats would be looking at.
All of the stamping and embossing for the card was done first, using clear Versamark ink and a stamping platform. The sentiment banner and two sets of sitting cats were stamped on scrap cardstock and then heat embossed with a detail black embossing powder. (I stamped two sets of cats in case I didn’t like the way I’d colored or cut them so there would be a back-up set to use.)
Layout the placement of the stamps to be used inside the card on a stamping platform. Stamp the red solid hearts first and heat dry the ink before stamping and embossing each side of the card.
It is easier to work at stamping and embossing just one side of the card at a time. Make sure you use an anti-static tool or powder bag to remove the chance of stray embossing powder remaining on your card.
Cut the front and back decorative papers to fit the 5-inch by 7-inch folded card base.
(I used the scraps from cutting the front panel’s 5×7 bottom mat and 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 top layer to decorate the back panel.) Use a rectangle die to cut out the center of the back mat layer so as to get more mileage out of the paper. (Stamp, emboss and color before gluing on papers.)
Cut two of the window frames using the emboss and cut folder. Fussy cut out the windows. (You can trim the back frame a bit smaller than the front frame.) Cut a piece of acetate to fit the windowpane area and glue using small dots of glue at the cross points of the bottom window frame. Use foam squares to adhere the top window frame to the bottom one.
The cats had been kind enough to supply photos of themselves, so I colored the stamped images to reflect their personalities using watercolor pencils and a water brush. To get the stripes to standout more, I went over the wet blended images with a darker color pencil. (I didn’t have to use my back-up set of images as everything worked out as planned!)
The trick to getting perfect die-cuts of stamped images is to make a template the lets you center the cut-out where you want over the image and then taping with low-tack tape to hold the die in place while you run it through a die-cutting machine.
Once the decorative papers have been glued to the card base, (stamp, emboss and color before gluing on papers,) add the photo back to the bottom window frame. Place one foam square on the back bottom section of the die-cut cats and two squares at the back of the heads where they will adhere through the window opening to the acetate. Use double foam squares on the back of the sentiment banner.
Stamp the front and back of the envelope using two shades of gray and red ink for the hearts and extra sentiment. (I used a red marker to color the collar and extra sides of the heart.)
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For the next four days I have a mini chair series focusing on a pop-up chair die by Karen Burniston.
Today’s chair uses the Adirondack Chair Pop-Up with a slip cover to make it into a big overstuffed chair, perfect for cats to nap in! You can access this post and the ones in this week’s seasonal chair posts below as they become live posts.
Children’s Christmas pageants that re-enact the birth of the Christ child are the theme of these quickly made decoupaged pop-up cards.
In less than two hours I was able to make these cute cards using Craft Consortium’s Nativity collection designed by Hetz Cuppleditch. Using the 10 sheets of the pre-cut decoupaged scenes which are labeled with the layer number for each piece it is super simple to glue up these scenes matching pieces to the layer below. (You could use foam pads, but if you plan to mail these cards in the USA, you will pay extra postage because of the thickness.)
The box-like stage is created by using the Hunkydory Final Shadow Box die set using the largest of the rectangular window dies to cut from the double-sided paper also from the Craft Consortium Nativity collection. The back of the stage is cut from scrap packaging with the “Joy to the World” die cut from a purple scrap envelope (or sentiments from old Christmas cards).
An old Kaisercraft sentiment stamp set was used to stamp the back flaps of the envelopes for these cards to foretell what is inside.
Thank you for reading about these cards. Please hit the like button or leave a comment.
What pops down a chimney and out a fireplace? Santa Kitten!
These cute little kittens jumped out at me while in a Tuesday Morning store. They are on cellophane treat bags. I realized that they were the correct size for one of Karen Burniston’s interactive dies – the Pop ‘n Swap.
While I would classify this card as a prototype, what I wanted to share is to show how you can make a shallow box like structure to create a fireplace over the pop ’n swap mechanism. Watch Karen Burniston’s assembly video to learn how to put together this mechanism.
For this slimline card, I cut a piece of heavy black cardstock 8 ½ x 8 inches and scored at 4 inches and folded in half to create the card base. (The card needs to be at least 4 inches wide since the mechanism folded flat is 4 inches wide.) Next, I cut from the front top of the card base a rectangle 2 ½ x 4 inches to allow the Santa kitten to show over the chimney top.
The inside shallow box is a 5 3/4 inches tall by 4 7/8 inches wide rectangle of red cardstock. I scored at ¼ inch, 1 inch and 4 inches. (Because the mechanism is ¾ inches tall, the box side is ¾ inches deep.) All the folds are mountain folds. The narrow tab goes towards the right edge of the card while the wide tab goes towards the inside fold. I glued my mechanism in first, and then using removable tape, I played with the positioning of the box and marked with pencil its placement before removing the box. I cut the widow to show the kitten inside the fireplace, by laying the fireplace frame over the mechanism and seeing where the kitten would best show. Next, I placed a loop of removable tape on the fireplace and positioned the box back into place and got the fireplace to stick to the inside of the box. With the fireplace stuck I removed the box and traced the opening of the fireplace onto the back of the box. With a metal ruler and craft knife, I cut the opening slightly larger than the pencil marks. Now the box is ready to be permanently glued in place. Glue the kittens in place next on the mechanism arms, cutting any corners that show beyond the kittens.
For decorating of the fireplace and mantel refer to my An Old-Time Christmas post. The brick is stenciled on the chimney panel before cutting it for the front. The fireplace was stenciled once the opening was cut for the fireplace, but before the box was glued permanently in place.
I tried a new-to-me product from Cosmic Shimmer called Fluffy Stuff. It is a thick paint-like substance that you can add dimension with for snow. You use a heat gun to get it to bubble up. I tried adding it to the front of the card after I assembled the card and in the heating of the card, I ended up heating the cellophane of the top kitten which shrunk a little. My recommendation is to add the Fluffy Stuff to your front panel before it is glued on to the card so that you can heat it and left it dry for 24 hours before gluing in place. (Here is a video that shows Fluffy Stuff being demonstrated on the Beebaab Youtube channel.)
If you have read this far, I’ll let you in on a secret. There is a free down of the “Naughty or Nice” sentiment in the supplies list.
Love this little black cat three-layer stamp by Kat Scrapiness that comes with some great sentiments like the Toil and Trouble one that gives it, its name. I had purchased the Pop-Out die and the Gina Marie Designs Mosaic Triangle Edge Circle dies along with The Toil & Trouble stamp and matching die set all during Kat Scrapiness’ Labor Day sale. I hadn’t planned on combining them, but the more I looked and dreamed about the “Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble” I saw a bubbling, steaming cauldron with the steam opening up into an aerial view of a shaker card showing of the cauldron’s contents.
I found in my stash the fabulous Buttons Galore & More’s Creepy Sparkleletz shaker elements to which I added some green and iridescent sequins and the tiny black and green triangles off-cuts from the mosaic circle frames I cut for the cauldron.
The background of the shaker cauldron is a lime green square of cardstock that I daubed Cracked Pistachio and Fired Brick Distress inks and then spritzed with water to blend. I dried and stamped with Versamark Watermark ink an older bubble background stamp by Hunkydory. The final touch to the background was to stamp “BOO” in the center of the square.
To create the white steam of the cauldron, I took cream cardstock and stamped in grey ink the same bubble background mentioned earlier. Next, I embossed the cardstock using an older Darice embossing folder. (I may have used one too many shims when I embossed, as it almost cut through the card in places.) I centered and taped the Pop-Out die inside the circle die and then die-cut, in one pass, the circle of steam that opens in six triangles to reveal the cauldron’s shaker contents. I free-hand cut a spoon handle that is used to open-up the steam or “stir the pot.”
I tried several inks to stamp the cat but ended up using the cat with just black ink – having lightly stamped each layer to create the shadows. The sentiments, both inside and on the front, are first stamped with the bubble stamp in grey ink then the sentiment in black Memento ink. (I was not paying attention to which ink I was putting on the inside as I moved the background stamp around and inadvertently used the black Memento at the bottom section.)
To finish off the card front, I used a retired Taylored Expressions “Little Bits” spider web die set to cut from vellum the corner decorations including a tiny black spider. I found a bit of spider ribbon that leads the reader to the sentiment.
As it is my style to stamp an image or sentiment that hints at what’s inside, I stamped a witches’ hat (because I have no cauldron stamp) and the phrase “The most Spooktacular night of the year” on the envelope flap. These stamps are from My Mind’s Eye.
To send the card, I will add a hand-written note instructing the recipient “To stir the cauldron using the black handled sticking out of the steam to find out what’s shake’n.”
Ully Cat's World 