Halloween means so many different things to different people, but my favorite person to make Halloween cards for is a cat lover, likes to see children in their Halloween costumes, but hates to dress-up for the day. So, this vintage pumpkin card is perfect for them.
Pop-up ball cards always remind me of the jack-in-the-box toy when you open them and something pops up to make you smile. This pop-up ghost card was designed for a three-year-old boy for Halloween.
The card front and easel base are my design. (You can download the full-size scan I made of the ghost card front for free.)
I traced the ghost onto a 12 x 12 inch sheet of cardstock twice. Next, I cut the cardstock between the ghosts and fold the card stock at the top of the ghost’s head and cut out two layers of the ghost leaving the top of the ghost’s head attached as a fold.
This will be the card base and easel prop. The second ghost I cut all the way around and used the largest oval die from the Karen Burniston Bitty Ball die set to cut out the eyes for the card front ghost.
I traced the easel piece as well as the whole ghost back onto black cardstock and cut both pieces out. The easel back piece needs to be glued so that when the white ghost card front is glued onto easel flap the eyes show through as black.
(Don’t glue the whole black ghost shape onto the back of the card until after the pop-up balls have been attached to the card base. This piece hides the brad legs.)
For the pop-up ghost inside I covered two mini pop-up balls (made using dies by Karen Burniston) with four layers of cheesecloth cut into a 6-inch circle and glued to the top pop-up ball. (Follow the assembly video for the pop-up balls.) Cut all pieces from white cardstock. Cut two black eyes using the same oval die used for card front ghost.
I made a band to hold the card closed from a leftover piece of white cardstock. The “BOO!” on the ghost as well as the band sentiment are by Karen Burniston from the two Halloween die sets listed below.
The card fits into a 6 x 9 inch envelope. I stamped the front and back of the envelope with ghost stamps by Julie Ebersole.
I often add a CRX slip that helps the card recipient know how to open the interactive card. (You can download the sheet with four slips on it. for free.)
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Pop-up ball cards always remind me of the jack-in-the-box toy when you open them and something pops up to make you smile. This pop-up pumpkin card was designed for a baby’s first Halloween.
The card front pumpkin and easel base are a die set by Anna Griffin and the pop-up pumpkin inside is made using dies by Karen Burniston.
I often add a CRX slip that helps the card recipient know how to open the interactive card. (You can download the sheet with four slips on it. for free.)
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This is a card for the vintage train lover in your family. It has a steampunk meets art deco vibe.
Using a new die set by Anna Griffin, the Antique Train Slimeline Easel Dies, it came together quickly using just two types of cardstock, one sentiment die, a fine-tipped permanent marker and some gold glitter drops.
The die set cuts the easel base and the shadow outline of the train as two separate dies. I used a double-sided 180gsm weight cardstock from metal textures collection by Craft Consortium for these two pieces. The train is cut from Hunkydory’s oxidized metals collection of 220gsm mirror cardstock. Using the fine-tipped permanent marker to color the roofs and stacks of the mirror card train, I found I could also color a scrap of the mirror card and then cut the wheels and cow-catcher grate for added dimension.
After gluing the train to the gray shadow piece, I filled-in much of the void spaces on the train with the marker. With the train flat, I used some gold glitter glue or drops to create the wheel center caps.
The sentiment was cut three time – one in mirror cardstock and twice from thick black cardstock. The three layers were glued together and the words “Happy” and “Day” were colored with the black permanent marker.
To assemble the card, the easel base was folded on its score lines and glue placed on the long thin tab. The shadow backed train was then positioned over the card base centering the train within the card base’s outline. Pressure was applied to the tab to adhere the train back to the easel. The sentiment was glued on to the inside of the card once the position was established to have it hold the train in its open easel position.
The card fits into a #10 business envelope which has been stamped with VersaMark watermark ink using a bowler hat and sentiment “Hat’s off to you” stamps from Colorado Craft Company.
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“From our home to yours” is a sentiment that is often seen during the winter holidays. House cards are one of my favorite types of cards to make. The cards shown in today’s blog were made using new Creative Expressions Craft Dies by Sue Wilson.
To die cut a large solid die like the house front, it is best to angle it so that it goes through the die cutting machine at a diagonal rather than straight across. (See picture below.)
For the red brick house, I used leftover stenciled cardstock that was stenciled with Distress Ink in Fired Red Brick, a brick stencil and a small make-up brush (I find these inexpensive contour make-up brushes from Dollar Tree work as well as the expensive ink brushes.)
For the brown brick house, I used a digital image of a brick wall to create a tiled pattern to print on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of white cardstock using a computer and ink jet printer.
The windows, door and roofs were all cut from lightweight white cardstock and then fussy cut. The roof and door were colored with watercolor pencils and a water brush and allowed to dry under the dies’ plastic packaging so they would be flat. Once the door was dry, I added a drop of a gold Nuvo drop for the door knob and set it aside to dry overnight.
Solid colored scraps of red and green papers were used for the bows and wreath. The topiary trees were cut from white cardstock and colored with watercolor pencils. Their pots are cut from scrap patterned paper.
To glaze the windows, I used shiny organza ribbon glued to the back of the house die-cut. (I had ¼ inch wide ribbon so had to use two stripes for each window. You could use wider ribbon.) After the ribbon has set, the decorated house front was glued to a solid house frame cut with the largest die in the set. The top of the this die has a non-cutting edge which has to be hand-cut.
The tiny decorations can be attached at this stage in the assembly.
While the die set is designed to cut a tent fold card, I decided to make it an easel card using a 5 ¼ inch by 11-inch sheet of heavy white cardstock to score and fold along the long edge at 3 inches and at 3/8 inches. I then die-cut the base, folded at the 3 inches scoring with the non-cutting top of the house die at the fold. (See photo below for how the easel base looks opened up after being cut.)
Next, I used a stamping platform, clear VersaMark watermark ink to stamp the inside greeting after rubbing clean the cardbase with an anti-static powder pad. (I like to use the round stamping tool Stampendable with my stamping platform for uniform pressure on my stamps. I also use scrap copier paper under my items being stamped to add more pressure and to keep the platform clean.) The greeting from Lou Collins’ Text{ures} Seasonal Sentiments set was heat embossed with my favorite gold detail embossing powder from Cosmic Shimmer.
To adhere the house to the easel base, fold the short roof piece closed and add glue to the 3/8 inch tab. Position the house front to match-up with folded base and press at the tab area to adhere to glued tab. Open card up to see if positioned correctly, before attaching welcome mat (stamped and heat embossed from a retired Stampin’ Up front door stamp set) with foam tape.
I used two more stamps from the Text{ures} Seasonal Sentiments set on the envelope flap with Stampin’ Up’s Crumb Cake ink, which looks very much like gold embossing on the cream-colored envelope.
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All is calm, all is bright until you shake-up the snow globe. This traditional style snow globe easel card is made with PoppyStamps/Memory Box die set with the sentiment coming from a Tonic Studios die.
This was my first go at using these dies, so I followed the package example for the assembly and easel stopper (three holly berries placed on top of tiny foam circles with holly leaves cut from thin paper.) My green base card stock was lightweight, so I double cut the base and glued together before burnishing the fold lines.
The background white circle was ink blended use a sky-blue ink and a large blending brush. Next, I spritzed with circle once with a white ink spray. The snowy ground is a specialty handmade paper I’ve had for a while. For the cabin, I used a yellow scrap for the house outline/windows. Its roof is more of the specialty textured paper. I like the variety of fir and hardwood trees in this set which can easily be cut from various shades of green and brown scraps. The scene was laid-out and then glued to together before spraying the whole scene with white ink spray a few times.
For the woodgrain globe base, I used some heat embossed stamped woodgrain paper I had made for another project. (Click here to learn more about the paper.) I cut two of the thin trim piece from gold foil cardstock and trimmed one piece to fit the top of the woodgrain base.
To assemble the snow globe, there is a white globe outline die-cut that the assembled globe is glued onto and then the woodgrain base followed by the two gold trim pieces.
The sentiment was cut three times using the Tonic Studios die. The base layer is gold foil while the top layer is a thick red cardstock that was from some packaging that I had saved. I cut the tiny green holly leaves from a green paper.
Foam circles topped with the holly berries are used as the easel stop on the bottom card base with the holly leaves cut from thin dark green paper.
A personalized message can be written inside the card base. The card fits inside an A2 envelope (4 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches.) with its back flap stamped with stamps from the Winter Stags set by Stampendous! in a dark green ink.
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1 – smallest barn die out of red (Save all the doors and windows cut out for the backing of the “X” frames)
2 – small “X” window from white
1 – doors “X” die out of white
1 – roof trim die out of white
1 – straight line out of white
Cut animals/sun and color with markers, black gel pen and Distress Ink.
Glue white “X” frames to doors and window cut outs to form doors. Glue on roof trim.
If you plan on having doors that open, ink blend the cream barn piece edges and door/window openings.
Using clear tape, make hinges for all the doors and windows to open.
Position and glue cow to inside of barn. Glue barn to middle cream barn piece making sure not to glue any doors that are hinged to open. Glue flying chicken inside open barn door and other animals to front of barn.
Glue tab of brown base piece to back of cream piece. Test the barn in pop-up easel position. Using foam squares adhere green grass with eggs glued to them to the brown base to act as easel stops. Don’t have grass in front of the door that opens. Glue sun on to back of cream piece as if sun is rising behind the barn roof. (Make sure that sun top is no higher than the roof tip so card will fit in envelope.)
Stamp a sentiment on card base and back flap of envelope.
Hope this fun card has provided some inspiration for your crafting. 😊
Simply Made Crafts by Helen Griffin – Fun Sentiments Stamp Set
Vintage goat stamp
Stampin’ Up – Early Espresso ink pad
Ranger – Distress Ink – Vintage Photo
Sponge dauber
Stamping platform
Scissors
Don’t forget to come join in the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog. There’s a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to the Dies R Us Store.
For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below.
The candles are lit in the windows to welcome you home to a house reminiscent of a red-brick four-square house popular in the early 20th century America. This is the fifth 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.
Papers Used: The house is cut from a dark red cardstock with the windows and porch posts cut from shiny cream which is recycled from an old store-bought card. The red, dark blue 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.
I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Vintage Photo Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob and a wreath cut with a Tonic Studios die set, complete the door. A fir tree is also cut from the Tonic set.
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. (The second floor center window seems to have a draft.)Click here to see more photos of how the candles were made.
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 squares 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
I used two stamps on the envelope flap. I stamped Season’s in red and then masked it with a sticky note and stamped the greetings circle (which has a different sentiment in its center) in dark green.
Coming home to a house glowing warm with the smell of wood smoke in the air. What more could one want for the holidays? This card is the fourth house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.
The card is a slight deviation from the die set’s easel card. This card uses a DIY slider base with the ribbon smoke and chimney as the pull tab. The house still is an easel card, but one that is operated by a slider tab. (A good video on DIY slider easel cards is by Maggi Harding.)
The house is cut from heavy card stock in a pale blue that has been in my stash from a card kit. The dark blue and pale yellow come from monotone color packs of cardstock by Recollections. Note that there is a pale-yellow outline layer of the house that provides the window inside color as well as framing the outside edge of the house. The card base is cut from heavy weight white cardstock and white glitter paper.
This card 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.
I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Salty Ocean Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob and a wreath cut with a Tonic Studios die set, complete the door.
The welcome mat 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 tape was used to adhere the mat to the sliding tab.
The windows all have a piece of pale blue organza ribbon taped behind the window frames to give the shine of glass and the rosy glow comes from some shading with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink on the pale-yellow cardstock. The boy and woman decorating a Christmas trees that can be seen in the windows are from an older Tonic Studios Toy Emporium die set. Also, from the Tonic set is the outside fir tree and door wreath.
The slider tab was first embossed using a brick stencil (See video by The Paper Boutique on dry embossing with stencils) and then inked with Fired Brick Distress Ink. To make the mortar lines standout, I used a white gel pen. I cut the chimney extra-long so I could fold it over and strengthen the pub tab and so I could punch a hole to thread the ribbon through and secure it to the back side.
The “Season’s Greetings” was stamped in red and is revealed when the chimney tab is pulled up. A personal message can be written below the “From our home to yours” heat embossed sentiment on the tab below the chimney. These stamps are from the Winter Woodland stamp set by Sheena Douglas. (NOTE: I would recommend stamping the revealed sentiments before assembling the card. I tried to do mine after assembling the slider and it was impossible to get a good enough impression to heat embossing the Season’s Greetings using a stamping platform.)
I used another stamp from the Winter Woodland set on the envelope flap to give a hint about the chimney pull on the card.
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