Flowers

A Gingham Fence Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek Week for Karen Burniston’s June 2023 Release.

Today I’m featuring a picket fence accordion card using the new Fence Landscape Accordion Add-On die set which includes two kinds of flowers and some grass. Along with the previously released Landscape Rectangle Accordion set, this add-on lets you make a two or more panel interactive card. (I have made a similar card before, but I had to fussy cut the fence out. This die is a time saver.)

Watch the assembly video for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion (at the bottom of link page) before starting this card.

Cardstock needed for fence and frame should be of a heavyweight if cut in one layer, but lighter weight patterned papers can be used, but you will need to back them with more cardstock. (I used double-sided cardstock for my gingham frames and a single sided woodgrain paper for my fence and cut two layers for fence and frame.)

Accordion Frames: I cut four frame panels from a yellow-green gingham cardstock and two frame panels from a larger blue gingham cardstock. Two of the frame panels I trimmed the inside rectangle panel down to a center bar for the fence post to be glued onto. The other two panels I cut away the entire rectangle, leaving only the small pivot wings. (While I cut off the tabs on the pivot wings only frames, I would recommend waiting to trim off the tabs until you are ready to assemble the three panels together. I made a mistake in my assembly and had to patch in a tab that I had cut off earlier.)

The other two panels I cut away the entire rectangle, leaving only the small pivot wings. (While I cut off the tabs on the pivot wings only frames, I would recommend waiting to trim off the tabs until you are ready to assemble the three panels together. I made a mistake in my assembly and had to patch in a tab that I had cut off earlier.)

Repeat the trimming of the blue checked frames to have one frame with the center bar and one frame with the pivot wings.

Glue three sides of each set of frames (one center bar and one pivot wings) together leaving the tab side with no glue. (You will need to be able to hide the tab of the adjacent panel by gluing it between the layers of the frame.)

Fence: I cut six fence panels from woodgrain paper. (If I had to do it again, I would use a single layer of solid white card stock to eliminate the need for the next step.)

I trimmed of the end fence post on the three fence pieces that would be backing pieces, removing the tabs as shown.

Glue the front fence piece to the center bar. You may want to trim the center bar some to be hidden behind the fence post. Turn over panel and glue the back fence piece to the front piece, piecing in the separted post.

Place weights over glued fence layers so they dry flat. (I used clear stamping blocks and my cell phone as weights.)

I forgot and glued shut my layers on the frames, so I covered over the tabs with the tabs that had been cut off. I recommend decorating the fence before you glue the fence tabs together.

Flowers:  I tried something I had seen Karen Burniston do in one of her videos where she covered her cardstock with clear packing tape before die-cutting into it to get shiny pieces. I did this for my green leaves and stems. For the grass I used shiny green cardboard packaging.

For the flower heads, I used shiny cardboard packaging from a well know yellow cereal box and a shiny piece of blue junk mail. I cut a front and a back for each flower head as some will show through the fence. (This made for thick, dimensional flower heads.) The stems were sandwiched between the flower heads’ front and back layers. I made an assembly line for making the 12 yellow flowers using glue and a Quikstick to pick-up and place the tiny brown centers on the flowers.  When placing your flowers on the fence, remember not to place anything that will be a catchpoint below the fence or above the fence post. (I had thought about adding a small bird to the top of the fence, but it was too tall.)

Sentiments: For the front of the card, I used the “on your Big Day” from the newly released Word Set 17 – Congratulations. On the back of the card, I used the previously released “Happy Birthday” die set.  I also added a circle charm from the new Game Charms to write a personal message with a piece of ribbon. (You could also use the large circle charm in the Sports Charm set.)

Envelope: This card fits into an A6 envelope that I glued a strip of gingham cardstock to its back flap.

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

  • Echo Park – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper Collection – Best Summer Ever
  • Honey Bee Stamps – 6×8.5 Double-Sided 65# Cardstock – Grain and Grunge
  • Brown, Green and White Cardstock
  • Shiny Yellow and Blue Upcycled packaging and Junk Mail
  • A6 Ivory Envelope

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Grey Blue Organza Ribbon- 1/4” wide
  • Clear Packing Tape

Mother’s Day Blossoms

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek Week for Karen Burniston’s June 2023 Release.

Mother’s Day is a special time to send photos of one’s children. What better way than to include their smiling faces in a garden themed card. This card features Karen Burniston’s new Twist Flower Pop-Up die set as well as two previously released sets – Happy Mother’s Day and the Long Rectangles – Crosshatch.

Cardbase: Cut a 7 1/4 inch x 8 1/2 inch rectangle of lime green cardstock. Fold in half longways to form a 8 1/2 inch tall by 3 5/8 inch wide side-fold card.

Flowers: Cut three sets of the large flower die in the Twist Flower Pop-Up set once in yellow, again in pink and lastly in reddish orange. (Total of nine flowers.) Cut four center circles from yellow and two center circles from dark green. Cut six of the tiniest flower die from dark green and three from yellow. (You may wish to cut enough pieces to assemble one more, large flower for the back of the card. I used some of my leftover pieces for the flower on the card back.) Glue the tiny flower to the circle and then the circle onto a large flower. Repeat until six flowers are assembled. Save the remaining three tiny flowers to decorate the envelope.

Print photos of faces that have been sized to fit inside a 1-inch square. (I used the software Publisher to make a 1-inch grid and then insert the photos to the correct size and printed onto an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of printer paper.) Cover the printed faces entirely with clear packing tape. Cut faces out using the center circle die.  Glue faces to three different colors of the large die-cut flowers.

Twist Bases: Cut three of the twist mechanisms from lime green cardstock using die in Twist Flower Pop-Up set.  Train all the folds. Fold mechanism into the bunny face (middle of photo) and glue the small tab at the end of an ear onto the other ear. When unfolded it should look like a basket handle (left in photo.)

Using temporary tape attach the flowers to mechanisms. Layout the mechanisms making sure nothing goes outside the cardbase when folded closed. Glue one triangular side of the mechanism and then close card to glue the second triangle side. Add leaves to flowers using temporary tape to check for catch-points. Glue flowers and leaves in their final spots after decorating the rest of the card. (I found that flower petals can rub against the mechanism making the card creak as it is open and closed, so check for catch-points before gluing the flowers onto the mechanism. My finished card has several catch-points or creaky points as noted in red on the photo below.)

Decorations:  Die-cut a border for the card front using the two largest dies in the Long Rectangles – Crosshatch set. The leftover center rectangle can be used on the back of the card. (Because my remaining piece of the green dotted cardstock was not big enough to cut a whole new frame, I just cut four stripes using the dies still taped together for the frame.) These border stripes are used inside the card to cover the mechanism edges and create a trellis effect for the three large flowers used as decoration beside the pop-up flowers.  Along with the sentiment, three of the large flowers with leaves are used on the card front. Cut three hearts using the die in the Twist Flower Pop-Up set to place above a white personal message label. (I cut my label using the fourth largest die in the Long Rectangles – Crosshatch set and trimmed it to needed width.) From the Twist Flower set cut two of the daisy border from white cardstock. Add flower centers either by die-cutting tiny circles using the die that will cut 12 circles or use enamel drops. (I used Nuvo drops that I had to let dry overnight before gluing them in place.) The back of the card is decorated with leftover pieces.

Sentiment:  Using the shadow die from the Happy Mother’s Day set, cut one from shimmer cardstock. Cut the words from green cardstock. Glue together.

Envelope: Glue the three tiny flowers to the back of the envelope flap.

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

  • Catherine Pooler – 6×6 Single-Sided Paper Pad – Zen Plaid
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Green Heavyweight Cardstock
  • White Lightweight Cardstock
  • Lime Green Polka-Dotted Cardstock
  • #10 Business Envelope – Cream

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Nuvo Crystal Drops – Dandelion Yellow
  • Clear Packing Tape

Rock-A-Bye Baby

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for June. We were asked to use the theme of wedding or baby. I have chosen to welcome a new baby.

To create this pop-up cradle swing, the following Karen Burniston’s dies were used: Bam Box Pop-Up, Crosshatch Hexagons, Picnic Elements, Christmas Trees Pop-Stand, a rubber band and some embroidery floss.

Cardbase and Pop-Stands: Cut an 11×4.25-inch piece of pink cardstock and fold to form a 5.5×4.25-inch top fold cardbase. (Watch Christmas tree pop-stand assembly video at the bottom of the die’s page.) Cut two pieces of decorative paper as 5.25×4-inches and use clear tape on the back side for placement in card. Use the hexagon for the cradle stand to determine placement of the pop-stand die-cuts. Using decorative paper scraps, cover the four holes that pop-stands leave on back side of paper.

Cradle Stand: taping the largest two plain hexagons from the crosshatch hexagon set, die cut two from heavy pink cardstock. Trim bottom edge .25-inch so that it will measure 4.25-inches or less to fit into cardbase.

Cradle: From the two leftover hexagons, die cut the checker grid from the blanket in the picnic elements set. (Watch assembly video at the bottom of the bam box page.) Create a white bam box and cut four pieces of the checker grid to be the sides of the bam box cradle. Cut two 6-inch pieces of green floss or cord. Glue floss/cord to bottom of bam box. Tape square pink end pieces to bottom of bam box with the floss glued to checker grid pieces. (I would recommend cord as the floss unraveled on me. Also I would glue the checker grid onto thin white copier paper to make less catch-points on the cradle.) Glue longer pink sides to bam box sides to form cradle. Use a border from the party border blends to create a finished edge of the cradle from gold foil cardstock. Glue the floss between the top bar of the two hexagons. Pull floss to make cradle hang straight before glue sets. Trim off excess floss once glue has dried. Cut one bam box decorator side piece from pink speckled paper and trim to fit the cradle as a blanket.

To make the cradle close, flatten bam box and fold in the square ends with floss. Hold flat as card is closed.

Blanket and Bears: Cut from pearlescent paper the fringed picnic blanket and from cream paper the checkered grid. glue together. Cut three teddy bears from light brown cardstock using bear die from the holiday charms set. Using the stencil features in the bear die, ink in eyes, nose and mouth with a black gel pen and the ears with a pink gel pen. One bear is in the cradle and other is on the blanket. The last bear is on the envelope flap.

Decorations: Flower borders cut from pink speckle paper using the long nature borders 2 set, are used on the cradle stand frame and card front and back. (Front with yellow Nuvo drops centers and back with pink gel pen stenciling.) More of the party border blends borders,cut from white cardstock, are used on all card panels. (See assembly video explaining how to get the border on the card back.)

Personal Message Label: The largest crosshatch label die from the rectangles and labels die set was cut in white.The thin metallic pink frame was made by using the largest label frame and the crosshatch label dies taped together. (This was a leftover piece I had saved from another project.)

Sentiment: Two sentiments were used to create the “Welcome BABY” on the card front. Welcome is its own die set with word (white) and shadow (pink speckle) dies. BABY is from the baby charms set which was cut once each from white and from pink and blue speckled papers. The blocks base is cut from white. Some paper piecing was done using pieces from the different papers to created the colorful blocks.

Envelope: The card fits an A2 size envelope.with the back flap decorated with a strip of the decorative paper and the last teddy bear.

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

  • Craft Consortium – Hackney & Co.- 6″x6″ Double-Sided 200gm Papers – English Garden
  • Lawn Fawn – 6″x6″ Double-Sided Paper Pad – Spiffy Speckles
  • Bazzill – 8.5″ x 11″ Heavy Cardstock – Cotton Candy
  • White, Cream and Cream Pearlescent Cardstock
  • Gold Foil and Pink Holographic Scraps
  • Staples – Invitation A2 Envelope – Pink

Ink

  • Gel Pen – Pink
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Scissors
  • Craft Knife
  • Bone Folder
  • Kat Scrappiness – Telescopic Embossing Powder Tool with Retractable Brush
  • Quickstik Tool

Miscellaneous

Seasonal Cards

| ullycatdesigns

Recently, I had the honor of attending a workshop taught by Kittie Caracciolo who makes wonderful and detailed dimensional cards using Rubbernecker Stamps products. The workshop was part of the Stamp and Scrapbook EXPO – Orlando.

Rubbernecker Stamps makes some wonderful dies to create scenes that fit an A2 size card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inches). Using a sponge tool similar to an eye shadow applicator, Kittie showed us how to color our die-cuts using Color Fuse Inks to create shading that rounded objects and gave dimension to animals. Foam strips helped with the physical layering on the snowy scene and to make the white scalloped rectangle stand out on the pink flowers in the watering can.

I added eyes to both deer and a nose with a ultra fine tipped black pen and white spots to the fawn with a gel pen.

I added yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops to the flower centers.

As Kittie suggested, I went home and heat embossed the leaves with clear embossing powder to give them some shine.

Mother’s Day Keepsake Card

| ullycatdesigns

Recently I received a commission to make a Mother’s Day card that was to have all four of her children’s birthdays and names on it. The recipient likes gardening, traditionally receives flowers on Mother’s Day to plant in her garden and may soon be moving to a new home.

I began by looking through my paper stash and settled on a Graphic 45 paper collection that featured flowers of the months.  Karen Burniston’s Waterfall Card dies made it easy to create four different waterfall panels. It was the backgrounds panels for the card that were a bit more difficult since I had already cut into the papers for other projects. I ended up piecing together stripes of the flowers from the various months needed for the front of the card and a patchwork for the inside top panel. For the inside bottom panel that the waterfall rests on, I made stripes of the ribbon from the various flower papers. The card back is a whole piece of flowered cardstock.

Having reviewed the waterfall assembly video, I knew that a 5×7 (A7 size) card base with a top fold could accommodate the waterfall. For the hidden message of “love you,” I used the words from Karen Burniston’s Words Set 13 to die-cut into the decorative panel that goes to the pull strip. The background papers had all been adhered to the purchased card base when I die cut the finger semi-circle into the card base bottom panel. Having assembled the waterfall mechanism, I then stapled it onto the card base as shown in the assembly video.

For the customization of the names and birthdays, I used the postage stamp ephemera pieces from the paper collection for the month and then added the names and dates using Karen Burniston’s Mini Alphabet and Numbers die set.

Card Back

Ribbon can hide a multiple of small mistakes and liven up a card. On this card it softens the staples on the back of the card and brightens up the card front. The front sentiment is Karen Burniston’s “Happy Mother’s Day” which includes a shadow background die in the set. The white label inside can be used for a personal message and is cut using the largest of the fancy labels in the Crosshatch Rectangles and Labels die set.

The envelope uses more of the flowered paper for the back flap.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Flower Market Collection
  • DCWV – Textured Cardstock Stack 12×12 – Brights
  • Black Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Card Base and Envelope – White

Pens

  • Pigma Micronn – Archival Ink – 01 Tip – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker -Ultra Fine Point – Black

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Yellow Organza 3/4-Inch Wide Ribbon

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

Mother’s Day Flower Cart Pop-Up Card

| ullycatdesigns

Flowers for Mother’s Day is traditional. A pop-up flower cart just adds to the fun.

This card uses Karen Burniston’s pop-stand mechanism die to make the market cart builder dies by Honey Bee Stamps really stand-up in an otherwise flat card.

Card Base:  I watched a variety of videos on how to use the market cart dies as well as the assembly video for the Christmas Trees Pop Stand before I decided on an A2 (5 ½ x 4 1/4-inch) top fold card base. The inside of the cardbase was blended with green and black inks over the fold and then covered with two panels of green printed paper. I used the cart die to mark where the two pop-stands needed to be and die-cut them one at a time. I then covered the four holes created in the card base with small scrapes of the green paper adhered to the back of the card base. Finally, I covered the outside of the card base with green paper.

Cart:  I cut two of all the cart pieces – wheels in black and a pink foil, cart base and shelf from a heavy pink cardstock, roof and cart trim from lightweight cream cardstock. There is a coordinating stencil for the roof and cart trim stripes which I used with a bright pink ink and sponger tool. The same ink was also used on the cart’s handles and posts. The two shelf pieces were glued one on top the other so that the tabs were on both sides. Taking one of the cart base pieces, I turned it over and glued a wheel, trim piece and the top edge of the roof onto the cart base. Under the roof I placed three foam squares to add dimension to the roof. I repeated the adhering of cart pieces on to the other cart base’s front side. The shelf piece was folded in half along the slot line and then glued to the back sides of the cart base pieces making sure the cart pieces all lined up when pressed flat. The top edge of the roofs was glued next. Finally, the pop-stand tabs were glued to the back of the cart’s two legs and two wheels.

Flowers:  Cutting two sets of the three kinds of flowers and leaves from colored cardstock scraps, I used markers and gel pens to color the embossing of the wee flowers. The edges of the leaves were inked with black. The six pails were cut from some silver holographic junk mail scrap. A Quickstik or pick-up tool is very useful when assembling these flowers. An inch long strip of cardstock was stuck through the fold in the cart shelf and glued to the shelf underside. The two rose pails were glued on either side of the strip. The other flower pails were glued to the cart legs and wheels to cover up the pop-stand tabs.

Sentiment and Labels: “Happy Mother’s Day” is a die cut sentiment that comes with a shadow die. Both pieces were cut from cream cardstock. The sentiment was inked with bright pink ink before being glued to the shadow piece. Labels were cut from cream and pink cardstock using the dies in the Crosshatch Rectangles and Labels die set.

Decorations: I used the green paper’s decorative borders to create fence-like borders on the card front and inside, as well as using smaller snips of the border on the card back and envelope. The envelope and card back snips have a heart drawn with a black gel pen.

See other flower stand cards:

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stencils

  • Honey Bee Stamps – Coordinating stencil -Market Cart -HBSL-085

Papers

  • Hot Off The Press – 12×12 Single-Sided Paper -Apple Green
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Heavy Cardstock – Cotton Candy
  • Bazzill – 12×12 Heavy Cardstock – Travertine
  • Black, Red and Cream Cardstock Scraps
  • A2 Green Envelope

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Abandon Coral, Mowed Lawn and Black Soot
  • Sharpie -Permanent marker- Ultra Fine Tip -Racey Red
  • Gel Pen – Hot Pink and Black
  • Pigma Micron – 05 – Brown

Adhesives

Tools

Rainbow Flowers Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

April showers bring May flowers and this birthday card delivers on a rainbow of colorful wishes and flowers.

This pop-up twist and pivot card features dies by Karen Burniston and papers by Honey Bee Stamps. A white cardstock rectangle of 10 x 6 3/8-inches folded in half was used to create a 5 x 6 3/8- inches top-fold cardbase.

To create the twist and pivot panels, I first watched several assembly videos to understand how to combine the two mechanical mechanisms. (The flower and train pivot panels are similar and the directions for adding the pivot panels to the twist panel pop-up starts about two-thirds through in this assembly video. The assembly video for the Twist Panel Pop-up is here towards the bottom of the page.)

Pop-Up Panels: Because I was limited to using paper from a single 6×6-inch paper pad, I found that the largest die was the flower pivot panel which had to be cut diagonally from the square of double-sided paper. Once this was cut, all other pieces had to be cut based off the direction of the stripes. Two dotted 6×6 squares were joined together with clear removable tape on their backsides and die-cut using the X mechanism die from the twist panel pop-up set.  I used the excess strip of 1-inch cut from both the square dot panels to fill-in the holes where the mechanism folds up. Next, I glued the dotted panels into the card base with the clear tape joint going into the fold. The arms of the mechanism were die-cut from purple and glued to the X mechanism.

Flowers: There are dies in the flower pivot panel that can create three different large flower heads and one smaller flower. I created six of the white daisy, three of the yellow flower, three of the red flower, four of the purple flower and one small purple flower with leaves. I attached the two panels die-cut from the twist panel set to the flower pivot panel as shown in the assembly video. Decorating all the panels when they are flat is the easiest. Once decorated, attach panels as directed in the twist panel assembly video.

Decorations: The card front and back panels were covered with single sheets of patterned paper. The front features rain and clouds cut from the back of the double-sided paper while the back features a stained glass effect sunset. Grass edging was cut from the excess green strip cut from the back panel paper and used with the extra flowers to decorate the front and back of the card.

Sentiments: A large shadowed “Happy Birthday” was die cut from red and yellow to standout on the dark front. Stamped Funny Bones sentiments from Riley and Company grace the inside of the card and the envelope’s back flap.

Envelope: The tiny purple flower with leaves finishes the envelope flap. The card fits into an A7 envelope.

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

  • Riley & Company – Funny Bones – A Year Older-RWD-1144
  • Riley & Company – Funny Bones – This Is An Annual Reminder -RWD-1142

Papers

  • Honey Bee Stamps -6×6 Double-Sided Cardstock Pad- Over the Rainbow
  • White cardstock 10 x 6 3/8-inches
  • A7 white Envelope

Ink

  • Simon Says Stamp – Premium Dye Ink – Slate

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • Pencil

Easter Bunny Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

I’ve been experimenting with taking Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion and cutting the pivot panel into a smaller string of shapes. For this card I used dies from her crosshatch circle and oval sets.

I made a template from heavy cardstock (110 lb) by first cutting a panel and then tracing around the dies to create a pattern. For the pattern, I used the second smallest oval for the center and the two smallest circles. (Make sure you don’t cut away the pivot mechanism at the top and bottom of the panel. The center point of the rectangle is the scored fold-line.) I fussy cut the pattern and then used it to trace onto my die-cut panels of double-sided medium-weight, patterned cardstock.

Now for the fun part – deciding what decorations to add. I pulled all my Easter and Spring dies out and tired various layouts to see what would fit.

after deciding to add a frame to dangle a charm from, I used the smallest crosshatch oval to die-cut the opening. Because the frame top was so thin, I used a needle and thread to create a string to dangle an egg charm. (The charm is made from two charms glued together.) The knotted thread ends were finished with dots of glue. (In hindsight, I would probably make the opening with a smaller circle so that the frame would be wider near the pivot points. See below, photos of another card that I cut a circle aperture.)

For the sentiment (in the Easter Charms Set), I traced around the outside of the die and fussy out to create a shadow for the words. I cut two of the sentiment and glued them together before attaching them to the shadow. To add some pizazz to words, I coated it with a glitter gloss and popped it up on foam squares over the flowers.

The flowers come from two different die sets, but the flowers are all the same. (This makes for quicker die-cutting when you two of the same die.) I find putting two flowers of similar colors together you get a fuller, more pleasing flower. I shaped my flowers using my fingers to curl the petal ends down while pushing the flower center down as well.

I mostly followed the packaging examples for the eggs, bunnies and chicks, but you can view the assembly video for the Easter Charms. I coated the chocolate bunny with a glossy clear gel after I had used the die to ink in the bunny’s eye with a white gel pen. I also added a tiny red grosgrain ribbon at his neck. For the Easter Bunny, I used a grey suede paper so he was fuzzy to the touch. (Here is the assembly video for the Spring Animals.)

After all the panels were decorated, I attached the frames and panels using there tabs as directed in their assembly video.

As you plan where your decorations will go, think about how thick they will be, if they will be attached using foam squares and if they will become catchpoints for the pivot mechanism or folds where the panels are joined. (I popped up a purple flower at an inside fold that some of the petals ended up creased and folded back.) I chose to keep the middle section as flat as I could, only popping up items on the outside panels/last panel.

The front panel introduces the Easter bunny theme while the back panel has a matted label popped up on foam squares for a personal message.

The card folds to fit into an A6 (4×6 inches) or larger envelope. It may require extra postage because of its thickness to post in the USA.

Below are photos of a similar string accordion card using the same papers, but with a religious theme and a circle aperture rather than an oval aperture in the center panel.

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

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Dare2BArtzy – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Honey Bloomz by Andie Hanna – Buds & Bloomz-PP1049
  • Hot Off The Press – 8.5×11 Faux Suede Paper – Smoke Suede – HOTP-10434
  • Colored Cardstock and Paper Scraps
  • A6 Envelope – Ivory

Pens/Gels

  • Gelly Roll – Gel Pen – White
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 – Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 05 – Brown
  • INC – Scented Gel Pen .08 – Grape
  • Orange and Pink Fine-Tipped Makers
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer Brush Pen – Glitter Gloss
  • Ranger – Glossy Accents

Miscellaneous