A CAS’ed Birthday Card

This card was made for Craft Roulette #236 whose parameters included use a small bag, cornucopia colors, CAS a card from Craft Roulette #235 submissions and splatters.

Cardbase: I used a purchased 5×7 gatefold cardbase and envelope.

Card Front: Terre’s card in the Craft Roulette #235 Contributions Gallery was the card I based my card front on. I changed up the dark starry paper to a more colorful ink blended background with white splatters instead of star shapes. I used a red ringed planet instead of earth as the center focal point but stamped β€œHBD2U” in the upper left corner, where Terre had put her sentiment, and also in the lower right corner to balance the elements.

Pop-Up Bag: Inside the card is a small gift bag that pops-up to hold a small sealed bag of sequins and shaker elements. The dies that make the bag and the pop-up mechanism arm are by Karen Burniston. The mechanism arm if installed just as it is in the assembly video for the Flip Frame Pop-Up but the Mini Gift Bag back is attached to the arm rather than the frame and the bottom of the bag is glued to the cardbase. The bag is made from thin decorative paper and the handles are hemp cording.

Sentiments: β€œHBD2U” Happy Birthday” and β€œAn itty-bitty gift for your big day!” are all stamped in black ink using the Craft Roulette Funn Sentiments #01 stamp set. The β€œInspired by Craft Roulette, Made by” and cat head stamps are from the Craft Roulette The basics set.

Envelope: The card fits into an A7 (5x 7-inches) size 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 😊

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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

  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Mini Gift Bag – 1255
  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Flip Frame Pop-Up – 1134

Stamps

  • Craft Roulette – Clear Stamps – Funn Sentiments #01
  • Craft Roulette – Clear Stamps – The Basics

Papers

  • Hot Off The Press – 12×12 Single-Sided Paper – Sun’s Border – HOTP-20551
  • White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Hero Arts – Alcohol-Marker Friendly Ink Pad – Intense Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Dried Marigold, Fossilized Amber, Lumberjack Plaid, Twisted Citron
  • Avery Elle – White Ink Spray
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks
  • Scissors
  • Craft Mat
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Blending Brushes
  • Water Mister

Miscellaneous

  • Cousin – D.I.Y. – Natural Hemp Cord #20

Little Ladybug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

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

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Pom-Pom String

Winter Bag Bear

Needing something cute to put a gift card in with a winter theme, I quickly created this mini gift bag with a polar bear holding a heart.

Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release includes the Mini Gift Bag die set that makes a collapsing bag that will hold a gift card and fit in the palm of your hand.

If you use a patterned paper that doesn’t have a design with a distinct up and down to it, you can cut the entire bag from a 6×6 piece of paper.

I use red vellum to cut a heart with the heart die in the set.  The bear is from the Winter Animals set and the tiny heart he holds comes from the Safari Animals sets.

For the bag handles, I used 1/4-inch wide organza ribbon tied as a loop for each side with the knots hidden inside the bag.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Ink N’ Splatter – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Winter Blues
  • The Paper Studio – 8.5×11-inch – Red Vellum
  • White, Red and Gray Cardstock

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Blue Organza Ribbon – 1/4-inch wide

Bagged and Tagged

Beautiful holiday papers inspired this gift card holder/Christmas card.

It uses two of the new die sets in Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Mini Gift Bag and Topper Tags.

Cardbase: Cut two tags using the largest die in the topper tags set from decorative paper. From the same double-sided paper cut a strip 5×1/2-inch and fold lengthwise in half for the card hinge. Glue the hinge to the tag edges to form the inside of the card. Tie ribbon through the tag hole on each side of the card.

Gift Bag: Plan out what images you want to see on the mini gift bag when it is attached. Center the larger of the two bag dies using the square opening over your desired image making sure the top flat die edge with holes is at the top of your image. (I have a few upside-down paper bags in my stash.) Assemble bag as shown on the packaging. Glue the flat side of the bag to the inside of the card. Add the ribbon handle by threading ribbon through the holes and knotting it inside the bag.

Sentiments: The main sentiments of β€œMerry & Bright,” β€œMerry Christmas,” and β€œWarm Wishes” are all on the decorative cardstock. The white tag label inside for a personal message is cut from smallest tag in the tag set and uses the heart hole protector also in the set.

Envelope: The tag card easily fits into a #10 business 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

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Warm Winter Wishes
  • White and Red Cardstock
  • #10 Business Envelope – Kraft

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Red Organza Ribbon – 1/4-inch wide

12 Days of Christmas Gift Bags Tree

Need a fun way to give gift cards? Make a gift bag tree.

I used the new Mini Gift Bag die set by Karen Burniston to make 12 bags using patterned papers from a 12 Days of Christmas collection. You could use a jewelry tree or any other style of tree that would hold a number of bags. I made my own tree from foam core board and clear glitter. I plan to add gift cards, candy, crafting supplies and jewelry to my mini gift bags.

Bags: Cut out the bag pieces using the two bag dies for each bag. (If you use pattern paper with a design that has a top and bottom make sure the flat top of the die with the holes is at the top of your paper’s design top too.) Train the folds of the pieces. (I start with the tabs and fold that goes across near the bottom of the bag and then do the diagonal folds on the side that make the bag bottom fold up.) Fold the large back piece as directed on packaging and then add glue to the long side tabs. Glue front onto tabs. Fold in the tabs on bag bottom and glue shut. (You could use narrow double-sided tape instead of glue.) Let glue dry before adding ribbon or cording for handles. (I threaded the cording through the holes and tied knots to hold the cording inside the bag.) Using the Mini Alphabet and Numbers set, I glued gold numbers onto the front and backs of the bags.

Tree: Trace two of the trees from the downloadable pattern below onto foam core. (Pattern was cut from an 8.5×11-inch sheet of paper.) On one tree I made the slit go from the middle up and the other tree the slit go from the middle down. Using a craft knife cut out the trees. Fit the two trees together and adjust the fit by trimming off bits of the slits as needed. Use white paint (I used gesso) to cover any pen or pencil marks. Place the tree on a large sheet of paper to catch extra glitter. Cover a section of the tree with glue and sprinkle clear glitter over the tree to cover. Use the large sheet of paper to put extra glitter back into its container. Repeat gluing and glittering a new section until tree is covered with glitter.

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

  • Crafter’s Companion – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – 12 Days of Christmas
  • Matte Gold Cardstock
  • White Foam Core Board

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Early Espresso
  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Walnut Stain
  • Dark Green Fine Tipped Marker
  • Farber-Castell – Pitt Artist Pen- Bullet Nib – White-101 Marker – Snow
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Recollections Opaque Marker – Snow
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Cording – Thin Gold and Thick Gold/Green/Red
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz Distress – Rock Candy Clear Glitter

Chevron Bag – Part II

Quick and clever gift bags for small treats were needed and the Divinity Designs Chevron Background die provided the visual pop required.

I cut three the background die three times from coordinating papers to make each of these bags. Then I placed each pattern paper pieces in separate bags so as not to lose any of the pieces especially the tiny triangles. I also kept the thin L-shaped scrap pieces from the edges of the die-cutting to be used as bag handles.

Next, I glued the frame onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch piece of thin white paper placing dots of glue at the zig-zag points and the outside frame. (You will see that I used scrap paper for the backing that had black printing on it knowing that it would be covered with a another backing paper.)

Then the fun part of deciding on the positioning of the different papers within the frame and making a duplicate frame as well.

(I found that laying out the chevron strips and gluing the strips in place from the bottom up worked well with the duplicate frame as a guide in case of the strips being mixed-up.)

Once the glue has dried, trim the backing paper overhang away from the frame on both pieces.

Depending on the size of your paper, you may have enough scrap pieces to make the sides and/or a bottom of the bag. (I found that using 4.5 x 6.5 inches sized paper made me use two additional pieces to cut the sides (2 1/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches) and a bottom piece of 2 1/4 inches by 4 1/2 inches.)

The bottom piece is scored at 1/8 inch on the long sides and 1/4 inch along one end of the piece while the other end is marked where it needs to be folded by holding the bottom piece up to the bottom edge of the chevron frame.

Scoring the long edges of the side pieces at 1/ 8 inch is the first step for marking the sides. Using a pencil and a ruler draw a pencil line down the center each side piece. Mark a dot at 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the center line and draw a line from the center dot to each of the corner bottom edges to from a triangle. Erase the line that is in the center of the triangle. Score along the remaining pencil lines. Mountain fold the 1/8 inch edges. Valley fold the pencil line folds.

Glue the tabs of the bottom piece to the insides of the chevron pieces and side bottom pieces.

Glue the side tabs to one of the chevron pieces, using your finger to adhere the tabs to the front pierce. Glue the remaining side tabs using a long tool such as a pencil or pen to adhere the tabs to the back piece.

Glue the L-shape scraps to the inside of the chevron pieces. Then adhere two 3 7/8 inches by 5 1/8 inches pieces of white paper to cover the bottom and side tabs and handle ends on the inside of the chevron pieces.  If you have a piece of leftover decorative paper that will fit the bottom of the bag glue it into place as well.

Like this bag? Check out this week’s other bag.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • WRF Studio – Romance 4.5” x 6.5” Design Paper Pad (230gsm Heavyweight Cardstock)
  • White paper

Miscellaneous

Chevron Bag-Part I

Quick and clever gift bags for small treats were needed and the Divinity Designs Chevron Background die provided the visual pop required.

I cut three the background die three times from coordinating papers to make each of these bags. Then I placed each pattern paper pieces in separate bags so as not to lose any of the pieces especially the tiny triangles. I also kept the thin L-shaped scrap pieces from the edges of the die-cutting to be used as bag handles.

Next, I glued the frame onto a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch piece of thin white paper placing dots of glue at the zig-zag points and the outside frame. (You will see that I used scrap paper for the backing that had black printing on it knowing that it would be covered with a another backing paper.)

Then the fun part of deciding on the positioning of the different papers within the frame and making a duplicate frame as well.

(I found that laying out the chevron strips and gluing the strips in place from the bottom up worked well with the duplicate frame as a guide in case of the strips being mixed-up.)

Once the glue has dried, trim the backing paper overhang away from the frame on both pieces.

Depending on the size of your paper, you may have enough scrap pieces to make the sides and bottom of the bag. (I found that a 6 x6 inches piece allowed for one side piece of about 2 inches by 5 1/4 inches and a bottom piece of 2 inches by 4 1/2 inches.)

The bottom piece is scored at 1/8 inch on the long sides and 1/4 inch along one end of the piece while the other end is marked where it needs to be folded by holding the bottom piece up to the bottom edge of the chevron frame.

Scoring the long edges of the side pieces at 1/ 8 inch is the first step for marking the sides. Using a pencil and a ruler draw a pencil line down the center each side piece. Mark a dot at 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the center line and draw a line from the center dot to each of the corner bottom edges to from a triangle. Erase the line that is in the center of the triangle. Score along the remaining pencil lines. Mountain fold the 1/8 inch edges. Valley fold the pencil line folds.

Glue the tabs of the bottom piece to the insides of the chevron pieces and side bottom pieces.

Glue the side tabs to one of the chevron pieces, using your finger to adhere the tabs to the front pierce. Glue the remaining side tabs using a long tool such as a pencil or pen to adhere the tabs to the back piece.

Glue the L-shape scraps to the inside of the chevron pieces. Then glue two 3 7/8 inches by 5 1/8 inches pieces of white paper to cover the bottom and side tabs and handle ends on the inside of the chevron pieces.  If you have a piece of leftover decorative paper that will fit the bottom of the bag glue it into place as well.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s bag from other other papers for a different look.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • WRF Studio – Romance 4.5” x 6.5” Design Paper Pad (230gsm Heavyweight Cardstock)
  • Lawn Fawn double-sided 6” x 6” patterned cardstock from my stash
  • White paper

Miscellaneous

Faux Leather Bag

A favorite leather bag has a certain smell and memories of all the fun times with friends and family. This little faux tooled leather bag can add to those memories.

Made with the tote die set by Divinity Designs, a crafting company based out of Ohio, the bag goes together relatively easily. I looked at the assembly video before making, but I assembled the bag mesh pockets a little differently.

Cut two each of the front/back, side, mesh pocket, handle, pocket pleat, front/back layer and handle layer from brown Kraft cardstock. Cut one each of front pocket flap, front pocket flap layer, pocket layer, and stitched belt buckle set from brown Kraft cardstock. Cut two front/back layers from brown paper. Cut one each of the buckle and pin from orange foil cardstock.

Using the tote embossing insert plate and your embossing sandwich for your die-cutting machine emboss the two front/back layers and pocket flap and pocket layers.

With an ink blending sponge, darken the edges of all pieces, especially the stitched areas with brown ink.  Rub the embossed layering pieces to highlight the β€œtooled” design.  Glue the layers onto their base pieces.

To assemble, I glued the mesh pocket tabs on to the side tabs first, bowing out the mesh pocket. Next, I adhered the bottom side tabs to the bottom rectangle of one of the front/back pieces. Glue the other bottom rectangle over the top of the first rectangle to hide the side tabs. Next adhere the side tabs to the front/back pieces. Take your time to hold the tabs in place until the glue sets.

Shape the handles by running them through your fingers to bend them into an arch shape. Glue rounded ends of on handle to the front of the bag. Repeat with handle for the back side of bag.

To assemble the front pocket, pleat the two pocket pleats and glue one tab to the inside of the front pocket tab. Repeat with the other pocket pleat. Fold the bottom tab of Front pocket over the ends of pleats and glue corners. Fold over the front pocket flap tab and glue its corners to the top pleat corners.  Glue assembled pocket to front of bag.  Thread large brown stitched belt piece through foil buckle and glue pin in place. Fold tiny stitched brown piece around larger piece as the loop that holds the belt tongue in place. Glue top of belt piece to pocket flap and loop tabs to pocket. This belt with hold the pocket flap securely closed.

I used some tiny star brads that I had in my stash to reinforce the handles to the bag. I punched the starter holds with an old ice pick or awl and a sanding block inside the bag. Once the brads were in place, I glued the front/back layer over the inside of the bag to hide the brads and side tabs.

All of the glued layers make for a study bag that measures 6 ΒΌ inches high x 5 inches wide and 2 inches deep.  I plan to gift a lovely scarf and earrings in this bag.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Dies

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz’s Distress Ink – Vintage Photo

Papers

  • Heavy weight 8 Β½ inches x 11 inches brown cardstock
  • Brown kraft paper
  • Orange foil cardstock scraps

Additional Supplies: