House

A Baby is Coming

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Baby is coming-Front envelope

Who doesn’t look forward to welcoming a new baby at Christmas? This card is the third house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

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.

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.

Baby is coming-Front open

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, 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 pads where used to adhere the mat to card and make it tall enough to act as an easel stop.

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 rocking horse and woman decorating a Christmas tree 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.

The ”Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house

Baby is coming-Front envelope

I used two stamps on the envelope flap. I stamped Joy in green and then masked it with a sticky note and stamped the wishing you circle (which has a different sentiment in its center) in blue.

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

Santa is Coming Tonight

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Santa is coming-open-wide

It’s Christmas Eve and the candles are lit in the windows to welcome Santa. This is the second 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.

Santa is coming-Side view

Papers Used: The house is cut from Bazzill heavy card stock in a 2014 color of Gold Coin. The dark blue, red 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.

Santa is coming-inking door

I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Walnut Stain Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob (which wasn’t put on yet in the photo) and a wreath made from green scraps and a piece of red embroidery floss, complete the door. Greenery was cut from food boxes to get the thickness using a greenery die by Christina Griffiths and snipped into smaller pieces and glued to a wreath shape cut freehand.

Santa is coming-windows-CU

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.

Santa is coming-Candles

I stamped Santa Sleigh on white cardstock and colored with colored pencils. I cut a strip of clear plastic packaging to sandwich between Santa and another piece of white cardstock. Before I glued the strip, laid-out the position of the house, Santa and the plastic strip on a slimline envelope to make sure all would fit inside the envelope.

Santa is coming-laying out

Other than having to trim a bit off each side of the eaves on the white card base, all fit.

Santa is coming-triming card base

I made pencil marks to note where the plastic would go on the backsides of the dark blue layer and Santa. The plastic is sandwiched between the blue layer of the house and the white card base layers.

Santa is coming-Santa gluing

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 pads 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

The envelope was stamped in read on cream envelope using vintage Disney stamps.

Santa is coming-card-envelope

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

From Our House to Your House

| ullycatdesigns

Snowy house -house CU

It’s a cold and blustery day where snow is covering everything. You’ve walked to your neighbor’s house down the lane to drop off a bit of Christmas cheer and now you’re walking back to your home all aglow in the afternoon sun. How lovely and welcoming it looks with its bright paint underneath all the snow.

This is the feeling I hope the recipient of this card will have when they open and display the card.

Snowy house -front

This is the first house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

The 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.

Snowy house -easel

I masked off the front door with sticky notes and used Walnut Stain Distress ink to darken the door and frame. A tiny drop of gold Nuvo Crystal Drops for the doorknob and a wreath made from green scraps and a piece of red embroidery floss, complete the door. Greenery was cut from food boxes to get the thickness using a greenery die by Christina Griffiths and snipped into smaller pieces and glued to a wreath shape cut freehand.

Snowy house -door CU

The welcome mat, which acts as the easel stop, was stamped and heat embossed using a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up set. Once heat embossed, it was weathered using Antique Linen Distress Ink on a sponge dauber.

The windows all have a piece of peach organza ribbon taped behind the window frames to give the shine of glass and the rosy glow of sunlight.

The ”Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house.

Snowy house -inside

The house is cut from Bazzill heavy card stock in a 2014 color of Gold Coin. The red 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.

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 – Keep the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

  • Stampin’ Up – At Home with You – stamps & die set 143681 (Retired)

Paper

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous

Back into the Swing of Things

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Back in the Swing -Inside-CU

Coming home after a long stay in the hospital deserves a cheerful card. Home Sweet Home may have a different meaning for those of us who have been fortunate enough to stay healthy during this year of COVID-19, but to a survivor it truly can be sweet.

Back in the Swing -front

The mechanical base for this card come from Karen Burniston’s House and Fence Pop-Up die set, as does the house. The fence, flowers, grass, tree and swinging girl come from the Xcut “Make Me” die set included in the Homemaker Die Cuts & Digi Stamps All-in-one Die & Digi Stamp Kit.

This is about the eighth time I have made this pop-up platform which is easy to use. I spent time exploring how to get the best embossing impression on the house by using fun foam to act as a shim. I inked the house and decoration on the tree and swinging girl with distress inks. The bushes are a scrap decorated with pink dots from the flowers.

Back in the Swing -Inside-wide

The front sentiment is another Karen Burniston die set which makes it quick and easy to create a stylized sentiment. The strawberry comes from the Park Lane paper pad as does the gingham tag inside the card.

I created the inside sentiment on the computer and used distress ink to color the background. If I were to print the sentiment again, I would ink the paper first and then print the words to minimize the black ink blurring.

The folded size of the card is 5 ½ inches by 5 ¾ inches. For interest, the bottom front edge is fussy cut along the printed scalloped edge.

Video is at https://spark.adobe.com/video/Ah8pNrimuXg8u.

Supplies

Dies

Paper

Inks

Miscellaneous

Stable Happy Mail

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7 Stable-front-opened

Everyone likes Happy Mail and this one is made for a family of horse lovers. After making a z-fold card using a gate and fencing, I envisioned this horse paddock card.

5 Stable-folded envelope

The card is designed to fit folded into a #10 slimline envelope.

I laid-out the fence first on a 2 ½ inch x 12-inch strip of textured cardstock folding it long-ways in half and then scored at 3 inches and 9 inches. Draw pencil lines for the fence posts at: 1/4 inch, 1 7/16 inches, 1 9/16 inches, 2 7/8 inches, 3 inches, 3 1/8 inches, 4 7/16 inches, 4 9/16 inches, 5 7/16 inches, 6 1/16 inches, 7 7/16 inches,, 7 9/16 inches, 8 7/8 inches, 9 inches,, 9 1/8 inches, 10 7/16 inches, 10 9/16 inches, and 11 ¾ inches. Next, I evenly spaced three boards long-ways and colored in the spaces to be cut out. Using an Xacto craft knife and metal ruler I cut out the colored spaces on the folded over strip measuring 1 ¼ x 12 inches. (I recommend coloring in the cutout spaces as it gets very confusing, and like me, you have to start over again.)  (If you have the Karen Burniston Farm Edges die set or another fence die set, you could piece together the fence rather than cutting it as I did.)

3 Stable-Fence cut

The last cutting is to trim one half of the endposts off (See photo). Once the fence is done being cut, glue the wrong sides together to form a sturdy fence. I used distress inks to color the fence.

4 Stable-Fence endpost

The stable doors are sized to fit the Karen Burniston horse die. I cut three horses and decorated them differently using a black fine tipped pen and watercolor pencils. (Watch the assembly video for decoration ideas and tips). The doors are loosely based of the retired Stampin’ Up barn door set. I cut pieces of woodgrain paper to form the trim pieces and glued. The sliding door hardware is from the Stampin’Up set. Because the door is smaller than the die set door, I had to do a modified cutting of the slots that the door slides on.  I followed the door assembly method described in this video by The Creativity Cave.

6 Stable-front-unopened

The sentiments are from the barn door set. You will need to cut two pieces of wood grained paper for the stable at 4 x6 inches. Once you have cut the door slots out of the front piece, and assembled the door, you can adhere the backing piece with the grain sided facing the back side of the front. (The grain will camouflage the slot cuts. Make sure you don’t glue your acetate door mechanism to the backing piece. Test your door before the glue dries if you need to make adjustments. Stamp and cut out your sentiments and adhere behind the doors. Glue one horse head to be peaking out from the stall door and the glue door onto stable.

7 Stable-front-opened

Glue the fence endposts to the front of the stable once the doors and decorations have been added to the front of the stable. Add the horses to your paddock by gluing one to the back of the front fence and the other by using a strip of clear plastic from packaging (It needs to be sturdier than acetate.) to glue the acetate in place, first glue one side the inside of the side fencing. Fold the paddock flat to one side and see where the plastic strip folded tab ends up on the fence and, then glue to that spot.

You can write your personal message on the back of the stable.

Supplies

Stamps/Dies

Inks/Watercolors

Paper

  • Textured 12 x12 off white card stock from my stash
  • All other papers were from my scrap bin

Miscellaneous

An Old-Time Christmas

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1 Parlor-Wide

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are credited with popularizing the idea that families need evergreen trees adorned with babbles and sweet treats at Christmas.  This fold-out parlor card is in that tradition.

1 Tree CU

Christmas Tree:  The tree frame and pop-up mechanism were made using Karen Burniston’s Christmas tree pop-up die set. I embossed thin copier paper with the saucer die from Karen Burniston’s Cup Pop Stand die set and then cut a circle of cardstock to back it. Using the tabs cutting die from the Christmas tree set, I cut tabs on the embossed saucer to make the tree skirt. Next, I assembled the tree (an assembly video is on the link to die set below) and decorated it using fir branches from the Gemini fireplace accessories pack, ornaments from the Gemini Yuletide treasures die set, and candy canes and gingerbread men from Sara Davis’ Frosty Christmas die set. (The ornaments have glitter glue, Nuvo Drops and Aqua Shimmer on them.) The two star pieces are cut twice from recycled foil from an envelope liner. Once the tree was decorated, it was attached to its brown tree stand and then glued to the tree skirt tabs. Placement on card was based off where the furniture and tree would be when the card was closed.  A portion of the tree skirt was trimmed to fit the card size.

1 Furniture wide

Furniture:  Using Karen Burniston’s Family Room Pop-up die set I altered the style of sofa and changed the chair into a table. I cut the base pop-up mechanism from clear acetate and made the chair arms lower by trimming some of the middle arm piece off and adhere the remaining sides together. Next, I embossed some blue cardstock with an embossing folder by Jennifer Ellory to create brocade fabric for the sofa. I used the sofa seat/back piece to cut the basic shape and then trimmed and added an additional sofa back piece cut from Olga Direktorenko’s Elegant Room sofa die. I made my own template for the brown base and legs of the sofa trying to mimic an empire style settee. A separate back sofa piece was also cut with the Elegant Room die. The Family Room die set has the cushions die and pop-out mechanism on the sofa seat. The tea table was created using the table die from the Elegant Room die set and a Spellbinder’s scalloped circle die for the tabletop. The plate was cut using Courtney Chilston’s Birthday Shadow box die set and the candy cane and gingerbread man were made as describe in the tree section above. Placement on card was based off where the furniture and tree would be when the card was closed.

Fireplace:  Using a recycled greeting card back in an off-white, cut the fireplace out using the Gemini Fireplace Concept die set. Because the die is designed to pop-up from a folded card, I had to cut the fireplace out with tabs at the back edge of mantle and the floor of the fireplace. I I also cut the trim pieces from the same card back and glued the pieces in place after scoring the tab folds. I also cut a rectangular piece of black cardstock to become the back of the fireplace. Taping the bottom of the black back to the floor tab. I cut two brick pattern pieces from the Gemini Yuletide Treasures die set and then I glued them to the black back piece and created smoke and soot on the brick by rubbing a Tim Holtz Distress Crayon over the bricks. The fire and logs were cut from the Gemini Fireplace Accessories Pack. The flames were cut from cardstock that I had blended two colors of Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink on, let dry and then cut. The logs and flames were glued together and then placed in fireplace with foam squares.

1 fireplace decorated

Wallcovering:  The wallcovering was created using two embossing folders by Olga Direktorenko. The main piece with pillars and molding is the Elegant Room folder and the crown molding is from the Timeless Room folder. I masked the molding and rubbed Distress Ink over the wallpaper. The mirror (cut from recycle mirror card from a box) wreath, bows, holly and coal shuttle were also cut using the Fireplace Accessory Pack. The embossed “wings” on each side are from the Timeless Room embossing folder.

1 Front Door

Door: The Front of the folded-up card is an elegant Italianate styled door. I used Olga Direktorenko’s entire Elegant Door die and embossing folder set. The windows are wax paper over pale yellow card stock and red marker. The door hardware is cut from gold foil cardstock and gold gel pen. The wreaths were cut from recycled boxes using lawn Fawn’s mini wreath die set.

1 Greeting wngs folded

Greeting: The greeting is on the front of the second folded-side of this tri-fold card. Merry Christmas is cut from recycled red foil envelop liner using a Card Deco Essentials die. The gold lacy background was cut from foil card using Spellbinders Charming Christmas Boughs die set. The greeting is offset to left to allow room for a personal message.

1 Parlor close up

Supplies

Dies:

Embossing Folders:

Stamps & Inks:

Papers:

Miscellaneous:

A Party Without Cake

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cake shop front-cu

“A party with out cake is just a meeting” is the sentiment for this pop-up cake shop birthday card.  Made with Die-cutting Essentials Special Edition Issue 6 – Shop Front and Hunkydory Moonstone Shadow Box Frame – MSTONE076 die sets and papers from shop front kit, this scrumptious card is a fun little diorama style card.

cake shop front-medium

The shop front papers include interior scenes as well as signs and background papers.  I adhered the interior paper for the cake shop on to light weight cardstock and then fussy cut around the table shapes. Then I cut the shadow box outer frame and two inner frames. I played with spacing the three tables out on the frames looking through he window and door, before I adhered the tables to frames. I taped using double-sided tape the striped pink wallpaper to the back piece of cardstock for the shadowbox frame and then using foam tape placed the back table on the wallpapered panel. The front two tables were taped using transparent removable tape to the lower corners of the interior shadow box frames.

cake shop front-roof

Next, I worked on decorating the shop front cut from a textured red paper, and I cut a second shop front from cream colored cardstock and fussy cut the window frame and door out it.  The “sweet” sign on the door is a sticker. The mail flap is a piece of gold holographic card, and the doorknob is Nuvo Crystal Drops. The green bushes are cut from a food box and embossed with the embossing folder from the shop front kit and placed with foam tape. The doorstep is from paper kit. A clear piece of acetate was adhered to the back of the window after the shop front was adhered to shadow box frame with double-sided-tape. This helps with the folding of the card, so cakes don’t get caught in the window frame. Sign was cut from papers and then adhered to cream cardstock before being permanently on shop front.

cake shop front-full

The “Happy Birthday” top of the card was stamped, and heat embossed onto white card stock and the cut out with a tab on the bottom. Using makers to create polka dots and then adhered to shop roof. The same polka dot paper from the back was used to roof the shop. The back sentiment was also heat embossed and adhered to back with foam tape.

cake shop back

 

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper:

Embossing Folder:

Stamps and Ink:

Miscellaneous:

Let It Snow Shadow Box

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Shadowbox -frontShadow box cards can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. Let It Snow is of medium difficultly. This die set, along with strong double-sided tape, makes it quick to cut and assemble a four-panel shadow box with depth and character.  You can choose to color or not.

Shadowbox -materials

Step 1: Using the shadow box frame set, cut out one large box frame – your choice of oval or rectangle opening. See video on assembly of shadow boxes. (I used a shimmer pen on the blue panel as well as snow highlights on other panels.)

Step 2: Using both the smaller panel frame from shadow box die set and the four panels of winter scene diet set, cut one of each panel. (Because of the delicate detail of some of the dies and the score marks, you may have to use a precision metal cutting pad or make two passes through your die cutting machine.)

Step 3: Cut a piece of blue cardstock and a piece of white cardstock3 inches x 4 inches (76mm x 101mm). Using the snowy background die from the winter scene die set, die cut the snowy background onto the blue cardstock.

Step 4: Fold the tabs and sides of box and panels first one way and then the other way. Flatten to decorate.

Step 5: Flatten to decorate. Colored pencils, watercolors, or just some glitter pen gloss are some ways of decorating.

Step 6: Place double-sided strong tape on all panel flaps on the face-up side. Place double-sided tape on both front and back tab flaps of shadow box.

Shadowbox -snowy panel backStep 7: Assembly – start with blue background and peel off backing of one shadow box tab tape on inside of box. Line up long side of blue paper to folded edge of tab.

Shadowbox -back panelStep 8: Peel off tape on back panel same side as blue panel and line up with fold of shadowbox tab.  Shadowbox -all panelsRepeat with other three panels butting the edge of new panel up to folded edge of previous panel until all panels are adhered to inside of shadow box.

Shadowbox -front panelStep 9: Peel off tape on Front panel and line it up on opposite side of shadow box to be equal distance from front opening as other side of panel. Shadowbox -most panelsRepeat with remaining three panels.

Shadowbox -snowy backStep 10: Peel off tape on inside of shadow box tab and adhere blue panel.

Shadowbox -white backStep 11: Peel off tape on outside of shadow box tabs and adhere white card panel.

Shadowbox -frontStep 12: Decorate outside of shadow box as desired using sentiment die cuts from Winter Scene set.

 

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper

Miscellaneous

Autumn Blessings

| ullycatdesigns

thanksgiving front

Autumn in much of North America is characterized by the browning, yellowing and sometimes reddening of leaves. The muted, earthy tones are part of the season.  Inspired by the “over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go” tune and by a Karen Burniston video on double pivot panel card, I made this Thanksgiving card.

To see video of this card, click here.

thanksgiving back

The card is designed to be displayed open. The personalized message can be written on the back cover.

thanksgiving inside

To see video of this card, click here.

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper:

 

Miscellaneous: