The Miracle of Christmas Papers

November 2, 2020November 14, 2020 | ullycatdesigns

Silent Night is humming in the background as the card recipient opens this gold stamp envelope and pulls out a card with a gold embossed “Silent Night” on it’s front.

This is the first in a series of blogs about Christmas cards made from the 2020 Hunkydory paper collection entitled The Miracle of Christmas.

These were my first two cards made from the collection and I was able to make two from each of the Adorable Scorable cardstock and insert papers. All have a gold heat embossed sentiment on vellum and adhered to the front with foam squares. I used double-sided tape to adhere all the papers to the card base. The red nativity also has a gold heat embossed inside sentiment from an older Kaisercraft stamp set while the Little Town of Bethlehem scene uses a sentiment cut from the paper pad.

I stamped all of the A2 envelope backs with the Little Town of Bethlehem stamp using Crumb Cake Stampin’ Up ink which almost matches the gold heat embossing powder used on the cards.

Thank you for reading about these cards.

The Miracle Of Christmas Series

Post 1 – The Miracle of Christmas Papers

Post 2 – A Small Triptych Card

SUPPLIES

Paper

Stamps

Kaisercraft – Clear Stamps – Sentiments -Traditional – CS313
Hunkydory – For the Love of Stamps – Little Town of Bethlehem – Club-FTLS26B

Ink

VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
Gold embossing powder from June 2020 Papercraft Society kit
Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad –Crumb Cake

Miscellaneous

Scrapebook.com Clear Double Sided Adhesive Roll ¼ inch
Foam Squares from my stash

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

September 13, 2020October 25, 2020 | ullycatdesigns

Love this little black cat three-layer stamp by Kat Scrapiness that comes with some great sentiments like the Toil and Trouble one that gives it, its name. I had purchased the Pop-Out die and the Gina Marie Designs Mosaic Triangle Edge Circle dies along with The Toil & Trouble stamp and matching die set all during Kat Scrapiness’ Labor Day sale. I hadn’t planned on combining them, but the more I looked and dreamed about the “Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble” I saw a bubbling, steaming cauldron with the steam opening up into an aerial view of a shaker card showing of the cauldron’s contents.

I found in my stash the fabulous Buttons Galore & More’s Creepy Sparkleletz shaker elements to which I added some green and iridescent sequins and the tiny black and green triangles off-cuts from the mosaic circle frames I cut for the cauldron.

The background of the shaker cauldron is a lime green square of cardstock that I daubed Cracked Pistachio and Fired Brick Distress inks and then spritzed with water to blend. I dried and stamped with Versamark Watermark ink an older bubble background stamp by Hunkydory. The final touch to the background was to stamp “BOO” in the center of the square.

To create the white steam of the cauldron, I took cream cardstock and stamped in grey ink the same bubble background mentioned earlier. Next, I embossed the cardstock using an older Darice embossing folder. (I may have used one too many shims when I embossed, as it almost cut through the card in places.) I centered and taped the Pop-Out die inside the circle die and then die-cut, in one pass, the circle of steam that opens in six triangles to reveal the cauldron’s shaker contents. I free-hand cut a spoon handle that is used to open-up the steam or “stir the pot.”

I tried several inks to stamp the cat but ended up using the cat with just black ink – having lightly stamped each layer to create the shadows. The sentiments, both inside and on the front, are first stamped with the bubble stamp in grey ink then the sentiment in black Memento ink. (I was not paying attention to which ink I was putting on the inside as I moved the background stamp around and inadvertently used the black Memento at the bottom section.)

To finish off the card front, I used a retired Taylored Expressions “Little Bits” spider web die set to cut from vellum the corner decorations including a tiny black spider. I found a bit of spider ribbon that leads the reader to the sentiment.

As it is my style to stamp an image or sentiment that hints at what’s inside, I stamped a witches’ hat (because I have no cauldron stamp) and the phrase “The most Spooktacular night of the year” on the envelope flap. These stamps are from My Mind’s Eye.

To send the card, I will add a hand-written note instructing the recipient “To stir the cauldron using the black handled sticking out of the steam to find out what’s shake’n.”

Supplies:

Dies/Embossing Folders

Stamps

Kat Scrappiness – Toil & Trouble Layered Stamp Set
Hunkydory – For the Love of Stamps- Back to Nature Background Stamps-FTLS429
My Minds Eye -Happy Haunting by Janet Hopkins – Decorative Stamps – HAH215

Papers

Scraps of card stock from stash
Vellum Paper – 8 1/2″ x 11″
Dura-Lar .0005 Clear Film Acetate
Recollections Value Pack of Cards & Envelopes 6 ½ x 5 inches

Inks

Miscellaneous

Foam squares
Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue/PVA Glue
Sequins from stash
Buttons Galore & More – Sparkleletz Embellishments – Creepy
Spider ribbon scrap from stash

A Trout Fishing Kind of Day

May 18, 2020May 11, 2020 | ullycatdesigns

After 63 years of marriage and numerous fishing and mountain trips, I knew this couple deserved a special anniversary card that evoked all the things they love.

Hunkydory’s Moments in Time “Love is In the Air” die set and matching paper pad had the perfect pop-up card with a pond, mountains, hot air balloons and a couple taking it all in siting at the edge of the pond. The die took a couple of passes through a die cutting machine and then the tricky part of working all the folds. This die is one of the less intricate dies in the Moments in Time series but using a paper piercing tool helped with shaping all the trees on the mountains and puffing out the clouds. There is an instruction sheet on the Hunkydory’s website that is useful when doing the folding.

The front of the card’s paper and label topper came from the “Flying High” Craftwork Cards paper collection. “On Your Special Day” die cut sentiment is from Creative Dies by Sue Wilson and the jumping trout is from Stampin’Up’s “Best Catch” stamp set stamped in brown ink and fussy cut and adhered with foam pads.

The inside “Happy Anniversary” sentiment was cut from two die sets in the Gemini Expressions series by Crafter’s Companion. The additional bird on flower and best wishes banner came from the aforementioned “Flying High” paper collection. The back side of the card is finished with more of the paper from the front.

The front and back flap of the envelop are stamped with images that give a hint of what the card is inside.

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks

Brown Ink – Stampin’ Up Classic Stamin’ Pad – Chocolate Chip

Papers

Flying High Craftwork Cards 8×8” paper collection from Papercraft Essentials Issue 175.
Hunkydory’s Moments in Time coordinating A5 paper pad
Cream, brown and black card stock from stash
Recollections Value Pack of Cards & Envelopes 6 ½ x 5 inches

Miscellaneous

Foam tape/squares/dimensionals from stash
PVA Glue – Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue

Double-Sided Tear Tape – com Clear Double Sided Adhesive Roll ¼ inch
Blue satin ribbon from stash

Under the Weather

January 18, 2020January 20, 2020 | ullycatdesigns

This is a double Z-fold card turned sideways using Hunkydory’s Happy Days – Adorable Scorables set and an 8.5 inches x 11 inches (21 cm x 28 cm) piece of cream card stock.

1 Fold in half to make 5.5 x 4.25 inches (140 x 107 mm) card. Burnish fold. Fold front in half to make 2.75 x 5.5 inches (70 x 140 mm) panel. Burnish fold.

2 Cut folded card at 2.5 inches (63 mm) from the side.

3 Pick your papers.

4 Cut from pattern paper two pieces – 5.75 x 5.25 inches (146 x 133 mm) and 2.5 x 5.25 inches (63 x 133 mm). Cut four pieces of white – 2.5 x 5.25 inches (63 x 133 mm), 2.25 x 5.25 inches (58 x 133 mm) and two at 2.25 x 2.5 inches (58 x 63 mm)

5 Fussy cut out front umbrella. Create thin ribbon by sticking back-to-back holographic tape and cutting into thin strips.

6 Figure-out placement of ribbon and tape on backside. Place foam squares on back.

7 Adhere umbrella to white card (2.25 x 5.25 inches). Tape ends of ribbon to back of white card.

8 Adhere patterned and white papers to appropriate spaces. There should be an 1/8 inch (3 mm) bit of cream card showing all around each of the top layered pieces. Adhere sentiment with foam squares above umbrella.

9 Add several rows of double-sided tape to the back edge section making sure the tape does not extend above fold marks.

10 Peal off tape from behind umbrella section and adhere to front of car. Next pull off backing tape from back section and press card folded shut to adhere back of center layer to back layer of card.

11 Add back sentiment and bird decoration.

12 Adhere back paper to back of card as a place for a personal message.

Supplies:

Hunkydory Happy Days- Adorable Scorables set
Cream Cardstock
Holographic tape from Target
Double-sided tape
Foam squares
Scissors
Folding tool
Paper Cutter

A Party Without Cake

November 28, 2019October 31, 2021 | ullycatdesigns

“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.

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.

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.

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.

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper:

Die-cutting Essentials Special Edition Issue 6 -Papers

Dura-Lar .0005 Clear Film acetate
DCWV Textured Cardstock Stack – 12 x 12 inches
Colorbok Carnival Designer Papers – 6 x 6 inches
Paper scraps from my stash

Embossing Folder:

Die-cutting Essentials Special Edition Issue 6 – Bushes embossing folder

Stamps and Ink:

Miscellaneous:

Double-sided tape, foam tape, transparent removable tape
Tombow Multi Liquid Glue
Recollections Detail Embossing Power- Ebony
Crayola Signature Brush & Detail Dual Ended Markers
EK Success Brands- Sticko Everyday Stickers-Lucy Love
Nuvo Crystal Drops – Bright Gold

Give Thanks

November 21, 2019December 31, 2019 | ullycatdesigns

Pumkin-front Autumn leaves are falling. This simple shadow box card is made using Hunkydory -Moonstone Shadow Box Frame Die Set -MSTONE076, LDRS creative’s Happy Fall Sentiments stamp set, Fiskars Oak Leaf punch and Spellbinders Jack-O-Lantern die set. The finished size is 3 inches x 4 inches by 1 inch. Pumkin-side

Using only one panel in the shadow box with the pumpkin cut twice from heavy cardstock and adhered with a strip of foam tape between each pumpkin to create dimension, makes for a simple decoration. The top pumpkin was lightly rubbed with Ranger Distress Ink -Vintage Photo and a the stem and vine cut from brown paper. The tiny oak leaves create a wreath on the front of the card. (Oak Leaves were cut from scrap paper using a Fiskars tiny punch.) A plaid paper from Authentique – Pioneer-Plaid THA005-355057 completes the front. The sentiments are stamped on white cardstock with Stampin’ Up Chocolate Chip Ink Pad. American Crafts’ Sticky Thumb Double-sided Super Sticky Red Tape – 1/8 inch was used to assemble the shadow box while Tombow Multi Mono Liquid Glue wasused to adhere leaves and sentiments.

Let It Snow Shadow Box

November 6, 2019November 29, 2021 | ullycatdesigns

Shadow 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.

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.

Step 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.

Step 8: Peel off tape on back panel same side as blue panel and line up with fold of shadowbox tab. Repeat 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.

Step 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. Repeat with remaining three panels.