Interactive cards

Birthday Train

| ullycatdesigns

A lovely summer day in a Tennessee valley and the zoo animals are on a train outing to celebrate someone’s birthday.

This card uses Rubbernecker’s Animal Train slimline paper pad, some foam dots and a piece of clear packaging to create a cute interactive birthday card.

Cardbase: Cutting a 7 1/2 by 8 3/4-inch rectangle of white cardstock score and fold at 3 3/4-inches to make a folded cardbase of 3 3/4 by 8 3/4-inch. Glue a scenery page to card back panel.

Score and fold at 3 3/4 inches
Card back

Slider Mechanism: Take a background scenery page from the paper pad. On the back side draw two lines in pencil at 7/8-inches from the bottom edge and the second at 2 5/8-inches from the top edge. (You may need to adjust the width of the slot to accommodate the height of your foam dots. My measurements are for 1/4-inch foam dots.) Measure 1-inch from the right side (backside right) and draw a line connected the previous two lines. On the left back side, measure 3/4-inch to connect the earlier lines. Use a craft knife and straight edge (metal ruler) to cut out slot. Save cut-out piece.

Center the scenery page over the front panel of cardbase. Mark the corners of the page on cardbase and trace the inside of the slot with a pencil. Using a circle punch cut a thumb hole (half circle) on the left edge centered off the penciled slot markings.

Glue the slot cut-out piece over the pencil markings on card front. Cut a piece of clear packaging that is 1/2-inch wide and at least 9-inches long. Lay the plastic piece over the slot cut-out. Add foam tape around the plastic leaving the thumb hole side open. (Make sure tape does not extend beyond the corner pencil marks as it will show when the scenery page is adhered on top the foam tape.) Once Scenery page is attached, remove plastic strip and use hole punch to cut thumb hole into scenery page. Insert plastic strip into slot and test for ease of movement. Assemble train and follow directions in Train section to attach it to slider plastic arm.

Train: Cut out train with sharp detail scissors. (There are coordinating dies that you can purchase from Rubbernecker if you do not like fussy cutting.) The trick to fussy cutting is to move the paper through the scissors and not the scissors through the paper. For the engine window, poke a hole and cut from hole to the corners and then cut out the window.

Glue the train together overlapping the hook-up bars. Cut out animals and flag. Glue flag to last car.

Position train above the slot with the flag just peeking over the card edge. Make sure plastic strip is pushed to the back stop of the slot. Add foam dots to plastic inside slot positioned two to the center of each train car and engine.

With plastic strip still pushed to back stop, trim plastic strip to left card edge. Cut a piece of coordinating green from paper pad to a 3/4-inch wide by 3-inch strip. Fold strip in half and attach to plastic strip with double-sided tape. (You may have to trim and taper the ends of the green strip to fit into the slot track depending on where your foam tape is.) With a black permanent marker, draw an arrow on the green tab to indicate the direction to pull.

Add a plastic strip to the train chimney and attach with a glue dot a fussy cut cloud of smoke. Glue animals onto the train. Peel off the foam dots’ backing paper and attach the train to the slider arm.

Sentiments: Stamp “Happy Birthday” on to a piece of white cardstock and fussy cut a cloud shape around it. Position the cloud on foam dots so that the smoke cloud on the train does not become a catchpoint with the birthday cloud when the slider is pulled open. Decorate the sky with remaining images of smoke clouds, bird and butterfly, using foam squares and glue dots. The inside sentiment is a computer generated one which can be downloaded below.

wishing-great-adventuresDownload

Envelope: The back flap has an additional animal fussy cut and glued to it.

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

Materials Used:

Stamps

  • Rubbernecker Stamps – Clear Stamps – Sea Set -3207

Papers

  • Rubbernecker – 3.5×8.5 Paper Pad – Slimline – Animal Train
  • White Cardstock
  • Clear Plastic Packaging
  • #10 Business Envelope – White

Ink

  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Party Collection – All That Jazz
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Stamping Block
  • Craft Knife
  • Detail Scissors
  • Circle Punch – 3/4-inch
  • Metal Ruler
  • Pencil

Home Is Where The Heart Is

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for September. We were asked to use the Holiday House for a specific holiday. I have chosen Valentine’s Day.

I have been wanting to combine Karen Burniston’s House of Cards Pop-up set with some EZ-Lights for some time now. By using elements of the Holiday House die set – windows, door, gable string of lights – I was able to create a two-story house of cards that lights up. I also experimented with creating some double-sided coated cardstock using clear heat embossing powder.

Cardbase: I started with a purchased A6 (4.5 x 6.25 inches) cardbase with matching envelope. Because the cardbase was a wide side fold and I needed a short side fold, I cut the cardbase apart on the fold and used a narrow strip of cardstock to hinge the two pieces together which created a small gusset to accommodate the thickness of the pop-up inside. I cut two 4.5 strips of decorative paper with a patchwork design to cover the cardbase inside and out. Cutting the strips in half at 6-inches, I could adhere the four panels inside and out matching the design at the hinge. I trimmed on a paper cutter the edges to make a 4.5×6 inch card that will easily fit into the envelope with its thickness.

Coated Cardstock: After watching Jennifer McGuire do heat embossing on a full sheet of cardstock, I decided to try coated the thickest red cardstock I had (110 lb.) on both sides. I used a clear ink pad to coat my cardstock on one side and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it and used a heat tool to fix the powder into a coating. I repeated this several times on each side of the cardstock. The color darkened and the cardstock became thicker. The finish is not a smooth one, but rather bumpy like a stucco finish. (I found when I die cut the coated cardstock, the coating along the edges became opaque and, in some cases, chipped off. If I do this technique again, I will try doing only one coat of heat embossing.)

Windows and Door: Because the window dies in the Holiday House set cut two at once, I ended up die-cutting a window frame to act as my pattern to mark around on the back of the red card pieces and then cut out with a craft knife. I built my house of cards first, deciding which panels would need windows cut into them, and then removed them from the house, keeping the second story pieces separate from the end pieces. I cut the seven windows into the individual cards. The doorframe and door were glued on to the last end piece and a tiny, red heart from the holiday house set was glued to the front door.

House of Cards: Watch the video at the bottom of the linked page for the House of Cards set before starting. (I played with some practice card pieces I had cut to find the house shape I wanted to use.) Cut three of 4-card die. Cut windows into the seven selected pieces. The house starts with four cards creating an X. (Make sure the golf club cut outs are all facing out on the X. I made them facing in and the house wants to slip loose from the base after opening and closing a few times.) Make a square for the second story from four window pieces. Add the remaining three window panels and door panel to the ends of the X.

Attach the square over the center of the X. Attach the whole house to the white base. (It is easier to add the lights at this point before the gable pieces are added. See instructions below.) Glue the white base to cardbase.

Once the lights are adhere to the inside of the house (I ended up having one wire on the outside of the house by accident) cut eight of the gable lightblubs from the Holiday House set. Trim four of the pieces to have just nine lightblubs in the gable (that two lighblubs off each end before they turn) and four of the pieces to 11 lightblubs (thats trimming just one lightblub off each end.)

Glue the longer pieces to the opposite sides of the square looping the end lightblubs over the card joints. Add one longer piece to each end of the first story of the house. Use the remaining shorter pieces to fill in the sides still needing gable pieces.

Lights: EZ-Lights are just what they say – easy to install in a card. For the house of cards, I snaked the three wires that end in a light, up through the center x-structure before I glued the white base into the card. Once the white base was attached to the card base, I played with the positioning of the wires and battery/switch plate. I used clear packing tape to secure the light wires onto the walls of the house. (If the coating on the cards had allowed glue, I would have glued a red square of cardstock over the wires.)

(I found the best position of the plate is almost to the top edge of the card.) To attach the battery/switch plate to the card base, I sandwiched it between double layers of thin foam tape and then took a rectangle of card stock with decorative paper and covered the plate. (Before I attached the rectangle, I stamped a “push here” on the location of where the switch was.) Next, I cut triangles from the decorative paper to glue over the exposed wires on the cardbase.

Sentiments: To make the phrase “You make Home Sweet,” I used the “You” from the Thank You set along with the Home Sweet Home set. I spelled out the word “make” from the Mini Alphabet set. The “You are the Light of my Life” was computer generated and cut with the scalloped heart from the Crosshatch Hearts set. A white scalloped heart was also cut using the same die as a place for a personal message.

Envelope: A small heart from the Crosshatch Hearts set was cut from decorative paper and glued to the envelope flap to hint at what is inside.

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

  • Lawn Fawn – Photopolymer Clear Stamps – Push Here – LF1415

Papers

  • Photoplay – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Quilt From Cupid – CSC3460
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 110 lb Cardstock – Red
  • White and Black Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye ink – Tuxedo Black
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Gelly Roll – Gel Pen – Gold

Embossing Powder

  • Simon Says Stamp – Embossing Powder – Fine Detail – Clear

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

Jam Like A Strawberry

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #176 whose parameters included: a split in the middle, jolly colors, a fruit element and a heart.

My inspiration for this card came from the Berry Special die and stamp set that came in the Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103. (This magazine is available on the Craftstash website. Note that there are different country based websites for this online vender. Use the one that works for you to avoid unnecessary currency/customs fees.) It has a stamp that says “Jam like a strawberry” so I immediately thought of a jam jar shaker and went to my Queen and Company stash of shaker kits.

Cardbase: Using a 8.5×5.5 inch rectangle of heavy white cardstock for the cardbase, I folded it in half and used a bone folder to burnish the card into a 4.25×5.5 inch A2 size. The front and back panels of the card are covered with 4×5.25 inch decorative paper rectangles. The front has an additional strip of blue decorative paper near its middle. The back uses a thin strip cut from the front panel paper as decoration. I used the jar frame die to cut the aperture into the card front when only the front decorative papers had been attached. Next, I glued on the inside decorative papers and cut the aperture again.

Shaker: Queen and Company are known for their shaker kits which use pre-cut foam shaker frames with adhesive on both sides and clear acetate covers which take the tediousness out of making shaker cards. For the jar I used two acetate pieces and one foam frame that all had been dusted with an anti-static brush. I peeled off one side of the frame’s adhesive backing and attached a pre-cut piece of acetate. Adding the glitter, seed beads and strawberry slices to the frame, I dusted the next acetate sheet again and peeled off the adhesive backing on the foam frame and attached the acetate to enclose the shaker elements. (The chucky glitter had a lot of static electric charge and jumped to the tiny bits of adhesive at the foam edges.) The shaker is attached to the card by gluing a jar frame cut from the front of the card to the inside of the card and then gluing the shaker to the jar frame.

Decorations: Eight layered strawberries were cut using the Berry Special die set from pink and green patterned paper and black cardstock. The dies cut two stems, large and small strawberry outlines and fronts with seeds cutout as well as a plant stem with large leaves. I also used two of the large leaves on the card front. Seven strawberries are scattered on the card front and one large strawberry on the back. A red plaid paper sticker on a foam dot is at the top of the card front.

Sentiments: Using the stamps from the Die-Crafting Essentials gift set, I stamped in purply-pink ink the sentiment “Jam like a strawberry” on the jar tag which is tied around the jar lid with baker’s twine, and the inside sentiment “Thank you berry much!”

Envelope: Stamped on the envelope flap is “You’re the sweetest!” in purply-pink ink.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Queen & Company – Steel Dies – Love Jar
  • Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103 – Dies – Berry Special

Stamps

  • Die Cutting Essentials, issue 103 – Clear Stamps – Berry Special

Shaker Elements and Frame

  • Queen & Company –Foam Shaker & Acetate – Love Jar
  • Red Chunky Glitter
  • Pink Seed Beads
  • Dress My Craft – Polymer Clay – Strawberry Slices

Papers

  • Queen & Company – 6×6 Double-Sided Mat Stack – Flirty Florals
  • Crate Paper – 6×6 Single-Sided Patterned Paper Pad – Cool Kid
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Recollections – 8.5x11Cardstock 110 lb – White
  • Black Cardstock
  • A2 Envelope – White

Ink

  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Sweets
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Foam Squares

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Pink & White
  • Jot – Paper Sticker- Plaid Heart

Holiday Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

This is the first card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

For this turn-of -the century fireplace easel card, Anna Griffin’s Holiday Hearth Easel die set is the star of the make along with some of her stamps and foiled embellishments.

Review the printed instruction sheet included in the fireplace die set before starting card.

Easel Base:  The easel base die cuts in one piece which I cut out in a heavy weight gray cardstock. I added a maroon carpet to the base using the fireplace outline die on a 6×6 inch piece of patterned paper.

Fireplace Mantelpiece:  The mantelpiece die cuts a detailed fireplace front. Because I used a double-sided cardstock that had different shades of green on each side, I was able to save the waste pieces and adhere them back inside the die-cut piece with the use of tape on the backside.

I die-cut the fireplace outline or back twice. Once from gray and once from light green. On the light green piece, I cut-off the bottom flap (and saved it to be stenciled in white to act as wallpaper above the mantel.) I also die-cut just the bottom flap of the fireplace in gray to become the hearthstone that will slide under the easel stopper. The green trimmed back piece was glued on top of the gray back piece. Next the bottom flap of the fireplace was adhered to bottom edge of the back piece and then covered with the gray hearthstone piece. Glue in black brick hearth and fire grate piece. Add glue to the back of the top fireplace tab and, with the entire fireplace flat, adhere to the back piece. Play with the positioning of the back piece on the easel base and then glue easel base tab to gray side of back piece.

Fireplace Grate with Fire:  For the back of the fireplace hearth, I cut a 3.75-inch square of black cardstock which I embossed with a brick wall embossing folder. The bricks were lightly colored with a white Distress Crayon and blended to make a smokey backdrop to the fire. The burning logs piece was cut twice from brown (logs) and once from red, yellow and orange (fire) respectively. I used tape and glue to assemble the fire and logs. To position the burning logs, open the card into the easel position and adhere the piece onto the bricks with foam squares. (When the card is closed flat, the burning logs will look slightly high inside the firebox.)

Decorations:  The die set comes with a stocking die as well as dies for holly and greenery garlands. I cut the stockings from three different decorative papers and then cut the just the cuffs from white cardstock having to do some fussy cut trimming after the die cutting. The garlands are cut from two different shades of green mirror/foil cardstock. The holly garland has red adhesive gems added along with a tiny red ribbon bow. The dark greenery garland is glued onto the mantel edge. All other decorations are adhered with foam squares. Two gold foil stars sit on the mantel shelf and a gold wrapped present sits on the floor. Both are from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit.

Sentiments:  A dimensional sentiment sticker from Anna’s Present Pop-Up Kit was popped-up on an additional layer of foam squares to allow the fireplace gray hearthstone to slide under and act as an easel stopper. A blank foiled sticker from the same kit was added to the card base for a personal message that will be hidden when the card is set-up as an easel. The red “Merry Christmas on the envelope flap and its green border are stamps from Anna’s Treasury of Stamps & Dies.

easel-card-sheet-2Download

CRX Sheet:  With many interactive cards, the recipient needs instructions on how to open and set-up the card. I create CRX sheets (card recipient experience) to include in the envelope. You can download for free the easel/double easel CRX sheet.

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

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Embossing Folder

  • Altenew – Geometric 3D Embossing Folder 6×6 – Brick Wall – ALT6206

Stencils

  • Funky Fossil Designs – Windy Day

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Echo Park – 6×6 Double-Sided 65 lb Cardstock – Homegrown by Alisha Gordon & Kasie Fry
  • Reminisce – 6×6 Double-Sided Papers – Christmas Wishes
  • Light Green and Dark Green Mirror/Foil Cardstock
  • Black, Gray and White Cardstock
  • Anna Griffin – Present Pop-Up Kit – A7 Envelope – Ivory

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon – Picket Fence
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler and Emerald Envy
  • Craft Smart –Acid Free Ink Pad – White

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Clear Tape
  • Foam Squares

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Fork

Miscellaneous

Butterfly Tree Pop-UP

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #175 whose parameters included a 4.25-inch project, Craft Roulette colors, a night element and a bottom border.

For this pop-up butterfly tree in a box, I used Karen Burniston’s large Bam Box Pop-Up, Butterfly Collage Add-ons, and leaves from Fun Flowers and Twist Flower Pop-Up. The tag is from the Tag Book Pop-Up. (I have made a Christmas tree like this project. Click here to see blog post.)

Box: The box is made of double-sided decorative cardstock cut into two 12 x 4 inches rectangles scored and folded at 3 inches, 4 inches, 8 inches and 9 inches. The middle squares are glued together to form a cross. Using strips of decorative paper for pull ribbons glued to the middle of each flap, I glued the remainder of the strips as a bottom flap border. Two adhesive-backed hook and ladder fasteners are the closures.

Tree: Utilizing the Bam Box die set, I cut six of the bam box strips, 13 of the bam box decorative rectangles and three each of the largest two fancy circles in the set from green cardstock. Because I like to let the glue dry before adding the rubber bands to bam boxes, I glue in stages. (See assembly video located at the bottom of the linked page and source of tiny rubber bands.)

Glue the decorative panels to the sides of each bam box for added thickness. (By sides I mean the sides that have the diagonal flap beside them. Not the side that has the smiley face or its parallel side.) These will be the sides seen between the layers of circles.

To assemble the tree, mark in pencil the location of the bam boxes on the bottom of each circle except one of the largest. Glue bam boxes to bottoms of five circles. The sixth bam box will be the top and the leftover, large circle will be the bottom.

To finish the tree assembly, alternate the direction of the diagonal inside flaps of the bam boxes, so that they make a zig-zag pattern when looked at from the side. By alternating the direction, the bam boxes will fold flat, and the tree will flatten into an oval shape. Use glue to attach each level. Once the tree is assembled, close or flatten the tree to position it on to a 4-inch square of green decorative paper that acts as the base for when the tree is in the box. Glue the tree to the square base.

Butterflies: (Watch the video at the bottom the linked page before starting.) Using the Butterfly Collage Add-ons die set, die cut all the dies from one color of doubled sided paper. Repeat with three other colors of paper. Die cut from black all non-moving butterflies four times.

Assembling the non-moving butterflies, use the black pieces as the base that the trimmed colored paper wings are glued to. On the double-winged one bend the wings up from the black body.

To attach the butteries to the tree, play with the positioning of the fluttering large butterflies on the tree in the closed position. If the butterfly stays within the green square base, it can be glued in place. I found that the flutter butterfly piece with the slot cut into it needs to be the piece glued to the tree, making sure the slot is not obstructed so the other piece can freely flutter.

I used green leaves cut from the decorative base paper to fill-in areas of the circles that were too close to the square’s edge when closed. Add in non-moving butterflies checking their position when tree is closed and that they are not creating catchpoints for fluttering butterflies.

Tag: My favorite gift tag to use for sentiments is in the Tag Book Pop-Up set. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment. Baker’s twine was used to tie the tag onto the pull-up loop.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it has provided some inspiration.

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments -271296

Papers

  • Stampin’ Up – 12 x12 Double-sided Designer Series Papers – Stargazing
  • Craft Consortium – A4 Solids Double-Sided Paper Pad – Candy Christmas
  • Green 110 lb. Cardstock
  • Black Cardstock Scraps

Ink

  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad

Embossing Poweder

  • Cosmic Shimmer – Detail Embossing Powder – Detail Bright Gold

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Small Clips
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Kat Scrappiness – Anti-Static Tool

Miscellaneous

Celebrate with Cupcakes!

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #172 whose parameters included: Z-fold card, OLD, any colors and something from my mesk (messy desk.)

For this mini-slimline card, I used Karen Burniston’s dies to created a three panel accordion card with cupcakes. The main dies used are Cupcake Add-ons and Landscape Rectangle Accordion with decorations from Paper Frames Pop-Up and Happy Hour Charms.

Accordion Frame: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut three frames from heavy white cardstock using the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. Trim the rectangle panel to just a pivot post. Cut a total of six frames from patterned papers and cut out the pivot panels and tabs from all to have decorative frames. Glue the white frames together as shown in video. Adhere the decorative frames. Trim off unused tab.

Cupcake Panels: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut four of the cupcake panel die from the Cupcake Add-ons set from white cardstock. Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake icing piece from different papers. (I cut six from three different papers coating the yellow and orange papers with a glitter gloss. the sprinkles were die cut into the icing piece and colored with fine-tipped markers and gel pens.) Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake paper piece from different papers. Using die, stencil shadows onto cupcake papers. The sprinkles die and cherry decoration dies are included in the Cupcake Add-ons. The orange slice is from the Happy Hour Charms set. Adhere cupcakes to fronts of three of the white panels. Cut fourth panel apart into thee separate cupcake outlines. Glue decorated panels to pivot posts on frames. Decorate backs of panels using the white cupcake outlines to cover the pivot posts and the remaining six cupcakes to cover ends of panels. Glue the panels together using tabs. trim off unused tab.

Decorations: The ribbon streamers are in the Cupcake Add-ons set along with the hearts. The stars and circles come from the Paper Frames Pop-Up. Strips of decorative papers were also used from my scrap bag.

Sentiment: The white cupcake panels on the back are for either personal messages or the heat embossed happy birthday sentiment. When the card is closed the main sentiment is visible.

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

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments – 271296

Papers

  • Carta Bella – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Happy Crafting by Steven Duncan
  • Solid and Patterned Paper Scraps
  • White Heavy Cardstock 110 lb

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Saltwater Taffy and Salty Ocean
  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Citrine and Sunbeam
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Red and Yellow
  • Gel Pen – Pink
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Aqua Simmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Papercrafting Society – Matte Metallic Embossing Powder – Gold

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Craft Knife
  • Heat Tool

SHELL-ebrate!

| ullycatdesigns

With a nod to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus painting and Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid story, this birthday card is full of birthday shell-ebration!

For this 4 1/4 X 5 1/2-inch card, I used one of Karen Burniston’s new die sets – Small Scenes Bam Box – along with the previously released dies of Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday Shadow, Princess and Mermaid, Celebrate!, Frame Pull-Pop-up and Sea Charms.

Card Base: Starting with a 5 1/2-inch by 8 1/2-inch rectangle of heavy kraft cardstock, Fold in half to form a top-fold A2 card. Create a finger hole in the center of the bottom edge, cut a half circle through both layers using a 3/4-inch circle punch. Spray both sides of the cardbase to create a sand effect with brown and gold mica and glitter sprays. Let card base dry for an hour or two and place between sheets of paper with weights on top to have it dry flat.

Pop-Up Shell: Cut three shell shapes from creamy white shimmer or pearlescent cardstock using a scalloped shell die approximately 3 1/2x 3 1/2-inches in size. (I used one by Frantic Stamper.) Ink the shimmer side of two of the shells pink and the remaining one blue. Using a score board with one channel marked in black, score the shells from center tip to dips between scallops on the shimmer side of the cardstock. Trim off the end of the pink shells to fit the flap of the mechanism.

Pop-up Mechanism: Watch the die assembly video for the Frame Pull-Pop-up set located at the bottom of the link page. before, cutting the two pieces with smiley faces.  Glue the pull tab to the base piece. Trim off the corners as shown in photo. (I attached the brown kraft base to the card using strong doubled-sided tape instead of staples. Next, I did a light spray of white ink for sea form and a spritz of blue for water along the bottom edge of the card to blend in the base to the card.) Glue one of the pink trimmed shells to the base piece matching the trimmed edge to the tab. Put glue on base shell tab. Add the second pink shell with pink sides together to form top half of pop-up pull frame. Make sure shells are perfectly aligned overreach other. Test to make sure mechanism works properly and let glue dry. Glue blue shell to back of top shell, aligning all the edges. Test mechanism and adjust as needed.

Mermaid on Rocks: Follow the images on the Princess and Mermaid packaging to create mermaid. (I used stencil feature of the die to draw on fish scales on glitter cardstock using a permanent ink marker.) Cut the small pop-up mechanism in the Frame Pull-Pop-up set and glue inside pop-up shell. Glue on rocky backdrop from Small Scenes Bam Box. (I spritzed my rock with brown paint and had to trim the ends to fit inside my shell.) Fold mermaid to fit into the shell and glue in place. Add shell(s) from the mermaid set for decorations.

Sentiments: For “Shell-ebrate!” I used a shell charm from the Sea Charms set and trimmed off “Cel” from the Celebrate! die. The hyphen is cut from the “l.” Inside the card is “Happy Birthday using both the Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday Shadow sets. I cut two large shells from plain white cardstock and scored as shown before for personal message labels on the inside and back of card.

Envelope: The card fits into an A2 invitation envelope. I decorated the back flap with a glitter shell cut using the Sea Charms 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

  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Kraft, White, Yellow and Cream Cardstock
  • Glitter Cardstock – Greens and Pink
  • A2 Blue Envelope

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Abandon Coral and Salty Ocean
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Gel Pens – Blue, Pink and Black
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Antique Gold and Nebula Blue
  • Nuvo – Sparkle Spray – Cocoa Powder
  • Avery Elle – White Ink Spray

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Craft Knife
  • Scissors
  • Stapler
  • 3/4-inch Circle Punch
  • Clips
  • Flat Weights – Stamp Blocks and Cell Phone

Miscellaneous

  • Scrap Newsprint or Cardboard Spray Box

Rolling A Happy Father’s Day

| ullycatdesigns

We play a lot of Yahtzee, a dice game marketed by Hasbro, at our house. When someone rolls five of the same number, you yell out Yahtzee! We make a big deal of it.

So, for my husband’s Father’s Day card this year, I made a Yahtzee card using some of Karen Burniston’s June 2023 dies – Fun Flowers, Game Charms, Word Set 17 – Congratulations, and the Twist Flower Pop-Up, along with some previously released dies – Coffee Cup Pop-Up, Happy Father’s Day, Border Blends – Trims, Heart Collage Pop-Up, and Rectangles and Labels – Crosshatch.

Cardbase: I started with a purchased 5×7-inch gatefold cardbase so that I would have two folds for two pop-up mechanisms. For the green background panels on the front and inside of the card, I cut three panels using the largest rectangle die from the Crosshatch Rectangles and Labels set. Two of the panels I cut long-ways in half and glued to the front and inside of the card flaps. The last panel was glued inside the card.

Cup and Mechanism: For the Yahtzee cup that is in our game set, I die-cut the coffee cup and trimmed off the top. I added a white line with a gel pen. The mechanism comes from the Twist Flower Pop-Up which is a smaller version of the Snowman Twist Circle mechanism. (I watched the assembly videos for the Twist Circle and the Heart Collage Pop-up before making the card.) I used a two-sided green printed cardstock that I cut two of the mechanisms from and trimmed pieces from one mechanism to cover the back sides of the mechanism that would show when open. The most difficult part of the card was finding the layout that looked the most realistic and still allowed all the elements on the two mechanisms to fold inside the card and not be sticking out. Temporary tape was extremely useful for this process as positions were tweaked.

Dice and Mechanism: Five white dice were die-cut using the die with the largest numbers and five of the black backing were also cut from the Game Charms set. The small charm loop was trimmed off each one. Like the Twist Flower mechanism, I cut the Heart Collage Pop-Up from the same green cardstock as the background panels cutting two mechanisms using one for pieces to cover the reverse-sides that show when installed. Because there was no easy way to place dice on the center platform of the mechanism that didn’t involve catch points, I used a circle from the Fun Flowers set to cover the center platform.

Decorations: From my family’s stash of used Yahtzee score sheets, I took one that had several Yahtzees on it and trimmed it to size to add to the background. I fussy cut the logo to add to the cup. On the card front I used some leftover silver ribbons and tiny foil hearts cut using the Border Blends – Trims set.

Sentiments: Two die sets were used to create the card front sentiment. The Happy Father’s Day set comes with a shadow die which I cut in white. For the “you’re a Big Deal,” I used Word Set 17, but without the shadows for “Big” and “Deal.”

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

  • Keep It Simple – 12×12 Double-Sided Cardstock Collection Pack – Lucky Day
  • Hot off the Press– 8 1/2 x 11-inches Foil Cardstock – Fireworks Blue Holographic
  • Hot off the Press– 8 1/2 x 11-inches Foil Cardstock – Stars Silver Holographic
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 White Gold Shimmer Cardstock
  • Gold and Silver Foil Cardstock
  • Black and White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Gatefold Cardbase and Envelope – White

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Vintage Yahtzee Score Sheet