Mailbox

Sending A Hello

| ullycatdesigns

While more of a rarity to get a card in the mailbox these days, why not send a simple hello to someone you haven’t seen in a while. (Otherwise known as Happy Mail.)

This card was made using two of Karen Burniston’s new June 2023 release dies – Fence Landscape Accordion Add-On and Fun Flowers – and several previously released dies – Mailbox Pop-Up and Nature Edges. (The Nature Edges grassy strip is the longest of the straight grassy strips in all of KB’s dies. You could glue several together from the Fence Add-on, if you don’t have the Natures Edge set.)

Fence and Base: Cut one fence from the Fence Add-On set from white cardstock and trim off the four side tabs. Cut four of the grassy strips from the Nature Edges set from green cardstock. Lay grassy strip over the fence with an even amount of grass extending beyond the fence. Fold the excess grass over to form two tabs. Repeat for the remaining three grassy strips. Take two strips and glue the tabs over the tabs on the other strip to form a rectangular shape. Glue one side of the rectangle to the bottom of fence. Repeat with remaining grassy strips and glue to bottom of the other side of fence.

Mailbox: Using the Mailbox Pop-Up, cut two of the mail mailbox shape from silver foil cardstock. Cut two of the lids, making sure to reverse the foil side of the cardstock for one of them. Cut one wooden post from brown cardstock and one red flag. Cut one circle from silver foil cardstock. Cut two envelopes from white cardstock. Assemble envelopes as shown in assembly video and write “Hello” on the fronts. Glue front lid to bottom edge of main mailbox piece. Glue envelopes to side and lid of mailbox so that one envelope faces front and the other faces back. Glue wooden post to back of mailbox. Glue back lid piece matching notch to front so silver shows on both sides. Glue back mailbox piece onto front covering the post top.  Position on back side of fence and glue in place. Adhere silver circle and red flag over hole on front of mailbox. Cut a butterfly from the Fun Flowers set and glue over the hole on back of mailbox. (I inked my butterfly with a dark blue ink and filled in its body with a black marker.)

Flowers: The flowers glued to the fence are cut from the Fence Add-On set. Cut two of the bluebell flowers in blue and two of the tall stem in green and glue stems to the flower backs. Cut once the two small flowers from yellow, the two circles from brown and the two stems from green. Glue brown circles to the flower centers and the stems to the back of the yellow flowers. The pink bush flowers that are glued to the opposite corners of the grassy rectangle base are from pieces in the Fun Flowers set. For each bush, cut four of the long leafy stem from green, the five flowers in one die from pink and the tiny circles from yellow.  (I inked the three smallest flowers to be darker pink.) glue the four stems together to form a bush. Add a dot of glue to the three largest flowers and using a pick-up tool place one small dark pink flower in the center of a large flower, making sure to alternate the flower petals so no gaps show. Add another drop of glue to the center of small flower and drop in a tiny yellow circle. Fold all petals up to form a just opening flower. Glue to a top leaf on bush. Repeat steps until you have two bushes, each with three flowers. Glue bushes to opposite corners of the base rectangle so weight is evenly balanced and when the base is folded closed no leaf or flower overhangs the grass base.

Envelope: The folded card fits into an A2 (4.5 x 5.5-inch) invitation size envelope. I enclose the following CRX sheet to let the recipient know how to open the card.

mailbox-fence-sheetDownload

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

Winter mail

| ullycatdesigns

Who doesn’t love getting mail! The most famous snowman, Frosty sure does enjoy his mail in this card celebrating wintertime mail. It uses dies by Karen Burniston to create a delightful pop-up card.

The main die sets used were the Mailbox Pop-Up and the Snowman Pop-Up. Watch the two assembly videos for tips on how to construct the pop-up snowman and mailbox by clicking on the links above before starting your card. (If I had been smart and followed my advice of watching the assembly videos before starting the card, I would have known I needed at least 5 inches from the card fold to have Frosty in his top hat and should have done a top fold card instead of a side fold vertical card.)

Because I constructed my card base before I watched the assembly videos, I had to make the snowman without his hat to fit in the card. I used the top hat and snowflake from another snowman die set by Karen Burniston.

My inspiration for this card was the Carta Bella paper pad that has a page of envelopes addressed to various North Pole and winter characters. I cut out several of the envelopes from the paper and scattered them throughout the card. The other patterned papers are from this paper pad as well.

I like creating an outer frame for my card bases covered in patterned papers. I used the medium sized crosshatched rectangle to cut the frames in the inside green plaid paper panels and I used one of these rectangles on the back of the card over a border made from paper leftovers from the inside of the card.

For the card front I constructed a background from three leftover pieces of the snowflake print. The snow in the foreground was cut using a nature edge die that cuts a stitched rolling hill with trees. The trees I cut off.

While the mailbox is designed to be inside the card as an interactive element, it can be simplified down to a flat element. I used the main mailbox, lid, flag and wood grained post dies. The brown wooden post I inked the dies with white ink to get it into the wood grain and then gently rubbed the piece over the ink cube to get a snowy effect. I added the Santa hat and snowflakes to give some hints, if the name on the mail box didn’t clue the viewer that it is Santa Claus’ mailbox. I leave it up to the viewer to decide if the small Rudolf is the real one or a winter decoration.

Using the die as a stencil, I colored with a white gel pen to shade Rudolph’s ears and tail and a black fine-tipped marker for his hooves. I used Glossy Accents over his red paper nose to look more like a light. For Rudolph’s eyes and the snowman’s coal eyes and buttons, I used Nuvo Drops. With both these products be sure to allow 12-24 hours for them to dry. (I swished Rudolph’s nose and didn’t notice until the glossy accents had almost set.)

Inside the card, the finishing touches include: a snowflake, a stitched heart, and the sentiment of “Season’s Greetings” from the Karen Burniston Word Set 3.  (I’ve been experimenting with various dies by Karen Burniston with the dotted outlines because they are easy to make stitched or embroidered charms and embellishments for cards. This heart is from the Circle Charm Pop-Up set.)

For the envelope, I made a snowman face with top hat from Karen Burniston’s Snowman set and glued all its pieces and back securely to the back flap of the envelope. Sometimes for thick cards to fit into a standard size envelope (A2 for this card) you need to trim a total of 1/4 of an inch off the non-fold sides of the card.

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Dies:

stamps & Ink

  • Craft Smart – Ink Pad – White
  • Ink
  • Stamp
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen– 08 -White
  • Sharpie – Ultra Fine-Tipped Marker – Black

Papers

  • Carta Bella – 6×6 Paper Pad of Double-Sided cardstock – Letters to Santa
  • Lightweight 8.5×11 inch white cardstock
  • Matte silver foil cardstock scrap
  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • A2 Envelope

Additional Supplies Used: