Memory Box Dies

Floral Thoughts

| ullycatdesigns

For this card I used a floral window die and stamp set by Memory Box that was the gift with issue 97 of the Die-Cutting Essentials magazine. The die makes an image using tiny holes and cuts out the aperture inside the wreath. I die-cut it on a 5.5 x8.5 piece of heavy pink cardstock and then stitched it completely before trimming it down to the final 5.5-inch square to fit on a 6-inch square cardbase.

Using the needle, enlarge the holes before stitching. The larger flower petals and leaves were outline or chain stitched before filling in the centers of them using two strands of floss. The yellow stamens are French knots.

The accompanying sentiment stamps provided the “Thinking of You” was heat embossed directly to the back mat after determining the placement with the stitched frame. The frame was attached to the 6-inch square of patterned paper with thin foam squares.

If you enjoyed this stitched card, there are more stitched card posts on this blog site:

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

Materials Used:

Dies & Stamps

  • Memory Box – Floral Window All-Occasion Die & Stamp Set – Die-Cutting Essentials, issue 97, December 2022

Ink & Embossing Powder

  • Clear Emboss & Watermark Ink
  • Gold Embossing Powder

Papers

  • Pink Heavy Weight Cardstock
  • Queen & Co. 6”x 6” Mat Stack – Candy Land

Miscellaneous

  • Yellow, Pinks, & Green Embroidery Floss
  • Large Eyed Needle
  • Foam squares
  • Die-Cutting Machine
  • Stamping Platform
  • Heat Tool

Nativity Ornament

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes an ornament can be a fun Christmas card.  A traditional nativity scene makes for a special greeting and gift.

Memory Box dies and Distress Inks make for a quick make with brown kraft cardstock and white card stock scraps. While you can purchase a bundle of the Memory Box dies from Craftstash, I purchased my dies from several stores and skipped using the House Frame base die.

Cutting Pieces:

Cut from brown kraft cardstock:

  • 3 of the Nativity house frame
  • 2 of K-shaped crossbars
  • 2 sets of palm trees
  • 1 of the house frame background
  • 1 strip 3/8 inch x 2 3/8 inches

Cut from green paper:

  • 2 sets of palm leaves

Cut from white cardstock:

  • 2 of human figures

Cut from gold glitter cardstock:

  • 1 of star

Cut a 9-inch piece of linen twine

Creating Sturdy Pieces:

Glue the palm trees together to form a study pair of trees with green leaves on the front and back of trees.

Glue one of the K-shaped crossbars to the back side of a house frame. Cut the tab off another of the house frames. Glue the trimmed frame to the back of the first frame sandwiching the crossbar between the two frames.

Glue the two human figures together.

Creating Middle Frame:

Trim 1/8 inch of the remaining house frame’s tab.

Glue human figures onto strip positioning them to fit inside the frame opening.

Inking House Pieces:

Using Walnut Stain Distress Ink, cover the front and middle frames. 

Ink just the roof of the House background.

Inking with Lighter Brown:

Ink the palm tree trunks with Vintage Photo ink. Lightly tap some brown on the green leaves.

Ink around the sides, floor and eaves of house background.

Using washi tape or low tack tape mask the human figures off and ink the white ground to blend into the brown strip.

Inking with Yellow Ink:

Using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, Blend the center of the house background into the darker edges.

Mask off all but the halo, baby’s head and straw and solidly color it yellow.

Inking with Green Ink:

Mask the hands and face. Using Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, color the male figure.

Inking with Blue Ink:

Mask the hands of female figure and manger/crib. Ink with Mermaid Lagoon ink.

Painting Flesh:

Tap a small amount of Abandoned Coral or other flesh toned ink on to a craft mat. Using a waterbrush pick-up some ink and experiment on scrap paper to get the desired flesh tone before painting the human figures.

Inking Manger/Crib:

Using both brown inks, color the crib to be darker than the ground.

Inked Details:

Using a fine-tipped brown pen, draw in man’s beard and add woodgrain to crib.

Golden Sparkle Detail:

Color the halo and baby’s head with a gold gel pen.

Attaching Figures to Middle Frame:

Add glue to back of middle frame and glue brown strip with human figures to house frame.

Attaching Middle Frame to House Background:

Fold back 1/8-inch tab on middle frame and glue to folded tab of house background. (A fine-tipped glue bottle makes this so much easier.)

Attaching Front Frame to House Background:

Fold back front house frame tab. Place glue on inside of tab and adhere to the bottom of house background tab.

Adding Twine Hanger:

Thread twine through all three holes in top of the roofs.

Knotting Twine:

Fold out the house frames flat to create slack in the twine before double knotting the twine at the roof pinicale.

Finishing Hanger:

Loop twine ends into a solid knot and trim ends to be even.

Glue star tips to house frame and twine.

Mailing Ornament:

The ornament fits into an A2 envelope. (I plan to seal mine into small plastic bags to go through the mail safely. You could also seal the entire piece with a spray acrylic sealer to stop the inks from running with if exposed to moisture.)

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

Dies

Inks

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz’s Distress Ink – Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral
  • Brown fine-tipped pen
  • Gold gel pen

Papers

  • Brown Kraft cardstock
  • White cardstock scrap
  • Recollections – 8.5 x 11 glitter card stock – Cashmere Glitter
  • A2 envelope

Additional Supplies:

A Silent Night in the Village

| ullycatdesigns

A cold winter’s night looking out from a window safe and warm onto a sleepy village is the scene this card suggests with hints of happy Christmas memories and the main reason for looking forward to Christmas eve.

The card is a happy mix of papercrafting products from both the USA and UK. The decorative papers and Bethlehem stamps are from Hunkydory. (Christmas papers from Hunkydory sell-out quickly, so I purchase them when I first see them generally on Craftstash as they have the best shipping rates from the UK to the USA.) The window frame is a cut and embossing folder from Memory Box. (I fussy cut two of these window frames and glued together for stability. After cutting out the basic window opening from the patterned paper.) My village is made from the hero Arts Tri-fold Edge Village dies and colored with watercolor pencils. At the top of the window is a wreath cut from thick packaging cardboard using an older Lawn Fawn mini wreath die set. The village and patterned paper are layered with foam tape.

For sentiments on this card I heat embossed “Silent Night” from the Bethlehem stamp set onto vellum using my favorite gold embossing powder. Inside the card is a Christmas tree shaped sentiment by Tim Holtz from Stampers Anonymous. The card back features the Bethlehem stamp in Crumb Cake ink that is similar to gold.

The envelope flap is stamped with one of my favorite round Christmas stamps from the Love Cardmaking magazine in a dark green ink mimicking the wreath on the card.

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

Dies & Embossing Folder:

Stamps, Ink, Embossing Powder

Papers

  • Park Lane A7 card base and envelope
  • Hunkydory – Duo Designs Paper Pad 8×8 – All Wrapped up & Festive Foil
  • Hunkydory – Adorable Scorable pattern Pack – Snowflakes Splendour
  • White card stock
  • Clear vellum

Additional Supplies:

  • Nuvo Watercolour Pencils
  • Waterbrush
  • Foam tape

Snowy Christmas Globe

| ullycatdesigns

All is calm, all is bright until you shake-up the snow globe. This traditional style snow globe easel card is made with PoppyStamps/Memory Box die set with the sentiment coming from a Tonic Studios die.

This was my first go at using these dies, so I followed the package example for the assembly and easel stopper (three holly berries placed on top of tiny foam circles with holly leaves cut from thin paper.) My green base card stock was lightweight, so I double cut the base and glued together before burnishing the fold lines.

The background white circle was ink blended use a sky-blue ink and a large blending brush. Next, I spritzed with circle once with a white ink spray. The snowy ground is a specialty handmade paper I’ve had for a while. For the cabin, I used a yellow scrap for the house outline/windows. Its roof is more of the specialty textured paper. I like the variety of fir and hardwood trees in this set which can easily be cut from various shades of green and brown scraps. The scene was laid-out and then glued to together before spraying the whole scene with white ink spray a few times.

For the woodgrain globe base, I used some heat embossed stamped woodgrain paper I had made for another project. (Click here to learn more about the paper.) I cut two of the thin trim piece from gold foil cardstock and trimmed one piece to fit the top of the woodgrain base.

To assemble the snow globe, there is a white globe outline die-cut that the assembled globe is glued onto and then the woodgrain base followed by the two gold trim pieces.

The sentiment was cut three times using the Tonic Studios die. The base layer is gold foil while the top layer is a thick red cardstock that was from some packaging that I had saved. I cut the tiny green holly leaves from a green paper.

Foam circles topped with the holly berries are used as the easel stop on the bottom card base with the holly leaves cut from thin dark green paper.

A personalized message can be written inside the card base. The card fits inside an A2 envelope (4 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches.) with its back flap stamped with stamps from the Winter Stags set by Stampendous! in a dark green ink.

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

Dies & Embossing Folder:

Stamps & Ink

  • Winter Stags stamp set by Stampendous! – free gift in Creative Stamping, issue 90, Nov. 2020.
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Tranquil Tide
  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Party Collection – All That Jazz
  • Avey Elle White Ink Spray
  • Simon Says Stamp Large Blending Brush
  • VersaMark – Watermark Stamp Pad
  • Stampin’ Pad – Rubber Stamp – Hardwood
  • Recollections – Detail Embossing Powder – Clear

Papers

  • White and green card stock
  • Gold foil card stock
  • White textured specialty handmade paper
  • Kraft card stock
  • Colored card stock scraps
  • A2 envelope

Additional Supplies:

Haunted Home Dome

| ullycatdesigns

What do you get when you cross a snowglobe with a haunted house?  A Haunted Home Dome!

This cute small Halloween card is also a Halloween decoration. The dies to make the dome are all from Memory Box. The Snowglobe Backer is the base which all four layers are glued to and needs to be cut from a sturdy cardstock. The sky background is also part of the earlier snowglobe release. The front three layers are part of the newer dome release. The tiny ghosts, bats and pumpkins are all from the Haunted Entrance Dome set.

I used patterned paper for all the layers except the backer which is a heavy weight black cardstock. The Radiant die cuts out the sky section which I taped on the backside into its frame and then glued the black backer pieces to it. Using glitter ink pens by Spectrum Noir, I colored in the night sky leaving a hazy yellow moon for the bats to fly in front of for contrast.

Each of the layers has a tab at the bottom that is folded back and glued onto the backer base flap. The front fold of the backer, I trimmed down to show more of the iron fence.

The tiny ghosts are cut from white glitter cardstock while the pumpkins are cut from orange cardstock and then colored with glitter ink pens. These tiny elements are glued onto the various layers to add depth and dimension to the open card. I used a white gel pen to highlight the tiny embossed cut features of the haunted house layer.

The die-cut “Happy Halloween” is from Karen Burniston and colored with glitter ink pens as well before being glued on to the card. (I find a fine-tipped glue bottle makes the gluing process of these tiny intricate sentiments easier.)

A piece of spider ribbon from my stash holds the top of the dome layers together. (I found it is better to tie the ribbon as a loop rather than at the hole, so that the card and easily open and close.)

A personalized message can be added to the back using a white gel pen.

The card will fit into an A2 size envelope, but I used a mini-slimline envelope. The back of the envelope is stamped with “Spooky Halloween” using a bat to hint at what is inside.

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

Supplies Used:

Under The Sea

| ullycatdesigns

Hi it’s Sue of Dies R Us design team with an underwater tunnel card.

The card uses three of the Memory Box Collage dies to create the gradually smaller frames that make up the tunnel of an underwater world of bubbles, seaweed and coral.  (You could use just one of the dies to cut the three frames and decorate each layer differently.)

I started with two different shades of cut 7 x 5 1/2 inches and scored at 1 inch, 2/3 inch and 1/3 inch from each edge. I cut a third shade of blue 7 x 4 1/2 inches and scored at 1/3 inch form both edges. Folded darkest at 1 inch scoring on both side. Folded the next two pieces at all of the scored lines.

Next I inked up the seaweed and tinted around the edges of the openings with two shades of green Distress inks.

While I cut and inked a number of decorative pieces from the Collage and School of Fish dies, I ended up only using a few them in this card. (I often cut and prepare extra decorative pieces in a batch fashion and keep with the dies to save time later.)

The octopus is a two piece die that lends itself to being on an Action Wobble Spring. By adhering the two parts together with a foam dot, the eight tentacles are at different levels. The spring comes with self-adhesive and is stuck to the back of the octopus’ head. A black pen colors his eye. (I found that adding an extra foam dot to the back of the spring made it so the octopus could be in front of the last frame of seaweed.)

To assemble the tunnel box, I took the card base with the shell front shown in a previous blog and adhered a printed paper to left inside of card base. Then with the sticky red double-sided tape to the left flap of the outside die-cut panel with the largest opening, I adhered it to the inside of the card. (I glued in placed a glitter net over the front of this panel before I adhered it inside the card.) Place red tape on both side flaps between the 1 inch and 2/3 inch score lines on both flaps. Attach the left flap to inside of first panel’s left flap lining up with 2/3 inch score line on first panel. Attach third panel to inside of second panel’s left flap lining up with 2/3 inch score line on second panel.

Adhere a background to the card base back inside before attaching the octopus. Peel tape on right flap of middle panel and adhere to inside of first panel at 2/3 inch score line. With octopus over the last panel, peel and adhere the right flap to inside of middle panel flap at 2/3 inch score line.

The inside sentiment was stamped on vellum and attached to the inside of the card with glue dots.

See the front of this card by going to One Shell of A Party

Hope this fun card has provided some inspiration for your crafting. 😊

SUPPLIES Used from Dies R Us:

Other Supplies:

  • Colored cardstock and clear vellum scraps
  • Three shades of blue sheets of card stock
  • Underwater patterned paper
  • 5 x 7 inches white card base
  • Foam squares
  • Red-backed, super sticky double-sided tape
  • Glue dots
  • Green and brown ink cubes
  • Tuxedo Black Memento dye ink
  • White glitter netting
  • 9 x6 inch catalog envelope
  • Sara Davies Nautical Collection stamp set from Simply Cards & Papercraft, issue 207
  • Stampin’ Up Dapper Denim ink pad

Don’t forget to come join in the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog. There’s a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to the Dies R Us Store.  

 For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE

CHALLENGE BLOG

FACEBOOK

INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

One Shell of A Party

| ullycatdesigns

Hi it’s Sue of the Dies R Us Design Team with a beachy kind of birthday card.

For this card front I used three of Memory Box new dies –Wood Grain Planks, End of My Rope Set and Grand Spiral Shell.

The card base is a white 7 x 10 inches rectangle fold to 7 x 5 inches. The three shades of blue mats are 6 5/8 x 4 1/2 inches, 6 3/8 x 4 1/4 inches, and 6 x 4 inches.

The wooden planks were cut on gray paper and aged with white and brown ink cubes. Cut from an oatmeal cardstock, the rope frame was inked with a dark brown ink.

The shell has a base cut from mother of pearl holographic cardstock and its top detail piece from white shimmer cardstock. A green gem was glued to the spiral center.

Assembly of the card is mat layers, wooden planks, a glitter white netting, sentiment and shell adhered with foam squares, and finally confetti sequins glued down with a few green gems.

The sentiment is a recycled one from another card.

See the inside of this card by going to Under The Sea.

Hope this fun card has provided some inspiration for your crafting. 😊

SUPPLIES Used from Dies R Us:

Don’t forget to come join in the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog. There’s a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to the Dies R Us Store.  

 For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE

CHALLENGE BLOG

FACEBOOK

INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Crafty Friends

| ullycatdesigns

Crafty Friends are fun to have and making special cards for such friends is both challenging and rewarding. This slimline mini-sliders card was made for an animal lover who appreciates interactive cards.

Instead of using my split slider template for this 9 inches x 4 inches card, I hand drew the five mini sliders and cut using a craft knife and metal ruler. (I miss cut and ended up having to reinforce the narrow bars between the sliders with additional patterned cardstock bars.) The coated Dress My Craft patterned cardstock was my last sheet of this vintage leafy print, so I had to make the slider panel work. Assembly is very similar to the assembly of the split slider template.

The foliage and floral dies used to decorate are a mishmash of dies from my collection. The elephant is one that I had assembled when I made another elephant card.

The foiled sentiment strip is one I had made during batch foiling session a while back. I used a die from a different Glimmer plate set to die cut the decorative scalloped edges.

Scraps of holographic ribbon were added between sliders to add some subtle sparkle to the card.

Inside the card I added a vellum strip to hid some tears around the half circle cut for a finger grip on the pull panel. A personal note will be added inside.

I glued 1-inch circles on the two points where the card recipient needs to place their fingers to hold and pull the slider panel up. A CRX instruction sheet is enclosed with the card to explain how to use the card.

Stamped on the back flap of a #10 business sized envelope in blue ink is a small elephant from Bus Cubbies stamp set sitting under the sentiment “Hello Friend” from Hello Friend stamp set.

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

If you enjoyed this card, check-out my original Split-Slider Slimline Series:

Day 1 – Split Sea Slider

Day 2 – Cloud Dreams

Day 3 – Triple Hearts

Day 4 – A Valentine for A Baseball Fan

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Inks/Polish

Foiling

Papers

Miscellaneous

© Sue Small-Kreider 2021

Elephants Remember

| ullycatdesigns

White elephants can be seen as special creatures in some cultures. This white elephant card was made to cheer up a friend going through some difficult times.

I was trying for a rich and silky effect by doing a blend of sunrise colors over a cut and embossed background that was then gone over with a Cosmic Shimmer Opal Blaze Polish to make it shimmer. The card base is made from shimmer paper as well.

The elephant’s headpiece and covering also have some of the opal blaze polish. The leafy heart die cut was adhered with foam squares to the embossed layer, and the elephant glued to the leaves.

The foiled sentiment was one that I had made previously in a foiling session. It is adhered with foam squares.

Sequins finish the decorations.

Althrough not pictured, I stamped the back envelope flap with “sending you love and Kindness” from a Hero Arts using an ombre ink pad.

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

Materials Used:

Embossing Folder

Dies

Stamps

Ink/Polishes

Papers

Dies/Foiling Plates

Miscellaneous