Queen & Co.

Gingerbread Shaker Christmas Card

| ullycatdesigns

Making a gingerbread house always involves candy and white icing. Half the fun of making a gingerbread creation is sampling the construction elements.

This Christmas card is one that I hope the recipients won’t try and taste the ingredients. I used Queen & Co.’s Holiday House Kit to make this shaker card. In the kit you get dies to decorate the foam shaker base with pre-cut acetate window cover as either a gingerbread house or a Victorian house. I chose to use polymer clay shaker elements that are from Queen & Co. but not included in the kit. (There are solid color shaker beads included in the kit as well as stamps.)

Cardbase:  I used a purchase brown kraft cardstock and matching envelope in an A7 size. The card I cut it down to a 6×4 3/4-inch side-fold card so that there would be room in the envelope for the foam shaker. The front panel was covered with a 4 1/2×5 3/4-inch piece of patterned red paper from the Queen & Co. Happy Holly Days mat stack. The inside white panel is the same size cut from white copier paper.

House: Brown patterned paper from Queen & Co. Homemade Holiday mat stack was use for the gingerbread house and man. The white icing and candies were cut from white cardstock and made sparkly with a wash of a glitter gloss aqua brush. The stripes on the candy can were drawn on with a red marker while the round peppermint candies have a die to cut the red swirl. Gum drops on the roof ridge were cut using a die in the kit and brushed with glitter gloss. The tiny peppermint candies are polymer clay shaker elements from Buttons Galore More.

Once the house front is made, position the foam frame on the cardbase to allow for the gingerbread man and candy cane to hang off the house, but not the card. Adhere foam to cardbase. Add strips of leftover foam to the inside of the frame to section off areas where the windows are.  Add shaker elements to the sections. Place the acetate piece over the foam frame to seal in the elements. Color the exposed sides of white foam with a brown marker. Using double-sided tape, attach the decorated house front to the acetate piece.

Decorations: Glue candy pieces to decorate the house. The gingerbread man is cut in two pieces – bottom white with glitter gloss and the top from the brown patterned paper. Attach the man with thin foam squares to fit over the polymer clay candies.

Sentiment: The inside sentiment is a clear stamp included in the kit stamped in red ink.

Envelope: A gingerbread man from a Joanna Sheen card making kit was stamped in dark brown ink and brushed over with glitter gloss on the back flap.

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

  • Craft Essential Series issue 09 – Joanna Sheen Cardmaking Collection
  • Queen & Co. – Holiday House Kit – Sentiment Stamps

Papers

  • Queen & Co. – 6×6 Mat Stack of Double-Sided Papers – Homemade Holiday
  • Queen & Co. – 6×6 Mat Stack of Double-Sided Papers – Happy Holly Days
  • White Cardstock
  • American Crafts – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – Kraft

Shaker

  • Queen & Co. – Holiday House Kit – Foam Frames
  • Queen & Co. – Holiday House Kit – Acetate
  • Queen & Co. – Polymer Clay Shaker Elements – Holiday Fusion Fudgy

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Early Espresso and Real Red
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red
  • Stampin’ Up – Stampin’ Write Dual tipped Marker – Chocolate Chip
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Double-Sided Tape -1/8-inch wide
  • Queen & Co. – Holiday House Kit – Foam Shaker Frame and Foam Scraps
  • Thin Foam Squares

Tools

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

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

Interactive Money Holder Halloween Cards

| ullycatdesigns

These two cards are for a 12-year-old girl and her 14-year-old brother. The card sender requested that they be money holders as well as interactive Halloween cards.

Both cards are variations of previous Halloween cards I’ve done this year, but with money holders. They also show how adding a second Karen Burniston pop-up mechanism and reversing the direction of it can really make a card jump for joy or reveal hidden treasure.

The original card called Witchy Shoes and this card are made with dies and papers from Queen & Co. Halloween collections – Fright Fest (shoes, pumpkin & papers) and Witch Hat die.

The money holder is an orange jack-o-lantern Trick or Treat pail intended as a shaker, but I taped the pumpkin frame to the center cutout and used the matching foam frame behind the jack-o-lantern, cutting off the top bar, so rolled paper money could be placed in it.

I added two pop-up mechanisms by Karen Burniston from her Spinner Square Pop-ups die set to make the legs move.(Assembly video). I reversed the direction of one of the mechanisms to make them move away from each other.

Envelope back

The envelope uses image stamps by Tim Holtz and sentiment stamps From Queen & Co.

Card front and front of envelope

For the Open If You Dare card I based it off the card Do What Brings You Joy using two of the pop-up mechanisms from the Katherine Label Pop-Up die set by Karen Burniston (assembly video). I reversed the direction of one of the mechanisms to make them move away from each other.

The ghosts and spiderwebs are from the Queen & Co Halloween Foundation Dies and the Paper Studio checkerboard brown craft paper has been in my stash for a while.

The Trick or Treat bag is a rectangle that was accordion folded at the sides and the bottom edge folded up into a tab. The edge of the bag was cut with pinking shears and then the bag was stamped in black using a stamp by Tim Holtz.

Card back

All other stamps used on the card are from the Queen & Co Fright Fest collection.

Envelope back

The envelope uses image stamps by Tim Holtz and sentiment stamps From Queen & Co. and Peebles.

If you enjoyed these cards, check out other creative cards on the Facebook page Karen Burniston Pop-Up Peeps.

Witchy Shoes

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes there are crafting elements that just take you under their spell and make you play with them.

Queen & Co. Halloween shaker kits have me under their spell This card is made up of elements from two kits – Fright Fest (shoes and papers) and Witch Hat. These kits have the dies, foam shaker frames and acetate windows. Some come with the shaker elements (I added to them from my stash) and/or matching paper (Fright Fest for this card.)

I added two pop-up mechanisms by Karen Burniston from her Spinner Square Pop-ups die set to make the legs move.

The card took less than 2 hours to make.

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

Thank You For Being So Sweet

| ullycatdesigns

Queen & Co. make some delightful shaker card kits and this Candy Land one is no exception. The thing that I love about the company’s kits are the pre-cut foam shaker frames that simplify the effort needed to make a shaker card. The extra foam left over from the frames is ideal for popping some of the candies cut from the paper pad as additional decorations.

The dies have uses beyond shaker cards with some basic shapes of circles and ovals.

I filled the shaker with elements I collected over the years, and are not included in the kit.

To hint at the envelope’s contents, I stamped in a variety of colors the candy stamps from the set with the sentiment “goody, goody gumdrops!” on the back flap and more colorful candy on the front left edge of the envelope.

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

Materials Used:

Dies & Dies

  • Queen & Co. – Candy Land Kit

Inks

  • Memento – fade-resistant Dye Ink – Tuxedo Black
  • Hero Arts – Hero Hues Reactive – Creamsicle, Blue Hawaii, Pool Party and Key Lime Fizz
  • Hero Arts – Dye Inks – Rose Hues -Cotton Candy, Pale Tomato and Bubble Gum

Papers

  • Queen & Co. –double-sided papers -6”x 6” Mat Stack – Candy Land
  • A2 floral card base and white envelope from American Crafts Boxed Cards – The Pier

Shaker Elements

  • Kat Scrappiness – Rainbow Dot Sprinkles
  • Buttons Galore & More – Sprinkletz – Pink It UP
  • Stamp Anniething Adornments – Jelly Dots – Blue and Red

Miscellaneous

Figgy Pudding In A Jar

| ullycatdesigns

The warm fruity smell of spices and icing sugar as it cools means that Christmas is in the air.

These dimensional cards are made from a Queen & Co. Holiday Jar kit which include the patterned paper, sentiment stamps, dies, foam jar shakers and pre-cut acetate. Colored cardstock scraps and heavy white cardstock card bases and envelopes were the only things besides red ink, glue, baker’s twine and tiny candy canes that were not in the kit.

The tiny tag says “Mrs. Claus’ Gingerbread Bakery, Cookie, Pies, Figgy Pudding” and is one of the tag stamps in the set. both the outside sentiment “Sweet Christmas Wishes and the inside sentiment of “Have yourself A merry little Christmas” are also included in the kit.

For the jar lids I used Hunkydory mirri card from the oxidized metals collection. The jar handle is cut from shiny black cardstock and the white stitched jar frame white linen textured cardstock both from a DCWV “The Spooky Time Cardstock Matstack.”

The envelope flaps are stamped with the same Stampin’ Up Real Red ink as the cards and the sentiment “Thinking of you at Christmas” sets the tone for the card.

I also made one other design from this kit using a fir tree theme complete with a pine scent air freshener tucked inside the card.

PLEASE NOTE: Queen & Co. makes these kits in small batches and when they sell out they may not bring the items back. I usually purchase a kit and several of the refill foam sets when a new kit comes out.

Watermelon Shaker Truck

| ullycatdesigns

Watermelon Truck -front-CU

Cold watermelon on a hot summer’s day – what could be better? How about a shaker card of a watermelon truck.

This card was the first I’ve made from Queen & Co. complete card kits. The kits come with dies, self-adhesive foam/acetate shakers, shaker fillers, stamps and 6×6 paper pads. The instructions are straightforward and easy to understand.

I have augmented the kits with some tiny watermelon slices I had on hand as well as the Lawn Fawn ants and watermelon stamp set.

The kits add to the possibilities of my Spellbinders Sunday Drive and Truck Large Die of the Month -OCT18 as the accessories are in a similar scale to all the vehicle sets.

The envelope was stamped with the Lawn Fawn stamps while the card sentiment is from the Special Delivery kit and was heat embossed in glossy black.

Watermelon Truck -card envelope

Supplies

Dies

Stamps

Paper

Inks

Miscellaneous