snow

Tired Santa

| ullycatdesigns

This is a holiday card for a busy Santa. It features the Bam Box dies from Karen Burniston’s December 2022 release. It also uses previously released die sets of the Fireplace Pop-up die set, Fireplace Extras 1, Fireplace Extras 2,  Gnome and Santa, Slim Frames and Family Room die set.

Card Base:  The card base is an A7 size (5 x 7 inches) with a top fold. The base was what I glued decorative papers to as well as attaching the fireplace pop-up mechanism.

Bam Box:  The bam box is a rubber band powered spring box that allows the sofa to pop-up. Watch the assembly video before assembling. Heavy weight cardstock is recommended and allowing glue to dry at each step will make for the best working bam box.

Bam Box chair and ottoman closed
Bam Box chair and ottoman open

Chair:  A bam box is covered with the chair from the Family Room die set. The back of the chair is just the seat portion left flat. I cut a bam box decorative rectangle to cover the front base of the chair and hid the bam box. The pillow is attached as per assembly video directions. Santa is made from the Gnome and Santa set coloring the boots to look like socks and adding a pair of pants so his legs can stretch out onto the ottoman. Santa is glued to the pillow and his pants are glued to the Santa suit edge. The ottoman is just a bam box covered with decorative paper. (I originally was going to have a sofa in the scene as well, but decided on a chair and ottoman foot rest. The photos below depict the sofa assembly. The chair is made similarly.)

Fireplace and accessories:  For the fireplace cut two of the fireplace brick front – one in white and one in black as well as two of the lined mantle/hearth pieces – one white and one gray. The black brick is colored with a white crayon and the fire and logs are also cut twice and colored with watercolor pencils.

To assemble the fireplace, watch the assembly video first. You will need to attach the gray hearth and black brick pieces to the card base before adding the mechanism. There are two fireplace extra sets. I used the clock, fireplace fender and basket of logs from set 2 and the fireplace tools and candles from set 1. The tiny pop-up mechanisms for the objects on top of the mantel are from the fireplace die set. I also add strips of white cardstock to the wall on either side of the fireplace as floor moldings.

Rugs and Wall Decoration:  Using patterned papers that suggest wallpaper or carpeting make this type of card pop. The picture molding strip above the fireplace is a scrap trimmed off the patterned paper and the reverse side used. Slim Frames is the die set that the gold frame comes from while “Happy Boxing Day” and the calendar page are computer generated. The large green round rug is cut from the second largest circle crosshatch die. It can be used to write a personal message.

Card Front:  The card front uses a mat of silver glitter paper overlayed with the snowflake pattern plate cut from white handmade paper that has silver glitter swirls on it. The Holiday House is cut from papers used on the inside of the card. “SANTA” has been written on the door mat to hint at who is inside the card. “Happy Holidays” was cut three times with the top layer colored with silver gel pen.

Envelope: The back flap of the A7 brown kraft paper envelope has Santa’s sleigh and reindeer stamped in white to hint at what’s to come.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 12 x12 Double-sided coated cardstock – A Perfect Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Berry Merry Christmas – APC135003
  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 12 x12 Double-sided coated cardstock – I Love Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Glad Tidings – ILC114009
  • American Crafts – The Color of memories 12 x12 Red Plaid Paper – 348968
  • Recollections – Signature Especial 12×12 Foil Paper – Silver Glitter -220520
  • White Glitter Handmade Paper
  • Colored scraps of cardstock
  • A7 Kraft Card and Envelope

Pens, Crayons & Inks

  • Pink, Red and Black Fine-Tipped Markers
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Walnut Stain
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Crayon – White
  • Simon Says Stamp – Premium Pigment Ink – White

Stamps

  • LeCrea Design by Leane de Graaf – Combi Stamps – Santa & Small Christmas Trees – 55.3707

Miscellaneous

Santa Stop Here

| ullycatdesigns

Fur babies can enjoy the winter holidays as much as their human parents. This little pup doesn’t want Santa to forget her. She’s got her Santa hat and lights on her house as well as a sign asking Santa to stop.

The card front uses the dog from the Dog House Tiny House Add-Ons cut three times to make her stand out from the busy background paper. Dog bones from this set were also added to hint at what is to come on the inside.

To create the dog house, cut out and assemble a red Tiny House. (See assembly video.) I used the same red lightweight cardstock for the side panels from the add-ons. I choose not to ink the dies to print the siding lines, but rather to emboss them and then, using a white ink cube, to add a powdery dusting of snow.

For the colorful lights, use the lights from the Holiday House die set. (I used shimmer paper and colored them with fine-tipped markers.) The wreath is also from the Holiday House. Pup is added to the front of the dog house with a thick foam dot.

The snowy look on the roof was created by painting a thick coating of glitter gloss and using Effect Snow around the edges. To hold up the “Santa Stop Here” sign, a grassy strip from the Mushroom Tiny House Add-Ons set was cut, Effect Snowed, and glued to the card base and dog house. The sign is made from three of the school signs from the Church and School Tiny House Add-Ons set.

White octagons from the Bam Box Pop-Up die set are placed in opposing corners like snowballs for personal messages. Snowflake borders cut from shimmer paper using the Long Nature Edges 2 set.

Card backs are just as important as fronts. This one is decorated with left over strips.

The back flap of the envelope hints at what’s to come with the Santa capped pup.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 12 x 12 Double-Sided Cardstock – A Perfect Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Christmas Collage – APC135008
  • Red Light-Weight Cardstock – 8.5 x 11
  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • White A7 Envelope

Pens & Inks

  • Blue, Red, Yellow and Blue Fine-Tipped Markers
  • Gelly Roll 08 Pen – White
  • Pigma Micron 05 – Archival Ink .045mm – Dark Brown
  • American Crafts – Metallic Markers – Silver

Miscellaneous

Santa’s Sleigh Pop-Up

| ullycatdesigns

A wet snowy night for Christmas Eve and Santa and his reindeer are feeling a bit blue with the weather, but whoever receives this card will be cheerfully surprised when Santa pops-up.

This is a slimline card version of a non-traditional color scheme Santa scene that I used on another project that will be unveiled during the sneak peak week of Karen Burniston’s December 2022 release.

To create the the inside pop-up scene, I used four of Karen Burniston’s previously released die sets – Sleigh Pop-Up, Christmas Animals and Gnome and Santa. I had to reverse the direction of the sleigh to make it work with the reindeer dies. The reindeer are each made up of two die cuts that are glued together at their antlers and have the face colored on the front side only, but with narrow strips of cardstock forming “U” shaped bases for the feet to be glued onto. Blue and white baker’s twine is glued on to the reindeer for the harness and reins.

The front sentiment and pine branches are all by Karen Burniston. The tiny bows are from the sleigh die set while the pine branch is from the Holiday Charms set.

Velvety flocked paper lines the inside of the card with crisp white snowflakes (from holiday charms and sleigh die sets) and a fancy edged label for a personal message finish the inside scene.

As per my usual, I like the back of the envelope to hint at what is to come. The stamps are by Paper Discovery.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Recollections – Signature Especial 12×12 Foil Paper – Silver Glitter -220520
  • Spellbinders -8.5×11″ sheets of 100lb. Cardstock – Waterfall – CS-017
  • Stampin ‘Up – 12×12″ Specialty Vellum – Snowflakes
  • Stampin’ Up – 12×12″ Snowy White Velvet Sheets
  • Brazzill – 12×12″ Cardstock -Coconut Swirl
  • Pink, Black and Yellow Cardstock Scraps

Inks

  • Blue and Pink Fine-Tipped Markers
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Silver -XPG#744
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Salty Ocean
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Blueberry Bushel

Stamps

  • Paper Discovery by Olga Direktorenko – A5 Clear Stamps – Rustic Christmas – Christmas Sentiments

Miscellaneous

Brr, It’s Cold Outside!

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes it’s nice just to watch it snow with a warm cup of coffee or hot coco.

This fun mini-slim sized card is a blend of stenciled coffee cups and a die-cut snowflake collage pop-up. All the dies used are by Karen Burniston while the layered stencil is by Pretty Posh Pink. The coffee cups by both designers are similar in size and work well together.

I went through all my Karen Burniston die sets to find as many different single snowflakes as possible to use for the swirling collage mechanism inside the card. (I recommend watching the assembly video before starting your card. The video has useful tips and card base minimum sizes that will help you design your card.)

The sentiments all come from Karen Burniston’s Word Set 13 – Snow and include the shadow dies for the large words of “Brr!” and “Snow.” The mug and travel coffee cup inside are all die-cuts inked similar to the stenciled ones on the card front.

As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I have decorated the back flap with a hint of what’s inside. This time I stenciled a coffee mug on the flap.

See more coffee themed cards by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stencils

  • Pretty Pink Posh – 6×6 Stencil – Layered Coffee Cups

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Oxides – Festive Berries, Saltwater Taffy, Ground Espresso, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Mowed Lawn, Crushed Olive, Prize Ribbon and Tumbled Glass

Papers

  • Stampin’ Up – 6’ x6” Specialty Designer Series paper – Lights Aglow
  • Blue and White Medium Weight Cardstock
  • Simon Says Stamp – Mini Slimline envelope – Grocery Gag

Miscellaneous

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.

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

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:

Blue Nose, the Pink Alligator

| ullycatdesigns

As young children my father would tell my siblings and I, stories about Blue Nose the pink alligator. They generally began with “Have you ever seen a pink alligator with a blue nose?” We would discuss how an alligator could live in the American Midwest where there is snow and ice as well as hot humid summers and how the alligator came to be pink and received his blue nose.  This card tells that story.

I used Karen Burniston’s Fancy Label Accordion die set for the card base and the alligator from her Bayou Animals set as well as other elements from a mixture of her designs.

The alligator is ingeniously designed using three pieces – the body, the tummy pad and the teeth/eyes piece. I colored the eye on the teeth piece while still in the dies with a fine-tipped black marker. Then gluing the teeth onto the back of the alligator head and slightly opening the teeth. To get the half asleep red sunburnt alligator, I used the oval that came out of the eye and cut it in half and glued it over the eyes. I glued the tummy pad in place, but it is tightly snug between the arms even without glue.

For the sunbathing scene, I used striped paper cut into a rectangle and then fringed the short edges to make it look like a beach towel. The sun is from the Tropical Scene set.

For swimming in a snowy frozen river, I only used the head of the alligator with large spec glitter paper for the water and white glitter paper snowflakes cut with dies from the Sleigh and Winter Charms sets. The background is a coated blue glitter cardstock. The decorative frame is from a frame set KB had previously released with another company.

The last panel with Blue Nose, the pink alligator, used the waste from the decorative Fancy Flourish frame. (I save the tiny swirls to add to shaker element mixes for variety.) The sky is inked with a tiny make-up brush and blue ink.

The back panels explain the story and use scraps from the front. Stitch marks decorate the back frames and are made using the die as a stencil with a white gel pen.

Because of its bulk, the card can be mailed in an A7 envelope.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 6×6 Paper Pad Double-sided Papers – Paradise Beach by Michelle Coleman
  • Recollections – 12×12 glitter cardstock -deep blue
  • Heavy teal blue cardstock
  • Orange, yellow, and white cardstock scraps
  • White litter card scrap
  • Coated baby blue glitter cardstock

Ink

Miscellaneous

Sweet Christmas Greetings

| ullycatdesigns

Can you smell the fresh baked gingerbread straight from the oven?  This card is made for a child’s Christmas and depicts a gingerbread house complete with white sugar icing, cinnamon drops, peppermint drops and candy canes.

This was my first attempt making Karen Burniston’s Tiny House Pop-Up and I made some mistakes that created a catch point on a roof corner. (I highly recommend watching the assembly video to avoid some of my mistakes such as making the front door of the house on the end with the bottom attachment flaps and gluing the roof unevenly on top of the house.)

Overall, the Gingerbread Tiny House Add-ons set is easy to use with the Tiny House set. The cane canes and peppermint drops are tiny and may require tweezers to assemble. (I added Glossy Accents to the tops of the candy canes and peppermint drops to give them a shiny coating.) There are other decorative die pieces for gum drops and tiny dots in the set, but I opted to use some Nellie’s Effect Snow media for dimensional icing and Nuvo Drops for red cinnamon drops. (The Effect Snow made the roof curl up some creating more of a catchpoint on the roof corner.)

The card base is an A2 size card (5 ½ x 4 ¼ inches) made of heavy white cardstock and covered with patterned papers for smooth surfaces for the house to slide over. The sweets decorations are placed so that they don’t hinder the house mechanism opening.

Merry Christmas has a shadow die cut background of patterned paper and all the sentiments are cut from red paper so there are less chances of creating catchpoints. (I used some fancy nested label dies to create areas for a personal message.)

As is my style, I stamped the back of the envelope with hints of what’s inside using two colors of ink and a gingerbread house stamp set from Hero Arts.

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

Other cards that use the Tiny House Pop-up die Set

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

  • Memento -Fade-resistant Dye Ink – Rich Cocoa
  • Stampin’ Up Classic Stampin’ Pad – Melon Mambo
  • Hero Arts – Clear Stamp Set – Color Layering Gingerbread House -CM462

Papers

  • Heavy white card stock
  • Brown cardstock
  • Patterned papers from Carnation Crafts – Merry & Bright
  • Colored papers from my stash
  • A2 green envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Snowy Good Morning

| ullycatdesigns

I love a crisp winter morning where tiny snow crystals fill the air and sparkle in the sunlight.  This is a card celebrating such a morning in lighthearted pastels. Karen Burniston dies are used for the card focusing on the Iron Fence Pop-Up die set.

To make this A2 size card, cut a rectangle 4 1/4 x 11 inches of pink heavy cardstock and fold in in the middle to make a 4 ½ inches tall by 5 1/2 inches wide card base.  Cut four decorative snowflake paper panels at 2 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches. Adhere these panels to the top of front, back and insides of the card base. Using one of the hillside edging dies, cut four hills that are 5 1/2 inches long and the lowest point is 2 1/4 inches tall. (I used white glitter card stock on the front and back sides and a textured white inside.) Glue the snowy hills to bottom of each panel of card base.

It is easiest to die cut all the pieces you will need to make both the inside and outside fences at the same time so that they are similar in colors and papers used. (I cut four fences, but I really should have cut six fences so I could have finished the back of the card with a fence too.) Cut one of the slider fence arm and one of the arm sleeve from the same paper you used for the inside snowy hills.  Cut at least six green fir trees from the Long Nature Edges set to decorate in odd numbers on the front and inside of the card.

After watching the assembly video on the re-released inside pop-up fence, assemble as directed. (I found that the best way to decorate the hills and fence is to not glue the fence tops down. You can do this latter if needed using a fine tipped glue bottle.)

The birds in the fence die set are designed as crows so they are larger than a cardinal would be. There are smaller birds in the Frame Pull Pop-Up die set that are better sized as songbirds. This assembly video also has a tip on how to make the cardinal or chickadee crest on the head of the birds.

There are different snowflakes in the three snowmen die sets by Karen Burniston. They make wonderful filler decorations for the card.

Decorate card as desired, lifting fence pikes up to slide trees under or sandwich two bird die cuts around the fence top.

The Merry Christmas inside sentiment has a shadow cut from pink glitter card which adds to the crisp sparkling snow crystals effect.

I stamped the back of the envelope with a hint as to the card’s theme using one of by favorite winter themed stamp sets designed by Sheena Douglass.

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

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

Papers

  • Carnation Crafts – Merry and Bright from PaperCrafter issue 40
  • Pink card base – Bazzill -Pink Icing – PS1 – 102
  • DCWV – The Spooky Time cardstock matstack – white glitter and textured white
  • Glitter paper – pink from my stash
  • Colored cardstock from my stash
  • A2 Envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Snow Days

| ullycatdesigns

What North American children hasn’t hoped for a school closing day due to a snowstorm.  This is a card celebrating a snowy day in lighthearted pastels. Karen Burniston dies are used for the card.

To make this A2 size card, cut a rectangle 4 ¼ x 11 inches of pink heavy cardstock and fold in in the middle to make a 4 ½ inches tall by 5 ½ inches wide card base.  Cut four decorative paper panels at 4 x 5 ¼ inches. Adhere these panels to front, back and insides of the card base.

It is easiest to die cut all the pieces you will need to make both the inside and outside snowmen at the same time so that they are similar in colors and papers used. Also cut three circles or other label shapes on which to mount your sentiments. (For the personalized message circle, I added a smaller white circle.) Think about using contrasting colors for your words and their backgrounds. (I used blue to make the mostly white with snowflake paper I used for the words standout.)

After watching the assembly video on the inside snowman assemble as directed. Once the snowman is adhered to the card base, you can begin to decorate the card. (I used a sled die-cut from Memory Box to add to the snow time activities.) Remember to balance out the position of decorations from one side of the card to the other. There are two different snowflakes in the two snowmen die sets by Karen Burniston. They make wonderful filler decorations for the card.

Because I could not make up my mind on which stamp to use on the back of the envelope, I stamped two envelopes with hints as to the card’s theme. The word cloud is from Stampendous while the snowman is from Art Impressions.

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

Dies:

Stamps & Ink

  • Stampin’ Up Classic Stampin’ Pad – Dapper Denim
  • Stampendous – Winter Stags stamp set from Creative Stamping issue 90, Dec 2020
  • Art Impressions – Unmounted Rubber Stamp – Scrapbook.com exclusive Snowman – 5084

Papers

  • American Crafts – 348953
  • Pink card base – Bazzill -Pink Icing – PS1 – 102
  • Glitter paper – white from my stash
  • Colored cardstock from my stash
  • A2 Envelope

Additional Supplies Used:

Fineline 20 Gauge Applicator & Bottle