Spellbinders

Shine Bright

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes simple is best. This embroidery floss filled-tree card has a simple message and design – Shine!

This is a first try at the new Spellbinder’s Large -Die-of-the-Month for November 2020 which has three designs to cut the holes and then using needle and thread to fill-in the designs. I used the full six strands of embroidery floss but think next time I might try three or four strands for the light circles. I followed the assembly video for the die set taping off my loose ends of threads.

Once the tree was stitched, I cut down the blue scrap piece I had die-cut the tree onto 3 7/8 x 3 5/8 inches. Using foam adhesive strips, I adhered the tree onto a green piece of mirror car that was 4 3/8 x 4 1/8 inches. These layers were then placed on a 6 x 5 inches sheet of patterned paper by Craft Consortium that had been adhered to a 6 ½ x 5 inches white card base.

Using a foiled sentiment, I had in my sentiments stash, I set the theme of shing bright for the card. (I like to do my foiling of sentiments in large groups to save time later.)

The inside sentiment is one my favorites from an old Kaisercraft stamp set. I tried a new tinsel embossing powder with it.

For the envelope flap, I used a new embossing folder that has big round dots, much like the candle glow circles stitched on the card.

Hope this card makes you smile.

SUPPLIES

Dies/Foiling Plates/Embossing Folders

Stamps

  • Kaisercraft – Clear Stamps – Sentiments -Traditional – CS313

Ink/Embossing Powder

Paper

Miscellaneous

© Sue Small-Kreider 2020

Naughty or Nice?

| ullycatdesigns

What pops down a chimney and out a fireplace? Santa Kitten!

These cute little kittens jumped out at me while in a Tuesday Morning store. They are on cellophane treat bags. I realized that they were the correct size for one of Karen Burniston’s interactive dies – the Pop ‘n Swap.

While I would classify this card as a prototype, what I wanted to share is to show how you can make a shallow box like structure to create a fireplace over the pop ’n swap mechanism. Watch Karen Burniston’s assembly video to learn how to put together this mechanism.

For this slimline card, I cut a piece of heavy black cardstock 8 ½ x 8 inches and scored at 4 inches and folded in half to create the card base. (The card needs to be at least 4 inches wide since the mechanism folded flat is 4 inches wide.) Next, I cut from the front top of the card base a rectangle 2 ½ x 4 inches to allow the Santa kitten to show over the chimney top.

The inside shallow box is a 5 3/4 inches tall by 4 7/8 inches wide rectangle of red cardstock. I scored at ¼ inch, 1 inch and 4 inches. (Because the mechanism is ¾ inches tall, the box side is ¾ inches deep.) All the folds are mountain folds. The narrow tab goes towards the right edge of the card while the wide tab goes towards the inside fold.  I glued my mechanism in first, and then using removable tape, I played with the positioning of the box and marked with pencil its placement before removing the box. I cut the widow to show the kitten inside the fireplace, by laying the fireplace frame over the mechanism and seeing where the kitten would best show. Next, I placed  a loop of removable tape on the fireplace and positioned the box back into place and got the fireplace to stick to the inside of the box. With the fireplace stuck I removed the box and traced the opening of the fireplace onto the back of the box. With a metal ruler and craft knife, I cut the opening slightly larger than the pencil marks. Now the box is ready to be permanently glued in place. Glue the kittens in place next on the mechanism arms, cutting any corners that show beyond the kittens.

For decorating of the fireplace and mantel refer to my An Old-Time Christmas post. The brick is stenciled on the chimney panel before cutting it for the front. The fireplace was stenciled once the opening was cut for the fireplace, but before the box was glued permanently in place.

I tried a new-to-me product from Cosmic Shimmer called Fluffy Stuff. It is a thick paint-like substance that you can add dimension with for snow. You use a heat gun to get it to bubble up. I tried adding it to the front of the card after I assembled the card and in the heating of the card, I ended up heating the cellophane of the top kitten which shrunk a little. My recommendation is to add the Fluffy Stuff to your front panel before it is glued on to the card so that you can heat it and left it dry for 24 hours before gluing in place. (Here is a video that shows Fluffy Stuff being demonstrated on the Beebaab Youtube channel.)

If you have read this far, I’ll let you in on a secret. There is a free down of the “Naughty or Nice” sentiment in the supplies list.

Hope this card makes you smile.

SUPPLIES

Dies

Stamps/Stencils

Inks/Colors

Paper

naughty-or-niceDownload

Miscellaneous

© Sue Small-Kreider 2020

The Best is Yet to Come

| ullycatdesigns


“You’re not getting older, you’re getting better” was the inspiration for this anniversary card for a “better” couple. I used one of my favorite Spellbinder’s die set – Sunday Drive along with one of it’s add-on sets  – Sunday Sunset Drive.

To create the rainbow oval I hot foiled the Spellbinder’s Essential Glimmer Ovals and then the sentiment above from a Spellbinders Glimmer of the Month sentiment set. (Spellbinders has great clubs of the month that get you the newest dies/glimmer plates before they are released to the general public and/or get sold out, plus discounts on other products like the Journey Platinum and Sapphire Mini die cutting machines that I use. The Mini I got for 75% off.)

The heart and star are some die cuts that have been in my stash for years most like cut from punches and junk mail.

To assemble the car and passengers I looked at the pictures on the packaging, but you could watch an assembly video too. The License plate was cut from white glitter paper. The taillights are Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Shocking Pink and silver matte cardstock. I used Watercolor pencils on the passengers’ skin and hair. I added the yellow ribbon scarf to create the illusion of motion following the direction of the woman’s hair. (I was also thinking of an old Audrey Hepburn movie of her in a small sports car with a scarf blowing in the wind.)

Because I don’t own matching glimmer plate or stamp that would compliment the typeface of the front sentiment, I used die cut letters from gold mirror card and another of the license plates from the Sunday Sunset Drive set.

As is my style I stamped the back of the envelope with a hint of what is inside using an older BoBunny hearts stamp in red.

This card feels like one a husband might give to his wife as they near retirement.

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

SUPPLIES

Dies:

Foiling:

Stamps:

Coloring:

Paper:

Miscellaneous:

© Sue Small-Kreider 2020

Color My World

| ullycatdesigns

This bland little art portfolio opens to a world of color to express how my spouse makes me feel and to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

I borrowed the idea of making a portfolio case from Bibi Cameron’s blog post for the Spellbinders Large die of the month set for August 2020. I think you could probably use most any 3D frames set to make this portfolio such as Helen Griffin’s Simply Made Terrific Terrarium die set.

The corners, closing strap, buckle and tag, I used from the Karen Burniston’s Purse Pop-up die set. The tubes of paint are also part of the Spellbinder’s set.

I heat embossed the two different stamped sentiments using two colors of embossing powder.

SUPPLIES

Dies

Stamps

Ink/ Embossing Powders

Paper

  • Cream colored stock from my stash
  • Colored cardstock scraps from stash

Miscellaneous

Bounty of the Season

| ullycatdesigns

“May the bounty of the season fill your heart and home” is the message of this layered Thanksgiving card. It uses the October 2020 Large Die of the Month by Spellbinders as well as a variety of other brands’ elements to make a 6 ½ x 5 inches card with matching envelope.

I started by using an older Tim Holtz brick stencil with his fired brick Distress Ink on a 6 x 4 ½ inches brick red cardstock. I went through my paper scrap bins for the paper that I cut the rest of the scene’s elements, much of it coming from junk mail advertisements and envelopes. The brass letter slot and doorknob where from a candy box.

The window was cut twice from white and black cardstock and pieced together. All the white elements were cut from shiny coated packaging. Several years ago, I employed a tiny Fiskars oak leaf punch to cut the colorful leaves from junk mail. The leaves were used to make the door wreath which uses the wreath from the die set as a base. The welcome mat is cut from a brown craft paper.

By laying out the doorway pieces on the stenciled red panel I knew where to glue the bottom step piece and then the left column, red door and right column followed by the top piece. (I recommend watching the assembly video to understand how the pieces all go together.) A sticky tip tool is especially useful in assembling this doorway scene’s tiny pieces.

After the glue on the front panel was dry, I took a soft glue eraser to the white sections to erase the glue smudges.

I stamped the inside sentiment using paper masks (from sticky note paper) to allow only the intended sections to be stamped using three colors. The order of stamping was light to darkest ink – orange, green, brown. I placed a fussy-cut mask of the pumpkin after the orange layer was stamped which is hard to see in the photos showing what I masked for each stamping layer. Before I stamped the sentiment stamp in brown, I removed the pumpkin vine stamp from the stamping platform.

As is my style, I like to stamp the envelope flap with a hint of what’s inside.

SUPPLIES

Dies/Punches

Stamps/Stencils

Ink

Paper

Miscellaneous

Sunshine Tower

| ullycatdesigns

Sunshine on a dreary dull day is the theme of this card meant to brighten someone’s mood.

I had gotten Sam Calcott’s Terrific Tower dies set and some new Buttons Galore shaker elements and know I wanted to combine them into one card.

(There isn’t a good assembly video for the Terrific Towers die set but there is a new release video that will give you some ideas how to make the tower card.)

Back side of tower card with space for a personal message.
Close-up of shaker

Using the Pink Fresh Studio slimline circle apertures dies with the My Favorite Things 2-inch circle shaker pouches works well. The only thing I had to do was to snip in between each scallop to allow the pouch to fit through. I cut the circles apart and rounded the corners. Had to use some teal mirror card to suggest water or sky. After gluing the teal mirror card and lemon-yellow layer together, I glued the shaker pouches to the lemon-yellow layer, filled the pouches and then glued the pale-yellow backing to each. (Remember to use an antic static pad to wipe the inside of pouch to cut down on the static cling of sequins to the plastic.)

The Towers die set comes with all the rectangular matting layer panels. The base card is cut in a grapefruit orange and the panels are in a pale yellow and a lemon yellow.

The stars/suns are made from the Made to Surprise Excellent Edges die set by cutting the bottom star from orange and the top from pale yellow. The tiny 3D red and pink flowers and greenery are decorative elements I had left over from another project and are cut from the Spellbinders 3D Fun Time Cruiser die set.

Finishing touches are the stamping of the sentiment and the back-envelope flap from the What the Doodle Sun stamp set.

Supplies:

Stamps

Dies/Punches

Papers

Inks

Miscellaneous

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

| ullycatdesigns

Halloween in the USA often means corn mazes and pumpkin patches as well as dressing up on Halloween evening and going to a party. I have tried to combine these things into a single slimline sliding bridge-fold card.

This card was a second prototype for trying new methods and materials for me. This was my second attempt at ink blending a setting sun sky using Distress Inks and blending sponges, so not as spotty as my first attempt, but not as smoothly blended as I would like. I made a stencil for the sun using scrap card.

The base of the card is 8 1/2 inches (21.6 cm) tall by 9 inches (22.7 cm) wide and scored at 4.5 cm, 8 cm, 15 cm and 18.5 cm. I cut the top corners diagonally from 9 cm down to the 8 cm scoring and the 15 cm scoring.

The small ghosts and bats lurking on the inside panel are die-cut pieces – the bats from the Halloween Sunday Drive and the “Squeaker Ghosts” by Poppy Stamps.

I used the Hero Arts September 2020 My Monthly Hero Kit to stamp the layered image of a field of pumpkins with a corn filed in the background. The kit includes five mini cubes of ink needed to stamp each layer as well as the layered stamps and sentiment stamps. Dies to cut out a few of the images and several sheets of glitter paper round out the kits. (You need to order early the monthly kits as they sell out fast. Hero Arts is one of the few companies that lets you order a single kit without taking out a subscription.)

I stamped four of the images on white copy paper and layered the pumpkin field to create a taller background image. I knew I wanted a road going down the middle of the card, and I cut a road from brown cardstock.

The sliding bridge is a mechanism under the car that involves a capital I piece and two folded rings.

The rings are glued to the folded edges of the card base around the I piece. The end stops of the I piece were adhered behind the car’s wheel wells and tires with foam pads.

The car driven by a white glitter paper skeleton with a glow-in-the-dark pink haired witch with glow-the-the-dark green skin, is die cut suing Spellbinder’s Sunday Drive car die set with the Halloween Sunday Drive add-on set. The car body was cut from white cardstock and then covered with Black Soot Distress ink. The taillights are Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Shocking Pink and silver matt cardstock. Two glitter cardstock die cut skulls are in the car’s luggage rack. The brown folded down roof is colored cardstock heat embossed with clear embossing powder to get a faux leather look. The shiny hat bands on the two hats are made with Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Blue Crush.

The sentiment and stamps used on the envelope flap are all from the Hero Arts kit stamped in Memento tuxedo Black and the wheel in the Hero Arts brown ink cube.

For another Halloween slimline card using the same supplies see Being Spooky.

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

© Sue Small-Kreider 2020

SUPPLIES

Dies:

Stamps:

Inks/Embossing Powder:

Nuvo Drops:

Miscellaneous:

  • Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue
  • White computer paper
  • White cardstock
  • Colored cardstock scraps from stash
  • Foam pads
  • American Crafts – Metallic Marker – M – Silver -62212

Being Spooky

| ullycatdesigns

Halloween in the USA often means corn mazes and pumpkin patches as well as dressing up on Halloween evening and going to a party. I have tried to combine these things into a single slimline z-fold card.

This card was my prototype for trying new methods and materials for me. I had never ink blended a setting sun sky using Distress Inks and blending sponges, so my sky is a bit “spotty.” I experimented with using Nuvo drops to cover an entire surface (car, witch’s hair and neck.) I like the effect that Nuvo drop spread thin has on small die cut pieces but getting an even coating on large pieces was difficult. I think using a glow in the dark embossing powder would work better for the car.

I used the Hero Arts September 2020 My Monthly Hero Kit to stamp the layered image of a field of pumpkins with a corn filed in the background. The kit includes five mini cubes of ink needed to stamp each layer as well as the layered stamps and sentiment stamps. Dies to cut out a few of the images and several sheets of glitter paper round out the kits. (You need to order early the monthly kits as they sell out fast. Hero Arts is one of the few companies that lets you order a single kit without taking out a subscription.)

I stamped four of the images and layered the pumpkin field to create a taller background image. I knew I wanted a road going down the middle of the card, but in hindsight, I have the perspective all off for the angle of the road. The road is made of three pieces of black cardstock. The design of the car is for the card to be standing open in a z-fold position, so you can read the “Happy Halloween.”

The base of the card is 8 5/8 inches tall by 7 5/8 inches wide and folded at 1 7/8 inches and 3 ¾ inches.

The car driven by a white glitter paper skeleton with a glow-in-the-dark pink haired witch with glow-the-the-dark green skin, is die cut suing Spellbinder’s Sunday Drive car die set with the Halloween Sunday Drive add-on set. The car body was cut from white cardstock and then covered with the Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Sour Apple. The taillights are Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Shocking Pink and silver matt cardstock. Two glitter cardstock die cut skulls are in the car’s luggage rack. The brown folded down roof is colored cardstock heat embossed with clear embossing powder to get a faux leather look. The shiny hat bands on the two hats are made with Nuvo Glow Drops Neon – Blue Crush.

The small ghosts and bats lurking on the inside panel are die-cut pieces – the bats from the Halloween Sunday Drive and the “Squeaker Ghosts” by Poppy Stamps.

The sentiment and stamps used on the envelope flap are all from the Hearo Arts kit stamped in Memento tuxedo Black and the wheel in the Hero Arts brown ink cube.

For another interactive Halloween slimline card using the same supplies see Driving into a Spooky Sunset (Set to be released on September 25).

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

SUPPLIES

Dies:

Stamps:

Inks/Embossing Powder:

Nuvo Drops:

Miscellaneous:

  • Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue
  • White computer paper
  • White cardstock
  • Colored cardstock scraps from stash
  • American Crafts – Metallic Marker – M – Silver -62212

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

| ullycatdesigns

How does Santa deliver presents to places where there is no snow for his sleigh? I think he goes in his trusted vintage white convertible with Rudolph to those tropical places. This is the sixth house card in my series of “A Week of Christmas Houses” using Poppy Stamps 2020 Winter House Pop-Up Easel die set.

This double easel card is designed as a slimline card to fit a #10 envelope. The car and Santa are part of the Spellbinders’ Sunday Drive collection.

I found both the Poppy Stamps and Spellbinders sets easy to use following the images on the packaging but recommend having a pair of tweezers handy to glue and place the tiny details. I also recommend having a small container or bag to put your die cut pieces into as you cut them out. They are quite easy to lose on your workspace or get dropped onto the floor.

To make sure the Fired Brick Distress ink I used under the Ho Ho Ho did not bleed onto the white car, I clear heat embossed the piece which adds some texture and shine to the license plate.

Because both die sets for this card are designed to represent snow and cold weather, I had to modify the die cut pieces. For Santa, I cut the sleeve off his shirt and used colored papers to have him wearing a more causal tropical shirt and created his arm by tracing around the outside of the skeleton’s arm in another add-on set for the Sunday Drive collection. On the house I trimmed off any of the snow on rooflines and used the poinsettia flowers from the Sunday Drive collection to plant in front of the house. To fit in a #10 envelope the tiny tips of the roof edge had to be trimmed off the card base.

Once again, I used peach organza ribbon to create some interest at the windows of the house. The door and roofs are inked dark with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The door wreath is from the Tonic Studios set and the palm tree towering over the house is from a Karen Burniston pop-up die set. Nuvo drops were used for the doorknob and flower centers.

The welcome mat, which acts as the easel stop, was stamped and heat embossed using a stamp from a retired Stampin’ Up set. I used a blend of Ranger Black Sparkle and Recollections Ebony Detail Embossing powders that give the welcome mat a snowy sparkle. Once heat embossed, the mat was weathered using Antique Linen Distress Ink on a sponge dauber and cut out with the coordinating die. Foam squares where used to adhere the mat to card and make it tall enough to act as an easel stop.

The “Merry Christmas” is cut from heavy black cardstock glued down.  A personal message can be written behind the house.

Finished off the card by stamping its envelope with some hints as to what’s inside using a “Magical Christmas Wishes” sentiment in dark green ink.

See the more the series of “A Week of Christmas Houses”

Day 1 – From Our House to Your House

Day 2 – Santa is Coming

Day 3 – A Baby is Coming

Day 4 –Keeping the Home Fires Burning

Day 5 – Red Four-Square

Day 6 – Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Day 7 – House Luminary

2019 – 12 Days of Christmas Trees

Other Sunday Drive cards:

Sunday Drive Celebration

A Snowy Sunday Drive with Santa

Santa Bauble

Santa Delivers to the Tropics

Being Spooky

Driving into a Spooky Sunset

The Best is Yet to Come

Hoppy Spring!

SUPPLIES:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

Ink/Embossing Powder

Miscellaneous