Stampin’ Up

Cafe Coffee

| ullycatdesigns

Do you have that favorite café with checkered tablecloths and oversized cups where you get that creamy cup of dark roasted coffee and while away the afternoon talking with friends? This card is for you.

Designed around two coffee themed Funny Bones rubber stamps, all the dies used to make this card are by Karen Burniston. (Please note the cup pop-stand, saucer, spoon and swirl of steam are from a die-set she designed for Elizabeth Craft Designs in 2015 and can be found on on-line craft resale shops.)

I recommend watching the assembly video for the cup pop stand before starting this card. To begin, I used a purchased A7 (5-inches tall by 7-inches wide) brown craft paper card base and envelope. I covered the two inside panels with thin red and white checked paper cut as 4 3/4-inches by 6 7/8-inches rectangles butted up almost to the fold, but not covering it. Next, I cut a black and white paper napkin into a 5-inch square and then cut it diagonally into two triangles. I cut and embossed the saucer as shown in the assembly video. Each napkin triangle is adhered to the card base with two pieces of double-sided tape forming a “T”. The saucer is attached using glue that will be absorbed into the napkin and adhering it to the card base.

To get a glossy red coffee cup, I used red cardboard packaging that I had saved from a child’s fast food meal box and cut three cups from it. The alphabet border on the cups is washi tape. The steam die cuts are made with clear vellum.

The humorous coffee spoon sentiment was stamped in brown ink onto a 1 1/2-inches by 3-inches piece of cream cardstock. The red rimmed circles (from the Coffee Cup Pop-Up die set) on the card are for personal messages. Washi tape borders and silver mirror card complete the inside decorations.

For the card front, I stamped the Coffeeology sentiment on a 3 1/4-inches x 2 3/4-inches rectangle and glued diagonally over a 5-inches x 5 1/4-inch piece of decorative paper after stenciling sides of the card using the coffee bean die from the Coffee Cup Pop-Up set with a mini cube of Distress Ink in walnut stain and adding washi tape. The third die-cut steaming coffee cup and another spoon cut from mirror cardstock complete the front.

As is my style, the envelope back flap has stenciled coffee beans in brown ink.

The tiny coffee cup on the card back comes from the coffee charms die set. (See charm assembly video.) White steam was added using a medium tipped opaque white marker with detailed swirls of a white gel pen. More washi tape and a strip of checked paper complete the back’s decorations.

See more coffee themed card by clicking here.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it provides inspiration and joy. Please like and leave comments. 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

  •  
  • American Crafts -DCWV – 12×12 Inch Paper -Bright Red Checks – CP-002-00171
  • Paper Napkin
  • Clear Vellum
  • Red and Silver Scrap Cardboard Packaging
  • White and Cream Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Card Base and Envelope – Kraft

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Early Espresso
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Walnut Stain
  • Recollections Opaque Marker – Snow
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Pigma Micron 05 Pen – Black
  • Pigma Micron 05 Pen – Brown

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Scissors

All That Jazz

| ullycatdesigns

Needing a birthday card for a fun loving and jazz enthusiast gentleman who always supports concerts in the park, was the inspiration for this card.

It uses a variety of animals and scene dies as well as a pop-up bench by Karen Burniston. This was my first time using the Pear Blossom Press EZ-lights which are also available on the Karen Burniston website.

EZ-Lights:  To start the card, I had to plan out how the lights were to be installed knowing that the switch/battery piece had to be surrounded by foam strips and that I wanted lights on both the front of the card and inside the card. I don’t like to have wires going across the card-fold, so everything needed to be above the fold on this top-fold A7 (5×7-inch) card. (I also watched some assembly videos on using the EZ-Lights.) I made my front decorative panel and added decorative papers to the inside of my card base before poking the holes for the one light on the card front and two lights on the inside top panel.

Front Panel:  The front panel uses the fronds pattern plate cut from a dark green cardstock over a grass printed paper.

Lampposts:  These are cut using the street lantern pop-up die set using a glossy black piece of cardboard packaging which gives nice dimension as well as highlighting the embossed features of the dies. The edges of the lampposts I colored with black markers. For the lamp itself I used both clear vellum and golden parchment to allow the light to show through. (Assembly video)

Bench:  For the bench, I used the garden bench pop-up die set. I found a piece of glossy black paper that looks like metal, and I adhered it to some brown cardstock and then die-cut the bench. This pop-up is a glue-in pop-up, so I watched the assembly video several times to get the installation of the bench correct for this card. The monkeys are attached using foam squares.

Animals:  The jazz duo of a bass playing elephant and a giraffe playing the sax are from the safari animals die set with a beret cut down from an engineer’s cap and sunglasses from the three tiny accessories die sets. The musical instruments come from a die set from Doxie Craft Supply. The monkeys are from the monkey and lion die set. All the animals have stencils within the dies to add details like hoofs, eyes, mouths, ears and tails.

Bushes:  To create bush behind the bench, the large and small frond branches were cut from the landscape scene die set and inked with brown Distress ink. Three small fronds were used to cover up mistakes around the ground under the bench and for a decoration on the lower right corner.

Sentiments:  In order to turn on the lights two “Press me” labels were created -a yellow moon on the front and a green bush on the inside. The moon come from the landscape scene die set while the bush is the lion’s mane from the monkey and lion die set. A stamp was used for the “press me” stamped in brown ink.

“All that jazz” uses the mini alphabet die set. A strip of paper tape was used to provide a straight edge to line up the letters when adhered to the card front.

“Celebrate” and “Happy Birthday” are die sets also from Karen Burniston cut from yellow and tan cardstock.

This card is to be hand delivered, so no envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it provides inspiration and joy. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Lawn Fawn –Clear Stamps – Push Here

Papers

  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Black Glossy Cardboard Packaging
  • Keep It Simple – Back to Basics – 12×12 Double-Sided Cardstock – Jade Collection
  • The Paper Studio – Clear Vellum for Printers
  • Hunkydory Forever Florals – Autumn Days Printed Parchment
  • Park Lane – A7 White Card and Envelope

Pens & Inks

  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Pigma Micron 05 – Brown
  • Sharpie Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Point – Black
  • Sharpie Permanent Marker –Fine Point – Black and Light Green
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Inks – Vintage Photo
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Early Espresso

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Scrapebook.com – Double-Sided Permanent Tape ¼-Inch Wide
  • Fun Stampers Journey – Journey Dots
  • Stampin’ Up – Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals (Foam Squares)
  • Queen & Co. – Foam Refill Scraps (Foam Tape)

Miscellaneous

Patchwork Birthday Pop-Up

| ullycatdesigns

Quilts are cozy and so is this patchwork pop-up birthday card.

This card uses newly released Karen Burniston Hexagon Crosshatch dies to create both the patchwork both inside and outside. It also uses the pop-up mechanism from the Oval Frames Pop-up set. The sewing charms finish the card with decorative elements.

I wanted to create the effect of a flapping fabric quilt on the inside when the card opens. Cheese cloth is the inside patchwork’s backing. Glue stiffened the piece, but it has some movement. A white gel pen was used to add the stitching and sentiment of “Happy Birthday!”

Baker’s twine was threaded through the buttons from the charm set. The buttons are popped-up on foam dots to allow for motion from the twine.

The outside of the card is covered with large crosshatch hexagons and the overhanging pieces are trimmed and the scraps are used to fill in the other half hexagon edges of the card.

The front sentiment is one I used on another card that uses “word surgery” to create the word “sewing”.

I like to decorate the back panel of my cards using elements from the card.

As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I decorated the back flap with a birthday sentiment and a note that it was made with love.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Lawn Fawn – Clear Stamp – made with love
  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments – 271296

Inks

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler and Crushed Curry

Papers

  • DCWV – 8.5 x 11 inches Printed paper – The Everyday Essentials Stack
  • Craft Consortium – A4vPremium Quality Papers – Double-sided Solids – Candy Christmas
  • A7 White Envelope

Miscellaneous

Thanksgiving Basket

| ullycatdesigns

Being thankful for friends, family and a good harvest is what this basket pop-up card is all about.

This pop-up Thanksgiving card features some of Karen Burniston’s December 2022 release die sets – Wide Woven Basket Box Card and Bam Box.

Wide Woven Basket: This die set makes it easy to create a rectangular pop-up basket. (Prior to this set you had to die cut an extra set of pieces to widen the basket sides and grass. See video.) When used with the previously released Woven Basket Box Card, you cut two sets of the original size sides and two sets of the wide size sides. Follow the directions on the package or the assembly video to weave the basket and join the sides together. (I cut four rope handles because my cardstock was printed on the back side – so two ropes glued together.)

Crossbars of Grass: The Wide Woven Basket Box Card includes the wide grass crossbars used to attach the various balls. (I cut four to make a full basket and glued them in rather than tucked as suggested in the video.)

Autumn Elements: The leaves, vine, pumpkin and acorns are all from a previously released Karen Burniston Autumn Elements die set. (I didn’t do a test layout of my leaves with the basket folded closed overt the envelope, hence the folded tips of leaves to fit into the envelope.)

Sentiment: The “Happy Thanksgiving” is from the Karen Burniston Autumn word set. It is a single layer of a contrasting color from the basket. For the matted label on the back of the basket, I used the large rectangle and the smaller stitched rectangle from Karen Burniston’s Slim Frames set. This label is for a personal message.

Bam Boxes: To animate the basket when it comes out of the envelope and pops into shape, two small “Bam Boxes” were used. (Bam Box assembly video)These easy to make, rectangular boxes are powered by a small rubber band. (I used #8 size bands.) These go in diagonally opposite corners of the basket. Once glued in, the basket will only fold flat in one direction. (I recommend using a heavy weight cardstock for bam boxes and letting each stage of gluing dry before moving onto the next step.)

Envelope: As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I have stamped the back flap. This time it is stamped with my main sentiment. This is an A7 envelope.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Rubberneck – 6 x6 Paper Pad Double-Sided Papers 80# Cardstock – Autumn Leaves
  • A7 White Envelope

Inks & Stamps

  • Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Spa Collection – Mandarin Spice
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stamping Pad -Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie
  • Crafter’s Companion – Nature’s Garden – Autumn Blessings Collection

Miscellaneous

Gingerbread Holidays

| ullycatdesigns

Gingerbread is a sweet treat and holiday cards that smell of sweet baked goods make these two variations on gingerbread house pop-up cards a treat for the senses.

Karen Burniston’s Tiny House Pop-up die set and add-ons feature strong in these two cards. Primarily the Gingerbread add-ons are used, but the rounded door is from the Mushroom add-ons set.

The main difference to these two cards is the position of the two tabs that attach the tiny house to the card base and therefore, where the extension bar is attached on the house – front or back. The tree is a Winter Charm.

White hearts cut from the crosshatch hearts die set are places to write a personal message.

To give the cards their sweet scents, Nuvo Aroma Drops were used – red Strawberry Tart as the red candies on the roof and Vanilla Cupcake as light brown icing on the window panes and door frame.

Card backs are just as important as fronts. These are decorated with left over strips to mimic ribbon on gift boxes.

The envelope back hints at what’s to come when the card is opened. The stamps are from the same Lisa Horton Crafts Premium Magazine kit as the inside cookies and candy canes paper and front foiled paper sentiment topper.

Like the Tiny House? See more tiny house sets by clicking here.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 12 x12 Double-Sided Cardstock – I Love Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Here Comes Santa
  • Stampin’ Up – Doubled-Sided Cardstock from my stash –
  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Pink A2 Envelope

Pens, Inks & Embellishment Drops

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

Hello Summer Two!

| ullycatdesigns

Gumballs and relaxing on the beach are somehow tied together in my memories of summer family vacations. This card incorporates some new crafting supplies that came into my crafting room.

The gumball machine is one I’ve been eyeing from Stampin’ Up for a while. The tropical background paper is from Scrapbook.com. “Hello Summer” die-cut is from Tutti Designs and has its various elements cut from colored scraps and glued to a whole brown die-cut.

To make the inside message more legible I used some colored adhesive backed vellum which Messed up on the stamping and covered with the stamped sentiment on blue cardstock.

The card fits into an A7 size envelope which has been stamped on the back with a gumball machine.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Stampin’ Up – Dies – Gumball Machine – 157647

Stamps

  • Stampin’ Up – Photopolymer Stamp Set – Gumball Greetings -157646

Inks

  • StazOn Solvent Ink – Jet Black

Papers

  • Scrapbook Customs – 12×12 double-sided – Retro Tropical Islands -DS#30505b
  • Silver foiled cardstock from toothpaste box
  • Multicolors of paper scraps
  • Xcut – Xtras Adhesive Vellum Sheets- yellow
  • A7 brown craft paper card base and envelope

Shaker Elements

  • Stampin’ Up – Gumball Machine Shaker Domes – 158131
  • Stampin’ Up – Frosted Beads Assortment – 158132

Miscellaneous

Rainbow Wishes

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes it is just fun to craft with others. I took the opportunity to attend a workshop by Donna Butler, a Stampin’ Up demonstrator recently. We made the following three cards using Stampin’ Up products in the Rainbow of Happiness collection.

Donna asked me to say she had cased her designs from Pinterest.

Bookbinder card front
Bookbinder card inside

This was my first bookbinding card.

Embossed mat card front
Embossed mat card inside

I like the use of designer paper scraps being used on the envelope flaps as a quick way to decorate.

Cloud card front
Cloud card inside

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

A Clean and Simple Pop-Up

| ullycatdesigns

A simple and clean stamped card is not my usual style so I added a pop-up mechanism to make Santa fly.  The mechanism is Karen Burniston’s Spinner Square Pop-Up and the scene stamps are by Leane de Graaf.

Before assembling this card, I rewatched the two assembly videos Karen Burniston has made for the Spinner Square Pop-Up. Once I understood how to fold the mechanism, I folded it backwards from the video so that it would move its arm upwards instead of downwards.

I wanted a slimline card, so I cut a front panel with a ½ inch tab (9 x 3 ¾ inches) from heavy white cardstock. The back panel is 8 ½ x 3 ¾ inches also cut from heavy white cardstock.  The inside panel that floats up is 7 ½ x 3 ¾ inches cut from light weight white cardstock. I die-cut the mechanism and its arm (3 ½ x 1 ¼ inches) from lightweight white cardstock. The stamping was completed before assembling the card.

Stamping the trees on the front and inner panels, required creating masking papers to cover the trees that were to be in front of the other trees. The back trees are the darker color and stamped after the front tree.  A white pigment ink was used to stamp the snow onto the trees. The moon was stamped in Citrine with the crescent specks in Sunbeam. The “Winter Wonderland” sentiment is by Stampendous! while the inside “Magical Christmas Wishes” is by Sheena Douglass.

To assemble, the front tab was folded and glued on the back panel. Next, the pop-up mechanism was folded backwards and glued into the inside of the card. The arm was glued onto the square spinner as directed in the assembly video. With the card closed I positioned the fussy cut Santa’s sleigh and reindeer onto the arm top so that it would not be visible when the card was closed and played with the positioning before the glue set-up. Last to glue, is the inside stamped panel that hides the mechanism. It is glued on to the small raised platform on the mechanism.

The card fits into a #10 business envelope with the Sheena Douglass “Winter Wonderland” sentiment stamped on its back flap in black ink.

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

Dies:

Stamps & Inks

  • LeCrea Design by Leane de Graaf – Combi Stamps – Santa & Small Christmas Trees – 55.3707
  • Winter Woodland by Sheena Douglass, Creative Stamping, issue 62, December 2018
  • Winter Stags by Stampendous!, Creative Stamping, issue 90, December 2020
  • Memento – Fade-Resistant Dye Ink Pad – Tuxedo Black
  • Stampin’ Up – Stampin’ pad – Pear Pizzazz and Lemon Lime Twist
  • Simon Says – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Citrine and Sunbeam
  • Simon Says – Premium Pigment Ink – White

Papers

  • White Cardstock in both light weight and heavy weight
  • Cream #10 Business Envelope

Additional Supplies: