Tower card

A Knight In Shining Armor

| ullycatdesigns

It’s Sneak Peek Week for Karen Burniston’s June 2023 Release.

Sometimes you need a little help. Saying “Thank You” for a kindness given is what this card is all about.  It uses Karen Burniston’s new House of Cards Pop-Up die set along with some previously released dies including:  Banners – Crosshatch, Thank You, Princess and Mermaid, and last, but not least Knight and Dragon.

Cardbase: I started with a purchased 5×7 cardbase and cut it on its scored fold-line to make two panels that I reattached with paper tape at the short edge sides to make a top fold card. I used tape on both sides of the cardbase. Next, I covered all four panels with decorative papers.

Banners: Three colors of solid cardstock came in the paper collection, and I cut a nested set of banner shapes using the five largest dies in the Banners – Crosshatch set from each color. After playing with mixing and matching the various color combinations, I settled on my choices and glued the frames onto the cardbase allowing some of the patterned papers to show through.

Princess and Knight:  The princess, I had made some time ago, from scraps using the Princess and Mermaid die set. I braided three strands of yellow embroidery floss that matched the princess’ hair color and glued it between her hair and the back of her dress. The knight was cut from two types of silver foil cardstock and some blue scraps using the Knight and Dragon die set. (You can watch the assembly video for these dies by clicking on their dies and looking for video on the link page towards the bottom of the website page.)

Tower: For the four-story tower, I cut each of the card panel dies twice from heavy gray cardstock using the House of Cards Pop-Up die set. Next, I embossed each card using a cobble stone embossing folder. I cut the two base pieces and glued the small tabs to the other piece to for a six-sided polygon. The long tabs I glued inside the card along the fold. (This base is much like Karen Burniston’s palm tree or Christmas tree bases and the attachment of what goes on top of them involves tabs poked through holes. For an assembly video check the bottom of the page linked.)

To build the tower assemble two “Xs” and two squares. Attach one “X” to the base, then attach a square followed by an “X.” Loosely attach the last square and place the princess in it with temporary tape. Close card and if the princess sticks-out of the card, you will need to cut a window in one panel of the top square. (I cut a lip/tab that folded over and was glued to give strength to the card.) You will have to trim off the lower half of the princess to fit in the window and the card. Glue her onto the window lip making sure her gown does not cover the notch used to attach the square to the tower. Make sure her long braid does not hamper the opening and closing of the tower. 

Glue the knight to the small side of the tower base making sure he is not attached to any of the playing card panels. Test opening and closing the card to look for catch-points before the glue dries.

Sentiments: “Thank You” is die-cut using a die set of the same name. The inside sentiment “For coming to my aid” was computer generated, printed on thin printer paper and then die cut with a banner die. A blank banner was also cut from printer paper for a personal message.

Envelope: The smallest banner in the die set was used to cut the printed paper banner glued to the back envelope flap. It hints at the heraldry to come inside.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Embossing Folders

  • Darice – A2 Size – Cobble Stones

Papers

  • Craftwork Cards – 8×8 Solid Colors and Printed Papers – Flying High Collection
  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Silver Foil Cardstock
  • Printer Paper
  • A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Pink and Blue Fine Tipped Markers
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Computer Printer

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Scissors
  • Stamping Blocks or Other Flat Weights
  • Computer

Miscellaneous

  • Yellow Embroidery Floss

Home for the Holidays

| ullycatdesigns

Going home to be greeted by family and friends is a Christmas tradition since the mid-1800s.  This slimline tower card uses Spellbinder’s Open House dies to an interactive card that emotes the feeling of being welcomed home. (I must give credit to @DebsyG of Craftworld and Sam Calcott’s Made to Surprise tower cards for the inspiration for this card.)  

Spellbinder’s Open House collection has a number of add-on sets for various holidays, but none include a door wreath. (I had to use an older Lawn Fawn Mini Wreath from their door collection to complete my card.) I did use the side panel set to add more windows to the doorway.

Card base: Using heavyweight white cardstock that is 8 ¾ inches tall x 8 ½ inches wide, I scored and folded at 1 1/8 inches, 2 2/8 inches, 6 1/8 inches and 7 3/8 inches. Next, I stenciled the card base with brick colored ink, a brick stencil and a small make-up brush (I find these inexpensive contour make-up brushes from Dollar Tree work as well as the expensive ink brushes.) The folds should go to the back of the card, to form a jut-out entryway often found on townhouses.

Stairs: A gray cardstock was used to cut the main steps with the sentiment “Merry Christmas.” The sentiment was backed with scraps of red paper. I found an old envelope that was just a shade darker gray that the cardstock for the step tops. The railing is cut from heavy black cardstock and glued only at the rod tips to the steps.  The stairs where then adhered to the center of the card base, which when folded shut is 3 ¾ inches.

Door and Windows: The door was die cut with the windowpane dies in one pass. The side panels had to be cut and then cut with the window die. The top transom windows were also die cut from white cardstock.

I positioned the die cut door over the stairs and used a pencil to trace where the windows and the door edges.

Using the pencil lines, I cut out the windows and three side of the door with a craft knife.

Positioning the side panels next to the door, I traced the window positions with pencil and cut out and did the same with windows over the door and panels.

I saved the window frames to be glued in place to scrap pieces of clear vellum on the back side of the door and side panels and transom windows. Then I glued the vellum backed door onto the card base door. The vellum backed panels and transom windows where also glued in place so that the vellum was sandwiched between the case base and the white window and panel frames.

Inside Mechanism:  To create the set-back house interior, I cut a 8 ½ inches tall x 5 ½ inches wide piece of lightweight white cardstock. I scored and accordion folded at ¼ inch, ½ inch ¾ inch, 1 inch, 4 ½ inches, 4 ¾ inches, 5 inches and 5 ¼ inches. Next, I cut a floor from some woodgrain paper and the wallpaper from a small, patterned paper.  These piece where adhered to the center of the inside mechanism. 

The woman is an older Spellbinder’s small die of the month that can hold a pie, a present or a small fir tree. I chose a present popped-up on a foam square. The woman is glued to the wallpaper and floor before the inside mechanism is glued onto the back side of the card base.

The finishing touches are a tiny wreath I had in my stash that is glued over the door and attaching the mail slot and doorknob (cut twice and glued together for depth) to the door front.

The back of the envelope is stamped in red using a Tim Holtz rubber stamp “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

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

Dies:

Stencil & Stamp

Inks

Papers

  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • Pattered papers from Colorbok and Mrs. Sparkle paper pads
  • White cardstock
  • Clear vellum
  • #10 Business envelope

Additional Supplies:

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