A Pair of Twist Panel Pop Up Birthday Cards

 October is by far the busiest month for me when it comes to making birthday cards. This year, I decided to do duplicates to alleviate some of the stress of being short on time and creativity.

I started by using Spellbinders "Lacey Circles" die set to cut and glue three layers together for each frame. Flowers and foliage placed around the frame were cut from pearlescent papers with Spellbinders "Be Bold Blooms" and "Mini Blooms and Sprigs" die sets. Fishtail sentiment banner was foiled and cut using "More Sentiments" Glimmer hot plate from Spellbinders.

Little teddy bear peeking through the frame was cut and pieced together using Marjorie Ann Designs' "Franklin Heal the World" svg cut file.

Inside the card, I installed a "Twist Panel Pop Up" or "Pop Up Accordion Panel" mechanism for a fun surprise. An accordion folded "Happy Birthday" banner pops forward and twists open as the card is opened.

There are many tutorials that can be found on the web for this type of pop up mechanism by searching "Twist and Pop Up Card". The template and tutorial I use for mine are from Kevin Devine found here.

I used the same "Franklin Heal the World"  cutting file to cut and piece together the mirror image sitting teddy bears. Alphas for "Happy Birthday" were cut using Arial font and the banner was made by arranging the bears with the letters and having Make the Cut design program create and cut a shadow layer of them together. Teddy bears and letters were then adhered to the shadow layer and folded accordion style to fit onto the pop up mechanism.

Last step was to add my sentiment box, some die cut balloons and flowers, and a little bit of sparkle to the letters with glitter glue. 

Oven Pop Up Birthday

We have a very dear friend who enjoys baking and always spoils us with delicious fresh from her oven goodies. So for her birthday this year, I made a kitchen themed card.                                                          I used "Happy Birthday word die" from Hello Bluebird for the sentiment on the front of the card as well as Karen Burniston "Baking Charms" dies for the mixing bowl and implements. Oval panels were cut on my Silhouette Cameo and I ran the smaller oval through The Paper Studio's "A2 Bricks" embossing folder. For the wood panel mat, I printed a photo of  a vinyl wood floor sample from an online flooring site.  I also used this for the kitchen flooring inside the card, and to die cut the wooden spoons and rolling pins used to decorate.                                                   

Inside the card, I used Karen Burniston's "Oven Pop Up" and "Oven Extras" die sets to add a fun pop up kitchen. Although this is a very simple and basic pop up mechanism that could be easily created without a die, I chose to purchase these die sets mostly because of all the tiny,  detailed and perfectly sized to fit extras included. 

Without a doubt, attempting to cut the tiny little gas burners, oven knobs and even the baking racks from metallic cardstock would have been a struggle on the Silhouette. It was so much easier to die cut them! I also loved how the oven door opens so you can get a peek inside to see what's baking . . . look, it's our favorite cranberry scones!

The cranberry scones our friend bakes are deliciously rich, buttery and to die for! Of course they had to be baking  in her oven! These were done as a print and cut.

I used a previously created cutfile for the bracket style label, "Hello Valentica" font, and more die cut kitchen utensils for the sentiment box.

For a gift, I pieced together a duplicate set of kitchen charms to decorate and embellish the top of this slider box.

As the drawer is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside, the embellished panel on top pops forward to an upright position. The svg cutfile for this fun pop up sliderbox was purchased from the Lori Whitlock Shop.  These boxes really make it fun to gift and receive gift cards.

Relaxing Teddy Bear Retirement Card

 Here's a card and gift card holder set I put together for a dear friend who recently retired from her workplace.  

 

I kept the front of the card simple, decorating with die cut images from different companies: Stampin' Up "Adirondack Chair", Lawn Fawn "Stitched Rounded Rectangle" and "Stitched Hillside Border" dies, and an unbranded double palm tree die from "Custom Crafter 500" store on Etsy. The Happy Retirement sentiment was computer generated using Brisk Extended font.

On the inside, I used the "Adirondack Chair Pop Up" die set from Karen Burniston to create a fun pop up card. 

I made a very similar card to this one several years ago when I created the cutting files for the palm trees, wave border and slippers, so decorating the inside of this time card took a lot less time to do. 

The one thing I did do differently this time was to add a sitting teddy bear to the chair. I used the "Bentley at the Beach" cut file from Marjorie Ann Designs to paper piece Bentley the bear and propped him up onto the adirondack chair with a tropical drink. The cut file for the "Summer Cocktail" is a freebie from Cre8ive Cutz.

Then, for a matching gift card holder, I decorated a slider box with a mini version of the front of the card, using the adirondack chair die from  the "Tropical Collection - On the Beach" from Creative Expressions. Fishtail banner was hotfoiled and cut using Spellbinders "Hexi-Gems Sentiments" Hot foil plate and die set.

As the drawer is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside, the panel with the beach scene pops up.  The svg template for this fun pop up slider box comes from the Lori Whitlock Shop. I really like that the pop up panel can be decorated as you please and that the slider drawer is deep enough to hold candies or even a small gift.

Friends Forever

One of the things I enjoy doing the most is spending time and reconnecting with old friends. Recently, a group of us who were very close in high school have been making it a point to try to meet for lunch at least a few times per year. Although some of us had not seen each other for years, we had no trouble picking up right where we left off... it was such a comforting feeling! For our most recent get together, I made these shadow box milk carton treat boxes to share with my special friends.

I started by fussy cutting images of my favorite iconic childhood friend characters, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. I used foam tape to layer two fussy cut images onto the original for a 3-D effect.

Inspired by the assembly video tutorial for a shaker milk carton box by "Oh Partyland!", I  created the cut file for this shadow box milk carton treat holder with a round window in Make the Cut Design program. A piece of transparency plastic was placed behind the window and the 3-D image of Pooh and Piglet was adhered onto a square box-like insert which I glued inside the carton. 

The top and sides of the carton were embellished with the word "friends" and a heart border cut from glitter cardstock using Karen Burniston "Greetings 1 Word Set" die and "String of Hearts" die from Impress Rubber Stamps. On the back, I used a freebie svg file for a label shared by "Images By Heather" to do a print and cut with one of my favorite "Pooh-isms", perfect to share with  dear old friends.

Engaged!

I  recently had the chance to make my very first engagement card and gift card holder set for my sweet niece and her fiance. They were here on vacation last month when her fiance proposed to her on the beach ... so romantic!

Since I had never made an engagement card before, I searched online for ideas and was inspired by the engagement card designed by Crazy Penguin Designs.  Loved her idea of the oversized engagement ring with the whoppin' gemstone! I created the cutting file for my ring in Make the Cut Design program by nestling trianglular shapes together to form the gemstone and joining circles to create the ring. The ring was cut from silver foil board and I used silver glitter cardstock for the gem. "Congratulations!" sentiment was computer generated using Moderne font and printed onto pearlescent cardstock. After adding the ring, the front panel was matted onto white glitter cardstock. 

On the inside I added a fun sliceform pop up, using the "Wedding Glasses Sliceform Pop Up" svg file which I    purchased from the Lori Whitlock Shop. 

Used a lot of  glitter, metallic and pearlescent cardstocks, and even some Stickles glitter glue to give everything glitz and shine!

 

I always have such fun making cards with lots of glitter and sparkle! Plus, using Lori Whitlock's premade svg cutfile helped to make this pop up card come together  very quick and easy.

Couldn't resist making another matching surprise sliding box pop up gift card holder! Decorated the sliding box with "Congrats" die cut using Karen Burniston "Congrats Word Set", and hearts from Impress Cards and Crafts "String of Hearts" die. The ring is from the Lori Whitlock svg file I used on the inside of the card.

Rubberband activated pop up cubes were assembled using Karen Burniston "Surprise Cube Pop Up" dies. A svg cutfile from My Scrap Chick  was used to cut the gift card insert panel, but this time I slid cash in instead of a gift card.

Back To School!

After seeing several very cute backpack cards and treat boxes online, I decided I wanted to try making a backpack shaped card to include with our "Back To School Care Package" that we sent to our granddaughter as she prepared to enter second grade.                                                                              First, I found a simple coloring book image of a school backpack and used Make the Cut Design program to create a svg cutfile for a shaped card. Next, I asked my daughter to send me a photo of the backpack our granddaughter would be using for her new school year so I could maybe try to create a card that would look similar. 

 Honestly, I expected her to send a photo of a backpack with Pikachu or some Pokemon character, but instead this is the picture she sent saying, "Your granddaughter thinks she's a 'nature girl' this year..."

Okay, so this is the card I came up with. I found digital paper on Etsy from designer PrintPatternPapers that I thought looked similar to the floral design on the actual backpack and I added  paper pieced deer which I die cut from now retired Eline's Deer die set. 

Scissors, paint brush with paint set and pencils were die cut from MFT's "Just Add Paint" and "Tools of the Trade" DieNamics. Composition notebook and ruler were created as a print and cut in Make the Cut. These school supplies were then tucked into the front and side pockets of the backpack.

I made my shaped card to be a bottom fold card and inside, I used a red pin striped patterned paper to mimic the lining of the actual backpack. For a quick and easy pop up, I followed Karen Burniston's video tutorial on how to install a double Lorna Label pop up mechanism. However,  because of the height of  my card, I substituted the Lorna Label with a slightly taller bracket style label which I created in Make the Cut.

Our personal  message to our granddaughter was added to the labels using 212 Baby Girl font and the print and cut function. Also added a few flowers cut from Spellbinders "Sealed Blooms" and "Flowering Tree" dies and another deer.

And finally, I made a simple gift card holder embellished with the same die cuts to slip into one of the front pockets of the backpack.                                                                                                                       I really enjoyed making this shaped card; nothing fancy but I think the challenge of trying to recreate a paper version of our granddaughter's new backpack made this so much fun.

Blossoms and Butterflies Pop Up Bouquet

I recently made this butterfly and floral themed birthday card and matching gift card holder to send to a very special friend.

To decorate the front of my card, I started with a top fold card and added a panel which had been cut using Poppy Stamps "Cortina Pinpoint" cover plate die. Spellbinders' "Birthday Unboxing Glimmer" hot foil and die set was used for the sentiment. Cheery Lynn retired "Small Exotic Butterflies #1", Spellbinders' "Club Blooms", and MFT's "Grassy Edges" dies were used to cut the butterflies, grass and flowers.

Teddy bear was paper pieced using "Take Time To Smell The Flowers" svg cutting file from Marjorie Ann Designs.

As the card is opened, a large, colorful bouquet of flowers and butterflies pops forward to unfold from the center of the card. 

 

Inspired by Karen Burniston Design Team Members Sandy Diller and Nicky Foden, I used the "Little Twist Panel Pop Up" die set to create this fun pop up. Instructions and helpful tips from both ladies on how to create this interactive card can be found here and here.                                                             The svg cutfile for the large shadowed "Celebrate!" sentiment was created in Make the Cut Design program using "Hello Valentica" font and cut from gold foil board.

This is actually the third card of this type that I've put together this year. I've been practicing and experimenting with different types and sizes of flowers, the arrangement of the flowers, and this time I added butterflies by attaching them onto strips of clear acetate. I'm learning that a bit a patience is required because I had to carefully open and close the card several times after adding each flower, leaf, or butterfly to ensure each addition would not create a catch point. I found I needed to trim a few petals and leaves as well as rub a few petal edges with some candle wax to get everything to open and close smoothly.

In the end, I was pleased with how the card looked and worked. Really enjoy making this style of card so you can be certain I'll continue making many different versions of this pop up card.

This time I kept the matching gift card holder simple since I wanted everything to fit nicely into a small padded envelope for mailing.