Open And Reveal First Birthday

This is the card I put together for our cousin's grandson's first birthday celebration last month. I was falling behind on my birthday card making in May so I knew I had to keep this card quick and easy. To cut and assemble the paper pieced teddy bear, I used one of the bears from the "Stardust and Moonbeams" cutting file from Marjorie Ann Designs. "Expose" font was used to make the cut file for the word "One". Balloons were cut using Craft Emporium's (retired) "Stitched Balloon" die.

I needed a card I could finish quickly, so I decided to use the Slide and Reveal mechanism I recently learned  from watching video tutorials by Sam Calcott and Sara Davies on You Tube. As the card is opened, a panel holding a gift card slides out from the bottom of the card.

Teddy bear inside is also from Marjorie Ann Designs and  "1-derful" was created from New Boston and LD Charming fonts using Make the Cut Design Program. 

Centenarian Birthday

We were happy and very excited when we recently received an invitation to our uncle's 100th birthday celebration. This is the card and money envelope I made as our gift.
 

This was the first 100th birthday card I've ever made. Wanted to make it special, yet wanted to keep it simple. I decided to go with the traditionally auspicious red and gold color scheme for this Asian themed card. The crane (Tutti Designs, retired) and Asian geometric corners (Mama Elephant Money Envelope die) were die cut from gold foil cardstock.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a round window, gold glitter frame and the red foil medallion you see in the window. An old cutfile I had created a several years ago was used to cut the Chinese long life character "shou" on the medallion.

Inside, I used Karen Burniston's Katherine Label Pop Up mechanism so the medallion would pop forward and up as the card is opened.

I used a Minc machine to add toner hot foil to the Happy Birthday sentiment on the left side of the card and the lacy lanterns on the right side were cut using a very old (now retired) lantern die set from Tattered Lace.

Mama Elephant's "Money Envelope" die set was used to cut the template for the Chinese style red envelope. The Chinese long life character and personalization were printed using a laser printer and hot foiled using the Minc machine. If you click on the photo above to get an up close view of the envelope you'll be able to see that the foil did not adhere to the toner too well. I used a text weight Stardream metallic paper for the envelope which may not have been smooth enough for proper adhesion of the foil. As I continue to use both toner hot foiling and hot plate foiling on my paper crafts, I'm slowly learning which types of papers are better suited for either method.

Butterfly Rotating Pop Up

This is the card and gift box I put together to send to our granddaughter for her ninth birthday. As she enters her "tween-age" years, it's getting harder for us, especially as long distance grandparents to keep up with the latest trends that interest her. Since I recall her telling us about her love of nature, I decided to go with a butterfly theme for her card this year.

The cute chibi girl I used for my card was paper pieced using a cutting file created from a set of printable sticker images by "Dreamy Clipart Cloud" on Etsy. She is attached to the pop up mechanism inside the card. I cut a circular window on the front of the card so she could be seen before the card is opened. The "celebrate" sentiment was done as a print and cut and passed through a Minc machine with toner reactive foil. Butterflies were cut from pearlescent, glitter and foil cardstock using Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Border" and Spellbinders "Delicate Butterflies" die sets.

Inside the card, I installed a rotating pop up mechanism for some fun pop up and movement.

As the card is opened, butterflies and the Happy Birthday sentiment rotate to the left, and butterflies behind the sentiment rotate to the right. This is the third card I've made using this mechanism, which has been a little tricky for me to learn. Guess the old adage, "Third time's a charm" held true for me; I think I've finally learned how to make this mechanism work smoothly without too much trouble. Yay!

When creating the cut file for this chibi girl, I made a small change to the original image by having her make the Korean finger heart sign, with the hope that it would catch our granddaughter's attention. Apparently it did, as she told her mom, "That's me!"

Since it has become increasingly difficult for us to keep up with the latest trends she's interested in, we decided to send a cash gift to our granddaughter to spend as she pleases. But of course, I had to make it fun! So I made a butterfly shaped box. Before gluing the box closed, I placed a roll of bills which were taped together end to end into the box with end of the first bill threaded through a slit that was cut on the back panel. Then I used double stick tape to adhere a piece of cardstock a little longer than the slit to the first bill so it wouldn't fall back into the box. 

A little sad that we aren't able to celebrate birthdays with our granddaughter in person, but still having fun thinking up creative ways to keep her entertained.              

 

Open and Reveal Thank You Card

I was in need of a thank you card in a hurry and this is the quick and simple one I came up with.  I used "Patches the Bear Birthday" cut file set from Marjorie Ann Designs to create my paper pieced teddy bears. Blue background digital papers are from Papers By Helen.

As the card is opened, a panel with a gift card slides out from the bottom of the card. I followed You Tube tutorials from Sam Calcott and Sara Davies to put this fun card together.

The sentiments for this card were computer generated using "Hello Valentica" font. I used Make the Cut to create a shadow layer of the sentiment and the print and cut function to cut it out. Later, I scribbled my personal hand written thank you note onto the blank top panel before mailing.

I really like that this interactive slider card requires no special dies (just different sized rectangles and squares scored and glued together) and is very quick to put together. I'm sure I'll be making this style of card quite often!

Another Wonder Woman Get Well Card

Yes, if you frequent my blog you are probably thinking to yourself that you've seen this Chibi Wonder Woman card before. You are correct, I created this nearly exact card front for a get well card four years ago and again last year. I guess you could say I really like using  Chibi Wonder Woman to encourage my friends to stay strong to get well soon.

The good news is, I did change my card on the inside. This time around, instead of using Karen Burniston's Katherine Label Pop Up  to get Wonder Woman flying, I chose to use the Triple Platform Pop Up mechanism so I could have three images rise up above the card as it's opened. I added 

Chibi Wonder Woman flying above the clouds on the center platform,  a new paper pieced Chibi Wonder Woman image with her shield and magic lasso onto the left platform and the sound effect clipart "BAM!" to the right platform.

My dear friend for whom this card was made, is battling the big bad "C". She is truly an amazing warrior princess. Praying with her for a big win.

Twin Stars Arch Pop Up Card

Today I'm sharing a Sanrio Twin Stars themed birthday card and matching gift card holder created for a special friend.
 

Paper pieced Twin Star characters were created from clip art images found online and rendered into svg cutting files using Make the Cut Design program. All the pieces for the clouds and stars were edged with Stickles glitter to give everything a subtle shimmer. The blue and lavender ombre paper used for the background panels was made in Broderbund Printshop program.

Inspired by a stunning angel pop up card made and shared by member Ana Paleo in Karen Burniston's Pop Up Peeps Facebook group, I used Karen Burniston's Arch Pop Up die to animate Twin Stars siblings Lala and Kiki to float amongst the moon and star studded clouds.

I must admit, I never expected having as much fun as I am playing with this  Arch Pop Up die mechanism. I especially love that it is super easy to install and the possibilities for decorating the arch seem almost endless. I can see this quickly becoming one of my favorite pop up mechanisms to use. 

I used the Print and Cut function to create the Twin Stars images for a matching gift card holder.

Inside, I followed a tutorial by Srushti Patil for her "Photo Pop Up Card" and sized it to fit a gift card.

No dies are required for this pop up and I found this to be a quick and easy way to make giving a gift card special.

BTS Birthday Surprise

 One of my dearest friends has been a big fan of the K-Pop band BTS for as long as I can remember. With all the excitement of collecting BTS Tiny Tan dolls in McDonald's Happy Meals last year, the release of their new album and their world tour concerts happening now, I really wanted to surprise her with a BTS themed card for her birthday.

I found lots of cute chibi style clip art of BTS Tiny Tan characters on Etsy and decided to do print and cut images for this card. I chose my friend's favorite member, Jimin, doing the Korean love hand sign to adorn the front. "Just for you" sentiment was die cut from gold foil board using a die from Lawn Fawn's "Gift Box" set. Shadow layer for the sentiment was created in Make the Cut Design program.

Inside, I used Karen Burniston's "Photo Fan Pop Up" mechanism to animate headshots of all seven BTS group members.

Clip art images were cropped, printed on glossy photo paper, and framed with lavender glitter cardstock. I used dies from Karen Burniston "Label Charm Pop Up" and "Big Birthday Charms" as well as Taylored Expressions "Celebration Confetti" to cut streamers, confetti and hearts from gold glitter cardstock and foil board to add some fun glitz and sparkle inside the card.

I also added a print and cut group shot image to the left side of the card. 

In keeping with the BTS theme, I also put together a sliding pop up drawer box using a fun BT21 claw machine sticker image. As the drawer is pulled open the image of the claw machine slides into an upright position. SVG cutting file template for this slider box comes from the Lori Whitlock shop. Really had fun putting this card and gift card holder together. But had the most fun watching my sweet friend's face light up as she opened her card. I'm looking forward to hearing all the stories she has to share from the BTS concerts she'll be attending soon.