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.

Cherry Blossom Arch Pop Up

I decided to go with a cherry blossom themed birthday card for a sweet crafty friend who, like myself enjoys collecting cherry blossom paper punches and metal craft dies.                                                        My collection consists of  metal dies from Frantic Stamper, Wiki Caps, and I-Crafter as well as punches from Carl, Marvy, and Punch Bunch designed to cut cherry blossoms of multiple sizes from paper. I brought them all out and started cutting and punching out lots and lots of cherry blossoms from  pink paper of different textures, prints and shades from my scrap stash.

Leaves were cut using a Family Treasures paper punch and branches were die cut using Marianne Designs Creatables and Cottage Cutz branch die sets. I used gold foil board and glitter cardstock to cut and punch the flower centers.                                                                                                                         I dry embossed a shimmery white gold cardstock with an old Sizzix "Argyle #2" folder, then matted it with gold foil board. I layered some of the different sized cherry blossoms to get different looks and arranged them together with leaves and branches and glued them in place at the top corner. Happy Birthday sentiment was hot foiled and die cut using Spellbinders "You Are Everything Sentiments" Better Press plate.
 

Inside the card I used Karen Burniston "Arch Pop Up" die set to create a fun arch of cherry blossoms.

Nicest thing about the Arch Pop Up mechanism is how easy it is to assemble and install in almost any size card. This mechanism comes with the option of adding up to 5 platforms to the arch which means lots more surface area to add lots of embellishments. I had fun adding many of the different sized cherry blossoms, leaves and branches but had to be careful to avoid creating catch points.

I've been seeing so many different creative possibilities posted by crafters using this Arch Pop Up die and am looking forward to experimenting and playing with this mechanism again soon.

Using what was left of the shimmery white gold text weight paper I had used for inside the card, I made an envelope to hold a gift card. Also used the remaining cherry blossoms to embellish the envelope.

Another Rotating Pop Up Card

This week I'm sharing the card and gift card holder I made for my daughter's birthday. I decided to give the Rotating Pop Up style card another try since I struggled a bit getting the mechanism to work the first time for hubby's birthday card.

 To decorate the front of the card, I used my Silhouette to cut a circular window and a scalloped edge frame to fit. Flowers and leaves to embellish the frame were created using "Spellbinders Bayfair Floral Spray Collection" dies. Spellbinders "Slimline Confetti Happy Birthday Glimmer Plate" was used for the hot foiled sentiment and double shadow cuts for it were created in Make the Cut Design program. The paper pieced girl peeking from the window is  a svg cut file, "Fashionista Emma" from Treasure Box Designs.

Here's a short video to see the fun rotating pop up mechanism in action.

One thing I did differently from the first time trying this was to change it from the triple rotating card I made for hubby's card to a double rotating card for this card. You'll see in the video that the center center stays stationary and does not rotate as it does with hubby's golf card. That meant one less arc to worry about aligning and made things simpler to put together. 

I did have a few catch point issues but after moving the placement of some of the flowers around, I managed to solve that. Looks like I'm going to have to practice making this Rotating Pop Up style card several more times before I learn to properly put it together! If you'd like to give this style of card a try, here's the link to the Mitosu Crafts  video tutorial where I learned how.

I made a matching bottom fold gift card holder, using the same "Spellbinders Bayfair Floral Collection" dies for the flowers and leaves. Hot foiled and die cut fishtail banner was created using Spellbinders "Hexi-Gems Sentiments" Glimmer Plate. When the card is opened, the gift card appears to slide and pop up from the center of the card. I followed the video tutorial for "Photo Pop Up Card" by Srushti Patil to make this. I especially like that this pop up requires no dies and is very easy to put together.

More Easter Treats!

A few days past Easter already but definitely want to share these amazing Easter goodies I received from crafty friends this year.
 

Kris put together this super cute puppy with bunny ears shaped box and filled it with my favorite chocolate Easter candies. Shaped boxes like this one with so many curves and angles take lots of  time and precise gluing to assemble! She even added a window to the carrot so you can get a peek of all the goodies inside!

This Winnie the Pooh with bunny ears basket created by Lorna is absolutely adorable! Cuteness overload from the honeybees on the bow at the top and down to the "Hunny bunny" sign Pooh is holding. The design of this basket is very unique; Lorna created a box base with just a bottom and two side panels, then wrapped and glued the double sided Pooh bear cut out around it.

Lorna also made this irresistible little Peeps S'Mores basket. Tucked inside the basket are everything you need to make a yummy S'mores snack: an individually wrapped Marshmallow Peep, a mini chocolate bar and graham crackers! Instructions on how are on the backside. So cute and clever!

I'm truly fortunate to have such creative, crafty friends who always spoil me with all the fun things they make!

Just in Time for Easter

 Happy Easter! I made a card to send to our granddaughter and cookie boxes to share with family to celebrate Easter this year.

Finally had a chance to play with my set of Lawn Fawn "Build A Bunny" and "Build A Bunny Accessories" dies to make the bunnies for this Easter card. Die cut Happy Easter greeting comes from Karen Burniston "Easter Charms" set and I used Karen Burniston "Curved Edges" dies for the grassy hillside.

Inside the card, I added a sliding gift card mechanism which I learned from watching video tutorials by Sam Calcott of Mixed Up Craft on You Tube here and Sarah Davies of Crafter's Companion here.

Here's a short video showing this sliding mechanism in action.

 As the card is opened, a panel holding the gift card slides out from the bottom.

The sliding mechanism for this card is really simple to put together and no special dies are required. The only thing that bothered me a little is that the sliding mechanism (shown here) is part of the back of the card and very visible; there is really no way to hide or disguise it.

At the last minute I decided to put together these Easter cookie boxes to share with friends and family.

The original cutting file for the top of this box was a freebie I picked up from Dreaming Tree at Creative Fabrica. This was meant to be a box style card, but I made a few adjustments to the cut file so I could use it for the top of my cookie boxes.

I wanted to use a hinged lid for my cookie boxes so I first enlarged the outer "box" of the card to fit around the lid of the cookie box. I then cut the height of the two struts that hold the bunny and tulips by 0.5 inch so it would sit nicely on top of the lid.

I also added a round scalloped label with "Happy Easter" printed on it just above the tab closure for the box.

Not enough time to even bake cookies so I filled my boxes with our favorite decadent Palm Leaf cookies from a local bakery. 

Hope everyone is spending Easter doing whatever you enjoy most! 

Slot Machine Slider Card

When I learned that our daughter and son in law would be celebrating his birthday in Las Vegas, I thought it would be fun to try and make a birthday card in the shape of a slot machine for him.

Since I remembered making a slot machine shaped card many years ago I checked back and found  one I made in 2014. Happily I found the old cutting file so I was able to use it to create a simpler, modified version for my son in law.

The original card made more than 10 years ago had a rolling window mechanism which I recall being quite complicated to put together. This time around, I simplified my slot machine by using a simple sliding window mechanism. When the tab on the bottom of the card is pulled, a happy birthday sentiment and gold coins appear in the "tray", and at the same time, triple cherries replace the triple sevens in the slot machine window. A video tutorial by Jennifer McGuire for this type of mechanism can be found here.

I used Karen Burniston "Treasure Charms" die set for the gold coins which I cut from gold glitter and foil cardstocks. Happy Birthday sentiment was hot foiled and cut using Pink Fresh Studios "Perfect Sentiments" foil plate and die set.

Inside, I used mini playing cards to decorate a pocket to provide a place for a gift card. I was happy to finally figure out a simpler version of the original slot machine card. Too bad it took me over ten years to figure it out!