Best Friends Marci Birthday

Here's another sliding box card similar to the one in last week's post...with the taller sides and window cut out. This one was created as a birthday card for my bestest blogging pal Patti, of Creations By Patti. Since I wanted to go with Patti's favorite Asian theme, I decided to try an octagon shaped window this time. Used my Silhouette to cut the octagonal window and frame and added decorative corners cut using a die from the Sizzix Architectural Accents set.

On the inside peeking out are Kimono Marci and Marci with Lantern images from La-La Land...

I used Marci digital stamps purchased online, colored them with copics, and tried something new... I paper pieced their outfits using digitized washi prints. I'm always amazed when I see stamped projects with paper pieced elements and have always wanted to give it a try. LOL, and now that I've tried it, I don't think I'll be doing this too often...takes a sharp pair of scissors, steady hands, good eyesight...and a lot of time and patience to fussy cut all those teeny tiny pieces and glue them back exactly in place! I definitely have a new respect and admiration for all of you who use this technique!

Here's a couple views from the top. The first photo more clearly shows a  branch of cherry blossoms I attached to the inside. Branch was cut using Sizzix Birds and Branches Decorative strip die and blossoms were created from punches.

Finished Patti's card off by adding my sentiment to the back panel. Yes it's true, I've been having too much fun playing with this sliding box! Still have a few more ideas I'd like to try using this neat sliding element, so I'm sure I'll come back to it again real soon.

Another Variation on the Sliding Pop Up Box Card

Okay, hope you'll "bear" with me, because I have yet another version of Colette's Sliding Pop Up Box card  to share. The original inspiration for this card actually comes from a "Push n Pull Card" I spied several months ago over at a very cool UK based digital cardmaking site, Crafty Card Making. If you're ever in need of some quick inspiration, this is the place to visit...they have the neatest pop up, sliceform, easel and display cards for sale there, sure to rev up your mojo by at least a couple notches! I was so intrigued by their "Push n Pull cards", and quite determined to try and figure out how they were put together. But it wasn't until recently when I learned how to put together the Sliding Pop Up Box card, that I came to realize this could actually be made into something very similar to the Push n Pull cards I liked so much.

I used the same box base as Colette's Sliding Pop Up Box card but brought the sides of the box up higher, added tabs and had the Silhouette cut a window in the front corner. Pushing in on the tabs pops the box into shape and pulling on them flattens it. Kinda neat, huh.

The little teddy on the inside and the posies on the tabs were pieced together using a cutfile I created awhile ago using digital images from an old Darcie Hunter clipart CD and MTC.

And here's the card flattened, ready to slip into the envelope for giving. Still have one more of these cards to share next week...

Beckoning Good Luck And Good Fortune

When my coworker's son recently opened his own new business, I found what I thought was the cutest ceramic "Maneki Neko" or "Good Luck Cat" to send our best wishes to him. So it was a no-brainer that the card I wanted to make to go with our gift would be a Maneki Neko card...

Used MTC to create a cutfile from a image I found a while back during a Google Search...I liked that this image was fairly simple and quick to piece together. The kanji characters on the gold coin held by the cat reads "sen man ryo", which translates to "10,000,000 ryo". "Ryo" was the monetary unit used in ancient Japan, and this gold coin symbolizes wealth and good fortune.

Decided to use the Free Standing Pop Up style card to display the lucky cat. Tutorial for this can be found over at Splitcoast Stampers. Label for the good luck sentiment was created in Design Studio by using the modern cube image from the Paper Lace cartridge.

And here's how the card slides into the base....

...and folds flat to fit into an envelope.

I was happy to hear that the ceramic lucky cat, as well as the paper one is on display at the new store..."Good Luck on your new business, Jeff!" Hope the cats bring lots of customers and good fortune into your shop!



Shibi in a Box

I have yet another "dog in a box" card to share with you today...hmmm...seems I've been doing a lot of doggie cards lately, huh. And yes, a lot of sliding box cards too. This one was created for my dear sister in law for her recent birthday.

I decided I wanted to have another go at the Shiba Inu cutfile I created earlier this year for my niece's card. But this time instead of paper piecing the Shiba Inu, I cut her out of plain white cardstock and colored her with Copics. I think I like the outcome better; "Shibi" (the dog's name) came out looking furrier and more realistic.

The bone, bone tag, oval, and scalloped oval tags for this were all created in MTC.

Okay, okay...I promise no more doggie cards, at least for awhile. However, I'm having just too much fun playing with this sliding box card so I'll be posting some variations on this card in weeks to follow.

Sister Stamps Release #16: Available Today!

Today's release day! Be sure to head on over to your favorite craft and online stores to get your stamps from this new release today. For the list of stores, please see the sidebar at the Sister Stamps blog.

Many thanks to all that joined us for this fun release preview...hope you'll come back again at the end of September when we showcase the last two animals in the Sister Stamps Chinese Zodiac collection, the Year of the Rabbit and Year of the Snake.