Pop Up Crib Card

My BFF recently became a gramma, so I wanted to make a special card to welcome the new baby. For the front of the card, I created a layered oval window in Make the Cut and placed some cute paper pieced baby toys inside. Top window panel was run through Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder for some fun texture. Teddy and duckie come from Cricut New Arrival cartridge and the giraffe is from Create A Critter cartridge.

Inspiration for the inside of my card comes from Christine Peterson of Calla Lily Studio and her fabulous Card in a Box Crib card, and Traci Penrod's super cute Pop Up Crib Card. You can find several of Chris' cards as well as a wonderful video tutorial here; and Traci's adorable card and tutorial here. Loved both ladies' cards so much that I had a hard time deciding which to make. Then I thought, "Why not try and combine them both into one card?"

And this was the result...a Card in a Box Crib card glued to the inside of a card to make a Pop Up Crib Card.

The crib was designed in Make the Cut with basic shapes (circles, rectangles. hearts) combined and welded. I added struts on the inside like a typical Card in A Box so I'd have a place to attach little baby and his new toys. Toys are the same as were used for the front of the card and for baby I used the Baby Belly Box paper pieced cutting file from My Scrap Chick.

Here's a top view of the crib showing the struts inside the crib with toys and baby attached. Gluing one end and side of the crib into the corner of the card makes this into a pop up card.

Above the crib, I added a small pop up square with stars hanging from extended arms to create a little baby mobile.

And for the personalized touch...a banner made of colorful triangles and letters cut using Memo font and Make the Cut to spell out baby's name.

This all took a bit of time to put togehter, but so much fun! Hopefully I'll have a chance to try this one again for a baby girl...pink and little girly toys!

Island Style High School Graduation

One last graduation card for a cousin's granddaughter who graduated from a local high school this year.  Here in the islands, several of the high schools (including the one this girl attended) have their seniors graduate dressed in formal Hawaiian attire instead of the usual traditional cap and gown.
I wanted to make another easel type graduation card similar to the one I made earlier for the Seattle University graduate, but changed it up for a girl graduating in a formal white muu muu.

I made a very simple paper pieced portrait of a girl by layering basic shapes together in the Make the Cut program.  Then I had fun dressing her. By gluing together a combination of mulberry flowers, and paper punched blossoms and sprigs, I made a wreath (or Haku lei) for her head.

I ran her dress through Cuttlebug's Textile embossing folder to give the look of the woven textured fabric often used for formal muu muus. Her Maile lei was put together by layering several leafy branches cut from Stampin' Up's  Sizzix Little Leaves die and the diploma is a sheet of vellum rolled and tied with ribbon.

I added the graduate's name, class and high school coat of arms to the stop of this easel card to personalize it. I always enjoy adding a bit of personalization to the cards I make with the hope that each recipient will feel more special knowing this one of a kind card was made especially for them.

Do You Tsum Tsum?

Do you adore the Disney Tsum Tsum characters as much as some of my friends? Do you play the game or collect the plushies...or both? My dear sister in law does both, and I nearly fell off my chair when she revealed her huge collection of Tsums to us not too long ago. So even though I made a Tsum Tsum card for her birthday last year, I sorta figured she probably wouldn't mind another for her birthday again this year.

I used  Mickey and Minnie Tsums for the front of the card, using the same cutting files I created last year, but enlarging them a bit and changing Minnie into a "Winking" Tsum. Scalloped border was created in Make the Cut. Cupid and Amorioso fonts were used to make cutting files for the "happy birthday" and "celebrate", also in Make the Cut.

Mounted both Mickey and Minnie onto the card with wobblers to add some fun and silliness!

Front of the card opens down to reveal a simple pop up style card inside. 

I wanted to use different Tsums for her card this year so I added Daisy, Sully, Stitch, Piglet, and Alien (Toy Story). Everything went a lot quicker this time around thanks to the fantastic free cutting files so generously shared by Krafty Nook.  If you love Disney as much as I do, you'll definitely want to check out her blog. She creates and shares the most awesome fan art svg cutting files ever! Thanks to Krafty Nook, the only Tsum cutting file I had to create on my own this time was for Stitch. Everything was cut using plain white cardstock, then colored with Copic pens.

Before I close, I wanted to share a photo of just a part of my dear sister in law's amazing Tsum Tsum collection.This is probably only about a third of her collection, but this is as many as I could get to stack up and fit in my photo. Aren't they ADORABLE?!!!