Baby Explosion Box

Seems I've recently become fascinated with Explosion Box type cards that have 3 dimensional surprises tucked inside. The truth is these Explosion Boxes have always caught my eye... and happily now that I'm retired I have the extra time to spend needed to put these things together! Decided I would try and put one together for a nephew who was recently blessed with a beautiful baby boy.

The original idea for this baby Converse sneaker Explosion Box came from a German craft blog, Basteltante Doreen. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few templates for baby shoes and sneakers like on the internet; I used this one found on Pinterest and had Make the Cut render it into a cutting file. I did struggle a bit with gluing all the pieces together but after adding the eyelets and ribbon I thought it looked pretty much like a shoe should.

Had fun piecing together all the cute baby things to embellish the inside panels and cover of the box. Teddy bear comes from the Lori Whitlock store and his bow was cut from a Mama Elephant die; onsie was a freebie cutting file from the Quilling Patch; and the bib, bottle and sailboat are from Cricut's Baby Steps cartridge. I added a pocket to one of the panels to hold a gift card.

Here it is with the side panels all up and the cover fitted on top. Guess the one disadvantage about these Explosion Boxes is that they don't fold flat to fit into an envelope for mailing!

Hot Air Balloon Triple Slider Card

My apologies...I really ought to have posted this card at the same time I posted last weekend's triple slider card because they're both basically the same card with just a few differences. I used pink and lavender for the hot air balloon for this birthday card for my sweet sister in law.

And just like the triple slider card in my last post, pulling up on the ribbon at the top of the card pulls out a sentiment at the top of the card as the hot air balloon rises out of the clouds to reveal its' passengers; and at the same time, a gift card appears at the bottom of the card.

Aren't these puppos just adorbs? The cutting file for the hot air balloon is a freebie file from SVG Cuts and the cut file for the doggies was created in MTC design program from a sticker. Doggies were all cut from plain white cardstock and colored in with Copic markers.

Here's one of the sticker sets of kawaii little dogs I picked up from Ali Express. I think there are 3 or4 4 different sets available. The stickers are a bit small, about 1-1/4 inches in size overall... really wish they were larger, but they are so darned cute I just couldn't resist getting them!

Sky's the Limit!

I've been wanting to try the fun triple slider card in a portrait orientation instead of  the usual landscape orientation I've been doing till now. This  causes the sliding element on the front of the card to move up instead of sliding to the right.

Fun to use to make things pop out of boxes or fly up out of clouds, like this hot air balloon. Pulling up on the ribbon at the top of the card pulls up the sentiment and simultaneously allows the hot air balloon to rise up out of the clouds as well as making a gift card appear from the bottom of the card.

For the paper pieced hot hair balloon, I used a freebie svg cutting file from SVG Cuts. Being that this was intended to be a birthday card for my dear friend Kris,  I of course had to put cute little Pochacco inside the basket.  Make the Cut created the cutting file for Pochacco from a coloring book image and the Print and Cut function was used for the sentiments in the clouds. I adhered a strip of clear acetate behind Pochacco and the balloon for some additional support and so it would slide up out of the clouds smoothly. Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud Border die was used for the layers of stitched clouds. The triple slider card is always a fun card to send and receive!

Floral Frame Shadowbox Card

I was pretty excited when I found out that the Lori Whitlock shop would be carrying svg cutting files for the beautiful and intricate papercut designs by SAS Creative. I purchased the Blank Floral Card file, thinking it would be perfect to use for personalized wedding card for our very special friends who tied the knot this summer.

I decided to try a shadow box style card using this pretty floral file which has a heart shaped opening. Starting from the back, I used my favorite American Crafts Opalescent Glitter cardstock as the backdrop. The next layer, a heart shaped window with the bride and groom's names welded inside was created in Make the Cut using a heart shape, LD Charming font and the shadow function. The SAS Creative floral cutting file was used as the third layer and for the fourth final layer I used just the scallop border from the same file backed with a sheet of clear acetate. Banner with the wedding date was created as a print and cut and adhered to the front of the acetate with foam tape.

Here's the top view showing the layers inside the shadow box. I tried to space the layers about a quarter of an inch apart.

On the backside of the shadowbox, I added a card for our sentiment. Kassie's Brocaide embossing folder from Cuttlebug was used on the card front, embellished with a fancy label cut from a free svg by Images By Heather M and some satin ribbon. A tab closure was added to keep the card closed, and the shadowbox flattens nicely to slip into an envelope. I really enjoyed using the papercut design by SAS Creative to put this card together. I'm really not very good at "elegant", but with the help of Samantha Sherring's intricate cutting files, elegant cards have now become a lot easier!

Class of 2018 Graduations

Two more graduation cards to share today, made for two cousins' daughters, both who proudly graduated from college this year. LOL, guess I'm getting lazy in my old age and decided I would make basically the same card for both girls.

I kept the design on the front of the cards very simple by laying down a strip of glitter card stock in the school color onto a silver foil board mat. Searched for the emblem or seal for each graduate's college online, did a print and cut, and backed the emblems with silver foil board. Amazone ttf and Make the Cut design program were used to create the "Class of 2018" cut file. I used the same silver foil board to cut these out, but peeled off a layer from the back of the foil board making it thinner and easier for the Silhouette to cut through.

I added the Four Step Pop Up Card insert to the inside of both cards, using silver foil board and glitter cardstock to decorate the "steps". I ran the foil board through Cuttlebug's "Congrats" embossing folder and used Britannic Bold font to create the "2018" on the steps. Paper pieced graduate girl is a cutting file from SVG Cutting Files. I cut her dress, hair, and body from white cardstock and used Copics to color the pieces.

Completed graduate girls were attached to the cards with a fun wobbler, which makes her "jump for joy" when the card is opened. The template I used for the Four Step Pop Up insert was designed by Norma and can be found at her blog, From My Craftroom.