Double Wiper Kokeshi Doll Card

Here's a fun interactive card I put together in celebration of my dear friend Lorna's birthday. I had just received my new i-Crafter Wiper insert die in the mail and was excited to give it a try. I knew I wanted to do a kokeshi doll themed card so I decided on using some of the cute coloring book images found on Pinterest to create paper piecing files.

I used washi paper to paper piece the kimonos for the kokeshi dolls.  Cherry blossom branch was created using Cottagekutz Winter Branch and Frantic Stamper Petite Sakura dies, and a mini sakura punch from Punch Bunch. Recently while cleaning out my craftroom, I found some pretty origami papers from Yasutomo in my stash, which happily turned out to be a perfect fit for the background inserts for this card.

It's hard to describe the action of this fun interactive card in words so here's a short video to show the  movement of this double wiper card insert.

As the card is opened, two wiper arms swipe up from behind a pop up panel to meet in the center. This i-Crafter die set comes with dies to cut "THA" and "NKS" that can be attached to the wiper arms so they would meet in the center to spell the word "THANKS". But since I was making a birthday card, I instead cut a pair of fan shapes on the Silhouette and adhered the words "Happy Birthday" cut using an Elizabeth Crafts word die to attach onto the wiper arms.

The i-Crafter die set also includes a die to cut a gift card insert to place onto the  pop up panel to make this card a gift cardholder as well.

I wanted to add another kokeshi to the inside of my card so I put the gift card into a mini cellophane envelope before sliding it thru the gift card holder. The paper pieced kokeshi and lantern were then adhered to the cello envelope with double sided tape. The lantern was cut from Elizabeth Crafts Asian Accessories die.

If you happened to notice, or wondered why... yes, my sentiment on this card is in the past tense because I was shamefully a month late with this birthday card. Lol, hopefully Lorna liked her card enough to forgive my delinquency!

Sakura Treat Boxes

Just a few days prior to the shut down of all restaurants, and work at home and shelter in place proclamations took effect in our area last month, we had lunch with some of our dear friends who had just found out their spring cruise to Japan had been cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid 19.They chose to get together at a Japanese restaurant to "make up for all the delicious Japanese food we'll be missing"; so I decided to make these sakura treat boxes in hopes of helping to ease some of the disappointment from their missed vacation.

I used the same box template I had used earlier in March for my Hinamatsuri (Girls Day) treat boxes, but this time used a solid color for the box which seemed to give this set of boxes a very different look and feel. I used the same pearlescent pink and gold papers for the sakura flower closure but this time selected a muted green for the box instead of the printed kokeshi paper I had used for my Girls Day treat boxes.

The original template for this box is Pebbles In My Pocket's Slide Box with Snowflake cutting file purchased from the Lori Whitlock Shop. I used Make the Cut design program to render a cherry blossom image into a cut file then swapped it out with the snowflake closure that came with the original box file.

Boxes were filled with homemade chichi dango mochi which were packed first into mini plastic bento boxes. Definitely can't compare with all the yummies they would've had while on their cruise, but hopefully it brought at least a little smile to their tummies!

Surprise Bunny Pop Up Easter Card

With stay at home orders spanning the globe, I guess Easter will be celebrated much differently in every family this year. With social distancing in place, I knew we wouldn't be getting together with dear friends and family at Easter as we normally do, so I decided to forgo making Easter treat boxes of chocolates and pizzelle cookies this year. I only made this one Easter card to send to our sweet granddaughter.

Earlier this year I picked up Karen Burniston's Parcel Pop Up die and have been "saving it" with the intention of making a very special Easter card for our granddaughter. I created a weaved basket to cover the pop up mechanism on the inside of the card, and used clear acetate for the front panel of this bottom fold card so the basket would show through with the card in its closed position.

As the card is opened, *Surprise!* a little bunny pops up inside the basket!

Had so much fun putting this together, and so happy that it turned out just as I had it imagined in my head.
Cute little bunny was a recent freebie cutting file from My Scrap Chick called "Bunny Sweet Treat Belly". Weaved basket and bow were created in Make the Cut Design program using various sizes of ovals and rectangles. Eggs were cut from DCWV glitter cardstock using another cutting file from My Scrap Chick called "Easter Chicks Set".

Cloud background panel was created by using Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud Border die to cut a stencil template and lightly applying Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Broken China) with a foundation brush. MFT Stamps Die-Namics Grassy Border die was used to cut the grass from white cardstock and inked with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink.

 I used Cheery Lynn Baby's Breath Flower Kit dies for the tiny blossoms and butterfly comes from Cottage Cutz Mouse with Sunflower die. Happy Easter greeting was done as a print and cut using Doctor Soos true type font.

I repeated the cloud background and grassy border on the backside of the card so I'd have a place to add our sentiment. Tiny rabbit was cut from Impression Obsession's Rabbit Die Set. Hoping our granddaughter will have as much fun seeing bunny pop up from the basket as I did making this card for her.

Thank you for dropping by today. Please enjoy Easter the best you are able, but please continue to keep safe and healthy.