Hexagon Pop Up Platform Card

This was the first birthday card I made this year; it was also my first try at using the Cake Pop Up die by Karen Burniston which I purchased last year. 

While trying to decide on a theme for my card, I came across coloring book images of  Hello Kitty together with her teddy bear friend, Tiny Chum which I thought would be perfect. I used Make the Cut design program to render the coloring book images and sentiment from Cupid font into paper piecing cutting files. I ran the panel behind Hello Kitty through Cuttlebug's "Simple Flowers" embossing folder to add texture.  Patterned paper is from a digital set designed by Nancy Kubo called "Hunny Bunnies" available from the Lettering Delights website.

Here's how the card looks inside with the pop up installed. As you can see, I only used the bottom layer of the pop up cake die to serve as a platform for Hello Kitty and her party balloons.

Karen Burniston demonstrates the assembly of this fun alternate way to use her Cake Pop Up die on her site here, which was the real reason I purchased this die. Admittedly, I wasn't too excited about making a 3-tiered hexagon shaped pop up cake, but the ability to quickly put together a pop up hexagon platform "stage" inside a card... now that's what really got me interested in this die.

The pop up mechanism for this is the same as for the stand alone hexagon pop up cards I started making a couple years ago, but a lot quicker to cut and assemble with dies, leaving more time to spend having fun with the decorating and embellishments! I added clear acetate struts in the front, middle and back of the platform to hold Hello Kitty, the balloons, and the scalloped frame.

I've already made two other cards, including the Girls Day card I shared earlier this month using this die. Having lots of fun right now playing with this pop up die, and yup, thinking it just may become my new favorite "go-to" pop up card this year.

Floating Sakura Girls

I think I'll finally be caught up with posting my cards from 2020 with this birthday card I made for my Mom back in December. I was excited to ink up two Dandelion Designs stamp sets: "Sakura" and "Sakura Girls" which I added to my collection last year.

I used Copics to color the stamped images, adding a little sparkle to the centers with Stickles. Greeting on the front was computer generated, trimmed to a rectangle and backed with gold foil cardstock. I cut off most of the front of the card using Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud Border and attached a piece of clear acetate to replace the portion I had cut off.

I used the mechanism from Karen Burniston's Parcel Pop Up die to add some fun animation. As the card is opened...

...two Sakura Girls emerge from behind the blossoms.

Difficult to tell from still photos but the little girl in the center slowly rises from behind the sakura blossoms as the card is opened. 

Kimonos for the Sakura Girls were stamped onto washi papers and cut and paper pieced. Sentiment was computer generated, printed onto cardstock and cut to size with the cloud border die to cover the front of the pop up mechanism.The last thing I did was to attach a piece of gold foil board cut about 1/8 of an inch larger to the back, giving the card a thin shiny border all around.

I really like the fun whimsical feel of the images in this Dandelion Designs stamp set and am looking forward to thinking up other fun ways to animate the Sakura Girls.

Kawaii Kokeshi

Today I'm sharing some of sweet Girls Day treat boxes and Kokeshi doll paper crafts I recently received from my super creative and thoughtful friends.
 

I simply love this pretty Girls Day treat holder created by my dear friend Lorna. I think the blue she chose to use for her box is striking, and really makes her sweet kokeshi, the Asian diecut border and Mt. Fuji stand out so beautifully. Side view of her treat holder shows how Lorna constructed it to be a sleeve for a roll of yummy HiChew candies.

This adorable kokeshi doll card was also created by Lorna. She used the "Chibi Geisha Girl with Lantern" cutting file from SVG Cutting Files to cut and paper piece her kokeshi and added it to a shoji background with a branch of cherry blossoms. 

This ah-mazing origami octagon box was created by my crafty friend Kris' talented and creative aunt. This box is 5-1/2 inches in diameter, beautifully folded to showcase the colors and pattern of the double sided origami papers.

Here's a peek of the inside of the box and bottom of the box. I understand it takes 16 perfectly folded sheets of origami to create this box and lid. I love this, and really would love to give it a try one day... however my origami folding skills are really bad so it may take me a bit of practicing to create something as lovely as this is!

This is a wallet size ID /credit card holder/case that was decorated by my sweet and special friend, Claire. Claire also used the Chibi Geisha cutting file from SVG Cutting files for her Japanese girl. I really like how she added the die cut mini torii in the background, and the tiny double layered cherry blossoms with glittery centers really make this scene so pretty!

I am truly blessed to have so many thoughtful and crafty friends. I enjoy sharing their projects and hope that you may be inspired, as I always am by their creativity.

Girls Day Shaker Card

March 3rd was Girls Day and this is the card I made to send to our granddaughter this year. I received some very pretty cherry blossom clay polymer sprinkles for Christmas from a sweet friend and knew they would be perfect for a Girls Day shaker card.
 

I stamped and heat embossed images from Mama Elephant's "Lunar Extras" (cherry blossoms) and Sister Stamps "Harumi". Images were colored with Copics and Harumi's kimono was stamped and cut from washi paper. Scalloped window was cut on the Silhouette using a cutting file created in Make the Cut design program. Stamped sentiment inside the window is from Dandelion Designs "Love & Hugs". 

On the inside, I used the bottom layer of Karen Burniston's Pop Up Cake die to create a fun pop up "stage" for my kimono cuties. 

Stamped image is one of my all time favorites, "BFFs" from Sister Stamps. Kimonos were stamped and cut from washi papers. Cherry blossoms, leaves and shadows were cut on the Silhouette. I used Wiki C.A.P.S. Cherry Blossoms Outline die to cut the flower centers; and the large cherry blossom on the front was cut using the print and cut function with DJ Doodlers font.

     

The hexagonal shaped "stage" pop up in this card uses the same design mechanism as most of the stand alone hexagonal pop up cards being seen a lot on the internet recently. I really like Karen Burniston's version using her Pop Up Cake die because the pop up is installed inside the card, giving that "wow factor" as the card is opened. You can watch Karen's video tutorial here.

Here's a side view of the pop up stage where you can see I added three acetate struts; front, center, and back, where the cherry blossoms and stamped images were adhered. I'm enjoying playing with this pop up cake die, although I have to admit I haven't used it to make a pop up cake yet! I love that Karen Burniston always comes up with fun alternate ways to use her dies to create different styles of cards.