Rockin' Rectangle Graduation Card

 Restrictions on graduations seem to have eased slightly this year, although many large universities chose to remain cautiously safe with virtual ceremonies for their graduates. We are so proud and happy for our niece who graduated with her Doctorate in Nursing Practice, but a little sad that we weren't able to be there with her to celebrate as we had hoped.

I like to personalize graduation cards I make, so I started my niece's graduation card by first printing her school seal onto cardstock, used a circle punch to cut it out, and adhered it onto a glittery border in Seattle University's colors. This was then attached to an clear acrylic panel to give my card a see through front.

Next, I created a cutting file of the caduceus (nursing symbol) with the letters "NP" using Make the Cut design program and cut a stencil of the image onto a page copied from an old medical dictionary. I then glued a piece of red glitter cardstock behind the stencil to give the caduceus some fun glitz.

I decided to use Karen Burniston's Rockin' Rectangle Pop Up mechanism to animate my graduation card. This has become one of my favorite pop up mechanisms to use because it's so versatile and easy to install.

As the card is opened, the panel with the caduceus stencil pops forward and to slides the right to reveal another panel with our sentiment underneath. I used the word "congrats" (Ballerina ttf) together with a cute digital image of a heart shaped stethoscope to decorate the second panel, leaving room for our personal message.

Here's a view of the two pop up panels from above. Really had fun putting this graduation card together for my niece. I got a late start on making graduation cards this year so unfortunately only had time to make two. Will share the second one, very similar to this in my next post.

Fathers Day Photo Collage Pop Up

Although I usually try to come up with golf themed cards for hubby on Fathers Day, I decided to change it up this year with a photo collage card instead. Hope he isn't too disappointed!
 

I had so much fun using Karen Burniston's Photo Collage Pop Up die to make my granddaughter's birthday card last month that I was itching to use it again, this time with real photos. 

I searched the internet for a simple camera icon clipart and converted it into a cutting file for a paper pieced camera for the front of my card. 

Then, using Print Shop publishing program I made a mock up layout for the front of my card so I could place and print my greeting in the correct position. Photos were ordered as collage prints from Walgreens as recommended by Karen Burniston in her video tutorial.

As the card is opened...

Eight photos spin and pop up from the center of the card! This is really a fun pop up card with a big wow factor. As mentioned above, the photos were ordered from Walgreens as collage prints that come as nine photos on a 4x4 sheet and are just the right size to use with the polaroid frame die that comes included with the Photo Collage Pop Up die set. The fun push pins and mini binder clips embellishments were also created from dies included in the set.

I really enjoyed putting this card together and especially like that it's almost like a mini interactive scrapbook page. 

Wish Upon A Star

Today I'm sharing a card I recently put together for the birthday of my dear friend and crafting buddy Kris. I chose to use the Karen Burniston Parcel Pop Up die to make her card, mostly because I struggled with the assembly of this mechanism on another card last month, and felt I needed more play time with it so I could better familiarize myself with the workings of this die. 

I made a bottom fold card, using clear acetate for the top half of the card front and embellishing with cloud and star cuts. I also cut and adhered mirrored images of the clouds directly behind on the inside so no unsightly adhesive would be showing through from the cloud cuts on the front. To keep the card closed, I added a thin neodymium magnet sandwiched between star cuts to the top of the acetate panel and another on the inside under the blue panel.

As the card is opened, Little Twin Stars floats up from behind the clouds. I used Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud Border die to cut a panel the same width as the card and glued it to the front of the Parcel Pop Up mechanism so Little Twin Stars would seem to appear from behind it.

Cutting file for paper pieced Little Twin Stars was created in Make the Cut design program from a coloring book image. Sentiments on the clouds were done using Lauren Script font and the print and cut function. As it turned out, the completed Little Twin Stars image ended up being too wide to fit behind the pop up mechanism.

Luckily, I was able to snip off the two struts on the Parcel Pop Up mechanism that normally hold it in place in the card and replace them with two added strips of cardstock placed further apart on both sides of the cloud border panel. Yay! So happy what I feared would be a major disaster ended up as a win-win situation. Now that I've figured out a fix, it's nice knowing I won't have to worry too much about exceeding the width of what can be attached to this pop up mechanism. Definitely feeling more comfortable using this pop up die now and looking forward to creating many fun cards with it.

Retirement Shaker Card

After binge watching cardmaking tutorials on YouTube, I was excited to give the "see through" or "floating" shaker card another try; this time on a tri-fold retirement card for my sister in law.

 Scalloped frame for the shaker was die cut using Park Avenue Creative Cuts by Mama Elephant.

 I used stamped images from Dandelion Designs "Sakura" and "Sakura Girls" sets, colored with Copics and fussy cut. Sakura Girls' kimonos were paper pieced with washi papers. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of using foam tape to adhere the stamped images onto the front of the shaker.

As you can see here, since this is a "see through" shaker card,  when the card is opened, the back of the stamped images and the foam tape I used are visible...which isn't too pretty at all. Definitely need to rethink the placement of cutouts and embellies on my next attempt of a see through shaker card!

Here's the trifold card completely open. Background wave patterned papers are digital paper from Gradient Fox on Etsy.

On the back of the card, I used the Pretty Pink Posh's Pocket Border die to create a pocket to hold a gift card. As much as I love the look of all the different styles of shaker cards there are, creating them continues to be a lesson in progress for me. Guess I'll just have to keep on practicing!