A 3-D Turkey for Thanksgiving

While searching for ideas and inspiration for a fun card we could send to our granddaughter for Thanksgiving, I came across the cutting file for this 3-D paper turkey designed by Chirpy Llama Art Studio on Etsy.

What I liked the most about this turkey was that it looked like a simple version of a sliceform papercraft with layers of  feathers and the turkey body slotted together. Sliceform papercrafts always ingtrigue me, but I haven't had the courage to try one yet. This one looked easy enough for a beginner like me!

Happily, I was able to cut and assemble the pieces to put this little guy together pretty quickly. There was lots of room behind the last row of feathers to add our personal Thanksgiving wishes.

Neatest thing about these sliceform projects are how they flatten so easily to slide into an envelope for mailing.

I had so much fun putting this 3-D  turkey together that I wanted to share the fun with our granddaughter. So I cut the pieces to the turkey again, this time about 30% larger (for tiny hands) and made a step by step photo instruction sheet for easy assembly. We put everything into a large envelope and mailed it as part of  our Thanksgiving "care package" from Grampa and Gramma.

May have been "too easy" for her but hope she had fun making a turkey for Thanksgiving!

Before I go, I wanted to quickly share this beautiful intricately cut Thanksgiving display card that came in the mail for us from a very dear friend.

I especially love the combination of vibrant fall colors for the pumpkin and leaves together with the pearlized gold frame and easel...so pretty!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday today with friends and family. Tomorrow: Black Friday and full steam ahead to Christmas!

May Your Birthday BB-"(gr)8" !

Here's the Star Wars themed birthday card featuring the droid BB-8 that I created for two of my favorite Star Wars "fan-atics", my hubby and son in law. 

I came across an image of  a very cool card created by illustrator Josh Lewis showing Star Wars Droid BB-8 lighting a candle on a birthday cake and knew right away I wanted to create something similar using paper piecing. 

To create the cutfile, I started with a simple coloring book image of BB-8 and drew in the arm extension and flame. Make the Cut design program was then used to render this doctored image into a  cutting file. At first I thought this would be a simple cutfile to create but later realized making multiple layers for the 5 colors of BB-8 was a little mind boggling. But I stuck with it and got it done! I used a cut file from Marjorie Ann Designs' "Betsy Loves Baking" set for the birthday cake.

I thought it would be fun to showcase BB-8 using a Hexagon Pop Up style card. Here are a couple views from the top and side. As you can see, the paper pieced BB-8 droid and birthday cake were attached to struts on the front half of the hexagonal "stage".

I used a round panel which I ran through Sizzix Stars and Swirls embossing folder for texture as the center backdrop."Happy Birthday" was cut from glitter and metallic cardstocks using dies from Hello Bluebird and Whimsy Stamps.

The template for the stand alone Hexagon Pop Up card is one I created a few years ago inspired by Hallmark Cards'  amazing Paper Wonder collection.

I was hoping to find ideas for a really good "punny" sentiment to add to the back of this card, but sadly, this one was the best I could find... "May Your Birthday BB (gr)8". I simply added it to a backdrop image I found online of droids BB-8 and R2D2 together and printed it out. Shadowed and glittered stars were cut on the Silhouette and added to the struts on the back side  of the hexagon platform.

Without a doubt, the best part about these Hexagonal Pop Up cards are how they fold flat to fit very nicely into an envelope. I like how there's even room on the very bottom of the card to add a personal message when the card is in its folded position.

After spending way "too much time" creating the cutfiles and assembling the first card for hubby, I decided to make it into "time well spent" by making another identical card for my son in law who celebrated his birthday 3 days later. It's always good whenever I can get multiple uses from cutfiles that took way too long to create!