Cupcake Accordion Birthday Card

This rectangular format accordion cupcake card and matching gift card holder was created for a dear friend's birthday.

Inspired by the fun landscape cupcake cards created by others using Karen Burniston's dies, I did some experimenting in Make the Cut with the swing through card cutfile I used to create my Thanksgiving card last year.  I used a simple svg cutting file of a cupcake from Design Street , then created and welded their shadow layers to add the trio of paper pieced of cupcakes to the card.

I used a Whimsy Stamps die for the word "Birthday" on the center panel. "Happy" and the shadow cuts were created in Make the Cut. Streamer confetti embellishments were die cut with Karen Burniston Big Birthday Charms set.

Each of the panels on this card measures 7.25" x 4.25" so the finished card size is quite large. I like that the larger size makes it easier to embellish and decorate,  but I found that I had to reinforce each panel with an extra layer of cardstock to keep my card sturdy enough and prevent it from buckling as it's pulled open. Next time around I may have to consider increasing the width of the frame borders to make it stronger.

Here's a view from the top of the sccordion card opened. 

While searchng online for ideas for giftcard holders, I came across a cupcake shaped giftcard holder shared by Gina Creates that I thought would go perfectly with the cupcake accordion card. Gina shares a free svg file to create her cupcake giftcard holder on her website. I did use Gina's idea of creating a pocket on the top of the cupcake for the giftcard as well as in the cupcake liner for the cupcake, but I  used the same cupcake image I used on my card instead. Finished it off with a bit of stickles glitter on the frosting and candle flame for some bling.

Birthday Wishes for a "Deer" Friend

Today I'm sharing a birthday card and matching gift card holder set created for a special friend. 
 

Recently, I've been challenging myself to start making use of more of the dies I've been collecting over the years. I met the challenge with this card by using dies to cut nearly all the decorative elements except three...  the round lacy circle on the front, and the sentiment and oval on the inside were cut on my Silhouette Cameo. I used dies from Marianne Designs Collectable Deer set, MFT Stamps Grassy Edges, Memory Box Butterfly Delights, Cheery Lynn Babies Breath, and Gemini Birthday Celebrations for all the rest of the embellishments.

On the inside of the card I installed two sets of  the mechanism from Karen Burniston's Spinner Square Pop Up die side by side to get a double pop up effect.

As the recipient opens the card, the two center panels with the deer pop forward and arms with the words, "Deer Friend" swing down into view.

This was my first time making a double spinner square pop up card with the two spinners side by side. I really like how the pop up and moving arms really make for a fun card. The video tutorial I used for this can be found here. Love that Karen Burniston always comes up with multiple ways to use her fun pop up dies!

I used the same dies that I used for the card to decorate and embellish a simple pocket style matching gift card holder. This time I used a svg cut file I created a while ago in Make the Cut to cut the base card.

Cracked Egg Treat Box

While searching online for ideas for Easter treat boxes, I came acorss this cracked egg box design which I thought would be fun to decorate.

But since I wasn't able to find a template for it, I decided to wing it and try and create my own by welding some basic shapes (ovals, squares, triangles) in Make the Cut Design studio. 

Welded rectangle shapes to the design to create gussets and enlarged the template to maximum size that would fit onto a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. It's always nice when I can get the entrire template to fit onto one piece of cardstock so the box assembly goes quickly. Happily, the finished box size was large enough to hold half a dozen butter spritz cookies.

Had fun die cutting and paper piecing bunnies, chicks, baskets and eggs to create a fun little Easter scene for the front of the egg box. I used dies from Maryanne Designs "Eline's Bunnies" and "Eline's Chickens", Karen Burniston's "Spring Animals", Sizzix "Eggs and Decorations #2", and MFT Stamps "Grassy Edges". I always love it when I make use of a lot of different dies to create a project so I can confidently assure hubby that I'm not "just collecting" !

Lots of room on the back of the box for a print and cut inset panel using cute digital paper from Nancy Kubo's Hunny Bunny Paper Pack.

Got a dozen of these boxes filled with cookies and chocolate eggs, wrapped and ready to deliver just in time for Easter. Hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter Sunday!

Bunnies and Chicks Galore

I recently watched a tutorial on YouTube on the assembly of Lawn Fawn Platform Pop Up cards using coordinating add on dies and was inspired to try a similar idea to create an Easter card for our granddaughter using the svg cutfile I've been using to make hexagonal pop up cards.

The hexagonal pop up cards I've made in the past have had six equal sides, but this time I altered my cutfile to create a hexagon shaped card that was nearly twice as long in the front and back than the sides. I also replaced the large round panel I usually attach to the center strut with a larger hinged panel adhered to the back.

I really liked the new look of  the hexagonal pop up card with the larger back panel which gave me a lot more space on the front of the card to create a fun Easter scene. 

 I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the pieces needed to construct the card base, and dies from Karen Burniston, Sizzix, and Maryanne Designs to cut the pieces needed to piece together the bunnies, chicks and scene elements.

Lots of room on the back of the panel to add our sentiment.

    

I think the neatest thing about the hexagon pop up card is how it folds completely flat for mailing. I intentionally increased the size of my card so I could fit several bunnies and chicks on it so the card measures 7.75 x 8.25 inches flat...huge!

I also made a fun matching gift card holder to tuck into the box of Easter surprises we mailed to our granddaughter.

As the drawer to this box is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside,  the panel on the top of the box with the bunny and balloons slides up. Svg template for this pop up drawer comes from the Lori Whitlock Shop. This little box is so much fun and surprisingly easy to assemble. I'm certain I will be making more of these in the near future!

Tool Box Gift Card Holder

I waited too long and didn't have enough time to put together a handmade card for my brother in law in time for his birthday, but came across  a few ideas for a neat looking tool box shaped gift cardholder online that looked like I would be able to create in a day.
 

I started by purchasing a png clipart file of a tool box with several tools from Scrapbook Gems on Etsy, and converted the files to svg cutfiles. I then welded the images of the tools onto a panel to hold a giftcard and created a pocket in the tool box for the gift card to slide into.

Lastly, I printed some of the png tool images together with our birthday wishes and adhered it onto the backside of the toolbox. So happy that this came together so quick and easy when I was in a pinch for time!

Thank Ewe!

As much as I'd like to make my thank you cards, I always seem to need them "right now" so I end up buying them instead. For this particular instance however, I knew ahead of time I would be needing  a thank you card so I had a bit of time to put this together.

I tried to keep things simple by making use of my dies instead of the Silhouette to cut most of the elements for this card. The dies used to cut the paper pieced lambs, flowers, leaves and tufts of grass were all included in Marianne Designs Eline's Lamb die set.

Inside, I used the mechanism from Karen Burniston's Twist Flower Pop Up die to animate the lamb so she would pop forward and appear to leap as the card is opened. Couldn't resist attaching a punny sentiment "Thank Ewe" to the lamb with acetate strips so it too twists and pops forward. I used Di font and Make the Cut design program to create the cut file for the the sentiment and shadow. Kept the background very easy and simple, using Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders for the grass and tree die from Karen Burniston Tiny Trees Pop Up. I added a matted blank panel on the right side where I could write a personal message. Very happy that this card didn't take too long at all to put together... what I really need to do is make several of these to put away for the next time I need a thank you card "now".

Girls Day Origami Ningyo

Happy Girls Day! I'm excited to share these Girls Day treats I received from my talented and crafty friend, Lorna this year. 
 

Lorna very cleverly used her origami skills to fold the beautiful kimonos for these Girls Day "ningyo" (dolls) for these treat holders. She used the print and cut feature on her electronic cutter to create the  heads and attached them to the origami kimonos to bring her dolls to life. Underneath, a mochi treat wrapped in rice paper serves as the stand for this sweet doll.

For this super kawaii treat box, Lorna created Girls Day prince and princess dolls sitting with  traditional "hishi mochi" (tricolor diamond shaped mochi), and displayed them on a doll stand.

The tricolor diamond shaped mochi is actually a box filled with more mochi and milk candies! I love that Lorna never fails to come up with the most original ideas to delight everyone she shares her creative treats with!

Crafty Treasures from Special Friends

Couldn't go on without sharing some of the crafty goodness I received from special friends this month.
 

This handmade calendar and card came in the mail recently from my sweet friend, Lynn.

I think this die cut "maneki neko" (lucky cat) is so adorable with his stylized "fu" (for good fortune) character on his tummy and shiny gold bell and baker's twine collar. I really liked how Lynn rolled the ends of a piece of cardstock to create a scroll, stamped with Chinese characters "gan xie" (for gratitude) for lucky cat to hold up.  The neatest thing about this lucky cat is that he can be lifted from the card front to sit upright on his mat, using his little tail as an easel stand!

Lynn also sent along this super cute Valentine easel desk calendar featuring  a stamped, colored, and fussy cut image of my all time favorite Pooh bear. 

My amazingly creative friend Lorna made this pair of kawaii Valentine treat holders.

Reminiscent of  the silk rose truffle holders seen at fancy weddings, Lorna cut and folded the petals of this fabulous rose from red cardstock to create this sweet rose candy holder. Look carefully and you'll see Hershey kisses and Dove chocolate hearts tucked in the center of the rose. Little Mocha Bear standing on the petals with his bouquet of roses just doubles the cuteness of this treat holder!

Lorna also pieced together this irresistible pink "maneki neko" (lucky cat) as a Valentine treat holder. I wasn't even aware that different colored lucky cats represent different things. Pink lucky cats represent romance and brings love; perfect for Valentines Day!

My dear crafty friend Kris put together this sweet heart shaped basket perfect for a fellow crafter (like me!). This sturdy and roomy basket has room enough for a lot of treats. I love that Kris filled it with crafters' favorites... diamond glaze and chocolates! The template for this cute basket was designed by Kim of Crafting Cheerfully.

Hope you enjoyed seeing crafty projects from friends and hope they may have inspired  your creative juices as much as they did for me.

We PIKA - CHOOSE You, Valentine!

We recently learned that our granddaughter had started watching the Pokemon anime series and has become quite a fan of little Pikachu. Well, you know this gramma loves a theme, so I grabbed the Pikachu theme and ran with it for Valentines Day.

I found a svg cut file template for this cute Pikachu domed candy holder by Mirachefamira Studio on Etsy which I thought our granddaughter would enjoy. I used half of a clear plastic ball ornament for the domed candy holder. The base of the original template is a circle, but since this was for Valentines Day, I glued it onto a heart shaped base.

The original template included a fancy notched rotating window underneath to access the candies in the dome but I decided to switch it to the simpler hexagonal petal envelope closure that I am more familiar working with.

I also preferred that the petal style envelope gave me a place to add a fun card enclosure. Access to candies is inside the envelope behind the card. I created a simple "Pokeball" card in the shape of a heart with our sentiment inside. This included a clipart of another Pokemon named "Evee", which happens to be the nickname we lovingly call our granddaughter by.

This personalized hinged box decorated with another paper pieced Pokeball held a surprise pop up Valentine inside. When the hinged lid of the box is lifted . . .

little Pikachu pops up inside!

"We Pika-Choose YOU to be our Valentine!"

Inspired by several creative members on the Karen Burniston Pop Up Peeps Facebook group, I wanted to try recreating Pikachu too, using Karen Burniston's Mini Ball Pop Up dies and stacking two of them on top of each other. These rubber band activated pop up balls have been used to create so many different fun creatures and characters!

After adding on Pikachu's ears, face, arms, feet and tail, I had him hold two glittered hearts and secured him to a glittered heart shaped base with a brad so he could swivel around. If you look closely at the previous photo you may be able to see that I added two pieces of  the printed cardstock on the right and left inside the box to create a channel where Pikachu's heart shaped base could be slid into. Not certain if this creature resembles Pikachu enough or not but I had lots of fun putting him together!