Open And Reveal First Birthday

This is the card I put together for our cousin's grandson's first birthday celebration last month. I was falling behind on my birthday card making in May so I knew I had to keep this card quick and easy. To cut and assemble the paper pieced teddy bear, I used one of the bears from the "Stardust and Moonbeams" cutting file from Marjorie Ann Designs. "Expose" font was used to make the cut file for the word "One". Balloons were cut using Craft Emporium's (retired) "Stitched Balloon" die.

I needed a card I could finish quickly, so I decided to use the Slide and Reveal mechanism I recently learned  from watching video tutorials by Sam Calcott and Sara Davies on You Tube. As the card is opened, a panel holding a gift card slides out from the bottom of the card.

Teddy bear inside is also from Marjorie Ann Designs and  "1-derful" was created from New Boston and LD Charming fonts using Make the Cut Design Program. 

Centenarian Birthday

We were happy and very excited when we recently received an invitation to our uncle's 100th birthday celebration. This is the card and money envelope I made as our gift.
 

This was the first 100th birthday card I've ever made. Wanted to make it special, yet wanted to keep it simple. I decided to go with the traditionally auspicious red and gold color scheme for this Asian themed card. The crane (Tutti Designs, retired) and Asian geometric corners (Mama Elephant Money Envelope die) were die cut from gold foil cardstock.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a round window, gold glitter frame and the red foil medallion you see in the window. An old cutfile I had created a several years ago was used to cut the Chinese long life character "shou" on the medallion.

Inside, I used Karen Burniston's Katherine Label Pop Up mechanism so the medallion would pop forward and up as the card is opened.

I used a Minc machine to add toner hot foil to the Happy Birthday sentiment on the left side of the card and the lacy lanterns on the right side were cut using a very old (now retired) lantern die set from Tattered Lace.

Mama Elephant's "Money Envelope" die set was used to cut the template for the Chinese style red envelope. The Chinese long life character and personalization were printed using a laser printer and hot foiled using the Minc machine. If you click on the photo above to get an up close view of the envelope you'll be able to see that the foil did not adhere to the toner too well. I used a text weight Stardream metallic paper for the envelope which may not have been smooth enough for proper adhesion of the foil. As I continue to use both toner hot foiling and hot plate foiling on my paper crafts, I'm slowly learning which types of papers are better suited for either method.

Butterfly Rotating Pop Up

This is the card and gift box I put together to send to our granddaughter for her ninth birthday. As she enters her "tween-age" years, it's getting harder for us, especially as long distance grandparents to keep up with the latest trends that interest her. Since I recall her telling us about her love of nature, I decided to go with a butterfly theme for her card this year.

The cute chibi girl I used for my card was paper pieced using a cutting file created from a set of printable sticker images by "Dreamy Clipart Cloud" on Etsy. She is attached to the pop up mechanism inside the card. I cut a circular window on the front of the card so she could be seen before the card is opened. The "celebrate" sentiment was done as a print and cut and passed through a Minc machine with toner reactive foil. Butterflies were cut from pearlescent, glitter and foil cardstock using Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Border" and Spellbinders "Delicate Butterflies" die sets.

Inside the card, I installed a rotating pop up mechanism for some fun pop up and movement.

As the card is opened, butterflies and the Happy Birthday sentiment rotate to the left, and butterflies behind the sentiment rotate to the right. This is the third card I've made using this mechanism, which has been a little tricky for me to learn. Guess the old adage, "Third time's a charm" held true for me; I think I've finally learned how to make this mechanism work smoothly without too much trouble. Yay!

When creating the cut file for this chibi girl, I made a small change to the original image by having her make the Korean finger heart sign, with the hope that it would catch our granddaughter's attention. Apparently it did, as she told her mom, "That's me!"

Since it has become increasingly difficult for us to keep up with the latest trends she's interested in, we decided to send a cash gift to our granddaughter to spend as she pleases. But of course, I had to make it fun! So I made a butterfly shaped box. Before gluing the box closed, I placed a roll of bills which were taped together end to end into the box with end of the first bill threaded through a slit that was cut on the back panel. Then I used double stick tape to adhere a piece of cardstock a little longer than the slit to the first bill so it wouldn't fall back into the box. 

A little sad that we aren't able to celebrate birthdays with our granddaughter in person, but still having fun thinking up creative ways to keep her entertained.