Instacube Photo Cube for Mom

I have another Instacube pop up cube card to share today. Had to make this one for my mil's recent birthday since she was one of the last few in our family who had not received this style of card from us yet.

I chose recent photos of her son, granddaughter and great granddaughter to use on four sides of the cube,

and added the birthday sentiment to the back.

This rubber band activated cube is easily flattened, and slides nicely into it's pocket envelope which I embellished with a rose and banner print and cut image from Miss Kates Cuttables. I created a shadow layer for it using metallic gold cardstock and adhered it to a panel which had been run through Cuttlebug's Wicker Weave embossing folder for texture. The Instacube card continues to be a favorite and fun card for me to make and give. Cutting file, template and tutorial  for this can be found at the Lori Whitlock Shop.

Great Gramma's Birthday

My mom celebrated her first birthday as a Great Gramma last year, so I thought she might enjoy an  Instacube card where I could showcase photos of her new great granddaughter.

Little Evie and her mom and dad had just come for a visit a couple months before my mom's birthday so the timing was just right to get photos for her card.

Used a photo of Evie on the top of the cube and photos of her with her great gramma, gramma & grampa, and her mom & dad on three sides of the cube. Our birthday sentiment went on the fourth side of the cube.

As with all  Instacube cards, this rubber band activated card folds flat to slip into a sleeve. I decorated the sleeve for mom's card very simply by using a print and cut image from Miss Kate's Cuttables and adhering it to the front with foam adhesive. Honestly, mom didn't seem too surprised or impressed about the pop-open action of her Instacube birthday card, but she definitely seemed pleased about the photos...that's good enough for me!

40th Birthday Celebration

I put together another fun Instacube card, this one for hubby's cousin who recently celebrated his 40th birthday with a fabulous dinner party. I've always wanted to try one of those black and white glitzy cards and this was the perfect chance!

Had a great time embellishing the sides of this cube with all the papers I love...glitter, foil, and pearlized!

The cutting file for the champagne and glasses comes from Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons, and balloons are from Cricut Celebrations cartridge.  Happy Birthday is die cut from a Elizabeth Crafts die. Candles are teardrop and rectangles shapes. I used the fill function in Make the Cut to add the stripes and dots to the rectangles, then print and cut. Fancy label shape is a Pinterest find which I converted into a cutting file.

I cut different sized stars from metallic and pearlized silver papers to embellish the top of the cube and sleeve to hold the card. All cut on the Silhouette except the tiniest ones which were cut using Mama Elephant Lots of Stars die.

Folded flat, the card slides easily into its sleeve. Cutting file for this Instacube card comes from the Lori Whitlock Shop. Definitely my most favorite go-to card when I'm stumped for ideas on what to make!

Hello Kitty Birthday Instacube

Can't say I didn't warn you...everyone's getting an Instacube pop up card for their birthday this year! LOL, just kidding...maybe not "everyone", maybe just "many". Of course I couldn't resist making a Hello Kitty one, and this one was for my dear sister in law.

I used paper pieced images of Hello Kitty on three sides of the cube and our birthday sentiment on the fourth. All the Hello Kitty images were found on the web and rendered into cutting files using Make the Cut design program. Mini punches from Carl and Punch Bunch were used for the hearts and flowers on the top of the cube.

The beauty of this rubber band activated card is how it folds flat to fit inside its sleeve and pops open to its cube shape when removed from the sleeve. I used another paper pieced Hello Kitty for the sleeve, and an Elizabeth Crafts die for the "Happy Birthday". You can find the cutting file for this super fun Instacube card over at the Lori Whitlock Shop.

Baseball Grad

Here's the second graduation card I made this year for a ball playing graduate. Just so happens he's also the brother of the softball player who I made the card for in my previous post. Decided to do another Instacube style card from the Lori Whitlock Shop for him.

Had fun decorating the sides of the cube. Graduation cap is a free cutting file  generously shared by Kay from Clever Someday blog. Cutting file for "Class of 2017" was created in Make the Cut Design program using Varsity font and I added a tassel made from embroidery floss. Baseball, glove and college team logo were also rendered into cutting files using Make the Cut.

I used the print and cut function to do the school seal and added a strip of metallic ribbon to embellish the sleeve which holds the flattened cube. This rubberband activated card pops into a cube when removed from the sleeve. These Instacube cards are so fun and I think they are just perfect for making cards for guys. LOL, they may not appreciate all the work you put into decorating it, but at least you'll know they'll love the poppin' action!

Popping Up with Pochacco!

I have another Instacube Box card to share today. As mentioned in my earlier post, I am totally having too much fun making these pop up cards and...LOL!... just might make one for everyone on my birthday card list!

This Pochacco decorated one is actually the first Instacube Box I attempted, made for my bestest crafting buddy Kris for her birthday. This rubberband activated box from the Lori Whitlock Shop folds flat and slides into a sleeve for giving and pops into a cube when removed from it's sleeve...so super cool!

I added paper pieced Pochacco images using cutting files created in the Make The Cut design program to decorate 3 sides of the cube and the sleeve.  A Happy Birthday cutting die from Elizabeth Craft Designs was used for the top of the cube. I enlarged the size of the cube slightly from the original 2-1/2 inches to 3 inches so I'd have an easier time getting the  Happy Birthday die cut and Pochaccos to fit nicely onto the panels.

Here's how the card folds flat to slide into it's sleeve. Once I had all the pieces cut, I watched Lori's instructional video on Youtube for the assembly instructions and found this pretty easy to put together.

Before I go, I have another card I'd like to share....some happy mail I recently received from a very special blogging friend, Dale...

Dale made this super sweet coffee take out cup shaped card to celebrate my recent retirement. (Ahhh...she knows my crazy addiction to coffee!)

The coolest thing about this card is how a gift card slides up from inside the cup when you open the card...neato! Thank you, Dale! I love this card and you made me feel so-o-o special!

First Fathers Day

My son in law celebrated his very first Fathers Day last weekend so I wanted to send a card letting him know how very special he is. When I saw the new Instacube cards at the Lori Whitlock shop, I knew it would make a perfect card for him.

Lori Whitlock's Instacube cards are so super COOL! These cubes are rubberband activated...they fold flat to slide into a sleeve for giving, then...POP! open into a cube when pulled out of the sleeve. Totally LOVE THIS!

Decided to make this card extra special by using photos of my son in law and our new granddaughter to decorate the sides of the cube.

I added a poppa and baby bear paper piecing to the front panel and our sentiment to the back panel of the cube. Lori's original file creates a 2-1/2 inch cube, but I enlarged the file slightly to get a 3 inch cube since I was having difficulty getting my paper piecings and cropped photos to fit.

Folded flat, the cube easily slides into it's sleeve, ready to pop back into a cube when removed. Ah! A new favorite card to make! LOL, I've already done a few more of these (so fun to make!) and will share in the weeks to come.