Shiba Inu Accordion Card

This was the Shiba Inu themed card and gift card holder I put together for my sister in law's birthday this year.

I used Arial and Hello Valentica fonts to create the the cut files for the shadowed "Happy Biirthday" sentiment on the front of the card. The paper pieced Shiba Inu pups I made for this card were inspired by the many cute, wide eyed and cartoon-like Shiba Inu images I've been seeing lately on Pinterest.               

I may have gotten a little too ambitious but I decided I wanted to try making a landscape style accordion card using the paper pieced Shiba Inu images. For the base card, I started by using Lori Whitlock's "Swing Through Card" svg cut file template, enlarging the size and altering the orientation of the card to landscape. 

The swing through panels were created by welding shadow images of the Shiba Inu pups together. I struggled to get the correct sizing of the shadows in this step, which caused the card to buckle in the closed position.

Even after redoing multiple times, I had to settle with several "bandaid fixes". Hope my sister in law doesn't look too closely at the construction of her card!

I used Lori Whitlock's "Pop Up Drawer" svg file to make the matching gift card holder. Happily, this came together a lot easier! I kept the decorating simple, using  another paper pieced Shiba Inu image for the front pop up.  "Celebrate" sentiment was created as a print and cut image which I ran through my Heidi Swapp Minc with toner reactive gold foil.

BTS Birthday Surprise

 One of my dearest friends has been a big fan of the K-Pop band BTS for as long as I can remember. With all the excitement of collecting BTS Tiny Tan dolls in McDonald's Happy Meals last year, the release of their new album and their world tour concerts happening now, I really wanted to surprise her with a BTS themed card for her birthday.

I found lots of cute chibi style clip art of BTS Tiny Tan characters on Etsy and decided to do print and cut images for this card. I chose my friend's favorite member, Jimin, doing the Korean love hand sign to adorn the front. "Just for you" sentiment was die cut from gold foil board using a die from Lawn Fawn's "Gift Box" set. Shadow layer for the sentiment was created in Make the Cut Design program.

Inside, I used Karen Burniston's "Photo Fan Pop Up" mechanism to animate headshots of all seven BTS group members.

Clip art images were cropped, printed on glossy photo paper, and framed with lavender glitter cardstock. I used dies from Karen Burniston "Label Charm Pop Up" and "Big Birthday Charms" as well as Taylored Expressions "Celebration Confetti" to cut streamers, confetti and hearts from gold glitter cardstock and foil board to add some fun glitz and sparkle inside the card.

I also added a print and cut group shot image to the left side of the card. 

In keeping with the BTS theme, I also put together a sliding pop up drawer box using a fun BT21 claw machine sticker image. As the drawer is pulled open the image of the claw machine slides into an upright position. SVG cutting file template for this slider box comes from the Lori Whitlock shop. Really had fun putting this card and gift card holder together. But had the most fun watching my sweet friend's face light up as she opened her card. I'm looking forward to hearing all the stories she has to share from the BTS concerts she'll be attending soon.

Casino Style Birthday

When I learned my brother in law would be spending his birthday in Las Vegas, I knew I wanted to make him a Vegas themed card. 

I decorated the front of his card simply by gluing miniature playing cards together to create a great hand. The sentiment and shadow layers for both the sentiment and the cards were created in Make the Cut design program.

On the inside, I used Karen Burniston's House of Cards die set to add this huge, fun pop up. The large gold shadowed sentiment on the left was die cut using a MFT Stamps "Celebrate" word die.

 

This was my second time using the House of Cards die set and the assembly of this card went a whole lot smoother and easier than on my first try. I kept the design of my House of Cards to a simple 4 story structure using playing cards I had printed onto plain white 110 lb cardstock and everything came together very nicely. Looking forward to trying to build more architecturally challenging structures with this die set soon.

In keeping with the Vegas theme, I decorated this slider box with a print and cut image to look like a slot machine. Used glitter, foil and holographic papers on the panels to give the slider box the "bling bling" excitement I always feel whenever I walk into a casino on the Las Vegas strip.

As the drawer to the box is pulled open to reveal the the gift card inside, the front panel of the box pops up. Hope my brother in law enjoyed his gift and card as much as I had fun making them!

Oven Pop Up Birthday

We have a very dear friend who enjoys baking and always spoils us with delicious fresh from her oven goodies. So for her birthday this year, I made a kitchen themed card.                                                          I used "Happy Birthday word die" from Hello Bluebird for the sentiment on the front of the card as well as Karen Burniston "Baking Charms" dies for the mixing bowl and implements. Oval panels were cut on my Silhouette Cameo and I ran the smaller oval through The Paper Studio's "A2 Bricks" embossing folder. For the wood panel mat, I printed a photo of  a vinyl wood floor sample from an online flooring site.  I also used this for the kitchen flooring inside the card, and to die cut the wooden spoons and rolling pins used to decorate.                                                   

Inside the card, I used Karen Burniston's "Oven Pop Up" and "Oven Extras" die sets to add a fun pop up kitchen. Although this is a very simple and basic pop up mechanism that could be easily created without a die, I chose to purchase these die sets mostly because of all the tiny,  detailed and perfectly sized to fit extras included. 

Without a doubt, attempting to cut the tiny little gas burners, oven knobs and even the baking racks from metallic cardstock would have been a struggle on the Silhouette. It was so much easier to die cut them! I also loved how the oven door opens so you can get a peek inside to see what's baking . . . look, it's our favorite cranberry scones!

The cranberry scones our friend bakes are deliciously rich, buttery and to die for! Of course they had to be baking  in her oven! These were done as a print and cut.

I used a previously created cutfile for the bracket style label, "Hello Valentica" font, and more die cut kitchen utensils for the sentiment box.

For a gift, I pieced together a duplicate set of kitchen charms to decorate and embellish the top of this slider box.

As the drawer is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside, the embellished panel on top pops forward to an upright position. The svg cutfile for this fun pop up sliderbox was purchased from the Lori Whitlock Shop.  These boxes really make it fun to gift and receive gift cards.

Relaxing Teddy Bear Retirement Card

 Here's a card and gift card holder set I put together for a dear friend who recently retired from her workplace.  

 

I kept the front of the card simple, decorating with die cut images from different companies: Stampin' Up "Adirondack Chair", Lawn Fawn "Stitched Rounded Rectangle" and "Stitched Hillside Border" dies, and an unbranded double palm tree die from "Custom Crafter 500" store on Etsy. The Happy Retirement sentiment was computer generated using Brisk Extended font.

On the inside, I used the "Adirondack Chair Pop Up" die set from Karen Burniston to create a fun pop up card. 

I made a very similar card to this one several years ago when I created the cutting files for the palm trees, wave border and slippers, so decorating the inside of this time card took a lot less time to do. 

The one thing I did do differently this time was to add a sitting teddy bear to the chair. I used the "Bentley at the Beach" cut file from Marjorie Ann Designs to paper piece Bentley the bear and propped him up onto the adirondack chair with a tropical drink. The cut file for the "Summer Cocktail" is a freebie from Cre8ive Cutz.

Then, for a matching gift card holder, I decorated a slider box with a mini version of the front of the card, using the adirondack chair die from  the "Tropical Collection - On the Beach" from Creative Expressions. Fishtail banner was hotfoiled and cut using Spellbinders "Hexi-Gems Sentiments" Hot foil plate and die set.

As the drawer is pulled open to reveal the gift card inside, the panel with the beach scene pops up.  The svg template for this fun pop up slider box comes from the Lori Whitlock Shop. I really like that the pop up panel can be decorated as you please and that the slider drawer is deep enough to hold candies or even a small gift.

Kokeshi Landscape Accordion Card

I decided to try making another  three panel landscape accordion style card, this time with paper pieced kokeshi doll images for a birthday card for a sweet friend.
 

The original svg cutfile for the base of this card is the "Swing Through Card Valentine" purchased from the Lori Whitlock Shop. I enlarged the frame of the original cutfile to create a landscape oriented card that was 6.5 x 5 inches. I intentionally made this to be an oversized card so the kokeshi dolls would be large enough to easily piece together.

For the inset panels, I used Make the Cut Design Program to create and weld shadow layers of the kokeshi doll svg cutfiles purchased on Etsy. Digital papers were used for the kimonos and tiny blossoms for the hair were cut using Frantic Stamper "Petite Sakura" and Cheery Lynn Design "Baby's Breath Flower" dies.

Happy Birthday sentiment on the front panel was die cut from gold glitter and foil cardstocks using Hello Bluebird "Happy Birthday Words" die.  Computer generated sentiment on last panel uses Moderne and Hello Valentica fonts.

Although I was satisfied with how this card looked once it was opened, I found that getting the card to open was a little awkward because it seemed that the middle panel tended to buckle, despite my trying to reinforce it with an additional layer of cardstock. Next time I'll have to remember to try increasing the width of the frame borders to see if that would help.

I also made a matching gift card holder using the same kokeshi doll image on a fun pop up style drawer. As the drawer is pulled open, the decorative panel on the box pulls to a standing position.

Here's a side view of the easel-like mechanism connected to the back of the drawer that pulls the panel up. The svg cutting file for this box can be found at the Lori Whitlock Store here. Love the movement and surprise feature of this drawer style box!

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!