Back To School With Eevee

Here's the back to school card I made to send to our granddaughter as she got ready to start third grade. Since we lovingly call our granddaughter "Evie" for short, I thought it would be fun to put Pokemon Eevee on a sliding pop up card for her. If you happen to be a fan of Pokemon, you know that Eevee has the ability to evolve into several different types of Pokemon, so I made my paper pieced Eevee studying a book about Eevee evolutions.
 

Make the Cut design program was used to render a coloring book image of Eevee into a cutting file. The cream colored label behind Eevee was cut with a freebie cut file from Images By Heather M and run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder "Number Collage". 

I followed a video tutorial by Beate Johns from Splitcoast Stampers on You Tube to create this Surprise Sliding Pop Up Card. It's an older style of pop up but definitely a favorite of mine to make. When the recipient pulls the bow on the top of the card, the center panel with Eevee on it slides up to a standing position revealing a message underneath. The sliding mechanism also provides a perfect place to add a second message and a gift card.

You"re "SOY" Special

It's been awhile since I've done a sushi themed card so I decided it was time to give it a go again for a sweet friend who enjoys Asian themed cards.

The two Frannie teddy bears were cut and paper pieced using the "Heal the World" svg cutting file set from Marjorie Ann Designs. I also used very old cutting files from Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons (now defunct) called "Silly Sushi" for the bottle of soy sauce and "Kawaii Sushi" print and cut images from SVG Cutting Files. The cream colored background label was cut using a freebie file shared by Images By Heather M and run through an embossing folder, "Hexagons" from Sizzix.

I added my finished bears and sushi to the front of a Surprise Sliding Pop Up style card.

Pulling the tab on the top of the card makes the panel with the teddies slide and stand upright near the top of the card, revealing the message underneath. As the pull tab is pulled out, the giftcard I had attached to it appears.

   Always love it whenever I get a chance to use a play on words or "punny" sentiment on my cards.  Made a fishtail banner using "You're SOY Special" and added "SOY glad we're friends" to the sentiment inside.

This Surprise Sliding Pop Up style card is always a favorite for me, especially since I usually make it as a single panel card with the pop up element on the front. This way, no need for me to worry about how I'm going to decorate the inside of the card.

Your Friendship Means the World

Today I'm sharing a Surprise Sliding Pop Up style card I created for a sweet friend's birthday.   
 

I came across the cutest paper piecing svg cutfile set called "Heal the World" at Marjorie Ann Designs and knew right away I had to have it! After assembling my teddies sitting on the heart shaped globe, I mounted them onto a fancy label shape cut from a freebie svg shared by Images By Heather M.

I used Spellbinders "Birthday Unboxing" Glimmer foil plate and die to create the Happy Birthday sentiment with an offset shadow layer to add below the teddy bears.

Pulling on the tab at the top of the card pulls the bears and sentiment towards the top of the card and allows the label panel to stand upright.

As the teddies move to the top, the sentiment underneath is revealed.

And at the same time,  a gift card attached to the pull tab appears at the top of the card.

This pop up style card is a real oldie... the video tutorial on You Tube by Beate Johns from Splitcoast Stampers that I always refer back to relearn the steps to making this card was posted 13 years ago! But I still enjoy making this pop up because it's pretty easy to do, doesn't require specialty dies and never fails to bring a smile to its recipient.

Housewarming Surprise Pop Up Slider Card

 My cousin's daughter's family recently purchased their new "forever home" in Cali and this is the housewarming card I put together to send our congratulations.

While trying to decide on a style of house to use on my card, I thought it might be fun to create a  paper pieced house that looked like their new home.  I found photos of their house still posted on Zillow and came up with this house. I used basic shapes (squares, triangles) to create the house and roof lines together with some older files I created a few years ago for the windows, door and fence. Flowers and foliage for the flower boxes were cut from old mini punches from Punch Bunch. Unfortunately my paper pieced house didn't turn out looking too much like their new house after all, except maybe for the colors. But that's okay, it's still a kinda cute house anyway, lol.

I decided to make a Surprise Pop Up Slider style card so I could attach an envelope for a gift card onto the sliding mechanism. As the recipient pulls up on the tab at the top of the card, the house slides up to an upright position. and reveals the card sentiments.

This is one of my favorite interactive slider type cards to make because it doesn't take too long to put together and I think it has a pretty big "wow" factor. There are a lot of tutorials easily found on the internet to make this type of card but my favorite is by Beate Johns here.

Here's a view from the top of the card fully open which shows the slider on the top of the card where I attached the envelope for my gift card. It's a little hard to see since I die cut the envelope out of the same cloud patterned paper that I used for the background.

Game On!

When I first spied the free svg cutting file for a Sony PlayStation game controller created and shared by Jennifer Maker's Craft A Life You Love DIY website, I had to download it right away, knowing I wanted to use it to make a birthday card for my "gamer" son in law. Jennifer Maker has also included an  easy to follow tutorial for a pop up gift card holder to go with her game controller svg cutting file.
 

For my card, instead of a gift card holder, I chose to showcase the game controller on a Surprise Pop Up Slider card. 

Pulling the tab on the top of the card allows the front panel of the card to slide up like an easel...

... to reveal the message underneath.

Here's a view from the top which shows the pull panel which was done as a print and cut with my Happy Birthday greeting. My original plan was to attach a gift card to the pull panel, but unfortunately I forgot to use foam tape when atttaching the front panel which would have created the needed extra space for the gift card to smoothly slide in and out from the top of the card.

But it's just as well because as I was putting this card together, I was informed by my daughter that the game system my son in law uses is the Nintendo Switch. Honestly, all of this is Greek to me so I googled "Nintendo Switch" it to see what a Nintendo Switch controller looks like.

I'm sure my son in law would have been happy with the old school PlayStation game controller birthday card, but this was a challenge I couldn't resist! Luckily the design of the Nintendo Switch is pretty simple so it wasn't too hard to design a cut file for it. 

I wanted this to be a gift card holder so I designed it so the game controller screen was a pocket with a clear acetate front. I found a Super Mario game backdrop on the internet and personalized it in Print Shop with a Happy Birthday greeting, sized it,  printed it onto glossy photo paper, and adhered it to a piece of folded cardstock just large enough to hold a gift card. Then I added a small tab to the back of the card so it could easily be pulled out of the pocket.

Last thing... everyone wants to open a  present on their birthday, right? So I made a little gift box to put the Nintendo Switch gift card holder in. This turned out to be a fun project... and I learned that not all game systems are the same... !

Hello Kitty Eye Chart Card

 I made this card for a special young lady in our family who will be leaving home in a few weeks to attend Optometry School in Arizona. To create the custom eye chart for my card, I used the free eye chart maker app available online at the Homemade Gifts Made Easy website. So easy... all you need to do is type in the text you want on your eye chart, select a font and it's ready to download and print in a matter of seconds.

The soon to be Optometry student is my cousin's daughter, who happens to be a big fan of Hello Kitty, so of course I had to add a "geeky" Hello Kitty to her card. I also found some Bo Bunny Ruled Journal Paper cardstock in my stash which I thought would be perfect backdrop for this "back to school" card.

Decided to make this into a fun Surprise Pop Up Slider style card... pulling up on the tulle bow on the top of the card makes the front panel pull up like an easel, revealing our sentiment underneath.

I also adhered a clear envelope with a monetary gift onto the pull tab as an added surprise. The video tutorial for putting together a Surprise Pop Up Slider style card by Splitcoast Stampers' Beate Johns can be viewed on You Tube, here. 

I always enjoy making the Surprise Pop Up Slider card, especially whenever I want to enclose a gift card or monetary gift with a fun interactive card. 

Miya's ONE!

Earlier this year we received an invitation to a First Birthday celebration for little Miya. I thought the kokeshi doll on her invite was so cute, I knew right away I wanted to try and recreate a paper pieced version for Miya's birthday card.

Happily, Make the Cut design program had no trouble rendering the kokeshi doll image on the invitation into  a cutting file. I used washi paper for her kimono and added stickles to her obi for some glittery fun. Varied size sakura were cut from Carl and Punch Bunch punches. "Miya's ONE!" was cut using New Times Roman font, and the fancy label panel was traced from an image found on Pinterest, then run through an embossing folder from Cuttlebug's Asian Bundle.

I chose to do a Surprise Sliding Pop Up style card to showcase the little kokeshi for Miya's card.

Pulling up on the tulle bow on the top of the card makes the center front panel pop up and reveals a message on the front of the card as well on the back.

Tutorial for this card by Beate Johns can be found at Splitcoast Stampers in the Tutorial section here. Always enjoy making this type of card because it's not too difficult to put together, yet always sure to bring a smile to it's recipient!

Love You To The Moon

Hubby and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary earlier this month and this is the card I made to let him know how much I  still love him!

For the focal point of this card, I used a coloring book image of our favorite Disney couple that I had been saving for years with the hope of one day using for an anniversary card. Finally was able to start early enough this year to spend the time to work on it, using Make the Cut to render the image into a cutting file. I already knew I wanted to use this to make a Surprise Pop Up Slider card similar to the one I made earlier this year for my daughter and son in law's anniversary posted here.

Pulling up on the tab at the top of the card pulls the frame and the panel below it up...

...and reveals the sentiment underneath.

You can find the video tutorial for this fun interactive card by Beate Johns over at Splitcoast Stampers. Once you understand the basic construction of this card, you can easily alter the size to fit your own preference.

Since I wanted to get the "floating effect", I replaced the pop up panel on this card with a simple open frame and hung Mickey and Minnie from it using fishing line.

One of the main reasons I chose to do this card style is because I had also saved a backside view of this coloring book image which I also rendered into a cutfile. Unfortunately as it turned out, the front and back sides didn't match up as I had hoped, so I ended up having to fudge it and hand cut much of the backside to fit. LOL, it's a good thing this card was for my non-crafty hubby who probably never noticed!

One last thing I did just for fun was to twist Mickey and Minnie around a few times before putting the card in it's envelope. I thought it was sorta cool to see Mickey and Minnie spin around in the frame as hubby pulled the tab to open his card.

Anniversary Wishes for a Beary Special Couple

Wow, I can hardly believe 4 years have already gone by since our daughter and son in law were married. This is the card I sent them for their anniversary.

Wanted to try something a little different, so I decided to do a Surprise Sliding Pop Up type card and added a cut out window. Cute teddy bear couple inside the window is from the "Love You To The Moon and Back" cutting file by Cuddly Cute Designs. Cut the pieces for the bears from white cardstock, then colored them with Copics before piecing them together.

Pulling on the ribbon at the top of the card makes the front of the card slide back and up to reveal the sentiment underneath. Sort of looks like a Flying Easel type card, but more fun because of the sliding movement.

The window frame was created in Make the Cut by joining a rounded square shape together with a freebie label cutfile created and generously shared by Images By Heather M. found here. I then adhered the teddy bears to a scalloped edged heart shape and suspended it in the frame using fishing line tied to the top and bottom of the frame. Banner on the bottom is a cutting file from Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge.

I also added a sentiment "Love bears all things" to the backside of the heart.

For the floral embellishments and flourishes on this card, I used a combination of various dies and punches. Leaves and embossed white petals from Nellie Snellen punches; tiny branch punch from Martha Stewart; mini flower punch from Punch Bunch; and leafy flourishes from Tiny Fanciful Flourish die by Cheery Lynn. Larger pink mulberry blossom is from All Natural Accents; and pretty corner flourishes are a free cut file from SVG Cuts.
In keeping with my fun tradition of including "memories from the wedding" on their anniversary cards, I chose patterned papers with the same color scheme used at the wedding and added tiny die cut love birds (Memory Box, Resting Birds die) to match the love birds theme at their wedding 4 years ago.
Had fun putting this card together for my daughter and son in law. Always enjoy making Surprise Pop Up Slider cards...the tutorial for the basic card by Beate Johns can be seen over at Splitcoast Stampers. I thought adding the window made this card even more fun; and if you twist the bears around a few times before putting it in the envelope, the bears will spin in the frame when the recipient slides the card open...very cool!