Best Friends Marci Birthday

Here's another sliding box card similar to the one in last week's post...with the taller sides and window cut out. This one was created as a birthday card for my bestest blogging pal Patti, of Creations By Patti. Since I wanted to go with Patti's favorite Asian theme, I decided to try an octagon shaped window this time. Used my Silhouette to cut the octagonal window and frame and added decorative corners cut using a die from the Sizzix Architectural Accents set.

On the inside peeking out are Kimono Marci and Marci with Lantern images from La-La Land...

I used Marci digital stamps purchased online, colored them with copics, and tried something new... I paper pieced their outfits using digitized washi prints. I'm always amazed when I see stamped projects with paper pieced elements and have always wanted to give it a try. LOL, and now that I've tried it, I don't think I'll be doing this too often...takes a sharp pair of scissors, steady hands, good eyesight...and a lot of time and patience to fussy cut all those teeny tiny pieces and glue them back exactly in place! I definitely have a new respect and admiration for all of you who use this technique!

Here's a couple views from the top. The first photo more clearly shows a  branch of cherry blossoms I attached to the inside. Branch was cut using Sizzix Birds and Branches Decorative strip die and blossoms were created from punches.

Finished Patti's card off by adding my sentiment to the back panel. Yes it's true, I've been having too much fun playing with this sliding box! Still have a few more ideas I'd like to try using this neat sliding element, so I'm sure I'll come back to it again real soon.

Another Variation on the Sliding Pop Up Box Card

Okay, hope you'll "bear" with me, because I have yet another version of Colette's Sliding Pop Up Box card  to share. The original inspiration for this card actually comes from a "Push n Pull Card" I spied several months ago over at a very cool UK based digital cardmaking site, Crafty Card Making. If you're ever in need of some quick inspiration, this is the place to visit...they have the neatest pop up, sliceform, easel and display cards for sale there, sure to rev up your mojo by at least a couple notches! I was so intrigued by their "Push n Pull cards", and quite determined to try and figure out how they were put together. But it wasn't until recently when I learned how to put together the Sliding Pop Up Box card, that I came to realize this could actually be made into something very similar to the Push n Pull cards I liked so much.

I used the same box base as Colette's Sliding Pop Up Box card but brought the sides of the box up higher, added tabs and had the Silhouette cut a window in the front corner. Pushing in on the tabs pops the box into shape and pulling on them flattens it. Kinda neat, huh.

The little teddy on the inside and the posies on the tabs were pieced together using a cutfile I created awhile ago using digital images from an old Darcie Hunter clipart CD and MTC.

And here's the card flattened, ready to slip into the envelope for giving. Still have one more of these cards to share next week...

Beckoning Good Luck And Good Fortune

When my coworker's son recently opened his own new business, I found what I thought was the cutest ceramic "Maneki Neko" or "Good Luck Cat" to send our best wishes to him. So it was a no-brainer that the card I wanted to make to go with our gift would be a Maneki Neko card...

Used MTC to create a cutfile from a image I found a while back during a Google Search...I liked that this image was fairly simple and quick to piece together. The kanji characters on the gold coin held by the cat reads "sen man ryo", which translates to "10,000,000 ryo". "Ryo" was the monetary unit used in ancient Japan, and this gold coin symbolizes wealth and good fortune.

Decided to use the Free Standing Pop Up style card to display the lucky cat. Tutorial for this can be found over at Splitcoast Stampers. Label for the good luck sentiment was created in Design Studio by using the modern cube image from the Paper Lace cartridge.

And here's how the card slides into the base....

...and folds flat to fit into an envelope.

I was happy to hear that the ceramic lucky cat, as well as the paper one is on display at the new store..."Good Luck on your new business, Jeff!" Hope the cats bring lots of customers and good fortune into your shop!



Shibi in a Box

I have yet another "dog in a box" card to share with you today...hmmm...seems I've been doing a lot of doggie cards lately, huh. And yes, a lot of sliding box cards too. This one was created for my dear sister in law for her recent birthday.

I decided I wanted to have another go at the Shiba Inu cutfile I created earlier this year for my niece's card. But this time instead of paper piecing the Shiba Inu, I cut her out of plain white cardstock and colored her with Copics. I think I like the outcome better; "Shibi" (the dog's name) came out looking furrier and more realistic.

The bone, bone tag, oval, and scalloped oval tags for this were all created in MTC.

Okay, okay...I promise no more doggie cards, at least for awhile. However, I'm having just too much fun playing with this sliding box card so I'll be posting some variations on this card in weeks to follow.

Sister Stamps Release #16: Available Today!

Today's release day! Be sure to head on over to your favorite craft and online stores to get your stamps from this new release today. For the list of stores, please see the sidebar at the Sister Stamps blog.

Many thanks to all that joined us for this fun release preview...hope you'll come back again at the end of September when we showcase the last two animals in the Sister Stamps Chinese Zodiac collection, the Year of the Rabbit and Year of the Snake.



 

Sister Stamps Release #16: Year of the Tiger

Today I'm sharing my second project for Sister Stamps Release #16, this time featuring the Year of the Tiger stamp from the Chinese Zodiac Collection. Isn't she adorable? Definitely one of my faves in this collection!

I colored her up with Copics and placed her on a background of bamboo...created by inking up a Darcy bamboo embossing folder and running it through the Big Shot. The kanji character at the top is "tora" or "Tiger", rendered into a cutfile in MTC and cut with the Silhouette. Altho this looks like a card, it's actually meant to be a box, or a holder for what's inside...

...a little Tiger charm to hang from your purse or keyring...

I have been itching to try some shrink art with these Chinese Zodiac animals for some time now, and was really pleased at how this turned out!

Tiger image was stamped onto white shrink plastic, colored, then cut out. I used a 1/8" hand punch to punch a hole at the top of the Tiger's head and  baked it on a foil lined pan in a toaster oven set at 300 degrees, allowing it to shrink, leaving it in till it was fully flattened...about 8 minutes. The finished size of the charm turned out to be about 1/3rd the size of the original stamped image.

I placed a jump ring through the tiny hole on the charm, added a bell and strap finding. Secured the charm by sewing it onto cardstock and placed it inside the recessed window "box".

Then on the left side panel, I added the personality traits for people born in the Year of the Tiger.
This was surprisingly quick and easy...and I can't wait to try and make all  12 zodiac animals into little shrink plastic charms...wouldn't it make a very cute charm bracelet?
To learn how you can win this adorable Year of the Tiger stamp or any of the rest of the cute Sea Friends stamps in Release #16, head on over to the Sister Stamps blog before midnite tonight. And definitely check out the Design Team blogs for their amazing creative projects featuring stamps from this new release.

Jenny:   Sister Stamps Official Blog
Debi:     Crafty Buzz
Eva:       Crafting This And That
Kerry:    Kerry Is Chilling
Patti:      Creations By Patti
Laura:    By TKG
Linda:    Simple and Sassy Creations
Linda's You Tube Channel:  Lfundoo's Channel

 

Sister Stamps Release #16: Year of the Ox

It's time for Sister Stamps Release #16, and included with this newest release are the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Ox and Year of the Tiger stamps. Today I'm sharing an anniversary card I created using the new Year of the Ox stamp together with the Year of the Rat stamp (from Release #14). 

When my daughter and son in law were first dating, we were pleased to learn that he was born in the Year of the Ox, a good match (according to Chinese astrology) for her, who was born in the Year of the Rat. LOL, I know it sounds silly but coming from Asian roots, our family tends to hold on to these traditional beliefs. In fact, there is a very cute folk legend about the Chinese zodiac animals which explains how the clever Rat got to be the first and the strong, kindhearted Ox became the second animal in the 12 year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. (Click on the link to read the story)

For this card, I decided to color the Ox and Rat in nontraditional fun colors to give it a whimsical feel...remember Paul Bunyan's blue ox? (I think this ox is waaaay cuter!) The Chinese character behind them is the Chinese symbol for "shuang xi" or "double happiness". MTC was used to create the cutfile for the symbol, cut in red cardstock and sprayed with Tsukineko Sparkle spritz.

Placed the symbol and stamped images onto gold cardstock and washi paper and onto a gatefold style card...

...and to keep the gatefold nicely closed, I added little square tabs to top and bottom on the right side of the card to slip into the gap on left side of the card.

The gatefold card opens...

...with some interesting Chinese astrology info on  relationship compatibility between the Ox and Rat...

...And this flips open for the anniversary greeting inside.

 

I guess this card would also work as a fun and novel kind of wedding card, by using the Chinese zodiac animals of the year the bride and groom were born.

Hope you've had the chance to pop in at the Sister Stamps blog to see the adorable sea creatures in this newest release and possibly even win one! And please check out the Design Team blogs for some fabulous inspiration on what you can create with these new stamps:

 

Jenny: Sister Stamps Official Blog

Debi:   Crafty Buzz

Eva:     Crafting This And That

Kerry:  Kerry's Chilling

Patti:    Creations By Patti

Laura:  By TKG

Linda:  Simple and Sassy Creations

Linda on You Tube: Lfundoo's Channel