Sakura Paper Cut Boxes

These are the gable boxes I put together for my dad's one year memorial luncheon hosted by my mom last weekend. The boxes were filled with mochi and shared with family.

The framed sakura paper cut was designed in Make the Cut and cut from plain white cardstock using the Silhouette. This was adhered to clear acetate,  then attached to textured gold foil board with foam tape before being glued onto the front of each box.

For the gable box, I used the Jack o Lantern Gable Box template from the Lori Whitlock SVG Shop, enlarging it to create a box that would be large enough to hold a dozen pieces of chichi dango mochi; about 7 inches high, 5 inches wide and 2 inches in depth.

A dozen boxes were surprisingly quick to cut and assemble and we tied on gold bows for the finishing touch.

Retro Rose Heart Card

I had been so preoccupied with everything Easter for the past month that I nearly let a very important wedding date slip my mind. I wanted to put together a special one of a kind wedding card for the newlyweds, but was short on time and ideas. All I can say is, "Thank goodness for Birds Cards!"

I think I've been following Birds Cards blog and collecting her beautiful svg cutting files for just about as long as I've been crafting with electronic cutters! I especially love her very intricate designs, many of which she has generously shared over the years on her blog. For this wedding card, I chose to use her Retro Rose Heart Card cutting file, which Bird originally designed to be a Valentines Day Card.

I cut everything in the wedding theme colors lavender and cream, and replaced the "Be Mine" tag that came with the cutting file with another, personalizing with the newlywed's names and wedding date. Fancy corners were die cut using Cuttlebug's Vintage corners die, and I added flatback adhesive pearls as a final touch. Happily, thanks to Birds Cards I was able to quickly create a one of a kind keepsake card without too much stress!

Kokeshi Bridge Fold Card

This is the Bridge Fold card I put together for my very, very special friend Lorna who celebrated her birthday earlier this year.

Knowing that Lorna likes kokeshis, I wanted to do an Asian themed card with a paper pieced kokeshi doll. I found a kawaii kokeshi clipart set by Doodles First on Etsy and used Make the Cut design program to render the clipart into a cutting file.

Lala Land die was used to cut the bridge, and background scenic border was cut using Signature Dies' Kyoto Skyscape. Cherry Blossom printed cardstock is from Michaels' Recollections line called "Cherry Blossoms".

View from the top shows how the kokeshi was attached to a strut running inside the "box" of this bridge card.

I added a pocket on the back of the card so I could slip in a gift card and attached my sentiment panel to it. These Bridge Fold cards are so simple to put together and are the perfect choice when you want to create a special card but don't have a lot of time.

Fun Springtime Treats

Want to share some of the amazing (and yummy!) surprises I received from some sweet crafty friends last week. My dear friend Lorna wowed me again with her creative acuity...aren't these little carrot treat boxes the cutest thing ever? I totally love that she put mini chocolate Lindt Gold Bunnies and Lambies in them, making them even cuter still!

And how about these Japanese Lantern (or Chochin) Easter baskets?!! Lorna created this very clever Asian take on Easter baskets to share with her lucky Bon Dance Club pals. She attached a layered and shaped sakura blossom to her lantern baskets, dry embossed each of the panels on the lanterns, and even used matching colored wires for the handles.

This stunning treat bag filled with plum flavored snacks was created by my sweet and always thoughtful friend, Claire.  Claire has some mad skills when it comes to doing details and intiricate work. This multi-layered flower embellishment she created is made up of many, many layers of  intricately shaped and die cut elements... so beautifully put together!

Dear friend Dale shared this adorable little carrot shaped box filled with Easter treats. Cute little Taj Bunny stamped image adorns the front and I really like the pretty organza ribbon as the box closure and leaves. Decadent fudgy macadamia nut brownies drizzled with chocolate and topped with marshmallows and candy eggs were baked by sweet friend Dawn. Sinfully yummy and  plenty enough to share with friends and family!

Nodding Easter Bunnies and A Pop Up Easter Basket Card

 Happy Easter! Had so much fun this year making Easter goodies for sharing. These floppy eared bunny boxes held the pizzelle cookies I made for friends and family.

 For the base box or bunny body, I started with the Bunny Feet Box cutting file from My Scrap Chick. Aren't those bunny feet with the carrot foot pads just too, too cute? The adorable floppy eared bunny head and front paws are the Lucky Bunny cutting file from Cuddly Cute Designs.

 Here's a view from the top to show how I attached the bunny's head to the box with a  2 x 6" strip of cardstock scored at 1-3/4" and 2-1/4". Bunny head was glued onto the 1-3/4" tab and the longer end of the strip was glued inside the box. My initial intent in doing this was to create a 3-D effect  without having to use a whole lot of foam tape, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this also allowed bunny's head to bobble or nod...so CUTE!

I made a litter of a dozen of these fun bunny boxes filled with pizzelles and  dressed them up in cellophane and lavender bows all ready for Easter.

...And of course this being our granddaughters' first Easter, I had to send her a special card, right?
Although I keep telling myself that I should keep my cards to our granddaughter as simple as possible, I just couldn't resist making this pop up basket card for her first Easter card. I first saw this super neat pop up card, called the Hexagonal Base Pop Up Card created by Bronwyn Eastley on her blog addINKtive Designs. Bronwyn's card is created using Stampin' Up's Window Box Thinlits die, and is absolutely stunning! She also posted a link to a video tutorial by Mitosu Crafts  which shows how to convert the hexagonal box into a pop up card. While watching the video, I thought it might be fun to convert the hexagonal box into a little Easter basket by adding a handle.

Of course I had to add a bunny to my basket, and this paper pieced bunny is Lucky Bunny from Cuddly Cute Designs. I also added some grass and an Easter Egg from the Easter Bunnies cutting file from My Scrap Chick. Banners were done as a Print and Cut in Make the Cut design program.

Here are a couple views from the top which show how the bunny, grass, and basket handle were attached to struts inside the box.

I added our sentiments underneath...

...and here's the card folded flat, ready to be slipped into an envelope!

Totally enjoyed putting this fun new pop up card together, and am so impressed with Mitosu Crafts for coming up with this. Really looking forward to playing with this new card style and trying different versions of this!

Lindt Gold Bunny Boxes

Lindt Gold Bunny boxes! I have been wanting to make these for the longest time, ever since I saw the ones Elvira Hortner created and posted on her blog, Elvira's Stempelzimmer 2 years ago.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got my curvy keepsake box die couple weeks ago, knowing I could finally make gold bunny boxes just like Elvira's for Easter.

Well the craziest thing is that I ended up not using the curvy keepsake box die for my treat boxes after all! After struggling  for several hours to make this box using the cuts from the curvy keepsake die, I finally decided it would be much quicker and easier to create a cutting file for it in Make the Cut design program and have the Silhouette cut each out. This also allowed me to change the window shape to an oval and create a scallop frame for it.

Had so much fun decorating the front of the boxes using the bunny dies from Impression Obsession, Dienamics grass border die, and Punch Bunch mini flowers punch. I just love these little gold bunnies and was so happy to find them more readily this year. Been seeing lots of different versions of adorable boxes featuring these bunnies recently and hope to get a chance to try some of them next year too!

Curvy Keepsake Box Bunnies

Got  my Curvy Keepsake Box die in the mail last week and just in time to play with it to make some fun Easter treat boxes.

Been seeing so many super cute critter treat boxes created using the Curvy Keepsake Box die posted on Pinterest and You Tube that I finally broke down and got myself one too.

Best part is how quickly all that cuteness comes together! Easy to create almost any critter you can think of with just a little imagination, and simply by changing the eyes, nose or ears. A dozen of these last minute bunny boxes were put together the night before and ready to share with my fellow crafting buddies the next morning at our meeting...super quick and easy! I'm looking forward to trying to make many of the different cute little critter boxes others have created using his die!