Welcome Fur Baby

Today's card is one I created and sent to my dear niece who recently brought a new puppy into her home. To add a personalized touch, I added the puppy's name, "Kinako" to the paper pieced dog tag I made for the front of the card.
 

I used the Three Dots embossing folder from Sizzix Textured Impressions Birthday Set #2 on the rounded square panel behind the collar and dog tag. I really wanted to use a pawprint patterned paper for my card so I made my own by randomly scattering pink pawprints on a page in Print Shop publishing program. "Welcome Fur Baby" sentiment was done as a print and cut in Make the Cut.

On the inside, I added a sweet paper pieced puppy sitting on a hexagon pop up. Dog bowl, bones and tennis ball cutting files were created using freebie icon clipart found online. Hexagon pop up stage was put together using the bottom cake layer from Karen Burniston's Cake Pop Up die.

The little puppy was put together using Eline's Puppy dies from Marianne Design. Loving all the cute pups one can create using this fun die set! 

Here's a photo of little "Kinako"... isn't she precious? Just for fun, I tried to make my paper pieced doggie look like the photo my niece had sent of her adorable puppy. How did I do? Lol, well at least I got her white paws right!

Here's a view of the hexagon pop up from the side...

... and a view from the top. Video tutorial by Karen Burniston on how to use her Cake Pop Up die set to make this hexagon pop up stage can be found here. This has quickly become one of my favorite pop up card styles to do.

Then on the backside of the card, I made a simple pocket using the Pocket Border die from Pretty Pink Posh to fit a  giftcard.  I enlarged the same pawprint clipart I had used to make my patterned paper to also make a pawprint cut file to add to the front of the giftcard holder.

Double Flip Frame Pop Up Card

This is a very simple card I came up with to use as a Make and Take sample for a couple crafty friends. It had to be quick to prep and easy to assemble since we were short on time.  While trying to think of ideas, I reached for my Mama Elephant Lucky Cat stamp set because the images are so cute and they're super easy to color up..

I created a front panel with two rounded square windows cut on my Silhouette. Distress inks were blended onto a piece of cardstock and added behind the windows. I heat embossed and colored the two largest lucky cats and the daruma cat stamped images for the front. The word "lucky" was created using Doodle Cursive font, cut three times and stacked for dimension.

On the inside, I added two pop up mechanisms from Karen Burniston's Flip Frame Pop Up Die set to the center fold of the card.

 A pair of lucky cats were glued on to each mechanism. so as the card is opened, the kitties pop upright to be perpendicular to the page. 

Loving that this pop up mechanism is so simple and quick and easy to install. And that is the very reason that I've already decided that I'll be using this mechanism in my Christmas cards this year. Hope it all goes as planned!

Puppy Double Pop Up Card

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for dogs and puppies, so I got very excited when I saw crafters sharing cards and crafts adorned with the sweetest little paper pieced pups created using Marianne Designs "Eline's Puppies" die set. 

Without question I had to purchase one too. But I have to admit, after seeing all the tiny little dies in the set I began to wonder if buying the die set was a mistake.  Happily I found Eline's video tutorial on  You Tube where she quickly pieces together 12 different dog breeds from this one set. I was hooked!

I pieced together the 12 breeds demonstrated by Eline to keep as my reference samples and even made up some of my own... so fun!

For my card I placed one of my puppers into a polaroid style frame with a sentiment, cut using the print and cut function. Then for the grey pup, I designed a "husky-like" face mask using Make the Cut Design program and sizing it to fit onto the Eline's Puppy die cut dog head. 

On the inside, I wanted to try a fun "Double Pop Up" mechanism which I had recently seen several tutorials for on You Tube.

All the tutorials I viewed were excellent but I found the one by Samantha Calcott  of Mixed Up Crafts easiest for me to follow since all her measurements were in inches rather than metric centimeters.

I added two more pups pieced together using the Eline's Puppies dies onto the pop up "cards" inside the card

Sentiments were computer generated and I sprinkled the flowers cut from Karen Burniston's Pop Up Frame die kit throughout the card to embellish.

I had so much fun putting this fun card together; playing with the adorable puppy dies and adding them to a new (for me) pop up card. 

Fortune Cookie Panda Pop Up

Thought of a fun idea for a pop up card that I thought might be perfect as a birthday card for my dear friend Patti, who enjoys creations with an Asian flavor.

 

On the front of my card, I started with a paper pieced tea pot and cup cut from Cricut's "Pagoda" cartridge using pearlized cardstock. I used Copics and a brown chalk inkpad to add a bit of color and dimension. Red foil board and gold stardream cardstock were used for the border detail and cover on the teapot. The cherry blossom branch was cut using a die from Yinise Store. Copics and stickles were used to for shading and a little sparkle.

I used Marjorie Ann Designs' "Panda Love" cutting file for my paper pieced panda. Panda's mouth and muzzle were done using the print and cut function, and I brushed a little chalk on his cheeks for some color. Cutting file for the fortune cookie is from Aletheia Shade on Etsy.

Open the card and up pops a take out box filled with more fortune cookies and a little peeking panda!

Pop up take out box was cut using Karen Burniston's Flower Pot Pop Up die. Pagoda image on the box comes from a scanned photo of an actual take out box which was printed onto white cardstock prior to die cutting with the flower pot die.

I pieced together several of the fortune cookies and attached a strip of acetate to each so I could arrange them inside the take out box at different heights. I also glued in a few napkin folded squares of red tissue paper paper to fill in the empty spaces inside the box.

   

Really enjoyed putting this card together! I'm really happy that I'm having more fun with the Flower Pot Pop Up die than I ever anticipated... looking forward to coming up with more exciting ways to use this interactive die.

Kimono Girls Birthday

Today I'm sharing a shaker style card I recently put together for a dear friend's birthday using several cute stamps from my  favorite local stamp company, Dandelion Designs.

This adorable pair of kimono girls come from Dandelion Designs "Friends Set". I used Copics to color them and paper pieced their kimonos from washi papers. 

I used a reverse stitched scallop circle die to cut the window for my shaker and added a stamped sakura border from Dandelion Design's "Arigato Set". Sakura blossoms were colored with Copics and glittered with Stickles. I glued flat back dewdrops and sequins randomly around the window to add some fun sparkle. 

For the panel in the shaker, I added a smidge of blended colors using distress oxide inks applied with  foundation brushes. Stamped sentiment is from "Sakura Girls Set", also from Dandelion Designs. Clear acetate was adhered to the window frame with double stick tape. I used foam tape behind the window to create the shaker box and added a mix of  clear sequins and flower shaped clay polymer embellishments inside.

As the card is opened, two birthday kimono girls pop up with birthday wishes!

Kawaii birthday kimono girls are from Dandelion Designs "Happy Wishes Set" .  Hard to see in the photos but I applied distress oxide inks to create a blended background inside the card similar to the panel in the shaker box. Stamped birthday sentiments are from Mama Elephant's "Paola's Wishes" and "Mixed Wishes" sets. The fun interactive pop up was created using the mechanism from Karen Burniston's  Flip Frame pop up die set. 

The double pop up was created by installing the mechanism twice, one for the balloon girl pop up on the left side of the card and the second installed backwards for the cupcake girl pop up on the right of the card. I then stamped and colored the sakura border image a few times, cut it apart, then pieced and glued the blossoms onto the arm of the pop up mechanism to hide it.

This was a fun pop up and fairly easy to install. I especially like how the pop up elements are lifted to stand almost perpendicular to the inside of the card. Many more fun ideas come to mind with this mechanism which I hope to try soon!

Pop Up Adirondack Retirement Card

Not too long ago I picked up a couple adirondack chair dies, thinking they would be perfect for making fun retirement or vacation cards. Lol, now that I'm in the phase of life where I make more retirement cards than wedding or baby shower cards, I figured my purchases were justified.                                      I kept the front of my card very simple, creating a beach scene using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside border for the sand and a cloud patterned paper for the sky. I used a stitched rounded rectangle die to cut it out and added die cuts of palm trees and my first adirondack beach chair. "Happy Retirement" sentiment was computer generated using Brisk font.

On the inside, I added a pop up adirondack chair put together by using  Karen Burniston's die with the same name. 

This adirondack chair pop up is easy to install because the die cuts the chair directly from the card background. Things get a little tricky though, if you want a chair that's a different color or print than the background. In my case, I wanted the background to be sand, palm trees, and sky and the chair to be white, so that involved a few extra steps which are explained very well in Karen Burniston's assembly tutorial for this die.

 

I added a pair of sunglasses and flipflops paper pieced with cut files created from free clipart, and a cool drink created from a freebie cut file from Cre8tive Cutz. The drink was attached to the chair arm by attaching a piece of acetate to the bottom of the glass and threading it through a slit made in the arm. Thank you, Karen Aicken of Painted Mountain Cards blog for the advice on that!

I used the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside die to cut another strip of sand colored paper to create a pocket on the backside of the card as well as a simple gift card holder. Sea shells were cut from very old Quickutz dies.

I had lots of fun creating my first adirondack pop up chair card. I've been seeing many adorable cards that other crafters have made with this die where they have propped cute little critters up in the chair... can't wait to give that a try too!

"Hello Friend" Signage Card

   

When Mama Elephant introduced their "Little Signage Agenda" stamp set earlier this year, I felt an uncontrollable need to add it to my collection. This irresistible set of stamps includes sixteen adorable little animals holding blank signs together with a set of alphabet stamps so you can spell out and stamp any message your heart desires. 

I love that these stamps are small so that they can be colored pretty quick. But despite they're seemingly tiny size, you can't be too "wordy" because they do take up a bit of space! I soon realized my six letter word "FRIEND" wouldn't fit on anything other than a slimline card. 

I cut pieces of cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud and Stitched Hillside Border dies to use as temporary stencils, and applied Tim Holtz distress inks to create the back drop for the little signage critters. Svg cutting file for "hello" was created from Lauren Script font, cut three times and stacked for added dimension. I also created a cut file for the oversized rectangular window but had trouble getting a balanced look on the card with the hello cut out. Thinking now that it may have been better to just remove the window.

On the inside, I stamped the cutie patootie elephant and a sentiment from Stampin' Up's "Peaceful Moments" set. Loving this adorable Mama Elephant stamp set and looking forward to creating more fun cards with this again soon.