Happy Fathers Day, Hunny!

Here's the Fathers Day card that was waiting for hubby before he set out early this morning for the golf course. Yup, another of his favorite golf themed cards...this time it's Winnie the Pooh Bear practicing his putting skills into a hunny jar.

Wanted to try something new, so I finally decided to give this "Shelf Card" a try. Been wanting to make these for awhile now...first saw these cards over at Card Making Downloads, but after watching the video tutorial for assembling them, I felt too intimidated to even try. More recently, I came across and fell in love with the amazing "Slide and Glide" cards created by Chris Peterson of Calla Lily Studio. Right away I noticed how similar her "Slide and Glide" cards were to the once intimidating "Shelf Card". I think the only difference is that the "Slide and Glide" card rocks, the "Shelf Card" doesn't. Chris shares a template for her "Slide and Glide" card on her blog as well as a very detailed and user friendly video tutorial, in which she keeps saying "it's really easy..." So I used Chris' template, removed the rocker and I had my "Shelf Card". Only one thing though....the assembly wasn't as easy...at least not for me.

Here's a closeup of Pooh Bear putting into his hunny jar. Cutting file for this was created using MTC (Make the Cut) and an image I found online. Cut all the pieces using the Silhouette from white cardstock , then colored them up with Copics. Definitely much quicker than having to load and reload the cutting mat for each different color!

Used a cutting file from Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge for the Hundred Acre Wood sign, and trees are a cut file downloaded from Miss Kate's Cuttables. Die-namics Grassy Edges die used for the grass borders and a mini punch from Punch Bunch for the flowers.

Pooh Bear, hunny jar and sign were all secured onto the "shelf" by attaching a tab to the bottom of each and threading it through a slit on the shelf. Normally the tabs on the bottom should hang free, but in this case my paper pieced Pooh Bear and the sign were a bit too heavy so they kept leaning forward instead of standing upright. After some experimenting I found that that gluing the ends of the tabs of these heavier items to the bottom shelf helped to get them standing straight.

Here's a side and back view of the card. As you can see my center background panel leans backwards because I made the slot for it in the wrong place! Live and learn. I added a label for my sentiment on the backside of the center panel.

And finally, here's the card, folded flat inside the box I made for it. Hubby seemed pretty pleased with his card, and happily was able to "open" it up easily without any help...yay!  I must admit that making this card for the first time was quite a challenge, but I did learn a lot so hopefully the next time will be much easier.

Celebrating with Sushi

This is a fun side step style card I recently made for my crafting bestie, Kris for her birthday. Kris loves little Pochacco, so when I created the cutfile of Pochacco for my son in law's Boys Day card last month, I knew I wanted to use it again on a card for Kris.

This time around, I added on Pochacco's body with a happi coat with a pair of zori slippers, joining them with his head in MTC. Added on his hachimaki (headband) and Pochacco was ready to make sushi!

I couldn't resist mounting him on an action wobbler...see, he's welcoming his customers to his sushi shop..."Irrashaimasse!!!"

And here's the lineup of the sushi being served. Lets see, there's ebi, maki, tamago in the top row followed by ikura, musubi and maguro in the next. These totally kawaii sushi are cutting files I picked up from SVG Cutting Files and Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons. By the time I was done piecing everything together I had such a huge craving for sushi!

Here's a view of the card from the side; I added panels to the accordian folds or "steps" to get them to be the heights I wanted so the sushi would display nicely.

This is the card on the inside. I used the gift card holder die from Jaded Blossom to place the gift card to the side.

Soup, Shoyu bottle, and shrimp tempura cutting files are from Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons. Had so much fun putting this card together...and LOL got pretty darned hungry too!

White on White Wedding

Often when creating cards for a wedding, I like to try and guess the color scheme the couple has chosen for their wedding from the colors on their invitation and use that same color for their card. But recently when we received a colorful wedding invite from hubby's cousin's son I couldn't figure out their color scheme, and decided to stay safe with white on white for their card. I love the simple elegance of white on white and chose three different shades of textured white cardstock...Bazzill Bling Glass Slipper, Star Dream Crystal, and DCWV Glittered White.

I started with a recessed window card (tutorial by Lynn Mercurio here), glued in the glittered cardstock from DCWV as the backdrop, and covered the front of the window with clear acetate. The beautiful bride and groom silhouette with the arched window is a free cutting file created and generously shared by Heather on her blog, Images By Heather M.  I cut two layers of this image, using my Silhouette machine; the bride, groom and hanging flowers using the Star Dream Crystal cardstock and the arched window using the Bazzill Bling. Both cuts were aligned and adhered onto the layer of acetate.

For a personalized touch, I added the bride and groom's names under the window by creating a cutting file in MTC (Make the Cut) using Pharmacy ttf. font. Hard to tell from the photo but this too was backed with a layer of glittered cardstock and clear acetate. And finally, I used my favorite Lala Land flourish corner die and some flatback pearls to embellish the corners.

Kept the inside of the card very simple as well. Used the Lala Land flourish corner die again, this time as "tabs" to hold a gift card envie in place. LOL, I guess all that whiteness started making me feel antsy so I just had to add a bold splash of color with a red and gold foil double happiness sticker to seal that envie!

Happy 'Bear'thday To You!

This is the card I put together to send to my niece on her birthday last month. Went with a Surprise Pop Up style card using the tutorial by Beate Johns over at Splitcoast Stampers as a guide. Just changed up the sizing so it would fit my paper pieced teddy.

Pulling on the ribbon tab at the top of the card makes the slider pull up to make the panel with the teddy bear stand and reveal the hidden sentiment inside.

Teddy bear paper piecing comes from the Bear with Bucket and Shovel cutting file from Little Scraps of Heaven; but I swapped his bucket and shovel for a paper pieced cupcake from the Happy Birthday Cat cutting file from Kadoodle Bug Designs. Both files are freebie files from a while back, but still available for purchase onsite.The fancy rectangle label used for sliding panel is another freebie designed and generously shared by Heather M. on her blog, Images by Heather.  Used Cuttlebug's Happy Birthday embossing folder on it to add some texture.

Here's a closer look at the sentiment that's revealed as the center panel slides up.The pink banner comes from Cricut's Wedding Solutions cartridge.

Side view shows how it all works! The slider piece in the back is large with space enough to add another sentiment, or even a gift card if you'd like. The one problem I recently encountered with this Surprise Pop Up card was that some recipients may not be able to figure out how to get it to work. I used this card style to make Mothers Day cards for my mom and mil, and found out a week later that they both weren't able to "open"  their cards! So sad!!! Next time I'll know to be sure to include a little note with the card with instructions...

Goodies for Mothers Day and Boys Day

A little late with this post, but these are the treat bags and cookie boxes I barely finished in time for our Mothers Day dinner. I think I waited too long to start baking the cookies, mostly because I felt uncertain about how long they would keep, and then it was a mad rush to get everything put together in time. The cookies were Oatmeal Lacies...thin, crisp and buttery...not hard to make, but a little different than the usual cookie dough. They're quite delicious while crispy, but unfortunately they tend to wilt quickly in humid weather conditions like we have here in the islands. Waited till the last minute to bake them in hopes they'd be fresh and still crisp when I passed them out. Got the recipe for them here, if you'd like to give them a try.

Inspired by some pretty stencil cut boxes I saw over at the online Silhouette store, I decided to try designing something similar to put the cookies in, using the stencil cut rose file from the Cricut Wrap It Up cartridge. Had to keep it clean and simple so assembling would be quick once I got the pieces cut on the Silhouette.

Also created a  simple topper for the gift bag the boxes went in using the same rose and leaves stencil and a scalloped edge. Very fast and easy, though maybe a little too plain? Ah well, at least they got done in time!

Now, here's a look at two Mothers Day treats that aren't simple or plain at all that I was lucky enough to receive this year from sweet friends!

This super cute kokeshi chopsticks holder was made by none other than my dear friend Lorna, using a cutfile she designed. Aww...isn't that little baby kokeshi just too adorable? And the luscious pink macarons you see were a gift from our friend the master patissier, sweet Heather. Almost too pretty to eat but totally light as a cloud and melt in your mouth delicious!

Lorna also surprised us a week prior to Mothers Day with these fabulous Boys Day treats. You can just imagine all the excitement that went on at our workplace when she brought these amazing koi nobori candy holders in to share!

Lorna designed her koi from one of those paper party popper boxes, using an envelope punch board to create the pattern and trimming it at one end to look like a fish. She created the very cool scales on the fish by running her cardstock thru an embossing folder inked up with a shimmery ink pad...love it! Circle and heart punches for the eyes and fin, and a Chupa Chups lollipop placed inside a straw for the holder...amazing, right?

For A BEARY Special Mom

Hello, hope everyone is having enjoying their Mothers Day today! Sharing the Mothers Day card I put together for my mom and mother in law today.Decided it was time to do something other than my usual favorite box style cards so I chose to do a Surprise Pop Up Slider type card.

Decorated the front of the card with paper piecings from a new paper piecing website I recently discovered, Cuddly Cute Designs. I fell in love right away with all the Cuddly Cute Animal cutting files on this website! For my card I used the Cuddly Cute Koala file and paired him with a hearts and flowers arrangement from the Bunches Of Love file.
After assembling, I placed both on a heart edged oval I created in Make The Cut (MTC). Center oval was embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Kassie's Brocade. LaLa Land Flourish Corner Die was used for the fancy corners, and the banner cut for the sentiments comes from the Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge.

Isn't this little guy just adorable? I think he might just be my new favorite bear cutting file!

Pulling on the tulle ribbon at the top of the card makes the center decorated panel slide back and pop up to reveal the sentiment underneath.

Here's the side view to show how it works...

I used the tutorial/video by Beate over at Splitcoast Stampers to do this card. I really liked that she adds on a guide to the inside of the card to help the slider pull out more evenly. A fun card to make and hopefully to receive!

Celebrating Boys Day with Pochacco

Happy Boys Day! Today, May 5th was traditionally celebrated as Boys Day or "Tango no Sekku" in Japan until recent times when it was changed to Childrens Day or "Kodomo no hi". But traditional Boys Day customs still seem to persist and Japanese families continue to display samurai warrior swords, helmets and dolls in their homes, and fly "koinobori" or carp streaners outdoors. For Boys Day this year, I wanted to surprise my son in law with some "happy mail" so I got a few Boys Day treats and a made a fun gift card holder to send him.

Finally decided to give the pop up gift card holder everyone else has been making for years a try. Lots and lots of tutorials on the web for these. I used the tutorial for a tri-fold one by Angie Leach on her blog Too Cool Stamping. Really like how she added a window to the front panel!
For the front of my card, I created a cutfile for adorable little Pochacco holding a fish to add to the window.

Here's the card opened with the gift card standing in the center. Found some cute and colorful koinobori images by doing a Google search and added them as a border to the inside of the card. More cutesy than masculine, but I'm hoping my son in law will like it!