Christmas Card #2 - Pop Up Gift Card Holder

This is a fun one.  At my last stamp group meeting we made a pop up gift card holder.  One of the gals in our group did a presentation and showed us how to put it together.

My process for this card was different in the sense that my starting point was to select a patterned paper that I would like for the pop up part inside the card.  I chose one of the patterns from Festival of Prints DSP stack.  Once I decided on the patterned paper, I selected a coordinating cardstock for my card base.  The card base is 5.50" x 8.50 folded in half.  The two pieces of patterned paper measured 5.50" x 4.0" and were scored at 1", 2" and 3".

Create two square tubes by folding the score lines on the two patterned paper pieces.  Attached the tubes with sticky strip adhesive to the base card.  See photo above.  Do not put adhesive on the center between the two tubes, instead put the adhesives on the sides only.  Your gift card should be able to slide in and out between the two tubes.

This is what the inside look like when you open the card.  The tubes will fold flat when you close the card.

When I finished the inside of the card I worked on creating the front.  That's another aspect of my process here that's different.  I decided on a simple card front so this can be easily mass produced.  Next to paper, tools are my other passion.  You have to have the proper tools!  I love my punches, they can really speed up the process.  Aside from the scallop square, you can use scissors to cut the other elements if you don't have the punches.

I dry embossed a 4.0" x 5.25" cardstock with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and attached it to the card base.  I punched 3 scallop square Cherry Cobbler cardstock and 3 1-1/4 square white cardstock.  I stamped 3 Christmas trees from the Merry Minis stamp set in Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade and Soft Suede inks.  Then I punched the stamped images using the Christmas tree punch from the Merry Minis punch pack.

I stamped a small sentiment on the square white cardstock and attached the punched out tree using  glue dots.  I sponged Lucky Limeade all around the square white cardstock and adhered it to the scallop square cardstock.  Repeated the process two more times and attached the completed mini frames to the embossed panel.  Tied a ribbon around, made a bow and I'm done.

Once you get the concept of lining up the two tubes and gluing in the right places, this is pretty simple and easy with a lot of  wow factor.  Imagine embellishing the inside with die cut balloons for a birthday card or other appropriate elements for a theme party.

I hope you enjoy this project and are inspired to take your own spin on it.  Until the next post ...........

Cheers!!!

All supplies used were from Stampin'Up.

25 Days of Christmas Cards Kick Off

I just thought of an ambitious undertaking - one Christmas card a day for the next twenty five days!  If you follow along, the week after Thanksgiving you will have twenty five cards ready to mail.

We will start with something quick and easy.

My card base is 4.25" x 5.50" cardstock.  I die cut a 4" x 5.25" white cardstock with one of the dies from the Labels Collection Framelits and used the negative as a "frame" for my image.

I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I masked about a quarter of an inch around the front of the card.

I sponged Pretty in Pink, River Rock, Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler inks starting in the center of the image, layering the inks and moving toward the edges.  Remove mask.

Then stamped the sentiment and star image with Cherry Cobbler ink on the "frame".  Attached the "frame" to the base card using dimensionals.  Finally, tied a Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon around the front of the card and made a bow. Simple and clean.

As an afterthought I added a rhinestone on the star for a little sparkle.

One card done!  Thanks for checking in and if you have any comments or questions let me know.  If you would like to share your card or project, include the link in your comment.

Stay tuned for the next one.  Cheers everyone!!!


All supplies used are from Stampin'Up.  Stamp set is Rejoicing in Christmas.

Can this be a Christmas Card?

Continuing on with the acrylic block collage technique posted HERE, today I want to share with you another 'aha moment' when I finished the next card using this technique.

On this card I used a long acrylic block and stamped it with River Rock and Crumb Cake inks.  Using the same stamp set Garden Silhouettes, I selected the  flower bunch stamp for the collage images and stamped it multiple times in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Then I stamped the contrasting image in black StazOn.  When I was trying to decide on the sentiment I saw that the flowers look like poinsettias and that this could be a Christmas card, the aha moment!  I added the sentiment in black and admired my card.  See for yourself if you think this is a Christmas card or not.

After I took the picture I decided it needed a ribbon.  I used Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon.  I love working with this ribbon, somehow I always get perfect pretty bows I can't get with other ribbons.

If this is gonna pass for a Christmas card I better add some sparkle to it.  So I added dots of glitter adhesives called Dazzling Details on the center of each "poinsettias".

Trust me it's sparkly in person just can't capture it on film.  I'm definitely making more of these for Christmas with a slight adjustment on layout.  As it is now, it looks bottom-heavy.

What do you think?  Christmas or not?

Until the next post ............. Cheers!!!

All supplies used were from Stampin'Up.

Acrylic Block Collage

I came across this technique a few weeks ago but haven't had a chance to try it.  Today, as I was putting away all my Halloween stuff I saw my rough notes on how to do the technique.  I thought this is as good time as any to give it a try.

You need acrylic blocks, two or three coordinating inks or markers, a water spritzer, white or vanilla cardstock and stamps.  The first step is to ink your acrylic block with either ink pad or markers starting with the lightest color and moving onto the darkest color.  Spray block with water and immediately stamp onto your cardstock.

Mask around your stamped block with post it notes and stamp multiple images using light and/or dark inks.  Remove mask.  Stamp another image and/or sentiment in the darkest color, I used black for a better contrast.

My first try was not good, the ink combination got muddy.  Altogether I did seven and only four were usable.  You definitely have to find the right color combination as well as the right block size for your stamps.  TIP:  I had better results by doing the colors separately.  Ink block with one color, spritz with water and stamp onto cardstock.  Then repeat the steps with the next color until you get to the darkest color.  If you try doing the colors separately make sure you are using heavy weight cardstock or watercolor paper since you will end up with three spritz of water instead of one.  If you're mounting your cardstock to a panel, let it dry for a few minutes.

I initially did my stamping on a folded white card as I planned to do a CAS (clean and simple) no layer card but the block was off center so I had to cut it and center it on a panel.  Here's the end result.  I think it turned out okay after all.

No, make that better than okay, it's gorgeous!  I love it when an idea in my head works out well on paper.  When I first saw this technique I knew I would use a stamp set called Garden Silhouettes.  After 5 years, this is still one of my go to stamp set.

For those of you who might be inclined to play with this technique my recipe is as follows:
Inks:  Baja Breeze and Marina Mist for the block, Summer Starfruit for the collage images and StazOn black for the main image and sentiment.  Cardstock: White, Black and Summer Starfruit.

Stay tuned for the Christmas card created with this technique.  Until then ............

Cheers everyone!!!

Halloween Card - Best Friends

As promised, today I'm sharing my all-time favorite Halloween stamp sets.  It's called Best Friends and the coordinating sentiment set Just Between Friends.  It came out in Stampin'Up's 2006 Holiday Mini Catalog.  In the past, I even used the witch and Dracula images on a few non-Halloween cards.

I stamped the images with black StazOn and colored with Watercolor Crayons.  I find coloring images so relaxing but somehow don't do it very often.  First up is Frankenstein.  Kept the layout pretty simple and I want Frankie in blue.  And he {heart} bats so I had to add a die-cut bat.

Next is Count Dracula.  I just love this image and the sentiment is perfect!  Could not resist adding my leftover googly eyes on his bouquet.  I made the center panel - main image before I decided on a layout.  When I finally settled on a center step card and positioned the main image and the sentiment, I was left with an empty space between the two.  So the ribbon was used to fill up the space.

 
Finally, the witch.  This color is called Rich Razzleberry and is one of my favorite Stampin'Up color.  It goes really well with Old Olive, another favorite.  On this center step card, I messed up on the measurements and it can't be covered.  Aside from the "extra" space on the center panel, I think it's a beauty.

And here's the group shot!

Hope you like these guy 'coz I love them!

Cheers everyone!!!

Halloween Treats

I miss doing the Halloween treats for my son when he was in elementary school.  Nowadays, I'd do treats in small batches coz' they're fun to put together and I can do a lot of different ones.   I hand them out to the mailman, the UPS delivery person, the hairdresser or just about anyone I come across after I get them done.

This time, since I got the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kit for my winning swap card I couldn't wait to get started.  All the things you need to put together cute Halloween treats are included in the kit.  Bags, labels, googly eyes and twine.

This is the mix of goodies I have on hand.  Just so you know, the candy corn I used for this picture are not the ones I packaged in the clear bags.  I ate a couple after I took the picture and tossed the rest.

Putting together the kit was quick and easy.  I used one of the image from the Googly Ghoul stamp set and I dry embossed the bag with Spider Web embossing folder.  After adding a few embellishments and filling the bag with goodies, you end up with these.  Aren't they fun?  The one in the middle is a door prize I won at our last group meeting.

For the candy corns, I put them in a narrow clear bag and attached a tag with ribbon or glue two tags together to close the bag.  I also used images from the Googly Ghoul stamp set on the tags.  In the past, I used the narrow clear bags for Valentines and Easter treats but my stash of clear bags came in handy today.  

In this next set, I used punch art as embellishments.  Punch arts are elements put together from punched pieces.  Here, the large oval punch from Stampin'Up was used to create the pumpkin and the owl punch was used to create the ghosts.

This past summer when I organized my work area, I separated  my "stuff" by season/occasion and put them in plastic containers.  That's why when I started this Halloween project I had easy access to all my Halloween goodies including a pack of die cuts I got a few years ago which would have been otherwise buried and forgotten.  I used some of those die cuts to create the gum cover below.

I also used die cuts on this box of Hershey nuggets.  Each candy was wrapped with cardstock stamped with a Halloween sentiment.  Not the best picture but I think you get the idea.

At last, this year's Halloween Treats are done and ready to be handed out.  Actually, after I took the pictures the UPS delivery person came by with my new trimmer from Stampin'Up and I was able to give her a bag of treats.  These are some of the treats, at least one of each of the items I made.

The only thing I wanted to do this year but didn't get to was a witch broom made with brown lunch bags.  I saw one a few weeks ago and it was so cute.  The handle was made with pretzel stick and I don't have any on hand.  Oh well, there's always next year.

Tomorrow I'll show you my Halloween card made with my all time favorite Halloween stamp set!

Cheers everyone!!!

Another Birthday

My family is so good to me.  Today being my birthday, they let me sleep in while they gather my favorite comfort foods.  We're talking authentic island food that is so bad for your health you can only have it once a year.  LOL.  It's our family's tradition to eat noodles on your birthday, for long life.  They got me pancit palabok, my favorite of all the pancit/noodle variation.  Also, I have been craving these stinky dried fish for a while now and they heard me talk about them, so they got those, too.  So my birthday brunch was stinky dried fish  with garlic rice and pancit palabok.

Mom asked me yesterday what kind of birthday cake I want this year but I could not think of any cake that I had to have.  One of my sisters went to a filipino bakery this morning and grab things that I normally like.  For dessert we had, clockwise left to right  turon, karioka, kalamay, bibingka cake and brazo de mercedes.

I opened my presents after brunch.  I must say, as always, I made out like a bandit.  Got some cash, lottery tickets, clothes and cards with heartwarming thoughts from my family.  Then I popped my favorite muscat, so yummy!!!

Just a small bottle, after all I have to be in church at 4:00.  Ian serves at the mass every third Saturday of the month.  We had some time before church and the girls wanted to play mahjong, so we drank and played.

Then it was off to church.

Only thing left to do now is indulge in my personal tradition of sipping Champagne cocktail on my birthday, a toast and thanksgiving for all the blessings that was bestowed upon me.

Cheers everyone!!!  

P.S.  

Wanted to add the note my 13-year old son gave me.  So sweet!

Twisted Card Fold

This card fold was one of our projects at my last stamp meeting.  Cindee showed us how to make the card and mentioned that she got the idea from Kelly here.

This was such a fun technique and I wanted to try it for different occasions.  It's a great card to hold gift cards for the holidays so I'm making quite a few of these in the coming weeks.

This is my first try - a Thanksgiving card.  I think a different patterned paper would look better.  I set it aside and worked on the others.  When I finished the other two, I went back to it and added the rhinestones on the leaves, dew drops would have been a perfect embellishments but I only have red and blue, so no go.

Next up is the Winter card, I recently found these snowflakes buried in my stash.  Perfect embellishments for a winter card.  This card came together more easily than the first one.  I embossed the white panels after they were cut to size.

And this is the inside.

Last one is the Christmas card.  I kept this pretty simple.  The ones I'm making for the holiday are most likely similar to this, quick and simple since I'll be making quite a few.

And here's the group shot.

I think they turned out quite nicely.

Cheers!!!

Supplies:  Cardstocks, patterned papers, stamps, rhinestones and pearls are all from Stampin'Up.

Halloween - Square Collage Swaps

The Halloween Square Swaps are here.  I received my swaps in the mail today and quickly arranged them in two frames that I found laying around.  I must say that some of them are pretty amazing, my little ol' swap pales in comparison, see previous post HERE.  Remember that the required size for these is no more than 1-3/8" and if you consider the details in such a small canvas, you'll truly appreciate the beauty of these babies.

I picked my favorites, arranged and pasted them on a lavender mat and slipped them in this black frame from Ikea.  Two of the ladies didn't get their swaps in on time so I only have 18 pieces.  I didn't want to file the other six so I looked for another frame and found this white one also from Ikea that was meant for another project but it was the perfect size to display the six leftovers.

This whole process took about fifteen minutes to complete and I have two very nice Halloween decorations. Not bad at all!!

This is a seasonal swap and the next one is a Holiday theme.  I'm very excited to start the next one.

Cheers!!!

Oct Meeting Goodies

My stamp group meeting last Saturday was such a blast.  There are so many talented women in my group you can't help but be inspired at the end of the day.

These are three of the four projects we completed.

These are some of the projects the gals brought to showcase.  Stay tuned for future projects from me, inspired by these samples.

Unfortunately, I went around the room taking pictures and forgot to get the identity of the person who created each project so I can't give proper credits.  

That's it for today.  Cheers!!!

Christmas Card Swap - October Meeting

In the beginning of September I designed my swap card for my card group's October meeting.  I made sure I have enough supplies for 25 cards after I decided on the design.  For weeks, I would look at the sample I made and somehow cannot get onto the next step, which is to start making the other 24 cards to complete my swaps.  I love the design and the elements but can't find the motivation to proceed.

When I was playing with the sponged frame technique and came up with the red cardinals I knew that my swap cards will change.  If you read my post on the red cardinal cards here and sponged frame technique here you know how excited I was about the results.  So 25 swap cards were quickly put together.  Below is the card I swapped.

Another angle.

Our group meeting was on Saturday, October 13th.  At each meeting, there is a Swap Card Contest.  All the meeting attendees get to pick their three favorite cards.  Guess who won?  ME, first place baby!!!  How cool is that?   I picked the Halloween Kit as my prize and will share my projects soon.

Cheers!!!

Boxy Card

Life is interfering with my blogging!  I have been creating stuff but just haven't had a chance to post.

I have been making these "boxy" cards for occasions where there are a lot of signers like for office birthday cards, or for any office event that requires a lot of people to sign the card.  But the first time I made one was for my Mom for Mother's Day and I had all my siblings and their respective spouses and children write a short tribute to Mom.  Mom really loved it.

For such a WOW factor, it's very easy and simple to make.  Take a 12 x 12 cardstock and score horizontally and vertically at 4" and 8".  You're basically marking 9 four-inch squares.  Start at the bottom right side, cut 4 inches to the score line, inside  the 4" square.  Rotate cardstock to the left and cut another one on the bottom corner.  Repeat two more times.  Confused yet?  Hopefully, the picture will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  Once all the cuts are made you just need to add embellishments to each panel.

The photo below shows you how the panels are folded to form the box and you'll see the construction detail.  

For the box top, you need a 6 x 6 coordinating cardstock.  I scored at 7/8" all around.  Fold and glue sides to form the top.  Add embellishments and you're done.  This is a Get Well card for a co-worker.

And here's the box with the top.

All supplies are from a retired Stampin'Up Scrappin' Kit.

Cheers!!!

Christmas Cards - Red Cardinal

I had so much fun making cards with the sponged frame technique (see previous post) that I decided to make Christmas cards using the technique.

I mentioned I'm not fond of glitter so I had to find an alternative.  I used Dazzling Details instead, a glitter adhesive!  You get the "dazzle and sparkle with less mess" (that's the Stampin'Up product description).  Look how the little birdies turned into majestic cardinals!  And they're dimensional!

  

What do you think?  I'm so pleased with myself, LOL!

Cheers!!!

All supplies used are by Stampin'Up.

Cardstock:  Summer Starfruit,  Gumball Green

Ink:  Summer Starfruit,  Green Gumball

Stamp:  Serene Silhouette, Seasonal Sayings

Embellishments:  Square Lattice EP, Dazzling Details in Cherry Cobbler

Sponged Frame Technique

Still playing with the Trust God and Serene Silhouette stamp sets from Stampin'Up........

Last week, I found a video tutorial by Dawn Olchefsky at dostampingwithdawn.com about sponged frame technique that I thought was so simple and stunning I just had to try it.

I used the same color cardstock (crumb cake) and inks (crumb cake, early espresso) but the embossing folder and stamps were different.  I still have the Trust God and Serene Silhouette stamp sets on my work table so I decided to work with those.  I also used the Square Lattice EP (embossing folder) because I like it and I haven't used it in a while.

Just like Dawn's tutorial, my main image was off to the left side and the sentiment was on the bottom right corner.  I don't like using glitter because of the mess it leaves behind but Dawn used glitter on her card so I had to try it too.  I glittered the tiny birds and OMG! it made all the difference.  The card is so serene and elegant in person.  I hope I captured that in the photo.

Noticed how I made two?  'Coz one is not enough!  I'm so pleased with how they turned out I can't stop looking at them.'

Cheers!!!

Supplies used are all from Stampin'Up.

Stamps:  Serene Silhouette, Trust God

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake 

Inks:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Embellishments: Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Inspirational Gift

Today I'm sharing my latest favorite stamp sets from Stampin'Up.

I didn't notice this set of stamps from the current Stampin'Up catalog until recently when I picked up the catalog to make a wish list for my next order.

It opened to page 136 and at the top of the page is a set that includes this "Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly, LEAVE THE REST to God" and this "God is Love" with a little heart on the stylized letter d.  I love these verses and immediately decided I will get this set called Trust God.

Another new stamp set in the current catalog that I wanted since June is called Serene Silhouette.  I have seen some gorgeous samples from other stampers and I think the images are perfect with the Trust God set.

I want to use these two sets to make cards for holiday gifts for my son's CCD teachers but for now this set of cards is going to a friend who would truly appreciate the sentiments and meaning of the verses.

When I give a set of cards, I always leave the inside blank so the recipient  has plenty of spaces to write their own messages.  I selected a wide range of colors but kept the layouts similar  on a couple of cards.

This is the first card I made.  Simple almost boring, I am not too crazy about it.  I used a template as a mask for the rectangular focal point and sponged the colors.  

The second card used the same colors and image except this time I used three small rectangular foams to apply the background colors.  I have a lot of white die cut butterflies left over from another project so instead of die cutting more butterflies I sponged the white ones to match my colors.  The card base is Raspberry Ripple so I used the same color ink on the butterflies.

On this card I used the focal point I messed up when I was working on the first card.  I sponged out of the mask so ink was all over my card.  The solution, tear the sides and do a different layout!  The card base is Midnight Muse (blue) and I like it with Summer Starfruit (yellow).  The printed blue panel is from the designer paper stack called Festival of Prints.

On this card I used another image from the Serene Silhouette set.  I stamped the image directly on the printed paper, also from Festival of Print paper stack, with midnight muse ink.  Love that paper, just had to use it.  The rhinestones were colored with navy blue sharpie.

This is the same as the previous card except I used Early Espresso for the card base and added butterflies for embellishments.  Again, I used the white butterflies already die cut and this time colored them with midnight muse ink.  I really like how this one turned out.

This is the clean and simple one.  No sponging!!! I really like midnight muse and summer starfruit together.  Who would have thought I would use so much blue ribbons.  The Stampin'Up promotion in September was free ribbon spool for every forty dollar purchase and that's the only reason I have midnight muse ribbon.  And I found I really like that color.

Here's the group shot!  You always need a group shot.

This is how I packaged them.  A simple clear box with a ribbon and tag.  All six cards and envelopes fit in the box.

All supplies are from Stampin'Up except for the clear box.

Cheers!