Chocolate Dipped Artful Card Kit

While cleaning the other day, I came across what was left of an Artful Card Kit I bought a couple years ago.  I had already made several cards from it but there was still quite a bit of paper and lots of embellishments left, so I decided to finish it off.

The first card I made was for my Sister-in-law’s birthday.  It’s a double slider.  It looks complicated, but is very easy to make.  I got the instructions from Teresa’s Amazing Folded Cards CD from Paper Wishes.

Pull the ribbon and both ends pop out.

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Paper Artist 10 Tags & Trims cutting die set
• Birthday Cheer stamp set
• Birthday Greetings stamp set

The slider mechanism is made using a strip of plastic from a plastic bag.  I liked this technique so much that I used it again to make a get well card only this time I made it vertical.

         

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Paper Artist 10 Tags & Trims cutting die set
• Paper Artist Lacy Border cutting die set
• Paper Artist Flower Frenzy cutting die set
• Teal Jewel Butterflies Dazzles
• Teal Jewel Dazzles
• Teal Jewel Border Dazzles

The next card is a Pop-up slider.  The picture is from one of our trips to Klamath Falls.  I think it’s either a house finch or a purple finch.  They are really hard to tell apart.  I love taking pictures of birds and other wildlife and am always trying to find ways to incorporate them in my cards.

When you pull the tab at the top, the picture pops up and reveals a message.

 

I should have made the card a little bigger because when the picture pops up, it hides the greeting on the pull-tab.

Other items used:

• Paper Artist 6 Layered Labels & 2 Swirls Cutting Die set
• Teal Jewel Border Dazzles
• Gold Tiny Words Dazzles
• Gold Heart Pearl Jewel Dazzles

The next two cards are cut away cards (the front is narrower than the width of the card).   I finished the insides as well.

I made a get well card.

   

Other items used:

• Red Jewel Border Dazzles
• Foam squares
• Heartfelt Greetings stamp set (HOTP)
• Tiny Tags, Little Labels & Greetings stamp set (HOTP)

and a friendship card.

   

And the final card is a birthday card.

 

Other items used:

• Red Banner Greetings Dazzles
• Red Jewel Dazzles
• Gold Tiny Words & Phrases Dazzles

All that from an already used Artful Card kit!

Do You Need a Purr-amedic?

I made this easel card for my sister-in-law.  I searched online for get well sentiments and found some that went with my Smarty Cat stamp from Stamping Bella.  I colored the cat with Spectrum Noir pens and gave it a wobble head.

Other items used:

• Nestabilities Circle cutting dies
• Fresh Cut blossoms paper
• Paper Artist 6 Layered labels cutting dies
• Paper Artist 9 Tiny Tags & Little Labels cutting dies
• Red Border Jewel Dazzles
• Red Jewel Dazzles

Back to Basics

I've been making cards for many years now and one of the things that I've noticed is the more toys that I have the harder it is to decide which ones to use. This weekend I took a trip to the beach and as usual I wanted to bring along some paper and crafting tools in case the weather was bad (which is highly probable during March in Oregon). Rather than drag along a bunch of stuff I probably wouldn't use, I wanted to stick to the basics.  Here are the items I put in my bag that I used to make this card:

• A  paper trimmer 
• Scissors (Cutter Bee)
• An embossing stylus 
• A mechanical pencil 
• White, silver and black gel pens (Signo Uniball UM-153) 
• Bib Stencil  (March Simply Stencils Personal Shopper Kit)
• A glue stick (Pioneer)
• Assorted colors of card stock
• Patterned paper (K & Company)
• Design Tool Kits # 2 and #3 (Hot off the Press)
• A light box. (If you don't have a lightbox a window will do as long as it's light outside.  Just tape the stencil to the window and tape the paper over the stencil. )
• 5.5" x 4.25" card blank
• Double-stick foam squares

 

I  used my light box and embossing stylus to emboss around the outside of the bib and the bib details.  I then cut it out very close to the embossed edge leaving about a 1/32 inch border.  After cutting it out I traced around the bib and added the dots with a white gel pen.  In retrospect, that probably wouild have been easier to do before I cut it out.

Next I embossed the duck  pull toy onto yellow, orange and blue card stock, cut the pieces out and glued them over the embossed duck on the bib.  I used a black gel pen to trace the pull-string and color in the wheels.  I added the hubs with a silver gel pen.

I created the bow by embossing around the the top of the bow and the ribbon tails, then I rotated the cardstock 180 degrees and traced the top of the bow again forming the bottom of the bow.  . I drew a white line around the border and cut it out very close to the edge of the embossing.  

The labels and the scalloped mat for this card were made with Design Tool Kit # 2.   I didn't bring any stamps with me on this trip so I used my white gel pen to write the words.  For the flowers, I used the small flower from Design Tool Kit #3 and embossed it on to yellow card stock.  I hadn’t thought of using the design tools for embossing, but it worked very well.  After embossing the flowers I traced around them with the white gel pen and add a dots to the centers.

I chose a piece of the bundled sage textured card stock for the background. I mounted the scalloped Matt on white paper and trimmed around it leaving about a 16th inch border. I glued the mat to the top of the card then added the labels.    I mounted the flowers and the bib on the front of the card using double stick foam squares.  Lastly I flipped the bif stencil over and embossed the duck on the bottom right corner of the inside of the card.

 

I Hope I’m not Bugging You!

I’m always looking for ways to use my photos on cards, so when we had a swap at Just Cards with a bug theme, I jumped at the opportunity.

I turned the dragonfly picture into 3D paper tole and it turned out really nice.  Just about everything on this card besides the photo is from Paper Wishes:

• Viney Swirl cutting die
• Flower Frenzy Cutting die
• Layered Labels Template
• Dazzles
• Emerald Glimmer Paper
• Papers from Personal Shopper Kits

Wax Paper Resist With Embossing Folders

I made the purple background for this card using a wax paper resist technique.  It’s a fun technique and is super easy to do.  You will need an iron, an ink pad, a die cutting/embossing machine (or a rolling pin), an embossing folder with an all-over pattern like the butterfly and flower pattern I used for this card.

Emboss the wax paper, then sandwich it between two sheets of glossy cardstock.  Put a sheet of copy paper over the top and iron with a hot iron (no steam).  Once that’s done ink the glossy paper and the pattern will appear.  By sandwiching the wax paper between the glossy card stock, you get two for one.  One piece will be the positive of the embossing folder and the other will be the negative.

After I made the resist background I cut it into suares  and mounted them in a grid pattern leaving 1/8” between the squares.  I made the flowers using the Wildflowers cutting die from Hot Off The Press.