Thursday 28 March 2024

Scenic Holiday Card Duo in Purples


I will be making Christmas cards throughout the year and today I'm sharing this holiday card duo. I knew I wanted to use the deer dies included in the Grassy Grove bundle (Stampin' Up) with pretty scenic patterned paper and I'm happy with how they turned out. 


The papers are 8" square, and my cards are 5 x 7". I saved the remaining patterned paper strips to use on Mini Slimline cards the next time I'm ready to make holiday cards. I stamped the sentiments right on the patterned paper, but since it is coated I had to let the ink dry for about 15 minutes to prevent it smearing. 

The deer were cut from scraps of charcoal Stardream, which is a heavyweight pearlized cardstock. I bought a bunch of it many years ago and I'm still using it - because I save all but the tiniest pieces!


Inside I stamped some pine branches and a stamped sentiment.



Supplies used:
Patterned paper - Frosted Forests & Falling Flakes, Hunkydory
Coordinating solids - Frosted Christmas
Deer Dies - Grassy Grove Bundle
Sentiments:  Christmas Classics, Stampin' Up
Charcoal Stardream Card stock
Catherine Pooler inks
Pops of Colour, Icicle - Scrapbook .com
5 x 7" Card blank and envelope

Wednesday 27 March 2024

Easter Card with Plaids


Today I'm sharing a final Easter card for 2024. I'm also slightly horrified to say that I didn't actually get any in the mail - first time in over 30 years! Easter seemed to sneak up on me this year and I completely missed mailing them in time. I guess that means I now have all the cards I will need for Easter 2025! Sheesh. 

We are meeting friends for dinner over the Easter weekend so at least I can hand deliver their cards. Hmmmm - maybe I should make some Happy Spring type cards and send those out instead. Something to think about.  Anyhow, I wanted to use some of my older 6x6" Easter papers, so combined three of the prints on this 5x7" card. I added a large ephemera piece to the front with thin foam tape and the cute bunny border (Karen Burniston) across the bottom paper seam.

I also added Wink of Stella to the bunny for some sparkle.


Here is a peek at the inside - the Happy Easter piece is more ephemera from my stash. I inked it with blending brushes and dye inks.


Another bunny border across the bottom, this time inked with the same colours as the Happy Easter above it. The plaid patterned paper on the inside is from an older 12 x 12" paper pad so I didn't have to piece it.



Supplies used:
Patterned paper on front - Echo Park
Patterned paper inside - Springtime, Authentique
Ephemera - Easter, Echo Park
Easter Border dies - Karen Burniston
Blending brushes - Taylored Expressions
Catherine Pooler coloured inks
Black pen
Wink of Stella
5 x 7" Card and envelope

Tuesday 26 March 2024

Mini Slimline Dog Sympathy Card


Sigh. Had to make our first pet sympathy card of 2024.  ðŸ˜¢

This one started with a white panel that I stencilled the bones & paw prints, then used blending brushes to add some subtle colour. I stamped the little dog on a circle, lightly inked around him in blue and added it behind a reverse scalloped circle. Nuvo Glaze on the eyes gave them a little shine. The sentiment was stamped and added across the card - such a true sentiment.


Below is a peek at the inside ...



Supplies used:
Inverted Stitched Scallop Circles - Pinkfresh Studios
Catherine Pooler Inks
Water Brush
Wink of Stella
Stencil - Bow Wow, Photo Play
Blending brushes - Taylored Expressions
Critter Condolences - MFT Stamps
White pearl cardstock
Mini Slim Embossed Edge dies - Kat Scrappiness
Pawfect Sentiments - Waffle Flower
Best Friend - Waffle Flower
Nuvo Glaze

Monday 25 March 2024

Springtime Pop Up Card


I still have Easter paper & cut-aparts in my stash - the same ones I've been using for several years. I won't buy new ones until I can use these up ... and I'm actually (finally!) making a dent in that basket. Today's card features a 4x4" cut-apart with patterned paper and a die cut butterfly on the front. In fact, this card ended up being quite a stash buster!




Inside I used the 'new' Lorna Label Pop Up die set by Karen Burniston. The Lorna Label was one of my favourite pop up dies waaaaaay back when it came out and, and I'm soooooo happy she brought it back. This time it's a 'glue in' instead of a 'cut in' which means you can add it into different sizes of cards without worrying about having the inner piece fitting through your die cutting machine. That also reduces the bulk of your finished card which is always a good thing. You can add the die cut piece anywhere you want along the fold, and it's just all the way around a great updated set. 

For my card today, I added it to a side folding card which is something I used to do with the old set too. I love to share different ways you can use your die sets, since they are an investment. 


The stamped sentiment was punched out and added to the left side of the card so I would have room to sign our names on the right.


The flower elements were already in my Easter bin - likely die cut for a different project one year and not used. So I added them to this card and then a couple more of those die cut butterflies. The butterflies were lightly inked with dye inks and a blending brush and I added some sparkle with Pops of Color (a thick glitter glue).


... One more look ...


Supplies used:
Patterned paper & cut aparts, Doodlebug
Patterned paper - Love Notes Petite Prints, Doodlebug
Black glaze pen - Sakura
Cloud punch - Stampin' Up
Scallop circle - Divinity Designs
Blending Brushes
Catherine Pooler coloured inks
Pops of color, Snowflake - Scrapbook .com
Sentiment - Egg-cement Easter Sentiments, CC Designs
Hexagon punch - Stampin' Up
Rainbow Holographic card stock - Recollections


Sunday 24 March 2024

Butterfly Birthday Card


This is another quick and easy card that started with the patterned paper. I was putting away this (very old) package by Basic Grey and saw an almost A2 size panel with this black & cream print. That's all it took, ha ha.

I trimmed it to 4 x 5.25" and adhered it to the front of a white A2 card then went poking around in a baggie of Tim Holtz ephemera for an element that would work. The butterfly was perfect!  The Happy Birthday is ephemera from Paper Roses Bee Happy cardmaking kit and I fishtailed the left edge and added it to a matter white rectangle with foam tape.

Below is a look at the inside and this card was ready to put in my nursing home donation bag.



Supplies used:
Patterned paper - old, Basic Grey
Butterfly - Tim Holtz Alterations
Happy Birthday ephemera - Bee Happy Cardmaking Card Kit, Paper Rose
Sparkly gem stickers - Dazzles
Inside stamp - Special Sentiments, Penny Black

Friday 22 March 2024

Accordion Card with Candles


Welcome to Fun Fold Friday here on my blog!

I was intrigued when Karen Burniston released two add on sets for the Fancy Label Accordion ... this Candle Add-On and a Heart Add-On. I haven't had a chance to play with the heart one yet, but shared a card earlier using the Candle Add-On inside a normal card. 


While It would work better with a three or four page Fancy Label Accordion, I chose to try it with two pages and I am happy with the inside of the card which you can see below. This was a card for a friend, and I signed my name on the white strip on the lower right side. 


The candle flames were die cut from Rainbow Holographic card stock for some shine. My friend had made several of these cards using the (very) old Sizzix Steel Ruled die so know she will enjoy this one.


One more look ...


This card was very much a trial and error since I don't plan my cards out ahead of time. Once I had the inside done I wasn't crazy about what the front and back pages looked like. That wouldn't happen if I'd added more pages, but I made it work well enough that I was happy with the card. Below is the back of the card, and I could have left off the candles and added a light coloured label to write on if I didn't want to write on that narrow strip inside.


Supplies used:
Fancy Label Accordion - Karen Burniston
Birthday Candle Add-Ons - Karen Burniston
Daisy's - Twist Flower Pop Up, Karen Burniston
Rainbow Holographic cardstock - Reco0llections
Patterned paper - 6x6" Wish Big, Queen & Company
Stamp inside - Make a Wish, MFT Stamps
Small Happy Birthday - LJD Birthday Greetings, MFT Stamps 

Thursday 21 March 2024

Butterflies & Bunny Easter Card


I am terrible at sizes when I order online - in my mind, whatever is on the screen is the size I want it to be in my head. 😂. This Butterfly Bunny die is a perfect example - even when I read that the size was 5x5", in my head that was smaller. So I resisted playing with it, but finally decided this was a good time to actually USE it. 



I cut a 5.5 x 5.5" piece of the Rainbow Holographic card stock and die cut the Butterfly Bunny from the centre. Then I trimmed it down to 5x5", cutting a little at a time off each edge until I was happy with it. It was then backed with a same sized piece of the patterned paper. Since there wasn't a lot of contrast I went over the bunny with a blending brush and dye ink. 

To prepare my card front, I added a 2nd piece of the patterned paper cut slightly smaller than the card base so I would have a bit of the white card base showing on the outer edges. The floral borders were cut from more of the patterned paper (with double sided adhesive added) and adhered along each side, trimming to fit. Then I rubbed the borders with champagne ink for a little shine. The Butterfly Bunny piece was then adhered on the front with thin foam tape.


I had done a top folding card with the intention of adding a pop up inside, however, I liked the front so much that I let it be the feature of the card.

Here is a peek at the inside, nice and simple ...



Supplies used:
Butterfly Bunny die - Creative Expressions
Rainbow Holographic card stock - Recollections
Patterned paper - Gilded Inks, Recollections
Slimline floral border dies - Scrapbook .com
Champagne Mist Ink - Stampin' Up
Pops of Color, Snowflake - Scrapbook .com
5 x 7" Lacy Layers dies - Waffle Flower
Blending Brushes
Catherine Pooler coloured inks
Inside sentiment - Impression Obsession
Mini Strips Easter - Taylored Expressions
5 x 7" card base and envelope

Wednesday 20 March 2024

Spring Half Shutter Card


Happy Spring! SOOOO glad that 'officially' Winter is behind us. 😊 Of course, someone should let Mother Nature know since there is a big dump of snow in the forecast. Ug.



Today's card celebrates Spring and is a Half Shutter card using dies from Divinity Designs. I love that all the cutting and scoring is done for you, and the layering dies make adding the patterned paper layers so easy. The front decoration is a cut-apart from Echo Park, matted with Doodlebug patterned paper. I added Pops of Color on the raindrops and on the cloud scallops for some shine.


Above is what the card looks like when it comes out of the envelope, and below you can see the card opened up. It will stand nicely for display for a friend who needs a 'pick me up' .


I used Karen Burniston's Beach Elements for the umbrella and my Stampin' Up cloud punch as well.


In the photo below, you can see the folds a little better.



Supplies used:
Journal Card - Welcome Spring, Echo Park
Patterned paper - Love Notes Petite Prints, Doodlebug
Beach Elements - Karen Burniston
Cloud Punch - Stampin' Up
Dots & Scallops dies - Catherine Pooler
Catherine Pooler coloured inks
Blending Brushes
Pops of Color, Snowflake - Scrapbook .com
Narrow gold foil tape - Amazon .ca
Sentiment - Thinking of You, Penny Black
Dot Stamp - Stamps by Judith

Tuesday 19 March 2024

Birthday Rainbow Pop Up Card


Today I'm sharing a pop up birthday card made for a friend. As usual, my card started with the patterned paper which was in a 12x12" package. Going through the remaining sheets, I saw one with a large rainbow across the bottom half. It was too big to use on an A2 card, or a Slimline but I thought it might work on a 5x7" card. I cut the rainbow sheet down to 6.75" keeping just the rainbow. So now my sheet was 12 x 6.75" and had a large rainbow across the centre.


I cut that sheet in half at 6", giving me two pieces with a half rainbow on each ... and I trimmed the outside edge so each panel measured 4.75 x 6.75. Since there was a second sheet of this large rainbow print in the package I repeated the cutting above and had four half-rainbow panels ready to add to 5x7" card fronts! In the photo below you can see how they would have fit together if I hadn't cut the sheet in half. (I will be sharing the cards in that photo another day),



The rainbow arcs are glittery so I simply matted the panel onto coral card stock then to the card front. I added the Happy Birthday & Happy Birthday Shadow (both by Karen Burniston) with foam tape, then added a couple of punched out clouds. Finally, a few drops of Pops of Color for some sparkly enamel dots and my card front was finished.


Inside I used Karen Burniston's Raising Platform Pop Up to animate one of the cut-aparts from the package, and added a few paper strips that were leftover from other projects. I have been using this paper pad for a couple of years so there are lots of partial sheets etc in the package. I added a few more punched clouds then stamped the sentiment on the blue 'sky' part of the original sheet that was above the rainbow. That was punched out and adhered inside the card - watching for catch points.



Supplies used:
Patterned paper & Cut Aparts - Over the Rainbow, Recollections
Catherine Pooler coloured inks
Raising Platform Pop Up - Karen Burniston
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch - Stampin' Up
Pops of Color, Snowflake - Scrapbook.com
Cloud punch - Stampin' Up
Happy Birthday die - Karen Burniston
Happy Birthday shadow die - Karen Burniston
5 x 7" card blank and envelope

Monday 18 March 2024

Floral & Copper Sympathy Card


Today's card was a bit of an experiment but I'm happy with how it turned out. The finished card is 5 x 7" but I started with two A2 sized note cards. The floral panel has copper foiled bits on it and the plaid is copper foiled as well. 

I cut the fronts off of the note cards, then two strips off of the plaid one. I adhered those strips to the card base with one at the top edge and one at the bottom. Then the floral panel was added on top with thin foam tape. The sentiment was stamped on a stitched & scalloped oval and I added a coordinating 3-d sticker. I didn't have any copper glitter dots, so I coloured gold ones with a brown alcohol marker and added several around the card front. I also peeled off the gems from the stickers and added a coloured glitter dot in their place. That reduced quite a bit of the bulk from the stickers and made them mailable.


Here is a peek at the inside with another stamped sentiment and another sticker. NOTE the stickers were quite layered, so I ended up pulling them apart and substituting thin foam tape for the full height foam tape in between the layers. 



Supplies used:
Foiled note cards - the Paper Studio
3-D Stickers - the Paper Studio
Stitched mini scallop oval dies - MFT Stamps
Encouraging words sentiments - Catherine Pooler inks
Glitter Dots
Alcohol Markers
5 x 7" Lacy Labels - Waffle Flower
Gold gel pen
Blending Brushes - Taylored Expressions
5 x 7" Card base and envelope