Pop-Up Monkey Card

Hello my crafty friends

I'm so happy to share this card with you today. It was one of those times when I smiled the whole time I was making it. Not only is it creative and fun, I LOVE sharing different ways for you to use your dies. They are an investment, so if you can use them in more & different ways than they were intended, that makes the investment a better one.

Let's start with the card front. Which was actually completed after the inside was finished, as I wanted to tie in the glasses. I used the Pop-Up frames from Karen Burniston's new Oval Frame Pop-Up. The new release will be available for pre-order on January 21st! Once the glasses were done, I used the tag reinforcement die from the new Circle Tag Pop-Up for the eyeballs. :-) Oh, and I hung onto one of the little black fall away circles which you will see again on the card interior.

When you open the card, you see this fun pop-up MONKEY!! See why I was smiling the whole time? I used the Partial Die cutting technique to change the outer ovals into circles (photos at the end of this post). Once the eyes and ears were completed, I added a horizontal oval for the muzzle. Hmmm ... do monkey's even have a muzzle? Whatever it's called - I'm sure you know what I mean.

The little nose is actually one of the stitched hillside pieces that are included with the Oval Frames Pop-Up. Turned upside down it worked perfectly. And there is that little black fall away circle for his mouth ... I wanted to mimic the monkey on the patterned paper.

I took lots of photos, because it's a new die set and people want to see what it looks like from different angles so they know if it will work for them. This is such a cool die set - there is so much dimension but it folds up completely flat for mailing. Even with a little foam tape!

I've had the stamps for a long time but they worked perfectly so I used them. I don't stop using something just because it's retired - I usually buy stamps and dies because I can use them for years, not because they are the latest thing.

I added a pair of die cut spectacles as well, and they came from the Tiny Accessories One die set. There is a new Tiny Accessories Two set being released this month that also has glasses - but I liked these ones better for my card. I have been using the TA2 on a lot of my sample cards though - it is just SWEET.

Below is a look at how it folds up.

 I took a couple of photos before I started assembling, to help you understand how I trimmed those outer ovals into circles. The cutting plate was placed even with the inner edge of the outside ovals so anything outside the cutting plate wouldn't cut. It's called "Partial Die Cutting" and there are lots of tutorials on the web if you want to know more.

This is what it looked like when I removed the cutting plate - you can see where the edge of the cutting plate was because the circle die didn't cut beyond that. Two quick scissor snips...

... and I had my rounded ears.

I hope I've inspired you to try something different with your dies!

There are SO MANY great dies in the new release, which will be available for PRE-ORDER on the website starting January 21st. You can click on the preview below to see it larger.

Supplies:
Patterned paper - stash
Brown, kraft, black, white and orange card stocks
1079 Oval Frames Pop-Up - Karen Burniston (Available for PRE ORDER on January 21 2019)
1081 Circle Tag Book Pop-Up (circles) - Karen Burniston (Available for PRE ORDER on January 21 2019)
1089 Rockin' Rectangle (oval) - Karen Burniston (Available for PRE ORDER on January 21 2019)
1046 Circle Charm Pop-Up (circles) - Karen Burniston
1047 Upsy Daisy Pop-Up (small circle) - Karen Burniston
Black marker
1034 Word Set 5 Royalty (banner) - Karen Burniston
Stamps - MFT (retired)
MISTI - My Sweet Petunia
1012 Snowman Twist Circle Pop-Up (Large stitched circle) - Karen Burniston
1057 Circles, Crosshatch - Karen Burniston
1025 Tiny Accessories One (glasses) - Karen Burniston

Card size - 4-1/2 x 6"

Thanks for stopping by today

Box Card with Castle, Princess and Dragon

Hello my crafty friends

One of the new dies in Karen Burniston's January 2019 Release is this Woven Basket Box Card die. It comes with flowers and a sprig to make a lovely bouquet, but of course I had to do something different with it. I chose to use it as a regular 'box card' and made a Birthday Card for a little Princess. Namely, our nephew's little girl who will be turning one soon.

I used a bunch of dies from previous releases, the Castle Pop-Up, the Knight and Dragon, the Princess and Mermaid and Word Set 5 Royalty. All the dies I used are listed in the Supplies below. I wanted to show you how well all of the KB dies work together - old and new releases work seamlessly!

Since Princesses need to sparkle, I used pretty glitter paper for the dress, crown, and also the turret flags and dragon's wings. I like how the two different greys for the woven part resemble bricks - this Woven Basket Box Card goes together so slick!

This is the back of the card, and where we will sign our names.

I hope I've shown you how to think outside the box (pun intended) to use this fun woven basket for more than just flowers. I also wanted to show you that you can fill it with a few items and still have a card with a lot of WOW. Not every box card needs to be stuffed full and take hours to complete. 

While it's a free-standing pop-up card, it still folds completely flat for mailing! Because I wanted some height to the castle and dragon, this one will fit in an A6 envelope and mail for a single stamp.

Here is one more look at the dragon - isn't he just the cutest?

There are SO MANY great dies in the new release, which will be available for PRE-ORDER on the website starting January 21st. You can click on the preview below to see it larger.

Supplies:
1080 Woven Basket Box Card - Karen Burniston (available for Pre-order on January 21 2019)
1036 Princess and Mermaid - Karen Burniston
1035 Knight and Dragon - Karen Burniston
1033 Castle Pop-Up - Karen Burniston
1034 Word Set 5 Royalty - Karen Burniston
1047 Upsy Daisy Pop-Up (banner) - Karen Burniston
1009 Twist Panel Pop-Up (scalloped rectangle) - Karen Burniston
Glitter paper - Stampin' Up
Pink, purple, green, kraft, grey and white card stocks
Black pen
Sakura white gel pen
Words - Stampin' Up

Thanks for stopping by today

Boy Party Hat Birthday Card Trio

Good morning friends

I've mentioned before that I am a fan of Your Next Stamp, and not just because it's a Canadian based company. I have slowly been adding to my collection of their dies, and this Stitched Stipe Panel Die was one I ordered in the fall.

I had also just received a die set from the Clearance Rack at Stampin' Up that included this party hat so I decided to make three boy birthday cards to give our daughters for the grands to take to birthday parties.

It was fun cutting the Stitched Striped Panel Insert from various colours of card stock then arranging some of the fall away pieces back into the openings. I love the stitched details! There are so many variations one could do with this die - I'm really going to enjoy it.

I added two more of the stitched fallaway pieces to the inside. All three cards are identical inside.

Supplies:

Patterned paper - Crafts (from the Dollar Store)

Party Hat and Star dies - Stampin' Up

White, blue and turquoise card stocks

Stitched rectangle die - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Stitched Stripe Panel Insert die - Your Next Stamp

Stitched circle die - MFT Stamps

Sakura white gel pen

Stickles

Copic Marker

Stamp inside - Stampin' Up

Thanks for stopping by today

Easter Waterfall Card ... and a Sneak Peek of Karen Burniston's January 2019 Release

Hello my crafty friends

Today is the first day the Design Team can share sneak peeks of Karen Burniston's new release!! Unfortunately I had to wait over two weeks for my dies to arrive via regular post since the US Couriers want to charge an arm and a leg to send to me where we live in Canada. The rest of the Design Team had their new release dies within days of shipping and let me tell you, it was very hard to wait for mine to come. Considering it takes 26 hours of driving for us to get home from Arizona, I have no idea how it can take the postal service 17 DAYS to get an envelope to me from Texas, even with the holidays in there.

While I waited, I decided to make another Waterfall card using Karen Burniston's adaptation of her Frame Pull Pop-Up and some pretty Easter Stickers. When my package finally arrived, I used some of the new word sets to finish off my card. I am really going to enjoy all the new Word dies, which is what I'm sharing today as our first Sneak Peek. I also made use of the sweet Easter Charm Dies. I've added a photo of the entire release at the end of my post so you can see all the goodies that will be available for pre-order on January 21st 2019.

This is not the first Waterfall card I've made. In fact, the minute I saw Karen Burniston's how-to video for our January Designer Challenge I headed right into my craft room to try it out. That one will be posted in a few weeks. I love getting more mileage out of my dies and this is such a cool trick to use the Frame Pull Pop-Up. I've been hoping for a Waterfall Die set so I am tickled at how clever and creative (and easy!) it is to make one of these now.

There is a tiny bow die in the new Easter Charms, which I added to the sticker bow on the front panel.

The second and third panels also have a die cut bow from the new Easter Charms added to the sticker bunnies. 

The stickers have lots of sparkle to them and the green grass layer was cut using a die from the Tropical Scene set.

I love that Karen Burniston adds words to some of the charm sets - and this Happy Easter one is going to get a lot of use on my Easter projects. It cuts as a single piece which makes it easy peasy to adhere.

I water coloured this one with Distress Oxide inks.

As usual, I made my Waterfall card post card style. This is the back, with the new 'happy Spring' and a bunny and the bow from the Easter Charms.

As mentioned above, here is a photo showing the entire new release. Wow, right? Note, you can click on the photo to make it larger.

I will have a couple more Sneak Peaks for you this week so be sure to stop back to see.

Supplies:
Pink, white, green card stocks
Patterned paper - American Crafts
Stickers - American Crafts
1054 Rectangles, Crosshatch - Karen Burniston
1070 Frame Pull Pop-Up - Karen Burniston
Frame Pull Pop-Up - Karen Burniston
Spinner Square Pop-Up (squares) - Karen Burniston
Tropical Scene (grass line) - Karen Burniston
Happy Spring - Karen Burniston (AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON JANUARY 21)
1078 Easter Charms - Karen Burniston (AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON JANUARY 21)
1084 Happy Spring - Karen Burniston ((AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON JANUARY 21)
Sakura white gel pen
Sakura black glaze pen
Stickles

Thanks for stopping by today

Dog Flip Valentine

Hello my Crafty Friends

It's no secret that I love Flip cards -  Z-fold cards, Flip-its, Flip Fold - they have many different names. So when I purchased this Half Heart Flip Die Set from Your Next Stamp I had to play with it right away. I paired it with their ADORABLE 'Love and Hugs' stamp set, which is part of their latest release.

Yes, this is my second post today but I really wanted to take part in the Fun Friday Challenge #105 at Your Next Stamp - 'Lets See SMILES'. All the details for the challenge can be found HERE.  It was easier to create a second post than to shuffle all the scheduled posts around. 

This is what the card would look like as it comes out of the envelope. That heart-holding-dog image just makes me smile. He is also smiling, so I think this card fits very well for the challenge!

This little cluster of hearts was fussy cut from the patterned paper and. I added some black border Peel-Off's as well.

Being such a dog family, this was the first of the stamps I had to grab and use. I could send this card to anyone in our family and they would love it. The dog's nose is nice and shiny (so are the freckles) because of the black glaze pen detailing.

The scalloped heart panel inside is actually a cut apart which was printed on the reverse side of the heart patterned paper. It worked  perfectly for the inside of this Heart Flip card! I like how it frames the centre heart when the card is closed, then shows the greeting when it's opened.

I hope to have a chance to enter another card before the challenge ends on the 24th as well.

Supplies:
Red and white card stocks
Patterned paper and journal card - Doodlebug Designs
Half Heart Flip Die Set - Your Next Stamp
Stripe-Tastic Heart Die Set - Your Next Stamp
Love and Hugs stamps - Your Next Stamp
Purrr-fect Friend (small heart stamp) - Your Next Stamp
Derwent water colour pencils
Water brush
Stampin Blends - Stampin' Up
Copic markers
Sakura white gel pen
Sakura black glaze pen
Black Peel-Off Border - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Thanks for stopping by today

Four Layered Cake Birthday Cards

Hello my crafty friends

Stampin' Up had a die set (stamps were long sold out) with a party hat and this layered birthday cake in their clearance rack and I just knew I'd get a lot of use out of the set for both kids birthday cards and cards to donate to my Mom's nursing home.

The first two cards use sketch C4C452 from the Crazy4Challenges Blog last year. It's a sketch I turn to again and again! I had three patterned cards in my stash that I wanted to use up. Two were the floral cards I used for the last two cards and one was this brown polka dot one. I trimmed the polka dot panel into two and got two card fronts from it using this sketch!

The next two cards use the flowered card bases with the same dies and stamps.

I will donate two of these cards to my Mom's nursing home, and the other two will go into the stack I'll give our daughters for the grandkids to take to the many birthday parties they go to in their town.

Note, I have another post later this morning, because I had some fun new goodies from Your Next Stamp and I wanted to play along with their latest challenge. See you then!

Supplies:
Cake die - Stampin' Up
Pink, white and brown card stock
Patterned A2 card (Stash )
Stitched circle scallop frame dies - MFT Stamps
Stitched circle dies - MFT Stamps
Stitched Fishtail Banners - MFT Stamps
Stamps - MFT Stamps
C4C- 452 - Raquel's sketch, which I love.

Thanks for stopping by today

C4C466 Humorous Coffee Themed Card

Hello my crafty friends

It's Saturday and that means a new challenge at the Crazy4Challenges Blog. I am the hostess for January and our Guest Designer is my friend and Design Teammate Kelly Booth. Today my challenge is:  Everybody needs a smile now and then - this week lets make a humorous card!

I chose to make a coffee themed card with a funny stamp on the front.

I like the sweet size of the Coffee Charms - they fit so nicely on the Gift Card Label!

Inside I used the House Pivot Panels, a few more of the coffee charms and a die cut COFFEE word.

Below is a view of the card from the top...

Finally, for those that like to pin pics of card fronts and insides together - here you go!

Check out the C4C blog to see how the Crazies have been inspired by the challenge. We'd  love to see your take on it, so be sure to stop by the Crazy 4 Challenges blog and link up your creations. If you are uploading to an online gallery, please use the keyword C4C466.

Supplies:
1063 House Pivot Panels - Karen Burniston
1054 Rectangles Crosshatch - Karen Burniston
Patterned paper - Paper Studio
1041 Coffee Charms - Karen Burniston
1019 Gift Card Label - Karen Burniston
White and pink card stocks
Sakura white gel pen
Coffee die - Verve
1011 Katherine Label Pop-Up (oval) - Karen Burniston
Bad words stamp etc - CAS-UAL Fridays
Fishtail Banner die - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Thanks for stopping by today

Thank You Centre Step Card

Hello my crafty friends

It's Fun Fold Friday here on my blog, and todays' share is a Centre Step Thank You card.

While I have used the main dies in the set quite often, I think this is the first time I used the 'You Are So Kind' die that was included. It's just sweet, and so perfect for Thank You cards!.

Here is what the card looks like inside - I used a black fine point marker to write my message right on top of the patterned paper.

The paper and embellishments I've had for ages and I was happy to make a bit of a dent in that package.

Supplies:

Patterned paper and ephemera and stickers - Kaisercraft

Kind Sentiments Step-Ups (Centre step card dies) - Stephanie Barnard, the Stamps of Life & Sizzix

Stickles

Thanks for stopping by today