Welcome Baby - and a cute Get Inky! Giraffe

Can you stand another pop-up card?  Well, I'm going to have to ask you to bear with me, as so many of those who purchase my cards just love them. Here's another.  This one I made to welcome a new baby.

To make this card, I used the template I posted last week, from Extreme Cards. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut it and the baby pennant, as well as the sentiment, "Little One."  The adorable giraffe is a new stamp from "Get Inky Stamps" by Blue Moon Creations.  I colored it with Copic markers, and fussy cut it to mount on the card. The featured papers are called "Babycakes" by Close To My Heart.

One of the reasons that I like making these pop-up cards is that they deliver a "wow!" factor, and also retail for more than a standard fold card. Yes, they take a little longer and a little more paper to make, but the higher retail price (typically around $10) is something to consider as a cardmaker. 

Here is the front of the card, when folded flat (well, almost flat, for the picture)...

Show me your box cards! :)




DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Hold Onto Your Wallets ... It's CKC Time!

Going to a Creative Keepsakes Convention (CKC) for a scrap-addict like me is akin to letting an alcoholic work in a brewery.

But I went anyway.

My first time. Alone. With a credit card I had just paid off. Thankfully, the card has a low limit -- I usually only use it for those Internet purchases where you don't know/trust the vendor. So I figured, take that one, in case I lose it or lose my mind ... whichever came first. Trust me, I was overwhelmed.

First, 100+ vendors, all with sales pitches. Not only were they preaching to the choir about the nifty things they had, but I was buying. ALL of it! OMG, who knew some of the nifty, creative things you could do. Over the course of the next few weeks (months), I'll be showing you the products and projects I'm making with them. Suffice to say, I can't begin to get it all out tonight.

BUT, one of the classes I took -- a mini-class/make-it-take-it for just $5 -- demonstrated a simple template to make "action cards". They slide, or pop up or pop out. All VERY cute. The class I attended, and some of the templates I bought, was sponsored by Let's Party Hearty.

Above, left, is the vertical-position slider card that was demo'd and the version I made. The instructor was helping some newbies get the hang of it; while she was occupied, I "tricked out" my version with added white pen. The instructor, Sue, was very impressed! LOL ...

I just love how this slide-out card works. Very easy to do, and it can have many other uses. Let me show you...

At left is a horizontal version of the slider, for a new baby girl gift card. Yuck, the photo looks bad on the baby-face ... I couldn't find my Copic blending marker so this cutie suffers. She "crawls" across the sliced opening when the recipient pulls the tab.

When it opens ....

There's space for a glued-in gift card.

I made another version of this card for a boy, and another vertical version for a friend's birthday celebration.

I'll show you those tomorrow!

Participating in my First "Challenge"

Hello Fellow Scrappers,

I needed a little egging on to get back to my paper world, so I turned to one of the many Challenges posted on a variety of blogsites.

One of the blogs I follow is Emma's "My Creative Time" (click to link to the site). Emma has some very cute projects, and has interesting weekly challenges. This week's challenge called for the use of Cricut's Zooballoo cartridge for an animal-themed project.

I decided to try this one out, and made this card in response. I also wanted to challenge myself not to spend quite as much time on each card's concept and production, so I set a timer. Fifteen minutes, start to finish, max. That way, I can learn to keep my quality high, but also be more productive. At the shop where I sell my cards, I cannot keep up with demand -- and it's frustrating for everyone!

So here is the card:

I used the Cricut Zooballoo letter "M" on shift-silhouette to create the monkey. I set the type using a New Font called "Scrawny" and printed out the base card on my HP printer. I used a small kiddie stack to decorate the card and trimmed with a polka-dot ribbon. I handcut the banana and peel, pop-dotting the banana for dimension, and hand-"stitching" (in ink) the peel. I placed the monkey silhouette atop of one of the paper's printed red dots.

I think it turned out pretty cute! It can be used for a general note card, or as a card for a baby shower or new baby.