*Video* Gerda Steiner’s Meerkats on the Lookout

Hello everyone, I’m back with one of my most favourite stamp sets ever!  It’s “Meerkats on the Lookout”  from Gerda Steiner Designs and I’ve had no end of fun with them this last week! I love that these can easily be used for masculine cards because we all know how hard those can be to make.

If you would like to see an HD video on YouTube of how I made this card, please CLICK HERE. Otherwise, you can click on the video below.

To start this card, I created a horizon line in light pencil. I made sure that there was enough room for my meerkat to hide below the horizon behind some rocks. Once I had the horizon, I decided on the placement of my group of meerkats. I stamped the front two meerkats in copic friendly ink and then masked them while I finished stamping the back row of meerkats. I coloured in the meerkats with W3, W1, E31, E53, E40, E27, C2 and C0. I also used a black glaze pen to fill in the eyes and noses. I also stamped and coloured the lone meerkat who comes up, after masking off his arms and adding a cupcake to his hands. I also coloured a couple of the rocks that are in the set and cut them out.

Masking off sky line. 

I then cut a strip (the width of my card) of post it note paper in half lengthwise to create my true horizon. I masked off the meerkats and added one of the strips to make the sky line. I ink blended the sand with Tea Dye Distress oxide ink. Then I removed the post it note paper and lined up the other half over the sand to now colour in the sky. I used MFT’S cloud stencil and Mermaid Lagoon Distress oxide ink to make the sky. Once this was done, I stamped on my sentiments in Versamark ink.

Pencil mark widest point of meerkat. 

I adhered a strip of clear acetate to the back of the lone meerkat. After positioning him where I wanted him to pop up, I pencilled in the width of his ears (his widest part) where I wanted him to come up. I used a T ruler and craft knife to cut a slit here. I inserted the acetate through this slit and worked it up and down a few times to be sure it was wide enough. Then I attached a small strip of cardstock to the bottom of the meerkat to act as a stopper so he wouldn’t pull out through the slit. Finally, I pulled him up through the slit as far as he would go to determine where the top slit needed to go (just above his head). This slit only needs to be as wide as the acetate strip.

Adding a stopper to the bottom of the meerkat. 

I covered over the bottom slit with the rocks, being sure to not glue the middle portion down where the meerkat would pop up. I also die cut a few cloud shapes and placed one of these over the upper slit, again being sure to not glue down the middle portion.

I added part of an African tree die I have from Elizabeth Craft, and a few more clouds to complete my scene. I then adhered my card front to the base, being careful to not adhere any of the moving mechanisms. I also added 2 die cut cloud shapes to the front and back of the top of the acetate to act as a pull mechanism. I had glued in the word “Pull” on the front cloud.

Finally, I added some accents to the sand with copic markers E35, W5 and YG17 for grass. I also used a sparkle pen from Gelly Roll to add a little sparkle to the sand.

I hope you can give this card a try - it’s such a fun card to make and receive - and perfect for the men in our lives!

*Video* MFT Birthday Buds Inside Pop Up Card

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a great day!  I’m really excited to share with you this inside panel pop up card technique. It adds such a fun element to any card and you don’t need any special dies for it.  Basically, you’re adding a third page, or partial page to the inside of your card.  I first saw this done on a video by Jennifer McGuire and you can see her video here.

Inside pop up panel

If you would like to see an HD video of this card on YouTube you can FIND IT HERE or watch it below.

I made this card by first stamping and colouring in the images from MFT’S Birthday Buds stamp set and then cutting them out. I also cut 2 panels of light blue cardstock that were 4.25” x 4”, as well as 2 green hill shapes and a grassy border. I also die cut 2 matching cloud borders.

On the blue sky panels, I creased them 1/4” from one end on each of them ( these creases will line up with the fold on the card and once adhered, become the mechanism that will hold the panel upright).

Next, I adhered the hills to both the front and back sky panels and the the grassy border on the front panel. Finally, I adhered the cloud die cuts, making sure they did not extend past the top of the card. It is best to unfold the creased bottom of the sky panel and line it up with the fold on the card base to help with positioning of the cloud piece to be sure you don’t extend past the top of the card.

Then I arranged my coloured images where I wanted them to go on the panel and adhered them with glue. I did not duplicate the image on the back panel but you could certainly do this.  I also find it easier to stamp the inside sentiment now before attaching the pop up panel.

The next step is to glue together just the top portion of the panels.  You don’t want the bottom glued together because it needs to be able to splay out and hold the panel upright when the card is opened.

Glue just the top edges of the panels together

I put a double sided adhesive tape along the opened out, creased folds on the bottom of both the front and back panels. After removing the backing paper, I lined the edges of these panels up with the fold on the inside of the card. Once I had them in position, I held them in place and closed the card so that the tape would adhere along the fold. Now the pop up panel is finished!

Line up the creased ends along the inside fold of the card base

Fold up the card base keeping the panel in position

The completed pop up mechanism

Front of the card

For the front of the card, I decided to mask off a diagonal line and ink blended above it in blue inks to make a sky. I used a piece of green cardstock from Sunny Studios and a grassy border that I had in my stash, to make a grassy bottom half of my card front.  After trimming this down to fit the card, I adhered a white frame made from 3 layers of Hero Art’s Wood Frame die set. Finally, I attached my images and sentiment. I think the front of the card can be quite simple, leaving the wow factor for the inside.

I hope that you will give these pop up cards a try - they are just so much fun to open up and perfect for all ages and seasons!!