Easter Shadow Box Card

Hello again!  I’ve got a shadow box style card to share with you today that features one of the new Paper Panda dies from Creative Expressions.  I think these bunnies are trying to hide the eggs for an Easter egg hunt! :)

Start with an 8 x 8” piece of watercolour cardstock and create a soft meadow scene with watercolour paints.  Cut one Paper Panda Shooting Star diecut from regular cardstock and paint the left and right trees to add to the scene. Save the rabbit from this diecut also. 

Trim the panel down to 6 1/4” x 4 1/4”, saving the bottom pieces to use as the inside steps.  With the panel in landscape orientation, crease it at 3/4” ,1 1/2”, 4 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  Fold the first crease from the left hand edge, back towards the back of the watercolour. The second crease folds in the opposite direction, in towards the watercolour. Repeat this on the right hand side. 

From the watercolour scraps, cut two pieces 1 1/4” tall by 3 3/4” long. The tops of these can be cut into hilly shapes or grass.  Crease these at the 1/4” mark from both of the long ends. These will become the steps in the shadow box. Fold the creased ends under so the tabs are along the back of the watercoloured side. Cut hilly shapes out of the top edge to add interest. 

Trim down the painted trees and glue them to the background ( I changed my mind and added in the second tree later).  Place double sided tape along all the tabs on the step pieces. Starting with the step that will be closest to the back, remove the backing tape on the left tab and position the step along the second crease line from the left. See photo. 

Next, position the frontmost step tab so that it aligns with the the edge of the first tab.

Once the left side tabs are in place, flatten out the right tabs on both steps and remove the backing paper on the adhesive strips. Keeping the tabs and left hand side of the background flat, fold up the right side edge of the background to attach to the exposed adhesive strips. You should now have both steps  aligned and a shadow box base. 

Make 2 or 3 egg shaped templates and cut eggs from cardstock, or patterned paper.  I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste to some of the eggs to give them sparkle and shine.  I also used copic markers to add in some details.  Glue the eggs to the background along the bottom edge and to each of the steps.  Add in a few extra diecut rabbits from the Paper Panda die. 

Diecut the Shooting Star die twice from white cardstock and glue these together to give a little more strength to the diecut.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the left side and adhere the diecut to the left edge of the card base so it will be centered over the middle section.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the right.  While folding down the left side of the card towards the center, flatten out the right side and adhere the diecut to the right edge. This will ensure its position is correct to allow the card to be folded down for mailing. 

Stamp and heat emboss the “Just for You” sentiment from the Creative Expressions Sweet Wishes CEC813 stamp set. Ink blend around the edges to coordinate with the background, and glue it to the right side of the card. 

Cut a strip of white cardstock 3 1/2” x 8 1/2”.  Crease it at 4 1/4” and fold in half. Attach this to the back of the card for a place to write a message. 

Thank you for joining me and I hope you have a happy, creative day!

Dragonfly Delight Birthday Card

Hi everyone, I’ve got a birthday card to share with you today. I’m so happy with myself because I used some patterned papers for it.  Now, I know most of you are probably great at using patterned paper, but I’m ashamed to say I normally hoard my pretty papers and have a really hard time cutting them up.  So I was thrilled to make this card!

I used the new Creative Expressions Dandelion Dreams paper pad by Jamie Rodgers.  I started by cutting 1” strips of paper from most of the papers in the pack.  I think I felt better about cutting into them as it was only 1” and it’s an 8 x 8” pack so lots of paper left over!  I applied a double sided sheet of adhesive to my card front and used a bone folder to press it down.  I chose to do a herringbone pattern, but any pattern would work for this technique.  After removing the adhesive backing, I started laying down the strips of paper, leaving a small border between all sides of the strips.  The strips extended over the edges of the card front, so once all the strips had been placed, I used scissors to trim the edges even.  Next, I added some Cosmic Shimmer Golden Jewels gilding flakes to the card front, and gently rubbed it into the cracks between the paper strips where the adhesive was exposed.  So much pretty shine! I love how that gold just adds so much to the patterned papers.  I trimmed the card front down to 4” x 5.25” so I could have a slight white frame.  

Next, I stamped the dragonfly from the Creative Expressions Designer Boutique stamp set called Dragonfly Delight.  This is such a gorgeous stamp set! I left the stamp in my stamp positioner so I could re-stamp it after copic colouring the image.  Once I had the image coloured, I re-stamped it with Versamark ink and gold heat embossed it.  I also stamped and gold heat embossed it onto heat resistant acetate.  After cutting both of these out, I carefully creased the wings up on the acetate dragonfly.  I used some Cosmic Shimmer clear glue to attach the body of the acetate dragonfly to the copic coloured one.  

I used a sentiment from the Moments in Time stamp set from Creative Expressions by Jamie Rodgers, and stamped it in Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink and clear heat embossed it.  Finally, I glued the dragonfly to the card front and added a few clear jewels.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a happy, creative day!

Hoppiness Bunnies

Hi and welcome! It’s starting to feel like an early spring here in my part of Canada and since it’s almost Easter, I couldn’t resist making a card with cute bunnies and Easter eggs. And of course, it needed to have a little surprise factor so I’ve made it a Z fold card. 

I started with a piece of cardstock that measured 4 1/4 x 11” long. I created a mask of hills which I first drew on some computer paper and then traced onto contact paper for masking. I made it so when the card is closed, it looks like one hill in the background. After masking off the sky, I ink blended the hills with Distress Oxide inks in Twisted Citron, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.  Then I masked off the hills and used a stencil to create a cloudy sky with Cosmic Shimmer Clear Day Colour Cloud ink.  After the ink was dry, I creased this background at 2 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  The card folds over like a regular card at the 5 1/2” mark (a valley fold), but then folds back on itself at the 2 3/4” mark (a mountain fold) so the ink blended side is to the front. 

Next, I die cut grass from green cardstock (three layers for each half of the card).  On the left side, if you crease the grass layers at the 2 3/4” mark, it will help prevent the paper from tearing when the card is folded.  I diecut the tree using coloured cardstock, with a die from MFT Stamps.

I used Copic markers to colour all the images from the “Hoppiness” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs but couldn’t fit one of the bunnies on in the end. I also stamped and coloured two fence sections and two butterflies.

The eggs were made from some scrap pieces of Nuvo Shimmer Powder painted cardstock, and I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste in Gold and Frosty to a few of them before cutting them out.  I created my own egg shaped templates for the eggs. 

To assemble the card, I placed a small piece of masking tape where the left front of the card folded over to on the right side.  The hidden area of the card is to the left of this mark and over to the first fold on the left. Next, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder on the right side so it would be visible when the card is closed.  To begin assembling, I first glued the tree on the left side.  Next, I glued the fence sections on either side of the card.  Then I started layering the grass rows, and added in eggs and bunnies until I was satisfied with the arrangement.  I kept all the eggs and bunnies in the hidden area, with the exception of the one bunny on the left front. I used glue to attach all the images as I didn’t want any excess bulk from foam tape.  The bunny on the left front is the only one I attached with foam tape.    

Finally, in order to have somewhere to write a message, I attached another A2 card base to the back of the card. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a happy, creative day! 

Positivi’tea’ Friendship Card

Hi there! I’ve got a friendship/thinking of you card today to share with you. I’ve combined the two latest stamp sets (Hello Sunshine and Positivi-tea) from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one. They are both just such fun, cheerful stamp sets and I felt like they would go well together. 

I started by stamping and copic colouring the images. I’ve listed the markers I used down below. The main sentiment was combined from the two stamp sets, and I just masked off the parts of the sentiments that I didn’t want to use. I love how all the messages in these two sets are just so uplifting. I also used the happy face stamp (from the Hello Sunshine set) and white embossing powder to decorate the teapot.  

For the background, I used the Bohemian Plate die from Simon Says Stamp to make that lovely pinpoint detail. I then die cut it with the A2 Thin Frames die, also from Simon Says Stamp, to create the thin rectangular frame. I also used this die to cut another rectangle from some teal pearlescent cardstock.

I glued the background pieces to an A2 card base, and then filled in the rectangle with the teal rectangle. I popped the mouse up on foam tape and then glued my sentiment and images in place.  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic markers used:

Bear - E35, E34, E53, E51, sign - YR16, Y38, YR21

Mouse - C2, C1, C0, R00

Tea set - BG18, BG57, B52

Tea bag - E25, E31, E53

Puffin Splash Cards

Hi and welcome! I have some news I’ve been bursting to share and can now finally let it out.  I have joined the Creative Expressions design team and so will be sharing some of their gorgeous stamps, dies and Cosmic Shimmer products with you. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.  

My cards today use their new Paper Cuts Edger die called Puffin Splash. These dies are quite amazing because you can keep them as simple as you want (as in my second card), or really glam them up to create a more personalized card (like my first card). 

For this first card, I created a watercolour background using Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints and watercolour cardstock. I made sure to splatter it when wet with some of the same paints, and also misted it with water when it was dry, to get the look of water splashes.  I also lightly spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister in Pearlescent to give it a little sparkle. I placed double sided adhesive around all the back edges of my watercolour background, and then cut a piece of scrap acetate (from a stamp set package), that was about a 1/4” larger than my background on all four sides. On my work surface, I layered the acetate first, them my card background face down, and centered it on the acetate. Then I removed the adhesive backing along one side edge and wrapped the extra acetate up to attach to it. I was careful to not pull the acetate too tightly as the shaker needs a little room for the filling to move around. I repeated this with the two sides and the bottom edge. 

At this point, you have a pouch that can be filled from the top. I wanted to use some of the die cuts to fill my shaker, so I ran it through my machine a couple of times with white cardstock. I made sure that one of these die cuts had an extra 1/2” border on the left of the puffin, so I could use it for the front of my card. Since the die creates fish that are in several pieces, I glued them to acetate before cutting them out. To fill the shaker, I added in these die cut pieces with some dollar store seed beads and glitter, and then removed the adhesive backing on the top edge and folded over the acetate at the top. I’m not sure what it is about shaker cards, but at this point you just have to stop and shake that shaker and watch everything move around inside! 

For the puffin die cut, I used copic markers to colour in the puffin pieces, and a little Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish to give a little shine. I used some regular Scotch tape on the back of my puffin so I could reinsert the pieces, but you could also just add these in with glue later. I creased the card just to the left of the puffin to give me about a 1/2” border which I folded under with a bone folder. Next, I used glue on the back of my puffin die cut and adhered it to the shaker card front, making sure the folded edge went to the back of the watercolour card. I feel this just gives a cleaner look to the card but you could definitely leave this step out and just cut the puffin die cut flush with the edge of the card. Next, I glued my card front to an A2 sized card base. 

For the sentiment, I used the Sending Wishes sentiment from Creative Expressions “A Perfect Day” stamp set (this set is full of great sentiments!).  Since I love a little fun on my cards, I changed the “W” to an “F” to make “Fishes”, and then crossed this one out and stamped “Wishes”. I attached this sentiment to a matching piece of water coloured cardstock, and adhered it to the front of my card. I’m telling you, that shaker is so much fun! They work so much better when they’re full sized like this one. 

For my second and definitely simpler card, I again made a watercoloured background using the same Cosmic Shimmer products as in my first card. I kept this card quite simple and just die cut the puffin out of white cardstock, making sure I removed and saved all the die cut pieces. I again left a 1/2” border to the left of the puffin that I creased and folded under.  I used glue to attach the puffin diecut to the watercolour card front and also adhered the left folded edge behind the watercolour card front. I attached this to an A2 card base. Then I glued the die cut pieces to the front of the card to add some interest. The sentiment is the same “Sending Wishes” as in the first card, and I have adhered it to a strip of watercolour cardstock. 

So there you have it - one card that has a little more bling added to it and the second, a much easier card. But both of them have that adorable puffin and could be used for so many different occasions. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back again.