Leaping Frog Masculine Birthday Card

Hello again and welcome!  I’ve got a card today that I actually made a while ago, but have since made a video for it, and wanted to share it with you.  I think of this card as being appropriate for a masculine card, so I’m going with that!  It features the adorable frogs from the “Frogs” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs  and I added a few images from the “Lucky Duck” stamp set as well.

If  you would like to see a video of how I made this card, I have it posted on my YouTube channel  and you can CLICK HERE to view it.


After copic colouring my images and cutting them out, I added glossy accents to all the frogs eyes and set them aside to dry. To create a shiny green cardstock for the happy birthday circles on the front, I combined some Nuvo glacier paste in Pineapple Delight and Sea Sprite to make a bright green, and spread that out on cardstock in a circle pattern. When it was dry, I used the Simon Says Stamp “Birthday Circle” die to cut it out. I also used this die to cut some circles from black cardstock. I stacked about 3 circles from white cardstock and added a final layer in the green for my center circle, then glued this in the center of my front panel. I glued down portions of circles around this in a mix of the black and green die cuts. I cut the hands from the front frog, trimmed his chest to fit in the circle, and then glued his hands down onto the center ring. Finally, I added dots with some of the copic markers I had used for the images, and added glossy accents to the dots.

For the inside of the card, I watercoloured a small piece of watercolour paper in a mix of blues and greens to make my pond. I used Distress Oxide Faded Jeans to stencil over the water with a stencil from The Crafters Workshop called Mini Sea Bubbles. I freestyle cut this piece to resemble a pond.

I die cut two grassy borders for the triangle pop up. You could use any straight grassy border in your supplies or even make your own border by cutting grass into 2 pieces of cardstock temporarily adhered together. I used a die from Paper Roses called Cattails and Grass border die. I then used brown copic markers to colour the cattails and Distress Oxide in Mowed Lawn for the grasses. I coloured both grassy borders, but for the one in back, remember that you actually colour the wrong side of the die cut. I creased both of these grassy die cuts at 1/4” from the straight edge, creased the folds and added double sided adhesive to the folds.

Next, I adhered the right leg of the leaping frog to a piece of scrap acetate with double sided tape and adhered him to the front grassy border. Then I attached all my other images with glue, being careful not to get excess glue on the grassy areas.

I glued down my “pond” by positioning it 1/4” from the inside crease of my card. Now I could see where to stamp my inside sentiment and this is best done before adding the triangle pop up. I used a sentiment from MFT’S Yay for You set.

I glued together just the top portions of the grassy borders, to just about a quarter to a third of the way down. You need to leave the bottom of these borders unglued so they can form the triangle pop up. Then I removed the backing paper from the back grassy border, and lined it up along the crease on the inside of my card and pressed it down. Finally, I removed the backing paper on the front grassy border and folded my card base up and over the grassy borders and pressed it down. And that was the card done!

This is such a fun card to receive because the inside is so unexpected, and those frogs definitely make it a masculine card - always a bonus!!  I really hope you’ll give this one a try. Hope you have a great day!

Thank You for Watching the Dog

Hello and welcome back!  Life has been so busy here with our new puppy, so this card today is going to come in handy for sure! I’ve used the new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one, called  “Puppy Mail”.

I first stamped and coloured in my images with copic markers. I also used the image from the “I Just Miss You”  set. This is also available as a digital set, so it’s easy to resize to your card front. I love how all these images so clearly show different moments in a puppy’s day. 

On my card front, I used the larger circle die in the Panel Shapes die set from Your Next Stamp because I liked that it cut the stitched line around it. I cut out four circles, leaving room for my sentiment. I found a dog paw stamp in my stash and stamped it randomly over the card front in black Versafine ink. 

I placed the card front over my card base and lightly pencilled in the circles. I used a larger circle die to cut out my images, and then adhered them with glue over the pencilled areas. I decided not to pop my card front up with foam tape, but I do think that would look very nice. 

I used the sentiment from the Puppy Mail set and stamped it on some white cardstock. I used a fishtail die to cut it out and then mounted it with tape to a piece of blue cardstock. I fussy cut the blue cardstock to leave a small border along the top and bottom, and then adhered this to my card front and trimmed the excess from the right hand side. 

This was a really quick and simple card to make but such a handy one to have in your stash if you’re a dog owner.  I know I’ll be using it! 

Gerda Steiner's Birthday Bear Pop Up Box Card

Hello and welcome, I’m back again with another card featuring the Birthday Bear stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs. This is such a fun, festive stamp set and I thought these characters would go well in a pop up box card. I’ve kept the front of my card quite simple because the fun is really on the inside.

I’ve made a short video to show you how to make this card, so if you would like to see the video please CLICK HERE.

I created the front of my card first by die cutting a cover panel from MFT’s Four Way Chevron die (you could use any cover die in your stash for this). I saved the inset pieces and copic coloured them with a mix of orange to yellow markers.  I cut a piece of Die Cut N Bond to cover the back of the panel and then replaced the coloured pieces back into the frame. 

I had already coloured my images with copic markers, and I’ve listed the markers used below. I created some coloured cardstock for my sentiment by colouring white cardstock with one of the copic markers that I had used on the chevrons. I die cut a circle out of this, stamped the “Happy Birthday” sentiment onto it and heat set it with clear embossing powder.  I added a thin line of BoBunny rose gold glimmer paste around the outside of the circle and let it dry. 

After removing the backing from the Die Cut N Bond, I adhered the cover panel to the front of my card and pressed it into place.  Then I adhered my circle sentiment, popped the bear up on foam tape and adhered him to the sentiment circle. 

For the inside of the card, I die cut the Lawn Fawn pop up box and crossbars out of Neenah 80# cardstock.  I created my own coloured paper with some Nuvo shimmer powders, but you could use patterned paper, foil cardstock, glitter paper or really anything else you have on hand. From this shimmer paper, I cut the rectangle panel pieces and a selection of streamers, twirly bits, hearts and stars that are included in the pop up box die set. 

I placed double sided adhesive on the triangular flaps of the box and on the small flap as well as on the ends of each crossbar. Using a bone folder, I creased all the folds.  The crossbar pieces are attached by removing the backing paper from one end and evenly spacing the crossbars along the first box side adjacent to the small fold. Once these are adhered, I fold them all down towards the long side of the box, remove the backing paper from the other end of all the crossbars as well as from the small side flap. Then I fold the other half of the box up to meet the side flap and press everything  down. Now the box is ready to decorate! 

After attaching strips of scrap acetate to the backs of my images and to the streamers and twirly bits, I used double sided adhesive to attach them to my box. Once the box is decorated, I stamped my inside sentiment on my card base as it is easier to do this before attaching the box. Next, I attached the box to the inside of the card by lining one triangular flap along the fold line of the card base and then aligning the second triangle with this one. I find I need to keep folding the box and card base down several times, guiding it into position and creasing all the folds with my fingers and a bone folder. It really will do it on its own after being manipulated several times.

It may seem like a lot of work at first, but these pop up boxes have such a big, fun impact that I love to add them into my cards. I hope you will give this one a try! 

Copic Markers used:

BEAR - E79, E59, E57, E35, E53, E51 R00, R20

BUNNY - W1, W2, W3, E40, R00, R20

BANNERS - RV04, BG13, Y17, YG03, Y08

BALLOON - YG67, YG17, YG03

Glittering Birthday Bear and Friends

Hello everyone, it’s Karen here today.  I’m back with another card made using the adorable Birthday Bear stamp set.

If you would like to see a video of how I made this card, please CLICK HERE

or you can see it in lower resolution here:

I copic coloured my images first (the marker colours used are listed below), and applied glossy accents to the banners, birthday hat, and the balloon. I set these aside to dry. 

I cut a background cover die from Sunny Studios called Frilly Frames Retro Petals out of #110 white cardstock (you could use any cover die with openings in it).  I saved the small die cut petals to later fill back in to the openings. I covered the back of my die cut frame with DieCut’N Bond which is a double sided adhesive. You could probably use any strong double sided adhesive such as Stick It for this technique. On the front of my frame, I filled in most of the openings with the saved petals, to make a pleasing pattern. The unfilled areas were mostly in areas where they would be seen behind the Birthday Bear characters. 

I found micro glitter at my dollar store (as well as containers to store it in), but any micro glitter would work. I’m not sure if chunky glitter would stick in this technique. I masked off all the petals but one, and carefully applied a small amount of glitter to my first petal and rubbed it in with my finger, slightly pressing it down. Then I used a bone folder to really press the glitter to the adhesive. I used a Swiffer cloth to wipe up the excess as well as a brush. This is quite a messy technique, so I also keep a sheet of printer paper beneath my work. I continued filling in all the petals, using a different colour for each one. This is such a fun, sparkly background in real life and just perfect for a birthday party theme. If you didn’t want to do the glitter technique, the background openings could be filled with alcohol ink pieces, copic or watercolour pieces or even patterned paper. Lots of possibilities! 

For the sentiment, I die cut a border using a Sunny Studio Heartstrings border die which I thought coordinated well with the petals. I stamped the “Happy Birthday” sentiment from the stamp set and clear heat embossed it. I trimmed it down to just cover the bottom of my frame and mounted it on foam adhesive. I applied foam adhesive to the back of my images as well, and then mounted them along the border sentiment. 

On the inside of the card, I stamped the sentiment from the Birthday Bear stamp set and added that super sweet bear arm with the balloon. I love that arm! 

This is a really fun birthday card with a very festive, party feel to it and I hope you’ll give it a try! 

Copic Markers used:

BEAR - E79, E59, E57, E35, E53, E51 R00, R20

BUNNY - W1, W2, W3, E40, R00, R20

BANNERS - RV04, BG13, Y17, YG03, Y08

BALLOON - YG67, YG17, YG03

Puppy Mail for You

Hello everyone, thanks for joining me today. I wanted to make a happy mail card using the new “Puppy Mail” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I love to get happy mail (especially when it’s crafting supplies!), but a fun or loving note from someone is equally as good to receive and this stamp set is perfect for those cards.

Inside the card

I coloured my images with copic markers and added a few extra envelopes. I drew my envelopes but you could easily stamp the mailbox stamp again and use a few from the mail pile already on the stamp.

I then made a stencil from a “Bright Hearts” Memory Box die I had just received - in some happy mail! - and ink blended the hearts in Distress Oxide Worn Lipstick in the center of my card. Then I applied some Moonstone glimmer paste over this and let it all dry. Once it was dry I glued my puppy mail box image over the stencilled area and added a few extra envelopes to fill in the gaps. I stamped the sentiment just below my scene and the card front was done! 

I love it when there’s a little something extra on a card, so on the inside, I added the two puppy images. I stamped the “I woof you” sentiment on some white cardstock, and die cut it with a speech bubble die I had in my stash (I had to do a little partial die cutting to make it fit around the words).  I ran a black marker around the edges to highlight the speech bubble, and then glued it onto the inside of my card. This was a quick and simple card to make, and it’s just so nice to have some stamps in your supplies that can make a great “thinking of you” type of card. I hope you’ll give this card a try! 

Birthday Bear Shaker card

Hello everyone, I’ve got a full size shaker card today made with a new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs called Birthday Bear. This is an easy card to make and it even uses a surprise material!

If you would like to see a video of how I made this card on YouTube,  please CLICK HERE

I coloured in my images with Copic markers and then applied some Glossy Accents to the banner flags, the bear’s hat and the balloon. Once that was dry, I fussy cut out my images.

On an A2 size piece of pink cardstock, I ink blended some Distress Oxide inks around the edges in Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves. Once the ink was dry, I used an anti-static powder over the whole card front. I find that helps the shaker material move better, and I wanted to heat emboss my sentiment on the card front. After deciding where my images would go, I stamped my sentiment and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Now for that surprise material!  I save the cellophane envelopes that all our stamps and dies come in and use this for full size shaker cards. I cut out a rectangle from a cellophane wrapper that was approximately an inch wider than my card front all around. I centered this wrapper on my card front and then flipped them over. I used my tape runner to run a piece of tape along the bottom edge of my card front and then folded the wrapper up onto the tape and pressed it down. I repeated this with the 2 sides as well and trimmed down the excess wrapper in the corners. Now you have a pouch that is open at the top and can be filled.

The images on the front of the card can either be glued inside the pouch (in which case, adhere them before assembling the pouch), or they can be glued to the front of the pouch. I chose to glue mine to the front on the cellophane wrapper. I find it easier to do this before I fill the pouch because everything is flat at that point. Once they were glued down, I filled my pouch with shaker bits. Then, the top was adhered on the back with tape runner again and the corners trimmed. I don’t pull the last wrapper edge quite as tightly as the other edges, as this allows a bit of room for the shaker bits to move around freely.

I adhered the shaker pouch to my card base with my tape runner and then stamped my inside sentiment. I finally added the adorable bear arm with the balloon to the inside along the edge of the card, and trimmed off the excess. How much fun is that bear arm?!

This is a very quick and simple card, but it is so much fun to shake up and see all the inside bits move around. I hope you’ll give it a try!