Happy Fall! This is Mary with a colorful Fall card. The leaves are so fun to make! Google “Fall leaves” for many beautiful examples you can use as models for your leaves.
Making the Card
1. Cut a piece of bright yellow-orange cardstock 4 1/4 x 11 inches (half of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet). Fold in half. Optional: add a piece of leaf paper to the inside flap (you could also stamp leaves and color them). With the card closed, place main die at opening (across from fold) and cut. Trim both sides. Open card; on front side of card, line up leaves decorator die with hole and die cut.
2. Die cut a set of Woodland Leaves from white cardstock. Color using PanPastels. Draw veins with colored pencils. Use a fixative before shaping (this is optional but will prevent some of the color from coming off onto the pad). Shape each leaf using Metal Tool Set and molding pad. Add more color if necessary.
3. Stamp quote All Things of Nature in black ink on light yellow cardstock. Using label decorator die from Katie Label Pivot Card, center and die cut quote. Use Distress Inks and ink blending tool to decorate edges of label. (Optionally you could use PanPastels; be sure to use fixative.)
4. Adhere leaves, label (dimensional tape), sequins, and buttons as shown.
5. Dye seam binding ribbon with Distress Inks. Tie ribbon through back tag hole and twine through front tag hole as shown.
Greetings! Mary here, and Halloween is coming! Time for spooky scenes… and Susan’s new CountryScapes are perfect for setting the stage (or creating the card). I combined this with Karen Burniston’s Garden Bench decorated as an old weather-beaten seat under the eerie moon and creepy tree. What else could be lurking nearby?? Bwahaha…
Making the Card
1. Cut two pieces black cardstock to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (basically, one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet cut in half). Fold each in half then die cut one with Garden Bench main die as directed on packaging.
2. Protect card around bench with Post-it or other removable tape. Paint “wood” areas with a fairly thick coat of Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint. Add a very little on the iron works area to give it an aged look (I used my finger). The paint may pick up some black color from the paper but since the bench is in shadow, it works. Once completely dry, sponge over with Black Soot Distress Ink. Optional: wipe surface with slightly damp paper towel to remove a little surface ink while leaving ink in cracks.
3. Adhere other piece of folded black cardstock to back, lining up edges. When applying adhesive, be sure to avoid bench area. Add adhesive to one side, line up with fold on non-sticky side (easier to slide around this way), stick adhesive sides together, then adhere other side. Trim if necessary.
4. Die cut a circle (Ring Accordion) from orange decorative paper or orange cardstock. Use PanPastels to color Moon shadows and highlights. Adhere at top right corner inside card (see photo). Trim from back, flush with card. Die cut a scrap of cardstock with Clouds die to use as a template. Chalk under with light yellow or white PanPastel all across the sky, including over moon in a couple spots. Slightly smudge.
5. From black cardstock, cut pumpkins, cat, raven, bats (2 sets), tree, branches, and grass (see Supplies for links). Glue one set of bats over moon as shown. Add eyes to cat with white gel pen; add yellow or green ink on top (e.g. Twisted Citron Distress Ink) for color. Chalk highlights where moonlight would touch each (light yellow or white PanPastel); I did this with a stump and blended lightly with my finger. I left the grass alone. Trace pumpkins on yellow/orange cardstock. Cut inside the lines. Glue behind pumpkins. Chalk a little orange (around facial features) on pumpkins. Chalk highlights on raven as shown. Optional: add a small eye with black Enamel Accents and a dot of highlight with white gel pen. Add branches to tree in a slightly misshapen way (it’s a spooky tree!); chalk edges towards moon side (you may need to trim some branches to fit inside the card). For added dimension, rub behind elements with large ball stylus.
6. Adhere all elements where shown – using dimensional tape behind pumpkins and raven.
7. Die cut 2nd largest decorator tag from cream decorative paper or cream cardstock. Sponge Rusty Hinge Distress Ink through Shatter stencil in top right corner of tag for a subtle spider web background. Randomly edge/sponge with Black Soot and Rusty Hinge for an aged look. Stamp Happy Halloween and spider in black ink as shown. Optional: add black Enamel Accents to body of spider. Glue bats as pictured. Cut orange paper 1 7/8 inches wide (the width is 6″ from paper pad). Cut spiderweb paper 1 5/8 inches wide. Adhere spiderweb paper centered in orange. Cut to width of card. Wrap Halloween twine around three times, securing in back. Adhere with dimensional tape to bottom of card. Tie a bow with twine. Add tag (with dimensional tape) and bow as shown.
Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the December Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was to give year-round inspiration. We split up the months among the team so we could make sure that you have at least one inspiring card for every month of the year.
The Designer Challenge Team includes members from the USA, Canada, U.K. and Australia, so I encouraged them to craft for their own country’s holidays and dates (U.K. Mother’s Day is in March, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October and Australian Father’s Day is in September) so our challenge would be internationally inspiring. They did an amazing job!
August didn’t have much by way of international holidays, so it was the perfect month for Birthday cards. (My twins’ birthday is in August) I wanted to create a new twist on an old classic – the Explosion Card. This video tutorial will show how to make explosion sides for a traditional pop-up card. I used the Happy Birthday die in the video, but this technique would also work with the other general pop-up dies; Lorna Label, Lots of Pops, Lucy Label, Garden Bench and the new general pop-up being released in a few weeks at CHA. (Does the anticipation have you on the edge of your seat?)
Here are a few photos of the video project. For a card like this, where the inside is so spectacular, I saw no reason to do too much decorating on the front – a few stripes to tie in with the inside colors and then let the magic be in the discovery of the explosion pop-up card. After all, this card will most likely be displayed open, not closed.
To attach the twine I simply punched small holes on each side of the explosion, threaded the ends of the twine through the holes and then tied the ends in a knot.
I hung two Props2 birthday hats from the twine using tiny safety pins. I chose safety pins so I could seat the pins onto the twine and they wouldn’t slide to the middle. To make sure the hats could hang vertically, I made a slotted hole in each hat to accommodate the bottom part of the safety pin.
Anything that is attached to the “bellows” (as my husband John calls them) will also pop-up, so you can see in the photo below where I added a couple more Props2 Birthday hats attached randomly to the explosion side pieces.
Thin Paper – Bazzill Miss Teagen Sue collection (older retired – use any other lightweight patterned paper)
Ribbon & Twine – Creative Impressions
Tiny Safety Pins – Advantus
Magnets – Basic Grey
Brayer, Fineline 20 gauge bottle, Lineco glue
Let’s get inspiration for a year’s worth of cards, courtesy of the 2014 Karen Burniston Designer Challenge Team and Guest Designer Sandy Diller.
JANUARY
Fran Sabad starts off the year with a shiny golden New Year’s Card. She used the Katie Label Accordion and turned it into landscape orientation by following the instructions in my video tutorial. So elegant!
Frances Byrne is our resident wonder from down under! She always makes the most amazing cards, and this Australia Day card is no exception. She combined the Spiral Circle Pull Card with the All Seasons Tree and then styled Honey the Bear as a Koala. G’card, Mate!
FEBRUARY
Raquel Mason used the doubling technique from last month’s video to make a Double Heart Pivot Card for Valentine’s Day inspiration. She also styled Honey the Bear as a chocolate bear. Perfect colors and styling.
Frances Byrne made this gorgeous Happy Chinese New Year card by mixing pages from the Circle Accordion and the Fancy Accordion with the Frame Edges for each album. What perfect colors and stamps!
MARCH
Kelly Booth‘s birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day so naturally she chose March and crafted this glittery green magical card. The Ring Accordion, Poppy the Owl, Props1 and the Clouds Embossing Folder all make an appearance, along with the ECD 4-leaf clovers die.
Helen Cryer is from the U.K., where Mother’s Day is celebrated in March. She made this lovely 4-page Oval Accordion card, also incorporating the Oval Dots Frame Edges. Her color and image choices are perfection, as usual!
APRIL
You had me at amazing, Caz Counsell! I just love what Caz did for an April Fools Day card – everything is backwards, from the way the card opens to the greeting itself. But fear not . . . you can read it in the mirror if you hold it just so! AMAZING! I also love her choice of the Ring Frame Edges on the sides of the Katie Label Accordion (done Landscape style) to give the labels a different look.
Raquel Mason will make you smile with this bright fun landscape Oval Accordion Easter card featuring Hoppy the Frog dressed like a bunny. She also used the Oval Flourish Frame Edges.
MAY
Shelly Hickox made a drop-dead gorgeous Mother’s Day card with a very cool technique for notching together gutted Oval Accordion pages to make a tunnel card. Can you see all the layers of goodness in the card? Make sure you click on Shelly’s name to see more photos on her blog. She also used the fence from the House Pivot Card and the banner from the Lorna Label die.
If you notice a Landscape Accordion theme going on this month, it all started with a video tutorial I posted last month teaching how to convert the portrait-style Accordion Album dies (Oval, Katie Label) into Landscape orientation. Learn this technique on my blog post: Video Tutorial: Converting Portrait Accordions into Landscape. I am always so flattered when the team likes my videos enough to try the techniques.
JUNE
Donna Wright is from the U.K. where they also celebrate Father’s Day in June. She used the Landscape Accordion technique with the Katie Label Accordion to make a World’s Greatest Dad card. What a great use for the ECD Wheelbarrow die!
Everyone needs graduation cards in June and here is some fabulous inspiration courtesy of Summer Hills-Painter. She used the graduate’s school colors with the landscape technique on the Oval Accordion, plus Oval Flourish Frame Edges. Check out that mini tassel!
JULY
Karen Aicken combined the Spiral Circle Pull Card with the Damask Embossing folder and the little maple leaf from the All Seasons Tree die into a spectacular Canada Day card. I love all those little leaves flying on the spiral.
This 4th of July card by Shelly Hickox is patriotic and perfect. She used the Katie Label Accordion and Katie Stars Frame Edges along with decorator ovals and the banners from the Lots of Pops die. Notice the glittered banner behind the word celebrate and the occasional glittered silver stars in the Frame Edges.
AUGUST
Sandy Diller always makes such amazing cards when she guest designs for the Challenges. This month is no exception with this fabulous tutorial for how to elongate the Katie Label Accordion die to make this 5-panel card for her friend turning 70. She cut SEVENTY candles for the card. What a great friend! The Agatha Edges and flourish work great atop all her interactive pages. Make sure you click her name to go see the tutorial.
SEPTEMBER
Frances Byrne also made a landscape accordion, this one with the Katie Label Accordion and Katie Stars Frame Edges, to celebrate Father’s Day, which is in September in Australia. Having the landscape orientation gave her the right size panels for her perfect stamps.
Summer Hills-Painter shows a great September Back-to-School card using the Ring Accordion. What a wonderful way to kick off the year with your child’s teacher. As usual, Summer picked the perfect combination of papers and elements.
OCTOBER
Karen Aicken is Canadian, where Thanksgiving is celebrated in October. She made this lovely card using a technique first seen on a card by Raquel Mason, where a transparency on the first panel of a Katie Label Pivot Card reveals a greeting when the card is closed and disappears when opened.
Shelly Hickox mentioned that Halloween came and went before she got a chance to use this gorgeous Graphic 45 patterned paper. This challenge was the perfect reason to pull it back out and fussy cut all the scenery for an amazingly complex-looking, but easily-assembled Lots of Pops card. You can see a video of this card in action by clicking Shelly’s name.
NOVEMBER
Fran Sabad got very clever with her punches and fashioned a turkey to fit the Circle Accordion Album. On the front of her album (click her name to see it) she added the Ring Frame Edges around the circle opening – a very clever way to use those edges.
This is my original project from the video tutorial, which not only shows the technique for making the portrait albums into landscape, but also for how to style Dutch the Fox and Honey the Bear as woodland creatures instead of Characters. It’s all on this blog post: Video Tutorial: Converting Portrait Accordions into Landscape.
DECEMBER
Donna Wright created a spectacular Fancy Accordion Advent Calendar card with adorable little jeweled numbered doors. Each door has a little image behind it, so you should definitely click over to see it. She also used every one of the frame edges from the Fancy Frame Edges and the Fancy Seasons Frame Edges die sets. This is AMAZING!
Caz Counsell wanted to show a quick and easy Christmas Pivot card for a December idea. She used the Katie Label Pivot Card and the Agatha Edges.
Karen Aicken made this fabulous Hanukkah card for her daughter recently. She used the Spiral Circle Pull Card and added little dreidels on the spiral when the card is pulled open. (Click her name to see the inside of the card)
Sandy Diller also made a Hanukkah card using the Fancy Accordion and Fancy Frame Edges and traditional Hanukkah symbols. What a gorgeous album!
Kelly Booth made this delightful 6-page Oval Accordion card recently featuring a variety of snowman stamps colored to perfection. She used the Oval Clouds Frame Edges on each page in her signature color (teal!)
So there you have it! A year’s worth of inspiration using Pop it Ups dies.
On a more personal note, I really want to thank everyone at Elizabeth Craft Designs, my amazing Designer Challenge Team and all my fellow crafters, customers and students for making my first year with ECD so successful. Joining this family has truly been like coming home and I am so inspired to bring you more innovative die designs in 2015.
Join us next year (see what I did there?) on January 21, 2015 when the team will be showing off new dies being released at CHA Winter 2015 in a challenge I’m calling “Triple Categories” (Mixing dies from at least three categories)
Debra Hensley here today. Fall has arrived bringing all kinds of beautiful colors. So much to see and celebrate: The changing rainbow of the leaves, pumpkins in many shapes and sizes, acorns for the squirrels, and as with every season an abundance of birthdays! I wanted to celebrate Fall birthdays with a colorful Spiral Circle Pull Card.
Here is the card open
The Spiral Circle Pull Card die does all the work for you and makes it easy to make a fun card for any occasion.
Here’s how I made this Fall themed version:
1. Cut a piece of double sided pattern paper to 7.25″ x 5.5″ and fold in half. Once die cut this will make a standard A2 size card. Align the center tabs of the die on the center fold and die cut with the Spiral die inside the circle pull die. Die cut a green circle with the decorator circle die included with the set.
2. Ink all the edges and pieces with brown ink. Adhere the green circle to the circle front of the card, making sure to adhere only around the outer edge of the spiral so the spiral can still open. Add one small glue dot to the back side of the spiral in the center, close the card and press down securely to attach the other end of the spiral to the inside of the card.
3. Adhere pumpkins and leaves from the Pumpkins Peel-Off in Gold to watercolor paper. Color using a water brush and Distress Markers. Sponge lightly with gold ink. Let dry and trim closely. Color edge with Spiced Marmalade Distress Marker to cover the cut edge and make it look more finished.
4. Trim off the leaves from the left side of the Pumpkin Peel-Off. Adhere the pumpkins on the front circle on foam adhesive. Adhere the two cut leaves behind the pumpkin, making sure the card can open easily. Adhere the other cut leaves to the spiral inside the card.
5. Using a Transfer Sheet, remove the negative part of two maple leaves from the Leaves
Peel-Off in Gold. Transfer the larger to the inner circle of the card and the smaller one on the top right inside so that it shows on the front when closed. You can view a great video by Els showing how to use the transfer sheets HERE
6. Die cut the large decorator Lorna Label from the Lorna Label Pop Up in red and adhere to the back of the card for a place to write a message.
7. Adhere the Large Happy Birthday Peel-Off in Gold around the outer circle inside the card. Add Decorative corners and borders to finish the card. Here is a close up of inside.
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you give the Spiral Circle Pull Card and coloring Peel-Offs with Distress markers a try and make a Fall themed Birthday card for the special people in your life!
Don’t toss those scraps! The pieces that are left after you make Katie Label Accordion cards can be combined to create interesting frames for flat-front cards. The shape and dimensions of the frames will depend on how many pieces you use and how you arrange them.
In keeping with the theme and palette of the scraps I had on hand I added pumpkins, leaves,
a Jack ‘O Lantern, wood grain and solid color cardstock, a black spider and some black stars.
I know these won’t be the last of my Scrap Frames projects. I’ve got a zippy plastic bag on my work table and plan to keep refilling it.
HOW TO:
1. Arrange patterned paper leftovers from Katie Label Accordion cards to create frames in various shapes and sizes. When pleased with the combinations, glue them to speckled or solid color cardstock rectangles measuring about a quarter-inch larger than the frame on all sides.
2. Put Pumpkins and Leaves Peel-offs in Black or Gold, or a combination, onto Fire Opal Gemstones Shimmer Sheetz. Cut around the shapes staying as close as possible to the outlines.
3. Use the photos for layout ideas. Assemble A2 size (4.25 x 5.5 inch) top- or side-fold card fronts: One frame, a pair of pumpkins or a Jack ‘O Lantern, and two or three leaves per card.
4. Options:
Use foam tape or dots to add dimension to pumpkins and leaves (Peel-offs sheet called Pumpkins includes leaves and a Jack ‘O Lantern as well as pumpkins).
Add a spider and some stars from Halloween in Frame Peel-offs in Black.
Remember to look at both front and back of the scraps if they have been cut from 2-sided papers.
It’s Debra Hensley today. In Texas, Fall has many colors but most of them are shades of green. The tall Pine trees start showing Pinecones to signify the turning of the season. I love looking up at a the towering Pines against a blue sky. That image was the inspiration for my card today. One of the first techniques I learned from Els was a red glittered background with white glittered snowflakes inlaid seamlessly into the panel. It was so beautiful! I knew I wanted to use that technique for my card today.
Here’s how I created my card:
1. Fold a 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of white cardstock in half to form a standard A2 size card. Cut a piece of Kraft colored cardstock to 4 x 5 1/4. Ink the edges with brown ink and adhere to the white base.
2. Cut a piece of white cardstock to 5 1/2 x 4 1/2. Cover it with a piece of double sided adhesive sheet. Adhere well and trim to 5 x 3 3/4. Using some extra pieces of release sheet I had saved from other projects (Always save those release sheets!) Die cut 3 pine sprigs and one pinecone overlay from the release sheets.
3. To created the inlay, remove the release sheet from the cardstock panel, careful not to get fingerprints on it as they will show in the glitter. Place the pine sprig die cuts on the adhesive side where you want them to be. Place the release sheet you pulled off the panel over the top to avoid touching the adhesive, then rub over the pine sprig die cuts well so there are no lifted edges. This will ensure nice crisp images.
4. I created a mix of Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and Sky Silk Microfine Glitter to get a lighter blue for the sky. Cover the entire panel with the glitter and polish well with your finger making sure not to lift any of the edges of the pine sprig die cuts.
5 Remove the release sheet pine sprigs, careful not to touch the exposed adhesive.
6. Using various shades of Green Glitter, sprinkle different sections of the pine sprigs.
7. Rub the glitter in well. Brush off the remaining glitter and save the mixture for another use. You can purchase empty mixing bottles for just that purpose in our online store here.
The panel should look like this when you are finished. Isn’t it beautiful!
8. To created the pinecones, die cut three pinecone silhouettes from kraft colored cardstock covered with double sided adhesive. Peel off the liner and add the pinecone overlay to the exposed adhesive carefully. Glitter with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and polish well, careful not to lift any edges.
9. Remove the overlay release sheet and glitter with Chocolate Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish well. In the photo below, the last pinecone is done in reverse so you can see the difference if you wanted to do it another way.
10. Add the pinecones to the card front with foam adhesive on the bottom only and a glue dot on the top to give dimension. The second pinecone in the cluster is adhered directly to the background with no pop dots.
11. Cut a strip of white cardstock to 3 1/4 by 3/4. Cut a strip of kraft cardstock to 3 x 5/8. Ink the kraft strip with brown ink. Cut a “v” into one end of each strip. Adhere together. Add Missing You Peel-off in Gold to the strip. Add adhesive to the left edge only. Use your fingers to curve to give a banner like effect. Adhere to card front. Add Gold corner Peel-Offs to the four corners to complete.
Here is another view of the completed card
I hope you give the Glitter Inlay Technique a try. The results are always stunning and it is a lot of fun to do!
Hi crafty friends, it’s Raquel here today. I wanted to make a fall theme card with lots of texture, so I used burlap ribbon, peel-offs and Velvet Adhesive Sheets to create this project. I loved discovering and learning a new way to use Velvet Adhesive Sheets! Let me show you how it works.
1. Cut tan cardstock at 5.5 x 8.5. Score at 4.25 and fold in half for a standard A2 size card base.
2. Cut Bronze Shimmer Sheetz at 4 x 5. Emboss using the Trendy Tiles 1 embossing folder and lightly sand with a sanding block. To alter the sanded and embossed Shimmer Sheetz, pounce Blending Solution, Currant & Meadow Alcohol Ink onto Shimmer Sheetz and swipe the White StazOn pad over the top of the Shimmer Sheetz. Tip: To avoid getting any alcohol ink onto the white ink pad, use an applicator tool instead of the pad to apply the color.
3. Die cut the words Thank You three times from white cardstock and once from White Velvet Adhesive Sheet. Layer and glue the four pieces on top of each other, ending with the Velvet on top. Use markers to create an ombre (blended color) effect. Start with the darkest color at the bottom and blend to the lightest color at the top. Tip: It’s very easy to color on Velvet Adhesive Sheets, and it’s so pretty too!
4. Cut a length of burlap ribbon to 5.25 and staple to Shimmer Sheetz.
5. Use fine-point tweezers to remove Pumpkins Peel-off and place it sticky side up on a clean craft sheet on your work table. Cut a piece of White Velvet Adhesive large enough to fit the Peel-Off. Place Velvet Adhesive Sheet (Velvet side down) on top of the Peel-Off. The Peel-off will lift onto the Velvet.
6. Color with Tombow Dual Brush Markers. Use the blender pen to blend the colors. Set aside to dry. Cut out images. (Drying time depends on climate and how heavily the color is applied.)
7. Assemble card as shown. For added dimension, use foam tape behind the pumpkins.
8. To decorate a coordinating envelope: Cut a piece of Sticker Transfer Sheet large enough to fit the negative pieces leftover from the Pumpkins. Place Sticker Transfer Sheet on top of negative pieces and burnish with a bone folder or the bowl of a spoon. Slowly lift up the Sticker Transfer Sheet to make sure all pieces have been lifted. If not keep burnishing. Move the Transfer sheet to the lower left side of the envelope and burnish again to release the pieces onto the envelope.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and feel inspired to try it yourself.