SAFARI ANIMALS CARD IN A BOX.

Oh my... this seems to be all the rage right now! Lookey here at the "card in a box" that I made using one sheet of the cutest safari animal scrapbook paper I've ever seen, plus one sheet of gold cardstock.  I had never even seen one of these until one of my fellow Close to My Heart consultants, Ellen Jarvis, at Card Monkeys paper Jungle, posted one on our Facebook page group. Here is hers:

She has another pretty pop up box card that she recently made for her mother on Mother's Day.  Go take a look, it's gorgeous.   And she also has a template she's included in her blog post, so YOU can make some of these darling cards in a box (for your personal use only).

Here's mine (below).  I'm not doing a tutorial as it is quite time consuming to make this "card".  I'll post a video link below that I used to make my box card. I'll post some front, side, top pictures of my card in a box,, and a close-up view of the cute, glittery animals, here:

The inside of the box has two strips that you glue on, and that is where you mount your figures, or animals or flowers, or whatever is "popping" out of the box!

I "fussy cut" all of the animals out of the scrapbook paper, which was a very stiff paper.

The "box" lays flat too, so you can put it in an envelope! Very ingenious. The video link I'm posting HERE from Stamping T! is for a smaller pop up card box, that would fit into an A2 sized envelope (like the first card box above from Ellen Jarvis).  Note that the little box area is shorter and not as tall as mine. My card in a box is made to a bigger size, so I had to custom make a 6x8 envelope to put it in.

Card is laid flat here to easily put into an envelope.

This is the other side of the "card" which is laid flat. There is a place to write your sentiment and add little doo dads.

Here's a link to Monica Gale's BLOG AND VIDEO who has instructions for making a larger box like mine.

I hope you receive a little inspiration from this post.  Be sure to  Follow Me on Bloglovin' so you can receive all of my blog posts in your own blog feed. 

Bye for now!                       .


 

MAY DAY BASKETS AND VIDEO TUTORIAL.

I've been on a roll lately paper crafting with pinks and greens. I can't seem to get enough of pink and green. The pink just pops, and speaks to me in ways I can't even explain. 

My recent project, that I found on You Tube, is a sweet little May Day basket. I guess I'm a little late for May Day, but at least I got it done in May!  Read to the end for some of my "reminiscing from the 50's".

I used a piece of paper from the cute 6x6 paper pad that I got on sale at our local Wal-Mart, the same papers I used for my 3x3 quick cards in my May 22nd, 2014 post. Just love this paper! Aren't the stripes festive and springy? It's from Hampton Art called Ki Memories.

 
The top trim is a piece of pink scrap paper that I had, and I also used it a 1" strip of the same pink for the handle, that I cut on the edges with scalloped scissors.  I didn't take pictures as I made this, but it's very easy. There's a step-by-step video below.

Start with a 6x6 piece of paper (for this box size that measures 2x2 inches). Score it on all sides at 2 inches and fold the score lines, and crease with your bone folder. Next, cut out each little corner so that you end up with a "cross" with a 2 inch box cut out of each corner.  Easy so far, right?

 

Now fold the 4 sides up and you can see the box forming.

Cut your trim strip at 1 inch, about 9 inches long and score down the middle of the long edge, then fold in half and crease well. Then put some Score tape on each side of the inside folds of the strip. 

Lay the strip flat with the sticky tape up. Tear off the cover of the sticky tape on the bottom half of the strip. You will place each flap of the box along the lower half of the strip, so that the flap of the basket butts to the fold on that long strip.

This is where it gets hard to explain, so look at this little video by ChicnScratch (love her videos!) to see how to attach the strip. Once you view it, you'll see how easy it is.

I must admit.... I LOVE those red polka dot boxes!  Once the flaps are attached, you then remove the cover off the sticky tape on the top piece of the long strip, and fold it down and attach it to the front of the box. You crease it as you go around each edge. Just watch the video, please? It's hard to explain without any pictures (duh... dumb me.. didn't take pictures as I made it).

I put a little tissue paper in my basket and added some paper flowers that I had already made, poked onto toothpicks, just to see how it would look. The handle is just a 1" piece of paper, cut with scalloped scissors on the edges, to whatever length you want. Glue on the inside of the box.

You don't have to put handles on, and you can fill these little boxes with treats or trinkets.  These are such fun to make and very easy.

What would you put inside and how would you arrange it? The gal on ChicnScratch called these little "strawberry boxes", like the kind we used to put our hand-picked strawberries into when we were kids. Remember when we would get up in the morning at 5:00 to catch a bus to take us to the strawberry fields? We would take a little sack lunch, always with a Shasta pop in it (NEVER any water), and pick until our backs ached, to earn "maybe" $1.20 for 8 hours of picking! Oh such memories.

Be sure to Follow me on Bloglovin' where each of my posts will appear on your very own blog feed. I'm going to post my Hexagon "box" tutorial very soon.

 

PINK AND GREEN AND FORK BOWS.

I've been playing alot lately with pink and green - my two favorite colors!  I decided to make some really cute little (quick) 3x3 cards. I recently bought a little paper pad of 6x6 papers that I just ADORE (pinks, greens, blues), and wanted to use some of the paper for "something", so I decided to make some little thank you notes to put in my Etsy shop shipments.  

When you get some pretty new paper, don't you just want to MAKE SOMETHING with it???? I do! It's like getting a new top or pants.. I just want to take it out and look at it, (wear it), play with it.

I cut some white cardstock pieces at 3x6 inches and folded them in half to make the little cards. Then I cut my cute 6x6 paper squares at 2-3/4" x 2-3/4" to put on top of the cards.I got 4 squares from each 6x6 piece.

I punched a 1-1/2" circle out of some glitter cardstock (from a 6x6 pad also) and a 1" circle out of white, and stamped a cute little sentiment on it. I mounted it on the 1-1/2" circle with a pop dot and glued a little gem on it. I made some little "fork bows" (many videos on YouTube for fork bows - I love making these!), and stuck them on with glue dots.

I just can't seem to tie a little bow by hand and make it look even and cute, especially the small ones. Here's a good You Tube video by Deb Valder for making fork bows:

 

And there you go! Just love these colors.  Be sure to Follow me on Bloglovin' to get my next blog post (and all new ones) for a darling little May basket that I made, with, of course, pink and green!

Don't you just love those polka dots? What are YOUR favorite colors?

 

MY BEAUTIFUL HEXAGONS.

I just couldn't wait to show you my beautiful hexagon boxes that I just finished! I am going to post a tutorial on how to make them, but wanted to give you a sneak peek! They are made using Close to My Hearts most LOVELY ARIANA papers. 

I am just SWOONING over these papers. They remind me so much of Anna Griffin's gorgeous vintage French papers and fabrics. Of course I'm going to have to get more before they retire at the end of July, 2014!

 

I adore the blue pin stripe paper, and the vintage looking flowers. (sigh......)

I could not quit taking pictures of my little boxes. There is no detachable lid! It is built into the box and looks like a star when you close it. Oh so ingenious.

I will tell you where I found this darling idea and try to give a "simple" (what me?) tutorial. Here's what the top "lid" looks like:

Another photo (below) of the top part, which looks complicated but is NOT:

Here's a closeup look (below) at one of  the GORGEOUS Ariana papers. They are all double-sided so there are six different pretty designs, plus you get six sheets of coordinating cardstock in your Ariana paper pack. Here is the flowered design that I am just giddy over:

Stay tuned for my tutorial. And so you don't miss it, be sure to sign up at BLOGLOVIN' to follow me!  See you soon!

 

TUTORIAL - 15 minute Quick Cards #2

OK ladies..... I found another neat QUICK cards video on You Tube and I want to share it with you!  You can make EIGHT cards really really fast. And they are darling too.

For my cards, I used all Close to My Heart products.

This idea came from Mary's Stamping Happenings and it was a YouTube video which you can watch HERE.  She called her cards "One Sheet Wonder" cards as she uses one sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 paper, that she designs herself, and cuts and/or tears it to put on each card.

Here are Mary's cards:

First, decorate your own cream cardstock with various stamps that fit your theme. Mary used an ocean theme using Stampin' Up stamps. I decided on a sewing theme, as I wanted to use a stamp set that had one large stamp (like her crayfish) that would stand out. I used our (CTMH of course) retired stamp set, Tailor Made, which I absolutely love:

First I stamped the dress forms in Terra Cotta, then the sewing machines in Lagoon, and the verse twice in slate.

Then I decided I needed another pop of color, so used pear ink for the little scissors. I also stamped some little chocolate brown buttons.

Of course you "could" use any piece of patterned paper for this step, instead of making your own, but I would use a light color.

Next, tear and cut the paper you just made, or your design paper according to Mary's pattern as follows:
 

When I made my template, I wrote the measurements on it. For example, Cards 1,2,3 and 4 are a square measuring 8-1/2 x 5-1/2, and then you make the cuts as shown. Cards 5,6,7 and 8 are another square measuring 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 and then cut as shown. It's really very easy.

Make some A2 cards (4-1/4 x 5-1/2) using some other colors of cardstock that match your inks. I decided on two different blues that I had, kraft and a light beige:

Now is the fun part! Place the pieces you cut or tore onto your cards, using my cards as a pattern. You can mat some of them or not. Cut or tear as you wish. Make some little tags in whatever shapes you want.  

I stamped some dress forms, and the little sewing machines, on cream cardstock, colored them with my watercolor pencils, and used our CTMH blending pen to blend the colors. I LOVE to color, so this was fun for me. You could just color your stamped image in one color, or stamp onto colored cardstock and leave it at that.

I also went over the stamped lines with a black fine tipped permanent pen.  I used Liquid Glass on the dress forms and sewing machines that I used as the focal point on each card. I also popped those up with foam dots.

Here are how my other cards turned out. I cut the various little tags using my Cricut basic shapes.

I colored the dress form "legs" with a black sharpie pen.

I colored in the blue sewing machine that I popped up and put Liquid Glass on. I just used some of my Sharpie pens and colored pencils.

You'll notice that I didn't use ANY bling or doo dads or buttons, ribbon or lace (which is VERY hard for me). I wanted to keep these simple and quick. If you want to fancy these up, OF COURSE you can! Add a few little gems here and there, or buttons or little bows.

Let me know if you decide to make some of these, and what theme you used.

They are so fun and fast.  You can shop HERE on my Close to My Heart website for any of the inks or papers you want to use.

Have fun!  And don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'.