HD A Sparkling Season - Family Fun Part 1

Today I have 7 cards - the first HALF of the Family Fun Set of card making materials from Hunkydory's A Sparkling Season.  Because I got not only the topper set, but also the 8 x 8 paper set, I have a lot of materials.  For these cards, I used the peachy-turquoise colored pieces (saving the purple-blue for Part 2).  Here's a picture of the full topper set - a topper sheet with two (AS) adoreable scoreable card stock:

And the related 8 x 8 papers:

Here's a picture of the 7 cards:

In addition to these materials, I used some of the coordinating AS from a separate purchase. I also used some inside sentiment stamps that my Mom has.  Now for a closer look at each one.

Card #1:

Here I took part of the AS sheet - adding another piece of border and then trimming it to get the look you see here.  I added another border using a ribbon and pieces of the die cut frame - then added the focal with some foam tape.

Inside:

Inside I added pieces of patterned paper & more of the frame for borders. 

Card #2:

Here I took a strip of one of the 8 x 8 papers, added fussy cut penguins from the same source.  I added a little bit of coordinating AS & some Dazzles border stickers (from HOTP).  The sentiment is from a HD Christmas Sentiments book.

Inside:

Here I have strips of that coordinating AS & a stamped sentiment. (Mom's stamp - as all of them are.)

Card #3:

This is the card shown at the top of the page. The background is cut from the topper - pieced together to get the border top and bottom.  After gluing it to the card front, I traced around the inside of the die cut frame and then cut along that line through both thicknesses - forming an aperture.  I cut a piece of acetate and sandwiched it between the frame & the background.  Then I took a cut out sentiment from the 8 x 8 paper & layered it on some holographic paper attached to card stock and die cut it, creating the silver holographic mat you see here.

Inside:

The piece I cut out from the background served as a mat for the die cut focal piece.  I added this to the inside, arrancing it so it could be seen through the acetate when the card is closed. 

Card #4:

Here I have a piece of an 8 x 8 paper for the main card front.  I matted it on a holographic silver from my stash. A scrap of silver card stock forms a border from which the star-shaped sentiment hangs (sentiment from a Hunkydory Christmas Sentiments book).

Inside:

Scraps of patterned paper & holographic silver form borders on the inside - along with the stamped sentiment.

Card #5:

Once again I have a strip of the 8 x 8 papers for the card front.  I added fussy cut penguins, a sentiment from the HD Sentiment book, a bit of ribbon from my stash, and Dazzles border stickers.

Inside:

Patterned paper scraps & Dazzles border stickers form borders above & below the stamped message.

Card #6:

This card starts with a piece of the 8 x 8 paper for the main card.  I wrapped a piece of baker's twine around the top to form a border from which the sentiment tag "hangs".  I finished it with a little bow.

Inside:

A little strip of the 8 x 8 paper forms a border on the inside - along with a stamped message.

Card #7:

This last card also started with a piece cut from the 8 x 8 papers.  Then I cut another strip from the same paper, but turned it to the back side (it's double sided) to form a bit of a border.  Dazzles border stickers & a sentiment from the HD Sentiment book complete the card front.

Inside:

More of the same completes the inside.

2 Styles of HD Concept Cards - Windows To The Heart/Warmest Wishes

Today I have 5 cards to show you.  The come from the Hunkydory kit called Windows to the Heart - Warmest Wishes, and are two of the concept card types that came with the kit.  The first is called a Lantern Light card and the 2nd is Through the Keyhole. 

Concept cards usually come in sets of four.  Each of the 4 is designed to make the same style card, but in different colors and often different focals.  I have a policy when dealing with this type of card.  Most of the time I will make ONE the way they intended.  If I like it, I'll make more; if not I'll use the materials to make something else.  In this case I was crafting with my Mom, so she got 2 of them & I got 2 of them, leaving me only 1 to figure something else out if I didn't want to make another as designed.  If you're counting, that should mean that I have 4 cards to show you - but I already said I have 5.  That's because the Lantern style (which you see above made as intended) is more challenging than most when it comes to using the pieces differently, so I'm showing what Mom did with her 2nd one as well.

Card #1: Lantern Light as intended - You can see the finished card in the picture above.  It's very 3 dimensional, and it was QUITE tricky to get all the pieces glued in place. It comes with a box you can put together for giving it in, but of course, it wouldn't mail well!  Since I mostly make cards for mailing, I didn't figure I needed to make a 2nd like it.

Card #2: My 2nd lantern light card

This time instead of folding the "windows" part of the lantern, I put acetate behind it & cut an aperture in the card front so you could see through to the inside.  I decorated with some border stickers, a Dazzles greeting, and two of the little stars that came in the set.

Inside:

Since Mom wasn't using her "windows" piece, I used it to cover the glued edges on the inside.  The I cut the lantern pieces to create the look you see on the left side of the picture - adding embellishments from the set as I chose.

Card #3: Mom's card

As you can see, Mom used her materials differently.  The punch-outs from the windows are what she used as the columns of her lantern (I saved mine for another project) - along with some other pieces from the set that form the top & bottom.  She also added several embellishments from the kit.

Inside:

Card #4: Through the Keyhole as designed

It's a bit hard to tell given the angle I took this picture from, but this is actually a thin box card.  The focal is hung on a brad, allowing it to swing open (see picture below):

On the inside you can see a lovely little verse that's been printed there.

Card #5: My variation on Through the Keyhole

This time, instead of making a box, I made a standard A2 card with the materials (actually trimmed a little off the front edge of the card so it was more like 4" x 5.5").  I put the keyhole mechanism together with a brad as before, but this time I glued the verse directly to the card front - then raised the keyhole background & mechanism on foam tape to there was plenty of room to rotate the piece to see the poem. I added the sentiment by gluing it to the brad in the center & putting foam tape on ONLY the left side of it so the right side allows free rotation of the keyhole cover as you see in the picture below:

Inside:

This is the piece that was designed to go on the back of the box card & said "To" and "From" on it (forgot to take a picture of that on the first card).  I fussy cut out the "To/From" label to use on another project and stamped a sentiment inside of it (stamps from JustRite's Mix and Match Christmas Blessings).  The flower embellishments are from the set.

More in Lavenders & Purples

Today I finally finished the rest of the lavender papers from the HOTP Garden Journal Set.  Though I didn't mention it, I started using them in this post.  I'm really working to finish up some of my older paper sets.  Anyway, here are the last 3 cards made using these papers.

Card #1:

This first card is quite simple.  It started with some scraps of paper & a calendar page.  I DID make it larger than I usually do - 6 1/2" square - because I wanted as much of the cat and flowers as you see here.  That unfortunately means that it doesn't fit in the space I have set aside for my finished cards!  I didn't think of that when I decided to go a bit larger.  But I DO like the finished card.  

The focal was quickly cut down from the original calendar page to the size you see here - and then matted with two different papers - scraps from the paper set that I'm trying to get used up.  I had to piece the bottom layer to get it wide enough.  After matting the focal, I went looking for a sentiment I liked.  When I found it in a Hunkydory sentiment book - trimmed in gold - I decided to frame the focal with gold to tie everything together.  The frame is cut with dies from Tattered Lace called Georgette Squares.

Inside:

Inside is even more simple - scraps of leftovers from the front, and then a small version of front focal framed in gold (same die set).

Card #2:

This card is my least favorite, but I HAD to use up all that ephemera somehow!  As you can see, I fussy cut the butterfly & die cut the flowers - inking the edges of all of them.  Scraps create the background - with ribbon from my stash creating a border of sorts.  I stamped the greeting on a scrap of the paper (small stamp set from Studio G).  The butterfly has foam tape under its wings & the antennae are hand drawn.

Inside:

Inside is more of the same.

Card #3:

This last card (also shown at the top of this post) may be my favorite.  The card front is embossed with a Darice folder called Damask.  The beautiful lacy frame/mat is actually die cut from the center of the mat used for the first card in this post - using another die from the Georgette Squares die set.  I cut another mat to go in the center of the lacy one - from a different scrap of paper (same paper set) - before adding my focal.  The focal is a piece of printed vellum from my stash that I adhered to a small piece of white card stock.  The greeting was from my stash.

This makes a total of 7 cards from that set of papers (augmented with stuff from my stash).  I must say that it feels good to get them used up!  (Of course, there are still lots more where those came from, so I have my work cut out for me to get them all used up.)

Blank Slate #2

Today I revisited the Blank Slate Challenge - the only paper that can be used is white card stock.  This time I worked with adhesive & a bunch of glitter (and my craft room will never be the same - glitter is EVERYWHERE).  

I started with a piece of white card stock just smaller than the card front.  I covered it with double-sided adhesive and then added a stencil from The Crafter's Workshop called Mini Birdhouses.  Next I cut out a couple of cloud shapes from the cover sheet for the double-sided adhesive and added them.  

Once these masks were in place, I added green glitter below the top rail of the fence - then blue glitter above it.  Once that glitter was rubbed in and most of the excess removed, I removed the masks & added white glitter in their place.  Then I colored the birds and one room of a bird house with markers (Scroll & Brush markers).  Finally, I stamped and heat embossed the word "FRIENDS" - from the stamp set Friends Forever Quotes (Fiskars) - using a turquoise glitter embossing powder.  It was actually the words "FRIENDSHIP", but I made sure that the last three letters were not inked up.  Then I cut around the embossed word & added it to the card front using dimensional tape.

Inside:

Inside I used some glitter ribbon for borders & stamped the sentiment (from the same Fiskars set) with a turquoise ink.

Another Swing Easel Card

This is the second Swing Easel card that I've made.  You can see the first one here, along with a link to the tutorial.  I realized when I made the first one that I wanted to use a heavier card stock.  This card was made using Hunkydory's Adorable Scoreable (AS) card stock which worked much better.  I paired it with a Little Book page (Little Book of Perfect Planet) to create this card.

When Closed:

Here you see the front of the card when it is closed for mailing.  It was pretty straight forward to make.  I cut a piece of the AS that was 11" x 5.5".  Next, I scored at 2.5", 3", 3.5" and 5.5".  Then cut a 1 inch frame all around the card front EXCEPT between the 3" and 3.5" score lines.  You will fold along the score lines for the frame part - but not the center part.  All but the 3" score line will be mountain folds.  The 3" one will be a valley fold.  

To decorate the outside, I took a Sharpie marker and drew around the edges of the card to form a narrow mat-like line.  I cut the words "Happy" and "Birthday" from a piece in my stash (from HOTP) & glued it to a small piece of the AS.  I used the marker around the edges of this too, before attaching to the upper left corner of the focal - making sure that ONLY the portion over the focal had adhesive on it.

Inside:

I started with scraps of the AS to form the top & bottom border (using the Sharpie along the edges as I did on the card front).  I then added a 1/2-inch strip of black AS from my stash to the top of the lower border.  The "CAKE" and "CELEBRATE" words are also cut from something in my stash.  I used foam tape on the "Celebrate" to help hold the card front when readied for display.  Because I didn't want the white of the foam tape to show, I used the Sharpie along the edges.  Then I used a standard hole punch to cut little circles for the lower right edge.  I added them with thin foam tape - coloring the edges with a Sharpie as before.  Once again, when prepared for display it looks like the picture at the top of this post.

Blank Slate Challenge

Today's card is for a "Blank Slate" challenge - only paper to be used is white card stock - everything else must be non-paper products.  First, I used a 3-D embossing folder for the background (Gemini - Ornate Lace). Then I added narrow white ribbon with a silver border, and silver vinyl stickers (Dazzles from HOTP, sentiment from my stash - not sure who made it).  The same ribbon forms a bow at the top of the heart (vinyl sticker on white card stock - fussy cut to give a mat - added with foam tape).

Inside:

 Inside is even more simple than the card front - a piece of ribbon for a border, and a die cut heart (Love & 5 Hearts from HOTP).

Sketch & Structure Challenges & More

 

Today I have four cards.  They use papers from a HOTP set that I want to get used up (and is a challenge on the MB I frequent), and also fit four other challenges there.  This first one is a "Swing Easel" card (tutorial here), and the 2nd is a sketch challenge, third is a challenge to include a cat (the first three of these do that!) and the 4th is for both a sea life and a pearlescent challenge. 

To make this first card, I simply followed the instructions in the tutorial for making the card base. 

Card Front: 

I added paper & ribbon from my stash as you can see.  The sentiment was stamped & embossed using a white powder from HOTP (from JustRite's With Sympathy stamp set).  The ends of the sentiment layers were cut with a Stampin' Up punch.  The focal is from a calendar.

Inside:

Inside I have more ribbon & paper - and another stamped greeting (this one from Creative Craft Products called Ultimate Sentiments - Fur Babies).  The sentiment us lifted on foam tape so it can hold the easel when set for display (as you can see in the picture at the top of this post).

Card #2:

This card was made using papers from the same HOTP set - this time loosely following a sketch challenge.  I inked the edges of the papers using VersaMagic Malted Mauve ink. The ribbon is from my stash.  The focal is again from a calendar and is raised on foam tape.  The sentiment was a silver sticker that I colored with a permanent Bic marker so it was the color I chose.

Card #3:

This card mostly uses stuff from the HOTP set.  I DID add a picture from a calendar for the focal - and a bit of string from my stash.

Inside:

More stuff from the set is used on the inside of the card.

Card #4:

The focal is a piece of printed velum backed with white card stock.  The background & word "Journal" were from the HOTP set.  The sea life die cuts were from a swap.  The "relax and" words were die cut from an alphabet die set.  Then, platinum colored liquid pearls were used to add a bit of color to the die cuts & 3 small dots of it added to the bottom left corner of the focal.

Inside:

More background paper & another pearlized sea life die cut decorate the inside.

Use Up the Trash!

This is a bit of an unusual card for me.  It started with a piece of "trash" - a piece of printed card stock that was used as packaging material because it clearly had been misprinted on the back.  I thought it was pretty & decided to find some way to use it.  

The piece was just a bit larger than the front of a card, so I covered the card front with it and used the leftovers to form borders on the inside.  Then I went looking for SOMETHING to go with it!  In going through my stash, I found a bunch of stickers - several of which I fussy cut - to add a leafy border top and bottom, a large leaf with caterpillar for focal, a small ladybug, and then a thicker flower sticker to anchor the whole.  

The flower came with a button in the center of it, but that made it so high I was pretty sure it would have problems in the mail.  So, I removed the real button and added a paper one (Nellies Flower Multi-Frame die), drawing in thread lines with a fine line marker.

Finally, I added the die cut sentiment you see at the top (Ultimate Words by Card Making Magic).

Inside:

I added another sticker on the inside - this time a butterfly - and then wrote the rest of the sentiment by hand since I didn't have a stamp that said what I wanted it to say.  It's a pretty simple card, but it made good use of that "trash" and used up some of my excess stash besides!