HD Pop-a-Topper Fabulous Florals

Today I have 5 cards I made while crafting with my mother who is currently in rehab after an amputation.  It was an opportunity to see what I could do with a very limited set of supplies and tools. I pulled a couple of sheets of Hunkydory Fabulous Florals Pop-a-Topper, misc paper scraps and card stock that coordinated with them.  I also added some doilies, and some pre-stamped sentiment strips and Sassy's LLC strip sentiments.  That with card blanks was all I had except cutters/scissors, ruler, pencil, and glue.  These first 3 cards are A2 sized, while the last two are 5 x 7's.

Card #1 (above): I used a piece of card stock for matting, cutting out the center of the back mat to create the forward square mat.  The patterned paper was a scrap of some printed digi-paper.

Card #2:

Even though I didn't have a die cutting machine or dies with me, one of my scraps was a piece of red paper that had been die cut using a Spellbinders Labels Four die.  This scrap worked well for a mat for my focal - which was then matted with a doily before being glued to the two patterned paper pieces matted background.  I finished with one of those pre-stamped strip sentiments.

Card #3:

This time, my scrap of paper wasn't big enough to make a normal background, so I cut a couple of strips off the side and spread them out to form a bit of  a border strip.  I also cut a couple of pieces of doily to create interest in two of the corners.  Though I didn't have a cutting die to create mats for my focal and sentiment, I found that if I placed the corner of the HD pieces in each corner and fussy cut around them, I was able to create mats that worked well.  In addition the the HD sentiment, I added a small stamped sentiment in the upper left corner.

Card #4:

I didn't have a large piece of white card stock - something to rectify for future such endeavors - so I found one of my ugliest patterned paper scraps that had white on the back side and used it to mat the piece of red.  I once again matted most of my pieces to complete the card you see above.

Card #5:

Here I used a couple of scraps & a cut piece of doily to create this final card.  As you can see, I again used two strip sentiments to complete the card - this time cutting flag ends on each.

Grand Palace (Pages 14-17)

This is such slow going!  It takes FOREVER to sort through the pictures and choose what one's I'm going to print and what size I want to print them!  The journaling takes a fair amount of time too - sometimes research as well.  In addition, space is at a premium on the page if I'm going to make sure we can see them well, so I find myself being less creative - not much space for embellishing if I DID want to.  However . . .

Page 14 (above): This page DOES have a vellum pocket on it that holds the visitor's guide to the Grand Palace.  It's always a bit challenging to fit things like this visitor's guide on the page.  Placing the journaling on the bottom of this pocket helps.  Pretty much everything else is computer printed - except for the little arrow that helps make it clear which picture I was talking about.  Oh yeah - I also inked around the edges of the title block to bring in a bit more of the dark blue color.  I should probably also mention that sometimes I end up with pictures that are just a tad to large for the space.  That happened here.  I sliced edges off the sides to crop them - then glued cut off strip in place so I didn't lose my white border.

Page 15 AB:

Here I mimicked the gold and blues in the pictures by using a solid blue background with a blue/yellow/orange print to serve as backdrops for the words on the page.  As I've often done, these two half pages are the outside of a gate fold. 

Page 15 CDE:

This is what you see when you open the gate fold.  Background papers are from a Recollections paper pad called Green House.

Page 15 CE:

Here's a closer look at the flaps. For the matting, I used a green marble paper from HOTP.

Page 15D:

And here's a closer look at the middle page.  I have gold foil tag board die cut corners (Spellbinders die called Antique Corner) in the upper left and lower right side of the page.  Since the one in the upper left went over the white part of the photo, I decided to mat the lower one on white so they'd look similar.  I'm pretty happy with my focal photo on this page.  I had 3 pictures to choose from, but didn't like any of them.  2 had a large object smack dab in the center so you couldn't see the building as well, but the 3rd had the spire cut off!  I found a way to merge the two photos to make this focal!  That title is quite strategically placed to hide the fact that the tree cuts off right there. :)

Page 16:

It takes some creativity to find a way to show all the different things I want to show from our travels without making the book HUGE!  This time, I showcased 3 different buildings by dividing the page into vertical thirds. As you can see, I added a red patterned paper strip to the center of the background paper - and used a pretty washi tape along the edges. I also rounded the corners and used a distress ink to color the journaling and title blocks so they weren't so stark.

Page 17 AB:

This pair of pages forms the outer flaps of a gate-fold page.  Once again, I used washi tape along the edges to add a decorative touch.

Page 17 C&E:

And here are the outer flaps that you see when you open the gatefold.  This time, though I used washi tape on the first page, I used Dazzles stickers on the second page.  I DO like the look when I round the corners.

Page 17D:

It's a bit hard to see on this page (the middle page that you see when you open the gate-fold), but the picture in the upper right-hand corner is being used as the page title.  I again colored my journaling block - blending two colors to get the color I wanted.  I printed the brown border around the pictures in the middle row.  Before adding the picture at the bottom, I fussy cut a flower from the background that I then added to the title/journaling block as an embellishment.  I matted the pictures on the top row and the bottom row using Mirri card stock from Hunkydory.

Whew!  Sure glad to have these pages done!  They took a lot of time in sorting/printing pictures and text.

2025 February Swaps

Digi-Paper Swap - First up is a card made from digi-papers and a sketch (not sure where it came from).  Since I often find reds challenging to match, I chose to make my own plain red to go with these papers.  Also, the heart papers weren't quite the same colors as the bleeding hearts, so I tweaked them a bit.  The bleeding heart focal was enlarged from a small print that was covered with bleeding hearts.  The sentiment was from Sassy's LLC.

Swap Card - The theme for this card was green and gold, so this gold-foiled floral card stock (Adoreable Scoreable) from Hunkydory was perfect!  I paired it with some plain green and gold tag board from my stash.  The focal and sentiment are from a HD Pop-a-Topper called Fabulous Florals.  The focal is triple matted using several Spellbinders sets - Labels Four, Grand Labels Four, 5 x 7 Elegant Labels Four.  The butterfly is a dimensional sticker from the dollar store.

Thailand Pages 13 ABCDE

These pages are again part of a gate fold layout.  The papers are from the DCWV mat stack called Taj Mahal.  Above is a two-part page that is the outside of the gate fold.  The title "BUDDHAS" was die cut using Momenta alphabet dies.  The focal photo is matted on a gold die cut (Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles).  When you open the gate fold, you see this:

Two 6 x 12 flaps and a center 12 x 12 page, form the inside pages.

Here you see a closeup of the flaps.  They are pretty straight forward with photos, titles and journaling all computer printed.

This center page is about the main attraction at Wat Pho - the Reclining Buddha - and is created the same way the previous pages were made.

Thailand Pages 10-12

Today I have 3 more scrapbook pages for my book about our trip to Thailand.   

Page 10: (above) - I think the hardest part of creating these pages is choosing and printing the pictures.  It takes a lot of planning to decide which pictures to print, so by the time that's done, I'm pretty close to having the page completed!   Sometimes, however, I guess wrong about picture size.  I did that for this page.  The little pictures along the bottom were printed the same size as the little embellishment photos by the focal photo.  That was just too small!  I found that by overlapping them strategically, I could get the same number of photos even though printing them in a larger size.  I printed my title and journaling block, so the only work to put the page together was finding the water background paper & some blue card stock to go with it for matting. Done!

Page #11:

I was so pleased with the way this page turned out.  I used black paper for matting, and a red/gold paper from the DCWV Taj Mahal set.  I made a special pocket for my ticket to Wat Pho with an acetate window so I could use the ticket as my title.  Unfortuantely, the combination of lighting and reflective acetate used in the window made it impossible to see it in the photo!  So, I took my time getting the lighting just right for a closeup and was able to do so - even though the page was already in the album sleeve:

After cutting and scoring a pocket from black paper that was just the right size, I found a cutting die I could use to cut an opening in the front of the pocket (Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles).  Then I glued a piece of acetate to cover the opening before gluing the pocket together and then to the scrapbook page.  Then I took a small scrap of the black paper and wrote the word "TICKET" using a gold Sharpie before gluing it in place in the lower right corner of the pocket.

Page #12:

I've had this paper for forever it seems.  It's from an old HOTP set of patterned papers that I realized might work well for my Thailand book.  I created a focal from a combination of title, photo, and journaling by double matting them on brown card stock, and then white card stock.  Once again, title and journaling were printed along with the photos.

Thailand Pages 8 & 9ABCDE

 

Today I FINALLY got back to working on my Thailand scrapbook.  I was able to complete the layouts for Erawan Falls before moving on with my day.  Above is what you see when you turn to this page.  What is less apparent is that the right hand page is actually in two pieces because it is a GATE FOLD page!  In a minute, I'll show you what you see when you open the gate fold.  For now, here's a closer look at the pages you see above.

Page 8:

When creating pages about our travels, I often like to use pictures of signs as my title.  That's what I did here, fussy cutting the sign as you see above.  I have three patterned papers on this page - something I've had a hard time learning to do, but I think it works well here.  As you can see, I cut a swirly pattern with wavy edges to put on the left and right edges of the background paper.  I then glued Washi tape along those wavy edges.  And YES, I said "glued".  That was the only way to make sure it stayed in place as it kept wanting to come off.  I decided that even though the largest picture was of the waterfall, the one with people in it stood out as much or more, so I decided to make that one focal by matting it - first with patterned paper, then white - and placing it at an angle on the page.

Page 9 A & B:

As mentioned, this page is actually split in half to form a gate fold.  Again I used patterned paper and washi tape to make the background more interesting.  Then I simply arranged my pictures and glued them in place.

Page 9 CDE:

This is what you see when you open that gate fold.  It consists of two flaps and a 12 x 12 page.  Let's take a closer look at them.

Page 9 C & E:

This is a closer look at the outer flaps.  If you look closely, you can see that I again used 3 patterned papers - one for background, one for decorating that background (borders), and one for making embellishments.  I can't decide if I like the embellishments or not - might be better if I put captions in those circles. 

Page 9D:

For that central 12 x 12, I had a lot of little photos, but found they worked well if they were scattered into a frame-like shape.  So, I decided to make my journaling the focal point and let the pictures frame it. 

It sure feels good to be making some headway on this scrapbook!  I've sure got a LONG way to go to finish it!

Use It Up Framed Paper

 

Today's cards started with a piece of paper from my stash.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a picture of it but though it was a "patterned paper" it had a LOT of empty white space on it.  Essentially it was just a frame with a couple of flower clusters in two corners.  What to do with it.

 

Card #1 (above): Since I wasn't that excited about the paper, I decided to play with the card shape itself to add interest.  As you can see from the picture, it's definitely "different". 

 

I started by cutting off the bottom half of the card front to make it a cutaway card.  On the inside of the card I added a piece of the plain border paper as you can see in the picture of the inside, below.  

 

Next, I fussy cut a corner piece to fit the cut off portion of the card (with just bits of the ribbon hanging off) and turned the piece sideways before gluing in place on the card front - overlapping the border paper on the inside of the card.  It felt unfinished and I decided I wanted to use those strips I had fussy cut off to create narrow border strips.  I didn't like the look, though, unless I extended them to meet the border on the inside.  This meant I needed to back them on card stock and also needed to piece one of the strips to fit.  Then I went looking for a sentiment.  As you can see, I ended up using two (both from Sassy's LLC).  I added one to the flower cluster, and one to the border at the bottom.  I felt it needed something in the upper right corner, so inked some card stock in deep yellow and punched three small circles to add there.

Inside:

 

Card #2: 

For this one I just used a standard card base and one of the plain corners of the paper.  To this I added an up-cycled embellishment (one my mom stamped).  Then I just added a matted sentiment (another of hers) and called it good.

Inside:

Card #3:

 

This time I made another fancy fold card. In addition to the one I added on the pop-through circle (2" die, 1 3/4" scalloped punch, misc from my stash), I added a dimensional bee to serve as a latch and hold the card closed.  As you can see, though it's partly covered, I used a flowered corner for the lower piece.  The upper piece uses a lavender ribbon as a border on which I placed my sentiment (Sassy's LLC).  The paper used there is some from my stash.

Partially opened:

Here's what it looks like when unlatched with the circle pulled back through the hole.

Fully Opened:

And here's what it looks like when fully opened.  It's not my best work, but I used enough of the paper that I'm happy to toss whatever scraps remain - and if I decide I don't want to send this one, it can simply serve as an example for me of how to make another card using this structure! :)

HD Meadow Farm - All in a Day's Work

Today I have cards made using the Hunkydory Meadow Farm set called All in a Day's Work.  This is what the set looked like before I started work:

I'll be honest.  This isn't my favorite set.  Trying to figure out how many cards I could get was a challenge.  I ended up cutting ears off some pieces to add to others so they weren't missing ears and I could use them on a separate card.  I got 5 cards from this set:

Now for a closer look at each.

Card #1: 

As I usually do, I started by looking at the AS (Adoreable Scoreable printed card stock) that came with this set.  I decided to cut the bottom part of it into a slimline card.  I had to slice out some of the hazy greenery to make it fit the way I wanted with the same amount of red on each side.  This join was visible, so I added a bit of washi tape over the join.  After gluing the whole to the card front, I simply added a sentiment from the set.  Easy peasy!

Card #2:

I cut the remaining AS into two pieces - one a bit smaller than 5 x 7, the other a bit smaller than A2.  I used the first for the background of this card, and the second for the background of the next.  For both, I matted them with black paper.  Then, for this one, I simply added the main focal piece (with a couple of pieces added to the horses faces for dimension) and a sentiment from the set.  Card #2 DONE!

Card #3:

Again, I matted this piece with black and glued them both on the card front.  Then I added a couple of smaller horse pieces.  I trimmed them around the "collar" parts of their get-ups (not a horse person - don't know names!) and put them in place so they looked a bit like they were hanging their heads over the stall door.  I did have to cut the left ear from the horse in back and move it to the right so he'd have an ear there (figured the other one would be hidden anyway).  I also had to grab an ear from a smaller die cut to add to the right side of the horse in front so he would have two ears.  I then added a second layer of the harness pieces before adding the sentiment (with a sticker "holding" it).

Card #4:

Now it was getting even more challenging.  I only had a small scrap of the AS left!  I found a "cloudy" A2 sized piece of paper in my stash and added the single horse so he looked like he was behind the remaining piece of AS that I used for a lower border.  I finished that border off with a border strip that came in the set and added a sentiment from the set to the upper left corner.

Card #5:

By this time, I had one more set of horses to use up.  Because of the way they are made, there isn't much I can do except align them to the left side (because they're cut off there) and put them behind something (because they're cut off there).  This time, however, I also had a sentiment that was greenish in color so I needed to somehow make that fit.  I found this background piece I had made with a wax resist technique a long time ago.  It would help blend in the sentiment.  Then I needed to find something for the horses to stand behind.  Since the AS was gone, the only thing I could find was a piece of scrap from the die cut sheets.  That worked pretty well - especially when I added the remaining border piece from the set to the center of it.  I had a remnant strip of the background card stock that was plain (no resist there).  I decided it would work well with a strip of gold tag board from my stash to create a border near the top for the sentiment to sit on.  I felt that I needed a little more near the bottom left corner, so cut a couple of red hearts from the tiny scrap of AS remaining, cut another from white, and scattered them there.

ColorMe

 

Today I decided to tackle a stash buster challenge - to use up some ColorMe products from HOTP.  The pattern on these products is designed to behave like an embossed resist - letting you fairly easily color in the pattern with colors of your choosing.  What I have is from years ago and working on these reminded me of why I haven't used it much!  Truthfully, though, what made it most frustrating to work with these was less the fault of the ColorMe, and more the fact that for some reason, none of my water brushes will let water through any more!  

Card #1: (above) - To color this first one I used Gelatos.  I colored them on my craft mat and picked them up with a wet brush to color in the design.  These are designed to be used on 5" x 6 1/2" cards.  My card blanks are 5" x 7", but this design worked well.  I fussy cut the bottom off the design and then it fit centered on my card front nicely.  They included sentiment pieces, so I colored one and then matted it on white card stock that had been die cut with one of Spellbinders Fancy Tags dies.

Inside:

 

Figuring out what to do on the inside was a bit challenging since I didn't have similar paper.  I found some scraps in similar colors and created a border.  They DID have a little rose on the sentiment page that I colored and added here.

Card #2:

 

This time I used Inktense pencils with my water brush - much easier to control!  Again I colored a coordinating sentiment and matted it on a Spellbinders Fancy Tags die cut piece of white card stock.  However, this time I decided to create an A2 sized card.  That meant that I cut off part of the ColorMe - which gave me something for the inside of the card!  I used a black Sharpie to color the top and bottom edges, and added a turquoise sticker border along each outside edge.  Then I added some little butterfly stickers, and some Jewel Dazzles to complete the look.

Inside:

 

Inside I simply added a strip from the leftover piece to create a coordinating border - again using a black sharpie top and bottom.

New Year New Swap Card

I'm STILL trying to get my table cleaned off.  I had gotten on the digi-swap cards made, but still had this embossed piece I had made for it that I ended up not using.  SO, I went looking and realized that it would work perfectly for this month's swap card - that was to use a background that I embossed, inked, or stamped.  This one, at least, is two of the three (Darice's Damask embossing folder). 

To this I added a border created with two different widths of ribbon before gluing it to the card front.  Then I added the sentiment - in front of a pink die cut & punched circle (actually two layered circles - the top of which is vellum.  The die cut you and stamped/die cut sentiment are both from a set my Mom has.  

The focal was created by adding a flower (Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms dies) to a white glimmer paper mat (Spellbinders Splendid Circles cutting die) which I added to the upper right corner as you can see.