Happy Birthday card with Wallpaper Envelope

Today's card was a taller/thinner card than I usually make.  I don't even remember now why I chose this shape, but I KNOW why I chose the colors.  The card was for a man and the colors of the sports team he roots for are orange and black.  The card itself is pretty straight forward.  A piece of glitter cardstock cut in a circule forms the focal.  It was stamped with StazOn ink.  This was then matted with a piece cut with a Spellbinder's Nestability die.

The background paper that I chose was not long enough to cover the whole card, so I cut it, lining one piece up near the top of the card, and the other near the bottom.  Then I ran a black border strip between the pieces (cut with an EK Success border punch).

I had expected the card to be able to fit in a regular long envelope, but the card was just a bit too large for that!  What to do?  I can make most sizes of cards with my enveloper, but needed paper that was 10 1/2" square!  I didn't have a sheet of scrapbook paper I cared to sacrifice, so I went prowling through my stash looking for something that would work.  I came across this piece of wallpaper from a sample book and thought it looked REALLY good with the card.  So, I used it, lining it with a piece of black paper.  I stamped the name on it with StazOn ink, and was really happy with the outcome:

Resplendent Flip Flop

Now that I have my Big Shot back, I've wasted no time in using it!  Today's card is a Flip Flop card I made using my Spellbinder's Resplendent Rectangles dies and an M-bossing Folder.  This Flip Flop card was made similar to the technique shown in this video by TinkerWithInk. I started with a 5 1/4" x 12" piece of card stock, scored at 3 1/8" and at 5 1/4". (Note, what I used was rather thin card stock.  I'd use at least a medium weight next time.)

Using the next to largest die in the set, I centered it on the 3 1/8" score line, with one edge extending a bit past the 5 1/4" line and taped it in place with some low-tack tape.  Next was the tricky part.  I had to line up my cutting "sandwich" so only the parts I wanted to cut got cut.  This meant two cutting passes through the machine.  First, I fed most of the card through (without a cutting sandwich) and lined up the cutting sandwich with the front of the pads aligned along the 3 1/8" score line.  Then I ran it through the die-cut machine, cutting only the part from the front edge up to that score line.  Turning my card around, I ran it through again, lining up the front edge of my cutting sandwich along the 5 1/4" line this time so just the tail end of the die got cut.  Then, I put the whole thing in an embossing sandwich, removing the tape so the embossing step wouldn't embed it too deeply, but making sure the die was still aligned properly. One more pass through the machine (to emboss it this time) and it was time to decorate my card.

I started by folding the card so I could see the front of it clearly, as you see above.  I took the die and placed it over the focal area and, using it as a stencil, shaded in red just on the inside of the die.  I cut the next smaller die shape out of the card stock twice. Saving one for later, I placed my sticker focal on the first, and set it aside.

I found a paper and a tag in my stash that went well with my focal.  Both came from Paper Wishes Christmas Card Kits - though I'm not sure if they were both from the same one.  Opening the card up, I measured  the holly paper and cut it to fit.  I then placed the next to largest die where I wanted it so it would line up with the card, and sent die and paper through the machine.  Saving the die cut for another project, I used the outside piece to cover the left side of the card, matching the cut-out shape and covering the score lines.  Then I re-scored the lines and re-folded the card to make sure it was working correctly. 

Next, using the same die, I cut and embossed a piece of red dotted paper.  Opening the card again, I glued this piece directly on top of the "flip flopped" piece, matching all edges and holes.  Taking the remaining piece of die-cut card stock, I stamped my message on the right side of it.  Then I cut and embossed a corner shape out of a green piece of patterned paper using a die from my new Spellbinders' Holly Motifs set. Using chalks and the die as a stencil, I colored in some accents before adhering it to the left side of the card stock piece.  Taking a sticker similar to the focal on the front, I mounted it on card stock and trimmed around it before adhering it with foam tape for dimension.  I then glued this piece in place on top of the red.  Re-folding the card, I took the piece I had set aside and attached it to the front with foam tape.

Finally, I added the tag so it would look nice on the unopened card, and put a piece of ribbon to visually attach it to the rest of the card.  (Next time it might be nice to plan ahead so the one end of the ribbon could be underneath the patterned paper).

There you have it!  A very fun card to make.  I expect to try it again with slightly different card dimensions and score lines closer together to accommodate some different dies.

Use It Up Surprises

Today I'm going to show you a couple more quick and easy cards made from pieces found in my "Press-Out Victorian Christmas Book".  For the background, I covered some plaid patterned paper with gold metallic lattice.  I matted the focal and glued it to the center, adding a little sentiment below the basket.

The tricky part of this card is the focal itself.  The center oval is actually scored near the bottom and folds forward to reveal a little message:

Here's a similar one where I haven't taken a picture of the hidden sentiment, and didn't put the lattice.  Instead I tied in the gold of the ornate frame by drawing a gold border around the card itself, and again on the inside of the green border.  I used my gold metallic Sharpie for this.  The sentiment below the focal is an outline sticker.

Embossing and Sharpies

This card started with my new embossing folder set from Sizzix.  It's a bit hard to tell from this picture just what is embossed, but it is the "Peace" sentiment along with the branches and the bird.  I cut a strip of white glimmer paper and embossed it with this sentiment.  Then, to help it stand out, I went over the raised areas with my gold metallic Sharpie.  (Have you seen the metallic Sharpies? I love them!)

On the left side of this, I glued a gold embellishment cut with a Spellbinders Holly Motifs die.  The Angel is a Dazzle sticker from Hot Off the Press.  I had a small white shape that I edged in gold to mat the angel on.  This was then put up on foam tape above the gold holly accent.

The white and gold glitter patterned paper was some I got a long time ago at Costco.  I cut it to size, glued it to the card, and then glued the focal to it.  I used gold Stickles to run a line around the edge of the background paper and I also created little sparkley dots along the horizontal edges of the focal (again using the Stickles).  When I was done, it looked like this:

 It was quite pretty, but the focal just didn't stand out well enough.  So, I grabbed a couple of piece of gold metallic ribbon.  I put a bit of glue from my ATG on each end so I could tack it down when ready.  Then I carefully slid the ribbon under the horizontal edges of the focal, tacking it down on each side when it was where I wanted it. A ribbon above and a ribbon below really helped.  I finished the card by adding a line of 3 gold dimensional diamond-shapes in the upper right corner. Compare the picture without ribbon with the one below and see what a difference a little touch like that can make!