Hunkydory Twist & Pop

I recently purchased a pack of card bases from Hunkydory - bases for their "Twist & Pop cards.  This is the first card I've made using this card structure.  In addition to that card base, I used the following materials:

• "Golden Touch" Artful Card Kit from HOTP
• "Assorted Sentiments" stamp set from Stampenous
• "For All You Do" stamp set from JustRite 
• Gold paper ribbon from my stash
• Gold-edged ribbon from my stash
• Black Versafine Inkpad
• Clear embossing powder
• Ribbon from my stash
• Small Heart-shaped punch
• Foam squares
• ATG

Belly Band: The picture above shows the card closed with the belly band, so I'll talk about that first.  The belly band is included with the card base & the card really needs it as it is quite bulky when finished - especially if you use foam tape for added dimension on the card front like I did.  My challenge was that I didn't want it glued closed, like we often do with a belly band, since I had several elements on the front of the card that were raised with foam tape & that would make sliding a belly band on and off a bit of a challenge.  What I ended up doing was, after covering the band with patterned paper from the kit, punching a little heart-shaped hole at one end.  Then I glued the ribbon on "most" of the way around, but left the ends free.  The ribbon from the bottom part threads up through the punched hole & then it is tied in a bow to hold everything in place.

Card Front: This next picture shows the front of the card with the belly band removed.  After covering the entire front of the card with patterned paper, I added a couple of border strips using a gold paper ribbon I had in my stash.  The focal & sentiment are die cuts from the kit - added using foam tape for dimension.

Inside: Next is what the card looks like when opened.  This is where the "twist & pop" comes in.  The four panels pop out when opened, but can be twisted back inside the card when closing it.  The instructions for this card aren't quite as detailed as I'd like - especially when it comes to adding the piece that pops out, but Debbie at Simply Special Crafts has made a video that demonstrates how this is put together.  For the inside, before adding the twist & pop mechanism, I covered the inside with a pastel paper that coordinates with the paper I used for the background of the card.  This gave me plenty of space I could use for writing a note to the recipient later.  The next picture shows a closer view of the 4 panels that pop up.

Pop-Up Panels: I started the pop-up panels by choosing 4 elements from the kit that I thought would coordinate well.  I cut 4 pieces of patterned paper slightly smaller than each panel, inked the edges with Pine Needles distress ink, & glued in place so there was a narrow white border around each. For the two outer panels I added a border of the gold paper ribbon before adding the elements as taken from the kit. On the two elements for the center panels I stamped sentiments with black Versafine ink.  On the oval one I added another die cut flower.  On the rectangular one I added a short hand-written note.  The final step was to take the punched-out die cut corners and arrange them around the rectangular piece on the 3rd panel.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's 80th birthday.  This is his card.  I purchased the dies for making these Accordion cards some time ago (Elizabeth Crafts) but haven't done much with them yet.  I think this may be my first attempt.  They really work quite well & things go together very easily!  

Materials:

• Patterned card stock for card base (not sure where I got it!)
• Heartfelt Creations Woodsy Wonderland paper pack (for decorating)
• Brown Vine Ribbon (HOTP)
• Katie Label Accordion dies & Accordion Fancy Labels dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs)
• Woodsy Critters dies & matching stamps (Heartfelt Creations)
• Walnut Stain Distress Ink (Ranger)
• Watercolor pencils (for coloring little stamped & cut critters)
• Stickers ("80")

Method:

1. From the patterned card stock, cut SIX pages using the largest Katie Label Accordion die.
2. Use the dies to emboss the stitching lines on these six pages, then as stencils to ink them with the distress ink so they stand out.
3. Fold along the vertical fold lines - and cut off these long vertical tabs on all but two pages.  Similarly, leave the tabs on the inner label part on only those same two pages.
4. Take the two with tabs & one without (doesn't need a tab as there isn't another page to connect it to) and set aside to use to assemble your card.  For the other three, cut the center part away from the frame so they are in two pieces.  These will go on the back of your card after it's been put together to hide tabs and make for a prettier card.
5. Working with the outer frames of the 3 pages you set aside for the card base, put glue on the tabs and connect the three pages side by side so that when folded they lay on top of each other nicely (trim if needed to ensure the edge of the page isn't too far into the fold). With your three pages together, you will fold first a valley fold & then a mountain fold. to create the basic shape for your card.
6. Before continuing, decorate your card - front and back!  It will be much harder to add decorations after you connect the inner parts of the card pages!  The only pieces you don't want to glue to the card at this point are the backs for the inner pieces (you'll want to cover tabs that aren't attached yet).  Remember that you can use the dies in the Accordion set to cut needed pieces as you decorate!  Also, it often looks better if you ink the edges of the various pieces.
7. Now, put glue on the inner tabs and connect the inner pieces so they fold the opposite direction as the outer frame (if the frame is folded as a valley, fold the inner part as a mountain & vice versa).  It will basically look like the inner pieces thread through the outer frames when you're done. 
8. Add the backs for the inner pieces (make sure you've done all decorating & writing on them first as once they're attached it's hard to do much with them!). 

 When it is folded for mailing, it looks like this:

Thank Yous with Pre-made Elements

Similar to what I posted yesterday, these are cards made using some of my pre-made focal card kits - stamped/embossed/die cut focals combined with papers that I like with them and set aside for when I need to make a quick & easy card.  Today's theme is "Thank You"!  Most of the focals started as plain white glossy card stock.  I added alcohol inks for a nice background, cut the shapes with cutting dies, then stamped and heat embossed the images (often using matching stamps/dies from JustRite).

This first card, is made using a patchwork patterned paper that came in a crafting magazine.  It's a bit harder to see in the picture, but there is ribbon from my stash running across that.  The focal is made in the usual way (JustRite's Vintage Labels Four die and Enjoy the Day Vintage Labels Four stamp and Grand Sentiments stamp)

Plaid paper came in a craft magazine. "Ribbon" is a piece of blue card stock.  Focal is made in the usual way with a double mat (Just Right's Vintage Labels Two dies & Grateful Heart Vintage Labels Two stamps & HOTP Stamp & Punch stamps)

This final card is a center step card.  Ribbons adorn the sides & lower edge.  Patterned paper is from Rosemary & Thyme pack (HOTP).  Focal is made the usual way - stamped in green & heat embossed with clear powder.  (JustRite's Vintage Labels Two die, Grateful Heart Vintage Labels Two stamp, and Grand Sentiments stamp)

More Pre-made elements

Today's cards are all "thinking of you" or "miss you" type cards that were made using some of my pre-made focal card kits - stamped/embossed/die cut focals combined with papers that I like with them and set aside for when I need to make a quick & easy card.  Most of the focals started as plain white glossy card stock.  I added alcohol inks for a nice background, cut the shapes with cutting dies, then stamped and heat embossed the images (often using matching stamps/dies from JustRite).

This first one uses a variety of green alcohol inks along with gold mixative, cut with a Vintage Labels 3 die from JustRite.  The image is stamped (JustRite's For all you do Vintage Labels 3 & HOTP's Butterflies stamp sets) and heat embossed with fine gold powder.  The dies used for the inside & outside of the card are from Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight. The inside message is computer printed. Patterned paper is from a 6" x 6" paper pack called Rosemary & Thyme (HOTP). Gold is Mirri board (Hunkydory).

Here are a few more cards made this way:

Paper for this one is from Rosemary & Thyme (HOTP) and a Matstack from DCWV. Several of the elements on the inside were printed from a HOTP freebie download.  Focal: Alcohol inks included silver mixative, die used is from Ornate Squares (Spellbinders), stamped in turquoise ink & heat embossed with clear powder using stamps from Ornate Happiness Squares (JustRite) and Stamp and Punch (HOTP). 

This card features a background die cut (Spellbinders Fancy Ribbon Threader Card Creator) from a pink patterned paper I got in a craft magazine.  3/8" white satin ribbon & 1/8" silver metallic ribbon are threaded through it. and the whole thing is matted on a lovely silver Glitzy paper (DCWV).  (The inside is done in a similar way without the silver matting & the bow.) The focal was created in the usual way with alcohol inks on glossy card stock, die cut (JustRite's Vintage Labels Four), stamped (JustRite's Enjoy the Day Vintage Labels Four) & heat embossed with silver glittery embossing powder. 

For the turquoise card abve, the background paper is from DCWV, ribbon is from my stash, & focal is made in the usual way (JustRite's Nested Medallion dies, Always and Forever Medallion Labels stamps, HOTP Stamp & Punch stamps)

This step card was made using a Sizzix die.  Patterned paper came in a paper crafting magazine.  Focal was made in the usual way (JustRite's Vintage Labels Four die, Enjoy the Day Vintage Labels Four stamps) - heat embossed with fine white powder.

This last one is made with papers from DCWV & green ribbon from my stash.  Focal was made the usual way - alcohol inks were on the blue side, stamping done in green with clear embossing powder over it.  (JustRite's Antique Labels One die and Friends Antique Labels One stamps, HOTP Stamp & Punch stamps)