Birthday Wishes – Slimline Center Step Card

Posted in Birthday Cards, Cards, Creative Folds by lisababitz

I must admit the whole “slimline card craze” has me a bit intimidated as there is so much card to decorate, but this step card design allowed me to focus on an area closer to the size with which I am used to working. (The center area is 6 x 4 inches.) Baby steps – lol!

The “Birthday Wishes” die is a Die-namics die from My Favorite Things. I also used the “Star Blast Edgelits” die from Stampin’ Up (retired?).

The striped paper is from a digital paper file by TheMockupLoft that I purchased on Etsy. The teal patterned paper is American Crafts (#320388). I also used Recollections heavy weight black, white, and Tranquil Teal from Gina K Designs.

Here is the template for creating my card base:

Start with an 8 1/2 x 8 inch panel.

The finished card is 8 1/2″ x 4″ that folds flat for mailing. It fits in a standard business envelope. (If you wish to create your own envelope with the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board, start with a 10 1/8 inch square, and make your first punch/score line at 3 1/2 inches.)

That wasn’t so scary after all!!

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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6Sep2020

Happy Cacti Anniversary Card (and 2 products worth mentioning)

Posted in Cards, Tools & Products I like, Wedding/Anniversary by lisababitz

Happy Cacti Anniversary Card (and 2 products worth mentioning)

On our recent trip to Arizona this past winter, my husband and I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. This is primarily an outdoor museum which includes walking trails, a zoo, an aquarium, a natural history museum, botanical gardens of desert plants… and this happy couple!

As soon as I saw these cacti which appeared to be standing arm in arm, I immediately thought they’d be perfect on an anniversary card for my husband. I added a computer generated greeting, matted the photo, and called this done! …a super quick card and a great memento of our trip!

Two products worth mentioning:

The photo and mat on this A2 sized card were cut with dies from the “Infinity Rectangle Dies” set from Hero Arts. I am loving that these 16 dies are perfectly sized for A2 layering with 1/8 inch borders from one die to the next. If you struggle cutting panels and mats to size with a trimmer, these dies are just what the doctor ordered! And I prefer using a die to cut a photo (or stamped focal panel) instead of a trimmer because I can frame/position the image to my liking and see what my finished panel will look like before it is cut.

I also used a Sizzix crease pad to cut my photo and mat in place of one of the clear plates in the Big Kick cutting sandwich. The crease pad is intended to create subtle fold lines on die cuts meant to be folded, but it also happens to eliminate the indentations you often get around the edges of your photo or panel when die cutting. HERE is a video (1:53 mark) showing how to use the crease pad to die cut. (Important – do not cut into this pad. You position this pad against the flat side of the die and NOT on the cutting/blade side.) While the crease pad also works with other machines like the Spellbinders Platinum machine, it unfortunately is a little too wide (measuring 6 1/16″ across) for the Cuttlebug.

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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5Sep2020

Autumn Triangle Gatefold Card

Posted in Birthday Cards, Cards, Creative Folds by lisababitz

Autumn Triangle Gatefold Card

This card base was made with the “Triangle Gatefold” die set from Creek Bank Creations. Also included in this set are the stitched triangles to decorate the flaps and the two stitched hexagons. The framed leaf die is by Mosaic Moments. I created a belly band to go around the card, but the hexagon panel could have been adhered directly to one of the triangle flaps.

The inside sentiment is from the birthday “Stamp & Cut Lot 6249A” set from Firefly/Momenta. I stamped it up on the panel a bit to leave room to sign the card.

Since this card does not stand up on its own, I created a stand with the Card Stand Die from Creek Bank Creations.

To create the handmade patterned papers, I use a gel plate, a brayer, Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks, spritzes of water, the Stampendous! Decor Cling Leaves Rubber Stamp – DCR101, and the French Script background stamp from Stampin’ Up (retired?). I started with a stack of heavy weight white card stock and had a ball inking, rolling, spritzing, stamping, and layering the inks using the techniques I briefly described in this post. I ended up with a BUNCH of panels, and ultimately chose two from the pile to use for this card. (Lots of panels left for other cards!)

The card stock used was from the Recollections Nostalgia Pack along with Bazzill Butter Mints.

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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4Sep2020

Elephant – Birthday Challenge # 3

Posted in Birthday Cards, Cards, Interactive by lisababitz

Elephant – Birthday Challenge # 3

Kevin came up with my “Birthday Challenge” #3 (as described HERE). He has always loved “cute” elephants. He had a few favorite stuffed elephants early on, and that became his thing. I wasn’t surprised that his first card challenge for me was to make an elephant card. Easy, right? Not so much… he said it had to have a moving trunk…

I had A LOT of trouble getting the trunk right. I used the spinner element die from the Karen Burniston “Spinner Square Pop-up” die set to make the trunk move. This spinning mechanism is designed to have a hidden element spin out from behind a panel, but the trunk needed to stay visible the whole time and stay positioned so it looked like it was part of his head as it moved. Ugh!! I kept playing with the size, shape, and position of the trunk to get it to work. It’s not perfect, but it does move – lol!

The elephant is an altered Silhouette file by Hero Arts (design id #41591). The leafy paper is called “Grow” by American Crafts (#354800). The balloons were cut with dies from the “Layered Happy Birthday” set by Spellbinders (#S5-345). The inside sentiment is from the “Flower Builders” stamp set from Gina K Designs (retired?).

The paper I used on the front is American Crafts #35322 and GKD Tranquil Teal, and the Happy Birthday die was unbranded. I used two “Rectangle Infinity Dies” by Hero Arts for the layers.

If I were to do this again, I’d make the front coordinate better with the inside…

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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3Sep2020

Triangle Elements

Posted in Birthday Cards, Cards by lisababitz

Triangle Elements

I loved the card samples Debbie Hughes created in the “Watercolor Masking” class from the Online Card Class – Spring Card Camp 2020 course which included the “Triangle Elements” die from Simon Says Stamp. She used the die cut as a mask while water coloring her background panel and then added the painted mask to a second card.

I CASED her card using similar colors and elements. Ironically, the lesson was on masking, and that is the only thing I did not do – lol! (I did not have the spray adhesive, and the die cut mask curled as it got wet so I water colored my background and die cut separately.)

I had so much fun painting and splattering – two techniques I rarely do – and made a few more samples:

and here is one painted in brown and gold…

This last one was done on a scrap used to blot off my black versafine ink pad when I was getting a lot of fibers on a project I was working on. I followed Bonnie’s lead and used my scrap instead of throwing it away!!

I used Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Water Color paints (blue/green samples were No 54, 58, 62, 64, and 10; brown samples were No 47, 44, and 90). The stamped greeting was from “The Wetlands” set by Gina K Designs. The white, heat embossed greeting on the brown sample is from the “Tiny Words” stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and was cut with the Stampin’ Up “Word Window Label” punch (retired).

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