Just Relax!

Happy Friday! Hooray! The weekend is finally here! I am still getting used to 5 day weeks- when is our next furlough day again? Anyway, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, we have two retirements at the same time in our office, so I volunteered to make the cards. I had this one in mind for quite some time- its kinda the reason why I bought one of these stamps. I didn't know if either of the two girls would like this type of card though, so I took a chance and made it anyway. Started by altering the pleated center pop up card by making it a 6x6 size. Needed to have enough room for everyone to sign it. Once I figured out how to make it bigger, I started decorating it. Although I knew what stamp I wanted to use on the inside of the card, I didn't know what I wanted for the outside. I had bought this stamp at the same time as the one on the inside, and thought they kinda pair up nicely, so I used this one too- both are Penny Black wood stamps. Since the girls' apendeges (spelling?) are stick like and I didn't feel like cutting them out, I decided to stamp the image directly onto the background and paper piece the other parts. This became especially challenging on the scarf! Even though it was a lot of work, I think it looks better than if I had to cut out those stick figures! Added in some flowers for color on the grass and added another Island Scrapbooking laser cut- this time in pink to match the card. Here's a close up of the girl... OK- now for the inside... Ta daaaaaaaa! I thought this image would be so cute for a retiree since I would hope they would take time to relax after working all those years. I really wanted to use this image on this pleated center card so I could make the image pop up when laid flat. Here's what the inside looks like with the background... And here's what it looks like when its open flat. And I found out the recipient loves cats, so I had to add in a little feline companion! Create in Me makes the cutest animal stamps, so I dug in my stash and added this kitty in the grass. Oh yah, also used more Island Scrapbooking laser cuts on the inside- the Best Wishes and mini sakuras are by IS. Hope you have a nice weekend!

Ballet Birthday

Not only was this weekend the big performance, but it was also Akemi's 7th Birthday! Hard to believe its been 7 years already. I can't believe how grown up she is now! After the performance, we went to Grandma's house for some B&R ice cream cake. Akemi picked strawberry ice cream/white cake. Yum! I love this photo of her. Here's the card I made for her. Sorry- blurred out what was on the flags- it was her name, but you get the jist right? I had a vision of doing this awhile ago and finally bought the Lawn Fawn set with the tiny flags I love it! I was also able to get the Harold's ABC's set by Lawn Fawn, which fit perfectly in the flags. I'll try to make another sample un-blurred so you can see it. All stamps used on this card is by Lawn Fawn except the b-day stamp, which is by Dandelion Designs. Akemi still loves her Daba, which is why I used bunnies on the card. She loved it! I can't remember a time when she hugged me so long after getting something from me. I'm glad she liked it so much. Happy Birthday Akemi! You will always be Mommy and Daddy's Daba.

Happy Belated Birthday Sara!

I'm really late this year! My niece's b-day was 4/14 and I didn't get this in the mail till this past Monday! Sorry Sara! Hope she gets this card before she sees it here on my blog... I think this will be my last pleated pop up card for awhile. I've been making so many for classes and other stuff that I need a break from it. Since my sister designed these images, I thought it would be nice to use them in the card to my niece. She loves her Auntie Denise and I'm sure she'll recognize her designs. Above is the front cover- kept the design relatively simple since the background is a little busy. Below is what the card looks like when its opened. Its hard to see the butterflies she is chasing, so I took another photo below this one. Aaah- here's a better view... Since my niece is now a tween (or acts like one anyway), I decided to just give her $$. Its getting harder and harder to buy kids presents nowdays, so I thought it would be nice to let her choose her own gift or save it for her trip to Hawaii that's coming up. Thanks for visiting! Its gonna be a busy week- still trying to finish up projects for my 2 craft fairs this weekend!

CATS: Easter Theme

Happy Easter Everyone! Just wanted to share what I created for the April Card and Tag Swap (CATS) that Joy hosts on her blog... You need to sign up for three consecutive months at a time and Joy will pair you up with three different participants. This month, my partner is the Bearsaurus herself, Elena. Need to make one tag and one card in whatever theme she comes up with... This month's theme was Easter, so I was happy to use my new Verve stamps that just came in. These little chickies are so cute! They come with chickie sentiments too- which I just love! First here's my tag.. now that I look at it, I probably should have used a different color base yah? Oh well. Here's the card I made for her using the same stamps... It's another pleated center pop up card. And here's what it looks like when its opened flat. Do like the butterfly? Here's you can see it fully opened with the sentiment. And here's the close up of the cute chickie! Hope she likes it!

Seas the Day!

I feel really bad about this card because I had started working on it awhile ago and had every intent of finishing it before my class last week. Well, I guess I got distracted and didn't finish it till now. I wanted to show the class the versatility of making this pleated pop up card and how fun it can be. Oh well, hopefully they check my blog to see this sample. In a way, I'm glad that I didn't finish in time... since I waited so long, the new Surfer Anya had arrived at Island Scrapbooking and I was able to use her on the front of the card! I bet she could give Surfer Ian good rubs yah? Let me tell ya, her hair was a real challenge for me. Now I know why I like coloring straight hair better. Oh yah, also wanted to point out that I put diamond glaze on her surfboard to make it look shiny. Here's the inside of the card when its opened. I hand cut the "waves" using acetate and then used my handy dandy distress applicator and put the felt pads on top and used my alcohol inks. I used blue for the water color and then added the pearly white and silver colors for the foam. Do you likey? Ian looked lonely surfing by himself, so I found some friends to go surfing with him. Both critters are from the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Sea set. This set is really cute and the images are a good size to either be the focal point or the accessory to the card. Adhered the turtle behind the wave so it looks like he's swimming. Well, tomorrow is another furlough Friday for me... Sigh- I'm going to miss them! Gotta make sure I have everything for my class. Have a great weekend!

Some Bunny Loves You!

This is another pre-scheduled post. Just wanted to share another pleated center pop up card. I originally saw this on Eunice's blog and then again on Joy's blog. Thanks ladies! Made a few adjustments so that it was A2 sized. Guess I was in the mood for spring, so I decided to make an Easter themed card for my upcoming class. I think the key to this type of card is to find background items that will stand up or float to show off the coolness of this card (did I just write coolness?). Anyway, I couldn't resist using the Easter Anya since she's back in stock at Island Scrapbooking. Also finally able to use my easter basket punch and Lawn Fawn bunny from the Critters in the Burbs set. Yay! I think my favorite thing about spring is the pretty pastel colors. They are my favorite pallet to work with. Hope you are having a good week! Can someone check my cupcakes on Cupcake Corner please? ha ha ha!

You Mean So Much To Me

This Lawn Fawn bunny has got to be one of my favorite bunny stamps ever! I was totally inspired by Donna Mikasa's bunny cards using this stamp and watercolor background, that I had to make my own. I decided to CASE the concept of using the brown and white bunnies but put them into the Pleated Center Pop Up Card for some fun. Hoping to teach this class soon, so needed to come up with some samples. To give extra support to the tree and make the butterfly look like it was really flying, I used acetate behind the images. For the tree leaves, I stamped on patterned paper so that I wouldn't have to color it in. I think it gave some nice contrast and and overall fun look. Used DP for the grass too to give it some texture. Here's another view of the card when its open. Here you can see that it stays open flat and the images pop up nicely. And here's a close up of the two bunnies... so cute yah? The brown one was just stamped on kraft cardtock so no coloring except for his ears, nose, and heart. Oh yah- I cut out his tail from another white bunny I stamped and adhered it to the brown bunny. Well, we are well on our way to Japan!!! Woo hoo! Hope I don't freeze my buns off! Have some pre-scheduled posts, so it'll be like I never left!

Spooky Halloween

OK- enough of Christmas projects for now... gotta start looking at my Halloween stuff! I recently bought some new Halloween punches by Martha Stewart and EK success that I've been dying to try out. I dug up my old Halloween stamps punches from last year too for this project. Decided on using my Dandelion Stamps since they were small and could fit more on the card. Before I show you the inside of my card... I have to tell you where I got the inspiration from. I first saw a cute card using this technique on Joy's blog. Joy got the card from Eunice, who credits Carol, who credits Valita for this technique. I think Valita says she doesn't know who originated this idea but Carol calls it the Pleated Center Pop Up Card. Both sites have tutorials on how to make this card. I used Carol's version which allowed me to stagger the placement of each item. Instead of using an 8 1/2" x 11" paper, I used a 5 1/2" x 12" paper. After it folds down, its about the size of an A2 card. Here I have the card leaning against the wall, so you can see it with the DP as the backdrop. I copied the idea of using my tag punch for the tombstones from Mr. Barnes- who did it on the card featured here.. Instead of leaving the tombstones blank, I decided to use these cute sentiments from Dandelion Designs. This is actually what inspired me to use her stamps. I love that it says "Trick or treat, smell my feet, gimme something good to eat". We used to say that all the time growing up in Hawaii. I inked up the tags using my distress inks and and trimmed one of them so that it was smaller. Here's what it looks like when it just lays flat.. I like how the bats look like they are flying.. Finally, added in the finishing sentiment to a Fancy Labels tag by Spellbinders. Somehow that label reminds me of Halloween. Added the three ghosts from my new MS Ghost border punch. Aren't they cute?? Now I'm in the mood for some candy! Thanks Eunice for sharing this cool card technique and the links to where you got the idea from!! Supplies:

• All stamps- Dandelion Designs
• Bat punches- EK Success (large bat) and Martha Stewart
• Spiderweb punch- MS Crafts
• Ghost border punch- MS Crafts
• Tag punch- EK success
• Crystals- Hero Arts
• Acetate
• Oval and Scallop oval dies- Spellbinders
• Fancy Labels die- Spellbinders
• DP- Bo Bunny