Another Dog's Floral Tale . . .

Here is my second attempt at making a Fold Out Flower Card.

My first card can be found HERE

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FULL details on creating my first Fold Out Flower Card can be found HERE.

This card is the same size, a 7” x 5” top fold, and uses the same cute canine, the Labradoodle digital stamp from the Dog Tales digital stamp set by Beccy from Beccy’s Place.

The main differences from my first card are that I added the tiny circles to the middle of the flowers before adding the flowers to create the design.  It was much faster and easier to do it this way and it looks much neater too, as they are perfectly in the middle, not a little wonky like my first effort.  I combined some different flowers to create the design and for the contrast layer I used sparkling charcoal glitter cardstock.

Beccy’s Labradoodle looks so cute surrounded by these delicate fold out flowers.

   

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Here are both cards together

What do you think of this digital stamp transformation?

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INGREDIENTS

Dog Tales digital set from the Beccy's Place store

- Labradoodle digital stamp

- sorry, this set is now discontinued

textured white cardstock

Silhouette Cameo - to cut the Labradoodle floral panel

Charcoal Glitter Cardstock - Sizzix Opulent Cardstock Pack

sharp craft knife + self healing cutting mat + steel ruler

- for cutting matting layers + card base

300gsm smooth cardstock - scoreboard - bone folder

- to make 7" x 5" top folding card base

Tombow Mono Multi glue - to adhere delicate Labradoodle floral panel

Helmar 450 Quick Dry liquid adhesive - to adhere matting layers

~~~*~~~*~~~

I have entered my cards in the following challenges:

June Challenge at Beccy's Place Challenges

 

A Dog’s Floral Tale

My card started with an online cardmaking summit where Sarah, from Craft With Sarah, was teaching Fold Out Flower Cards.  The sample she used to teach us the technique included a dog silhouette image she sourced from Cricut Access and a variety of Fold Out Flowers cut files (Sarah generously supplied the SVGs during the class).  I don’t have a Cricut cutting machine or Cricut Access, but I had the perfect pampered pooch image to use in my stash, the Labradoodle digital stamp from the Dog Tales digital stamp set by Beccy from Beccy’s Place.  Unfortunately I can’t share a link to this cute furry set as it is now discontinued but I can share some links to others from Beccy that will tempt and inspire you to get creative.

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Here are some other dog digital stamp sets that Beccy has in her store: Ruff Day digital stamp set + Holiday Hounds digital stamp set + Paw Prints digital stamp set

Of course, if you’re more of a furry feline person,

Beccy has several cat digital stamp sets in her store:

Cat Tails digital stamp set + Christmas Kitties digital stamp set + Scaredy Cats digital stamp set + The Cat’s Meow digital stamp set + The Three Tenors digital stamp set

Last but not least, here is the link to the Beccy’s Place Store.  Beccy has a wonderful variety of digital stamp designs in her store, with delightful inspiration and tutorials on her Beccy's Place Blog.

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Anyway, back to my “A Dog’s Floral Tale” card ...

This top folding card is 7” x 5” and features the cute Labradoodle digital stamp from the Dog Tales digital stamp set by Beccy’s Place.  When I opened the digital image in Silhouette Studio, the black and white digital stamp was surrounded with a cut line, so to make life a little easier, I filled the image with black, so that I had a solid shape to work with.  To make it even easier to follow along with the tutorial, I flipped the image, so that the Labradoodle was facing the opposite direction.  It took quite some time to combine the fold out flowers with dog to make the design for my card and I am thrilled with the new techniques I learnt along the way.  Even though they were specific for Cricut Design Space, I was able to improvise and work out how to carry out the steps in Silhouette Studio.

Once I was happy with the design, I cut the “image panel” using my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine.  WOW!!!  Even without the flower petals folded out, the detail was so pretty and delicate, some outlines less than 1mm thick.

   

The next step is to fold out the flower petals, yes, sounds strange, but it makes it easier for adhering the panel in place.  I cut a Charcoal Pearl Cardstock panel to mat-back the design then carefully applied liquid adhesive to the back of the delicate cut panel then even more carefully aligned the panel in place.  The matted panel was then adhered to a 7” x 5” white panel, which was then adhered to a 300gsm 7” x 5” card base.  The cardstock layers were quite heavy and needed a sturdy card base.  Lucky last came the final fold out, carefully folding out the delicate petals so that there was plenty of dimension and the luscious metallic cardstock peeking through from behind each one.

What do you think?

I was excited to learn a new cardmaking technique

and find a new way to use my digital stamps.

~~~*~~~*~~~

INGREDIENTS

Dog Tales digital set from the Beccy's Place store

- Labradoodle digital stamp

- sorry, this set is now discontinued

textured white cardstock

Silhouette Cameo - to cut the Labradoodle floral panel

Charcoal Pearl Cardstock - Sizzix Opulent Cardstock Pack

sharp craft knife + self healing cutting mat + steel ruler

- for cutting matting layers + card base

300gsm smooth cardstock - scoreboard - bone folder

- to make 7" x 5" top folding card base

Tombow Mono Multi glue - to adhere delicate Labradoodle floral panel

Helmar 450 Quick Dry liquid adhesive - to adhere matting layers

~~~*~~~*~~~

I have entered my cards in the following challenges:

June Challenge at Beccy's Place Challenges

 

Special envelopes to match some special cards

Earlier today shared two cards made using the

Daisy Elements digital set from the Beccy's Place Store. 

.... when I say "digital set", it's two little words for a "MEGA digital set"

filled with digital stamps (to colour and pre-coloured), digital sentiments,

digital papers and card toppers too!

How could I resist making some special envelopes for them,

when the digital set includes coordinating patterned papers?

I designed my special envelopes in Silhouette Studio, combining the Daisy Elements Paper 4 from the Daisy Elements digital stamp set from the Beccy's Place store with the 5.5" Square Envelope with Liner cut file from My Scrap Chick.

My cards are 5 1/2" square and I like to have a little wriggle room, so I enlarged the envelope cut file from the original 8.472" square to 9" square.  I took the liner panel and enlarged the pretty patterned paper to be slightly larger, sent it to print on white textured cardstock and cut with my Silhouette Cameo, along with the white envelopes.  I burnished all the folds, adhered the liners in place then adhered the flaps to form the envelopes ... so pretty!

Here's how they look with the cards made from the same digital stamp set.

   

   

There's plenty of room inside, even with several layers foam dots.

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INGREDIENTS

Daisy Elements digital stamp set from the Beccy's Place store

- Daisy Elements Paper 4

White textured cardstock - American Crafts

My Scrap Chick - cut file - 5.5" Square Envelope with Liner

- I enlarged it from 8.472" square to 9" square to have some wriggle room 

Helmar 450 Quick Dry -

liquid adhesive - to secure the liner in the envelope

Helmar Acid Free Professional Glue - 

liquid adhesive - to secure the envelope flaps in place

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I have entered my card in the September Challenge at Beccy's Place Challenges

MARS ATTACKS ... and it's a friendly invasion

 I love the fancy folds of Box Cards and this space ship shaped

Alien Box Card cut file from My Scrap Chick is super cute.

I opened the cut file in Silhouette Studio and set up my pages so that I could cut a full set of panels to make a single spaceship.  I used it to cut ships from multiple colours of 12" x 12" cardstock.  I replicated sets of the alien body so that I could cut them all at once from green cardstock.  I did the same for the white domes and yellow lights.  I decided to add silver metallic cardstock to the front and back of the ship legs (so that they looked metallic from all sides) and silver metallic backing for the lights.  It worked out perfectly to cut out enough for six cards from a single A4 sheet of metallic cardstock.  Assembly was quite easy, especially with the video tutorial for instructions.  The only change I made to the design was backing the legs and adding googly eyes.

The card is quite large, with the backing panel measuring 6 1/4" wide, the height including the legs and antennae is almost 5" high.  It folds flat to just under 7 1/4" wide x just under 5" high.  It has a really smooth folding action and is works well regardless of whether it's folded to the left or right.

I created an internal offset from the backing panel so that I could make some print & cut sentiment panels to go on the back of each card ... so much nicer than my handwriting!

*** INGREDIENTS ***

Alien Box Card cut file from My Scrap Chick

12" x 12" textured cardstock - American Crafts

A4 metallic silver cardstock

googly eyes

Tombow Mono Multi liquid adhesive

- to adhere eyes, lights and legs

Helmar Acid Free Professional glue

- to adhere the panels of the card

Reindeer Party Box

It's my pleasure to introduce the Reindeer Party Box

from My Scrap Chick,

a fun Christmas treat box.

I opened the cut file in Silhouette Studio and cut the pieces from textured cardstock.  I did not adjust the size of this treat box and found that it was quite large, holding plenty of tasty treats inside.

I inked the medium brown head pieces for the box with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, the dark brown antlers with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, the noses with Barn Door Distress Ink and the muzzles with Antique Linen Distress Ink topped off with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  I was happy with the colour of the Antique Stain but it dried a lot paler than I expected on the coloured cardstock so I blended the edges with the Tea Dye to give more contrast and shading.  It really pays to do some test swatches when inking coloured cardstock AND to wait for them to fully dry.

I used Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive to secure the inner ears, antlers, muzzles and eyes in place.  I used a strong book binding glue (Helmar Acid Free Professional) to secure the "gusset" of the box, curving and joining it to the front, then securing the back panel in place to form the box.  I confess, I found this part a bit fiddly, perhaps the cardstock I used was a bit to heavy for making curves.

Lucky last came the noses.  I popped them in place with foam dots.

I made eight of these cuties so that there would be plenty to choose from.

I'm impressed with how many treats they hold too.

NINE individually wrapped treats fitted neatly in each one.

I've made three different Christmas treat boxes and 

ALL three treat boxes hold the same number of treats,

I could have tucked a few more inside this box but wanted everyone to get

the same number of treats regardless of the treat box style they chose.

You can read all about the Reindeer Belly Box HERE

and the Gingerbread Belly Box HERE.

*** INGREDIENTS ***
Reindeer Party Box from My Scrap Chick

Silhouette Cameo

12" x 12" textured cardstock

medium brown + dark brown + beige + pink + red + black + white

Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive - to adhere antlers, muzzle, inner ears and eyes

Helmar 450 Quick Dry - to adhere 

Helmar Acid Free Professional - to glue sides of box

foam dots - to adhere nose

Distress Inks

Vintage Photo + Walnut Stain + Antique Linen + Tea Dye

+ Barn Door + Spun Sugar

ink blending brush

ink dauber

Reindeer Belly Box

 It's my pleasure to introduce the Reindeer Belly Box
from My Scrap Chick,
a fun Christmas treat box.

I opened the cut file in Silhouette Studio and cut the pieces from textured cardstock.  I did not adjust the size of this treat box because the Gingerbread Belly Box that I made earlier (HERE) has the same sized front and side panels, so I knew it would hold plenty of tasty treats inside.

I inked the medium brown head pieces for the box with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, the dark brown antlers and hooves with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, the noses with Barn Door Distress Ink and the muzzles with Antique Linen Distress Ink topped off with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  I was happy with the colour of the Antique Stain but it dried a lot paler than I expected on the coloured cardstock so I blended the edges with the Tea Dye to give more contrast and shading.  It really pays to do some test swatches when inking coloured cardstock AND to wait for them to fully dry.

I used Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive to secure the inner ears, antlers, muzzles, eyes and front hooves in place.  I used a strong book binding glue (Helmar Acid Free Professional) to secure the sides to the front and back panels, forming the box.

Lucky last came the noses and back hooves.  I popped them in place with foam dots.

I made eight of these cuties so that there would be plenty to choose from.

   

I'm impressed with how many treats they hold too.

NINE individually wrapped treats fitted neatly in each one.

I've made three different Christmas treat boxes and 

ALL three treat boxes hold the same number of treats,

You can read all about the Reindeer Party Box HERE

and the Gingerbread Belly Box HERE.

*** INGREDIENTS ***
Reindeer Belly Box from My Scrap Chick

Silhouette Cameo

12" x 12" textured cardstock

medium brown + dark brown + beige + pink + red + black + white

Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive - to adhere antlers, muzzle, inner ears and eyes

Helmar 450 Quick Dry - to adhere 

Helmar Acid Free Professional - to glue sides of box

foam dots - to adhere nose

Distress Inks

Vintage Photo + Walnut Stain + Antique Linen + Tea Dye

+ Barn Door + Spun Sugar

ink blending brush

ink dauber

Gingerbread treats . . .

. . . after undergoing some creative summer surgery . . .

This super cute Gingerbread Belly Box is part of the Christmas Belly Boxes cut file set from My Scrap Chick HOWEVER, I must warn you, the original file comes wearing a warm woolly winter cap (see image of the original file under the store link store below).  I gave mine some snippy summer surgery so that it didn't overheat during our HOT Christmas celebrations.

I have to admit, I'm not so good drawing "freestyle" faces, so I planned ahead for my cutting and added a cut out smile to the face panel.  Instead of adhering the eyes on, I welded them with the face panel, along with the nose, so that they would all be cut out from the face panel.  I punched some 2" circles from black cardstock and adhered them behind the face so that his cute smiling face really popped.  I kept the "nose" pieces, inked the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink, the sides with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink then popped back in place with a foam dot.

Before assembly, I inked all the edges of the brown body panels with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  To get a good even coverage along his arms, I tucked some release paper under his arms and over his face.

The rosy pink cheeks are Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.  I used an ink dauber, dabbed off the excess ink, positioned it on the cheek and rotated firmly to get good ink coverage.  This was one of the first ones I made, I wasn't going to ink the cheeks in case I messed them up but he just didn't look complete without them.  The ink dauber was the perfect size and it made the process "Tracy-proof".  After the first eight boxes (yes, I made more, lots more), I inked the cheeks before assembling the boxes.

These cuties made me smile, from start to finish.

I used a thin line of Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive to secure the wibbly wobbly icing in place.  The bottom of the box overlaps to join the front and back panels.  Helmar 450 Quick Dry worked perfectly for that job.  I used a strong book binding glue (Helmar Acid Free Professional) to secure the sides to the front and back panels, forming the box.  Lucky last came the feet.  I popped them in place with foam dots.

They make me feel like Buddy the Elf . . .

"I just like to smile - smiling's my favourite"

   

. . . I can't resist, here's one last smile just for you . . .

NOTE: I didn't adjust the size of these treats.  I set up my pieces to cut from 12" x 12" textured cardstock.  One white sheet fitted just enough icing for eight Gingerbread Belly Boxes.  Five sheets of brown textured cardstock later and there were enough pieces to assemble EIGHT Gingerbread Belly Boxes.  ... that was my first eight ... I repeated this a couple of times and made 24 ... they're so addictive.

I'm impressed with how many treats they hold too.

NINE individually wrapped treats fitted neatly in each one.

I've made three different Christmas treat boxes and 

ALL three treat boxes hold the same number of treats,

You can read all about the Reindeer Party Box HERE

and the Reindeer Belly Box HERE.

*** INGREDIENTS ***

Christmas Belly Boxes - cut file set - My Scrap Chick

Silhouette Cameo

12" x 12" textured cardstock

Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive - to adhere icing

Helmar 450 Quick Dry - to glue bottom of box
Helmar Acid Free Professional - to glue sides of box

Distress Ink - Vintage Photo + Worn Lipstick + Picked Raspberry

ink blending brush

ink dauber