hello SUNSHINE

This easel card is 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"
It stands 4 1/4" tall when open, has lots of layers and has lots of sparkle.

The rainbow background panel is the Paper Smooches Squared Coverlet Die.  I took the die cut sections out of each row and inked them into a rainbow using a Cleansnap Primary Pastel Chalk Inkpad.  I cut a white panel the same size as the die cut panel, adhered it in place then inlaid the rainbow pieces.  I adhered the panel onto Kaisercraft Navy cardstock and cut a 1/16" border using my Perfect Layers Ruler, then I layered the panel on white cardstock, with the same 1/16" border.  I used this ruler for all the layers.



It has been quite a while since I've made an easel card, so I will share how I made it.  I cut a panel 9" x 5 3/4", scored at 4 1/2" and 6 3/4".  The bottom of the rainbow panel gets adhered to the narrow 2 1/4" section that will become the bottom front of the card.  The 4 1/2" line becomes the top fold when the card is flat.

To make the "wedge" to hold the rainbow panel up, I added a smaller piece of white cardstock under the navy sentiment panel.  This was the perfect size to fit my sparkling "sunshine" and the added height allows the rainbow panel to sit against it quite securely, without making it too chunky to close flat.

The "hello" is from the Paper Smooches Hello Words Die Set.  I layered a white one over four navy ones for dimesion but it just didn't POP from the inlaid rainbow background, so I cut another one in white, inked it up with the same yellow ink ... it still didn't POP, so I painted it with glue and smothered it with yellow glitter, then I was very HAPPY with the sparkling yellow POP.

The "sunshine" is from a pack of AC DIY Shoebox Thickers.  A single layer of glitter was quite pale, so I painted each letter with glue and smoothered them with another coat of glitter.  The extra layer made for thick, solid coverage and it sparkles beautifully.



The clouds are Paper Smooches Cute Clouds ... yes, they really are cute.  I put the clusters at different heights by layering foam dots.  Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins (4mm & 6mm) make perfect little raindrops.  I secured them with tiny dollops of Tombow Mono Multi Glue.

Ingredients:

Paper Smooches - Squared Coverlet Die

Paper Smooches - Hello Words Dies

Paper Smooches - Cute Clouds Dies
Perfect Layers Ruler - 1/16" border under each layer
Cleansnap - ColorBox Petal Point Fluid Chalk Inkpad - Primary Pastel
American Crafts - DIY Thickers - Shoebox
Glitter
Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Sequins, 4mm & 6mm
Kaisercraft weave cardstock - Navy
American Crafts textured cardstock - white 60 pack
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
(to adhere matted layers)
Helmar Acid Free Professional Glue
(to adhere glitter to the sentiment & alphas)
Tombow Mono Multi Glue
(to layer & attach sentiment and secure the sequins)
Foam dots - to give the clouds some dimension

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I am going to enter my card in the following challenges

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Crafty Gals Corner Blog

Challenge #74 - Ray of Sunshine (use yellow)

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Simon Says Stamp Blog
Work It Wednesday May 2016
The challenge is to use sunshine in your project.
My sparkling sunshine sentiment is peeking out from my geometric "rainbow".



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Paper Smooches Blog
June Challenge - LAYERS
My card has lots of layers,
layered die cuts, layered glitter and layered cardstock.
   

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Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge Blog
June 2016 Challenge - Anything Goes
must contain glitter or embossing powder


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The Graduate

I'm SO PROUD to share this layout of my nephew Rodney.

He has graduated with a Bachelor of Graphic Design.

The background patterned paper is "vibrant" from the Kaisercraft Limelight Collection.  They have such a variety of different woodgrain and natural backgrounds (along with a gazillion other fabulous designs).

The title is American Crafts DIY Thickers, they are foam self adhesive alphas that have adhesive on the top so that you can apply glitter, micro beads, flocking etc.  I initially applied charcoal glitter (trying to keep the layout all shades of grey) but it was the wrong "tone", so I painted on some liquid adhesive (Helmar Acid Free Professional) and smothered the letters with onyx black glitter from American Crafts.

I wanted to celebrate his moment, so I triple matted his photo with cardstock using my Perfect Layers ruler.  It is great to be able to adhere a layer down and know that you can cut the mat perfectly every time using these rulers.  I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry to adhere each layer.  The layers are photo, 1/16" 3/16" then 1/8"

The bursts of "fireworks" are from Fiskars XL, L and medium Bling Bling Squeeze Punches.

Think I might make a tassel to attach to the end of a tag and have it dangle over the front RHS and hide some journaling instead of just writing on the back.

Ingredients:

Kaisercraft patterned paper - Limelight Collection - Vibrant

American Crafts 100 sheet Value Pack Textured Cardstock

American Crafts DIY Thickers - Shoebox
Martha Stewart Glitter - Onyx

Perfect Layers Rulers 
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Helmar Acid Free Professional Glue

Fiskars Squeeze Punches - XL, large & medium Bling Bling

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I am going to enter my layout in the following challenges:

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The PaperCrafter's Corner
Magazine Mondays Week 144

      

I hope you can see how I was inspired
... the Bling Bling punch outs are like miniature May Poles.
Also, it is such a celebration with the ribbons & flowers radiating from the central pole,
just like my bursts of punchy fireworks surrounding the photo.  If you flip the image it matches my page, with the title across the bottom and the celebration happening around the photo.

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Scrapbook & Cards Today - The Blog
3:00pm iNSD with Nicole Nowasad

The challenge is to create a masculine layout

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Hiding In My Craft Room
HIMCR #250 - Super Scraps Saturday

The best thing about using squeeze punches is that you can use the smallest of pieces.  A tip to get the most out of your scraps is to attach them to a post-it note so that you can flip your punch over and align the piece perfectly with the image you want to punch out.  It is surprising what you can get out of even the smallest of scraps
=> HAPPY punching :)

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CELEBRATE the CURLS

it's time to

CELEBRATE

the

CURLS

This photo is of my niece, a rare sight seeing her glorious curls
... she usually straightens her lovely long locks.

Sorry for the terrible photo, I will try to take a better one in the daylight

This 12x12 layout took much longer than it looks.  I started with a fancy patterned paper, filled with flourishes and swirls.  The green patterned paper and cardstock matched "the curls" perfectly but it ended up looking too "fussy".  So I started over again, with plain lavendar cardstock (same tone as her top in the photo) and let the title draw the eye around to the photo.
The photo was triple matted with cardstock.  The Perfect Layers ruler allowed for straight and even edges of 1/16" and 3/16" each time.
I cut and combined flourishes from the Paper Smooches Flourishes 1 die set.  I pulled the inner end of each one and it gave them lovely dimension.
The arrows were layered for extra contrast against the original patterned paper but I still used them, as it tied the green with the other elements on the page.

Ingredients:

Kaisercraft weave cardstock - Lavendar

Kaisercraft weave cardstock - Fern

Kaisercraft weave cardstock - Coconut

American Crafts Thickers - Dear Lizzy - Fantastic (white foam)

American Crafts Thickers - Dear Lizzy - Merry (green foam)

Paper Smooches Wise Dies - Flourishes 1
Perfect Layers Ruler - 1/16" and 3/16" sides used
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue
Helmar 450 Quick Dry

Fiskars Squeeze Punch - Large One Way (arrow)

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I am going to enter my layout in the following challenges:

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Hiding In My Craft Room Blog

2nd National Scrapbooking Day celebration challenge

HIMCR02NSD - Scrapbooking

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The PaperCrafter's Corner

Magazine Mondays Week 144

      

I hope you can see how I was inspired

... the swirling flourishes radiate from the central photo,
just like the ribbons around the May Pole.

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Scrapbook & Cards Today - The Blog

1pm iNSD with Megan Hoeppner

The challenge is to pull out our punches and create paper pieced elements.

2pm iNSD with Marla Kress

The challenge is to create a layout with a directional element.

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another photo ... still not much better

... looks like it's time to try another camera,

hope to get a pic that shows the colours as they look in real life

Get Well Fishes

The 5yo Granddaughter of a dear crafty friend is undergoing extensive

surgery and treatment in hospital and will be staying there for over two months. 

Two ideas immediately came to mind for a card to send to her:

the inspiration photos from the

Magazine Mondays Week 117 challenge on the PaperCrafter's Corner Blog.

the sketch from the
Freshly Made Sketches Blog - #204 A Sketch by Jen Timko

With the above inspiration in mind, I thought that I would send her some Get Well Fishes.

I started by punching out some fish using my Fiskars Something's Fishy LE Squeeze Punch and put together a little scene.

... the only problem was, that with the fish being 1 1/4" long, it ended up being quite large.  This made it the perfect time to crack open the pack of A3 cardstock that I bought the other day for making bases for tall top folding, stepper and easel cards.

I scored the A3 cardstock in half, making a top folding card, with an A4 landscape front and covered it with white AC textured cardstock.

I made the fishbowl by cutting a frame out of red textured cardstock and layered blue textured cardstock in the window.  After I adhered it, I thought that I should have included

a layer of acetate for the "glass" ... maybe next time.  It would even make a fun shaker.

The bubbles are Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins, 4mm, 6mm and 8mm.

They eyes are rhinestones.

The alphas are foam Thickers.

 This pic is to show how HUGE this card is.
Sure hope that it helps make her feel better!

          I have entered my card in the following challenges:          

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The Freshly Made Sketches Blog

Freshly Made Sketch #204 - A Sketch By Jen Timko
FMS204
  

Entries close 12:00 PDT Monday 21st Sep-15

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I was too late to enter my card in Magazine Mondays Week 117 on the PaperCrafter's Corner Blog but I am sharing the link so that you can drop by and check out what everyone was inspired to create from the inspiration pieces.

   

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Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog - Simon Says: Die Crazy

The challenge was to use at least one die cut or punched shape - I used 10 punched fish.

Entries close 8am EST Wednesday 23rd Sep-15

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Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #37 - Anything Goes

Entries close 12pm CST Tuesday 22nd Sep-15

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Hiding In My Craft Room - HIMCR #217 Freestyle!

Entries close 2am CST Saturday 26th Sep-15

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Peppa Pig birthday

We have two little girls turning 5 this month and I thought that

Miss Peppa Pig might be a fun way to help them celebrate.

Here is the first one of the two cards, the second is still being pieced together.

This huge stepper card stands 8 1/4" tall and 5 7/8" wide

Here is a side view so that you can see the stepper panels. 

 Close-up of the back panel showing the detail of Peppa Pig with her 5 balloons.

 Close-up of the front panel showing the sentiment.

Here is my recipe for a paper-pieced Peppa Pig:

• Head & body - Fiskars XXL circle lever punch 2 1/2"
• Cheek - Fiskars Medium Round 'n Round squeeze punch - 1"
• Nostrils & eyes - confetti from Lil' Inker Designs Baubled Christmas Tree die
  I adhered them together then coated them with Glossy Accents
• Mouth - Fiskars Medium Round 'n Round squeeze punch - 1"
  I double-punched the circle, held in the punch with a Post-It Note
• Ears - Fiskars XL Petal By Petal squeeze punch, smallest petal
• Hands - Fiskars LE Owl squeeze punch
  I trimmed the legs out of the body
• Tail - Fiskars Swirl Around lever punch
• Legs - 1/4" strips
• Shoes - 1/4" strip Fiskars 1/4 corner round squeeze punch
  I adhered the shoes to the legs then coated them Glossy Accents

Other products used for my card include:

• Cardstock - American Crafts Textured
• Patterned Paper - Kaisercraft Miss Nelly Collection - Her Dreams
• Balloons - Balloon Die set by Lil' Inker Designs
• Metallic thread - for the balloon strings
  YES, they were a challenge to tie, to knot together and to curl too
• Thickers foam stickers - for the "5" on the dress and for the name
• Pumpkin Stazon Ink by Tsukineko - to colour the alphas before adding the Stickles
• Word Dies - Sizzix Framelits Regal Card Stand-Ups die set by Stephanie Barnard
• Fruit Punch Stickles - used to add sparkle to the "5", Peppa's dress, the balloons and sentiments
• Star Dust Stickles - used to add sparkle to the pink inlaid stars of the balloons

NOTE to SELF

Think about adding some punched grassy border layers to "ground" Peppa

and some matting the inside of the card too

          I have entered my card in the following challenges:          

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Craftin Desert Divas - Craft It Up & Link It Up "Just For The Kids" Linky Party

The challenge is to make any project you would give or make for a kid.

  

 

Entries close 12pm Arizona MST Sunday 13th September

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Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #36: Bingo!

The challenge is to use the chart below and make a project with 3 in a row!

link to Crafty Gals Corner Blog

Link to Challenge #36 Bingo!

  My card used:

- punched & die cut pieces for Peppa Pig, the balloons and sentiment
- a sentiment, a combination of die cut and foam Thickers

- bling, the Stickles decorating Peppa's dress & balloons and the sentiments too

Entries close 12pm CST Tuesday 15th September

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Hiding In My Craft Room HICRM #216
Super Scraps Saturday!

I use lots of pink and orange cardstock in my crafting and tend to accumulate a lot of scrappy pieces from each 12 x 12 sheet, so I had plenty of SUPER SCRAPS on hand to punch & die cut the elements to embellish this card.

Entries close 2am CST Saturday 19th September

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40 & fabulous

Milestone birthdays add a touch of fun to card making.

I went with an elegant, modern design for this 40th birthday card, combining dry embossing on smooth white cardstock, sparkling silver glitter and lots of dimension using bundles of foam squares between each layer.

Ingredients:

• Ruby Rock-It Fundamentals A5 card base
  (I cut off the front stepper section) for this 8 1/4" tall top folding card
  
• American Crafts silver glitter paper
• Couture Creations Large Peacock Fans 5x7 embossing folder from the Marriot Collection
• American Crafts Thickers
  - Shoebox DIY Thickers for the "40" and "&", smothered with silver WOW! glitter
  - Amy Tangerine Scene silver glitter foam stickers for the "fabulous"
  

I have entered my card in the

Paper Issues - New Issue: Painting By The Numbers challenge

and the

Paper Crafter's Corner - Magazine Mondays - Week 92 challenge.  

 

PS - don't forget,

the Fiskafriends - The Power Of Community Blog Hop

starts tomorrow, hope to see you hopping along with us.