Find ideas, instructions and materials used to make a variety of paper-craft projects using Stampin' Up! products. As an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator in New Zealand I love to share my passion for creating things with paper including cards, boxes, gifts and decorations. I find that making things is a fun and relaxing past-time which relieves stress and gives me a purpose to be active every day. If you have any questions or want to learn more about Stampin' Up! feel free to contact me.
Twenty-one years ago I laboured to give birth to my youngest daughter so it only seemed fitting to create a very special card to celebrate her birthday.
This large box card was a true labour of love and very fun to create!
I've been wanting to make an 'explosion' box card for some time, so this special birthday was the perfect excuse for me to try this fun fold design.
I used retired designer series paper to decorate this card box -- Pattern Party on the outside and Sunshine & Rainbows on the inside. The DSP determined my colour scheme and inks.
The box was made from a 12" x 12" piece of Melon Mambo cardstock scored at 4" on all sides. I made the lid from a 6" square piece of Melon Mambo cardstock and scored it at just under 1" on all four sides so that it would be slightly larger than the 4" square box.
I die cut hearts for each corner from Basic White cardstock using the largest heart from the retired Be Mine Stitched Dies. I also traced around that same die to make each heart-shaped corner for my box.
The Mini Pocket Envelope Dies were the perfect choice to make a little pocket to hide $21 inside for the birthday girl because she is Amazing!
I created a triangular pocket out of designer series paper on one side to hide a little message which allowed me to sign the 'card'. The white heart was the inside of one of the larger corner heart die cuts.
I printed six photos of my daughter at various ages on paper and then die cut them with the largest heart from the Be Mine Stitched Dies to personalise this special box.
The tealight multi-tiered cake was another project I had been wanting to make and I personalised it with the Playful Alphabets Dies.
I made sure to make the cake hollow so I can easily turn on the tealight. You can learn how to make a cake in my video below.
I've also made another little video showing this special card in close-up view along with explanations of how I made it. All the products I used are listed in the description of the video.
Even though I used a lot of retired products to make this special gift card, you can make your own using whatever you have at hand or purchase some similar products from Stampin' Up!
There are so many fabulous new products in the January - June 2021 Mini Catalogue that I didn't know where to start to play. Then I saw a cute video on YouTube showing how to make a 2-way sliding card with snail and mushroom images so I had to give it a try myself with the new Snail Mail Suite of products from Stampin' Up!
The internal mechanism was simple enough -- a bit of thick cardstock and a piece of plastic -- which allows two images to move from opposite directions (2-ways). However choosing where to place the scene for the front of the card took me all day!
I used the Friendly Silhouettes and Curvy Dies to create the garden/grass scene along with the Subtle Embossing Folder. I stamped the sentiment from the Quite Curvy photopolymer stamp set because I could adjust it to fit the top corner of my card.
The first card I made, I fussy cut images from the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper. I could have used the Snail Dies to cut out two of the images but I find it relaxing fussy cutting DSP in the evenings while the TV is on.
I used an image of packages to cover the pull lever and stamped the mushroom image on the inside of the card which I coloured using Stampin' Blends.
I then recreated the card for an instructional video using the Snail Dies to create mushrooms for the front of the card.
In my video I explain how I got the different coloured mushrooms using the Snail Dies. I even used two little die cut mushrooms for the pull tab to make the snails move.
The inside of this card used the same mushroom stamp as my first card but I stamped and die cut the image on separate cardstock before adhering it to the inside.
I used the mushrooms to hide the smaller snail behind a hillside and cover up some gaps in my Old Olive cardstock.
I used Tuxedo Black Memento Ink to stamp the sentiments and snails for this card because I coloured them with Stampin' Blends pens.
I've listed all the products I used in the description of my C & C Designs video which shows how I made my card.
I think this technique would work great on lots of designs and I'm already thinking of what 2-Way Slider Card I'll make next!
I was watching Sara Douglass' home crafting video last week and a card her daughter made reminded me of one I learned how to make 12 years ago when I was a Girl Guide Leader at the J'08 Christchurch Jamboree.
This style of fun fold is called a squash card because you squash it down to close it! Squash cards are perfect for scrapbooks, journals, photo albums or a special life event like retirement or a big birthday! I used my original card as an autograph book so I could collect contact details to keep in touch with all the wonderful people I met at the jamboree.
It is easy to create the base of this card . . . the hardest part is deciding how to decorate it! So I got out some cardstock, designer series paper, stamps and ink and then a few hours later I had created a couple squash cards.
Here are photos showing the front and back of my two cards.
The smaller one was made with three 6" x 6" (15.2 cm square) pieces of Very Vanilla cardstock using the So Sentimental Bundle and Tropical Oasis designer series papers with coordinating colours.
I show you how to make the larger one in my video using two 8-1/4" x 8-1/4" (21 cm square) pieces of Whisper White cardstock. I decorated it with stamps from one of the 'host only' sets called New Wonders along with papers from the Pressed Petals Specialty Designer Series Paper, Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper and an envelope liner from the Magnolia Lane Memories & More Large Specialty Cards & Envelopes.
You can make your squash card any length you want by adding more squares. The finished size of the top will be half the size of the original square that you start with, i.e. a 4" x 4" starting square will give you a 2" x 2" finished card.
When you decorate the inside of the card you simply use squares which are slightly smaller than the finished card size and you can cut them in half at the diagonal for the triangular areas. For the small card I used 2-3/4" (7 cm) squares and the larger card was decorated with 4" (10 cm) squares.
I had lots of fun decorating these cards and I used a lot of colours. For a full list of the supplies have a look at the description under my YouTube video.
I hope you enjoyed this fun fold card and I'd love to see you make your own Squash Card!
