Gatefold Shutter Cards

We had such fun on our camping trip to Montana!  We met up with our friends in Anaconda and hiked, golfed, fished, took a couple of historic tours, and visited the Arts in the Park festival twice.  :  )   M. and I did a lot of catching up on what was happening in our families, talked scrapbooking, cardmaking and the Explore, looked at Pinterest and watched crafting videos together.  Lovely!

We were fascinated with the idea of the Gatefold Shutter card, sometimes called the Magic Eye card, and after several videos we figured it out.   I was able to put the deets into Design Space and cut a thank you card for my DS and DD who fed cats and chickens while we were gone.  (I'll share these when they are delivered!)

Tomorrow is my eldest DD's wedding anniversary and I used my file once I got home - and got the laundry underway - to make a card for L and D.   Here it is closed with the belly band:-

and as the card opens, the shutter mechanism starts to open:-

to reveal the hidden message or image.   How cool is that?

The decorative paper comes from Hobby Lobby.   Yes!   I finally got to visit a Hobby Lobby in Spokane Valley and I was in heaven!   All I can say is that it is well worth the drive. Truly!

A last peek at the card in the late afternoon sun.

Ughh!  Now I see that I bent the corner a little, so pretty please ignore that bit!  Thanks for visiting with me today. : ) Christine

Here's the file if you'd like to make your own card.

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/29536743



Go here for excellent instructions.   Enjoy!

A Wheelbarrow Full of Flowers

The problem with making Christmas cards in July is that you can't put them on the blog!  So I took a break today and played with a project from SVG Cuts Country Market. 

I LOVE this Vintage Wheelbarrow cut and I made it specifically to fit on a corner shelf in Elsie (the RV) since I haven't figured out a way to keep fresh flowers intact as we travel.   Feel free to spam me with ideas on how to do this, please!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Christmas in July

Our immediate family has a brief interlude between birthdays in July and I usually work on a few Christmas cards in anticipation of my great Pre-Holiday scramble!  Normally they get stashed away to be shared later, but this one can't wait!

I've been seeing Pop Out Book Cards all over Pinterest and I was intrigued because the style reminded me of a card I made for the DGDs a couple of years ago.  That one was kinda cobbled together, and I thought it would be nice to have the real template in Design Space.

A search of the web brought me to Diane's blog and she had a scoring and cutting template already to go!  I was able to recreate the template in DS and am just waiting for her permission to share it with you'all. 


I did find a workaround that made it so much easier to position the score lines.  I created a rectangle to match the distance between the score lines.  (For example, if the score lines are 2 inches apart, then my rectangle would be 2 inches wide.)  I was able to move the score line onto the very edge of the rectangle, center the line and the card vertically and attach.  Voila!  The score line was in exactly the right place.

 Here's how the card insert is folded:-

Then it is adhered along the edges to the card base and the folds well creased.

I chose the characters from "Frozen" to decorate my card since I wanted to hang snowflakes from the top of the card.  I used the Print then Cut function and printed them on good quality white card stock.
The snowflakes are punched from glitter card stock and the stars are Martha Stewart glitter stickers and they are both strung on white thread.  This was the hardest part of the whole card!

I used the Darice snowflake embossing folder on all the white mats and glued sequins in the center of the largest snowflakes.  Gotta have some bling!

I think the recipients (shhhhh!) will like the card.  And I look forward to making more Pop Out Book Cards.   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy celebration yesterday.  Since the conditions were so hot and dry, we had just a few sparklers for Master J after the traditional BBQ followed by cheesecake topped with delicious Bing cherries grown in our orchard.  Yum!  

Did you see the Stars and Stripes projects by the DT on BBTB2 challenge blog?  Although they were all awesome, I LOVED the card by Melanie for its creativity.  Melanie saw the flower card on the Artfully Sent cart as fireworks illuminating the sky and I just had to scraplift her idea.   While browsing the cart images, I saw that there was also a pop up version and I had to try that one too.

Isn't this AC red foil card stock beautiful?  And the silver iridescent paper makes the stars sparkle in the sky.   Here's the front with another view of the red foil star border.   The boy on the rocket comes from A Child's Year and is popped up for dimension.

Here's the front of the card inspired by Melanie: -

I added tulle and tied it with red and white twine to pick up the color of the stamped sentiment.   Here's the innies:-

I am SO over that Pebbles paper!  Time to shop for something different, right?   Thanks for visiting with me today as I hustle to get ready to watch Team USA in action on the soccer field.   :  )  Christine

Nesting Doll Pop Up card

Just messing about yesterday with a pop up mechanism.

Needs refining, but I like it!

Here's the front:-

Thanks for visiting today.  It's going to be hot again!   : )  Christine

Craft 'N Chat

My friend C came up last Wednesday to work on the treats for the OHM children.  The theme was July 4th and obviously, I was a tad tardy in getting them out! 

Such a fun morning!  C was soon working my MISTI like a pro, while I learned to use my new toy, the Fuse, to seal the Jelly Beans in the plastic treat bags.  The cuts come from SVG Cuts Sweet Treat Bags set and I resized them in DS to accommodate the plastic treat bags.   The patriotic paper comes from Pebbles, and the sentiment stamp comes from Scrappy Moms.   My fingers were quite blue after curling all that ribbon!

 I didn't notice until I downloaded my pictures, that Cocoa was checking out the treats.   He doesn't usually pay much attention to candy, but he does like Jelly Beans!

Right!  Back to work.  I am giving Cocoa a hair cut but we keep having to come inside to cool down.  This heat is horrible and far too early in the Summer.  DH is prepping the site for my new greenhouse which comes tomorrow.  We'll probably have to fit it with an air conditioner!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Pop Up Photo Frame Card

Like most families we share photographs via social media, but just occasionally, I love to send a photograph to share a special moment.

Last week my sister mailed a giant box to our house containing Master J's birthday presents.  He ripped into that box and demanded that we open each and every toy as it emerged from the packing paper!

His favorite, however, was the Thomas the Train bubble blower and after dinner, we filled it up with bubble mix, found two AA batteries and sent him off to bubble the yard.   He bubbled his Dad and Mom, his Grandpa and me, and even tried to bubble Cocoa but that wise puppy would not stay still and be bubbled!

We took pictures and video, of course but I wanted to do something special as a 'Thank You' for my sister. I remembered seeing a cute photo card holder on Pinterest and decided to search for something similar in Design Space.  Aha!   I could not find a photo frame card but I did find a card with the right pop up mechanism.

I inserted the card onto my mat and resized it to make a 5.5 by 4.25 card.  Then I added a square and  unlocked the dimensions to make it 5.5 by 8.5.  Using the align button, I aligned the two images horizontally and 'ungrouped' the pop up card.  I selected the score lines and using the arrow keys, I moved them across until they were in exactly the same place on my card.  The pop up card (minus score lines) was deleted.

Next, I needed the opening for the photo and I kept it simple by just adding a rectangle centered in the top half of the remaining card using the score lines for guidance.  I selected the rectangles and hit 'slice.'  Then I selected the sliced image and the score lines and hit 'attach.'  Now all that remained was to choose a frame to make the opening look finished and I was done!

Now for the fun part - embellishing the card.  I searched for birthday images and arranged them on the front of my card and around the frame,  Time to cut and assemble.

Just FYI - the score line are at 3/4 inch, 1 1/2 inches, and 5 inches.  Here's how the score lines are folded.  (Actually, there are two extra score lines indicating the center fold line.  Ignore these.)

I cut a regular A2 card with my cutter, scored and folded across the center and lined up the two pieces of my card.  I attached the top and bottom edges and checked that it folded correctly.  (It will not be completely flat.)

Then I attached the sides together just beneath the opening and the card was ready to embellish.

Here's the finished card from the side:-

And inside:-

I'll write a note to my sister and have Master J. add his name.  I think she'll like it!

O.K.  Are you thinking how useful this will be for special Halloween pictures, or Christmas pictures?  How about Graduation pictures for elderly relatives who don't Facebook?  Or even on an interactive scrapbook page?   Oh the possibilities...

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Hope you find this a useful file : ) Christine

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/28904416