"Thankful" Card

This "thankful" card for Thanksgiving relies mainly on the patterned paper. I added some die cut fall leaves, stamped a tree image, added my greeting, and layered it on a coordinating colored circle to pop it up. The finished card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2, top folding. All products are Stampin' Up except the dies used to cut the leaves, which are from Lawn Fawn.

The card base is Old Olive, the next layer is Hello Honey, and the top layer is Stampin' Up's fall DSP from last year called Into the Woods. The tree is stamped with the Sprinkles of Life stamp set from Stampin' Up, and the greeting is from the Endless Thanks stamp set. I added a copper leaf using a Recollections leaf punch. The tree is stamped onto a 2 inch white circle, and then layered on top of a 2-1/2 inch Mossy Meadow circle. I inked the edges of the Hello Honey layer, the patterned paper layer, the white circle, as well as the leaves. The leaves are cut from Small Stitched Leaves dies by Lawn Fawn. To make the shape a little different, I rounded the bottom edges of the card and layers using my Crop-a-Dile.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snowman Cards - Happy Holidays

After I made the snow fox card last week, I decided I needed to make some snowman cards! These are special because I used the very first stamp set I ever purchased! I purchased this stamp set in 2001, along with some red, green and white cardstock, and made my very first Christmas cards. I have made them every year since!

This card is made with Stampin' Up cardstock in Cucumber Crush and Whisper White. After stamping and coloring the snowman, I cut it out using Stampin' Up's new Stitched Shapes Framelet Dies (which by the way I LOVE!). I used the largest oval die. The snow bank was created using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Borders dies. I cut the trees out using a triangle punch from some envelope paper in the same Cucumber Crush, adding brown tree trunks cut from brown cardstock. The stamped "Happy Holidays" is from the same Stampin' Up Frosty stamp set from 2001.

I wanted to make one more snowman card, so this time I used some patterned paper from a Paper Studio Christmas pack called A Very Merry Christmas, and I used the same dies. I did add another white layer behind the patterned paper in white using the rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes. I hand cut some trees from the patterned paper and attached them to the snow banks. The card base is black.

While new stamp sets are great, sometimes it's fun to go back to the old ones! This is a stamp set I will never let go, not just because it is very sentimental for me, but because I still love it!

Snow Fox - Let it Snow!

Snow Fox

Last week I told you how much I LOVE foxes and shared a fox card and gift box. In keeping with that theme, this week I am sharing a Snow Fox Christmas Card. I really love how this turned out!

The card is a standard A2 sized card (4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches), top folding. Card base is white. I layered another white piece on top cut from the Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes. It measures 4 x 5-1/4 inches. The next layer is from the Foxy Friends DSP by Stampin' Up, cut at 3-3/4 x 5 inches. I lightly inked the edges with Smoky Slate ink.

The snow layers are cut from Stitched Hillside Borders by Simon Says Stamp. They are layered together and cut to the width of the top layer, which is 3-3/4 inches.

The little fox is from the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge, p. 63, cut at 2-1/4 inches. The layers are cut in white and smoky slate. The Santa hat is from the Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge on p. 72, cut at 2-3/4 inches.  I cut the hat twice, once in white and again in red, and then cut and layered the two pieces together. The heart is from a Martha Stewart heart punch.  The greeting is an old Stampin' Up stamp from 2004, but you could use any greeting. I know there is a "Let it Snow" stamp in a current Stampin' Up set too.

This card was so much fun to create! This may be one of those cards that's hard to let go!

Little Fox Gift Box and Fox Card

If you have seen all the cute fox stamps and papers out now, you will know what inspired this gift box and card. Foxes are so popular. I was in a department store recently and saw a box made in this fashion and decided I just had to try to recreate it! The face is a flap that lifts up. The finished box is 5 inches wide, 1-1/2 inches deep, and 4 inches tall. It is large enough for some candy, a small gift, small note cards, or even a gift card! The card shown does not fit inside the box, although you could easily make a smaller version that would.

The card is a standard 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 inch, top folding card, and is not meant to go inside the box. I used A Little Foxy DSP from Stampin' Up and cut the fox from the Create a Critter cartridge at 2 inches. The card base is smoky slate, the circles behind the fox are calypso coral and soft sky, and the fox is also in calypso coral and white. The greetings on both the box and the card are from And Many More" by Stampin' Up.

If you would like directions on the box, I took pictures of all the steps and have written directions below.

Start with a piece of cardstock cut at 8 x 11-1/2 inches. I used smoky slate (gray), but I have also used kraft and both work well. Score the 8 inch side at 1-1/2" and 6-1/2". Score the 11 inch side at 4", 5-1/2", 9-1/2", and 9-3/4". The top will be the side with the score lines close together. Trim off the top corners as shown, and cut the score lines in the middle as shown. Then add a strong adhesive, score tape, tear and tape, etc. to the pieces as shown below.

Bring the top half of the box down to attach to the inside flaps on each side, then bring the bottom up and attach the sides.  It will look like the picture above. Don't worry about the short flap remaining on top. This is the base for the fold-over face pieces. Pinch in the sides of the box as shown and pin to make it easier to attach the flap pieces.

Cut two flap pieces for the face using the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge, p. 25, cut at 5 inches on the book setting, in white and orange.  You could also use some other die you may have.

With the points facing to the left on your score board, score the orange piece at 1-1/2" and 1-3/4". Score the white piece at 2-3/4" and 3". Leave the white piece at 5 inches and cut the orange piece down to 4 inches. Fold along the score lines and crease with a bone folder. These need to be crisp folds.

Next, attach the white flap to the flap on the box, matching up the score lines on the box. It works best if you use liquid glue and attach the piece to the box while holding the box upright and laying the flap on top of the box.  Glue only the top flap on the box and the bottom of the white flap. Do not glue the small area in between the thin score lines. Then working in the same manner, glue the orange flap on top of the white one. This forms the top of the fox's head.

For the body on the front of the box, I used punches and dies. I punched out ovals for the haunches using a 1-3/4" x 7/8" oval punch, a 1/2 inch circle for the nose, and cut a 1/2 inch circle in half for the eyes. I cut the body from an oval die measuring 2-3/4 x 3-1/2", and fashioned a tail from the space left after cutting the oval. I also hand cut the tip of the tail in white. Cut the pieces and assemble as shown.

I attached a small flat magnet under the nose and onto the body. I covered the magnet on the body with a 1/2 inch circle. I added a little "blush" with some light pink ink on a sponge dauber.

For the ears, cut two triangles in orange, and two smaller ones in white, glue together, and attach behind the top of the head with glue or glue dots.

If you want to embellish it further, add a greeting and bow!

I hope you enjoyed this week's project. Let me know if the directions aren't clear enough and I will be more than happy to clarify them! Happy crafting!