January Class Cards

If you follow me you know I teach classes at Harts N Scraps locally each month and try to remember to post the cards here after the classes are done. I am leaving town today for a cruise that includes cardmaking classes three days and am very excited! I had a few minutes before leaving so remembered to post January's class cards here:

Each card taught a different technique or fun fold and featured snow and/or snowflakes. The students and I had a great time. 

 

If you are local, check out the many classes each month at Harts N Scraps.

Playing with New Karen Burniston Dies before my Crafty Cruise

Pretty but a bit boring right? But that is not the case when the card is opened:

Three platforms pop up with lovely flowers and butterflies when the card is opened. All the cards here were made with a new die from Karen Burniston called Triple Platform Pop Up. I had a chance to play with this and some of the other new dies in this release but did not have time for a full video because I am also packing for a cruise next week with the very same Karen Burniston! She and two other instructors are teaching classes on a cruise in the Western Caribbean and I am going along! A friend from the classes I teach locally invited me to come along with her and I am so excited! It is perfect vacation for me- cruising in the warmth and taking cardmaking classes on the days we are aboard the ship! 

Here is another card I made with the new Triple Platform die set along with new Popcorn themed dies and stamps:

I just bought some Birthday Animals 3D Toppers and thought they would be cute popping up on a birthday card for a special child. 

It is hard to show the amazing pop up motion in these cards with still photos, so here is a mini movie I made to show you. If you are a subscriber, for some reason Blogger does not show the videos in the emails so you can go to the blogpost by clicking on the title or watch on my Facebook page or Instagram.

Crealies Amazing Twist and Rotate Circles Cards

 I love interactive cards but some are so difficult to make with all the cutting and scoring. The new Twist and Rotate Circle die set from Crealies easily makes cards with spinning and rotating circles and here is the first one I made:

It is impossible to see what these cards do when the card is opened, but here is a view when the card is fully opened so you can see the stars have rotated to meet in the upper right.

To see this amazing movement better and how easy these cards are to make, be sure to watch my new video here. 

Here is another card I made with this innovative die set. I cut a circle in the front of the card with the largest circle die of the seven in the die set and added many of Crealies butterfly dies to decorate. When the card is opened the butterflies move to meet on the top right. 

This is the Easter card I made step by step in the video. I love how the bunny and the Happy Easter sentiment move and I am sure anyone who receives these cards is going to be fascinated with that movement too.

 All of the dies shown are available on the Crealies website. The new February release with this amazing Twist and Rotate Circles die is here on the website.

Creative Cards with New Dies and Stencils

My New Year's resolution is to play with all the new dies, stencils and other crafty goodies I have bought but never used and today I am sharing cards made with a set of dies called Standing Pop Up Card dies from Fabulous Folded Cards at Paper Wishes. Every month Hot Off the Press at Paper Wishes releases a set of very inexpensive dies that create fabulous folded cards. This was an older set that was on sale the end of the year and it makes cards that start like this:

When the ribbon is untied, the card pops open and displays like the first photo. I used 49 and Market cardstock along with some of their rub-on transfers to decorate my circle card for a special friend's birthday. Here are pictures of some of the inside views:

Another way to use this unique set of dies is to have two pop up together in the inside of a card as I did here. Also popping up are some acetate flowers from 49 and Market. I decorated the inside of this 5 x 7 card with a new Poppy Stamps Nordic Lace Plate. The front was created with a new 3D embossing folder with layering stencils from Simon Hurley and Spellbinders:

Big Foot Big Love Valentines

I have known for a long time that the best place for an awesome selection of dots and shaker bits was This Calls For Confetti, but now I found out they have way more than just confetti! I fell in love with the new Love Big Foot die with his matching sentiment stamps and dies and just had to have them all. I have two grandsons I like to make Valentines for but of course romantic images will not do for them. Here is the first card I made with Big Foot Love and Gen Xer Dazzle Dots as well as a Pink & Main Shaker cover:

I show in my newest video how fun the interactive shaking of this card is and also what happens when this card is opened:

I used the negative image of the die cut Big Foot to create a stencil for the "big feet" and look what happens when the card is opened:

Big Foot pops up and so does the funny punch line and Valentine's sentiment. I used Karen Burniston's Flip Frame die set to create the pop up apparatus and the "love you" is her die as well. You will want to watch the video here to see the amazing pop up motion and how it was made. I used the Love, Bigfoot die, stamp set and matching dies from This Calls for Confetti on this card and also on this one I made in the video:

I didn't have any more of the forest scene designer paper I used in the first card so I made my own with the 4 part Forest Landscape stencil set from This Calls for Confetti. I made this one for my husband so I chose a different sentiment from the Love, Bigfoot Sentiments. 

Playing With Parchment Paper Backgrounds And New Dies

Last fall I explored a new technique with parchment paper and glue and needed some more samples for a class I am teaching so I played some more with the technique. Here is a link to the blogpost with a video on how to do the technique. Basically you wrinkle up a piece of parchment paper and attach with white glue to a piece of cardstock. But the card above shows what happens when the white parchment paper is inked with a blue ink and a blending brush. I die cut the leafy circle with a new die from Paper Rose.

I added some red ink to this parchment paper background simply by dragging the ink pad direct to paper. I bought Brutus Monroe's Sketchy die and stamp set because it reminded me of the Etch A Sketch from my youth and I used it on both of these cards and the inside:

I don't bake so I didn't know parchment paper also came Unbleached, but I bought some and it makes another unique look especially over dark cardstock as I did here.

Need Sentiments? Like Sparkle? Two Ways to Shine!

Are you like me - rarely stamping sentiments anymore when there are so many easier ways to add sentiments to our cards? In my new video I share several ways to make sparkly fun sentiments so easily for our handmade cards. This is the card I make step by step in the video after showing how easy it is to foil sentiments both with toner sheets and hot foiling. The background on this card was created with an Altenew Baroque Elegance Press Plate and rainbow foil. The sentiments are from Altenew and Taylored Expressions and made with my MINC and toner foil.

Karen Burniston's Photo Fan Pop Up die creates the perfect way to showcase foiled sentiments and foiled moths. The smaller moths and sentiment pieces were created with Foil Its from Taylored Expressions. Here is another card I created with more foiling and pop up fun in the inside:

The front of this card was created with Altenew's Modern Leaf Background and Floral Moths Hot Foil Plate with matching dies. Of course I added some more foiled sentiments to both the front and inside of this card. 

I really liked the Modern Leaf Press plate from Altenew and also the matching stencil set which made it very easy to add color as I did on both of these cards. I added another hot foil moth from Altenew and a toner moth from Taylored Expressions and a couple more foiled sentiments.

I found this storage bin on Amazon from ArtBin which allowed me to customize the size of each compartment so now I have my foiled sentiments all organized and ready for many cards to come. 

I hope my cards encourage you to give some of these ideas and products a try and you will send some sparkly joy our into our world.