Hedge Hugs and Owl Love Triple Easel Cards

I love fun fold cards but some are so difficult to make with all the cutting and scoring. The new Triple Easel die set from Crealies makes triple easel cards in just minutes and here is the card I made step by step in my new video here:

 Isn’t that adorable? Kids love to receive and display cards and here is another one I made for a special child, this time with the new Hedgehog die set:

I have the whole set of Texto Positivo word dies and used letters from them to create the puns on these two cards. I wondered what else I could do with this Triple Easel die set and made this card by folding the side triangles up instead of down: 

The “curtain” effect on the sides and middle was created with new On the Edge Little Striped dies. It is fun to play with our dies and come up with  new ways to use them. 

To see just how easy and fast it is to make triple easel cards with this new die set from Crealies, watch here. 

I am happy to share that Crealies dies shown can be purchased either on the Crealies website here OR in the United States at the Frantic Stamper website here.

Spellbinders Florals Through the Year Calendars and Cards

Desk calendars make great gifts and Spellbinders has a new release with each month's flower we can BetterPress or foil in our Glimmer machines. January's flower is the Snowdrop, and I made this calendar page with January's flower as well as the 2025 DIY Calendar BetterPress plates. This and the other months' pages that I made are displayed on a Spellbinders Easel. All of these new BetterPress plates and dies can be found here on the Spellbinder's website. 

I though the monthly flowers were so pretty, they would also make beautiful cards for special people who have birthdays in that month. I chose a vertical easel fun fold to feature each month's flower. Here is what this card looks like open:

February's flower of the month is Violet and this is the calendar page I made. On each of the calendar pages, I added some rub-on transfers to decorate just a bit more. Here is the tri-fold card I made for someone special who has a birthday in February:

March's flower is the daffodil and here are my calendar page and card I made: 

I just was able to make January through March so far and love how these calendar pages and cards I turned out. I hope you will check out this release and all the other new dies and products at Spellbinders. 

New Fan Favorite- Karen Burniston (Photo) Fan Pop-Up

Birthday #9 is a Big Deal, and this is the fan pop up card I made for my grandson's upcoming birthday with  the new Photo Fan Pop Up die set from Karen Burniston. I think this pop up die might be my favorite all time from Karen Burniston! You don't have to pop up photos- it is perfect for popping up all sorts of things as I show in my new video. I also feature Crealies Playing Cards on this card both on the inside and on the front as we love to play cards together as a family:

I share this card and many others in my new video and I show how to make this double fan pop up step by step in the video:

Wow- right?! The fireworks are also a new die from Karen Burniston, and the letters and "celebrate" are older dies also from KB. Here is another fan pop up card I made for winter with more new dies and stamps from Karen Burniston:

The still photos do not do the pop up WOW justice as these cards are opened, so you are going to want to watch the video to see how easy these cards are to make. You could also check out my Instagram or Karen's Kreative Kards on Facebook for a mini- video showing the pop up motion. 

Another new die in this release is the Postage Pop Up die set, and I used it as a frame on the front and as a pop up on the inside. Of course postage dies are quite popular right now and I used stencils and dies from other sets I have on the front and inside pop up on this card for my grandson. The paper airplane is fun and he is going to love it. 

Links to products featured: Karen Burniston dies used: Postage Pop-Up Die Set https://shrsl.com/4qjvk Fireworks Die Set https://shrsl.com/4qjvm Photo Fan Pop-up https://shrsl.com/4qjvr Snow Charms https://shrsl.com/4qjvu Alphabet Die Set https://shrsl.com/10m1f

Unique Ways to Make Cards for any Book Lover

As I show in my new video, the Concord & 9th True Story dies and stamps make perfect cards for any book lover you know. The dies cut the shapes of the books and also offer many options to decorate. This is the first card I made with various colors of Concord & 9th cardstock. I decorated the inside of the card as well with more books:

And this is a masculine version of the book card with more stamps and decorative elements from the same die and stamp set. The sentiment dies on both cards are Moonstone from Hunkydory and fit perfectly on the books. Since I was working with the books theme, I also made this card with smaller books on a shelf:

I had great fun designing with the Concord and 9th True Story Dies and Stamps. Many others loved  them too, so they might be sold out temporarily.  If you click on the link and either the die or stamp set is sold out, you can sign up for notification when they are back in stock. I hope my cards encourage you to give some of the ideas and products a try. 

St. Nick in Traditional and Non-traditional Colors

Spellbinders St. Nick die set creates a perfect old fashioned Santa and I could not resist him the minute I saw the set. I created this tag and mini-slimline card and love how they turned out. I admit I usually use mostly traditional colors on my Christmas cards and tags, but I did make Santa's outfit blue on my card. I love how the set includes a tall hat and a shorter one that fits on an A2 card!

But I saw that Spellbinders has a contest going calling for lilac colored cards to promote their Lilac Scout Platinum Machine which is an adorable mini die cutting machine perfect for your desk or to travel with. So I stepped out of my box and made this book binding z-fold card:

I cut his suit out of several shades velvet paper so it is soft to the touch. His "ho-ho-ho" sign was created with a die from the Spellbinders Stitched Christmas Sweater die set. Spellbinders had a great sale recently and look at what my Christmas present to myself is:

I work in limited space here in my craft room and teach classes where sometimes the students have to cut just one or two small dies, so I treated myself to the Spellbinders Lilac Scout Platinum die cutting machine in the Starter Gift Set. It is small but mighty and I am thrilled to add her to my Spellbinders die cutting family. 

I am entering the lilac colored St. Nick card in the Lilac Shimmer Contest at Spellbinders. 

Perfect Cards For Any Book Lover

I know so many book lovers and so when I saw the new Concord & 9th True Story Dies and Stamps sets, I could not resist them. I had great fun creating many cards with these sets for my newest video here. Here is a look at the several layers of this tri-fold card:

I took a class at Let's Create recently where we played with various Tim Holtz Ranger Sprays like the Distress Mica Sprays. I took some of the pieces we made and cut books out of them for this card. I also embossed some of the books and added decorative pieces from the True Story Die Set. The Thinking of You die is from a set from Hunkydory and Moonstone. I made a joy fold Christmas card in the video step by step and made books with the die set and some smaller ones without. Here are several views of that card:

I folded the front of the A2 card base in half and cut the top of card with the Concord & 9th to form the book shape. I cut two sets of books out of decorative Christmas paper and glued them in place before decorating. I added the smaller joy fold card to the right side, layered some smaller books and the Christmas Blessings are Family, Friends and A Good Book. I decorated many of the books with 49 and Market Laser Elements. I spelled the words "A Good Book" with Spellbinders BetterPress Bestie Alphabet Beads. 

I also share several other cards I made with this die and stamp set perfect for book lovers in my new video. The stamp and die set have been so popular, they may be on back order when you click the link. You can have them notify you when they get back in stock- you won't regret it. It is such a great set of dies and stamps!

Who Said Shaker Pouches Have to Shake or Be Flat??

After making a card with an embossed Pink and Main Shaker cover I just had to get some more! I shared a bunch of embossed shakers in my new video here. But I wondered what else I could do with the rest of the shaker covers as we get 10 in a package. Creating with acetate can be difficult because thick acetate is not easy to score and fold, and attaching it is also difficult. I decided to cut off three of the adhesive tab sides of the Pink and Main Shaker Covers and here are the cards I made with that idea:

I simply applied a 49 and Market rub on transfer to the acetate cover along with some Tim Holtz fabric tape. The die cut sentiment is on the inside blue card base.

Both of these cards were made with embossed Pink and Main shaker covers that had 3 sides cut off so they are attached on one side only, and were decorated inside and out with 49 and Market Laser Elements over their patterned cardstock. The embossed acetate adds such texture but is hard to show in still photographs.

This card shows a way to use the Pink and Main shaker cover without any shaker bits. I attached a large rub on transfer over an embossed piece of cardstock and sealed all four sides. I will be honest that I tried a brand of rub on transfers other than my usual current favorites like 49 and Market, Graphic 45 and Hero Arts and do not recommend them. They were so hard to work with and get both covers off that this is the last card I will make with them. So you  can learn from my mistake:)

Leaves of all Kinds on Cards Before The Snow Flies

Our fall color here in central Wisconsin has come and gone but we did have brilliant color for a few short weeks. I love the leaves in fall and had some new products sitting here so I quickly designed a few cards with them before winter comes. Brutus Monroe shared some gorgeous skeleton leaves in a kit for a weekend of classes and I used three of the rub-on transfers for this card. The background was created in a class I took at Let's Create in Wisconsin Rapids with Ranger Mica Sprays. I added some texture with spattered black paint to complete the card. 

The rub-on transfers are no longer available, but the stamps, stencils, dies and new vellum leaves are still available here at Brutus Monroe. The background of this card was again created with Mica Sprays and IRL is more navy than purple as the photo looks. I stamped the leaves and cut them out and added some texture with a fun stencil from Hero Arts.

I also had a new leaves stencil set from Lawn Fawn I needed to use before the snow flies so I created the background here with red and yellow inks. The leaves and sentiment were stamped and die cut with the Skeleton Leaves from Brutus Monroe. 

Of course leaves are green for a longer time that the fall colors are, so I used  two shades of green on this background with the Lawn Fawn Fall Leaves Background layered stencils. The leaves were punched out of another Distress Mica Spray piece. 

Pink and Main Shaker Covers With Gorgeous Embossed Texture

In the Crop and Create Cardmaking weekend of classes I participated in recently, Michelle of Pink and Main showed us how to make the easiest shaker card ever with her A2 Shaker Covers and mentioned they could be embossed in embossing folders. I was intrigued and loved the look when I embossed this one with a Spellbinders embossing folder we also received in our box of supplies. The paper and sentiment were from other kits. I decided I had to get more Pink and Main A2 Shaker covers and explore this idea further and here is the card I make step by step in my new video:

I used 49 and Market Rub On Transfers and Laser Elements to decorate this card both on the acetate itself and on the inside. The sentiment is from Concord and 9th and the shaker gems are from Kat Scrappiness. 

Here is another card I made with an embossed shaker cover and these beautiful rub-on transfers are from Graphic 45. And here is a card I made with the shaker cover from Pink and Main and 49 and Market laser elements and cardstock. 

As you can see these shaker covers are lovely with and without embossing with embossing folders. In the new video I show how these A2 Shaker Covers do not have to be used to make shakers and so many cards, I have to share them in a separate blogpost which you  can see on Wednesday of this week.