Splendid Day Celebration Card in Fresh Freesia

The Splendid Day Specialty Designer Series Paper pack is so elegant with its pastel colors in foil and white! Though I loved the set from the moment I set eyes on it, I wasn't able to use it until recently. Part of the "too nice to use" mental block...I wanted to do it justice and so...I had difficulty starting to use it. So two years or so after it retired, I finally got the courage to...And I loved the way it turned out!!

I used two Deckled Rectangles dies in Fresh Freesia and Basic White. For the ink, I used the retired Mint Macaron and for accents, I used the negative "leaf" pieces that I normally would have discarded. Love the look of them. I added a small white leafy die cut in front to tie all the "white" elements on the background foil, and the white focal panel together and added a few jewels.

If you have this set and haven't used it yet or played with it in a while, bring it out and make something beautiful with it! 

Poised Peony Birthday Card

Aren’t peonies perfect for June birthdays? I did create and give this card away in June…just am super late posting! LOL 

The printed paper is from my local craft store as Stampin’UP! did not have any peony print paper at the time. And loving fun folds, I had to pick a design that was different.

And yes it folds flat to fit into an envelope:

Notes of Kindness Kit Alternates

I’ve been trying to use up items in my stash….and came across this neat kit from years back called Notes of Kindness. The kit made thank you cards and came with an exclusive stamp set. But I decided to make birthday cards instead. The kit made note sized cards 3.5”x5” but AFTER making them, I decided to revamp them into standard A2 cards. So I mostly trimmed and added a backing and some embellishments and turned them into these:

The top left card is mounted on an embossed Basic White panel (Textured Textile) and card base. The sentiment panel is mounted on dimensionals and is from the Beautiful Friendship stamp set (retired). A few pearls and a bow completes the card. Here’s a closeup of it:

The top right card has a card base in Blackberry Bliss with a panel in Bubble Bath and embossed with the Distressed Tile embossing folder. I added a velum lace panel and applied some Blackberry Bliss ink using a sponge dauber. I really like the way this one turned out:

And last but not least, the third card was created using a card base in Bubble Bath, adding a Blackberry Bliss panel, a velum lace square (non colored) and everything adhered to the card base on an angle: 

I doubt there are many of these kits floating around still unused, but if you do have one, it’s a wonderful kit so …start creating! And I hope these alternate designs inspire you to adapt the kit to make A2 sized cards instead. 

Magical Meadow Birthday Circle Easel Card

There’s a *beautiful* Designer Series Paper pack called Winter Meadow with six different beautiful prints with soft watercolor foliage! There is a corresponding stamp and die set called Magical Meadow too. Don't laugh.....but I tried to resist buying it for the longest time! And then I caved in (of course) as Pinterest kept showing me all the gorgeous cards made with the paper pack alone, and even more designs with the corresponding stamp set. 

Most recently, Pinterest presented several renditions of easel cards using this set and the Deckled Circles dies. So I decided to make a special birthday card using it. 

For the card base, I laid the largest circle die that would fit in an A2 envelope (approximately 4") on a folded piece of Lost Lagoon but moved the die so that the top part of the circle on the fold would not get cut off but both pieces would remain attached by a half inch or so. I then folded just the top layer of the circle in half so that the bottom of the circle reached the top of the fold where the circles attached and then reversed the fold so that it would fold under instead of over. Then I opened the card again to lay flat.

Next I cut another circle of the same size also out of Lost Lagoon and glued it only to the lower half circle I had just folded on the card base. 

Then came the layers of Berry Burst then the DSP, in incrementally smaller sizes of the Deckled Circles.

The card front was stamped with "Winter Wishes", which is a sentiment in the corresponding stamp set. 

Inside, I used the sentiment from the "Friendly Hello" set and popped it up using foam dimensionals to be the "stopper" for the easel card. Here's the card opened like an easel:

I also made a second card at the same time, but sent it off without photographing the finished product. I stamped the greeting on a label and added it to the center of the card front, embellishing the front with some greenery cut from vellum so as to not block the pretty DSP print. 

Hoping you love this card as much as I do! I still have DSP left to make more...LOL

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Zany Zoo interactive flip or swing card

There's a new, super fun printed paper pack called Zoo Crew, with a corresponding stamp set (Zany Zoo) and dies too (Zany Zoo Dies). It has all sorts of cartoon like animals...a raccoon holding a bouquet of balloons, a llama sits knitting, the aardvark holding a gift, etc. I received a special order for a birthday card and decided to create this interactive "flip" or "swing" card... and this is how it turned out...

Now open the card and the message starts to "flip"...

Here's a partial view of the inside:

And here's in the inside fully opened, with room to sign the card and add a personal message. The adorable mini cupcakes are from an old retired set call Tasty Trucks and seemed to match the koala bear's juggling cupcakes perfectly!

I love making interactive cards like this...little ones and adults alike love the simple action of this card. 

The Zany Zoo paper pack is available online, as is the stamp and die sets that coordinate. The die set I used to create the card base however is an old old old Sizzix set and is no longer available. Let me know if you'd like to order the Zany Zoo paper pack, stamp set or corresponding dies online...I'm always happy to help with any questions...

thanks for stopping by. have a wonderful day!

Birthday pink & black floral bridge card using Paper Florist Dies

I received a new set the other day...I love flower dies and this one is no exception. Though I have only used one type of flower from the set, I love it already! There are so many elements to this set and many many variations of blossoms that can be created. So here's that first project: a bridge card: 

Here's a top view of the card:

I kept the flowers only slightly dimensional...I wanted it to fit in the standard A2 envelope but it wasn't going in the mail, so the card in the envelope didn't need to be 1/4" thick or less. Here's the card flattened and about to be placed in the envelope:

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Mountain Fold Fun Fold cards - Awash in Beauty DSP - Birthday & Sending Hugs/Friendship

 On a roll with these mountain fold cards. When I made my very first one, I thought “this is too complicated”. But I LOVED IT so…I made a second, and a third and by the end of the evening, I had made 8 of them! I ran out of DSP so I didn’t get to finish them all (I was out of town and crafting in a hotel room in the evenings). So some were finished at home a week later. These are the ones made with the Awash in Beauty DSP:

 I kept forgetting however that the card base is 8”! But by the end of the evening,  I had that down. Here’s a super rough diagram of the cutting and scoring dimensions (click on any photo to zoom in):

The belly band is 1” x 9” strip, scored at 2” and 6.25”. I glued the edges where they overlap in front and adhered my sentiment on top, hiding the seam. And that’s it for today. Hope this has inspired you to create something and have some fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Black and pink floral birthday card with Hand Penned Flower Dies

Oh my, it’s been a while since I posted. It’s definitely not that I haven’t made any cards in the last month or two but just no time to post anything! And then after the holidays is the usual required clean up of an  incredibly messy craft room! Mostly done but I got fed up of cleaning up so the last bits remain cluttering the craft table while I decided to work on something else.

With the reorganization and clean up of craft supplies after the holidays, my stash of pretty DSP (Designer Series Paper)  caught my attention! Especially some straggling last pieces that I couldn’t just toss in the recycle bin.  So I’ve been trying to use up those supplies! And oh, there’s a new mini Catalog that just got released….Let me just say that it’s way easier to buy craft supplies than it is to use them up…So I made a concerted effort to use up the last few sheets of a pretty black and white Hand Penned DSP that I had laying around.  

I hadn’t done a black and pink card in a long while so I decided that would be the theme of the last few sheets of this paper pack. I paired it with Polished Pink card stock and a die cut from the Penned Flower Dies is the focal on the front of the card.

The Happy Birthday greeting is from the Heron Habitat stamp set. A few pink embellishments and a bow tied finish off the card. 

And I try to put something coordinating inside the card as well as on the envelope…usually it’s simple like a stamped image or an extra strip of the printed paper…

And on the envelope, I added a die cut from this set:

This is the Hand Penned bundle of stamps and Penned Flower dies. It’s one of my all time favorites and I’ll no doubt be posting more cards using this wonderful set:

Hope you enjoyed reading about one of my recent creations. Thanks for stopping by & have a wonderful day!

Mountains and waterways

Doesn’t this card make you think of a weekend escape to a lake in a remote area? Mountains and a pretty lake, clear water and lots of evergreen conifers! Maybe you’ll go boating…kayaking or paddle boarding? A quiet afternoon of fishing from a small boat? Or just sit by the lake with a good book…

This card is made using the Waterfront stamp set. And the sentiment is from the Timeless Tropical stamp set. “Rest and relax”…definitely!

Other than the sentiment, this entire card is stamped on a single layer of Basic White card stock. The mat is Old Olive, as is the ink for the trees. The mountains are stamped in Baked Brown Sugar (retired) but you can use Crumb Cake or any brown ink. The water was inked up with Pool Party, stamped off once then stamped onto the card, Pacific Point and Night of Navy then give it depth. The sun is stamped in Daffodil Delight and the birds and sentiment were stamped with black Stazon ink. And inside, I’ve stamped the same trees as on the card front:

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you liked today’s card and are inspired to create your own peaceful scene.

Hydrangea Hill Barn Door Birthday Card

Have you ever bought a paper pack that was too pretty to start using? That was this paper pack for me. Hydrangeas are so beautiful! And this paper pack captures the lilacs, blues and pinks of this flower so well. I decided to do a barn door card. Why is it called a “barn door”? It’s because the card opens like this:

 

A simple but neat design! I started with cardstock in Fresh Freesia (11”x4.25”). I scored the card stock at 5.5” then used my paper trimmer to cut along the score line from the top of the card down 2 1/8”. The piece that was cut off was trimmed down to 1 7/8 x 5 and then run through the Cut & Emboss machine using one of the Meadow embossing folders. 

Inside the card is a Basic White panel 4 x 5.25” and three pieces of the DSP measuring 1 5/8 x 1 3/4. To decorate the white area beneath (and the envelope) is a flower stamp from my craft stash. The sentiment is from the Boho Indigo set atop of Highland Heather grosgrain ribbon. A few small pearls finish off the card!

This card is available at my Etsy shop, while quantities last at https:KikumiDesigns.etsy.com

Thanks for stopping by! Hoping I’ve inspired you today!

Mountain Air

 

I love this masculine/gender neutral card! It reminds me of a famous phrase by Ansel Adams: “the mountains are calling and I must go”!! 

The card base is Crumb Cake and the Mint Macaron mat layer is embossed with the Trees 3D Embossing Folder. I’ve sponged the blue skies in Balmy Blue and stamped the mountains using Crumb Cake. The trees were stamped using Pretty Peacock (retired) and you’ll notice that I’ve stamped using the “stamped off” technique to give the illusion of trees fading into the distance. Another stamped set of trees were die cut and the knotted twine (from my craft stash) added a finished touch to the card. 

This card is available for purchase while quantities last from my Etsy shop at https://KikumiDesigns.Etsy.com

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Wisteria Wishes Card

We used to have wisteria growing in our side yard at our previous home. I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it. It grew so vigorously…It was admirable. I would prune it back several times a year and yet, it would grow back quickly each time. And the blossoms were so beautiful! But ...it would always bloom on my neighbor’s side of the fence and not mine …so I’d have to go visit to see them! Luckily I got along well with my neighbor… 

So when I saw this set in the annual catalog, I absolutely HAD to get it! I wanted to recreate the look of the vines and blossoms against the backdrop of brick so I used the Brick and Mortar 3D Embossing Folder on the background mat. But first, before embossing, I stamped the “Happy Birthday” sentiment. Sponge daubers and Crumb Cake ink added a bit of definition to the raised bricks, just a little here and there. The leaves were cut using Old Olive. 

For the  wisteria blossoms, I used Fresh Freesia but also used a sponge dauber with Highland Heather and Orchid Oasis randomly before die cutting the wisteria. I had the perfect ribbon from my stash and to finish it off, sequins from the retired Expressions in Color Ephemera Pack.

Inside the card, I used the Stitched with Whimsy dies to outline the inside of the card. I  propped up the front of the card and made it into an easel card using the leaves stamp and die from the Wisteria Wishes set and adhered it using a foam dimensional so that the card front had something to grab on to to stay propped up. (Sorry I forgot to photograph the inside before sending the card off! I'll make another one and post an update to this entry.)

If you haven't sponged with finger daubers or brushes, give it a try. It's loads of fun!

Thanks for stopping by...have a wonderful day!