Graduation Congrats Pop-up

My oldest child is graduating from college soon and called the other day asking if I would please make her graduation announcements for her.  Well that of course prompted my newly found need/desire to purchase the Happy Graduation cartridge that was released a while back.  I mean up until now I didn't really feel the need to purchase this cartridge but I'm glad I did.

For my first project using this cartridge though I decided to do a Congrats card.  Now combine Happy Graduation with one of the wonderful Sizzix pop up dies and you get a great gift giving surprise.  I'd been drooling over this die as well but finally quit talking myself out of buying it.

So what do you think?

Forest Friends Pop up Birthday Surprise

I made this card for my mom whose birthday is today. 

For the outside of the card I used Campin Critters.  I cut the forest at 4 1/2". Cut the forest "floor" a second time out of sandpaper and embossed the tree tops.  The critters behind the trees were cut at 1" using the layers from those cuts and the fox was cut at 1 1/2".  I pop dotted the call out, little tree and the fox to add dimension.

The inside pop up was made using a now retired Sizzix die but it would be very easy to create this cut using your cricut if you have Design Studio or the Gypsy.  My critters on the inside were cut at 1 and 1 1/2".  The call out was created using two different ones from campin' critters welded together.  The song notes are from a punch (forgot to add those until everyone had signed the card - oops) and the embossed greeting is from a Sizzix folder.

Rush Delivery Birthday Pop-Up

I had some free time to sit in my craft room and play around this afternoon so I decided to break out my new Everyday Pop-Ups cartridge.  I've had it for a couple weeks now but didn't want to play with it until I had time in case I had issues figuring out whatever mechanism I chose.

So for my first card I decided to use one of the easier pop-ups and went with the airplane.  For the inside piece I cut the pop-up itself and also cut layers to add color and definition to it.  Before putting it all together I made sure to score and fold all the pieces ensuring that they would lay and work together properly.

The gifts on the front of the card were cut from Sweet Treats.

Now that I've made one of the pop-ups from this cartridge I'm anxious to do some others as I'd really love to see how they turn out.  Hopefully this will be a cartridge that won't let me down!

Summertime Pop-Up

WooHoo!  I was so excited yesterday when the FedEx guy showed up at my house last night with my Sizzix order.  I managed to order three of the pop-up dies that I've been drooling over for months now and couldn't wait to open one up and get crafting.

For this card I used not only Sizzix dies, but also a couple of Cricut cartridges - including:

Mickey & Friends for the Sun

Life's a Beach for the Seagull, lizard and flip flops

The beach towel was cut from fabric using one of my Sizzix "dress up bath clothes" die.  I used sand paper for my beach "sand" - although it's not white like our beaches here in Florida.  (That's right, not all of them have oil.)  And my sentiment is from Quote Garden .

I will say too that the pics are not the best in the world.  Well not the one of the outside of the card at least.  I tried snapping it several times and it kept washing out the colors for some reason.  So then I decided to scan it and the colors are still off, but at least you can see what it looks like......

Sesame Street Birthday Pop-up

Today is my niece's first birthday and I wanted to:

use the Sesame Street cartridge,

make a pop-up, and

try the pop-up layering technique

With that said this is the card that I created. Not too terribly bad for a first attempt, but it was time consuming. Will I try it again? Of course! I loved the way that it turned out - even if it isn't "perfect".


My only complaint - every picture I took washed out the colors.........I really need to invest in a better camera.

My finished card measures 6 1/2" x 5". The characters were each cut at 2 1/2", the cake and the balloons were cut at 1". The banner was computer generated but is also at 1" tall.

If you would like a copy of the tutorial please see the tutorials tab.



UPDATE: I am so excited because this card actually made the August 3rd edition of the Cricut Chirp newsletter. This is the 2nd time that I have had this honor and man is it exciting to see that my work was chosen with all the hundreds of projects that were posted on the boards that week. http://www.cricut.com/newsletters/volume.aspx?ID=195

Father's Day Closet

In the spirit of pop up cards I decided to give this one from the book Pop up Cards by Jo Mathison a try. Very simple I know but the first time I tried this one I wanted to follow the directions. Next time though I will "dress" it up a bit more now that I have a feel for how it goes together.

Hello Kitty Graduation Pop Up Card

My oldest daughter is getting ready to gradute in a couple weeks from the community college she's been attending in Brunswick, GA and has been accepted to Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the ceremony as my other daughter is in exams with her honors classes here at home. So I wanted to create a special card and set about last night on the design and cutting and finished putting it all together this morning.

For this card I used the following cuts:

Hello Kitty & cap - 4" (outfit cut to be in the school colors)

Hello Kitty in car - 3 1/2"

Tree from Camp Out - 4 3/4"

Sun from Pooh & Friends - 1 1/2"

Pennant from Locker Talk - 1 3/4" (cut to be in the school colors)

The road was created simply by cutting a stip of black paper the length of the card and then notching to fit around the pop up pieces so that it would slide in to the center of the card for placement.

The Way I See It....Hello Kitty Pop Up

This is a card that was designed around the quote after I found it the other day. I kept trying to envision a card for the quote and this one just came to me last night as I was getting ready for bed. The only thing that I'm not too sure about is the size of the rainbow. Other than that I love it.

The rain puddles were cut from Graphically Speaking and then flocked for texture.

Abby Cadabbra Pop Up Card

This is another pop up that I created today. Again I used the cuttlebug for the outside of the card but added a die cut this time as well.

The inside is Abby Cadabbra from the Sesame Street Friends cartridge.

To create the pop up cut a piece of paper 8 x 5 inches and fold in half so that it measures 4 x 5 inches. Score along the center fold. Open the paper back up and with your ruler measure 1 1/2" from the top of the card down the crease and make a small mark. Then from the center fold measure 1 1/2" inches out on both sides again making a small mark. Using your ruler score from the center mark to each mark on the top. This will create a "V". Now fold along the score lines creating the V fold in and down the crease (also known as a valley fold).

Adhere this to the inside of your card while the V is folded inward. Once secure open in order to position your die cut for the pop up affect. When deciding where to position the die cut be sure that when the card is closed the die cut is completely hidden in the card. Secure your cut and finish embellishing the card.

Pop Up Thank You Cards

Since I'm still not able to do much of anything for a couple more days I decided that today was as good as any to begin making thank you cards for the wonderful ladies at church that have provided us food this week.

I also decided that it was a good time to try my hand at a couple of new techniques: serendipity (using the cuttlebug - looks better in real life) and making pop ups.

For this first card I used the butterfly from the Tinkerbell cartridage. The outside of the card is the serendipty technique and the butterfly is a plastic barrette that I cut the back off of for use.

The card itself is 5 1/2" x 4" closed.