Today I'm sharing a class card I taught in early November. This card combines several Pop it Ups products to make a festive "Santa Mouse in a Chimney" scene.
The front of the card features the decorator pieces from the House Pivot Card plus the Outdoor edges. The house die features a brick stencil/emboss feature to give the house texture.
The card measures 5" x 6" in the closed position and opens to a 5" x 12". As the card is opened the Flower Pot starts to expand and pop up.
Inside the card the Flower Pot Pop Stand is decorated as a chimney. I used the House die to emboss a brick texture on the panels for the sides of the pot. Jolly the Mouse is wearing the Props 5 Santa costume.
I also used the Holiday Charms inside the pot. The candy cane in Jolly's hands comes included with the mouse die set. The stamp set is called Merry & Bright and the Labels & Circles set works perfectly to frame the greetings as well as a blank circle to write a personal greeting.
Learn how to assemble the Flower Pot Pop Stand die set by watching this instructional video:
Here are the items used on the card. In addition to these items, I used red, white, tan, pink, green and black cardstocks, plus coordinating ribbon.
Welcome to our team-theme Designer Challenge for November. Karen Aicken set the theme as "Charmed, I'm sure!" and we are to use any of the Pop it Ups Charms dies for a card of any theme.
For my card and video I'm teaching a scenic Christmas Trees card featuring multiple trees from the Christmas Trees Pop Stand set, two of which are decorated with charms dangling in the trees. Watch the video to learn how to make this card:
My card measure 9.25" wide by 4" tall in the closed position, making it the perfect size to fit in a #10 Business Envelope for mailing.
Inside the card pops up a forest of Christmas trees with snowflake charms dangling in two of the trees.
I could see this card being adapted easily as a winter/nature card by removing the garlands, ornaments and stars. Perhaps with a woodland deer or other critter(s) attached to the trees.
Any of the charms will fit in the tree frames, and by using a jump ring trapped between the trees, the charms will hang facing forward. From the side view below you can see all the dimension and cool interactivity of this card.
The team has once again created some amazing inspiration for the team challenge theme. Make sure you click their names to head to the individual blog posts, where you will find additional photos, supply lists, tips and tricks.
Karen Aicken set the theme for this challenge and her card is so charming! (Pun intended) I absolutely love the color combination and how she used the Hanging Charm Pull Tab die combined with the Holiday Charms for a very festive and chic card.
Shelly Hickox created this amazing Shellypiece by converting the Barn Pop Stand into a snow globe! The Holiday Charms were used for the evergreen trees. Shelly has posted picture instructions and a video of this card in action on her blog.
Summer Hills-Painter made this delightful holiday card by cutting a window in the Rectangle Pull Card and dangling one of the Holiday Charms in the opening. I love her combination of jingle bells patterned paper with golden greetings.
Frances Byrne made a version of the Lorna Label window card in an adorable baby theme. She combined the perfect plaid decorator paper with the Barrel Basket filled with Baby Charms. I love the umbrella charm in the corners, too. So sweet!
Fran Sabad used the Holiday Charms for a card featuring a circular window with a suspended glittery snowflake charm in the opening. Buster the Dog enjoys playing Santa in this charming scene.
Raquel Mason used the Flower Pot Pop Stand base technique to create a corner pop-up Evergreen Pivot Card vignette with Holiday Charm gifts popping up in front of the trees. I love her use of the Iron Fence adorned with the wreath from the Holiday House. This is a great example of how Pop it Ups products can be combined to create amazing scenes.
Sandy Diller used the Holiday Charms for festive gift tags. I particularly like how she used the decorator shapes from various Pop it Ups sets to make the layered tags and then adorned with charms and stamps. What a lovely personal touch to a Christmas gift!
Caz Counsell made this terrific Hanging Charm Pull Tab card featuring a very happy Jinks the Monkey with cake and coffee. The coffee cup charm comes included with the pop-up die and I love her addition of the small heart from Props 8 to the front of the cup. Perfection!
Well I hope you're positively charmed by the inspiration for this challenge. Join us for our next Designer Challenge on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 with a theme called "All I want for Christmas". I've challenged the team to use their all-time favorite Pop it Ups die (the one they would want for Christmas if they didn't already own it) for a holiday card. I'm looking forward to seeing which dies they choose for the challenge.
For last week's Designer Challenge I posted a video tutorial for how to make a window pop-up card using the Lorna Label die set. I mentioned that window cards make particularly good holiday cards because the item in the window can decorate the front of the card and the inside as well. This will save time and materials when you need to make a lot of cards.
Today I have another video tutorial for making a window pop-up card, this time with the Twist Circle die set. I particularly like the Twist Circle for this technique because there is a double motion to the pop-up - twisting and lifting - so the penguin (or whatever you choose to put on it) changes position. Watch this 15 minute video tutorial to learn the technique:
This card measures 5" x 5" in the closed position, meaning it will fit in an A7 envelope and mail for a single stamp. (Also important for holiday cards!)
I recommend adding a closure when creating this type of card so the card will stay nicely flat until opened, making for the best viewing of the "closed" position through the window. I created a simple fold-over magnetic closure for my card and added striped washi tape from my stash to decorate both sides of the flap. You can see in the photo below how the Twist Circle starts to lift and twist as the card is opened.
Inside the card Chilly the Penguin, wearing the Props 5 Reindeer outfit, has now changed position and floats inside the card, festively. All of the circle dies used on this card are included with the Twist Circle set. The ornament top die comes with the Ring Accordion set.
Chilly the Penguin and Props 5 combine to make a cute penguin-reindeer. I cut the nose and the scarf out of felt.
Here are clickable shopping links for the products used in the video. The paper is an older design from my stash. I also used several colors of cardstock - kraft, black, white, red and silver, plus twine, a piece of clear transparency, and pop dots.
Today in America we elect a new President and I'm sure I speak for most Americans when I say that it's been a very stormy political climate during this election cycle. We all need a break and nothing could be better than a crafting hat party to lighten the mood!
Welcome to our first Designer Challenge for November. I set the theme for this challenge as Hat Attack! The team was challenged to incorporate one of the several hat dies from the Pop it Ups collection into a card of any theme. My first count was six hats - Props 1 bowler, Props 2 birthday, Props 5 Santa, Props 6 Cowboy, Props 8 Chef and Props 9 Witch. However, I had forgotten the Steampunk Charms Top Hat and the Anita Frames Crown, so there are actually 8 hat choices, and even more if you make your own by transforming other dies into hats.
For my card and video I'm teaching a very easy generic technique for making a window pop-up card using the Lorna Label die set. I decorated mine as a Thanksgiving card, featuring Cheepers the Chicken converted into a turkey and the Props 9 Witch hat converted into a Pilgrim hat. Watch the video to learn these techniques:
My finished card is A2 sized (5.5" x 4.25" when folded) and will mail in an A2 envelope for a single stamp. This technique is a great one for Christmas cards, too, and the window design is both pretty and practical, as it allows the interior decoration to be viewed in both the closed and open position. This will save both time and materials when you need to make a lot of cards.
For my card I used some pre-made laser cut felt leaves from Creative Impressions and mixed them with die cut embellishments, including the Witch hat turned into a Pilgrim hat and a the pumpkin charm from the Halloween Charms. As the card is opened the pop-up starts to raise up.
The Lorna Label is such a great generic pop-up die that offers a large surface for decorating. It easily accommodates Cheepers converted into a turkey thanks to Props 2 birthday hat tail feathers.
The greeting is from an older SU! set called Harvest of Thanks. I embossed the "gratitude" stamp in white powder and then die cut around it with the smaller decorator label from the Lorna set. Cheepers makes a great turkey by simply adding tail feathers using the solid party hat die from Props 2.
If you'd like to make your own Thanksgiving-window-pop-up-Cheepers-turkey-in-a-pilgrim-hat card, you'll need the following supplies:
Hats off to the Designer Challenge Team, who created amazingly fun and clever cards featuring hats.
Sandy Diller kicks us off with a fabulous homage to hats for all seasons. Her 5-page Oval Landscape Accordion features four seasonal hats made by altering other hat dies. Brilliant! On her blog are instructions for each hat. Clever!
Fran Sabad is brilliant! I absolutely love everything about this fun "barrel of monkeys" card featuring Jinks the Monkey and the Props 6 Cowboy Hat. Inside the card the Twist Circle spins up another monkey and the greeting. What great colors!
Raquel Mason made this "wild" card featuring animal print and hot pink for the perfect color scheme for a Whiskers the Cat double slider card. As the card is tilted, the cats on the front will slide up and down the circle! How fun! Inside the card Raquel added even more interactivity with the Happy Birthday pop-up. Meow-vulous!
Karen Aicken made this gorgeous Twist Circle Panel card featuring several pastel hats and her signature Ring Frame Edges banner technique across the top. I love all the fun colors and the stacked bowler hats on the front of the card.
Caz Counsell turned Jolly the Mouse into Santa, courtesy of the hat, glasses and mustache in Props 5. Then she styled the Flower Pot Pop Stand as a chimney, complete with snowy edges and Holiday House lights. I love the brick paper and the presents on the roof. Perfection!
Summer Hills-Painter made a super fun Christmas card featuring Chilly the Penguin and Honey the Bear wearing the Props 5 Santa hat. I love her use of the Sleigh on the front of the card stacked high with presents and the Anita Frames is the perfect way to animate the greeting inside. Love this!
Shelly Hickox created an adorable harvest treat bag featuring a lovely plaid background using the Stripes/Plaid stencil. She also used the Labels & Circles for the window and created a pilgrim hat using an upside-down pail die. Brilliant! Love her use of the wheat stalk from Props 6, too.
Frances Byrne gave Jinks the Monkey a whole closet full of hat choices. Hatty Birthday! Ha ha ha. What an awesome pun. This uses the Hanging Charm Pull Tab to animate Jinks. Love!
Amazing! I love all the cards by the team this month and I especially love that this challenge produced such FUN cards! Speaking of fun, our next challenge is in two weeks, on November 22, 2016. The theme was set by Karen Aicken as "Charmed, I'm sure!" - we are all to use any of the Pop it Ups Charms dies on our creations. I'm sure it will be a (wait for it) "charming" challenge!
