Paper Pros Challenge - Summer Road Trip to Wine Country

Today is our monthly no-pressure for-fun challenge with the Paper Pros.

Sandy Diller set the theme as "Summer Road Trip" and I know that the other Pros have wonderful cards that match the theme perfectly.

Me? Not so much!

I was STUMPED! Despite living in a papercrafter's hoarding den, I couldn't find any paper or stamps in my collection that would match the theme. When I arrived too early to pick up Karl from work yesterday I had a chance to pop into Michaels and see what I could find. My idea was to take a page from Karen Aicken's style - she uses a lot of pre-made embellishments. Sure enough, there were a lot of fun stickers for Road Trip themes and I started to pick out a couple when I spied something . . . wine stickers!

WINE! I love wine!

And as it turns out, John and I are attending a wedding this summer in wine country, so that counts as a summer trip. We are flying to the wedding, but then will rent a car to drive north, so the road is involved, too. Perfect!

I decided to make a 4-page Charm Accordion, but to change things up a bit by staggering the pages.

To make the Charm Accordion staggered, cut each card in half so you have individual pages. Then flip Pages #2 and #4 so the pivoting square is closer to the bottom. You can hinge the pages using the included hinge die OR, as I did for this card, just use a strip of the same color cardstock and hinge the entire height of the page with a thin folded piece of cardstock. From there, it's just a matter of assembling as usual by adding a Charm Frame between each of the pivoting squares.

I used the Charm Accordion die again to cut my patterned paper backgrounds. I trimmed a bit off of the edges of the patterned paper so I would have a brown border. The "Welcome to Wine Country" sticker worked perfectly on Page 2 so that when the card is closed, it is also visible. I did remove the back layer of the sticker so it wouldn't be so thick.

My second sheet of stickers were puffy wine glasses and wine bottles filled with glitter. I stuck two wine glasses back-to-back and punched a hole to create a charm. I used the jump ring die that comes with the Charm Accordion to hang the charms from the frames. The wine bottles went onto the pivoting squares, embellished with sequins and the die cut heart charm from the set.

The greeting is one of my favorite Funny Bones stamps. 

In this angled view you can see the third charm hanging in the center between the pages. 

Check out our Videos Page to learn how to assemble the Charm Accordion OR if you learn better with written instructions, check out our Instructions Page to download a PDF Owner's Manual. 

Also make sure you check out the cards by the other Paper Pros who are participating this month. Their cards are AMAZING!!

Sandy Diller
Karen Aicken
Frances Byrne
Fran Sabad
Raquel Mason

Supply links:

VIDEO TUTORIAL: Twist Panel + Flower Pot + Distress Oxide Inks = Pop-up Card!

A few days ago I posted the card I made for my sister's birthday and ended up with a lot of requests for a full video tutorial, so here it is.

I used the same dimensions as the original card, changing only the background patterned paper, cardstock colors and greetings.

When closed, this top-fold card measures 4.5" wide by 5.5" tall and will mail in an A7 (for a 5x7 card) envelope for extra postage because of the thickness.

I like to decorate card fronts as a simple lead-in for the magic that's inside, using up my leftover materials. The "Hello" greeting is in Word Set 1. The flowers, vine and bee are all from the Flower Pot Pop-up die set. The pretty patterned paper is from Blue Fern Studios.

As the card is opened, the panels start to twist and lift.

Once open, the Flower Pots are revealed. There is a floating appearance thanks to the clear panels underneath the pots. The interior greeting is also from Word Set 1. The scalloped rectangle comes included with the Twist Panel set.

I really enjoyed making the Distress Oxide inked backgrounds for the flower pots, vines, bees and flowers. If you watch the video I demonstrate how I made them, and also how I shaped everything for more texture.

The video also explains how to cut the clear panels and hinge them with twine to achieve the "floating" effect. As you can imagine, this technique could be used with any theme. Ready to give it a try? The Twist Panel die set is now back in stock! You can find my die sets at your favorite local or online craft stores or on our website. England crafters, check Crafts U Love. Australia crafters, check Craft Giraffe.

Check out our Videos Page to learn how to assemble the die sets OR if you learn better with written instructions, check out our Instructions Page to download a PDF Owner's Manual. 

Supply links:

Twist Panel + Flower Pot + Distress Oxide Inks = Pop-up Card!

OK, so I sometimes take a while to catch up with the latest crafting trends. I spend a lot of time in my little "die cut pop-up" bubble. However, all of my crafty friends have been raving about the Distress Oxide inks, so I figured I'd better try them for myself and see what all the fuss is about.

Wow! I'm a fan!

Now normally I avoid a lot of mixed media techniques with the pop-ups - not because I don't love paints and inks and such, but because I don't want to add a lot of time to the projects, especially if I'm teaching a card in a class or video. I've found that people tend to associate all the technique time with the pop-up and are left with the impression that pop-ups are very time-consuming, even if the pop-up assembly took a minute and the inks/paints/sprays/splatters took twenty. 

As I have oft proclaimed . . . you have to choose your techniques.

But actually it didn't take long to make the backgrounds. I smeared the inks onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water, dredged some white cardstock through the ink, dried with a heat gun, and voila! I made the backgrounds for the flowers, vines and flower pots using the inks.

After creating and die cutting all the pieces for a Flower Pot Pop-up Card, I decided instead to use the pieces on a Twist Panel card.

When closed, this top-fold card measures 4.5" x 5.5" and will fit in an A7 envelope (for a 5x7 card) for mailing. It is bulky, though, so extra postage will be required. The front decoration is a simpler copy of the styling of the interior, using the leftover flowers, bee and the word "Celebrate" from Word Set 2.

As the card opens, the panels start to twist and open. I used green cardstock for the arms, figuring they would blend in behind the vines since I was making clear panels.

Once open, the line of flower pots suspend in the air. The greeting is an older Stampin' Up! stamp from my stash, used on a scrap of the terra cotta inked background.

To give the illusion of floating flower pots, I cut the panels for the Twist Panel card from scraps of clear packaging material. I knew that the plastic would not want to bend and unbend easily, so I cut between each panel to create four individual clear panels, punched holes, and tied them together with twine to act as the hinges. For the upper hinges, I tied knots in the twine and cut off the excess, but for the lower hinges, I tied bows in the twine as further decoration. This close-up will show the clear panels and the styling of the flowers, using the inked backgrounds, a clear rhinestone in the center of each flower, and then accenting with copper Nuvo drops on the big flowers, and white paint pen on the smaller ones.

 Here's a quick GIF showing the card in action: (click to make it play - not sure why it won't auto-play)

 

The Twist Panel die set is now back in stock! You can find my die sets at your favorite local or online craft stores or on our website. Check out our Videos Page to learn how to assemble the die sets OR if you learn better with written instructions, check out our Instructions Page to download a PDF Owner's Manual.