Lawn Fawn "Beam Me Up" and Outta This World Pop-Up Birthday Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to post a card that I created using some older supplies in my stash. You know when you get a new thing and you're like "I HAVE ALL THE IDEAS!!!" and then you get it and you make a few things then it gets put into the stash and mostly forgotten about because there's something else new and shiny for you to play with.... it's almost like they do that on purpose... hmmmm.

Every now and then I'll be flipping through my giant binder 'o dies and I'll see something and remember all the ideas I had. That's what happened. That's how this card became more than an idea.

For the outside, I trimmed a piece of 110lb cardstock using the largest of the Small Stitched Rectangle dies and blended my background using my Lori Brushes and Distress Ink. I only really focused on the middle, I wanted it to look like a space tunnel or a wormhole, through which he was stealing away the cake.

Once the ink was dry, I used clean water and splattered for my distressed look, then splattered again using Copic Opaque white to get the stars.

I stamped my ship and all the images inside the card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers. For his tractor beam, I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool then stamped the beam image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn's Glow in the Dark embossing powder. I would love to show you a picture of what this looks like, but I can't take a picture in the dark to save my life. I can't even tell you how many I tried and they look awful. So you'll just have to trust me when I say it looks nifty.

Once the entire panel was dry, I prepped the lower right corner and stamped the greeting then heat embossed with Lawn Fawn's White embossing powder. This is the first time I've used their embossing powder, normally I use the Ranger detail white, but I gotta say this stuff is great. I mean, I'm not going to toss my other stuff, but it's really nice to know that I have more if I ever run out in a hundred years.

To finish off my ship, I adhered small red gems over the lights to give it some dimension. I think I would have gotten nearly the same result with glossy accents, but I had them on my desk, so why not.

Turns out, he's bringing the cake to a party!! YAY!!

I created this galaxy background the same way directly on the inside of the card base. While that was drying I used the pop-up dies to cut a piece of kraft cardstock and sponged on some Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo Distress ink to give a bit of texture to the ground.

Once I had everything dry and put together I adhered all my little guys in place. I wanted to two ships to be floating, so I used the acetate trick to make them really look like they were on their way in. More guests to the party!

If I were to make this card again, and I'm sure I will, I would use a different alien. While this guy is my favourite, he just looks silly with the birthday hat, and I think it would have been nice to have some birthday hats going on. Maybe we'll see that in the future. Who even knows.....

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Dino-mite Party | ft. Lawn Fawn Pop-Up Dies and "Critters From the Past"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Last weekend, my youngest got invited to her very first birthday party. She's obviously been to birthday parties before, but this one was a friend from her Kindergarten class and that meant it was super exciting.

When I called the mom to RSVP I was told that he likes dinosaurs. Immediately my mind began sketching card ideas and because it was such a special occasion for her, I used the Lawn Fawn Pop-Up dies to create the birthday card.

I love to keep the outside simple since the inside is going to be so much more involved. I think it kind of lowers people's expectations as well. Like "oooo .... thank you....?" then they open it and they're like "DANG!". It's kind of satisfying, really. LOL

To begin, I cut down a piece of kraft cardstock using the stitched rectangle dies and adhered it to the front of my A2 sized card base. I then stamped the dino prints around the edge using CTMH Saddle ink.

I stamped all my dinosaurs, the trees and the hat from "Critters From the Past" and the gift from "Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then cut them all out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut, and coloured them with Copic markers.

I set all my pieces aside and cut the Hillside pop-up from the same cardstock and sponged Cracked Pistachio and Mowed Lawn Distress inks to make the grass. On the top portion inside my card, I sponged Tumbled Glass to get a nice blue sky.

I then assembled the inside of my card, adhering all the pieces with strong two-way tape. I stamped the sentiment inside with Memento Tuxedo Black ink as well, so that the inks would match.

Once the inside was completed I adhered the dinosaur and the speech bubble to the front of the card.

While my daughter was eager for me to just leave her at the party with a super fast "see you later, mom" she was very happy to report that the birthday boy loved the card as well as the gift.

I think my favourite part about making all my cards - not just the selling or the gift sets - really being able to customize it to the recipient's likes. I think it really adds something special that they know how much thought and time went into something just for them.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Pirate Party | ft. Lawn Fawn "Ahoy, Matey" Stamps and Pop-Up Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share one of my very first attempts with the Lawn Fawn "Pop-Up" dies. And because it's me, and I can't do anything the easy way, I'll be showing the Stitched Hillside Pop-Up and the Hillside Ocean Waves Add-On.

I very quickly discovered that creating a pop-up card is a lot more "work" than I regular card. It's also like creating two cards in one. There's the outside, which still has to look attractive and make people want to pick it up and then there's the inside (the real star of the show) which has to completely blow their mind.

I assume that I will get faster over time, but this card took a bit of time. And by "bit", I mean "a whole friggin' lot".

For the front of the card, I wanted it to be appealing, but very subdued. I have never tried doing a whole card front in a vintage look and I thought a treasure map would be a great place to try it out.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and stamped the palm trees, the X, the North Arrow (compass-looking thing) and the water waves using Antique Linen Distress ink. I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to add very dull colours to the map, but still give it depth.

For the torn edges, I used my fingers to rip all the way around the panel - I find this to be more organic than if I were to use a die. I sponged Antique Linen over the entire panel, then Scattered Straw towards where I wanted to start building my shadows. I then used Gathered Twigs, and finally Ground Espresso to create the finished dirty/burnt look around the edges.

Behind the map, I sponged Gathered Twigs on a piece of patterned paper and adhered that to the front of my standard A2 sized card base. I covered the back of the map with two-way tape and set that aside until I was ready to assemble the whole card.

I wanted the inside of the card to be very opposite of the front. I wanted this to be bright and cheery and really, really POP!

I stamped out all my images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers, and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them all out. This was especially helpful for the large palm trees (from Critters from the Past) as well as the treasure chest with coins and bird, as I used the masking technique to create my own flat images.

I used the Stitched Hillside Pop-Up die to create the base for my layers. I sponged Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Tea Dye on the foremost hillside and down the base of my card to create the sandy beach.

I cut both sets of waves from the Stitched Hillside Ocean Waves Add-on die and used Distress Oxide ink (Broken China and Salty Ocean) then spritzed with clean water for the oxidized look. The smaller wave fits perfectly over the smaller hill and I adhered it there. The largest wave took a bit longer to dry, so while that was happening I used my cloud stencil and Tumbled Glass Distress ink to create a soft cloudy sky. I then adhered the back wave directly to the card base.

Once all my setting pieces were in place I was finally able to add all my little images and put together my scene. At the bottom of this post is a zoomed in picture of the inside of the card. Don't forget to check that out.

It was after everything was together that I decided I wanted the coins to sparkle - so I added clear Wink of Stella glitter over the coins, then covered them with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I stamped the greeting using CTMH Chocolate Ink. Once the Glossy Accents were dry, I was able to put the map on the front of my card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

I will definitely be making more pop-up cards, but maybe "for the art of it" or special occasions, definitely not as a replacement for my beloved single layer cards.