Easter Nest - "Hello Chick"

Well, it will soon be Easter.

Time to slot in a card for the blog and hopefully begin the process of coordinating the blog with my facebook craft page, which shares the same title, and any sites where the original post was made.

There are several cards and projects I've made over time, all of which can be posted and it might be a good way to help me become more familiar with the blog and provide a few more pages of interest too.

This Easter Nest card continues with a theme I am currently enjoying and trying to develop (although I have many more as well) , which is of a popup style card that will flatten down into an envelope or a card box. It is one I designed last year for a challenge running on the Trimcraft Blog.

For anyone interested, this is the link to the Trimcraft Blog where you can find the instructions on how I made the card along with a photo of the template:

https://www.thecraftblog.com/inspiration/tc-easter-nest-hello-chick-!!

And a link to the facebook site:

https://www.facebook.com/416132238790843/posts/499979493739450/

TC-Floral "Flower Cart" - Tutorial

This pop up style box card will fold flat to fit in an 8 x 8 inch square envelope and is my entry into the Trimcraft TC - Floral challenge for the month of February, found on the Trimcraft Blog site.

I will most likely be adding a personal sentiment to this card to send to my Mum for Mother's Day. Being a keen gardener, she will love it!!

I used 270gm weight card in green and black for the main structure and 160gm weight in brown, yellow and green for the flowers, pots and foliage.

The wood-look panels and the bunting were cut from a First Edition Sweet Nothings paper pad.

It is entirely my own design and this is what I did to make it. ............... ......

1.   Cut 2 pieces of green card (15.5cms x 5.5cms) score at 4.5cm and 14cm. Fold at the score lines and glue both pieces together to form an oblong box shape.

2.  Cut 2 more pieces of green card (12.5cms x 5cms). Score at 1.5cms in from each end. Fold the score lines to form tabs and glue both struts evenly inside the oblong box as shown in the photo.  (Make sure the box will fold down flat and still open back up again). It is this mechanism which allows you to slide the box into an envelope.

3.  Cut 2 pieces of green card (13cms x 1.5cms) and shape one end to form the "handles" for the cart (see photo above).

4.  Decorate each panel of the oblong box with wood effect paper. I used the Sweet Nothings paper pad and cut 2 pieces (7.5cms x 3.5cms) for front and back. Then 2 pieces (3cms x 3.5cms) for the sides.

5.  Cut 3 layered circles (twice). Glue the layered circles together to form 2 wheels for the flower cart (refer to photo above).

6.  Glue the wheels and handles to the oblong box with foam dimensional tape. Check the wheels and handles don't go too far outside the oblong box, so that the cart will still fit into the envelope.

7.  Cut 2 long craft sticks (14cms) in half down the length and 1 shorter craft stick (11cms) in half across the width. (Refer to photo above). Colour the sticks to match the flower cart. I used a felt tip pen, but you could use paints.

8.  Glue the 4 longer craft sticks a little way in from each corner of the cart (so that it will still fold reasonably flat). I recommend using a white paper/wood glue and waiting until everything is thoroughly dried and well stuck down. I left mine overnight at this stage, after gluing in all the craft sticks (including the "feet") .

9.   Glue the 2 shorter pieces of craft stick to create the "feet" of the flower cart at an even height, as shown in the photo above. Use the glue recommended and ensure they are left to completely dry, so that they are stuck down securely.

10.  Create whatever pots of flowers you want to fill the flower cart with. I used a daisy punch and glued 2 daisies together and then snipped the petals finer. Dotted the inside with a felt tip to make them look like sunflowers and used an embossing ball to shape them. I used a craft knife to cut the foliage. They were then glued "inside" 2  flower pot shapes.


TO FINISH... ...

Glue the flower pots into the flower cart. I arranged 2 of them to face the other way at the "back" of the cart. As shown in the photo below.

Attach 2 pieces of twine to the top of the cart and glue on triangle shapes to make the bunting. I used a double sided paper from the Sweet Nothings pad and alternated the pattern.

As a side note: because the craft sticks are thicker than the card they have a tendency to twist very slightly, which is why it is better to glue the twine on with a little bit of slack rather than tautly, to allow a little bit of maneuverability when the card is flattened down. If I were to have made the card to look like it had a flat wooden structure across the top, then I would use 270gm card for the corner struts rather than craft sticks.

The photos below show the card folded flat on top of the envelope and that it slides inside the envelope quite comfortably. However, you could make a box for it if you preferred.

You Lift Me Up

This card is inspired by the #Trimcraft blog February colour challenge, which you can find in the forum threads on the site. 

The colours requested for this month are Black and White and this is my first entry of a permitted maximum of three. So I will upload two more as separate posts, later on. 

To make the card I used a 6 x 6 inch card blank, and:

1.   Polka dot card from a pad bought at Aldi in Spain. Cut to size and glued to the card blank for the background layer. 

2.   A large nesting die to cut a shape from white card, for the 2nd layer. .... To which I drew faux stitching around the edge with a black fine liner pen. 

3.   A white feather from stash and a die cut butterfly from black card, to which I added pearl stick on gems.

4.   A wooden character stamp from Tiger shop, for the figure. Stamped onto white card, fussy cut and attached with dimensional foam. 

5.   I finished off the card with a sentiment stamp, which was a magazine freebie I had in stash. 

TC - Rainbow (St Patrick's Day Card) Tutorial

Every month the Trimcraft Blog runs a Craft Challenge and this month the subject was "Rainbows".

Straight away my mind thought of the elusive pot of gold, which is said to be found at the end of a rainbow. That thought touched on to Leprechauns, Ireland and St. Patrick's day. So, all of that culminated into the final design for this card.

I used 270g brown coloured card for the base cauldron and inner box, as it needs to be quite sturdy.

---—---------------------

This is how to make the main base and inner box:

1.   Die cut two circles, both measuring 10cm wide.

2.   Cut a 2 cm straight piece from across the top of  both circles. This forms the top edge of the cauldron and the piece cut away will form the base.

3.   Cut each side of the circle to create the cauldron shape (as photo above). Be careful not to cut so much away that the inner box would protrude either side when glued into position.

(If you clamp both circles together when making the cuts they will then be equal)

4.   Cut 2 pieces of card measuring 13.5 cm x 4 cm and score both pieces at 4 cm and 12 cms. These will form the main box shape. 

5.   Then cut 2 slightly smaller pieces measuring 10 cm x 4 cm. Score both pieces 1 cm in from each end. These will form the struts for inside the box. 

6.  Bend the two large strips at the score lines using a bone folder. Glue together at the tabs to make the box shape.

7.  Bend the two shorter strips at the score lines using a bone folder, to make the internal struts.

8.  Glue the struts evenly inside the box (see photo above).  This can be a little bit fiddly without practice. I use a PVA glue, which allows a bit of wiggle room. You need to check that the box will still "flatten" and open back up. This is what allows the pop up card to flatten down into an envelope or a thin gift box. 

9.  Glue the two cauldron shapes evenly to the front and back of the inner box. It should stand up just like in the photo above. 

10.  Using an oval die cutter or scissors cut coin shapes from yellow and orange card. Emboss the coins and ink the edges with some gold pigment ink. 

11.  With a glue gun attach the coins to strips of acetate. 

Finally you will need to attach all the elements.............

The elements such as the coins, hat and rainbow were all made from 160g card, but I used two layers glued together for the hat to give extra strength. The coloured rainbow pieces were glued down onto a piece of plain coloured backing card.

Both the hat and the rainbow coloured pieces were drawn by me with a pencil and cut with a craft knife. I haven't made a template for these, but if you look closely at the finished card you should be able to make something very similar. There are definitely some leprechaun hat images from free clipart, if you wanted to use one from there.

If you make one I would love to see your version.

PS.  I didn't win the Trimcraft challenge but I had sooo much fun designing the card, writing the tutorial and having been inspired that, for me, it still IS a win!!

Heart and Flowers Pop Up Box Card Tutorial

I designed a Pop Up card in the shape of a heart filled with flowers.

With my Mum's 89th birthday coming up I knew it would be perfect to send to her. A special card which would be just right for her to display on her shelf and no upkeep or watering of the flowers would be necessary.

The photo of my Mum's card is the one below and is my original design:

The card got posted out and I shared a photograph of it with some crafty friends on facebook.

I hadn't expected anyone to ask me for a tutorial - - but someone did.

Yowzer!!!

Well, what better way to do this than to make the card all over again (which is the monochrome version at the top), take lots of photos, write a few words and put the tutorial here. It will be my very first blog tutorial, so there will be plenty of room for improvement, that's for sure.

Right then.. .. . Better get on with it......

1.  Start by die cutting 2 heart shapes from sturdy card. I used 270gms black card. 

VERY IMPORTANT: There are many different heart shape dies on the market and the measurement for the inner box is specific to the die I used. 

The die I used was a scalloped edge nesting heart by X-Cut and it was the largest in the set, measuring 10.5 cms in width. It isn't a problem to use a different shape heart, but you will need to measure the width and depth and possibly adjust the depth and width of the inner box to fit, so that it doesn't protrude at the sides, if necessary. 

2.  Cut a straight edge along the bottom left of both hearts (lay one heart on top of the other and cut at the same time, so that they are even).

3.  Cut 2 strips of card measuring 13.5 cms x 4 cms.

4.  Score both strips at 4 cms and at 12 cms. The end bit forms a tab to glue both strips together.

5.   Cut 2 shorter strips measuring 10 cms x 3.5 cms.

6.   Score these shorter strips at 1 cm in from each end, to form tabs.

7.   Glue the larger inner box strips together to form the box shape as shown in the photo above.

8.   Fold in the tabs of the shorter strips as shown above.

Next comes the slightly tricky part. ... ....  . ... .

9.   Glue the tabs of the short strips and insert them spaced as evenly as possible into the box.

This can be a bit fiddly to do. I used wet glue to allow wiggle room. You need to check that the inner box piece will flatten down without being distorted and open back to its box shape again. This is what makes it possible to flatten the card for posting.

10.  Glue one of the larger sides of the inner box to one of the hearts, exactly as shown in the photo above.

11.  Now glue the other heart to the front of the box. Make sure the hearts are lined up.  When the heart "box" stands on its base, it should look like the one in the photo above.

That completes the main structure. All that's left to do now is fill it with paper flowers and maybe even some foliage.

12.   Die cut several flowers from normal card (about 160 gms). I used a ball tool to emboss the petals and give them a more natural shape.

13.  Glue each flower to a strip of acetate with a hot glue gun. My acetate strips were about 12.5 cms long to start with.

FINALLY.  ....

Arrange and hot glue the bottom of the acetate strips to the black card struts of the inner box. Cut the acetate strips at different lengths, as required, to get a nice arrangement. Keep checking that the heart box will still fold down flat and that it stands nicely along tbe flat base.

Decorate the main part of the heart box to your liking.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The design of the heart and flower box is deliberately intended to look as if it is tilted - - for a unique flower arrangement. When you are glueing in any elements whatsoever with the acetate strips you will need to take this into account.

My card flattened down nicely enough to fit into an 8 inch square envelope. Or you could make a box to fit, if you wanted.