A Moving Princess Card

WOW! A post two days in a row! Don't fall over! I am starting to be able to be vertical for longer periods of time now, so I am not having to save all that time for household chores and can actually sneak in a little bit of stamping. I hope to be able to post here a little more regularly, but don't count on it...life does seem to have its way of getting in the way. lol.

Here is today's card.


I saw a version of this card on a YouTube video a long time ago and have wanted to make one ever since. It is very similar to my auto-pop birthday card that I shared with you as the second project in this post.

The basic assembly is very much the same as for that card, even though the size is a little different since that card was done in portrait orientation, and this will be in landscape. Also, instead of putting a rubber band on the tabs, I put a dragon and a princess. Additionally, my window is bigger (3" scalloped square), and I used a transparency sheet to make my tabs which are a single layer instead of a doubled. I started with two 7 1/2" x 4 1/4" rectangles of sturdy (pink!) card-stock. I scored each of them at 1", 1 1/2", 6", and 6 1/2".



Next, I die cut the hole in my card front, just centering the die in the center of the piece.

Next, I folded the card back so that the folds at 1" and 6 1/2" were mountain folds, and the ones at 1 1/2" and 6" were valley folds.
I folded the card front so that the folds at 1" and 6 1/2" were valley folds, and the ones at 1 1/2" and 6" were mountain folds.



I stamped and colored (and glittered) my dragon and princess images, and then cut them out. I attached each of them to a piece of acetate sheet 1" x 3.5" (dragon on the right end of one and the princess on the left end of the other.

I also stamped and colored my castle background on a scrap of white card-stock cut to 4 1/2" x 4 1/4". I glued the background to the back panel so that it would be visible through the card front's hole.

I added my strong tape to the 1" edge panels of the my card back and peeled off the liner. I then placed my clear tabs onto the card back so that the dragon and princess met in the middle. I made sure they were well adhered to the card back, then added a little strong tape to the front of the tabs so that I could adhere the tabs to the card front, too.

I peeled off the liner on the tape, then carefully attached the card front to the card back. I trimmed the excess of the two tabs.

The last thing I did was decorate the card front and the pull tab panels with dimensional stickers and punched paper lace.

This card is meant to be viewed in the stand-up position, but also in the fully opened position, where the whole sentiment and castle are revealed.

My Copic Marker Solution

I finally got the complete collection of Copic Ciao markers!

I bought them as 5 different sets of 36 markers, and the sets each came in a crystal box. At first I thought those cases would be great store the markers, but I soon found that I really struggled to use them. I couldn't see any of the numbers on markers that weren't on the edges of the box, and when I was stuck in bed while recovering from my surgeries the boxes would tip over pretty easily and dump all the pens out. They just didn't meet my needs.

So I started looking for another solution. In my search I saw a lot of different shelf units with dividers But I didn't like having the fact that the markers wouldn't be a lot more visible since they wouldn't all be at eye level. And I was worried that the markers wouldn't be secure in the horizontal shelves (I have a very curious cat who just loves anything cylindrical and who loves to watch things drop to the floor; I was concerned that he would be able too easily to knock markers out of the horizontal cubbies and run off with them.)

Then I went to lunch at a cafeteria, and my solution popped out at me! I realized that what I needed was a cafeteria silverware server! I found a 6-cup one at a restaurant supply store, and I have to say it is PERFECT! Each cup snugly holds 30 Copic markers, meaning that the entire set of 180 markers fits just right! I sorted the markers by color family, then split them into groups of 30 and placed them into the cups.



But then the trouble of finding just the marker I wanted recurred. It is impossible to see the numbers on the side of the marker, so it is hard to find the right pen.

I solved THAT problem by labeling my Ciao caps. I saw several different solutions for doing that on-line, and I combined my favorite ideas into my solution. I created a file with all the colors in numerical order by color family, complete with little circles around the numbers. I printed two copies of the file (I did both ends of my markers.) You can get the file here.

I then colored each of the circles with the matching color and then cut the paper into strips by color family.



I punched each circle with a 1/4" circle punch, and affixed them to the caps with mini glue dots.



Though it was a tedious and time-consuming job, it was totally worth the effort since I can now find the right color with little effort. I just choose the color I need using my color chart and then go to the right cup and grab the right pen pretty quickly. I really love my new solution!



How do you store your Copic markers so they are easy to use?

Til next time, and hopefully sooner rather than later!

Smiles,
Kathy