A Merry Christmas Card

This is the card I made for my mother for Christmas this year. Given that not only have I had another surgery on my ankle (and a far more extensive one besides) but that I fell and broke my leg 3 weeks ago, I have not been up for much stamping. It is just too hard to do lying down with my leg up on pillows, and my foot/leg is just too unhappy down for very long. I really have been trying to make sure that I use the "down" time to do things around the house that need to be done.

But I did manage to make this one card. Thanks to FranticStamper's great Precision Dies' 4-up square and Quad-Sized Square, both from the 1" sets, cutting the window and the frame was so simple!

The flower box on the card front was cut with a Poppystamps die, Grand Flower Box, also available at FranticStamper. The lovely poinsettias are dimensional stickers I had in my stash, and unfortunately I don't know who made them. The same goes for the other decoration on the front of the card, which is actually two different dimensional stickers, combined.



Inside the card on the window is a valance made with the same flower box die, cut down by 1/4" off the top. The curtains are made of vellum. The small table is an image from my own drawing, as is the Santa in the back "room". The snow globe on the table is another dimensional sticker.

The "wall paper" is Christmas paper from a Die Cuts With A View 12x12 pad. The Christmas tree is from a paint sample from Lowes, as are the banner pieces and the circles on the stairs. The letters were all punched with an alphabet punch set. The wreath is a scalloped circle with a smaller regular circle punched from its center, with a small bow sticker at the top.

The stairs were formed by cutting 4 slits in the card-stock and scoring and folding to form pop-outs. Here is a template for the stairs that you can use and scale to your needs:



The bannister and posts were made by gluing on strips of card-stock and trimming at the card's edge. Here is a photo of the card from the top, to give you a better idea of how the popup for the stairs works:



I hope you have enjoyed my card. Pop-up cards are almost magical to receive, but can be easier to make than you would think. The devil is in the details, like for this card, making sure everything looked good through the window, and making sure that everything fit as I wanted it to, plus cutting the "wallpaper" layer correctly.

I hope that you will give the template a try and share what you come up with!

FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 3

Here we are on the third and final day of a design team blog hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

As I told you over the last two days, FranticStamper has developed a brand new concept in die cutting! The Precision Dies have been designed to work together easily to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! Die Sets #1 & #3 are based on 1" squares, and sets #2 and #4 are based on 1-1/4" squares. The squares and rectangles in the dies have 1/4" gaps between them. The dies also have 1/8" borders, so when you bump them up against each other, they create the same 1/4" gap between cuts, making it simple to create windows in nearly endless variety.

I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release die sets to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use. They not only cut through cardstock, craft foam, felt, and other materials like a hot knife cuts through butter, but they also align with each other to cut complex windows or frames in seconds. But don't forget that they also work great individually!

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The first card I want to share with you today is the first card I made with the dies.



I used the Series 2, 4-up square die (FRA-Die-02004), the Series 2, Double square die (FRA-Die-02002) and the Series 2, Triple square die (FRA-Die-02002) in combination to cut a 3x3 grid window out of white card stock. I mounted the grid onto a light blue card-stock panel using foam dots..

I then stamped (with Memento ink on white card-stock) and colored (with Copic Markers) the Frantic Stamper Cling-Mounted Rubber Stamp - Magnolia image. I then cut the image into 1.25" squares.

I glued the image squares through my grid window, onto the light blue card-stock background. Once finished, I mounted the light blue panel onto a darker blue card. I finished the card off with a little tag and with a white hand-made medallion.

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And lastly I wanted to share the quickest card I made. It is a Halloween card that literally took fewer than 3 minutes to make.



I started with a half-sheet of card-stock, cut the long way and then scored to form a top-opening standard sized card. 30 seconds down.

I then laid the Frantic Stamper Precision Die - Series #3 (1" base) - Triple Size Rectangle + 3 square (FRA-Die-03005) onto the front of the card and ran it through my die cutting machine. We are now at one minute.

I glued an orange panel to the inside of the card, and added glue dots to the backs of my chosen buttons. We are 2 minutes into the card.

I glued the buttons into the windows, wrapped my ribbon around the card, through the window and tied the bow, and then stamped a Trick or Treat greeting on the inside. Voila... The card is done in under three minutes. It took me longer to tell you about it than to MAKE it!

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I hope you enjoyed today's cards and the hop. Next you head to Sharon Jeffs' blog. But then don't forget that Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Set #1 or Set #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! After visiting Sharon's blog be sure to click through to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you have seen on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on tomorrow morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Also be sure to check out the wonderful dies at www.franticstamper.com! You will love them, I am sure!

FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 2

Here we are on day 2 of a design team blog hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

Frantic Stamper has developed a brand new concept in die cutting! The Precision Dies have been designed to work together easily to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! Die Series #1 & #3 are based on 1" squares, and Series #2 and #4 are based on 1-1/4" squares. The squares and rectangles in the dies have 1/4" gaps between them. The dies also have 1/8" borders, so when you bump them up against each other, they create the same 1/4" gap between cuts, making it simple to create windows in nearly endless variety.

I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release die sets to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use. They not only cut through cardstock, craft foam, felt, and other materials like a hot knife cuts through butter, but they also align with each other to make cutting complex windows or frames in seconds. But they also work great individually!

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The card I want to share with you today is a kinetic diorama Christmas card that opens itself as soon as it is removed from its envelope! The card itself is a large one, using a half-sheet of card-stock for each its back and its front. It requires an A9 sized envelope and extra postage to mail.

For this card I used the Series #2, Four-up square die (FRA-Die-02004) to cut my window pane, and Series #4, Quad sized square die (Fra-Die-04004) to cut the hole in the card front. As I said, the dies work great individually, as well as in combination, and individual cuts is what this card showcases!



This card uses a rubber band mechanism to open the card. You can see details of how to do that in this post, though this one required a larger rubber band.

The Santa with hood, a Frantic Stamper cling mounted stamp image, is on a floating acetate panel in the middle of the card, attached to a stiff tab, like the princess and the dragon in this post.


I hope you enjoyed today's card. I hope you will hop again tomorrow, when I will share two more cards I made using these wonderful dies.

Don't forget that Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Series #1 or Series #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! After your last hop stop at Sharon Jeffs' blog, be sure to click through to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you have seen on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on Thursday morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

Then be sure to check out the wonderful dies at www.franticstamper.com! You will love them, I am sure!

FranticStamper Precision Dies Blog Hop - Day 1

Frantic Stamper has just introduced a brand new product! Frantic Stamper Precision Dies are designed to work together to create all sorts of windows in cards and more! As part of the design team, I had the pleasure of getting prototype and pre-release dies to play with, and I have to say that they are a total BLAST to use!

Today is the first day of a design team hop to help celebrate the launch of Frantic Stamper Precision Dies. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Willis' blog and will next head off to Sharon Jeffs' blog.

Fran at Frantic Stamper is offering Blog Candy for this hop; either Series #1 or Series #2 of the square dies, winner's choice! Since I am the last stop on the hop, just go to the Frantic Stamper blog and leave a comment about one of the items you see on the hop to enter the give-away. The winner will be chosen randomly from qualified entries on Thursday morning, and will be notified via the blog sometime that day.

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The first card I created with the dies is a changing image card. The dies made aligning the holes for this card child's play; the whole card took just minutes to make! I used the Series #2, Triple square die (FRA-Die-02003) to cut my windows. It took only a total of two passes through my die cut machine and a couple of minutes to assemble to create the card!



Here is a quick video of it opening and the images changing...


I will be sharing how to make a similar card on the FranticStamper blog tomorrow. Be sure to check back then if you want to learn how to make this card!

Next I created a scrapbook page to commemorate the fact that my little girl is all grown up and currently a continent and an ocean away...in France! I used a combination of dies from series #2 and #4 to create the "E" (for Elizabeth) for me to frame my photos. The frame and all the craft foam mats were cut with a single pass through my die cut machine!



This is how the dies were laid out to make the


(Dies used from Series #2: FRA-die-02001, FRA-die-02002, FRA-die-02003
 Dies used from Series #4: FRA-die-04001, FRA-die-04002)

Images from FranticStamper's own line of French-inspired cling-mounted stamps, some Stickles, and a butterfly sticker finished the page.

I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you will check back tomorrow! And be sure to check out the last stop on the hop at Sharon Jeffs' blog. You should also stop by and see these wonderful new Precision Dies at www.franticstamper.com.

Happy World Card Making Day!

I hope to make a card or two today in honor of World Card Making Day. It is still a little rough for me to craft since I had a second (much more invasive and serious) surgery on my right ankle 6 weeks ago, and I am just having a hard time if I don't keep it elevated. But I am going to try!

If I DO get to make some cards, I will definitely be using my incredible new dies from FranticStamper! They just announced the dies yesterday, but I was lucky enough to get an early release, and I have to tell you these dies ROCK!


The dies work separately or in combinations to instantly create fabulous window cards! They cut square windows in either 1" or 1.25". The dies are designed for squares to be cut 1/4" apart, even when you are using more than one die in combination. Cutting a grid of square windows is trivial. BUT there is more! The dies also have rectangles that can be combined with the squares, and the rectangles take into account the 1/4" spacing, so they align perfectly with the squares! You have to see these things to get an idea of all the possibilities they open up!

So... off to craft. Wish me luck. If I do get some cards done, I will be sure to add them to this post later today.

In the meantime, Happy World Card Making Day! Go create!

UPDATE:

I only had time and energy for one card. I used two Frantic Stamper Precision Dies -- Single Squares from series #2 to cut diamonds on the front layer of the card. I then used the windows on that layer and two FranticStamper Precision Dies -- Single Squares from series #1 (the dies are the EXACT same size as the holes cut by series #2!) with a little tape to hold them in place and cut the second layer. This layer makes a perfect mat for the top layer's windows! I then used a 3/4" punch to punch my squares for my stamped images, added a ribbon and some Bronze Candi pieces, and had my finished card!

*TIP - I used the back side of my patterned paper for the mat layer...it is guaranteed to match the front!

Here is the card:

Die cuts with matching stamps...

This Christmas I want to make a lot of cards that use a little stamped Santa image from a rubber stamp I made several years ago (that's a story for another time) but my hands aren't up to cutting out a lot of images (and that is yet another story!) So I stamped my image once, scanned it, and used the software for my electronic die cut machine (the new Silhoutte Cameo...love it!) to create a cut file.

It cuts perfectly and I can cut a dozen of the Santas from a single 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock. SO I cut my Santas that I need for my cards, but then I had a problem of getting my stamped image onto the cut out die-cut correctly.

I came up with a solution that works so well that I wanted to share it; not only does it work great for my die-cut machine cut files, but will also work perfectly for those mechanical die/stamp combinations (and I have some of those, too!)

I created a special cut file for my machine that would cut a single Santa in the center of a quarter sheet of card stock. If using a traditional die I would simply have cut the die in the center of a quarter sheet of card stock. I then used the NEGATIVE of the die-cut (the rest of the quarter sheet AFTER my die was cut and removed from it) for my stamping tool, a simple template.

I used my stamp positioning tool and a piece of acrylic to finish my template.



I used the stamp positioner to stamp my Santa on the corner of the acrylic piece.



Next I aligned the image on the acrylic sheet, centered in the hole of the template, right where I would want to stamp the image.



I then used a pen and marked the template where the corner of the acrylic sheet was so I would know where to position my stamp positioning tool later.



When I want to stamp a Santa, I simply fit my cutout Santa into the hole in my template and position my stamp positioning tool on my marked position.



I then stamp the image as though I were stamping on a whole piece of paper.



When I remove the die cut, it is stamped perfectly every time!



It is as easy as can be to stamp a whole bunch. I will have plenty for my Christmas cards in no time!



I hope this is a trick you can use, too! Until the next time (whenever that may be!)

Smiles,
Kathy