Star Wars Accordion Card

Star Wars is one of my favorite movie franchises -- even the ones with Jar Jar Binks!  I was really excited when the new trilogy began -- with some old favorite characters as well as a number of new ones.  I've made an accordion card using the Karen Burniston Fancy Label Accordion die, some Galactic Adventures stamps from Kindred Stamps and a favorite background technique -- the Galaxy Background.  In case you've never done this particular technique, I have described the technique on this post from 2017.  It's not really difficult, just messy.

For this particular card I created the background prior to gluing the three panels together.  For the ground I cut three more panels from tan cardstock, trimmed them down, and sponged along the top with some Vintage Photo distress ink.

When closed, this is the front -- created by cutting an additional white panel with the die and just cutting out the inside panel and adhering it over the first panel on the card, covering up the tabs that connect to the second panel.  Then I made an additional galaxy background panel and cut it out with the smaller die and stamped on the sentiment with Versamark, embossed with detail white embossing powder.

The frames on this card were cut using the Karen Burniston Fancy Flourish Frames, which coordinate with the accordion die.  And I hope you'll give that galaxy background a try.  It's really fun!

Enjoy Fall

CottageCutz has a brand-new release of Fall dies -- and they're all just marvelous!  I chose two of them for my card today -- Pumpkins and Vines as well as Fall Phrases.   I had seen a card made with a die-cut frame mounted on top of patterned paper and liked the way it looked, so I used basically the same idea on my card.

To make the frame I cut a piece of orange cardstock 3 3/4" x 4 3/4" and placed the largest of one of the straight-edged rectangle dies in the center.  You could use any rectangle die -- I just happened to have the Cross-Stitched ones, so that's what I used.  I can use the center (with the cross-stitches around the edge) for another card.

I then cut my card base . . .

Brown - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4"

Patterned paper - 4" x 5 1/4"

. . .  and constructed my card.

I then cut the Pumpkins and Vines die -- the pumpkins in orange and the vines in green.

Using a brown Copic marker I colored the pumpkin stem and sponged the pumpkins and vines with orange and green distressed ink.  A little hint:  because the pumpkins are slit, you can slip a piece of scrap paper into the slits to allow you to sponge the edges of each section separately.  It gives a bit of dimension to your pumpkins.

I cut the Fall Phrases die from orange cardstock, although I am only using two of the words,

which I sponged with a little bit of brown distress ink.

I then gathered all my die-cuts and placed them on the card.  I moved them around a bit until I was satisfied with the arrangement and then glued them down.  As you can see, I extended some of the leaves over the frame.

My card was now finished.

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

CCEE1841 - Dogs

Joanne is a lover of dogs, and that's the theme of her CCEE Stampers challenge this week.  She told us that October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month.  Here's my get-well card, dedicated to all the sick and wounded dogs who wind up in shelters.

Be sure to check out some more canine cards over on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Happy Fall, Y'All!

Living in Florida, I don't see a whole lot of Fall -- just that it's not hot Summer any more!  Most of our trees stay green all year long.  But one thing that always comes to Florida in the fall is HALLOWEEN!  I love to decorate for Halloween.  So my project for the October Designer Challenge had to be a Halloween card.   I made good use of some old patterned paper in my stash.  I particularly like the "grass" in this cemetery on the front.  I used some of the Halloween Charms and cut the tombstones from one of the dies in the Halloween Scene set.

The inside is pretty fun, too.  I used the House & Fence Pop-Up and more of the Halloween Charms and Halloween Scene dies, as well as one from the Halloween Elements.

Don't you just love the spider-y paper on that haunted house?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you'll come back again!

Snowy Village

My card today was made with Christmas Village 1 from the new Christmas release from CottageCutz.  There is also a Christmas Village 2, which has two additional buildings.  It's on my wish list!

To start my card I cut my cardstock and snow-patterned paper, as follows:

White - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4"; and 4" x 5 1/4"

Patterned paper - 3 3/4" x 5"

After folding the card base, I glued the patterned paper in the center.

I then cut an oval into the smaller white panel and cut the oval in half.  These half-ovals will form the snowdrifts on my card.

I wanted the white panel raised up a bit, so I put foam tape strategically onto the back of the panel . . .

. . . and placed the half-ovals behind the opening.

I then adhered the panel to the card base.

I cut the images from a scrap of white cardstock.

I wanted a little splash of color, so I dabbed some Copic markers onto a small scrap, cut it to the size of the church window openings and glued it behind the openings.  I then colored the church doors and the heart over the house door with red, placed small strips of Scotch tape behind the openings and inserted the small die-cut pieces.

I applied a bit of BG0000 Copic marker along the edges of the snow drifts to give some dimension . . . 

. . . and placed the buildings and the tree within the opening.

At this point, I decided that the scene needed another tree and some glitter, so I added some Stickles along the roof lines of the buildings and cut another tree and slipped it behind the house.  My card was now finished!

CottageCutz dies used on this card are:

CCEE1840 Non-Traditional Halloween Cards

Joanne started her month of CCEE Stampers challenges with a timely one -- with a twist.  She asked us to make Halloween cards, but using non-traditional colors.   I recently bought a cute little stamp set from Kindred Stamps called Off to See the Wizard, and I thought this would be a good set to use -- most of the characters are already in costume.  I chose Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, and all I had to do was put a mask on each of them and they were ready for Halloween!  And not an orange or purple color on the card!

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog to see some more non-traditional Halloween cards.

50th Birthday Card -- with Pumpkins

My neighbor asked me to make a 50th Birthday card for a co-worker.  She didn't want an "over-the-hill" card, but one with pumpkins.  Apparently, she gives the woman a pumpkin every year on her birthday.  I pulled out a brand-new CottageCutz pumpkins die, as well as the Karen Burniston Pull Frame Pop-Up and "Celebrate" dies, the Memory Box alphabet/number dies, and some Impression Obsession and Sizzix word dies to create this "not over-the-hill" birthday card.

The larger of the frames from the Karen Burniston Pull Frame Pop-Up is on the front of the card . . .

. . . and, when you pull the little tab, up pops the front of the pop-up, revealing the birthday wishes on the smaller frame.

 I added an additional pumpkin and greeting on the very inside of the card as well.

I hope both my neighbor and her co-worker like the card.