A Haunting Birthday Card

Hi, everyone all ready for halloween ?  We don't really celebrate it here nor did we in Australia, however it is a fun time and whenever one of my children go to a birthday party at this time of the year. I do try and make a Halloween themed birthday card.

Simon is going to a birthday party for one of his class mates today and I've made a Halloween themed  flip-it card for his friend.  I thought to take some construction photos of this flip-it card, so I've posted them here.

Fig 1 : Score and fold your card so that the front of the card is folded back on itself.  Then open the card up again and lay it on your cutting pad as above, with the midpoint of your die laying on the fold line.  Keep in place with temporary tape or a post-it note.

Fig 2 : Place the bottom edge of the top cutting plate so that it lays on the fold line and run it through your machine.

Fig 3 and 4 : Only the upper or left half of the label has been cut.

I embossed a small piece of black magic card using a Cuttlebug spiderweb embossing folder, and cut another Label 2.  I sanded the label to reveal the purple underneath the surface of the black magic card, added a black spider (cut from black glitter card using the Sizzix medium die Spider #2) and the word "Party" (cut from white card using the Sizzix Decorative Strip die Wingo Zingo and distressed with Dusty Concorde Distress Ink).  This became my card front image. 

I then cut another black Label 2 added the word "sweet", a skeleton and a pair of bony hands, all cut using the Sizzix Bigz die Sweet w/Skull.  These were all distressed with Dusty Concorde, Chipped Sapphire and Mustard Seed Distress Inks.  I chose Labels 2 because I wanted to make something that looked like a gravestone, and I tried to make my skeleton look as if he was clawing his way out of the grave.  Love those hands - well there was only 1 hand included with the die but I cut 2 of them and reversed one - could just as well be playing the piano don't ya think.

I dressed up the inside with some DP from Papermania, on which I printed "Schei Ge-BOO-ertstag" (shéi Gebuertstag is luxembourgish for Happy Birthday) and a cobweb border from EK success.

I'm quite liking these flip-it cards.  They're not difficult and they stand open like an easel card but they're much more effective when opened.  One word of advice, make sure you go over that fold line with your bone folder to make it really crisp.  This will ensure you card lies flat when closed.

Hope you liked this Haunting Birthday Card.  As Make My Monday has a Halloween theme this week I'm entering it their challenge.  Lots of great halloween inspiration over there !!!

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Haunting !!!

Graduation

This was a super easy graduation card I made for my god-daughter.  The background was stamped with the Sizzix/Hero Arts Postage Stamp and Frame set which comes with a matching Textured Impressions embossing Folder.  The girl is from the Sizzix/Hero Arts Stamp & Die-cut set Style is Eternal.  She was stamped in Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder.  I also die cut her from black card and laid this flat on the background and then laid the stamped pink one slightly off to the right using mounting squares.
The Congratulations was from the WMS Celtic Heritage set.  The corners were cut from black glitter card using the Tim Holtz die ATC and Corners (I think it kind of resembles a passport or maybe a battered and well-travelled suitcase with those corners).  For the envelope I chose Katzelkraft mini 09 - a montage of cities of the world.
Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Black and White and Pop

Quick post for the WMS PJ Party.  Got the dates wrong and I only realised an hour ago that tonight was the night so a really quick card here using the new WMS Putting on the Ritz and background sets.

Feathery Note

I fell in love with this funky feathers set from WMS when I first saw it but as I already owned a set of feathers I hesitated a bit.  However when I saw all the possibilities in the first WMS Pyjama Party I realised I did need it after all.  Yes I had feathers but I didn't have all the beautifully scripted sentiments, plus it helped bump up the order to get free postage (LOL). 

I've used one of the more traditional feathers on this card, because this is for my MIL (the calligrapher) and I wanted a feather which resembled a plume.  The feather panel was first stamped with the WMS Mini Crackle background to give it that aged marble look - antique linen DI and the feather and sentiment were stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray (more of a brown than a grey really).  I couldn't resist the pun on note by including some musical score background as well - Stempel Winkel's Musical Score Background also stamped in Versafine Smokey Gray.  I bought the background paper from La Blanche at Wiesbaden some years ago, it's from the Calambour Postcards Collection.  These were loose 6 x6 sheets for 10c each so I bought quite a few in as many different motifs as possible - they're from Milan Italy.  The Wiesbaden craft fair is coming up soon so hopefully there will be other little gems like this there.

When I had finished I thought it needed a little gold so I sprayed some gold glimmer mist over the finished card - unfortunately this hasn't really showed up very well in the photo because it's not that sunny outside.  Oh well at least it stopped raining long enough to get an outside pic.

Inspiration for this card is Mojo Monday sketch 315 by the very talented Julee Tilman.

Flipping Flapper

I just bought a Sizzix Flip-it die and I have to admit it was a bit disappointing - so glad I didn't pay full price for it or I would have been really flipping out.  Anyway while searching on the internet how to use it I realised you don't actually need it to make flip it cards - you can get the same effect from your normal thin cut dies. So I thought I'd try this technique out with the fabulous Waltzing Mouse Opera Tags set which I think co-ordinate perfectly with this Flapper Girl image from Waltzing Mouse Putting on the Ritz set (which I could absolutely not say no to when it came out last month - it took every ounce of resolve to wait 5 days so it would go on the next month's Master Card bill).

This is the most basic of the flip it cards so a good one to start with and works with any size card that will fit through your machine.  I've used an A6 card here which was pre scored.  I just created another score line half way between the middle fold and the left end of the card (or just fold the front of the card back on itself if your card stock is not too stiff).  With the two folds on your left (mountain and valley) place your die so that it's centred on the left fold line (this is only really necessary if your die has a centre line like the one I've used here does) and position the bottom edge of your cutting pad on this line as well.  Send it through your cutting machine so you only get a cut on the left half of the die.  You will have a fold line through your flipping section but this is easily hidden behind complete die cuts added to the front and back of this flipping section.  And that's all there is to it, seriously how easy is this and if like me you have a couple of Spellbinders sets in your stash the possibilities are huge.  And such a fun interactive card.

The sentiment on the back of the flip it section is also from the Puttin' on the Ritz set.  

I just decorated the card with some pretty paper, a bit of bling and a WPLUS9 scalloped border in black glitter.  Don't forget to stamp before you assemble - you'll find it tricker afterwards.

I'm entering this is card in the Make My Monday Challenge, where the theme this week is Elegant Ladies.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have fun with this technique.