Hello crafting friends.
Lena here with you today. My term with the Dies R Us Inspiration design team has come to an end. I can't begin to tell you how much I have loved being a part of this awesome team and how much I'm going to miss it. On a happier note, I'd like to let you know that I have joined the Dies R Us Challenge team 😀 and look forward to working with a wonderful group of very talented crafters. I hope you come join our challenges on the 1st and 15th of each month.
For this post, I created a graduation card using several dies from Karen Burniston and a few other companies. The list of supplies will be further down on this post.
The front of the card with a very cute and smart owl from Marianne Designs.
When you open the card, the balloon arrangement pops-out of the parcel.
I used the Parcel Pop-up to make this card, as well as the Flap and Closure dies to create the closure on the card. Both sets of dies are by Karen Burniston. Tutorial link below.
An idea of how it looks as it's being opened.
And then when it's fully opened. It's such a fun interactive card, and the possibilities are endless!
Here is a close up of the "celebration in a parcel" 😀
I began by using the Flap and Closure die to create my card base, and adhering the patterned paper to the insides and to the front and closure flap. I chose these colours because they are the university colours.
Then I worked on the parcel. I wanted the corrugated cardboard effect, but since I don't have an embossing folder with this pattern, I dug into my "old tools" drawer and got out my very old, and very neglected, straight paper crimper. Does anyone still used them? Next I highlighted the folds with color box cat's eye brown ink.
Now it was time to cut out all my bits and pieces using various dies, and assembling the contents of the parcel pop up. For directions on how to make the mechanism, please see the
video tutorial by Karen Burniston.
On a different video tutorial, Karen Burniston mentions a way to make the lift mechanism stronger, so that is what I did. It's pretty simple and well worth it. You just cut that little piece, seen on the above pic, and adhere it with strong adhesive to the original die cut. The video tutorial for this is
HERE.
Once the inside was complete, I cut out all the bits and pieces for the owl. It's a great way to use up all your scraps and since the dies are not very big, you can die cut the entire own in one sweep if you have one of the larger die cutting machines.
All that was left was to put the owl together, cut a mat and adhere it to the front. I used a small velcro closure for my card, but you can use the closures that come with the Flap and Closure die set.
I'm a very messy crafter while creating my projects, and for those of you who are like me, I have a small tip for you. Find a container to throw all your dies into. Some of them are very small and can easily be trashed with all the left over bits and pieces. The same goes with stamps. I use a very inexpensive acrylic photo frame or the ruler that goes with my glass mat for my stamps and just the lid of a cookie tin for all of my dies. Then when the project is finished, it's easy to clean up and pack everything back in its place.
As promised, here is the list of supplies I used, each linked to the
Dies R Us store
for your convenience.
Karen Burniston
Karen Burniston
Karent Burniston
Marianne Designs
Tutti Designs
I used - Graduation Set by Cheery Lynn Designs which is currently out of stock.
Impression Obsession Dies
Thank you so much for stopping by today and for your support during my term at Dies R Us. I hope you will continue to visit the blog everyday, not only for some great inspiration, but also to create a project, and play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift certificate to the Dies R Us Store. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest too.
Before I end this post, I'd like to remind you that our sister store is now open.
Didi Crafts has warehouses located in the USA and Canada. It has some products that are the same as Dies R Us, but in addition, it carries international dies and other crafty supplies for a variety of crafts. Go take a peek and be pleasantly surprised!
