After seeing so many of these really neat box cards that when opened allow a box to spring out I decided that I wanted to tackle one for my neighbor, Debby, for her birthday. Jan B recently posted a tutorial for one so I gave it a try!
I will not try to describe how this card was created since Jan did such a good job and I think you really need the video to see how this is done.
I did CASE Jan's design but changed it up by adding some succulents to the card box decoration and the letters/numbers I added to the pop up cube were H, B, 2, and U. I also used some of the now retired Sweet Sugarplum Ribbon from the Glitter Combo Pack.
The box was decorated with DSP from the 2016-2018 In Color DSP Stack and Whisper White. The cube was created with Sweet Sugarplum card stock and decorated with both Sweet Sugarplum and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. The Large Letters and the Large Numbers Framelits were used to cut the characters for on the cube.
For the succulents, I used Mint Macaron card stock and sponged the pieces with Sweet Sugarplum and the tips with Rich Razzleberry. To dress the succulents up, I added some of the metal rimmed pearls.
Here is a very short video to show hwat the card would look like when a recipient opened it.
I'm really pleased with how this project turned out! Have you tried one of these box cards yet? Give Jan's tutorial a try!
Friday night, my stamping ladies did a little gardening, though a green thumb was not required!
Succulents and dragonflies were the focus of my class as we created a darling pot of succulents with a matching gift card.
The Succulent Framelits are so much fun to use to create a vast array of colorful succulents. All six framelits required for the largest succulent can be fit onto a 4.25 x 5.5" piece of card stock and run through the big shot at the same time so this means that you save paper AND time!
In designing the succulents for this pot, I did a Google search to get some ideas for how to color the plants. Little did I know that succulents come in all the colors of the rainbow! Such fun!
I did a little experimenting with different colors of card stock and ink before deciding on my final choices. I save small strips of card stock just for the purpose of testing my ideas for colors. It is amazing what you can discover by sponging various ink colors onto different colors of card stock. For example, by sponging Wisteria Wonder with Pool Party, I was able to create a kind of Periwinkle Blue color.
In the end, I designed three types and sizes of succulents because I knew it was important to mix sizes and colors to produce a balanced design.
You can view the following video explaining how the succulents were created and assembled. This particular video shows a slightly different method to those portrayed in the photographs in this blog post. The succulents created in my class were fuller looking and more realistic as detailed in the notes below.
In addition, the second video shows the assembly of the pot and uses two types of moss to add further texture to the finished project.
Large succulent:
Wisteria Wonder card stock was cut with all six framelits; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Melon Mambo was sponged on the tips; double Dimensionals were used to adhere the two largest bottom layers as well as the next layer; liquid glue was used to adhere the remaining pieces.
Medium succulents:
Mint Macaron card stock was cut twice with five of the framelits to produce two separate succulents; Pool Party ink was sponged on the petals of each piece and then Old Olive was sponged on the ends of each petal; double Dimensionals were used on the two largest layers and liquid glue for the remaining pieces.
Small succulents:
Sweet Sugarplum card stock was cut three times with the three smallest framelits to produce three separate succulents; Old Olive was sponged lightly over the petals and then the tips were sponged with Melon Mambo; the layers were adhered using liquid glue.
After sponging the pieces for each of the succulents, a large-ball stylus from either the Heartfelt Creations Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit or one from the McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit was used to shape each piece. The piece was placed in the palm of the hand and the stylus was circled over the middle until the piece "cupped."
To add further dimension to each piece, a bone folder was used to curl each petal downward. Double Dimensionals were also used to create separation between the largest layers and to produce a fuller looking succulent.
Once all the succulents were assembled, it was time to prepare the pot.
A sheet of newspaper from a community paper was crumpled tightly into a ball and then carefully undone. It was re-crumpled but this time ensuring a smooth, top section to the ball. A glue gun was used to apply glue to the bottom and sides of the metal pot and the newspaper ball was pushed inside to adhere it. Some tutorials for succulent pots found on Pinterest use half a styrofoam ball to form this part of the pot but that adds to the cost. I much prefer using the easily attained newspaper!
Pieces of moss, in both natural and green were then hot-glued to the top of the newspaper. Some tendrils of moss were allowed to fall outside of the pot for added interest. After gluing enough moss to cover the newspaper, the pot was turned upside down and tapped to remove any loose moss.
The front of the pot was determined and the arrangement of the succulents was chosen. Each succulent was glued in place using the glue gun. A glue eraser was used to rid the pot of any clinging glue gun trails.
A glue dot was adhered to the middle back of the pot rim; two more were adhered to each side of the pot's rim. A length of the 5/8" Burlap Ribbon was adhered to the glue dots and tied in a bow at the front of the pot.
Finally, a dragonfly was die cut from Gold Glimmer paper, shaped slightly, and adhered to one of the succulents in the pot with Glue Dots.
To create the accompanying card, a 4 x 4" card base was cut from Old Olive. Mattes of 3.75 x 3.75" were cut both from Mint Macaron and Whisper White.
On the Mint Macaron matte, the sentiment was stamped in Basic Black. The dragonfly, from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.
The edges of the matte were sponged generously with Pool Party and then, less generously with Old Olive. The matte was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.
A dragonfly was stamped offset on the Whisper White matte using Pool Party and then adhered inside the card.
Using the Envelope Punch Board, a matching envelope in Mint Macaron was created. The flap of the envelope was stamped with another dragonfly using Pool Party.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my projects and viewing the video tutorials! If you have yet to order the Succulent Framelits or the Dragonfly Bundle, you can purchase them in my online store! Just think what you can create with these products!
Instead of a card today, I have a gift box that was inspired by the photo of a waterlily that turned up in a Google search. I thought that the waterlily could be created by using the Succulent Framelits and the box could serve as the water and the lilypads could be represented by the die cut mattes added to the box.
After die cutting the two large sections for the box from Dapper Denim, I used Fast Fuse to assemble the box.
I got a tip on a Facebook group that one of the square Stitched Framelits perfectly fit as a matte for the Window Box so I die cut a matte from Cucumber Crush. A die from the Window Box Framelits was used to die cut little holes in the stitched matte.
On a scrap of Cucumber Crush, I tried sponging both Bermuda Bay and Emerald Envy to see which one would give me the look I was after; Bermuda Bay won! I sponged the matte and it looked great! I then die cut the remaining five mattes and sponged them as well.
Before adhering the mattes to the box, I decided to also sponge the edges of the box using Dapper Denim. The sponging gave the box some added depth. I then adhered the mattes using Glue Dots.
Next, I used the Succulent Framelits to cut two of the largest succulents, two of the middle size and one of the smallest size from Whisper White. I used Melon Mambo to sponge color on both sides of the die cuts and then used a bone folder to curl up the "petals" a bit. Liquid adhesive was used to adhere the die cuts to form the flower.
Clear Wink of Stella was used on the petals of the flower and then stamens were die cut from Crushed Curry using a die from the Botanical Builder Framelits. It was adhered and given a coat of Wink of Stella. A rhinestone was added to complete the flower.
When I put the flower on the top of the box, even though the blue of the box was designed to represent the water and I wanted it to show but, design-wise, I needed some greenery as well. I then die cut a hexagon using the largest Window Box die and further die cut it using the ornate hexagon die. I then trimmed the sides down as much as possible and adhered it to the top of the box before adhering the flower on top using Dimensionals.
Here is the Google photo that was my inspiration:
Here is my interpretation:
I'm really pleased with how this little gift box turned out! It is so nice when a project you envision turns out so well!
If you would like to use my color scheme from this project, feel free to save it!
If you are ready to purchase the items to make this gift box, you can click on the items below to be taken directly to my store.
I am an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and the use of and content of the classes, services, or products offered on this blog is not endorsed by Stampin' Up! I enjoy sharing my love of creating with others and helping them to make beautiful cards with stamps and paper!
