Interactive/Surprise Slider Card

Hello!  Today, I wanted to share with you an interactive slider card that I created using some awesome Stamps of Life products.  I actually got my inspiration from a new card kit called "Twice The Wishes" that just came out by My Favorite Things.  Their video shows you in detail how to create an interactive/surprise card with a layered birthday cake.  Once I saw it, I realized that there were so many other things (other than that cute birthday cake) that I could use to create something similar and have the same effect.  You can see their video tutorial here.

I decided to use that cute little hedgehog from The Stamps of Life July club stamp set called hedgehog2stamp.  I knew that I wanted him popping up out of "something" and I needed to find something in my stash of stamps & dies that he would be able to fit behind.  The Triplits Gift Dies by Sizzix were perfect!  I die cut two of the large gift shadow dies in black and used them to adhere my colored and patterned cardstock.  I glued the base of the gift on one shadow die and the top of the gift on the other.  I then cut off the portion I needed on each to then have a gift box that "opened" by having a separate piece for the top and a separate piece for the bottom of the gift.  However, when I went to assemble my card, I ran into a small dilemma.  Even though my hedgehog did indeed fit behind the base of the gift box, the bottom part of the box was not wide enough to adhere it to my card without also adhering it to the hedgehog.  So, I simply hand cut another piece of teal/ocean cardstock to fit behind the base of my gift box so that I could add small strips of 3D foam tape and attach the gift box to my card without also attaching it to my hedgehog.  Problem solved!

For the base of my card, I used the Sizzix Greetings Scalloped Edge Drop-ins card die set, created by Stephanie Barnard.  The stitched rounded rectangle came from My Favorite Things.

Now, a quick thing to note.  You really don't need anything fancy to create a surprise/interactive slider card.  I used a banner die that I had to create the strip used to pull open the gift box, but you can simply hand cut a long rectangular piece of cardstock and that would work perfectly!  Also, I did use a penny slider die to cut the area behind the gift where the hedgehog would attach, but I only did a partial die cut with it since the die itself would have been too long.  I cut the rest of it by hand with my craft knife and probably could have cut the entire thing that way if need be.  

Now, I won't go into the details on how to create a surprise/interactive slider card.  The video from MFT stamps does a much better job!  I have also added the link to this video below. 

Thanks so much for looking!  Feel free to leave any comments or questions!  I love to hear from you!  Have a blessed day!   


Products Used:

• Stamps of Life Hedgehog2stamp Stamp Set 
• Sizzix Triplits Gifts 
• Sizzix Greetings Scalloped Edge Drop-ins 
• MFT Die-namics Stiched Rounded Rectangle Dies 
• Stamps of Life Penny Slider Dies  

"Twice The Wishes" Suprprise Slider Card Tutorial by My Favorite Things  (Video Tutorial)

Happy Birthday Fishes!

Hello! I hope that everyone is off to having a wonderful weekend! It sure is hot and humid down here in Florida! 

I wanted to share a box card that I made last month for my husband's birthday.  He's an avid fisherman, so I knew that I wanted to do something related to fishing.  Now, you may look at this and think that this is too big and 3-dimensional to be called a "card".  But, believe it or not, it actually all collapses to fit into a 5x7 envelope!

For the base (box) of my card, I used my Exclusive Box Card Die Set by The Stamps of Life.  I then used one of the smaller dies in the kit to cut out a "window" in the front of the box.  It might be hard to tell from the picture, but I added a piece of clear acetate inside the box to cover the window but to still be able to see through into the "lake" or "river".  I added some cardstock inked with distress ink as my water and then some grass behind it to show where the land started.  The trees were so much fun to make!  And very easy.  They came from the CottageCutz Rustic Sign & Trees Die Set.  I added some distress ink to give them some extra shading and depth.  I die cut some fish (by Joy! Crafts) on white cardstock and then colored them with my Copic alcohol markers. I used the Fintastic Friends stamp set by Lawn Fawn for my scenery inside the water.  I had initially used the adorable little fish from this set as well, but I later figured that since I was giving this card to my husband, I didn't want the fish to be too "cute".  On the sides of the box, I added both a fisherman (also by Joy! Crafts) and my "Happy Birthday Fishes" sentiment from the "You're Fantastic" Stamp Set by My Favorite Things.  I believe this stamp set has since been retired but can still be found for sale on different websites.  I actually added real fishing line to the fishing pole and attached a small fishing bobber or lure (by Simon Says Stamp) to the end.

Now, to attach both the fisherman and the sentiment, I simply cut a long & thin rectangular piece of mid-weight cardstock and folded both ends (in the same direction) where the piece attaches to the sides of the box in the shape of a small box or square.  This enables the piece to fold down easily when pushed.  Once that was complete, I then simply attached the fisherman and sentiment to each foldable square.  This way, both pieces were now able to fold with the main box card base in order to fit into an envelope and then be popped up again once opened.

Thank you all so much for dropping by!  I hope you enjoyed my card today!  If you liked this card and want some more crafty inspiration, don't forget to check out my INSTAGRAM feed!

Wishing you all the most wonderful day!

♥ Rachel

        

Products Used:

• The Stamps of Life Exclusive Box Card Die Set
• The Stamps of Life Grass Die
• CottageCutz Die Cuts Rustic Sign and Trees
• The Stamps of Life Acetate Sheets
• Joy! Crafts Die, Fish 
• Lawn Fawn Fintastic Friends
• Joy! Craft Cut & Emboss Dies-Fishing Fun/Fisherman Standing 
• "You're Fintastic" Stamp Set by My Favorite Things 
• "Dads and Grads" Stamp Set by Simon Says Stamp 

Hedgehog Birthday!

It's hard to believe that we're already almost halfway through the month July!  This month's new club stamp set at The Stamps of Life is called hedgehog2stamp and this card is an example I made using both the new stamps and dies.  I wanted to make a birthday card for my brother, so I tried to incorporate more masculine colors.  I used the Sizzix Friends Forever Step-ups Card Die Set for my base to give the card some dimension.  I wanted to make the scene a bit festive with party balloons and a banner, so I stamped, colored and cut some smaller balloons using the Stamps of Life happyBday2you stamp set and the matching dies from the balloons2cut Stamp and Die Set.  I cut some small fishtail banner flags using The Stamps of Life banner dies and added some clear glitter to make them sparkle.  The "Happy Birthday" banner came from the chalksayings2stamp stamp set and matching banner dies.  I stamped and hand cut the party hats from the late4Bday stamp set.  And lastly, the adorable cake and present came from the birthday4cookie stamp set and matching dies.
These hedgehogs are just so cute!  Hoping to make more cards using this set as time allows!

Thanks for looking!  Feel free to leave any comments or questions!  I love to hear from you!

More Flower Power!

Hello!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!  Life has been pretty crazy at our house over this past week but I have been able to work on a few cards during the evenings after the kids have gone to bed.  I wanted to make a few more cards using last month's awesome club stamp set called flowerpower2fill from The Stamps of Life.  In this card above, I used the coordinating Flower Power Dies to cut these cute flowers and then added them to my card base which was cut with the Sizzix Circle #2 Flip-its Card Set dies.  I used the coordinating leaf dies that come with the Flower Power Dies and sponged them with some distress ink.  The dragonflies came from a mini Stamps of Life Stamp Set that was given to me by a friend.  I stamped and then heat embossed four dragonflies on vellum paper and then colored them using some glitter markers.  Once dry, I cut them and layered them to give them some added dimension.

In this next card, I used the coordinating patterns4flowerpower stamp set for my sentiment and the Flowers With Stems die set for the little flowers on both the front and inside of the card.  For my base, I used the Sizzix Half A2 Card die set created by Stephanie Barnard.  Because I wanted to create an overlay instead of using the dies that were included in this set to cut a shape in the center of the card, I simply added some layered cardstock on the front using the Sizzix Regal Framelits die set.  I used the Sizzix Leaves Stamps & Dies to cut the brown leaves behind my sentiment and then sponged them with some dark brown distress ink. 

 As you can see, I used the same dies for the inside of my card but just simply used a different colored felt for the flowers.  The sentiment (which is one of my favorites!) came from an exclusive Stamps of Life stamp set called praise4Him.  This set is great since it offers eight different and inspiring Bible verses!

In this next card, I again used the Flower Power Dies with both solid and patterned cardstock to create a small patch of "blooming" blue flowers.  I love how the blue and yellow contrast with each other!  I decided to use a Stand-Up card base so that my flowers would "stand up" once the card was opened.  Stephanie Barnard has a number of Stand-Up card die sets and since I only own three of them, I went with the Sizzix Royal Stand-Ups Card Die Set.  This set comes with a lot of word dies (which I love) and was perfect for the look I was trying to create.  For my sentiment, I used one of Stephanie Barnard's newer products called Thoughtful Words.  I just love how most of her word dies also come with a shadow die.  It just adds so much to the sentiment!

Here is a view of the outside of the card.  It is an A2 sized card and, as you can see, it would fit perfectly into an A2 sized envelope once closed since the flowers lay flat until the card is opened and propped upright.  The little blue butterfly also came from that mini Stamps of Life set that was given to me by a friend.  Any small butterfly or bug would work, though!

Lastly, I decided to try a new technique on this card.  It was my first attempt at trying to stamp and color on a vellum overlay.  Although this card didn't come out exactly the way I had envisioned it, I was pretty pleased with the results.  I think it would have come out a little bit "cleaner" with a heavier piece (i.e. 40#) of vellum (which I didn't have at the time I created this card).  To learn how to try this technique, Jennifer McGuire posted an awesome and very informative video that you can find here.  For the flowers, I once again used the Stamps of Life flowerpower2fill stamp set and masked all but the first flower to give them an overlaying look.  I colored them with some glitter markers and heat embossed my sentiment with white embossing powder.  The beautiful scalloped base card came from  the Sizzix Greetings Scalloped Edge Drop-ins die set.  I used a rectangle die from some other set to cut out the center of the card and fill it with my vellum piece.  

Thanks so much for looking!  I love to hear from you!  Please feel free to leave any comments or questions!