Springtime Foils Small Z Fold Card

We liked this card so much... we had to make another one... in a colour way one more associates with me!!

So it was Bermuda Bay Stampin Marker (aka the lovely handled box of Many Marvellous Markers)... and the Blender Pen in hand... and a quick session of blending action...

More details and background on the blending/colouring here... and the card tutorial is here... Such a great little but WOW card... as you get 3 from a sheet of A4 cardstock in its 9.8cm sizing... which for me means 3 cards at a time!! As I trim the width... score down the whole length and then cut... such a time saver...

Don't forget that there is now only one more day to get these gorgeous Springtime Foils foiled papers for free... one pack for every £45 ordered... as Sale A Bration ends 31st March 10.30pm...

So it is your last chance for SAB freebies with your order...  Click here for more details... or here to go straight to the selection of free items in the Online Store

OR for even better value... it is also the last chance to sign up with Stampin Up! and get that extra large Starter Kit including 2 extra free stamp sets... as well as an extra gift direct from me... Click here for more details and/or just click HERE to select your kit and join us...

I would love you to join us for your Stampin Up! journey... best thing I ever did for my crafty life!!! Though I still can't believe it was almost 10 years ago!

Heartfelt Hopeful Thoughts... and a Heartfelt Blooms parade...

When I made and posted these Hopeful Thoughts cards for the Meningitis Research Foundation... I  made the comment that I had had to change my plans midtrack... and quickly reduce the amount of gold heat embossing... as otherwise I would only have made a handful...

So I thought I would share the fully gold embossed versions today... as they also show off the lovely greetings in the promotional Sale A Bration Heartfelt Blooms stamp set... yours for free with a £45 order... but only available now for a couple more days...

Talking of Heartfelt Blooms... don't think I shared this video before either... and I didn't add it to the parade yesterday... so just click on the picture below to view more on this lovely greeting set with photo-realistic flower... available in clear mount and wood mount...

And a set I am going to really miss using come the weekend...

All the rest of the details on the cards in the previous post here... just with more gold embossing instead of the Sahara Sand tree!

And a (hopefully) useful tip for you.. these cards didn't buckle under the heat gun heat too badly.... as I could remove the stitched square from the card blank... so that was heat embossed separately... so then there was just a small amount on the card blank to heat emboss direct...

And to finish... a quick round up parade on previously shared Heartfelt Blooms cards... just click on the photo to go straight to the post... and maybe check out the sizing!! as funnily enough they might all look the same size on here!

Only 3 days left for Sale A Bration...

So time for a quick round up... as the Sale A Bration promotion ends 31st March 10.30pm...

Joining Now! Remember that now is the best time of the year to join the Stampin Up family... but only for 3 more days...

£130 product (and not a penny more!) plus 2 extra free stamp sets (of any value) to choose for you Starter Kit from Stampin' Up!...  plus catalogues and other business tools for free in the box... Pay only £99 with free shipping...

Plus an extra Team Kit separately from me including some personalised stationery, colour swatches, Demo Handbook, product samples, a Stampin' Up! shopper bag and an extra gift from a selection available...

Though I would urge you to join asap... but by the end of tomorrow, Wed 29 March latest... as the SU! offices are closed Good Friday and Saturday... so ... although rare... any problems requiring their input will not be able to resolved prior to the deadline if any later...

Click here for more information about joining my team... and/or click here to order your Starter Kit...

Shopping Now! A little free product round up for you... as I am not sure which I have shared before and which I haven't... so... here are a few short videos on some of the Sale A Bration products... just click on the picture to go to the video for that product...

Or just click here to see all the free Sale A Bration products... one free for every £45 ordered... with a few free with a £90 order...

Starting off with our little Party Pandas who have been this year's star of the show... and who are still partying... but only for 3 more days...

Hosting Now! And last but not least... an extra £20 product for free for orders over £200... 

Click here to go straight to my Online Store... and don't forget to enter this month's Host Code B3WTJ296 where prompted for orders over £20 and under £150 for a free gift from me... Please select your own Stampin Rewards for orders over £150... you will still get a free gift from me... 

Blossoming Basket Just For You...

My first use of the Blossoming Baskets stamp set for you today... and having seen lots of brightly coloured flowers around the web... I just wanted to go to the subtle side for a change...

This stamp set is part of the Sale A Bration earn for free with a £90 order Blossoming Basket bundle coupled with the fabulous Basket Weave embossing folder... and it is a such a lovely colouring set... even I have managed to colour better with more depth & highlights using it!

And here is a little video on the bundle for those of you that prefer them...

So the full basket of flowers was stamped in Early Espresso on Crumb Cake cardstock... a bit of Crumb Cake Stampin Blends action to add texture to the basket and handle (though the Crumb Cake Marker & a Blender Pen  would work just as well if you haven't got the Blends before they got turned off) And then a bit of fussy cutting...

The image was then stamped twice more in Memento Black... once on a trimmed Whisper White  3 3/8" square main image panel and once on scrap... the leaves were coloured in on the trimmed square panel using the Dark & Light Stampin Old Olive Blends... 

And just the flowers coloured in on the scrap piece... I used Daffodil Delight Stampin Blends... dark for the centres and light on the petals... and then blended the subtle petal colours out with the Color Lifter... so that the flowers appear almost white with just a hint of yellow... and then the flowers were fussy cut...

The little tag was again stamped on Crumb Cake card in Early Espresso... the hearts coloured in using a (retired) White Signo Gel Pen... and fussy cut...

The basket and handle were stuck direct to the main image panel ... with a quick extra banner with the For You wording being tucked in... Note that I handmade the banner... even though I do have the Triple Banner Punch... but it was upstairs!! And a quick 1/4" snip up the centre of a 3/4" wide white panel... followed by a quick snip from each corner to that centre snip... does the job without exercise!

The flowers and tag are stuck using 3D Stampin Dimensionals... those Mini Dimensionals being perfect for the tag!

All mounted up on a 3 1/2" Crumb Cake square panel... and onto a 5" square Thick Whisper White card blank (Cut card 5" x 10". Score LANDSCAPE at 5")

And then finished off with a Memento Black partial greeting from the Perennial Birthday set... as the wording just seemed so right with the image...

Think that is everything!

Fancy Fold Friday - Small Square Pop Out Swing Card with Tutorial

Gosh I have had so many emails and messages about this card fold... so it has taken priority amongst all the other eagerly awaited card folds!

So here you have the Tutorial for the Small Square Swing Fold (aka Lever) Card

Craft Spa Recipe
For my US Readers... Note that I have done a literal conversion from the Metric (Centimetres) version... as it works so well with a 6" wide piece of Springtime Foils papers for the insert panel... so it will be a little bit of a trim down for you from US Letter sized card... and also beware... as I have not done a test run with the inches version... I am sure it will work but you might be a micron out from a fully opening card...

Card Blank - Cardstock Night of Navy 21 x 10.5cm (8 1/4" x 4 1/8")

Insert - Papers Springtime Foils Stripe 15.25 x 10cm (6" x 3 7/8")

Tabs - CS Night of Navy 2 x 10.2cm (x2) (3/4" x 4") 

Paper - Front of Card 10cm Square (3 7/8")

Paper/Card for Inner Panel 4.7 x 10cm (1 7/8" x 3 7/8")(I used Thin Whisper White so as to not add bulk!)

Card for stamping/diecutting front centre panel - Thick Whisper White 7cm (2 3/4") Square 

Card for diecutting front centre frame - Night of Navy 7cm (2 3/4") Square 

Papers- Springtime Foils... Available exclusively and for free during the Sale A Bration promotion. Ends 31st March 2018.

Stamps - Perennial Birthday

Dies - Stitched Shapes, Layering Squares

Embellishments - Sweet Soiree Embellishment Kit, Tutti Frutti Adhesive Backed Sequins

Ribbon - Silver Metallic Edge x 9" 

Craft Spa Instructions
Excuse the old photos... using different card colours... but new photos would mean that there wouldn't be a tutorial!! There are only so many hours in a day after all...

1. Score LANDSCAPE larger (Night of Navy for this card) card blank panel at 10.5cm. (4 1/8") Bone Fold.

2. Score smaller (Striped Springtime Foils) insert panel at 5.1 & 10.2cm (2" & 4")

3. Bone Fold as concertina/Z-fold ( ie one as mountain & 1 as valley fold)

4. Score 2 smallest (Night of Navy) panels at 5.1cm (2")(for Tabs) and Bone Fold

5. Adhere paper to front of card blank...

6. Die cut Aperture in card blank front  … 2nd largest Square in the Stitched Shapes Framelit dies  used here...

7. Adhere Z folded panel to RHS of open card blank (note: valley fold of Z Fold panel to LHS when stuck)

8. Fold over front of card blank. (with Z folded panel folded inside)

9. Apply glue through aperture to top of Z fold panel (ie to RHS of aperture) Note I have used Sticky Strip just so you can see where the glue needs to be…..

10. Adhere stamped and die-cut Stitched Shapes square through the aperture (making sure it can swing through the aperture)

 

So now for the Tabs to attach it all together….. and allow it all to pop out and swing…

10.Open up Card blank. Open out Z folded panel to the right.

 

11. Apply Glue to one side of the 2 Tabs

12. With folded edge of Tabs to outer/RH edge of Z panel - adhere one side of Tabs to top and bottom of Z fold insert panel  (ie above and below the die cut panel) ensuring that these tabs are clear ...
(a) above and below the aperture shape
and
(b) the Z fold insert panel LHS score line.
Trim if necessary

 

13.Fold top layer of Z Fold panel back over & open the Tabs out towards the central score line of the card blank.

  

Check that the Tabs will clear the central score line of the card blank.

Trim if necessary

14. With the Tabs opened out, apply glue to top side (ie facing you)

14. Fold front of card blank shut to close down onto tabs

And there you have it…one safely attached swing out card mechanism….

Now... depending on the colours you have used for the card blank and the insert panel... some of you won’t like the fact that you can see the Tab on the back of the white Z folded panel…

3 ways to work round that …

(1) have the card blank and tabs in the same colour (as I have with this card) so that you can't see the colour difference when you open the card... 

(2) have the card blank and Z folded insert panel all in the same colour ... so no colour difference anywhere!

(3) cut two extra 2 x 5.1cm Tabs in the same colour as your Z Fold insert panel (so plain Whisper White would work for this one)…and just stick over the top!

Look vanished! 

So there you have it… finish off your decoration to the front section… and you have a simple looking card with a WOW on opening… and it is simple to make too… especially by a third run...

My final decoration is purposefully very quick and simple as over 50 Easter Treats plus a few cards amongst 5 ladies was a mean order!! But click here for another one with a bit more work...and colour!

So a Scalloped Night of Navy Frame (created by using the Layering Squares die and the same Stitched Shapes square die ... at the same time!!) 

Plus a flowery die cut from the Sweet Soiree Embellishments kit... not how I coloured the paler pink flowers with the Night of Navy Stampin Blends... great job to co-ordinate...

Finished off with a Night of Navy Stampin Blends coloured Pool Party sequin from the Tutti Frutti Adhesive Backed Sequins pack...

And a Dark Night of Navy Stampin Blends coloured Silver Metallic edge ribbon... which is particularly gorgeous!

Though I am now really sorry to say that Stampin Blends are NOW officially unorderable until May...