April Quick Cards Made Easy magazine

The April (Issue 151) edition of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine will be hitting the shelves right now, in fact my guess is that it will already have done so. My subscription copy came last week by post - and the 'pop-up box cards kit' free gift is great!

I've made pop-up boxes from scratch and thoroughly enjoying doing so - but I know a few folk who are wary of trying this style of card, thinking them too daunting.

If that's you - take a peek at a pop-up box card I whipped up using the kit in no time at all, sticking more or less to one of the suggested designs:

I just stuck with the bits and pieces that came with the kit to make this and here's the cover sheet from the kit packet:

Apart from scissors and glue (although I used red line tape instead of glue) absolutely everything you need is included. Four little boxes, just ready for you to fold and tape one small side section, four themed die-cut sheets (I had pieces left over from the sheet I used) four matching envelopes and an acetate sheet for the fluttering die-cut embellishments (my packet had two acetate sheets in - but one is enough).

It's a great free gift and instructions are included in the magazine itself. I have no links to QCME magazine, just thought I'd like to share.

I know that lots of you have made these boxes yourselves, I've featured some real beauties in the Snippets Playground weekly picks, but perhaps this will tempt anyone who hasn't yet had a try. Plus you get the magazine to read as well!

Di
x

Pop up box card

A friend of mine recently had a Birthday, and her sister made her a pop up box card. Squeals of amazement from said friend, who is a card maker but sticks to tried and tested folds (I once gave her the vapours just showing her how to make an easel card!).

However, I've promised to go round for a play afternoon and show her how to make a pop-up box card, trust me, her patience can be very, extremely low so perhaps I should have just played dumb. I did show Sam (Hettie) how to make one of these last year at the WOYWW Crop and she flew along no trouble. However, before embarking on the forthcoming crafting session, I thought it would be a good idea to remind myself of the process at least, and this is what I made:

Such a difficult thing to photograph!

Close-up peek

The back panel, with a fairly plain area to write a message on

 I used:

- an A4 sized sheet of black card stock (the resulting finished and 'folded flat for posting' card ends up at just about an inch shorter than A5 size)

- papers from Papermania's 'Elegance' paper pack

- embellishments are also by Papermania, and are also from the 'Elegance' range

-and just a few amber coloured gems added for some sparkle

Now to show friend how to make one, without her toys flying out of the window - wish me luck!

Di
x

Pop up box card for a 'Little Knight'

A little neighbour is five today, it promises to be a fun afternoon as his Birthday party is being held in a 'party bus'. For the uninitiated, it's an old London double decker bus which has been converted into a 'party bus'. The idea is that you can hold a childrens' party in a safe, well padded (snigger) and self-contained area with usually a slide from the top deck down to the lower deck, 'ball pools' to play in, other activities and they also supply food and drink if required.The bus parks outside the front of your house and better still, there's no clearing up afterwards. Neat idea! Maybe we need one for the Snippets Playground on wet days?

I made this card for the little chap - it's really hard to see all the elements but there's a castle in the background against cloud patterned paper, a dragon, a little knight and a couple of other toppers, all popped up on acetate strips:

I used:

- an A4 sheet of SU 'Baja Breeze' to make the basic box

-  a mixture of papers from three paper packs to decorate - 'Serif's 'Picnic in the Park', 'Let's Fly Away' (free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine ages ago) and Echo Park's 'Hello Summer'

- then I set to with a couple of packs of toppers, bought in Hobbycraft, with a knight and dragon theme and strips of acetate to create the 3-D scene and the remaining stickers just decorated the flaps

- the only extra things I did was to pop the number 5 over the existing number 1 on the little knight banner and also added the little chap's name to the front flap by stamping with SU's 'Pacific Point' ink onto a snippet of 'Baja Breeze' card and then punching out the circles using one of SU's 'Itty Bitty' punches. The stamps are from a letters and numbers set made by Craftwork Cards - really with their card candi in mind

- oh, and I stamped Happy Birthday on the back of the box, using Inca Stamp's ''Dot Birthday' and SU's 'Real Red' ink pad - then added the last remaining 'Little Knight' for luck :) 

All that remains is to find my ear plugs ready for a couple of hours of fun and games :)

I already had this card in mind for Taylor but it was also a good way to remind myself of the measurements and make a template as well as measure, fold and cut a basic box as Sam (Hettie) wants to have a try at making one on Saturday.  I can see some more fun and games ahead!!

Di
x