Another special request for a special birthday. This time it was for an exploding box card, similar to one I made a while back for my sister. This time the card was to be sent from the lucky lady’s parents. Using double sided patterned cardstock really enhances the look of this style of card as you can see the design on both sides. I used the Medium Exploding Gift Box Die Set from Simply Made Crafts to create this as it saves time on measuring for all of the different elements though you could make your own version without dies. I used some of my favourite layered flower dies to decorate the internal box lids and layered number dies on the outer lid. For details of all dies used just click on any of the photographs.

A friend requested this Pop Up box birthday card for her Sister’s 65th birthday. Just the thing to chase away some of the blues of the last 18 months, with this, everything’s in the ‘pink’. For details of dies used to create this just click on any of the pictures. For instructions on how to make the card base take a look at Tutorial number 6.

I was asked to recreate one of my wine themed Pop Up Box Cards only this time for a lady celebrating a milestone birthday of 70 years. Out came some of my favourite layered flower dies to add pretty floral elements to the card and using silver mirror card for the sentiments and numbers brightened up the look too. All in all I was pretty happy with the end result. I had been worried it wouldn’t look very feminine but in the end it did and the pink blooms looked really pretty with the greens of the leaves and bottles.

I was asked to make 2 cards for special friends, it can be tricky sometimes, making more than one card to end up with different designs but so that neither looks bigger or better than the other. In this case I chose the same card fold for both cards and changed up the colour schemes, patterned papers and dies used for each one. For details on the dies used for each ard just click on the relevant pictures.

I was recently asked to make a special birthday card for a friend’s mum. The remit was bright spring florals. I absolutely love layering dies and now have a few beautiful sets in my stash. I made use of these to create a large pop up box card incorporating various dies from Altenew and Sizzix plus a couple of Sizzix bumble bees. I’m very happy to say that the lady was so delighted with her card she has refused to put it away and still has it on display. For details of other dies used, as usual, just click on any of the pictures.

My sister celebrated her 65th birthday last month and I needed to make her a special card to mark the occasion. I have seen hat easel cards around quite a bit this year and when I was lucky enough to win the Cardmaking Magic The Circular Box Complete Bundle courtesy of Craftworld, the first thing I thought was that I could use the main die set to have a go at making the hat easel card for my sister. The dies made it really easy to do, I also used a few extra nesting circles dies from my collection to complete the project. The die set enable me to make the perfect box to house the card safely. The flower dies included in the set made up beautifully. The pretty papers were from a very inexpensive 12″ x 12″ paper pad bought from Home Bargains.

My niece recently celebrated her 21st birthday so a special card was in order, to mark the occasion. As our gift was going to be money, I made the card dual purpose using the four internal boxes for our gift. The Medium Exploding Gift Box Die Set from Simply Made Crafts makes making a card like this really easy. It looks great when using double sided cardstock as both sides are visible on the completed project. It was a different way to gift money and a different style of card which, I’m happy to say, was very well received. For details of dies used click on any of the pictures.

It was my Brother in law’s birthday a couple of months ago and masculine cards can be tricky, especially if the person they are for doesn’t really have any hobbies. I’ve made him quite a few cards over the years and coming up with something new can be a challenge. I’ve had this fab retro campervan die in my stash for ages and till now not used it. I love how the die cuts all the little extra details to make a brilliant finished result with not too much effort, although some of the pieces are quite tiny. I chose retro colours to add to the authentic look. To make the map, I used some printed paper from a Docrafts papermania Mister Mister set. I folded it map style and added distress ink to give it an aged look. I used a Spellbinders embossabilities folder to create the road from black cardstock with silver gilding wax. I chose my favourite Z fold card base and was quite pleased with the end result, I think my brother in law was too.

I had a recent request to make a card featuring replicas of the recipient’s Chihuahua dogs. After a fair bit of experimenting with dies from different sets and a fair amount of freehand snipping, I managed to come up with a line of pooches that were a reasonable match. It’s great fun making cards like this, having to think outside the box in the way that dies are used and the best bit of all is the delight on the recipient’s face when they open them. It makes all the time and effort involved worthwhile.

When you’re a card crafter, it’s hard to keep coming up with different ideas for family members, they’ve seen everything I’ve ever made. My hubby has spent months helping our daughter and her husband with some pretty extensive home improvements. When it came to his birthday, I wanted to theme his card towards some of the things he’s been doing. I have a number of crafting CDRoms in my stash and hadn’t used some of them. I found the perfect one for my needs. A Debbi Moore Shabby Chic double CD for men  Tools Of The Trade and Through The Window. I printed out the elements for what was intended to be 4 cards but had the idea to join all four together to make one big card that would open out. despite looking complicated, once everything was printed and cut out, it went together relatively simply. Mission accomplished, he was certainly surprised and a little amused by his 3D greeting.