This card was made as the recipients ‘gift’ which was to tell him he’d been booked on to the Orient Express bound for Venice. I have seen these double slider cards on Pinterest and Youtube but not made one until now. I figured the shape of the card lent itself perfectly to creating a replica of the Orient Express train, complete with pictures of the recipient and his wife in the windows of the train. A novel way of celebrating a special birthday that could easily be adapted for all kinds of card giving occasions. I have posted a video of the card in action on my Facebook page (click here to view). For full sized pictures and detail of dies used (although not needed for the base card), just click on the pictures below.

With some careful measuring and some creative cutting I managed to make a double sized shadow box card using the Tonic Shadow Box Creation Set. I Then added 2 standard sized Shadow boxes to create the effect of an opening window. Having done this, I might have a go at using acetate in another card so the window effect will be more realistic. I love creating different shaped/sized cards, especially when I’m asked to create an extra special card. This is definitely one I will be doing again. A word of warning however, unless you have a Big Shot Pro, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to recreate this without joining 2 pieces of card as I made the large centre section from a piece of A3 card stock. As far as I know, the big shot pro is only machine that can accomodate that size.

Do any of my fellow crafters out there have the same problems as I do when asked to make more than one card for the same recipient on the same occasion. I recently had a commission for 4 wedding cards for the same couple who are both avid Manchester City supporters. On this occasion I was given a list of requirements for each of the cards. In some ways this made my task a little easier, given that the requests were very different. I just had to come up with 4 different card formats incorporating the requested elements. And here they are. The couple were, I’m glad to say, highly delighted.

Do you, like, have dies in your stash that you’ve never used. I have quite a few. I can’t resist a bargain and so when great offers come my way, I like to indulge. As a result, I have quite a lot I’ve not use yet. So when my friend’s birthday came along, in my efforts to always try to send her something different, I used a die from my so far unused stash. I even did some stamping too. Thanks to one of my favourite new acquisitions, namely the Tim Holtz stamping platform. I used some double sided papers from my stash which then dictated the colour scheme. The main die is a flip card die from Sizzix, but I cut it out twice and reversed one to create a double flip card. For details of dies and materials used, just click on one of the images.

A child’s first birthday is one of, if not the, most important ones they will celebrate. What better way to mark their special day than by sending a specially handmade card to treasure. This card was inspired by one of my craft magazines. Love the interest that the added dimension gives this and the subtle pastel shades. The left overs die cuts from the card made a perfectly co-ordinating gift tag.

There are lots of special, memorable things about getting married, not least of which, is the Hen party. What better way for special friends, to give the Bride-to-be a special keepsake of their special night together and the special times and bonds that brought, and will keep them together, than a special album in which to put photos of past and present times, to cherish and keep forever.

Turning 13 is a milestone worthy of celebrating in style. These two cards were made to celebrate a special young man becoming a teenager, themed around his favourite things and with a bit of tongue in cheek fun. The waterfall card easel card is always a favourite as it’s interactive. The Double ‘Z’ fold card is A4 in overall size, made by joining 2 sheets of A4. I used the same principles as for a pop up box card to make the pop up elements inside the card. I used acetate and gross grain ribbon to create the effect of a wrestling ring and Craftartist Professional 2 to edit photographs of the recipient so he looked like his favourite wrestlers.

Happy Summer fellow crafters. Hope you’ve all been enjoying the weather, or have you, like me, been beavering away in your craft room or craft space. I am lucky that my room is the coolest room in the house although it get a bit nippy in winter, it’s been great when the temperature has gotten really high. Well, if you’re one of my lovely loyal subscribers, you’ll have already had the newsletter with the password for my latest tutorial. If you’ve not signed up yet, you’ll only be able to access this tutorial by signing up.

I’ve had a number of requests for a ‘Pop Up Box’ tutorial. There are a number already out there on the net and some companies have even made dies to make these. They are deceptively easy to make if you follow a few basic principles and I wouldn’t consider buying a die to make these. All you need is a scoreboard, ruler and craft knife. The beauty of making them yourself is that you change the size and proportions to meet your needs, which you can’t do with a die.

I appreciate that this is quite a wacky card design. It was specifically requested to include items relevant to the recipient, but the main part of this tutorial explains in detail how to make the base card which can be decorated and embellished for numerous different occasions (see the female version below). This is my own personal take on a pop up box card which gives you internal sections at different levels allowing you to create scenic cards and/or add more dimension to your finished project. I have included detailed templates, lots of step by step photographs together with comprehensive instructions and tips to ensure your completed card folds flat and opens up with ease.

After the main tutorial for the card base I have also explained in detail how all the various elements on this card were created. While you probably won’t want to use them all, they are great embellishments for cards for teenagers and young adults, not to mention immense fun to make.

I am planning a tutorial for the Panorama Wedding card which has been in the gallery for some time now. This was by request. I used some specific dies to make this but am hoping to provide instructions as to how you might make this without the dies. If you have any requests for tutorials in the future, why not drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do.

I’m off to Dare2Create in Coventry this weekend for a much anticipated and very exciting weekend of mixed media crafting, as you can probably tell from my galleries, this is way out of my comfort zone but I can’t wait. I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on.

Till next time, Happy Crafting, Babs xxx

I have tons of stamp sets, many of which I’ve yet to use. Here are some quick easy cards I made using the Clearly Besotted ‘Super Dad’ stamp set. This includes outline, and background stamps for the shirt and elements. I also used some patterned background stamps to add further details to some of the shirts. I masked off the card bases and used distress inks to create a coloured stripe rather than matting and layering as I most often do, then stamped the ‘Birthday’ greeting in the bottom corner. I stamped the shirts in different shades of blue distress ink and the outlines in black archival ink. The stamped shirts were then fussy cut and mounted onto the card base with foam pads. Letters for the word ‘Happy’  were stamped using Docrafts Papermania Madame Payraud’s Typewriter upper case alphabet urban stamps and then heat embossed with clear embossing ink. I used foam pads to create dimension but, with a bit of advanced planning and masking, this card could be created as a single layer card which would be economical and easier to post.