Simple birthday cards that turned out to be not so simple....

The other day I needed some quick birthday cards, and I decided to do some that I have tried out making before. I ended up with three cards, two that I will share here now, and one that I will share a little later.

Trifold Shutter Card

The Trifold Shutter Card (thepaperpixie.com) is a really easy-to-make card that has somewhat of a wow! effect, and it was made rather quickly. The other card, on the other hand, a Twist and Pop Card (mixedupcrafts.com)gave me a heck of a hard time! Due to the fact that it's measurements calls for card stock measuring 12", and I hardly have any, I had to resize the card. The actual card it self is easy enough to resize, the twist and pop mechanism inside, however, turned out to be a totally different cup of tea. I managed something in the end, though, and hopefully the recipient won't be able to see the many "swear" moments I had a long the way! I will definitely have to see if I can get a hold of some larger card stock!!

The front of the Twist and Pop Card

Twist and Pop Card, opened

Kit in a Box

Collection of Kit in Box boxes

Once again inspired by the Paper Pixie´s creativity, I have made yet another box, this time the box  she calls the Essential Kit in a Box on her blog, thepaperpixie.com.

The box measures about 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1" (11x6x2,5cm), and is made to hold an "essential" kit. The box is made with three compartments, in which you can put whatever fits. However, the Paper Pixie designed it to hold an anti-bacterial hand gel from the Bath and Body Works (a store I SOOO wish we had here in Norway!!), a lip-balm and a box of Altoids. Luckily I have some Bath and Body Works anti-bac´s lying around since my last few trips to the US, however some of them have a different design than the ones she made the box for, and they won't fit into the inserts that she gives the description on how to make. Therefore I had to tweak the compartments a bit on some of the boxes. 

The Box, and the inserts for the compartments are all made from a piece of card stock measuring 

8 1/2 " x 11". If you decide to adjust the compartments to fit something else, though, you are going to need more card stock. In addition to the base of the box and the compartments you are also going to need some decorative paper to make the box-topper from. 

I have varied my decoration greatly, but essentially I have used die-cuts and layered them, embellished with some pearls/gems, and finished it off with a small bow.

You can check out my youtube tutorial here:  https://youtu.be/GAu7BhfAqlk

Kit in a Box, Apricot                                                 

Kit in a Box, Guava

Kit in a Box, Mermaid

Kit in a Box, Mermaid - open, tweaked to fit a different type of anti-bac bottle.

Kit in a Box, Sugarplum

Kit in a Box, Sunflower

Kit in a Box, Sunflower - open

Faceted Gift Boxes

Faceted Gift Boxes

                                         

 https://youtu.be/E_LcfEnouks

I have yet again a new favorite box to make!! This Faceted Gift Box was made by the paperpixie.com, once again, you might say😉. If you are interested you should really go visit her blog, where there is an excellent and very clear and easy to follow tutorial on how to make this beautiful little gift box. It is custom made by Julie DiMatteo to hold a Bath and Body Works Body Cream (2.5oz), but it will hold any type of cream, or even something else if you should prefer that. 

As seen above, I have made a feeble attempt at making a tutorial as well. Right now I am in the midst of figuring out just how to do that, learning along the way. 

To prove that I fell in love with making this fabulous gift box, I have posted seven of them, and all I need to do now, is to get something to put in them, before giving them away!

Faceted Gift Box, Sunflower

                   

Faceted Gift Box, Cilantro

Faceted Gift Box, Cilantro with Hand cream

Faceted Gift Box, Ballet Slippers

                   

Faceted Gift Box, Moonstone

 

Faceted Gift Box, Peacock

Faceted Gift Box, Purple

Faceted Gift Box, Paper Bag

First attempt at video-editing!

Mini Milk Cartons with Lids

Today's project turned into quite a project. I have for a long time now, wanted to have a go at making tutorials for my crafted items, be it a card or a box, just to use as sort of a craft-diary for myself.  I use a Mac, so I needed an editing program suitable for IOS. I have used iMovie a bit at work, but felt like it wouldn't quite do the trick for what I needed, so I looked into some other popular programs from Apple. A lot of people recommend the Final Cut Pro X, but since it costs quite a fortune, I didn't feel quite ready to invest all that money into something I might not even use because I couldn't get the hang of it. Luckily for me, Apple offers a 30 days free trial period, so I ended up downloading that. The result being that I have spent the better part of today trying to understand how to do the simplest things when it comes to editing videos I have shot with my iPhone. Even though I had some videos from before, I decided to record a new one, working on a new project. 

I have once again chosen something I have found on paperpixie.com This is the project she posted this week, and her tutorial looks like it was made by a pro compared to mine. Oh well, at least I was able to edit together a video at all😂, and I am not totally displeased with my first attempt, although I know there is lots of room for improvement!!
Here are the boxes that I made:

Green

Pink, love

Purple, love

The one I made in the tutorial

And here is the link to the attempt at a tutorial: https://youtu.be/TDluRvHSISk

Using Coordinating stamp and die-sets

It's Plane to See

Todays card was actually made a couple of days ago, but I haven't really felt like posting the last few days....but here it is. I meant to create a fun-looking card, which was not too difficult with this coordinating stamp and die-set from aliexpress.com. I have several more sets like this one, so if I can get back into a creative mood, I should make some more fun cards.

I finished a totally different type of card just a little while ago, using the trial cut-outs of a set of new dies I just received (also from aliexpress.com). Sometimes when I receive dies I like to try out cutting them to see if they cut well, or whether or not I need to use an extra shim in my die-cut machine in order to get a nice result. These frame dies were quite intricate, so I suspected that I needed to use my metal shim to get a clean cut, which I did. I loved the color paper (Peacock from Lawn Fawn, lawnfawn.com) I had used so much, that I felt like creating a quick card utilizing the die-cuts I was left with after my trial run.

May All Your Dreams Come True

Since I have a fascination with dreamcatchers, and I thought the pattern on my frame die-cuts fit well with an Indian theme, I die-cut three dreamcatchers that I then glued on top of each other for dimension. I used Distressed Oxide Inks (brushed corduroy, peacock feathers, abandoned coral and squeezed lemonade) and applied them to the dreamcatcher with my ink-daubers. I used gumdrops in matching colors and placed them on the dreamcatcher as well as on the frame part of my card front. I finished the card by gluing the focal part of the card front onto a mat, also cut from Lawn Fawn´s Peacock paper. Last but not least, I stamped a sentiment, also from lawnfawn.com - from the Dandy Day coordinating stamp and die set from their newest release, onto some scrap pieces of paper, created dimension by adhering it onto the card with some foam-tape. After a rather long process of trying to decide where to put it, I ended up placing it in the middle of the card.

Kids Birthday card

Birthday card for a 3 year-old.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I had a family kid-birthday to go to, and even though my experience is that small kids never understand the thought behind card-giving, I had to make a card to bring. I don't know the child, a girl, very well, so I decided to go with a teddybear themed card, cause who doesn't like teddybears, right? I also chose a pink card base, as I know she likes pink. I created a sky and grass background by using dies and then I went with a new teddybear die that I just got. I was thinking it was a one-piece teddybear die, but it turned out that the bear came out in several pieces, which in a way was good, since I then could play a little with the colors of my bear. I wanted to show that it was a card for someones third birthday, so I incorporated a balloon that I glued the number three which I die-cut from glitter-foam. I then tied a string to the balloon and hid the knot with a small pink bow. I decided to stamp both the inside of the card and the envelope with birthday-bear stamps that I have.

The birthday-teddybear stamped inside the card.

What's with the boxes?

A trio of Gift Boxes measuring 41/4"x3"x21/4"

With only one day back at making cards, I came across these really cute gift boxes on
paperpixie.com The Paper Pixie, Julie Dimatteo, originally designed them to hold two bars of a certain brand of soaps, however, they can be filled with whatever you want, as long as what you want to put into the box fits the dimensions of the box, 41/4"x3"x21/4".
Once again, Julie Dimatteo has made an excellent tutorial that is easy to follow:https://youtu.be/MOLiACMpdb4

I had a hard time stopping, and ended up making three boxes. I had lots of fun decorating them all in the end.

Purple and Grey Gift Box with a Bow

The Purple and Grey Gift Box seen from the side.

Pink and Grey Have a Magical Day Gift Box

The Have a Magical Day Gift Box filled with Snickers and Mars

Purple and Black/White Polka-dotted Gift Box

The Polka-dotted Gift Box seen from the side.