A quick Easter Card Challenge

 Happy Spring!  Yes I know Easter was a week ago and I'm late posting this Easter card  Of course I have an excuse.  I mean seriously doesn't everyone have an excuse of some sort?  Well mine is because of a Challenge.  Ok ok it's also because I procrastinated.  I do that often.  Wait til the last minute then ZOOM through the task at hand.  So be it with this card.  So here's my story.................................

As many of you know I have a little tiny cottage up north.  Up there...there is a little cute LLS that carries all my favorite G45 papers but that store is till 25 miles from my cottage.  They do have a FB page and recently they have finally decided to start posting things other than "this store carries G45"  Or this store has rubber stamps.  They rarely posted anything on their page.  Sometimes there would be a "Happy Holidays" post.  Anyway like I said recently they started posting "REAL" post.  They are remodeling....they are planning on offering classes, they want to do virtual card tutorials, and they want to do monthly card challenges.  Well when I first noticed this they were right smack at the end of their March one for St Patty's cards and posted their April challenge.  A double fold and card had to include Easter paper, eggs and a bunny.  So Miss Procrastinator here came up with this:

All I did was gather all the leftovers from the kids crafts, figure out what fold I wanted to do and grab some Easter paper and BAM.  Got it all cut out.  My problem was I pushed everything aside to do other stuff, then forgot until I went back on FB the other day and noticed the end date for submitting was coming.  So I quickly glued everything together, snapped a few pics and shot it over to their site to enter the challenge.   I believe the only thing you win is the praise of being 1st 2nd or 3rd place.  I figured while I was at it I may as well post the card here as well as another example of the Double Bridge Fold.

So until next time...............................................................

Its a Guy's Birthday

 Guy cards....UGHHHHH.  Alot of us dread them.  Some of us find no problem putting together a great guy card and then there are others like me who sometimes struggle.  I do not struggle with the color nor with the type of fold I am going to use.  Even at times choosing the paper is not a problem for me.  My struggle is that as I start the design the further in I go the more I tend to start reaching for flowers and butterflies. Hahahaha.

I swear I can turn any masculine card into a pretty feminine one in no time.  So when I saw this one I knew if I stuck to the plan of very little embellishments this could be a definite guy card.  Why???  Because it's a Polo Shirt card.  Yes women wear Polo Shirts (or use to on golf courses or tennis courts) but usually they are associated with a guy.  So I can do this.  Right???  Stay simple???  YIKES.  Me! Simple....few embellies....oh boy.

Ok so here's what you need.

A 8.5 x 11 cardstock of choice 10" x 7" scored at 5" save scrap you'll be using a piece of it.

A 12 x 12 of double sided DSP.  Double sided is necessary due to the collar trick.  It's a tiny touch that can be ok with single sided paper if you don't mind the collar of your shirt being white and all your accents being white.  But I prefer the look of the double sided papers.  You can get 3 shirt fronts from 1 sheet of 12 x 12 when cut properly.

First cut the sheet to measure 12 x 6.75 then cut that piece into 2 pieces that measure 4.75 x 6.75 and save the scrape.  then with the 5.25 x 12 piece that you cut off in the beginning rotate that and cut another 4.75 x 6.75 piece also saving scraps

Now with all your scrap DSP's and thinking you will eventually be making 3 card fronts you will be needing 3 sets of sleeves so you will need to cut 9 pieces of the DSP that measure 1.5" x 1.5"  you will also need 3 pockets 1.25" x 1.25" and 3 bands 1" x 5" and although I do not have exact amount you will be needing a bunch of little strips about 1/8" to 1/4" wide for detailing the sleeves and pockets.

You will also need some sort of sentiment for the bottom strip.  As you can see in the finished card below.

Cool right?  Plus it opens just light a regular card.  It's not small either.  Something I have heard some men (insert throat clear....hubby) complain about receiving dainty size cards.  Well this one is a 5x7.  Nothing dainty about that!

Pieces are minimal too. A quick photo tutorial below can help you put this together if your a seasoned card maker.  If you need more help Sam has a step by step tutorial on her channel Mixed up Crafts on YouTube.

Funny how weird the colors are showing up in those pictures.  No the green shirt is not getting blue sleeves.  It is the same paper.  I guess the angle and lighting made it looks blue.  I also notice in the other photo where I'm showing how to bend the color it looks like the collar up on top is bluish.  So strange.  Anyway.  A tip I forgot to add.  When doing the bending of the collar and the sleeves.  You do not want a crisp bone folder crease down.  As you see in the one picture with the sleeves, all you want to do is rest your ruler up against where you want the bend to be and give it a gentle bend.  The collar we do not want flat so it gives some sort of dimension.  As for the sleeves...the reason for the bend is so that it fits into the envelope but looks like the fold is suppose to be there and not because you shoved it in an envelope that's too small. It gives the shirt a cute 3d look while letting you use a regular envelope.  Pretty nifty right?  Ok who says nifty anymore?  I must be showing my age.  And with that I say.................. until next time.

2 Bridge Birthday card

If a card is a fancy fold, I'm going to do it.  If it includes G45 papers?  Well that's a no brainer....I'm in!  I swoon over new collections of G45 and then travel through Pinterest to see which fancy fold I'm going to use always hoping to find one that I haven't done before as the first card I make with the new collection.  So when I got the  "Little Things" collection I was off and running trying to find just that one special card to make.  I thought I did find that "1" when I made the "Double Floating Panel Card".  Then while surfing today I came across this Bridge card.  I swear I've made this before but I cannot find a hint of one that I have done anywhere in my files.  Maybe I just did a single bridge or maybe I did a double and never posted about it.  I just don't know but I decided I'd do it now.

This card folds flat for mailing but measures 6x6 so it's one of those extra postage envelopes unless you cheat like me and mail it in a larger envelope.  The card does stand even though it does not open like a regular card.  There is just a front and a back.  It goes together quickly too.

For the base you need a 6x6 sheet of card stock.  I used yellow.  This is for the front.  For the back part of the base you will need 1 piece 5.75 x 5.75 (I used silver) and 1 piece 5.5 x 5.5 (I used yellow)

You also need 2 pieces 2.5 x 8 scored at 1, 2, 6, & 7   I used light green

2 pieces layer (I used silver) 3.75 x 2.25 and 2 pieces dsp 3.5 x 2 (I used an orange check)

8 pieces (I used silver) 3/4 x 2.25 and 8 pieces dsp 1/2 x 2

I then took one of the cut-apart cards from the collection and matted it.

The card is pretty easy and goes together in no time.

This card was seen on Sam Calcotts channel if you want to watch the video.  I was able to just jot down the measurements and by looking at the card I was    able to put it together its that easy so give it a try.  You love this one.  Super         quick.                                                                                                                                                   

                                                      

Double Floating Card

 Seems like everyone in my family and my extended family was born in the Spring.  Makes for a very busy time of the year for us.  For me it also means no repeats on the cards.  Every card has to be different.  Since everyone shows each other which one they received, I have to make sure each one uses a different paper line and different fold.  This use to be much easier when the littles were real little and didn't care.  When they would barely be able to get the cards out of the envelopes in one piece.  At that stage of their lives I made very simple cards since usually the child either ripped them or they ended up in their mouth (you know babies lol)  Now most of them are teens or preteens and they are much gentler.  Then there are their parents....also born in the Spring.  They also need different cards.  It is so nice that so many companies come out with new lines in the Spring to help me along and Pinterest is always a BIG help.

Today I start with my little sister.  Oh my she's getting old.  This year she's 68 and still looks great.  I decided to make her a Double Floating Panel Card that Iced images made on a FB live about a month ago.  Its a large card and oh so pretty to look at when displayed.

The colors in the photo above is a bit off .  The colors of the top left photo are not accurate.  The bottom left photo is more what the colors look like.  I used a G45 paper pack called "Little Things"  It is the inside of the card that is the "STAR" of the show.  When folded closed the outside is left pretty plain.  Its where you sign the card.  You could however close the card with the inside on the outside.  You would then have a highly decorated front and back with an inside that is pretty plain.  I prefer the other way.  There is a third way to close but hard to explain and when you figure it out you will see that you will need an extra large envelope and you cannot use the same methods of decorating as it would not close right.  The basic card folded will measure 5x7. 

This card looks so Springy. I'm pretty sure my sister is going to love it when she opens it.  It is also one that I am sure to do again as it take a small amount of DSP and there are no tricky cuts and no dies are really needed.  In fact you could just use a few stickers for sentiments and be done with embellishments so pretty easy. 

Hope you enjoyed this one.  Til next time..................................................