Double windowbox card

My Stampin' Up! team takes part in monthly challenges, our challenge for February was the double window-box card. Talk about frustrating there is nothing on the internet how to create one, the only reference I could find was to an Aussie demo Nicole Wilson who was selling a tutorial how to make one.

I attempted to buy the tutorial from her but it was in a bundle so I had to buy the whole bundle, money is very tight now I have retired, so I thought I'll have a go at working out how to do it, using a gatefold card as my template which had pop up boxes inside, you can see that blog post HERE if you are interested.

I spent a whole Sunday trying to get it to work but it wasn't quite right when my friend Sarah Roche said she had found a French demonstrator Valerie Pinault on You Tube and kindly gave me the cutting and scoring dimensions for Valerie's card (you can see her scribbles from Valerie's video below). If you click on Valerie's name you can watch her make her "balcony card" which is why nothing came up about her when I Googled double window box.

So thanks Sarah and Valerie it is an AWESOME CARD!! FYI: Valerie's card was streamed June 2020 and Nicole's card had a tutorial created May 2021. So Valerie's was shared first.

I'd already started my attempt at creating the double window-box as an A5 card and to be honest I'm rather happy with my card as it fits in a standard envelope, the window boxes maybe a bit tight but it sure does have a WOW factor when you open the card. I hope the friend I'm posting it to who is recovering after some surgery thinks so too.

Cutting Dimensions for my A5 card:

A5 card: 10.5 x 29.6 cm - folded at 14.8 
Window boxes (same as Valerie) 2 pieces of 4 x 17cm (score at 6, 8, 14, 16 cm)
Joining window boxes together 1 piece of  1.8 x 8cm

Inserts inside window box 2 pieces of 2 x 8cm (score 1cm at each end), it is better to add the insert right to the back (I had to redo mine after this photo taken) as my die-cut pieces were not in the middle and did not look balanced

DSP: 2 pieces of 10 x 14.3 cm, for adding to window box I just cut enough to cover the box panels showing ie 3.5 x 8 cm (scored at 6cm - for top box), 3.5 x 10 cm (scored at 2 and 8 cm - for bottom box).

I kept the front really plain with just DSP and a belly band to close.

And inside the card:

Supply List (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Forever Fern
Ink: Blushing Bride, Polished Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Just Jade, Soft Sea Foam

Paper: Polished Pink, Basic White, Soft Sea Foam, Just Jade, Forever Greenery DSP

Dies: Forever Flourishing, Stitched So Sweetly
Other: Dimensionals, Tombow glue, silica mat (highly recommended as so much wet glue!)

Star Stamper Lockdown Challenge Week 6

Wow the weeks are flying by, it helps to be able to craft when I'm locked down & not at work. This weeks challenge was set by Julie Bocock & was very happy she chose sponging.

This is one of my favourite techniques as it's easy to get a bit of wow with very little effort. I cut out a circle with a die in some masking paper & then sponged So Saffron & Blushing Bride through the mask with sponge daubers. I've used Shimmery White as it's smoother for blending on &it's quite shimmery in real life too so looks pretty. I ended up using a Flirty Flamingo mat as I felt it made the pink pop more.

Supply List (all Stampin' Up! apart from the masking paper which we're getting in the new Annual Catalogue launching June 3rd)

Paper: Shimmery White, Flirty Flamingo, thick Whisper White
Ink: Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Dandelion Wishes (#151345)
Other: Masking paper, circle die, Champagne rhinestones, dimensionals, distressing tool.

I sincerely hope everyone is keeping well & warm. It's extremely, wet, grey & gloomy in Auckland today but we really need the rain so YIPPEE it's raining!
✿ Karen ✿

Star Stampers Lockdown Challenge Week 5

Diane Pawley challenged us to make a Split Panel Recessed Card this week. To be honest I've never ever seen one before & by the number of videos I found on You Tube they were trendy a few years ago but they're highly effective and very easy especially if you're like me & followed this video by Stamp with Joy as you just cut the top layer & then make wee strips of a contrast colour, attach & trim with your scissors, no measurements required. Rather than stamping an image, I've used a piece of Peaceful Poppies DSP (#151324) that is the same size as the card front ie 14.8 cm x 10.5 cm and attached to the thick Whisper White base. I chose to work with poppies as it was Anzac day in New Zealand yesterday & it was a strange one being locked down in our bubbles so I decided to share one of My Food Bag meals which was a hearty steak, chips & coleslaw with 2 elderly neighbours that are locked down all by themselves  and I wanted to pop in some homemade poppies (KReated with Poppy Moments dies #151594) with their bag of food. I liked this colour combo of Real Red base & the outer edge Poppy Parade. I didn't own any Garden Green card stock so used scraps of Wild Wasabi and Pear Pizzazz. The sequins were just some in my stash and aren't SU! The lovely word is from Peaceful Moments (#151595) which is such a versatile saying set and has been stamped with Garden Green ink as I did own that ;)

 I also snapped a few things that took my eye around my house as it was truly was a fabulous Autumn day.

As the saying goes on Anzac Day "Lest We Forget" and we truly won't forget the Anzac Day of 2020.

✿ Karen ✿

Star Stampers Week 4 Lockdown Challenge

We're heading into week 4 in New Zealand of lock down & this week I got to set the Challenge for the Star Stampers (my Stampin' Up! team I belong too).

I chose that the challenge this week was all about "STARS" as we are after all the Star Stampers.

Even though I own a SU! star stamp-set I chose to work with an old mask (stencil) that I'd bought a few years ago which came as well as the falling stars with a heart mask.

This was my first idea for a card.

And I still really like the idea but I used a pot of Nuvo Gold Glimmer paste for the stars and I'm a 100% positive I've never opened the jar but it was horrible to work with. I think it had dried out too much in it's "sealed pot", it also wouldn't stick & it was impossible to remove the glitter from the mask/stencil but they still do what they're supposed to do anyhow even if they're dirty looking or in this case all sparkly.

To make the card I made a mask by using a circle die on some masking paper. I then added my mask to my piece of shimmery white card stock (#121717), this card stock works really well for blending but you can also use whisper white etc. The colours I used for my blend were Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Mango Melody & Terracotta Tile. I've also used Picket Fences Life Changing Brushes to do my blending.

I love the saying & the cute wee doggy from Bella & Friends (retired). Anyhow I love this technique with a small cute image or a flower that you can cut out & pop up on dimensionals & the less we say about the "stars" the better.

So as I wasn't scoring a gold star for my first effort I thought I'd try another idea with my masking paper to make a strip on a card.

This time I used embossing paste (again one in my stash that I'd owned for a few years from Prima) to do an emboss resist technique and you can see the colours I used to blend. In hindsight I should have attached the masking paper on a grid mat to line it all perfectly before blending on my craft mat as 'sob' they weren't really equal straight lines, so I had to cut out a strip with my paper trimmer to make this card, with the saying from Beautiful You (#151412) which is so appropriate at this point in time. The background mat colour is Mango Melody. I've also flicked water at the strip & blotted dry to add a few more homemade stars.

Again if you look some of the stars are a bit missing so I was feeling rather grumpy at this stage & my fingers were really Night of Navy Blue :) So thought one more try so I went back to my practice blend & put the mask on top & removed colour with a damp baby wipe & then flicked some water drops on top too.

So again I cut out the strip & this time added to a thick whisper white card base.

Well I think all 3 star cards are pretty & I'm giving myself a bronze star for the finish but a gold star for having fun & getting my fingers inky.

I'm also giving myself a gold star for inspiring Diane Pawley to get out her old mask & make this adorable card for the challenge using the hostess set New Wonders (#149426). Her stars are fabulous!!

✿ Karen ✿

Star Stamper's Lockdown week 3 challenge card

Firstly hope everyone is enjoying our enforced staycation as we head into the Easter weekend, its a bit wet & squally in New Zealand so will be nice to snuggle up with the cats on the couch weather anyhow.

My stampin' family the Star Stampers have been doing a weekly challenge whilst we're in lockdown, this week's one was a big challenge and surprisingly I'm really happy how it turned out.

Shona Edmonds set us the challenge "Opposites Attract"

There were 4 combos to choose from and you can only add white or vanilla card stock and black ink.

• Bermuda Bay and Poppy Parade. 
• Granny Apple Green and Melon Mambo.
• Pacific Point and Grapefruit Grove.
• Blackberry Bliss and Pineapple Punch.

And if you didn’t have the card stock colours pick something close.

To be honest I hated all the combos. Shona though had made 4 cards with all the combos & they all looked pretty fab so I thought I can do this. I always gravitate towards green so challenged myself to try something new so I chose Blackberry Bliss and Daffodil Delight (as I didn't own Pineapple Punch).

I used the fabulous Butterfly Beauty thinlit dies (#148536) and the sentiment comes from Peaceful Moments (#151595). I had planned to put the sentiment up on a flag but could see it would hide the beautiful butterfly so cut it out and tucked it under, in hindsight I wish I had used the Subtle embossing folder on the white card stock. I used my alcohol markers to colour up the rhinestones as you can never have too much bling.

Cutting dimensions 
Blackberry Bliss 14.8 x 21 cm (scored at 10.5 cm)
Daffodil Delight 13.8 x 9.5 cm
Whisper White 13.5 x 9 cm

Well it's my turn to set next weeks challenge so will now have to put on my thinking cap.

Once again happy Easter all, stay safe, stay warm, stay home & hopefully the Easter bunny can find your place (must admit chocolate eggs was one of the things I stocked up on straight away pre-lockdown).

Inky hugs,
✿ Karen ✿

Lockdown week 2 Star Stamper Challenge

Wow now that's a mouthful. When you join up Stampin' Up! you get a wee virtual family. Now is a perfect example when it's really nice to have a virtual family that are crafty related. My bubble partner is slowly demolishing the garden and he loves seeing what I create and will be my colour consultant but that's as far as he goes so it's really good to have a Stampin' family who are spread throughout NZ The "Star Stampers". Last week Bev Poultney challenged us to try the scrappy strip technique & I loved it. Week 2 & it's Rhonda Fawcett's turn she has challenged us to do a challenge from her blog in January, you can see what she created HERE back then.

I have to be honest I had so many ideas for this one. Rhonda is right using a sketch really helps with the card design. I settled on using one of my favourite SU! colours (the retired Lemon Lime Twist) as we all need a bit of cheer with the new absolutely stunning Ornate Borders dies which are coming in the new annual catalogue which kicks off in June but we can pre-order NOW. I'm not a fussy card maker but wow these dies, in fact the whole bundle made my heart go boom in a good way. Being a demonstrator I was able to pre-purchase my bundle last month when Sale-a-bration was active & earn free products on top so it seemed appropriate to use the free product (the Thoughtful Blooms stamp set and matching punch, both of which I earned for free in SAB and is no longer available).

Supply List (all SU!):
Stamps:Thoughtful Blooms
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Lemon-Lime Twist (retired), Gorgeous Grape, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Whisper White, Highland Heather, Lemon Lime Twist, Gingham Gala DSP
Other: Small Bloom Punch, Ornate Borders dies, Layering Circles framelits, dimensionals

If you'd like to play along with the Star Stampers & don't have a blog you are welcome to e-mail your KReation & I can blog it for you. If you have blogged it just comment below.

If you'd like to know more about the fabulous Ornate Garden Suite pre-order check out my Specials tab above.

Thanks for stopping by, the weather forecast in NZ is shocking for Easter so it maybe a very good time to be lock-downed and playing with our craft supplies. Hopefully you were clever like me & stocked up on Easter eggs too.

✿ Karen ✿

Scrappy Strip Technique

My Stampin' Up! team (the Star Stampers) are going to do a different technique every week whilst we're all in lockdown. The first challenge was to try Bruno Bertucci's scrappy strip technique, it really requires very little apart from lots of badly cut strips of card stock. You can check out the video here (the technique starts at 20 mins approximately).

This is what it looks like when adhering to the card mat (LHS is all trimmed, RHS all attached & waiting to chop down to a mat).

I'm really liking the Silicon Craft mat it's perfect to stop the glue getting all over your work surface.

Looking at Bruno's card he used much thinner strips than I did, the colours I used were Cherry Cobbler, Petal Pink, Pool Party, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla and Basic Black.

 My team have all jazzed their cards up with embellishments so I used the lovely cherry blossom stamp from Forever Blossoms (#151457) &diecut it out with the matching die-set (Cherry Blossoms #151456) & I've colored up with my Copics (R11, E95, G20, YG11, Y35 and W1). A few Champagne Rhinestones for a bit of bling. I have stamped the image with Memento Desert Sand ink for a more no-line colouring look. The sentiment is from the Beautiful You stamp set (#143637) and everything is popped up with some dimensionals.

This was such a fun & easy technique so I challenge you all to have a go too, it certainly brightened up my day. Thanks Bruno for the great technique & Bev Pountney for challenging us all.

✿ Karen ✿