3D Interactive Pop-Up Cash Card!

Who doesn't like cash? 
I have 2 teens on my Christmas list this year, and they are saving their money for some big-ticket items, so I was happy to contribute cash as their gift this year (saves me shopping stress!)
But as nice as it is to get cash, it's kind of a downer not to get a gift to open. 
So I made these:



 

 

 

So fun!

And I feel good that I put a little bit of effort into their gifts. 

 

Should at least earn me some "Coolest Auntie Ever!" votes :)

 

 

Here's a close-up of the pop-up part for those of you who want to make one yourself:

 

• Sorry, I don't have a template for the pop-up part, I just "winged it". 
• There are basically 2 pop up tabs cut out of the center of the card, with snowbanks glued to them. 
• Instructions for money origami can be found HERE. 
• I used glue dots to adhere the cash to the card, easy to rub off without damaging the money.

 

Note: the new Canadian bills that are sort of plastic don't work well for origami folds, make sure to use the older paper bills for this.

 

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Lorrinda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December birthdays don't always suck...

Most people born in December seem to get shorted for their birthdays, or forgotten in all the holiday hubbub...not my BFF Rene!  She just celebrated a special birthday this weekend. Here's the keepsake card I made for her:

You can click on the photos to see a larger view

 

 

 

 

 

And of course I made her a cake!

My recipe "White Russian" Cake, there's Kahlua in this cake! Used it in the cake, the filling and the frosting, YUM!
 

She's going to kill me for posting this on the internet, but Happy Birthday girlfriend!

 

If you want the recipe for this cake, you can find it HERE

See, December birthdays are AWESOME!
Lorrinda

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Our Home! 3D Decor

Ok, I officially suck as a blogger. I have been so bad at posting this fall...my excuse is that I have been held hostage by Pinterest and have pinboards full of crafty goodness to make.  I have been crafting, I even have my Christmas cards done, but have I photographed them?  Not yet.  I really have to get on that, it's almost time to mail them out!

 

Today, I have a 3D Home Decor item to share...I made this Framed chalkboard decor to enter in the CTMH Edmonton Regional 3D Contest back in September!. We had some specific guidelines to follow, and I must say the competition was fierce! When I saw what the other entries were, I knew I had no chance of winning, but I honestly made this to hang in my own home, so I love it anyway! 

 

 

All products CTMH, if you don't recognize them and need to know details, ask away!

Time to share...I have started this post a few times, but them I got sidetracked trying to add a PinIt button to the bottom of the post.  I really want to add a PinIt button to my blog, but all my attempts have been futile. I have searched for, and tried, no less than 5 tutorials to add a PinIt button to this blog so my fellow pinners can easily pin away...but alas, none have worked! I really want to add a button to the bottom of each post, so if any of you have a way to do this, please share! I am looking for a way for it to automatically be inserted at the bottom of each post.  I may have to bite the bullet and hire someone to do it for me.  I really don't consider myself to be computer-handicapped, but for some reason the silly little PinIt button has me stumped.

 

I truly appreciate each and every one of you who continue to follow my blog, even though I have been quite lax in posting!  I also have been blasted with spam comments as of late, and since I detest word verification, I have had to implement comment moderation... so please be patient and your comment will eventually appear, I promise!

Lorrinda

 

 

We interrupt this summer break for a candle project

How's everyone enjoying their summer?  Between kitchen renovation and family camping trips my summer has been anything but lazy.  I came back from a long weekend at the lake to find 375 unread posts on my Google Reader! So much crafty inspiration...so little time.

I haven't posted anything crafty for a while, so I thought I'd share my candle project with you.  My Mom is one of 6 girls, and they get together every year for a "Sister's Weekend".  They always bring little gifts for each other, and this year Mom asked me to make something for her to give each of them. 

She loved the candles I made:

These were super easy to make.  I started with inexpensive 3" pillar candles from Ikea. 

The sentiment was done with my printer onto white tissue paper (tape the tissue paper to a sheet of regular office paper so it doesn't bunch up in the printer) Then trim the excess away around each logo, smooth it down onto the candle, cover it with a piece of waxed paper large enough to wrap around the entire candle with enough to grab onto to keep it tight, and carefully heat it with the heat gun until the logo is set into the wax. Then remove the waxed paper...viola! Custom candle.

I wrapped some matching ribbon around the base of each candle, and it it just held on by the brad in the center of the flowers pushed into the candle like a stick pin.

The big one is 5" and has an angel charm on it for their sister Leona who passed away from Breast Cancer 3 years ago. I really miss her. They kept this one burning all weekend while they were together.

This was a fun project. Thanks for visiting my blog, and a special thanks to my followers who have stuck with me while I've been pretty much AWOL this summer.  Summers in Alberta are just too short to spend in a basement craft room, I'll be back to regular posting when the kids are back in school.

Lorrinda

H2H Wedding Challenge

Did ya miss me?
Sorry for being MIA, I had a little boiling water accident and kind of melted my right hand, so was unable to do much of anything last week (except whine and swear, I'll admit it. Burns really hurt! especially on the soft parts between your fingers.)  That's what happens when you try to do 14 things at once, life has a way of forcing you to slow down sometimes.  For the record, I'm not a big fan of the 'Pasta Express', one big burnt thumbs down.  I'm all good now, just a little peeling but no more pain and shouldn't be any major scars.  I apologize for not leaving comments on everyone's blogs, but I suck at typing as it is, let alone doing it with just my left hand.  I'll try to get around to everyone's blogs this week to catch up.

H2H has a new challenge up today...and the theme is WEDDINGS!  I loved this challenge :)

I went all out with the bling, but kept my color scheme very muted. I think the end result is very elegant, which is the look I was going for:

(You can click the pics to see them in more detail.  I highly reommend it for this card because I had a tough time photographing all the shiny/sparkly details.)

This is the folded card, it fits in a standard A2 card envelope. Why yes, that is embossing on the envelope, thanks for noticing!  It just seems to make it more formal somehow.

And here it is open:

Just google tri-shutter card fold and you'll find several templates/tutorials to make one.  It looks difficult, but is really very simple to make.

Here are some close-ups of each section:

Don't you just love the bling on the ring?

I left the top edge of this white panel open to create a little pocket for a gift card or cash, I should have taken a better picture of this but I think you can visualize it:)  I purposely left this area blank so there is a spot to write on.

All the stamped sentiments and images are heat embossed with silver, and I used rhinestone and silver accents. I love the way this turned out! The pattern paper is from the CTMH Bliss Level 2 paper pack, one of my faves from the CTMH Spring/Summer Idea Book.  If you don't recognize it, it's because I used the reverse side of the colored pattern to showcase the coordinating gray pattern.  For a complete list of the supplies I used, a recipe is at the bottom of this post. 

You should check out what the rest of the DT has made for this challenge, awesome stuff!  And, we have a new Guest Designer joining us this month, Jena from Live, Love, Laugh, Scrapbook...welcome to the DT Jena!  (Jena was our Top Chick for April.  Want to get a guest spot on the DT?  You just have to play along!  If your entry makes it to the top of our Top 10 you are in!)

Now it's your turn to play along.  Create something for a wedding, and link it up at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog so we can all see! 

We have new sponsors for June: Michelle Owen of Cutezie Creations and Romaine Rancier of Bumbles n Bees who have generously donated some fabulous prizes!  Head over to their blogs and leave them some love.  You have until the end of June to play along with all the challenges this month! The more you play, the more chances you have to be a random prize winner or a future guest designer Top Chick!  Remember, Heart to Heart is a CloseToMyHeart challenge blog, to be eligible for any prizes your project must include CTMH products.

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Lorrinda

Supplies all CTMH unless noted:

Paper: X7132B Bliss Level 2 Paper Pack

Stamps: D1337 Love Always, C1227 Our Wedding Day (retired, used the sentiment for the envelope)

Z669 Silver Embossing Powder

Z1104 Clear Sparkles

Z1263 Bitty Sparkles

Z1366 Metal Brad Assortment

White flowers by Petaloo

White satin edge with silver organdy ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon

One Person's Trash....

Happy Monday! Birds are singing, sun is shining and the snow is melting (finally!)
Time for a new challenge at Heart 2 Heart! This week we have an early Earth Day challenge for you...reuse or recycle something on your project.  You can recycle something to use on a new card or layout, or raid the recycling bin to find something that can be re purposed.....save something from the landfill and give it a pretty new life!

I chose to recycle something that I know you all have....

empty ribbon spools!

I don't know about you, but I have a bag of these things in all sizes that I just can't bring myself to throw away. I knew there must be something they'd be good for, but I needed this challenge to kick me into gear and git er done! I picked out a few 2 1/2" diameter cardboard spools with nice 1" wide centers.

Here's what I transformed them into:

Pretty little Trinket Boxes!

These would be perfect for a small gift or party favor,

or just to keep trinkets in. (duh)

I made the pink one for my daughter to keep her guitar picks in.

Here are some close-ups for you:

Used CTMH X7133B Miracle Level 2 Paper kit and leftover Z1354 Miracle Irresistibles chipboard elements, bead and ribbon handle and trim from the scrap bin. Wanna know how I got that ribbon through the bead? I used a dental floss loop to pull the ribbon through the tiny bead hole. (I'm a dental hygienist, I got a million uses for floss!)

Used CTMH X7131B Sophia Level 2 Paper kit and repurposed a fabulous scrap of embroidered rose trim that I saved from a cute little sundress my DD wore when she was 4. (Yep, it's been in a ribbon scrap box for 8 years, I never throw away anything crafty)  Added a bead to anchor the CTMH crochet flower and paper flower together.

Covered this one with CTMH X7135B Wings Level 2 Paper kit,

rose made of Vineyard Berry cardstock from the scrap bin

and black ribbon remnants.

Google rolled paper roses to make these flowers,

there are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube.

Because I know you wanna know, I snapped a few pics to show you how I made these.  There are several tutorials out there in blogland, but I wasn't keen on the lid part on any of them, so I came up with a top that fits inside the trinket box to open and close easily.

First, carefully pry the top and bottom off of the ribbon spool,

I had to use a craft knife on a couple of them.

I salvaged a TP roll from the paper bin,

and found that it fit perfectly inside my ribbon spool tube:

So I sliced off 1/2" to use for my box top:

You now have all the parts needed to make the trinket boxes! 

I didn't take pictures of the decorating part, but here's what I did:

1. Cover the insides and outsides of the tubes, and both sides of the circles, with coordinating pattern papers. (I used CTMH Bonding Memories liquid glue so I would have a bit of play time before it dried to get the strips of paper lined up with the tubes.) Allow glue to dry.

2. Sand all the edges to get them nice and even and smooth, ink them too if you want to to hide the cardboard.

3. Poke a hole through the lid circle, and embellish the top with a ribbon handle knotted on each side of the hole to give it some strength. Don't want it pulling out!

4. Glue the narrow tube to the top circle, and the wide tube to the bottom circle. (I used CTMH Liquid Glass for this because it is super strong and easy to get a narrow bead on the cardboard edge.) Allow glue to dry.  Here's a pic of the insides:

5. You may want to give this a good coat of ModPodge or an acrylic spray sealer at this point to make it durable.

6. Trim with ribbon, beads, bling, and buttons...whatever floats your boat!

Surprisingly, these come together pretty quickly. I sat down to watch Survivor, and had one done before the show was over, so I kept going and made all three trinket boxes in 2 hours. I don't feel like such a big couch potato if I do something else while I watch TV:)  Recycling, crafting, photography and watching my shows all at the same time....it was a productive evening!

We want to see YOUR projects with re-used or recycled materials! Use your imagination, I'm sure you can find something in the trash that needs a new purpose. 

Need some inspiration? 

Check out what the H2H DT has to offer this week! 

These gals ROCK at turning trash to treasures!

Link your artwork up to H2H to play along.  Remember it's a CTMH challenge, so please try to use some CTMH products on it to be eligible for the Top 10 and prizes from our generous sponsors,

Michelle Zimmerman of Life's LITTLE Things and

LeAnne Dudley of Dudleychick Designs. 

**Heads up! Next week, on April 18,  Heart 2 Heart Challenges will be hosting our first ever Bunny HOP! We're looking for Easter or Spring themed projects.  Check out H2H for details if you would like to bunny hop with us!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by :)

To celebrate my birthday this Wednesday(or as I prefer to call it - my 14th anniversary of the day I turned 29 -having to do math distracts people from actually counting the candles ;), and to celebrate reaching 300 followers this past week, I'm going to give the Wings black/rose and Miracle blue/green trinket boxes to one lucky commenter. Open to all my fabulous followers, so if you've just been getting this feed in Goggle Reader click on over and sign up!  Please leave me a blog link or email (sally at gmail dot com) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Lorrinda

Spring Flower Pot Pocket Card

I may be a victim of wishful thinking, but I could sure use a little spring right now. March has been miserably cold, and I am so sick of snow...

Thankfully, the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week is APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS!  We are to focus on rain and/or flowers. 

Even though I could not seem to find any stamps with rain or showers in my stash (note to self: buy more stamps), I was happy to make this card, it really makes me think of spring:

But wait...the spring part is in the inside!

I attached a package of flower seeds to the pull out part :) 

Nothing makes me wish for spring more than a pack of flower seeds...

Here are some close-ups:

**Tutorial for this adorable Flower Pot Pocket Card is HERE

The paper marigolds were made by layering about 8 scalloped circles in graduated sizes from 1" to 3" (smallest on top), centering them with a brad punched through, then just scrunching them up, super easy! I cut the scalloped circles in various sizes using my Cricut. There are several cartridges with a scallop circle on them, I used one of the flower shapes from Forever Young because it was already in my machine. It's getting scrunched up anyway, so no need to be picky :)  To be honest, I made the flowers first, then found a pack of marigold seeds in the garden shed (behind a 3 foot snowdrift), and thought they looked like the flowers I just made. Eureka! Don't you just love it when things come together this easy.  It was meant to be.  To finish it off I made a triangle stand for the back so it will stand up too.

Now to wait for all the snow to melt so someone can plant these suckers, not sure yet who the recipient of this card will be...I think it would be a nice teacher gift, or maybe Mother's Day.

Want some more springy inspiration? Check out what the fabulous  H2H DT has got for you this week, APRIL FLOWERS BRING MAY SHOWERS ...I'm sure you'll be inspired to play along!  Remember you should use mainly CTMH products, and please give us a list of the items you used.  Link up your creation to Heart 2 Heart for a chance at some prizes and maybe get a spot as Guest Designer for an upcoming month!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Lorrinda



Recipe:

All product CTMH unless noted.

Paper: X7136B Mayberry Level 2 paper pack

Cardstock: Kraft, Colonial White

Stamps: W330 Beautiful Day (sentiment), B1380 Mayberry (leaves)

Inks: Desert Sand, Garden Green

Sorbet ribbon

Garden green brads (can't see them, in the center of the flowers)

Sorbet brad on the butterfly

Martha Stewart Butterfly punch
Provocraft Cricut and Forever Young Cartridge

The Three Bears Make a Scene

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is Times 3!  We are to use at least 3 stamp images to create a scene on our project. 

I've been staring out of the frosted up windows at the monster winter we've been having, longing for warm summer evenings around the campfire...that is what inspired my card:



Click pic for larger view

That would be me ("Mama Bear") with the flaming marshmallow on a stick, and the bear at the bottom reminds me of my outdoorsman hubby.  But, the inside of the card has the real scene:



click pic for larger view



When I saw the Times 3 challenge, I immediately thought of the Three Bears, and this adorable CTMH stamp set 'C1363 Beary Best', and decided to make a rather masculine card with it.   Not that many men I know will appreciate all the fussy cutting that went into this...it took me an entire episode of "Young and Restless" to cut out all these images using micro-tip scissors and a craft knife.  But hey, I had a vision! Isn't it annoying when you have a vision of the finished product but neglect to take into account how much work it'll be?  No matter, the kids will give it to hubby so it'll be displayed in my house for a long time.  Or maybe I'll do what my mother does...she's been giving my father the same 3 or 4 greeting cards for more than 30 years!  She just puts them away, and rotates them year after year, and he never notices. Ha!  (How many of you can actually recall the birthday card you got from your husband 2 years ago? 'Nuff said.) I, however, have a room full of paper and stamps, and I'm always looking for excuses to make cards, so that's unlikely to happen here.  My point is: Save these over-the-top cards for someone really special. We'll be putting a gift card in it, so actually this card IS the gift and the packaging, so I didn't mind the extra effort with the fussy cutting.

Want to play along with our TIMES 3 CHALLENGE?  The super talented DT sure made a scene this week :)  You have to check out their inspiring works of art HERE. Then, pull out at least 3 images and create a scene on a card or other project, and link it up to Heart 2 Heart so we can all have a peek! Remember you must use mostly CTMH products, and you have all month to play along.  Our prize sponsors this month are Lori Brown and Angela Parchey, and our Guest Designer for March is Mary Gunn!  Go ahead, make a scene!

Thanks for visiting my blog today,

Lorrinda

Recipe:

All products CTMH

Paper: X7137B Lucky Level 2 Paper Pack

Stamps: C1363 Beary Best, D1467 Trees and Things (lantern in the tent), D1311 Oct Word Puzzle (Retired, used the star and the moon).

Ink: Cocoa, Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand, WhiteDaisy

Various CTMH Markers and Watercolor Pencils

Blending Pen and Waterbrush

Z280 Natural Hemp

Z1387 Wood Buttons

Pewter brads

White Embossing Powder

Also used Cricut and Plantin' Schoolbook cartridge for letters and the tree silhouette border on the card inside.

A Cold Care-Package Card...

The challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is to make a card using anything that makes you think of the word COLD.  Ice cream, icicles, snow, Popsicles...Brrrr!!

Well, I kinda took the word COLD a different way...sniff sniff...because I got me a doozy of a cold right now, I was inspired by my medicine cabinet:

Here's a close-up of the cute little birdie:

Yep, that's actually itty bitty birdie Kleenex tissue :)

When you open the card, it's a care package!

This care package includes a pocket pack of Kleenex tissues, Halls throat lozenges, Neo Citron cold medication and a tube of lip balm.  Now that I think of it, I should've included some instant chicken soup too...I'll add that next time I make one.

CTMH Supplies used:

Cardstock: Sky, White Daisy

Pattern paper from Mayberry Level 2 pack

Stamps: C1396 Love Birds, D1013 Playful Caps (retired), C1079 Playful Lower Case (retired), D1308 All Decked Out (branches), D1467 Trees & Things (leaves)

Inks: Black, Sky, Honey, Pear, Smoothie, Cocoa.

Z1377 Color-Ready Kraft Borders

White Grosgrain Ribbon

Other Supplies Used:

Martha Stewart Score Board

Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four

Scor-Tape

Kleenex, Halls Breezers, Neo Citron Cold and Flu, Avon Lip Balm

What makes you think of the word COLD?   Check out what all the super talented gals on the DT have done this week, I promise you'll be impressed!  The links to their blogs are in my sidebar.  Go and leave them some warm comments!

Play along with us at H2H this week...whip out your CTMH products and create a card that makes us think COLD.  I know there are more appetizing ways to use COLD than I have here, and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  We still have prizes from our awesome sponsors up for grabs, and we'll be looking for our next Guest DT member from all the entries we get.

If you're interested in making one of these Get Well Care Package Cards for yourself, I had to design the box since I couldn't find a template for what I needed, so I took some photos and made up a tutorial for you!

COLD CARE PACKAGE CARD:

You will need:

* 2 pieces of cardstock: 7.25"x10" for the box, and 6"x11" for the card/top.

* pattern paper and stamps etc. to embellish it.

* a strong tape adhesive like red-line tape or Scor-tape works best to hold the box together.

* a scoreboard helps, but you can make do with the track in your paper trimmer.

* a bone folder for scoring

Take your 7.25"x10" piece of cardstock for the box:

Score it along short edge (shown in red) at 0.75", 5.25", and 6"

Rotate cardstock, and score along long edge (as shown in red) at 1.25", 2", 3.25", 4.5", 5.5", 6.75", 8", and 8.75"

Trim off the parts shown in black: 

Trim off the bottom parts shown in black as well, and then CUT along black lines as shown to create tabs,fold them all in (valley fold) and valley fold along the score lines marked with green stars too:

Here is a closer look at the top, you now have to add score lines to the top squares as shown, 0.5" in from each edge, then valley fold those score lines in:

At the top, fold center tabs up, fold top tabs over them as shown to create a little box:

Now, stick that box down to the base as shown, using a strong adhesive tape:

At the end, fold and adhere the tabs as shown to create the end boxes:

Do the same thing at the other end as well.

Should look like this, go ahead and stuff it to make sure it all fits:

For the card top, take the 6" x 11" cardstock, and score it (shown in black) along long side at 0.75", 5 3/8", 6.25", and 10.75"

Valley fold at all score lines:

Tape the box inside with strong tape, tape at back and front edges as well:

Should look like this:

Now decorate it as desired, and fill it with your goodies!

I hope this tutorial can be followed, I put it together in a cold medicine haze.  Please let me know if you try to make it and it's totally not working?

I'm going to go back to bed now.

Thanks for visiting today!

Lorrinda