Sweet Surprises Cards with Dots and Stripes

I have three birthday celebrations this week. Tomorrow one of my grandsons will turn six. So far, he's the most artistic one, the one who takes after his mom, my daughter. For the last year and a half he would rather have a marker or pencil in his hand with a stack of plain paper. He can look at something and quickly draw its main features so that it's very recognizable. I get to pick him up from kindergarten to go out for a grandma day by himself. When you have three siblings, it's great to be the center of attention.

I decided to make his card using a kraft card kit I just received that has cups for treats and stickers or chipboard embellishments to help hold the cup in place. I decided to make two while I was at it. This one is his birthday card. It has cherry jelly beans in the cup. I'll explain later how to make it.

I like the kraft envelopes that came with this card set. They are made from thick kraft cardstock and fold more like a box that is 1/2" thick. Here's the way I put a slider over the envelope/box to keep it shut while transporting. I scored a 12" x 3.5" strip at 3", 3.5," 9 3/8" and 9 7/8." That doesn't go all the way around, so on the back I added a 3.5" x 3.5" piece that attached to both ends. Then I decorated the front.

There are illustrations that come with the kit showing how to put it together, but I wanted to use my Dotty For You paper with the dots and stripes. Amazingly, the colors of those papers look really good with Kraft cardstock. The colors I chose are Lagoon and Smoothie dots and the striped paper in that pack. Because of these papers I'm entering this cards in the Craft Your Passion Challenge #104 - to use Dots and Stripes.

Here are directions for using patterned paper on cards with a hole for a treat cup.

Before adding the cup or treats, cut 2 different patterned papers 5" x 2.75." Cut a strip of paper 3/4" x 5" to go across the middle. Either use temporary adhesive of align the top paper in place, hold it carefully and turn it over so you can trace the hole onto the paper. Cut out the portion of the circle for the hole. Do the same for the other two papers. By using two or three different papers that line up across the hole, it's easier to cut out the circular portion.

Attach those papers then attach the cup. First peel the protective strip off of the cup to reveal the sticky portion. I used liquid glass around the edge of the circle cut-out on the inside of the card. Push the cup through the hole. Attach the sticker over it, but not the circle part of the sticker. Use liquid glass to attach the chipboard shape to the front of the card. Fill the cup with the treat, then use the circle that punched out of the chipboard shape to push into the opening of the cup inside the card. It's a tight fit.

To cover the bottom flap, place a 5" x 1.5" strip of paper approximately 1/4" up from the fold (closer to the decorative edge) and trace. After you cut out the decorative edge, you piece should be about 1/8" from the fold and the edge. If you want to cut through the patterned paper where the slits are for the ribbon, cut it before you glue an identical piece on the back of that flap, that way you see the holes.

 Decorate the inside as desired. I decided to stamp a pop-up message that says "PULL" so he'll know how to open the jellybeans from inside. Be sure to leave a white portion for a sentiment or message.

Here are photos of the other card. On this one I covered the bottom flap and didn't cut a hole for the ribbon. Instead, the ice cream cone shape helps to hold it shut.

If you make a set of these cards and decorate them your own way like I did, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your photo.

5.75" x 5.25" Birthday Card Recipe (all of the materials are from Close To My Heart):
Paper - Dotty For You, Lagoon and White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps - Card Chatter Birthday, (retired Birthday Wishes), Hodge Podge Alphabet
Ink - Lagoon, Sweet Leaf
Other - My Originals Sweet Surprises Card Kit with white grosgrain ribbon, Sweet Leaf grosgrain ribbon, Adhesive Springs, Liquid Glass

Kites in the Clouds

Here's a fun card I made using my packet of Dotty for You paper. When I spotted this sheet with clouds I knew it was perfect for Little Red Wagon's Challenge #126, Up in the Clouds. Then yesterday I saw two more challenges that went with this paper. The Friday Mashup Challenge #52 to use kites and/or colorful twine. I knew I'd use both! I also decided that three kites would look best, so I'm including this with Crafts 4 eternity's challenge #65 to have 3 of a kind. I used three kites, their tails have three ties each and the clouds had three hearts.

I used the back sides of three papers to cut out the kites. I love the variety of polka dot colors on the backs of papers in that pack. The stamp set I used would have stamped solid ink over the dots, so I used it to make a pattern to trace instead and added the dashed lines with a pen. I cut a second matching cloud out of the remainder of the paper and pop dotted it. You can just barely see that the hearts are traced with a Sakura glitter gel pen. The dotted lines around the clouds are also traced with that pen, but don't really show up in the photo. The inside of the card has the matching sunshine stamped in the corner to go with this sentiment.

5" x 6.5" Card Recipe:
Paper - Close To My Heart "Dotty for You" coming soon
Stamps - CTMH "Splendid Day"
Ink - CTMH Black, Sunny Yellow
Other - CTMH Baker's Twine; Sakura Glitter Gel Pen

Fluttering Feel Better Soon

This week at Flutter By Wednesday's Challenge #196 we are to make a get well card using butterflies, fairies or angels. I just opened this paper pack yesterday that the Fed Ex man delivered and discovered it had all of these beautiful butterflies arranged in rainbow-type colors diagonally. I had to use it first! I had seen this color challenge at Purple Onion's Lily Pad and decided to use the rainbow effect for this challenge, too.

The colors on my card are slightly different, but the rainbow idea is the same. I cut out extra butterflies to pop dot across one row and I matted my sentiment in those four colors, also. I put a sparkle in the middle of each of those four butterflies, but they're hard to see.  All of the supplies were Close To My heart. (The paper was an advance pack I was able to get that will be coming out in May called Dotty For You because the back side of each of the 12 patterns is one of the colors in dots like the green here.)