Friday, June 13, 2025

3D Space Pop-up Card


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I created this card to join the latest Lawn Fawnatics challenge. The theme is Up, Up, and Away!, create a project with fun things in the sky. 

I used a black watercolor paper for my card base. The size of my the panel is 8 1/4" x 6". It is a left over paper that's why the short end of the panel is smaller than usual but it worked.

I painted the panel with Finetec Mica paints to create a galaxy sky. I splattered white metallic paint over the panel. I forgot to tape the watercolor paper to a board so I had a bit of warping but hardly noticeable. After this panel has dried. I trimmed 1/2" off from each side of the long side. I scored this at 4 1/8" and used a bone folder on the fold for a nice crease. This painted panel will be the inside of the card.

The stamp I used is the Lawn Fawn Out of this World stamp set. I stamped the images on white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. I stamped the images twice to create a mirror image. This stamp set comes with a coordinating die set which I don't have, but these images are easy to fussy cut. 

For the pop-up mechanism, I cut a square on acetate. I drew a spiral on a paper. This paper has the same size as the acetate. I used this paper as the template for the pop-up mechanism. I placed the paper behind the acetate and cut the acetate following the spiral line on the paper. I adhered the tip of the spiral acetate to the the right side of painted panel. I used Ranger Glossy Accents to adhere the transparency to the watercolor paper. 

I applied a dot of Glossy Accent on the center of the spiral and folded the card towards the acetate. After the Glossy Accent dried, the acetate pop-ups up when the card is opened. 

I adhered the planets to the acetate, adhering it back to back to sandwich the acetate and hide the glue. 

I created a foldable pop-up mechanism for the astronaut and the spaceship using a folded strip of cardstock. These images flatten when the card is folded and pop-up a bit when the card is opened. 

I heat embossed a sentiment using white pigment ink and white embossing powder. 


For the card front, I die cut the LF Giant Happy Birthday die on a black, starry patterned paper. I also die cut this on hollographic paper. I adhered the hollographic die cut on the back of the patterned paper die cut offsetting it for a shadow effect.

I adhered this to the front of the card. This sentiment die cut can stand alone because of its large size. Since I have an extra sun stamped, colored and fussy cut, I adhered this to the front of the card.


I die cut a smiley face from the LF Make Me Smile die set on a left over black watercolor paper.


I hope you like today's project. Below is a short video showing the pop-up mechanism of this card.


Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this project at


Thursday, June 12, 2025

Three Cards Using The Same Die and a Giveaway


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. For today's post, I created three cards. I used one die in all of the three cards to show some different ways to use this die. Just a way of stretching out the use of this product. There is a giveaway! Instructions for the giveaway is at the end of this post.

I used Hero Arts products for my cards. The die I used is the HA Spring Floral Cover Plate. This die is a bit short of being a full cover die. The best way to use it is to cut the cardstock first at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" before die cutting with this die. In this way, you can center the die on the cardstock panel leaving you with a full floral background die cut with a frame. 

I also recommend adding a metal shim when die cutting with this die. The metal shim adds more pressure which makes cutting with this intricate die cut a success.

In the first two cards, I used all the die cut pieces. Nothing put to waste, a two-for-one card. I die cut a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white cardstock with the floral cover plate die. I ran the die with the cutting side down. Instead of removing the top plate after die cutting, I flipped the cutting sandwich and removed the plate where the cut was made to preserve the placement of the die cuts. Luckily, most of the die cuts remained in place.

I applied a shelf adhesive liner to the back side of the die cut so I can pick up the whole background panel including the negative die cuts. If a piece falls off, I simply put this piece back, just like doing a puzzle. 

I blended Lisa Horton Interference inks on the front side of the die cut background panel. I applied another shelf adhesive liner to this blended front side of the panel making both sides of the panel have an adhesive liner. I burnished the adhesive liner on the front side with a wide scraper before flipping the panel. I carefully removed the adhesive liner from the back of the panel. I used a wide scraper to stop any of the pieces from lifting off the front adhesive liner. 

Once I removed the back adhesive liner, I applied dots of glue to the negative die cuts of the panel. Very tedious but the effort is truly worth it which you will see later. While keeping the blended side of the panel down, I adhered a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white cardstock to it. Since the die cut panel is also cut at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", this was easy to align. I set this aside putting something heavy on top of it while the glue dries. 

I carefully lifted the floral outline die cut from the panel. If any of the negative die cuts moved, I applied glue and repositioned it back to the panel.

I adhered this background die cut on a light gray textured cardstock cut at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".

Now, I have a two for one card. 

1


The above card is how the die is intended to be used. I created a thin rectangular frame to cover the ink blended frame. I kept the background simple to keep the focus on the intricate die cut. The sentiment stamps I used on all three cards are from a HA My Monthly Hero April 2021 Card Kit. I masked a line of the sentiment to create a dual colored two lined sentiment.


 2



This is the negative die cut version of the card. It has an embossed look. It also has a look of embossing paste on stencil which makes all the effort worth it. To add details to this panel, I stamped the HA Novel Prose Bold Prints Cling Stamp on this panel using a second generation gray ink. Since the negative cuts are raised, I only stamped on the raised pieces leaving the outline plain. 

I die cut rectangle frame on a white cardstock using dies from the HA Nesting Rectangle Infinity dies. 

3


For the last card using the same floral cover die, I die cut strips of cardstock following the same colors I used on the other two cards. I die cut the strips in different widths for variation. I adhered the strips to a typing paper cut at 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". I created this card into a landscape card to give it a different look from the other two cards.


I adhered thin strips of double adhesive tape to the striped panel. After I removed the release panel, I poured glitter to the adhesive. I burnished the glitter to the tape with my finger. 

I stamped the same cling stamp to the floral die cut panel using second generation stamping with a pink dye ink. 

I adhered the floral die cut to the striped panel. I made the three lined sentiment into multi-colored sentiment strips with rounded corners. 

I adhered white gems to the flowers with a hole on the center.

I hope you like today's cards. I am sure there are other ways to use this floral cover die. I encourage you to create a card with a background die cut using any of the above techniques or better yet, use your own technique.

And for fun, I have a GIVEAWAY. You just need to leave in the comment section which card is your favorite. The card's number is on the left of the card. I will randomly pick a lucky commenter on June 30, Monday ~4pm CST. The winner will be announced on a separate blog post so please come back and see if you won. The winner has two giveaway options to choose from. Option 1: a $50 gift certicate to Checkered Cottage. This is a good deal if you live locally at St. Louis. Option 2: a $50 gift certicate to Simon Says Stamp.

The prize should be claimed a week after announcement on July 7 by 4pm CST. If not claimed, another random winner will be chosen from the comments on this blog made before and/or on June 30, Monday, 4pm. The second winner will be allowed to claim the prize until the next Monday, July 14, at 4pm. 

Disclaimer: This giveaway is not being sponsored by Checkered Cottage and/or Simon Says Stamp. It is just my way of giving back to the crafting industry. 
 
Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I am sharing this project at







 

Monday, June 9, 2025

Art Journal Window, a Blank Page Muse Post


Hello! I am at the Blank Page Muse blog with a new entry to my art journal. For the month of June, the BPM DT members are using similar products which were provided by the lovely owner of BPM, Kim. 


For this art journal entry, I used the BPM Fern Art Rubber stamp and the BPM Create Something Sentiment Words stamp.

Please visit the BPM blog for details on how I created this page.

Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this project at

Pick Two Challenge #290 #21~Recycle, Repeat

Monday, June 2, 2025

Checkered Background Die Cut Drop Outs

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today's post features products from Kat Scrappiness. On this card, I am stretching the use of the KS Buffalo Plaid Background Craft die which is one of my most overused KS products.

 

This cover die, on top of the plaid design, cuts a lot of squares. You don't have to keep them but if you are like me, I keep these drop outs and try to use it to prevent it from going to waste. So in my repeated use of this die, I accumulated a lot of this drop out squares. I have used the squares as inlay on the openings of the plaid die cut. For today though, I am using these drop outs on its own to create a background.

 

I used an extra plaid die cut for my template in adhering the squares to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white cardstock panel. I applied glue to the each opening of the plaid die cut.

 

I inlaid a blue colored drop out to the openings of the plaid die cut creating a pattern as seen below.

To add more of these blue squares, I shifted the plaid die cut template downwards and towards the right. I continued inlaying and adhering the blue squares in the open areas to create a checkered pattern as seen below.

I did not have enough blue squares to complete the checkered pattern so I had to partially die cut a few more. I don't have the same blue cardstock. No worries. These different blue colored squares will be covered by the sentiment.


I adhered white square die cuts in between the blue squares. Since I used a white cardstock for the background panel, I could have skipped this step but I also want to use my square drop outs stash. I also want to give the background a tile effect with a smooth finish. Like any tiles, there are imperfections in some of the alignments that you might notice on the photo above.

To add details to the checkered pattern, I used the ribbon die from the KS Build a Cake Craft dies. I used the medium sized ribbon from the die set. I die cut the ribbon on a light pink cardstock and snipped off the trim that the die cuts with the ribbon. I die cut a lot of these ribbons to fill up the white squares of the checkered background. I added Nuvo Crystal Drops to the center of the ribbon. I set this aside to dry.

I die cut the sentiment from the KS Thank You Shadow Sentiment Craft die on white cardstock. I die cut the shadow on the same pink cardstock I used for the ribbons. 

I lightly spritz the pink shadow die cut then embossed it using a checkered embossing folder. I heat set this to dry. I adhered the sentiment die cut to this embossed die cut.

I adhered this to the checkered panel. I applied shimmer to the sentiment with a clear shimmer pen.



I hope you like today's card. I encourage you to look into your die cuts and give those negative cuts/drop outs some life. 

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I added below links to the Kat Scrappiness products I used on this project. There will be no additional cost to you should you decide to purchase this/these product/s. While you are at the Kat Scrappiness website, do check out their wide array of products. KS has a new release, too! Enjoy!








I am sharing this project at

Monday, May 26, 2025

Zhuzhed Vellum Butterflies, a Blank Page Muse Post


Hello! I am back at the Blank Page Muse blog with this project featuring vellum butterflies. Please visit the BPM blog for more details. Thank you!


Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I am sharing this project at

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Paper Stitching


Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog. I finally found time to do some cross stitching on paper. It makes me happy.

I would like to thank Stitchable Cards for the beautiful pattern I used on this project.

I don't have the recommended perforated paper used for this stitched design so I used an Ellen Hutson Piercing Plate to add stitching holes to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white cardstock. I marked the center of the stitching panel and started my stitching from that point.

I also don't have all the recommended DMC embroidery flosses. Instead of buying, I usually look for color substitutes using the thread-bare.com tool and check if I have this color. 

My stitching panel is an 11-count cross stitch panel so I only needed to use two pieces of thread in stitching. I ended up with a smaller stitched flower compared to the one created in the website. 


I have no plans with this stitched project at the moment. Instead of die cutting it, I kept the panel as is. I die cut a circle frame on cream cardstock and temporarily adhered it to the panel. 


I hope you like today's project. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I am sharing this project at



Saturday, May 17, 2025

Stretching Your Supplies

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today's project is about stretching your craft supplies especially during these times when craft supplies are not getting replenished in the stores or craft supplies are getting to be too impractical to buy. I used products from Kat Scrappiness which I listed below in case you are interested.



I worked on the bouquet first. I die cut the layered tulips on pink cardstock. This layered tulip die cuts five tulips but I selective die cut the stems and leaves to make a three tulip floral bunch. I die cut the center stem with the leaf and die cut the right most stem with the leaf. I die cut the latter again but keeping in mind that I will use the reverse side of the die cut. I used a smooth cutting plate for the mirror image die cut to prevent transferring the cuts from the cutting plate to the paper. 

I blended ink on the back most layer of the tulip. I adhered the oval layering piece on top. I adhered the tulips to the stemps. I bunched the tulips together to create a three flower bouquet. I used a pocket die to cut the bouquet wrap on a brown paper. I wrapped this paper around the bouquet. I pinched the flower wrap on the middle where I wrapped a brown paper cord. I tied the paper cord into a bow. I squirted liquid glue to the paper cord to keep it secure. 

I added white accents to the tulips using a white Wink of Stella. 


I worked next on the background. To give the buffalo plaid a different look, instead of adhering it straight as it is intended for, I adhered it diagonally. I die cut two pieces of this background on white cardstock. I adhered the first background die to another white cardstock diagonal to the cardstock panel. I used the other buffalo plaid die cut to fill the open areas on the corners of the cardstock panel. 

I flicked a pearl white ink to the panel.

I die cut the sentiment on the same pink cardstock I used for the tulips. I also die cut this sentiment on vellum. I adhered the vellum die cut on the cardstock die cut to make the color lighter compared to the color of the tulips.

I die cut the stitched strips on the same pink cardstock I used for the tulips. I adhered the strips underneath the words of the sentiment, sort of an underline. I adhered this to the buffalo plaid panel. 

I applied clear Wink of Stella to the sentiment to add shimmer to it. 

I adhered the wrapped bouquet to the panel.


I was going to stop here but I felt something was missing. True enough, it still needed a pop of color so I adhered the stitched strips on the edge of the buffalo plaid panel keeping the corners free of glue so I can snip the corners for a clean,  diagonal look. I squirted a dot of glue underneath these snipped diagonal colors to adhere it.

I hope you like today's project. I recommend for you to look into your stash. You never know what you will come up with your craft stash. 

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I added below links to the Kat Scrappiness products I used on this project. There will be no additional cost to you should you decide to purchase this/these product/s. While you are at the Kat Scrappiness website, do check out their wide array of products. Enjoy!






I am sharing this project at