My first Color Inspiration challange

Hi all,
I have been following Kristina Werner’s blog- KWerner desigh Blog for a very long time now. It’s one of the first blogs I visited when I was first exposed to the world of scrapping, which is not very common in Israel. Kristina’s work is a very good place to start- it is easy to follow and straight forward. Her color combination, materials and compositions are a great source of inspiration to me. I think her site is a must for anyone taking his first steps on the scrappy path. I’m signed up and enjoy her creations regularly, including “Make a Card Monday” and “Finally Friday” posts, all on video and well demonstrated.

Kristina has been posting the Color Inspiration challenges again, letting the readers become more involved than ever. I never took part in those before, but the picture of the Readers Choice Color Inspiration no. 2 was so beautiful, I decided it was about time!

I must say the colors weren’t an easy task for me, but eventually I came up with this simple pop-up card. Even if at the beginning it was a struggle, I ended up liking it a lot.

Have a nice week! 🙂

ShirA

Scrappy pin-hole camera

I must say it’s been a while since i wrote here- my wedding is around the corner and we’re all in an invitations-and-sittings frantic…

Now, back to business-I LOVE this project. I’m such a photo-person, I love taking them and I love arranging them in albums. I have always been drawn to cameras, and have been following the renewed fashion of pin hole cameras on the wonderful blog, A Beautiful Mess.
It’s really easy to make, the principles are very basic. I think it’s great taking a few pictures on film, and specially with this sort of device- the results are unexpected, interesting and surprising. Then there’s the sweet anticipation for the photos to be developed- we almost forgot that magical moment when you receive the envelope full of pictures you have never seen before!
On my search for an easy how-to I found this site- the DIY Photography. Amongst the links on the site you can find the legendary Dirkon, which looks like a real camera from the 70s. Some of these cameras look super slick, some very home-made. I, obviously, went straight to the smoking-hot: the cameras at the Corbis Readymech Cameras. And while building the camera myself, why not personalize it and make it my own, right?

I picked two cameras on the Corbis site, printed them out and assembled, learning the basic mechanism and function. Then, I chose one of the models and used it as a template for my own lovely papers. And there you have it! my own hand-made camera! I promised myself to make more of these, we’ll see how it goes…

By the way- you might recognize the stamped embellishments- I had some leftover flowers from the Bloom Boom card, all cut out and ready to use 😉
Now all I have to do is take enough pictures and see what happens! I’ll share the exciting results here.

Have a nice one,

ShirA

Flower Explosion (or “Bloom Boom!”)

This is another Box-fold pop-up card. This card shows how the same mechanism used in the Pile of Gifts card can be used to create a far more elaborated and impressive card. I decided to work with a color combination I don’t usually use – yellow and brown. I never use yellow, so, to make life easier, the colors I chose are not very saturated, the brown is grey-ish and the yellow is pale. I wanted to use colors that are less expected of such a floral card.
To enhance the element of surprise, I made the card’s outer side very clean and simple. Nothing about that minimalist design can prepare you for the rich Bloom-Boom of the inside!

Now for some how-to tips (sorry for the poor quality of the photos, they were taken late at night):

The card is a very basic Box fold, you can follow the tutorial.

Glue the folded interior paper to the chosen exterior paper. DON’T adhere the box fold!

At this point any decorating elements will do. I chose to stamp with a collection of SU floral stamps. Cut them out.

Use the Box fold as a shelf and glue a few of the larger elements to it, at different depths.

The first few elements that were attached to the box fold are the base- on top of (and behind) them glue the rest of the cut out elements, gradually. Don’t forget to open and close the card every once in a while, to check out the pop up effect you’ve accomplished and to see what your composition is lacking.

A pile of gifts pop-up card

I made this card as a follow-up for the Box Fold tutorial. This card is probably the easiest box-fold pop up card ever! The boxes are not only the basic mechanism, but the popping element itself.

And now, for the how-to:

First thing’s first- choose the interior and exterior papers for the card. I made the interior slightly smaller than the exterior, so a nice “frame” is created when glued together. Score both of the cards and fold in half.

I marked the desired location and size of the gift boxes on the back of the interior paper (purple): the rectangles are 4X4 cm, 3X3 cm and 2X2 cm. I left a gap of 1/2 cm between each of the rectangles.

Then, I cut along the rectangles’ lines (those that are perpendicular to the card’s center fold, not the parallel ones!). I popped the rectangles into the card and flattened it all with a bone folder.

At this point you can already see the final shape of the card, and it’s easy to imagine and plan the next steps.

Cut stripes of pattered paper to cover the boxes. I used 4X8 cm, 3X6 cm and 2X4 cm. Fold the stripes in half, so they fit well into place as the wrapping paper of the presents. Glue the stripes on.

Glue the interior part of the card to the exterior. I find that the easiest way is gluing one side first, then applying glue to the other side of the interior paper, and simply closing the card. Make sure you don’t adhere the boxes in any way, or the card won’t open!

Now decorate with some ribbon, and you’re done!

Pop-up tutorial #1: Box fold

This is the first of many (I hope!) pop-up tutorials. On these how-tos I wish to demonstrate some basic pop-up techniques, followed by both simple and more complicated cards or paper craft projects.

The box fold creates a “shelf” or a few “shelves”, that are symmetrical on both height and depth. Follow the next steps for an easy- yet potentially impressive- pop-up card.

1. Select the paper that you intend to use on the inside of the card and fold it in half. I used a scrap of printer paper for this demonstration, but a card stock or heavy-weight paper will provide you with a sturdier mechanism.

2. On the outside of the folded card, draw one or more rectangles of any size, making sure one side of the rectangle matches the center fold. Make sure the length of the cut you are planning (which dictates the length (=depth) of the box) is shorter than half of the card’s depth, or else the box might peek out of the card.

3. For each rectangle, cut along those sides which are perpendicular to the fold (marked with a solid line). Score the top line, DO NOT cut along the top (marked with a dash line). Open the card and push the boxes gently inwards, reversing their “natural” direction. Pinch the popping corner of each box to set the fold into its new direction.

4. Carefully close the card, making sure to flatten the creases you initially scored.

5. And there you have it! Note that the box is symmetrical- the height and depth are even. You can use the boxes as a base for glued-on decorative images, or even use them as the main popping element of the card.

Pop-up shell card

This is another simple pop-up card I made. It’s a small card and I think it came out pretty sweet 😉

ShirA

I LOVE pop-ups!

Well, who doesn’t? There’s something about that magical moment, when you open a greeting card or a book and- surprise surprise! It’s 3D! I believe pop-ups turn us all to children, for that brief, magical moment.
I love pop-up books, I even have a small collection. For those of you who don’t know Roberts Sabuda, I warmly recommend to visit his site.

I first made this butterfly card as a more traditional card, which came out nice, but a bit boring. By the time I finished the outer side of the card I already had a nice idea how to “pop things up”. It’s the most easy and simple pop-up technique, but never the less- I think it adds that bit of magic to a very “regular” card. The butterflies are embossed with a clear, fine embossing powder. The paper is by “Stampin’ Up!”.

Hope you like it!

ShirA