Handmade Interactive Calendar

Handmade Calendar

Dear friends as you may be knowing I love interactive mechanisms and when I saw an amazing Interactive calendar on my blogger friend Weis blog I fell so in love with it.

I wanted to make something subtle and not too lovey dovey for my hubby this valentine and this perpetual calendar to declare love all year round every year seemed just perfect! 

Handmade Calendar

The design[by Annette] is so clever that the month and dates change by rotating the circles on the central frame of the handmade calendar.

Handmade Calendar

The general concept is to avoid flowers in masculine themed gifts but my hubby loves flowers and so I assembled a 4 layered 3 D decoupage flower 

3 D decoupage

I made a lacey heart vase for the red rose using Martha Stewart punches.

3 D decoupage rose

The perpetual calendar has 3 panels and the central panel pops out so that its a free standing calendar.

Handmade Calendar

I painted the chipboard floral vine with my daughter's poster colors and applied glossy accents over it to give it dimension and a lovely sheen.
Here is another view to show the dimensional nature of this handmade calendar.

Handmade Calendar

Since the design is not mine I cant share a tutorial but I hope you liked this Interactive calendar idea as much as I did.

Supplies : Punches: Martha Stewart Deep edge lattice heart,MS punch around double loops,MS loops,Jef circle punch.Dies : Itsy Bitsy Venetian frame,Couture Creations Scallop circle,Itsy Bitsy Circle.Chipboard [Itsy Bitsy],3 D decoupage flower [sheet from Staples],Paper-mariposa DCWV.Green embossed one-a gift

Fancy Fold Pop up Dangler Card

Fancy Fold card

This fancy fold card is the result of an experiment while playing around with punches and my scoreboard.This is how the fancy fold card looks when folded

Fancy Fold card

The window was cut with the Cheery Lynn Window die .Stuck punched butterflies on the back panel so that they pop from the window on closing the fancy fold card!

Fancy Fold card

Added spellbinder banner die cuts atop the window and more punched flowers

Fancy fold card

Layered the scallop hearts with foam tape for a more dimensional effect and added a lacy punched border.

Fancy fold card

Since this card is the result of an experiment I dont have tutorial photos to share.And measurements don't have much importance since they will vary based on what kind of border punch you want to use;so just sharing the general template for this fancy fold card

Fancy fold card template

After I had made this card I saw a beautiful heart punch card with a dangler on my friend Lisa's blog so I adapted her dangler idea into the folds of my card to make a dangling pop up card 

Fancy fold pop up card

I made the butterfly dangler by punching out 2 butterflies for each butterfly on the dangler.Applied glue to one butterfly.

Butterfly card 

Positioned the thread over the center of the butterfly and stuck another butterfly on top of it. Added 2 more butterflies and hearts to make one dangler .

Butterfly card 

Hung the thread from the lace heart which is stuck by a simple V fold pop up mechanism atop the embossed window .On opening all the folds, butterflies and hearts dangle from the heart arches of the pop up card

Fancy fold pop up card

Supplies: Dies: Spellbinder Banner 2,Cheery Lynn Window A,Itsy Bitsy Deckle border,Nellie's scallop heartPunches: MS Deep edge lattice heart,MS double arches,Jef  pointed petal,Jef Butterfly,Jef heart

Dear friends I went a bit crazy with white and all the punches and dies and my little critique is rather unappreciative about it..but please do leave me your comments!
Linking to Lulupu World card making contest Theme: LOVE
Edited: This card came Top 3 at Crafty Sentiments white on white
This fancy fold card also came top 3 at Sisterhood of Crafters hearts theme project

This card also came top 5 at Hands to Hearts

and earned me a Guest DT spot.

Castle Shaped Box and Castle Card Tutorial

Castle shaped card and box

Dear friends this project is part of a "Birthday Celebration" set I made for my Guest DT post  for  Itsy Bitsy. The theme is weddings and celebrations.  

At this stage in my life what we celebrate the most is my daughter's birthday.Last year we had a Rapunzel themed birthday party and I concentrated so much on the party decoration that I didn't give much thought to invitation cards or party favor boxes.

At 6 years birthdays are very important for her and all year long we have discussions on whom to invite [the list keeps changing weekly],what cake to make, what games to play etc etc !! 

Princesses , Castles ,Pink and Purple are in vogue with my kiddo right now so sharing our pink and purple castle shaped invitation cards and castle shaped box

Castle shaped Box

Castle Shaped Box Tutorial
Materials required
Card stock - avoid handmade paper but use card stock
Adhesive : White glue. If you want to make lots of castle shaped boxes quickly or want to craft with kids use double sided adhesive wonder tapes[also called tissue tapes] for the boxes and glue dots for the lids.
Scoreboard and scoring tool- optional...If you have it you get nice crisp folds easily and measuring is easy too.Otherwise use a scale and ball point pen.
Square punch-a must have unless you want to hand cut all those squares!
Castle Shaped Box Tutorial -Please click on the picture for the details[I have changed the view option to decrease page load time]
You can jump directly to the box template or follow the steps on how I create it...then you can customize it to the size you want.

Castle shaped Box

I started out with an A 4 card and scored it every 2.5 inches[my box width] If you have a score-pal that translates to score at 2.5,5,7.5 and 10 inches.Then flip it and score at 5 inches if you want the box 5 inches tall.Score again at a 2.5 inch interval to get the base of the box

Castle shaped Box

Keeping approx 1 inch around the base square as shown chop off the extra card and snip off wedges as shown.

Castle shaped Box

Fold along your score lines and apply glue or double sided tape [in white] as shown on the tabs.

Castle shaped Box

I tried to make the base at different sites but if you make it in the style shown...its super easy to assemble the box by just peeling the tape and sticking in a step wise fashion as above.

Castle shaped Box

It was so quick & easy that my daughter exclaimed that it was "easy peeasy" in typical kiddo slang!
To make the lid for the 2.5 inch wide box I used a 4.5 + 1/8 inch square card stock.Scored all around at 1 inch to get a lid that was of 1 inch height.Cut along the blue lines as shown.

Castle shaped Box

Formula for lid of any sized box = a + 2 b +1/8 inch.Score all around by "b".

a= width of box ;b =height of lid.

Castle shaped Box

Snip off wedges on the tabs to get a better looking box lid. Again sharing a tip to make it easy as well as save time..use glue dots/drops.I used to use Fevicol's glue drops but the size is often larger than what I require and I often have to cut it to size plus the paper is opaque so you cant really be sure where you are applying the dot..Fell in love with Itsy Bitsy's glue dots...which were so perfectly sized and  since the backing paper is clear you know exactly where you are applying the adhesive!...A big bonus when working with kids!!

Castle shaped Box

To make the "castle like appearance" I punched a 2 x 11 inch strip card with the square punch.This gave an un-punched 1 inch strip on one side just right for my 1 inch height box lid.

Castle shaped Box

Scored the square- punched card and stuck it to our box lid.This step needs a bit of care so little hands may not be able to do it!

Castle shaped Box

Here is my little princess with her castle shaped boxes .

Castle shaped Box

You could maybe personalize the return gifts writing each guest's name on his or her castle shaped box.

Castle shaped Box

We added  pink and purple embellishments to our castle shaped box

Castle shaped Box

Made 2 smaller boxes using the same castle shape box template

Castle shaped box template

My  smaller box measuring 1.5 x 3.5 inches was made using a card 7 x 6 inches and scored 1.5 inches.

To use the template to make any size box :w = width of box,h =height of box and t = width of tabs[keep it 1/2 to 1 inch]. 

Width of card required = 4w +t.Height of card required =h+w+t

Width of punched square strip required =1 inch + width of lid of castle box 

Castle shaped Box

In keeping with the theme we made party invitation cards as castle shaped  cards.

Castle shaped card

I made a pop up slider card in the shape of a castle.The central fort of the castle can be pulled up to reveal a space to write the Invitation and party details.

Castle shaped card

Its actually rather easy to make simple or detailed castle shaped cards!

Castle shaped card 

Here is  link to the Castle Slider pop up card tutorial 
More links
Basic pop up slider card tutorial [the 1st tutorial on my blog....this one is the 111th!]
Other Castle crafts
Supplies:Big Shot , Embossing folders : Itsy Bitsy spots folder , Itsy Bitsy swirls.,Cuttlebug tiny mosaics, Dies: Itsy Bitsy Venetian die and Scallop circles, Provocraft  Butterfly;Punches: square,tiara.Glitter alphas, Glitter strips,Boutique Butterflies,Wonder tape, Glue dots 

Edited : This project earned the top 3 honor at Decorate to Celebrate

Interactive Pop Up Scrapbook

Pop up Scrapbook

I have never made a scrapbook layout before so please do forgive me for all the deficiencies ! I have been so inspired to start scrap-booking by my blogger friend Snehal who makes  "scrapbooks full of love"!!
Tentatively venturing into this new hobby with what I am familiar with ...Interactive and Pop up Mechanisms ! 

Pop up Scrapbook

I created a pop up bed with toys , bed sheet and a spring up pillow to match the colors and the theme of my little one's picture in this first Interactive Scrapbook.

Pop up Scrapbook

I used some pretty papers and glitters foam flowers from Itsy Bitsy as "wall paper " for my "Baby on Bed" Pop up Scrapbook!

Foam Flowers

Used scallop circles and circles to make a Punch craft Pram

Punch craft Pram

I added a swinging butterfly on a flower to hide some journal-ling on the Interactive Scrapbook.

Interactive Scrapbook

The butterfly on the flower swings around on a flower brad on this interactive mechanism.

Interactive Scrapbook

The bed and toys in front of the baby pop up by a pop up mechanism as in this Pop up card Instructions
The pillow springs up by the spring pop up mechanism as in this pop up card tutorial.

Pop up Scrapbook

The photo is of my daughter when she was 5 months old at the toothless stage!! She was a chubby cutie pie!

Pop up Scrapbook

I was so unsure and hesitant about scrap booking but the subject of the photo my now "grown up" 6 year old made things easy by choosing the photos and theme and literally bulldozing me into starting a new hobby!
Please do leave your comments...as so unsure ...

Supplies : This is literally an Itsy Bitsy Project as nearly everything is from there or a gift from Blogger friends. Dies : Cuttle bug Butterfly, Sizzix Flower,Spellbinders Baby [Teddy bear]