Pop Up Christmas Card

Pop Up Christmas Card

      Hi friends Thank you so much for the kind words on my Pop Up Sliding Christmas card! This  is another Christmas Pop Up Card  with a cozy cottage and a snowy landscape.

Pop Up Christmas Card

      I made the trees by stamping on a Tattered lace tree silhouette die cut with Winnie and Walter True stamps and coloring with Distress Inks similar to how I made the trees on these cards : Stretching your Supplies , Christmas Trees and Stretching Dies and Stamps

Pop Up Christmas Card

My popup card has a snowy background made from purple pattern paper and 2 layers popped up in front of it.

Pop Up Christmas Card

As you can see...I am on a pop up card making spree. Making a successful pop up card was how I got hooked onto card making!!

And dont forget to participate in the Rudolph Days Challenge with a Christmas Project

Supplies : Dies :  Winnie and Walter  Essentials Audrey Cutaways , Dee's Distinctively Small Winter Cottage,Spellbinders Borderabilities Snowflake Border,Tattered Lace Panorama Tree Silhouette

Stamps : Winnie and Walter True

Linking to  

Winnie and Walter Rerun 15 - inspired by Lydia's Christmas trees 

Purple Rose Card

Hi friends sharing a simple card featuring a stamped rose , colored in shades of purple in support of  the " The Hop to Stop " Domestic Violence.

Symbolically I added a heart trapped under a fence just like many ladies trapped in an abusive relationship

But a victim can find courage and become free like the butterflies soaring over the fence and the beautiful rose growing up from under the fence and blooming free in the sky!

Supplies : Dies :  Winnie and Walter  Essentials Audrey Cutaways , Memory Box Rounded Fence , Xcut 3 D butterfly, Cheery Lynn  Butterfly, Cheery Lynn  Rose Leaf Strip
Stamp : Joy Crafts Floral Flourishes Postcard rose

Christmas Pop Up and Slider Card

Christmas Pop Up Card 

       Hi friends, sharing a special Interactive Christmas Card which is my DT project for Rudolph Days Challenge  a special Challenge where you can enter your Christmas projects from the 25th to the 30th of each month year long!!
       My Christmas card has 3 pop up layers and Santa sliding across the snowy landscape in an aeroplane!

Christmas Pop Up Card 

      The background  has snow falling in the deep purple sky, a cute smiling star and a playful Santa waving from his abode on the moon!

Christmas Pop Up Card 

         I don't have a lot of stamps to create a background scene so made a simple snowy background by using a stencil and white gesso  on purple cardstock!

Stencilled background 

Gesso has a little bit more bulk than white paint so yeah I was happy with my snowfall!!

Stencilled background

To create the snow laden trees , I used an embossing ink pen and WOW sparkling snow embossing powder on a Tattered Lace Tree Silhouette die cut and colored the embossed trees with mowed lawn Distress Inks  .

Christmas Trees Landscape

The snowy mountain with the trees were popped up in front of the snowy background .

Pop Up Christmas Card

And in front of that I added a cute little cozy looking cottage with a snow-laden rooftop!

3 D House

On the embossed roof I added glittery "snow"!

Christmas Pop Up Card 

        Before I got my die cutting machine I used to hand-cut the apertures for my slider cards...now there are dedicated "slider dies" but since I didn't have one of those, I improvised and created a nice curved aperture using Spellbinders border dies I already had. I used the technique of partial die cutting[ also seen in this post:  Partial Die Cutting tips] so that the die wouldn't cut all the way.

Slider Mechanism

I added Santa to a  piece of double sided foam tape which was then stuck on a circle of thick cardstock to form a slider.

Christmas Pop Up Card 

And my Santa actually spins as he zooms across the snowy mountains!

Christmas Pop Up Card 

I hope you liked my Christmas pop up + slider card and do participate in Maureen's Rudolph Days Challenge ...she always has such cute prizes!
And also do link up to Di's Pixie's Snippets Playground where the theme is always anything goes as long as you use snippets!

Supplies : Dies :  Winnie and Walter  Essentials Audrey Cutaways , Dee's Distinctively Small Winter Cottage,Spellbinders Curved Borders 2,Spellbinders Borderabilities Snowflake Border,Tattered Lace Panorama Tree Silhouette

Edited : this card was featured By Di as one of her weekly picks at the Pixie's Snippets Playground ! Thank you so much Di!

Butterfly Pop Up Card

Butterfly Pop Up Card 

           Though I love making Pop Up Cards , the V fold is  one pop up mechanism I find quite tricky...either I misjudge the angulation or the distance the pop up will rise! And this one too is far from perfect...the Butterfly pop up in the center is leaning in far too much!

Butterfly Pop Up Card 

 But coming to the positive points, I do love this gorgeous large butterfly which I colored in  shades of purple and pink . It is rather a special butterfly as it was sent to me by Mrs A for winning her Butterfly Challenge . Hooray for the generosity of the crafting world!!

Butterfly Pop Up Card 

I inked up the lovely  floral pattern paper with seedless preserve Distress Inks and added a purple embossed heart and silver butterflies.

Butterfly Pop Up Card 

My card is made for "The Hop to Stop domestic violence" and symbolically I added a butterfly trapped under a fence and then soaring free in the sky!

Butterfly Pop Up Card 

Wishing everyone to "be free" like a butterfly and to be  "be happy" .

Supplies : Dies :  Winnie and Walter  Essentials Audrey Cutaways , Cheery Lynn  butterfly, Memory Box Rounded Fence , Elizabeth Craft Designs Happy New Year , Elizabeth Craft Designs Best Wishes, Spellbinders Celtic Accents, X cut 3 D Butterfly,Sizzix Lace Heart Embosslit,Sizzix BigZ 3D Heart

Circus Pop Up Card

Circus Pop Up Card 

       Hi friends I love to decorate the inside of my cards with pop up elements and this happy circus themed card is made to make someone feel happy!!

Circus Pop Up Card 

        I made the banners by gold embossing Winnie and Walter True stamps and die cutting with a Spellbinders banner die. I used Distress Inks   to shade the banner elements , the edges of the pattern paper and the "wonky square" on which the darling hippo is doing her juggling!!

Circus Pop Up Card 

My "Happy" was die cut from designer glitter foam using Winnie and Walter Happy die  and the lovely faceted ball beside it was made using Winnie and Walter True stamp and coloring with Distress Inks  .

Circus Pop Up Card

I hope you like my "happy" Circus themed Pop Up Card .

Supplies : Dies :  Winnie and Walter Happy Cutaway , Spellbinders Wonky Squares,Spellbinders Tags and Flags,Spellbinders Banner Basics One
Stamps : Winnie and Walter True

Music Themed Pop Up Card

Piano Pop Up Card 

        I love making Pop Up Cards and this brightly colored music themed Pop Up Card has lots and lots of layers and fun pop up elements.The central pop up has a grand piano and I added side pop ups for a  trumpet and harp .

Piano Pop Up Card 

          This pop up card has 3 pop up layers and the front most layer has a celtic die cut design running across the breadth of the card with musical notes  and an embossed purple heart.

Piano Pop Up Card 

         Silver musical notes float up from each pop up element and glimmer beautifully when you open and shut the card. This is one card I wish you could see in person!

Piano Pop Up Card 

       I made this card in purple for Becca's The Hop to Stop Domestic Violence .Music  can be so soothing to the troubled soul and uplifting for the broken mind and body. So many ladies in the world are in abusive relationships...suffering in silence, not reaching out for help or reaching out and not getting support.

Piano Pop Up Card 

         I added the tiny purple hand brad to symbolize a helping hand. A victim of domestic violence needs your help....and help can be something as simple as a hand to hold and a heart to truly listen , support and encourage !

Piano Pop Up Card 

Hope you liked my Pop Up Card !
Supplies : Dies :  Spellbinders Sing It Loud 1,Spellbinders Back to Basics Tags, Spellbinders Celtic Accents,Spellbinders Celtic Motifs,Spellbinders Big Scalloped Squares,Sizzix Lace Heart Embosslit,Elizabeth Craft Designs Best Wishes,Memory Box Piano Border,Purple glitter flowers made using Provocraft Natural and Texture Border

Kraft Tex Mini Book and Luggage Tags Tutorial

Mini Book

         Being able to work with super tempting new products of my choice is one of the biggest perks of being DT for India's premier shop for imported Craft supplies....Shalini Mittal's Crafters Corner....Shalini always brings innovative and amazing products from all corners of the world to India! And C & T Publishing's Kraft tex is one product which has been selling out so fast that in fact I had to hold on for this post to go live as it had already sold out from Crafters Corner several times!!
        In this post I will share what is so special about Kraft tex and project ideas.

What is Kraft tex?

Kraft tex is a super special paper which looks and feels like leather, can be die-cut and stamped on like paper and yet is supple and strong like fabric and the ultimate is it can even be washed and ironed!!

Why is Kraft tex so special?

What is so special about Kraft tex and why it is so popular with paper crafters is that it has all the properties of paper which we paper crafters love [can be die cut, stamped, embossed etc] but yet is strong and durable and can take wear and tear. So it is highly popular  in making albums, books, bags, wallets and any project which needs to withstand wear and tear! 

Kraft tex 

Kraft tex

Kraft tex is sold in huge rolls of 18 x 54 inches and comes in many colors , the most popular being natural and black. I have used natural Kraft tex in my projects as I love the leather look of this shade of Kraft tex. The rolls are huge and value for money as you can create so many projects from a single roll.

Kraft tex Bag Instructions

When you buy a roll of Kraft tex you even get a free Tutorial with detailed pattern to make a handbag using Kraft tex. Kraft tex is so popular that there are even books of sewing projects using Kraft tex !!

How to Use Kraft tex ?

Kraft tex feels like a thick leather paper. You can cut it with normal scissors and even die cut it with thinlit /wafer thin dies.

Though it already has a lovely leather look and feel, if you want to make it look more like fabric/ leather ...here is how to do it :-

• Cut out the required amount, crinkle it, soak or even boil it in hot water and either smoothen it with your hands or iron it and use.
• Another way to get a crinkled leather look is to wash it in the washing machine and after drying ,iron it using your iron.

Because of the fibre content in Kraft tex it will not tear even on machine washing...isn't that cool!!!

Cutting ,Scoring and Embossing Kraft tex

Because of its unique properties you can score  Kraft tex using a bone folder and hence it can be used to easily make the spine of your mini albums.You can also run it through an embossing folder to get a lovely embossed texture

Embossing Kraft tex

I scored and embossed a piece of Kraft tex to form a sturdy cover for my mini book.Left the spine area unembossed as the spine would look better un textured.

A tip to follow when using Kraft tex in album making is to use a strong wet glue like Aleene's tacky glue rather than red tacky tape as it gives a stronger adhesion.

Kraft tex Mini Book Cover

Here is the inside of my mini book/album with pockets and tags.This book was made with a single sheet of 12 x 12 inch pattern paper and has 8 pages with pockets to hold 8 tags. I used 4 x 3 inch piece chipboard on the front and back and wrapped the whole thing in Kraft tex for extra strength.

Mini Book

Added a golden chain with cute metal charms on the spine of my book .

Mini Book

Created the  main focal element on the cover by twisting rose buds around a resin heart and adding leaves galore [Cheery Lynn  leaves and Heartfelt creations leaves] plus lovely crystal fillers.

Mini Book

All the metal charms and embellishments got a nice rubbing with Inka Gold. Do scroll down the post for links to all the products I have used to make this mini book.

Mini Book

I thought I would use this handy little mini book to hold the numerous lists I keep making.I am a lists sort of person and love to jot down to do lists , shopping lists, goals etc etc!

Mini Book

I first  made this Christmas One Sheet Mini Book following Kerri's Tutorial .I am sharing my version in this Video Tutorial  .These are so easy to make and will make great gifts

Making Monogrammed Luggage Tags with Kraft tex  

My second project using Kraft tex are these easy to make strong and cute Luggage Tags.

DIY Luggage tags

To make these easy DIY Luggage tags, I die cut Kraft tex using Xcut Luggage Tag dies though you can use any nesting die you have or hand cut your tag shapes.

Xcut Tag die

How easy is it to die cut Kraft tex?
It is super easy...and see how clean even the tiny circular apertures on the side have die cut...!

DIY Luggage Tag

Gluing Kraft tex

Kraft tex Luggage Tag

          Though Kraft tex has many properties of cloth it is not difficult to glue . I used Aleene's Fast Grab tacky glue not only to glue paper and ribbon to Kraft tex but also one layer for kraft tex to the other. Love this glue which Shalini sent me in my DT pack.It is sticky but not irritatingly sticky if it gets on your fingers, dries fast and is very very strong.

Luggage Tags

Stamping, Inking and Heat Embossing Kraft tex

DIY Luggage tags

      I wanted to see how well Kraft tex took inks and so stamped on it with a variety of ink-pads including Memento and Archival ink using alpha stamps .Also experimented using Embossing Powders and loved how sturdy the material was in taking the blast from the heat gun.

Alpha Stamps

In the tag below , the central part is normal white card stock I inked with Tea dye and Walnut stain Distress Inks  to match the color of natural Kraft tex . The shiny butterfly was made using glass cabochons, mariposa paper and a super useful Ultimate Back support which can convert anything into a hanging charm! Here is the  Glass cabochon Tutorial.

DIY Luggage tags

       All the cute metal charms I have used in my Kraft tex projects were part of my Crafters Corner DT package and my all time favourite is the gorgeous golden flower girl!!

       The monogram in this tag has gold embossing, outlining with a Sharpie and a die cut felt P.

DIY Luggage tags

I hope you liked my mini book Tutorial and  Kraft tex projects...do tell me.

More Resources

• I have a pinterest board dedicated to Kraft tex here : Kraft tex Projects and Tutorials
• Video on different Kraft tex Projects from makers of Kraft tex C & T publishing : Kraft tex Project Video
• Washing Kraft tex by So Sew Easy : Washing and Treating Kraft tex

Supplies : All from Crafters Corner

Stamps : Heartfelt creations Open Leaf stamp ,Alpha Cirque Stamps 

Dies : Cheery Lynn Butterfly, Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf Die , Xcut Luggage Tag Die