Happy Birthday Cards!

This week was our regular meeting for the craft group I set up when I retired about seven years ago.
The group is still going, even though some of the people have changed, there is still a few people who keep coming. They are really nice people and I treasure their crafting friendship and company.

For our meeting this week, I made up some card kits using papers from the Jack, No Worries and Hello Lovely collections in the recent Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions Ideas book.The designs for the card were based on designs in the Happy Times Card Workshop created some time ago by Michelle Snyder for CTMH.

For the first card, I used paper from the Jack collection along with ruby, juniper and white daisy cardstock. The trim is black and gold.
The stamp is from  the Birthday Sparkles set, B1537.

















The second card used the No Worries collection, with white daisy. I also used the zip strip from the striped sheet for the flags on the side of the card. I stamped two daisies using the May SOTM (S1705) and canary ink, and the leaves from the same set in New England Ivy.  I coloured the images and cut them out, layering the daisies and adding a sequin to the centre. The sentiment is from the Birthday sparkles set and I stamped that in Sapphire.









The last card we made was the most popular one. The paper is from the Hello Lovely collection and I teamed it with Sorbet, Fern and Colonial White cardstock. I also used Fern twine,  green shimmer trim and sparkles to finish the card. The flower was stamped using Sorbet ink and the image is from the May SOTM as are the leaves, stamped with New England Ivy. The greeting was also stamped with New England Ivy.  

Is it really that long since I have posted something?

It seems like ages since I posted anything on my blog and as I was going through some photos, I found pictures of some of the things I have done since Christmas!

For my grand-daughter's birthday, I made this canvas using different coloured vinyl. The canvas measured about 10 inches by 20 inches.

I used ideas from Google images and set it out using Design Space and some of the different fonts I have access to through Design Space.

I cut the words using my trusty Cricut Explore and different colours of vinyl.

It took quite a while to set it out on the canvas and to get the lines straight!

Grand-daughter loved it and it will be interesting to see, now that she has started school, how long it takes before she can read it herself!

One More Sleep - a 3D Christmas House

Before Christmas, I was able to try out a gorgeous 3D Christmas House project available from My SVG Hut. The project is called One More Sleep and it makes a wonderful Christmas decor piece.

I have made a video of the process of making the house and you can find it below.

I also decided to do step by step instructions for putting it together. I used cardstock from Close to my Heart to make this project.

Assembly Instructions: 

Cut out all of the pieces for the house by importing the files into your cutting program. You may wish to arrange them in such a way that you use the minimum of card to save wastage! This can take a little time, but is worth it. I also spent some time changing the scoring lines on the files to score rather than cut to eliminate the tiny cuts along the fold lines.When you have cut the pieces, sort them out into the various components of the house and put them in piles together so they don't get mixed up!


Base assembly:
Take the pieces shown in the photo below and  bend the edges along the scored lines. Burnish these well by rubbing along the crease with a bone folder. Join the pieces together at the tab ends. Fold the tabs on each piece and join them with the tabs to the inside, so you have a long piece, a short piece, a long piece and a short piece to form the sides of the base. Join the tab to the next piece so you have each piece joined on the folded line of the tab

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  Sides for Base

  

  Sides for base assembled

  
  
  
  
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Take one of the two larger rectangles and glue it to the top of the rectangular piece you have made. Do the same to the other side so you now have a box shape. This will form the base of the entire project.
  
  
  
  

  

  The bottom of the base attached to the sides.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  The finished base.

   

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

NOTE: The roof is assembled in the same way.

Window Assembly:   

         

         Take the three pieces for the front window and fold on all the scored lines.For the semi-circular pieces, fold the tabs on the curved lines in to the centre of each piece and fold the straight lines in the same direction. 

 

 

Tabs for semi-circular piece folded up.

 







 



Take the window piece and place a strip of glue along the inside of the top of the window then attach the tabs on the curved piece to the inside.  Do the same for the bottom of the window frame. 

Tabs in place on the window frame.

You can now attach the curved window to the front of the house. Fold the scored lines on the window frame as shown in the picture. Centre the window over the cut out part on the front of the house and glue it down on all sides. The frame goes on the outside of the front.
 

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 Attach the small window frames to the outside of the front and sides of the house before you start assembling the house.

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House assembly: 

Fold and burnish all the scored lines for the walls of the house . Glue the side walls to the front of the house, making sure all the tabs are on the inside and that the windows on the sides are closer to the back than to the front as shown in the picture above. 
Attach the back of the house to the walls, making sure your folded lines match up with the cut edges of the walls. Then attach one of the base pieces to the bottom of the house. The other base piece can be glued onto the inside of the house which makes it stronger.

Back of house and two base pieces, one to be attached to the outside of the house, and the other on the inside to strengthen the base. 

Inside the house: 

Take the two silhouette pieces and bend the tabs back on the one with the tree and rocking horse. Attach this to the inside of the house with the fold lines of the tab to the front corners of the inside of the house.  Now attach the second silhouette with the tabs forward so the tabs on the first one are lined up alongside the tabs on the second one.

Attach the vellum piece directly behind the second silhouette. You can add some small vellum squares to the inside of the windows at this point if you wish.

Roof assembly: 

Assemble the two roof boxes as for the base of the project. Before gluing these to the tabs, place them where you want them to be, making sure that the boxes line up at the top of the house with the peak of the front and back. There will be an overhang at the front, back and side of the house.  You can make a pencil mark on the roof pieces if it helps to get them lined up. Put glue on the tabs and line up the boxes on each side of the roof, making sure the second roof box lines up with the first, with the bottom edges aligned at the peak of the roof.

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  Make sure the boxes are aligned at the peak of the roof before adhering to the tabs on the house. 

  
  

Glue the roof snow pieces together at the second score line and attach them to the roof with the folded score line in the centre of the roof. Then attach the snow piece to the front. You can cut a second snow piece and attach it to the back of the house if desired.

Adhering the snow pieces to the roof. Note there is a gap but this is covered up with the v-shaped snow pieces.

 

Attach the completed house to the base.

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  Completed house with battery tealight in the back of the house. 

  
  

   Video of house assembly.

Thanks for looking at this very long post. Would love to hear if you make the house yourself. It really is very easy to put together.