Hi crafty friends, it’s Raquel here today. This card was inspired by a series of my son’s books called Frog & Friends. In one of the stories, Frog finds a balloon in his pond but he doesn’t know what it is. I am enjoying reading about Frog’s adventures with my son and I hope you enjoy this tutorial on how to make this card.
1. Cut yellow cardstock at 5.5 x 8.5 scored at 4.25 for a finished A2 sized card.
2. Cut white cardstock at 4.25 x 5.5. Place Accordion Oval Card die and oval companion die over the top of this white cardstock and die cut (see photo directly below).
This is how your white cardstock should now look.
3. Die cut 2 sets of the Oval Clouds Frame Edges from blue cardstock. Die cut Light Blue Metallic Shimmer Sheetz using same companion oval die from step 2 and emboss with Lots of Dots embossing folder. Die cut 2 sets of clouds from All Seasons Tree from white cardstock and sponge blue ink around edges of all white clouds. See photo below for all these pieces.
4. Run frame edges through your Xyron Create a Sticker machine to add adhesive on the back of each piece. Remove liners and adhere edges to your white cardstock from step 2. For your edges to line up perfectly, leave a small white frame around your oval (see close-up picture at the beginning of this post). Some areas of the frames will be sticky. Apply Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter to sticky areas. Adhere white cardstock with edges to front of card base.
5. Die cut Happy Birthday Stand Up Helper from black cardstock, cut away excess paper and adhere to bottom right of card.
6. Adhere Light Blue Metallic Shimmer Sheetz inside oval opening on card base.
7. Use fine pointed tweezers to remove balloon Peel-off and adhere to white cardstock that has double-sided adhesive applied to it. Remove release sheet and cover Peel-off with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter. Color balloons with desired medium.
8. After coloring your balloons, cut them out using fine pointed scissors and adhere to center of card with pop dots or foam adhesive.
Here’s another picture of the finished card.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and feel inspired to try it yourself.
Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the June Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was to create an Accordion Album showcasing a photo or photos.
For my video I wanted to show how to make Accordions with clear inner pages. I am using the new Katie Label Accordion die in the video. This die will be available in stores next month, so be sure to ask your favorite retailer to order it. You can use the techniques in the video with any of the Accordion dies, so don’t feel limited to just the Katie.
Topics covered in the video:
Showing off the Designer Challenge Team’s collaborative 11-page Oval Accordion album
Snipping tips for the accordion dies that come with stitching dies (Oval Accordion, Katie Label Accordion and Ring Accordion)
How to achieve a raised embossed stitch using an embossing sandwich
How to make clear inner pages for Accordion albums
Using brads to connect clear tabs
Assembling accordions in a layered sandwich style that hides the long tabs and the clear frames
How to repair an accidental break
Envelope sizes to mail Accordion Albums
Here are some photos and additional details about the project made in the video:
I made sure to add a solid white decorator label to the back of Page 2 so that when the album is closed the clear title will be easy to read against the white. I added the same colorful brads to the left side of the page to balance the ones on the right.
My twins, Karl and Emma, are 15 years old and have certainly come a long way since being born seven weeks early (Emma was 4 lb. 9 oz. Karl was 2 lb. 9 oz.) to their current size (Karl is taller than me, Emma is getting close!) I thought it would be fun to show photos from their birthdays at ages 5, 10 and 15. Notice that Karl was still shorter than Emma on their 10th birthday. Clearly that changed in 5 years!
Because I didn’t have a vertical shot of them at Age 5 I had to crop a horizontal one. I covered the seam with Glitter Borders. For the age numbers, I printed them on transparency and then outlined them with a silver paint pen on the back of the transparency before cutting them out. The brightly colored mini-brads are both functional and decorative. Some of them go through the small tabs to join pages together. I thought the visible brad prongs from behind the album added a festive touch to the album, almost like a colored staple, so I didn’t trim them. Instead, I just made sure I chose brads that had painted prongs.
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:
#903 Katie Label Accordion Die (available 7.15.14)
Other Supplies: office transparencies, Carta Bella Patterned Paper “Homemade with Love” Collection, colored mini-brads, white gel pen
Time to see what the incredibly talented Designer Challenge Team, plus three Guest Designers, created for the challenge.
This compilation photo accordion album is featured in the video. I asked each member of the team to create one Oval Accordion page. They were instructed to include a photo of themselves and their blog address on the page, but otherwise could design it with any colors, any theme, any embellishments. The results are fantastic! If you’re in any of my classes for the rest of the year you’ll be able to see it close up, as it will travel with me.
Last week I posted a Sneak Peek Part 1 showing the first 10 of 16 new dies that will be available in stores July 15, 2014 as part of the Pop it Ups Summer Release. Included in that Sneak Peek were two new Accordion Albums and four new Frame Edge dies. The Designer Challenge Team received advance copies of the new dies and were allowed to use them for the Challenge if they liked.
All of the Accordion Album dies work the same and you can learn how to assemble them in this video. The beauty is that YOU decide how many pages to add to the album. They can be as short or as long as you like. For the projects below, I’ve sorted them by number of pages to illustrate the different looks. Click on each designer’s name to go to their blog posts to see more photos, instructions, supply lists, etc.
TWO-PAGE ACCORDIONS:
Helen Cryer made this two-page Circle Accordion project to give to her husband for his desk at work. She included recent pictures of the family on vacation. I think this is brilliant idea and will be making something similar for my husband’s desk!
Karen Aicken‘s little grandson Ethan will be turning 2 soon so she made this very cute card using the Katie Label Accordion. She also mixed in the ECD balloon die. Notice the balloon string wrapped around the 2 – so cute!
THREE-PAGE ACCORDIONS:
Caz Counsell used the new Katie Label Accordion for a beautiful 3-page album featuring her niece’s wedding photos. She used the Butterfly Embossing Folder and Butterfly Accessory dies to create an elegant first page for the album.
Frances Byrne chose the new Ring Accordion for a Christmas album using photos of her granddaughter. The Ring Album comes with two sizes of ornament top die as well. Frances did some clever combining of letter pieces to create the date.
Jenn Dove is back this month as a Guest Designer and used the Circle Accordion for a three-page album featuring a brilliant cardinal and a great photo of the two of us in Yosemite last month. I love the color combo and the sweet sentiment.
Jenn Mock is also back as a Guest Designer for this challenge and borrowed my Katie Label Accordion die to make this fabulous 3-page beach card with photos of her grandsons. The coral on page one is a section of the All Seasons Tree die – how clever!
Kelly Booth also chose to use the new Katie Label Accordion for a 3-page SUPER card featuring her grandson dressed up as a superhero. She used the Katie Stars Frame Edges and mixed in decorator dies from the Katie Label Pivot Card. (Note: the decorator dies between the two Katie Label dies fit either die but do not duplicate, so they can be mixed for a ton of possibilities.)
Shelly Hickox made a beautiful and elegant Ring Album and turned it into a pocket watch with a clever addition of a printed winder and loop at the top of the first page. She used photos from her daughter’s wedding, turning them black and white for a timeless feel. You can see a Vine video of this card in action if you click over to her blog.
Summer Hills-Painter shows how wonderfully Pop it Ups dies interchange with each other. Here she used the Katie Label Accordion but mixed in decorator dies from the Katie Label Pivot Card and Fancy Accordion. She also used the ECD Pumpkin die. Her two older boys look like they found the perfect pumpkins!
FOUR-PAGE ACCORDIONS:
Raquel Mason created this wonderful mixed album using the Oval Accordion and the Katie Label Accordion. She also used the new Oval Clouds Frame Edges and a fun technique that Karen Aicken showed us for filling in the first page as a solid front to the album. Love these sweet beach photos of Raquel and her son.
Frances Byrne made a second project to focus on her grandson. What a fabulous mixed album! She mixed the Katie Label Accordion with the Oval Accordion, using perfect boy colors and elements to document William’s cubby construction.
Helen Cryer made this fun 4-page Katie Label Accordion for her Dad. Starring in the photos are his parents, his bride, his kids and his grandkids – who wouldn’t love a gift like this?!
Kelly Booth is the queen of color! This 4-page Fancy Accordion using the new Seasons Fancy Frame Edges is the perfect showcase for everyday photos of her grandkids.
Raquel Mason made a very unique 4-page Fancy Accordion by stacking two 2-pagers on top of each other! She used the new Poppy the Owl and Props 1 dies to highlight the silly photos she took with her son. What a great project!
Summer Hills-Painter recently had her third son and showcased her cute boys in this 4-page Fancy Accordion using the new Fancy Seasons Frame Edges. Awesome boy colors!
Gretchen Schmidt also used the Fancy Accordion Album for a four-page album celebrating a four-legged friend. The crisp colors of this album are very striking. The scalloped frame from the Fancy Frame Edges die is a great choice.
SIX-PAGE ACCORDIONS:
Karen Aicken knocked my socks off with this fabulous blooming cactus Fancy Accordion project. She created a solid cover to the album. Click over to her blog to see it in the closed position. Great photos, great techniques!
Fran Sabad created a 6-page Oval Accordion using fun photos from a trip to Universal Studios. Notice the clever star garlands strung between the pages. She also embossed every page with the Trendy Tiles 1 Embossing Folder.
Donna Wright created a gorgeous 6-page Circle Accordion generations album, using the All Seasons Tree to set the scene. Such a lovely project and so powerful to see the women of Donna’s family going back several generations.
TWENTY-PAGE ACCORDION:
Sandy Diller drops the mic with this absolutely stunning, fantastic, awesome, amazing, impressive 20-page Fancy Accordion album celebrating her 50 years of marriage. You just really need to click over to her blog to read more about it and see the photo of it stretched out. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! Thank you, Sandy for Guest Designing with us again.
So there you have it. Amazing inspiration for using the Pop it Ups Accordion Album dies with photos to make amazing cards, gifts and memory albums. Which Accordion die is your favorite?
The Designer Challenge Team will be back the week of July 14th with Christmas (or other winter Holidays) in July projects. My compilation post and video will be posted July 16th. This is a great chance to let the team inspire you to get an early jump on your holiday cards. The new dies will be available in stores at that time.
Hi! It’s Candy with another creation using Elizabeth Craft Designs products.
I love the Daisies in Oval Peel-offs from Elizabeth Craft Designs. Daisies are one of my favorite flowers and I love that you can get similar flowers in all sorts of colors. So, for this card I decided to color each of the daisies on the Peel-off sheet a different color.
1. Prepare stickers for coloring by applying them to cardstock and coating them with Silk Microfine Glitter like Els is demonstrating HERE.
2. Color with alcohol ink markers. I applied my darker colors first.
3. Then I use a lighter shade to blend the colors.
4. Cut out stickers.
5. Cut out four Accordion Oval Frames and assemble. You can watch Els demonstrating the accordion cards HERE.
6. Cut out Oval Flourish Frame Edges and adhere with Xyron.
7. Stamp sentiment.
8. Cut out daisy.
9. Assemble flower; use dimensional foam in center of flower.
10. Coat all daisy pieces in Glastique.
11. Adhere daisies in ovals and daisy die cut to card.
12. Adhere sentiment with dimensional foam adhesive.
I’ve wanted to make an accordion card for a while now. This is my first one. Although it looks complicated to make, it really isn’t. I used Copic alcohol markers to color the stamped images but you may color the images in any number of ways.
Making the Card
1. Cut three copies of the accordion oval in alternating blue colors dark/light/dark, plus one using embossed dark gray paper. I wanted the cover to look sort of dark and stormy. Cut the tabs off of the dark gray copy and adhere to the cover (i.e. back side of the first accordion).
2. Adhere the three accordion pieces together as shown in the instructions, but do not stick the tabs together yet – you want to decorate while the card is flat.
3. Stamp the Tilda images with Memento Tuxedo Black on alcohol marker friendly paper.
Color the images using alcohol markers, blending from light to dark then back for a smooth transition between shades. (There are a lot of videos on YouTube that show how to color using alcohol markers.)
4. Carefully cut around the images. The bee antennae are too delicate to cut around so cut them off and used black wire in a V shape, ends curled, and adhered to the back of the bee’s head. (Hint: use a dark gray marker to outline the stamped images after they have been cut out – this helps to hide the white edge.)
6. Die cut frame edges for 2 light blue frames, and 1 dark blue frame. Adhere the frame edges as shown.
7. Die cut the small butterfly. Use dark blue paper for the butterfly silhouette. For the overlay,
add Double Sided Adhesive to cream cardstock and polish with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter before die cutting.
8. Die cut three small flowers (All Seasons Tree) from the glittered cream card stock (above).
Add a blue rhinestone to the center of each.
9. Die cut 2 light blue loopy flowers and 2 dark blue loopy flowers (Butterfly Accessory Dies). Create two flowers: offset and adhere the light flower layer on top of the dark flower. Add a rhinestone to the center of each. Adhere the three small flowers as shown, as well as one of the loopy flowers (on the next panel, adjacent to the small flowers).
10. Die cut two large clouds and one small cloud from White Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz using the dies from the All Seasons Tree.
11. Hand cut a puddle from Silver Metallic Shimmer Sheetz. Adhere the puddle and clouds as shown. Adhere the stamped images using dimensional tape (hint: color the sides of the tape with
a black alcohol marker and let it dry before adding it to the back of the stamped images).
12. Add small drops of rain with silver Liquid Pearls around Tilda in Spring Rain image.
Set aside to dry.
13. Die cut the oval from the Accordion Oval Card set in light blue. Adhere to the center of the last panel.
14. Using a printer, print a sentiment with your favorite font so it will fit inside the oval you just cut, with some room to spare. Use the stitched die from the Accordion Oval Card set to trace around the sentiment and hand cut. Add Waterfall Stickles to the outside edge. Add three rhinestones and one of the loopy flowers above and below the sentiment as shown. Adhere.
15. Adhere the leaves, flowers, butterfly, metal embellishment, and half pearls as shown.
Use strong adhesive to glue the tabs as per the instructions for the Accordion Oval Card.
Hello Everyone! Debra here excited to share a fun card with you using the Accordion Oval Card and Oval Dots Frame Edges dies. I love the accordion dies because all the work is done for you in the design of the dies, making it easy to create a unique card that will wow the recipient for sure!
Here’s how I made this card:
1. Diecut the Accordion Oval Card base from brown bling cardstock. Die cut the Oval Dots Frame Edges from the non-shiny side of the same cardstock and adhere together. Diecut another base from pattern paper and clip out the center oval. Adhere to center of base. Die cut large oval from pattern paper and add to center of base. Ink edges with brown ink. Adhere the two panels together.
2. Stamp and color the boy image. Stamp the image a second time to color and cut out the overall and hat. Adhere both on base image using foam tape for dimension.
3. Pick a cupcake from the Cupcakes Peel-offs and adhere to a square of cardstock covered with Double Sided Adhesive. Add Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and polish to bring out the shine and set the glitter. Color with alcohol based markers. You can find a tutorial by Els on this technique HERE
4. Cut out cupcake and adhere to the right center oval of the card base using foam adhesive. Adhere boy image to the left center oval.
5. Add a string of paper twine from the fishing rod to the cupcake on the opposite oval. Add a “hook” made from a small piece of negative sticker from a silver Corner Peel-off.
6. Die cut Happy Birthday and add to ovals, curving slightly to fit above the images. To complete, add tiny red cardstock stars to embellish.
Here are some close-ups to see the placement:
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this project! If you haven’t made an Accordion Card yet, give it a try. It’s fun and easy!
Welcome back … I’m Candy Spiegel and I want to share my latest project for Elizabeth Craft Designs.
This feminine card began with the Accordion Oval Card die set.
1. Die cut three patterned paper frames and attach them in a row. Cut off the hinge tab from the right side of the last panel.
2. The oval shapes in this card are not linked together (the way the die is most often used). Cut off the little tab that connects them. (Notice the one has already been cut off on the right oval, but is still attached on the center oval.)
3. Cut two ovals with the largest oval in the die set. Stamp with tea sayings and ink the edges with Distress Ink. Adhere to the first and third ovals.
4. For the center oval, die cut a patterned paper oval, ink the edges and attach to center panel.
5. Glitter, color, and cut out the Coffee & Tea Peel-Off Stickers. Use a sheet of coordinating patterned paper as inspiration for the color palette). Use a blending pen for shading. Copic colors used:
6. Adhere teapot and cups with dimensional foam adhesive.
7. Fussy cut bird, flower, and butterfly images; ink the edges and adhere to card with dimensional foam adhesive. Images fold when they cross from one panel to the next. This allows the card to freely open and close.
8. Embellish with ribbon and paper flowers. Use Glitter Dots Peel-offs for the centers of the flowers.
Here’s a close-up of the middle panel.
A detail to notice: On the third panel, I included a metal spoon.
From the first time I saw Elizabeth Craft Designs in my local scrapbook store I was drawn to the Easter eggs. However, since Easter had just passed, I passed on them and opted for flowers and butterflies instead. Then, when Easter rolled back around the following year, I could no longer find them. I have dreamed of coloring those eggs for almost three years, so naturally, when I made the design team, the first thing I ordered were all of the Easter Egg Peel-Offs! And, I have been waiting for Easter to get close enough, to finally make a card using those eggs.
First, I applied Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter to the Peel-Offs using double-sided adhesive.
I selected my colors based on the paper I planned to use from Authentique. I then colored the eggs using my Copic Sketch Makers. Watch Els showing you how to color on top of the Silk Microfine Glitter HERE. I used the following colors:
I decided to use some of the little parts on the sticker sheet as well, so I colored the bows and grass and cut them out. Then I turned my attention to the card itself.
For the base of the card I die cut four accordion pages using the Accordion Oval Card die and attached these together using double sided adhesive on the long side tabs.
Karen has a great You Tube showing you how to assemble an Accordion card using the Pop it Ups Accordion dies.
Next, I added a smaller oval, which comes with the Accordion Oval Card die, to the inside of each of the ovals I planned to add eggs. I also cut out the bunny, using the oval die from the paper I was working with. I used dimensional foam squares to attach each of the eggs and the grass.
Next, I decided to decorate each page with the Oval Flourish Frame Edges. This adds more elegance, like what you might expect from a Faberge egg, and brings more focus onto the eggs.
I added tiny rhinestones and pearls on one egg and Silver Glitters Dots on the other. I love the dimension and sparkle this added. Once that was done, I folded the card, attached the tiny tabs and adhered the bows to the card.
For the sentiment, I stamped “Happy Easter” onto a piece of Blue Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz using StazOn ink. Once this was dry, I trimmed the piece and then used a corner rounder on the corners.
As a final touch, I added a bit of Diamond Stickles to the bunny paper to help balance the sparkles.
I love how it turned out and I finally got to color the eggs!
Today on our blog a fun and colorful Easter card by Judi Kauffman. Judi’s card combines the Oval Accordion Card die, stamps from Paper Nest Dolls, embossed/sanded Red Iris Shimmer Sheetz, Elizabeth Craft Designs flower pot peel-offs, and Karen Foster Design papers.
This is one of the projects Judi created for her latest article at Scrapbooking.com.
Welcome! Today is challenge day and the theme for this month is Flowers! Our wonderful Design Team created the following projects for this month. You can find all the instructions on each designer’s blog by clicking on the link below the pictures.
To celebrate our first Designer Challenge we will be giving away some great prizes! What to do? Subscribe to our blog and leave a comment on today’s blog post. At the end of the week we will draw 5 winners who will each receive a $50 gift certificate to use on our Online store.
The first project I would like to share with you is from Karen Aicken. Karen used the Lots of Pops die to create the base of her card. She then decorated the card using different flower dies. I love this card as it is so elegant and detailed and I love how Karen used the flag pole die (included in the Lots of Pops die set) to create the fence! Very pretty!
Another very beautiful and elegant card. Helen Cryer used the Lucy Label Pop Up die for the base of her card and decorated the inside of the card using some of our smaller flower and leaf dies. As always, a perfect combination of colors and the little butterflies really finish off the card. The outside of the card is also really pretty, so make sure to check out Helen’s blog post!
Next project is from Raquel Mason. Raquel made this gorgeous glittery card using the Rose die and the Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and colored on top of the glitter. I love how Raquel used the rose die overlay to create her images. Again a very elegant card. Find out how to make this card on Raquel’s Blog!
There is something special about coloring on top op the Silk Microfine Glitter. I just love it!
Debra Hensley picked the perfect Peel-Off stickers for this technique and this month Flower theme challenge. She used her Copic markers on top of the Warm Diamond Silk Microfine glitter to color. Make sure to check out Debra’s blog for more wonderful projects!
A gorgeous card by Jackie Smith. I love the mix of colors. Jackie used Shimmer Sheetz for the leafs and the rose silhouette and Black Velvet Adhesive Sheets for the rose overlay. This is just the front of the card, wait until you see the inside! A must visit to Jackie’s blog!
Next project is from Kelly Booth. She made this gorgeous Accordion card using the Accordion Oval Card die, 2 of our oval Peel-Off stickers and the Rose die. I love the colors and the details on this card; the trellis behind the rose, the little bee and butterfly. Very pretty! The front of this card is also stunning so make sure to check out Kelly’s blog post for more pictures!
Frances Byrne made this wonderful card using the Katie Label Pivot Card die. Frances picked the Daisy die to create the flowers and the Bee die set to create the bee embellishments. The lace fan is a Peel-Off sticker and looks really pretty. Make sure to check out Frances’ blog post as well for more pictures!
Mary Prasad created this gorgeous Lots Of Pops card using our smaller flower dies to create a bed of flowers. The colors are absolutely beautiful! Mary is a professional photographer so make sure to check out her blog post for more stunning pictures!
Next project is from Rita Edwards. Instead of a card Rita decided to create this gorgeous vase with flowers! The vase is made of Shimmer Sheetz and for the flowers Rita used the Daisy die and Silk Microfine Glitter. A wonderful project! Check out Rita’s blog for instructions.
Last project I want to share with you is this beautiful box card from Candy Spiegel. Who doesn’t want to receive a box full of flowers! I love all the little details. Very pretty and colorful! The flowers and leaves are die cut out of Shimmer Sheetz and Velvet Adhesive Sheets.
Check out Candy’s blog post for instructions and more detailed pictures.
I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful projects created by our talented Design Team. Make sure to subscribe to our blog and leave a comment for your change to win a prize!
Next Designer Challenge is April 30th so hope to see you then!
It’s Kelly Booth here with a fun simple birthday card using some supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.
I was playing with some Shimmer Sheetz and the new Lots of Dots embossing folder. I used a piece of Blue Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz that I first embossed. I then sanded the dots and decided to color the dots with my Copics. I then used the Accordion Oval Card die and cut an oval from the piece for the backdrop for my glittery balloon Peel-Offs. The Shimmer Sheetz and the colored dots are so fun! And I just love the balloon Peel-Offs covered with the Silk Microfine Glitter and colored.
Here is the inside of the card using the Lucy Label Pop Up die By Karen Burniston:
I love the Silk Microfine Glitter so much and wanted to stamp a fun owl and make him all sparkly! So I stamped my owl on my regular paper and then put the adhesive sheet on top, peeled off the top sheet and covered it with Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and then colored him with my Copics before cutting the image out. I was pleased with the results. Oh and I had to had a little glossy accents to his eyes….they are both sparkly and glossy! I also used the Lots of Dots embossing folder for the inside and added some balloon Peel-Offs that I had covered with the glitter and colored with Copics.
Here are a few close ups:
I love The Elizabeth Craft Designs glitters and dies and Peel-Offs so much… I hope you have enjoyed this simple card with a few fun techniques! Have a great day!