Welcome to my blog! It’s still a work in progress, but I’m excited to get my first card tutorial posted.
My dogs, Jesse and Pixie are in my craft room cheering me on. They are so excited that they woke up at 4 am today to get working.
My name is Nel Thames and I am an Independent Stampin’ Up! demonstrator from north east Texas. I am excited to be a part of the cardmaking community and look forward to sharing my cards with you.
Do you send Halloween cards? I have young nieces and nephews (that’s where the Auntie Nellie comes from) that I like to send fun cards to, and this one qualifies as fun in my book.
I used the Bare Bones stamp and die bundle and the Them Bones designer series paper to create a wiper card. Mr. Skeleton moves across the card when the recipient pulls on the inside greeting. I had several choices of accessories for Mr. Skeleton and chose to dress him as a cowboy because, well, Texas!
I am a huge fan of punches because they’re so easy to use. I first decided which image I wanted to feature in the center section and “fussy punched” it by turning the punch upside down and centering my design before punching.
I used the Heartfelt Hexagon Punch to cut pieces of the Them Bones DSP and arranged them on the front card layer. I thought 7 would be enough, but I had some edges I wanted to cover, so I just used the punch to cut some small pieces for the side.
Once I had the arrangement the way I liked it, I adhered the hexagons with liquid glue to the front layer. I love how they fit together. I trimmed away the excess Them Bones DSP with paper snips.
Next I selected one of the large skeletons from the Them Bones DSP and die cut it with the Stampin’ Cut and Emboss machine. I also die cut the hat and boots from the Starry Sky cardstock and the teeny tiny kerchief from the Them Bones DSP centering the die on a teeny tiny bat.
I assembled the skeleton with his accessories and put him aside for now.
I adhered the front card layer to the card base with Stampin’ Seal. Now, I’m a liquid glue fan and I tried doing this with liquid glue, but let me tell you that cutting the notch from the front of the card with the hexagon punch trying to go through 2 layers of cardstock and a layer of DSP glued together is wayyy harder than cutting the same layers adhered with Stampin’ Seal.
I took two 1/4″ x 3-7/8″ strips and glued them together with liquid glue. I then glued the stacked strips to the inside of the card at the bottom between the score lines as a stop for the interior greeting layer.
Once I had the bottom stopper strips in place, I checked the basic black interior layer to make sure it wasn’t too tall. I placed the top edge even with the back of the card and made sure the bottom edge butted up against the stopper. It should fit very well, but if it doesn’t you can trim it down. Trim the white layer down as well if needed. The bottom won’t show, so you can trim them even if you’d like.
To cut Mr. Skeleton’s travel slit, I turned the card right side up and placed the edge of the card at 2″ on my paper trimmer. I used the ruler on the clear paper trimmer restraint to move my cutting blade to 1″, then pushed it into the card and cut a slit from 1″ down to 4-1/4″. Run the blade up and down this cut carefully 2-3 times with firm pressure to get through all layers.
I used the hexagon punch to cut a notch in the card on the “pull” side. I put the punch about 1/2″ deep and centered on the front of the card. Do not punch through the slit you just cut. You should be about 1/2″ from the slit.
Before stamping, I put the basic white greeting card layer behind the punched area and marked it lightly with pencil. Then I got to the stamping! I stamp the sentiment in Cajun Craze. I stamp 3 bats above the sentiment with Starry Sky without inking in between, then reinked and stamped the same bat 3 times below the sentiment. I chose to stamp the cat in Memento Tuxedo Black. When I was stamping I avoided stamping in the penciled notch area. Erase the pencil mark when your ink has dried.
I adhered the white layer to the black layer with Stampin’ Seal. You can see there’s a very small margin of black showing. I used a 1/8″ punch to make a hole in the center of the inside layer about 1/2″ in. I took the 5″ piece of Black and White Gingham ribbon, folded it in half and used my Take Your Pick tool to help feed the folded edge through the hole. I then took the tails of the ribbon and fed them through the loop and tightened carefully so as not to rip the cardstock. I took another piece of ribbon and tied a bow, then trimmed all ribbon ends at an angle.
I fed the window sheet through the slit from back to front and moved it all the way to the left side. I adjusted it so that none of the window sheet showed when Mr. Skeleton was placed where I wanted him on the front of the card, then I closed the card and trimmed the window sheet just short of the score line so it didn’t rub or catch when the inside card was pulled. I added 2 black mini dimensionals to the top of the window sheet and placed Mr. Skeleton on top.
I opened the card and used my silicone mat under the window sheet strip so I could apply Seal to the strip. I tried liquid glue, but it’s a bit more fiddly and I felt the Seal worked best. I verified the placement of my inner card then closed the top and adhered the window sheet to the inside card. I opened the card and folded the scored 1/2″ to the inside of the card and placed Tear & Tape on it. Then I put a light bead of liquid glue on the stopper strips. I removed the Tear & Tape paper, then closed the card so the inside was laying on the back, then folded the scored 1/2″ into the card touching the glued edge. adhere the card front to the strips and the 1/2″ scored fold.
My order of the glow in the dark bats and ghosts arrived after I did these photos so I used Classic Matte Dots in black on this one. I love that they actually glow in the dark but let me tell you they don’t photograph well. I put the embellishments on the card away from Mr. Skeleton’s path so he had an easy walk.
No card should be mailed in a naked envelope. I used a piece of Them Bones DSP and glued it to the envelope flap. I stamped Mr. Skeleton in Cajun Craze on the front of the envelope along with three Starry Sky batty friends.
Thanks for visiting my blog. If you have any questions, please contact me. I’d love it if you’d sign up to be notified when I make posts and for an occasional newsletter. Have a great day!
Product ListHost Code
May 1 – May 31: Host Code: KGRFRDQK
If you do not already have a demonstrator, I’d be honored to be your Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.
Use my host code when you order $50 (before tax and shipping) or greater and receive five (5) handmade cards and a variety of 6″ x 6″ double sided Designer Series Paper (a $20 value) FREE from me. You will also receive the monthly online tutorial. The May tutorial features the Adventurous Sky Bundle.
***Make sure that you can see my name, Nel Thames, on the final checkout page listed as your Demonstrator when you order so that you know that you’re ordering with me and you’ll get my rewards! If you forget to add the host code I am not able to add it for you due to privacy reasons. You can call Stampin’ Up! and requested that it be added. Thank you for understanding.
Cute card, great directions. Congrats on a wonderful start to your blog! Look forward to seeing more of your creations.
Thank you so much, Susan.
Such a cute card! Welcome to the World of Blogging! Find some Challenges for your cards. This one is so cute! Thanks for sharing great instructions.😊💖
Thank you so much, Shirley. I’ll look into challenges.
Congratulations on your blog and the great instructions. I’m at San Angelo. so Howdy from a fellow Texan.
Hello, fellow Texan. Thank you for checking out my blog.
Fun card and great directions! TFS! 😊
Thank you, Carol.
Such a cute card! Love the fun background and the skeleton that slides with the sentiment is awesome!! 🙂
Thanks, Amy.
So excited for you. You have done a great job
Thank you Glenda.