Book-style Card Box Measurements

Feel free to download / print these directions and measurements and use them.

Link back to the full tutorial...

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How to make a book-style card storage box

First, I have to give credit to The Efficient Crafter for the idea.  She made her box a little differently because she used patterned paper.  I used cardstock, so I didn't need as many layers for the box to be strong enough.  Also, to make my version you'll only need one 8.5"x11" sheet of Whisper White or Very Vanilla, and a half sheet of 12"x 12" of whatever color you choose for the outside, plus whatever you'd like to embellish with.

Score your 6"x 12" cardstock at 4 7/8 and 7 1/8.  This will form the outside.

To create the two inner pockets, cut a 3/4" strip off of the long side of a sheet of 8.5"x11", then cut the remaining piece in half to get two 7 3/4" by 5 1/2" pieces. 

You're going to make a slanted pocket that looks like this from the outside.  If you want the pocket to reach the top (it would look tidier), you'll need to cut two pieces that are 7 3/4" x 7" instead, but I thought this way would use less CS and once it's full of cards, it won't matter so much.

Score each inside piece at 1/2" and 1 1/2" in from two short sides and one long side...

Cut away the 1 1/2" squares at the bottom corners.

Measure up two inches from the bottom of one side flap on each piece and mark it.  If you're using paper that is the same on both sides, you don't need to worry about making the two pockets mirror images of each other, but I've shown it that way in case you're using a textured or patterned cardstock for yours.

At the 2" mark , make a cut straight across to the second score line.

Now comes the tricky bit... cutting the diagonal.  Turn your card stock along the cutting line from the top of your 2" flap to the top of the card stock where the next score line is... you can just make out the top one in my photo:

You should end up with something like this:

Red liner tape is a strong adhesive, put it (or something similar) along the inner edge of all the 1/2" tabs, like this:     

(Hint: If you're going to use Fast Fuse or an ATG, then you should wait until you're ready to assemble everything before putting adhesive on the tabs.)

Vintage Book Card Case

I made one of these card-carriers full of note cards for my kid's teacher last month, and liked it so much I wanted to make some more, so this is for a special someone who never forgets a birthday or special occasion.  Going to fill it with a little bit of everything; it will fit up to EIGHTEEN cards and envelopes if they are CAS, fewer if they have more embellishments.  I just LOVE how this came out!!!  

Colors:  Night of Navy, Very Vanilla
Framelits:  Apothecary and Timeless Tags
The embossed kraft card stock is Natural’s Composition Specialty Paper (retired).

Click here for a detailed photo tutorial. (better for beginners)

Click here for quickie printable directions & measurements. (for more experienced crafters)

Vintage Vanilla & Blushing Pink Bride All-Occasion Cards

These laser-cut cards were in the Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog a few years back and I finally opened the package!

This first one was embellished with Blushing Bride DSP and pleated ribbon as well as some Venetian Lace Crochet Trim.  I don't think it could get any more feminine if it tried!  I had to cut the card apart and trim it down a bit, then I used the die-cut panel as a card front and popped it up with lots of dimensionals.  I think the shadow of the die cut on the DSP creates lovely depth to this card, don't you?

This set of cards had some with floral die-cut hearts, and others with a lacy die-cut edge.   

I put a DSP behind the border with a pattern of Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip showing through the lace.  Inside there's a pattern of pink glitter on an ivory background.  The pink satin ribbon is held together with Fast Fuse, giving the front a little more interest and covering the seam between the papers on the inside.  One piece of ribbon goes all the way around the front of the card, then a second smaller piece is folded in half and adhered to line up with one edge.

I think you could use these cards for feminine birthdays, weddings or valentines; what would you use them for?

These cards were created for the Feminine Anything Goes Watercooler Challenge.  Check out the other great submissions here.

Clean & Simple Birthday Card

CAS cards are really my favorite sort to make.  Not a million things to coordinate and arrange, just let the designs of the stamps or papers shine and show their awesomeness!  I love monochromatic cards for this same reason; I won't struggle to get the color combination just so, because it's all blue and white, like Delft china or Wedgewood.

Remember the Top Note Die?  The original stitched edge die by Stampin' Up! Now they're all the rage again, but as Thinlets.  I heat-embossed the flowers from Just Believe in Whisper White, stamped the sentiment from Express Yourself in Night of Navy onto the classic shape cut from Marina Mist card stock.  Of course I used the MISTI to get everything where I wanted it... then a couple of glue dots and white butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit all topped off with two tiny self-adhesive pearls.

This card was created for the Happy Little Stampers July CAS challenge.  Click  to see all the fab creations!

Teacher-themed Card Carrier

I love my kids' schools. So. Much.  Their teachers are just wonderful and I love it when I can find time to make them a gift.   This year, instead of a plain-Jane box of note cards, I wanted to make a case that was just as cute and useful.  I'm glad I stocked up on this Fruits and Flowers DSP while it was still available; the apples with heart-shaped cores are so perfect for elementary-school teachers, don't you think?

Just a little bow to keep the holder closed provides a little embellishment 

without covering too many apples!

Rather than cover any of that adorable pattern, I put an inspirational quote from the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set on the spine of the "book".  I put some sticky strip on the seam between the white and patterned paper so the ribbon would stay covering it.

Inside I made some matching thank you cards and monogrammed note cards.

Also included a few that weren't so teacher-y...

The DSP coordinates with Calypso Coral and Gumball Green, the colored cards are Kiwi Kiss stamped in Old Olive.

Stamp sets:

     Thanks from Perfect Punches

     Swirls from Everything Eleanor

     Thank you from Lacy & Lovely

     Hello from Fresh Vintage

     Monogram from Lovely Letters

I'm going to post a tutorial for the card holder in a day or two.  Pretty quick to put together once I figured all the measurements.  Who would you make one for?

Edited: Click here to go to the full tutorial!

BS&J Take it or Leave it Stamp Off Challenge

Today we're playing along with my talented friends: Buffy, Susan & Jackie (hence BS&J).  Be sure to click the links and check out their creations!  My daughter and I both managed to incorporate ribbon and doilies, but I stopped her before she added cupcake images to the gorgeous card she had made!!  I reminded her that it's Take it or Leave it, so if there was no food, she was okay!!

I used a Stampin' Up! doily Thinlet on So Saffron CS, and glued a couple dozen scraps of Certainly Celery, Midnight Muse and Real Red behind it.  The center is embellished with a retired In-Color Adornment that I have always thought looked like candies, so that is my "food" element!!  The Chocolate Chip card base is embossed with a contraband folder by Tim Holtz and the little sentiment is from Lovely Little Labels (retired).  Most of my colors have food names, though celery with chocolate and saffron probably looks better than it tastes!

DD's card uses Papillion Potpourri and coordinating punch, doily stamp from Petal Potpourri, and sentiment from Chalk Talk (retired).  We both used the same Certainly Celery twill ribbon (retired).  Sorry for the shadows on her card... I'm going to say it's the screen, not that my windows need cleaning!

 Buffy

 Susan 

 Jackie 

Friends 4 Sketch Challenge

Darling Daughter played along with me again today because we ARE Crazy 4 Challenges!  What a great sketch this is!  I notice that the cards I've been making this week seem to use stamps from many sets, so I added the "challenge" that the card I made could only use ONE stamp set!   

Spring inspired me to choose Storybook Friends and this lovely Lost Lagoon DSP from the All Abloom stack.  The mat, ink and ribbon are Soft Suede and the card base is Crumb Cake.

DD liked the sparkle of this retired DSP and we paired it up with some Raspberry Ripple CS.

Serene Lagoon

You know that rare and wonderful feeling when you make a card and it looks just as good in your hand as it did in your imagination?  This is one of those cards for me.  I liked this week's sketch at Mojo Monday, and thought it would look great with the butterfly circle stamp from Serene Silhouettes.  Found a sweet little sentiment in the You're a Gem set that fit inside a circle stamp from Collage Curios... but what about a color scheme?  I had just gotten some cute paper from My Mind's Eye, and it is a near-perfect match to SU! Lost Lagoon and Calypso Coral... and here is the result.  Now to find a worthy recipient!!

Ribbon is Whisper White Taffeta, also from Stampin' Up!

Vintage Nature Walk

I couldn't resist this sketch I found in the Splitcoast Challenge Forum.  I used the Elegant Tag Punch and the Nature Walk, French Foliage & Flower Shop stamp sets.  Embellished with Rich Razzleberry ribbon and a gold-embossed R.R circle with a sentiment from Posy Punch.  Inks used: Stazon Timber Brown, SU! Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Early Expresso & Soft Suede.  Images colored with Stampin' Up! markers.  Happy spring Hello to my friends at Watercooler Wednesday!

Butterfly Thank You

I love this new two-layer buttterfly die I got on Amazon!  This time it turned into a vintage thank you card.

The embossing folder, ribbons, pearl and hardware are all retired Stampin' Up!.  Sentiment from the Postage Collection stamp set.  Embellishment on the right is layered Cuttlebug die cut, Basic Black on top of Very Vanilla.  The green CS is Mellow Moss.

CAS(e) 217 & LIM 324

This was a fun one!   I colored the flowers from Beautiful Bunch (retired) with SU!'s chalk pastels (also retired); why did they discontinue those?  I love the soft look, even if they are a little messy.  I used the coordinating Fun Flower punch (retiring soon!) to make a mask so the chalk didn't end up all over the front of the card.   Finally, MISTI to the rescue for that nice, straight sentiment! I never could get the Stamp-a-ma-jig to work for me.  Yes, it took a little patience, but without the MISTI it wouldn't have mattered HOW long or how careful I was, that sentiment would have been crooked and my card would have looked yuck.  Now, it's YILM!!

Created for the CAS(e) this Sketch and Less is More Challenges!

CAS Throwdown

Made this card for CAS Colours and Sketches #218 and this week's Color Throwdown...  All Stampin' Up! papers and embellishments, but no stamps!  gasp!  Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral and Green Galore.

My daughter wanted to try the Color Throwdown as well, so here is her card...

Less is More Color Challenge

Blue and brown - one of my favorite color combinations, and it's the theme for this week's color challenge at Less is More!  I used Crumb Cake & Early Espresso cardstock and heat embossed the image from Serene Silhouettes in Tempting Turquoise.  Sentiment from Petite Pairs.

To see the rest of the amazing CAS submissions to the challenge, visit the Less is More blog.

March Madness Blog Hop

Cool new ideas from some of my favorite Stampin' Up! demonstrators is my idea of some March Madness to get truly excited about!!  If you got here from Heidi's blog, I'm sure you agree.

My first contribution is inspired by the soon-to-be unavailable Sheer Perfection printed vellum.  I accidentally used retired Midnight Muse instead of current color Night of Navy, but I think you'll get the idea!!  I like the toile effect I got from stamping the Everything Eleanor flowers all over a sheet of vellum cardstock.  Since I adhered the vellum to the back of the card, there's no worries about it showing through - nice!  The sentiment from Lacy & Lovely is heat-embossed in white and one side of the punched oval is adhered to the card base with dimensionals.  The other side of the oval has no adhesive, it just overlaps the vellum flap to keep it closed.

Next, I tried rotating the card, and adding a little color to the back of the vellum with Stampin' Write markers.  I think I like this one a little better, how about you?

Finally, a thank you card for my son's Den to give to the Pack Committee Chair and Pack Master at their Blue and Gold Crossover banquet, created with the soon-to-be unavailable My Digital Studio software.  Farewell Cub Scouts, and farewell MDS!!

Click here to travel backwards to Heidi's blog.

Click here to travel forwards to Kath's blog.

Click here for the Hop Home Page.

Hacking your Clear Block Storage Case!

Make it easy to see immediately which block you need!  Since the Stampin' Up! clear blocks have the letters printed on the sides, it isn't easy to remember which is which when they're all neatly tucked away in their case, but I found a great solution to that as I was unpacking my last few new blocks.

Use the 1" circle punch on the letters from the packaging of each block.  I like the look of circles within circles, but if you've tossed the packaging or would prefer a different style, you could always stamp or print out the letters A to I and use any small punch you like.  

I ran all the little circles thru my Xyron to make them into stickers - now my entire case is labeled - EZ-PZ!  Since the blocks are clear, you can see the labels when the blocks are in place.  I love the case for traveling to crops and such - if all the spaces are filled, then I have everything I came with!

I also used My Digital Studio software to make a label to prettify and personalize the outside of my case.   The vinyl flower sticker is from the retired Definitely Decorative line.  Xyron machine to the rescue again in making this adhere so smoothly and completely.  It's been so long since this was put together, I'd love your suggestions for a new outside decor for the case... what do you think?