Castle Shaped Pop up Slider Card Tutorial by Dr Sonia

At ItsyBitsy we are keen to support talented and passionate crafters which is why we have introduced the Professional Crafters Club (PCC), an invitational only scheme for amazing crafters who have been supporting our store for a long time. In 2013, we want to showcase the work of these talented women and will be inviting a new PCC member each month to GD for our blog. And who better to start off with than the matriarch of Craft Blogging in India - Dr. Sonia of Cards and School Projects. Welcome aboard and over to you Sonia!

Pop up Slider castle card

Hi friends this is Dr Sonia from Card ,Crafts & Kids Projects and I am so thrilled to be Guest DT for ItsyBitsy my favorite Craft Store!! When Sunehra informed me about the theme of Weddings and Celebrations, the only celebration that I felt I could do justice to was Birthdays since at this stage in my life what we celebrate the most is my daughter's birthday.Princesses , Castles ,Pink and Purple are in vogue with my kiddo right now and the new birthday party demand is invitation cards!

Pop up slider card

I made this pop up slider card in the shape of a castle.The central fort of the castle can be pulled up to reveal a space to write the Invitation and party details.

Castle shaped slider card

Sharing how to make a Castle Shaped Pop up Slider Card.[Click on the pictures for an enlarged detailed view]
Materials Required
This is an easy card to make which does not require any fancy tools.
Basic Supplies
Card Stock -Sturdy card stock is a must.Handmade paper will not give as neat an effect in this slider card.
Craft-knife, Scissors,Scale
Cutting mat  [or kitchen cutting board]
Double Sided Foam tape,Glue
If you want to jazz it up a bit..

Big Shot /Other Die cutting Machine
Embossing folders : I used Itsy Bitsy spots folder and Itsy Bitsy swirls.
Dies : to make the castle door [ I used Itsy Bitsy Venetian Panels die] and domes [Scallop circles]
Punches : Square

Materials Required

Measurements are not really important for this type of card but to make things easier giving approximate measurements.
You need card stock for the front, base and slider piece.For the front of the castle card...take half of an A 4 card [or 6 x 8 ^1/4 ]

Pop Up slider Card

Use a ruler and craft knife to cut 2 vertical lines from either edge leaving at least 1 inch from the top and bottom edge as shown.Join the 2 vertical cuts horizontally at the lower ends as shown in the slider tutorial

Pop Up slider Card

Score horizontally to join the upper ends of the vertical cuts or use a scale to fold up the flap as shown.Fold down this flap in half as shown.

Pop Up slider Card

The front of your slider card will look like this now. Take a slider piece of approx 

 8 ^1/4 x  2 ^½ inch and fold up one edge[approx 1/2 to 3/4 inch] 

Pop Up slider Card

This step is optional: I wanted to make my slider a castle fort so chopped off rectangles 1/2 x 2 inches from the top edges as shown

Pop Up slider Card

Attach the lower folded tab of the slider to the back of the vertical cut flap as shown.

Pop Up slider Card

If you plan to emboss your card front do so before attaching the slider pieces.[ I used the Itsy Bitsy spots folder]Keep the lower part of the central vertical flap un-embossed  by keeping it outside your embossing folder as embossing tends to weaken most cardstocks and you want the central flap sturdy!

Pop Up slider Card

For  the Pop up piece ..you can stamp, quill,draw or cut out a castle shape like I did. From a 4 x 5 inch pearl pink card stock I marked 1 inch from either edge and chopped off 1/2 x 2 inch rectangles . Further chopped off a part of the central rectangle to get my castle shape..do whatever appeals to you!

Pop Up slider Card

To further decorate your pop up castle..do whatever you fancy but dont make it too bulky or your castle wont stand up well! 

Pop up Castle

 I used the Itsy Bitsy Venetian Panels die to cut a door in my castle and then embossed it  using the Itsy Bitsy spots embossing folder.For the domes ,I die cut scallop circles , which were embossed with the Itsy Bitsy swirls.

Pop Up slider Card

The glue dots came in handy sticking the domes to the castle[ you need a bit of  patience if you use regular glue on embossed card stock!]

Pop Up slider Card

Punched out squares on a 1 inch width pearl card stock to make my castle accents which were stuck to the castle with double sided foam!

Pop Up slider Card

Stick on the castle to the front of the lower half of the central flap

Pop Up slider Card

On the back of the castle card stick double sided foam tape on the lower edge and sides as shown.Leave enough gap near the central flap so that your slider can move freely.Stick it to a same size or larger base card.

Castle shaped card

Do not stick too tightly as you need a bit of gap between your base and top card for the slider to move freely.

Castle shaped card 

I used Itsy Bitsy glitter strips generously in this card and my daughter loved the pastel shaded Boutique collection butterflies. 

Castle Shaped Card and Box

We also made Castle shaped party favor boxes to go along with our castle shaped cards.You can make the castle cards as simple or as elaborate as you want...I hope you will find this tutorial helpful.

The MARVELOUS ItsyBitsy Foam Punch

ItsyBitsy has a new range of punches which punch foam and card stock. They are really quite marvelous because they punch out crisp and clean outlines which work wonderfully for any craft project. I've just done a new video demonstrating how this works and you can see first hand how well they work.

There are about 20 awesome foam punch designs available at the store. Remember they also work well with card stock. Plus we also have a fabulous range of foam sheets which you can examine as well. 

Have you created anything with foam? Leave a comment with your link. We would love to check it out!

A Masculine Card

Crafters! A few submissions are trickling in for our Weddings and Celebrations Challenge - glad to see the awesome entries and looking forward to more glamorous and gorgeous creations.

My topic for today is masculine cards. A friend of mine is celebrating his birthday and I figured I would make a card when I realized that masculine cards are not the easiest feat. We're constantly jazzing up our creations with flowers, butterflies and bows so we find ourselves stumped when we need to create something for a guy. Fortunately ItsyBitsy has some awesome embellishments that can make such a project a breeze.

A good starting point is the color scheme. Obviously we should avoid pinks and lavenders. I went with this blue background and added a lovely striped pattern paper to the center. I created the background crisscross design by manually cutting and glueing strips of paper to replicate a lattice feeling. Finally I used these uber cool black chipboard embellishments for the diamond border and the gorgeous sentiment. I couldn't resist a little bit of ribbon and that's what the ruffle at the two corners is about.

Then comes the most important part - step away from the card! If you're like me you just can't stop embellishing so I forced myself to just get up and walk off. The card is ready and I think I've achieved my objective - to create a masculine card.

Have you created a masculine card? Would love to see it, leave a comment with your link and I will be coming over very soon. 

Supplies used:

Chipboard Sticker

Cafe Mediterranean Matstack

Pearl Card Stock

Grosgrain Ribbon

Stripy White Card stock

Kraft Bags, Doilies and What Not!

ItsyBitsy is bursting with exciting new products and I've been itching to blog about it. Firstly a few weeks ago, they launched these Kraft Bags which are really economically priced, well made and come in a variety of sizes. Then a week ago, they introduced paper doilies intricately designed and available in 5 awesome sizes. Finally they've rolled out these amazing foam punches - Now punch craft will take on a whole new persona with crafters able to punch foam, paper and card stock with equal EASE! Here's a little project I made incorporating these amazing elements!

I started with a Kraft paper bag and proceeded to add a doily to the top and bottom. Then I went all out with the embellishments - some beautiful boutique elements flowers, punched butterflies using the new foam punch and scores of little crystals. For the center band, I used the ItsyBitsy Lace Die, threaded some satin ribbon through it and filled the center with a glitter foam butterfly using ItsyBitsy's butterfly Die. The scallop and straight ovals are all cut using ItsyBitsy's Thin Cuts dies. Here's a close up of the embellishment.

The Kraft Bags start from just Rs. 15. The bag I used above is 12" by 7.5" and goes for this rate. The largest bag is 18" by 14" and costs Rs. 39.

The Paper Doilies come in sets of 6 starting from Rs. 29 a set. For this project I used one 5.5" doily and one 8.5" doily, each cut in  half for both sides of the bag.

For this project, I used the Butterfly Foam Punch which retails for Rs. 299. It works well with both foam and card stock. I will shortly release a demo video to show how well it works.

And here is a list of all the items I used for this project:

8.5" Doily

Satin Ribbon

Butterfly Foam Punch

Pink Pearl Card Stock

Kraft Bag

Purple Glitter Foam

Rhinestones

Tye Die Gypsies

Boutique Elements

Plum Jeweled Florettes

5.5" Paper Doilies

A Craft Contest for Young Crafters

At ItsyBitsy, we are keen to support all forms of craft. Starting this month we will be rolling out a monthly contest for young crafters. Simply create anything you like within the guidelines that follow, then enter it into our month-long photo contest on Facebook and get your Facebook friends to vote. We will select 2 winners - one will be the audience favorite and the other will be judges pick! Both winners will receive a fantastic gift basket from ItsyBitsy. 

Here are the guidelines:

1. The project should be made by someone below the age of 13. Parents and guardians are welcome to assist but the project should be made by a young crafter.

2. The photo can be submitted either by the creator themselves, or if they don't have a Facebook account, by their parents, guardians, siblings etc. 

3. You can enter up to 3 creations.

4. You can make anything you like as long as any 2 of the following general craft items are incorporated somewhere in the project:

- Pipe Cleaners

- Pom Poms

- Feathers

- Craft Sticks

- Google Eyes

- Glitter

Click here to view the contest on Facbeook

Looking forward to seeing your fabulous entries!!!

Winners and Finalists of The ItsyBitsy Two's Company Challenge

Crafters! We are happy to say that we have completed evaluating and assessing the submissions for our December challenge. As you know the theme was to make a pair of coordinating projects and we had 67 awesome entries. We have selected our winners and finalists keeping in mind that the key word in our criteria is 'TWO'.

So without further delay, here are the winners! Dr Sonia for her lime and orange photo frame box set and Sindhu for her baby blue photo frame and easel drawer card set.

Sonia

Sindhu

Congratulations Sindhu and Sonia, you both win a voucher worth Rs 1000 from ItsyBitsy.

And on to our finalists. Here are our favorites in no particular order:

Kavitha

Hussena

Tanvi

Manu

Chandana

Shalini Pahwa

I know you all join me in congratulating all the finalists and winners. Your creations are stunning and the your success is well deserved!

Winners please write in to info@itsybitsy.in for your vouchers and badge

Finalists please write in to info@itsybitsy.in for your badges

Looking forward to another crafty year with all of you. Hope you're already getting started on our Weddings & Celebrations Challenge - can't wait to see what you come up with!!

The ItsyBitsy Weddings & Celebrations Challenge

It's the 1st day of 2013 and at the onset here's a Hearty Happy New Year from the entire team over at ItsyBitsy. May you have a prosperous, blessed and of course CRAFTY New Year!

Our next challenge which will run through the first month of 2013 will be Weddings & Celebrations. We wanted to give all you talented crafters out there a chance to be decadent, indulgent and lavish with your creations so don't hold back - make the lusciously embellished creations you've been itching to create. Here's what I've created as inspiration - hope it gets your crafty fingers itching to get started!

I'm sure you will agree that ItsyBitsy is the ultimate source for flowers and embellishments and I have gone to town with them on this project with flowers, pearls and glitter. Plus we have also recently launched lace doilies at an unbelievable price and I've used one as a prop in this photograph just to give you a hint of what's available. Watch this space for more ideas in the next few days.

Here are your challenge rules:

• Your submission can be a card, box, tag - anything as long as it fits the theme 'Weddings & Celebrations.
• The contest closes at midnight on 31st January 2013.
• In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the bottom of this page, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission.
• Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries. 
• Participants can withdraw entries at any time before the contest closes by deleting their own submission.
• Submitting old projects is not permitted. All submissions have to be created after 1st January 2013.
• In your blog post, create a link back to this page - The ItsyBitsy Weddings & Celebrations Challenge.
• 2 winners will be selected and will receive a voucher of Rs. 1000 each, redeemable online at www.itsybitsy.in.
• In addition 6 finalists will be selected all of whom will receive a badge to display on their blog. 

And with that I shall sign off! Looking forward to seeing your masterpieces and once again Happy New Year!