Fun Cat Card (The Craft Box Class, January 16)

No!  I absolutely DO NOT do cats.  But this design made me laugh out loud when I saw it!  So I just had to make one for my class at The Craft Box this month.
 

The die for the cat came from TEMU, and that's also where I saw the inspiration for this card.  I tweaked the TEMU sample card to add more color and an additional layer to my card.

This is a regular A2 card size (5-1/2" x 4-1/4" when folded).  For both the front and inside of this card, the first layer is 5-1/4" x 4" card stock, and the top layer is 5" x 3-3/4".

Before adhering the top layer (patterned paper) to the card I ripped it from the top diagonally about 1-1/2", beginning about 3/4" from the left edge, and then pulled that section downward.  Being careful to not get adhesive on the ripped portion, I adhered the patterned paper to the first layer on the card front.  Then I pulled the ripped section down so the straight edge was parallel with the right edge and secured it with a piece of foam tape.

To color the cat's eyes and nose, I secured a small piece of pink tape to the back of the die cut covering the nose; then added a piece of yellow tape to cover the pink tape and the eyes.  Then I flipped the die cut to the front and created the cat eyes by using a fine point Sharpie marker to add draw a vertical line in the centers.  I secured the cat's paws to the torn piece with liquid glue and popped up the rest of the cat with foam tape.  Finally, I punched the tiny bow from a small piece of card stock and adhered to cat as shown.  I also added a little glimmer to the bow with a Wink of Stella Glitter Brush.

I created the sentiment on my computer and punched it out with the oval punch, which I added to a corresponding scalloped oval punch before securing to the front of the card with foam tape.

Materials

* Fresh Freesia card stock (Stampin' Up!): 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" scored at 4-1/4"; scraps for scalloped oval and bow punches

* Old Olive card stock (Stampin' Up!): 5-1/4" x 4" (2 pcs)

** Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper: 5" x 3-3/4"

* Hammermill 80# Premium Color Copy Card Stock: 5" x 3-3/4"; small piece for oval

* Black card stock for cat

** Oval Punch and Scalloped Oval Punch

* Hanging Cat Die from TEMU

* Tiny Bow Punch from my stash (labeled Marvy Uchida)

* Wink of Stella Glitter Brush

* Pink and Yellow masking tape from my stash

** Retired Stampin' Up! products

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I do!!!

Cathy Hansen

One Totally Crazy Card Chick

Celebrate Love Card (Stamp Camp North 01-10-2026)

This was a fun card to make . . . just got the die set this past week and had to use it!  It's got lots of hearts on it, so depending on what sentiments you use, it could be used for Valentine's Day, anniversary, wedding, or even just a friendship card.

This die cut really makes the basic card simple to make.  All you need to do is cut a piece of 5-1/2" x 7-1/4" card stock, score it at 4-1/4", and then cut the curvy die cut from the short side (the larger side is the back of the card).  To complete the front of the card, cut a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" piece of card stock and glue it to the back of the front curvy flap.  For my card, I also embossed the front curvy flap before adhering the card stock.

The hanging hearts are also part of the die set, and when this piece is cut the inside hearts pop out.  So I glued the hanging part to the card and then glued the hearts back in.  I then added the leaves on each side of the hanger and finished with a double-loop bow at the top.

To finish the front, I stamped the sentiment on the smaller label, glued it to the mat label, and adhered it to the front of the card.  Since there was really no other dimension on this card, I didn't pop up the sentiment.

For the inside, I adhered a piece of 5-1/4" x 4" card stock to match the front, and then added a 5" x 3-3/4" piece of white card stock for the sentiment.  Then I used tiny dots of liquid glue to adhere the tiny hearts.

Materials

* 100# Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover Stock: 5-1/2" x 7-1/4" for card base; scraps for hanging hearts die and sentiment

* Stormy Sea card stock from PapertreyInk.com: 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" for card front; 5-1/4" x 4" for mat on inside

* 80# Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover Stock: 5" x 3-3/4" (inside)

* Succulent Cardstock Pack from The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby): scraps for leaves and sentiment mat on front and tiny hearts on inside

* White Baker's Twine for bow (TIP: If you don't have baker's twine, a good substitute is #10 white crochet cotton.)

* Die sets for the hearts/card base and the "washi tape" labels are both from TEMU

** Sprig Punch from Stampin' Up! (I had to look this one up -- I always call it the "antler punch" because it's been my go-to punch for reindeer antlers for years.)  I cut the piece in half so I could spread it out a little bit to fit on each side of the hanging hearts.

** Confetti Hearts Punch from Stampin' Up! for the tiny hearts on the inside

** Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

* Sentiment is from an unidentified stamp set in my stash.

** Mellow Moss ink from Stampin' Up!

** Indicates retired Stampin' Up! products.

I hope you enjoy this card -- an early celebration of Valentine's Day.

NOTE:  I'm starting on a collection of Valentine's Day cards for a friend of mine who buys many of her holiday cards from me.  I will post photos of the cards when the collection is complete.

Cathy Hansen

One Totally Crazy Card Chick

Fun Corner Fold Card (01-03-2025 Sassy Stampers Card Camp)

This is the second of the two fun fold cards we made at my tables at Sassy Stampers Card Camp in Berthoud yesterday.  Thanks to Connie Stewart (Simply Simple Stamping) for sharing this great layout!  Visit https://simplysimplestamping.com/corner-fold-card-making-tutorial/ to watch a video tutorial and download a free worksheet with all the measurements and a scoring/folding diagram for this design.  (NOTE:  I would post the diagram here for your convenience, but I'm kind of thinking it might be a little illegal to copy Connie's work here.)

Lift the bottom right corner of the "thinking of you" panel to reveal lots of room for a sentiment or personal note.

For my focal piece on the front, I punched out the flowers near the bottom of the 4" x 2-1/2" white card stock before stamping the sentiment and sprinkles.  Then I adhered the piece to the 4-1/4" x 2-3/4" mat and added round Starform glitter stickers in the centers of each flower.

We used several different colors of card stock yesterday to match different designs in the Designer Series Paper pack.  The specific materials used for the card pictured are:

* Fresh Freesia card stock (Stampin' Up!): 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" for card base; 4-1/4" x 2-3/4" (mat for  sentiment); 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" (mat for upper left corner on inside)

* Delightfully Eclectic 12" x 12" Designer Series Paper (Stampin' Up!): 8" x 6-3/4" for folded piece (see diagram at the site listed above); 5" x 3-3/4" (mat for white card stock on inside); 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" (patterned paper on inside upper left corner)

* 80# Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover Stock: 4" x 2-1/2" (sentiment on front); 4-3/4" x 3-1/2" (inside)

* Sentiment stamp from Sentiments Set (Art Impressions)

* Sprinkles stamp from Quiet Meadow stamp set (Stampin' Up!)

* VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink pad (Tsukineko)

* Confetti Flowers Border Punch (Stampin' Up!)

* Starform Black Glitter Circles (Stamplistic.com)

I hope you try this card.  Once you've seen the video you'll see how easy it is to make!!!

Cathy Hansen

One Totally Crazy Card Chick

Fun Fold Winter Card from Sassy Stampers Card Camp (January 3, 2026)

Happy New Year!!!

As promised yesterday at Card Camp in Berthoud, today I'm posting instructions/resources for the two cards we made at my tables.  Both are fun folds -- but EASY fun folds.  I hope you try them.

Here's the first . . . NOT a Christmas card, but definitely a winter card.  Because, after all, though the winter holidays are behind us, winter has just begun!!!

Many thanks to Laura Seki (Southridge Studio) for sharing this card layout.  It's a unique design and simple to make using Stampin' Up!'s "In the Grove" dies and whatever paper you have on hand.  Visit Laura's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile/100057390041769/search?q=in%20the%20grove to see a few of her ideas using this layout.

Since I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 20 years, I have a LOT of SU supplies hanging out in my craft room.  Most of the supplies used to make this card are now retired, but you can use this layout with pretty much anything you have on hand.

1.  For my card I first cut an 11" x 4-1/4" card base from 100# white card stock.  I scored and folded this piece at 5-1/2", and then used the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing folder to add texture to the card front before creating the birch tree opening with the In the Grove die.

2.  To make the inside card (see photos below), I cut an 8" x 5-1/4" piece of 80# white card stock and scored it at 4".  I adhered a 5" x 3-3/4" piece of Night of Navy card stock on the inside and a 4-3/4" x 3-1/2" piece of white card stock over that.  I then closed the card and added a 5" x 3-3/4" piece of Winter Meadow Designer Series Paper to the front.  Finally, I adhered this card inside the larger card made in Step 1 above.

3. To finish the card, I punched a 1-3/4"circle from Night of Navy card stock.  I then stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white card stock, punched it out with the Label Bracket punch, and adhered it to the Night of Navy Circle.

4.  The final touch was to add the sentiment and a sprinkling of snowflakes to the birch tree branches.  To do this, I applied tiny dots of liquid glue to the branches and placed the sentiment and the snowflakes onto the dots.  (This was the best way I found to adhere objects to the narrow branches without having excess adhesive that would glue the card closed.)

Materials:

* 100# Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover Stock (white): 11" x 4-1/4", scored at 5-1/2"

* 80# Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover Stock (white): 8" x 5-1/4", scored at 4"; 4-3/4" x 3-1/2"; scrap for sentiment

** Night of Navy card stock: 5" x 3-3/4"; scrap for circle punch

** Winter Meadow 12" x 12" Designer Series Paper: 5" x 3-3/4"

** Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder

** "In the Grove" dies

** Label Bracket punch

** 1-3/4" Circle punch

* Sentiment from "Chilled Out" by C.C. Designs Rubber Stamps

** Night of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

* Snowflakes from my stash (probably TEMU or Amazon)

(** indicates Stampin' Up! products)

Hope you enjoy this card design!!!  Up Next: A fun corner fold card!!!

Cathy Hansen

One Totally Crazy Card Chick

 

Happy Halloween!!!

A definite chill is in the air, and fall has moved in full-time!  Halloween is coming up in just a few days!  A friend of mine has purchased all of her Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day cards for her family from me for the past several years.  Although I sometimes procrastinate and end up pushing myself to finish them as the deadline approaches, I really enjoy making every one of them.

Below is this year's selection of Halloween cards.  (Click on images for closer look.)

 

Happy Halloween and Happy Fall to all!!!

Cathy  ;D

Cute Halloween Card

Howdy, folks!  I've been on hiatus for a LONG time, but now it's time to start posting some fall card ideas -- the holidays are almost upon us!!

My (almost) favorite fall holiday is Halloween.  To me that marks the beginning of the holiday season.  So my first project is this sweet card I kind of copped from the Unity Stamp Company website (unitystampco.com) where I bought the ghost stamp set.

I've made this card in a few of my recent classes because -- darn, it's cute!  And easy to make!

The pieces parts:

* Black card stock: 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", scored at 4-1/4" for the card base; 5-1/4" x 4" for the first layer on the front; 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" for mat behind sentiment

* Spider web patterned paper from my stash: 4" x 4"

* White card stock for stamping

* A little bit (maybe 1-1/2" - 2") of black string

To make the background, I first tore the 4" x 4" paper in half horizontally; then I tore each of those two strips in half.  I adhered the top and bottom pieces onto the 5-1/4" x 4" black card stock right up against the edges, and then kind of evenly spaced out the other two pieces.  Then I adhered the black card stock to the card front.

The ghost and trick or treat stamps are from Unity Stamp Co. ("Ghostly Bat Ensemble").  I stamped both images and then cut the ghost out on my Scan 'n Cut, and punched out trick or treat with my 1-3/8" square punch.  Popped both images up with foam dots, and then used glue dots to attach one end of the string under the sign and the other end over the ghost's arm.

I found these two cute Halloween greetings in my stash (no idea where they came from) and stamped them on 5-1/4" x 4" white card stock.  I then cut a piece of spiderweb paper (4" x 1") and adhered it along the bottom of the white card stock, and then adhered the card stock to the inside of the card.

Totally easy peasy card, right?!  I hope you try it!

Happy Halloween -- hope you have lots of cute little trick or treaters at your doorstep.  In my neighborhood I don't usually get too many of them, but the ones who came to my door last year were totally decked out in some of the cutest costumes I've seen.

Until the next time . . . 

Cathy :D

Announcing My Retirement from Stampin' Up!

After 20 years as a Stampin' Up! independent demonstrator, I have decided to call it quits.  Effective August 1, 2025, I will no longer be accepting orders for Stampin' Up! merchandise, and I've closed down my Stampin' Up! website.

NOTE that I'll still be teaching card making classes and participating in card camps.  (You can always see my current schedule by clicking on the Upcoming Events tab above.)

Also, since I have many other resources for my card making supplies, I now plan to post more projects on my blog, and perhaps resume my YouTube instruction videos for some of those projects.  (As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I was prohibited from mentioning products from competing companies on my website; now I can freely share all of my resources with you.)

Wish me luck in my new ventures -- in addition to my ongoing classes, I hope to start participating in craft sales again -- haven't had time for craft sales in many years and I really loved doing them!

Be sure to check back here and my Upcoming Events page now and again to see where I am teaching and where I am selling (hopefully).  It may be a slow process to break back into the craft sale business, but I'm going to give it a valiant effort.  I have WAY TOO MUCH crap . . . er . . . valuable crafting supplies . . . that need to be put to good use!

Until next time, keep on crafting!

Cathy