Aloha, all!
On Wednesday I showed you a fun variation on the traditional easel card. And, yes, if you haven’t seen a “traditional” easel card, I’ll be sharing one in a few days. Anyway, after I’d had so much fun making Wednesday’s Vertical Easel Card, I managed to come across yet another twist on the easel card idea. It’s a Diagonal Easel Card. I just saw the card and figured I could come up with a sample myself without instructions. And I did!
A Square Card That’s Simple to Make!
My vertical easel card started as a 5″ square card. I enjoyed looking at that square card so much that I decided to make today’s card square also. It’s another 5″ square, and that creates lots of room for decorating. Not only that, the diagonal design allows you to adhere the center element right onto the card front. There’s no need to create a base on which that element rests, which is what I had to do with the vertical easel.
Snail Mail – What Fun!
Do you see all the snails on this card?! I love that the snail stamp from the Snailed It Stamp Set is carrying an envelope with a heart – perfect for Valentine’s Day! There are even versions of that cute stamp printed on the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper set. I did managed to hide those two on this sheet of paper. But you can still see a bit of the heart-sealed envelopes in a couple of places.
I Couldn’t Resist Using Paper Pumpkin Elements
I have two thoughts when it comes to using Paper Pumpkin elements on projects I share here. One thought is, “Why share it when your readers can’t buy it?” That’s because, once a Paper Pumpkin kit is shipped, you can’t say, “Ooooh, I want this” and then go order it. It’s no longer for sale. The other thought is, “Maybe if they see how much fun these kits are they’ll subscribe!” It’s that thought I like best. I have been having so much fun with Paper Pumpkin kits lately, and I’d like you to have the same kind of fun. Of course occasionally I’ll see the promotional e-mails that all Paper Pumpkin subscribers get and think, “That’s not for me.” So I pause getting the kit for that month. I’ve only really regretted that move once.
There are three elements on this card that are from the January 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit. The first is the smaller of the snails on the heart. January’s Paper Pumpkin kit was Valentine Cards, and that snail was in the stamp set that shipped with the kit. So cute! She’s facing towards the right in the stamp, but I used a Silicone Craft Sheet to create a mirror image of the stamp.
The second element from the Paper Pumpkin kit is the “hi, valentine!” sentiment. I stamped that using Real Red Ink and then punched it out using the Classic Label Punch. Finally, I added some of the Blushing Bride Resin Hearts that I had left over from the kit. You can see one of them up in the right corner of this picture.
The Many Hearts Die Set
I’d loved the way that the hearts in my last easel card layered up to make a very nice center element. So back I went to the Many Hearts Dies set for this card as well. I die-cut the scalloped heart in Real Red Cardstock, and then added another print from the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper set. The snails were going to make the layer busy enough that I didn’t think I needed another layer.
I frequently forget to stamp the inside of my cards. By the time I finish a card front, I already have an idea for the next card and that’s where my attention goes. But, with the Easel-style cards, something has to go inside for the card front to rest against to keep it popped up, making an easel. So while I’m there, I might as well decorate.
For today’s card, I repeated the Heart-printed paper that’s in the background on the large center heart. But I wanted something a little bit frillier to go with this cute card. So back to the Many Hearts Die set I went. I cut out the very dainty string of outlined hearts to add to the printed paper. I found that the best way to attach the heart strip to the paper was to apply a strip of transparent tape to the bottom of the strip and then attach that to the back of the paper. The tape helps keep the heart strip steady as you’re attaching it. Then it keeps it in place on the paper – as transparent tape is supposed to do!
Finally the Stopper
You want something that’s solid and thick to act as a stopper for the easel card front. Those flimsy little hearts were not going to work. Then I found a little heart die in, yes, the Many Hearts Dies. It fit almost perfectly over one of the outline hearts. I added a Stampin’ Dimensional to the back of the heart and, voilà! A stopper that did the trick. Oh, and there’s another of those Paper Pumpkin resin hearts.
The Bottom Line
So much of what Stampin’ Up! makes for you to buy coordinates with other Stampin’ Up! products. Usually those products are all featured in a “suite” of products. But Paper Pumpkin is starting to do more and more to coordinate with current catalog products. In fact, the latest from the Paper Pumpkin creative crew is that they’re going to be doing more of this. It makes so much sense to me.
I was so excited to be able to use products from this month’s kit that went perfectly with a suite in the January – June Mini Catalog. Maybe you might think about signing up for a subscription. And don’t forget that the price of a subscription counts towards Sale-a-bration FREE products! I’ve added the various Paper Pumpkin Subscription kits in the slide show of products below. If you click a link it will take you right to my Stampin’ Up! store if you’re interested!
Happy Stamping!
