Father's Day pop-up box card

Today's share is this pop up box card I made for the hubs. Long-time followers will know my hubby is an avid fisherman. There are actually very few fishing themed craft products on the market in the grand scheme of things, so it's hard to come up with a new design each time I want to make him a card. I know many papercrafters/cardmakers struggle to come up with masculine designs, and if you want a specific theme, it's not always easy. This time, however, I had an idea and it turned out great. Hubs loves it, and that's what counts.

I used ten stamp sets and six die sets from four different companies (see product list below for links)! The papers are all by Carta Bella from The Great Outdoors 6x6 paper pad. I made a sleeve to hold it closed while in the envelope just using a strip of paper, nothing special for that.

Here is the whole card opened up. I added what I thought were tons of elements to fill it up, but there could actually be more if you wanted. Not just the little fisherman in his boat, but lots of water plants, fish, clouds, wood pilings, and if you look closely in the back there is even a pesky pelican! Where hubsy fishes, there are pelicans that always try to steal his fish and it drives him nuts. Hahaha!!!

I colored the outfit of the fisherman in colors that hubby wears and made sure he has a rainbow trout on the end of his line. Also, since he decided to go with a super short summer haircut, this guy looks like he really could be my hubby. *snicker*

On each of the flaps, I added a punny fishing/water phrase, plus the one above the fisherman of course.

Here you can see a little better how much "stuff" I stuck inside. These really are fun to make and the recipient is always amazed at your crafty genius! I've left a link below to a template with measurements, score lines, etc. that you can print and save for future reference if you'd like to try making one. And you really should. They are not at all difficult to make. You can do it!

Needless to say, hubby loved his card and still has it sitting out to look at all the fun little goodies inside. It makes me happy to know he enjoys my crafty projects as much as I enjoy making them. I hope you'll try this technique. And if you'd like to share, you can post a picture of your finished work on the Scrapendipity Studio FB Fan page! Hope to see you there!

Product List:
Pop up box card template, includes measurements and score lines (save and print)
My Favorite Things, Ocean Fun stamps (I'm hooked on you)
My Favorite Things, Owl My Love stamps and dies (clouds)
My Favorite Things, Mermazing stamps and dies (plants, mini fish)
My Favorite Things, Beach Buds stamps and dies (plants, fish, pelican, You're fintastic)
My Favorite Things, Gill Friends stamps and dies (plants)
My Favorite Things, Otterly Love You stamps and dies (jumping fish)
My Creative Time, Greatest Handyman stamps (Happy Father's Day)
My Creative Time, Find Joy in the Little Things stamps (fisherman in boat, To a reel great guy)
Lawn Fawn, Float my Boat stamps (You float my boat)
Lawn Fawn, Stitched Wave Borders dies
Paper Smooches, Surf and Turf stamps (wood pilings)
Carta Bella, The Great Outdoors 6x6 paper pad
Copic markers, clear acetate strips, glossy accents adhesive

Cruisin' - Installment 3, St. Kitts

Our excursion this day was the Circle Island Train Tour on the "last railway in the West Indies" along the coast of St. Kitts. It was a pleasant ride, made even more enjoyable by the rum drinks served along the way. LOL They make their own rum here, 180 proof, and serve rum punch everywhere you go. The rum is less expensive than the juice they add so they use a lot of rum! I'll save you the time of googling and tell you right now that 180 proof is 90% alcohol if you didn't already know this. Tasty!

There is still devastation to be seen from Hurricane Irma that has yet to be rebuilt or cleaned up. Sadly, some of the agricultural areas, such as sugarcane plantations, have been abandoned completely.

The railway took us across the volcanic slopes of Mount Liamuiga, crossing several steel girder bridges. From the train we could see the beautiful beaches and nearby islands of Nevis, St. Barths, St. Maarten and others.

At the end of the line, we transferred to a bus that took us to our catamaran where we were treated to a coastal sail past Brimstone Hill and small fishing villages with Mount Liamuiga and other volcanoes in the background. And, what do you know, they served us even more rum punch. It was a beautiful day and the water was perfect. Though I did not have a hat and ultimately sunburned my head. Haha!

View of St. Kitts from our cabin balcony after our shore excursions. It was a really magical day. Can I interest anyone in another rum punch!??

Thanks for visiting! I'll save St. Lucia for the next installment.

Cruisin' - Installment 2

This was our view of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, from our balcony on the ship. What a beautiful sight to wake up to. 

We even had time for a morning cocktail and some Yahtzee while we waited to disembark on our excursion for the day. When it was time to go, the waiter even put our drinks in to-go cups! Talk about service.

This day was our bus tour up the mountains and sky bucket ride back down. I have to say, I was pretty nervous about this one as I am NOT a heights person, nor do I typically enjoy hanging in a can up in the air attached to what might as well be a string in my anxiety filled recesses! LOL Mind you, if my sister had been on this one herself, the excursion itinerary would have been way different. I do not scuba dive and she does, I do not zipline and she does, and I'm not adventurous like she is. 

As we stopped at the view point for pictures, I had already (mostly) forgotten about my anxiety and just enjoyed the view of the island and our ship in port. Can you believe just how big the cruise ship is? Compare it to the other boats in the harbor, the buildings all around, and you can see it in all its magnificence! A small traveling city for sure.

Our bus driver and knowledgeable tour guide, Hajji. 

Magens Bay, from an overlook area, one of the stops our tour bus made for picture taking. 

Me and Kathy above Magens Bay taken from St. Peter Mountain Top. This is the largest gift shop, bar, and observation point on the island. You can see the British Virgin Islands behind us. And yes, we shopped a little. 

View of the Paradise Point Sky ride from a distance. 

View of the cars coming up the mountain from our car on the way down. 

View of the Charlotte Amalie shopping district from the ride above. You can see the back end of the ship (the stern, in boat talk) on the right side of the picture. St. Thomas is a small island, only about 50 square miles. 

The ship from the sky bucket coming down the mountain. I wasn't even terrified! Which is really saying something.  

Next installment: St. Kitts and St. Lucia

Let's Get Tipsy

For my sister. Wishing I could pop over to our fave Mexican restaurant by her house for happy hour!

I had fun making this shaker card with the Margarita shaker window and frame set by My Favorite Things. For the glass I used some heavy acetate from cutting pad packaging and colored it with a copic marker. I save that stuff for all kinds of things like windows, shakers and this glass. The sentiment is from the Spirited Sentiments set, also by MFT, and the Cheers die is by Paper Smooches. Oh, and the "salt" on the rim is Stickles, frosted lace. I love adding extra touches like that.

Not the best photos. I forgot to get pictures with my "real" camera except for these I took with my phone before sealing it up in the envelope.

Product List:
My Favorite Things, Margarita Shaker window and frame set
My Favorite Things, Margarita Shaker pouch
My Favorite Things, Blueprints 1
My Favorite Things, Spirited Sentiments stamp set
My Favorite Things, Party Patterns 6x6 paper pad
My Creative Time, Stitched Rectangle Frame die
Paper Smooches, Cheers word die
Copic marker, sequins, clear acetate, glossy accents, stickles

Cruisin' - Installment 1

Hey crafty friends! If you don't know yet, I recently returned from my first ever cruise, first ever trip outside the country, and let me tell you, it was wonderful! My sister and I spent 10 days in the Caribbean visiting the Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands. What a magical trip. 

Because I live nearly 3 hours from the airport, hubs and I had to leave the house by 5:15 to make my morning flight out of Spokane. Thankfully, I am able to sleep on the plane. I first flew to Phoenix, then the Dallas/Ft Worth, then on to Fort Lauderdale, where I arrived about 10:30 p.m. Monday night, April 30. I just wanted to go to bed. My sister arrived almost 3 hours later, yes, 1:30 a.m., after flying from San Diego to Atlanta before arriving at Fort Lauderdale. We did not make our own flight arrangements, this was done by the cruise line. Not sure we'll do it that way again, but in the end it worked out. Anyway, we stayed up all night playing Yahtzee in the airport, with nothing open, so no food or even coffee, until 6:30 a.m. Our cruise peeps finally arrived around 10:30 a.m. (yep - I had been there for 12 hours!!!) with our passes/transfers and everything we needed to get to the ship. Oh, but guess what....I wasn't on her list! Seriously?! Thank goodness I had all my documentation from the cruise site in hand which put me immediately onto her list. Whew.

We left the Fort Lauderdale airport by bus and arrived at Port Everglades the morning of May 1. The Caribbean Princess was waiting for us all huge and pretty. Embarking was cool - I got to skip all the lines as I was traveling with my sister who is an Elite member and gets fun extra perks! Two thumbs up for that. We left Port Everglades for Princess Cays around 4:30 that afternoon. It was awesome.

This is the first picture I took on board as we waited for everything and everyone to get underway. We had lots of time as we boarded early due to Kathy's Elite status. Much of our time spent aboard ship was spent playing Yahtzee and drinking mimosas. Because that's what you do when you're at sea. And we're fancy.

The pilot boat guiding us out of port.

Sleeping on the ship was amazing. I loved the gentle rocking of the ocean and the bed was SO COMFORTABLE!! Plus our stateroom had a balcony so we could take our dice and drinks out there in the evenings on nights when it was cool. These pictures do not do it justice, believe me. And that blue....that is not a blue wall, that is the water. Also, we had a fridge, bar and two big TVs in there, plus a full bath and closet. Yeah. Nice.

              

We had signed up for two excursions our first day, in Princess Cays, Bahamas. The first was a glass-bottom boat tour, which was pretty cool, although the glass bottom was too cloudy to get any pictures of the cool fish and many kinds of coral we saw. It was fun though. 

This is the Caribbean Princess from the beach at Princess Cays.

We found this table at a beach side bar where we decided to have a few drinks while we waited for the second excursion to begin. Turns out it was cancelled due to weather - it began pouring rain so we were glad we had this spot to chill and wait it out till it was time to go back to the ship.

These guys played great music. They did a lot of 70s stuff and they were really good.

Our next day was at sea while we headed for St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Come back later for Installment 2.

You're the balm!

I created this card/gift using lots of fun products by My Favorite Things (see list with links below). For the background panel, I used the Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 2, Party Patterns 6x6 paper pad, and My Mind's Eye Breeze 6x6 paper pad.

Starting with the Meant To Bee stamps and dies I cut several hives, layering them to give them dimension, then adhering with foam tape before adding the adorable bees. I put together the sentiment from the Sending Smooches stamp set.  

The lip balm window and frame dies create the opening for the lip balm and the pouch holds it in place. On the back (inside the card) I used the tear strip die to create an opening to remove the lip balm without tearing the whole card apart.

Hope you enjoyed today's project!

Product List:
My Favorite Things, Meant to Bee stamps
My Favorite Things, Meant to Bee dies
My Favorite Things, Sending Smooches stamps
My Favorite Things, Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 2 dies
My Favorite Things, Blueprints 1 dies
My Favorite Things, Rip Strips dies
My Favorite Things, Lip Balm frame and window dies
My Favorite Things, Lip Balm pouch
My Favorite Things, Party Patterns 6x6 paper pack
My Mind's Eye, Breeze 6x6 paper pad
Foam tape, copic markers, Burt's Bees lip balm