Z-Fold Gift Card Holder with Digi Doodle Studios for Coffee Lovers Blog Hop + Video Tutorial

Good morning friends! Aaah! It sounds like a great morning for coffee, doesn’t it?! Well it sure does to me anyway! Today, my post is all about coffee…so grab yourself a cup, sit back and enjoy!

I’m so excited today to share my post with you because Digi Doodle Studios is a first-time sponsor for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! There are lots of fun coffee themed products in the store and I’m thrilled to be sharing some with you today:

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Isn’t she just adorable with coffee in hand?! This image is called “Ginger” from Digi Doodle Studios and I’ve got her all-colored up front and center of my Z-Fold Gift Card Holder.

If you have ever made a Z-Fold card, then this is something with a little bit of extra added fun with a gift card holder pocket on the inside, plus you can see how the card nicely displays on the front which is perfect for popping into an envelope to mail out to your coffee loving friend!

The papers that I’ve used for this work perfectly with the theme today which are also from Digi Doodle Studios called Coffee Break Digi Papers. (I love that I never have to worry about running out of my favorite pattern!!) There are also several sentiments from Digi Doodle Studios used on my project called Coffee Anyone Sentiments.

*If you want to see a video with detailed instructions on how to make one of these Z-Fold Gift Card Holders along with a sharing of the full collection of the digital papers that I’ve used on my project, check out the video below or CLICK HERE to view it on You Tube:

This is such an easy and fun project to put together especially for the up-coming Holidays, but as you can see this is very neutral so that I could easily use it for most any time of the year.

Here’s a closer view of “Ginger” and how I’ve colored her up with Copic markers. Of course, if you know me, I had to add a bit of sparkle somewhere. I took a glitter brush pen and added some sparkle to her pink bow, the heart on her coat and the lid and flower on her coffee cup.

I die cut her out with a stitched rectangle die and then layered a piece of brown cardstock die cut with a scallop rectangle die. For the around the edges of the image panel as well as the other sentiments I printed out, I sponged some Tea Stain Distress Ink around the edges. The sentiment were cut out with a stitched circle die and then layered with a piece of brown cardstock cut with a scallop circle die.

To keep the image panel in place, a foam dot was used at the bottom panel so that when you pull up on the flap it opens up:

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And this is what is so fun, is that when you flip up the front panel, you see how it opens up with the fun coffee sentiments inside and the surprise gift card holder at the top!

I have an urge to go to Starbucks now! LOL!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my fun Coffee themed project today as well as the video tutorial on how to make one yourself! I’d love to see yours if you make one! If you have any questions about anything, please let me know!

Now to sip on some more coffee and join in on all of the coffee inspiration today! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop – Anything Coffee/tea/cocoa/cider related.
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC245 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
As You Like It – Favorite Papers and Why? – Digital papers because I never have to worry about running out of my favorite pattern and I don’t have to worry about storage!

Sparkles for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Today starts a new challenge for Cute Card Thursday! The theme for this week’s challenge is “Sparkles“. Usually when I think of sparkles, I usually think of Christmas or snow, but this time I went in a different direction for a reason…

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Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy type of card this last weekend and it seems that I’m always making one as I need them instead of making several up at one time so that they’re ready and on hand when the time comes.

This is an older stamp set from Stampin’ Up! that I got a few years back during their Sale-a-bration time and it was a free set called “Heartfelt Blooms“. I actually really love the floral image and how detailed the image is so that you don’t have to color it if you don’t want to. It has been my “go-to” lately when I need something quickly.

I made it monochromatic green with the Old Olive color and Vanilla cardstock. The “sparkle” is that beautiful glitter paper behind the strip and sentiment. The sentiment was cut from oval dies and popped up with foam tape.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my simple card with sparkles today!

Thanks for dropping in and I’ll see you soon my friends!

Challenges:

Use Your Stuff – Tic-Tac-Toe (I used bottom row across)
Creative Moments – Anything Goes with optional: For the girls
Through the Craftroom Door – Anything Goes

Oak Tree Boy Hanging Onto Fall

Hello friends! I hope that you’ve enjoyed the weekend and having a great start to your week so far! Right now the weather guy is saying that we could reach freezing temps on Halloween night! About 3 weeks ago we were still in hot temps and then ran right into this cold weather! I wish I could’ve had a couple of days to open windows and it doesn’t look like I’m going to get that! I’m trying to hang onto the Fall Season for as long as I possibly can!

Speaking of Fall, I have this really sweet image from Whimsy Stamps to share with you today! He’s literally hanging on a tree limb for Fall!

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This adorable image is one from Syliva Zet for Whimsy Stamps called Oak Tree Boy and I have him and his little bird friend all colored up in Autumn colors!

I knew I wanted to grab the papers from the Whimsy Stamps Rustic Wood and Brick digital paper collection, so I grabbed some more plaid papers from my stash and layered it with some gold mirror cardstock that I’ve also used for the scalloped circle layer behind the image. I attached some seam binding ribbon around these layers and added them to a 5″ square kraft card base.

I took some sparkly Prima leaves from my stash and glued them on before adding the circle image panel with some craft foam behind it. I glued on the seam binding bow and then I took the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments and white heat embossed it over a piece of grey cardstock. I then cut it out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set and attached it over top of the image panel.

Lastly, I added a few sequins and filled the centers with some Nuvo Glitter Drops.

Here’s a closer view of the image and how I’ve colored him in! For the “bells” on his hat and the little bird’s hat, I colored them, but then they were covered with a glue pen and some clear loose glitter. I took my Copic colors and did little “dots” (pointillism technique) around the image. I did this with a gold gel pen as well.

You can view the Copic markers that I’ve used on my creation below:

Boy’s Outfit – YG97, YG95, W5, W3, W1, E43, E40, / Shoes & buttons: E87, E84
Boy’s Hair – E47, E44, E42 / Skin: E21, E11, E02, E00, E000, R20, R00
Bird – E77, E74, E70, R20 / hat: YG97, YG95, W3, W1
Ladybugs – R29 and black pen
Bells on hats – Y28, Y26
Leaves – YR27, YR24, YR21, Y38, Y35
Acorns – E35, E33, E31
Tree Limb – E27, E25, E23
Pointillism and shading – E43, E41 and gold gel pen

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my my little Autumn card today and were inspired or at least brought a smile your way!

Thanks so much for dropping in today! I enjoy hearing from you, so please say hello and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges:

The House That Stamps Built – Fall Colors Inspiration Palette
Stamping Sensations – October Trees/Leaves/Autumn
{Cupcake Inspirations} – CIC481 Fall
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes #479
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #368
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes #173
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1942 Anything Goes

Sending Snail Mail Hugs

Hello friends! Yippee! It’s finally “officially” Fall now! (According to the calendar anyway.) We are very slowly starting to get lower temps at least in the evening time anyway. I’ve gotten out my Fall decorations and I’m ready! How about you?

Today I have a very sweet image from Whimsy Stamps to share with you:

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Awe! I wouldn’t normally hug a snail, but I must say, this one is SUCH a cutie don’t you think? This digital image is called “Love You Slow Much” from Whimsy Stamps-Sylvia Zet’s Wee Stamps Collection which was previously released as a rubber cling stamp. So now you can have the option of choosing the digital or the rubber versions!

Of course, with Fall having started, I was really inspired to create with this cutie in some orange, yellow and tan toned colors! With the exception of that blue bow tie on the snail, I’ve colored it differently as I think that makes him really stand out especially for dispensing hugs…or perhaps receiving them! 🙂

I’ve cut out the image with a stitched circle die and then die cut another larger circle in the orange color to mat behind that. I’ve taken a piece of decorative paper from my stash with the wording and added some stitch marks along the edge of it with a black marker and then mounted it to a piece of white cardstock. I wrapped some white organdy ribbon around these two pieces and mounted it onto an orange 5″ square top folding card base.

I took another piece of orange cardstock and die cut a tag out from an older Whimsy Stamps die that I have and then I stamped the “hugs” sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set towards the bottom of the tag and added it to the bow on the ribbon. Lastly, I took some flowers and attached them around the card design.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done on this image and used the following Copic markers:

Snail Body: W7, W5, W3, W1, R00
Snail Shell: E35, E33, E31, E30
Snail Bow Tie: B26, B24, B21
Fairy’s Dress, Hair Flowers, Shoes, Wings: YR07, YR04, YR02, BG000, C7, C5, C3
Fairy’s Hair & Skin: E47, E44, E42, E41, E21, E11, E02, E00, E000, R20
I used BG000 and E0000 for around image and shadows
I’ve also used a gold gel pen for the center of the flowers in her hair and over the tiny marks behind her wings. I’ve used a white gel pen for highlights in the Fairy’s cheeks as well as highlights on the snail’s shell. I took a glue pen over her wings and added some clear glitter over them.
I’ve also used a Copic marker (unsure of color) to color a rhinestone for the center of the orange flowers.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today and that it has inspired you in some way!

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I always appreciate your support! I’ll be seeing you soon!!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card in:

Creatalicious – Anything Goes with optional circles
Stamps & Fun = Creativity – Anything Goes
The Paper Girls – Anything Goes
The Fairy & The Unicorn – Fantasy Anything Goes
Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #364
Creative fingers – Anything Goes
Always Fun – Cute Critters

Triangle Corner Pop Up Card + video tutorial!

Today I’m sharing the Triangle Corner Pop Up Card. I have actually received several messages and comments that people wanted to see a video tutorial on how to make one. So I thought I would come up with a version that I could share to show the many different variations that you can come up with and the fun you can have with it!

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This style is a much more elegant approach which is much different than a past creation I put together. I love that you can change the look and have fun playing with different stamps and elements to fit inside the design!

For this one, I have taken the Rose and Butterfly stamp sets to stamp and Copic color. I fussy cut out the images on my design. I’ve used Jurassic 100# and White 100# cardstock. The decorative paper is from the Rustic Florals paper pad. I stenciled the bottom of the Jurassic panel with a stencil using some Unicorn Horn Glitter Glaze. Both of the rose images along with the small heart circle on the easel card were popped up with some foam tape.

For the circle easel design, I’ve cut out a scallop circle with the white cardstock in the size that I thought would fit within the design. Then cut the body of the card with other circle dies in the Jurassic cardstock and then the front with some more of that Rustic Florals paper that I’ve used in the background. The sentiment below the butterfly and the hearts on the small circle were stamped from same stamp set. All of the white panels (with the exception of the scallop circle) was ink foam blending with some grey distress ink. To keep the card “locked” in this position, I’ve used the Mini Disc Magnets.

If you are interested in learning how to create one of these cards for yourself, then please be sure to check out my video below. CLICK HERE to view on You Tube.

These cards can look really intimidating, but once you see the measurements of how to put one together, they’re really easy and fun to make!

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Here’s what the card looks like completely opened up. You can see on the left bottom panel that I’ve taken that rose from the stamp set again and stamped it in the corner with some grey ink after ink foam blending around the edges of it. This will be the area that I’m leaving for a personal message.

To fold it down to a 4″ square card that’s close you will start by folding down on the top and then fold it over from the right side to the left. This will completely close it up.

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Here you can see that the card is completely closed to a 4″ square size minus the rose leaves sticking out which I don’t mind.

I took another panel of the Jurassic cardstock for the front of the card and sponged around the edges of it with the white Ink and then also stamped the rose again in the corner of it. Because I had several dimensional and extra layers on this card, I had to use a ribbon to tie it together to help it stay closed up. You might need an envelope that is slightly larger than an A2 envelope, but if you use less layers and dimension, it should fit in an A2 size envelope.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my interactive card and tutorial today! Thanks so much for dropping in with me!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Cardz 4 Galz – #103 Wings
Crafty Cardmakers – It’s a Bug’s Life
Through the Craftroom Door – Anything Goes
Try it On Tuesday – In my Garden there is….

Oceans of Love for Digi Doodle Studios

Hello again my friends! I’m back to share this card I made using this adorable image from Digi Doodle Studios:

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Isn’t she adorable with her little underwater crab friend?! This is the Nixie Mermaid digital stamp from the Digi Doodles Studios “Under the Sea” collection. I thought she was so cute and I actually had her colored up before I ended up hurting myself and had to leave. I finished out the card when I got better.

I have also used some fun digital papers and a sentiment that work well with this particular image. The pretty pink patterned papers you see in the background come from the Digi Doodle Studios Summer Breeze Card Making Paper collection. The sentiment came from the Digi Doodle Studios Mermaid Sentiments set. I printed out the sentiment and cut it out with a ticket die, sponged around the edges with the turquoise ink color and layered it over the same turquoise colored cardstock I’ve used throughout my layout.

The layout idea came from a sketch challenge that I’m entering for below this post. I have several layer panels including the fun turquoise sparkly paper that I’ve used that was cut with a wave border die and then sponged with some white ink. I added some pearls to each corner of the image panel, wrapped some white organdy ribbon around the card front base, tied a bow and added a silver bow where I have attached some silver string and a starfish charm to it. The entire card measures 5.5″ square.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring that I’ve done on this mermaid image. Mainly colored with Copic markers, but I’ve used a gel pen to color the sprigs next to the flower in her hair and the bracelets around her wrists. I took a glitter brush pen and covered her entire fish body and the bubbles in the water with. (Of course it looks so shimmery in person!) I then took some glossy accents and covered the little crabs eyeballs with and then some liquid pearls to dab a dot over the pearl inside the oyster. This mermaid image panel was popped up with foam tape over the card front.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my underwater mermaid card today!

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I’ll be back tomorrow with something fun!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Cheerful Sketches – August Challenge
The House That Stamps Built – A1419 Tic-Tac-Toe (I used first row down)
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1933 Anything Goes

Windy Day Cinnamon For Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends! Can you feel it in the air? Autumn is on the way along with the crisp cool air and blowing leaves! I know that some of you had said you’re not looking forward to Fall when I asked, but I absolutely love everything about it including the sweater weather season & flavors like pumpkin spice and cinnamon! Speaking of which, I have a fun Autumn color inspired card o share with you today:

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This cute image is called Windy Day Cinnamon from Whimsy Stamps. I thought she looked as happy about Fall coming as I do, so I went with those colors in mind when creating this card. After coloring her in with my Copics, I cut her out with a banner shaped die and went around the edges of it with tea dye distress ink and layered her onto another banner layer and set it aside.

For my card base, I took some orange colored plaid pattern paper and die cut it out with a wonky stitched rectangle die. I took a double layer of twine and wrapped it around this piece and tied a bow towards the bottom thirds of the piece and then attached it down to the brown A2 sized top folding card base.

I took the image banner panel and added a piece of craft foam to pop her up over the card base. I took a chipboard sentiment from my stash and added some foam tape to one side of it and glued the other side to the image panel. I added a flower to the center of the twine bow along with a few others along the side.

Here’s a closer view of how I’ve colored Cinnamon with Copic markers:

Coat, Hat: YG61, YG63, YG67
Shoes, Purse & Coat Buttons: E31, E33, E35, E37
Scarf, Mittens, Hat Flower: YR12, YR14, YR18
Hair: YR30, Y32, E43
Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20, R00
Shadows: E41, E42, E0000
Used a gel pen for the center of the flower on her hat and the purse closure button

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my Autumn color inspired card today!

Thank you so much for dropping by and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Creative Inspirations – Something Seasonal
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #358
Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP1932 Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday is Going in Circles!

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far! Today is Thursday and it’s time to start a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday! This week we are looking for your “Circles” on your creations! So here’s what I’ve made for the challenge:

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We are being sponsored by All Dressed Up Stamps and I’ve used this adorable “Girl On a Bike” image for my card.

I’ve colored her up and cut her out with a circle die that I commonly reach for which is the Hero Arts Infinity Circle dies and then I cut out a black cardstock circle to layer behind her as well as the sentiment circle. I happen to find some papers that, for me, mimicked the bike wheels, so I cut that out in a circle as well for the design. For each circle, I took my ink foam blending tool and went around the edges with the same ink color that I’ve used for the cloud background.

Now that I had all the circles cut out for my design, I used a cloud stencil to ink up background which I cut out with a stitched rectangle die along with the pattern paper circle and then wrapped some black ribbon around it before attaching it to a black cardstock layer that was then mounted over a white A2 sized card base.

I added the circle image and cut off the right edge that was sticking out along the side. I took the sentiment circle and popped it up over the design with a foam circle and then I added some clear sparkling sequins in various places.

Here’s a closer look at the image and how I’ve got her colored up with Copic markers. I used a white gel pen for the flowers in her hair along with a gold gel pen for the centers of each of the flowers and her shoes and shirt waist band. I’ve used a silver gel pen for the bike wheels, petals and end handles.

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Thanks so much for dropping in today! I appreciate each and every single comment and I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

I’d like to enter the following challenges:

All Dressed Up Stamps – July Challenge
Just Us Girls – Summer
Crafty Calendar – August Anything Goes
Always Fun – Use Stencils
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1931 Anything Goes
Get Creative – Anything Goes/no twist
Papercraft – Summer Fun
Papercraft Business – August Anything Goes with optional use a circle

Russell is Rustling in the Leaves!

Hello friends! Can you believe that Fall is right around the corner already?! I so look forward to this every single year! What’s your favorite Season? Fall is my favorite season and I just love everything Fall related! I’m excited to share this really cute and fun Autumn style card with you today using some Whimsy Stamps products!

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I think he’s just having too much fun in the crisp cool Autumn air, don’t you?! This is Russell from the Whimsy Stamps August digital release just in time to start your Autumn makes! I can picture him colored up in all sorts of fun Autumn colors, right?! I’ve colored him up with Copics over some X-Press It Blending Card. (See photo below for Copic list details.)

After coloring him, I’ve cut him out using the Whimsy Stamps Notched Square dies and then cut another piece of brown cardstock to layer behind him. I took some fun plaid papers for the background that was cut out with a rectangle stitched die. Then I took another piece of the brown cardstock and white heat embossed a sentiment from my stash that was cut out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set.

I took the plaid background and the brown layer behind Russell and attached them together. Then I took a strip of score tape and wrapped it around both of these layers. I sprinkled some pretty Autumn colored glitter over the tape and burnished it in. Then I glued the leaves down and then popped up the image as well as the sentiment banner with foam tape. To finish it off, I took some dimensional glue to create small “dots” randomly on the design and then I sprinkled some more of the same glitter I used for the strip over them and let it dry. A little glitter never hurts!

Here’s a closer look at Russell and how I’ve got him colored up. Here’s the Copic markers I’ve used to color him with below:

Leaves – R22, R24, V95, V01, YR14, YR12, Y23, E33, E31, E30, YG63, YG61
Grass – G24, G21, G20
Squirrel – E15, E13, E11, E53, E51
Russell’s outfit – YR18, YR15, YR12, E44, E42, E43, E41
Skin – E000, E00, E02, E11, E21, R20
Hair – Y21, Y32, E43
Shadows – BG10, BG000

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This was a really fun card to put together and color up! Now I’m excited for all things Fall coming soon! I hope you liked my card today and inspired you in some way!

Thanks so much for stopping in! I’ll see you soon!

I’d like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Creative with Stamps – Dad/masculine
Crafting With an Attitude – Anything Goes
Love to Craft – LTCCB37 Aug Anything Goes
Brown Sugar – Anything Goes
Simply Create Too – Anything Goes
Send a Smile 4 Kids – Thank you for Kids or Anything Goes

Sending Smiles Mermaid Style

Hello friends! Well it feels nice to get back into the swing of things here again! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the awesome welcome back I recieved from you guys! Wish I could reach out through the screen and give you all a big hug! 🙂

Today is August 1st AND it’s on a Thursday too, so I wanted to share the card I made for the Whimsy Stamps August Digital new release as well as a brand new Cute Card Thursday Challenge too!! Whimsy Stamps is our sponsor this week and it’s an easy “Anything Goes“, so please be sure to stop by the blog to see the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the design team and play along with us!! We look forward to seeing what you’re working on!

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Oh aren’t these Sylvia Zet images just as cute as can be?! I so enjoyed coloring her up! (See the close up photo and details below.) This is the DIGITAL version of “Goldie” just released from Whimsy Stamps this month. You can still also purchase the rubber cling stamp, but now it’s nice to be able to have the option to choose either one!

Since her name is “Goldie“, I had to use the orangish color palette for her! When looking at the image, I immediately saw “bubbles”, so I thought it would be fun to make a circle easel card design with her! This actually turned out to be a “non-traditional” circle easel card with the circled image going askew from the main area…which makes it seem more like several bubbles underwater!

I have cut several different sizes of circles, one for the main circle card base and several others with some old SU! bokeh looking papers from my stash. I used a stitched scallop circle die set to cut out the layers behind the circles. I sponged all circles with some blue ink for more depth. I’ve added a strip of blue glitter cardstock on the main card front layer as well as some ribbon to attach to the front. I arranged the circles where I wanted them and added some foam tape here and there to pop up the layers.

To hold up the card front, the inside of the easel card has another strip of that blue glitter cardstock and I stamped an anchor image over one of the circle panels using an older Whimsy Stamps clear set. I used some foam tape to pop that up so that the front card panel would prop up.

I’ve taken the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments stamp set to stamp the sentiment under the image panel with black ink. For the accents on the card, I’ve used some clear acrylic bubbles randomly and glued them in places. For the fish, it was a wood veneer from my stash that I heat embossed with some cool orange metallic embossing powder.

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Here you can see the details from the side view of the easel design and how it’s propped up with that anchor circle holding the front card panel in place. to mail this card, you just unfold it and lay it flat as shown in the last photo below.

Here’s a closer look at this really sweet image. Below are the list of Copics I’ve used to color her in with:

Fins, flowers, Bubbles – Y38, Y35, Y32, BG000
Hair – C8, C5, C3, C1
Skin – E21, E11, E02, E00, E000, R20
Snail – W5, W3, W1, E33, E31, R20

Wink of Stella used for mermaid body, clear glitter and 2-way glue pen used for the bubbles. I used a black gel pen to dot the center of flowers.

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Here’s what the folded and closed circle card looks like. She will not quite fit into a regular A2 sized envelope because I arranged the circles differently, but a nice 5×5 size would work great. I do have an envelope creator which is handy for those odd shaped designs that I can custom make.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for: