Too Cute To Spook Cards with Cathy and Bobbi

Hey friends! Cathy here today with the cutest little trick-or-treaters all set for Halloween!

To make this card, I started by die-cutting a piece of black cardstock using the frame portion of the Frilly Frames Chevron Dies and adhered it to a lavender A2 card base. For the background of my scene, I cut a piece of Neenah 80lb Classic Crest solar white cardstock 3 1/2“ x 4 3/4". Before inking the sky, I masked a large moon by die-cutting a piece of eclipse masking tape using a Stitched Circle Small Die. Starting with gentle pressure from the masked moon working outwards, I inked with Milled Lavender followed by Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry and a touch of Hickory Smoke Distress inks on the top half of the cardstock. On the bottom half I inked with Milled Lavender into Saltwater Taffy. I added craters to the moon using a B60 Copic marker. Once the inks were dry, I heat embossed the sentiment using citron embossing powder.

For the ground, I cut a piece of white cardstock 2” x 4 3/4" and die-cut the top edge using a Slimline Nature Borders Die. I inked the piece with Hickory Smoke Distress ink and adhered it to the bottom of my background piece. I stamped a small tree from the Fall Scenes Stamps on the right side of the panel in gray ink to make it appear off in the distance and inked the ground under it with an N4 Copic marker. To add a little more pop of green, I cut a strip of paper from the Critter Country Paper Pack 1/2" x 4 3/4" and adhered it to the bottom of the scene.

The Autumn Tree Dies make such a great spooky tree cut from black cardstock, so I added that to the left side and used precision tip scissors to carefully cut the excess around the edges of the cardstock panel. I then adhered the panel to the card front. To finish, I stamped all the images from the Too Cute to Spook Stamps on Neenah 80lb Classic Crest solar white cardstock, colored them with Copics and die-cut them using the coordinating dies.

I hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by today! For more inspiration, please visit my blog www.inkredibleadventures.com and you can also find me on Instagram as @cathy.chapdelaine.

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Hello friends! It’s Bobbi sharing a fun style card referred to as a zigzag card or stretch card. While this card requires a number of score lines and a few slits, it is really easy to make. I am using the Too Cute to Spook stamp and dies as well as the Autumn Tree dies and the Fall Scene Stamps.

 

This card folds flat for mailing (see below), but when removed from the envelope, it can be stretched out to be a free-standing card to enjoy through the holiday. I used one piece of 8-1/2″ X 11″ black cardstock to create the card base. That’s it! I have complete instructions on making the card base below so check it out if you would like to give this card idea a try.

Once my black zigzag card base was ready (see the card base instructions below), I stamped, colored and die cut the characters and pumpkins from the Too Cute to Spook stamp and dies as well as two black trees using the Autumn Tree dies and the fencing and smaller pumpkins from the Fall Scene Stamps. I arranged the fencing on the layered edges of the base, gluing each section. Since the fencing images stick up above the card base top edges, I added black cardstock to the backs of each fence strip to cover any color bleeding for a clean finish. 

I also added a 1/2″ strip of black cardstock inside the two diamond openings of the card base to center the house and the characters in those areas. This is easy to do. You can either attach the strips to the inside of the base (folding 1/4″ on each end to create glue flaps) or run them through the card base slits and secure them from behind. The images can also be attached directly to the card base avoiding the need to use any strips.

 

I added one tree in the back at the top of the hill, behind the house, and felt it needed more branches so I added one more to make the backdrop. Extra large pumpkins and the small tree from the Fall Scene Stamps set were added to the ground area. Next, came fencing from the Fall Scene Stamps and the the haunted house and characters from the Too Cute to Spook stamp and die sets.

I finished the front with some larger pumpkins and the “Trick or Treat” stamp from Too Cute to Spook stamp and die sets. I hand cut the phrase out and attached it to the front panel. I added some black leaves around it that I had die cut by accident when I cut out the autumn tree.  I added the cute bat in the tree, too.

This card folds flat to mail. I may have to trim my trees a bit for this one to fit inside my A7 envelope.   I could also fit this inside a longer business-size envelope or create a custom size envelope to fit my tall trees. I hope you give this idea a try.  Directions and measurements for the base are right below.

How to Make the Zig Zag Card Base:

Here’s some measurements and steps I followed to make my card base above. Note: I’m using white cardstock to show how to make the base. For my featured card above, I used a piece of black cardstock.

I cut  1/2″ off the 11″ length of a letter-size piece of cardstock, making it 10-1/2″ X 8-1/2″. I marked 5″ and 2″ on opposite sides and cut diagonally. I rotated to the other side of the remaining cardstock and did the same, thereby creating two matching panels. I threw away the odd-shaped scrap piece from the middle.

On both pieces, I scored at 3-1/2″ and 7″ from the left side creating three equal sized 3-1/2″ sections on each panel. I scored from the top to the bottom. I also measured and cut slits at 1-3/4″ in from each section (which is the middle of each section). One one panel, I cut from the top to the middle and on the other piece, from the bottom to middle. To determined the middle point, by placing my ruler at 1″ from the 2″ side and 2-1/2′ on the 5″ side (i.e., the center points on each side edge) and made a mark at the middle of each section so I knew where to stop cutting.

I placed one panel on top of the other panel and slid it down. When the pieces are intertwined, they should fit perfectly, assuming all the slits line up!

After connecting the two pieces at each slit point, this is how the card base looks from the top down. I ended up with two open diamonds in the middle. Now it’s ready to add the fun stuff!

Thanks for stopping by today. If you want to see more ideas and inspiration from me, subscribe to my blog, BobbiHartDesign.com. I’ll send you updates on new posts! You can also find me on Instagram as @BobbiHartDesign and on Facebook as BobbiHartDesign.

Sunny Studio Supplies Used: 

Frilly Frames Chevron Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Circle Large Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fall Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fall Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Too Cute To Spook Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Too Cute To Spook Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Autumn Tree Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Critter Country Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio