We are ecstatic to welcome our friend Karolyn Loncon back to The CLASSroom today! We are in constant amazement of Karolyn's fabulous work!!! Her style is fresh, clean, bright and colorful with a little twinkle! And we are lucky enough to get to enjoy her sassy sparkle in real life too, when she visits us at the EH warehouse.
Make sure you head over to Karolyn's blog, Paper Therapy, to see more of her wonderful work! And please help us give Karolyn a big virtual hug by heading to her blog and leaving her a comment before January 20th for a chance to win a $50 coupon to use in our store!
Thank you so much for sharing your talent, love and laughter with us Karolyn! We love you bunches!!!
Hello everyone! I’m Karolyn Loncon, and I’m thrilled to be here to share a super fun dual-interactive card with you today, featuring Essentials By Ellen stamps and dies, My Favorite Things interactive dies, and Chibitronics LED lights and their Effects Sticker Add-On! I know, it’s a lot, but I promise you’re going to love this project, and I hope you’ll give it a try – it’s really very easy once you get the hang of it!
So, I mentioned that this project is dual-interactive. The night sky lights up and the stars twinkle – thanks to the Chibitronics LED lights and the Twinkle Effects Sticker Add-On!! It’s so stinkin’ cool! AND the sailboat, from the Stay Salty Stamp Set from the Essentials By Ellen collection, “floats in the ocean” from side to side because of the Surf & Turf interactive slider dies from My Favorite Things. Here’s what the finished card looks like before the lights are activated:
And this GIF shows what it looks like when the lights are activated:
This little mini video shows the lights lit up and twinkling, and the sailboat floating in the sea:
Link: Watch the lights twinkle in HD on our YouTube Channel HERE! Thanks for sharing some comment love and a thumbs up with Karolyn there and be certain to subscribe to our channel for other fantastic videos!
I’ve created a step-by-step tutorial for you below, in the hopes that you’ll see how truly approachable this project really is!
HOW TO:
1. Trim an A2 vertical, top-folding card base from Solar White Card Stock (110#). Score at 5.5”, fold in half and perfect the crease with a Teflon Bone Folder.
2. Die cut from Solar White Card Stock (80#):
- an A2 stitched rectangle using Blueprints 25 Die-Namics (MFT)
- a circle using Blueprints 8 Die-Namics (MFT); and
- four circles using the Surf & Turf Die-Namics (MFT).
3. Trim a 4” x 5.25” panel from Solar White CS (80#).
4. Trim a 2.5” x 3” panel from Essentials By Ellen Vellum (40#).
5. Trim a 2.5” x 3” piece of Stick It double sided adhesive.
6. Die cut a stitched circle from the A2 stitched rectangle using the Starry Circle Die-Namics (MFT).
7. Die cut the straight slot from the A2 stitched rectangle using the Surf & Turf Die-Namics (MFT).
8. Mask off the upper portion of the smaller rectangle white panel using Post It Tape. Blend Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks, blending from dark to light, using a Mini Ink Blending Tool.
9. Remove the Post It Tape mask and reposition it onto the lower portion of the rectangle, covering up the previously ink blended area. Repeat the ink blending done in Step 8, again blending from dark to light, using a Mini Ink Blending Tool. Carefully remove the mask.
10. Temporarily place the stitched rectangle onto the ink blended panel, and use the stitched circle area as a guide to position and die cut the stars from the ink blended panel, using the Starry Circle Die-Namics (MFT).
11. Temporarily place the starry ink blended panel onto the card base and choose three or four stars, marking their positions onto the card base with a pencil – see the photo above.
12. Remove the release paper from one side of the Stick It double sided adhesive panel, previously trimmed out in Step 5. Carefully adhere it to the vellum panel from Step 4. Remove the release paper from the other side of the Stick It, and sprinkle Warm Diamond Glitter all over the panel. Adhere 1/8” Be Creative Tape to the outside edges of the glittered vellum. Remove the release liner the tape strips and adhere the glittered vellum to the back of the ink blended panel, making sure to cover the die cut stars.
13. On a scrap of Solar White Card Stock, blend some Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks using a Mini Ink Blending Tool. Stamp the waves image from the Stay Salty Stamp Set (Essentials By Ellen) using New Moon Dye Ink. Die cut the waves using the coordinating Stay Salty Dies (Essentials By Ellen).
14. On another scrap of Solar White Card Stock, stamp the sail boat image from the Stay Salty Stamp Set (Essentials By Ellen) using New Moon Dye Ink. Color the image with Copic Markers (R17, R27, R29, N2 and N3). Stamp the sailboat a second time onto some Stamping Mask Paper and use detail scissors to trim out the details of the sailboat. Adhere the masks to the stamped image, and blend some Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans Distress Inks over the non-masked areas. Carefully remove the masks. Use the coordinating Stay Salty Dies (Essentials By Ellen) to die cut the sail boat. See the photo above.
15. Sandwich a Slider Element disc (MFT) between two of the Surf & Turf circle die cuts (from Step 2c) and adhere them together with Glossy Accents. Repeat this step again. Adhere the assembled slider discs to the back of the sail boat (near the bottom of the boat) using Glossy Accents – see photo above.
16. Stamp the sentiment from the Stay Salty Stamp Set (Essentials By Ellen) in the lower right portion of the stitched rectangle panel using VersaMark. Heat emboss with Silver Embossing Powder.
17. Slip the assembled sail boat/slider discs into the die cut slot (from Step 7).
18. Adhere the starry ink blended panel to the back of the stitched rectangle panel using foam squares – see photo above.
19. Adhere the waves (from Step 13) to the bottom of the sailboat with foam tape. Adhere the small white circle die cut (from Step 2b) to the starry sky with a foam square.
20. CHIBITRONICS PARALLEL LED CIRCUIT WITH TWINKLE EFFECTS STICKER: To create the Chibitronics Parallel LED Circuit with the Twinkle Effects Sticker, you’ll need Copper Tape, White LED Lights, the Twinkle Effects Sticker, and a battery.
- Sketch the path of the copper tape with a pencil – see the photo above.
- Trim a .75” x 1.5” piece of printer paper. Fold it in half and adhere it to the lower right portion of the card base with 1/8” Be Creative Double Sided Adhesive. This is the “battery house.”
Adhere the copper tape to the card base, following the pencil sketch lines – see the photo above.
- Adhere the white LED lights in the areas marked in Step 11, above.
- Adhere the Twinkle Effects Sticker where indicated in the photo, above.
- Adhere two layers of foam tape to the outside edges of the card base and around the “battery house.” Partially remove the foam tape release paper and fold it over. Adhere the assembled card front to the card base and remove the rest of the foam tape release paper. (EXCEPTION: DO NOT REMOVE THE FOAM TAPE RELEASE PAPER FROM THE AREA AROUND THE “BATTERY HOUSE.”) See the photo above.
- Place the battery (with the positive side of the battery facing the positive side of the “battery house”) inside the “battery house”. Press lightly in the area of the “battery house” with your finger to make the stars twinkle.
So there you have it! Interactive cards are so incredibly fun, and once you jump in and try them, you’ll want to add interactive effects to every card! And the Chibitronics products make adding light effects to those super special cards incredibly easy – I promise you that if you just give them a try, you’ll see even more ways to add lights to many of those special occasion projects! The possibilities and fun are endless!
Thanks so much to Ellen for having me share my project with you all here in the CLASSroom!! I always enjoy designing with the Essentials By Ellen products and pairing them with the other fabulous products that Ellen carries in her store! I hope you enjoyed my project and I look forward to reading your comments! Have a great day!
