Danny's Cards Blog

I recently acquired Anna Griffin's 3D Fantastic Fans dies . I was excited to get these dies because it takes the traditional flat fans and reenvisions them with more dimension.  The dies require a little more finagling than you would think. Because they pop out, you're going to need a powerful glue or lots of 3D adhesive dots to make this work.  Using these dies, I looked at an assortment of challenges that I could utilize for inspiration. Over on Time Out Challenges, they wanted us to use a quote to help make a card come to life. So for my first card I wanted to use each of the pieces of the fan. I've had this vintage paper with a rose for the better part of four years when I first got into card making; I then pulled out my new metallic rose paper and paired it with this vintage paper. I then added in the "For My Friend" sentiment from Anna Griffin's Wild Flower box. For my second card, I used Color My Heart Color Dare challenge . The inspiration photo was ...

Update: While the competition wasn't heavily entered, I'll take my wins where I can get them, my card was a top pick on Try Stampin' on Tuesday. Over on Try Stampin' on Tuesday , they had one of the hardest challenges I've seen in a long while. The challenge involved either utilizing a particular sketch or making a bendy card. I'm one always up for a challenge, so a bendy card it is... the only problem... I had no idea where to begin. Here's the challenge they set up for us: I was convinced there would be some type of design already premade on Design Space that would allow me to make a bendy card of some kind, but there was no such luck. I took a look at Melody Lane's Patreon and Lori Whitlock's shop, and alas, no luck. This mean I had to work from scratch. Now granted, I could make the card using traditional techniques, but when I looked up tutorials, the whole process looked a little too intimidating for me. I knew this could be done on Design Spa...

I recently just finished my bodybuilding experience, so I finally found some time for cards. I recently acquired Anna Griffin's Rocking Card Dies , but I really didn't know what to make with them. Inspiration struck when I found TGIF Challenges: Color Challenge . This week's color challenge was as follows: I loved the simplicity of the color scheme. I didn't quite know how the set would come out, but a hope and a prayer later, I ended up with two cards. The good news: The Rocking Card Dies are easy to use. Each card takes about 30-45 minutes to complete. A few quick passes, and assembly is a cinch. I do worry about longevity. On the second card, the weight seemed to be a bit more and it appeared as if the card was deflating a little. Not enough to ruin the effect, but I do wonder how the card will stand up over time. Still, it's such an interesting design, that I can't be upset with it. So here are the results: All the details really pop. This card was fairly li...

Over on AAA Birthday , the challenge set forth is one of my favorite challenges. Making cards in a shape. While I don't do this too often, there's no doubt that cards that are not conventionally shaped are always eye catching. Here is the full challenge: Just this week I acquired my all new Anna Griffin Hot Air Balloon Easel die , so I quickly got to work. When the card is laying flat, it looks like this: But with the card unfolding, it suddenly pops up and looks like this: What I love is that easel cards or individual shaped cards can often take forever to make. Not these, which clocked in around the 45 minute mark. Using vibrant colors, it really gave that Hot Air Balloon feel. What the camera doesn't capture is the gold diamonds I placed in between the top section. Those gold glimmery sections also give this card another dimension. And because I can never make one of anything, here's another with a totally different color combination. I used the rainbow cutouts from ...

Recently I've been searching for a reason to pull out my Anna Griffin Christmas Tree Pop Up Cards . Anyone who knows anything about pop up cards knows, they take approximately forever to make. While by no means the longest I've spent, these dies are definitely show-stopping wow cards that take a fair amount of time to make (anywhere from 1 to 2 hours). Over on the Festive Friday Challenge blog , they asked makers to use three or more items from a list. The list was as follows: For me, this was easy. red, ornaments, ribbon and evergreen trees were the highlight. So here's the card in question: Now you might say, but Danny, that's not really an evergreen tree. And that's because it's not. The surprise is when you open the card and this pops out: And here's the card in action: And because I can never make one of anything, here's the green version of the same card. While time consuming, this is definitely a card type I will return to again next holiday seaso...