An Up-Pop Tutorial and Link to Interactive Card Blanks

Carol, from the wonderful ExtremeCards Blog just posted a terrific tutorial on how to make an up-pop box. Check it out! It's pretty cool...

She also mentions how Whitney Woods, which makes very amazing promotional products, has jumped into the craft market, with (among other treasures) blanks for some of their very popular, interactive marketing materials. These are really cool...

Stop Action Papercutting Video

This is absolutely amazing.

Master of Paper Art

I am sooooo not worthy...

See many more amazing works at: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/masters-of-paper-art-and-paper-sculptures/

Just one more holiday card....

I had said that I was totally done earlier this week -- I was totally flogged after pumping up my inventory for craft fairs -- but here's just one more... a special request from Nicolette, who owns a little retail shop in Singapore.

It's a Three Reasons card, so you turn the wheel to 1, 2 and 3 and write in your personal reasons in the window.

I have to take some photos, but I can probably post this to etsy pretty soon! Yay!

Winners of the Elf Pop-Up Cards!

The giveaway for the pop-up elf card ended at noon today! I selected five random winners and they are:

Aileen, Erma, Janette, Jolt, and Bandbabe (Bandbabe didn't leave an email address -- if this is you, please email me and I'll send you your prize!)

I had an amazing number of people sign up for this drawing! In the past, I was pretty excited to get more than 30 responses. This time, I got more than 60!

Like before, I found a number of online blogs and giveaway sites that allowed you to register your giveaways for free. I also advertised via Google Adsense, which brought me a number of click-throughs, which might have helped. And I posted this on FaceBook and tweeted about it. Cyberspace offers so many ways to promote something like this!

Hearing all the positive comments about my cards really was very exciting and very helpful for me to know what it is that people like about my little shop. Oddly enough, the items that were picked out aren't necessarily the items that sell well (My Lazy Daisy cards were mentioned several times but they've never sold a single time!).

This giveaway went so well that I'm very likely to do at least one more before the holidays are over, especially since I now have other holiday designs. And, of course, there will be future drawings for other cards as well.

If this is something you're interested in, let me know!

New Christmas Tree Pop-Up Card!

This card came together really fast! It' easy when the artwork is beautiful and inspiring. Plus, I had most of the mechanics already worked out -- this card shares a common genetic identity with my Giraffe card.

It's the first card in my 180 degreee stand-up series that I've printed on the pop-up -- usually, as for my African Animal series, I leave the subject white, so that the simple white silhouette has more power, but in this festive card, I know that this artwork is a real winner.

I think this would be a nice card for people to send out -- you don't get many unusual pop-up cards in the holiday mail and it would certainly stand out! I'm going to offer free personalization on orders with at least ten cards, I think...

Now posted at my etsy shop.

In other news, my Elf Pop-Up Card Giveaway is going strong! I can't believe I have more than 30 entries already and still half of the week to go. I love love LOVE hearing all the nice comments from people about the things in my store -- it's really worth it just to get that kind of feedback! Plus it's nice to know what people are liking. I got several comments, for instance about my Summer Breezes Thank You Notes, which I never thought of as being anything special.

Anyway, I'll pick some random winners on Sunday, so if you haven't already entered to win, head on over and do so! All you have to do is leave a comment (or more for extra chances). There are five cards being given away, so the odds are really good.

Holiday Elf Pop-Up Card Giveaway!

I was at PaperZone yesterday and heard it: Christmas music merrily filling the store with song.

REALLY? The kids haven't even eaten the good stuff from their Halloween candy yet!

But after the initial annoyance, I realized that I had a choice. You know that old adage, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

Well, I'm kicking off my OWN premature Christmas season with a giveaway!

Five lucky random winners will each receive one Pop-Up Holiday Elf Card.

How to enter? All you have to do is check out my etsy shop and then come back here and leave a comment about one of my cards. Pick one that you like and tell me what you like about it! Be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you're a winner!

For a second chance to win, you can follow this blog and leave a comment saying that you do so (if you already follow me, just leave a comment saying that you already do).

For a third chance, become a FaceBook fan by clicking on the link. Don't forget to leave a comment letting me know that you're a fan!

And, lastly, if you have a blog, mention this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment letting me know with a link to your blog post.

This giveaway ends in one week, November 15, at noon and winners will be announced at this post. Winners will also be notified and the prizes will be shipped out shortly thereafter.

With any luck, you could be sending some premature holiday cheer before Thanksgiving hits!

What are you waiting for? DO IT!

-------------------------

We have WINNERS!

I will be emailing Aileen, Erma, Janette and Jolt! to get their shipping addresses so I can send their prizes! Bandbabe is also a winner, but didn't leave an email address. If that's you, please click on my profile and send me an email!

Everybody else: THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING! I can't believe I got so many responses! I loved hearing all your comments and I plan to be doing more giveaways quite soon!

Powell's Order II: DONE!

Okay, JUST finished with my ginormous Powell's wholesale order:

• 12 Birthday Cakes
• 12 Elephants
• 6 Tree-Themed Three Reasons Cards
• 6 Groovy Girl Three Reasons
• 12 Pop-Up Pigs
• 12 Giraffes
• 12 Elephants
• 12 Baby Carriage
• 12 Congrats to Your Beer Buddy
• 12 Flying Pigs
• 12 Rhinos
• 12 Winged Love
• 12 Drink a Toast Birthday
• 12 Noble Lions
• 12 Christmas Elves

Whoo hoo! I have to say that this involved MANY nights of work. I'm not even really sure if I'm making any money, given that my printer ink costs have SKYROCKETED with my new Epson printer (lovely prints, archival and water resistant, but totally guzzles very expensive ink). But I just really love that they are in the local bookstore and, apparently, selling well.

Packaging for retail involves a little extra something. A few of my cards require a little explanation. Even for the simple animal pop-ups, which are pretty self-explanatory, I need to put something on the front to let the casual browser know that there's something fun on the inside (otherwise I'm sure they'll just pass by the mostly simple fronts for something flashier).

Some of the labels and things below:

Powell's opens at nine this morning -- I'll drop these off then!

(and, with any luck, they'll make it out to the actual floor next week!)

I'm really excited to see how my holiday elves cards fare...

New holiday cards! Elf pop-up card!

Remember those elves in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (the one we saw as kids on TV every year by Rankin & Bass)?

I love this elf for how he reminds me of someone that Hermey might have hung out with.

As the card is opened, the elf pops up from behind the presents (emerging from a slot in the card) to present you with "joy."

I struggled with this one for AGES, but I'm really happy with how it turned out at last!

Available at my etsy shop...

Jewelry Party/Craft Fair Warmup!

My friend Christine makes jewelry as ChristineMarieStudio. Christine's cousin-in-law was having a housewarming and she thought it would be fun to turn it into a showcase for Christine's work. Ever generous, Christine invited me and our friend Kathy, who have a lavender farm and has done the crafting circuit for years now, to join her as vendors.

Christine and Kathy did all the work in setting up a terrific display the night before (I had kid duty that night), borrowing props from Christine's mom, really pretty stuff. Here's my little card display:

(sorry for the blurriness -- I didn't want to disturb the guests with the flash)

The two main tables had Christine's jewelry stands interspersed with Kathy's lavender baskets and shorter things.

I think it looks so very inviting! That's Christine in the cashier's corner, above.

In the past, I've always had a policy that I'd rather gnaw off my left arm than attend a "party" where the sole purpose was to guilt my friends into buying products so that the hostess could have a nicer hostess gift, but this was actually fun! Christine's cousin had a loveliest house and the food was incredible! And the guests, who were mostly family, were very welcoming.

I made $44 just for showing up! Christine and Kathy did very well also. Kathy and I spent much of the evening sitting on the sofa while Christine worked the crowd -- our role was apparently completely ornamental.

This was sort of a warm-up for craft fairs. We have a little employee craft fair coming up later this month, which is quite low-key. After that, I'll be ready to take on something bigger!