Cardmaking - Houses

I made house cards today. 

I am meeting with a friend next week to discuss the type of cards she would like so I thought I should make a few more samples.

I bought a set of thin dies from the big arts & crafts store last week.  They are nested and there were 3 different sets in the one package.

The set I wanted was the one that cut a square with a point on top which looks like a basic house shape. House thinlits, yeah!

The challenge is how to translate that shape.

For this card I added a triangle for the roof with was cut at 2.75" on the sides.  I made the roof green.

The house is cut from teal textured card stock. I created the window with a 1" black punchie and a 5/8" yellow one and added lines with a black fine Sharpie.   The door is cut with a rectangle thin die, glue to the house and trim to the bottom of the house. I added dots and dashes on the roof and solid lines around the edge of the teal layer with the black marker.

The house mounted to 110 lb card stock base in white.  A quarter sheet insert and a white envelope.

Another option would be a still life composition I put together and photograph.  

Then, the image is printed on 4x6" photo paper and trimmed to the right size.  For the sample I just used the house still life I did for my digital Christmas card.

I added a bit of black paper to bring out the greeting on the image.

Again, white insert and white envelope.

These are the innards of the Cricut frame houses I put on the next set of cards.

Once the frame had but used I had shapes that could be a house.

I glued the pieces to a green A2 card base. 

I outline the full house shape with the black marker which worked really well.

I used a fine black Sharpie marker to add the details to the top and bottom windows.  I added a chimney on the right hand side as well as a triangle tree.

I printed a few greetings on white cardstock in several fonts and trimmed them as needed to add to the cards. I added this one just above the door.

Another card using the innards. 

On this card I put a layer of designer paper behind the house.  

This time I put solid shapes in the windows cut from the same card stock.

Added a yellow sun in the left hand corner by trimming a yellow circle and then used the black marker to add rays.

The greeting was punched out with the Stampin Up Decorative Label and mounted above the door again.

Again, outlined the house with the black marker.

A white insert and white envelope.

These cards feature a Cricut die cut.  I spent a long time getting the shape I wanted.  Of course, I have not used the machine in at least 2 years. Fortunately, I packed everything in the box so I was not missing anything I needed. Tools, mats, and the machine.  The cartridges has been unpacked too.

Just browsing Cricut cartridges to see if there was a house shape I could use, took a while. I have been working on that for at least a month.

I chose the Wrap It Up cartridge. The image I selected is the School House. The card feature cuts this nice outline of the building.  It took about 5 test cuts from scrap paper to determine the size on the machine the get the die cut I wanted. Once, I had the size right I cut it from good black textured card stock. I cut it 6x12 inches which is the size of my mat.  I can tweak that later. 

I chose a teal card base in A2 size in the portrait orientation. I cut a piece of Stampin Up designer paper to leave a small border.  Yes, a die cut this skinny is fiddly to adhere. I used dry tape runner adhesive so I could just pick up the extra glue with my rubber erasure. Leaves no mess. 

I die cut a heart from a scrap of red card stock with the Sizzix nested thinlits. The smallest one.  I adhered that over the door.

I added a trimmed greeting along the top of the card.  A white insert and envelope for this one too.

With a change of designer paper and card base I can create a card with a totally different feel. 

This card features classic neutral colors with a hint of metallic.  An ivory A2 card base, the house outline die cut, a gold metallic heart punchie outlined with the black marker. 

The greeting banner cut the ends of the greeting and mounted it with 3D foam tape.

A white half sheet insert and white envelope.

This was a long day of fussing but I have made good notes so I should be able to recreate the Cricut cuts easily.