Spread Joy Not Germs Blog Hop

Hello! I sincerely hope you have been staying safe and adapting to the recent changes to your daily life, big and small. My husband is pretty risk-adverse when it comes to health, so our family of four has been at home since March 14th, with only two trips to a small grocery store (and one trip to decorate a friend's yard in a socially distant way for her 50th birthday!)

With this time at home, there's been a lot of cleaning and organizing going on, including going through my husband's baseball card collection. One of the baseball cards I found is an interactive card that was included in packages of Kraft American Cheese slices in 1993. I set it aside and thought it would be fun to make a card just like it. Inspiration is everywhere, as you know, even while spring cleaning!

I'd like to welcome you to the giant #spreadjoynotgerms blog hop, where we're trying to spread joy and inspiration to our fellow stampers at home. This hop is sponsored by Catherine Pooler, The Hedgehog Hollow, and 29 other companies! You should have arrived from the one and only Catherine Pooler!

Here's the baseball card I found while organizing my husband's collection. I thought it was neat how once the top was pulled, a "tent" was formed, the player popped up, and stats were even revealed on the base. Upon examining the card, I was happy to figure out how it worked!

I think versions of this mechanism have been shared already in the card-making world, but I thought I'd share my own findings here.

There are basically three different pieces to this sliding card. The first (on the left) is the top piece that makes the tent. There are 3/4" margins on all sides ... the left and right sides are cut on those margins, while the top and bottom sides are scored and folded on those margins. The second piece (middle) is the bottom piece. It's an A2-sized card (4 1/2" x 5 1/2") with two strips of 1/2" x 5 1/2" cardstock adhered on each side. This will make the channel for the sliding mechanism. Finally, the third piece (right) is the middle sliding piece. It's 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" and will be attached to the lower 3/4" of the top tent piece.

This is what the card looks like when it's flat. The cardinal bird, leaves and acorns are from the Catherine Pooler Fluttering Friends Stamp Set. The Hello is from the Catherine Pooler Hello World Stamp Set. "Marvelous" is from Ellen Hutson's Totally Random Sayings Vol. 2.

Then when you pull the tab, the "tent" section of the card is also pulled back, causing the male cardinal to rise, AND revealing the mama cardinal sitting in her nest!

Since I only adhered the red cardinal/leaf/acorn die cuts on the lower half of the tent, they stand up nicely in this position. One of the things I love about this interactive card is that it stays in this position very easily, so your recipient can display it like this in their home.

What I love about this scene is that I was able to combine two different bird sets from two different companies. The bird, again, is from Catherine Pooler's Fluttering Friends Stamp Set, but the "you are so tweet" sentiment, the branch, and the nest is from Ellen Hutson's Backyard Bird Friends. The images in these sets are in two different scales, but you can still make it work! The bird nest stamp is really only about 75% of this size (about the width of the bird) but I stamped large parts of the nest twice right next to each other to make one larger nest. 

Here's a behind-the-scenes story. When I finished the card I was really excited about it, so I showed it to my husband so he could be all impressed (hahaha!) His comment was, "why is there a random bird underneath? why isn't is a female cardinal?" Sigh. I honestly didn't even think of that, and I told him a brown bird just wouldn't look as pretty. And how was I going to change it anyway? But as I sat there looking at the card, I realized he was probably right, so I took a bunch of pictures with this yellow bird (just in case), and then loaded up my brush with brown ink. 

I wouldn't have colored it like this originally, but I do kind of like the brown female cardinal with a touch of yellow underneath!

Here's a quick video to show you how the mechanism works!

Prizes: There are 31 amazing sponsors of this blog hop, each of them offering TONS of prizes! Each comment you leave in this blog hop enters you to win. The deadline to comment is March 24th, and prizes will all be announced on March 27th on the Catherine Pooler and Hedgehog Hollow blogs.

Here's a listing of the prizes!

• Catherine Pooler Designs - $20 Gift Certificate on the CP blog and each of the Brand Ambassadors' blogs
• Hedgehog Hollow - one month free sub to the box with free us shipping
• CAS-ual Fridays - Win the new release - over $80 value
• Heffy Doodle - £35 voucher for the store
• Whimsy Stamps - $15 GC on each of their Creative Team team blogs
• Sassy and Crafty Stamps - $35 Gift Certificate
• The Ton - $20 Gift Certificate (stamps, dies, ink or sequins)
• Ellen Hutson - $35 Gift Certificate
• Polka Dot Orchard- $20 Gift Certificate
• Ink on 3 - $35 Gift Certificate
• Brutus Monroe - $50 GC
• STAMPlorations - $25 gift code on the STAMPlorations blog + $10 gift code on each designer blogs.
• Trinity Stamps- $25 Gift Certificate
• WOW! Embossing Powder - two gift vouchers 1 x £30 and 1 x $30 that covers the USA, UK and Europe 
• Greeting Farm -$25 Gift Certificate
• Miss Ink Stamps -$25 Gift Certificate
• Pear Blossom Press -$25 gift certificate
• Trinity Stamps -$25 Gift Certificate
• Paper Sweeties - $50 Gift Certificate
• Xyron - Mega Runner, Refill & 1.5 inch sticker maker, refill
• Beacon - Product gift bag
• Artesprix - Getting Started Kit
• iCrafter - $20 Gift Certificate
• Joy Clair - $25 Gift Certificate
• Dina Kowal - Two $10 gift codes to Dina Kowal Creative
• Rabbit Hole Designs - $10.00 gift code on each DT members blogs
• You're Next Stamp - $25 Gift Certificate
• Taylored Expressions - $50 Gift Certificate
• Pink and Main - $25 Gift Certificate
• Unity - two $25 Gift Certificates
• Dress My Craft - $35 gift certificate

Your next stop on this hop is Maria Levine!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly



Supplies Used If You Enjoyed This Project (Affiliate links used, thanks so much for your support!)

Fluttering Friends, Catherine Pooler Clear Stamps Fluttering Friends, Catherine Pooler Dies Backyard Bird Friends by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Backyard Bird Friends by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies Totally Random Sayings Vol. 3 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White Black Jack, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad Aquatini, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad Samba, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad Mint To Be, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad Lemongrass, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad Sand Castle, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad