Thursday, November 19, 2009

Having fun learning more on my Cricut -- Penguin Shaker Card


This picture doesn't begin to do justice to the card, LOL. When you get sparkly stuff it just doesn't seem to photograph right. I guess that's a technique I need to work on perfecting.

Who knew the Cricut had snow globes???? Using the many layers you can create a neat snow globe shaker card. You'll find the Snow Globe and Penguin on the Christmas Cheer cartridge. I cut mine at 4.5 inches and left the Cricut do his thing with sizing all the components so they fit together.

After I cut out all the parts including the globe part on a transparency (for a laser printer so it can handle the heat of an embossing heat tool) I stamped the transparency with the snowflakes from Close to My Heart's Holiday Trinkets (D1366, released this fall 2009) using Versa mark ink and embossed with white snow glitter. You still need to be careful when embossing because the transparency will warp...I heated a little at a time, and then also heated the back a little to help keep the warping to a minimum.

Assemble all the pieces together to create your scene. Then, glue the edges of the clear part of the globe on all but a little bit, so you have somewhere to put your sprinkles for the shaker part.

I also stamped the base with the "Deck the Halls" from the same Holiday Trinkets stamp set (D1366) I used to create the snowflakes.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Thanksgiving Card Tutorial

Time for a new Card Tutorial...and what better time to make thank you cards than during the month of November when there are so many neat fall colors and Thanksgiving is just around the corner!



This adorable 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" card is simple yet sincere in its warm wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving or an all occasion thank you. It also makes a great "I'm thinking of you" card or a "welcome fall" wishes card.
Combine the Thanksgiving tradition with a little nontraditional shape to your card.... and you get a pleasing warm card that shows that special someone you're thinking of him/her. I just love the look of a square card. :)

All the supplies used are Close To My Heart. There were just so many beautiful releases this fall I couldn't resist.

Supplies
Twitterpated Paper Packet Level 2 (autumn/winter 2009)
A small scrap of Colonial White card stock is also needed, 2" x 4" will work nice
Many Thanks Stamp Set -- D1271 (autumn/winter 2009)
Ribbon Rounds: Chocolate Collection -- Z1127
Sparkles -- Z1004
Adhesive Pop dots, or some type of Dimensional adhesive
Sponge or Dauber Duo
Chocolate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Pull out a sheet of Sweet Leaf card stock, a sheet of Sorbet card stock, a sheet of the light blue Gingham B&T Duo paper, and a sheet of the striped paper trees with orange leaves.

It really helps to have everything pre-cut. Complete items 1-6 and have all your supplies ready, then follow along with the video to make your card.

1. Cut the Sorbet CS to 9" x 4.5"
2. Using your black scoring blade score at 4.5"
3. Cut the Sweet Leaf CS to 4.5" x 2"
4. Cut the blue Gingham B&T Duo paper to 2.5" x 2.5" and a smaller piece to 1" x 1"
5. Cut the 1" x 1" gingham piece in half on the DIAGONAL.
6. Cut two pieces of the chocolate dots organza ribbon: one to 5.5" and another piece at 4"

Now that you have the main pieces cut and ready to go...
7. Stamp the two acorns (see video for rock-n-roll technique)
8. Sponge the edges of all B&T Duo papers, card stock, card base and the bottom pieces of the acorns (see video for technique).
9. Assemble the card as shown above and in video.
10. Stamp your saying.





Hope you enjoyed your video tutorial. See you next time when we make our Christmas cards!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Joy is Not in Things - Christmas Card


Cards always look so different on film or in a picture than in person. It seems no matter what light you take them in they have a life of their own once on film, LOL. You can try to get the warmth of the card, the sparkle or glitz, but it just isn't the same as seeing it in person. The challenge comes in trying to get the image clear yet still show the sparkle from the glitter -- trade off and you get a little of both under some strange or weird lighting, (LOL), but at least it doesn't seem to have washed out the color on this one too much.

For this card I used a 5" x 6.5" card base which I sponged the top inch using a dauber duo with CTMH's Topiary Exclusive Inks. After that, I cut some decorative paper (scraps I had laying around) to 4.5" x 6.5", which I then created the scalloped edge with my corner rounder (remove the shield) and glued to the card base leaving the sponged edge showing at the top.

After that I cut a piece of card stock at 4" x 3" to compliment the Topiary sponged top and glued that closer to the left edge leaving about 1/4" to 5/8" from left edge.

Next, I took the same paper I used for the scalloped part, cut that to 3.5" x 2.75" and glued it to the center of the previous layer.

Then, I took one last piece cut to the same 3.5" x 2.75" dimensions, which I then sponged the edges with the Topiary Exclusive inks before I stamped my card sentiment and image in CTMH's Dutch Blue Exclusive Inks. The Image is from CTMH's Chillin' Stamp set (D1228) - what a cute little bear! The sentiment is from CTMH's Card Chatter - Christmas set (D1388). The thing about Christmas is that often we get so caught up in trying to do it all that we forget the import things...PEOPLE! I just love this card sentiment, the quote is from Richard Wagner. If you can't see the picture well enough to see what it says, it says: Joy is not in things; it's in Us. How very true! After I finished all my stamping and sponging I then glued this to the layered section, placing it a little farther left.

Finally, I created the snowflakes using two different punches, gluing glitter over the entire snowflake surface and using a dimensional pop-dot to place on the right side of the card giving balance, dimension and sparkle. I'm really bad about sparkles. I just love sparkly things, so I try to sneak sparkle in here or there. :)

Have fun making your own!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Playing with the Cricut Expression and the Christmas Cheer Cartridge


I really should be doing something else, hahaha...but I couldn't resist. Actually, I do have another project I'm working on, but it's a longer project and I thought I would do something quick in between. If you can call learning new things on the Cricut quick.

Sooooo....I pulled out the Christmas Cheer cartridge for the Cricut and did a little playing around with a few items from the first row plus a few feature keys. Let's see... ...I used the shadow and the blackout feature keys and I used the Santa, the sleigh, and the deer -- then for good measure I did a holly leaf a little later after I realized I needed just a little more something to add to my finished project. The project turned into 3 different cards when I was done. Make sure you have your tweezers if you try this, those little hooves on the deer are really tiny.

The first card I made was the sleigh cut at 4 inches (remember that's height not width) -- actually the deer and the Santa were also cut at 4 inches I only reduced the size for the Holly Leaves.

For the sleigh card, I created the shadow, the sleigh and the overlay. I used CTMH Jingle borders stamp set (D1225) for the deco on the top edge, added a knotted piece of ribbon, and the holly leaves. Then I stamped the cute Grinch saying from CTMH's stamp set Peace on Earth (D1243) just released this fall. I used CTMH Star Spangled Blue Exclusive Inks ink pad.



Deer always seem to come in families -- it's rare you see one by itself; even then there is usually another near by, or just out of eyesight. My deer are not the exception - they are a little family too. So I decided to use the "Being together..." stamp from the CTMH stamp set Card Chatter (D1388). I also used some dimensional dots with 2 different thicknesses to give depth to the card. I used CTMH Pansy Purple Exclusive Inks ink pad, and the Chocolate, Cranberry and Watermelon Exclusive Inks markers to make the faces on the deer.




Finally, the jolly elf himself -- Santa, needed some sparkle! I used the VersaMark ink pad with the CTMH Peace on Earth (D1243) stamp set, plus the embossing pen to create sparkly letters and a little sparkle deco using Winter Wonderland embossing powder. The presents along the bottom are from CTMH Jingle Borders (D1225) stamp set and I used CTMH Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks ink pad. After adding a few dimensional pop-dots to the back of Santa I was good to go.....


There you go - three quick cards that probably took me less time to make than it did to write about them, LOL. A little layering with the Cricut is an easy thing to do since the Cricut "knows" what to do to make them fit together. Enjoy!

See ya next time.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails