Christmas Card Kit

Today I was crafting with my friend, Meridith, at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley. (By the way, The Territory is a great scrapbooking store with big tables to work with your paper.) While I was there, I put together cards from the Frosted Cardmaking Kit.  I love this set. The kit has everything you need to make 15 cards (5 each of 3 designs). Cutting instructions included! You do need to have on hand the blocks and inks. Ruby, Twilight, Cocoa, and Olive inks are needed. I also added 3-D foam tape.

The above card is one of the designs. I did make one change. I added the background stamp to the ruby paper to give it a little texture. This is my favorite card of the kit. I just love that tree stamp.

Card number 2. The string that comes with the kit is beautiful. It is a bakers twine with a silver string running through it. I wish I could get this separate.  

I made a slight change on this one too. The texture was supposed to be stamped in twilight. But I really liked the ruby ink. I also inked all the edges of the papers with cocoa.  

And the final card. The snow flake stamps are a lot of fun. Also, I'm afraid I start singing "Have a holly jolly Christmas" every time I stamp this sentiment. The instructions read that the sentiment should be stamped in cocoa ink, but I liked twilight better. I think next time I will change the olive paper for ruby paper and add a bit more red to the card.

All in all, a great card set. Just click here to order the kit. Just $24.95!

This is a great way to get a set of cards made quickly. You can also use this set as a base and expand your creativity. Have fun with it!

Halloween Card

Ready to play with Halloween cards?

This Count is a lot of fun. He's in the Creepy Creatures stamp set. He is stamped in black ink on daisy white card stock. I sponged a little autumn terracotta and slate around the Count to break up the whiteness of the paper.  Because they are both water based inks they blend together a bit.

The bat is cut from the Artiste cartridge at 1 1/4 inches. I used daisy white pigment ink.  Water base ink soak into the paper. Pigment ink sits on top of the paper. Working with black paper you need a  pigment ink. The pigment ink takes longer to dry also. It smears easy. But that worked with what I wanted to do here. I sponged some white ink around the edges on the bat as well. It doesn't look crisp but I didn't want it too.

Above I left out the card base and put the pieces together to make an accent for a scrapbook page.

Get out your inks and play with paper today.

 Creepy Creatures-- Fun set for Halloween

White Daisy Ink

Sponge- cut it in 4 pieces. Rinse after using and be ready for the next day. 

                                                                             

Very Quick Birthday Card

I needed a quick birthday card. This one came out really, really quick. And I loved it. This is just a little piece of Surf's Up paper and a piece of the Surf's Up Assortment. The sentiment is stamped from a mini stamp and accented with Liquid Glass. The only part of this card that took a while was waiting for the liquid glass to dry. Luckily, I had less than 5 minutes to make the card but didn't need it until later that day. I put it together and sat it aside to dry while I ran errands. I just hoped that the cats wouldn't go walking on my craft table while I was away. I was sort of expecting to find cat hair or a paw print in the liquid glass when I returned home. But I was lucky this time.

Summer Mini-Album

Very cute mini album made with the Artbooking Cartridge.

Here's one I made using the Artiste Cartridge and the chipboard that comes with the collection. The paper is Surf's Up. The Artiste allows you to cut the paper to match the chipboard.

It was quick and easy. A nice little book to highlight my youngest's swim season.

Find some pictures and make a mini album today.

Babycakes Layout

The Babycakes paper is so cute. I just couldn't wait to do something with it. But my kids are all teens. No babies around here anymore. Luckily, my nephew is now a daddy, giving me a grand nephew. I love this picture of him and was very excited to showcase it using the Babycakes paper.

I used the Artbooking cartridge to cut an overlay and the "baby boy" title. As a quick accent, I used the Chantilly Textiles.

Now I think I'll make a few cards with this paper. I must have some occasion for a baby card soon.

It's your turn. Find an excuse to use that paper you love. Have fun with paper today.

Having Fun With the Cricut

I have led a couple of classes on Cricut basics in the last few weeks. During these workshops, everyone gets a chance to make three projects, cutting out each piece themselves and thereby truly learning the Cricut. I hear about far too many people who say they have a Cricut but it sits in the box since they can't figure out how to work it. That is a shame. The Cricut can really make paper crafting easy if you learn to use the machine.

The first project using the Artbooking cartridge is above. The Artbooking cartridge is set up to help the paper crafter make scrapbook pages easy. Page 86 of the Artbooking booklet is set up for a 12 x 12 birthday page.

I want to use that stack of presents on a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. I can simply set the Cricut on 4 inches with real size dial. But since I also want to use flip and layer the presents, I decided to not use the real size dial. I set the machine on 8 inches and used Sarita paper. (Setting it on 8 inches will coordinate the stack to properly fit an 8 inch scrapbook page. If I wanted an actual 8 inch piece, I would press the real size dial button.)  Press "icon" and the "happy" button. Then I have a nice set of presents. Without taking the paper out of the Cricut, I turned on the "flip" button to get the mirror image. Press "icon," "shift," and "happy" and cut the paper. The paper is removed and the present stack is perfect.

Next, I used lagoon paper. I set the Cricut at 4 inches, clicked  "real size dial," "photo mat 2," and "little toes," and then cut. This photo mat was on page 85 of the booklet. A 1 1/4 inch circle was cut from colonial white paper.

Add another piece of Sarita paper, the Perfect Fit- Birthday Stamp set, Lagoon ink, and a little glitz and the card is set.

Our project using the Artiste cartridge, was this box. I love the Huntington paper. Of course, I do love fall colors so this is perfect for me.

I set the Cricut up with the Artiste cartridge. This project does need a 12 x 10 piece of paper so a big machine is needed. A Create machine will be too small.  I used a piece of Huntington paper. I set the machine at 4 inches. Using page 37 of the Artiste booklet as a guide, I clicked on  "3-D Object" and "7."  I changed the paper to Colonial White. The size is 3 inches. I clicked on "accent 3" and "7" to cut the tag.  Quick, easy cuts.

I decorated the box using the You Are My Happy stamp set. This is the National Stamping Month special set and only available this month. I also used Jute Ribbon, hemp bakers twine, and a wooden shape.

My final project uses the Art Philosophy cartridge.

I made this one on a Cricut Create machine which can only take 6 x 12 paper at a maximum. Using Cocoa paper, I set the size at 5 1/4 inches. I opened page 35 of the Art Philosophy booklet as a guide, and I clicked "card" and "rectangle 5." It cut a very nice card base. I also cut leaves at 1 1/2 inches from barn red and huntington paper. Click on "shift" and "leaf2." Using New England Ivy paper click on "shift" and "leaf 4." I added a little burlap ribbon and the outside was all done.

Inside the card, I used the September stamp of the month. I only used part of this stamp, masking out the bottom to fit the card. I then used a little liquid glass on the word "FALL" as a highlight. I also used liquid glass to glue the burlap down. Liquid glass is a strong adhesive that is great for ribbon.

Again, the card was quick and easy. Using the CTMH Cricut cartridges always makes paper crafting easy.  Each cartridge has a different strength:

     Artbooking-- Scrapbook pages and mini albums
     Artiste-- 3-D Objects
     Art Philosophy-- basic shapes and patterns used in card making

But all three can be used with all aspects of paper crafting. I have made cards from all three, scrapbook pages from all three, and 3-D objects from all three. Each one is amazing! With over 700 images each, I never need to go to any other cartridge. My paper crafting looks more professional when using the cartridges and I spend less time fighting with my paper to make an object look right. I really love my Cricut and the CTMH cartridges.  They make my playtime with paper even more fun.

Making a Luminary Using the Artbooking Cartridge

When I saw a sample luminary in the Idea Book, I knew I had to make one. Take a look at page 17 of the Idea Book and see what I mean. Well, I love candles. I love leaves and the whole Fall season. I couldn't wait to try this out.

With Autumn Terracotta paper, I used the Artbooking cartridge. I set the cricut on 5 inches, real size dial. Make sure you set the real size dial! Press "overlay" and the "e" button. This is on page 50 of the Artbooking booklet. Cut out 4. A 12 x 12 sheet is big enough for 6 cuts (just in case you were interested in making multiples).

I then cut out 4 strips of paper, 5 x 1/2 inch and scored it in the middle long ways.  Attaching the pieces together took a little bit of patience and sticky fingers. I used Liquid Glass for a stronger hold. But I ended up with liquid glass all over my fingers as well as my project.

To decorate it, I cut out leaves from the Art Philosophy cartridge and added some jute ribbon at the bottom.

This will be one of the projects we will be making at the Holiday Extravaganza on October 12 in Sunnyvale. There is still time to register. Please contact me at cathryno@gmail.com if you would like more information.

Cricut Collections From Close To My Heart

Wondering which Cricut cartridge is right for you? Here's the video to help you decide.

Of course I think all three are amazing and need them all. I don't think I've used another cartridge in over a year. There are so many images and ideas on these cartridges. There really is no reason to go to another cartridge.

Take a closer look here.

Quick Fall Card

Here's a quick card for Fall using the Huntington Paper Pack and the Happy Autumn stamp set.

Artbooking Made Easy

The Artbooking Cartridge is amazing! This video gives a great over view of the cartridge and shows some fun projects for your inspiration.

To purchase the Artbooking Cricut Collection, click here.