Engagement Card

My little brother just got engaged, so I made this card to celebrate the engagement. I am very happy for my brother - his fiance is very nice. Welcome to the family Erin!!

I saw a similar card made by Anna Griffin, I believe that it was meant as an invitation. She had an entire series of invitations that spelled out things like PARTY, DRINKS, HOHO, JINGLE. When I spotted her cards I thought I could come up with something similar. My card might not do her card justice!

I made my card to fit into a business envelope (4x9.5 inches). There are 2 pieces to this card the front (IDO!) and the back. The front and back are held together with an eyelet and the ribbon is threaded thru the eyelet. To view the sayings on the inside of the card you have to twist the top (hope that makes sense).

I thought I would also share the quote I put on the inside ... 'Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that!' - Michael Leunig

Merry Christmas

There is one of the four eyelet cards that I made as Christmas gifts. (see previous post to see all four cards). In the spirit of Christmas and giving -- I am giving away this cutfile! If you would like to download this SVG click here.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and joyous Christmas!

Christmas Cards

I finished up my Christmas cards several weeks ago and they should in the hands of my freinds and family. I hope that they enjoy the cards, as I enjoyed making all 28 of them!

I made the front of my card plain black with a cream colored belly band. I kept the front very plain as the insides had a big sirprise -- a Christmas scene.

A2 Card Box

I have had a couple of request for the card boxes that I used in the previous post. So if you would like to have the cutfiles for these just click on the blue links.

A2 card box top

A2 card box bottom

I am sharing these files as .SCUT files rather than the usual .SVG files. I am sharing the .SCUT files so that the files are sizes correctly for standard A2 cards and envelopes.

You may notice on my files that I don't score the fold lines in Inkscape, personally don't like the little holes that it makes in the paper (I manually score the lines on my paper cutter with a score blade). On this particular file it should be very easy to tell where to score the lines from the notches on the tabs. To glue the tabs I used a Herma Dot runner but I am sure you could use anything from double sided tape, Glue Dots, to Zig pens.

In the previous post you will notice that the card boxes have clear tops, I just used clear overhead transparency film. You can find transparency film at any office supply store or copy center. By the way, I have found that the Glue Dots work really well on the transparency film in that they look invisible - but again almost any adhesive would work.




I have also had a couple of questions about my Cards in the previous post....

'Where did I get my cutfiles?' -- I designed them in Inkscape! I normally love Inkscape - but I have been very frustrated with it lately, I have a new Mac (love my Mac) but it is not very compatible with the latest version of Inkscape -- hopefully they will fix the bugs soon!

'Would I share the cutfiles?' -- I did share one of the cards in a previous post - so if you were one of the 300 people that downloaded the card. I may share other card files at a later date - so stay tuned Christmas is coming. My thoughts on sharing ... I like to share especially if it is a simple file that doesn't take much of my time, but some of the files have been time consuming to design.

'How did I get the colored paper to adhere to the white card?' -- First I cut a piece of colored cardstock to the standard A2 size (4 x 5.5 inches). To adhere this colored cardstock to the underside of the card front, I simply used my Herma Dot runner and put glue in a few places here and there and the along the top and sides. I also use a piece of scratch paper under the cards as I applied the glue, as the glue often got into the cut spaces. Honestly you could use any type of adhesive!

Hope all that made sense! If you have anymore questions, let me know.

christmas Gifts

Whew, I am finally done with all my christmas gifts!

I have made 11 boxes of 8 cards each - that makes 88 cards total! I made the finished gift boxes very simple with a clear top. I just tried with a ribbon and included a tag. I like the clear tops so that they can see into the box - I didn't see the need to wrap as the cards were pretty themselves.

And my sister wants to know what I have been doing and why I have not been posting anything. Right Lori - well now you know.



Here is a photo of the finished cards that are going into the gift boxes.

Glass Etching

Here is a glass christmas ornament that I etched, using the Silverbells stencil. Sorry about the photograph - I tried several times to get a good photo.
While I had the etching cream out, I put my name on a glass baking pan. I am thinking this is pan will be good for those potluck dinners - that way I can get my pan back!!

If you are thinking about etching you own baking pan, make sure that you etch the back side of the dish away from the food. Remember that you will also have to 'mirror image' the words if you put the words on the back of the glass baking pan. The baking pan will be dishwasher safe and food safe.

For both of these projects I used cheap contact paper to make my stencils. I also found out that dry wall mesh tape is a really good substitute for transfer tape.

silverbell - dry embossed

Here is a 'Dry Embossed' silver bells card - using the previous post's SVG. If you haven't noticed the last couple SVG that I have posted are stencils. I like stencils so that I can dry emboss. I also have a glass etching project done with with stencil - I will post later.

If you would like to try this dry embossing technique - you will need to cut out 2 designs in a heavy cardstock (I used heavy kraft paper) and glue them together. Once you glue them together you can dry emboss by hand --- or --- use a cuttlebug. I have a previous post showing how to do this with some angel wings.

Bells

This is a variation of the previous post image, I just used the holly and bells - no words. I am still playing around with some christmas cards. If you would like the SVG click here.

Jingle Bells

I have gotten a start on my christmas cards. Here is a card with a 'Jingle Bells' image that I have been playing around with. If you would like the SVG for the Jingle Bells image click HERE.

Christmas Cards

It is that time of year - hurry up and make some Christmas cards to send out!! I still need to come up with a design that I like and I can mass produce.

In the meantime, here are the cards I sent out last year ...


The cards are made from basic card strock and the card itself -- I designed in SCAL. The upper flap on the card was embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Bird and Swirls' embossing folder.



The Poinsetta and Holly were cut out with my Cricut and the Joys of the Season cart. I dressed the Poinsetta and Holly up with a white gel pen and some stickles. The Poinsetta was cut and layered with pop dots to add extra dimension.

I had better go find some Christmas Music, and go work on this year's card. hopefully I will post soon!

Gift Card Holders

Here are some Gift Card holders. I signed up for a Gift Card holder swap in a Yahoo Group and this is what I came up with. When the box opens up, there is a slot for the card to sit in.

When I finished with one I had yet another idea, so I ended up making two holders! I decided to make the gift cards with a Thanksgiving theme. The turkey and pumpkin images were dry embossed using some Lasting Impressions brass stencils.



When the box opens up, there is a slot for the card to sit in. Difficult to see in these images, guess I should have taken a couple different side photos (oops, they are in the mail already).

Here is the SVG for the Card Holder. I did not put score lines on this box -- I don't usually like how the score lines cut into boxes (I hand score my boxes and cards). To find where to put score lines, I placed guidelines on the svg file. The finished dimensions of the box are: Height - 3 inches, Width - 4 inches, Depth .5 inches.

Eyelet Card

Here is another card I have been working on. I am a big fan of eyelet lace and eyelet fabric.

Here is the svg for this eyelet card.

Halloween Swirls

I made an SVG cutfile for the 'swirls' I used in the following Halloween Layout. If you would like to have the file click here.

Halloween

I just got my boy's Halloween layout finished for this year. I actually had the layout completed over a week ago -- but it was missing the photo. As you can probably tell one is an Indian and the other is a Beekeeper. I thought about dressing up the boys and making them pose for me last week, but thought I better wait for Halloween and try to capture some of the excitement.



On this particular layout I 'scrap lifted' a layout from My Feathered Nest blog. This is the original layout that I 'scrap lifted'. I just love how colorful and playful her layout is!
I suggest you go to her blog to check out her other fun layouts; and while you are there look at her scrap room!! But be prepared for major scrap room envy!

Angel Card

About a month ago someone had asked for an angel to put on the cover of a memorial booklet. I quickly found a drawing and converted it to an SVG file for them. I am just now putting the angel SVG to use for myself. I am thinking that this might make a good Christmas card (maybe I'll try red for the next one). The gold lines are drawn in by hand using a gold metallic paint pen.

Here is the SVG for the angel card.

Halloween Treats

Here is yet another Halloween Treat Box. This one was not made using a Cricut machine - yes it is hard to believe, but I can make things with out a cricut. : )

Instructions

I used a spellbinder 3" circle and matching scalloped circle to cut out the top and bottom of the container. At this point you need to decide which scallop circle is going to be the bottom of the box or the top. Then I used a pencil to draw a circle on the back the 2 scallop circles. These pencil circles will be a guide for the sides of the box. Note: for the bottom of box you need to draw the circle slightly smaller than the circle you draw for the top of the box. This is so the box top and bottom can overlap!

Then I cut 2 strips of paper 3/4" wide and about 10" long. Then I used some 'Diamond Glaze' to glue the long strips of paper to the top and bottom to form the sides of the box. I like the Diamond Glaze because it dries fast and clear - the clear is important so you can see the penciled circles and get the sides glued down in a perfect circle and placed exactly where you want.

Hope that makes sense!

Pillow Box Svg

If you would like to have the SVG cutfile, you can download it here pillow box.

Halloween Pillow Boxes

Here is a pillow box that I made for my son's teachers for Halloween treats. The orange fringe is made out of streamers, I used my dot'n'roller adhesive to layer 5 streamers on top of each other and then cut fringes. The black ' halloween web' is a Flocked Lace and is self adhesive.

I made an SVG cutfile so I could make various sizes of these pillow boxes. I made about 10 smaller pillow boxes for the students. I wanted to make them as simple as possible -- as preschoolers care more about the candy inside!! I used a white gel pen to highlight the Changito 'Mummy' (I love changito, such a cute monkey).

Embossing without an embossing folder

I had gotten a few questions about how I embossed my die cuts with out an embossing folder - hopefully the next few pictures will explain.

1. Make Template. Cut out 2 identical images in heavy cardstock (I used heavy Kraft paper). Glue the images together (I ran one thru my xyron). At this point you could use this 'template' to emboss by hand with a stylus and lightbox.

2. Make Die-Cut. Cut out another image (I used a heavy vellum) with the Sure Cuts A Lot 'Shadow' feature (I used #2). Basically the 'Shadow' feature will cut the image out slightly larger.


3. Place the die-cut on top of the template. I used a very small piece of painter's tape to keep the pieces together and in place.

Important - the template needs to be on the bottom and the die-cut on top!

4. Run through your Cuttlebug with 2 Spellbinder Embossing Mats.

Cuttlebug Sandwich -- B plate, A plate, template & die-cut (template on bottom), Spellbinder Embossing Mat, B plate

5. Done, your die-cut is now embossed.

Here is the finished pieces embossed and glued together to complete the 'Angel Wings.'

Angel Wings SVG file

Here is the svg for the angel wings.

Angel Wings

The above card was made for a yahoo card group that I belong to. The angel wings were my own design! I made the design in Inkscape and cut it out on my cricut machine using Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL).

In order to emboss the wings, I cut out the design twice in heavy cardstock and glued them together. I then cut out a piece of vellum using the 'Shadow' feature (2) in Sure Cuts A Lot. The Shadow feature basically cuts out the design slightly larger. To emboss - I placed the vellum piece on top of the smaller cardstock piece, and ran it thru my Cuttlebug with an embossing mat.

Bakesale

My son joined Boyscouts this year, and today they put on a car wash and bake sale. I made some cupcakes and packaged them into cellophane bags. The tags and fall leaves were made using oval Spellbinder dies. I really like these leaf dies, if you run the dies thru the Cuttlebug with the embossing mat it will make veins in the leaves. I also rubbed some brown ink on the edges of the leaves to give a more realistic touch. I couldn't resist a touch of glitter on the outside scalloped oval. The center oval was stamped in brown ink with a 'journal' background stamp.

I just sent my boy and the cupcakes out the door - hope they sell well!

Edit: I had a question on how I frosted the cupcakes so nicely (thanks for the compliant by the way). I used a 'cupcake decorator kit' by Wilton. I bought the kit at Target for around $10. Here is the link to show the 'Cupcake' kit. This kit has a hard plastic tube instead of a plastic decorator bag. Wilton also sells a kit that has uses a decorator bag - I tried this first and didn't like using the bag. Easy Peasy, if you can draw a circle - you can do it!!

so tweet

Here is a Thank You card that I did for a Yahoo Group that I belong to. I signed up for a thank you card swap. The bird is another dry embossed technique. I believe the Lasting Impressions template is called 'Love Birds.'

I made the tree branch with Inkscape and Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) and cut it out on my Cricut!

Custom Stamp

I designed the above image - and had it made into a clear stamp! I wanted to have a stamp for the back of my cards. I just got the stamp in the mail and I am thrilled! It looks just the same as the above image, very clear.

If you are looking for a place to have stamps made - check out Imagine Stamps

svg file sharing

I am new at blogging - I am not sure how to share files on the blog. So when I get that figured out I will make svg files available. In the meantime, just email me the request.

SCAL cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made using my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) program. If you have a cricut machine you should look into the SCAL program! I can't tell you how much I enjoy this program. I first bought the SCAL program because it allows you to cut out any font you have on you computer, great no more expensive cartridges. But then I learned how to make my own designs - like the ones above! I am so loving SCAL. In order to make the above cards, I had to learn the Inkscape program, warning there is a bit of a learning curve but well worth it. I joined a Yahoo group for SCAL that that has been a great source of information!

Quilling

Ok, there are not many paper crafts I don't enjoy! Here is a quilled card that I did awhile back. This week I made a similar one for my husband's grandmother's birthday (no photo of that one as I had to quickly get it in the mail). I don't do quilling as much as I used to. The single flowers go fairly fast but when you start to hook them together it can get a little more difficult. I am not very patient with glue! I think it is a very pretty effect, even if it does take a little more time.

Invitations

I belong to a MomsClub and this week I have been busy making some invitations for a 'new member tea.' I used a lasting impression stencil to make the dry embossed flowers. This stencil was the first stencil I ever purchased, and it s still one of my very favorites!

School Bus mini album

My oldest son went off to first grade last week (yahoo, more time to craft). Anyway, I thought I had better get his kindergarden photos put in a scrapbook.

I prefer mini albums, so I came up with this school bus. The bus was cut out with my Cricut using the 'Doodle Charms' cartridge. I cut out the stop sign with the 'My Community' cartridge. The pencil and paper clips or 'office supplies' were made from Revolution Dies in my Cuttlebug.