Sparkle and Shine

Happy Wednesday!  I have lots more to share on the discussion of various die cutting machine choices but today I need a bit of a break!  Christmas is less than four weeks away and there is crafting to be done.

I made this card last year the "old fashioned way" using the Cricut and just pushing the buttons to cut all of the pieces (no software involved).  This is one of my favorite word art images on the 'Tis the Season cartridge.  The cuts were all made at 3 1/2 inches.  I used the incredibly sparkly "Dazzle" cardstock from DCWV for the jingle bells. 

The sparkle is hard to capture in a photo but in real life in is truly "dazzling."

The "glitter" is actually a manufacturing process that creates a smooth  surface that cuts beautifully.  This is my hands down favorite choice for cutting intricate designs with an amazing sparkle.  I often use the Dazzle cardstock for the very delicate cuts I design and cut with the Cameo.

Lettering Delights Cut It sale

For those of you who use machines that will cut files in SVG or other formats, Lettering Delights has a sale on Cut It sets that will end tomorrow (Thursday, November 29th).  These files come in a number of formats (ai, dxf, eps, gsd, pdf and svg) and can be used on most cutting machines but not the Cricut.  They are normally priced at 5 or 6 dollars for the set and they are $2 during this sale.  To make matters even better, if you order totals $20 or more, you can save an additional 40% by using the code HoDown.

A lot of the Lettering Delights files are "cutesy,"  like the "Stashing through the Snow" set above but there are also more refined sets like these Forget-Me-Nots.  (And a little bit of cutesy can be fun, especially when there are mustaches involved)!  Click HERE to check out the sale.

November Giveaway

I'll be adding some sample pieces of the Dazzle cardstock to the November giveaway box.

Here are the updated contents of the box that one lucky reader will win at the end of the month.
in the box so far...

1.  2 sheets of the sticky paper I used for the glittered ornament card
2.  A new set of the same Inkadinkado Autumn Leaves stamps I used on the card
3.  An 18 inch piece of the brown leaf ribbon - enough for a few cards.
4.  A small bag of plastic gems like the ones I used on the crystal glass.
5.  Two pieces of the blue holographic paper I used for the fish on the wreath.
6.  A small piece of the white and silver mesh I used for the nets.
7.  The "gift subscription postcard" that you can use to make your own upcycled project.
8.  A few samples of different pieces of patterned Dazzle Cardstock.

All comments on posts in the month of November will be eligible for a random draw at the end of the month.  One lucky reader will receive the small priority mail box full of bits and pieces.

You can leave a comment on every post to increase your chances but please just leave one per post and make sure that you give me enough information so I can contact you if your comment is drawn.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!  I'll be crafting and getting ready for some upcoming family visits.

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Snowmen Artist Trading Cards

The theme for December in my Artist Trading Card group was "snowmen."  I always think that ATCs should be, well, sort of "arty" rather than cute but mine don't always turn out that way.  There are so many cute snowmen cuts that I decided to just go with a lighthearted take on the subject.

This little fellow is from the 'Tis the Season cartridge.  Since ATCs are only 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, I cut him at 2 inches.  This size worked out nicely for my card.

 

The snowman image is on the bottom row, fourth from the left and you use the regular and shift of the base and the layer1 keys.

There are four simple layers to assemble.  This image has the "reverse" style of layering so you don't have a lot of tiny eyes and buttons to glue to the snowman. 

I put together one card and then did the rest assembly line style.  There were only six in the swap this month so it was pretty quick and easy to assemble the figures.  The only small pieces are the scart (which is still large enough to handle easily) and the nose.

 I wasn't sure about having a hot pink scarf and nose but it ended up looking rather cute.  The nose and scarf were cut from the DCWV Dazzle cardstock, the two snowman layers are Core'dinations regular color core in dark green and gemstone for the white, snow layer.

The card base is a Martha Stewart heavyweight cardstock and the layers are Christmas papers from K and Company.  The "snow" border was punched with a Martha Stewart edge punch.

Here are the punches that I used.  I punched the edge of the 1 1/4 inch strip at the bottom of the card with the punch on the right and then trimmed the edges to fit the width of the layer.

I used the little snowman punch for the back of the ATC.  I often do the backs digitally, however, with only six in the group it didn't take too long to hand write the required information.

When I assembled the cards, I did not put adhesive along the top of the border punched strip.  This made a little spot to nestle the snowman in between the two snowflakes.

Here are all of the cards ready for mailing.

I turned the cards sideways to add all of the details on the back.  The little punched snowmen make it a bit less boring!

This little snowman is very cute but there are lots of snowmen that would work if you don't have this cartridge.  The 'Tis the Season cartridge does have a lot of great images and word art for the holidays.  If you are interested in this cartridge and you don't already have a CM consultant, I'd be happy to help you with your order.  You can place an order at any time on my CM personal website HERE.

We have several events to attend this weekend - and still more decorating, shopping, wrapping, etc. etc. to do.  The live tree is here but not yet up in the stand in the sunroom.  I hope that by the end of the weekend most of the holiday transformation of the house will be done.  I also have some new items that I ordered that I am eager to try - maybe I can squeeze in a bit of crafty time too!

If you all are still interested, I will post the ATC "virtual swap" in a couple of days and you will be able to start making and uploading your ATCs on inlinkz soon.  For the first round do you want a theme or a "free for all" where you make anything you like?  Let me know and I'll get things set up next week.

Have a great weekend!

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Special Friend Snowflake Card

I am on yet another quest to find clear work surfaces in my craft room.  I just can't seem to keep from piling one project and it's leftovers, on top of another and I need to do a major excavation!
 

When I first got the 'Tis the Season cartridge, I cut all of the snowflake designs.  You can see all of them in this photo and read more about the cartridge HERE.

 

I used some of the snowflakes to make these three dimensional ornaments.  You can read about how I did this HERE.  I am trying to use all of the other bits and pieces that have accumulated on my craft island and tables - I need some clear surfaces to work on a couple of big projects!

I made a quick card and used another snowflake on the front - my pile of snowflakes is getting smaller!

The card is an A2 card - plain white cardstock cut at 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches and then folded in half to make a card 5 1/2 inches wide and 4 1/4 inches tall.  I embossed the front of the card by folding it around the Cuttlebug "Large Snowflake" embossing folder.  This is a 5 x 7 inch folder so it was easy to have the embossing cover the entire card front.

The sentiment is one of the Craftwell Cards accents (thanks to my friend Enfys who gave me an assortment of these when we saw each other in LA).  The shape is not quite exactly the same as the smallest Nestabilities oval die but they line up pretty well - just a little extra of the blue is showing on the sides.

I used foam circles to raise the snowflake and the sentiment from the embossed card front. 

I added some gradient gem stickers and a snowflake gem from Creative Charms to highlight the snowflake and the sentiment.  The snowflake is cut from Core'dinations gemstone cardstock and the shadow background is cut from the Core Couture glitter cardstock.

The top of the card looked a little plain and the embossed edge was showing a bit so I decided to add a ribbon and bow along the top.

I tied the ribbon right around the card.  I wanted some thin and sparkly ribbon and I just bought a couple of yards of this ribbon a few days ago.  In the light, I realized that the edges have more of a gold tone so I may switch the ribbon if I can find the same type with a silver edge.  Otherwise, I'll just keep singing "Silver and Gold" to myself until I am convinced that they look fine together!  (That was my favorite song from the Rudolph Christmas Special - Burl Ives made a great snowman!).

I chose this particular snowflake for the card because it had a style similar to the embossed snowflakes.

This is a simple card but the special cardstock that I used for the snowflake and sentiment backer give it a nice glow.  As always, when you are able to see and hold the card you can get a better idea of the sparkly effect of the gems and the cardstock.

Blitsy added lots of new items to the store on Wednesday (Stickles, Liquid Pearls, Spellbinders Presto Punch and templates) There will be some more new things posted at 10 a.m. central time today - I can't wait to see what they have to offer this time.  If you haven't joined the free membership site yet, here is my link

http://blitsy.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/989/ 

After you join, you can refer your friends and family - go to the "invites" page to get your link and you may earn some credits to use for shopping on the site.  Sales last for a week (while supplies last) and new items are posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. Central Time.


We didn't get any snow yet but the temperature is much colder - maybe we'll see some flurries this weekend.  I hope you have a great weekend.

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Merry Holiday Tree (with some dazzle)

Happy Monday - I hope you had a nice weekend.  I had planned to share a Thanksgiving project but I ended up making another quick card with some of the DCWV Dazzle cardstock.  The stack that I bought had 24 sheets - four each of six styles.  There were three solids (silver, hot pink and blue) and three patterns.

I thought that the pink and silver solids would make great garlands for a tree.  I decided to try them out on the traditional tree that is on the same key on the 'Tis the Season cartidge as the Jingle Bells phrase I used for the card that I shared yesterday.

I cut the tree at four inches from dark green Core'dinations cardstock and chose a wintry patterned paper from K and Company for the background.   The shadow for the tree and the card base are a soft blue Martha Stewart cardstock that coordinates nicely with the swirly paper.

I wanted to keep the card very simple and I thought that this sheer ruffled ribbon would make a lovely spot for the tree to sit.

 I wrapped a piece of the ribbon around the card layers and adhered the topper to the card base.

 I used a lot of foam squares to lift the tree above the ribbon (I don't like this type of foam squares and I am trying to use them up!).

 I wanted to add a sentiment but I liked the simplicity of the card so I decided to make the sentiment very subtle.  I had some tiny holiday sentiments from Papertrey Ink (the "tag-its #9" set) so I chose "merry holidays" and stamped it in white ink in the lower right corner.

I added white embossing powder and heat embossed the sentiment to try to make it stand out a bit more.  It is still very subtle but I like the way it blends in.  The star at the top of the tree is from the Creative Charms seasonal sparkles stickers Winter Words and Bling.  When I added the link I saw that these are on sale right now - buy one, get one free - perfect timing for holiday projects!

It was a quiet weekend and now I have to move full speed ahead on the Christmas tree project for the museum - we put the trees up a week from today!   My Dad is expected to head home from the hospital today and I am looking forward to getting to Pennsylvania to see him in a few days.  Thanks again to all of you who have offered to send him a card - it will be a nice treat for him to get lots of mail!

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Jingle Bells (super sparkly!)

One of my favorite word art images on the 'Tis the Season cartridge is the "Jingle Bells" phrase.  It just looks so cheerful and the sleigh bells remind me of the bells we have hanging on our front door (I put them up the first Christmas we lived in this house and we've kept them there ever since - I like being able to hear people coming and going).

Most of the phrases on the cartridge have four layers.  Here are all of the pieces cut and ready to assemble.  The background mat is K and Company Halloween paper - it was just the right shade of green and had a nice subtle grid design.  The lower layer of the bells is metallic DCWV cardstock and the top layer is a new type of glitter cardstock - I think I'll be using this a lot.

DCWV has new stacks of "dazzle" cardstock.  This has an amazing shine and is different from their regular thick glitter cardstock.  The dazzle is soft and pliable and has almost a plastic feel to the backing.  The "glitter" is incredible sparkly but the paper is smooth to the touch.  The paper was easy to cut in the Cricut with a single pass - no multi-cut required.

Here are the two jingle bells.  The copper metallic base gives your eye a rest from the incredible shine of the dazzle top layer.

The mat background for the phrase makes it easy to line up all of the pieces of the top layer.  I cut this at 3 1/2 inches.

When I added the bells to the words I decided to thread some gold ribbon in the top of the larger bell and added a gem sticker to the smaller bell.

I had to pry up the top a bit  to add the ribbon - next time I'll tie it first.

The slit at the top of the smaller bell was too tiny for me to get the ribbon through (it might be easier if I tried before it was stuck down!).  I put a gem sticker at the top to finish it off.

This would make a cute invitation to a caroling or sledding party.  I thought the card was missing something even with all of the sparkle from the bells.

 I tucked a piece of sheer red ribbon with white polka dots behind the mat and tied a bow at the top left.  This ribbon is from May Arts and it ties beautifully.  I got it at our local stamping and scrapbook store, "Ink About It" - they have a good selection of May Arts ribbons.

If you are interested in the 'Tis the Season cartridge you can see all of the pages of the booklet at by clicking HERE. 

I bought the Dazzle stack at Joann's just a few days ago.  I have also seen a similar cardstock from American Crafts.  These papers are fabulous for making your project special and they are so easy to cut in a machine with no glittery mess at all - I am a fan!  You have to see the paper in person to really understand how it shines - I couldn't show the full effect in a still photo.

I am still stiff and sore from the fall but felling a little better.  Thanks for all the get well wishes.  I also thank those of you who asked for my Dad's address to send a birthday or thinking of you card.  He should be released from the hospital on Monday.  Please send me an email at capadiadesigns@gmail.com if you'd like his address to send a card.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

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