Designing Cards with the Computer

Wednesday was an exhausting day driving to New Jersey again but it was well worth the trip.  I was happy to be able to attend the award ceremony and very proud of our son for working hard and being chosen for the award.  The driving did take a big chunk out of my Wednesday and will also take up most of Thursday.  Then, in just a couple of weeks, we'll be back again for graduation!

I didn't have time to write up more details on the card design for Wednesday's card but I will answer the question that many of you had.  I always try to give you as much information as possible but it was late at night and I forgot to tell you which cartridge I used for the "Thank You" on the card.  

You can find this on the Martha Stewart All Occasion Cake Art cartridge - as shown on the keypad above.  The Martha Stewart cartridges are all great - I did a review of this one for the Scrappy-Go-Lucky site and you can find it HERE.   Remember - these cartridges are not just for cake.  They work in all of the machines and are perfect for papercrafting. 

I will not be able to do a step by step on the butterfly card for a few days - tomorrow is the Creative Charms Blog Hop, Saturday is Discussion Day and Sunday is the Disney-Pixar Blog Hop.  I don't do many blog hops but these both should be a lot of fun and very inspirational.

I did do a series of posts quite a while ago that explain the process of designing cards on the computer - using either Design Studio or a digital scrapping program.

 First was a post about planning a digital card which could be printed or used as  a template for cutting the card pieces.  You can find the post HERE.

 

The next post is about the actual card made from a design created on the computer.  You can see that post HERE.

Next was a post with another digital card design and several variations.  You can find that post HERE.

 Several people asked me for a file for this card so I decided to try to make a card as close as possible to my digital sketch using the Cricut and you can read about how I did that HERE.

 These posts are from more than a year ago so you may not have seen them if you are a relatively new blog reader - I hope they help you.

Just a few more things...

Today (Thursday) is the last day of the Dollar Sale at Lettering Delights.  This sale comes only twice a year so it is a great time to add to your collection of graphic sets, printables, SVGs, fonts.  You can click the affiliate link above or in the left column to go to the site.  There are a couple of codes that could help you save even more.  "Royalty" should take $10 off a $25 purchase and "Sushi" should take 10% off your entire purchase.

The Design Studio update and the sample sheets and handbooks for the newest cartridges are still not available on the Cricut.com site.  I'll keep checking and let you know when I see that they are added.  I hope that the handbooks for the two exclusive digital cartridges on the E2 will also be included.  The handbook for Smiley cards (another digital download cartridge) is on the chart.  There are physical handbooks that are included with the E2 so the digital versions should be posted in due course.

I want to share this  photo from the ceremony (sorry it is blurry - the conditions were not good and no amount of editing was going to fix this!).  Instead of the typical speech that the other professors gave, the Music Department Chair had written clever Haiku verses for the award recipients.

link to Discussion Day 2 - How much is enough?


Subscribe to Capadia Designs 

 

Martha on Monday at Scrappy-Go-Lucky

Today is Monday so I have another "Martha on Monday" post over on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog HERE.  I have been taking a look at the Martha Stewart Crafts Cake Art cartridges and this week I reviewed the All Occasions cartridge.

The Martha Stewart  cartridges are full of great fonts, sentiments, medallions, borders and images.  One of my favorite features on the All Occasions cartridge is the banner feature.  There are two styles of pennants and several choices for contrasting borders to personalize your project.  Please pop over to the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog to see more about this cartridge and be sure to scroll back and check out the projects by the Design Team and guests - I know you'll find something to inspire you!

I also want to let you know that Twisted Papers, one of my favorite sites for vintage images, is back up and running after the loss of their entire database due to a massive server problem.  They have over 6,000 images uploaded and are adding more constantly.  If you had an account with them you will need to re-register.

I enjoy using their images along with my Cricut designs to make unique cards.  Here is an example from last year.  Their images are very high quality and reasonably priced - most are just $1.  If you see lots of images you like they also have a terrific deal - you can sign up for a monthly subscription for $24.95 and get up to 500 downloads in a 30 day period (that's only 5 cents a download!).  There is no automatic renewal so you can decide when to subscribe.

Twisted Papers offers all sorts of styles and types of images. The cute image of three bunnies at the top of this post was one of their monthly freebies last year.  They also have advertising art, old photographs, background papers, fashion illustrations, sheet music - I could spend hours browsing their site.  You can sign up for their newsletter with some freebies and they also have a Facebook fan page where you can keep up with ideas and freebies.

I want to thank everyone who has left comments or sent email messages of sympathy for the death of my stepmother - they are truly appreciated.  I will be catching up on things for the next few days and I will answer emails as soon as I can.

Spring has officially arrived and tonight they said there might be snow...I certainly hope not!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs 

 

Cookie Packaging Details

I got sidetracked yesterday by my excitement about being in the top ten for a chance to be on the Cosmo Cricket Design Team.  If you would like to vote you can click HERE to go to the post on the Cosmo Cricket blog - the poll is in the right column. 

I do remember that I promised more details about making up the cookie packages - so here they are (with lots of photos as usual)!

 

I bought the treat bags at Michael's in the candy and cake supplies section.  This type of bag is readily available in many craft stores.  You do want to be sure that it is meant for food since the cookies will be in contact with the bag.  When you are doing wrapped candy in a bag (like the bags HERE) you can use other types of bags as well.

The bags I bought measured 4 x 6 inches, so I cut some pieces of cardstock to 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches to serve as the backers in the bags.  I embossed them with a variety of designs. For the pink I used the "Love Language" and the "Polka Dots" Cuttlebug folders...

...and for the red I used the floral folder from the "Once Upon a Princess" Companion set and the "Conversations" folder.

The slightly narrower pieces of cardstock allow for a good fit once the cookies are added.

There are many ways to decorate the toppers.  The first step is to determine the proper size.  These needed to be four inches wide to fit the bags.  By experimenting with scrap paper, I decided that they should be cut at about 3 inches to fold at 1 1/2 inches high.

You can simply cut pieces of decorative paper to 3 x 4 inches, fold them in half lengthwise and use that as the topper.   The topper on the left in this photo is an example of this.  Two holes are punched and a ribbon is tied in a bow at the front.  It couldn't get much simpler!

You  can also use the Cricut to cut a decorative border.  Here are two samples from the Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art cartridge.  The size of the design will vary depending on the feature set you choose.  I preferred the scale of the lower border.

As luck would have it, this design was just a bit over eight inches long and the pattern divided neatly with nine scallops in each section.

The section of the plastic bag above the backer will fold neatly into thirds to fit the topper.  You can use glue dots to hold the bag down on either side.

A strip of adhesive from a tape gun works well also.

 

You should end up with a neatly sealed bag, ready for a paper topper to be added.

 

You can fold the topper over the bag to position it for punching the holes.

By keeping the two pieces together you know the fit will be perfect.  This topper is ready for some ribbon to be added.  You can use a clamp to hold the pieces together while you add the ribbon.

This is a handy way to conserve your ribbon.  To tie a bow at the top you would need about 12 inches of ribbon.  You can create a slightly different look and use 1/3 the amount of ribbon.  I cut a piece of ribbon to four inches (about the width of the topper).

First, insert the ends of the ribbon into the two punched holes  starting at the front.

Then, push one end back to the front through the opposite hole.

Repeat this with the other end of the ribbon and pull them up tightly through the front.

When the ribbon is tightened you can remove the clamp.  You have a perky looking "bow" and can make many more bags with the same ribbon.

This is all you will see on the back side.

You can also use a piece of cardstock you have punched with a decorative border.  This is the Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge punch.

A simple pearl brad finishes off the topper.  It looks elegant and can be saved by the recipients to use on one of their own projects.

Almost anything can make a topper.  This decorative white cut was one of my trials cuts for the wrapped candy bag toppers (HERE).

I cut a 3 x 4 inch piece of pink cardstock, folded it in half lengthwise and then held everything together with a clamp while I punched a hole at the top.

This large gem brad from Creative Charms makes the treat even more special

These are just a few of the possibilities.  You can have a lot of fun creating different toppers for unique treats and favors.  They do look almost "too pretty to eat!"

I am in Pennsylvania again for a super quick visit with my Dad.  Yesterday was very hectic as we packed up the car and I drove our son to New Jersey for his last semester of college.  I have been driving up and down this route from Massachusetts to New Jersey for so many years - it will be strange to have him graduate this spring (but also very exciting!).  I'll still come this way to visit my sister and my Dad.  

We saw the most amazing sunset just as we got near the Tappan Zee bridge but my laptop has decided to stop reading memory cards and I don't have any other way to get the photos in the computer until I get home again.  I plan to go home Monday since there is yet another storm predicted for Tuesday.  I hope things clear up for my flight to LA on Thursday!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs       

Joy - Hope - Peace Card

This is the first of many cards that I have designed using the Martha Stewart Crafts Cake cartridges.  Mandy at Scrappy-Go-Lucky asked me what I thought about these cartridges for people who don't have a Cricut Cake machine and I was quick to reply that these are great cartridges for paper crafters as well as cake makers.

Just to clear up any confusion, the cake cartridges (both the Martha Stewart Cake cartridges and the original Cricut Cake cartridges) will work in any of the Cricut machines.  While they were designed to use for cake decorating, there are great images that will work well for scrapbooking, card making and other paper crafting projects.  I'll be reviewing and sharing projects made with these cartridges over the next few weeks in posts here and on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog.

The All Occasions cartridge has a wonderful decorative font that has a Scandinavian sort of holiday look to my eye.  I made a simple card design with some words in this font and then had fun trying out various color combinations in some previews.

First I used a red background with green and white letters (alternating the colors of the shadow and the top layers).

Then I tried an all red and white version

Finally, I tried a green background with red shadows and white words...

...then with white shadows and red words.

This is the version I decided to test cut.

I chose some metallic and glitter cardstock to make a festive card.  I used multi-cut 2 to be sure that the small details in the letters would be cleanly cut.

The shadow layers of the words were welded together and the top letters were cut individually except for the "J" and "H."   I welded these because they would overlap and I wanted to avoid a lump.

I put the first letters in each word on first then I could be sure that the letters were properly spaced.  I use Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive for adhering to glitter and foil cardstock.  It works very well and I never have trouble with letters coming off.

The foil cardstock was from a pack of American Crafts Specialty Paper that I bought at Michael's or ACMoore a while ago.

There are four colors (gold, silver, green and red).  The green and silver have a striped texture design and the red and gold have a linen texture.  This cardstock is what makes this very simple card seem very festive and special.

I used some white glitter cardstock from DCWV for the shadow layer and it has a nice sparkle between the two shiny red and green papers.  You can see the textures more clearly in this close up photo.  This card is very quick and simple to make if you still need some cards - the cardstock choice is the key to making it seem special.

To finish the card and make it look something like a present, I added a thin gingham ribbon tied in a bow at the top of the card.

If you'd like to make this card, you can download the file over at the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog - here is a LINK to the post.  Be sure to check out some of the older posts to see some of the great projects my fellow design team members have been making.

Just two weeks left until Christmas - and so much to do.  I hope you are enjoying the season and not stressing about all of the things you still need to do.  I am trying to pick the most important things to do and to let the rest go so I can have some nice family time this season.


Subscribe to Capadia Designs