Altered box at Scrappy-go-Lucky

Here is a little sneak peek at my project for the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog today.  To see what I made and get all of the details, please click HERE to go to the post.

 I started with this box - if you shop the Michael's dollar bins you might have one of these boxes.  I got several of these when they were marked down to less than $1 - how could I resist?

I also want to let you know that I will be part of another Disney/Pixar blog hop this weekend.  It looks like a great line-up of participating bloggers and I hope you will be able to join in.  If you click HERE you can visit the Facebook page for the hop and see the list of blogs included over the two day event.  I'll be posting on Saturday.

I am looking forward to being at home for the entire week - after so much traveling it is going to be nice to have a chance to get back into some sort of a routine.  I have lots of projects that have been put on hold that I will finally be able to finish and share with you all.

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Happy Graduation - a simple card design

We have several graduation celebrations to attend this month and I decided to create a quick and easy card design that could be customized to suit each graduate.  I used the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge to create these cards.  The cake cartridges are full of phrases that are perfect for many card giving occasions - after all, cards and cakes go together!

I wanted to make a larger 5 x 7 card and I made the card design on the Gypsy since there were only a few pieces to cut.  I'll list all of the sizes so you can duplicate this if you want to.  These sizes are with the "true size" button selected (the one that is an "a" with lines above and below on the Gypsy keypad).  For Design Studio, you would just enter the values I have listed in the width and height boxes in the Shape Properties box.

The graduation cap is on the main keypad (5.31 wide x 4.13 high).

 The cap layer is on the shift of the main keypad (5.31 wide x 1.61 high).

The Happy Graduation sentiment is on the phrase special feature key (5.68 high x 1.71 wide).

The blackout shadow of the sentiment is on the shift of the phrase key (5.91 wide x 1.93 high).

I used a 5 x 7 guideline rectangle to help size the card elements appropriately.  This could be from any handy cartridge since it will not be cut (so it doesn't have to be from a cartridge you own).  In Design Studio I can also do color previews to get an idea of how the finished card will look.

 

The two tone design is easy to change to work with various school colors.  I was able to cut the welded piece and the two layers on one 12 x 12 mat. 

 On this card I added some gradient gem stickers along the edge of the cap and a larger gem sticker on the tassel.

 

I first put the stickers on the blue part of the cap but I decided they were blending in too much so I moved them to the yellow top section.

 I use foam dots (a lot!) to raise the finished cut from the face of the card.

 The sentiment inside was one that I printed on SafMat a while ago (here is a LINK to the post about this handy material).  It is nice to have a supply of sentiments already printed up and ready to use.

I also used a sentiment printed on SafMat on the inside of this card.  The white liner cardstock was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch from the Deco Shells Punch around the Page set.

It's great to have everyone home for a few days - we have lots of plans for the weekend, starting off with the Library Book Sale Saturday morning.  It looks like the weather will be nice and we will be able to use the deck and backyard for our party on Sunday.  Have a wonderful weekend!

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Lace Cardstock with Martha Stewart Borders.

Today is Monday so you'll find another installment of "Martha on Monday" over on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog.  This week I demonstrated how to create your own lace cardstock by welding together several borders.  I have used this technique for many mesh pages.  The Martha Stewart cartridges have lots of lovely borders and there are many other cartridges that will also work (Storybook is one of my favorites for doing this).

There is a step by step explanation and lots of photos showing how to create the flower mesh you can see above on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog at THIS POST.

This leafy mesh is another example of a design created from borders.  This one is much more delicate than the flower mesh.

 Here is the border from the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge that I used for this mesh.

You want to be sure to use a sticky mat - not a brand new one but one that is "just right" to keep the paper firmly stuck during the cut.  It takes quite a while to cut out something this intricate.  Above you can see the delicate cuts in the paper still on the mat.  You want a sturdy paper, not thin text weight but not too thick.  If you use heavy cardstock you might not get a clean cut - I would recommend trying a multi-cut if you want to use heavier weight material.

When the cut is finished, you can remove the outer edge around the design.  

You could save this piece and use it as a frame on another page.

Take your time as you lift the cut from the mat.  The stems are extremely delicate.

 I only had one place where a leaf came apart - I was distracted by something and tugged a bit too hard when I was lifting that section.  It is simple to glue it down so the break won't show.

Changing the background paper gives an entirely different look.

If you'd like to try cutting this mesh you can download my file HERE.  The file for the flower lace is available on the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog.  You'll find all sorts of inspiration if you check out the projects my fellow Design Team members have been making so be sure to scroll back through the posts.  

Thanks for all of the advice on the paint color for the garage. I am planning to show you more simple style scrapbook pages soon now that I know that many of you enjoy this type of page as a supplement or alternative to the very heavily embellished and layered pages that are so popular right now.   I hope you have a wonderful Monday.

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Martha Stewart Crafts cake cartridges- Using borders to make decorative backgrounds

Happy Monday (and for those of you who are mathematically inclined - Happy Pi Day!).  I have been doing a series on the Martha Stewart Crafts Cake Art cartridges for Scrappy-Go-Lucky.  Today I posted some information about the Seasonal Cake Art cartridge and also showed a full page background made by using the borders on the cartridge.  To see the full post and download the file for the bow edged background above, please visit the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog at THIS POST.

If you want to know how to make your own page backgrounds, here are a few tips...

It is best to start with the border that is planned at about 2 x 9 inches as shown by the selected feature key above.  This will be the closest to the size you need for your page background.

You will then need to make the border the size that will fit within the "cuttable zone" on your mat.  Be sure to do the shadow version of the border first or you may run out of room.  Be careful to line the edges up properly - the shadow is not like most shadows - the sides of the two layers will be flush.

 
Once you have copied and pasted the border section and have arranged the four sides you will need to add a "filler" in the center to create a solid page.

Check to make sure that everything is welded correctly by doing a preview and looking at it from a blank page in the file.  If you get a preview that looks like this you will need to "burp" the design.  This means you will take one of the border sections and "copy-delete-paste" it back into the design.  By adding an outer border edge after the center, the welds will be corrected (you need to work from the inside out).

You can turn off the welding to do previews in color and make decisions about the colors for your design.  Just be sure to weld the group together again before you attempt to cut!

 

You should also save the edges of the pages you cut so you can use these reverse borders on some pages.  

By carefully planning one of these cuts with Design Studio or the Gypsy, you will save paper and have some beautiful coordinated backgrounds for your projects.  Best of all, you will save money since you don't need to purchase expensive single background sheets.

To see more photos and download the file be sure to click over to the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog HERE.  Once you get started making these you will find that it is easy and fun to do.  Best of all, you can make exactly what you want for a special occasion...so have fun with it!

 

Love Card - For Valentine's Day or anytime

I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day.  I meant to post this earlier in the day but I got busy with some projects and didn't sit down to write it up until evening.  I am close to figuring out a way to make a cut that has been very tricky to figure out...more about that later.

 

This is a special Valentine but could be used for other occasions too.  I used mirror cardstock for the heart which is very difficult to photograph effectively.

Here are the pieces of the card.  It is a simple design made more elegant with the glitter and mirror cardstock.  The A2 card base is Papertrey Ink dark chocolate - I like pink and brown together.  The heart paper is from K & Company - Kelly Panacci Valentine - cut at 5 1/4 x 4 inches.  The red mirror cardstock is DCWV from the Citrus Cardstock Stack and the white glitter cardstock is also DCWV.

 

I designed the card with Design Studio.  The card base and the pink layer are just guides to help me see how to size the heart and floral decorations.  I do not cut these from the file.  I used the heart from George but altered the shape slightly to fit the floral pieces.

Here is the floral spray I used - they look a bit like lily of the valley.  The size was about 2 1/2 inches - I adjusted it with the "handles" in Design Studio to 2.561 inches.

The "Love" sentiment is from Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art.  I really like the word art on all of the Martha Stewart cartridges - it is great for card makers as well as cake bakers!

At the 1 1/4 inch height the word is far too wide to fit in the heart, so I used the "handles" to adjust the size to 1.959 inches to fit nicely.

 Once I had my elements sized appropriately, I moved them to one mat to set up the cutting.  I label the tabs with the color and size of cardstock needed for each cut.  In this case, I put them on separate mats so I could change the blade and pressure settings since I planned to use vinyl for the heart.  I made one screen shot to post to show the placement.

I originally planned to use some of the red glitter vinyl for the card but I decided it was too flashy and did not have the elegant look I wanted.  I'll be able to use the heart I cut on another project.

When I cut the DCWV glitter cardstock I use blade depth 6, high pressure and multi cut 2 times.  Sometimes one cut will work but I prefer to do the second cut to get clean edges.  Occasionally, I need to do a third cut.  I cut the mirror cardstock with blade 5, high pressure and speed - there is no need to multicut.

I added all of the glitter elements to the red heart.  You need to be careful with your adhesive as it is difficult to remove marks from the mirror cardstock.  If you get extra adhesive showing you can try using a gum eraser to pick it up and polish the cardstock with a photo polishing cloth.

I added foam circles to give a little more dimension to the card.

Just that slight elevation adds a lot to the card and it is still easy to mail.

 I think the slight gap between the heart and the white stem that allows the pink cardstock to show through is interesting.

The mirror finish on the cardstock is so pretty - I tried another photo with different lighting to try to show you the effect.

I broke my usual rule of using only one or two cartridges - sometimes you find just the right thing in a lot of different places.

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day - we had a quiet evening at home with a special home cooked dinner.  We'll be eating lots of restaurant meals on the cruise so we weren't very motivated to go out tonight!

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