Elegant Thank You Card

Happy Monday - I hope you had a  great weekend! 

If you have a Tuesday Morning store near you, there is a great deal on cardstock and paper right now.  They have packages of 25 pieces for just $1.99.  For cardstock, you can always use more (am I right?) and if 25 pieces of the same patterned paper seems like too much, you can go together with a friend and split the packs.  My neighbor and I had a good time choosing our favorites last week and then we divided them up at home.  Sometimes we found 26 sheets in a package so it came out exactly even, otherwise we just alternated which person got the 13th sheet.

We were able to get some of this beautiful metallic shimmer cardstock in a heavy cover weight.  It's a wonderful buy at about 8 cents a sheet!  We also found some lovely floral designed paper from India - 12 sheets for $0.99.

I enjoy working with papers that shimmer and shine - they seem special and elegant.  I decided to put these two papers together for a card.  I thought they'd make a pretty thank you card.  The "Thank You" sentiment and the doily are both from the Cricut Artiste cartridge.

I added the layer of black to give a bit of an edge to the decorative paper so it would stand out against the shimmer cardstock.  I started with a slightly larger layer and then noticed that one edge was a little thicker, so I trimmed it.  Once I started trimming I ended up in a "bangs cutting" situation where I kept taking off a little to even things up!  I ended up with a very thin line of black - but it is enough to serve the purpose of framing the special paper.

I cut the doily shape from black Core'dinations gemstone cardstock.  This is actually a sort of dark gray color because of the shine.  When I put it on top of the card, I didn't think there was enough contrast so I simply flipped the shape over.

The back side is a strong black with a bit of a shine.  I used the Gypsy to size the cuts for my A2 card.  I also transformed the medallion shape from a circle to an oval to fit the card properly.  The medallion is "accent 1" on the very first key (#1).  I resized it to 3.6 inches high and 5 inches wide (which is an actual width of 4.82 inches).  The "Thank You" is on page 65 of the handbook - the shift of accent 1 on the letter B key.  The height is 2.5 inches which makes the width 3.74 (or an actual width of 3.65 inches).

Gypsy Tip  In case you aren't aware of this, the Gypsy will give you the accurate height of a shape but the width is always a bit off - take a look at the box around an object and you'll see the the lines touch top and bottom but not side to side.  If you want to make something an exact width, you need to tap the True Size button (the one with an "a" with lines above and below it) to see the exact measurement.

I used some foam circles to raise up the medallion with the Thank You.  There is some really pretty word art on this cartridge and I have a few other projects in mind that will use some more of the welded phrases.

It is difficult to capture the shine and the elegant look of the finished card in a photo.  I took a couple of photos at different angles and with different lighting to try to make it easier to see.

There is a great deal for the month of September on the Artiste cartridge.  The Artiste bundle (cartridge, three stamp sets and three sets of chipboard shapes) costs $99.  Because it is National Stamping Month, there is a special double set of stamps that you can buy for just $5 when you spend over $35.   You can also purchase the Stamp of the Month set for $5 because you are spending over $50.  This means you will end up with six stamp sets, the three chipboard sheets and the cartridge for $109 plus tax and shipping (a savings of $78.54).

You can only buy this bundle through a Close to My Heart consultant.  My friend Melanie Brown (of Courtney Lane Designs and Everyday Cricut) would be happy to help you with any questions.  Melanie sent me this cartridge to review and I give it two thumbs up! You can find Melanie's CTMH website HERE.  The special offer of the extra double stamp set for $5 is good only until September 30th.

I am getting closer to finding clear horizontal surfaces in my craftroom.  In another few days I may be brave enough to share some progress photos (first I have to find a place to put all of the paper and other goodies I bought last week!).

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Sunflower Thanks Card

This card is another example of the inset designs that I like to create with the Silhouette Cameo.  I wrote about my method for making these cards earlier this month (HERE).  The only difference is that the design in the center of the card is something I drew instead of using a shape from the Silhouette Online Store.

After I created the shape and set it into the card front, I used the outer line of the image to create and offset and subtracted that shape from a 4 x 5.25 inch rectangle to create a decorative top layer on the card.  I made an offset of the oval shape to create the mat that I added to the inside of the card.

Here are the pieces I cut for the card.  I used the Cuttlebug Combo "Everyday Greetings" die to cut the "thanks" sentiment.

The card base is brown Core'dinations textured cardstock and the decorative papers are from this "Moonrise" collection by SEI.

The Core'dinations cardstock has a colored core but it is a bit lighter and sometimes shows on the inside of the sharp cuts.   I don't like the way it looks when this happens - it detracts from the cut.

I used some Vintage Photo distress ink to ink the center of the card and cover all of the lighter brown areas.  I also inked the white edges of the patterned paper cuts.

I deliberately cut the sentiment so the stripes in the paper would be at an angle - I just think it is more interesting this way!  This card would work as a vertical or a horizontal card.

The mat on the inside is centered to fill the cut design with color when you view the closed card.  To hide the writing inside, you need to write only in the area directly beneath the oval shape in the center of the cutout design. 

 

Once you have designed the file, it would be easy to make a set of these cards with various papers for the front mat and inside layer.  I have the whole stack of the SEI paper to work with so I might try some variations - I'll post them if I do.

Thanks for the positive feedback about my potential new venture selling some of my files.  Would you be interested in the more generic files like this one or just the specialty photo cutting files.  I am working on setting up a "shop" and may be putting out a call for a few file testers who use machines or programs that I don't own in another week or so.

We have had some nice weather here - I hope it sticks around for the weekend!

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Thanks Card - pattern mixing

Happy Saturday!  With the Fourth of July falling in the middle of the week next Wednesday, a lot of people are taking the entire week for vacation.  If you have travel plans, I hope you have a great time.

This is another quick and simple card I made using one of the My Mind's Eye card bases that I found at Marshall's.  I decided to get a bit adventurous and use only patterned papers and ribbon to make the card. 

 

I started with the plaid card that you can see in the center of this photo.  The cards were from the Lost and Found collection.

I didn't have any papers from the Lost and Found collection but I did have this pad of 6 x 6 paper - Jack and Jill from the Quite Contrary collection.  Some of the papers in this pad are similar to the colors of some of the card bases.

I selected several papers from the pad that had a similar color palette.  I cut the mat layer at 5 1/4 x 4 inches from the busiest patterned paper.  I created the "Thanks" sentiment in the Silhouette Studio software by combining two fonts, welding the word and making a shadow mat so it would stand out against the busy background.  I chose the bold red stripe for the mat to provide a high contrast with the background and used a tone on tone pattern for the word "Thanks."

I inked the edges of the mat layer with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and added this piece of yellow chevron rbbon, taping it to the back of the layer before I adhered it to the base.  The stripes in the ribbon just happened to be about the same width as the stripes in the red paper.

 I also inked the edges of the sentiment shadow and added lots of foam dots to raise it on the card front.

With so many patterns on the card, I decided not to add any additional embellishments.  What do you think?  Is it too busy?  t was fun to try something a bit different for me and it was very hard not to add some solid colors!

It is very easy to use any font on your computer to create welded words in the Silhouette software.  I'll show you the fonts and how I combined them and shadowed the sentiment in another post.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Simple Birthday Card

I never seem to have enough birthday cards, so I decided to make up some simple cards to have on hand.  I see many beautiful cards with multiple layers, stitching, lots of flowers and bling but they look like they take hours to make.  Sometimes you just need to choose a few shapes and get the card made quickly!

Here are the pieces of the card.  The yellow card base is textured Bazzill cardstock, The plaid layer is from Martha Stewart, and the green sparkly strip is from the DCWV Cotton Bloom stack.  The scalloped circle was made with the Creative Memories scallop circle maker from DCWV Shimmer cardstock and the light green circle is from Martha Stewart.  The Happy Birthday sentiment circle is from Craftwork Cards.  The sheer yellow dotted ribbon is from May Arts.

The card is an A2 card (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches folded to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches) and the plaid layer is cut at 5 1/4 x 4 inches.  The green sparkly strip is 1 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches.  It is handy to have a mat with a grid to help center pieces that you are layering.  I put the four inch side along the grid lines and then used the bolder center line at 2 inches to align the green strip.

I assembled the scalloped circle, plain circle and sentiment circle and added a piece of sheer yellow dotted ribbon, taping it on the back of the card layer.

Then I adhered the layer to the card base and tied a bow around the ribbon strip (it is much easier to get a straight bow when you add it on top of the longer ribbon like this).

I added some foam dots on the scalloped circle, leaving the center blank so it would fit neatly over the ribbon.

Then I nestled the lowest scallop into the area where the bow was tied.  When I put the sentiment on the scalloped circle, I aligned it so there was a scallop "bump" at each of the four compass points and the words would follow a straight line.

This card is quick and easy to make and the sparkly and shiny elements in the center make it feel special.  The sentiment circle from Craftwork cards is printed on shimmer cardstock with metallic gold.  If you can't find these (mine were a gift from my friend Enfys) you could make a batch of sentiments to have on hand using stamps and gold embossing powder.

I think this card looks a little like a flower with a ribbon stem and I particularly like the fresh look of the plaid paper!

The Creative Memories "Just Can't Wait" sale on albums and hardcover Storybooks has been extended to June 30th.  To go directly to the sale page click HERE.  You can see all of the details in my first post about the sale HERE.  I have already ordered a couple more custom album credits so I could get the 25% off price and make the albums any time in the next six months.

The Creative Memories Birthday Bash sale will start July 1st and run for 25 days.  The 25 top picks will be 25% off as Creative Memories celebrates their 25th year.  I'll post all of the details and a list of the products - there are lots of great items, including a sale on both software programs (Memory Manager 3.0 and StoryBook Creator 4.0) and 30% off on digital artwork, downloads and CDs.

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Super Simple Cards

It seems that life has been busier than ever lately - I think May is just a busy month for most people.  We have had lots of events to attend and more coming up this weekend.  I am a little off my usual schedule for posting - I have had less time to be in my craft room and even less time to get to the computer and write up the projects I have been making.

Since many of us are pressed for time, I wanted to share a super quick way to make a card.  Not a prizewinning, over the top fabulous card, just a simple card to send when your time is limited but you still want to send a card.

If you are like me, you can't resist buying paper, cardstock and more paper.  This 8 x 8 stack was at Marshall's for a few dollars and I liked the look of a lot of the designs - so I bought it.  I don't know how long it has been sitting on my shelf.  I think I have used one or two pieces since I got it.

Flipping through the stack I saw this design and I knew it would convert to a card topper very easily.  I cut it in half through the plain center area to make two pieces that measured four inch by eight inches.  Then I looked at the design and decided where to cut each half to showcase the floral design to suit a card front.  In this case, I thought the section with the larger dark blue flower would be the best so I cut a piece at 5 1/4 inches to make a card topper.

I stamped the sentiment in blue - not quite an exact match, but close enough.

I wasn't quite happy with the stamping, so I used a Sakura Stardust glitter pen to soften the stamped image and add some sparkle (it may be difficult to see in the photo above but when the light hits the card it is really sparkly - see below).

You don't have to be perfect - just trace the letters as best you can and they will shine prettily.

I added ribbon along the shiny pink section of the cardstock and taped it to the back before adhering the topper to the card.  Then I tied a knot with a shorter piece of ribbon near the top of the card.

Whenever I use a darker shade of cardstock for the card base, I add some sort of liner to make it easier to write the message.  You can just add a plain piece of 5 1/4 x 4 inch cardstock but I like to use one of my many border punches to dress it up a little.  It takes just a few seconds but it really makes a difference!

To finish the card, I added pearls in a few sizes to the centers of the flowers.

Quick and simple - but still a nice way to say thank you!

Do you have any favorite shortcuts for making cards?  What is your favorite "go to" style when you have just a short time to make something?

I am planning on starting the scrapbooking challenges soon so think about an event or a set of photos that you have "been meaning to get to."  Then print the photos if they are digital and you want to make traditional pages so you will be ready to go (digital pages are fine too if you prefer them).  If your photos are already printed - great!  The plan is to finish pages in a simple style and to tell the story behind the photos instead of burying them in embellishments.  If you prefer sketches to get you started, I'll be happy to post some - just leave a comment to let me know.


Have a great day!

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May Basket Class (and a little giveaway...)

Thanks for all of the responses about your card making - it's always nice to hear what other people do.  It was funny to see how many of you had questions about the folder and the pansy image.  I usually give so many details in a post that I worry it may be overkill - but if I don't, there are always lots of questions!  So today I have a long post with all of the details about the projects we made in the class and a little surprise too...

The original idea for the class was to make a May Basket.  Traditionally, a May basket is filled with flowers or treats and left anonymously on a neighbor's door.  I don't know if many people do this anymore, but the ladies in the class knew the tradition.

The basket is from the Easter 2010 seasonal Cricut cartridge.  I cut it at 11 inches.  This size will fit on the 12 x 12 mat but there is one little trick to make it work.  The basket and handle are all one image (two pieces that add to the mat in one box).  When the basket is this large, the handle extends just a bit into the "uncuttable zone" at the edge of the mat.  To solve this problem and get as large a basket as possible, I made two pages in the file.  In the first, I centered the basket on the mat and hid the handle and for the second, I centered the handle on the mat and hid the basket.  You just load the mat and cut one page and then the next page without unloading so you only need one piece of 12 x 12 cardstock for each basket.

This basket is designed with small circular holes in the scallops.  I have used this basket before and I wasn't happy with the way the circles cut.

They tend to slant into an oval shape and were off center to the "bumps" of the edge design.  The simple solution was to hide the circles and just leave the decorative edge.  I also hid all of the scoring "tick" marks.  I think they make the folds looks very sloppy.  If I am not sure about the scoring, I will cut a sample with the marks in ugly paper and score it to use as a pattern.

The only interior cut lines I kept were the two side slits for inserting the handle.  If I wanted to delete all of the scoring marks, including the handle slits, I could have simply checked weld.  I would still have to hide the little circles but this doesn't take very long.  The baskets were much faster to cut without the circles, which was a help for making a larger quantity.

I decided that it would be best to do the scoring at home.  The angles are a little tricky and I wasn't sure it anyone would have used a scoring tool before.  Since we had limited time to work, I also added pieces of Scor-Tape on the flaps for assembling the basket.

The handle has a flower and leaf shape at the center but there are no layer cuts on the cartridge to add to the top.  I used a Martha Stewart Rose Leaf punch to punch two light and two dark green leaves from glittered Core'dination cardstock (Core Couture).  I also punched a scalloped circle from purple Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock with the Creative Memories scallop circle maker punch.

One leaf of each color on each side fits nicely over the cut shape of the handle.

The scalloped circle covers the stems and the flower shape on the handle.

The white flared flower from Creative Charms adds a nice sparkle to the top of the basket.

I was concerned the the handle might pull out easily if the basket was loaded with goodies, so we punched out hearts and flowers from adhesive cardstock to secure the ends on the inside of the basket.

Some of the ladies chose to add the sticky shapes as reinforcement on the outside of the basket as well (this photo shows the Martha Stewart Cosmos punch shape on the inside).

I gave them some crumpled tissue paper to fill the basket and a mini chocolate bar as a start on the goodies to go inside!  We also added tags punched with the Creative Memories Tag Maker and secured the tag to the basket with a small butterfly brad from Creative Charms.

The sets that include these butterflies are on the inventory clearance sale now at Creative Charms.

I knew that the baskets would be fairly quick to put together, especially since I did all of the scoring and taping ahead of time, so I decided we should also make a card.

The pansy image I chose is from the Art Nouveau Cricut cartridge.  The style of the flowers on this cartridge is so appealing to me.  I made several of the flowers for part of the display for the center's gallery.  I decided to add the "thanks" sentiment as an option since most people can always use a thank you card.

Here is the location of the image on the keypad.  I cut all of the layers in groups to be more efficient for making up kits.

I hid all of the guideline marks again.  These shapes are very simple to assemble and If the lines show, they can look a little messy.  It also made the cutting go more quickly.  I arranged the shapes with Design Studio to fit as many as possible on the mat.  I labeled all of the mats with the color, the number of images on the mat and, if the mat needed to be cut more than once, I added "X2" to remind me.

 I played around with the colors a little in another file.  I lined up all of the layers and filled them with colors approximating the color I would use.  Since each mat will only preview in one color, you need to make quite a few pages in the file and move the images into position to get an approximation of the completed card.  This "Thank You" is from the Martha Stewart Crafts All Occasions Cakes cartridge.

In the end, I opted to use the Cuttlebug "With Gratitude" die to cut the sentiment.

There are five layers for the pansies and they are easy to assemble (but you do have to watch out for the tiny lighter green strip that layers to create a woven effect for the stems).

The background layer of the card is cut from heavy watercolor paper.  This paper takes the embossing very nicely.  I centered the piece of watercolor paper,  cut at 5 1/4 x 4 inches, in this checkerboard embossing folder which creates a basket weave effect.

I could not find the name of the embossing folder.  It was part of a set that was exclusive to Oh My Crafts with stripes, bricks and a tile pattern.  I think these came out in 2009 and I don't know if they are available anywhere now.  (Thanks to Debbie who left a comment with the names for the folders - Checkerboard is the one I used and the other three are Pajama Stripe, Brickyard and Window Panes.  Hers came in a promotional set with the Cuttlebug machine)

Since the folder is 5 x 7 it was easy to line up the design with my trimmed piece of cardstock to get an nearly perfect edge.

A single gem sticker in the center of the flower finishes off the image.  Some of the ladies chose to use this as a general note card and centered the flower shape on the card front.

The card base is a deep purple Bazzill cardstock, so we needed a liner to be able to write legibly inside the card.  I cut some plain white cardstock to 5 1/4 x 4 inches and punched one long edge with the Martha Stewart Pansy Punch Around the Page border punch.  I centered it carefully to make the pansies come out evenly.

I made this quick digital page with the photos of the class.  I'll drop off an 8 x 8 copy at the center for their bulletin board.  I used Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 4.0 to make this page and I'll have more details about the page another day.  Remember, the software is on sale for 35% off (making it only $42.22) until the end of April.  (You can click HERE to go to the page for the software on my Creative Memories site).

There is also a three day sale on Mother's Day digital content for 30% off - this sale ends on Saturday the 21st.  There are many items included - basically anything flowery or feminine! Here is a LINK to the sale page on my site.  Some of the Creative Memories digital content is now available in universal format so you can use it with other programs - be sure to check the format in the description (most of the universal format items are at the end of the list).

As the mother of two Eagle Scouts, I have learned over and over to "Be Prepared."  I made sure to have plenty of kits for the class in case someone came unexpectedly or there was a piece missing or a part was damaged before the card was put together.

If you have read this far - it must be a slow morning for you!  By now you know that I like the number three, and I have three complete card kits (just the card, not the basket) that I'd love to send to three readers.  This card would be pretty for Mother's Day with the appropriate sentiment added.

If you'd like to receive a kit, just leave a comment on this post.  Please be sure to leave a way I can contact you if your name comes up in the random draw.  I'll pick three names next Wednesday (a week after the class) and post them on Thursday.

Please tell me in your comment a favorite crafting tip - a tool you love, a site that inspires you, a source of unique items to use for your projects, or a way that you organize your craft space.  It's much more interesting to read tips than a series of "please pick me" posts and it will be helpful for other readers too!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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