Milestone Day

It's time for a little milestone celebration!  This is the 1600th post I've made on my blog and I also noticed that the hit counter has passed 1,750,000.

It's been quite a journey since I started the blog in 2008.  I've learned a lot and I have enjoyed sharing my projects, files, tutorials, photos and bits and pieces from my life with a great group of followers, readers and subscribers. Lately I've been thinking about some new ideas for the blog that I hope will be in place by the beginning of next year. Thank you for all of your comments and support - I truly enjoy connecting with fellow crafters from around the world through my blog. 

I was trying to sort things out in my craftroom and I came across a card that I started back in July (it certainly has been a hectic year!).  I designed the file for the card base from a Dover Publications free sample image (I'll add the name of the book when I figure out which one it came from).

I cut the card base from textured dark green Bazzill cardstock and used papers from this mat stack for the decorative layers.

Here is the base card cut - I think I posted this a few months ago as a "sneak peek" so it may look familiar.  I measured the center rectangle and cut papers to fit for the card front and for a message inside.

The area for the message inside is perfectly aligned with the openwork cut in the front of the card.  I added a layer of the green cardstock to create a thin line around the mat for contrast.

After the layers were added the card was pretty but a little plain.

I decided to add gems to give the card some sparkle.  The card sat around on my worktable for a long time, just waiting for me to be inspired to finish it.

I recently found the Magic of Oz stamp set from Graphic 45 on sale at one of the larger craft stores.  The green gems I had added to the card made me think of the Emerald City and the "There's no place like home" sentiment was a perfect fit for the front of the card.

I stamped  a piece of white cardstock with Versamark ink and then applied some clear embossing powder.  After I heated the powder (one of my favorite things to do is watching the magic of heat embossing...) the sentiment was preserved in white.

I inked the cardstock with several shades of Distress Ink (crushed olive, ripe persimmon, pine needles and vintage photo) using a blending tool to create a mottled background.  The ink wipes of the embossed words very easily.

The lacy frame around the edges of the card front cut very cleanly with the Cameo.  I also did another version of this design with the card in a square shape.

If you have any questions about how I adapted the Dover file to cut with the Cameo, be sure to leave a question in the comments below.

Here is a peek at something that I used on my "secret" project while I was at my sister's house last month.  I'll share a few photos of the finished product soon.

Today is also a special day for my great nephew.  He is turning 6 on the 6th so it is his "Golden Birthday."  Have a wonderful day Ben!

The final milestone for today is the Presidential Election.  The race is close and I think we will all be glad to have the ads and phone calls come to an end.  Be sure to get out and vote!

Stay tuned to hear about the giveaway I have planned to celebrate 1600 posts and so many visits...


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Gift Card Holder - times three

A couple of days ago, I posted a few photos of a gift card holder I made using the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  There are several gift card holders on this cartridge - the one I chose is on page 55 (letter G, card function, on the overlay).

I cut three of the holders at 5 inches, using the Gypsy so I could eliminate the tick marks for the scorelines.  The cardholder is designed so both sides of the paper will be seen.  I chose some pretty floral paper with a pink swirl on the reverse side from K & Company.

After the holders were cut, I simply scored and folded them in the middle and then scored along the base of the card and folded the sides up.

This is how the holder looks after scoring and folding.  I always eliminate the tick marks to make my folded edges neater.

 

The smaller inner section is sized to hold a plastic gift card with a little notch to make it easier to grasp the card.

To assemble the card holder, you just need to add strong adhesive to the sides and base of the center section.  I used Scor-Tape as you can see in the photo above.

I made three identical card holders for three gift cards.  To present the cards, I decided to make a "large" card.  I took a sheet of 12 x 12 dark green Bazzill textured cardstock and folded it in half for a 6 x 12 inch card.

I attached each of the card holders to the card base, using Scor-Tape again.  I like this adhesive because it is strong and does not leave a mess.  You do have to be careful to place your item correctly the first time because it is a very aggressive adhesive and it is difficult or impossible to move a piece that you have stuck done crooked or in the wrong spot.

The cards were a birthday gift so I wanted to add a birthday sentiment.  I used the banner cut from page 35 (number 5 on the keypad, accent 1 function).  This shape has a coordinating stamp that comes with the  Artiste bundle .  I cut the banners from the same paper with the pink side up and stamped the "
Happy Birthday" with Fired Brick Distress Ink.

I did not adhere the banners to chipboard but I did pop them up a bit with some foam dots.

Here is the inside of the card with three sets of birthdays wishes.  I signed on the left side of the card with  white ink.

The cards are placed in the holders with the bottom sides showing since they are fixed in a vertical position.  This hides the value of the card so there is a moment of anticipation as it is pulled out.

I wanted the front of the card to look like a package so I simply used another piece of the floral cardstock cut at 5 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches for the layer.  I wrapped some ruffled pink ribbon around the daisy paper and taped it on the back.  Then I added a layer of burgundy satin ribbon in the center of the pink ribbon.

Once the ribbons were centered and fixed in place, I added a piece of burgundy ribbon for a bow.

This is the top of the "package" or the front of the card.  This was a quick and simple to make the gift card presentation a little more special.

If you are thinking about purchasing the Artiste cartridge, it is available only through Close to my Heart consultants.  My friend Melanie Brown is a consultant and she would be happy to help you.  Melanie's site is HERE.   The Cricut Artiste Cartridge bundle is HERE on her site - it includes three coordinating stamp sets and three sheets of chipboard shapes. 

When you purchase the bundle, you will qualify to purchase  the September Stamp of the Month, Fall Favorites for just $5.   Until September 30th, you can also get the special National Stamping Month set for only $5 - it is a double set you can see HERE and you add it to your cart HERE.

I hope you are having a great weekend - we'll be enjoying another family birthday party today as the triplets are turning 9!  I have to finish up their cards this morning and I also hope to move a few more things around in my craftroom - if I can manage without help from my husband who shouldn't be using his injured hand.

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Real Flowers - printed and cut for a card

Monday was a "catch-up" day for me.  I was finally able to find the top of the pool table in my craft room "annex" (after our sons left home I spread out into the adjoining room - and filled it up too!).  I was sorting through piles of projects and I found something that I started a couple of months ago.  So I finished this card to share with you.

This photo of a rudbeckia (brown-eyed susan) from our back yard was the starting point.

I did some photo editing and heightened the contrast to make the flower stand out.  One of my favorite things to do with my flower photos is to turn them into digital elements that I can use for my digital scrapbooking.  I have accumulated quite a few flower images as PNG files that I can use for page layouts, cards and other projects.

I used the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 4.0 software (on sale this week for only $41.40) to remove the background and create a clean image of the flower.  I realized that with my Silhouette machines I have the capability to take these flower images and cut them out perfectly.

I saved the PNG file to my desktop and then dragged it into the Silhouette Studio software.  (You do not need the designer version of the software to do this).  Then I used the trace function to create a cut line around the edge of the flower.  I filled a page with various sizes of the flower.  For some of the images, I created an offset to leave a white edge around the flower when it is cut.  

Once my flowers were cut out, they looked very realistic - because they are actual flower images.  I could also skip the printing and use the cut lines that I traced around the flowers to cut plain cardstock in the same shape. 

I chose three flowers in small, medium and large sizes, and cut some basic card mats for an A2 card.  The card base is Bazzill heavy textured cardstock, the brown layer is Core'dinations cardstock and the green design is from Momenta.  The yellow chevron ribbon is from May Arts and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards (I rounded two corners to make it a little more interesting).

 I placed the ribbon across the front of the top layer and folded it over onto the adhesive on the back before I placed the green layer (3 3/4 x 5 inches) on the brown layer (4 x 5 1/4 inches).

I inked the edges of the layers with some Vintage Photo distress ink.  Here is the finished card base before I added the flowers and sentiment.

I chose this ribbon because the chevron pattern matches the design in the green dragonfly cardstock.  I used Scor-Tape to attached the sentiment to the ribbon and the cardstock.

To add dimension to the flowers, I used some foam dots.  I adhered the largest flower with Scor-Tape in the center and curled up the ends a bit.  For the medium flower I used one foam dot and for the smallest flower I stacked two foam dots.

I overlapped the flowers as I placed them on the card.  This photo shows the different levels.

I have also done a print and cut project with some daisies and I am working on other flowers that I have photographed.  I really enjoy taking my photos and finding new ways to use them.  You can make a totally personalized card and once you take the time to create the files you can use them over and over again.

I am linking up this project to Link Up Tuesday HERE.  The past few months have been such a busy time for our family.  I don't go to the message boards much anymore but I'd like to keep in contact with the blogging community - I may even start a link day here.

Every so often I am asked if I sell my photographs.  I haven't done that (yet) but I am considering creating and selling SVG files to print and cut my flower images.  Please let me know (by leaving a comment or by email) if you'd be interested in these or other SVG files.  I can't sell them as .studio files (see Kerri Bradford's recent blog posts) but SVG files can be cut by a number of machines, including the Silhouette machines if you have the designer edition of the software or another program such as Make the Cut.

Our weather has started to cool down a bit and fall will be here soon.  The schools here usually start after Labor Day but I know that in many parts of the country children are already back to school.  If you have school age children, I hope that they are off to a good start for this year.

I wonder what other projects I'll find as I continue to sort out my craft room!

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Shop Hopping (and a surprise card)

My local stamping and scrapbook shop, Ink About It, is taking part in a "Summer Stroll" with seven other shops.  To participate, you buy a "passport" at your home shop and then try to visit as many of the other shops as possible over the summer.  The passport entitles you to a one-time 20% discount when you shop at each store.  If you get to six of the eight shops, you are entered into a drawing at your home store for a prize package valued at $100 (and if you get to all eight stores you get two entries in the drawing).

I bought a passport on my birthday and when I looked at the card with the list of shops I realized that four were in Massachusetts and four in Connecticut.  I thought I would probably only get to the Massachusetts stores.  When I went to see my Dad last week, I decided to check out the locations of the stores in Connecticut and remapped my journey so I could visit one on the way down and two on my way home.

It was great fun to see a few new stores and I still have two of the Massachusetts stores to visit. If I go to Pennsylvania again before the deadline in September, I'll try to get to the other shop in Connecticut.  The stores I visited on my trip last week were The Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs,  Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook and Wiggles and Giggles in Wethersfield.  All of these shops are well worth a visit if you are in the area or passing through.

I was able to find some things that I was looking for at each of the shops.  While I was away, a surprise party was planned for our niece on Friday night.  I didn't have anything with me to make a card and I didn't want to buy one  When I saw the new Paris Girl line from Carta Bella at the Papercraft Clubhouse I got the idea to put together a card at the store.  I asked if I could "borrow" the classroom and use a few tools to make my card and they were very accommodating.

This is just one corner of the large classroom.  Along the wall were some items on sale and I browsed through these to see if there was anything I could use for the card.

I found these stickers from SRM on the wall.  I normally use a stamp or a die cut sentiment but I thought these were cute (I took the photo at home after I made the card so the bits I used are missing).

I found these ribbons in another section of the store.  I loved the ruffles on the pink ribbon for a girly card and while I was making the card, I decided I needed a narrower black ribbon.  I think these were both from May Arts.

I purchased two sheets of Bazzill cardstock - pink and white - and started to flip through the pad of "Paris Girl" paper to find a design for the card front.

I chose the page with an assortment of dress forms.  The store had a very nice paper cutter (by Genesis) so I quickly cut a card base in pink and one in white.  I looked around for a score board but didn't see one right away.  There was another customer working on an album and when I asked her if she knew where there might be a score board she very kindly offered me the use of her trimmer and switched the blade out for the scorer.  We got to talking and I didn't pay attention as I scored the pink card base and ended up with a scored line at 4 inches instead of 4 1/4 inches (so the back of the card was not even with the front).

I decided to just go ahead and use this base and cut a 1 1/4 inch strip of black dotted paper to cover the extra area that would be exposed when the card was closed.  Then I added the "celebrate" sticker to a piece of the white cardstock and trimmed it to about 1/2 inch by 5 1/2 inches.  I placed it along the black dotted strip and then added another sticker for the sentiment.  The sticker landed a bit off center so I punched a few flowers and added them to the right side to make it look like "I meant to do that!"

I trimmed the layers for the front, added the ribbons, adhered all of the layers to the card front and tied an extra piece of black ribbon around the long ribbon and trimmed the ends.  I found some Sizzix  dies to cut the number "18" and used another punch for the deckle edge square. 

It was odd to make a card without using any electronic die cutters since I usually start with a cut file but I had fun improvising and figuring out how to "fix" my mistakes!  I enjoyed meeting Dotty, who also gave me some foam tape and was interested to hear about my blog.  She was working on her Project Life album and asked if we could have a photo taken together so she could use me as her important thing that happened that day.  I was really flattered by that! 

The photo taken on my camera came out blurry but here it is very small just to say hi to Dotty!  I think you meet some of the nicest people when you visit independent shops and I try to do my part to keep them in business so we all can enjoy the community of crafters.   I hope I'll have a chance to stop by this store again.  I found a few other things I had been looking for and something new that I can't wait to use...

Please forgive the lighting and small number of photos - most of them were taken in the back of the car before I got to the surprise party!  Friday was a very long day but I made it to the party and the birthday girl was truly surprised.  I got home over twelve hours after I left so I took a break on Saturday to catch up!  Today I hope to try out some of my new goodies from the shop hopping!  I also found a package waiting for me at home and I have some experiments to do...that's all I can say for now!

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