Christmas Presents and Sales

The first few days after Christmas are exciting when you have new gifts to try out.  Our son got a special electric tea kettle and did an impromptu tea tasting for some of the family at our party on Monday.   New clothes are usually worn right away and all of the tasty treats must be sampled.  As a child, it was always a great feeling to have school vacation and free time to enjoy the gifts we received.

Yesterday I had planned to do a lot of projects around the house but things didn't go according to plan.  I have to admit that I got sidetracked by the new books that I got for Christmas, started reading and finished one of them.  I love to read but don't seem to find the time often enough - maybe I will add planned reading time to my list of things to do next year.

I did get my new Vagabond out of the box and cut a few trial projects.  First I used some Sizzix dies for a three dimensional five point star and a globe made of circles scored and folded to make a triangular shape with flaps.  I used 140 pound watercolor paper and it cut and scored beautifully.

I have always been fascinated by these globes and have tried cutting circles with the Cricut and scoring them around a triangle template but the die makes it so much easier and faster.  I know I could make a file for the Silhouette with perforated lines for the scoring but the smooth creases created by the die make a nicer looking finished project.  The right tool for the job can make a big difference and I love to collect the tools - that is why my craftroom is overflowing with "stuff" (and desperately in need of a good cleaning and organizing session!).

I had heard that the Vagabond was great with the thin dies, like this "English Tea Party" doily from Cheery Lynn, and it's true.  I found it so much easier to cut the doily with the electric motor doing all of the work.  I did send it back and forth a few times just to be sure that all of the details would be cleanly cut.  When I used these dies in my Cuttlebug, it was hard work to crank them through.

I'll be posting more detailed information about my impressions of the Vagabond after I get to do some more trial cuts.  It is very heavy compared to the Cuttlebug or the Big Shot and the motor is quieter than I expected (a nice plus).  The machine is expensive (retail price $249.99) but it has been out for a while now and prices have dropped.  Blitsy had it for $164.95 but it is sold out now.  I saw it on Oh My Crafts for $189.99 (with a $10 Oh My Crafts Gift card).

Someone had a question about where to find the Memory Box dies I have been using lately.  I have purchased mine at a local store.  If you go to the Memory Box site you can use the store locator and choose your state to see if there is a seller near you.  They are also available at a number of online retailers - click "Web Stores" at the top of the store locator list to see where you can buy the dies.

The Creative Memories Year End sale is on with savings from 20 - 50% on select items.  The sale lasts only two days (December 28 and 29) and you can see all of the details on my CM website HERE.

The StoryBook Creator 4.0 software that I use is on sale for $51.95 (download or disc) and there are great prices on a couple of Disney items (a punch and mini paper album).  Please let me know if you have any questions about the items on sale.

Remember, Blitsy is also having a second chance sale with all of the items they have offered since they opened listed again and available (while supplies last) until January 3, 2012.  I checked yesterday and while some items have been "blitsed" (sold out), there are still lots of great items available.  If you aren't a member yet, you can use my link to sign up http://blitsy.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/989/   and then get your own link to refer your friends and family - when they make their first order of $10 or more you will get a $10 credit to spend on the site.

We had stormy weather last night but it was rain and not snow - that's a good thing!  I hope you are getting a chance to have a break for the holidays.  What are you doing New Year's Eve?

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Another Intricate Butterfly and a few tips

Happy Monday!  If you head on over to the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog you will see the latest card I made using one of the Cheery Lynn Designs dies.  These dies are incredibly detailed and make great additions to your cards and other projects.  I have a few tips and tricks to share to help with the assembly of this card.

The butterfly dies have companion dies called "angel wings" that provide a solid contrast layer for the intricate wings. 

The cuts are so delicate that it is tricky to find a way to adhere them to the angel wing backing.  I used the LetraTac adhesive which allows the cut to pick up tiny dots of adhesive (you can find another post with more information about LetraTac HERE).  I used Scor-Tape along the body of the butterfly to attach it to the card.

 I wanted this wide ribbon to be centered on the front of the card.  It can be a little difficult to keep the ribbon straight when you wrap it around the floral card layer.

 If you work on a gridded mat, you can use the lines to center your ribbon.  My mat is from Creative Memories and the current version is available HERE.  The card layer is four inches tall and my ribbon was one inch wide so I aligned the ribbon to have 1 1/2 inches above and below the ribbon (1 1/2 plus 1 1/2 plus 1 equals 4 inches).  I placed a line of adhesive on the back of the paper before I placed the ribbon.

Then I added more adhesive around the edges and over the ribbon to secure the floral layer to the card base.

One final tip - I used the die from the Cuttlebug "With Gratitude" combo set to cut the "thank you" sentiment.  Since there is no shadow for this cut, I simply cut it twice in the same two colors I used for the butterfly and adhered the two cuts slightly offset to create a drop shadow effect.  You can also do this with Cricut cuts that do not have shadow layers programmed on the cartridge.

Remember - you'll have to pop over to Scrappy-go-Lucky blog HERE to see the finished card.

We are in the final wedding countdown - fortunately the bride and groom have returned from their 3 week trip rafting in the Grand Canyon (!) so we will be able to talk with them again as the last details are sorted out.

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Cheery Lynn Designs Design Team Call

I discovered Cheery Lynn Designs when Mandy starting carrying their products in the Scrappy-go-Lucky store.  I was excited to work with these dies since I love anything with lots of details - the more intricate the cuts the better!  Mandy let me know that Cheery Lynn Designs is looking for new Design Team members so I am writing this post as my "audition" for the team.

I have posted several projects made with Cheery Lynn dies on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog - here are a few photos with links to those posts:

Oriental Butterfly Doily die, please click HERE.

Small Exotic Butterfly dies, please click HERE.

English Tea Party and French Pastry dies, please click HERE.

There are so many dies with such beautiful designs - I would love to have the opportunity to work with more of them and to continue to create projects that will inspire my readers to try using the dies in some new ways.

I thought I'd try to make some variations of the paper flowers I made in the spring (you can find that post HERE).  I decided to make them "fancier" by using some of the doily cuts instead of plain scalloped circle flowers.  To start you need five doily cuts - these are the "French Pastry" doilies.

First, fold the doily in half, matching the design.

Then, fold it in half again, matching the opposite sides.

Finally, fold it it half a third time.  For the French Pastry doily the pattern will not match exactly on this fold but it will be easy to see that the fold is correct since it will intersect with the first two folds.

Once you have made the three folds, reverse the fold in the quarters with the extra fold, creating a fluffy flower section that looks like this.  I chose to use two colors of doilies for this flower.

Apply a generous amount of adhesive to the center of the fifth, unfolded doily.

 

Then, simply place the folded sections on the base doily.  You can add anything you like to make the center - here I used a large pearl button.

A pink flared flower from Creative Charms is the center of this variation.

Here I added a rolled flower - you can find the post with the directions for making these HERE.

Here is my favorite variation with a lovely paper flower surrounded by the lace doily.

I also made a flower using doilies cut with the English Tea Party die.  I photographed these with a black background so you could see all of the details of the doily cuts.

Here you can see the relative size of the two flowers.  The English Tea Party die creates quite a large flower.  These would be pretty for package toppers - they may be too bulky for a card unless you are presenting it in person.

I hope I have inspired you to try something different with the doily cuts. There are many variations possible for this basic design.  Double sided paper would give a different look and flowers made with plain paper and sprayed with a pearlized spray like Glimmer Mist would also be lovely!

I'd love it if you would leave a comment in support of my application for the Cheery Lynn Design Team.  I do love to experiment with new products and share them with my readers and I know that many of you send me notes to say that I have introduced you to new products and ideas that you enjoy. 

Thank you - I have my fingers crossed!

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Delicate Doilies at Scrappy-go-Lucky

 

I am fascinated by intricate cuts - the more complicated the better!  I like to push my electronic machines to the limit in creating these cuts but sometimes it just makes more sense to use a die.  With a die you can produce a cut in seconds that would take 15 minutes or longer to cut out with a electronic die cutting machine.  Dies also produce a lovely rounded edge to the cut lines so they seem more dimensional than a flat cut made on a mat.

This is the English Tea Party die - one of many dies in the international Doily Die collection by Cheery Lynn Designs.  Mandy is carrying these fabulous dies at Scrappy-go-Lucky and today is my day to post on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog sharing a few of my cards.  Please click HERE to go to the blog and see the full post.

Here is one more peek at part of another doily (French Pastry) that I used for a card.  Which one do you like better?  You can see the cards and read more about the dies on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog.  While you are there be sure to look back through at some of the other great projects that have been posted recently.

We'll be on the road again today.  It's been a great trip despite some torrential rains.  I hope you have a wonderful week! 

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Beautiful Butterflies

Happy Monday and Happy August!  Today is my day to post on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog and I think you might enjoy learning about how I made these butterflies for some new cards.  You can read the post HERE.

Since it is the first of the month, it is also the day that Creative Charms announces the deal and kit of the month.  This month things are going to be a little different so be sure to check back here later today and I will update this post to give you all of the details.  I'll also be announcing the winner of the small giveaway from my last Creative Charms project post.

We had a busy weekend and made a lot of progress on the painting - the fourth color turned out to be the right one!  I haven't been online much so I'll be catching up on emails and comments today - and working on some more new projects with my own designs.


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Summer Preparations

We had a busy Monday doing some summer preparations with the deck and the yard.  The weather had been too rainy and cool to get very excited about setting up the deck and patio however, with a string of 80 degree plus days, I think summer is finally arriving!  The big lilacs are more or less finished but our French lilac is just filling out - in a few more days it will be really beautiful.

There were some unexpected visitors in our back yard early this morning.  We live very close to the center of town and seldom see deer - I wonder how they got here?  They looked around the back yard for a little while and then ...

..went up the side yard and crossed the street to see our neighbors!  In the foreground you can see the dark purple irises that just opened up today.

We made a trip to the garden center for some plants for the planters and hanging baskets and picked up a few rhododendrons too.  They will fill in an area where we lost a few shrubs from the hard winter.

 

We did a lot of scrubbing and cleaning and things are looking much tidier.  We are having a big get together next weekend and this will be a week full of preparations.

A few people asked how to see the full card with the butterfly that I posted on Monday.  That was a Scrappy-go-Lucky project and Mandy has asked that I keep most of the photos and information on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog with just a sneak peek on my blog.  It is just a click away - so please click HERE if you would like to read the full post and see all of the photos.

Creative Charms - May - Deal of the Month $6.99

Creative Charms- May - Kit of the Month $14.99

Today is the last day to order the Deal or Kit of the Month for May from Creative Charms.  These are always so tempting and such a good value.  Click HERE for the Deal and HERE for the Kit.  Fair warning the June Kit and Deal have arrived at my house and they are both great - so you'll be tempted all over again!

The Lettering Delights Customer Appreciation sale ends tonight (May 31st) at midnight.  You can save 40% on your entire order - just use the code UndertheSea at checkout.  Please click the affiliate badge above or in the left side bar to go to the site and see all of the cute new things they have added lately.

I did make a few cards and worked on my new project for a little while this weekend.  I hope to catch up with the challenges and post those in the next few days.  In the meanwhile, I am trying to figure out recipes that will work for eighty people or so (!) for the party next weekend.  Busy times here!

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Beautiful Butterfly

 

I hope you are having a great holiday weekend - we are continuing on the rounds of graduation parties and enjoying the chance to catch up with family and friends.  Hot weather has finally arrived in New England - it's been in the 80's here.

Last week I showed you this stack of intricate butterflies.  They were made with something new that Mandy at Scrappy-go-Lucky sent to me to try out a little while ago.  The photo at the top of this post is a sneak peek at a card I made using one of the butterflies.  You can read all about the card and how I cut the butterfly on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog - just click HERE to see the full post.

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