Christmas Medallion Card

I finally had a chance to visit my craftroom so I could do a test cut of the design I shared yesterday.  The original design was quite large - filling a 12 x 12 mat - and I needed to size it down to fit a card.

I drew some squares in the Silhouette design software to represent a five inch card base with two layers (4 3/4 and 4 1/2 inches).  Then I grouped the layers of the medallion design and sized it so the bottom shadow layer was four inches.

One thing that I have learned about cutting intricate designs is that you will get a better result with a shallower blade depth/lighter pressure and a double cut.  I made two trial cuts of this design.  The cut on the left was a single cut at blade depth 5, speed 3 and thickness 33 on the Cameo.  Everything cut properly but I had to do lots of "poking out" to finish the medallion.  On the right you can see that when I used a double cut, the result was perfect - I simply lifted the finished cut off the mat and every bit of the cut out design stayed on the mat (yes that is a Cricut mat - I use them interchangeably).

Both cuts were lovely when they were finished - the double cut on the right is a little cleaner at the points.  I used the first cut to make this card.

I cut three layers for the medallion.  The top lace is cut from Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock.  The red layer is American Crafts foil cardstock and the green plaid bottom layer is from the DCWV Christmas Combo stack.

The card base is Core'dinations Core Couture glitter cardstock cut at 5 x 10 inches and folded to 5 x 5 inches.  The red layer (4 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches) is the same American Crafts foil cardstock that I used in the medallion.  The top white layer (4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches) is white embossed cardstock with little swirls and dots.

I assembled the layers of the medallion and then pierced a hole in the center so I could insert a gem brad.  The colors of the brad gems influenced my choice of cardstock for the card with the dark red and sharp green.

I inked the edges of the green and red medallion pieces with distress ink to cover the cut white edge.  Since the layers are formed with the offset function in the software, I needed to line up the layers properly so I put a pencil mark on the back to show how they fit together.

This is the fully assembled medallion.  I thought it needed some extra gems to line the center of the design so I alternated clear and bright green gems at the points of the inner circle.

Here is a closer view of the center with the added gems.  The gem brad is from the Christmas Cheer collection by K & Company.

I added large foam circles to adhere the medallion to the card front.

The medallion stands out from the base and creates a shadow line.  If you wanted to make this cut as a tree ornament you could attach it to the card front but include a hanger (and finish the back of the ornament).

 

The red foil cardstock is so shiny that it is tricky to get a clear photo that shows the true colors.

I'll have to try some other color variations.  I think this would be pretty in shades of blue too.

Year End Clearance Sale

Last night I got a notice about the year end clearance sale at Creative Memories.  There are quite a few items at greatly discounted prices of up to 60% off.  You can find the complete list and more information on my Creative Memories website HERE.  The sale ends December 27th at 10 p.m. Central Time. 

You can sign up now for $39 and get an immediate credit for $39 (making the club essentially free).  Every order you place will earn you a credit of 15% for a future order.  This offer is available until January 1, 2013.  You can get all of the details and sign up HERE.

We had snow and ice yesterday - I took a few photos of the ice coated shrubs.  The ice is so pretty but also dangerous.  I am still working on Christmas trees and need to get out to do some shopping before it is too late.  I hope you are getting everything done that you need to do!

I saw a lovely tribute to the Sandy Hook school victims done by the judges and contestants from the TV show "The Voice" - here is a LINK if you'd like to see it.


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Halloween Door Sign

Despite my trip to Pennsylvania, the hurricane and other distractions, I did manage to cut out the Trick or Treat sign and assemble it in time to hang it on the door for Halloween.

About a week and a half ago, I showed you this design that I adapted from the free pumpkin carving stencils on the Better Homes and Garden website (the original post is HERE).

image from Better Homes and Gardens website

It looks great on a pumpkin, but I thought it would be nice to add some layers and make it with paper.

I wanted to keep the odd shape and not mount it on a rectangular backing, so I added an extra shadow layer to create a five color design.

Here are all five cuts, ready to assemble.   I used cardstock from both K & Company and Core'dinations.

The cuts were easy to assemble and with five layers of cardstock, the final sign is pretty sturdy.  I could have added a layer of chipboard to make it even stronger but I thought it was thick enough.

I had considered using some glittered cardstock but I didn't like the shades of the colors I had on hand.  I also like the varying textures in the printed cardstocks since there are so many layers.  I added lots of purple gems in several different shades to make the sign sparkle.

I think the bat is cute with his eyes looking up at the top of the sign.  I used different colors and sizes of gems on the stars.

Some sheer purple ribbon adhered to the back makes a hanger for the sign.

I fastened the ribbon to the same hook as the leaf wreath on my door and I was ready for the trick-or-treaters.

Here are two of my little friends collecting their candies!

New Cricut Cartridge available now

The Holiday Frames and Tags Cricut cartridge, exclusive to Creative Memories, is available to order starting today.  This cartridge is a limited edition and will be available while supplies last or until January 1, 2013.  If you don't have a local consultant and would like to order this cartridge, I'd be happy to help you with any questions.  You can order from my website HERE and have the cartridge shipped to your address. 

You can see the "look book" for the cartridge HERE or go to THIS POST from last month where I shared screen shots of all of the cartridge contents.  I'll have some samples to post soon - maybe tomorrow.

Now that it is November it's time to get busy on holiday projects - there are less than eight weeks until Christmas!  I'll bet you can guess what I have been designing - if you said more snowflakes, you'd be right...now I need to do some test cuts...


Since I wasn't able to post yesterday until late in the day, I will wait until tonight to draw the winner for the October "Scrap Pink" giveaway to allow time to for you to comment on that post.  I'll post the winner here tomorrow.

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Simple Birthday Card

I can't resist pretty paper, especially when it is on sale.  I am sure this is an affliction that I share with many of you.  I wouldn't dare to tally up my paper stash but I have no doubt that I could spend a year crafting and I wouldn't run out (but I might not always have the perfect color...that's why we buy so much, right?).

Sometimes papers are just "too pretty to use" but I am working on conquering my reluctance to use them.  No matter how pretty the paper is - there is always new paper coming out that is even prettier and we need to make room for it!

 

I've had this pad of double-sided paper by Susan Winget called Spring Blossom for quite a while.  I was lucky to find it on clearance for about $8.  The large floral designs are beautiful but not something that I would generally use for a scrapbook page.

I chose this sheet of daisy paper and looked at it carefully to find a section that would work well for a card front.

Sometimes I cut pieces from the center but in this case the top left corner was just right.

The large daisy fits neatly in the typical A2 card size and there is a nice "blank" space for stamping the sentiment.  The "Happy Birthday" is from one of the stamp sets that comes with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I stamped it with brown ink - I thought black would be too harsh on the pretty watercolor design.

The card base is pink shimmer cardstock.  Even though I am trying to use my paper stash, I still like to be "green" and conserve my supplies.  I've showed this little trick before (but not for a while...).  When I am simply matting a card layer, I often cut another shape from the bottom layer.  In this case I used a scalloped oval Nestabilities die from Spellbinders. 

This is the side that will be adhered to the card front.  There is plenty of room for the adhesive around the edges.

The brown layer adds a nice frame to set off the floral paper from the pink card base.  I cut the brown cardstock at 4 x 5 1/4 inches and trimmed the floral layer a bit smaller to leave just a thin line of brown showing.

I will keep the cut and embossed oval shape in a dish on my table and it will probably show up on another card soon.  Sometimes when I don't know what I want to make I "browse" through my extra bits and pieces and find interesting combinations.

I used a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set called Geometric Frames to make a mat to write the message inside.  My punched edge was slightly misaligned  (look carefully at the corner) but I was planning to add some flowers to the inside and I knew that they would cover this.

The green flower was too light and bright so I inked it a bit with some Crushed Olive Distress Ink.  Here you can see the before and after.

I added a smaller white flower and held them together with an antiqued frosted gem brad in pink.

The card front is very plain so I decided to add pink pearls in three corners to coordinate with the flower inside.

I also added some pink pearls on the lower right corner of the mat inside the card.

This card was for our niece and when I was wrapping her gift I noticed that the pattern on the inside of the fabric card holder had a design very similar to the punch that I used - almost like I planned it!

It is a nice change to make the card front very simple and then add more decoration inside the card. 

We will be off on some adventures today - we might even end up in Salem (always a fun place to visit this close to Halloween!).

I hope you have a great Friday and a crafty weekend planned!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  For the rest of the month, everyone who leaves a comment on my blog will have a chance to win this Sizzix "Scrap Pink" set.  You can see more photos and details at THIS POST.  For more chances, you can leave a comment everyday for the rest of the month - but just one comment per day please.

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HalloweenTrick or Treat Basket Tag

While attempting (again) to get organized, I found a few things in my craft room.  I have a box where I toss the pieces of chipboard that come in some paper packs and it had disappeared under a table.  I pulled it out and was inspired to try cutting some chipboard.

I have also decided that I should use some of the Cricut cartridges that are on my shelves that I haven't tried yet.  Some I bought because they were "deals" and I wanted to have them on hand "just in case" I need them...  While I enjoy designing my own shapes and images for the Cameo, sometimes I just want to "plug and play."

A friend sent me the Autumn Celebrations cartridge earlier this year and I put it aside since it wasn't the right season to be inspired to use it.  I looked through it and found lots of cute things to cut.  I decided to try making some chipboard tags with my newly rediscovered stash of chipboard.

I chose this tag and I was very pleased with the result.  I cut it at 3 1/2 inches and set the Cricut with pressure at max and the blade depth at 6 with a two times multi-cut.

Here is a photo of the side of the chipboard cut so you can see the thickness.  It is thicker than a cereal box but not extremely heavy.  I do have a deep cut blade (I've never opened it!) but I was able to cut this thickness easily with the regular blade.

I cut the base and the top layer from chipboard.  For the base,I cut two more layers - purple glitter cardstock (also on multicut 2) and some patterned paper for the back of the tag.  I cut just one layer for the top with the "Trick or Treat" words.

The glitter layers are so sparkly - you have to see them in person to catch the gleam!

 I used both my ATG gun and some liquid adhesive to put the layers together.  As always, with the Cricut cuts, the circle at the top was more like an oval but it doesn't really matter once you add some ribbon.  I tied a black grosgrain ribbon to make a hanger and then added some sheer orange and green ribbons.

After I added the ribbons on each side of the black hanger, I trimmed the ends at an angle for a more finished look.

A large purple gem brad fills the ribbon hole and adds more sparkle to the tag.

Here is the back side of the tag - the ends of the brad do show but I planned to use the tag on a basket or wreath so it won't be turned over very often.

The tag would work just fine cut from cardstock and layered but the chipboard is much heavier and makes the tag seem more important.  I inked all of the edges with black to make them less noticeable.

I think I may make some more chipboard tags and ornaments and use them to decorate my front door wreath for Halloween.

Do you use chipboard often?  I haven't used it for a long time and I had forgotten how much fun it is to use.  I cut out several things to share this week.  It is important to have a sticky mat to keep the chipboard in position - some people add painter's tape around the edges of the chipboard as extra "insurance" to hold it for the cut.

I thought I'd have a lot of time in my craftroom this week but I've decided to take a quick trip to Pennsylvania to see my Dad.  He has been having some trouble with his walking and I haven't been there for a while. 

Have a crafty day!

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