Simple Card with Pretty Ribbon

  
 I received a lovely surprise in the mail last week.  Kendra-Sue sent me some adorable ribbon that she found at her Costco.  I haven't been to Costco for a while - my husband has done the last few trips - but I do love to look at the ribbons.  I think I have enough ribbon in my craft room to wrap the house!  It was such a treat to read her note and to try a quick card with this ribbon.  You may be able to find the same ribbon at your Costco.  If you'd like to see some of Kendra's lovely work, be sure to visit her blog KSDCreations.  She has some super yummy treats posted now, including some gorgeous chocolate covered Oreos - all packaged up very nicely!

 

I have had a busy weekend filled with complications - along with some nice family events - so I decided to just make a quick card with a bit of the ribbon.  There is plenty more to work with (thank you Kendra-Sue!).  Nearly all of the ribbons sold at Costco are wired ribbons and I find it best to remove the wire if I want to use the ribbon on a card.  It is very easy to slide it out (save it if you can - it is often handy for other projects).

Here are the pieces of the card.  I used a white cardstock A2 base (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches folded in half) and cut a layer of red cardstock at 5 1/4 x 4 inches.  I embossed the cardstock with tiny hearts from the Love Language Cuttlebug folder  (in order to do the horizontal embossing you need to follow the steps I showed in THIS POST).  I also cut the "love you" from the die in the Love Language combo set from white glitter cardstock from DCWV.  The hearts on the ribbon are spaced perfectly to fit three on the embossed layer.  The swirls around the heart coordinate nicely with the font.

I added some adhesive to the back of the embossed cardstock.

Next I wrapped the ribbon around to the back to secure it.

I added more adhesive, including some right over the ribbon, to apply this layer to the card.  Since the layer is embossed, I added a bit more adhesive to help it stay flat.

If you don't add any adhesive beneath the ribbon, you can use it as a spot to hold a gift card (put a glue dot or two under the card so it won't slide out.  

If you don't want the ribbon to be loose, you can add a bit of adhesive behind it.  I used some Creative Memories Precision Point adhesive but let it dry to clear before pressing the ribbon down.  If you use a liquid glue and press the ribbon down while the glue is still wet it will probably come through the ribbon and look messy.

 

When the ribbon is pushed down on the embossed cardstock, you may see a few bumps. You can make the card whichever way you think looks better! 

 

I have a lot to catch up on - between the trip to CHA and the surgery my last few weeks have been very full!  I do have a special Valentine to post tomorrow.  I will get back to the woven basket explanation as soon as I can - I am still "tweaking" the second file.  I am also trying to catch up with emails and other messages so please be patient if you are waiting for an answer (if it has been a long time since you sent a question, don't be shy about sending it again - things do fall through the cracks sometimes!).

I did spend some time today setting up a new file sharing system.  Even though I have used 4shared for years, there have been too many problems with them lately so I set up a new way to offer file downloads.  It is a premium service and will give you direct links with no ads.  I'll be switching things over gradually but all new files will be available through this system.  I do have to pay for this service so if you download a lot of files and can leave an occasional donation that would be a big help.  If your finances are tight, please don't worry about making a donation - I am happy to share with everyone and know that it can be difficult to find money for "extras".  Thanks!

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How to make the Bee Happy Card

Using both my Creative Memories digital program (StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0) and my Cricut Design Studio for a project is combining the best of both worlds.  I have high hopes that eventually I will be able to create a digital design and then have my Cricut cut it out automatically.  Until then, I have figured out a way that works for me to get the printing and the cuts that I want for my projects.

Several people had questions about the "digital coloring" I talked about in yesterday's post (here is a LINK).  I will try to do a video so you can see it in action soon but here is a quick explanation with some pictures.  (Remember you can click on any image to make it larger).

In the Creative Memories StoryBook software there is a ribbon called "cut and fill."  In the cutter section there is a tool called the "magic wand" which can be used to make the process of taking apart the image quick and easy.  I always make the image as large as possible to make it easier to work with it.  The "digital coloring" is done by clicking the "magic wand" tool in each area of the design that you want to color the same color and isolating sections of the design.  After a section is selected (you will see a moving dotted line around the edges) choose "cut around the selected area" and repeat this process for each area of the design.

You may need to adjust the sensitivity values to get a clean selection of each area.  When all of the areas are separated you can fill them with digital paper or a color and add any effects that you would like to use.

Once you have filled in all of the sections, you highlight them all in the elements bar and group the image back together again.  Then you can resize it as you like.  If you want to change a color after resizing, simply ungroup, change the fill for that section and then group again.

This is what the bee looked like before I grouped the pieces back into one image.

The same process can be used to alter some of the word art in the program or that you find from other sources.

By using the magic wand to select each piece of the phrase, you can divide it into sections that can be separately filled with color and apply shadows and other effects.  Every piece of digital content you have can be endlessly altered for unlimited creative possibilities.

Once I was happy with my image, I set up a full 8 1/2 x 11 page to print.  I wanted to use this image on an A2 card and put it inside a scalloped circle so I knew that three inches would be a good size to use.  I could fit six 3 inch images and two 2 inch images comfortably on the page (the two inch images can be used for another project - I just don't like to waste space!).

I chose this scalloped circle from the Graphically Speaking cartridge.  If you don't have Graphically Speaking you should really take a look at it - it is full of all sorts of interesting titles and images and is good for both scrapbooking and cardmaking.

I used a three inch circle in Design Studio to determine that a 3 3/4 inch scalloped circle would be a good fit.  I set up a mat to cut nine scalloped circles at once.

On a second page in the file, I placed a three inch circle centered in the lower right quadrant of the mat.

It was a tight fit to get nine scalloped circles on the mat due to the "no cut zone" around the edges of the mat.  I used textured Core'dinations cardstock for the scalloped circles and to insure that the cuts were clean I set the machine for multi cut 2 in Design Studio.

I placed a 6 inch square piece of cardstock in the lower section of the mat and cut the circle from page 2 of the file.  I taped one edge of the paper directly to the mat with masking tape.  I then pushed "load paper" to move the mat out so I would have room to work.  DO NOT push "unload paper" or you will have to start all over again!

After I removed the pink template circle cut, I placed one of the bee designs under the piece of pink cardstock and aligned it with the cut opening.

Then I carefully flipped the template piece of cardstock back and let it rest on the other side of the mat. 

I pressed cut in Design Studio and the machine cut a perfect circle around my image.

When I removed the excess cardstock I had a cute bee medallion ready to adhere to the yellow scalloped circle.

Before unloading the mat I cut the other five bee designs using the same method of centering the image below the template and then flipping it out of the way for the cut.  I can make five more of this simple card very easily now and I have three extra scalloped circles and two smaller bee designs for more projects.

I cut a piece of ribbon about 22 inches long and tied a bow around the front of the card.

Strategically placed foam squares raise the medallion above the ribbon without actually sticking to the ribbon.

Here is one more view of the card - I added just a dot of Stickles on the end of each antenna.

The sales on Creative Memories digital software and other items and the Lettering Delights digital items both end Sunday the 27th.  Links to the sale are in THIS POST.  If you have any questions about any of these products, please do not hesitate to email me.

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Flower Power Card (a little loopy)

This bright and cheery card is the result of yet another an attempt to clear off the craft island!  Sometimes my failure to put things away results in discovering coordinating items from different sources.

 I had been experimenting with the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page double loops set when I first got it and there was a square that I had punched in a pile of "leftovers."  I also had some flower ribbon from American Crafts, another piece of the dotted paper I used for the red, white and blue polka dot card I made the other day and some more embellishments from Creative Charms.

 The groovy petal medley has these loopy string flowers - they work very nicely with the double loop Martha Stewart punch set.  Sets are available in various colors. 

I also used one brad from the funky brad assortment which matches the flower centers.

I used my ATG (tape gun) to adhere the ribbon to the card layer.  The polka dots are on the "back" of the paper - the top side has these beautiful glittery stripes (I'll use more of the paper with this side up on another project).

My Cricut hook tool was handy for making starter holes for the brads on the punched square.  (If you need the measurement chart for making the punch around the page sets work out evenly you can find it in THIS POST).  Once the brads were added, I adhered it to the card with foam squares for more dimension.

The colors and shapes of the flowers, ribbon and the border punch almost look like they were meant to go together.  It is interesting that they are from three different companies and I acquired them at different times.  Once again, being a bit messy led to a discovery I might not have made otherwise!

This card can be used as a note card or a sentiment could be stamped or cut with the Cricut and added to the lower left corner.  Perfect for any flower children that you know!

Speaking of discoveries...I found this very "retro" craft book at the library book sale today.  This was the book sale our older son arranged to be here for last weekend.  It was postponed due to an ominous forecast.  Ironically, the weather held off last weekend and the sale was held in the drizzle today and eventually pouring rain ended the festivities.

I love flipping through older books - I particularly liked the style of the illustrations on the cover and I already have one idea for a project inspired by something I saw in the book.


Are you remembering to collect the letters to solve the anagram for the Scrappy-Go-Lucky blog hop?  Tomorrow will be the last day of the hop. You still have some time to solve the puzzle and email your answer to Mandy (by the 18th - in Australia) so you can be included in the drawing for a set of four Cricut cartridges.  Details and a listing of the Design Team blogs are on THIS POST and only comments left on that post will be eligible to win the prize of a pen set on my blog

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Dramatic Black and White (with a little red)

Sometimes all it takes to create a nice card is a great piece of paper, ribbon and a special embellishment.

This dramatic black and white paper is from the American Crafts "Amplified" collection.  I believe it came out in the Winter of 2008 and I am not sure if it is still available.  The black and white flowers are from the Creative Charms Simplicity Collection.  The red ribbon is from Costco.  I always check the ribbon when I am at Costco - they have some beautiful choices and the price is so low - less than $10 for 50 continuous yards.

The black and white patterned paper needed a bit of an edge for definition.  I punched some birds from the matting layer.  Ever since the new Nursery Rhymes cartridge was announced, I can't get some of the songs out of my head - these could be some of the "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie"!. (The birds are not for this card - I will use them for another project.  You can get double use of your cardstock by using this simple trick whenever a layer will be hidden - this will work on nearly every card that you make with layers).

The ribbon from Costco is nearly always wired ribbon.  It will work better on a card if you remove the wire.  This is very easy to do and you can reuse the wire if you save it.

I matted the patterned paper and wrapped the ribbon to the back.  You can use the ATG adhesive on the ends of the ribbon to stick it to the back of the layers.

Here is the plain card with the sheer ribbon.  I like the way the patterned paper shows through a bit. 

When you add the flower the card looks all dressed up.  In our town there is a black and white dance at the high school each year and it took place last weekend.  I imagine that is why I thought of putting the card together when I came across the paper while I was picking up in my craft room.  It is interesting to think about how ideas connect in your mind!

You could add a sentiment to fit the occasion or just use this for a notecard.  Have a great weekend - I'll check in each day if I can.