Stuck On U Sketches Die Cut Challenge: Living Life with a Flourish!

Hi Folks! I just wanted to share with you my design for the Stuck On U Sketches die cut challenge: Flourish.

For the flourishes and roses, I used the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, the patterned paper is For Always, and the cardstocks are White Daisy, Sorbet, Twilight, and Hollyhock. The Inks are Twilight and Sunset.

For all the supplies, dimensions, close-ups, and a little tutorial, hop on over to The Feast and check it out. For more inspiration using flourishes, feel free to hop over to Stuck On U Sketches and see with the other members of our talented design team have come up with!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Hi All! Happy Wednesday and DAY 5 of the Kraft-y Hearts Blog Share. Sorry for the late post, but I finished a project yesterday and decided I wanted to use it today instead of the post I already had. So, I'm changing it up a bit. 

Today's project was inspired by this little treat bag by the very talented Lisa Stenz. I thought the bag was a bit too small for cookies and fudge (the standard teachers' holiday gift at our house), so I created this box instead.

 Using Close To My Heart's Artiste Cricut Cartridge, I cut the box at 5 inches from Cranberry and Black cardstocks. I used the "Happy Holidays" sentiment from the Merry & Bright stamp set, and stamped it in black Stāz-On ink. I added a strip of White Daisy for button plaque, and cut out a heart to make the collar. (I have a punch for that, but you could use the Cricut. You'll want to cut it at about 1 1/4 inches.) After adhering the heart, I trimmed the edges to match the contour of the box. For the belt, I cut the buckle at 1 inch from Slate cardstock using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and then threaded a 5/8-inch wide strip of Black cardstock through. I glued the belt into place and then added the black button brads, spaced evenly between the collar and the belt. I folded everything on the score lines and adhered it with extra strong adhesive. Using Cranberry and Black Exclusive inks, I inked around the edges to cover up any white core that might be showing at the folds and seams. After it was all put together, I added silver stickles (you could use Silver Glitz instead), and let it dry.

Here's a close-up:

What do you think? I thought they came out pretty nifty. I made one for each of my daughter's teachers. (My son has 8 teachers this year. We're still trying to figure out what to do for them.)

I decided to link this up to the challenge over at Cut It Up. (There's some fantastic inspiration over there!) Don't forget to leave a comment below to be entered in the give-away! Now hop on over and visit the fabulously talented Lynn Darda at From My Bungalow to see the wonderful project she has in store.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Hello All! Welcome to Day 2 of the Kraft-y Hearts 12 Days of Christmas Blog Share. If you haven't stopped by Lynn Darda's Bungalow yet, be sure to do so. She has the cutest little gift idea!

I hope everyone is having a peaceful Advent Sunday. My family and I will begin decorating our Jesse Tree today. It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions. So in honor of that tradition, today's project is a little ornament I made from an accent cut using the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and a little Almond, Silver, and Stardust Glitz Glitter Gels. 

To make the ornament, I cut 5 shapes at 2 1/2 inches from Cranberry cardstock. (The more cutwork the shape has the more interesting the ornament will be.) To make it easier, I folded each shape in half and then unfolded it again and added the Almond and Silver Glitz. When the Glitz was dry (OH did that take patience!), I folded the shapes again, with the Glitz on the inside of the fold, and glued them together back to back. I then added Stardust Glitz to the very edges of the outside, working in sections so that it wouldn't smear. I added a little 1/8-inch ribbon from my stash to use as a hanger, and it was done!

Here's a close-up of the sparkle:

This little ornament can be made with any shape that is symmetrical. The Artiste and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges are just full of possibilities! It's quite a simple process, you just want to make sure you give the Glitz time to dry. (Ask me how I know!)

To order any of the items used in this project, just click on the "Shop With Me" button to the right of the page. Now hop on over and see what wonderfully talented Lynn has in store at From My Bungalow!

Yuletide Week In Review

Hi All! Here's the week in review of my cards for the 30 Days, 30 Cards challenge. I thought I would highlight the Close To My Heart products that I used in each of them for you.

(November 4th)

This card uses the Bundled Buddies and Snow Flurries stamp sets (both retired) from Close To My Heart for the animals and trees (stamped in brown staz-on ink). I colored the animals with our alcohol ink markers (Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Indian Corn Blue, Twilight, and Blush) and a white opaque gel pen, and added a little glitter gel to the hats. I sponged the trees with New England Ivy Exclusive ink.

(November 5th)

This card uses the little ornament stamps from the Pear & Partridge Card Kit Workshop, stamped in Bamboo, Gray Flannel, and Cranberry Exclusive inks. (Gray Flannel Exclusive has retired, but Whisper Exclusive ink would work just as nicely.) {be merry} is stamped in Olive Exclusive ink using the Glamour Lower Case alphabet stamped set.

(November 6th)

The sentiment for this card is from the October Stamp Of The Month set and is stamped in Olive Exclusive ink.

(November 7th-front)

(November 7th-inside)

The sentiment on the front of the card is from the October Stamp Of the Month using Chocolate Exclusive ink. I masked off part of the sentiment and added ellipses. The inside sentiment is stamped using words from one of the Art Philosophy Cartridge Collection stamp sets. To tie it all together, I added ellipses, an ampersand, and an exclamation point using a brown marker.

(November 8th)

Here I once again used a sentiment from the October Stamp Of The Month (I hope you were able to get this little gem of a set!) and stamped it in Cranberry Exclusive ink, with a little off-set second generation stamping to give it a vintage 3D look.

(November 9th)

For the sentiment on this card, I used the Glory to God stamp set, stamped in Olive Exclusive ink.

(November 10th)

This card would look gorgeous in Pear & Partridge papers and Cranberry cardstock! The ribbon is Colonial White gros grain (currently on the While Supplies Last list). The sentiment is from the Pear & Partridge Card Kit workshop set and is stamped in Cocoa Exclusive ink. (This stamp set will be a go-to Christmas set for me for a long time. It's worth the kit alone!) I added some Opaque Pearl Gems for a little extra bling. It was such a fun and simple card to make, I'll probably use it to round out the last of my Christmas cards, using Pear & Partridge and probably Dakota papers. I'll post the results when I'm done.

I hope you enjoyed this bit of inspiration. For full details of the cards, visit me at The Feast. To order any of the above products, click on the links or feel free to browse here.

Kraft-y Hearts' October Blog Share (Day 3)

Celebrating the October Stamp Of The Month by Close To My Heart

Hi Friends! It's Day 3 of our Kraft-y Hearts' Blog Share. I hope you have been inspired to go out and create beautiful things!

Today's project is my favorite of the 3, I think. Again, it would make a nice gift for a hostess or a teacher, or just a friend who could use some extra Christmas tags. (And really, who couldn't? I'm forever running out of tags this time of year!)

This little tag wallet measures 4x3 inches when it's closed and 4x12 inches opened. The base is Colonial White cardstock topped with patterned paper from the Pear & Partridge paper pack. But my favorite thing about this little wallet is the belly band. The band itself is a 1x8-inch strip of Cocoa cardstock. I then added this cute little flower I created using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge. (Don't worry, Artiste gets used in this project, too!) To make the flower, I cut "flower 7" (p. 39) 5 times  in graduating sizes at 1/4-inch increments (from 1 to 2 inches) using Cranberry cardstock. I inked the edges of each layer with Ruby pigment ink to hide the white core. I also used my bone folder to add score lines to the back of each layer and then inked the raised edges in Ruby pigment ink to give the flower more dimension. I curled the petals under  before stacking them together, rotating each layer so that it was slightly off-centered from the one beneath it. I then cut 3 leaves (2 at 1 3/4-inches and 1 at 1 1/4-inches) using the "petal 2" cut (p. 59). The leaves are cut from Olive cardstock and inked with Olive pigment ink. (The mini pigment pads are perfect for inking around the edges of small motifs!) I layered the leaves and attached them to the back of the flower. I then attached the whole thing to the belly band. (When you do this, make sure there is no adhesive on the flower that will attach it to the wallet. As you can see in the photo below, it will tear the paper!) I then used Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems to add a center to the flower and attached a Colonial White cardstock tag that was cut at 1 3/4-inches using the Artiste cartridge (p. 37). I stamped A Very Merry Christmas on the tag using Cranberry Exclusive ink and edged it in Cocoa pigment ink. 

Here's what the wallet looks like when you open it up:

The library pockets are from the Artiste cartridge (p. 47), and are cut at 3 inches from Pear & Partridge paper. They are perfect for holding the little tags. The tags are cut from Colonial White cardstock using the measurements given on the Very Merry Christmas stamp set. To save time, I used the auto fill feature on my Cricut and had it cut as many of each tag as it could on one sheet of paper. This gives you a lot of tags to work with! The Christmas tree tag to the far right is stamped in Olive and Cranberry Exclusive inks. The other three shapes are stamped with those two and Chocolate Exclusive inks. (For some reason, I didn't like the Christmas tree stamped in Chocolate. You might though!) The two tags on the right are cut with holes in the top. For the two on the left, I added holes with my Crop-a-dile. I was planning to add gold thread, but am out of it. (ugh!) So that will have to wait. I'll be making another one of these using Kraft cardstock and bakers twine. Can't wait to see how it turns out! 

Here is a picture of the tags in their pockets:

I hope you enjoyed the blog share this month. Don't forget to stop by the Bungalow for beautiful inspiration from Lynn!