Just Because - Challenge 7

Well, I actually managed to get this posted on Wednesday - yea! It's almost over, but it is still Wednesday! Ha! The challenge I drew from my "Just Because" Kraft Container was this today: "Journal on this topic: Do you know the reason you were given your name? If so, write about that and put it on a layout with a self-portrait." Well, I had to call up my mom and ask her how I got my name. I knew the part about being French, but I had no idea I was originally going to be "Monique"! (Evidently, my dad did not like that name at all.) Isn't it funny the everyday things we take for granted - things as simple as our names. Do you know how you got your name? If you don't, you should find out, if you can! And if you do know it, or when you find out, at least write it down, if not create a layout about it. Someday, your kids and their kids will thank you for it!

Here's the layout I created using a pattern right out of Close To My Heart's "Make It from Your Heart - Volume 1" and the "For Always" paper pack - my favorite! The title was cut from the "Artbooking" Cricut cartridge, using Cricut Craft Room to "weld" the letters together:

I encourage you to do a similar layout for your scrapbooks!

Cardmaking With Artbooking

This past Sunday, I held one of my Close To My Heart monthly card-making workshops at my home. I had three lovely ladies join me for a few hours of fun, laughs, and papercrafting. Since none of these ladies had seen the latest and greatest from the Autumn-Winter 2013 Idea Book, I decided to focus the workshop on the new Cricut “Artbooking” Collection. Now the “Artbooking” cartridge is heralded to be a scrapbooker’s dream (and it’s true, it is), but that in no way means that it isn’t a dream for card-makers as well! Let’s take a look at the four cards that we made this past weekend:

This first card uses two different cuts from “Artbooking” – a sunburst overlay, and a title – “fun & sun”. These are the images in the handbook:

 

There are two very important things to mention at this point. One is that because of the way this cartridge is programmed, if you want to cut an image at a specific size, you have to set the dial size, then press the “Real Dial Size” button. If you don’t, your image will print in proportion to the original page size that it was set to. For example, you’ll notice that the size of the album that both the “fun & sun” title and the sunburst overlay are associated with is 7”. When you set your dial size to 7” and cut the “fun & sun” title, it cuts to the size a title would be on that 7” page (i.e. – smaller than 7”). Therefore, if you set your dial size to, say, 2.5” (the actual size you’d like your title), and cut the image, it will cut proportional to 2.5” – much smaller than you want! Simply hit the “Real Dial Size” button before cutting, and you will get the size you expected. This rule holds true if you are cutting a shape for a coordinating stamp set as well.

The second thing to note is that in making “Artbooking” your best card-making friend, you will want to hook yourself up with the Cricut Craft Room (download it for free HERE). With CCR, you can select images from the cartridges you have and resize them to whatever you want (you can do so much more, of course, but for our purposes, resizing will do for now). The sunburst overlay was a bit longer than my 5.5” card, so I simply set the measurements to 5.5” x 4.25” and cut, for an exact fit for my card front. In doing so, the sunburst center became less of a circle and more of a skewed oval – but that was ok, because I was able to skew, rotate, and resize a circle image to fit that space just how I wanted.
 

This next card is sort of a re-do of a card design that’s included in the “Workshops on the Go Laughing Lola Cardmaking Kit”. It uses the stamp set that comes with the kit, however, I switched up the papers, since I didn’t have more “Laughing Lola”.

 

This card uses a snowflake overlay from the “Artbooking” cartridge, shown here:

 

Again, I re-sized the image in Cricut Craft Room to fit the card. The nutcracker image comes from the “Candyland” stamp set, and the patterned paper is from the “Frosted” pack, both of which are new in the Autumn-Winter Idea Book.

 

And last, but certainly not least, we put together this cool card using the notebook paper cut from “Artbooking”, and a couple of the stamp sets that come in the “Artbooking” collection. The “Washi Tape” is actually stamped as well – those images come from the Hostess Exclusive “Washi Wonder” stamp set. The notebook cut is shown here:

 

Oh what fun we had! I hope you can join me for my next workshop!

Laughing Lola

I must apologize for the delay in my posting. I have been SO good at updating every Wednesday, however this past Wednesday I started a full-time job - after being at home with my kids for 12 1/2 years! It has been a HUGE adjustment! I have not had the time to even turn my computer on in the past three days. SO, today I am going to post the three cards that you will be able to create with the "Workshop on the Go Laughing Lola Card Kit" from Close To My Heart. The kit costs $24.95 and comes with it's own Exclusive D-sized stamp set, Laughing Lola B&T paper, cardstock, White Daisy cards and envelopes, Baker's Twine, Purple Gems, and an instruction booklet. When you've completed the kit, you will have 15 cards (5 each of 3 designs). I love the stamp set that comes with this kit! Here are the three designs that you will create:

The stamp set also includes several images that you can cut directly on your Cricut machine using the "Artiste" cartridge. Fun and easy! Be sure to check this kit out on page 68 of the Autumn-Winter 2013 Idea Book!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

Oh my gosh! It's finally here! The first episode of Close To My Heart's new video series, "Artbooking Made Easy" is now online - yippee! For those of you who don't know, "Artbooking" is the name of CTMH's newest - and most incredible - Cricut Collection. I hope you will watch this video (the first in a series of 32 from now until next April!) and discover what it's all about! (Click this link for the video:) "ARTBOOKING MADE EASY"

Just Because - Challenge 6

It's time once again for a random challenge chosen from my "Just Because" Kraft Container! This time, I drew a slip that read, "Create a mini album using Flip Flaps." I do just happen to have a "Flip Flaps - Small Assortment", which would make an adorable mini album, so I'm off and running. I decide that I'd like to print some of the pictures that I recently took at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Right away, I know that I'd like to use my "For Always" paper pack for the cover. So I choose an assortment of Flip Flaps (there are four different sizes in the package), and adhere them all together by their own adhesive strips. Then I wrap my patterned paper around the outside, trim to fit, and adhere that with a piece of "Base & Bling Adhesive Strips", because they're really strong. :-)

I trim and adhere another pattern of paper to the left edge of the cover just for aesthetics. It's pretty already! Here's what the album looks like before the photos are put in:

Now, it's just a matter of printing my pictures, trimming them out, and putting them in! Here's the finished album:

It's adorable! And it's a wonderful, pocket-sized keepsake from our day. What a fast and easy way to create a mini album!

If you'd like to order your own Flip Flaps, or anything else you may need to complete a project like this one, please visit my website at http://funforyou.ctmh.com and click on "Shop". Thanks!

Fun Techniques - Emboss Resist

OK, this isn't the first time I have posted about the emboss resist technique, BUT this time there's a little twist. After reading the "Stamp It! Techniques" column in the September/October 2013 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine, I knew I was going to have to test it out. The twist here is that you stamp a pattern or background onto your base project first, then proceed with the emboss resist. Let me show you...

First, stamp a background image onto your project base. In my case, it's a card front:

Next, choose the image you will use for the resist. I chose the cupcake image from this month's Stamp of the Month, "A Chocolate Affair". Using VersaMark ink, random stamp this image over your background:

Now, cover the images with clear embossing powder and heat emboss:

Next comes the fun part! Using one or more different colors of ink and a large sponge dauber, swirl ink onto the base using a circular motion.(NOTE: For a more pronounced result with your embossed images, make sure the inks you use are darker that the color that you stamped your background in.)

After applying all of your colors, use a paper towel to wipe off any excess ink:

Isn't that so cool?! Here is the finished card:

I made the note above because I think my result would have been better if you couldn't see as much of the original orange background through the green and blue inks.

So, I decided to try another card, only this time I used a patterned paper instead of stamping a background. I used a nice, small pattern from the "Frosted" paper pack, and stamped on it with the image of a small piece of solid washi tape from the "Washi Wonders" set. This time, I used Twilight ink to cover the background, and I think it looks much better!

That is just so cool. It looks like I cut small pieces of the patterned paper and glued them over a blue version of the same paper. The snowflake patterned paper on the opposite side is also from the "Frosted" paper pack, and the snowman and sentiment are from the "Flakey Friends" stamp set. This was snow much...I mean SO much fun! I would LOVE to see what cool results you get with this technique!

Just Because - Challenge 5

It's time once again to pick a challenge from my "Just Because" canister. Today I drew this slip: "Use a color scheme for a card or page taken from a Pinterest board about clothing." Well, that sounds like fun! Now all I have to do is NOT get sucked into spending all day browsing Pinterest (so hard to do)!

OK, there were so many different color schemes to choose from, I decided to pick one that was "outside my box" (more of a challenge!). Here is the pin that I chose:

To me, this ensemble says Close To My Heart's "Buttercup, Chocolate, and Sky". I decided to use a brand new stamp set from CTMH's Autumn-Winter 2013 Idea Book, "All The Details", because I've been dying to use it! I flipped through the Idea Book for inspiration on a card design, and came upon one of the cards from the "Workshops on the Go Frosted Cardmaking Kit" on page 69. Here is what I came up with:

Cute! The only things I added were a Sky "stamp" of "Washi tape" from the "Washi Wonder" stamp set (a Hostess Exclusive!), two "Sparkles", and some hand-drawn stitching.

Coincidentally enough, the projects posted on Jeanette Lynton's blog today also feature the "All The Details" stamp set! You can check them out here: www.jeanettelynton.com

How have you challenged yourself today?