September Card Club

Monday, September 12 at 4:30 at school in the media center

Wednesday, September 14 at 7:00 at my house

Hope to see you there!

Card Swap Cards

I had so much fun making these cards for the Scrapbooks Etc card swaps next month.  They told me what lines of paper to use, but otherwise they are 100% my designs!

Baby's 1 Year Scrapbook

I'm glad he's held off coming long enough so I could finish this.  Yippee! (of course, the pictures do not do it justice) Now, if I could have just a few more days to get a baby book made...

Paisley Cricut Card Challenge

So I've followed Two Scraptastic Gals for a few months and watched the challenges and thought it would be fun to participate, but never did.  Since I was Cricuting last night, it didn't take much more to just make another card for their challenge this week.  (It also helped that my sister Mindy had the cartridge!) 

So the challenge was to use the Paisley cartridge on a card.  And since the baby's arrival might be THIS VERY WEEKEND!!!!  I've been in a pretty big baby mood- hence, the baby card.   This was another card made a lot easier by using the Gypsy and a bunch of scraps.

Cards by the Cricut

One of my resolutions this year is to use my Cricut a whole lot more.  My mom got me the Gypsy for Christmas (who could resist all those $100 deals?!?!), so I've been using that some too.  (I've found it helps when the baby is sick of me sitting up, so I can relocate to the recliner and plan my mat before I cut without the back pain.)  These four cards were for an Easter card swap on swap-bot.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

I used Gypsy Wanderings for this one.  It really has an odd mix of images- holidays and then general stuff like keys and hearts and stars and stuff.  I wish I had a box for it so I could see them all rather than on that tiny little Gypsy screen!

I didn't even use my Cricut for this one, just my Cuttlebug and favorite Stampin Up die.  There was a card like this on the cover of Papercrafts this month, so that's where I got my inspiration.

I used Celebrate with Flourishes for this card.  I love that cartridge, but it drives me crazy how every image has four colors in it!  But with the help of the gypsy and a bunch of paper scraps it wasn't too bad.

I can't remember for sure, but I think I used Just Because Cards for this little chick and Mini Monograms for the scallop circle.  Let me tell you that getting those words to print on my computer to match with the card was quite the undertaking!  I'm rather proud of myself to see it worked out.

January 2011 Club

 

Wednesday, January 12 @ 7:00 pm

Swap Cards

A few weeks ago I went to visit my friend Colette in California.  We always scrapbook when we get together!  So I got my next three cards for the card swap all done!

Halloween- I swear the ric rac is actually a matching color orange- dumb scanner!  That Halloween stamp was only a $1 at Michaels!

Thanksgiving- Okay, how awesome is it that I used a stamp I had bought for wedding cards on this Thanksgiving card!?! I think it totally worked out!  Sorry the flower got all smooshed in the scanner.  Both stamps- only $1!

Christmas- the card opens up and you have room inside for a CD if you want or just a long note. Used the Cricut- yay!

The best thing about all of these cards is that I had everything I needed to make them!  I didn't have to buy anything!  The Christmas cards were even left over from card club last year and I just had to cut the letters!

Father's Day Card

So this is the card I made for card swap next month. The theme is Mother's/Father's Day. I really wanted to do a masculine card and ended up pretty closely copying a card from a magazine. I changed the papers and colors and medium- but it looks just about the same. I made sure to use my Cricut and Design Studio and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Cards

So the last few months, I've been a card frenzy! Here are some of my latest creations.

These two I made using my sister's new Cricut cartridge "Life's a Beach." I have a Cricut and that's great, but I feel I don't use it to its potential. So for these two cards I made myself use the Cricut. I'm still not too comfortable using it in cards, but I'm working on it.

This one, I sort of "lifted" from a card my friend Jamie made for a card swap. I actually bought the paper at Hobby Lobby (I loved the colors) and wanted to find a way to use them- I used her layout just changed the papers. Easy and totally CUTE card!


I made this card from leftover pieces from scrapbook club last month. Nice and bright card.
And as you can tell I need to expand beyond birthday cards! :-) Sometimes I do, but those just seem to sell the best.

Tutorial: Banner Addiction

I blame Taina, she introduced me to these adorable banners, and now I'm hooked. She made hers with diecuts from our LSS, but I figured out I have everything I need to make them on my wonderful Cricut Expression! Yippee! (Honey, that's reason #429 why I had to have one)

Supplies

• 12x12 coordinated cardstock and printed paper (cuz I have an Expression- you can get 4 shapes per paper of the big scallop, so you can plan from there based on how long your title is)
• Storybook cartridge
• Mini Monograms cartridge
• Cricut
• Ribbon
• Crop-a-dile

** for the sake of this tutorial, each piece of the full banner will be called a unit. I will give directions for one unit and then you just duplicate it for each letter of your title.

Mini Monograms Cuts-
ALL CUTS MUST BE MADE FROM "REAL DIAL SIZE."
1. Cut out a 5 1/4" scallop circle the back for the unit. [I've made banners with all scallop circles, or with a mix of cirlces and scallop squares, it is up to you, just keep in mind that if you mix it up, all shapes have to be mixed up.] [Depending on the thickness of your paper, you might have to back everything with chipboard. It also matters whether or not you want this to be a permanent banner, or a temporary one. With Sarah's I just made sure the printed papers had a cardstock behind them to make them heavier. With one I made yesterday, they all have chipboard behind]
2. Cut out a 4 1/4" circle for the second unit layer. [this would be the square shape, if you did squares]
3. Cut out a 4" circle for the third unit layer. [this is usually where I use the print]
**you can use any size really, just keep the ratios about the same.

Storybook Cuts
1. Cut out your banner title at 3 1/2" in an easy to read cardstock [I usually use a dark color for this, so it's easy to read against your prints. I've done some where the color is the same for the whole title, or with the Sarah May one, I mixed up the colors, it makes it just a little more challenging when putting everything in order to change up the colors]
2. Cut out your banner's shadow at 3 1/2" in a lighter cardstock [I have always used white, it really helps it pop.]

Finishing it off
1. I usually play around with order before I glue anything down. You want to make sure you don't have two of the same prints next to each other or two of the same backgrounds, etc.
2. Glue pieces together.
3. Lay them next to each other and then use your Cropadile to punch holes on the sides of each unit.
4. Use ribbon to attach units together.
5. Use longer pieces of ribbons on the ends of the entire banner to provide an attaching part.

If any of that is unclear, let me know. I can clarify.