Print & Cut With Explore

I finally calibrated my Canon printer with my Cricut Explore so that I can use the new Print and Cut function that was released early last week.  I decided my test Print and Cut would be this cute little pumpkin.  I opened up my Design Space, chose the image and put it on my DS mat.  Normally, I would press go and the machine would prompt me to cut the various mats.  This time once the image was on the mat, I clicked on "flatten" and it became all one layer and was sent to my printer.  Once printed, I put the cardstock with the pumpkin onto my Cricut mat, hit go and it cut out my pumpkin!  The adorable favor on the right was made using the cute little bags and twine from Amuse Studios, the SU Top Note svg and my Cricut Explore. I used the same pumpkin image, but cut out all the layers and assembled it.  I did layer the pumpkin on the Lime Green layer to set it apart from the black bag topper.  People are making some great projects using this print and cut feature.  I need to watch a few more videos to do the same.  Have a great day!

Artfully Sent Butterflies

I mentioned earlier this week that I had been playing with the new Artfully Sent CTMH Cricut cartridge.  Today's post includes photos of practice items I made using various options on one page of the  handbook.  The Elegant Eggplant card is a pop up butterfly card. How pretty is that?  I used SU cardstock for both the inside of the card and the card base.  The butterfly on the front of the card is also from the cartridge. The Regal Rose (retired color) card is similar to our Circle Thinlets in that the front of the card folds, leaving one half of the image completely cut out.  The liner for the card includes a cut out flower leaving the Regal Rose to show thru the negative space.   I used that cut out image on the card front. Then there are little pocket cards and sleeves.  These are great for scrapbooking, or putting in your kids' lunches, etc.  The size of the periwinkle and vanilla pieces is approximately 4" x 2-3/4".   I enjoy using a variety of products I like during one papercrafting session~~Stampin' Up, CTMH and Cricut!  I know what I will be doing over the weekend!  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Thanksgiving Curvy Box

I have to share this Curvy Keepsake box favor I made.  After talking with my friend, Kathy, the other
day, I decided to create a Thanksgiving favor.  Since I do not have pretty leaf framelits, I made a few leaves on my Explore.  One was too big, one too small and then these two were just right~~lol!!  Anyway, I embossed them using a retired embossing folder and then added them on the ribbon.  I stamped a sentiment on the Vanilla scalloped oval, but for the Thanksgiving table I might write names instead.  The copper foil raffia and ribbon are from last year (or even the year before that).  It looks pretty now, but by Thanksgiving, it will be even better.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Blue Bloom With Hope

Today's card could have been a quick and simple card~~stamp, color, layer on card base.  But I wanted more than just a stamped image.  So, I stamped one flower image from Bloom With Hope multiple times.  I then used the Navy Blendabilities to color them.  After cutting out and arranging the little flowers, two of the flowers were adhered using dimensionals.  I then stamped and colored in the leaves image and cut out pieces to fill in the area under the flowers that were popped up with the dimensionals. Now that SU has alcohol markers I have found myself spending a lot of time coloring with both my Blendabilities and Copic marker collections.  As a matter of fact, I don't have green Blendabilities, so Copic greens worked just fine.  Coloring, no matter what you are coloring with, is a very good way to relax~~until you go over the line!!  No, it really is a great way to get your mind off of things.  Have a great day!

Halloween Curvy Boxes

Just before dinner last night, Mr. Brown rang the doorbell and in the little cardboard box was the Curvy Keepsake Thinlets die.  Once again I am eating the words "I see no need for this item.  What would I do with it?"  After seeing all the cute/pretty little favor boxes people were creating, I needed it!  So before sitting down to watch tv last night, I ran downstairs and created these two very simple Halloween curvy boxes.  This box easily fits three of the little mini bars that are in the bags with a mixture of Twix, Snickers and Milky Ways or a mini bag of M&M's~~just as an example. The orange "pumpkin" I stamped on using an image from Gorgeous Grunge with Hello Honey ink.  The owl is from a retired SU set, stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and diecut using one of the tags included with the Curvy Box Thinlet.  The little black favor was simply embellished with ribbons and two little spooky eyes.  You will be seeing a variety of favors created with the Curvy Keepsake Thinlet over time, so keep checking back to see what I create with the item I had no need for~~hahaha!!!  Have a great day!

Cricut Halloween

I was waiting for the arrival of the new Close To My Art Cricut cartridge, Artfully Sent.  Fed Ex dropped it off on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday I had some time to play with it.  The card I created was this pop-up Halloween card. I linked the cartridge to my Explore and then got to work.  I need to learn a lot about this cartridge.  There are pop-up cards, sentiment cards, scene cards, pocket cards.  For today's card, I set the dimensions for a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card and then hit cut hoping it would work~~it did!  It first cut the orange layer, then black, then brown.  I put the pieces together (adding white scraps behind the ghost  and moon cut-outs) and adhered the inside of the card to a black card base.  The Explore will cut the card base, too.  I then chose an image from Simple Holiday Cards cartridge (on my Explore Design Space) and layered that onto the card front.  I am pleased with the way the card turned out.  I will be trying other cards and cuts and will be sure to post when I do.  Have a great day!

That Time of The Year

The hunting season is upon us~~well kind of.  Elsie, my husband's ATV, is in the garage, packed with duck and goose decoys and ready to hit the fields.  As I was standing in the garage it occurred to me that I should make a card using the goose from Wetlands.  After stamping and coloring the goose using my SU markers, it needed a little something.  So I inked up the wheat or sea oats (or whatever it is) image and it was a perfect addition.  I then adhered it to the  upper section of the black cardstock layer.  By the way,  I used my score tool to create the embossed texture on the lower section of the black cardstock.  (One of my best ever SU purchases was the Simply Scored Tool.)  Anyway, I could have left the card just like that, but I decided to add a sentiment.  The sentiment is from A Dozen Thoughts and although not necessary, I used the banner framelit that comes in the gift card envelope framelit set.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Beautiful Blackberry Bliss

In my opinion, Blackberry Bliss is the prettiest new In color~~and today's card is very pretty.  I embossed the Blackberry Bliss layer using the Fancy Fan embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Wetlands and once stamped on white, I used an oval framelit to cut it out and then positioned it under the smaller oval die cut of the embossed layer.  After putting the card together and once I added the little flowers, the richness of the Blackberry just stood out.  Or maybe it is the richness of the Blackberry that made the little flowers stand out?  Whichever it is, I ended up making a pretty Fall card without even trying! Have a great day!

John's Birthday

Yesterday was John's birthday.  I went to the store and looked at cards, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $5~~at a minimum.  So, I came back home and made this one!  He is going fishing for a couple of days, so I pulled out the Amuse Studio stamp set, Sealed With A Fish.  Since you cannot see thru the dies, I first die cut the shapes and then used Memento ink to stamp the images.  This was a little time consuming and I realized that I definitely prefer our Stampin' Up open dies.  Nonetheless, I colored all the little shapes using Copic markers and they are so cute!!  The "birthday fishes" sentiment on the card is also included in that Amuse stamp set and the "happy" and "to my husband" sentiments are from retired Stampin' Up stamp sets.  John got a chuckle out of the card, knowing he is going Muskie fishing, not fishing for pretty little tropical things--hahaha!!! Have a great day!

Give Thanks For All Things

Today's card is another on which I used a Project Life card (4"x3") as the inspiration.  The pattern cardstock is the actual Project Life card.  From there I decided on the Cajun Craze card base and using one of the sentiments from the For All Things stamp set (Holiday Mini) on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I thought the Woodgrain embossing folder was a good one to use due to the tree branches on the PL card.  I used my corner rounder on the card base and the stamped layer so that all the corners matched the Project Life card.  Once the sentiment was stamped, the little leaves from Holiday Home were added,  the edges sponged and dimensionals used to adhere it to the card. After adding a Very Vanilla liner to the inside of the card, I wrapped it all up with twine from Amuse Studio.  Have a great day!

Catalog Idea

I had a great weekend~~card class on Saturday afternoon, an evening with friends and a Sunday spent making frozen tomato sauce and playing in my scraproom.  This is like the fourth batch of tomato sauce.  I told my husband, I am done with tomato sauce for this year--LOL!!! So today's card idea came from the card pictured on page 67 of the annual catalog.  I do not have the Dictionary background stamp, so I used the retired En Francais.  I changed out the color combinations and have yet to add a sentiment, but the basic layout is the same.  The flowers are from the Flower Shop stamp set.  I stamped Rich Razzleberry cardstock with the flower inked using Blackberry Bliss which was a nice contrast to the Baked Brown Sugar flower.  As much as I enjoy my framelits, it sure is nice to sometimes just pull out a punch and obtain the shape you want.  A little twine, lace and butterflies are pretty embellishments.  When you get stuck on a card design, just grab the annual catalog and something will jump out at you!  Have a great day!

Playful Cards

So yesterday was "playing with Lawn Fawn stamp set and dies day".   Everything about the Lawn Fawn stamp set, Life Is Good,  just called my name.  I held off for a while, but after seeing extremely cute cards on Pinterest, I caved.  I was able to play with my Copic markers, too.  But that only proved that I need some additional shades of some of the colors, such as beige/light brown and that I need to maybe watch a few videos on Copic coloring on line!!!  I know what will be going on my wish list this year!  Isn't the little crab just too cute?  I would never have a need to give any one a card apologizing for being crabby (lol)~~if anyone wants it,  let me know and I will set it aside for you!  I knew when I saw the lighthouse that it would need the "sunburst image" from Stampin' Up!'s Kinda Eclectic set behind it.  I have many people who brighten my life, so this card is a keeper.   By the way, I placed the order for this set and dies over the weekend and it arrived yesterday, wrapped with baker's twine and a little handwritten note.   Have a great weekend!

Celebrate!

I made myself a promise that I would continue to use retired DSP and I did just that on today's card. The color combination of Real Red, Basic Gray and Smokey Slate together with the "wood" banner makes this another more masculine card.  I was originally going for a  birthday card, but decided that "celebrate" could be used for any special occasion.  The hearts were created using a combination of punches and framelits.  The sequins are from the Frosted Sequins in the Holiday Mini and the collection includes white snowflakes, too.  If I was to use all the retired DSP I own on cards, I wonder how many cards I could create? Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!!!!

Happy Healing

Our next door neighbor had his third knee replacement surgery and when I thought about creating a card for him, I wanted to include the "happy healing" sentiment from the And Many More stamp set.  Our neighbors know we like our birds, so out came Choose Happiness.  I stamped the branch and colored it in with my SU Markers.  After inking the bird stamp using markers, I stamped it on a separate piece of paper, cut him out and perched him on the branch.  The Woodgrain embossing folder created a good layer between the white card base and the white stamped cardstock.  But the card still needed a little something.  So, out came Gorgeous Grunge and linen thread.  I hope Jerry enjoys the card and has a very speedy recovery.  Hope you have a great day!

Fall Leaves

OK~~no more denying it!  Fall is here. You can feel it in the air and leaves are falling.  Plus, it was 58 degrees when I woke up yesterday morning,   So today's card is a pretty Fall card.  The leaves and the sentiment are from the stamp set For All Things in the Holiday Mini.  I used the rock and roll technique on the leaves and sponged using a variety of inks~~Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze, Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow.  After hand cutting the leaves they were adhered to the Very Vanilla layer.  By the way, I used my diagonal scoring plate to create the diamond background~~such a pretty effect!  I need to use that scoring plate more often.  The combination of the button, ribbon and linen thread  added just the right amount of additional texture and interest.  Have a great day and enjoy the feel of Fall in the air!

Birthday Assortment

On Friday afternoon I received the items I ordered from Amuse and started playing.  That being said, I used many of my Stampin' Up products; i.e., cardstock, the "wish big" sentiment, Dazzling Details, Crystal Effects, various ink pads, oval framelits, embossing folder, etc.  The Amuse sets I used are Hey Cupcake and Birthday Balloons.  An Amuse Balloon die  was used to cut the DSP balloons.  Speaking of dies, Amuse dies are solid, so unless you are using DSP/cardstock for the dies, here's the question:  do you stamp first and try to line up the dies or first die cut the shapes and then stamp?  I used DSP for my balloons, so no worries about lining things up.  I much prefer the type of dies SU carries, especially for little images.  The blue background on the pink cupcake card was sponged using an Amuse Bermuda ink pad~~pigment ink vs. our SU dye ink.  The Amuse stamps are rubber, clear mount, just like SU's.  I liked working with them and enjoyed coloring the images with my alcohol markers.  Have a great day!

Another So Sweet

I have too many stamps! I decided to start going thru stamps and sort out the ones I have rarely used. I found a few I have used once or twice, including  the diamond border stamp on this card.  I don't even know who made this stamp, but I will be using it again!  After stamping the border image in black I decided I would use a favorite color combo of red, black and white.  The sentiment is from the hostess set, Hello There and you have seen it on a number of my cards.  After stamping the sentiment on white, I punched it, layered it on a larger black circle and adhered it to the card.  The card needed a little more color and the little flower punch from the trio set created the perfect little red flowers.   The addition of the little pearls dressed the card up a bit.  So after sorting thru stamps, I found a few I could part with and some that I cannot.  Next up for sorting~~paper!  Have a great week and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Little Ghost & Mummy

 I recently purchased a cute stamp set from Close To My Heart, Frightfully Fun.  I just think the little "ghosts and goblins" in that set are so cute, especially the ghost.  So I made a real quick and simple card using the ghost.  Stamped him on a white piece of cardstock, punched him out using a 1-1/4" square punch and layered him on a black square.  Once I stamped the sentiment and adhered the ghost using dimensionals, it was too simple.  I remembered that a while back I purchased black twine from CTMH and used it to embellish the stark white card base.  You know me!  I had to make another card, but this time dress it up a little.  I used the cute little mummy, stamped and layered just as I did the ghost, but before adhering it to the card base, I randomly stamped almost all the sentiments that were in the set as the background.  And when I located my black twine, guess what else was there?  A roll of CTMH black  tulle.  I cut off a little piece of tulle and tied the twine around it~~perfect!  Morgan, I hope you like these!!!  Have a great day everyone!

A Second Version

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I should recreate yesterday's card with more feminine colors.  So here it is~~ the same card using the colors of Strawberry Slush, Pistachio and Coastal Cabana.  I replaced the birthday hat with a butterfly and added a few sequins.  Instead of the Woodgrain embossing folder I used the Fancy Fan folder.  I did line the inside with Whisper White cardstock, stamped a butterfly on the inside and also on the envelope.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Gray Birthday

The unofficial last weekend of summer is over but I don't want summer to end just yet!  Hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend~~ours was good.  While on Pinterest over the weekend, I saw a couple of sketches to be used with "paper scraps".  Thought I would put the idea to us.   I used scraps of varying colors and sizes for the front of today's card.  I simply layered the pieces on an embossed piece of cardstock and look how nice it turned out!  The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs stamp set and the birthday hat is from Sketched Birthday.  I have another great masculine card!  Change the colors and it could be a great a feminine card~~maybe   for tomorrow's post.   So gather your scraps and get creative!  Have a great week!