Stars and Gears and Pinwheels, Oh, My!

If you have not used your Cricut to its full advantage, read this post!!

I was creating cards and playing with the Later Sk8r paper and my Cricut Artiste Cartridge. 

I am thinking that the Artiste Collection was a GREAT investment.  

I have never been so happy to pull all the pieces of a set together. Usually I am frustrated because I want an embellishment or a matching shape. And my cards are definitely showing the improvement!

The 700+ shapes in the Artiste Cartridge don't stop at the gears, either...I have made matching stars and sentiment frames as well as pinwheels galore...

What is so neat is that MANY of the CTMH sets have stamps that coordinate with the Artiste cartridge. It has taken my card-making to a whole new dimension and I am LOVING it!

3 stamp sets @ 17.95 = 53.85
3 Dimensional Shapes @ 4.95 = 14.87
Cartridge @ 56.95 = 56.95

These items total separately to roughly $125 - but the set is ONLY $99!

That's roughly a 15% discount. 

I have other Cricut cartridges, but I can do so much with this one, I haven't even explored all the things I can do with it! It has more combinations and patterns than most cartridges.  

I am just having so much fun, and I'm making sure that I have as many coordinating CTMH My Acrylix stamp sets as possible to take full advantage of this great cartridge!

Get it here:   dawnfrancis.ctmh.com   or go to this link: Cricut® Artiste Collection  - Z1790

If you contact me before purchasong, we can select a free thank you gift for you!

WOYWW #213

WOYWW -- 1st Time

I've joined the What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday Blog Hop....so what's on my work desk? 

Remnants of the Navy and Lime set of 10 Whaley Thank You cards that I just finished, and now I get to make a couple more of the same card -- seems that I was showing them off, and the viewer was interested and requested 2.  Excellent!

I have one made and will probably throw 4-5 more together because they are just too cute!  And I seem to have a few whales, clouds, starfish and sentiments left lying about. Might as well put a few more together.  

That is always when I seem to make up time -- when I have the parts cut for a set and can just assemble them. I try to always make additional parts. I probably shouldn't worry about it, but I just have a hard time justifying taking 2 hours to make 1 card.  Part of the enjoyment is looking through my supplies, and finding JUST the right paper, and JUST the right sentiment or focal stamp, and JUST the right embellishments, so I should just write it off as time well spent. It's supposed to be relaxing, right?

Thanks for stopping to look at my messy desk! Oh -- and the card is on yesterday's post! Happy Wednesday!

A Flowering Thanks

It's getting close to that time -- YUP!  When the June Stamp of the Month is NO LONGER AVAILABLE...

For this little dreamy card I stamped the floral garden from the JUNE SOTM, A Flowering Bunch, onto a piece of White Daisy, and edge punched the corners.  I used watercolor pencils on the flowers. It's matted on buttercup cardstock, which is also the card base. 

The mat is also heat-embossed, using an embossing marker around the edges.

A sweet Chantilly background perfectly sets this off.  And the sentiment is heat-embossed right on the background paper.

I finished it with a sheer ribbon wrapped and tied in a bow!

Get your JUNE SOTM for ONLY $5 with a qualifying purchase before it's too late...it's so versatile!

Whale of a Journey

CTMH New Baby

I spent the weekend working on a special order for a set of Thank You cards. It was quite a journey of creativity. SO this will be a LONG blog - LOL!

The request was to include whales, navy and lime green, so I made 3 samples to play with the stamp first.

The adorable whale is from the CTMH New Baby set. 

CARD #1

It was difficult finding a good patterned paper for navy and lime -- WITHOUT using Later Sk8r for a change :). I settled for a Nice stripe from the DCWV My Sunshine stack.  My DH showed me how to make an angled cut with my paper trimmer. [give me a comment if you would like to see a tutorial]

First Try

I heat-embossed the whale on a tag cut with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. 

The background paper is dry embossed and I layered 2 borders on the side.  The sentiment is from the For A Friend stamp set.

CTMH For A Friend

I liked including a nautical looking ribbon, (Michael's package of Navy Melodies & Lace ribbons) but something was just lacking. Mr. Whale was floating all by himself, and I didn't care for the scalloped borders -- even though they suggested water. 
CARD #2

2nd Sample

Frustrated by my sad 1st attempt, I searched splitcoaststampers for whales. This card is a straight up CASE from Hazel.  [Thanks, Hazel!] 
(http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2310200?&si=Hazeltje)


I used a rick-rack stamp from a Hot off the Press set, Stamped Stitches, in Juniper Exclusive Ink as my water. 

The sentiment is from a stamp set bundled with the exclusive CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge. Word Balloons, but I actually <gasp> cut the word out of the balloon to use it independently.

Mr. Whale is heat-embossed with Blue embossing powder and colored with a gray watercolor pencil and a blending pen.

It was way cute, but I had NOT successfully used Navy and Lime Green -- it was only hinted at in the striped paper. 

CARD #3

3rd Time's a Charm

I had a TON of triangles from my angled cutting that only produced 3 straight strips...so what could I do with them? This time, I changed the background paper to Outdoor Denim to get a strong navy "anchor" to the design. (LOL). I dry-embossed it with a chevron embossing folder.

I used a piece of Later Sk8r -- couldn't resist, it's a great lime color -- as the background for stamping Mr. Whale, and heat-embossed and fussy-cut several.

I then used the same rick-rack stamp to create the water, but added one row in Pear ink. I stamped just Mr. Whale's head and spout in Versamark on White Daisy cardstock and heat-embossed it in blue so I could position the cut-out whale on top of it. The whale scene is layered on Pear cardstock with punched rounded edges.

 Mr. Whale looked lonely, so I added a cloud -- which I cut at 1" from Pear cardstock using the Artiste Cartridge, and gave some surface touch-up using one of the stamps in Distressed Backgrounds with Outdoor Denim ink. Then, I realized that you can't just have a cloud -- how about a sun?  The shape that coordinates with the April Stamp of the Month, My Sunshine, can be cut at 1" to make a tiny little sun outline -- PERFECT!!!  I cut it in half to get the most out of my 8 little suns.


The banner sentiment is from the Word Balloons set, layered with Pear cardstock. But, again, it looked lonely.  

Back to the New Baby set, and it has an adorable starfish. I heat-embossed several, colored them with watercolor pencils in lime green, and fussy-cut them all. (they are very small)

The finished set!

I moved the positioning of the nautical knot, and was VERY pleased with the results.

It seems my biggest challenge is to make clean and simple cards -- they always seem to need more to me. Although I LOVED the CASE on my second example, it just seems plain. I just want to add more...

All that was left was to assemble 10 of them.  While doing so, I had an adhesive FAIL, which forced a LOT of re-work. 

So stay tuned for more information about adhesives!

Thank you for stopping by and staying long enough to read this Moby Dick of a tale.

....and I do not even OWN the CTMH pun stamp set...wonder why?


I also entered this in the SplitCoastStampers TLC435 Angled Background Challenge.

Avonlea Thanks

I put together a quick Avonlea thank you card using the Pirouette MyAcrylix stamp. 

First I cut the stamp shape using the Cricut Artiste cartridge, and stamped on it with Twilight ink. It is so easy when you don't have to fussy-cut your shape!

I used the Avonlea paper as a background layer on a Slate cardstock base. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink and heat-embossed it with Zing Chestnut embossing powder.

Thanks is in the June SOTM, A Flowering Bunch, but I masked off the part that said "a bunch" with a sticky note so it just said Thanks. I used a piece of the Avonlea patterned paper zip strip horizontally to give added dimension.

Then I cut a few little shapes on the Cricut, again with the Artiste cartridge, at 1 to 1-3/4 in complementary colors, and layered them with a small punched circle on top. They look really yellowish - they are not that color at all. It's more of a muted gold which coordinates with the goldy-olive in the paper. (\[is that a color :) ] A bronze brad matched perfectly and holds them all together. A sheer ribbon bow adds just a little accent.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Skating Through June

I tried a free-form shape first -- 

just rolling with it!

Yes, I know...more Later Sk8r cards.  But they are SOOO awesome & gnarly - LOL! 

[Did I mention that I was sick over the Memorial Day holiday and made over 20 cards using this paper?  I was supposed to be grounded to the couch, but ended up sitting at the kitchen table. After a few trips back and forth to my craft area, I had the entire kitchen table covered. It was fun, but I didn't want to over load my blog with Lagoon & Pear cards all at once. So I tried to intersperse them with other card posts!]

These 3 cards all use the CTMH Later Sk8tr Workshop on the Go stamp set as the main focal point. 

The Gray and Navy card also uses the Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp set and Recollections silver chevron washi tape. It's actually my VERY FIRST washi tape usage.  I think it satisfies my need for ribbon when creating a masculine themed card.

This is one of my favorites.

I used my Spellbinder's Wonky Rectangles to highlight the skateboarder, using Pear cardstock and the Later Sk8r paper from the paper pack. 

The circles are leftover holes from Lagoon gears I die cut for my previously showcased gear cards. 

The AWESOME sentiment (LOL!)  is from the paper's zip strip. I just cut it into a pennant/banner shape.

Both stamps are in the Later Sk8r Workshop to Go package. I didn't use any discipline in creating these cards, but my next WOTG project will use ONLY the paper in the package, and we'll see how many cards that will make!

The third Skateboarder card uses a lot of different elements. I distressed the white card base with Outdoor Denim exclusive inks pad, and created several layers, using Slate and Later Sk8r papers. 

The Gears were cut during my extended Cricut Artiste cutting session, from Pear and Outdoor Denim cardstock and I just layered them up here. 

The sentiment is from the Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp set. I am finding that set VERY useful. 

I will just add that the double dark gray ribbon is some **GASP** Stampin' Up ribbon I had in my stash.

These masculine cards will make my entire summer's worth of grandson/nephew/son/brother-in-laws and brother's celebrations go smoothly, so I was glad I had the chance to make all of these great cards!

Thanks for stopping by!

Congrats

I made a quick card this morning using CTMH Avonlea paper.

Since I happened to cut the background paper with the flower centered on it, that became my starting point. I layered the patterned CTMH Avonlea paper with Twilight and used Slate as the card base, after inking the edges of the layers with Twilight exclusive ink.

The sentiment is from the Cricut Artiste collection Kudos stamp set. This set comes with the Artiste Cricut cartridge.

Even though I added ribbon and a bow, it seemed a little plain to me so I used the Artiste cartridge (still finding new ways to use it) and cut out the flourishes from both Twilight and Slate cardstock.

Then I used punched a scalloped circle from Twilight paper and punched a one-inch circle from the reverse side of the Avonlea duo paper. I layered those in the middle of the background rosette and finished it off with a gem from the Later Sk8r workshop to go packet.

It was a snap to put together! Thanks for stopping by!

Father's Day - My Dad's REAL CARD

Created for my dad.
The inside is stamped with a Father's Day Sentiment.

The stars and frame were cut with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. I loved just dialing up a size and getting different stars. These are 3", 2" and 1-1/2". 

Then I ran them through my Sizzix for some dry-embossing texture.

The Star stamped on white daisy with Lagoon ink is from the Pinwheel stamp set...I may be able to find a set if someone needs it!

I've added some detailed pix...

 
Paper:  CTMH Later Sk8r, Lagoon, Outdoor Denim, White Daisy
CTMH Inks:  Lagoon, Outdoor Denim
CTMH Stamps:  Pinwheel, Perfect Fit-Frames 2
Stamps: Lucky Guy (Studio G)
Other:  Stars Embossing Folder, Baker's Twine, brads


Thanks for stopping by!

June SOTM

A FLOWERING BUNCH!

Finally....I had some moments to make a new card with the June Stamp of the Month, A Flowering Bunch!  I had used the Thanks sentiment as a preview in May, so I think it's card #3. YAY!

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #297...but I try not to focus on the samples, and modify it for myself.  Instead, apparently I used the same elements EVERYONE did.  A flower for the central motif.  

But, it's cute as a button (which is a Chantilly fabric covered button, by the way), so I kinda like it :).

The Mojo297 Sketch is:

I adore the Chantilly paper...so it's really no surprise! I even used the Zip Strip off the Chantilly paper for the sentiment.

The Flower is stamped in Cotton Candy Exclusive Ink on a die cut which was cut to size using the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  I added some glitter gel to the flower to make it pop!







Thanks for looking!

You can get the SOTM for $5 with a $50 qualifying purchase!  Click the Stamp of the Month tab for further information!

Ready for More Gears?

Are you missing the Later Sk8r cards I've been making?  Here's some more.  Absolutely having a blast making "man cards"!

Here are a couple more :) 

They are cased from a design I pinned on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago. (see below for the link).

I found a hexagon shape on one of my Cricut cartridges, and cut a few with the CTMH patterned paper at 1".

Then I used some of the 1" gears I had already made, but added eyelets.


Makes a Great Father's Day card, too. I liked adding the eyelets, and the gears actually spin, rather than being blued down. The eyelets only go through the  top dry-embossed layer, which is also the layer I wrapped with Baker's Twine. 

Different embossing folders give such a different look!  What have you done with your embossing folders?

With so many gears & Later Sk8r papers laying all over my work table the week of Memorial Day, I made 3-4 cards in this same design.

CTMH Materials:
Later Sk8r Paper - X7167B
Cricut Artiste Cartridge - Z1790
Outdoor Denim Exclusive Ink - Z2140
White Daisy Cardstock - 1385
Wheel of Life My Acrylix Stamps - D1545

 

Link to the Cased Card:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMUgaxhRxDtKpuSDnm57NtyjqJPbfQ5Y9JVSk73ZNz7SZrfXuRngGBYx7Ooo446XZjh7N20MHfFkpIqLdMtwUqyLDaYy1kOBl6VP5nDLlUI-mrrfAyjpqj9qd_prbnCf4ZNlFlXNVO4kF/s1600/HeartsallinaRow1.jpg

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Super Birthday

My nephew's 5th birthday card is featured. I used the CTMH retired Superheros My Acrylix stamp set. 

I liked the look of the hero in blue and white so I didn't add color. It seemed like more of a comicbook-ish look.

The emblem was cut on my Cricut using the Superman cartridge and red and gold cardstock, at 1" real dial size. 

I used a border punch on the blue glitter cardstock, stamped the Superhero sentiment and added blue and white baker's twine.

Inside the card, I used a simple sentiment from the My Acrylix Joyful Birthday set.

Finally, the reason for my lengthy search for the retired Superhero set has happened.  Wanting this set was the  catalyst for me being a CTMH consultant. 

Thanks for looking!

i entered this as a masculine card in the Tip Top Tuesday Challenge #103 here.

 

Super Treats for Super Kids!

Prototype

I haven't posted for a week because we been busy with birthday celebrations and out of town company. The first two weeks of June are like that!  A lot of family time, which is WONDERFUL!

I prepared these adorable CTMH treat containers with assembly line help from grandparents and DH for my nephew's 5th birthday party. The theme was superheroes.  (I posted the invitations I made in previous blog posts.)

We finished 24 treat tubes on an assembly line the night before the party. Nothing like waiting til the last minute!

I used my Superman Cricut cartridge for the emblem, cut from yellow and red cardstock and layered. I found mthe Xyron sticker-maker to be extremely helpful in applying adhesive to the little 1" die cuts. 

The emblem was then adhered to a 1-1/4 inch circle punched from blue glitter paper. The prototype used blue comic strip paper, but we swapped that out for the glitter paper, which looked a lot better.

Then we stamped a starburst from the CTMH Perfect Fit-Birthday set and fussy-cut them out. [I gave that job to Grandma ;) ]

I wrapped the CTMH treat tubes with a 2-1/2 inch strip of superhero patterned paper (prepped by DH) and secured them with double-stick tape. 

We adhered the emblems and Grandpa and I tied red & white baker's twine on each tube.

We punched a 1" circle for the lids and then Grandpa enjoyed filling them.

They turned out great...but the 5-year old partiers didn't fawn all over the packaging..they went right to the yummy chocolate sixlet treats!


CTMH Materials:
My Creations Clear Treat Tubes - Z1823
My Acrylix Perfect Fit-Birthday Stamp Set - B1417
White Daisy Cardstock  - 1385
Baker's Twine Harvest Assortment - Z1751


Other Materials:
SuperHero Paper, Glitter cardstock, red & gold cardstock - from Archiver's
Cricut Superman cartridge
Bulk Sixlets in Red, Pearl White & Blue

Get your treat tubes for your next party!  Shop Here!

DH Birthday

I made this for my husband's birthday. 

I don't have any CTMH ships (YET) so I used a Cape Arago sailing ship stamp in Versamark, heat-embossed with brown embossing powder. I used a zig-zag dry embossing folder for the background.

I did include a round anchor stamp from the CTMH "Sail Away" set. The sentiment is also CTMH, from the "Joyful Birthday" set, which I inked around the banner edges.

It's hard to tell because I cropped a crooked picture, which I took on top of our antique china cabinet, so the brown blends in, but I used a very dark cardstock for the card itself, so I layered white panels inside.  I should really get a photo booth box for my cards. :)

He liked it, and that's what counts, but I think I would add color to the ship if I made another one.


We had a wonderful dinner with son & daughter-in-law & 1 of the grandkids.
It was also the 26th anniversary of our first date. Wow. Where did the time go?

June SOTM

This month's Stamp of the Month is "A Flowering Bunch".

When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for the special Stamp of the Month pricing at $5. 

I gave a little preview of one of the sentiments this past week, here is my first card using one of the flowers.

I stamped the flower with Pear ink and colored it in, then added glitter glue, and layered it with Pear cardstock. The card layers are in Chantilly and I used the Chantilly Complements for the leaf and flower embellishment.  I border-punched some Cotton Candy cardstock for the right side of the card.

The sentiment is from the Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp set, stamped in Cotton Candy and punched with a 1" circle punch.

The fun has just begun with A Flowering Bunch! Stay tuned!

CTMH Banner Days in June!

Make It a Banner Day!

Get a FREE My Creations® Mini Banner!

 

Receive a free My Creations^® mini banner in June! Make it a “banner” day by placing a $25 order that includes a qualifying stamp set to receive your free mini banner. 

The mini banner includes 10 chipboard pennants in 4 different shapes with 9 jump rings for hanging. 

Use the mini banner as a decoration for your parties and get-togethers this summer for many “banner” days!

Dates: Offer valid June 1–30, 2013.

 

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