Cricut Magazine Sept. 2012 Card

I made this card for my friend Michelle's birthday (she likes cats). I liked it so much that I made a second duplicate card and submitted it to Cricut Magazine. It was printed in the September 2012 issue!

I used Cricut cartridges Create a Critter for the kitty, Paper Lace for the birthday sentiment, and Mother's Day Bouquet for the flowers. The leaves were cut with the Sizzix die: Flowers, Branches, & Leaves. The butterfly punches are from Martha Stewart. I used K & Company patterned paper for the kitten and background, and Bazzill Basics Fundamentals card stock for the rest.

To color the butterflies, I used my water brush with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Refills (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Barn Door), mixed with some Winsor & Newton Iridescent Medium to give them some shimmer. The bodies are made of Liquid Pearls (Buttercup and Rouge). I inked the edges of the kitten and the background paper with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen and the flowers with Walnut Stain. The bow tie and flowers have Stickles on them for extra sparkle (Diamond, Yellow, Golden Rod, Walnut Stain). Creatology Wiggle Eyes give the cat a whimsical look (I deleted the original eyes using my Gypsy before cutting).

Banner Builder Happy Holidays Card

I can now post this since it was received! This is the card I made for my sister for Christmas. I used the a banner stamp set and die collection (I no longer support the company where I bought them; their return policy is atrocious). I had a lot of fun making this banner card. I used Distress Inks: Mahogany and Peeled Paint. The flower layers I colored to match using Mahogany Distress Ink on Petaloo's Color Me Crazy mulberry paper flowers, let them dry, then added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles to make them sparkle. Happy Holidays!

Halloween Pizza Box

Wow! It has been a while since I last posted! I was in Ireland for 3 weeks, home for a few days then off to Washington DC for a week - leaving not much time to craft!

I recently made this pizza box (using a Sizzix Pro ScoreBoards Die) for a friend to hold a few chocolates I had bought for her in Washington DC and Ireland. It is 4.25 inches square. I decorated it with Halloween papers and stickers - I believe K&Company for most of the stickers, Martha Stewart for the black dotted sticker going across the top, and Jolee's for the 3D spider with googly eyes. I cut the "Trick or Treat" decoration from a sheet of K&Company Halloween paper.

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! I really missed not having a party this year but it was just too much to do with all the travel.

Tags, Flowers, and More

Michaels (the craft store) recently held an open house. The class instructors showed samples of what they teach in their classes. I showed some of my scrapbooking pages, tags, flowers, and cards. Many people do not realize that Michaels holds classes in their stores. Below are a few of the samples I made.

The tags are from a Tim Holtz inspired Distress and Shimmer class. We make 7 tags in the class (only 5 samples are shown here).

Distress and Shimmer Tags

The Flower Wow class teaches you how to make paper flowers using a variety of techniques, from hand cutting to using dies. With a few simple techniques you can take plain card stock to WOW! (Sorry, just had to say it - by the way, I didn't make up the name.)

Flower Wow

This is a card sample from the Cricut Sophisticated cartridge card making class. This simple yet elegant design is easy to make with the help of the Cricut electronic cutting machine.

Cricut Sophisticated Card

Check your local Michaels store for classes in your area.