Cute is Cool Layout

Another layout to share today. I'm definitely in a scrapbooking groove these days, and since that doesn't happen that often, I've been letting myself go with the flow because goodness knows sometimes it's hard to sit down and get myself to finish some layouts!

This is kind of a different layout for me. I tend to scrap events, and this is more a moment. Still, I can never choose just one photo, so my simple solution is Flip Flaps. I just love these and in this instance it allows me to keep my page uncluttered.....just two photos, but actually incorporate five of them.

There's a lot going on in this layout, I did some experimenting, so let me walk you through it all.

The background paper was created using the negative image from some flower cuts for this card. I had actually die cut the whole sheet, but didn't want to have the pattern on the full sheet of cardstock, so I used some scrap paper to mask the extra cuts. To make sure that the sheet stayed in place when I was misting it, I just applied Bonding Memories adhesive and let it dry slightly. This makes it kind of tacky and not permanent, so I could put it down and then pull it up. For the mist, I used chocolate reinker and a spray pen.

The little flower embellishments were additional die cuts cut at 1 1/4" and 1". In order to get a more defined stitch image (and cut down on the amount of threads I had to cut, I used my piercing tool to mark the center of the flower. Then I started sewing from that point out to the edge, lifted the presser foot and turned it around, and went back over those stitches.





Since the stitching adds bulk to the embellishments, I ran them through my Xyron. This helps to flatten them a little and ensures even coverage of adhesive.



I also ran the letters through the Xyron. Cute and is were cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge and the cool is the font/shadow combination from Teresa Collins' Sophisticated cartridge.

The first photo of this post shows the base layout. Below are photos of the layout with the Flip Flaps open and closed. Sorry for the glare - it's always hard to get good photos when the page protectors are on.





For the journaling, I misted another piece of 4x6 cardstock and added a decorative element to that and the bottom photo on the 'closed' layout using some additional negative scraps from the flower embellishments and a fancy stitch on the sewing machine to dress them up.

A helpful hint for Flip Flaps: instead of just sliding the pictures/journaling in, add a little adhesive between them so that they are flush and you don't see an inside edge peeking out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: Colonial White, Hollyhock, Chocolate
Ink: Chocolate
Other: Cricut Art Philosophy and Teresa Collins Sophisticated cartridges, Sewing Machine, Xyron 5" Creative Station, Bonding Memories Adhesive, Love My Tapes Adhesive, 4x6 Flip Flaps, Pigma micron pen

Peeps Window Card

A simple card to share today using the 'My Peeps' stamp set.

The base for this card is one of CTMH's value pack cards. I cut the window using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and the cricut 'Centerpoint' function. Although using the centerpoint function requires a little bit of math, it's easy to do (you could also just eyeball it, but I'm a little picky about these things).

Depending on the size of your card, figure out what the center point is. So, for a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card, the center point would be at 2 1/8" x 2 3/4". Place your card at the top right corder of the mat and load. My expression doesn't always load the card at the exact corner, so you will have to estimate here. If the edge of card loads past the blade's starting point, then you'll want to add a little to the length/width. But, the screen will show you the position of the blade, use those numbers as a guide and add 1/4" or 1/8" as necessary.

For this card, I cut the initial opening at 3" and then I cut the frame a 3 1/4". Making the frame larger allows you to adhere it to the front of the card, otherwise it would just sit inside the opening. This also allows gives you a little wiggle room....if the opening on the card itself is a little off-center, you can cut the frame even a tiny bit larger, and center it to hide that error.

For a more finished look, cut two frame pieces and put one on the inside of the front of the card. I also used a sponge dauber to add a little ink/shading to decorative edge of the frame to make it stand out some more.

For the inside of the card, I stamped and cut out four peeps. The grass is a Taylored Expressions die. To position the inside elements, I placed the grass die cut down first. The die is about 8", so it hangs off either side of the card. Once I got it where I wanted it, I lightly marked the edge with a pencil. I also lightly marked the edges of the opening, so I could keep the peeps in the window.

Then I adhered all the pieces and added the sentiment.

It's really an easy card to make, and a great way to get acquainted with the centerpoint function on your Cricut.

Note: This is one of the cards we'll be making at my Card Workshop March 10th. If you're in the Northern Virginia area, and interested in attending, please contact me directly.

Supplies Used
Cardstock: Cotton Candy, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup
Stamps: My Peeps
Ink: Black, Honey
Other: Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Sponge Dauber, Taylored Expressions Grass Border Die

Just for You cards

I created this card last month using the new Stella papers and Just for You stamp set. It's one of the cards we'll be making at my workshop next month as well as at a card workshop I'm holding for my mother-in-law this weekend.

I wanted to highlight how versatile the Just for You stamp set is, so I used the same card design, but substituted papers from the Pemberley and Roxie Level 2 paper packs to create two additional cards.





I was having so much fun, I created one more card using just cardstock. The stem/leaf piece was cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and sanded just a touch to add some texture and interest. I love how one stamp set can take on such different moods/looks depending on how you use it.



What do you think? Which do you like best?

Supplies Used (all cards use the Just for You stamp set):
Card 1 - Stella Level 2 Paper Pack, Cocoa, Lagoon, Tulip, and Olive inks, Colonial White card base.
Card 2 - Pemberly Level 2 Paper Pack, Outdoor Denim, Honey, Desert Sand, and Pacifica inks, Colonial White card base.
Card 3 - Roxie Level 2 Paper Pack, Black, Desert Sand, Smoothie, and Sorbet inks, Colonial White card base.
Card 4 - White Daisy, Black, Topiary and Creme Brulee cardstock, Black and Cranberry inks, Cranberry Grosgrain ribbon, Sanding Kit, Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge

It's Scrapbooking Week!

Or at least that's what I've officialy declared it at my house. I've been having all sorts of fun making cards, but this week I wanted to focus on scrapbooking. I started this layout last week and am just finishing it up.

This was a trip to Charlotte (pronounced with the emphasis on the last syllabal) Beach in August. I have a TON of pictures from this outing and have been wanting to scrap it for a while. This is the first of two layouts (plus) from our outing.



I had so much fun pulling this one together. That ledger paper that I used is from a retired CTMH kit called You & Me, but if you like the look of it, it's very similar to a print in the Typeset collection. I had thought about using the patterned paper for the background, but since I only have a few sheets of it, and I love it, I thought this was the better way to go.



The little penants are some old Creative Memories cardstock that I have (sorry I don't know the names of the colors, and I'm pretty sure they are retired). The CM cardstock is a little thinner than CTMH, so I thought they would work better since I knew I was going to do some sewing on this page, which I haven't done a ton of, so I didn't want to add any more complication than absolutely necessary.



To create the penants, I cut 5/8" strips of cardstock and then cut those down to 1 1/2", 1 3/4", and 2" pieces. Then I used the corner of my square punch to create the penant shape at the end....much quicker and easier than tracing/cutting or eyeballing. Once I had a bunch of those cut out, I laid them out on the paper to figure out approximate spacing/see how many I needed. I used a tiny, and I mean tiny, bit of bonding memories adhesive just on the edge of the patterned piece to tack each one in place. Again, in the hopes of avoiding unneeded complication I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to sew through much, if any, adhesive. Once they were all on, I just sewed across. Yes, it's a bit time consuming, but it's not HARD. I'm not a huge fan of hard things, monotonous is OK...you can always do that while you watch TV ;).

The little corner pieces were cut using the Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge, I only used them on the outside corners because to emphasize the whole of the two-page layout. The title was cut using the Wild Card cartridge (Thanks Nikki Sivlis!). Once I got the layout together, I decided I needed a little bit in the top corners between the two pages, so I added a few more of the penants there.

This layout makes me so happy. It was such a sweet trip to a special place with Ellie and Andrew, somewhere we're unlikely to go again for a while now that my parents have moved away from there. I'm so happy to have captured it on cardstock for Ellie.

Now I mentioned that I have a TON of pictures of this, right? Well it's true, I could have done a whole mini album with all the pictures I took, but instead, I'm cramming them into two two-page layouts. How? The answer is Flip Flaps. I just LOVE these, they are the indecisive, picture happy girl's answer to scrapbooking. **apologies that these next pictures aren't that great...it's hard to get good photos when the layouts are in the page protectors, not to mention complications in photographing flip flaps, but hopefully this gives you a good idea of how they work and how the layout looks**

Now there is a little bit of an art to using Flip Flaps. You do have to plan ahead. What you saw previously is the basic foundation page for my layouts. Flip Flap layouts are kind of like a sculpture. You need to be sure that it looks good from all angles/stages in the flipping process.







Above is what the layout looks like in the album, with the flaps all closed. It's still a great story, and here's what it looks like with the flaps open....story still intact, but even better, you can see a progression, there's action and movement in the flip/flap process. Like I said, you could easily take this layout and break it up into four or five individual layouts, but when you're pressed for time, and you have stacks and stacks of photos calling to you, this is an easy, economical way to include them.





I've started the second layout and hope to have that one done shortly. So stay tuned for Part 2.

Supplies Used
Paper: CMTH - Bamboo cardstock, You & Me Papers; CM - Maroon, Blue and Sand cardstock
Other: Cricut Art Philosophy and Wild Card cartridges; Sewing Machine; Flip Flaps

Cricut 3-D Items

There are so many great shapes, cards, tags, and frames on the the Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge, but one of my favorite items are the 3-D boxes. There are eight of them in total, and I put together a sampling of them for my Open House last week.

These little boxes/bags are the perfect packaging for your holiday treats/gifts, and are so easy to put together and decorate. What a great personal touch for those teachers/neighbors/friends on your list!

Pair them with some of the Cricut AP shapes and coordinating stamps (the blue, square Merry Christmas box, the You Are Special bag, and the Thanks pillow box) for easy embellishments. There are so many different ways you can decorate these items, and if you want to involve the kids, let them decorate a piece of cardstock, and then cut the box/bag from that sheet for a really personal touch.

CTMH Supplies Used:
Square Box: Believe paper, Holiday Red and White Daisy cardstock, Holiday Red ink, Cricut celebration stamp set, Say it in Style stamp set.
Take-out Box: Desert Sand cardstock, Chocolate ink, Glory to God stamp set
Bag: Typeset paper, Vineyard berry and Colonial White cardstock, Cricut collection stamp set
Noel Treat box: Colonial White and Cranberry cardstock, Cranberry Ink, Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon, Holiday Magic (Oct SOTM) stamp set, Say it in Style stamp set
Pillow Box: Dreamin Paper, Bamboo and Pacifica cardstock, Autumn Terracotta Ink, Cricut collection stamp set

Tag Calendar

This is one of the simple/easy, and inexpensive, Christmas projects I'll be sharing at my Holiday Gift Giving Open House on Saturday.



If you're one of those people (like me) who doesn't want to have to lug around a huge daytimer; prefers to be able to look at dates from a macro view; hates to use the phone as a daytimer; and your checkbook register is perpetually showing the wrong years, this is the perfect gift.



It's small and compact, and fits into pretty much any cute little purse. On the back of each of the tags I stamped a list for important dates/birthdays or things that you need to remember to do. It's easy to take a list/reminder with you! Is your gift recipent a big fan of lists? No problem, you can always stamp extra reminder tags to go with the gift and once a tag is filled up, they can just remove/replace it. This would be a great gift for someone who likes to scrapbook as you could easily add these tags to a layout or mini album.



In the first example, I did a lot of stamping, so it took a little longer, but here is a more simple version that you could easily mass produce. I cut both versions using the Cricut AP cartridge set at 4". The cartridge has a number of other tag shapes, so you can easily change up the size/shape to suite your needs/tastes.

If you'd like to see this and my other Holiday Gift ideas in person, you are welcome to attend to my Holiday Gift Giving Open House this Saturday (October 22nd, 8-10), call 703-536-8899 to RSVP.

CTMH Products Used:
Stamps: I used a lot of different stamps for this project, but the main ones (calendar/reminder/list) were Notice the Details, A Moment in Time, and the set form the Lucky Workshop on the Go.
Paper: White Daisy, Chocolate, Bamboo, Kraft, and various scraps
Ink: As with the stamps, I used many different colors (based on the paper scraps), but the main inks were Cocoa and White Daisy.
Other: Cricut AP cartridge

Custom Journaling Spots for H2H

I just can't get enough of the new AP cartridge! This idea came to me while I was at work and I just had to try it out when I got home.



It's pretty easy to do, but a little complicated to explain and unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures during the creative process. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

- I cut a 4 1/2" pillow box from some Dreamin' paper (LOVE those prints!) and folded the box following the vertical lines so that it lay flat.

- Then I trimmed the curved ends on the side of the box that does not have the skinny flap you use to adhere it together.

- On one end I scored the remaining flap so that I could fold it over for one end of the journaling spot.

- On the other end, the open end, I cut a small piece of Pacifica cardstock to the width of the box and about 1 1/2" deep and traced the curve of the flap. Cut the piece along your traced line.

- Use this piece to trace a curve on the other side of the opening.

- Cut the box along the line you just traced and then adhere the other piece (Pacifica) to the inside of the box as a liner.

- Adhere the envelope for the journaling spot along the long end and bottom.

- Cut a 4" tag. I used White Daisy and cut a Chocolate tag also. I trimmed the top piece off for an accent and adhered it to the base tag.

- Stamp your sentiment on the tag.


- The envelopes can be decorated or left plain, it's up to you. I used the AP cartridge to cut the branch with leaves in Chocolate at 2" and White Daisy at 1 3/4". The White piece I 'painted' using the blending pen and chocolate stamp pad. These are so cute and now you can create them in whatever size you'd like to perfectly complement your layouts/cards!

CTMH Products Used:
Ink: Chocolate
Paper: Dreamin, White Daisy, Chocolate, Pacifica
Stamps: Notice the Details
Other: Blending Pen, AP Cricut Cartridge, Bonding Memories Adhesive

Four in One Card

I have another card for you today. It's for my grandfather-in-law and I'm entering it into three challenges. I love it when things come together like that!

The Heart2Heart Challenge from three weeks ago was a die-cut challenge, a perfect way to practice with my new Cricut and AP cartridge; this week's Mojo Monday challenge is a sketch challenge featuring rectangles and squares; and this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to use three shades of a monochromatic color plus brown.

I knew that I wanted to use some frames cut with the Cricut, and that easily lent itself to the Mojo Monday sketch challenge. Since I'm just getting used to the Cricut, I often end up thinking that the size I'm entering is the reverse of what I end up cutting, i.e. I enter 2" because I want the rectangle to be 2" tall, and instead it is 2" wide. This ended up working out well for this card since I ended up with a number of frames/shapes that I could layer until I got the look I wanted.

It's a simple card, and one you could easily make using scraps. For the two top frames, the Cricut shape I wanted to use originally didn't have the right dimensions, so I ended up just cutting the square and rectangle with the trimmer, and using a single hole punch to round the corners, a trick I saw just today here: http://danieladobson.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for stopping by!

CTMH Products Used:
Ink: Outdoor Denim
Stamps: Say it in Style, Notice the Details
Paper: Colonial White, Indian Corn Blue, Lilac Mist, Chocolate