Scalloped and Stitched Valentine Card

Happy Super Bowl Groundhog Day!  I imagine that many of you are busy today with parties and other festivities for the big game.   I am writing this late at night so I don't know yet if the Groundhog saw his shadow.  I hope he didn't - I think a lot of us would like an early spring!

I wanted to show you the finished card that I made from the test cut of the card in the video (click HERE to see the post with the video).  You can see how nice and even the score line is - no annoying little slits.

However, this is just a plain card so I added some more pieces and layers to the card.  I even did some "stitching" with a white pen.

I looked around on the Artiste cartridge and found this shape (the shift of Accent 4 on page 62) and I realized that it was another wide scallop and probably similar enough in size to be manipulated into a layer for the card.

I cut a couple of these shapes and added a heart to the center.  It is a little tricky to get the heart cut out in the proper position and after I cut the first topper (on the bottom) I decided that it should have a larger heart opening so I set up another cut in the Cricut Craft Room software.  (I will do another video to show you how I did this - I think it will be easier to see it than to read all of the steps that were needed).

The topper has two extra scallops that have to be trimmed off.  First, I added adhesive and centered the heart cutouts.

Here is the view from the back of the card with the extra scallops extending beyond the edges of the card.

A small trimmer easily cleaned up the edges.  You do have to be extra careful on the folded edge of the card when you trim away the extra scallop.

After trimming the card looked like this.  The next step was to add a liner inside the card to provide a place to write a message and show a contrasting heart in the center.

I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches and punched the two long edges of the cardstock with a border punch. 

The small scallops in this Martha Stewart punch (scallop three dot edge punch - part of a punch around the page set) were a nice companion to the large scallops on the card.

You could use any punch you like.  If I had thought it all through ahead of time, I might have mad a second layer for the inside of the card using the shape I used for the topper.

The card still looked pretty plain so I started to add some white pen stitching around the scallops.

Then I added more stitching at the top and bottom and along the inner heart shape.  It still looked a bit plain so I decided to cut an even smaller red heart to pop in the center of the card front.

I went back to the computer and set up a column of hearts to cut from the remaining edge.  If you plan carefully, you can create new design elements with the leftovers from your primary cuts.

I was able to trim the heart strip to 1 1/2 inches wide.

This "planned leftover" will work nicely on the front of a larger card.

With the small heart now appearing in the opening, I just needed to add "I" and "you" to make the sentiment "I heart you."

I had the three CTMH cartridges on my desk so I checked ArtBooking next and found just what I needed on the shift key of the title button on page 59.

The finishing touch was to add white stitching to the words inside the card.  I decided to leave the heart plain.

This is certainly not an elaborate card, but it is fresh and pretty and I had fun making it.  I hope you like it.

Have a wonderful crafty day - I hope your team wins!

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Christmas Card Variations - Mix and Match

 

Christmas cards already?  My husband just shook his head when I showed him these cards - he doesn't understand that Christmas comes very early in the crafting world!  I had an idea that I wanted to try and you could use this technique for any kind of card - I just happened to decide that I wanted some snowflakes...

The Cricut Artbooking cartridge is the third in a series of absolutely full and fabulous cartridges that are available through Close To My Heart.  Each cartridge has used all of the available key positions (14 for each button) and there are 700 items that can be cut with this cartridge.  The section at the front of the book that shows the images takes up 28 pages - so many choices!  

This cartridge has a focus on mini books and scrapbook pages but there are many ways to expand on the use of the images.  I decided to try using one of the overlay images to make some cards (and of course they had to be sparkly!).  I started with the overlay image on page 52.  The overlay is meant for a summer sun page but it can easily be switched up for other purposes.  I cut the design at 4 inches (Real Dial Size) to fit a standard A2 card.  It is important to note that you will need to use Real Dial Size often with this cartridge if you are cutting something that you want to use for a different project than the project shown on the page in the book.

I cut the ray design in three colors of glitter cardstock (Core'dinations Core Couture).  Then, while one frame was still on the mat, I rearranged all of the cut out rays, alternating colors to create three card toppers.  (I did not use any software to alter the size of the image to fill the card front but you could do this with the Cricut Craftroom or the Gypsy).

I adhered the overlay to a white card and then added the individual rays.  If you have them set up on the mat it goes a little more quickly but the shapes are easy to distinguish so it is not strictly necessary to do this.

I find it easiest to place the frame on the card and then scribble in the empty spots with a glue pen.  The photo above shows the card with the dark blue background so you can see the glue more clearly.

The cut pieces are easy to arrange and you can just pick up the stack and fit them into the proper openings - it's sort of like doing a jigsaw puzzle.  This method saves times since you don't have to flip over each individual piece and add glue to the back.

In keeping with my wintry colors, I looked through the cartridge book for some snowflakes and found several pretty choices on page 76.

I cut a few samples and decided that the best size for the cards was 2 1/2 inches (Real Dial Size).  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love snowflakes and I think these are very pretty.  If you were using the Gypsy or the Craftroom to cut your images, you might want to hide the small inner cuts on the bottom right snowflake - they are tiny and a bit tricky to poke out but they do give a nice effect.

The "Happy Holidays" sentiment from this set (B1412 Perfect Fit-Holidays Holiday) is just the right size to fit at the bottom of the card.  There are several of these sets available for different holidays and they coordinate with Perfect Fit Frame stamp sets (Perfect Fit - Frames and Perfect Fit - Frames 2) that have perfectly sized openings in the centers - just pop in the circle you want to use.

I didn't have embossing powder in the right shade of blue but I discovered that the Tim Holtz "Broken China" Distress Ink was a "close enough" match so I stamped the sentiment and then used clear embossing powder to give it some dimension and shine.

I chose this snowflake for the first card but I wanted to pop it up and didn't want the adhesive to show.  It turns out that a 3/4 inch circle (punched out but you could cut it with the Cricut) is a perfect fit to fill in the central area of the 2 1/2 inch snowflake.

The contrast of the light blue and white is subtle but pretty.

A large pop dot can now stick to the snowflake without showing...

I added a clear gem to the center and some more gems in two sizes to the left of the sentiment.  Card number 1 - finished!

For the second card, I centered the white overlay on the dark blue card base and added the two contrasting blues as shown above.  I chose a blue snowflake for this card...just to be different.  A clear gem in the center of the snowflake adds some more sparkle but the sides looked too plain.

I pulled out some silver "peel off" sticker borders that a friend sent to me a long time ago and they added just a nice bit of sparkle on each side.

I chose not to add a sentiment to the front on this card.  I'll add a white liner and stamp the message inside the card.

For the third card, I turned the overlay to place the circle at the top right.  For this snowflake I used a bright blue gem in the center.

I wanted to add a sentiment on the front but it looked odd to have the white area showing so I cut a piece of the dark blue cardstock at 4 by 5/8 inches and placed it at the bottom of the card.

The "merry & bright" sentiment is on page 56 of the book.  I set the machine for "fit to length" at 3 1/2 inches.  It can be a bit confusing to see the calculated size pop up - it said "cutting at 7 1/2 inches" for the 3 1/2 inches fit to length.  This is because the sizing is based on the design of the project - in other words a 7 1/2 inch album size instead of the 10 inch album the cut was designed for.

The dark blue strip gives the sentiment a place to rest and helps it to stand out on the card.  It is hard to show the brightness of the glitter in a still photo but it really sparkles in person.

I cut the word art from the DCWV "Glitzy Glitter" stack.  This super shiny glitter cardstock is thin and cuts easily, even for very intricate cuts.

Here is one more look at each of the three snowflakes...

I can think of so many ways to use these!

This same procedure can be used on many of the overlay designs to create interesting multi-colored patterns that won't add a lot of thickness to your card.  This is a great way to use up all of the pieces so nothing goes to waste.  I think I may try a set in Autumn colors next!

The Artbooking cartridge and the stamps I used are available from a CTMH consultant.  My friend Joy Tracey of Obsessed with Scrapbooking is a consultant and she would be happy to help you with an order.  I am hosting an online Gathering on her CTMH website HERE.  If you decided to shop for the cartridge or other items, please click on the link on the home page of the site to join "Diane's Gathering."  If you don't see it listed, please try back a little later today.

There are some great specials this month, including the Stamp of the Month for just $5  and a special National Stamping Month triple set for just $10 when you spend $50 or more.  Joy has all of the details and lots of projects on her blog.  This cartridge could keep you busy for months!

Thanks to all of you who left comments or sent notes of support for our family in Jamestown, Colorado.  It will take a long time to rebuild and we are hoping that the insurance and emergency funds will be sufficient for everyone to get back to normal.  I haven't had a chance to answer all of you yet but I will and I wanted to let you know that your words have been comforting and very much appreciated.

It's "Talk Like a Pirate" Day - aarrrgh!  Happy Birthday to our nephew Jason who always has a reason to celebrate this day!

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Artbooking - A Great New Cricut Cartridge

When I got my first Cricut machine, there were less than 50 cartridges and new cartridges did not come out very often.  The suspense and anticipation that would build up as Cricut users heard rumors about a new cartridge, then found out the name and what sorts of images were on the cartridge and the eventual release of the cartridge for sale were all very exciting.  I miss those days sometimes.

There are hundreds and hundreds of cartridges available now and it is hard to keep even half of them straight in your head.  Somewhere along the line the amount of cartridges became unmanageable and confusing.  Cartridges can be very specialized for particular interests and the number of images varies widely.  Sometimes you are surprised to find out that there are only 50 or so images on a cartridge.

I have been using other programs and machines in addition to the Cricut for a couple of years but there are certain cartridges that are so good that I will never give up my Cricut machines completely.  Some of the very best cartridges have been the ones made in partnership with other companies.  If I could only keep a small number of the cartridges in my collection, the CTMH and Creative Memories cartridges would definitely be in the "keeper" pile!

Today is an exciting day because the third cartridge exclusive to Close To My Heart is now available to purchase.  The cartridge is called "Artbooking" and it is a totally full cartridge with every single one of the 700 key positions filled with an image.  It always annoyed me when there were empty spots or repeated shapes on a cartridge but the CTMH cartridges all have been extremely full cartridges.

project by Joy Tracey

This cartridge has a lovely script alphabet, and a huge variety of titles, mats, backgrounds, tags and images.  There are 15 layout themes with everything set to cut at the proper size for a 12 x 12 page and 15 mini book albums that make it very easy to create a special book quickly.

Project by Joy Tracey

My good friend and the incredibly talented Cricut expert Joy Tracey of Obsessed with Scrapbooking is now a CTMH representative and you can purchase the Artbooking cartridge HERE on her site.  If you'd like to get a really good look at the items on this cartridge, click HERE to see her blog post with the full handbook.

image from Obsessed with Scrapbooking

The Close to My Heart cartridges have all been sold as a bundle with three stamps sets and three sheets of pre-cut chipboard pieces that are designed to coordinate with the shapes on the cartridge.  These stamp sets are right on trend and have been carefully planned to enhance the projects you can make with the cartridge.

image from Obsessed with Scrapbooking

In addition to the bundled stamp sets there is a "stamp of the month" set which is free in August with the purchase of $50 or more.  This set is really cute with images of chocolate and funny sayings. 

project by Joy Tracey

If you are a Cricut owner, you won't want to miss this cartridge.  My cartridge bundle is on the way to me and I'll be sharing some projects and a more complete review soon.

Now to add to the excitement!

If you purchase the Artbooking bundle from Joy you will have the chance to win some amazing prizes.  I don't want to spoil the surprise so hop on over to Joy's blog HERE to see what she is offering!

I am counting the days until my cartridge arrives.  I can't wait to make some of the mini books and give them to friends and family.

If you were trying to order items in the Last Chance Offer from Creative Memories and had computer/internet troubles here is some good news.  The time to place your order has been extended until tomorrow, Friday, August 2 at 12:00 noon (Central Time).  Click HERE to go to the Last Chance Offer page.


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