Inspirational Card

I received this card from a friend who bought it on a trip to England.  She was sure that I would love it and she was absolutely right!

The intricate design is printed in gold ink on the pale pink card and cut inside the shape of the rabbit (probably by a laser).  The card is from Roger la Borde First Press and there is a website listed rogerlaborde.com.  I looked at the site but couldn't find much information about this type of card.

 Here you can see how incredibly delicate the cuts are.  The outline of the rabbit is printed with black ink to add definition.

The eye is also printed with black.  The width of the black line along the edges varies when it overlaps the cut areas.  You could make it more consistent if you were adding it by hand.

This card has all sorts of ideas spinning in my mind.  I can't wait to try a Cricut version of a card using this concept.

My mind is also spinning from spending hours and hours today on the phone with various computer support people.  My not-so-very-old computer (new last September) has been giving me trouble and I can't access some of my programs.  It looks like I will need to do a complete recovery due to software issues, possibly caused by allowing a Windows update.  This will take many additional hours of reinstalling programs, transferring data and generally sorting things out.  I hope to have it done later this week and I will try to get some projects uploaded before I start the process.  Wish me luck - I have such a love/hate affair with technology at times - so fantastic when it is all working and so frustrating and time consuming when it develops problems!

Cheery Hello Card

This cheery hello card was made because of a "mistake."  I enjoy creating new things from "mistakes" - they often end up being more interesting than the original plan!

When I made the card to go along with my cupcake holder, I wanted a dark pink layer to set off the checked background paper.  (Here is a LINK to the original cupcake holder post)

I have been showing the "hidden assets" that are produced by punching shapes from your card layers.  By doing this you lighten the card and create extras for other projects.  For the cupcake card I punched out some flowers before adhering the layers.

I actually started punching flowers from this pink piece of cardstock and realized that I had grabbed a punch that was a "pop-up" punch so it didn't separate from the layer - oops!  I put that piece of cardstock aside and made the cupcake card but then set about figuring a way to use this piece as well.  I punched out a few more butterflies and then decided to create a top layer that would accommodate the pop-up flower.  I used the same checked paper and punched out a scalloped circle in the lower right corner.  (I checked to be sure that the flower would be within the punched scallop - I liked the off center positioning of the pop-up).

I adhered the two layers and added some white pen stitching around the scalloped circle.  I wanted to add a bit more "punch" to the pop-up flower so I looked for something to add to the hole in the center.

I had this set of embellishments from Creative Charms and I thought the small brad would be perfect for the center (here is a LINK to the page on their site).

I was careful to keep the back aligned so the metal pieces would not show though the openings.

Here is the close view after I added the brad.  I think it is a perfect accent with the white center and scalloped flower.

I added some wide yellow grosgrain ribbon at the top of the card.  Now all I needed was a sentiment.

I chose the "hello" from the Cuttlebug A2 Combo "Everyday Greetings" (I use that one a lot!) and cut it from orange glitter cardstock.

The final card is simple but with a bit of a twist - and I am happy that I was able to "redeem" my mistake!

I hope you had a lovely Easter.  We went to the sunrise service and then joined the rest of the extended family for the big egg hunt hosted by my brother and sister-in-law.  There are still a lot of flooded areas but the weather was sunny and hot (nearly 80)!

Easter Candy Cage

It was a beautiful warm day here today - a great day for walking and yardwork!  I had an email from a regular blog reader who wanted to cut the cupcake holder I shared on Thursday (here is a LINK to that post).  She does not have the George cartridge and needed help to convert the file.

I took a bit of time to change all of the George rectangles to Plantin and test the new file.  These little holders will work nicely for Easter candy and they go together very quickly after cutting.

You can even use them as a "cage" for small animal figurines.  The link for the Plantin version of the file is below.  The assembly directions are in the original post linked above.

Have a Happy Easter!

Cupcake Holder (Plantin Schoolbook version)

Glitter Striped Eggs

These eggs are quick and simple (though a bit messy!) to make.  I shared a lot of eggs I made using the Cricut a few weeks ago (here is the LINK to that post and the LINK to the post with information about emptying the eggs before decorating).

While I was experimenting with various ways to decorate the eggs I tried a few things that I haven't had a chance to post.  I thought that I'd put at least one of them up today (and maybe save the rest for next year!).  If you are dyeing eggs this weekend you could give this a try.

I started with the plain white emptied eggs and wrapped several widths of Scor-Tape around the eggs in different patterns.

After the Scor-Tape was applied, I dipped the eggs into various colors of dye.

Don't keep the eggs in the dye bath too long - you do not want the dye to loosen the protective cover on the Scor-Tape.

I dyed the eggs with the tape in place first to be sure that the color of the glitter would be pure with the white egg as the background.  In thinking about it later, it might be simpler to dye the eggs, let them dry and then add the tape and glitter.  The color might be a bit different but the glitter coating is so solid it should hide any egg color.

After dyeing and drying the egg, I removed the strip of protective paper from one of the pieces of Scor-Tape.

Then I sprinkled fine glitter (I used Martha Stewart glitter) on the tape.  I rolled the tape in the excess glitter a few times to be sure it was completely covered.

When you remove the protective covering from the lower strip of tape you will need to trim it at the intersection with the top layer.

If the wider tape is the lower level of tape, you will need to carefully cut the thin layer and stick it into the wider tape when it is exposed.

You could add some more glittered shapes or gems to the sections of the egg separated by the tape.

One more view of my "experimental" eggs - I think it would be fun to create glittered names on the eggs - maybe I will try that next year...

If you are not familiar with Scor-Tape, here is a LINK to the Scor-Pal site where you can see the various sizes and prices.  Scor-Tape is very strong and easy to work with.  I usually use it for holding boxes together (I used it for the "cupcake cage" I shared in yesterday's post HERE).  I haven't tried the large sheets yet (I keep meaning to order some).   I think that it would be fun to try the sheets for making custom cuts that I could then easily glitter.  The Scor-Tape works wonderfully for glitter on cards - here is a LINK to an old post where I tried it for the first time on a card.


Some Easter entertainment for you...

Do you like the movie "Up"?  Are you a fan of the "Peeps" marshmallow candies?  My sister sent me this incredible LINK to the entries in a contest sponsored by The Washington Post.  The LINK on the left of the page will take you to some videos showing the top five entries.  I think you will enjoy this!

Cupcakes for Sweet Treat Thursday

For today's Cuttlebug Challenge Sweet Treat Thursday the Design Team was asked to create a cupcake holder and to share a cupcake recipe.  Cupcakes continue to be a huge trend and fancy holders or wrappers are very popular.  Be sure to visit the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot to see what the team came up with and then check the links to the individual designer's blogs for more information.

 The decorative part of my cupcake holder is an intricate fence cut on the Heritage cartridge.  You can see the location of this cut on the keypad screenshot above.  There was not a convenient plain square or rectangle available on that cartridge so I used one from George.  If you do not have George, you could use a square from one of your other cartridges and substitute it for all of the George shapes. 

Here is the holder on the mat after cutting.  It is centered on the mat for ease in designing.  You need a piece of paper about nine inches square (placed in the center of the 12 x 12 mat) to cut the holder.

After carefully lifting the cut from the mat you will have this single piece to score and fold for the holder.  While the cut is delicate it is well connected and not particularly difficult to remove from the mat.  Just be sure to poke out any extra bits that stay stuck in the ironwork.

Each side and tab should be scored to enable you to create crisp and accurate folds.  I used my Scor-Pal and worked with any line by placing the gates on opposite sides on the same line and scoring across.  Do this four all four sides and tabs.

Here you can see the holder after scoring and folding.  I used 1/2 inch Scor-Tape on each tab to make assembly quick and easy.

To assemble the holder, just work your way around the square, sticking each tab to the adjacent side and making sure that the corners are square.

Here is an empty standard cupcake tin liner in the holder.  I made the square base 3 1/4 inches to allow plenty of room for fancy frosting.  If your cupcakes are larger or smaller you could adjust the sizing to suit.

The holder also looks cute with some Easter grass to hold jelly beans, candy and maybe a small chocolate bunny.

I added a strip of decorative paper around the base and a cute butterfly from Creative Charms to "dress up" the holder. 

For the matching card, I used the cupcake from the Sweet Treats cartridge that I had adapted for a swap.  You can read about the changes I made to get this look at THIS POST.  For the white card I cut a dark pink layer at 4 x  5 1/4 inches and a checked layer from paper similar to the "frosting" paper at 3 3/4 x 5 inches.

We were also asked to share a recipe.  My favorite recipe is the one I shared in the cupcake swap I just mentioned.  However, the cupcakes from that recipe are not particularly "photogenic" so I made a trip to Starbucks to purchase a couple of "model cupcakes" to test out the holder (they were delicious!).  Here is a LINK to the post with the recipe for "Black Bottom Cupcakes" - they are very tasty and a bit different with cream cheese and chocolate chip filling.

If you would like to cut some cupcake holders (or Easter candy holders) like mine you can download my file from the link below.

Heritage Cupcake Holder Design Studio

Heritage Cupcake Holder Gypsy