My New Pooh Cart

I had no intention of buying the pooh cart as I have boys and pooh seems more girly, but then I was needing a kite and an umbrella and found them both on the Pooh cart. Upon closer examination, I found that the pooh cart is so full of fun stuff -lots of boys stuff, plus great stuff for cards...flowers, trees, bugs, gardening stuff. So even if you arn't a Pooh fan, check it out, it has lots of hidden treasures (kinda like that paper dolls cart). And, it goes pretty cheep on ebay. I bought it for $25 + $2 ship, cheep enough for me to justify buying it. I just got it a couple days ago and needed to test it out, this is probably the only time I will use pooh for the characters (maybe, they are pretty cute). For the Mat I used George and DS, file attached, it also has a shadow on the file. I had planned to do a coordinating green but of course, the paper slipped and I didn't have another so I decided I could do without. Font is SU, with SCAL.

These are my boys when they turned 1. Wish I could make them 1 again, now they are almost 6! No, I'm not that behind in my scrapping, but I didn't start scrapping until they were 2 (who has time with twins babies runnin around) so now I'm going back and doing baby pages. Thanks for looking!

Click here for George eyelet corner mat

Butterfly Belly Band Card

This was done with George and DS. The band wraps around to form a butterfly in the front. I found it best to put the butterfly together so it looks good, then press the band flat, then slip it over the card. When I tried wrapping it around the card before making the creases in it, the butterfly ended up all skitty-whampas. This is a simple file to make, but I'll attach it anyway because downloading is probably even simpler!

Click here for file

What won't I put in the cuttlebug?

I have put many things in my cuttle bug since finding that magical black plumbers rubber. This one is my new favorite so I wanted to share....its a bag from some fruit from Costco. It makes the nicest delicate pattern on the paper!

Hum, what should I try next.........

Easter Egg Tri-fold card

I just love Easter eggs, and I just ordered a new stamp set from stampin up that has an "have an egg-cellent Easter" stamp in it...so I needed a card to go with it. This was done with Plantin Schoolbook and doodlecharms (DS). The first time I did this I did it with blue paper (so the blue sky would show through the eggs), then layerd the grass on top, and the eggs in cardstock. The second time I did it in green (so I didn't have to layer grass) then used a white insert and sponged some blue on the top for sky. The third time, I just used white, then sponged on both the grass and the sky and used pattered paper for the eggs. I'm not sure which method is best, just whatever your in the mood for I guess, so all parts are included in the file. Try it every way and see what works best for you. That cute little scalloped oval is also a new punch from Stampin Up - it will be availible April 1st. If you have a hard time keeping it closed (as is often a problem with trifolds), try tucking one or two strands of grass behind the eggs (see second photo) and that should keep it down. Finished size of this card is standard A2 (4.25 by 5.5 inches). Click HERE to see my other Easter projects

Now get crakin' on those cards! hehehe:)

Easter Egg card

Decorating Easter Eggs with paper

I love Easter eggs, so I thought it would be nice to make some that wouldn't spoil. I started with some foam eggs from the local craft store, some pins, ribbon, and small shapes cut from paper. For three in the photo I used the Stampin Up! three flower punch, for the 4 th I used my cricut and just cut 1/2 inch circles from George (gotta love that autofill function). I tried on my first ones to put small beads on the pins before sticking them in the eggs, I decided after the second one I didn't like that so I actually went back and took them all off (ugh!). It was so much work that I decided the purple one would keep its beads. I found it easiest to start at the middle of the egg and work your way out. If you are adding ribbon you are best off to add that first , you can either pin the ends or simply push them into the foam (see photo below). Brads also work great for sticking in the foam. Its a fun little project and one that will keep from year to year. Thanks for looking!

Cricut tag box

I have been subscibing to papercrafts for years and saving the magazines so I can go through them again and again. Last week I decided it was time to go through, cut out the one or two pages I need from each copy and get rid of the rest. I have a HUGE stack to get rid of and only left with a small binder full of ideas. AHHHH. One of the things I ran across first was a box they made with luggage tags. Just 4 tags connected at a base and then the ribbon through the holes. Cleaver! I didn't have any of those, but I have a cricut so I made that little box the chick is on in my last post and this one. Its fun and quick. The belly band adds extra strenght if your doing something with weight. It would be great to stuff some grass and an egg in (although the doodlecharms treat basket HERE is still my favorite for an egg or two). File is attached below. Happy Friday!

tag box

Easter Chick

That Easter Lamb from yesterday needs a friend..an Easter Chick! Use him to embellish scrap pages or treat boxes (pattern for this one will be out tomorrow), or whatever! His arms are cut separate from the body so you can change thier postition. Put them out as on the box, or turn them around to hold something, or just hang him over a photo mat (see photo below). Cut file is below, he is George only (DS). Happy cutting!

Easter Chick

SCAL Users: Here is the chick I've made in Inkscape (SVG),
Chick and egg svg

Spring Lamb Cricut Paper Piecing project

I made these for some scrapbook elements. The lamb is done with Accent essentials and Plantin and it is SIZABLE so you can make yourself a whole flock in differnt sizes. For the lamb, sandwich the legs between the two body parts, the ears tuck behind the head. There is pink small ear parts on the file in case you want to point your ears up. The eyes and nose I just drew on so that I could make each one different. I sponged the edges of the lamb pieces with a light gray ink for definition, and the oval head with pink. The chick will be posted later today or tomorrow, he uses george or SCAL. I thought they were cute, my DH laughed and said they reminded him of south park animals...MEN!

Little lamp cricut cut file

A few cards with Cricut and Cuttlebug

Here are a couple more cards I've made with my cricut and cuttlebug. I am posting a file below that contains 5 pages, each with a template. They include the leaves and square shapes used in yesterdays post, as well as diamonds (which look suspiciously like a cuttlebug folder I've been wanting, wink, wink), stars, and a retro-y square one. The leaves are from AE, all other is george only. Hint for making this if you are using DS, start by making your square, the final size you want your template (usually 4.25 by 5.5, or 4 x 5.25 if you want a border) then fill in with your design. If you want your items welded- like with my diamonds pattern, use the positive space for your embossing template, if you don't want them touching, use the negative space (like the stars). If you don't have ds, you could easily make the non-welded templates just by positioning your blade, cutting your shapes, then trimming to the 4.25x 5.5 size.

Happy Crafting!

Coming up next, some spring paper piecing projects for scrapbook embellishments :)

templates (see yesterday for other 2 of 5)

The file with all 5 :

PaperScissorsInk_Cuttlebugshapes1

Embossing with your cricut cuts: NO FOLDER REQUIRED

This one was done with an image from Storybook, sized to 4 by 5.25 in DS

I've been saving this one, but I can't hold back any more...you don't need folders, you don't even need chipboard. A couple weeks ago I started making simple shapes for embossing with chipboard (see my Faux Nesties technique). I of course wanted to turn that into cuttlebug embossing folders, but the chipboard was just too hard to cut, time consuming, ruining my blades/mats and you just can't get an even mildly intricate shape with chipboard. So I turned to cardstock. Turns out if you cut your delicate shape from heavy cardstock (I use 80 lb from Stampin UP), and just glue three together (2 works if you have 100 lb cardstock), you have yourself a nice sturdy template. The other thing you need is a piece of plumbers rubber (I learned about this from heartprints she has great cuttlebug tutorials and uses the rubber to do partial embossing of her folders) . I bought1/16th inch, you'll only need one sheet you'll use over and over - it was $0.79 at the local hardware store. What a bargin!
SO...here is the sandwich you need bottom to top:
A plate
B plate
Plumbers rubber
Your paper you wish to emboss
Your homemade template
B plate
shim cardstock (see note)

NOTE: It will be a little loose and you want it as tight as a real folder, so shim it with 2-3 pieces of scrap card stock (they go on top of the last b plate). It sounds like a lot, but its not, once you do it it a couple times, it will be old hat - and you'll be doing it a lot!

If your doing simple shapes, you can still use chipboard and use the same sandwich, but you won't need to shim it. This is now my preferred sandwich for the "faux nesties".

I have a folder started of "folders/templates" that work well. I will post tomorrow if anyone needs ideas, but I'm guess you all want to come up with your own.

Another sample using Gorge, this will be one of 5 on tomorrows file.