Happy Halloween

I thought I'd get last years Halloween photos done before I start taking photos for this Halloween. Just in time - its Halloween morning, kids have been up less than an hour and they are wanting to put on their costumes. They love to play dress up any day, but to dress up and get rewarded for it with candy - what fun! Last year they were a Dr and a Fireman, this year they are dressing as a pirate and Darth Vadar. I already have all my Halloween papers out, so maybe I'll be a little quicker with this years page. The papers on this layout are from Stampin Up, title is SU rub on and the fence/cat are from Paper Doll (Cricut).

Have a SPOOKTACULAR day!

3D ornament card and garland

Want your Christmas cards to stand out? Why not make them 3-D? Simply cut 3 or 5 of your focal item, fold in half and glue sides together. For this card I used the ornament cut at 2 1/2 on Joys of the Season ( the bow is also from JOTS, it is from the gift/layers). Christmas trees and snowflakes also work well for this technique. Because they are folded, you can simply flatten to mail. A couple of tips : use stamps to embellish rather than layers, and stamp prior to assembly. I used Flourish stamps from Heidi Grace, and pine branches from Stampin' UP, the paper is cream with burgundy accents - not that you can see from my bad photo! Sorry, its still dark out so lighting is not so good. I used a gold leafing pen for the top and bottom of the ornament.

This is also a great way to make 3D garlands. I made this one with the leaves from Doodlecharms. If you are using an unsymmetrical image, than you must do it in even numbers (use 2 or 4 images) and simple connect to matching side - for the garland I used 2 and connected fat side of leaf on 1 to fat side of leaf on 2. If you are using 4, you can run your sting down the center and not have to punch holes to string it.
flat to 3-D

Tea Box and matching gift card, cricut style

A few days ago I started making these little tea boxes (see two posts down)- a couple people have asked for the DS version of the cut, so I thought I'd post this one that I did with DS, along with the 3 x 3 matching card. The card is done using the "new" ds nudge buttons so it can easily be resized to larger - but remember to resize the envelope too. The trick to resizing envelopes is just using the cursor to move the envelope over your card front (in the case it is the center square only) and use the handles to resize so that the center portion of the envelope is just a bit bigger than your card - don't make it too tight or the embellishments won't fit. I think you could do up to 4 x 4 but bigger than that and you will have to do the envelope on a different page, or just delete it and use one you already have. If you cut the way it is out of one sheet of design paper you can have the inside of your envelope match your card - fun! For the inside pull out of the card, I just cut the card insert out of scrap paper - it should be just a hair under the final card size - for this one just a hair under 3 x 3 - if you make it too small it won't stay put, too big and you can't slide it in and out. The belly band is just a strip of the same scrap - ribbon works well for that too. I think this one will be for a teacher :)

Oh, and one more thing about the cuts - For the box I used george for the shape, and Storybook for the little cutout. If you don't have storybook you can delete the center cut out and still use the file, or have fun adding a center cut from a cart you have! The card and env is from Plat.Schoolbook

Tea Box.cut

Front Fold Card, env.cut

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Tea box with Cricut and SCAL

This started as a box done with my new score pal, but I thought it would be fun to try and make the same thing with my cricut. I made one with DS and George, then decided I wanted one I could resize so I made it with Photoshop and SCAL. For an added finishing touch you might want to add a piece of acetate in the box for the window, I'm out right now so I couldn't do that just yet. The box is a great size for small gift like handmade jewelry and nicely fits 4 tea bags. If you have SCAL you can alter the size of the box. Finished size as is for both patters is 3x3 inches.

When folding the box, I have found it best to fold into a box shape first, then fold in the small tabs, then fold the box sides. When I did it in a different order it was hard to get the right angle on the tabs, then things didn't line up just right - no sloppy boxes allowed! I also made a matching petal card with SCAL. I have a petal card done with DS and George a few posts back, but again I wanted to be able to change the size, so I did a new one with SCAL. If you are a SCAL user, the current pattern is to make a 4x4 inch card, if you want a different size, make the pattern double whatever you final card size will be...so for a 5 x 5 card you will need to size patter to 10, for 3 x 3 size to 6. I'm working on making an envelope pattern, leave me a comment if you need that posted too. Enjoy!

SCAL Teabox svg

SCAL Petalcard

Glue Pads vs. Heat and Stick: Product review

I love glitter and when I saw these new ink glue pads come out I was excited to use them to stamp and add glitter to...well, anything and everything! I tried one at a friends house recently and was disappointed in the result, I didn't think it held very well. I bought this Pallet brand one hoping it would work better. Nope, in fact this one worked WORSE. So if you are thinking of buying one, save your money (and they aren't cheep either). I will be staying with my heat and stick powder from Stampin Up. If anyone knows some magical trick - I'd love to hear it. I'm thinking I'll add some Elmer's glue to this pad and see if that works, I'll let you know.

Score-Pal Card Gift Box

I have been wanting a score-pal for quite a while so I was thrilled when I went in my local scrapbook store and the Score-Pal owner was there doing a demo. We made these little 3 x 3 boxes, which were cute and very quick. I was impressed, armed with a large gift certificate and 40% coupon..so of course, I bought a Score-Pal.

I don't have a great need for 3 x 3 but I DO have a need for card size boxes. My friends and family frequently ask for cards and I love to give them as gifts, but I hate to just hand someone a stack of cards. So I changed the dimensions and make it the size to fit 4 handmade A2 size cards with envelopes -I think you could do six cards with envies if you didn't have ribbon on them like I did. This works great for cardstock paper and REALLY great for double sided designer paper. I also found that if you cut your box and then use the center point function on the expression you can cut designs out of the top so you can see the cards below. If you don't have a score-pal you can still do these, they just aren't as quick. I tried to make a file with design software, but it really only works for the 3x3 because the starting paper has to be 12 inches, so unless you line it up PERFECT, it won't cut right. And really, I can have one of these made by hand in less time than it takes to load the paper into the cricut. I am doing the 3 x 3 though and I will try and post that one with .cut file tomorrow. If you want to do the 3 x 3 by hand (or with a score pal) it just so happens that SCS did a tutorial and challenge : Mini Pizza box tutorial

So for a card box: start with a piece of paper 12 x 8 inches. Score at 1, 5 1/2, 6 1/2, and 11 inches. Rotate your paper and score at 1 and 7 inches. Snip the short score lines, these will make your tabs. Glue tabs in place and your done. If you are a visual learner heres where the lines will be, snip the little ones with the arrows:

So here is my final box (one of many) filled with handmade warm wishes cards

*If you have a circle punch you can ad a little notch to the flap, that just makes it a little easier to open, not critical (see open box photo above)