Saturday, August 29, 2009

Card Tutorial

I was asked for directions on how to make the snowflake card. So here is my attempt at doing a tutorial. Sorry I am not able to post a video. I started with the SVG file that Penny Duncan created for me. The file is available for download on her blog. I used a piece of heavy 12 X 12 cardstock to cut out the file. It cuts two 5 1/2 X 8 1/2" pieces with an oval cut out of the center. Penny also created some scalloped circles that cut from the ovals to use in the middle of the card. I cut the card with my Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts A Lot software.


Once everything is cut out and removed from the mat you need to fold each side of the card in half. Penny created a small dashed score line that the cricut cuts into the card. At least for the two I made it didn't cut completely through the card but did help me determine where to fold the card.

 
You then need to fold each the front of the card back on itself in half, do this for the back as well. (This is the confusing part).  It should look like the picture on the right when you are done folding. Again there is a small dotted line that the cricut cuts to show you where to fold.
You now going to attach a small narrow ribbon to the card to attach the scalloped circle in the middle of the oval. You will need to determine if you want your ribbon attached at both the top and bottom of the card or only at the top of the card. By attaching it to both the top and bottom the scalloped circle doesn't swing as much as is does when attached to the top of the card only. Attach the ribbon to on edge of the scallop so it will end up centered on the card when it is put together. Hopefully the picture will help explain this better, (I did get my ribbon slightly off center).
Tape or glue the card in the area between the two ovals (where the crease is) to adhere each half of the card to itself.

Do this to both sides of the card. Then glue or tape each remaining free side of the card. You will attach the two cards together one side at a time so that the card forms a +. Be sure that the ovals line up. If the outside edges don't line up those can be evened up using your paper cutter. )Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this part. The card attached looks like this. Add your scallop circle attaching it to the ribbon in the center of the oval cutout.
Add any sentiments or embellishment to your card and you are finished.

Once you figure out how this card goes together it is a relatively simple card to make it just has several steps. I hope this helps explain the steps to make the card.


Friday, August 28, 2009

New Card


First I have to thank Penny Duncan from my Sure Cuts A Lot yahoo group who created the SVG file for me to make this card. I first made this card in my weekly Friday card class. While making the card in class I kept thinking two things, that I could use my Cricut to cut out the ovals and what ever I wanted to put in the center of the ovals. The other thing I kept thinking about was that I thought this would make a great christmas card with a snowflake. I used the SVG file that Penny created to cut the card. I than ran card through my snowflake cuttlebug folder and embossed it. I cut two snowflakes from the Accent Essentials cartridge and ran both of them through my Xyron. I covered them in white glitter then ran them back through my Xyron and stuck them together back to back with a ribbon down the middle so I could have the snowflake dangle from the middle of the card. For more great SVG files please check out Penny Duncan's blog. She does fantastic work and is such generous person. Thanks for looking.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Birthday Card


Here is a card I made for my Stepdad's birthday next week. The stamp is of an Oregon Lighthouse and part of a Stampin Up set I found at a benefit garage sale yesterday. I colored the stamped image with my watercolor pencils and blended the colors with my Dove blending pen. The base of the card is a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" white square card I had here. I mounted the stamped image on a dark blue cardstock. I liked the light blue and gray striped paper I put on the white card, it reminded me of Oregon Coast colors.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

An Experiment



I just recently bought the Cricut Cartridge Lyrical Letters. I was amazed at all the extra stuff there is on the cartridge besides the 6 font styles. One of the designs I wanted to cut out was a lacy Christmas tree that is on the cartridge. I cut it out just using some scrap paper I had in peach. Once I cut it out I got out my craft mat and spread a bunch of the Ranger's distress ink in Pine Needle on my mat and lightly misted it. I then ran the tree through the ink to color it green. When I do this again, I will just sponge the ink onto the tree. With all the little twists and turns I had a difficult time getting it covered completely in ink. I decided I wanted to emboss the tree so once it was wet with ink I covered in embossing powder. All I had was a transparent powder Kaleidoscope in color, which gave it an iridescent look. I cut this one out at 5" and it is too big for a quarter-fold card front. I think if I cut it at 4" it should fit the front of a card. I have other ideas floating around in my head about this little tree and what I could do with it but wanted to share what I came up with. The picture above shows the tree before and after the inking and embossing and does do the embossing justice. Thanks for looking.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Sympathy Card


I had to make a sympathy card for the wife of one our contractors at work. He was killed last weekend in a kayaking accident, he was just 31 years old. I did not know the man who died really well and have never met his wife. I decided I wanted a simple card with some elegance to it. The card will be sent out on behalf of our office. This is what I came up with. This is the 3rd sympathy card I have had to make in the last 3 months so I am hoping this trend ends soon.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Retirement Card



Here is a retirement card and made this afternoon for a co-worker. The green paper is from Bazzil and I embossed it with Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dot embossing folder. The patterned paper is from Stampin Up. The ribbon is just plain white twill adhesive ribbon that I dyed with some Ranger's distress ink in Fired Brick. I just sponged the ink onto the ribbon and allowed it to dry. I accented some of the middle of the flowers with some hand dyed skittle that I got from Cutter's Creek. The stamp is also Stampin Up. I cut the scallop with a Fiskars punch and the white circle I cut with my Cricut an Sure Cuts ALot(I don't have a punch and probably don't need one.) I am pleased how it turned out. It took me awhile to come up with what I wanted to do but once I did it came together fairly quickly. Thanks for looking.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Gerber Daisy Card


I made a birthday card for a co-worker today. I used the SCAL Gerber Daisy pattern I downloaded from Shirley's blog Paper, Scissors, Ink. This is the first time I have made a 3-D flower and I think it turned out fairly well. There are somethings I may do differently next time. The directions said to ink or chalk the edges of the flowers, which I did. I started out with ink but didn't have a good color so switched to chalk. I used varying shades of pink for the petals, and used a brown chalk in the middle. The ribbon I have had for quite a while and if I remember right I got it at Michaels. The Birthday Wishes stamp is from a set of clear stamps by Inkadinkado. I used Archival Brillance Pigment Ink Pad in Pearlescent Coral to stamp the sentiment.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

It's the Great Pumpkin


My daughter asked me to make a Halloween card this afternoon. I bought the Wild Card Cricut cartridge a while back and haven't really had time to play with it so I thought I would use that to make the card. I cut the pumpkin card out of orange card stock and the in blackout on black card stock and glued them together. I cut out the grass on stem in green and the word Boo in orange. I layered the pieces together. I then used some brown chalk to place a slight shadow under the the stem and along the lines in the pumpkin. It doesn't really show in the picture but it does give it some definition when looking at the card. It was a really quick easy card to put together.