Odds and Ends with Bags, Tags, and Boxes

This week at work a co-worker pointed out a cute box in a magazine.  We got to talking and I remembered that I had the Bags, Tags, and Boxes Cricut Cartridge. I wanted to see how big of a box I could make sometime during my vacation.  Fast forward a couple days and I needed to wrap a gift card.  I decided to make my own box using the cartridge.  After looking at various boxes, I decided on the crayon box.  I had some heavy green metallic card stock, some green trees I had stamped using Tim Holtz distress inks on water color paper with a few flicks of water, and a piece of ribbon from Bath and Body Works when they gift wrapped something for me last year.  I dug through my scrap drawer and found some red and white scraps of paper.  I cut out my box at 8 3/4 inch.  I used some adhesive to put it together, wrapped the ribbon around the box and framed my stamped image of an evergreen tree.  I popped my tree up with some foam adhesive. I was happy this turned out to be fairly masculine, because the gift card is for a male.

I also knew that at Fantabulous Cricut they issued a challenge to trim with a tag in this week's project.  I used some of the same green cardstock to cut out a tag on my Cricut.  I trimmed the bottom of the tag and rounded the edges with a corner rounder from Stampin' Up! Next, I used some scrap paper and some seasonal Tim Holtz ink to stamp my message on my tag.  I added a little green gem to the corner of the stamped image.  I finished the tag off with my coordinating ribbon. Voila, a gift box and tag!

Scraptastic Holiday Cards!

I have been feeling the need to bust out my Cricut and make something fantastic.  I have been prepping for card classes and a scrapbook class coming up at Artsy, but haven't spent a ton of time in my own craft room.  I even took a two part 12 Tags of Christmas class - which was so much fun!  Anyway, I decided I needed to break out my own tools and get to work crafting.  I didn't have time to run to the store or even grab some coordinating papers, so focused on using scraps.  Fortunately, I had a couple pieces of paper I had purchased at a crop a few months ago that kind of coordinated.

I started by cutting out a tree using the Create A Critter cartridge, my tree was kind of plain, so I used Perfect Pearls Mists in perfect pewter to add some sparkle.  I continued to cut out strings of lights to piece together, then cut apart to dress up my tree.  I used dark brown distress ink to color the trunk and added a touch of fluffy white snow.

I topped the tree off with an over-sized Jolee's gem.  I didn't have a paper to back my tree with that matched...so I had to make my own.  I created a mosaic with little extra pieces of paper that I had used to cut out the lights for the tree.  I also cut out the word, "joy".  I had to spray this with glimmery mist too! I backed the cards in pink and added my ribbon.

Voila', a fun and bright holiday card!

Happy Holidays

Here are two of my holiday cards I created!  I am teaching a class on these tomorrow evening at Artsy.  I love the tri-fold shutter card, because it folds up cute and displays so nicely.  I also like that you can add a photo in on a panel, designer paper, buttons, twine, etc.  The options are endless!

Give Thanks

I bought some fun BoBunny paper at Artsy and whipped up this fun little wall hanging.  I simply cut around various leaves and patterns, stacked em up, and used foam adhesive to attach.  I cut out the Give Thanks part on my Cricut using the Cindi Loo cartridge. I loved that the word "Thanks" was already together.  To finish off the whole piece, I added some Stickles in Diamond to the dragonfly and a sheer brown ribbon tied with a bow.  Quick, cute, fun, and festive!  Works out great for this week's challenge on Fantabulous Cricut where we are sharing our blessings using the colors red, brown, and orange.

A different kind of card and creation

I'm proud to announce that this evening I published a new card creation. Okay, so it's not exactly like the cards I create and have posted so far.  This is actually a set of playing cards and brand new game that will entertain you for hours!  That's right, I published a new game called Twenty Six. It's a word game mixed with poker to create something incredibly fun! I started working on the game design just a couple of months ago.  My husband listened really well to my vision for the cards. I wanted cards that were distressed on the edges with stamp like flourishes and a typewriter font.  The cards are almost Tim Holtz-esque.  If you love to play games or enjoy playing with words, you will really like my game.  Fortunately, it's available for holiday gift giving!  Purchase a copy to play with your loved ones over the holidays and let me know what you think!  Hope you like playing the game, just as much as I liked designing it!

Card Classes in Colorado!

Guess what...you can see a sneak peek of my card class I am teaching this Saturday from 2-4pm at Artsy! Click here to see one of two butterfly cards we will be creating together, then call to reserve your seat!

Hey Chickee

Chick, chick, chickee!  Okay, it's another Create A Critter Cartridge, but I love, love, love these animals!  I am always hesitant to use patterns together, but wanted something that really sprung to life with color.  So, I did something outrageous (by my standards) and used double floral print patterns!  I did a solid ribbon ad solid frames to make the card less chaotic.  I used foam adhesive square to bump up the chick and the square the chick is mounted on.  These are great Easter cards or great "Hey Chickee!" cards!