Monday, December 31, 2012

I'm Smitten! January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Happy New Year and welcome to the January stamp of the month blog hop!  If you have arrived here from Michelle Jones' blog, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place.  When you're done here, you'll visit Dawn Ross next.

This month we are featuring Happy Valentine's, a beautiful set of 7 stamps.  But don't be fooled by the name, the sentiments in this set are also perfect for weddings, anniversaries, and more.  And the roses are great for any occasion. I chose to make a valentine for my hubby.


I cut this 6x6 card using my Cricut and the Art Philosophy cartridge.  Using the "center point" feature allowed me to position the opening in both the card base and the mat. (The pattern paper is from the Pear & Partridge paper pack.)


The image seen through the opening is on the inner mat. The images and the ribbon are colored with the CTMH Exclusive Inks alcohol markers. I colored a blue background around the roses, but left the majority of the mat white for my stamped sentiment and room to write.

All of the products used to make this card are available from Close To My Heart:
I hope you enjoyed my project today and I'd love to hear your comments!  Don't forget to hop along to Dawn Ross' blog - I'm sure she has a fabulous project for us too.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Easy Gift Bags With Scor Pal

It's my turn again today at the Cutters Creek blog!  I decided on this fun & easy project that's great for any time of year.

With Christmas rapidly approaching and teacher gifts finally completed, I realized I needed some gift bags to pop them in.  Scor Pal to the rescue!  You can use your Scor Pal to make nearly any size bag you want, and I can show you how.

Based on the size of my gift, I decided to make a bag 6" wide by 2.5" deep. (Sorry, I can't show the actual gifts yet, since they are being given Thursday & Friday and I don't want to spoil the surprise, just in case!)  So, it's easy to figure out how much paper you need based on the size of the bag, plus a 1/2" - 1" flap for adhering.  Just add up all of the sides: 6 + 2.5 + 6 + 2.5 = 17.  Since this is larger than 12 inches, I know I will need 2 sheets of cardstock.  I will need a flap on each piece to attach them, and I choose a 1/2" flap, so I will need 2 sheets cut to 9" x 12". The 12" is height plus bottom, so lay your cardstock on the Scor Pal vertically, like this:


Next, score the cardstock for the 2 side measurements and flap.



When you have scored both lines, your cardstock should look like this:


Next, you will rotate your cardstock one turn (90 degrees). It doesn't matter which way you turn it, as long as you do both sheets of cardstock the same way.  When you are done, the cardstock will look like this:


This corner piece I have scribbled through gets removed completely.

Next, you will cut the flaps for the bottom of the bag:


The arrows I drew in show where pieces are cut to make the flaps.  Note that the piece we cut completely out in the previous step is next to a bottom flap.  Next, we need to attach the two pieces of cardstock and assemble the bottom of the bag.


Lay your cardstock so the fold of the skinny side flap is a "mountain" fold.  Put your adhesive on the top side of this skinny flap on both pieces of cardstock.  Now adhere the flap on the first piece of cardstock to the "inside" of the second piece of cardstock.  Then adhere the flap on the second piece of cardstock to the inside of the first piece of cardstock.


Next you will put adhesive on the "outside" of the smaller side flaps, and fold over one of the larger side flaps on top of them.  Set it flat on the table and push down the smaller flaps from the inside of the bag to make sure they are adhered.


Finally, you will put adhesive on the "inside" of the final flap and adhere it to the rest of the bottom.  Your bag is now finished.  If you are going to want to put a topper on your bag, you can use your fingers to crease the small sides in half partway down the sides of the bag.

Now, on to the fun part - making the bag pretty!  Here is how mine turned out:


I opted for a simple topper since my paper had a pretty design.  The 6"x6" paper pads in the store are perfect for this! I just folded mine in half.  I wanted to make my bag reusable, so rather than permanently attach the topper, I wanted to tie it on.  I held my folded topper over the folded bag and punched 2 holes through all of the layers at once.  I used eyelets from my stash to reinforce the holes in the topper only.


Since my paper had a pretty design, I left it alone and just traced over some of the design elements with my Copic Spica pens.


I also traced over some of the stamped elements on this tag with the Copic Spics pens.  I reinforced the hole in the tag with another eyelet.  I threaded twine through the holes in the bag & topper, then through the tag and tied it in a shoestring bow.  Easy to open and easy to reuse!

The following products to make this are available in the Cutters Creek store:
Other materials used:
  • cardstock in coordinating color(s)
  • Cricut Artiste cartridge (for tag)
  • stamps of your choice (for tag)
  • eyelets and punch (I used a Crop-a-dile)

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Christmas Days With Creations By AR - Day 6



Hello and welcome to Day 6 of Christmas Days!  From December 6 to 15, the Creations by AR Design Team will be sharing ideas for presenting holiday gifts using templates from Creations by AR!  Everyday for ten days, our designers will bring inspiration to you with our holiday projects. Join us daily at our FaceBook Page or at our group on Paper Craft Planet.

DAILY PRIZE GIVEAWAY: One winner each day will receive one template of their choice. The Daily Prize winner will be chosen from comments left on the designer's blog. Winners to be announced the following day on the AR FaceBook Page and AR Group on PCP.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: One random winner will be chosen to receive ONE TEMPLATE A MONTH FOR SIX MONTHS beginning January 2013! The Grand Prize Winner will be randomly chosen from comments left on the AR FaceBook Page and AR Group on PCP.  Winner to be announced December 16.

Thanks for stopping by to see my project today!  Tomorrow's stop will be hosted by Amy at http://tethered2home.com/ - and I can't wait to see her project! But first, let's check out what I made for today:


I chose to use this versatile 3-Pocket Caddy.  Imported at actual size into Make The Cut, it's the perfect size for all kinds of little gift sets. This example is stocked with some great little bits for mani-pedis: perfect for both the tweens in my house, AND for that friend who loves to change her nails as often as her clothes!


Here it is again, stocked with dark hot chocolate, chocolate tea, and milk chocolate sea salt caramels. It would also be great to tote a gift for that special little person in your life; what could be better than a couple of special sugar cookies in each outer pocket and mini tubes of frosting in the center for decorating?!  What about travel sizes of some awesome spa products for a friend who travels a lot for work?  Assorted packages of embellishments or jewelry parts for a crafty friend?  The possibilities are pretty much endless!


A couple of great hints for using this template: I used two sheets of the same double-sided pattern cardstock so the parts flow together seamlessly.  Also, I used the "waste" part from the handle cutout as a tag here.  I layered it onto a rosette made from coordinating cardstock which I nudged into an oval shape when I adhered it.


It's easy to add a simple decoration to the handle area.  If you don't want even the amount of work I went to, it's super easy to just tie a bow through the handle with coordinating ribbon.

Here's a list of the products I used with the template to make this super cute box:
  • Pear & Partridge paper pack, CTMH
  • Versamark stamp pad
  • Red embossing powder
  • A Holiday stamp set, (discontinued, CTMH - holly leaves)
  • Cranberry and New England Ivy stamp pads, CTMH
  • Sparkles red, pink, & purple assortment, CTMH
  • Scor Tape
  • Foam adhesive tape
  • Liquid Glass, CTMH (to adhere rosette to sentiment tag and box)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...