One Die 5 Ways with Anna Griffin's Geo Gatefold Die Set

I am currently going through my cutting dies and purging dies I don't use.  I thought I would try Jennifer Mcquire's suggestion to find 5 ways to use a die to help justify its cost and decide which dies to keep.  So here are my projects made with Anna Griffin'd Geo Gatefold Die Set.   Above you can see the first way I used the die:  Cutting off the ends to create a "die cut" to use on the front of a card.  Sentiment was made with the Cricut.

For the second method:  I created a border by cutting 4 jacket ends (2 at a time) and placing an embellishment over the missing portion.  No one will know that border doesn't run the full length of the page!

For the third way, I created a frame using the ends of the jacket die and embellished the corner with flowers and other Anna Griffin dies.

For the fourth way, I used the die to emboss paper and not cut it for a sympathy card.

For the fifth way, I used the die as intended and shown on the idea sheet.  I love the inside dies for all of Anna's gatefold die sets as much as the jacket dies!  Inside I used an old stamp set from Stampin' Up.

If you love this die set and can't find it anymore, be sure to stop by my eBay store and pick up one!  I have one set gently used for these cards and pages, and a brand new in package just opened to confirm contents for sale.  

Scrapbook Page with Altenew

 

One of the things I love about a challenge, is that it often helps me overcome a creative block.  I have had this BoBunny paper for a while and loved it, but was unsure how to use it.  After making the two cards with Altenew's chalenge colors, I remembered this beautiful paper. I often find yellow and purple challenging.  Once I made the cards, I wanted to use the same flowers and color scheme to scrapbook this photo.  Can you believe we vacation here every year?!  Well, we don't see these colors every day, but the smoky atomosphere makes for beautiful, sunrises and sunsets.

While I used dies from other companies, I really feel it is the  Altenew Craft-A-Flower:  Open Peony that makes this page special.   The white border die inside the circles is an Anna Griffin Die, and the flowers that aren't Altenew are Spellbinders.  Here is a close up of one of the flower arrangements.

I am entering this in the June 2023 Inspiration Challenge at the Altenew blog.  Below is the color scheme that inspired this card. 

I Can't Stop Creating with Altenew!

 

I loved yesterday's project so much that I thought I would use the same challenge to try my newest Altenew dies for another project.  For this card I used Altenew Craft-A-Flower:  Open Peony and Craft-A-Flower:  Anemone.

I used ink from CTMH, Stampin' Up, patterned cardstock from The Robin's Nest, white and black card stock, and a sentiment from Anna Griffin.

I am entering this in the June 2023 Inspiration Challenge at the Altenew blog.  Below is the color scheme that inspired this card.  I thought at first, that these colors are challenging but once I made the flowers I loved the results and want to make more!  I love that I can create flowers any day of the year!  Flowers are for everyday!

Inspired by Altenew's June Challenge

I have been stalking Altenew's website because I love their products!  This month they have a challenge that inspired me to pull out an old Altenew die set and try a stained glassed card.  The Cricut community is buzzing with this technique but they use print and cut. I cut my pieces with white or black card stock using the Altenew Die Layered Floral Cover Die A & B.  I inked the white cardstock with pink, purple and green inks from CTMH or Stampin' Up. Some things I love about this technique are:

1.   I can create this look with white and black paper and my ink pads.  NO expensive ink cartridge for the printer.  No running out of ink!
2.   It gave an older die a new look.  
3.   The look is timeless!  One of the things I love about Altenew is the timelessness of their designs.
   

I am entering this in the June 2023 Inspiration Challenge at Altenew.  At first I thought the color combo to be too challenging, but then I remembered the stained glass craze and thought if I added black I would be happy with the colors.  

It's been a long time since I published anything on the blog, but I am still creating.  In fact, I am crafting everyday and posting my cards and scrapbook pages on instagram.  You can find me there.  

Anniversary Card with Anna Griffin and Cricut

Today I am sharing a special card I made with Anna Griffin paper, embellishements and sentiment.   See below for more detail on the Anna items.  The heart is a Cricut Love Struck file, because I don't have Anna's Heart dies yet!

Supplies
Anna Griffin Eleanor patterned paper

Anna Griffin Mascara Roses

Anna Griffin Sentiment

Anna Griffin Perfect Palette Bow

Anna Griffin Festive Flourish Die (Base of card)

Small Heart punch

Eyelet punch

Cricut Love Struck Cartridge

Cream Card Stock

Black Card Stock

Pink Card Stock

Pop Dots

Glue Dots

Scissors

Liquid Glue

The Gift of Google Slides and Scrapbook Pages

For many this year, the idea of spending money buying gifts or shipping gifts seemed uncessary.  My family circle discussed sharing something and would cost us nothing, like a song, or a memory.  It occured to me after Christmas, as I put away our Christmas Scrapbooks that I could use Google Slides to share the albums I made of all our family Christmas Cards over the years.  I am creating a slide presentation for each sibling who sent me photo Christmas Cards over the years.  You can see my scrapbooking style has evolved and grown over the years.  If you've scrapbooked some special memories, maybe you want to share them too!

I Miss You Card

Here is the perfect card for your Mom, a sister or a girlfriend to send in this pandemic!  I can't get over the figures in the Anna Griffin paper and how perfect they match this card need in my life!  I am a little obsessed with toile fabric and had to have the Anna Griffin Toile paper!  So, this week, while trying to use some of my blue paper scraps, I pulled out my Cricut and Anna's Toile paper, along with  sparkling paper in the blue die cut and the dew drops from the Robin's Nest.  I believe the sentiment is Club Scrap, but is has been in the stash so long, I am unsure.