Another Card Play Challenge Entry

While getting ready for a our local PTO children's clothing and toy sale I came across some old UNO cards and thought they would be perfect for the Moxie Fab world Card Play Challenge! I saw the Oscar the Grouch and knew immediately what I wanted to make: a card for a friend who just quit smoking! Inside, it says "Congratulations on quitting! Sure hope your not feeling like Oscar! I know you can make it work!"

Paper is Cherry Art, Card is from UNO Sesame Street card game. The flower was made with two svg files I recieved from Jill DZines while part of her design team. She never did release them, but you can get similar flower (pink portion only) from The Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. I used the Art Philosophy Cartridge and the Frames Tags and Borders Stamp set (Congratulations) from Close To My Heart.

E2 Cover Now Available!

I'm excited to announce that I have developed a pattern for an E2 cover! You can see the photo above. I actually made this one up as a custom order to match an Imagine and Cuttlebug cover, so it is already sold. But I love custom orders! Just drop me a note and place an order to match your crafting space!

School Bog Hop Day Two: Another Storage Idea

Welcome to day two of the School blog hop! Be sure to comment on todays post on all of the blogs for a chance to win the grand prize of a $20.00 gift certificate for Cloud 9 Designs and a $5.00 gift certificate for Jen's Digi Stamps! If you're like me, you will find that you have more school paper work than you know what to do with! I have made another storage page for report cards for my grade schooler. This one is a bit cuter and hides the actual report card.

To make this backpack, I created a cut file for the base using George Basic Shapes and Opposites Attract. I printed the paper for the background and the back pack base using my Cricut Imagine and the Imagine More Cartridge. The scalloped top for the back pack and the pocket are both from the same Imagine Cartridge. I just put the Grateful and leaves behind the back pack base for the top flap and the pocket flap, I separated out the layers to get the different colors.

The base piece is scored and folded to have a 1/4" side, and pocket. The flap attaches to the base with some sticky velcro. See the photo below. To accomodate this page in my scrapbooks, I use a chipboard, or foam board shim in the spin of my album. If you would like the cut file you can fin it here and I have included a flap, incase you don't have the Imagine!

Now on to the next stop on the hop: April's blog!

If you get lost, please return here and get the full list of stops from yesterday's post! Enjoy the school year!

School Blog Hop: Storing Your Memorabilia

Welcome to the School Blog Hop! This blog hop is being hosted by Jamie at My Amusing Life and you can see the list of stops at the bottom of this post. There will be a grand prize for hoppers who comment on all the blogs on both days! The grand prize is a a $20.00 gift certificate from Cloud 9 Designs and a $5.00 gift certificate from Jen's Digi Stamps (that's five digi stamps!). Please be sure to leave your contact info in a safe manner, for example suesmith at msn dot com will help to prevent spam!

For my project, I wanted to make storage pages for my middleschooler's school memorabilia. I confess, I save things: report cards, school ids, ISAT tests, award certificates and more! In the past, I have always had the report cards stored in paper backpacks, but felt this would be too cute for my first year middleschooler's taste. So, I pulled out The Robin's Nest Boy Dot/Stripe and got to work.

Now, you might think The Robin's Nest style is elegant and glamorous, but they have some great masculine papers! I knew this would be perfect for my page with a bit of scrap lifting from Creating Keepsakes Summer 2011 issue. The original page, was used to hold Disney memorabilia.

To make the Boy Dot Stripe paper pop, I pulled out some old neutral paper in my stash. It is oooh so old, that I can't tell you who made it. I am sure it was in a stack I purchase at JoAnn's. I cut rectangles for pocket and then cut circles out to help. I also used Creative Imaginations corrugated paper. I am always wanting to try cutting new things with my Cricut! I did not find that this cut well, but found I liked the distressed look of it! I used Graphically Speaking cart to cut the 6 die along the far left and inked the edges. To hold my pockets, I sewed them in place with my machine using a zig zag. If you don't have a sewing machine, consider foam tape to allow room for your memorabilia. Just use it along the side and the bottom!

I also cut my middleschool title using The Robin's Nest Glittered Chipboard in brown. I used a bit of Tim Holtz Ruler Ribbon, and License Plate Alphabet Stickers by The Paper Loft. The Awards, ISAT and Card are all The Robin's Nest Glittered Alphabet.

Your next stop on the hops is April's Blog: Curls and Grins. If you get lost, please see the full list below.

Blog Hop Stops

Jamie's Blog: My Amusing Life

Bernice's Blog: Karber Sweet Escapes

Ashley's Blog: The Glamorous Side of Scrapping

Jessica's Blog: Scrappy Luvs

Christina's Blog: Cema 1 Cema

Amber's Blog: Pixel Perfect Creations

Dena's Blog: Miss D Jones

Deborah's Blog: Scrapping Mamma

Shelly's Blog: Shelly's Land

Clare's Blog: Cricut Crafty Clare (You are here)

April's Blog: Curls and Grins

Jearise's Blog: Lorby's World

Kristy's Blog: Scraptaskically Creations

Brynn's Blog: Flair and Frills Creativity

Janet's Blog: Create Dream Scrapbooks

Amy's Blog: Love To Crop

Staci's Blog: Precious Mem
Lisa's Blog: Handmade with Love-Lisa

Cheryl's Blog: Cards by CG
Gina's Blog: California Scrapping G Cinderella 21

Paula's Blog: Scrap Your World

Crafty Homemade Blog

Julie K's Blog: JK Little Bit of Bling

Maria's Blog: MD Craft Corner

Fabulous Fall Leaf Pins

Today I am the guest designer at Art Glitter. I am sharing how to make fabulous fall pins for less than a dollar! You only need an overhead sheet, Art Glitter in four shades, Art Glitter Dries Clear Glue, Liquid Glass and a pin backing. To get the instructions, please visit the Art Glitter Blog here.

The last leaf was made with Art Glitter Gala Glitz!

Supplies:

Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter 278 Poppy

Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter 56 Pumpkin

Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter 47 Vine

Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter 231 Copper Harbor

Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter 343 Chestnut

Art Glitter Ultrafine Transparent Glitter 92 Bananan

Art Glitter Transparency Sheet

Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive

Art Glitter Ultrafine Metal Glue Tip

Ranger Glossy Accents

Pin Backing

Moxie Fab's Card Play Challenge

The Moxie Fab World has a new challenge: Card Play. Of course, I had to jump in on this one! First the inspiration photos as usuall are fab! And second, so many fond memories of card games with my family!

So, here is my entry, made with my Cricut Love Struck 2010 and Storybook cartridges. Yes, that's just a heart, turned upside down! Then I added the base from Storybook. I loved the dots in the embroidered pillow photo on Moxie by Jan Constantine (below), so I added a few dots with my markers.

I think it is just the perfect finishing touch! And the sentiment, typed with my computer for a talented niece. She just competed in the Czechosolvokian version of American idol called Czech Idol, and made the finals last summer. You can find her music here.

Make Organizing Fun & Fabulous!

My creative mind often struggles to organize paperwork, closets and drawers! So, one of the tricks I use to get it done, is to make it fun and fabulous! My boys are back to school, so I have started my fall organizing chores around the house: yes, closets! To reward myself for going through a closet, I am also organizing in my craft room. Today, I am sharing how I am organizing my inspiration magazines, photos, and clippings.

I started with an old Franklin Quest planner storage binder. These were used before I had my children to store my planners from previous years. When, I graduated to a smaller planner, I saved the binders knowing I would alter them one day. They look fabulous with The Robin's Nest Great Catch Glitter Getaway Swirl Linen paper! So, I cut the paper to fit the cover and modge podged it to the binder and allowed it to dry. Using Modge Podge over the glittered paper is a great way to keep the glitter from coming off the paper when it is not covered by a page protector! I then cut The Robin's Nest Dark Distressed Red Paper for my letters in my title, using the Cricut Elegant Cake Cartridge. The frame with the title inside is cut with the Cricut Reminisce Accents & Cricut Elegant Cake Cartridge in The Robin's Nest Yellow Distressed paper. I then used The Robin's Nest Diamond Drops in Sunset to repeat the red in the title and the shape of the leaves in my frame.

The glittered leaves are The Robin's Nest Fallen Leaves Texture packet. The red oak leaf is a Sizzix die cut with The Robin's Nest Dark Distressed Red. I made the quilled flower with the Cuttlebug Chrysanthemum quilling folder and hot glued it to my cover.

Now, I moved to my inside dividers using more of the three Robin's Nest papers I used above. I added some labels to the divider pages from Anna Griffin Flora Collection Designer Journaling Tags and added titles using The Robin's Nest Glittered Alphabet Stickers. The rubon on the Sew Much More Page is The Robin's Nest Viva La France Rubon.

Supply List

The Robin's Nest Great Catch Glitter Getaway Swirl Paper

The Robin's Nest Dark Distressed Red Paper (from the Fall in Love Add on kit)

The Robin's Nest Distressed Honeycomb Paper

The Robin's Nest Sunset Diamond Drops

The Robin's Nest Fallen Leaves Texture Packet

The Robin's Nest Viva Rubon

The Robin's Nest Gold Glittered Letter Stickers

Sizzix Oak Leaf Die

Cricut Reminisce Accents Cartridge

Cricut Elegant Cake Cartridge

Anna Griffin Flora Collection Designer Journaling Tags

Cuttlebug Chrysanthemum Quilling Die

Micro Pom Pom Trim

Paint by Number with Art Glitter and Cricut

Today, I'm the guest designer at Art Glitter. I was so flattered to be asked back for a second term! Thanks Art Glitter! To celebrate that I get to Sparkle On, I thought it would be fun to make a thank you card inspired by the City of Lights: Paris.

Did you know that you can use the paint by number technique with Art Glitter and a Cricut machine or other digital cutter? Here's what you'll need:

A Cricut or other digital cutter

Art Glitter in colors of your choice

Here are my choices

Varsity Blue 185 Ultrafine Pearlescent (Eiffle Tower)

Ensalada 295 Ultrafine Transparent Glitter (Paris)

Lime Rind 280 Ultrafine Opaque Glitter (Merci)

Blue Angel 183 Ultrafine Pearlescent 183 (background in stamp)

Angel Dust 86 Glitter (white background card and inside of Eiffel Tower)

Pin or paper piercing tool with very fine tip

Art Glitter Sticky paper Small or Large (I used small)

Coffee filters

Cricut cartridge of your choice (I used French Manor)

Design software for digital cutter (optional)

Instructions:

Design your image ahead of time. I designed mine using the Cricut DS software, but your could use the Gypsy, Cricut Craftroom, or your digital cutters software. The cartridge I used is called French Manor. You can manually move your blade if you don't have any design software.

Set your machine pressure and your blade housing pressure to cut ONLY through the top layer of the Art Glitter Sticky paper. The top layer is the white sheet with the red printing. For my project, I set my blade housing pressure to 3 and my machine pressure to 3. Apply your paper to your cutting mat, making sure the red and white piece is face up on the mat. Cut your design.

Carefully, begin removing the top layer of the design, one color at a time. I like to lift off the top layer with a pin or a paper piercing tool.

When working on smaller projects with more than one color of glitter I like to use coffee filters under my items. I only have one glitter tray and have found the clean up much easier with the coffee filters! Pour the glitter over the area where the top layer was removed, shaking off excess. Be careful not to touch the image as you are working. You can re-pour the glitter if needed, but as more colors get added, its become more difficult.

As you work you may find that you have missed a small portion of the top layer. See my photo of the inside of the word Paris below. Just remove, the small piece and re-pour!


Continue removing the top layer one color at a time and pouring as you finish your design. Below is a photo of my card before pouring my last color.

Scrapping Ninja Sale Extended!

Just a note to let you know that the Scrapping Ninja's national add was delayed and as a result they have extended their sale! So, that means items in both my shops will be on sale through Monday, September12, 2011!

You can take 20% off any item, by typing in the coupon code at checkout NINJA. I will honor sale prices on custom orders placed during the sale!

Join us for the Scrapbook Ninjas' Sale on Etsy

The Scrapbook Ninja's Team is having an Etsy Sale! Please check out all the participating shops by visiting the Scrapbook Ninja Website!

My shops are both participating! Use the coupon code NINJA at check out for 20% off all items, including clearance! You can find dust covers, scrapbags and more at my Scrapguild.etsy store and my Scrapincovers.etsy store. Custom orders are welcome and I will validate the sale price on custom orders placed this week! The cover above is for a Cricut Expression in Michael Miller fabric perfect for Fall!