Halloween Bat card

Good Morning Friends!  Another day, another Halloween project for this week!

Today I created a fun bat card using the Cricut Artiste cartridge.

This cut is found on page 76 of the handbook under the card feature.  The card was cut in black cardstock at 4.75 inches.  Eek! was cut from the same button as the card with no feature.  I used whisper cardstock and cut it at 1 inch.

The card cut doesn't come with a layer option so I cut a second card at 4.5 inches with slate cardstock.  I cut the wings off, centered and adhered the pieces together.  I  added a couple of red pearls for the eyes and the happy halloween stamp comes from an inkadinkado set I picked up at Michaels last year.

What I really love about this card is that you can size it to fit a candy bar and use as a treat holder instead of just a card.  These are great for Kit Kats or Hershey bars, or could hold a gift card also!

Hope you enjoyed today's project!  Have a wonderful day!

Beware of things that go bump in the night

Hello friends!  I'm just going to call this my Halloween week!  Today I have a wall hanging to share with you.

The wall hanging is made of sturdy chipboard sized 10 3/4 x 6.  I painted it black with some acrylic paint.  While that was drying I cut out my words and shapes with CCR.  'Beware' is cut from October 31st cartridge sized at 1.917. 'of things that go' is cut using the spooky font on Happy Hauntings sized at 1.042.  'Bump in the night' is cut from the Bump In The Night cartridge sized at 2.806.  All were cut with orange cardstock.

The ghost is cut from A Frightful Affair sized at 4.528.  I used a light gray cardstock from Recollections pack  'Citrus Blend' and inked the edges with slate ink from CTMH.

I adhered all the cuts with a liquid glue and then used Mod Podge over the whole thing to seal it.

I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes at the  top and add black eyelets.  Then I strung a black satin ribbon through and knotted it on the back to hold it in place for a hanger.

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  Have a great day!!

Halloween Coffin Treat Box

Hello friends!  Once I started Halloween, I couldn't stop!  Doesn't hurt that my Close to my Heart order came Friday with Halloween stamps!  I'll have some projects coming soon using them!  They will be available Aug 1st for purchase out of the new catalog!!

For today, I went back to the Cricut Artiste cartridge to make another coffin treat box. I love these!!!

For this one I used black cardstock and sponged around the edges with white ink.  The box was cut at the suggested size, 7 1/2". I used CCR so there are some unusual sizes for the rest of the cuts because I sized them to fit my project. The moon is a circle cut from George and Basic shapes at 1.417 and I lightly sponged the edge with slate ink.  The bat is cut from A Frightful Affair at 1.264, sponged lightly with white ink and adhered with foam tape for dimension.

The grass is just green paper that is torn and inked with Tim Holtz Peeled Paint distress ink.  I layered the pieces and only adhered the bottom so I could slip the tombstones behind.  The tombstones are cut from Life's A Party at 1" in slate cardstock and inked with slate ink.  I used a black gel pen to write in RIP.  And finally the fence is cut from Paper Doll Dress Up, sized 1.236 out of slate cardstock.  When this fence cuts there are a lot of little lines that cut to show the aging of the fence - for lack of a better term.  But they aren't seen unless you highlight them somehow, so I went over all the little cuts in the fence with my black gel pen and then lightly inked with slate ink to soften it up a little.

I have read a lot of posts that people don't like to use CCR but I have never had the Design Studio software or a Gypsy so I really love using it.  And what I love the best is that I can save all these files to my computer so when Halloween finally comes around I can have my son pick the one he likes the best and just start cutting.  All the work I did designing and sizing is already done.

Hope you enjoyed today's project!

Here are links to the July specials & deals:
Work the workshop special - 50% off
Let's Get Patriotic stamp special
July Stamp of the Month, Sweet Life
While supplies last - great deals!

A Halloween treat box

Hey everyone!  So I know a lot of crafters are doing Christmas in July and I LOVE Christmas and I love seeing all the projects early to get ideas.....

But I'm not in the Christmas spirit yet. And for me it makes sense to get a start on Halloween before Christmas because we really do a lot for Halloween in our house.  Then I figure by the time October rolls around I'll be more ready to work on Christmas.  Especially if we have one of those years where we have snow in October.  Once the snow hits, I'm in full Christmas mode!

So, I'll be starting to mix in some Halloween projects here and there with the rest of my projects and today's was inspired by flipping through and playing with the Cricut Artiste cartridge some more. I absolutely love this cartridge!  There are so many great images and I especially love all the 3-D projects it has on it.  The Art Philosophy cartridge is on it's way - and actually should be here today if the Fed Ex estimated tracking is accurate.  These are both exclusive to Close to my Heart and you can get yours by clicking on the link to my CTMH shop.  There's also a BRAND NEW cartridge that will be available Aug 1 called Artbooking an this one looks just as amazing as the other two - but more on that later.

For now, let's get back to my project.  So I flipped through the booklet for the Artiste cartridge and I found a coffin treat box for Halloween - how great is that!!

What's really great about these booklets too, is that they have added the size you should use for best results on these 3-D projects, taking all the guesswork and wasted paper out of it!  The coffin box and lid are found on page 76 under the 3-D object button, sized at 7 1/2 inches.

I used Slate cardstock and after I assembled the box and lid I inked around the edges with Slate ink. The web is from Creative Memories This & That cricut cartridge.  I used the Cricut Craft Room to design this and the web is sized at 2.639 an then I trimmed off the edges a bit.  The spider is from the October 31st seasonal cartridge and it is sized at 1.25 inches.  I also covered the spider with glossy accents and drew in a line with a black gel pen.

Don't forget about our July specials, Work the Workshop for 50% off with no qualifying purchase required and the stamp of the month Sweet Life for only $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase!

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  Have a great day!!!

Sweet as cherry pie

Good Morning friends!  Today's card share is using cricut and CTMH July stamp of the month, Sweet Life.

This stamp set is only $5.00 with any $50.00 purchase or can be purchased by itself this month only for $17.95.

And here is my card, it's so bright and cheerful!  It makes me happy :-)

The base of the card is white daisy cardstock cut 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4 for a horizontal fold card.

Next is a red mat sized 5 1/4 x 4, cardstock is Recollections red from their primary colors.

The pattern paper used is both sides of a double sided piece, My Mind's Eye, On the Sunny Side, "In Bloom" paper.  I cut a piece 5 x 3 3/4 and then cut it so I had 2 pieces, 5 x 2 and 5 x 1 3/4.  

I used a red gingham ribbon I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while back.

The cricut cut is the pie and rolling pin from Country Life sized at 3 3/4 and I used red for the 'fruit' layer to make a cherry pie.  Sentiment is from CTMH July SOTM.

Inside I matted and left blank for now.  

I hope you enjoyed today's card!  Have a wonderful day!  

Altered Purse Box

So a few months ago I found these absolutely hideous purse boxes on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  I wish, wish, wish I had a before pic!  They were only $1.79 and I saw potential.  I worked on this over the course of a few days.

I so love how this turned out!!

Inside

The first thing I did was spray paint the boxes with Rustoleum Hammered Brown spray paint.

Once that was dry I started adding paper.  All paper used was from the Avonlea collection from Close to my Heart - Unfortunately this paper is sold out, but just wait!  There's some great new collections coming out Aug 1st!

Back view

Sides with faux stitching using a white gel pen - the ribbon handle is ribbon from the Close to my Heart green collection

I hot glued some layered flowers with brad centers to the top.

I used multiple Cricut carts on this project.  The green flourishes are from Cindy Loo and the brown flourishes are from Home Decor.  The small butterfly is from Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art and the large butterfly is from Best Images of 2010.  And finally, the birdcage and the bird are from Bloom.

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  Have a great day!

Hello Friend

I'm back!  Sorry for being gone for so long...things have been crazy busy at work and last Sunday I cut my finger pretty good and ended up in the ER for the afternoon.  Things are still crazy busy, but I've squeezed in some crafting time!

Today I have a card to share:

I used kraft cardstock and the Birthday Bash cartridge for the card base.  The circle layers are both sides of double sided paper, I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.   The paper is My Mind's Eye, Miss Caroline, Fiddlesticks "Lucky" Tapestry paper. 

The flowers and brad were from my stash.  I'm not sure of the maker as they are all in a  bucket that I pick out of.  The stamp is a Papertrey Ink stamp.  I stamped it with Versamark and used white embossing powder, then lightly inked over that with a gold ink.

The bird and branch are cut from the Home Decor cartridge - another one I don't use very often but love!  I inked around the bird with the corduroy distress ink and added some accents with a white gel pen.  The bird is popped up with foam tape.

I left the inside blank for now.  I already have an idea who is getting this card and I may need all the writing space  :-)

I hope you enjoyed today's card, I'll be back tomorrow with an altered project that goes along with this card.

Also, wanted to bring you up to speed on some Close to My Heart specials going on!  

  - The Let's Get Patriotic campaign is still going on through the end of this month!  Click here for details.

-The July stamp of the month, Sweet Life is only $5.00 with a $50 purchase or $17.95 if purchased alone.  Click here for more details.

and I saved the best for last!

- Work the Workshop promotion!  50% off while supplies last, NO qualifying purchase necessary for the discount!!  Click here for more details. 

Also there are some really great items in the While Supplies Last category at deep discount!  New catalog starts Aug 1st and it is AMAZING!!!  Including a BRAND NEW EXCLUSIVE CRICUT CART!!!  Artbooking - this will be not only great for card-makers but especially scrapbookers too!!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!!