Happy New Year! I hope you have had a great start to 2015 and that you will have a wonderful year with good health, happiness, and lots of time to create cards, scrapbook pages, and 3-D projects!
Today I am going to share with you a couple new year’s cards that I made using my Cricut Expression machine and some old Sizzix’s dies for the numbers. I pulled out my first ever die cutting machine, the red Sizzix, to cut out the numbers. Remember this one?
So the first card I want to share with you is the one I used my Cricut Expression die cutting machine for and the Sizzix for the numbers for 2015.
Supplies you will need:
- Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, gold, glitter paper
- Embossing buddy
- VersaMark ink
- Gold embossing powder (Stampin’ Up)
- Embossing tray
- Heat gun
- Cricut Expression die cutting machine
- Cricut cutting mat
- Wild Card cartridge
- Perfect layers tool
- Adhesives: Scrappy Tape 1/8″, Xyron X, tape runner
Assembling the card:
- First make a card base that measures 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ and set aside.
- Cut your black cardstock 5 1/4″ x 4″. Adhere to gold paper and using Perfect Layers tool, make a 1/16″ border. Set aside.
- Put your Wild Card cartridge in the Cricut machine and turn machine on. Place keypad.
- Place a scrap of white cardstock onto cutting mat.
- Choose Celebrate (page 78 in booklet), Frame feature, Shift. Cut at 8″ (**see tip for finding the right key on the keypad at the end of the blog)
- Choose Celebrate (page 78 in booklet), Phrase, Shift (for “Cheers”) cut at 6″
- Using a piece of scrap paper lay the two items you just cut down on it and then stamp the VersaMark on each.
- Pour embossing powder on each and heat emboss.
- Next I cut out the numbers from the glitter paper using the Sizzix die cut machine.
- Assemble the numbers and the frame/Cheers on the card as shown. Attach to front of card.
- Add rhinestones to the class to create “bubbly”.
- For the inside of the card (which I forgot to get a picture of before mailing) I cut out Happy New Year (choose Celebrate, Phrase feature, 7 1/4″ size) in black cardstock.
This next card only used the Sizzix die cut machine for the numbers. I also used Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, Word Window and Modern Label punches, and burlap ribbon for the banners. The inside was left blank to write a note. This is a standard sized card (5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″) and the black mat is 5 1/4″ x 4″. The burlap ribbon is Stampin’ Up’s 1 1/4″. To adhere the banners to the card front I used my 1″ Scrappy Tape to ensure that the banners would stay attached. Remember when using the Word Window punch to stamp your sentiment first and then punch it out. I also used the 1/8″ Scrappy Tape to adhere that to the glitter paper so that it would stay attached.
**Now for the tip I mentioned earlier regarding the Cricut keypads with each cartridge. Each keypad has a series of rows for the features (gray keys) and die cuts (white keys). In the booklet starting with the first die cut image number your pages 1 through 50. Each row of white keys have 10 die cuts in each row. For the card above I used image #47. So on the keypad I counted each row of ten in the first four rows (40) and in the last row I counted over 7 to find the key I needed to cut out what I needed for the card. This eliminates guessing which key to use. I hope this helps.
Happy New Year! and Happy Stamping!
It’s beginning to feel (or maybe even look) like Christmas where you are so I was inspired to make another wine bottle decoration.
Supplies you will need:
- Green wine bottle
- Red burlap (5 1/2″ wide)
- Printed burlap ribbon (2 1/2″ wide)
- Tan jute
- Christmas pick (holly berries/leaves for this bottle)
- 1/2″ wide Scrappy Tape*
- Tombow glue
- Hot glue gun
Putting it all together:
- Wash the bottle in soapy water and remove any labels. Let dry.
- Using the red burlap, measure enough to go around your bottle and overlap in the back about inch or so.
- Using the Scrappy Tape (see below for more information on Scrappy Tape) place it on the short edge of the red burlap then adhere the burlap to the bottle.
- Put Scrappy Tape on the other end, wrap the bottle tightly and secure overlapping the burlap.
- Measure a piece of the printed burlap ribbon to fit around the bottle and overlap about an inch.
- Put the Scrappy Tape on the short end and then starting at the back of the bottle center the ribbon on the red burlap
- Put Scrappy Tape on the other end and wrap tightly around the bottle and secure to the back.
- Next wrap the tan jute around the top of the bottle as shown. For this I used the Tombow glue. Start even with the back seam of the burlap and wrap securing it at the top, again at the back of the bottle.
- Heat up the glue gun and while it is heating up figure out the placement for your Christmas pick. Cut off excess wire if necessary.
- Using the glue gun use a fairly generous amount of glue and attach the pick. Allow to dry for a few minutes.
Quick and easy and fun to make!
*What is Scrappy Tape?
Scrappy Tape comes on a roll of 30 feet in various sizes ranging from 1/8″ to 1 1/2″. This tape is a paper thin, double-sided tape and it is very strong. I use it on cards, scrapbook pages, and 3-D projects when I want to have a strong hold on the project I am working on. It is sold online at scrapbookpal.com. I have all the widths because they were sold in a bundle for an awesome price a few months back! You might think what would I use 1 1/2″ tape size for but I have actually used that quite often for panels on cards where I needed extra hold. You can also just use it for your every day projects as well. 30 yards can go a long way!
Have a great day and happy crafting!
I’ve got something new to share today. It’s wine bottle art or wine bottle crafts. Anyway, you use empty wine bottles and decorate them with jute, lace, papers, charms, flowers, paint, etc. My sister started doing this a few months ago and now she has me interested as well. I’ve done 4 wine bottles so far. Each one is better than the one before it as I learn the ins and outs of this new craft.
Here is the first bottle I did.
Supplies you will need:
- Empty wine bottle! (how it’s emptied is up to you! Ha!)
- DSP of your choice
- 1 1/4″ burlap ribbon
- Decorative flowers
- 1/8″ ribbon
- Adhesive (Tombow glue or tacky glue work well)
Decorating the wine bottle
- First clean the bottle and remove the labels.
- Once the bottle is ready for decorating measure your DSP so that it will fit around the lower part of the bottle. Depending on the size of your bottle, that will determine how much DSP you will use. Overlap slightly. Place the seam at the back of the bottle. (TIP: You do not need a large amount of glue, just a very thin line of glue will do well.)
- Cut two pieces of the 1 1/4″ burlap ribbon to go around the bottle with the seam meeting at the back of the bottle where the paper seam is.
- Next measure another piece of 1 1/4″ burlap ribbon for the top of the bottle at the neck (under the lip of the bottle). Glue in place with the seam at the back of the bottle.
- Take the Jute and start at the back seam and wrap around the very top portion of the bottle making sure to end at the back of the bottle.
- Thread ribbon through the charm and glue to the bottle as shown.
- Embellish with the flower.
This really is a fun craft and I have found it to be quite relaxing. I will be sharing more of my creations in the weeks ahead.