Celebrating the Olympic Spirit

Hello everyone!  Is your household like ours and devoted to the Olympic Games?  I grew up watching the Olympics every four years, celebrating the victories, enjoying our favorite sports, hoping to see the games live someday.  Then in 1996 my husband, our three children, and I were able to attend the Olympics!  And the photos from that visit - they were the first photos I ever scrapbooked!!!  How is that for Olympic memories?

This year sadly we will not be attending the Olympics in London, however we can still celebrate the games and the spirit of the games at home.  Though I must confess that this year I think I officially became my mom.... I caught myself enjoying the exuberance and excitement of the YOUNG athletes!! LOL.  Ouch!

I crafted this fun banner to decorate and add to our in-home Olympic spirit.  Each individual pennant in the banner measures six inches wide by seven the three-quarters inches tall.  The overall banner measures 60 inches wide.   I connected the individual pennants together using red grosgrain ribbon with accents of white twill ribbon.  Both ribbon products are manufactured by Close To My Heart and are available by clicking the names above.

The base pieces of the banner are heavy chip board and are also manufactured by CLOSE TO MY HEART.  The product is called "My Creations Banner" and includes eight heavy chipboard pennants with O rings.  It is Z1378 and retails for $5.95!!!   The My Creations Banner set make for a much stronger and more durable banner creation!

I used a Silhouette Cameo cut file to cut the pennants, and added my own letters to the design.  I searched Olympics, England, and London (individually) in the Silhouette store and found several cuts which work well for the Olympics, this pennant cut being one of them.  I will share more of our Olympic celebration later this week!!

THE CLOSE TO MY HEART CRICUT ARTISTE CARTRIDGE IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE TOMORROW!!!!  That's right - TOMORROW!!!

You can purchase the cartridge through my on-line CTMH store beginning tomorrow, August 1st.  Also tomorrow you may purchase the new Stamp of the Month for $5.00 when you order the Cricut Artiste Cartridge!!!

Susan's CTMH Store Link

Oh that Mary!

Hello everyone.  Welcome to this week's Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge.  The theme for the week is "On the Farm" and was selected by my beautiful design team sister, Krista!   Not being a back to nature kind of woman, I struggled a bit with the challenge (hence the name - CHALLENGE!).  But in the end I thought about those fabulous Scottish sheep and that made me think of Mary!  You know Mary... She had a little lamb... Oh Mary!  Everywhere that Mary went.... well you know Mary so you know the rest of her story!  And yes Krista!  I am convinced that Mary must have lived on a farm!

 I only used one Cricut cartridge to cut this card - Nursery Rhymes - which is such an adorable but under used cartridge!  I love the Cow Jumped Over the Moon cut - and so many others - on this cartridge.  And I love Mary!

I welded the word phrase and the icon image together to create this card.  I also welded the shadows of these to cuts.  I then cut the two cuts separately in different prints and solids and pieced together my card front.

I used Close to My Heart cardstock - all of the cardstock came from the Pemberley paper pack (# X7148B which retails for $9.95).  The Pemberley paper pack includes 12 sheets of matching/coordinating cardstock - 6 prints and 6 solids.   I love the colors in the Pemberley pack.  (And too, I like the name Pemberley.  For those readers of the classics you know that Pemerley was the estate of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's fabulous Pride and Prejudice)! 

Back to the card:  I used micro tipped scissors and hand cut the floral embellishments from a printed sheet of Pemberley cardstock.  I added a glue dotted button to the center of each floral embellish.    After a few Copic marker touch ups (Mary's skin tone and hair as well as the lamb's fleece) and some doodles, matted Mary on two colors of Pemberley cardstock before adding her to a Pemberley cardstock blue card.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Please do go by BBTB2 and check out the FAB projects some of my nature lover design team sisters created.  I was in awe when I took a pre-post sneak peek! 

CLOSE TO MY HEART CRICUT ARTISTE CARTRIDGE WILL BE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE  IN 2 DAYS!!!

You can order Cricut Artiste through my on-line CTMH store.  Anyone who purchases through my on-line store in the month of August is automatically entered to win $50.00 in CTMH merchandise of their choice.  Someone has to win and it might as well be YOU!

Nativity Tri-Fold Christmas Card

Hello everyone.  Welcome to the final day of Christmas in July!  Today's card was created without an electronic cutting machine, using only my 12 inch paper trimmer.  To me this card is all about the images and the message!

For about a year I have owned the Close To My Heart stamp set, GLORY TO GOD (#D1483, retail price $17.95), a ten piece religious stamp.  But for the last year I have struggled with finding the perfect card to showcase these fabulous stamps.

Recently while packing to go to go away for a few days I was looking at my tri-fold shutter card sample and it suddenly hit me that Bethlehem would look fabulous stamped across the top middle section of a tri-fold card!!! A quick measure told me that Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus would fit on the cover of the card and I KNEW I had to make this card!!!  In fact, I made 8 of this card!!!

My simple steps to creating a tri-fold card are detailed in the next photo - a quick reference sheet I made for someone to use.  I begin with a 12x12 inch sheet of cardstock and after cutting it in half, I follow the steps on the photo.  You can save the photo and print it if you need detailed instructions.

Using the trimmer, light blue Bo Bunny cardstock was cut to fit the small sections of the card.  I used dark blue ink by Close To My Heart and finished the card with a touch of gold Stickles.

Thanks for hanging in with me this week.  I enjoyed our week of Christmas in July - even if the daily temperatures did average 100 degrees here in South Carolina!! 

CLOSE TO MY HEART CRICUT ARTISTE CARTRIDGE WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 4 DAYS!!!

You can order CTMH Cricut Artiste through my CTMH on-line store beginning Wednesday, August 1st!! 

Christmas Morning Brunch

Hello everyone!  Welcome to Christmas morning brunch!  Today I am going to show you how the Close To My Heart Cricut Artiste cartridge can help you create an organized and festive holiday morning buffet!  Now that my children are adults, I find that Christmas morning is more relaxed than when they were young.  We used to be pulled from bed far too early to open gifts.  These days Christmas morning starts AFTER the sun has come up!  And now Christmas morning also includes a more substantial breakfast than in days gone by.

I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to create tented labels for the breakfast buffet.  Using the doily cut on page 33 of the Artiste handbook and Cricut Craft Room, I created three layer tents.  I cut the basic doily in a green and white holiday print paper.  Next I used Cricut Craft Room to edit the doily, enlarging it and removing the interior cut.  Once I had created a solid piece with the same shape as the original doily, I welded two of them together to create small cards. 

I added a 2.25 inch circle to the middle of each of the tented labels and then printed and punched out my food labels.  I used only a tiny bit of adhesive behind the food name so that I can easily remove the names
and reuse the label in the future.

In addition to tented buffet labels, I also made muffin wrappers to dress up our brunch.   I used the Noel cupcake wrappers from the Artiste cartridge for the muffins. The wrapper is found on page 80 in the Artiste handbook.   I sized the wrapper to fit three per page in the cut fil and cut them using Little Red Bicycle Christmas cardstock.  As you can see in the photo above, I could ALMOST have sized the wrappers a bit smaller!

The photo above is a screen shot of cut file in Cricut Craft Room.

If you have come this far with me today, I will now tell you the rest of the story!  When my husband came home at lunch time yesterday I asked him what he thought of having Christmas Brunch for dinner.  Being a wonderful man he answered, "Sure"!  I invited a friend to join us, who turned out to be a HUGE help, and we dined on Christmas brunch last night!

The menu included two types of homemade quiche, Quiche Lorraine and Shallot & Mushroom Mini Quiche, fresh fruit salad and assorted muffins.  I also ran by Honey Baked Ham yesterday afternoon and picked up a couple of pounds of honey baked ham - this was done mostly to please Doug.  While he does eat quiche, I knew he would enjoy the meal more with the addition of the ham.  And of course this entire meal begged to be served on my Spode Christmas Tree china, so out it came.  We had iced water and just because we were celebrating, light mimosas!  It was a wonderful Christmas Brunch dinner!!!  And in a few months, it will be enjoyed again as Christmas morning brunch!!!

Thanks for stopping by today for another day of Christmas in July.  I will be back tomorrow with my final Christmas in July post!

CLOSE TO MY HEART CRICUT ARTISTE CARTRIDGE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE IN 5 DAYS.

 

You will able to purchase the cartridge with three sets of stamps and three large sheets of the coordinating chip board through my CTMH on-line store!!!

 

Quick and Elegant Christmas Card with Artiste

Hello everyone.  Yesterday's gift card holders were fun to make and I so look forward to using them this December, but today I want to show you that not everything has to be complicated.  You can use the CTMH Cricut Artiste Cartridge to make quick, simple and elegant (!) Christmas cards!!

I used two cuts from the Cricut Artiste cartridge - the word Noel, found on page 79 of the Artiste handbook.  I cut NOEL in green cardstock.  The second Artiste cut is the beautiful frame - found on page 60 of the Artiste handbook.   Using Cricut Craft Room I reshaped the frame a bit, giving it more of a rectangular shape (less square) and cut it out with textured American Crafts white cardstock. 

Using the 12 inch trimmer, I cut a rectangle of deep red cardstock to fill the frame, and embossed it with a winter snow border embossing folder.  After placing the deep red embossed rectangle behind the frame, I used my trusty sewing machine and straight stitched around the frame.

Once again using the Christmas Love CTMH stamp set, I stamped the Christmas tree in deep green ink, cut it out with micro tipped scissors and added the tree to the foreground of the card.

The background of card was covered with two vintage Christmas prints to coordinate with the deep red and the greens.  With two Cricut cuts, one stamped image and some quick embossing this card goes together in no time and could easily be produced in larger number for mailing.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with a couple of Christmas entertaining ideas to share with you!!

CLOSE TO MY HEART CRICUT ARTISTE CARTRIDGE COUNTDOWN:  6 DAYS

In six days you can order this great new cartridge!!!!

Gift Card Holders with CTMH Artiste

Hi everyone!  Are you ready for another day of Christmas in July featuring the CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge?  Today you get a bonus - two projects!  I made two holders to dress up the gift cards under the tree this year.

The first gift card holder is actually a small purse, and is 3-D object #3, shown on page 1 of the CTMH Artiste handbook.  I used double sided card stock to cut the purse and ATG tape to assemble.  I used a border punch to create a bottom edge decor. 

The striped cover on the front flap closure was made by trimming label with a similar edge to fit the flap.   I added a tiny square of Velcro under the flap and to the front of the purse to serve as a closure.  I stamped the word JOY and the cute Christmas tree (stamp set featured below) on white card stock using CTMH Topiary green ink.

The second gift card holder is in fact an actual gift card holder and is shown on page 55 of the CTMH Artiste cartridge handbook.  I cut the gift card holder several times, once in the red quilted winter print, and then in smaller sizes in dark green, in red gingham, and in white.  I then trimmed away the middle section of the each of the small cuts, creating nesting label layers.

The rosette and the Ho, Ho, Ho tag on the front were also cut using the Artiste cartridge.  There are so many fun cuts on this cartridge for so many different projects! 

After assembling the card holder, I used Close to My Heart stamps - CHRISTMAS LOVE - to stamp on the inside of the card and onto the center of the rosette.  I used CTMH Holiday Red ink on this card.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with another Artiste Christmas project to share.  Remember that if you order Cricut Artiste though my on-line Close To My Heart store in the month of August you will be entered into a drawing to receive $50.00 in free CTMH products of your choice!!

And for those of you who have not yet seen the new set, here is a preview of the new cartridge, chip board, and stamp sets!!

Awesome Stamped Gift Bag with Artiste

Hello everyone.  Welcome to day two of my week of Christmas in July.  Today I am sharing my very first 3-D project made with the new Cricut Artiste cartridge by Close to My Heart!  Last Christmas I made all of my to/from tags and number of the gift bags.  This year I plan to have more homemade packaging for our Christmas gifts - The first of which is this fun gift bag/box.

Using Cricut Craft Room and the Artiste cartridge I cut 3-D project number 63 which is pictured on page 79 of the Artiste cartridge handbook.  I used the hide select contour feature and removed the three handle cuts.  I had planned to add the stamped phrase on the front flap so the handles had to go.

I cut the box on the 12 x 24 inch mat.  Turning the box sideways, I filled the full 12 inch width of the mat with the box.  The image above is a screen shot from the cut file.  You can see that the handle cuts have been removed.

I cut three two layer Christmas ornaments to embellish the front of the box.  I made a little gift card with the ornament in the upper left corner.  I welded two of the white base cuts together to create a to/from card for the box.  I added a small square of Velcro as a closure on the card.

I added two layers to the scalloped flap.  I cut the round ornament above twice, designed to next in one another, and cut top of the ornaments off at the edge of the flap. 

The stamp used on the flap is from Close To My Heart and is called Christmas Love (D1492).  It is available from my on-line store where it retails for $17.95.  I cannot tell you how often I "go to" this stamp set.

You may have wondered how my box stayed closed so nicely.... I used a little Velcro closure, just as I did with the to/from ornament card, under the flap.  The Velcro has a very stick back so I do not need to worry about the closure coming unattached from the box.

The cardstock I used to cut the box is made by Darcie's.  Darcie's sells all of their paper in several different sizes and one of the sizes is 12x17 inches.  I love their Christmas prints for 3-D Christmas projects.  You can view their cardstock/paper selects at their website HERE.

Below is a final look at the completed box.  I am very pleased with how the box/bag turned out and I know it will look adorable under the tree later this year!

Cricut Artist by Close to My Heart will be available for purchase beginning August 1st.

I know a lot of CTMH consultants are taking "pre-orders" on this cartridge, but all they are doing is taking their customer's money, holding it until August 1st and will order then. I am not going to take your money ahead of time! And I suggest that you do not purchase from a pre-order unless you personally know the Consultant. Last summer when Art Philosophy came out a few former consultants took their customers' money and did not deliver their cartridges. It was very sad for all concerned. My CTMH up line suggested that our team not offer pre-orders.

What I am suggesting is that anyone who would like to purchase the Artist cartridge from me, please wait and order from my on-line store August 1st. You may also have a CTMH gathering or on-line party and purchase the cartridge for half price with a $250 party. If you do not purchase on-line, email me and we will work it out - after August 1st.

EVERYONE that purchases the Artiste Cartridge from me in August will be entered into a drawing to receive $50 in CTMH merchandise of their choice!!!

Christmas in July with BBTB 2

Hello everyone!  Welcome to Christmas in July!  This week's Bitten by the Bug 2 theme is Christmas in July and I have decided to adopt the same theme for the entire week.  I have six Christmas posts planned for you this week - which may seem a little crazy to those with temperatures in the 90s-100s range!  Go ahead and turn down the air conditioning temperature and enjoy this mini holiday-esque week!
Our BBTB2 Christmas in July theme was selected by my design team sister Jayne.  I love everything Chirstmas so I truly enjoyed this challenge.

I used two Cricut cartridges to create this week's Christmas card:  CTMH's Art Philosophy and Christmas Noel.  I cut the fabulous double layer Christmas tree from the Christmas Noel cartridge - still one of my all time favorite Christmas cartridges!  I used a deep forest green cardstock for the base cut and a medium green for the detailed top layer of the tree. 

I used a small Close To My Heart flower stamp to decorate the tree.  I stamped the small flower in CTMH Holiday Red ink, cut them out with micro tipped scissors and added a drop of liquid pearls to the center of each flower.  I used 3/8 inch glue dots to attach the flowers to the Christmas tree.

The second main element of the card is this fabulous Loralie stamp: High Fashion Holiday.   I love how she is so sassy and dressed for her holiday party!  I colored her with Copic markers (creating the plaid pattern free-hand) and added Stickles in select areas.  I added clear Stickles to the her stole to make a white fur wrap and I used red Stickles on her jewelry, berries, gloves and shoes.  I added liquid pearls to the berries on her handbag. 

The base card and the tag on the lowe front were cut on the Cricut using CTMH's Art Philosophy cartridge.  I used Holiday red ink and a CTMH stamp to stamp the very appropriate sentiment - "Tis the Season to Sparkle".  I added two additional flower onto the tag.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Remember that I will have a new Christmas project to share with you each day this week.  Also please remember that at Bitten by the Bug 2, we love it when you play along with us in the weekly challenge. After you craft your Christmas project you can use the linky under the original BBTB2 Christmas in July post to add in your project!