Embellishing with the Cricut Cartridge

I'm really excited to share this project.  Consultant Joanne Walton shared a photo of a pumpkin she embellished with paper flowers, and I just knew I had to try it!!  Well, the craft store was all out of fake pumpkins this week, so I found this basket.  I cut all of the flowers using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge--flower sizes range from 1 1/2 to 3 inches--using Goldrush and Creme Brulee cardstock as well as some patterned paper from the Flirty paper packet.  I sponged the edges of the flowers with Goldrush ink.  The leaves are cut out of Olive cardstock using the AP cartridge.  You can buy all of these papers, the burlap ribbon, and the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge on my website, http://christina.ctmh.com.  Did you know that, if you have a party order of $250 or more, you can purchase the Cricut Collections for HALF PRICE?!!!

Autumn Cards with Cricut Creativity!

I've had fun playing with my Cricut Artiste and Art Philosophy Cartridges and our pretty fall papers.  These cards may look a little tedious, but they're actually easy because the Cricut does all the work!  If you don't yet own these cartridges, you need to give them a try!  Each cartridge has about 700 images on it (that's about four times the number of images on a typical cartridge). . .and, once you start using them, you'll find that you'll rarely need another cartridge!  Plus, each cartridge comes with three coordinating stamp sets.  You can purchase either cartridge on my website,  http://christina.ctmh.com.

For this card, I used paper from both the Moonlight and Flirty paper packets.  I also used solid cardstock in Cocoa, Olive, Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta and Barn Red.  The branch and leaves were cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, and the owl was cut with the Artiste cartridge. 



I used the Flirty paper packet, along with New England Ivy, Cocoa and Barn Red cardstock, for this card.  The tree and leaves were cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I used 3D foam tape to raise most of the leaves up, which gives the card a little more dimension.  This took a few minutes, but I love the look!

 

Card Kits--great value and great fun!

Our card kits help you create beautiful cards anytime you want!  Each kit includes an exclusive stamp set that you'll use AGAIN and AGAIN, even after you've made the cards in the kit, paper, embellishments (ribbons and sparkles/gems), and complete step-by-step instructions for cutting your paper and assembling the cards.

If you purchase the Pear & Partridge card kit, I recommend using Cranberry, Olive and Cocoa stamp pads.  Many of my customers already have these very popular colors, but if you don't, you might want to order them along with your card kit.

The Avonlea kit uses Smokey Plum, Chocolate and Slate.  I found that I didn't always like the Smokey Plum with it, so feel free to substitute other coordinating colors, like Juniper.  Also, because these cards are versatile, year-round designs, you can always substitute a different sentiment stamp, like a "happy birthday."

You can order your card kits directly through my WEBSITE.

We're halfway through October--get your October Stamp of the Month before it's gone!

I finally got some time to sit down and play with my October Stamp of the Month, "Very Merry Christmas."  First of all, let me say that this is an EASY stamp set to work with--solid images, no coloring required--and you can cut coordinating images on the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  But, if you don't happen to have the Artiste Cartridge yet (what are you waiting for??), you'll still get lots of use from this stamp set.   You can purchase the Stamp of the Month for only $17.95. . .or better yet, get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase.

To purchase your October Stamp of the Month (or the fabulous Cricut Artiste Cartridge), go shopping on my website at http://christina.ctmh.com.

All of these projects were made with paper from the Pear and Partridge paper packet. 

Yet another box pattern you'll find on the Cricut Artiste Cartridge!

Sometimes I forget that we have these wonderful pre-cut circle cards (with envelopes) in our catalog.  They're only $5.95 for a set of 12 cards and envelopes in White Daisy (Z1353) or Colonial White (Z1352).  They're so easy to work with and a fun departure from the regular rectangle card shapes.

 

These are two of the many great tag shapes you'll find on the Artiste Cartridge.  You can stamp these images on a rectangle--but they're so much cuter on these fun tag shapes!

To get the two-tone color on the mittens, I stamped them twice (once in New England Ivy Ink and once in Cranberry) and then cut the tops out of the green ones. 

We interrupt this cardmaking session for some Apple Anna Bread

I've been making Apple Anna Bread for almost 20 years.  I think I got the recipe from an old Pfaltzgraff calendar.  I used it for years, then lost the recipe card for a few years, and then found it again last year.  What I like about this quick bread is that it stays very moist because of the bananas and apples. 

Apple Anna Bread

1/2 cup plus 1 T margarine (I used butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 rip bananas, mashed
2 cups apples, finely chopped
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9" loaf pan (I have found that this overflows my loaf pan a bit--last time I made it, I doubled the recipe and put it in THREE disposable aluminum loaf pans and it came out about right).  Cream margarine/butter and sugar until fluffy; add eggs.  Sift dry ingredients together and beat into creamed mixture.  Stir in bananas, apples and vanilla.  Pour into pan and bake 1 hour.  It's done when the center starts to firm up--it may take a bit longer or a bit less, depending on your pan.  I do find that the top gets fairly brown before the middle gets done.

I'm sure you could also add some chopped walnuts or pecans to this bread.

 

Moving on to Autumn Cards

I got this technique idea from Papercrafts magazine (a good magazine for card makers).  I don't think it shows up that well in my photo, but let me explain how I did it.  First of all, I stamped the three leaves on a separate piece of scrap cardstock and cut them out.  I put some Bonding Memories glue on the back of the leaves and let it air-dry so that it would be repositionable.  I positioned the leaves down on my background piece of Colonial White cardstock.  Then, I used our Close to My Heart spray pens, shown in the photo below (Z1380--three pens for only $3.95) to create the speckled look on the background.  I filled each pen about halfway with water and then added a few drops of reinker until I got the depth of color I wanted (I would suggest Saddle, Olive or New England and Goldrush--we carry reinkers in ALL of our 40 ink colors).  Then, I sprayed each color on the background.  I peeled off the leaf "masks" and let the paper air dry.  Once it was dry, I stamped the leaves with our pigment ink in the void that was left by the masks I had used earlier.  It's a fun technique, though it takes a few steps and a little drying time.  A quick tip from me:  when you're using techniques that get your paper damp/wet, use an iron to quickly dry the paper and make it nice and flat again.

 

This card was inspired by a layout that I saw on Vicki Wizniuk's blog, www.wizardshangout.blogspot.com.  I used the Flirty paper to create the column down the middle of the card.  The leaves and "Give Thanks" were cut with the new Cricut Artiste cartridge.  Even if you're not a scrapbooker, you can get inspiration from scrapbooking ideas and use these ideas on your cards and 3D projects. 

Yet Another Halloween Treat Box!

Okay. . .I think this is my last Halloween post, and then it's on to other fall projects.  This little gift bag is actually a copy of one that I saw in our beautiful Idea Book.   It uses Perfect Fit--Halloween stamp set (B1413, $9.95).  I made this a few weeks ago, and I've forgotten which box pattern I used from the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  I THINK I used the shirt box (p. 75, Happy Father's Day>3D Object).  I cut the top off the box with a pair of jagged decorative scissors. . .which you could do with any upright treat box pattern.  I sponged the box lightly with Autumn Terracotta and Cocoa ink and cut the papers from the Moonlight Paper Packet. 

Layout for October's Open Club

This is the Clementine layout we'll be making for our October open club workshop.  If you'd like to attend our workshop and make this layout on Thursday, October 18th, let me know.  I got my design idea for this layout from Diane Meinhardt, and I believe she got her design idea from our Close to My Heart bulletin board--so, I'm not sure who to give original credit to for this one!  The cardstock colors are Sorbet, Twilight, Creme Brulee and Saddle.  The pennants are cut from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and the buttons are cut from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and stamped with the new Buttons, Bits and Bobs stamp set.  I love the paper patterns in the Clementine paper packet--when you put them all together, it reminds me of a country quilt!
 

A couple more Halloween Treats!

We had such a fun time at my Halloween workshop this week!  I posted a few of our projects last week, but I thought I'd post a couple more.  It was so much fun playing with my Cricut Artiste cartridge--I was amazed at how many Halloween items I was able to crank out in such a short time.  And, these projects are completely adaptable to other holidays--just change the paper and change the stamps.  Many of these 3D items would work wonderfully for wedding or shower favors, too.   To order the cartridge, click HERE.  The Artiste Cricut Collection is $99, and it includes the Artiste Cartridge (with 700 images--many, many more than a typical cartridge), THREE coordinating stamp sets and three sheets of coordinating chipboard die-cut images. 

The Artiste cartridge has a bunch of card patterns--many with some kind of pouch or sleeve.  Most of these pouches can also hold candy--just skip the card piece that's supposed to go in it.  I found this card pouch on the 7 key>Shift>Card and cut it at 4 1/2 inches.  It's perfect for Pixie Sticks, Airheads or other tall, flat candies.  I embellished it with our Magic Potions stamp set (C1509, $13.95) and some paper from our Moonlight Paper Packet (X7161B, $9.95).  I also used our new Black Tulle Ribbon (Z1798, $6.95).  You can't see the tulle very well in my photo, but I gathered it up so that it resembles a bat's wing. 

This window box was on the U key>Shift>3D Object.  I cut it at 3 inches, and, when it's folded up, it's about the size of a playing card box.  I made this one really quickly with the Moonlight paper, but you could get fancier with it if you wanted to.  The ribbon is our Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon, which I dyed with a reinker to make it exactly the color I wanted!

 

It's hard to resist an adorable Christmas stamp set. . .especially one that coordinates with our new Cricut Artiste cartridge.  You can order the "Very Merry Christmas" stamp set (S1210) anytime during the month of October.  Purchase it for $17.95, or get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase!  You can order the Stamp of the Month and the Artiste Cricut Collection directly from my website: http://christina.ctmh.com.  Stay tuned this month as I'll be posting more artwork featuring this beautiful stamp set.

 

Notice that every image with a line around it will coordinate with an image on the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  The carrier sheet will tell you where to find the image in your Artiste Cricut booklet and what size to cut it to coordinate with the image. . .absolutely brilliant!

I LOVE A CLEARANCE SALE!

I love a good deal, and you can find some REALLY good deals on the CLEARANCE section of my website.  This Tulips Mini Medley Collection is only $1 while supplies last!  So, take a look and see what deals you can score.  Don't forget to come back often to see if new things have been added.