Stuck On U Sketches Die Cut Challenge: Numbers

Ever since I heard the song "December the 25th" from the 1970's movie Scrooge, I have always loved to see the number 25 on Christmas projects.  It inspired the same excitement as my birth day which is 7.   I think it was because I thought Jesus's birthday really was on that day.  I later learned that no one really knows when it was for sure, but I pretend it is definitely on the 25th. 

This week's inspiration at Stuck On U Sketches is to use numbers.  I remembered that Cricut had a cartridge that had a number in it, and I need to be making my Christmas cards...lol,

I used the Teresa Collin's December 25th  and Basic Cartridges.  I have been wanting to try a background textured card and thought this would be a good chance to give it a shot. The trefoil background is from the Basics Cartridge.  The other cuts are from the Dec. 25th cart.  I discovered that incredible flourish which totally escaped me last year. I clipped an arm off of the snowflakes so they would not overlap the frame. I compensated for that by using snowflake brads I picked up at my local scrapbook store last year, but never used.  I found them the other day, and was thrilled. I used Core Coordination cardstock and a little bling. 

You know, the Cricut was a good investment for me.  I spend very little money to make my creations and though they may not look like showroom gaga projects but, I think they are ok for my purposes.  I have found that limited budgeting has inspired more creativity in me.

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Holiday Planner

Ho, ho, ho, everyone!  It is time for Holly to organize herself, now that we are down to 4 weeks left until Christmas.  I still have quite a bit of shopping to do and plenty of cards yet to make.  I found this Holiday Planner at The Cutting Cafe' and just love it. I used it for years prior to my computer crash of 2012 and I really missed it.  I used the cheery Cosmo Cricket "Jolly by Golly" digital line to make this.

I kept the entire album flat, including the cover, as it will be carried in my purse and embellishments would have been likely to fall off.  I use Julie Fan-Fei Balzer's idea of the wrap closure where the ribbon is glued to the book, then wrapped around the brad. In hindsight, a thinner ribbon would have worked best around the snowflake brad, or a round brad with this one would have been better too.  But the snowflake was too cute, and I just love pink and gold and bought the gold polka dot ribbon just for this album.  I used ring binding to keep the planner flexible enough, where I can add pages if needed.

 

I am famous for forgetting when I am going where during this season, so I made a calendar section where I could see the month and keep a list of each party and their dates

Regina thinks of everything. She even included the list pages for you to print and add to the planner. I like to keep track of which card went to who each year, so I don't duplicate the ones I send to individuals.  I make different cards for each person each year and it  is impossible to keep track as to who already got what designs already.

 

My gift list allows me to track where each gift was bought, so when I am piling through the receipts for returns, I know what store I am looking for. It also helps me know what I am shopping for.

 

 

I found it very useful to have a notes page, for I can't go to a party without leaving with someone's new cell phone, address or recipe.  I also note things I would like as I am shopping and ideas for holiday things to do as I hear about them.

 

Now, no planner is complete without a place to tuck receipts. I made a pocket going the length of the cover to place programs, pictures and tickets in the front for scrapping and, receipts  will go in the back. I made a special  envelope for my hubbie's gift receipts to hide them later in the event that he goes rifling through it to look for one for someone else.

So now I am ready to go for Friday's shopping mayhem.  Wish me luck!  For now, I am going to head over to the Cafe' blog to see what the other designers have created. I just love seeing what inspires them.  Seriously, can you get enough ideas at this time of year?.... LOL.

I wish all of you and your families a wonderful Holiday week. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

Stuck on U Sketches Project Life Challenge: Glitter

Stuck on U Sketches has a fun project life challenge this week that stretches the project life scrapper's capabilities.  In fact, this is the first project life sample I have ever seen with glitter. I am sure they are out there, but I haven't seen them yet.  I like thinking outside the box and this idea has taken  my PL project beyond just interesting cards and papers.  Why not add texture?  I never thought of that.

 

My niece recently moved here to NC from OH,  She met a wonderful guy and they have been dating since they met.  Her mother was not too thrilled about it.  I found the dynamic interesting and wanted to scrap the dilemma.  She has not met him yet, but when she does, I know she will love him like everyone else does. He treats her like gold and she is actually showing genuine interest in him too.  

This is a digital project as all of my project life projects are.  I find if I keep this easier medium, I will keep up with it better.  I have missed a few weeks, but have actually kept up fairly well.   This project used the 5th and Frolic collection from Dear Lizzy/American Crafts Digital set I got a AC Digitals. Carina Gardner had the digital frames in Glitter.  They come in other colors, but if you follow me, you know I LOVE pink.    If you think  digital scrapping makes you miss out on all of the fun textures and dimension of paper scrapping, you need to relook at today's products out there for digital.  There is a plethora of items that you can use to add depth to your projects.  You just need Photoshop Elements a few templates and a BUNCH of digital files. You will find it to cost a lot lessm even with having your pages printed.  I get mine done through the Jessica Sprague print house.

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Turkey Shaped Card File

I guess it is time to say...Happy Holidays all!  This week I used the Cutting Cafe's Turkey Shaped Card file to make my  Thankful layout for the year.  I will take pictures of my family and place the best in the 4 frames on the page, so they are left them blank for now.

 I made this using Bazzill cardstock and a few scraps I had in the all consuming box of scraps I have accumulated.  I loved  the Glitz design paper and thought it was just the ticket for a colorful spread of feathers.  The cards are from the Cinnamon collection. I printed them and my printer ran them in two tone. I went with this because it sort of matched the other papers better than the normal brown would have.  The flower border was from Silhouette.  The frames are from the Small Talk Cricut cartridge.  I will journal on the white parts around my picture

Head over to the Cutting Cafe blog to see what the other designers have done.  I am simply amazed at their projects every week.  I am grateful to Regina for letting me be on that team.

Stuck On U Die Cut Challenge: Food

Well this week's topic at the Stuck On U Sketches die cut challenge was right up my ally.  Food!
My niece asked me to teach her how to make an apple pie.  So we made a day of it.

These were papers that I bought from the Recollection collection at Michaels. They had a 4/$1.00 sale last week so I couldn't resist.  I also bought a gold cardstock piece that I used for accents like the underline under the word pie.  I printed out the banner from one of Jessica's papers and hand cut the banners individually.  The title was made using Cricut's new Library Fonts cartridge. I haven't bought a font cart in over 7 years, but could not resist this one.  I made the journal library pocket using a Silhouette die cut and the apple,  pie and canisters were cut using the Farmhouse collection that I picked up at AC Digitals. 

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: The Step Card

I often forget that cards don't always have to fold in half.  Regina at The Cutting Café has several Step Cards that are a lot of fun to make.  In fact this whole card, except for the trees, came from the Café.  Talk about dimension.  The steps require little embellishing but provide a lot of pop.

I used Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly digital papers and my silhouette to cut the card and it's design elements.  I used the Christmas Pocket Bags cut file with the snowflake cut out to hold the tag that has the sentiment.  If you have the Cameo, you can make this card big enough for a gift card.  How cute would that be?  I used a sentiment from the  Christmas Card Fun sentiments page to put on the tag.  The snowmen are from the Snowman Family Shape Card printable topper.  (The card is very cute too) I imported them into the Silhouette to cut them out.  The trees were a Silhouette file. 

Head over to the Café blog to see what the other designers have put on their cards and maybe find your inspiration to step you right into the holiday spirit.

 

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Pizza Box

Greetings all.  Christmas greetings that is.  This week's inspiration at The Cutting Café is Regina's Pizza Box cut file.  Boy will I be using this a lot. This file comes with inserts where it can be divided into two  or four sections.  It is great for what not gifts.  I also see myself using it after the holidays for button, brad and eyelet storage.  This is a very handy cut file. 

I made this using Echo Parks Reflections Christmas papers.  I love the retro feel.  I die cut the box and made strips to act as ribbon.  I used Cricut's  Art Philosophy to make the banner ribbon for the center. The santa medallion is from the Echo Park collection.  I made the sheet music flowers from a Silhouette print and cut file.  The holly leaves were from a Silhouette Echo Park cut file they had last year.   I used brown bakers twine to give it that vintage look for the bow.   Here are a few more details...

So, head over to the blog and see what the other designers have come up with.  You will see how useful and diverse this file can be.  You may be inspired to pic this one up yourself. :)

 

Stuck On U Sketches Die Cut Challenge: Banner

This week at Stuck On U Sketches there is a great die cut challenge.  Make a banner.  Now I know you may be saying...what can I do with that?  My answer is you would be surprised.  I am going to use this one for  my cubicle at work.

 

 

 

I used the new Echo Park  Reflections Christmas collection. I got the digital set at Jessica Sprague.com.  That woman should love me by now.  I printed the papers and made the die cuts using Art Philosophy by Cricut. The flowers are from the Echo Park collection too.  I brought them into my Silhouette Studio software and made them into die cuts.  I made the circles around the holes using the Silhouette too.  I added a few pop dots, a little bling and called it done. 

If you are looking for a great Christmas decoration that is very easy to make, this project may be the  one you need.  It goes together very quickly.