Joy Peace Love: Stuck on U Sketches PL Challenge

I hope you all faired well through the holiday season.  A happy new year to you all.  Today's post is from the Stuck on U Sketches Project Life Challenge.  We are to use three journaling strips.

There are so many pictures and stories to tell over the holiday's. I wanted to sum up three major events that happened on my Project Life this week and decided to make them there own page.  First, and sadly, my older brother's Mother in Law passed away.  I knew her since I was a child.  Second, I got to finally go and see the Nutcracker ballet this year.  This is something I wanted to do for years at Christmas.  My niece Amanda took me as my gift. Great gift, huh?  I was thrilled.  Third, my daughter surprised me. She called to tell me she was coming down during the holiday.   We had not made plans to get together this year so it was a dream come true thing for me. 

Digital Project Life. com had free Christmas PL cards on their site,. I decided to use those for this project, for they were pretty plain with traditional colors.  I think all three events spoke to tradition in varying degrees.  The tabs on the bottom introduced the humor of my daughter doing crafts with me.  We made her friends gifts for to take home to them.  I loved showing the messy table, her totally exhausted from what was new activity to her, and the show my Mother would have had us watching had she been here with us, The Golden Girls.  The jewels are from Amy Tangerine's first digital line

 

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: My Pick!

This week at the Cutting Cafe', Regina let us pick our project from her files.  I have two birthdays to celebrate next week, so I opted for a Birthday Card. I have used the Assorted Colors Birthday Background file for years. It is extremely versatile where it fits with Pop, Vintage, Classic and all sorts of other genre.  I opted for Girly this time.

I printed the file and cut a rectangle from it to be centered on a 4 x 6  card.  I wanted to frame the cupcake, so I made one using the outer rim of the rectangle and placing the note shape inside of it in my Silhouette.  I used it printed with the American Crafts Lucky Charm Digital file found at AC Digitals.com.  I cut two of the cupcakes from Echo Park's new I Love Candy digital file, found at Jessica Sprague (It's on sale through 12/31, by the way). I wanted a very plain cupcake to embellish. I hand cut and pop dotted the wrapper on top of the whole file to give it more dimension.  I also glued and glittered the icing to give the card more sparkle.  I tied a bow in a strip of ribbon and glued it on the top of a strip of paper that I had glued on the wrapper to give it more sizzle. 

I can't wait to see what the other designers had for their inspiration this week. Head over to the Cutting Café Blog to see what they came up with.  This is my last post for the Cutting Café.  One can only serve two consecutive quarters.  I have really enjoyed using Regina's files and I recommend them to EVERYONE.  She has plenty of files that do not require anything but scissors, glue and an imagination.  There really is something there for anything you can think of.  My thanks go to Regina for allowing me to take part in the fun. It was an honor to be part of her team.

Happy New Year everyone. May 2014 leave you with laughs and happy memories.

Stuck on U Sketches Die Cut Challenge Reveal: Snowflake

There is nothing quite like the beauty of the snowflake.  Everyone is different yet when put together they color the world in a common background that is just beautiful!  I made this as Christmas Tags, but with other colors they can easily apply to birthday gifts, winter layouts and great cards for warm winter wishes.  For 3 months of the year, this shape is a very versatile design.



Stuck on U Sketches raised the challenge of using a snowflake in any type of project.  The Very Merry Tags cartridge by Cricut made these very easy to make for you just cut two shapes and glue on the other which is great for mass design.  I made these while visiting with my daughter in about an hour.   Easy peasy and very cute on the red and white snowflake wrapping paper I used this year.

Head over to the SOU blog to see what the other designers came up with.  Even if you don't  love snow, you will love these designs.

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Wine Bottle

This week at the Cutting Café, our inspiration was wine.  Regina has some great glass and bottle files that will help you ring in the new year well.  I opted for the Wine Bottle Shaped Card for my project.

I have wanted to use the ombre color patterns in the Silhouette Design Studio software for I think it is great for a glassy look. So the bottle was colored using the ivy green type color.  I also used it for the gold band around the neck of the bottle.  I used a Glitz Design pattern for the label and typed the new year sentiment on the page using the text feature with "no cut". I made the sentiment in the card using the same technique.   The only thing I had to add to it was a ribbon and it made a really cute New Years card.

 Head over to the Café' Blog on Wednesday and see what the other designers came up with. I am sure you will find some real inspiration there.  

I am not an avid wine drinker but have been known to have a glass of Merlot a time or two.  They say wine is good for your heart and  that a glass a day is actually good for you.  Now that is happy health keeping!  Happy New Year everyone!  Cheers!

Stuck on U Sketches Project Life Challenge: Use a Tabbed Card

This week's challenge at Stuck on U Sketches for project life, was to use a tabbed card. Now that was a challenge for a digital page, but low and behold I found one....sort of. It is actually a whole card, but it looks like a tabbed card on a background.  If to use paper, that would be the optimal solution for incorporating it into the standard card shape.

I fell in love with this picture of my niece when she was younger.  I am not sure if she meant to make that face or if it was her first ice cream headache.  I wanted to put the picture on the page, of course, but I also wanted to thank the person who took it, for it always makes me smile when I see it.

Since there was only one photo for this page, I decided to go with a 8.5 x 11 digital template that I got at AC Digitals.I I love to stack my pages in albums and carried this concept into my project life book.  The template can now be found at DigitalProjectLife.com.   I got the Digital Maggie Holmes paper set at AC Digital as well as the Amy Tangerine Yes Please set. 

 

Cutting Cafe Inspiration

Well I just can't stop making these Cutting Café Ornaments. I found another quickie one and I like this one even better than the last.  This was from the same cut file, which was the 3D Ornament Gift Set. I call it a gift set because the box to present them even comes with this file!



 

I used the Echo Park This and That Christmas set to make these. I cut two pages of the file so I could make a front and back, so the ornament would make a full circle.  I glued two circles back to back, then another two, and chose a different patterned paper that I glued on the ornament.,  You would not believe how sturdy this thing is with just those layers.  I was going to put  a flower on it but I didn't want to cover the plaid pattern. I loved how it contrasted with the flower pattern.  So, I opted for a non traditional ribbon color to give it more pop.  Regina is really turning me on to the use of Ribbon in my designs.  Lots to learn though. She is the master!

Head over to the Cutting Café  Blog and find what other ornament inspiration you can find.  You too, may find the perfect thing to fill that hole in your tree that is driving you crazy....lol.

Ornament

This week's Stuck on U Sketches Die Cut Challenge was to use an ornament.  I have always loved those paper strip ornaments, since I learned how to make them in grade school with construction paper.

 

I found the cut file at The Cutting Café.  The file even comes with the gift box to put it in.  How sweet is that.  I added flower and a ribbon bow and the project was done.  I can see how these can be made for a whole tree very quickly.  I printed the paper from the Echo Park Christmas Reflections set.



Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Oh Christmas Tree...

This week's inspiration at the Cutting Cafe' is Christmas Trees.  Regina has a plethora of designs to choose from in this category. Here is a little tidbit of knowledge not everyone knows. I learned the tradition of the Christmas tree was for each individual household to prepare their temple to honor Jesus.  Red representing the blood, and white, the purity.  I always  put red ribbons and white lights on my tree for that reason.  I used Regina's Christmas Card Fun for the inside sentiment and the Christmas Sentiments Shapes.  I just love the script on the tree.

I used my Silhouette to cut out the SVG files.  The background paper used the Christmas Reflections Digital line I picked up at Jessica Sprague.com. I have really been enjoying that set this holiday. It is very diverse. I edged the tree and back ground in Shabby Shutters Distress Ink by Tim Holtz/Ranger. I had some left over bling in yellow and ruby so I added those to the tree. I decided to add a little depth to the card by popping up the tree on pop dots and creating a zig-zag border using the Silhouette Designer Studio software.  The card itself is from Bazzill Paper.  I printed out the Sentiments from the Christmas Card Fun set on white paper so it would stand out.

If you are like me, and putting up your tree this week, then head over to the Cafe' blog and see what everyone came up with.  Inspiration is everywhere this time of year.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: Christmas Boxes

Happy Holidays everyone.  The season has begun.  I found my inspiration this week at the Cutting Café.  I used Regina's Stocking Treat Box to make this holder for candy sticks I plan on bringing to the office, to have on my desk,  over the holiday's.  I made the smaller set as the larger works with the Cameo, which I don't have. (sniff, sniff).

I used Samantha Walkers digital paper line from Jessica Sprague and my Silhouette SD to cut out the pattern.  It goes together really easy. I love how Regina made a background shape to go behind the stocking for it gives the box a lot of sturdiness. 

I made the box so the pattern would be on the inside then made more strips to go on the outside of the box so it would be colored inside and out. 

I took the pdf sentiment from the Stocking Box set, selected this sentiment and created a png file  to make the tag. I dragged the knife across the bottom of the tag to give it the zig zag shape.  The lace was from stash. I glued it under and over the stocking topper to give it more dimension.  This whole project only took me half an hour.  Regina has a ton of these treat boxes for all holidays. If you are looking for a quick put together,  These are it.

Head over to the Café Blog to see what the other designers came up with as their inspiration.  I am sure you won't be disappointed.  This team is awesome!