She Who Stirs the Pot

I don't know which is more fun, using a funny expression in your art, making seasonal home decor or making something out of a found or cheap item.  But in this project I get to do all of these.  I found this 6" Shadow Box at a tag sale for $1.  One of our favorite expressions is "He who stirs the pot should have to lick the spoon".  So what better way to incorporate that expression than with a witches pot? 

I cut out the Haunted House and Cat from Pewter Cardstock using the Close to My Heart Artbooking cartridge.  I cut the Cauldron and lettering from Happy Haunting which are Access files.  The cauldron had a handle and steam but I had to cut them away to make room for the lettering.  I cut the cauldron from black vinyl, the pot contents out of purple glitter vinyl and the lettering out of green glitter vinyl.

You want to consider the edge of your shadow box when sizing your elements for your project.  If the edge of the frame covers a 1/4" on all sides you don't want your images to go out to the edge of your background. 

In Design Space I put a square on the mat and sized it to 6" to represent the background.  Then I layered the text, House and pot to look good aesthetically.  If you have a different size shadow box my measurements would be useless.  So just play around with your sizing to fit your shadow box.  This could be done in a picture frame as well.

I cut the lettering out of green Cricut Glitter Vinyl.  It looked good while I was making it but it really doesn't show up well with the watercolored background.  In hindsight I would use black vinyl or just have a black background with a grey house.  But I really like the watercolored background. 

I cut a 2" circle from the Basic Circles Thin Cuts and Canary Cardstock.  I cut small scraps of Canary cardstock and glued them to the back of the haunted house to represent lit windows. 

To make the background I wet the whole 6" watercolor paper with water.  Then I brushed on yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and black from the bottom up, blending the colors and rinsing the brush between colors so I didn't taint my paint pallet.  I dried the background with a heat gun.  Then I took a gold Shimmer Brush and tapped it against my scissors to splatter the ink onto the background to represent stars.

I glued the moon, house and cat to the background using a Dual Action Glue pen.  I positioned the lettering, cauldron and cauldron contents onto the front of the shadow box.  I glued the background to a scrap piece of poster board for added durability and glued the background to the back of the shadow box with Liquid Glass.

I didn't put a hanger on this shadow box because I made it for my daughter to sit on her desk at work.  She is a middle child and likes to stir the pot. 

To view the video where I demonstrate how I made this please visit my YouTube channel at the link below:



To purchase the supplies, follow the links below:

CTMH Artbooking Cartridge
Pewter Cardstock
CTMH Tweezers
Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors
Watercolor Paper
Paintbrush Set
Watercolor Paints
Gold Shimmer Brush
Liquid Glass
Basic Circles Thin Cuts
Canary Cardstock
Dual Action Glue Pen

Cricut Vinyl may be purchased through the Cricut store

Thank you for coming to my blog.

Paper Play Challenge

I recently discovered Cardcrazy09 on YouTube.  I just love her videos.  So I found my way to Paper Play Sketches today and designed this card in Design Space.  I couldn't wait to get to my craft room and cut it out and put it together. 

I used Paper Play Sketches 53 as my reference to make this card.  Where the banners were, I have elf feet.  I cut sliced them from elves, changed their colors and made them print then cuts.  I took a gift box border and redesigned it to have only 4 boxes instead of six and made the packages different colors.  I thought the sentiment "No Peeking!" was perfect because we can only imagine that the elves could peek out from behind their large gifts.  I adhered the pieces to some patterned paper from Close To My Heart from last year.  I've decided I'm a paper hoarder.  No more!! Lets use that paper.

I'm grateful for the challenge.  Thanks Paper Play Sketches and Mary from Cardcrazy09!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I've created two cards that could be used to encourage someone who is affected by this terrible disease.

The cut outs for this card come from the Close To My Heart You Are Here cartridge.  The girl is "Shopping Trip" minus the bag and the sentiment is "You've Got This".  I made a panel in design space to represent the front of the card 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" but didn't actually cut it out.  I sized the girl and sentiment to fit in the card front aesthetically.  I cut the girl out of black cardstock, You've Got out of Pixie cardstock and This out of Raspberry cardstock.  I used the Adventure and Whimsy Fundamental Paper Packs for the patterned paper.

  

The background pieces were cut as follows:

3" X 5 3/8" Black

2 7/8" X 5 1/4" Raspberry Heart (Adventure)

1 1/8" X 5 3/8" Black

15/16" X 5 1/4" Love  (Whimsy)

I matted the patterned paper onto the black cardstock and adhered them to the white card front which I got from the Value Pack Cards and Envelopes.  I used Tombow permanent tape runner to adhere my papers.

I adhered the girl to the front using the Dual Action Glue Pen.  I adhered the ribbon to the girl as well with the Dual Action Glue Pen. 

I cut about 1 1/4" of the 1/4" 3-D Foam Tape and cut it in half lengthwise.  I adhered one piece to the top and another to the bottom of the back of the "this" banner.  I adhered the banner to the You've Got piece.  I adhered that to the front of the card with the Dual Action Glue Pen.

I put liquid glass over the ribbon to add some shine.  I left the inside of the card blank.

To make this card I cut the ribbon from the Close To My Heart Artistry cartridge using Pixie Cardstock and Raspberry Cardstock.  I glued the two pieces together using the Dual Action Glue Pen.  

I cut a circle out of Daisy White Cardstock and stamped the words "don't ever give up" in the center.  That sentiment comes from the Stronger Together stamp set.  That is a limited time stamp set from Close To My Heart and was developed to raise money for disaster relieve after the recent hurricanes in Florida and Texas.  All of the profits from this stamp set go to the Red Cross.   All of the sentiments in the set are terrific for encouraging someone.  So they were perfect for Breast Cancer support cards.

I cut the following cardstocks to layer on the front of a card panel:

2 5/8" X 5 3/8" Black

2 1/2" X 5 1/4" Words (Adventure)

1 3/8" X 5 3/8" Black

1 1/4 X 5 1/4" Polka Dot (Adventure)

After attaching the layered panels to the card front, I added 3-D Foam Tape to the back of the ribbon and adhered it to the larger panel.  I taped the word circle to the center of the ribbon with Tombow permanent tape runner.

I cut a piece of black paper with the Scallop Border Thin Cuts and adhered it with the Dual Action Glue Pen to the smaller panel to add some interest.  I left the inside of the card blank.

To watch me demonstrate how I made these cards please follow the link below to my YouTube channel. 

https://youtu.be/wzCcrf9FYpE

To purchase supplies used to make these cards please follow the links below to my CTMH website.  Thank you.

Artistry Cartridge (Ribbon)

You Are Here Cartridge (Girl and "You've Got This)

Stronger Together Stamp Set (Used on "Don't Ever Give Up)

Tombow Permanent Adhesive

White Value Pack Cards and Envelopes

Black Cardstock

Pixie Cardstock

Raspberry Cardstock

Adventure Fundamentals Paper Pack

3-D Foam Tape

Dual Action Glue Pen

 Liquid Glass (You've Got This)

Scallop Border Thin Cuts (Don't Ever Give Up)

Do you feel as intimidated by small images as I do?  I rarely buy stamps that are really small because I'm never sure what to do with the rest of the card front.

For these cards I used the Downloadable Guide for the Workshops Your Way Merriest Wishes Cardmaking Kit as a reference.  I've never used a template before but I thought the stamped images in the guides were small like the Punny Pals.  I really enjoyed using the guide and encourage you to download them from my Close To My Heart Website.

These cards feature the Punny Pals Stamp Set.  Seven Dollars from the sales of each of these stamp sets goes to the non profit organization Operation Smile which helps children around the world with surgeries on their cleft lips and palates.  While supplies last you can purchase this set in a card kit or with Thin Cuts made just for this set.

To make the Just PIGcause I Care card I cut out a 2" Circle out of Daisy White Cardstock and stamped the Pig and Saying in the center.  The nice thing about this stamp set is the word are not attached to the images so you can arrange them however you want.  I centered the saying below the pig and stamped it with Archival Black Ink.  I colored the pig with the pink and purple watercolor pencils in the Basic Colors set and wet them with a Waterbrush.  I set it aside to dry while I assembled the rest of the card. 

I cut another circle using the 2 1/2" Thincut die out of Pixie pink cardstock to use as a mat.  I also cut a piece of Pixie Cardstock 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" to cover the card base.  For the card base I used a card from the Value Pack Cards and Envelopes.  These cards come pre scored and are the A2 size. 
I cut a piece of Polka Dot Cardstock from the Whimsy Fundamentals Paper Pack 3 1/4" X 5 1/2", a piece of thistle Cardstock 3/4" X 5 1/2" and a piece of Silver Glitter Paper 1/2" X 4 1/2".  I cut a the end of the silver glitter paper to form a fish tail. 

I adhered the cut pieces onto the Pixie layer by centering the polka dot paper, then added the thistle piece to the right edge of the polka dot paper.  Next I adhered the glitter paper to the left of the thistle piece.  Finally I adhered the pig circle to the Pixie circle.  To adhere all of my paper I used the CTMH adhesive tape.  But to adhere the circles I put two pieces of 3-D Foam tape on the back of the circles and adhered them lining the right side of the circle along the right side of the thistle layer.  I left the inside of the card blank.

For the "I like your CATITUDE" card I stamped the cat image onto a piece of Watercolor paper with Espresso Pigment Inc which is part of a set.  This type of pigment stays wet for a while and allows embossing powder to stick to it for heat embossing, which is exactly what I did.  I embossed it with clear embossing powder so you could see the espresso colored pigment.  By embossing the image it made small wells to hold the water colors which keeps them from mixing together within the image.  I used yellow and orange watercolors to color the cat and pink to fill in the inside of his ears.  I painted the round patch on his tummy a darker orange.  Once it was painted I set it aside to dry.  I cut a banner out of Goldrush cardstock.  I cut a piece of Goldrush polka dot Cardstock from the Enchantment Fundamental Paper Pack 3" X 5 1/2" and a piece of large Orange polka dot Cardstock also fro the Enchantment Fundamental Paper Pack 2" X 5 1/2".  I also cut a strip of Gold Glitter Cardstock 1/2" X 4 1/2" and cut a fish tail in one end.

I adhered the Goldrush polka dot paper to the left side of a cardfront, the orange polka dot paper to the right side.  The two pieces overlapped a bit.  Then I adhered the gold glitter paper to the left of the large orange polka dot paper and adhered the Goldrush banner on top, lining the left side of the banner with the left side of the glitter paper. 

I punched the top and bottom corners on the right side of the card with a corner rounder.  The rounded edges looked good with all of the circles and polka dots.  It softened the look of the card.

I used 3-D Foam tape to adhere the cat to the top of the banner.  It was important to round the edges before adhering the cat because in my prototype card, I punched the corners last and the layers got in the way. 

To finish off the card I stamped the sentiment under the cat. When I mounted the sentiment on an acrylic block I positioned it toward the top of the block so the block wouldn't bump the raised circle the cat was stamped on. 

 To watch me make the cards please follow the link below to my YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/IwUb131NZ-Y

To purchase supplies please follow the links below to my CTMH website.  Thank you.


Shared Supplies

Punny Pals Stamp Set
White Value Pack Cards and Envelopes
Waterbrush - Small Round
Micro Tip Scissors
Adhesive Runner
3-D Foam Tape
Archival Black Ink

Just PIGcause I Care

White Daisy Cardstock
Whimsy Fundamental Paper Pack
Whimsy Cardstock Combo Pack
Silver Glitter Paper
Basic Colors Watercolor Pencils
Basic Circles Thin Cuts

I like your CATITUDE

Enchantment Paper Pack
Watercolor Paper
Gold Glitter Paper
Goldrush Cardstock
Espresso Pigment Ink (Basics Mini Pigment Pads Set)
Ranger Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder
Watercolor Paints
Basic Banner Thin Cuts
Corner Rounder
Liquid Glass

Word Bubble Cards

I just love watching YouTube and craft-lifting ideas from my hero's.  Last week I watched a YouTube video by Jennifer McGuire where she used a word bubble die set to create a card.  Since I'm totally in love with my Cricut I took her card design and tried to replicate her idea in Design Space using the Close To My Heart Flower Market cartridge.

I made a card panel from black cardstock 11" X 4 1/4".  Then I made a white card front using watercolor paper that was 5 1/2" X 4 1/4".  I inserted, from the Flower Market Collection, a monster, a pumpkin and a word bubble.  I sized the monster, pumpkin and word bubble to fit the page, changed the colors of the monster and pumpkin then duplicated the pumpkin and flipped it and resized one of the pumpkins to make it a bit smaller.

To make the word bubble cut out, I lined up the top panel and the back panel, aligning the bottoms and aligning them horizontally for a perfect fit.  Then I placed the word bubble on top where I wanted it.  I selected the word bubble and the top panel and sliced it.  Being very careful not to move anything else but the top panel, I moved it to the side.  I selected the word bubble again and the back panel and sliced the back panel.  I removed all of the leftover pieces from slicing the images. 

I attached a fold line horizontally to the center of the back panel.

I placed the score tool in the pen holder of the Cricut and cut out the pieces following the color guides in the cutting screen of Design Space.

Using watercolors I made a sunset effect by starting at the bottom of the white panel and brushing on yellow paint with my water barrel brush.  Next I brushed on orange watercolor above the yellow and blended the two together.  Cleaning off my brush between layers I added red above the orange.  Then I added blue above the red and blended to make purple and painted black above the blue.  While I had black loaded in my brush I brushed some black along the bottom of the page to make a ground for the pumpkins and monster.

I cut apart the flat part of a clear plastic egg carton to use in between my card layers to fill in the word bubble.  You could use transparency sheets or other clear plastic packaging.  I used tape runner to adhere the plastic to the front card panel and more adhesive to the back of the card front to adhere it to the front of the black card panel.  Be careful not to get adhesive on the transparent piece.

I glued the pumpkin pieces together as well as the monster pieces and added some googly eyes to the monster.  I affixed them to the front of the card panel at the bottom

On the inside of the card I used VersaMark ink to emboss my sentiment with Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder.

Then I cut out Boo for the pumpkin card and Hey for the monster card using the Block Alphabet Thin Cuts and my Cuttlebug die cutting machine.  I cut a set out of paper and one out of fun foam.  By gluing the paper to the fun foam it will add dimension to the letters for a fun look.

I glued each word inside of a word bubble using the Dual Action Glue Pen.

My card looks nothing like Jennifer McGuire's card but I thank her for the great idea adding the plastic inside the cut outs between two card panels.  It was a fun project and whimsical.  I will be using this technique again.

You can purchase supplies at my Close To My Heart website https://laurahenry.closetomyheart.com/
or follow the links below:

CTMH Flower Market Cricut Cartridge Bundle 
Watercolor Paper
Black Cardstock
Goldrush Cardstock
Pansy Cardstock
Thistle Cardstock
Tombow Permanent Adhesive
Watercolor Paints
Watercolorbrush - Medium Flat
Dual Action Glue Pen
3-D Foam Tape
Block Alphabet Thin Cuts
VersaMark embossing ink
Ranger White Embossing Powder

To watch my video on YouTube follow this link:

https://youtu.be/jQb3DdIpv0U

To watch Jennifer McGuire's video that inspired me follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17XccPDvV0&index=44&list=WL

I picked up some cardboard coasters at a local craft store for a dollar a while back and found a great fall use for them.  I covered them with patterned paper, distressed the edges and glued the word "fall", flowers and leaves to them and attached them to each other with ribbon.

Using Close To My Heart's Cricut Flower Market Collection I was able to closely recreate the flower in the pattern paper as well as the leaves using the Leaf Thin Cut die.

You can watch a detailed video of how I made the swag at my YouTube channel.  Just follow the link:

Fall Swag

I'll list links to the supplies but you can shop for Close To My Heart Supplies at my CTMH web page:

https://laurahenry.closetomyheart.com/

Falling For You Paper Pack
Falling For You Coordinating Cardstock
Bonding Memories Broad Tip Glue Pen
Non Stick Micro-Tip Scissors
Toffee Ink
Espresso Ink
Bonding Memories Dual Action Glue Pen
Thin Cuts - Leaf
Metallic Markers
White Burlap Ribbon
Canary Cardstock
Zen Coasters

I've had the Cricut Artbooking Collection from Close To My Heart for quite some time and have used bits from it but recently I took a good look at it.  There are scrapbook layouts included on the cartridge.

The following are the images, numbers and cartridges I added to my design canvass.
   

• Dog - #M2F8D6 - A Child's Year
• Heart Banner Border - #3EF31- Close To My Heart Artbooking
• Rectangular Frames - #M40CE5 - Close To My Heart Artbooking
• Square and Circle Frame - #M40D2C - Close To My Heart Artbooking
• Buddies - #M58139 - Close To My Heart Artbooking
• Heart Paw Print - #M4130AD - Close To My Heart Artistry
• Woof - #M2F3AB - Animal Kingdom
• Bird Dog Circle - #M32A1E - Paper Pups
• Bone - #M3B5AC - Disney Mickey Font

Following the guide in the Artbooking cartridge book, I sized the two scrapbook layouts at 11".  To keep the photo sizes standard you must keep to the specified dimensions.  I adjusted all of the other elements to fit on the page to make it aesthetically pleasing.  I layered the scrapbook layouts and embellishments onto white cardstock.  

I embossed the words "Faithful Friend" from the Faithful Friend stamp set with Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder and my heat gun.  On the right layout the large photo didn't fit in the space so I used a piece of Almond cardstock to fill in the gap.  Then I stamped a sentiment from the Faithful Friend stamp set on the Almond space.  I used one of the leftover hearts that were cut out of the banner to embellish that space as well.  I also stamped a sentiment from the Faithful Friend stamp set onto the dog bone.  I used 3D Foam Tape to raise up the bone and the two Woof's.  I had to cut the tape down the middle to be narrow enough to fit on the Woof's.  I put both of the dogs together and cut the tails down to look more like my dogs' tails.  I used the Dual Action Glue Pen to adhere the dogs, the buddies embellishment, the Bird dog embellishment and the banner.  

I used Tombow Permanent Adhesive to adhere the layouts to the white cardstock and the photos to the back of the layout.  The 4" X 6" photos were much bigger than the spaces for them so I lined each photo up behind the layout, placed the cutout from the layout back in the space and carefully removed the photo and the cutout.  I took large scissors and cut the photo about 1/4" around the cutout.  This allowed the photo to be cut down but gave 1/4" to put the tape to adhere it to the back of the layout. 

My preference in scrapbooks is a D ring album.  It's easier to add photos to it than the strap hinge or post bound albums.  

It took less than 2 hours from start to finish to make this two page layout.  That might seem like a lot of time to someone but I like all of my embellishments to match or accentuate my photos.  I feel like it makes the page more meaningful.  

To watch a video follow the link below:

https://youtu.be/Qce0vuM0_Rw

To purchase products click on the links below:

Cricut Artbooking Collection

Faithful Friend Stamp Set

Black Cardstock

White Cardstock

Ruby Cardstock

Almond Cardstock

Ruby Ink

Versa Mark Ink Pad

Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder

3D Foam Tape

Dual Action Glue Pen

Tombow Permanent Adhesive

12" X 12" D Ring Album - Black

Top Load Protectors