Paper pumpkins

I went a little crazy making these "too cute to spook" paper pumpkins. I found this wonderful tutorial at makeminelime.blogspot.com her 09-02-10 post. These are super simple and go together quickly, but they pack a punch in cuteness! I changed up her measurements a bit. I like to maximize my paper usage whenever possible. So these 6 pumpkins were made from 2 12 x 12 patterned papers and 3 8.5 x 11 card stock papers with very little left overs. But you know me, I already have plans for those scraps. So stay tuned, you should see these patterns and papers show up again soon. ;)

The details: I cut the 12 x 12 patterned paper at 6.5 inches, so we also have a 5.5 inch piece. Than I cut both pieces into the 1/2 inch strips. I cut the 8.5 x 11 card stock at 6 inches, so we also have the 5 inch piece. No fuss, no muss and mostly NO WASTE. The rest of her tutorial I followed to the letter. I love tutorials with pictures. I am definitely a visual learner. 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Altered journal - Christmas planner

I am so excited about this project. For one reason, I have looked at these for a few years now and been dying to make one. I am a total list maker...(confession time here) and I have lil notes everywhere. So this just screams out to me, make me, make me.... For another reason, I am a gal who prefers to start anticipating Christmas early. I feel like starting early makes me less crazed during the actual season and I just love the whole fall and winter, Halloween to Christmas time! WAHOO!!!! Bring it on.

Aren't these papers gorgeous. It's all all I have used so far, this year for my Christmas projects. It is CTMH's Mistletoe papers and I love them! To decorate the front cover I used CTMH's Snow Flurries stamp set (D1384) and taking a cue from the patterned paper I made a ornament and hung it on a ribbon with a bow. I stitched the bow on through the 2 paper layers before I adhered it to the front of the book. I'm hoping that will make it much more sturdy then a glue dot.

I divided my composition book into 4 sections and covered a page with card stock and patterned paper at the beginning of each section. The strips of paper actually create pockets. I wish I had thought to stick a receipt in one so you could see this in action. There are 2 pockets on the front of each divider and 1 deep pocket on the back side of the same page.

See, this is the back side of the first divider.

Another section divider, with 2 more pockets.

The back side with 1 big pocket, again.

You get the idea, right?

I just have to say CTMH's Cranberry red is my fave. Gorgeous! I love the traditional Christmas colors best.

And snowflakes!!! Another favorite. Yeah this paper pack is pure perfection.

So, here are the tabs. I put them across the top of the book because I will slide it in and out of my work bag each day. This will save them getting mashed, I hope. I printed them on the computer, To Do, To Buy, To Bake and To Create. Then I punched them out with the SU! label punch, ran them through my Xyron and attempted to evenly space them across the top. Attaching them to the dividers.

Some things I learned during my research to make these altered books. I did not mod podge this cover. I have not had consistently great results with mod podge. Sometimes it warps or bubbles. So I used Scor-tape and placed it ALL the way around the outer edges of the covers, and added some of my Scotch ATG gun tape to the centers for additional adhesion. After I adhered the paper (which I intentionally cut wider and longer then the cover, just to give me some wiggle room) I used a nail file and sanded off the 3 outer edges. Its a much neater edge (IMHO) then attempting to use a xacto knife or scissors. If you hold the file fairly straight up and down to the edge of the cover and only rub the file against the edge on the downward motion you don't get a lot of distressing or removing the color from the decorative paper along the outer edges. For the dividers throughout the book, I did not cut the papers exactly as wide as the page. This would have added a lot of bulk against the binding and made the covers stand up to make room for the extra bulk. I left a little less then .25 inch gap, yes the lined white paper shows through at that gap but I thought it was a good trade off too keep the composition book closing flat. I also used the super strong Scor-tape for the papers that would create the pockets, but for the decorative pieces I used the less expensive Scotch ATG gun tape again. That's all the tips and tricks I can think of right now.

I anticipate great productivity and organization with this gorgeous altered composition book/Christmas planner. I see more of these in my future: Disney planner, Books/Movies/Websites lists, Crafts planner. Oh my, what about the smaller cute composition books for a passwords book? I don't know about you, but I can not remember all the combinations of user id's and passwords for all of the different message boards and websites I belong to.  I'm rambling, I will sign off now. Thanks for stopping by.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Snowman Christmas Cards

I found this awesome youtube tutorial, The twelve days of Christmas. It was from last year and the lady made 12 different Christmas cards with her Cricut. They were all adorable but this snowman design was my favorite by far. So I copied her design practically verbatim. I changed up the paper and ribbon and I didn't add buttons just so they will go through the mail easier, but other than that this is her cutey patootey design. You can find her under cardcrazy09 and this design is #11.

Here is the close up.

This is the inside. The card is called an S fold card.

I did this on Cricut design studio using Doodlecharms cartridge. I did save the file, it cuts 6 snowmen and 6 tags, upper and lower layers. If you would like this .cut file just leave me a comment (please be sure to leave your email address :) that is kind of important.) Thanks for stopping by.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Christmas tags with gift package

I went to another fantastic crafty night at my friend Tina's house. She designed this beautiful package and helped us make these tags. The stamps and the embossing folder and the gorgeous butterfly sizzix dies are all SU! products, the paper and the inks and the embellishments are from my CTMH product stash. 

I hope that you can see the shimmer in this picture because this is the coolest thing I learned that night. Tina made this shimmer spray using a travel sized spray bottle, some rubbing alcohol and a few drops of the shimmer paint. I'm actually not sure if she used the champagne or frost color but it is absolutely gorgeous in person.

More close up shots. Aren't they gorgeous. CTMH cranberry is pretty, but I have to say Tina's samples made in the new SU! cherry cobbler were amazing. Really really amazing.

Here is the whole package together, ready to give away.

Here is another set in CTMH garden green color.

And the close up to show the shimmer paint again. With this set I used CTMH pearls as my bling.

And the final package again. Thanks Tina, these we fun to make and they make such a gorgeous gift.
Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Christmas fancy fold cards

I found this gorgeous card idea at apathofpaper.blogspot.com her 08-30-10 post. I thought it was really unique and couldn't wait to scrap-lift it. I am really enjoying getting some Christmas cards made. It's super-dee-duper easy with the great CTMH Mistletoe papers and so far I have used the same 2 stamp sets on all 3 styles of Christmas cards. Keeping it simple.

This is the view when the card is open. The great window effect is created with Spellbinders nestabilities. Two different sizes die cut and then layered together. The sentiment and snowflakes are stamped on the back fold area of the card. I used my Creative memories snowflake punch and some tiny CTMH pearls to embellish the front and inside of these cards.

The other patterned paper inside the second card.

This is the view from the top. This mountain fold is how the window effect is created.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Christmas joy fold cards

This is the second card design in my Christmas inspiration series. Its called a joy fold card. I see them all over the craft and card blogs. I got my specifics from splitcoaststampers.com tutorials, and lots of beautiful ideas. Be sure to check out the gallery of photos.

Once again I used the Mistletoe paper line from CTMH.

This is the inside. Plenty of area to write on the inside of both flaps.

Above is a close up of the snowflake popped up with dimensional tape. You just slip the corner of the folded flap behind it, to hold it down.

Above is a close up of the stickles on the snowflakes.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Christmas gift card holders

I have caught the Christmas inspiration bug. I guess I am finally over Halloween. I used up all of my scraps and bats, so its clearly time to move on.
This card was originally inspired by lisascreativecorner.blogspot.com her 09-01-10 post. Then I had to plus it up a bit. This card is 4.25 x 5.5, a standard A2 sized card.  With a surprise.

Pull up using the little bow with the pearl center as your handle.
Voila! There is the surprise, the hidden card part. But wait, it's the surprise that keeps on giving. Flip it over and it will hold a gift card.  

I used CTMH Mistletoe level 2 paper pack, D1384 Snow flurries and D1179 Festive Thoughts stamp sets. The inks are CTMH Cranberry and Garden Green. I even used a CTMH pearl.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Mini milk cartons with crate tutorial

I have had  many requests for this Cricut .cut file. I have really been enjoying all the comments and the traffic on my blog. Yahoo!

I have created my own .cut file, made a few changes that make it work better for me....plus this way it is my own work and I can feel free to share it, free-ly. ;)

So, enjoy the tutorial and feel free to leave me a comment requesting the .cut file. I will send out my version of the cartons with the crate now.

I am loving having these adorable bats on my desk to decorate all my Halloween projects. Aren't they the cutest? I cut these cartons in white just to test the .cut file, but when they came out perfectly I couldn't throw them away. So I inked the edges and added the rectangles of decorative papers to try to make them a tad more spooky.

This is the back side. Again using the brads to close the milk carton tops. The bats wings on the front cover the brad prongs, but still leave them easily open-able and reusable.

Now, on with the tutorial....which is picture heavy. Sorry.

Here we are scoring at .5, 1.5 and 3.5 inches.




Flip the .cut and score at 1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6 inches.




In this photo, I know its hard to see but I am trying to show the beginnings of the gable end of the milk carton. So I moved the .cut over to the .25 inch line on the scor-pal and then score just the top .5 inch section at the 2.5 and 5.5 inch lines.



Here the .5 inch marks are clearer. Now we rotate the .cut and starting at the bottom of the .5 inch score I feel around with my finger nail and attempt to get the angled line out to the corner (as seen above).



Rotate and repeat for the other angled score line. This is the most difficult part, trust me. From here it's all gravy baby.

Now we just fold all the scores, making crisp lines.

Use your favorite strong tape on the .5 inch tab along the side and tape the 3 sides of the bottom tab closest to the side tab.

I think the easiest way to line up the side is to fold the taped edge over to the center, then lay the opposite side over on top of the tape. Seems to work out nicely for me. Now fold in the two shorter tabs on the bottom, then fold in the taped tab and finally press the final tab down onto the tape. I use the handle end of my small Fiskars scissors to reach down inside the mini milk carton and press the bottom to ensure the tape is well adhered.
Now we start on the crate. Its quick and simple.

Score at 1 and 2.5 inches.

Flip and score at 1 and 4 inches. (Sorry, I have no idea why this photo won't load rotated to the correct orientation....its me, not you. But its late and I'm too tired to fuss with it. Please forgive me.)

I only add tape to the outer edges of the tabs. This lil crate really doesn't need any more tape then that.

This is the long .cut that makes the handle for the crate. I attempt to center the ovals and then score evenly between them. Then I add tape, 1 stripe above the oval and 1 stripe below the oval.

Then fold the handle .cut in half, sealing the tape together. Score at 4.5 inches. Pressing a bit harder so that you crease through both layers.

I fold both tabs back to make a nice crease again. Then laying 1 tab back against the handle, see above. I run tape along both outer edges of the bottom tabs. Oy, as I read back through these they sounds so confusing.....I really do hope the pictures help.

To get the handle lined up properly I place a mini milk carton against the handle, folding the bottom flat underneath the carton and set it down in the base, with the carton snug up against the side. Then I test it by adding in the other carton, just to make sure they both fit. Its a tight squeeze. I have found that on the base as I am scoring and then creasing the scores if I score a little wide rather then exactly on the line, its a little more roomy with the cartons and the layers of decorative papers and all.
Wow, sorry for the long post. I hope this helps. I hope you enjoy playing around with them as much as I have. So many holidays, so easy to decorate these to fit all of them!
Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!