Christmas Gift Card Holder

The holidays are right around the corner! Everyone has someone on their Christmas list that is hard to shop for and the most common gift for those folks is a gift card (or cash)! After all, those gifts are always the right size/color and no one will want to return them! :-)  So to kick off my Christmas crafting I have made this gift card holder using my new Artiste cartridge along with a couple other favorites, Art Philosophy and Holiday Cakes.  The gift card holder was cut at 5".  Score along the marks that are cut and fold. I used my ATG to tape the gift card pocket together. Next, I used my paper trimmer to make a rectangle (the diagonal lined paper) as a mat for my main images. The flourished rectangles were cut from Art Philosophy at 2.25" (green) and 2" (red dots). Then I cut the Christmas tree from Holiday Cakes at 2.75". I loved the look of this tree because it went so well with my the fun patterned paper (the paper is by Recollections if you're wondering). I added red Stickles to my tree and let it dry. Then I glued the tree to the layered flourish rectangles. I used some foam mounting tape to attach the flourished square to my background paper - it gives nice dimension and a little extra pop! For the inside I used my trimmer to make a white liner, rounder the corners, and stamped Merry Christmas in dark green ink. A gift card fits perfectly in the pocket, or you can also fold cash and put in there if you prefer. This size of gift card holder will fit in note card size envelopes.

Super easy and super cute! I made 7 of these in 1 sitting and they did not take much time at all to create - I think the longest part was waiting for the Stickles to dry. I'm sure I'll be making more of these in the coming weeks and I hope you will try these too!

Friends Card

I made this card for a friend of mine. It took about 15 minutes, start to finish. I used Art Philosophy to cut the tag and layer at 3". I added paper layers to the card base, some organza ribbon, bling, flowers, and a friends metal embellishment to complete the card.

Halloween Treat Bags

My daughter's kindergarten class is having a Halloween party tomorrow afternoon so I needed to make some treat bags that were quick and easy to make. Here's what I came up with. I made 18 treat bags.

I used 4x6 cello bags that I purchased at Michael's to put some goodies in. My daughter is a huge Hello Kitty fan, so when I came across these adorable candy tins at an awesome price, I knew I had to get these for her classmates. I also included a sucker and a mini coloring book in each bag. I cut the bag toppers using Art Philosophy <square4> at 4.25". I scored them in the middle and folded them over the bags. I stapled them on. I then cut a pumpkin from Simply Charmed at 3". I handmade the flags. I printed the sentiment on yellow cardstock and then used a paper trimmer to cut between them. Then I used scissors to cut the points on one end of the banner. I glued the banners on the bag toppers, and finally glued the pumpkins over the un-pointed end of the flag. Super easy to make large quantities of these!

Baby Gender Reveal Banners

I'm so glad I can finally post these! I go to church with a girl who is expecting and found out the sex of her baby yesterday. The family wanted to take photos immediately following the doctor appointment to reveal the gender of her little bundle of joy to other family members via text and on Facebook, so I made a boy and girl banner for the mom to be to hold for the photos depending on which the baby is. And it turns out......its a BOY! I used the Pretty Pennants cartridge for the banner pieces (cut at 4.5") and Plantin Schoolbook for the letters/shadow (cut at 3"). The pattern paper is by Sassafras Lass. I added pop dots to the letters to make them stand out from the background a bit more. I hope you like them as much as I do! I love baby themed papercrafts!

World Card Making Day: Hello! Card

This card was made for my secret pal (I hope she doesn't check my blog! lol). The card is 5x7 size. I used a denim color paper by K&Company for the background. I bought a really cool honeycomb embossing folder by Darice that I'd been wanting to try, so I embossed a yellow piece of cardstock that has a white core with the folder. I cut around some of the honeycomb edges so it would be a shaped piece instead of rectangular. After I got it into the shape I liked, I lightly sanded the paper with a nail file. I cut a cute bee from the Create a Critter cartridge at 3.5" and added some Stickles to his wings & rosy ink on his cheeks. I wrapped blue twine around the honeycomb embossed paper and then adhered it to the card base. I used a pop dot on the bee and attached it to the honeycomb paper. I doodled some on the honeycomb to make it appear that the bee was in flight. Lastly, I stamped the Hello sentiment and added a couple of rhinestones to the corners to finish the card.

World Card Making Day: Birthday Card

This card was part of a challenge in a Facebook group I'm in to make a card using circles, but make it unique. I thought it would be fun to try to make a pinwheel from the circles and this is the outcome. I love how it looks and it was so easy! I cut my circles using the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge. I cut two circles in the foiled pattern paper at 2.5", a teal cardstock circle at 1.5", and a yellow circle a 2.5". If you don't have a die cutting machine, you can also use paper punches. After I cut all my circles, I cut the patterned paper circles in half and glued the four pieces to the yellow 2.5" circle as shown. Then I took the teal 1.5" circle and glued in the center of the pinwheel piece to cover the patterned paper that was slightly overlapping in the middle. I added a teal rhinestone to the center as a finishing touch. While the glue was drying, I made my card base. I used a coordinating yellow paper for the background to pull out the touches of yellow in my pattern paper. I tied some yellow ribbon around a lollipop stick (found in the baking section of most craft stores) then glued it to my card base. I then added some pop dots to the back of my pinwheel and adhered it to my card, making sure that the top end of the lollipop stick was not showing. Finally, I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment on the card.

World Card Making Day: Happy Thoughts Card

Happy World Card Making Day! In honor of today I thought I would share some cards  have made lately, so check back for more posts throughout the day. I don't always get my blog updated, but I do still craft when I get the chance. Here's a fun CAS card using all circles cut from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge. I folded an 8.5x11 piece of cardstock for the cardbase, then I cut several circles ranging in size from 2.5" down to 1" in different papers and layered them all together. I hand cut a flag and stamped the sentiment in a pretty coordinating ink color. This card was made in approximately 15 minutes, start to finish.  
  

It's getting close to Mother's Day...

Since Mother's Day is coming up soon, I figured I would go ahead and get my mom's card made. That is a huge accomplishment because ususally I'm the world's biggest procrastinator! Here's the finished card:

I had so much fun making this card! Card making is something I love to do, but I often find myself stumped when trying to come up with layout and design ideas. This one came together just the way I had pictured in my mind.

The solid purple border was shaped using a Martha Stewart scalloped lace border punch. I used the Art Philosophy cartridge for the rest of the die cuts. Here's a list of all the AP cuts that I made:
The frame at the top of the card is <shape2> and decorative layer from page 36 cut at 1.5".
The green vine is the font layer of <tab2> on page 58 cut at 3.5".
The large flower is <flower8> from page 50 cut at 1", .75", and .5", layered together and secured with a brad. The two smaller flowers are also <flower8> cut at .5" and a tiny pearl (Martha Stewart) was added to the center of each flower.
The butterfly is <butterfly1> and layer from page 41 cut at 1". I added Cotton Candy Stickles to the pink layer of the butterfly and used tiny pink MS pearls on the butterfly's body. This card is a great one to make to use up some of those scraps! All of the AP cuts were made from scraps.
I used a Happy Mother's Day rub on from 3 Birds on the frame and added a Martha Stewart gingham bow for an accent then attached it to the card with pop dots. Here's a close up:

I'm entering this card in several challenges:
*April card making challenge in Crafty Cricut Swaps Facebook group: Use purple, a Cricut cut, &
  ribbon
*Craft-e Corner's Mother's Day contest to win a Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge
*Hiding In My Craft Room #93 Super Scraps Saturday

I hope you like this project! Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~

Birthday Card

Here's a quick birthday card I made for my aunt...

I used a A2 notecard base from The Paper Studio, DCWV  "Happy Birthday" patterned paper, white and pink cardstock, ribbon, pop dots, and a birthday cake rub on from 3 Birds.

I trimmed up some pink cardstock to make a mat for the patterned paper then adhered the Happy Birthday paper to the mat, added a sheer pink ribbon to the bottom, and adhered to the A2 card base. I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut <square3> in white and the layer in pink at 2.25". I added the birthday cake rub on to the white square and then glued the pink layer on. I attached the finished square to the front of the card using pop dots to give a little extra dimension. That's it! This project took about 15 minutes to complete. Easy peasy!

Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope all my crafty friends are having a great Valentine's Day! Today I made a quick and easy gift box to put my hubby's gift in. I waited until today to make it...eeekkkk! I'm such a procrastinator-but I got it finished just in time. :-) I love how this turned out. And the best part? This cute little box was made using mostly scraps from my paper stash! Everyone has piles and piles of paper scraps, right? I can't be the only one! lol

Not sure why my photo does not show the entire thing...on my camera, you can see the whole box. Sigh...technical difficulties... The pillow-box was cut from Art Philosophy (page 28, Font Layer + Shift). I used a red sheet of 8.5x11 cardstock and used the fit to page option. I can't remember how large it cut at...I should have written that down! I trimmed up an odd shaped scrap of the True Love printed paper (by Studio G) to fit the front of the box. Then I cut several banners from page 29 of the AP cartridge (<Banner2> in assorted sizes ranging from 1.5" up to 2.5") using scraps I had left from my Valentine's mailbox project (click here to see that project). Finally, I cut  the hearts from Create a Critter 2 on page 30, Accessory (scalloped heart) and Accessory+Shift (hearts) at 3.25". I also cut an additional scalloped heart in dark pink at 3.5" to make a shadow. I assembled the heart, and glued the banners in staggered layers to the front of the box. I used some Doodlebug Designs Valentine twine (say that 3 times fast! lol) to wrap around the box, then used pop dots to adhere the heart to the box. Super easy!

And you may be wondering what was the gift inside...well, my husband plays guitar so I thought it would be a great idea to get him a unique guitar pick. I found a wonderful shop on Etsy called Carrie's Custom Designs that sells hand stamped jewelry and other gifts. She stamps all kinds of cool stuff - including guitar picks. Here's is my custom created guitar pick that Carrie made. It's awesome!

My hubby loved his new guitar pick! If you need a unique gift, go check out Carrie's Etsy shop!

I'm linking my gift box project up on the following blogs:
Hiding In My Craft Room: #84 Super Scraps Saturday
Exploring Cricut: Be My Valentine
Fantabulous Cricut: #148 Be My Valentine

Have a great evening, friends!
~Melissa~

Valentine's Day Mailbox

Here's a Valentine's mailbox I made for my daughter to use at her school Valentine exchange. I used the Lovestruck cartridge for this project.

I used the fit to page option on a 12x12 piece of cardstock. The image cut at 11.5". After assembled, the mailbox is 3" tall and 4.75" long. Just big enough to fit Valentine cards! I used a solid pink piece of cardstock to cut the mailbox and flag, then after I assembled the mailbox, I cut pieces of patterned paper to fit all the sides of the mailbox. I attached the flag with a brad so the flag will raise and lower. Finally, I stamped my daughter's name on a heart shaped die cut and adhered it to the mailbox door.

I'm linking up at Exploring Cricut's Be My Valentine challenge. I hope you have enjoyed this project!

Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~