A Different Style of Card

Hello again.

Back from a lovely holiday in Asia where it was hot and humid, to a week of quite cold days until today - it is so warm outside and a pleasure to sit in the sun for a change! Except when there is a 3.9 magnitude earthquake!

Anyway, back to crafting!. I received this gorgeous Butterfly Slider card machine cut file from Adele at the Printable Craft Shop recently to try out on my Cricut Explore. It is a multi medium style as it has printable elements as well as the cutting file. It took a little trial and error to get it right, but I am very pleased with the outcome.

The floral elements and butterfly on the card were printed from the files that came with the download. I set them to print to cut on the explore with a lot of editing the picture files. For the oval, I took the oval cutting file and placed the floral pictures onto it, then attached them so it would print then cut the oval.

I did the same with the larger piece on the back of the card, layering the picture onto a rectangle which then cut after printing. The butterfly was printed then cut and I cut an additional layer of black card to place the butterfly on as my printer will only print on a maximum weight of 160gsm, which is not heavy enough for cards.

I dry embossed the top layer for the card and attached it to the front. I added some gold paint around the oval to make it stand out a little better and added gold strips around the outside of the floral piece on the back of the card.

This is what the card looks like when it is opened. You can add a message to the inside of the card.










I decided to try making another card using my own materials instead of the printed files.


 I used CTMH cardstock to cut these files. The Cricut cartridges used were the new Flower Market cartridge from CTMH for the flowers and a butterfly image from the Serenade cartridge. The flowers on the front are the same as the bigger ones on the back, except that I made them smaller and reversed the design.

The flowers were layered up then added glossy accentsto make them shiny. Hard to see in these pictures, but it is there! To finish this one off I added some gold foil corner stickers to the 4 corners.

Do head over to the Printable Craft Shop to check out their wonderful selection of printable materials and cutting files. All very reasonably priced as well!

Off to School

For this PCW Design Team post, I have made the card cutting file Chalkboard Card available here at Paper Crafting World. My grand-daughter will be going to school soon so I will be puttng this card aside to give to her on her first day of school, when she turns 5.

I loved this card when I saw it on the PCW website and decided it was perfect for giving to a child or a teacher going back to school for the new school year.

I uploaded the file to Design Space so I could cut it with my Cricut Explore. It is important to check the size of the component of the card before you start cutting. It does need to be resized for an A2 sized card.

I resized the components of the card so that they would fit onto a card 4.25" wide. I have used a tent fold card as a base for this.

I have also used the colours that were on the original design but it would look stunning in a variety of different colours.

All the cardstock used here is from Close to my Heart which is great for layering as it is not too heavy, since there are 7 layers on the card!

I used a CTMH white Chalkboard pen to write the sentiment on the front of the card using the writing function on the Cricut machine.

Do visit the shop to explore the new files that are available and check what the current freebie is too!

Scrapbook layout - Sand

Today I am back with a scrapbook layout for the PCW Design Team. I am looking ahead to our summer which happens from December to March when our new grandson will be enjoying his first summer on the beach. This layout is in preparation for that event.

I used the Bear Boy with Sand Bucket Castle Boy cutting file from Paper Crafting World and imported it to Design Space so I could cut it with my Cricut Explore.  These files are so easy to import - just upload it to Design Space then bring it into the mat and resize it for your project. I made this one 11 inches wide so I could place it on a 12 inch mat with a border.

Each of the pieces in the layout (except the letters) were sponged around the edges with a complementary ink to increase the dimensional look on a 2D layout.

All the cardstock used was from Close to my Heart, which is great for this type of project as it is not too thick, cuts very easily and layers nicely without being too bulky.

I used some of the new colours in this year's range - just released, including Pansy (the spade on the right), willow (the green bucket and band on the swimsuit), and Lemon (the spade in the bucket).

For the photo, I added a mat and stamped a camera on it to show that
it is for a picture. I also added a small journalling tag so I can write about Max and his first trip to the beach later in the year when it is warmer.

Do check out the PCW blog for details of what is new and download the freebie for this month.