Almost Christmas Again!

Festive Greetings to all my blogging friends!

Today's PCW contribution is a gorgeous Bear in a Stocking image that I used with the Print to Cut feature on my Cricut Explore. I have had my Explore for almost a year and I have used it almost every day since I have had it - except for the times when I have been away from home!

 I sized the image so the main image in the set was 3 1/2" and then I printed the entire set of images.

When the print was completed, I cut the image using the explore and you can see from the close-up photo below, that the cut is extremely good.

I added glitzy pen to some of the features on the images, such as the outside of the bows and ribbons, the candy cane and the stocking. I added liquid glass to the eyes and nose to make them stand out.

When I had completed the process of layering the bear using foam tape, I decided to put him on the outside of a gift box I had made recently from a Cricut Cartridge - CTMH Artiste. The box is approximately 2 3/4" square and will hold loads of Hershey's Kisses! I added some gold tape to the top and bottom of the box.

I hope this inspires you to explore the Print to Cut files on PCW here.

I wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to being with you again in January, 2016!

Pink Angel

Hello everyone
This week, for the Papaer Crafting World blog, I decided to do a print to cut using a gorgeous angel digital image from here at PCW.

There was an option to use the coloured version or a black line version and I decided to do the black line version as I needed to get out my Copic markers again!

I used a  5" x 5" square card for this one and cut some music paper for the background. I then used the Cuttlebug and a scalloped square die to cut the top layer. I embossed it using the Cuttlebug then applied Spun Sugar Distress Ink to the card while it was still in the die so the white edge would show.

When I had printed the image, I put it back into my Cricut Explore to cut it out - and a beautiful job it did too! Saved a lot of fussy cutting by hand!

I coloured the image with copic markers then applied glitter glue to the top wings so they sparkle. I used foam tape to attach the angel to the scalloped layer and attached the greeting with foam tape.

My granddaughter loves anything pink so she will love this card.

Lovely Layout

Hello again everyone! Todays contribution to the PCW monthly challenge is a beautiful side pennant layout designed by Melin which is available for you to purchase here!

I have used the layout design to create a layout using red as a theme.

I used papers from Close to My Heart to create this layout. The colours were cranberry, whisper, slate, pear, black, white daisy and colonial white. I also used a red paper from the Fundamentals Adventure collection as the main backing paper. It is a cute design with white circles. To finish off the flowers, I used some pearl dots in the centres.

The stamps used are from the stamp set - Your own kind of Wonderful (D1627) available from Melin's CTMH shop or - if you are in New Zealand, my CTMH shop.

We would love to see you joining in our challenge for this month - Anything goes with a touch of red!

Red Challenge!

This month, Paper Crafting World is having an Anything Goes challenge with Red as a theme. So all you need to do to enter is to make up one of the many gorgeous files available at PCW and use red as one of the featured colours!

My DT entry for this month is a red poinsettia. The file is available here and is very easy to cut with any machine that uses svg files.

I made this poinsettia into a brooch as our singing group needed something a little different for our Christmas entertainments over the next two months and I volunteered to make these brooches for everyone.

I cut the file at 4" wide and it is just under 4" in height. I used a variety of cardstock to get the colours I wanted. When I had cut the layers, I embossed the red layers using the swiss dots folder in my Cuttlebug to give some added texture. I then shaped the petals using a pair of scissors to curve them gently so they give a more 3D look.

I added Kindiglitz to the yellow inner piece to provide some added sparkle and glued the pieces together in the centre and added them to the leaf layer.

To finish the brooch off, I added a brooch clip to the back using hot glue. I think it works well as a decorative brooch for us all to wear!

Pop over to PCW to check out the challange and the wonderful files that are available there.
Thanks for looking at my blog again!

Fall Wreath

Here is my version of the lovely Fall Wreath available from Paper Crafting World here.

I cut the svg files using my Cricut Explore and the Design Space software. The width of the wreath is approximately 8 inches and you need to size the leaves along with the rings for the wreath to ensure the proportions are consistent.

I cut the base rings out of kraft cardstock then stamped with a woodgrain stamp. The leaves and acorns were cut from various autumnal shades of cardstock from Close to my Heart, burnished to give them some 3D shape, then attached to the wreath .

I then sprayed the wreath with a gold mist spray I made with Perfect Pearls powder and water.

I stamped the tops and bottoms of the acorns to give them a different texture using background stamps consisting of dots and lines.

 The words were designed using SCAL4 then exported as an svg to Design Space. You need to be able to do this so you can get a shadow layer using a font that does not have one.

I layered the top and base layers then applied sparkly glue to the letters to make them stand out.



I hope you are enjoying the challenge this month. There is certainly a big choice of files available from  Paper Crafting World to make Thanksgiving cards and decor pieces. Pop on over to Paper Crafting World to check out what is available and enter the challenge for this month!

Autumn for some!

Hi there! Today I am bringing you a cute little 6 fold card I made using the lovely digital image Bear with Pumpkin available here.

 To cut the digital image, I imported the jpg file into my Cricut Design Space then sized the image to the right size for the card. I then sent it to my printer and it printed the image with registration marks so I could cut it out using my Cricut Explore. The Print to Cut feature on this new machine is wonderful and I have had a lot of success using it to print some wonderful images.

I then made my 6 fold card following the instructions from here and layered it with different patterned paper from the Pathfinding collection, unfortunately now deleted from the Close to my Heart range of patterned papers.

To finish the card, I die cut a scalloped edge circle and a plain circle from contrasting card, attached the die cut picture then added die cut leaves along the bottom of the cart. The stamped images are from the Pathfinding Cardmaking Workshop kit from Close to my Heart.

I hope that you are enjoying Autumn or Fall or Spring - depending on where in the world you are. I am enjoying our Southern Hemisphere Spring right now and the flowers are just stunning.

Another beautiful Card from PCW

This week, my contribution to the DT and Anything Goes Challenge is another lovely card cutting file from Paper Crafting World.

This cutting file - Card Flourished Edge 4215 CF - is available from PCW here. The detail in the card is quite amazing and it cut very well on my Cricut Explore. The tent fold card base (in white) is shaped as well as the top layers. The coloured layers and flowers on the card were cut in Hollyhock card from Close to my Heart. There is a total of five layers on the front of the card, including the stamped layer. 

The cutting file for the flowers is included with the card file and they are the perfect size for this card which measures 4.5" by 5.75". I added the leaves from a Cricut cartridge - Outdoor Man - to add some additional colour to the card.

The stamp is from a CTMH set - Wavy Blooms (D1651) and was stamped with Slate Exclusive Ink, also from CTMH.

We do hope you will join us for the Anything Goes (with the optional twist to use a stamp) challenge this month. You can add up to 3 entries, which must use files from Paper Crafting World. 

Materials Used:
Close to My Heart Cardstock in White Daisy and Hollyhock
Scrap of green for leaves
CTMH stamp set D1651 - Wavy Blooms
CTMH Exclusive Ink - Slate


Close to My Heart items can be purchased from Melin's CTMH shop if you are in the USA or, if you are in New Zealand,  from Janet's CTMH on-line shop.