Easter is coming

On March 9, 2015 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Stamping9 Comments

Welcome

I am a day late for my blog but I lost the battle with the light last night to take photos. It is heading into Autumn here and Easter is just around the corner so the days are getting shorter and the dark came up quicker that I had wanted. I went out with my aunt yesterday and found some very cheap foam crosses and thought I would have fun dressing up the cross to put on the wall in my shop. It is also fitting as my new landlord is a church. Here is the finished product hanging on the wall at Gift Hutt. I am going to look at doing another cross up for ANZAC Day with red poppies.

To cover the cross I have used the lovely B&T papers from the Yuletide Carol Reflections paper range. This particular paper is really versatile for lots of different projects apart from Christmas. I wasn’t sure about it at first but now I love it for doing backgrounds. I used liquid glass to adhere the paper onto the foam – the edges are not perfect as this is not a perfect cross but I did what I could. I had to have a join in the paper and hid this with the Black Striped Twill.

I really like using different techniques for making flowers and for these flowers I have got my inspiration from another company on how to do these flowers. They used dies and stamps but I used my Cricut cartridges – Artiste and Art Philosophy and kept to a very neutral palate – Colonial White and Flaxen. I love how you can make all different sizes instead of being limited to the size of the die.

For the flowers I cut the flowers from the Artiste cartridge page 54 Accent 3>Shift at sizes ranging from 2″ down to 1/2″ in increments of 1/2″ as this made a good contrast in sizes. However, I used flowers that I had cut out earlier and I think the sizes were only 1/4″ difference and I think the centre petals are a little big.

After cutting the flowers I used the small spray bottles to slightly dampen the flowers.

Once they were pliable to use I then used the shaping tool to create some texture and pattern on the petals.

I then pleated all the petals by hand and twisted them slightly. Using the large ball embossing tool I then made the flowers cup up. Each flower had two of these layers. These were then left to dry.

For the centre of the flowers I used the next size down flower and using the same technique I created the cups for the centre. However, I did not pleat the petals this time.

Here are the completed flowers ready to put on the cross. As you can see I have done three different sizes to create some depth and interest to the flowers.

Before putting the flowers on the cross I cut out several leaves from the Art Philosophy cartridge page 35 <Branch2> size 2″ from Flaxen cardstock. I then played around with the placement of the leaves and glued them down with the small glue stick.

I placed a bow on the cross first and then had some fun with placing all the flowers in a pleasing way. I finished off with a pearl flourish (NLA) and then some clear sparkles in the middle of the flowers. For the final touch I embossed three butterflies from the Armour stamp set with gold embossing powder and fussy cut them out and used liquid glue to adhere them to the flowers. I would have preferred to use pearls but unfortunately, CTMH do not stock them.

Here is a close up of the pearls, flowers and butterfly.

I then went on to create some cards using the same papers, flowers and colours and the His Love stamp set that is only available until the end of the month.

Here I have used my own design and used a spare flower and leaves to embellish the card. I have used the black sequins from the Mini Medley Accents – Black to finish it off.

For this card I have paper pierced the lily and finished off with the Black Strip Twill. The pattern for this and the following card is from the Make it From Your Heart Volume 1 pattern no. 25. I have first stamped the lily image on the Colonial White cardstock and then again on some scrap White Daisy and Flaxen cardstock and then fussy cut out the images and pieced them together to make the lily stand out.

Finally, I have turned the card around and put the Bible verse on the card and finished with the smallest flowers – 1/2″ on the leaves in Flaxen cardstock.
Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Flaxen, White Daisy

Paper – Yuletide Carol B&T

Stamps – Armour, His Love

Inks – Black, Versamark

Liquid Glass

Ranger Gold embossing powder

Clear Sparkles

Black Striped twill

Bakers Twine Neutral Metallic Assortment

Mini Medley Accents – Black

I hope that you enjoy my latest creations.

Have a good week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Shabby Chic

On January 18, 2015January 19, 2015 By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Cricut, Stamping10 Comments

Welcome

Many thanks for all the visits and lovely comments for my cards on the blog hop.

Today I will be showing you how I made the roses on the lovely trinket box that I showed a couple of posts ago.

I love rolling roses but I have also seen some other amazing roses on Pinterest and You Tube and thought I would have a look in the CTMH Cricut cartridges and see what I can find to match some of the punches that have been used. I needed a flower with 5 petals and I found the perfect shape on page 54 of the Artiste cartridge booklet – Accent 3>shift key. This one was good as it had a jagged edge to make it easier to make a shabby chic rose. I cut out two different sizes – 2″ and 2 1/2″ in Colonial White cardstock.

I then stamped the flowers with the script stamp from the Armour stamp set in Bamboo ink and then sponged in the middle with the Bamboo ink back and front.

I then sponged the edge with Blush ink back and front.

A couple of years ago I was very fortunate to win a Sizzix Susan’s Garden tool kit in an online challenge and it is now coming in very useful to help shape flowers. I watched a few videos on the Sizzix website to learn how to use all the tools properly and put them to the test with these flowers. I used the petal shaping tool to shape the flowers and the large ball embossing tool in the centre to create the cupcake shape.

I cut down a little to the centre of the flowers on three of the flowers to make it easier to create the centre of the flower.

Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of putting the flowers together and I am not comfortable doing a video but there are a number of videos on You Tube that will show you how to put these flowers together – this is one of the many I watched here. I used a hot glue gun to put the flowers together so please excuse the strands of glue. I have tried using liquid glass but it is not as good to glue quickly.

I glued two opposite petals together and then glued the other petals around the centre to create the bud of the flower.

I then glued the next layer onto the base and overlapped the petals by gluing at the base of each petal.

I did the same with the third layer of petals.

And the fourth layer.

And the fifth layer. Once all the layers were together I then used my tweezers to roll the outer petals out to create the finished rose.

Here are some of the completed roses. I am really happy how they turned out and they are all so different. It was interesting how the script stamp ended up looking like veins in the petals and the colours worked really well together.

Now that I had my roses I had purchased a couple of the trinket boxes in the while supplies last section on my website. I love the Flaxen cardstock and it matched really well with the Bamboo and Blush colours I had used. I covered the box with Flaxen cardstock and then I again used the script stamp on Colonial White cardstock with Bamboo ink and then sponged the edges with the ink. I then cut the flourish from Art Philosophy on page 58 Font Layer in Bamboo cardstock using Cricut Craft Room to get the correct size that I wanted. I then sponged with a mixture of Bamboo, Flaxen and Desert Sand ink which came up like an antique gold colour. This was then placed on the corner of the box.

I cut the shape for the sentiment from the Artfully Sent Curlicue frames set and then stamped the frame with Bamboo ink and sponged the edge with Bamboo ink. The sentiment is from the A Thing Well Done stamp set and I stamped that with Desert Sand ink.

The leaves have been cut out of Olive cardstock and I have used the leaf shaping tool to make the veins and then shaped the leaves for dimension and I then sponged the edges with New England Ivy.

I worked out where I could put the pearl flourish (unfortunately, no longer available) and then placed it on the box. I then glued one large and two small roses in a triangle over the the flourish and pearl flourish. I spent time placing the leaves in a pleasing manner and then finished off with the lovely rosette ribbon that is also no longer available. (I am trying to work through some of my stash). I placed three single ribbon roses around the base of the roses to add to the Shabby Chic look.

Around the base of the box I did the same with Flaxen cardstock and the script cardstock. I then cut two flourishes form page 50 of the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge using the mirror image in Cricut Craft Room and using the same technique that was used on the flourish on the top I then antiqued them and glued them to the front. And voila a Shabby Chic box.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Flaxen, Bamboo, White Colonial, Olive

Ink – Bamboo, New England Ivy, Desert Sand, Flaxen, Blush

Stamps – Armour, Curlicue Frames from Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge, A Thing Well Done

Cricut Cartridges – Artfully Sent, Artiste, Art Philosophy

Pearl Flourish – NLA

Ribbon Rosette – NLA

I enjoyed making this and hope that you find the instructions easy to find.

Have a good week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Out of the Box with CTMH and Kaisercraft.

On December 28, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Christmas, Crafts, Cricut6 Comments

Welcome back.

I hope you all had a good Christmas. I had a lovely relaxing day and I am now getting back into crafting.

I normally use only CTMH products but the local Spotlight store had a special on Kaisercraft wood kitsets so I bought a few to have a play with. Apart from the kitset and mod podge everything else I have used in these projects is CTMH.

I love the CTMH papers and the Yuletide Carol papers are just gorgeous and I felt fitted well with this advent calendar. I have tried to create a picture of a living room with the stockings hung by the tree and the parcels waiting to be opened. I have sponged all the edges with Desert Sand ink and I love how the wood has turned into an antique gold colour. I have cut out the centre from the patterned paper and lined it up so that it would be the centre of the box. I used the red patterned paper to line the boxes (there are a number of You Tube videos that show you how) and after sponging the edges with Desert Sand ink I modpodged them all. The numbers came with the pack and I have sponged them all with Desert Sand ink and then using Liquid Glass adhered them to the front of the little boxes. The Christmas tree has been cut in 3 sizes from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge in the green paper from the Yuletide Carol paper pack, and I have adhered them with foam tape to try and create some dimension. The boxes have been made from the Artiste cartridge and I have tied them up with the metallic bakers twine. The Santa is from the Yuletide Carol Complements that I have stuck onto some White Colonial cardstock and cut out. I used tabs of Colonial White cardstock to adhere to the box. The Merry Christmas is from the Artiste cartridge.

Here is another kitset this time featuring a bird on a cage.

I have sponged the entire cage with Desert Sand ink and the edges of the bird before mod podging the sorbet coloured paper from the Seaside paper pack. The paper went really well with some paper flowers that I had purchased last year in a special bundle from CTMH. The large flower has been cut using Art Philospohy using the pattern from Cathy Derouche (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzs8Sc-BLO4) out of Sorbet cardstock and the edges have been sponged with Sorbet ink. The paper flowers all coordinated so well with various shades of sorbet to a deep pink with different shapes. I have cut the leaves from Art Philosophy in Olive cardstock and inked with New England Ivy ink and then I have shaped then before placing them on the cage. The smaller leaves are from the paper flower packet. I have finished off with some bling with clear sparkles and the clear sparkle flourishes.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Sorbet, Colonial White, Ruby, New England Ivy, Olive

Paper – Yuletide Carol, Seaside

Yuletide Carol Complements

Inks – Sorbet, Desert Sand, New England Ivy

Cricut Cartridges, Artiste, Art Philosophy, Artbooking

Clear Sparkles

Clear Sparkles Flourishes

Liquid Glass

Foam tape

Metallic Bakers Twine

I hope that you enjoy what I have done today. Tomorrow I will be working on something for the January 2015 SOTM blog hop. So watch this space…

Have a good week and Happy Crafting.

Patricia

More Christmas ideas from CTMH

On December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Christmas, Close to My Heart, Cricut4 Comments

Welcome

This is my last post for the year featuring Christmas craft ideas seeing as it is Christmas Day on Thursday.

I have been inspired by Joy Tracey to make my version of her Artiste ornament. For the instructions please click here for a link to her blog and the video that she has made to show how this is done. My version has used Glacier and White Daisy cardstock and I have finished off with a silver sequin and a licorice epoxy bubble. I bought the silver sparkle tulle from the local variety plus store to complete the ornament.
I have also made some more simple gift tags this time using the Art Philosophy cartridge to make boot shapes. The boots have been cut out with Ruby cardstock and the trims in White Daisy and Black cardstock. It is hard to see on this photo but I have also put a piece of the white shimmer trim on the boot top for a bit of sparkle.

I also cut some White Daisy cardstock to back the boot so as to be able to write to and from on it. I have used the stamps from the Holiday Tags stamp set and stamped the images in Ruby ink.

A hole and some slate bakers twine finished off these very quick and easy tags.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White daisy, Glacier, Ruby, Black

Inks – Ruby

Stamps – Holiday Tags

Cricut Cartridges – Art Philosophy, Artiste

Ribbon (NLA)

1 1/4 punch (available while supplies last)

Silver sequin

Licorice epoxy bubbles (NLA)

Slate bakers twine

Liquid glass

White Shimmer trim

These tags and other crafts that I make are available for sale at Gift Hutt in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and may Santa bring you more craft supplies to keep you busy in the New Year!

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Great Gift Ideas from CTMH

On December 1, 2014December 1, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Paper Crafting7 Comments

Welcome back.

I have been really busy with making lots of cards, tags and general gift items to sell at Gift Hutt. I have been seeing a lot on Facebook where people have gone to YouTube for inspiration to make boxes and general gift basket type items and I thought I would have a look through the CTMH Cricut cartridges and see what I can come up with. The Artiste cartridge came up trumps with a purse box and I could also coordinate cards and envelopes to match the edging. I was able to get 5 little cards and envelopes to fit into each purse to make a fabulous Christmas or birthday gift.

The purse, envelopes and cards are all found on page 31 of the Artiste booklet. The purse was cut at 3.6″ and just fitted onto the 12 x 12 mat. I cut one out with Pixie and the other out with Cotton Candy cardstock. I then used Cricut Craftroom to size the envelopes and cards to match – unfortunately I cannot give exact measurements as it took a bit of manipulation to get the sizes to match. I now use CCR all the time as it is easier to use the layers to check the sizes and these came out perfect on the first cut.

For the Pixie purse I have then traced the shape of the areas I wanted covered with the diamond patterned paper from the Brushed Reflections range and then cut them out and glued them onto the purse with liquid glass and trimmed any excess with sharp scissors. I have added strips of pink and the new white shimmer trim onto the front and then placed the vellum flowers from the Brushed Complements onto a piece of scrap White Daisy cardstock and then fussy cut it out and glued it onto the front with liquid glass and topped the flowers off with silver sequins. For the flap I have used the diamond patterned paper and this time change it the other way and cut a small trim of 3/4″ and then placed a strip of the white shimmer trim over it and placed it on the flap and then trimmed the ends to match the flap. I have placed a flower from the Brushed Assortment pack on the front and used one of the small hook & loop dots available from CTMH to help hold the purse together. Finally I have cut a strip of matching cardstock size 6/8″ x 10 inches and glued the edges to the inside of the purse for a small strap handle.

The Cotton Candy purse has a strip of patterned paper – 1″ wide then trimmed with Cotton Candy cardstock 3/4″ wide and then finished off with a strip of white shimmer tape and then placed along the bottom of the purse on the front and two sides. I then used the A Budding Friendship stamp set and stamped 4 of the small flowers with Cotton Candy ink and overstamped the edges with the edge stamp in Black ink. These are great little stamps as they end up looking like a watercolour and ink image and there is no need to be really fussy with the outcome. I have done the same using the small leaf stamps in Pear ink. I then arranged three flowers over the trim and coordinated the leaves around the flowers. I have used liquid glass again as I have found that over time the glue tends to melt – particularly in my warm and sunny Gift Hutt. For the flap I happened to have a spare envelope that I tore as I was getting it off the mat and it fitted perfectly on the flap and I trimmed it down to fit the flap, and I have just used the white shimmer trim as a strip to tie in with the rest of the purse. I then glued another flower and set of leaves in the centre of the trim. To finish the flowers I have place silver sequins and pink glitter gems to add a little bling.

As I said the cards and envelopes came from the same page and I have used CCR to size them. I have kept the cards simple using the Brushed papers and the stamp from the Fabulous You stamp set and

The shapes for the sentiment have been cut out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and again I have used CCR to ensure that the White Daisy shape matches with the larger patterned paper shape as I have found that cutting two shapes only 1/4″ difference will not exactly match up on all sides. To coordinate with both purses I have again made the trims from patterned paper, coordinating cardstock and white shimmer trim – can you tell how much I love this new trim! This is now available from the new Seasonal Inspirations catalague just out today.

The envelopes were very easy to assemble and I have just added a small amount of double sided tape to use when giving the card to someone.

Both these purses will be available for purchase at Gift Hutt for $15 each.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Pixie, Cotton Candy, White Daisy

Paper – Brushed B&Ts

Brushed Assortments

Brushed Complements

Stamps – Fabulous You, A Budding Friendship

Inks – Cotton Candy, Black

White Shimmer trim

Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Close to My Heart Artfully Sent Christmas Card

On November 17, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome back

I have been very busy doing more Christmas cards and lots of other goodies for Gift Hutt. Today I would like to show you a card made using the new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge. I have been having problems using Cricut Craftroom so had not been able to do much for a couple of weeks, but finally yesterday I was able to cut again. I am still getting used to the new cartridge and I have seen some amazing pieces of artwork on various Facebook groups I belong to.

For this card I have cut out the scene card on page 47 of the booklet at 7″ out of Glacier cardstock. I then cut out a piece of White Daisy cardstock at 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ to use for the scene. This is the first time I have sponged a background and it is not perfect but still gives an idea of creating the scene. There are a number of different videos on YouTube if you would like instructions on how to do this. To create the snow hills I have used scrap cardstock shaped to create the hills and I have used a combination of Glacier and Indian Corn Blue inks for the snow and added some Outdoor Denim for extra depth around the moon. To make the moon I cut out a circle from a post it not at 1 1/2″ and used that to sponge the colours around to create the moon. I softened the moon by sponging lightly over with Glacier ink. I then stamped the Santa Claus from the Santa Claus Holiday stamp set with Slate ink to create the depth of the image.

The trees were cut out of New England Ivy cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartidge. I wrinkled the trees a little to create some dimension and then I used some white liquid applique on the trees for a snow effect (available on special while stocks last). The deer and cute little bird has been cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge in Chocolate cardstock and I ripped a piece of green paper from the Yuletide Carol paper pack for the effect of grass in the foreground and the ripped edge has come up looking like snow. (Unfortuanately, CTMH do not provide glitter for sale as some prisma glitter over the applique would have just finished the project of so well – extra sparkle would have been good.)

Here is a close up view of the scene I have created:

I stamped the sentiment from the Holiday Cheer stamp set using Glacier ink on White Daisy cardstock and matted it with New England Ivy cardstock and placed it on the front. I then placed white enamel stars for a snow effect on the front.

My technique could do with some practice but I am still happy at how the card has turned out for my first effort. And the good news is that CTMH provide 5″ x 7″ envelopes to match so this card will be for sale at Gift Hutt and would make a very special card to give someone.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Glacier, New England Ivy, Chocolate,

Paper – Yuletide Carol

Inks – Glacier, Slate, Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim

Cricut Cartridges – Artfully Sent, Artbooking

Stamps – Holiday Cheer, Santa Claus Holiday

White enamel stars

I have some more Christmas ideas coming up and will post them over the next week.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Baby Blues

On October 15, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Babies, Cardmaking, Cricut, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome

Sorry this is a couple of days late but sometimes life just gets in the way. I have been busy doing a big project for Gift Hutt and will feature this later in another post.

In the meantime I noticed that Gift Hutt was getting a little low in blue baby cards and as I have just received the new Artfully Sent cartridge I thought I would have a little play. This new cartridge is great for cardmaking as well as for scrapbooking and there is so much to choose from and it is going to take me quite a while to get through all the projects.

There are some gorgeous icons in the cartridge to cut and I love the baby outfits that are in there. I have cut a number of them out of both Glacier and Crystal Blue cardstock for quick and easy cards when I need them.

This first card features the sleeve card from page 23 of the Artfully Sent cartridge booklet cut at 5 1/2″ on Cricut Craftroom, and I have backed it with some White Daisy cardstock embossed with the Quatrefoil embossing folder and this time used the back of the embossed cardstock to try and create a more quilted affect that suited a baby card. The bows have also been cut out using the same cartridge. I love the simple sentiments that come with the Artfully Sent cartridge and they were perfect for these cards.

This second card caries on the same theme with the Quatrefoil Embossing folder with White Daisy Cardstock on Crystal Blue cardstock (although it is hard to see in this photo). This time I have strung three little baby outfits cut from the two blue cardstocks onto some Bakers twine and finished them off with some bling. The bows also come from the Artfully Sent cartridge.

The third card has some paper from the Wanderful paper range. This is a beautiful soft patterned paper and it teamed well with the Crystal Blue cardstock. Once again I have kept it simple and just embossed a piece of Colonial White cardstock with the Dots embossing folder and placed the three different baby outfits on top of this and finished off with some bling with some clear sparkles and bitty sparkles.

Finally I have had this card ready for the finishing touches for some time and finally got round to finishing it off. I have used a piece of the now retired Balloon Ride paper and trimmed it into 4 equal sized pieces and placed it on the Colonial White card to create a scenic effect. The trim has been made by layering different colours of cardstock starting with Colonial White, Cashmere, and finished off with Crystal Blue punched using the chevron punch. The sentiment has been stamped using the new Artfully Sent tag Curlicue Frames stamp set and again I have used the stamps out of the Just to Say… stamp set. I have coordinated the colours using Saddle and Crystal Blue with Colonial White cardstock. I love how all the colours harmonise so well.

Because I do so many cards I use the bulk packs that are available from Close to My Heart and they are very good value for money and as there are 50 cards with envelopes they last a lot longer for me.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Colonial White, Glacier, Crystal Blue, Saddle, Cashmere

Papers – Wanderful, Balloon Ride (NLA)

Stamps – Artfully Sent Cricut Collection Curlicue Frames and Just to Say…

Inks – Saddle, Crystal Blue, Glacier

Cricut Cartridge – Artfully Sent

Embossing Folders – Quatrefoil, Dots

Bitty Sparkles

Clear Sparkles

Bulk card supplies – Colonial White, White Daisy

Punch – Chevron Border

Bakers Twine – Slate

All these products are available from my website at www.patriciamanhirescreatingwith.shopctmh.co.nz.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting.

Patricia

Australasian Stamp of the Month Blog Hop – Home for the Holidays

On October 1, 2014October 1, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Cricut, CTMH SOTM, Stamping16 Comments

Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Wendy’s blog Expressions of the Heart , then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

Today I would like to share with you this some cards that I have made which features the Home from the Holiday stamp set which is available exclusively throughout October for $33 or for just $5 when you spend $75. This stamp set has some very versatile images that would be great for cardmaking and scrapbooking.

I have had some fun doing a selection of cards using this gorgeous stamp set ranging from traditional colours to totally untraditional Christmas themed cards.

First up is this card using the beautiful and very traditional Christmas papers from the Yuletide Carol range. I have used an off cut that I had from doing the Yuletide Carol WOTG kit and it fitted perfectly on the card. I have used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the shape of the ornament and stamped it with Ruby ink. The pine leaves are stamped from the Yuletide Carol WOTG stamp set and I have coloured the bitty sparkles using the Carmine Shinhan Twin Touch marker to look like little holly berries. The bow has been cut using the Artiste Cricut cartridge and embossing with the dot embossing folder. To top the bow I have used a gold sequin and a clear sparkle again coloured with the Carmine Shinhan Twin Touch marker. The sentiment is from the Scandinavian Wishes SOTM set which is no longer available. Here is a close up of the bow and the leaves with the holly berries.

My next card has been made using my new favourite colour – Glacier.

This is such a stunning colour and very popular at the moment with all the Frozen merchandise out accompanying the popular film. The polar bear image looks great in Glacier and I have matched it with the beautiful Snowhaven paper. I have also used the beautiful Fundamentals Adventure paper to add a little bit of shine to back the Cricut cut image of the polar bear. The background Glacier cardstock has been embossed using the dots embossing folder and then sanded to try and look a little like snow covered dots. I love the fact that the CTMH papers are white cored as you can get lots of different effects with sanding and distressing.

Moving away from the traditional I have used Black and Glacier with a touch of Flaxen to create a totally different card. Normally you would not associate black with Christmas but I love this combination as it stands out so much from the traditional reds and greens. I think the black image helps the polar bear look like it is in a window looking out at you – what do you think? Again I have used some Glacier Fundamentals paper from the Whimsy pack which gives a nice background to the stamped image.

Finally I have done a pink Christmas card. Pink is not a colour normally associated with Christmas but I just wanted to do a fun card and I love this parcel set from the Artbooking cartridge. It is great to layer and have some fun with colours and textures.

I have cut out the parcels from Pink glitter paper and backed with some Cotton Candy cardstock. To add some interest to the parcels I have used some silver geometric washi tape on a couple of the parcels to keep with the silver and pink theme. I don’t normally use a lot of washi tape and strips like this but today I have done that with good effect. The Pink spotted washi tape (unfortunately NLA) and the pink and silver shimmer trims add a base on which to place the parcels which helps pull the card together.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Ruby, Glacier, Black, Cotton Candy, Pink Glitter,

Paper – Yuletide, Snowhaven, Paper Fundamentals – Whim

Inks – Black, Ruby, Glacier, New England Ivy

Stamps – SOTM – Home for the Holidays, Yuletide Carol WOTH, Holiday Tags, Sparkle & Shine WOTG (NLA), Scandinavian Wishes SOTM (NLA)

Aqua Dots

Cricut Cartidges – Artiste, Art Philosophy, Art Philosophy

Pink spotted washi tape.

Silver Shimmer Trim

Pink Shimmer Trim

Silver geometric washi tape

Cotton Candy spotted washi tape (NLA)

Clear Sparkles

Bitty Sparkles

Shinshan Touch Twin markers – Cherry

Gold Sequins

Embossing folder – Dots

Home for the Holidays is only available until 31 October from your CTMH consultant. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Vandra’s blog – Vandra’s Virtual CTMH Craftroom . I am sure she has an amazing project for you to admire.

Have a good week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Tea Bag Dispenser Boxes

On August 10, 2014August 10, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Cricut, Paper Crafting6 Comments

Welcome back I am sorry that I haven’t got anything with new products this weekend but I have had a flare up and my hands won’t do want I want them to do so I have gone back to my archives to see what I haven’t showcased here. I have found these tea bag dispenser boxes that I did a while ago using Ariana and Ivy Lane papers. I have got the pattern from Splitcoaststampers here for your information. However, I have changed the dimensions of the matted cardstock and paper as I found the instructions a little difficult to keep track off. You can see the difference in the two images where the bottom one I used my trimmer measurements to mat the paper onto the cardstock. For this box I have used the Ivy Lane papers with Pear and Cashmere cardstock and distressed them with Cashmere ink. I love how all these products coordinate so well. The rosette has been created using the Artiste Cartridge and topped with a lovely gem from the Mini-medley rosewood collection. I have used the Frame Flair stamp set and stamped the images with Outdoor Denim ink. I am sorry but I can’t remember where I got the enjoy stamp from. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. I really need to sort out and catalogue my stamp sets for easy reference. I can see another post coming for this – there is simply not enough time in the day to do everything! This box has been created using the Ariana papers and the same cardstock as the first box. The bow has been cut out and finished with some bakers twine and a charm from the Base and Bling Craft Queen charms set. The roseette has been cut using the Artiste cartridge and topped with a paper flower, crochet flower and button – all no longer available. Here is a close up of the front bow: Materials used: Cardstock – Pear, Cashmere Papers – Ivy Lane, Ariana (both NLA) Inks – Cashmere, Outdoor Denim Stamps – Frame Flair Bakers Twine – Olive Mini-medley Rosewood Collection Blue and Green Epoxy bubbles Topiary chevron ribbon Paper flower, crochet flower, button (NLA) Base and Bling Craft Queen charms I hope that I have remembered all the ingredients and I am hoping that I will be able to do something different next week depending on how I am feeling. Have a good week. Happy Crafting Patricia

CTMH Blog Boosters New Product Blog Hop

On August 3, 2014August 4, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Stamping11 Comments

Welcome to the CTMH New Product Blog Hop. This time I will be focusing on the absolutely gorgeous Brushed paper range. I have been looking at this paper pack and been very reluctant to cut into this beautiful paper but I have finally taken the plunge and made a few cards with the papers. I love the wide range of colours in this pack, but it is predominately PINK which is my favourite colour. Plus it has the new Pixie colour and I love love love this colour. It is softer than Cotton Candy and I can see some more baby cards coming. I have been asked to make a couple of cards for women in their twenties and these papers were perfect. I also found the most gorgeous shoes on the Essentials cartridge that came with the Cricut machine. With a bit of bling these black shoes became shoes that any women would love to wear. I have also made some bags and clutches by cutting out the shapes from the Art Philosophy cartridge and trimming them down. I Here is a selection of cards: For this card I have used some Desert Sand cardstock and embossed using the Stripe embossing folder and then distressed it. I love how the yellow flower paper is a lovely background to the pink and black. I have had this idea in my head for a while and finally got it out. I have cut a shape out of Desert Sand using the Art Philosphy cartridge and then using the negative image I have cut out the shape of a bureau. I have trimmed with Cocoa cardstock and distressed with Saddle ink. The sparkles have been coloured using the Bronze Twin Touch marker. The dress and hanger have been cut using the Artiste cartridge and the heels cut using the cartridge already loaded in the Cricut machine. Waste not want not. Here I have used the other half of the purse to create a tag for the lovely sentiment. I have added the flower from the Brushed assortments and the trim is the vellum from the Brushed complements. I love this card and the heels are so fabulous with the little bitty sparkles to add a little bling. The flags and strip on the trim are the vellum shapes from the Brushed complements. I love this pink check pattern and it makes a lovely background to the cards. The purse has been cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge and I have used my black pen to create the stitching line which made the purse stand out a lot more. The flower is from the Brushed assortments and the new Thistle ribbon went very well with this colour scheme. I have used a different colour scheme but I still have pink it it. The flower and leaves have been cut using the Artiste cartridge and I have added the metal flowers from the Brushed assortment range to add some dimension to the picture. The zip strip to this paper makes a lovely trim. This is a very easy card using some pink glitter trim for extra impact. My final card has been inspired by another consultant but I feel very uncomfortable about copying other people’s art and so I have given it my own twist. I have used Juniper cardstock to mat the pink paper and I love the contrast to tone down the pinkness of the card. The flowers have been cut from the Artiste cartridge out of Pixie cardstock and the edges have been sponged with Pixie ink. The centre of the flowers have been stamped with black ink onto Canary cardstock – another new colour which is beautiful. The flowers have been finished with Flamingo dots and in the centre flower I have used a metal flower from the Brushed assortments. The leaves have been stamped using a leaf stamp from the Your Own Kind of Wonderful stamp set using black ink on Juniper and then fussy cut out. The contrast helped make the card too pink and lifted the flowers from the card.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Juniper, Pixie, Black, Desert Sand, Cocoa

Thistle ribbon Stamps – Holiday Tags, Joyful Birthday, Heartfelt Birthday Wish, Your Own Kind of Wonderful

Inks – Pixie, Hollyhock, Cotton Candy, Saddle, Pear, Juniper, Black

Cricut cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy

Scallop edge punch

I hope that you have enjoyed these cards and have a good week playing with the new products. Please check out the other blogs in this hop.

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Happy crafting Patricia

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Patricia's Creative Corner

Category: Cricut

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