Reader's Pages

We LOVE sharing our Reader's pages with you. Hi there! It's Cathy here and I have an adorable project to share with you today.

Karen created a wonderful invite for baby shower using the Baby Dress Card Template that I shared a few years ago.

Isn't this gorgeous?   Karen used cardstock, tule, ribbon, pearled trim, and rosette ribbon. I really like how she created a dainty and darling accent using the pearled trim at both the neck line and hem line.  The card opens to display the details of the shower invite.  Absolutely adorable!

Karen is a blogger, but she doesn't blog about crafts. She blogs about life as the "mom" to cute golden doodle named Abbie. You can see beautiful photos and read about her antics at her blog MyDogAbbie.

Thanks for sharing your creation with us Karen!  If you've created a project using our templates, cut files, sketches or techniques, and would like to share them on our blog, please email us (scrappycath @ gmail.com)

Cathy's Favorite Projects of 2013

Happy Friday!  It's Cathy here. My turn to share my favorite projects from 2013.  As I went back through the year to find my fav's, I could really see that I did far less creating in 2013. I've got to work on that! I'm a much happier person when I get to create!

Wanted: Lost Socks

Wedding Favor Tic-Tac covers for my niece's wedding. (Apparently I never posted this to my blog!)

Spring Bouquet Box

Never a Dull Moment

Sketching with Silhouette

A Little Hello Card

Mixed Media Journal

Silent Night Canvas

They are each linked back to the original blog posts so you scan see the details on how they were made. Except for the wedding favors, which I apparently never shared. Ooops!

Pam shared her favorite pages from 2013 HERE. Over the next week or so many of the other Contributing Artists will also be sharing their favorite pages and projects too.  We hope this gets you inspired to create!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES
Cathy Dippolito
Dolores Schaeffer
Cindy deRosier
Lesley Walker
Gael Spence
Sarah Routledge
Sharon Fritchman
Tanya Ham
Sheila Burns
Pam Callaghan

Hybrid Halloween Card

Hello there, it's Cathy here today to share a hybrid card with you.  6 days until the little trick-or-treaters come about. At least here in the states. Do you celebrate Halloween where you are?  It's one of those "holidays" that people seen to either love or hate.

It's also another reason to share a greeting with others. As a card maker, I love that!! Any excuse to create a card!!

I designed the layout for this card in the Silhouette Studio Software. I find myself doing that more and more. For a hybrid crafter it makes things less complicated.  It's easy to layout the shapes and design, drag in the digital papers that I want to use. Then I print and cut the various elements and assemble my card.  For this card I used Halloween Party Kit by Quirky Twerp. The kit is adorable with lots of cute stuff for making scrapbook pages, invitations, party favors, decoration and more!  

The vintage image gets a bit of updating sitting atop all those sassy upbeat patterned papers. To cut the vintage image, I dragged that element in from the digital kit. I traced it in the Silhouette software before printing and cutting it.

Tuxedo Card - Revisited

UPDATE: I've added a link to download the PDF version of the templates for those that want to hand cut. Download the PDF version HERE

Way back in 2007 I made a Tuxedo card for a friends wedding. I hand cut it. Then recently, I got an email from a blog reader asking me about that card. She mentioned that she has a Silhouette Cameo. So, I decided it was time to revisit the Tuxedo Card.

This is the original card that I created. The reader that contacted me is trying to make this card for each of the groomsmen in her wedding party. No bride-to-be should have to suffer through hand cutting these pieces when they've got a Cameo. And since I'm a new Cameo owner myself, I thought I'd whip up a .studio file for this card to make her task that much easier. And guess what? I'm sharing it with all of you!  You can download it HERE.  In return, I'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to become a follower of my blog Scraps of Life and like my Facebook page.

Here is the new card created using the .studio file that I created. Now here is how to assemble the card:


1. Download .studio file to cut using your Silhouette electronic cutter.

2. Cut shapes using black and white cardstock as appropriate. Cut lapels using velvet cardstock (optional). Or cut lapels from black cardstock and apply embossing or flock powder and heat emboss. I used embossing powder since I don't have any velvet paper.

3. Fold back (slightly) the back of the black jacket on the dotted lines.

4. Fold down the shirt collar corners on the dotted lines.

5. Insert mini black brads for the buttons on the shirt front. Or use self adhesive pearls as buttons.

6. To make the bow, cut ⅝” wide red ribbon to 3.5”, then fold the short ends under to make a 1 ⅛” loop.

7. Pinch the center and wrap thin wire around it. Cut another 1" piece of the ribbon. Fold and adhere the long edges toward the middle on the back of the ribbon. Then wrap this around the wire of the bow tie and adhere the ends on the back. Adhere the bow tie to the white shirt.

8. Align the shirt with the back of the jacket and adhere in place.

9. To make the cummerbund, cut 3 pieces of the ribbon at 3" length. Fold and adhere one long side of one ribbon piece toward the back. Repeat on a second ribbon piece. On the third ribbon piece, fold and adhere both long sides under toward center of back of ribbon. Lay the 1st piece with the folded edge at top, then layer second piece of ribbon with folded edge slightly below 1st. Place 3rd piece of ribbon (both edges turned under) to line up with bottom edge of cummerbund. Adhere all in place.

10. Adhere the cummerbund to the bottom of the white shirt, hiding the seam; trim any excess ribbon.

11. Refold the dotted lines on the back of the jacket (slightly) to make the card easy to open.

12. Adhere the two small white pieces of cardstock to the bottoms of the sleeves to make shirt cuffs. Adhere the sleeves to the jacket back, placing the adhesive on the top half only (from shoulder to just below elbow).

13. Adhere lapels to the front pieces of the jacket using thin foam adhesive.

14. Set two black brads through the right piece of the jacket. Adhere the pieces to the jacket back, placing adhesive on the sides only. Be certain to tuck under the lower part of sleeves.

15. Refold the dotted lines on the back of the jacket.

You can also dress up the lapel with a boutonniere if you like.

A Challenge by Color

Hi everyone!  Nancy here today and I am so excited to share with you that Ideas for Scrapbookers is hosting a color challenge sponsored by The Sampler Kit Club.  Here is your color inspiration.

Bits of Gold, Purple, and Green with maybe a little kraft thrown in for fun.   

Here are few samples from the Sampler kit club design team using the June kit, Walking on Sunshine.

Shaunna Farral 

Amy McMullen Soltolongo

Amber Goble

Amy Brock Coose

and me  Nancy Keslin

You don't need to have the kit to play along.  Just take inspiration from the photo and show us what you've got by putting a link in the comments to your project.  You have until June 30th to play.  Winner will be selected randomly from all submissions and will receive a prize pack from The Sampler.

So, are you up for the challenge?  

Hugs.

Nancy

Using Silhouette Print & Cut to Create Cards

Happy Thursday to you!  Cathy here. I'm going to be showing you a card I made using the print & cut feature of the Silhouette Cameo.  This works on the Silhouette SD as well.  I've only had my Cameo for a short while and I am falling in love with it deeper and deeper every time I use it!

One of the best features to it is that you can "print & cut" just about anything! OK - well that's one of the features I like best!!  Today I'm going to show how to use digital papers with Silhouette shapes to create a spectacular Father's Day card.

The digi papers that I am using are from the designer Wishing well Creations.
P365: Solids (Volume 2)

and Back to Basics Paper

These 2 packs of paper are some of my favorite "go to" supplies in my stash, especially for hybrid crafting.

Using the Silhouette software, set up a file and open the shapes needed to create your card. Resize if needed to fit the size card you are making. For this card I used shapes:

tool_bench_C01154_17986 by SnapDragon Snippettes

simple_tools_C01152_17986 by SnapDragon Snippettes
simple_tools_C01153_17986 by SnapDragon Snippettes
2_label_shapes_C00974_20509 by Lori Whitlock

Turn on the registration marks since you will be printing and cutting. Be certain that your design is not touching the hash marked area around the registration marks.  Those marks need to be clear so that the Silhouette laser can read them to know where to line up the cut with the printed items.  Here is what my design looks like at this point:

Now comes the really cool, fun part.  You can use your digital papers to "color" or fill the shapes that you cut.  You don't even have to open the paper file. Simply locate the paper that you want to use on your hard drive (using Windows Explorer or "my computer"). Click on it with your mouse to make it active, now drag the paper file onto the Silhouette workspace and hover over the shape that you want to fill. When you see the shape fill in with the paper, release the mouse. That's it. Easy-peasy, huh? Here is what it looks like as I started to fill in the shapes with digital papers:

Continue to fill each shape with the papers of your choice. You can even use digital stamps to add a sentiment to your card. The "Happy Father's Day" is a .png file from a set of sentiments by Krisi's Kreations (they have recently been retired).  Here is what my ready to print and cut design looks like:

Now in your Silhouette software you select "Send to Silhouette". It will ask if you want to print it, say yes. Select the appropriate printer and set the print properties (paper size, type etc). Print out the design.  The registration marks will print in the 3 corners of the paper.  Place the paper on the carrier mat as shown in the Silhouette software, and load it into your Silhouette.  In the software, press "continue to cut" and select to "detect registration marks automatically".  The machine will move the paper through and the head will read the registration marks.  Once this process is completed successfully, be certain your cut settings are appropriate for the type of paper you are using, and click "cut".  

You can also set up a file in the Silhouette software to cut the base for the card.  Now you will have all the pieces you need to assemble your card, and you didn't have to worry about having the right color of cardstock on hand! Simply use your digi stash and create "hybrid" instead!

I used some silver inks to enhance the tools. I distressed the tool bench with some brown and orange inks, and used brads to "hang" the tools on the pegboard.

I hope this helps you make even better use of your Silhouette cutting machine!

Simple Card Sketch

Today I am here to show you a super simple card design and 3 different cards created with the the design.

Simple card design, huh! To me a sketch or design is just a starting point. Its not meant to be copied identically, it servers more as and aid to your creative style.  We are going to take the sketch and change the size and style, here we go! Oh, one more thing this sketch the best for using up your scraps!!!!

This cars is pretty strait forward from the sketch.  Four coordinating papers cut down to fit the card size and adhered side by side.  I added a simple cream strip with a sentiment and cork star with a stamped image layered on top.  Simple.

Here is card #2. I selected a more pastel color pallet out of my scrap bucket for this card. I also embossed the pink card stock paper to give it a 'pop' and rounded the corners of the 2 outside paper strips for a softer look.  Topped it off with a pretty pike and a hand made banner - up, the post of the banner is a tooth pic! 

I went to a square 6x6 card therefor changing my size of my strips of paper. I also decided to make the strips in to flag and over lap them just a bit.  I added the decorative boarder to the top and some embellishments and its done! 

Lets recap the things to change to make this card different:

*Card Size

*Paper Colors

*Paper Strip Size

*Alter Paper Strips (flag bottom, rounded corner, border punch the bottom or sides, so many options)

*Number Of Paper Strips (only use 3 or 2 and leave part of the card showing!)

*Embellishment and sentiments to keep the card unique

Flower Pot Card Tutorial

Hi this is Sara, I am back today with a tutorial for you! Its finally May and that means flowers so lets brighten someones day with a Flower Pot Card.

Lets get started!

http://www.4shared.com/document/xwG6US2c/sara_flower_pot.html

Here is a PDF of the template. You will need to click on link, download image, and print PDF. Next, trace the image onto your cardstock and cut it out. The dotted lines are for folds.

NOTE: You will need to choose a double sided piece of paper for your pot as part of it will fold down and be seen.

I have traced the pot template and cut it out. (The yellow is the inside of my pot)

Score across where the dotted lines appear in the template for an easier fold.

Using a boarder punch of your choice and punch the longer end.

Then fold the bottom of the pot up (the brown side is the outside of my pot)

Then fold the punched end down.

Use a piece of coordinating ribbon and tie it around the top of the card to hold it together (no adhesive needed!)

Next cut the card piece from the template and make 3 flowers of your choice. Be creative here, mix and match some different punches and add layers to your flowers with pot dots!

To get the right placing for your flowers, put the card inside your flower pot and put pop-dots along the top part of the card that is sticking out. This will allow you to arrange your flowers so that they look like they are hanging over the pot.

Done! Its that easy! Have fun creating!