Thursday, October 29, 2015

Apple Punch Art Card


This was such a FUN card to make! I watched a video by Dee Slater showing how to make apple punch art and I was hooked! (Here is a link to the video) I used to collect everything apple so this brought it all back to me. Once you start making apples, you won't be able to stop!

Apples and Leaves:
You just cut a circle with the 1-3/4 inch circle punch, then cut "bites" out of the top and bottom of the circle to form the apple. She also shows how to punch leaves using a circle punch. I made some with the 1-3/4 inch punch and some with the 1-1/2 inch punch. Just insert your circle back into your punch far enough so it looks like a leave inside the circle, then punch. Turn the circle and do the same thing again. You can get two leaves from each circle. From the paper left surrounding a brown punched out area of a circle, use your circle punch to make the stem. I had a whole pile of leaves and apples when I was done, so I decided to make a bushel basket of apples!


Basket:
For the basket, I cut a 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch square out of crumb cake cardstock and embossed it with a Sissix striped embossing folder. From that square, I made angle cuts on each side to form the shape of a basket and rounded the bottom corners by hand. For the rim of the basket I cut a 4 x 1 inch piece of crumb cake, rounded the corners with a corner rounder punch, and attached it to the basket with dimensionals. For added dimension, I inked the edges of the basket and rim piece before attaching the apples. I also inked the edges of the apples and leaves. I tied some linen thread around the basket, made a bow, and added several more leaves. I attached the basket to the card with dimensionals. I placed two of the apples behind the rim of the basket and one in front. I added some enamel dots for decoration.

Card Base & Greeting:
My card base is a little bit bigger than A2 to accomodate the apples and basket. You could make your apples smaller by using a smaller circle punch and then making the basket smaller, but I went with the larger apples and just made by card a bit bigger. Finished size is 4-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches. The stamped greeting is from Endless Thanks. I cut it out with the small oval punch and then attached that to a scalloped oval cut out in real red. It is also attached with dimensionals. Cardstock for card and apples is real red and leaves are garden green. Basket and several leaves are crumb cake. DSP used is from the Merry Moments DSP stack.

All supplies are listed below. Try this card and check out Dee's video! She makes a really cute K-cup box that she decorates with the apples. Once you start making these apples, the possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Here is my supply list:
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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Halloween Treat Bags (Using One Sheet of Paper and No Die!)

Halloween Treat Bags
 Do you need some last minute Halloween treat bags but don't have a die or "thinlet" to make them? I have the answer! All you need is a piece of printed paper 5-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches and a way to score your paper (on a trimmer or scoreboard). Use any Halloween themed papers you choose. I used an older Paper Studio Card Stack.See picture below for cutting instructions:
Score at 2-3/8 and 5-3/4 inches on long side, turn and score at 5 inches
Finished bag size is 3-3/8 x 5 inches. It's large enough to hold some treat size candy pieces or several snack size Hershey bars. Cut the paper as shown, trimming off the bottom two pieces on the sides, leaving a center flap. Round the corners of this flap. Fold the sides in, then the bottom up and adhere with a strong adhesive. I used a pinking shears to cut a small strip off the top of the bag for decoration. You could use any kind of decorative scissors or leave it straight. It's up to you! Decorate as you wish and you've only used ONE PIECE OF PAPER! I have used this over and over again for many occasions and wanted to share it with you!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Owl Witch Card

Owl Witch Card
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Even though my kids and most of my grandkids are too old for trick or treating, they are never too old to get a Halloween card! This is one I made using the Cricut Wild Card Cartridge. This cartridge was one of the first ones I purchased when I got my Cricut but is probably one of the fewest used. I decided to dig it out and find a card to use for Halloween.

The owl card can be found on p. 72 of the booklet from the Wild Card Cartridge. I cut the card out at 5 inches and then cut it again in blackout at 5 inches to form the inside layer of the card. I cut the blackout layer in half and only used it on the lefthand side of the card to provide the back layer for the owl - eyes, nose, and underside of feathers. I wasn't crazy about the eyes as cut out, so I used my 1/2 inch circle punch and 1-1/4 inch scallop punch to make the outer part of the eyes. Cut a 1/2 inch circle in the same color cardstock. Then cut around that 1/2 inch circle with the 1-1/4 inch scallop punch, sponge around the edge of the scallop circle, and attach to the eyes. This leaves the black layer exposed for the centers of the eyes. I used a chalk marker to make highlights in the eyes. The card is made with calypso coral cardstock from Stampin' Up and I sponged all around the outside of the card with the same color ink. Lift up the triangular "feathers" with your fingers to expose the black cardstock underneath and sponge the "feathers" too.

For the hat, I cut a 1-1/4 inch circle from some black glimmer paper from Stampin' Up (#139605), then cut a ring around it with a 2-1/2 inch circle punch. Fold this ring in half. Coming in from the bottom, add a piece of glimmer paper cut in a triangular shape and use glue dots to attach it to the folded circle to form the hat. Add a bow and attach hat to the top portion of  the front of card with glue dots. Stamp a greeting and attach from side of hat. Since I LOVE owls as much as Halloween, this card seemed like a perfect pairing! Hope you like it! Thank you so much for coming by!

Friday, October 9, 2015

Trick or Treat Witch

This is a tale of two witches! The first is a card using the popular "witch's hat" made with the Stampin' Up tree punch and circle punches. The tutorial is for the hat to be attached to a clothespin and then attached to a treat bag, but I just used it flat as a hat on a card! (Link to tutorial below.)
Trick or Treat Witch Card
 This card just kind of came together unexpectedly. When I was looking for papers to use I found a stack of paper in my stash from Paper Studio that had the "body" of the witch and the legs and shoes all in one strip on the pattern. I cut these out and attached them to a coordinating piece of paper from the pack and had the body of my witch. Next I made the witch's hat using the tree punch and circle punches, added a bow made with the Stampin' Up  bow builder punch, and added it as the head of the witch. Next I used the word window punch to make the arms. I had an old trick or treat bag stamp so used that for her to hold in one hand and added a cut out piece of candy from another coordinating paper in the stack for her other hand. I stamped and cut out a small pumpkin, added some candy dots, and my card was complete. The finished card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches. The striped paper is matted to a piece of black, and then onto the pumpkin pie cardstock to form the card. That's the story of the first witch! Then......I wanted to make another one.

Trick or Treat Witch Jar

I found this "Mason" jar at Dollar Tree. I cut out pieces of patterned paper from my scraps to form the body of the witch and legs. I didn't know what to do about the shoes, so I started playing with the Decorative Label punch! I cut one out of a corner of the punch, liked it, so traced and cut another one from the same punched out label, inverted it, and had two witches shoes! This time I decided to make her dress a little different, so I cut out a portion of a spider web cut with the Cricut and added it on top of her body to make it look like a cape. I used the Pretty Pennants Art Cartridge, but Stampin' Up makes some very cute black spider web doilies that I'm sure would work just as well and be less time consuming! I just didn't have them when I made this version. I made the same witch's hat, added the same arms, the treat bag and a stamped piece of corn candy to her hands. I used glue dots to attach the witch pieces to the jar, filled it with candy corn, added a piece of black and white gingham ribbon, and here is my witch's treat jar! (The video of how to make the witch's hats can be seen on You Tube - Dawn's Stamping Thoughts - Clothespin Witches. Witch's Hat Video Tutorial ) You'll love this video. There are several versions of the hat, so make sure you watch the entire video. A bonus is that the tree punch can also be turned into a Santa hat!!!

I hope you enjoy my projects for this week! I had a blast making them. I might also add that the lid of the jar I bought at Dollar Tree is black so you could write on it if you wanted to.

To make it easier for you, here is a list of the punches used for these projects:
2-1/2 inch circle punch #120906
1-1/4 inch circle punch #119861
Word Window Punch #119857
Tree Punch #135859
Bow Builder Punch #137414
Decorative Label Punch #120907


Thursday, October 1, 2015

Fall Series - Card #4 - Pumpkin

This is Card #4 in my fall series that I cased from Pinterest. It is a very easy card to reproduce. I used Pumpkin Pie Cardstock cut at 4-1/4 x 11 inches and then folded it in half to make a 4-1/4 x 5-1/4 inch card that opens from the bottom, and rounded the top corners. I dry embossed the front using a striped Sissix embossing folder, but really you could use any one you like. Edges were sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink. Cut a strip of burlap ribbon, fold it in half to form the stem, and secure it to the front of the card using glue dots. Add a coordinating button and linen thread and some punched or die cut autumn leaves. I originally was going to use an acorn attached to the stem, but since I featured an acorn on one of my other fall cards, I opted for a sentiment I liked from a Sale-a-Bration set this year called "You Brighten My Day" and stamped it in Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie inks. You can use any sentiment you choose. There are also several stamps in the new Holiday Catalog that would also work well. Just make it your own. I think it is a very simple but effective card, with or without a sentiment!

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