Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas Cards with Hallmark Card Studio 2011

Happy Holidays to all!  I just upgraded to Hallmark Card Studio 2011 Deluxe and I'll be sharing what's new as I explore it.

I used it for my parents and my aunt for their Christmas cards this year and they really came out beautiful.  For both cards I printed the the outer card on pre-scored Photo quality Greeting Cards from printonit.com and for the inside sentiment I printed it on a separate sheet of paper that coordinated with the color schemes.

With a little embellishing these cards really come out amazing.  I wish you could see these "in person", but if you click on the pictures you can get a pretty good idea of how the embellishments look.

For my parents, I used the "Crystal Stickers (MarkRichardsusa.com) from Joanne's I used the crystal & pearls and a gold trimmed velvet ribbon.  I also made a coodinating envelope and with the software you can print your return address and the recipient address right on the envelope - which is so cool.

If you have your address book set up in the Event planner section, and you use the same design for all your cards you can just click on who you want to send it to in the Print section and put all your envelopes in the printer and click PRINT.  I did this for my handmade 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card envelops (I think that's the A2 size) and they came out perfect.

For my Aunt's card - I also embellished with the Crystal stickers to accent the stars in the ornaments and used the straight-line pearls on the round ornaments and used Ice Stickles for a little additional blink on the card & envelope. For the envelope I used the Ice Stickles .

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Halloween Bag (Momo's Tuesday Challenge)

Super simple Halloween treat bag or gift bag I made for Momo's Tuesday Challenge.

Here's the supplies you need:
1 plain lunch bag (5 1/8 x 3 1/8 x 10 5/8") (bought in a pack of 100 at the grocery store)
1 scrap of black card stock (or 1/4 of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock)
1 sheet of printer paper
stamp ink (I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks -Wild Honey, Vintage Photo & Dried Marigold)
5 Eyelets
Ribbon (3/8") 2- 12" pieces
adhesive
Gold Stickles or glitter
Daubers

For the background on the front of the bag I used a round and rectangle dauber and the three inks alternating the random pattern .  Next I folder the top of the bag down 1" all the way around and creased it with my bone folder, the I unfolded it, and cut it on all 4 corners from the edge 1".  I used my ATG gun to secure the top edge.  This not only give the top of the bag a cleaner look, but also makes it more sturdy and ready for the eyelets.  Using my Crop-a-Dial I punch (4) 3/16" holes - two on the front side and two on the back side of the bag and then used the Crop-a-Dial to add the eyelets in the holes.

Next, I used my Hallmark Card Studio software to find a Halloween image on a card.  There are several to select from, then I just printed it on a plain white sheet of printer paper using the 4-fold printer option.  I used Art Studio in this program to delete everything else on the card except the front since that was all I'm using.  Once it printed, I cut it down to the size I wanted for the bag, then I cut the black cardstock slightly larger and used my corner rounder on both.  The for some bling, I used my gold Ice Stickles on the pumpkin and around the inside layer.

I also used the software to create the jack o lantern tag.  I got this one from the "other projects" Stickers and just printed it on white cardstock, then cut it out.  I then punch a hole at the top and added another eyelet.

Next, feed your ribbon through your back eyelets and secure on the inside with a knot - if your ribbon has a pattern on 1 side be careful to keep the pattern facing the outside of the bag.  For the front side ribbon feed through 1 side and then before feeding through the second side be sure to add your tag before tying the knot on the inside.  I then used glue dots to secure all knots inside.

Now you can just add your tissue paper and your are finished.

If you don't have Hallmark studio, you could use halloween stamps, Cricut cuts or stickers to decorate the front of your bag.

This project took me about 20 minutes from start to finish and I was creating on the fly.  If you have all your stuff together, it would probably take less.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Easel Birthday Card

Here's a 30th birthday card I made for my friend Rachel -  (this is also George's mom from the memo board fame)  Rachel also has furry kids (bunnies) so I thought she'd enjoy the rabbit.

Momo made a cute Christmas Easel card earlier this month (you can check out her video on You tube at this link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0eYrPWjjug.  It's super, super cute penguin card.

For my card I used the Bunny from the Create a Critter cartridge.  The sentiments are from the Scrappy Moms stamps - which I love - can't wait to get my new one just released for the holidays.

I made a coordinating envelope with my Martha Stewart scoring board (comes in so handy).  For some reason my measurements must have been a little off and my card didn't fit in the A2 envelope.  No worries, though, that's the great thing about the MS board.  You can create your own custom-sized envelopes anytime. 

Happy Birthday, Rachel!  Love u bunches :-)



Sunday, September 5, 2010

Momo's Tuesday Challenge Card

Momo's latest Tuesday challenge is to make something Black and white and then 1 additional color of your choice.  You can check out her challenge at this link (Made by Momo).

Here's my challenge card.

I used one of my old rubber stamps for the tulips and just repeated the stamp three times across.  Then I used my VersaMarker watermark pen and then embossed the tulips with sparkle embossing powder.  I used my Martha Stewart doily paper edger and added a small black with white stitch ribbon.  I used my EK success corner rounder on both the mat and the stamped image.  Then I just dabbed some Color Box Cats eye magenta for my "color of choice".

For the "Thinking of You" sentiment, I used my new Scrappy Moms  clear stamp from the Everyday Greetings collection.

Very quick & simple card.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Birthday Mixed Flowers

I'm really having fun with the Walk in my Garden Cricut cartridge!  For this B-day card for my Aunt, I decided to use a variety of flowers to make a big birthday bouquet.

This is a full-sized greeting card with a double-mat.  For the lemon card stock, I used my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder and then my corner rounder for both mats.  Just like my mom's b-day card from my previous post, I made the same "terracotta" flowerpot (same technique).


All of the flower cuts (Iris, Daffodil, tulips and sunflowers, I embossed.  For the butterfly, I used a couple of techniques I learned from Gina at http://stamptv.com  - This butterfly started as a rubber stamp image that I embossed with copper powder on a dark purple cardstock, then I bleached areas of the wings and then later added a little Lemon Ice stickles to bling it up.  For all the flowers, I created the 3-D effect by using varying sizes of pop-dots to make them look like a bouquet.  For the tulips, I only used a pop dot on one of them - when you cut these it cuts two stems and leaves attached, by just adhering 1 of the blooms, it allow the 2nd bloom to just float - pretty cool.

The Sweet Birthday Wishes sentiment is from the Scrappy Moms Sweet Sentiments which you can get at Scrappy Mom's.  Finally, I added a coordinating ribbon bow.

Hope my aunt enjoys it.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom Card........

I really had fun with this card for my mom's birthday!


I used the Cricut "Walk in my Garden" cartridge for the Hydrangeas and the flower pot.  To get the terra cotta look, I used a round dauber and stamp ink and inked the edges and then randomly "smudge" inked around the rim and pot to "weatherize" it.  When I adhered the flower pot, I used pop dots on just the rim so it would seem like the flowers were planted in the pot.   For the flowers I cut both the non-shift and shift keys to get the layers.  For the top layer I cut them in the purple and pink card stock and then used embossing ink and a sparkle embossing powder to give them a little more definition.  I adhered the stems and used pop dots for the flowers and left the leaves loose so I could bend them and make them look a little more natural.

For the inside I used my Hallmark Card Studio for the sentiment and my Martha Stewart scallop edger and then just inked the scallop edge to finish.

Monday, August 16, 2010

How to Enter to win the The Original Scrapbox!

Hi Crafters!
If you want to enter the big Giveaway for The Original Scrapbox, hop over to Mari's blog "Made by Momo" http://madebymomo.blogspot.com/ for all the details and instructions.  This is a SUPER prize!

I've been saving up for the The Original Scrapbox http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/catalog/ for quite a while now.  It looks like the ultimate solution to my never-ending organizational issues in my craft room.  I would love to have the Maple version, but honestly I'd be happy with any of the colors if it's free :-)

Here's a picture of this FABULOUS organizational system.  Be sure to check out their website.



Mari - here's what I did - hopefully it will earn me the extra entries!  
Posted here on my blog with the picture and your blog link and the two links for the Original Scrapbox.
I visited the original scrapbox website and posted a comment on their FB page and "liked" them
and left you a comment on your blog.
Please let me know if I missed anything
Thanks so much for the opportunity to win!
Twila

Monday, August 2, 2010

Hubby's Birthday Card

My hubby is known as the "Rib King" for his fabulous babyback ribs.  During the hot summer months his outdoor kitchen is the place to be.  Today is his birthday and here's the card I made for him.  We celebrated our 30th anniversary last year.  I'm a lucky girl... he's not only the love of my life, but my best friend, too.


I used Everyday Paper Dolls and From my Kitchen cricut cartridges (everything was from the Chef images in Everyday PDs except the steak on the grill, the knive and the spatula.  For the 60 and still sizzling balloon, I used Hallmark Card Studio 2010.  I used 3 mats and my corner rounder for the burgandy top mat.  I used my white gel pen for the shoe laces and the knive handle.  For the bling, I used red ice stickles for the 60, his hat and the steak and crystal ice stickles for the knive blade and spatula and a little "grey hair".  I just free-handed the printing to customize "the rib king" on the apron and his name on the chef hat.  Hope you enjoy ;-)  BTW - he loved it!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Momo's Tuesday Challenge - "A Girly Affair"

hen I think "girly" I remember when we were little girls and played dress up and tea party and it usually included a hat and always lots of giggles, so I couldn't resist the super cute hat from the Walk in my Garden Cricut cartridge.   If you want to see a great blog and participate in the Tuesday Challenges, check out http://madebymomo.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Baby George's Ice Cream

I used the Sweet Treats and Platin Schoolbook Cricut cartridges, vinyl & Ice Stickles to personalize Baby George's ice cream container.  The container is from Amazon "Zak Designs" under $12.  It holds 1 pint - which is perfect for my ice cream machine and it has a gel lid that when frozen keeps your ice cream frozen up to 90 min.  Pefect for picnics and BBQs. 

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Step by Step Memo Board for Georgie

Follow along as I walk you step by step through creating a Memo Board.  This particular one I made for my friend Rachel's new baby boy's room.  (if you scroll down you can see a picture of another memo board I made "the Rooster board" earlier this year - back in February.)




Here's the materials & tools you will need:
1 - 18"x24" Stretched Canvas
Batting (I used Soft & Lofty hi-loft batting from Joanne's)
Material of your choice (I used a quilted fabric) minimum of 30" x 22"
Ribbon to match your color scheme - I always by 3 spools of 3 yards - I've been using 3/8" however, it's really a matter of preference on the look.
5-7 buttons
Staple gun
2 saw tooth picture hangars
hammer
needle and matching embroidery floss




and for the final steps :)

Friday, June 18, 2010

Father's Day Card and Envelope (with gift card holder)

Here's a card I made for my Dad this year and a matching envelope I created using Hallmark Card Studio 2010.  It's a full-sized greeting card and on the inside I used the EK Success "photo corner" punch to hold the gift card.  For the envelope you can get a great looking design by layering shapes. 

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Clear Stamp Storage and Brother p-touch labelmaker demo

I'm sure there are more professional ways to store your clear stamps, but, I was desparate to get semi-organized :)

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Friday, April 16, 2010

Cricut Mat Cleaning Tip...

Do you have one of those handy 3M lint rollers laying around? I was cleaning the lint off my coat the other day and I had a light bulb moment... this might just work to clean up those little "leave behinds" on my cricut mat. You know those nagging little tiny pieces of paper that are a pain to remove? Try this method, I think you'll like it. I think you can get a 5-pack of these for about $15 at Amazon and it might be even cheaper at Costco or Sam's club when they have them.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Do you ever want to just check out all the Cricut images before you buy?

Hi everyone - as you might have noticed I've been on vacation. I'm back and haven't made a new video, but I thought I'd share this tip.

If you want to check out the images on a new cartridge (or an old one)before you purchase it, just go to this link http://www.cricut.com/information/cartridge_library.aspx

You can view or download the pdf file for the handbook and then page through the entire booklet to see everything.

I love this! In fact I download the handbooks and save them to my laptop so I don't have to drag out the handbooks all the time.

Now you don't have to wonder what you can cut while you wait for your cartridges to arrive. You will know exactly which image you want to cut first. Happy Crafting:)
Twila

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cricut Tips - save paper - try ghost cutting first

If you are like me and you aren't sure which way the cut you are about to make is going to cut... i.e. you set the dial for 4" but you aren't really sure whether that's vertical or horizontal, instead of wasting paper, try ghost-cutting. Just set your blade depth to 1 and your pressure to minimum, select the size you want to cut, select your image and then press cut. Just watch as the Cricut "ghost cuts" your image. If everything looks good, then reload your mat or just push the load mat, change your blade depth and pressure to the appropriate number for what you are cutting and then proceed as normal. I like doing this especially if I'm using scrap paper for layers just to make sure I've got the correct size.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Secret Sister revealed

so I guess I'm not as sneaky as I thought and my secret sister totally guessed who I was ;-) She seemed to really like her Rooster memo board.

Had a good time and ate lots of good mexican food. I had a pretty good idea of who my "secret sis" was and I was right. Allie was very good to me all year.

Ok signing off for tonite.

My Deal of the Week at Big Lots ;)

I was at my local Big Lots last weekend and while browsing through the crafting aisle I notice these trimmer up on the top shelf. I remembered seeing these advetised on TV and in catalogs for something like $25 to 30 dollars. So at $10 - I couldn't resist. What I totally LOVE is the way you swap out the blades. I don't know about you guys, but changing out the blades in my Fiskars trimmer is like taking my life in my own hands! I've had to have a first aid kit standing by and my hubby finally bought me a little tool kit with pliers to keep me from slicing and dicing my fingers... which can really cause problems for someone who types all day long and plays the piano :) anyway- check out the video if you want to see it in action..... BTW I noticed my videos that I've posted are smaller than the youtube version, after you click the play button, if you click on the video box again it will open a new window and you can view it on youtube where it's a little larger... still learning this stuff.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Have Your Cake and Eat it, Too - Birthday Card info

I used the Sweat Treats Cricut Cartridge for the front of my card- found on page 60. This took several tries to get it close to the example, and there is probably a better way to get to that color scheme, however, by cutting it a couple of times in the different colors it did end up with a dimentional look (without using dimentionals)
I cut the following at 4" setting
yellow cardstock (shift) Shadow/blackout
red cardstock (noshift) normal key
pink cardstock (shift) Layers key
chocolate cardstock (shift) normal key

I think that's it - if anyone can figure out a better way to cut this without so many cuts, I'd love to hear about it :)
thanks again for watching,
Twila

March 10, 2010 3:44 PM

40th Birthday Card using Hallmark Card Studio 2010

Monday, March 8, 2010

Refurbish your Cricut Mats

you may have heard about the Crafter's companion "Stick Away" and "Stick and Spray" solution to extending the life of your mats. I am confirming this WORKS! I ordered them both back in December, got the Stick & spray right away but the Stick Away the removes all the yucky stuff from your mat and creates a smooth surface ready for new adhesive has been on back order until last week. I FINALLY got a chance to use these products. They are super easy to use and it really does work. The gals at Custom Crops says you can refurbish your mats 48 times with just 1 can of each. I can't confirm that but I can confirm that it takes only a couple of minutes for the process from beginning to end. While waiting for my backorder I became impatient and tried to use a Krylon adhesive remover and not only did it take the yuck from my mat it also was so strong it took all the lines and everything else off. The Stick Away is perfect it removes only what you want and leaves your cricut grid lines. I'll keep track of how many times I get to refurbish with the 1 can of each and keep you posted ;)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

blog facelift

So you might have noticed my blog has a new look? Many thanks to TCBOTB for the backgrounds, banners and blinkies :) They sure make it easy to look good.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Yippee! It's Friday again!

So this was another long week, but I really stepped it up with my crafting and videos just in time for Valentine's day. Hope you are all enjoying them. Everyone have a fabulous weekend with your sweethearts. I'm taking the weekend off to enjoy, too... and then next week I'm starting my St. Patrick's day stuff. Twila :)

Rooster card

Here's a card I made for my secret sis for the reveal to go along with the memo board. I used the rooster image from the Cricut "From my Kitchen" and the lettering from the "Storybook" cartridge.  Hope you enjoy :)

Rooster Memo Board

We are revealing our "Secret Sisters" at church next week.  My secret sis collect Roosters so I made her a Memo Board with a rooster border :)  Hope she like it.

Card Studio Deluxe 2010 tips


Let me know if you'd like to see more tips for Card Studio.  The program stands on it's own as a great way to create greeting cards, however, you are only limited by your own creativity.  You can do so much with the tools.  Hope you enjoy the video :)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Valentine's Day is sneaking up on us....

Wow - can't believe it's only 5 days until Valentine's day. I still have 3 cards to complete and a memory board for my mom. I better get going tonite!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Valentine for my hubby ;)

Just got my new Cricut cartridges!

did anyone else take advantage of the Cricut Direct sale last weekend? Can't believe the deals I got! Most cartridges were $29. I finally splurged for Storybook which I've heard so many people rave about. I also got A Child's Year, Sweethearts, Sentimentals, Sweet Treats,Walk in my Garden, Doodlecharms and Stand and Salute. Can't wait to get busy exploring those :) Guess you know what I'll be doing this weekend! Especially since it's supposed to rain here. Everyone stay dry out there and I'll talk to you soon. Twila

Friday, January 22, 2010

Has it really been 2 weeks????

good grief!  I can't believe 2 weeks have flown by since I posted last.  I did get my Flip and it's definately going to take a few practice runs before I post anything.  I did make a cool valentines card which I'll post in a few minutes...    but for now, I have to get back to my real job :-)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Finally Friday ;)

thank goodness it's finally Friday!  What a week.  I had big plans for today, however, the power company had other plans....   everytime I started a project the power went out. 

Got my Flip yesterday and plan to experiment with some recordings tomorrow.

I'm working on the 2nd of my two memo boards tonite.  Looking good.

TTYL

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Cricut Tip #2 - adhesive issues?

Ever have a problem with just which adhesive to use for your small Cricut letters?  Xyron is the answer.  Many of you are probably saying --- duh ---  but being a newbie to paper crafting I had tried just about everything out there and still ended up with sticky fingers.  I just got the Xyron 1.5: create a sticker and it is the coolest little gadget.  Inexpensive ($10.50 from Amazon) and it has refills for permanent and acid-free repositionable adhesive.  Easy to unload and reload.  Getting my camcorder today, so I plan to demo it for you shortly.  Last night I made the first of 2 memo boards for my wall in my "crafting corner".  I'm getting organized and it's definately motivating me to get started with this year's crafting projects.  I plan to use the Cricut Expression whenever I can to enhance my projects.  Talk to you later - Twila

Monday, January 4, 2010

Back to work.....

Just got The Paper Gator - kind of a cool tool for rounding corners on multiple pages at the same time.   When I figure it out, I'll share a video.  It only comes with 1 blade for a 3/8" round corner blade but you can order a straight corner cut and adjust it to the size you want, a 1/6" round corner and a 1/4" round corner.... as you might guess I ordered those, too.  The box says it can cut up to 100 sheet of regular 20# paper at once... that's pretty impressive - plus it says it will cut cardstock, chipboard cork and more.....   we shall see.  tonight I'm going to work on some valentine designs.  Happy Crafting to everyone :)

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Cricut Tip #1

My first tip is - don't pay for Cricut classes before you check out everything available for free through youtube. I made that mistake and then discovered that the free instructional videos that the creative and generous crafters out there make are so much better (i.e. "The Pink Stamper") making it easy for those of us who may struggle to figure out just what to do with our Cricut cuts once we make them.

Just type in Cricut in the search box on Youtube and you will see how much information is out there.

Thanks again to all of you who share your experiences :)

I'm getting a video camera this week and soon hope to have some videos to share, too.

Twila

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Let's get started :)

Hi there - This is my first blog for 2010. I've been having so much fun watching all the great videos on so many crafting sites that I couldn't resist jumping on the bandwagon this year. I plan to share my adventures with the Cricut Expression and my new Cuttlebug my hubby got me for Christmas (thanks, sweetie!) and hopefully provide some tips and tricks along the way. So many of you have helped me get started so I'm going to try to "pay it forward"

Happy New Year to everyone :)