CTMH PANELIST REVIEW

I am a little behind in my postings.    This is a project that I did for Jill Rancourt  - The Scrapoholic for her Close ToMy Heart review. She sent us a package of CTMH goodies and set us free to try them out and share with you all.

Pics are first:

I have used CTMH stamps in the past and have a couple of sets.  I really like them. They take the ink really well and give a great smooth clear image. This project is the first that I have used their papers.  I really love this set of patterned papers.  The bright colors are so perfect for a "Mickey" themed album or mini-book.  My only complaint was that I really wanted to use the patterned paper on the back side just as much.  It was a tough decision.  I kept the scraps so that I could maybe to a small 6" x 6" layout.  I will probably purchase their products, but I am trying to clear out my extensive collection of papers right now until I am gainfully employed again.  But they are definitely on my list.

Some of the other products in the package are other 12 x 12 sheets of double sided paper.  I really like the colors and the coordinating patterns.  On this project I used my Cricut with Design Studio.  I cut the book at about 5-1/2".  Of course the dimensions aren't exact due to Mickey's ears.  The CTMH paper cut like butter, no problem.  Sometimes other patterned papers are too thin to cut without getting drags or tears. I didn't have one bad cut.  This is a really good quality pattern paper. I used cardstock from my stash, sorry I don't have brand names to give you, but it was very easy to find matching colors.  Even the difficult red shades were not a problem.  I'm sure that CTMH has coordinating cardstock, but it was nice to know that I could match with my existing paper stash.  The Bingo Style letters have been in my stash for a long time.  They didn't even have a label left on the package to be able to give you a brand name.  The distressing around the edges was done with Color Box Pigment Cat's Eye - Chianti.  I do not have any CTMH ink pads at this point, but I would definitely buy them in the future.  My sister has used them and likes them.

When you get a minute, you need to head on over to Jill's Blog: thescrapoholic.blogspot.com.  Or you can contact her at TheScrapoholic@gmail.com.  She is also on Facebook.com/TheScrapoholic, etsy.com/shop/thescrapoholic, or twitter.com/TheScrapoholic.

 I am still working on finishing some projects and will hopefully have them posted by the end of the week.

Open House Invite Word Book

I wanted to share the Open House invitation that I made for my dear friend's daughter.  I made 50 for her and I think they liked them.  It's hard to imagine that she is graduating, she is supposed to stay little forever. I am sure that she is going to do great things.

I used Design Studio to create this invitation. I started with the square from George and welded shadow letters from Base Camp. Then I added the regular Base Camp letters (with no shadow) to the pages. Each page was adjusted to see each letter at the edge of the pages.

After cutting all the pages and letters I glued the letters to the pages. The picture with Open House and open house detail pages were printed and layered.

The 2010 shadow was welded with Design Studio and the white numbers were then adjusted to fit on the shadows. I placed the 2010 over some decorative ribbon.

The book was then stapled with oversize embellishment staples.  I didn't add a lot of extra embellishments since there were a few layers and I wanted it to go through the mail without being mangled.

The finished size is 4" - 5-1/2"

Thanks for looking.

NSD Challenge #4 - "I Like You Least"

Hum - what cartridge do I like least or use the least.  The challenge: use a cartridge you thought you had to have and then don't use very much.  I have to say mine is Jasmine.  I absolutely love the style of this font, but I have such a hard time getting it to cut cleanly.  I found that if I use Design Studio or up the speed on the Cricut, it cuts better.  Sometimes.

I used Design Studio to cut this card front.  I used the rectangle from George and placed the Warmest Wishes from Jasmine on top of it.  I had the bottom of the rectangle cut across the center between warmest and wishes.  After cutting I glued the blue over the brown.

The finished card size is 5-1/2" x 4-1/4"

Designer's Choice - C.O.M.

 I finished the Designer's Choice card for the Card of the Month Swap on Cricut.com.  The thread is here.  January's theme was Designer's Choice.  So we were all able to choose our own alliteration for the month.  Everyone gets a chance to guess what the color and embellishment combination is for your card.  Mine was Purple with Parallelograms. Be sure to look at past months cards. We have some really great card makers in this swap.

 The design of the card came from a special Paper Cafts Magazine called Paper Crafts Remodeled.  I have wanted to use this design for a long time.  They have some awesome decorated bags as well as cards with this design and different embellishments. Simple, but cute.

The paper is from a giant 300 piece box from K & Company.  I got the box with a 50% coupon last fall.  It has a huge variety of papers and I was glad I was able to make some work.  The green & teal were from a Martha Stewart pack.  I cut the circles with the George cartridge on my Cricut.  I was having a little problem with the circles looking like circles, they turned out a little oblong.

Notebooks

Just a few quick notebooks I put together yesterday.  They are 3" x 4" Mead notebooks covered with some scraps I had laying around.  These are for me & my friends to write down things we want to talk about when we get together for lunch.  Sometimes we lose track of what we wanted to say.

"Crackle" ATC

It has been a long time again.  This was my January ATC card for a swap on Cricut.com.  I was using old supplies again, so I really don't have all of the information I should have for this card.  But, I think this will just be a look at it kind of post.

The theme this month was "Crackle".  I went the easy route & used paper that looked crackled.  I have had it for years & I think it was part of a stack.  At some point I separated my stacks by color so I'm not sure where this one came from.  I used Cricut DS to design the window with the George cartridge.  I placed the window over embossed vellum on top of the same crackle paper.  Then I placed the flowers in the corner of the window & covered with another piece of the crackle paper.

Christmas Card?

First I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are getting ready for 2010. I'm sure you are wondering why I am posting a card  for Valentine's Day when it is titled Christmas Card?  Well, I "received" a Score Pal for Christmas as part of a gift certificate, so I thought this card may count sorta as Christmas.

I made this card using the Score Pal for the embossed lines around the edge of the card.  I am sure that most of you have used a Score Pal or own one, but if you would like to see what they are all about, you can see them at http://www.scor-pal.com/.  I have been pretty stubborn about buying one for quite some time.  I have been using an old cutter with an embossing tool.  I have to say this was so much easier and accurate that the old way.

The cuts were made with my Cricut.  I was originally going to use the heart with love cut from Paper Pups until I realized that I had leant the cartridge to a friend.  So I used Cricut Design Studio and welded the silhouette heart from George with the Love from Home Accents cartridges.  I then cut the flowers from George.  The white flower centers & the white dots were done with a white Sakura Souffle pen. 

I am making these cards for Cards for Soldiers.  The link to that thread is here on the Cricut.com message board.  The cards are made for our soldiers to send to their loved ones back home since they have limited access to a card shop.