Sunflower and Butterfly Card

Sunflowers are from the Bloom cartridge
Flower centers were done with a Bitty Punch from Stampin' Up
Greenery is from Accent Essentials
The butterfly is an EK Success punch
I used a rotary cutter to deckle the edge.

Testing and Reviewing Square 1 Masterpiece Adhesive Fabric

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Shawn Mosch from Crafty Chics
You may also know Shawn from  MyCutSearch, a site I rely on to help locate images on my Cricut cartridges.  She wanted to know if I would try using a new craft product called Square 1 Masterpiece in a project and write a review.   I was pretty hesitant to accept the offer.  Most things I see from design teams are pretty elaborate and, let's face it, I named my blog "Nothin' Fancy" for a reason!

It took me several days to decide how to use the Square 1 product.  I wanted to not only showcase the material, but I also wanted to test how it cut and how easily it would transfer onto a surface.

The design I chose for my test is from the Cricut cartridge Lyrical Letters.  Because the area I had to work with was relatively small, I knew it would be a wonderful test for intricate cuts.  Using my Cameo and Make The Cut software, I cut the design using the settings that work well for me when I cut vinyl.

The Square 1 Masterpiece cut cleanly and weeded easily.  Essentially it's an adhesive backed fabric. I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the surface is.  Since it's fabric, I anticipated it having a much rougher texture. 

You can go here to find out all the details about the product: Square 1 Masterpiece website

This link will take you to Square 1 Masterpiece Facebook page.  There you will find photos of projects and can ask questions about using their product.

Like vinyl, Square 1 is on a paper backing and can be cut with a die cutting machine. Their website says that you do not have to use transfer paper since the fabric isn't stretchy.  I did use transfer paper for two reasons: 1.  It helps me to position the cut out and, 2. the design I chose to cut was quite lacy and flexible.  If I had cut a solid shape, I wouldn't have needed the transfer paper at all.

The Square 1 adhered easily onto the shiny surface of the charger plate.  The matte finish of the Square 1 makes it really stand out on the glossy surface.

I used metallic gold Oracal 651 vinyl for the words and snowflakes.  Then I embellished the tree shape with red Stickles and a pre-made red satin bow.

Make The Cut software makes it super simple to curve text.  You just place a circle the size you want on your mat, type in your text and drag it into the circle.  Voila`!  It's there.  You may want to manipulate the letters a bit depending on the font you choose.

I added snowflakes from Paper Trimmings, Accent Essentials, and Winter Lace Cricut cartridges.  They were traced and cut on my Cameo with Make The Cut software.

The font I used is Lobster Two.


So, would I recommend Square 1?  Yes, I definitely would.  It cuts cleanly, transfers easily and the adhesive on it is repositionable, which makes it safe to use on painted walls.
 

Vellum Overlay Christmas Cards

A Facebook friend posted a Christmas card using this technique.  I like the silhouette underneath the vellum.

A Child's Year was used for the silhouette as well as the holly leaves.  I cut the leaves from white cardstock and colored them with Promarkers.

After doing three of these, I decided the background paper should be brighter and made this one using a snowflake from Accent Essentials.

The vellum square has an embossed line around the outer edge so it doesn't look completely flat on the card.
 

Triple Layered Snowflake Card

Using Accent Essentials cartridge, I cut snowflakes at 1 3/4", 2 1/8" and 2 1/2" from some light weight iridescent paper.  I layered them with pop dots for dimension.

Since not everyone celebrates Christmas, I decided not to put any sentiment on these.  They'll make great winter cards for Operation Write Home.

 

Fall Leaves Card

Another card with a fall theme that was inspired by one seen on Pinterest.

Three different cartridges were used to cut the leaves: Accent Essentials, A Child's Year and Mickey and Friends. They were embossed with my Cuttlebug.   The button was done with a Martha Stewart punch and accented with baker's twine.

Fence with Flowers Card

Jenny at Crafting in the Country designed this card.  She made hers with much smaller flowers and used it as an insert onto a card front.  I made mine as the entire card front.

The flowers were cut and sized using Design Studio and Accent Essentials cartrdige.  The flower centers were done with an EK Success punch.  The fence boards are cut from kraft paper and embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch.

I really like the way this turned out, but it's way too complicated for me to make multiples.  This card will go into my basket of cards that I keep on hand and probably be passed on to a friend who sends a lot of cards.

It's nice that Scotch glue dries clear!  You can see some of it peeking out from behind the flower centers in this photo.

I don't know where spring went!

Brrrr!  It's the first day of May and we're freezing!  Yesterday the wind blew so hard you could barely stand up outside and today it's cold, windy and raining.  Nothing like spring weather should be, more like a November afternoon, for sure.

This card was made using Accent Essentials to cut the flowers, SU flower punch for the centers, some baby buttons and Magic Mesh.

I don't think they even make Magic Mesh any more! I bought it from the markdown basket at the LSS over a year ago and occasionally run across it and use a little more of it.

The inspiration for this card came from the SU summer mini catalog sale that starts today.  While online looking at the catalog, I saw their new triple layer punches and decided I could do the same thing with my Expression and save $23.95.  There's a stamp set in the catalog that I really want that's priced at $19.95.  My theory is I just saved $4.00 toward that set!  LOL!

After I took the flower shapes off the Expression mat, I curled the edges with my finger tip.  The centers were punched from pages out of an old book and crumpled up.

Lacy Labels Cards

Yesterday I picked up Lacy Labels and today had a struggle trying to come up with some ideas to use it!  Nothing seemed to look good together when I was picking out paper, etc.  LOL!

So, I put Lacy Label aside for another time and started looking through the Cricut Magazine and got inspired to do this card.  I used George to do the scallops, the leaves are from Accent Essentials.  I found the sentiment stamp at the LSS garage sale last Saturday.  There's Glossy Accents in the center of the little Prima flower.  It looks dull because it's not dry yet!  LOL!  I added a few dots with my Signo pen and was finished for today!

Hello Kitty Card

THe Hello Kitty was cut at 3 7/8".  I would not recommend cutting it any smaller or you'll never get the little pieces off the paper! LOL!

The background paper came from the clearance section at the LSS.  Wish I had several more sheets of it because it's perfect raindrops!

"Cheer" was cut with Plantain Schoolbook and the arrow is from Accent Essentials.

Valentine Cards #3

It's a good thing that Cards magazine has online subscriptions.  Having computer access to back issues means I have a lot of examples to look at for inspiration and I don't have to find someplace in my craft room to store all those issues.

Here it is just two days before Christmas and I'm working on Valentine's cards in order to get them shipped out by the first week in January for Cards for Soldiers!

For the past two weeks I've been fighting a horrible cold and my mind just isn't in a creative mode, for sure! These two cards are based on examples I found in the February issues of Cards magazine.

I used Accent Essentials to cut the scalloped rectangle.  Used a SU background stamp to sit the punched heart on.  Added some little leaves I stamped and colored and a Prima flower.  Stickles are in the center of the flower.  The sentiment stamp is one I've had for a long time.  Added some organza ribbon and voila' it was done.  There are tiny black doodledots around the outside of the scalloped rectangle.

Made this one with some more of the Little Yellow Bicycle card that was donated to me at the June scrapbook convention in Dallas.

The color of the card base is like a black cherry.  I used a MS border punch for the white, Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the tag, a Studio G stamp for the sentiment and the tree.  The ribbon is the absolute last of my SU Bravo Burgandy.  I used every single inch of it!

Valentine Card #2

Another Cards for Soldiers Valentine.

Last June, Okieladybug, her friend Karen, and I went to Arlington, TX to a scrapbook convention.  There was a booth there selling Little Yellow Bicycle paper by the box.  The sheets were stacked in wire racks and you could fill your box with any of the sheets you wanted and pay a single price for the entire box.

As the racks would sell out, the people that had the booth would refill the racks with different patterns and types of paper, including some paper stacks.

I found a great stack called Love Letters and knew it would work great for CFS Valentines and I put as much of it in my box as I could find.  Then I asked the lady in the booth if there was any chance she had any more of it in her backstock.  She did find more of it, although it was loose sheets rather than packs.

During my conversation with her, I told her the paper would be used for CFS and gave her a brief explanation about what we do for our active military.  She thanked me, told me that she thought that was a really great project and then she gave me a large stack of paper at no charge.  I wish I had gotten her contact information so I could have sent her a thank you for her generosity.

This is the first card I've made with the Little Yellow Bicycle paper.  It's not traditional Valentine red, it's more of a deep rose color.  The card is based on one from an old issue of Cards magazine.

Cartridges used:

Accent Essentials for black and white background
Plantin Schoolbook for the letters- cut at 1 1/8"
Jasmine for the photo corners
George for the heart

Boho Blossoms punch for the little flower
SU scallop border punch for the black strips

Brocade embossing folder used on little flower

I added some black Stickles to the center of the flower and used a white Signo pen for the doodledots.  In the photo it looks like the letters have been embossed with the Swiss Dot folder instead of having black doodledots.

JOY Banner

Very simple to make.  I used Accent Essentials for the scalloped rectangle, cut at 4.439 x 5".

I chose these dimensions so that the finished banner will fit into one of the SU tins I bought on clearance to store until next Christmas.  You could decorate the tin and it would make a nice gift.  It's an idea I saw on a SU demo's blog.

 I cut one scalloped rectangle out of green cardstock using the hide contour feature so the center frame won't cut and one out of striped paper.  The paper needed to be mounted onto cardstock since it was such light weight.

I layered the striped paper over the green and then cut the shape again out of red cardstock.  This time I welded  letters cut at 3 1/2" using my Jasmine cartridge.  I adhered the red cutout over the striped paper and added some doodledots. ***there's that word again! It always makes me laugh!***

Attaching the paper onto the ribbon became my next challenge.  I tried using some really good glue but it wound up bleeding through on the ribbon.  I decided to try red line tape.  Since it's just a simple holiday decoration I hope it will hold together for the next couple of weeks!  LOL!

I added a "D" ring at the top of the ribbon for a hanger and then just tacked the bow on the bottom by hand.

Cute, simple and quick!

This was all whipped together using supplies I had on hand last night. 

I think it would hang better if I'd punched holes in the corners of each square and threaded the ribbon through on both sides.  With a single ribbon down the center, any breeze will cause it to spiral so it will have to be hung flat against the wall.  Oh, well!  Another learning experience!  LOL!

Monkey Birthday Card

I used a Dustin Pike digital image for the monkey, colored it with my Promarkers, Accent Essentials for the scalloped square.  Added some glitter stars on the corners of the digital image and printed the inside sentiment on my computer.