Nugget Tin Bandwagon

Years ago when I first got my Cricut I remember hearing about nugget tins that people were making and I never bit the bullet and jumped on that bandwagon. That has now changed!! My friend Amy, aka Scraparazzi, recently did a share on nugget tins and I figured I might try some to so I could have quick gifts for minor occasions. The problem seems to be that the nuggets disappear before they make it to the tin and given to friends *okie so wishes Lucy didn't like chocolate since she knows that has to be where they are going*.

I know it is a bit late for posting a Halloween project, or it is very very early, which ever I am doing it now because that is how I roll! I made a few of these for some of the workers at McCalls, the ICF/MR where I see clients. The ones I gave them to are always wonderful on consulting and collaborating with me on the therapy of the residents on my caseload and I wanted to give them a little thank you.


Supplies Used:
CTMH Cricut Artiste
CTMH Magic Potions Stamp Set
Cricut Design Studio
Nugget Tin
Various cardstock/paper
Various Inks/Markers
Mounting Foam
Mini Glue Dots

I chose this stamp since it seemed to be rather humorously appropriate due to my job title, and the receivers got a kick out of it as well! One great thing I love about using the CTMH Cricut cartridges are the awesome stamps that coordinate with! It is super easy to line them up and the images stamp so clear.

I used Design Studio to make a shadow for the label and making the spider web border the length I needed. I pop dotted the label on the ban and made the ban where it could just slide off and on.

On another cut file I have loaded in this computer I have the strips designed for DS to cut them. For these tins I just cut them with my paper cutter. I liked using the Making Memories 6x6 pad because it allowed me to just cut 1x3 in strips from each sheet and not waste anything. I had asked on Facebook about the nuggets sliding around and one of my FB friends said she just adds a Glue Dot to the bottom of each one to keep them in place. This worked like a charm!

I got very nice compliments on the tins when I gave them away, also accompanied one of the WICKED HALLOWEEN cards that I had made last year, and I felt it made it well worth the effort. One of the ladies just kept saying "you made that" "you really made that" and I kept telling her yes. She said "well I have never seen anything quite like it. That must have taken a very long time" and I told her it doesn't really take too long and tried to explain the Cricut to her to which she replied "We really gotta find you a man". I told her "yeah I tried that, believe me I get a lot more pleasure from my Cricut". I thought she was gonna choke from laughing so hard!

Birthday Doily Card - Cricut Artiste

I am still so lovin the Cricut Artiste Cartridge!! My friend Carmen was having her birthday recently and I wanted to make her an extra special card since she has been having a really rough time lately. I knew I wanted it to be one of those very dimensional cards and I thought I might be able to use Artiste and boy did I find some great cuts.

I had a hard time naming this card, as I name all my projects that I save in Design Studio but decided on BIRTHDAY DOILY. You can click on the name if you would like to download the cut file for your use. Remember me posting about Google Drive yesterday? Well yeah, it was super simple for me to link the .cut file for ya'll to download! Can I get a "HIP HIP HOORAY GOOGLE"!!



Supplies Used:
Cricut Artiste
Cricut Design Studio
Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder
Cuttlebug Victoria folder
Pink Paislee - Butterfly Garden
Various cardstock
Hat Pin, Pearl Brad, Feathers
Organza Ribbon
Various Inks/Markers
Mounting Foam

The card is an A7 size, as I needed something  bigger than an A2 for all the embellishment. I used the Cuttlebug Polka Dot embossing folder on the base mat of the card and it gave it a nice look with the doily printed paper. I tend to love embossing printed paper for an extra little pizzazz. 

Every single cut on this card is from Artiste. I did do a little manipulating on a few of the shapes to get them how I wanted them but I still think it is totally awesome that I was able to get all I needed from just one cartridge.






The sentiment was cut out of Mica Stardream paper. The sentiment base label didn't have a shadow so I made one in Design Studio and it is on the cut file. I used the Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder on the top layer of the label and then added a little faux stitching on the shadow layer.

I have always wanted to use a hat pin on a card but was afraid to due to wanting cards to go in the mail. Since I knew this one was going in a special birthday box for Carmen I knew I could add the extra dimension. I slid the bow on the pin and then threaded the pin through the ribbon that goes across the card to keep it in place.  You can also see where I added some Liquid Pearls to the border that goes along the side of the card.

I was going to use flowers on the card but couldn't find what I thought looked good or what I liked. After thinking about what else I could use I remembered I had some feathers from another project and thought I would give those a shot. I think they gave some really neat dimension and interest to the card.




For Carmen's card I cut out her age *okie wonders if Carmen is gonna kill her for saying that is her age and figures it could be worse and okie could say that was Carmen's birth year, making Carmen a lot lot more older than what she is* and put it on the top layer of the little tag. On the bottom layer of the tag I hand wrote a little special message. If you use the file and want the age you will have to add it in there as I don't think I left it.

I really did have fun with this card and I am glad I finally took the plunge to do a "heavy embellished" card! I might have to make more in the future.

If you don't have the Close To My Heart Cricut Artiste Bundle you can order it from Melanie who will be more than glad to help you out.

Cricut Artiste Western Theme Card

As I was looking through the stamps that coordinate with the Cricut Artiste cartridge I received from Melanie, I came across one that reminded me of a belt buckle. I immediately thought I needed to do a western theme card with it...and so I did! This particular stamp set didn't come with the bundle. One of the good things about CTMH is they produce other sets that coordinate with the Cricut cartridges besides just the ones that come with the bundles.


Supplies Used:
Cricut Artiste
CTMH Casual Expressions Stamp Set
Gold Embossing Powder
Silver Embossing Powder
Heat Gun
Versamark Ink
Paper Studio pattern paper
Mica Stardream cardstock
Various cardstock
Various Inks/Markers
Mounting Foam

I cut the shape out of Mica Stardream cardstock and then stamped on the image with Versamark and added embossing powder. It is very easy to get the stamps lined up since they are clear but I always cut one or two extra images just in case I screw up. I did have to hand cut the stars after stamping and embossing them but it didn't take long to do those.

I folded strips of the denim paper to make them look like belt loops and added on the sides of the "belt buckle".

I used mounting foam to give dimension to the belt buckle and the starts. You can also see the loops a little better in this picture. The ends were folded under the "leather belt" to make it look more realistic.

While I haven't had much time to play with all my goodies lately I am hoping to have some time soon to really see what this cartridge can do!

If you are interested in ordering the Cricut Artiste Bundle just contact MELANIE and she will glad to assist you!

Cricut Artiste Project - Birthday Card

A friend of mine contacted me last week asking if I could make her granddaughter a birthday card. I told her I was working on some projects and wasn't sure I could get to it since I was getting a new cartrdige in to review. After I got the cartridge and stamps I called her and let her know that I could kill two birds with one stone and make her card while also making another project using the Artiste Bundle that I received from Melanie.

Supplies Used:
Cricut Artiste
Cricut George
CTMH Birthday Collection Stamps
Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls folder
Imaginisce All Kids Of Happy
Bazzil Bling
Mica Stardream cardstock
Various cardstock
5/8" satin ribbon
Various Inks
Mounting Foam
Brads

The inside sentiment is a stamp from the Close To My Heart Birthday Collection that is included in this awesome bundle. There are a few other great stamps on there as well, including the cupcake, and hopefully I will be using more soon.

I decided to add a strip of patterned paper on the inside of the card to help decorate it up a bit. Sometimes I do this and sometimes I don't, I think it just depends on my mood at the time and how ready I am to get the project done.

I wanted something decorative to frame the cupcake and found this cut on the Artiste cart. I can't even begin to tell you what all cuts on are the cart but it seems to cover most of the holidays, different occasions and still has plenty of other everyday cuts as well. I did use George to cut the circle for the middle of the decorative circle *okie can't imagine Cricut life without good ol' George*.

You can see in this picture where I used the coordinating stamp to stamp on the wrapper of the cupcake. I used a small ink pad to just ink that part of the stamp and then stamp on the cut. Since the stamps are clear it is very easy to line up on the coordinating cut.

There was some debate on the Cricut MB about which cartridge was better, the CTMH Art Philosophy or the new CTMH Artiste...personally I don't want to have to do without either!! If you are interested in ordering this bundle you can go to Melanie's CTMH website and order your's there.

Cricut Artiste Project - Name Banner

I recently received the new Close to My Heart Cricut Artiste Bundle for review from Melanie Brown who also has the website Courtney Lane Designs and claim to fame of being one of the partners at Everyday Cricut. Mel contacted me asking if I would be interested in doing a review for her and of course I agreed! The great thing is that Mel knows if I don't like a product I will be honest and give my honest review, however she must have known I was going to LOVE this one!

First off I started looking through the handbook, which I will admit I had already looked on Design Studio but seeing the handbook made things make more sense. It took me a long time to go through the handbook because there is SOOO MUCH on this cartridge!

After looking through the chipboard sheets that are included in the bundle I decided to use the mini dimensional album pieces for a project...but not for an album.

One of the great things of these bundles is that all the pieces include the size you need to choose to cut your papers, whether it be chipboard or for the stamps that come in the bundle


SUPPLIES USED:
Cricut Artiste cartridge
Basic Grey 6x6 Lemonade
Various Ribbon
Various Bling
Stickles
Hot Glue Gun
Mounting Foam
Wire

My Goddaughter Amber starts college this month and will be moving to the dorms. I asked what her colors were of her bedding and decided to make a name banner for her so she can have something to put on her walls. Since the chipboard album had 6 pieces it worked great and I just added a butterfly on the extra piece. I used some wire to make the antenna for the butterfly.




All the cuts on the name banner are from Artiste, the flowers, flourishes, letters, leaves,butterfly...yep all of them!

I added some flat back gems for the flower centers to bling it up a little. On the letters I cut two and off set them since there isn't a shadow for the font, which I do frequently with fonts that don't have included shadows. It seems to work out just as well in most cases.

The letter shadow is glued directly on the base piece. I cut the letters in some spare chipboard I had and then after gluing the patterned paper on the chipboard I used mounting foam to pop the letters up from the shadow.

I threaded some sheer ribbon through the holes that were already cut to put the name together and then I found different ribbons in coordinating colors to put on the corners, hot glue was used to attach the ribbon on the corners.

I added a dab of hot glue to the ribbon on the back of each piece to keep it from sliding around.

Since the dorms have brick walls I put two strips of mounting foam on the back of each square so she can easily place the name banner on her wall. I sent her a picture of the project when I finished and she was so excited!

If you order the bundle and wonder what to do with the chipboard mini album this is just another way to use those pieces if you don't want to make a mini album.

You can order your bundle at Melanie's CTMH website. The price is $99 and I will be honest that the price does seem high but for everything you get and all that is available on this cartridge I think it is worth every penny!

I will be making a few more projects to post in the near future!