Tag: real read

A Cricut Challenge

I bought this Nordic ornament stamp last week and I’ve been trying to think of the best way to present it.  It’s about 5¼” across and I don’t have any dies that big.  Also, I wanted it to have the hanger part on the top too so a straight circle die wouldn’t work.  This seemed like a perfect job for the Cricut.

To begin, I stamped the hanger and bow and scanned it in to my computer.  I imported it into Inkscape using a great tutorial from TroyTube on YouTube and then added an offset (the red part) to give me my basic cut-out shape.  I played around with the shape a bit to remove the holes to make the cut-out section sturdier.

Next, I uploaded the finished shape into Cricut Design Space and scaled it to fit the stamped image.  I made the basic card shape by making a circle 5½” diameter and welding the ornament hanger onto the top.  I also sliced a smidge off the bottom so that the card would stand up.  The shape was duplicated and flipped horizontally so that it would be a mirror image and then overlapped the first circle a small amount to give a place for the fold.  A test cut revealed not quite a perfect fit but close enough.

My first card was for a swap in a Facebook group.  I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed in white before blending pink, purple and blue inks over.  The embossing resists the ink but gives texture with a lovely blended background.  Lastly, I added some rhinestones on the centre of the snowflakes and a small sentiment.  And a decorated envelope, of course!

I tried the stamp out on other coloured cards to see if it was as effective.  It gave good results whether it was heat embossed or just stamped, although a stamp positioner does help as it’s tricky to get all sections of big stamps to stamp well first time.

White embossing powder on Real Red and gold embossing powder on Shaded Spruce
White embossing powder on Sahara Sand and silver ink on Blackberry Bliss

I hate waste so try to salvage anything that hasn’t gone to plan.  Tags to the rescue!

Pretty Piano

Whilst surfing around on Pinterest the other day, I saw a really cool easel card in the shape of a grand piano.  I was looking for ideas for an anniversary card for Mr L and was planning on using Stampin’ Up! Music From The Heart so this fancy fold was the perfect match.  Most grand pianos I’ve seen are black but I made mine cream, well Vanilla actually!

After I’d cut out my card base and a 5½” square piece for the piano lid, I set to work making the keyboard.  I cut 10 pieces of Whisper White card ½” wide for the white keys and 7 pieces of Basic Black card ¼” wide for the black keys  I glued the white keys onto a piece of black card and then fixed the black notes on with foam strips as these would form the ‘stopper’ for my easel.

Next, I repeat stamped the wavy keyboard image onto the top of the front section of my easel card base.  This would only really be visible when the card was closed.

I stamped the treble clef, stave and some notes on a scrap of Very Vanilla and backed this with a piece of gold glimmer paper to make the music stand.  To make it more decorative, I added a section punched from the Pretty Label punch at the top.

Now for the piano lid.  To make an approximation of the lid shape, I punched a circle with my 2¼” punch from the top right corner and then used scissors to straighten out the edges.  Next, I stamped my sentiment added a red enamel heart.  I didn’t think the piano was looking particularly grand so I die cut two flourishes (from the Detailed Deer) from gold card and glued them in place.

Finally, to assemble, I glued the lid onto the bottom half of the front of the card base and glued the music stand in place.  This is what the card looks like when it’s closed.

Inside, I layered Basic Black and Real Red and added my decorated inner.  The envelope was also stamped with various images from the set.

Here’s my finished pretty piano card.

 

 

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