Making a Birthday Card Using your Cricut Expression Cutting Machine with the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge and your Cuttlebug Machine too!

Here is an easy card to make that looks pretty classy too!

I had to make a special birthday card for our brother-in-law who was turning 60.  I went looking through all of my cartridges and nothing popped out and said this is the one.  So what I ended up doing was combining my Cricut Expression cutting machine, along with the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge and Cuttlebug machine using the happy birthday cuttlebug embossing folder for a fun card.

plantinschoolbookbirthdaycard

Here is how I made this card:

I used a white 4 x 5.5” note card.

Cut a piece of checkered paper just a little smaller than then the card.

Cut a piece of solid blue paper smaller then the checkered paper.

Now the fun part.

I ran the blue paper through my cuttlebug machine using the birthday cuttlebug embossing folder.

cuttlebugandembossingfolder

Then using my Cricut Expression cutting machine, and the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge, I cut out the numbers 60, using the “Roly Poly” feature at one inch.

Next I selected the “blast” shape from the cartridge and cut the white one at 2.5” and the light blue one at 2”

I put them all together with the Glue Glider Pro, and then I added some dimensional adhesive dots to the 60, since I wanted that to pop out of the card.  And for the finishing touch I added a stitched look on the 60 using a silver gelly roll pen.

Wishing Bruce a Wonderful 60th!

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Halloween Card made with Supplies from Two Peas in a Bucket

Everyone is getting ready for Christmas, but don’t forget Halloween.  Halloween is such a fun holiday.  Card makers, Scrapbookers and all types of crafters have so much fun with this holiday.  There is a company; Two Peas in a Bucket which carries such cool Halloween papers, stickers and punches.

Look at this cute Halloween card that I made with a Martha Stewart spider web paper punch, Halloween clear stamp and some ribbon.  Sorry the picture wasn’t that great but, You can get all of these products at Two Peas in a Bucket, for a great price.

hallweencardmarthastewartpunch

Have a Happy Halloween – Boo!

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Happy Fall Everyone

I love this time of year.  When the air is crisp, stores are decorated with fall items.  Makes me want to bake apples and eat candy corn.

I have had the best week crafting.  I just finished making 70 cards for Operation Write Home.  I just packed up the box and am getting ready to go to the post office to mail them.  I now feel that I am making a difference.  It’s a great feeling.

firstshipmentofcardstooperationwritehome

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

JoansCraftWorld now Donating Cards for a Cause called Operation Write Home

I found this website that I think is the most heart felt site that I have seen. It is called Operation Write Home.  It is an organization that takes handmade cards that we the card makers make and send them to our troops, so that they can write to their family and loved ones at home.  They recently changed their name from Cards for Heroes.

When I went to the site and saw the pictures of our military men and women holding up cards from “us” with such smiles on there faces, it really touched me like never before.  I guess I have been in my little world enjoying my freedom, but not remembering why I am free.  It’s because of all of our military out there in the middle of nowhere or should I say “hell” fighting for my and our freedom.
It might sound crazy but now I feel that I have a small part in helping them connect with there families by being part of Operation Write Home.

operationwritehome

I am in the process of making a lot of cards to send to Operation Write Home so they in return can mail them out to our troops.  And I am going to say this to all of you so you can hold me accountable, I will continue to make/send cards till all of our troops are safely home with there families.  There I said it and now I have to do it.  And it’s not like I don’t like making cards, that is my passion and now my passion has a cause behind it.

So you may be asking yourself, why is Joan writing about this? Because if you are a card maker like me and want to help our soldiers stay connected with there families and loved ones, take part in this great cause.  Remember, there are no Hallmark stores for them to get a card.  Consider yourself the piece of the puzzle that get our soldiers connected to home.

Go and visit the site now, and get all the details.  I hope you feel as good as I do, and join in on this wonderful good deed and help send Cards for Heroes.

What Stamp Ink & Stamp Pads Should Be Used For Your Rubber Stamping Needs?

I received some questions regarding what kind of stamp ink and stamp pad that I use.  And it all really depends on what I am making.

Here is a picture of just some of the stamp pads and stamp ink refills that I own and use in my rubber stamping projects.

stamppadsandink50

My Stampin’ Up spots are all the dye ink classic stamp pads and the larger ones are the pigment craft stamp pads.  I also have a few Versa Color dot ink pads also, which are pigment ink.  If I showed them all to you there would be a huge pile so I just wanted to show you that I have them both.

There are several differences. Dye stamp ink absorbs into the paper where as pigment stamp ink sits on top of the paper and does not absorb. Pigment stamp ink tends to be thicker than dye stamp ink and is often preferred for scrapbooking because pigment stamp inks are more resistant to fading than most dye stamp inks.

Just remember that I am not a stamp ink expert, these are just the facts about ink.
Dye Ink (Classic Stamp Ink)
•    Dries quickly – you should be able to stamp your image and run your hand over it within moments and not have smearing
•    Wonderful for making handmade greeting cards
•    Not as expensive as the Craft Pigment Ink
•    No matter what color you use, you will not see more than a watermark if you stamp a light color ink onto dark paper.
Pigment Ink (Craft Stamp Ink)
•    Does NOT dry quickly – will smear if not heat set or let dry for a few minutes.
•    Recommend above classic ink for scrapbooking because it won’t fade.
•    This is the perfect ink if you are embossing, since it does stay wet longer your embossing powders sticks to it perfectly for you to heat set with your heat gun.
•    You can use a light color ink to stamp on dark paper and see the image well.  This adds a whole new world of things you can do!
The one I tend to use the most when doing my rubber stamping is probably the Craft Pigment ink.  I am a custom greeting card maker and love to emboss, so this is the perfect stamp ink for me.
I can also say that I have a few favorite manufacturers of stamp ink and stamp pads.  I love Stampin’ Up because they have various stamp inks & stamp pads in both dye and pigment inks and that match there papers.  My other favorite is Color Box, I think mainly because they are sold in my local crafting stores and are easily obtainable when needed.
Now this is just me but I also like the Craft Pigment Stamp Pads because they are made of a soft foam and when rubber stamping, I feel that I get better ink distribution than when I use the Dye Stamp pads that are made of a hard surface, that doesn’t budge.
If you have further questions just leave a comment!

Make it a Great Day and Don’t Forget to Leave Time to Craft!

Page 25 of 29
1 23 24 25 26 27 29