Making Bows

 I discovered a tool (thanks a lot Joy ;) ) to help make perfect bows every time.  And now I'm obsessed with making them.  So of course I will have bows on my Christmas cards this year.  (I have to or I might be smothered with the amount I've been making.)

The tool is called Bow Easy and I found it at www.clearbagsrus.com.  It makes 7 different sizes of bows (the smallest are my favorite right now) and you can have single loops or as many as you want.  There are 3 loops in these bows.   The instructions that come with it are awful but I found a bunch of videos on you tube to figure it out.  It's really simple once you understand it.  Really!

I wrapped the red ribbon around the smallest size.  Then put the end through the small hole at the top of the slit and pull it around and through the loop.  Clear as mud?  It's really hard to explain.  You need to see it on a you tube video for it to make sense.  But trust me, it really is simple.

This picture shows what it looks like once you pull on the end and it creates a knot.  Look like a bow?  Just trim the ends and pull it off of the tool.  Beware, all of my projects are going to have bows now.

Christmas Tree Gift Bag

ok, here is the last gift bag post (I promise).  This tree is from Winter Frolic cricut cartridge.  I have been using this cartridge a lot.  It is very versatile.

Here is a recap of all of the gift bags that I have made for this Christmas season.  I hope that it inspires you in your wrapping.

Santa Gift Bag

I've created another gift bag for Christmas.  I found the santa on the winter frolic cartridge and had to make him.  He's so cute.  I added the stamps No Peeking and Do Not Open Until Christmas as a finishing touch.  These gift bags are so much fun to make and with a Michael's coupon, very economical.

Check out the new holiday gift guide from Close To My Heart here.

Christmas Gift Tags

Homemade gift tags are a piece of cake with the Cricut and CTMH cartridges.  I enjoyed making these gift tags and they didn't take much time at all.  Now bring on the shopping and wrapping!

Products used:

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge                     Trim The Tree stamp set

          

Perfect Fit - Holidays stamp set                     Bakers Twine

       

Hello

This is a cute little 3x3 card that can be used for just a quick note or gift tag.  The baby cakes paper pack isn't just for baby projects.  It works great in this project as well.

The Holiday gift guide from Close To My Heart is available on my website.  Check out the new products available starting today.  Many items are while supplies last.  Also, earn a free item when you spend $100.  See my website for details.

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E05): Halloween Mini Albums

Cute Baby Card

This a baby card that I have been making for quite a while now.  The giraffe stamp set is now retired but there are others that can be used instead.  The paper is from my paper stash.  I just used an alphabet stamp set to create the sentiment.  I might remake this using the new baby cakes paper pack from CTMH.  It would be the perfect match.

Birthday Card

I've been on a roll with the birthday cards lately.  Here is another one using the Chantilly paper pack by CTMH.  I love this paper pack!  Great colors for masculine cards too.

Products used: Chantilly paper pack

                        Horray Boquet Stamp set

Balloon Pop up card

I got inspiration today from Craft E Corner's blog.  They posted directions to make this simple pop up card.  Now I've got ideas for others...snowflakes, fall leaves.  Can't wait to try them.

The paper was from my paper stash.  I used a sentiment from CTMH Card Chatter.  The cut out for the sentiment is from CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  The balloons are cut from the cartridge Celebrations.

Birthday presents

Another great card to make to use up those paper scraps.  This card can also be made as a Christmas card, just use scraps of Christmas paper or even wrapping paper.

The paper is from the CTMH Chantilly paper pack.

My Cricut Craftroom Blog Hop

October's My Cricut Craft Room's Blog Hop 

You should have started at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/ if not please start at the beginning

Welcome to My Cricut Craft Room's October's Blog Hop 

Collectively the design team and guest designers have made some amazing and special projects to share with you... over 60 projects are on this hop, but it is in less than 20 stops. .  

The first project I made for the hop is a birthday card using the Close To My Heart Artbooking cartridge.  This cartridge is set up to make quick and easy scrapbook pages but it can be used for so much more.

I used the Cricut Craftroom to create the honeycomb overlay the right size.  The frame and butterfly are also from the art booking cartridge.  Since I had so many little hexagons when I cut the honeycomb, I decided to decorate the inside of the card too.

Products used:

Close To My Heart Artbooking Cartridge

Close To My Heart Babycakes Paper pack

Close To My Heart Just a number stamp set

Project two:  I found double insulated cups with lids and straws at the dollar store and they looked like a blank canvas to decorate. I decided that they would make great stocking stuffers and teacher gifts.  I cut vinyl with all settings at 3 and it cut like butter.  Then I had to use transfer tape to get the vinyl onto the cups.  All very quick and easy.  Make sure to rub the vinyl on and get out any air bubbles.  I was surprised at how well it sticks.  I've been washing mine daily in the dishwasher and in the sink for 2 weeks now and it still looks great.

Product used: vinyl adhesive sheets, transfer tape, Create a Critter 2

Next you should go to Erica's Blog

http://EricasProjects.blogspot.com/ 

If you get lost along the way here is the entire line up

1. Start http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
2.  Vivi J http://www.vivijdesigns.blogspot.com/
3.  Cindy M http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
4. Shawn Mosch - http://craftychicsblog.blogspot.com/
5. Liliana Umpierre - http://www.likidesigns.com/blog
6. Leslie Wrege McGrath - http://scrapnlifeaway.blogspot.com/
7. Roberta Swisher - http://queenbeepapercrafts.blogspot.com/
8.  April Nourse www.curlsandgrins.blogspot.com
9. Brenda Knapik -  http://www.disneygirlcrafts.com/
10. Lourdes - http://creativecraftsniche.blogspot.com/
11. Vicki Glenn - http://www.vickiscraftroom.blogspot.com/
12. Erica http://EricasProjects.blogspot.com/
13. Connie Walsh - http://www.ConnieCreates2.blogspot.com/
14. Tracey  http://www.thecroppingcanuck.blogspot.com/
15. Oh Kissa http://www.ohkissa.com/thought-bubble.html
16. Sandy- http://www.aworkingmomsjoy.blogspot.com/
17. Kris Dietz -- http://http://kreationsbykrisdietz.blogspot.com/
18. Mayra- http://mayrasdesigns.blogspot.com/
19. Cheryl www.Cricutobessed.blogspot.com
20. Crafting Blog Events http://craftingblogevents.blogspot.com/  

Birthday card using scraps

I am in the process of making a lot of cards for an upcoming craft show.  I'm not sure how well it's going to go so I don't want to spend too much money on supplies.  So my goal here was to use up the scrap pieces of paper from the Chantilly paper pack.  I love this paper and I don't want any to go to waste!  Hope you like it.

Make sure that you visit me on Saturday when I will be in a blog hop.  There will be many blogs to check out.  All of the artwork is created from the Cricut.

Close To my Heart is giving away a My Crush book.  Just leave a comment on their site.  Check out their site and watch a video about the My Crush book here.

Embossed Birthday Card

I haven't used the embossing machine much but I decided to experiment with it recently.  I really like the simplicity of this card.  There are a lot of distressing techniques that are possible with an embossed image.  I will have to try some out and I'll share the outcomes.

Simple Happy Birthday card

I love pink and brown colors together.  Not super popular right now but I don't think that it ever gets old.  The paper is from a retired set from Close To My Heart.  The stamp set is Holiday Tags and is my new favorite set.  The stamp set goes with the Artiste Cricut cartridge but I just stamped on a rectangle piece here.  The stamp set has sentiments for any holiday so it is very versatile.