Fall Tags, 2022

The next yearly SCAL/ECAL/CREATE challenge is here. We were asked to make three fall-themed tags. I know I've said it before, but these challenges are not a competition, but just a fun way to share ideas.

My first tag was a little leaf wreath. I cut out mini leaves of assorted colors and types, and added a few acorns. I used a Happy Thanksgiving tag from one of my digital element packs.

Tag day 2 had me making an Autumn Gnome tag. This was my fave of the three. This was originally designed as wall decor, at 16.6" tall. I reduced the size to only 4.5" tall (3" wide), and it turned out so darling. Those leaf vein pieces were, at most, 1/32" wide. This cut file comes from Dreaming Tree. You can find the cut file here. There is a detailed assembly tutorial available.

And lastly tag day 3. No pattern for this one. Lots of print-2-cut and digital elements. Also a good amount of foam squares for dimension. Love that pumpkin spice!

And, that's a wrap for this fall's tags. We will be having our yearly Christmas tag challenge posting beginning December 1st. If you have a cutting machine (pretty much any one) and use either Scal, Ecal or Create software, join us and share your projects. We are constantly learning from each other and have a great time. eCal, SCAL & Create Users

Pumpkin Spice - The Spice of Life!

Easter Egg Luminary (60s version)

I loved making this Easter Egg Luiminary from SVG Cuts. It was so interesting. It seems a bit complicated to make at first, but just following the tutorial will show you how easy it really is. There's no guessing what gets glued to where, especially if you're using patterned paper panels. 

There are small tea lights that I set underneath where there is a hole. They are battery operated and constantly changing colors. You can see some of the colors the petals changed to in the following photo.

There's a larger panel around the bottom edge (five total panels), so I saved it as a png file, took it into my photo editing program (Affinity Photo). I designed the panel with a tie dye pattern, and put a different word on each one. When I finished, I opened it up in my cutting machine software and traced it. Then did a print-2-cut.

Thanks to Mary Bonk of SVG Cuts, who designed the egg so intuitively. I loved attaching the panels by an entire triangle, rather than regular tabs. It helped so much. It also helped that my egg had patterned paper, so there was no guessing when matching the triangle areas for gluing.

The top notch on the egg were individual images. I cut two of each (the ones with wording needed to be flipped and the words re-inserted so they'd print correctly). I got a very thin dowel and used floral tape to attach the floral wire.  I inserted it from the bottom into a small hole I made in the top. I glued the bottom of the dowel to one of the edges in the bottom to stabilize it, and let it dry thoroughly. The top of the dowel just barely came through the top hole. I cut the images using print-2-cut, and then cut the floral wire as I added the images so I'd get them at the proper height.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this. I'm sort of in love with it. It's so cheery that I get a little smile each time I look at it.

PEACE OUT, FRIENDS!

Mini Wallet Album

This mini wallet album was designed by Lori Whitlock. I made it for my niece's birthday. This was really a fun project to make, and used svg files and my new Starcraft Solo cutting machine (so cool!). I love the way it folds so efficiently. Many folios like this end up bulging and being too full to lay flat. But, this is compact and closes so cleanly. It is closed with an eyelet closure and twine.

I believe there are 17 photos in the wallet, but could be more if made like the cut file intended. There are mats for placing the photos, but I chose to put my photos in various frames that I put together in Affinity Photo. I then cut them using Print-2-Cut.

The digital paper I printed is B-Side from Basic Grey. I printed it with my wide format printer onto white A/C cardstock.

The accordion flaps fold into the wallet, the photos being placed on both sides.

Most of the photo frames came from the same B-Side digital papers/elements, and a couple from other paper packs.

The inside bottom flap has two pockets for which I made two tags with photos on both the front and back. Again, I designed these in Affinity Photo and p2c.

Ephemera was inserted from the same paper pack.

I will definitely be making this again. It's easy, fun and turns out just darling. You can find the cut file at Lori Whitlock Wallet Mini Album and the video tutorial on YouTube at Wallet Mini Album.

Hope you get a chance to make this fun project.

Pack a Lot of Fun in One Small Wallet!

Cards for June (Thank you, Father's Day and Birthday)

Here's a simple thank you card that was designed in Affinity Photo, Pretty simple. I made a few extras to have on hand.

The first is a birthday lemonade stand box card, the pattern coming from SVG Cuts. I used a shimmer pen on the lemonade and lemons. A fun summertime card!

Here's another box card, this one for Father's Day. This one came from Simply Crafty SVGs, and it's called Garage Workshop Popup Card. 

And, a thank you card that was made from some digital paper, and simply laid it out, added clouds and printed it out. Very simple.

Enjoy!

Sweet New Baby Card

I designed this card, and love how it turned out. And, as simple as it looks, it took hours to figure it all out. The bird image is printed directly on the inside of the card, a second copy of such being cut as a print-2-cut and placed over the one printed on the inside to give it dimension. It took some figuring out to get the ovals of the front of the card placed correctly and the pink inset oval. And, the text-on-a-curve on the front. I designed the card with images from Creative Fabrica.

Finally, I made this envelope and added another image from the same grouping as the previous ones. It was also done as a print-2-cut.

Welcome to the World, Eloise!

Orchid Gatefold Card

This beautiful Orchid Gatefold Card came from Dreaming Tree. I made it for my sister-in-law, whose husband passed. It was very satisfying to make, and I love the matching envelope.

It closes with the band with attached orchid.

You can find this cut file by clicking here: Orchid Gatefold Card

With Deepest Sympathy

Easter Treats!

I had so much fun making some Easter goodies for the grandboys. Firstly, I made this large Easter egg from the Sunshine Hobby Works' (no longer in business) Rooster Egg, having left off the comb, beak, wattle, tail, etc. I then made the Cracked Chick from Simply Crafty SVGs, leaving the bottom off and attaching it as a handle on the top of the egg.

Secondly, I inserted a simple little treat holder I made for their Easter egg. This was originally designed as an Easter bunny napkin holder by Dreaming Tree. I redesigned it as a Tootsie Roll Pop holder.

Next, I designed and made each of the boys a dexterity puzzle. There are about 12-13 layers around the edges. I just learned today of another way to do this, so I'm looking forward to trying it for a shaker card or dexterity puzzle in the future.

Finally, I made each of the boys a t-shirt using an Easter-related image.

Considering that all of the above items, as well as Easter socks, candies and some Peeps bandaids fit into the egg, it's a pretty large container, measuring, I believe, around 9.5" tall in total, with the opening across shown below being approximately 5".

Happy Easter!

Explosion Box - 2-Box

This is a 2-box Explosion Box designed by Simply Crafty SVGs. I've had the pattern for a while, but  was finally able to make it. I love the way it turned out. I used paper designs from My Minds Eye's Indie Chic. They worked beautifully.

This was designed so well by Sandy at Simply Crafty SVGs.  Her's was made in a Valentine's theme, but, of course, you can use any theme you desire. The little embellishments on the top and sides of the lid to the box were melted Perler beads. 

This was made as a part of an Eclips Challenge on the eCal & SCAL Users Facebook Page, the theme being boxes and bags.

Let Your Talents Explode!

Easter Tags 2022

Here is yet another installment of Easter tags challenge done on the eCal & SCAL Users FB page. I used a lot of print-2-cut for these, and the following is what I came up with. 

The egg tags were made with an svg cut file from Creative Fabrica. The Happy Easter tag was designed by me using digital elements from Digital Scrap World, Lisa-Lotte Sunesen on Etsy. The Spring green gingham tag was a cut-2-print tag with images/elements from Carta Bella's Spring Market. All of the tag backgrounds were designed in Affinity Photo with elements as noted.

Have a Wonderful Spring Season!

Tropical Pineapples!

I think this card is one of my all-time favorite ones. This card is made from four layers. They are supposed to be a solid color layers. I took the top layer into Affinity Photo and added some graphics, and love how it turned out. This pattern came from Dreaming Tree's Pineapple Card.

Then came the gift box, which came from SVG Cuts Fruity Fiesta SVG Kit. Another fun project, and a nice sized box for a gift.

Have a Tropical Fiesta Kind of Day!

St. Paddy's Day Hats

I always try to make a little something for my grandboys, with a little treat inside for fun holidays. For St. Patrick's Day I made these cute little leprechaun hats, the cut for which can be found at Simply Crafty SVGs.

Very easy, and can be made in a flash!

I filled these up with green Hershey kisses, See's gold coin chocolates, and some rub-on St. Paddy's Day kid tattoos, with a little personalization on the back.

Top O' the Mornin' to Ya!

Mini Bell Tower

My grandson is obsessed with bell towers. He's three years old. We even went to a church with a bell tower for his birthday and listened to the bells toll. I placed a small metal bell on the inside. Of course, he's three years old and has kind of torn a couple of places, so I brought it home and fixed it. I explained about being careful with it, and so far so good! He's being so careful with it.

The base pattern came from SVG Cuts Santa’s Village SVG Kit, and I enlarged the bell tower window to accommodate the bell. Also, of course, I didn't use Christmas paper, but found some rock patterned paper.

Ding Dong!

 

Typography Challenge

 Our February challenge was a typography challenge. I've always taken things a bit literally, so just guess what I came up with! ha ha!

This typewriter cut file is from SVG Cuts' Day at the Office. I totally changed out the typewriter keys and made my own, every single letter on the keys is in a different font (talk about diverse typography!). I did a print-2-cut, and then added Glossy Accents to each one. 

Loved making this. The upper carriage portion of the typewriter is a top that comes off, so you can gift something or store something in the box. The letter in the typewriter contains wording I got off the web...a love letter. I put it in temporarily, so if I decide to give it away I can replace it with a more personalized message.

Try sending a letter instead of  an email!

Valentine's 2022

 Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

If you've looked at my postings over the years, I've always made little gift treat boxes for my Bunco girls, as well as some family and friends. Well, we haven't had Bunco for the past two Valentine's Days. I did make them last year, and delivered them to the girls. This year I didn't make them. Maybe I'll do something special when, and if, we start up again.

I did, however, make a few treat boxes for my grandsons and a few friends. This was a free pattern by Designs by Miss Mandee. I think they turned out just adorable, and were extra simple to put together. I printed all of my patterned paper from digital art.

I filled the boxes with red and silver Hershey's kisses.

I also made another set of classroom Valentine's for my grandson and his 1st grade class. I have made these once before, and I think they are just so cute.

Much Love to You on This Day!