CTMH

Cricut Curve Text Baptism Card

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making a Cricut Curve Text Baptism Card for my granddaughter.

Curve Text is the most recent addition to the Cricut Design Space tools – it is so easy to use and comes out awesome, adding a professional-looking appearance to my card. Above is the cards’ design in CDS – this is where I can lay out my card, playing around with sizing and placement before I cut anything out.
This is the inspiration for my card. It’s a sweet, simple card. BUT, I like to customize my cards and this is where curve text comes in . . . I’m going to add my granddaughter’s name around the circle with the cross on it.
There are crosses in CDS, but I was looking for something more detailed – so I went to Google Images, searched “cross drawing svg”. Why ‘drawing’? Because I want the image drawn rather than cut out.

Why ‘svg’? Because CDS image cleanup is so much easier with an svg image. Above is an svg I found – notice the checkerboard background? That means it will only draw/cut the black parts – none of the background – easy cleanup.

Keep in mind, this image is for personal use – I am NOT selling it. This is still, imo, a gray area as far as using it. However, there’s no watermark, which, if present, would definitely mean it’s copyrighted and I can’t use it without the creator’s permission. But, again, it’s for personal use and I’m making sure you know I did NOT create it.
Yeah, so . . . I ran into a little weird problem in CDS. I wanted the cross and the curve text centered in the cut circle. The top circles’ images were centered using the Horizontal and Vertical align tools – yeah, that IS NOT CENTERED. I tried that two times. UGH!!

Plan B: Images have a plus sign in the center of them, so I lined up the plus sign for the cross and the plus sign for the curve text and the plus sign for the circle. Still not centered!!

Plan C: I attached the cross and curve text and moved them slightly down and to the right . . . okay . . . I can live with that . . .
Here are the cutout pieces. I used Close To My Heart cardstock in White Daisy and Bashful. The pen is the new Cricut Black Extra Fine pen. The font is Cricut Sans, the circle and rectangles are free shapes, and the scalloped circle is from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.
The embossed layer was created with the Cricut cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder from provo craft.
I wrapped some 1/4” pink satin ribbon around the embossed layer, adhering it to the back, glued the embossed layer to the pink layer, and adhering that layer to the card base.
I pop dotted the scalloped circle off center and tied another piece of ribbon, creating a faux bow. How sweet is this card? I think it came out even better than the inspiration. Thoughts??

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Altenew Peony Bouquet Card

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making an Altenew Peony Bouquet Card for my brother and sister-in-law’s 1st wedding anniversary.

Above is a pic of the stamp set that I got from Simon Says Stamps – it is a layered stamp set that needs as close to perfect placement as possible – read on to see how I figured out how to do this . . .
Here is the inspiration for my card – I tend to make cards that are less specific and more universal – rather than say “birthday” I’m going to use “celebrate” as my sentiment.
Altenew makes mini ink sets in 4 shades, making them perfect for layered stamps. I used the left two sets – the purple “Shades of Purple” and the greens “Tropical Forest”. The pink set is called “Rose Petal.”
I used my MISTI (Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented) to stamp. When layering, you’re supposed to start with the lightest color first (top left), and work through the shades to the darkest (bottom right). Watch Jennifer McGuire’s video using this stamp set – she makes it look reallllllllly easy.

TIP: Start with the outline (bottom right) – it’s so much easier to line up the layers – I did the outline first for the leaves – yep, definitely the way to go.
Here are the cutout pieces. The stamped pieces are on Close To My Heart White Daisy cardstock. I used Memory Box Stitched Rectangle Dies for the flower layer. The card base and envelope are also from CTMH.
This stamp set came with dies, which are what I used. I decided not to stamp the cutout – I liked the way it looked without stamping.
I watercolored the background with CTMH Watercolor Paints.
Here’s a closeup of the flowers and leaves.
“celebrate” is cut from CTMH Pansy cardstock.
Above is the finished card. I used a piece of white foam to raise the card layer up from the base. Isn’t it beautiful???

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Little Darlings Dancing Queen Card

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I am making the Little Darlings Dancing Queen Card.

Check out the blog I wrote explaining the process I used to create the Dancing Queen girl. Soooo much fun! Above is the card I designed in Cricut Design Space for the finished ballerina.

The Clapperboard is from the Cricut ‘Movie Night’ cartridge, the stars are free shapes, and the font is Baby Steps (a free font for Access members).
This is the inspiration for my card – as usual, I searched on Pinterest and this is Such A Cute Card!!!
This is the Dancing Queen from the Little Darlings Winnie Pretty Perfect Rubber Stamp Set – isn’t she adorable??
Here are the cutout pieces. I used Close To My Heart cardstock in Silver Glitter, Black, Colonial White and Glacier and the gold foil is from the Anna Griffin Foil Cardstock paper pack.
The clapper section has A LOT of pieces – so, I was careful to keep the pieces in order as I took them off the mat and keeping them that way until they got glued to the base.

The detail of this piece is awesome – how about that hinge?????
Next, I assembled the clapperboard – the pieces are layered on top of each other – easy peasy . . .
Here’s the completed clapper board – the spaces are where you put the details of the ‘take’ – I’m going to personalize the card in these spaces.
Above is the finished card – it’s for my granddaughter’s school play where she plays a dancing girl and has one line – “I Love You, Prince.” How awesome is that? You know she’s the best actor in the entire play, of course . . .

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Tim Holtz Distress Crayon and Marker Dancing Queen

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making a Tim Holtz Distress Crayon and Marker Dancing Queen.

I got the Little Darlings Winnie Pretty Perfect Rubber Stamp Set from HSN on their March National Craft Day – one of my favorite days of the year, lol. Above is the Dancing Queen stamp and I’m using Tim Holtz Distress Crayons on one and Distress Markers on the other.
For the first one I used the Distress Crayons seen above. I used Wild Honey, Walnut Stain, and Vintage Photo on the hair.

Worn Lipstick, Antique Linen, Dried Marigold, and Vintage Photo on the skin.

Mermaid Lagoon and Broken China on the ballet outfit and bow.

Click on this link if you want to see the technique I used for the Crayon technique.
Here’s a closeup of the finished image. I like the watercolor look . . .
For the second one, I used Distress Markers in the same colors, and the finished image is above.

Click on this link if you want to see the technique I used for the Marker technique.
I used Close To My Heart watercolor paper and I am less than thrilled with it.

First of all, the technique requires spreading the color around and as I did that, the paper started to pill – how disappointing – I’m guessing it got too wet???? I was drying with my heat gun between colors. But . . . it’s watercolor paper and supposed to take water, right?? Hmm, the other one didn’t do that . . .

Above is a close up of the other problem I had – the brown bled onto the face from the hair – too much water???? What the heck??????
So, side by side, the Distress Crayons are on the left and the Distress Markers are on the right. I like the watercolor look on the left and the vibrant color on the right. Hmmmm, I neeeeeed to practice . . . And use better watercolor paper . . .

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Minecraft Birthday Card

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making a Minecraft Birthday Card for my grandson’s 7th birthday.

Above is a screenshot of the design in Cricut Design Space. This program is so easy to use and an excellent tool to create/recreate customized projects. I can write my own sentiments, make multiple layers and create unique designs.
Above is the inspiration for this card. It’s just a bunch of squares, right? I created a grid in CDS that is drawn and then more grids to cut the various colors.
The grid was drawn on Close To My Heart White Daisy with a black Cricut pen and the squares were cut from CTMH Pear, Willow, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, and Black.
This is the finished Creeper – the inspiration design was an 8×8 grid and mine is 7×7, which caused a problem when it came to adding the black pieces. Soooo, I put the black pieces on top of the other squares. Nevertheless, I think it came out great!!
Isn’t this a cute way to put the sentiment on the front of a card? The 7 was popped up with pop dots and the font is a Cricut font called “Alien.” The banner was created by clipping the end at angles toward the center.
Here’s a view of the multi-layers under the Creeper and the sentiment.
I had my Cricut Maker write the “Hope your birthday is a” and then cut out the letters for “B L A S T”.
Here’s the finished card. The card was made out of CTMH White Daisy using the We R Memory Keepers 123 Punch Board – really useful for making my own envelopes. I think my little Minecraft fan is going to like it!!

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Minecraft Party Decorations

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making Minecraft Party Decorations for my grandson’s 7th birthday.

Above is a screenshot of my design in Cricut Design Space. Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t look like much, but there’s a method to my madness. Read on . . .
This is the inspiration for my grandson’s birthday card and I thought, hmm, I could make larger ones for the party’s decor . . . I mean, Minecraft is a bunch of digital images – you know . . . SQUARES . . . I can make squares . . . AND they’re free images in CDS.
The first thing I wanted to do was make a grid to put my squares on. I went to the “Shapes” toolbar and chose “Scoreline.”

When you choose a scoreline, it defaults to “score” (top pic) – I want it to draw, so I changed the image to “write” (bottom pic).
The line measurement defaults to 3.11 (left pic), and I want it to draw 11” lines (right pic).
I want all my lines to be 11” long, so I used the “Duplicate” button and duplicated a bunch of lines.
Vertical Lines: I want all of my lines to be 1” apart so I used the Position X and Y to put the lines in EXACT locations. They will be spaced evenly and lined up exactly where I want them.

The line pictured on the left is at X-1 and Y-1 and the line pictured on the right is at X-2 and Y-1. Each of my vertical lines will be at Y-1 and the X’s will be 1” apart.

Horizontal Lines: I duplicated an 11” line, and using the “Rotate” button, I rotated it 90 degrees (shown above). Then I duplicated this line several times and using the X and Y, placed the first line at X-1 and Y-1. The rest of the lines are all at X-1 and the Y changes by 1” – forming a grid of squares that looks like a graph.
I selected all the lines with the “Select All” button (it’s the “Deselect” button in the pic above 😛 should’ve taken the screen shot BEFORE I clicked it) and created a grid by clicking the “Attach” button.
Here’s the grid I’m going to draw.
I also want to cut colored squares to make the Minecraft characters – so I duplicated the first grid and changed all the lines in the second grid (on the right) to cut.
Above are the grids drawn on Close To My Heart White Daisy cardstock and the cutout squares (in the plastic bag). Yeah, I made wayyyyyy too many colored squares but it’s so much easier to let my Cricut Maker cut them out.

Click this link minecraft-characters to see the characters on a .pdf that I found on the Internet. See? Squares . . .
This is Steve. I cut down one of the grids to 8 x 8 and glued the squares to the grid. My Cricut Maker made this such an easy project!!!
Above are Creeper #1 and Creeper #2, Enderman, and Spider.
Above are Zombie, Skeleton, Villager, and Pig.
Finally, here are Cow, Sheep, and Dyed Sheep.
I also made a banner for the party. The banner is from the Cricut “Celebrations” cartridge, and the font is “Minecrafter” from dafont.com.
I added some leftover squares to the top of the banners and added the letters to the front of the banner pieces.
Here’s a pic of the banner with some of the posters on each end. How cool does this look? I love it when a project comes out better than I expected . . . And this one definitely did . . .

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

SVGCuts One-Piece Egg Box

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making the SVGCuts One-Piece Egg Box from their Hippity Hoppity SVG Kit.

Above is a screenshot of the svg files uploaded into Cricut Design Space – this is an unbelievably easy process in CDS. However, there are two things to remember when using SVGCuts files: #1 is to change the scorelines from cut to score and #2 is to attach the scorelines to the pieces.

An awesome feature of SVGCuts files is that they have assembly videos for almost every one of their kits that demos step-by-step how to put the project together – I watch all the way through the video first and then watch, pause, assemble . . . watch, pause, assemble . . .
Here are the cutout pieces. I used Close To My Heart Glacier cardstock and the floral is from the CTMH Chelsea Gardens paper pack.
The first thing I did was glue the sides together – there’s only one attached edge shown above.
Next, I glued the tabs from the side sections to the bottom piece (left). Then I added a piece to the inside that covers the glued edges – ingenious, right?
Here you see a problem I was having with my glue bottle – what the . . . the opening was too big and the glue just came glopping out . . . Ugh!!!

Anyway, I glued the clear liner to the inside of the lid and then added the top liner to make it look finished.
I added the accent pieces- pretty, pretty, pretty!!
To finish the lid, I glued these little tabs and adhered them together on each corner.
I put some ribbon from my stash through the holes on the front and tied it in a bow. Done!!!!
Here are the finished boxes – the green boxes were created using CTMH Sweet Leaf cardstock – aren’t they so pretty?? It took about 5 minutes to assemble each box, can’t get any easier than that!!

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

SVGCuts Easter Box Cards SVG Kit

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m using the SVGCuts Easter Box Cards SVG Kit to make easter cards.

The above picture is from the SVGCuts website. SVGCuts has assembly videos on their website, where Mary completes the ENTIRE project on the video. I always watch the video all the way through, and watch, pause, assemble, watch, pause, assemble, watch, pause, assemble, a second time through.

***When using their files in Cricut Design Space, REMEMBER to change the scorelines to score, and attach the scorelines (and numbers, if there are any) to the pieces.

Either I’m getting really good at making box cards, or these were super easy ones . . .
This is the ‘Cute Bunny Box Card’ project. The cutout pieces are on the left – I used Close To My Heart Adventure Fundamentals paper, as well as Lagoon, Pixie, White Daisy, and Lemon. The eyes are from my stash, and the ‘Happy Easter’ is the Happy Easter Phrase from the Cricut ‘Hopping Down the Bunny Trail’ cartridge.
This is the ‘Easter Egg Box Card’ project. The cutout pieces are on the left – I used Close To My Heart Adventure Fundamentals paper, as well as Lagoon, Pixie, and White Daisy. The flower’s pearls are from my stash, and the ‘Happy Easter’ is the Happy Easter Phrase from the Cricut ‘Hopping Down the Bunny Trail’ cartridge.
This is the ‘Egg Carton Box Card’ project. The cutout pieces are on the left – I used Close To My Heart Adventure Fundamentals paper, as well as Lagoon, Sweet Leaf, and White Daisy. The flower centers are from my stash, and the ‘Happy Easter’ font is Dandelion.
This is the ‘Hatching Chick Box Card’ project. The cutout pieces are on the left – I used Close To My Heart Adventure Fundamentals paper, as well as Lagoon, Sweet Leaf, Pixie, Lemon, and White Daisy. The flower centers are from my stash, and the ‘Happy Easter’ is the Happy Easter Phrase from the Cricut ‘Hopping Down the Bunny Trail’ cartridge.

It took me like two hours to make all of these cards – they were sooooo easy, and came out soooooo awesome!!!

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

Close To My Heart Chelsea Gardens Paper Pack

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making a set of cards with the Close To My Heart Chelsea Gardens Paper Pack.

Above is a photo from the CTMH website of the Workshops Your Way Sending Hugs Cardmaking Kit. It come with a kit exclusive stamp set, 3 Chelsea Gardens sheets, 3 cardstock sheets in Canary, Sapphire, and White Daisy, Whisper thick twine, and 12 white card bases and envelopes.
I used the stamp set from the Kit, Sapphire, Green Leaf, Canary and Glacier Ink, as well as the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking set (top right), and the Fairytale Birthday stamp set (no longer available). I also used the Scallop Borders Thin Cuts (bottom right).
I also used these embellishments – CTMH Whisper Thick Twine, CTMH Clear Shimmer Brush, and Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops.
The Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat works awesome for the technique I used for these cards. I smeared CTMH Glacier Ink on the white glass area (you can see the ink really well here), added a little water with the CTMH water brush, and brushed it on to create a watercolor effect.
Card 1: The cutout pieces are on the left and the completed card is on the right. I added Nuvo Crystal Drops to the centers of the flowers. How sweet is this card? I stamped hearts on the envelope to coordinate it to the card.
Card 2: The cutout pieces are on the left and the completed card is on the right. I used the watercolor technique on the flower and greenery, adding a Nuvo Crystal Drop to the center. I also stamped some hearts to the card front.
Card 3: The cutout pieces are on the left and the completed card is on the right. I used the watercolor technique on the butterfly and added gray marble gems.
Card 4: Yeah, so, I forgot to take a pic of the cutout pieces . . . Anyway, above is the finished card, it uses the overhanging image technique.

Card 5: On the left are the cutout pieces and on the right is the finished card. I fussy-cut the butterflies and the ribbon is from my stash – the instructions said to use cream ribbon, but everything is white . . .
Card 6: On the left are the cutout pieces and on the right is the finished card. This was a different design configuration with a strip along the right side and the stamped image on the bottom left. Yeah . . . I like it . . .
Card 7: On the left are the cutout pieces and on the right is the finished card. I dovetailed the gray piece and tied a ribbon from my stash around the top. So simple, and yet so pretty.

I love the patterns and colors of this paper pack – the green, blue and gray color combination is perfect for the added watercolor effect.

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .

 

Hugs and Smiles Cards

Hi Guys! Come on in and see what I’m doing today! I’m making some Hugs and Smiles Cards by Joy Clair.

I got the above stamp set from simonsaysstamp.com because I loved, loved, loved the corner floral stamp and the cursive sentiments. And that jar with the heart flowers is just too cute!!
I’m going to emboss the floral stamp, so there are a few necessities, imo.

#1 is the MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented) because you can stamp over and over in EXACTLY the same place. Also, if you’re creating more than one card at a time, the stamps will be in exactly the same position on each card.

#2 is the anti-static pad – rub it across the paper and it keeps stray embossing powder from sticking to it.
#3 is Versamark embossing ink – available at pretty much any craft store.
#4 is a heat gun.
On the left is the stamped image with the embossing powder before heating and on the right is after heating – it melts and creates a resist for the inking technique I’m using.
Card 1. I used Silver Moonlight Nuvo embossing powder on this card and Tim Holtz Distress ink in Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint. I applied the ink with a Close To My Heart Medium water brush. I added Liquid Mercury Nuvo Crystal Drops to the embossed image. I also stamped one of those jar bouquets on the outside of the envelope. I Love That.
Card 2. This card has Shimmering Pearl Nuvo embossing powder and Tim Holtz Distress ink in Peeled Paint, Worn Lipstick, and Mustard Seed. I added Carnation Pink, Dandelion Yellow, and Bottle Green Nuvo Crystal Drops to the floral image.
Card 3. This card has Glacier White Nuvo embossing powder and Tim Holtz distress ink in Dusty Concord, Milled Lavender, and Mustard Seed. I also added Raspberry Pink Nuvo Crystal Drops to the flowers. Wow, I love how this one came out!!
Card 4. I used Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress embossing powder on this card and Tim Holtz distress ink in Dusty Concord, Weathered Wood, and Faded Jeans. Again, I added Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black to the flowers. I think this card is my favorite in the set . . .
Look, I remembered to put the finished cards in bags. Now I can put them right into my Homemade Card Storage file. High Fives to me, lol!!!

Hey, if you’d like to see some of my other projects, check out my Instagram and Pinterest board, and I would LOVE it if you would follow me.

As always, I’m Livin’ the Moments . . .