April Card Club

We had a great time working on our cards this month. Here they are:

 Card #1 is a great card to use up those scraps of paper that you know you save and then never use. Cut 4 pieces 1.5 x 5.5 inches and then cut that rectangle in half diagonally from corner to corner. I love that CTMH papers have 2 sides of coordinating paper so you would end up with 8 triangles ( or use 8 different papers and have enough triangles to do 2 cards). We marked a line across on the base 4.25x5.5 cardstock at 1.5 inches from the bottom. Apply adhesive above the line, going from side to side and from the line to the top. You will then start lining up your triangles, starting at the left lower side and fanning out across the top. You will have pointed ends that overlap under the line, and larger ends extending over the top and sides. Just play around with them until you get them how you like and press down to adhere. Trim the pointed ends and the ones that extend past the card. I embossed a 1 5/8 x 5.5 strip of white paper with a Darice border template of a wave and added that to the bottom of the card. The flourish was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge, page 59, Font Layer @ 1 1/2 inches and the flowers were cut from AP page 50>shift>Layer @ 1 1/2, 1 1/4, 1 inches. Little jewels left over from my flip flop wreath were used for the center and attached with glue dots. I didn't add a sentiment to the front of the card, cause this one will just go in the stash for when I need it. Maybe for Mother's day.

 Quick fun card, standard size. Hard to see but the background behind the balloon has clouds that we stenciled onto the white cardstock with chalk. I cut a frame and used a Darice embossing folder that I rubbed with Star Spangled Blue ink before embossing, transferring the ink to the embossed designs. The balloons was cut from Artiste cartridge page 70>shift Accent 1 @ 3.5 inches in Desert Sand. And the inside of balloon fro the same page from a scrap of leftover CTMH paper. The little gondola is attached with some embroidery thread to the balloon. Enjoy the ride is a stamp from the "It's Your Day" stamp set available awhile ago.

 So many different layout available for this card. My ladies each had something different and all were so much fun. CTMH doesn't have a cut for the this hexagon shape, you might find one on another cartridge, but I was lucky to have my original Hexagon shapemaker from Creative Memories and it came with two side hexagons that was perfet for cutting the shapes and the frames for this. Highlight this picture, I love the For Always paper pack and that fact that the black paper has this great floral design hinted at in the background. It looked like little honeycombs on some of the cuts and blended perfectly with the Buzz and Bumble Paper pack. The little strip at the bottom is border strip from the very top of the black For Always paper pack. The sentiment is from Fabulous You Stamp set.

CTMH supplies used for these projects.
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge :
Artiste Cricut Cartridge
 CTMH cardstock
Buzz and Bumble
For Always Paper Pack
Fabulous You Stamp Set

Summer is a comin'

Here in southeast Virginia, the weather has definitely changed into warm summer days. Don't know what happened to spring, but the air conditioner is on and I'm already thinking of some summer crafts. One of the things I saw when the weather was frightful was the really cute Flip Flop Wreath that is all over Pinterest. So I have been gathering my supplies and today I finally got a chance to work on mine. All of these pics were taken with my phone so the pics aren't the best but I wanted to show you how I achieved the look. I did a lot of searching until I finally found a site that actually said how they attached the flip flops to the wreath.https://familystyleliving.wordpress.com/tag/flip-flop-wreath/

So here is how I did it.
Supplies:
16 flip flops ( found @ thrift stores and dollar tree)
piece of foam board (found @thrift store)
strips of fabric to cover foam board (made from a sheet I found @ thrift store, you can't really see it, but if you look close (click to enlarge pic) between the 2 lime ff at the bottom of the pics you will see it
flat assorted gems, have had for years
silk flowers
jewelry glue
lightweight wire
wire cutters
awl
large eyed needle 

Directions:
Decide how large you want your wreath. I traced a grapevine wreath on the foam board and cut it out to make my wreath base. I have a storm door and there is not a lot of clearance between the front door and the storm door so I wanted the finished wreath to be as unbulky as possible.

I then took my fabric and tore 3 inch strips to wrap the wreath form. You can use ribbon of course, I just had the perfect fabric to go with my colors. Sorry no pictures of this step.
Started laying out my flip flops, the first layer I placed all the the toes to the inside. You will use your awl to make two holes thru the flip flop and thru the foam board, I used the large eyed needle threaded with the light weight wire to place the wire in the holes I made with the awl on each flip flop around the wreath to secure it to the wreath.

Once the first layer is down, the next layer goes between two bottom flip flops with the heel into the center as shown with the blue flip flop on the bottom of the picture. I used my awl and wire and needle to  attach each flop on the top layer on each side of the top flop, going thru the top flop, the bottom flop ( in the picture above, there would be wires going thru the blue, pink and foam board on one side and blue, green daisy and foam board on the other.) Believe me when you are finished wiring, those flip flops are going no place.

Then it's time to decorate. I had a bag of gems that I purchased years ago, probably at Michael's or Walmart and I just blinged them up. Add the silk flowers and you are ready to hang. Didn't it come out cute. I love it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'll try and help.
And the finished product....