Details to Artiste "Thanksgiving/Give Thanks" Blog Hop Napkin Rings

Thanks for coming and checking out how I made the napkin rings.  The first thing I did was cut out the rings on Kraft cardstock at 2".  I was able to five per page.  Once I cut the desired number, I changed to the Flirty background and texture paper (B&T).  I used the Autumn Terracotta leafed side, and cut the same number of napkin rings as before.

Next, I cut the Maple leaf at 3/4" from Ruby cardstock.  I used two per napkin ring.  I can't do anything too simple, so I mirrored the image for half of them.  Once those were cut out, they were sponged with Ruby ink.

The Oak leaves are next.  These leaves were also cut at 3/4" out of Flirty Yellow cardstock (found in the Flirty paper packet).  And then the leaves were doubled sponged.  The first layer was Honey ink, followed by Ruby ink.  To me that gave the leaves a great fall color-changing effect.

One more image to cut... The words "Give Thanks" also comes from page 78!  Cocoa cardstock was cut at 3/4" to fit the face of the napkin ring.  I turned my cut speed down to 2 because the image size was so small and the saying so detailed.  It took a little longer to cut, but the image came out clean.

Final preparation step was to take the Flirty B&T napkin rings and trim off the "arms" of the ring.  I curved them to match the contour of the center. I was left with only the center of the ring (as shown in the picture).

CONFESSION: I just realized that I did stamp on this project.  If you look really closely at the center ring on the left side, you'll see some color past the Flirty paper.  Why this is important is because of the next step -- stamping -- which is optional.  If you skip this part, it's no big deal, your rings will look like the right sample.  I took the large swirly stamp from the Instant Memories (C1466) and stamped it in Ruby ink going out onto the arms from the center of the the ring.  The second side is upside down, but you won't really notice, so don't worry about it.  The Flirty B&T will be covering the center of the ring so I didn't bother masking the center.  Finally (for this optional step), randomly place Bitty Sparkles (Z1263) along the swirls.  I used three per arm (remembering that the arms will overlap when assembled.


Assembly comes next.  I used Bonding Memory glue to adhere the Flirty B&T paper to the center of the Kraft ring.  They should match up perfectly!  Since the rings will be handled, I used the Bonding Memory Glue for the leaves too.  These were kept at the bottom.  And I used that glue for the words that went on top of the leaves.  Done.

A bitty Opaques - Mocha (Z1333) was used as the dot on the "i".  Two final steps remain.  The first is to carefully round the ring so that it becomes round.  I rounded mine in my hands until it was circular.  I had to go back on some rings and add more Bonding Memory glue to keep the Flirty paper down (must have missed those spots).  And finally, adhere the two ends together.  My rings overlapped by 1/2".

Throw a napkin through your ring, and you really done.  :)  Not too bad!

CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge "Thanksgiving/Give Thanks" Key Blog Hop

The Paper Cupcakes team is at it again this month with another blog hop.  This time we're featuring the Artiste Cricut Cartridge, but more directly, those cuts from page 78.  That's the 16 images which include fall leaves, a napkin ring, leaves cupcake liner, the words "Give Thanks" and "Thanksgiving", cards, and more!

If you've come from Tasha Valdez's website, you are on the right track.   Don't worry if you just started, the cool thing about this hop is you'll get to go see everyone's artwork who participated by following the links.  And if you'd like to start at the beginning, hop on over to Bren Yule's blog.  She's the fearless leader of the Paper Cupcakes.

My family's Thanksgiving Day tradition was my inspiration for my top sample.  Every other year ('cuz the other year is an in-law turkey day), my family (sisters' families and parents) of 15 descends upon a family friend for the big day.  With her family, there are now 25 of us in the house.  The four grandparents eat in the living room.  The "childults" eat in the dining room, and the young grandkids (4 of them two years ago) in the den off of the kitchen.  I'm not sure what the seating is going to be this year, but we're going to have a great time!  Anyway,  what I came up with...are napkin rings!

Come back later today and see what went into making these napkin rings.  ONLY ARTISTE CARTRIDGE, PAGE 78, FOUND HERE!

I also made this pumpkin using the same key.  I used the stamp set So Grateful (B1395) with Autumn Terracotta on Sunset.  One nice thing about this cartridge is that when you choose your size for the pumpkin, the leaf and vine are automatically chosen to be proportional!

But enough about me and my creations, go check out what Karen Barber created!  Don't forget to come back after lunch to see how I made the napkin rings.  :)

Get Organized with Close to my Heart Organizers

What a great organizational tool CTMH has given us!  One thing Brian didn't mention in the video is that the organizers are clear.  Of course you see that, but what it means is that you can look into the organizers and see what you've put, or forgot to put, into it!




Enjoy!

Base and Shade Stamping

Christine and Monica are showing us the base and shade stamping technique in this episode of "Clearly the Best".  Check it out.




Would you be interested in making one of the Display Tray found at the end of the video?  I'm thinking that would be really cute in Spring colors... that may have to be a workshop in March of 2013.  What am I thinking?  What about in November?!  Please let me know through email (grab my email address from my website) if you'd like to do a workshop with it by the end of October.  It would/could make for a great Holiday gift in the appropriate colors.  Ooh, the possibilities are coming out.  Share your ideas and thoughts about the idea.  :)

Christmas is in the Air

October's stamp of the month is "Very Merry Christmas" S1210, indicating that it's okay to turn our attention to December.  Here are some samples and the stamp set.  :)

You can purchase this stamp set for $17.95, or with a purchase of $50, you can get it for just another $5.  Go ahead and order what you'll need for your Christmas cards now and get the stamp set for $5.

The mitten, ornament, two tags, and "a holiday treat" correspond to the Cricut Artiste Collection so you'll save lots of time there!

The Cricut Cartridge Collections from Close to my Heart -- Art Philosophy and Artiste -- add so much to the art of paper crafting.  Both cartridges have 700 images, with many coordinating with our stamps.  One of the best things about the cartridges is not having to cut.  The stamp holder tells you what size to cut your image, so once you cut the image to that size, you just stamp right on the paper and WHAM, you're done!

It's a large purchase, as a whole, so we're going to break it down with this month's workshop.  We're going to create a book where we'll be putting samples and taking notes so you can repeat the class process at home.  The class will give you more confidence that you're using your Cricut machine to the maximum potential and fall in love with our cartridge every time you use them!  If you've purchased either cartridge from me, this first class will be $5.  If you purchased the cartridge from someone else, you are more than welcome to come for $15.

Workshop dates are Tuesday October 23rd and Wednesday October 24th from 7 to 9pm both nights.  The class size will be limited due to space because you'll be bringing your machine with you!  :)  Please let me know if you're coming by Tuesday October 16th.