Chinese Thank You

I knew my thank you card for my friend Patti had to be two things...red and Asian themed. Those of you who frequent her blog (Creations by Patti) know these are her favorites, and also that she comes up with the most awesome papercrafting projects. Patti's currently on blog vacation for the summer, but look out, paper crafters! Come September, she is ready to blow you away with all the amazing projects she has in store.

I used the Chinese character for "thank you" as my focal point for this card. I found this, as well as the border on the internet by doing image searches on Google. The hexagonal medallion is from "Traditional Chinese Motifs", a Dover Book Series which includes a CD-rom of all the images. Imported all these to MTC for tracing to cutfiles. That part was easy...the hard part was getting my Cricut to do the cutting!

I thought mylar sticker paper would be a good choice for the intricate cuts in the medallion but ran into trouble as the tiny cut mylar pieces lifted off its backing and began sticking to the blade, creating quite a mess! Second time around I decreased the pressure to low and used the multi-cut feature, which seemed to improve the cut. Maybe a new blade would have helped too...
Added Mei Li from Sisters Stamps first release to the front of this window card...still struggling with my copics, as you can see! This time I tried LysaQR's coloring technique on YouTube for the hair...learning more everyday!

And on the inside...colorful washi paper for the background and the medallion flips open with a place for my sentiment. Had fun with this, and learned quite a lot too...in fact,I think this might be the first card I've done entirely in Make The Cut, cartridge-free and without Design Studio.

Monogram Wedding Card

Here's the second of the four wedding cards I needed to make this summer.  Not entirely pleased with how this one turned out, but it did give me a chance to learn more about creating and cutting monograms using MTC for my projects. Make the Cut has a wonderful feature which allows me to create cutfiles from any true type font I have in my computer font file by simply typing in the word or words I want to cut. Only problem is, my Cricut isn't always cooperative about cutting out skinny intricate fonts, especially when it comes to cardstock...
I figured the solution would be to thicken up the very thin lines of those elegant script type fonts without compromising the appearance of the font. I used my Broderbund PrintShop program to do this by designing the monogram using the headline feature, which allows me to add an outline of desired thickness to the font. ( I believe Microsoft Word has a similar feature using the Word Art Tool). For this particular monogram I used Cotillion truetype font, then saved and imported it to MTC as a .jpg file.

All other cuts on the card are from Cricut cartridges: Wedding Solutions for the doves, Straight From the Nest for the swirls, George for the hearts. Scalloped heart was created in Design Studio by welding circle outlines from Plantin Schoolbook with the outline heart from George.

The invitation we received for this wedding was quite unique, with mirrored images  of  treble clefs with a cross, which (I'm guessing) symbolizes the couple's strong religious faith and love for music. So to keep somewhat with the theme, I embossed the heart inset with Cuttlebug's Allegro folder. Front panel of the card was embossed with Stampin Up's Elegant Lines folder and attached to the front of the card with foam tape.

Meeting My Inspiration

On my recent trip to Cali, I had the amazing opportunity to personally meet up with a very special lady whose creative talents have inspired me tremendously for the past 2-1/2 years. My dear blogging friend, Patti Lee of Creations of Patti is as wonderful a person as I had ever imagined she would be and even more! Patti is definitely the sweetest, warmest, thoughtful and most FUN-nest person ever!!! During the few precious hours we had, we shopped at Bay Area's largest scrapbook store, Scrapbook Territory, then spent time chatting over coffee, getting to know each other. I think we could easily have spent the entire afternoon just sitting and chatting! But sadly, I was on a tight schedule and our time together had to be kept short.

And as if the honor of meeting this amazing lady weren't enough, when it came time to say goodbye, Patti suprised me with a huge box full of beautiful papers, cardmaking embellies and these wonderful card creations...

Isn't this pop-up card just adorable? I especially love the way the sign on the left of the little boy pops at an angle...very COOL! Patti created the pop-up mechanism for this as well as the stylized "long life" kanji on the front of the card using her Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) program, which she is fast becoming quite an expert at. 

Now check out this trio of irresistibly cute cards she created using different noodle bowl stamps from Two Scoops Rice! Really like the straw mat background...and did you notice the "bamboo" chopsticks? I think I recognize them as once being those paint strip samples snagged from a hardware store...NEAT-O!

I can't thank Patti enough for taking time out of her busy shedule to spend time with me! Meeting up with her was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, and these cards will be treasured keepsakes of our time spent together.

Hello Kitty Graduate

Surprisingly, we had only one graduation party to attend this summer. It's a good thing, because I was lost for any fresh new ideas for grad cards! So instead, I added a twist to the flip up graduation cap card I made last year by cutting it a bit smaller and putting onto Hello Kitty's head. The card opens like a traditional card with a sentiment on the inside, but flipping the top of the mortarboard cap on the front of the card reveals the graduate's gift...

Hello Kitty's head comes from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge, her paws are ovals from the George cartridge, and I used a rolled up newspaper cut from the Pooh and Friends cart for her diploma. Graduation cap is from the Wrap it Up cartridge, welded at the top edge in Design Studio. I cut another cap in the same size, trimmed off the square part of it, then attached the remaining bottom piece with foam tape to the inside of the grad cap card to create the pocket.

Tassel was made using DMC embroidery floss and attached to grad cap with a brad. Added a gold ribbon to tie up the diploma and some Robin's Nest dewdrops and it was finished.

Thanks A Latte!

First thing we did when we got back from our trip to Cali was to go pick up our little Latte from the playcare facility we had left her to stay at while we were gone. She always seems to enjoy her stay there, and the people there do such a great job of taking care of her that it puts our minds to ease, especially when we have to be gone for an extended period of time.
Decided to do a thank you card to go along with a few goodies we brought back to let them know how much we appreciate all the love and care they give to Latte while we are away.

I used my CottageCutz Shih Tzu Peeker die and cut her in white so she'd look more like a Maltese for the front of my card. The word "Thanks" was cut using the Mickey Font cartridge. Then on the inside, I used the same CottageCutz die for the doggy's head, but used the Birthday Puppy die for the doggy's body. A tad bit out of proportion, but hopefully not too noticeable! Used ttf LD Charming Bold for the sentiment on the inside, using MTC to convert it into a cutfile with a shadow.

Had to keep it simple, as I had to hurry to put this together before we left on our trip. Hope they got a kick out it!

In Love Forever

This has been a summer of many weddings for our family...and since I have recently been busy designing my own dd's wedding invitations, my stash of white and off white papers has grown considerably, making it easier for me to come up with cards for all the weddings we've been invited to. This tri-fold card is one I created for my cousin's daughter who got married this weekend in LA.

Heart shaped filigree window frame and cut out are from the Sweethearts cartridge, "forever" is from Home Decor, and banner from Wedding Solutions cartridge. Doves are an old 2x2 Quickutz die.I used an embossing folder from a Sizzix wedding set to emboss the base card and an embossing folder from the Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo Set for the tiny heart pattern on the inner heart. Silver mylar sticker paper was used to cut the word "forever"...really loved how the Cricut cut through the mylar "like butter", similar to the way it cuts thru vinyl. After cutting, vinyl transfer tape made it so easy to transfer and position this intricate cut  onto its shadow.

Added a couple more doves to the inside of the card, this time with their wings trimmed and placed them on branches cut from the Stampin' Up bird punch. Flatback pearls and stickles for the heart and a simple flourish cut from the From the Nest cartridge to the sentiment were the finishing touches. 

New Stamps and Dies In Town

Sister Stamps, a brand new rubberstamp company hailing from Hilo, has taken the islands' crafting community by storm with their first release of three adorable Asian girls, Kiyomi, Mei Lin and Mei Li in rubber. Be sure to check out their blog to see some awesome cards and projects as our talented island crafters ink these cuties up! I did, and woo hooo!!!....look at these precious goodies I won in their first blog giveaway! Thank you, Jenny and Denise!
Sister Stamps promises another set of cuties come September, so keep a close watch on their blog for yet another sweet giveaway soon!

Here's my very first card using my new stamps. I chose to use Kiyomi and Mei Lin (please pardon the beginner level copic coloring...) and added a die cut kanji for "friend" from the Pagoda cartridge. Dressed it up with sakura outlines which were cut out using my brand new Cherry Blossoms Outline die by Wiki C.A.P.S. Aren't these the coolest? Wiki C.A.P.S. is  a new exclusive line of wafter thin dies designed by Brian of Photocraft Hawaii. Currently these are available for purchase either through the Wiki C.A.P.S. website or by visiting Brian's store, Photocraft.

Added some pretty washi paper and a stamped Hero Arts sentiment to my card and it was done. Round  windows on the two panels were cut using the George cartridge.

So happy to see many craft companies popping up here in the islands to help fulfill our neverending hunger for highly sought out Asian themed crafting products such as these!