I'm so done...I think...

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge for this week was autumn or halloween.
 The cricut cartridge makes it so easy to cut things out in bulk that sometimes I get a little carried away. I cut out a full page of leaves and I am FINALLY  nearing the end of the pile. I THINK I am done with autumn cards...but ya never know ;)
The card is one we will be making at a workshop I am having this weekend along with THESE TWO.

 The (large) pillow box was cut out at 8" on the portfolio setting, using the CTMH Art Philosophy. Leaves were also cut with the AP cartridge. Letters are Color eady Alphabets sprayed with reinker/water and the ribbon is the CTMH chocolate/Colonial white.

 Card base and leaves cut with the AP cartridge.  Paper is a retired one...Perfect Day I THINK...

Inside of card.

And after this morning's weather, I think it's time to start working on Christmas cards:

Thanks for stopping by,
Marie with a :)

Inchie Inspired and Lotsa 3D's

Be prepared. There are ALOT of photos.  This weekend was a gorgeous Colorado autumn weekend and we managed to get a Sunday afternoon walk in to enjoy the foliage. The day before, I spent some time with a couple of the gals from my CTMH unit and we played with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  While at my friend's house, the sweet hostess also showed me her stash of "Inchies."  Apparently inchies are cards made with one inch stamped images on them.  I loved the simplicity of them!  So the autumn foliage and the "inchies" are the inspiration for this set of cards that took almost no time at all to create (I did a dozen of the leaf ones; and 20 cards altogether. They aren't inches because my images are larger.)

 This is a great way to use up scraps.The bases are 4 x 4.  I cut scraps of brown cardstock into 2 1/4 inch sqares, and Olivia paper into 2 inch squares. I used the Art Philosophy and cut 2 inch leaves and then painted them with pearl paint mixed with reinkers (a combo of barn red, sorbet and orange.) They have such a  nice shine to them :)

 Then I popped the leaves with pop dots. 

 For these I just grabbed some scrap paper that was on my (very messy) craft tables. They are sooo quick and easy to create.

 My daughter wanted this one as soon as she saw it :)

 This one has a painted corrugated star.

Now on to some 3D projects:

 A simple thank you box, filled with chocolates.

 You're sweet french fry box with cookies.

 I used one of our "I'll Never Get Tired of These Things" spray bottles on the tag.

 This pillow box was created by my sweet friend Miss Peggy (who shared her Inchies with me :)  )

My upline created this box with coordinating 4 x 4 cards inside. Everything was done with the Art Philosophy cartridge!

 If you made it to the end of tis post...kudos to you!  And a very big thank you for stopping by.

Marie with a :)

What's the big deal?

Why is the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge receiving so much attention?  Well, to start with, check out some of  these prices:

  3D Flowers

  ONE SIZE ONLY Pillow Box

  ONE SIZE ONLY butterfly

ONE SIZE ONLY card shape

That's a total of $94.07 if you want just these four dies.

The CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge for the Cricut does all of these things in a variety of sizes AND SO, SO, SO MUCH MORE. Shapes (geometric, tags, leaves, hearts and so on),  fonts, cards (96 different shapes!), boxes (8 different boxes!) envelopes, flowers (including 3D varieties)  it AND COMES WITH 3 COORDINATING STAMP SETS PLUS 3 COORDINATING CHIPBOARD SETS. All for $99!

Many places have the Cricut machines on sale right now.  Why not put it on your Christmas wish list? And add the amazing Cricut Cartridge while you are at it.  You won't need any other expensive dies!

Here's a darling "cupcake" box created by my downline:

I can't get this photo to turn :(  

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie with a :)

Dreamin' of...french fries?!? And a Sympathy Card

Okay, maybe one of the improvements I need to make during "Blogtoberfest" is to quit using such corny blog post titles!
 I am still in the "recovery" mode so couldn't do a lot of up and down crafting BUT I did cut some french fry boxes to play with and then used bits and pieces of scraps and die cuts that were strewn about my table to finish them. This weekend my CTMH unit is having an Art Philosophy Box exchange and I've been assigned the french fry box. I'll hopefully have a bunch of samples to post on the blog afterwards :)

 I thought these boxes would be a fun way to present hostess gifts or little goodies for my regular customers. The tiniest holds two lifesavers (it's not the smallest size possible though!) and the larger one has one of our hostess stamp sets.

 An edge distresser makes a great thank you gift :)  

 For this one (which holds one of our mini medley sets), I reversed the paper.

  Because I used scraps of pre-stamped, pre-cut supplies for the boxes, I won't give the "recipes."  However, if you have questions, feel free to ask.  Here's the recipe for this sympathy card:

All products Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted.

Card stock: gold rush, cocoa

Paper pack: Dreamin

Inks: cocoa, gold rush

Stamp sets: Unscripted, Card Chatter - sympathy, Psalm 3:3 (Verve)

Embellishents: twill ribbon, foundry ribbon slide, brown sack (Hobby Lobby), 

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge die cuts: tag, leaves

I used the unscripted stamp set to create a faint back ground behind the scripture on the tag.

 I put a coat of crackle distress paint (clear) over the leaves and let them dry before "crumpling" them. It gives them the feel and look of dried leaves, but it is hard to see in the photo.

I used my dry embosser to add some texture to the card stock.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie with a :)

This One is For Michelle L: The Cricut boxes!

I told someone yesterday I would post different boxes that can be made with the Cricut but did not get time to cut and "cute-ify" some myself so am using a fellow Close To My Hearter's post to show them in their basic cut:

http://scrapguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/close-to-my-heart-cricut-art-philosophy.html

Michelle, the price I quoted for the french fry boxes can actually be cut in half. The pillow box would be the same price.  The others would be slightly more due to size of paper being used.


And for those who have a Cricut, or are anticipating getting one in the near future, here is a YouTube video that shows more that can be done with the Art Philosophy Cartridge that is exclusively CTMH's!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdUV0y4RFDI

Thanks for stopping by,
Marie with a :)