Anything but a card is the challenge starting today on Bitten by the Bug 2.

I love the projects found on svgcuts.com, but seldom do anything but cards from there.  Last month they came out with these really cool 3D stars that light up.  I loved the look and thought they could be a great decorative element for my daughter’s upcoming engagement party. Below is the star in a dark room when it is lit up.

This star is large (about 21 inches across) and really makes a statement.  The pattern calls for 16 sheets of 12 x 12 paper.  I didn’t have that many white sheets in a heavier cardstock, so I downsized the pattern to so that each piece could be cut on an 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  There wasn’t that much difference from the original. I have 110# Georgia Pacific Card paper that I purchased in a ream from Walmart awhile ago and still had several sheets left.  Even though it says it is 110#, it feels more like an 80# cardstock and not as thick as my other 100# cardstock.  One of my pet peeves is that it is sometimes hard to tell exactly how thick a cardstock will be as there doesn’t seem to be a consistent scale across different brands.  That is one reason I like to actually feel cardstock.  Since we have to depend more on online shops, I am trying to come up with a couple of basic cardstocks that I can order with confidence.

I ended up going over the score lines manually after my Cricut scored them because it wasn’t folding as easily as I wished it would.  I will have to say that it was a real job to get everything glued together and keep things in line and neat.  In fact the center point had a gap in the middle, so I ended up cutting a small circle and used a zot to attach it to the center to cover the gap.  Mary always has wonderful videos on assembly of her svg files which is a must with this star.  She also had recommendations on the lights for in the star, but I am pretty cheap, so I found a different kind of LED light that runs on batteries from Amazon called lantern lights by Yunlights.  They seem to work well so far and I used two of them inside this star.  Below is the star in the light.

You can find this star with two others on svgcuts.com here.  It is also available separately.

I did enjoy this project even though it isn’t perfect and will probably do a couple more in the other patterns before the party in April.

Go see the other projects by our designers and link up your own project at Bitten by the Bug 2.

I am the host of the Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge for this two week period and I chose the theme “For the Men in our Lives”.  Sometimes it is hard for people to come up with masculine cards, but I know how much the men in my family appreciate the cards I make them.

Every year I choose what type of birthday card I will make for my family (and that number is now up to seventeen.) I found a card called a fling card on Pinterest which is a variation of the waterfall card and thought that would be a good one for this year.  I watched a video by Srushti Patil found here.   Since I will be making so many of these cards, I decided to make a pattern on Design Space rather than cutting them by hand each time.  I also decided that I would make a separate post on the process of making the actual card which can be found in this post.

The cut file I made for making this card uses only the basic shapes so anyone on Design Space can use it.  The project is called Fling Card 2 and can be found in the community in Design Space. If you want a direct link, let me know in the comments.  One thing I did learn in making these is that it works better with 100# cardstock as the base card. The flipping cut as well as the base pages that flip work better with a lower cardstock, but not paper. However paper can be used for the decorative elements.

My birthdays start with my father and brother who share a birthday as well as my sister-in-law whose birthday is the day before theirs.  This is my father’s card and the different views as the pages flip (or fling if you do it fast) over when the panel is pulled out of the side.

And here is my brother’s card.

Check out the Bitten by the Bug 2 blog and link up your male project here. and let’s see those masculine inspirations using your Cricut.

This year I decided to make something called a fling card (which is a modified waterfall card) for my family birthday cards.  I found the basic design on Pinterest and this video by Srushti Patil found here.

The video shows all of the measurements in cm, so I changed my board to be cm instead of inches.  After I made all of the parts, I changed the board back to inches and found that the base was too big to fit on a 12 x 12 cardstock, so I sized everything down to the base being 11.5 inches wide.  This worked out well and the finished card ended up being around 5 x 7, so it would fit inside an envelope made for a 5 x 7 (A7) card.

After making three cards, I realized that I could attach the pull part to the slide by welding to make one piece and it makes it work better.  This is how the final canvas looks.   The cut file will cut and make the score lines.  I have made the file shareable and since it only uses the free basic shapes, it available to anyone on Design Space by searching Fling Card 2 in the community projects.

Here is how the mat looks for the design.

You can watch the video referenced above for putting the card together.  Here are my photos for my prototype.  The only thing is that the front should be green to match the pull tab and the inside front should be blue to match the pullout panel (if you want them to match).

  The purple piece is the flipping mechanism and if the inside corners don’t quite cut, carefully snip them.

  Fold on the scored lines as shown.

These are shown with the decorative pieces shown glued to the flipping and base pieces.  Note that on the newer design, the pull tab part (half moon shape) is part of the pull panel and not separate which eliminates the need to tape it on.  It is also better to put on the decorative piece on the pull tab after it is put together since it is easier to line up that way.

  Here is the pull part taped to the pulling mechanism.

  Here is the glue around the back of the mechanism with the panel back in place.  I have used both glue and double sided tape.  The glue is forever and can’t be moved after a few seconds.  With UnDo, I can remove the double sided tape if need be to re-position the panel on the base, so I will probably do that in the rest of my cards.  (Also the pull tab is now one piece, not taped on like in this picture.)

  Here it is after gluing or taping it on the base.

  Glue or tape between the first score lines to attach the largest inside panel (the yellow on the picture of the pieces.)  Line it up with the left edge of the inside panel just inside the left edge of the glue (you should just see the purple) and centered top to bottom.  Slide the tab out helping that panel flip and the next fold shows.  Glue the next portion the same way and put on the orange panel the same way.  Next is the dark pink panel and finally the red panel which is glued on a larger part since it doesn’t flip.

The best way to understand all this is to watch the video linked above.  I will have two actual cards to show you tomorrow using this file and will be shared on Bitten by the Bug 2

Now is the time we all have sweet thoughts as Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  So the challenge on Bitten by the Bug 2  is to make something for that holiday.

This is a box card made from a svgcuts.com cut called Conversation Hearts box card.  It is available as just this cut or part of a group of designs called Hearts Aflame.  I love box cards and Mary makes such great ones that go together quickly.

One of the things I love about using my Cricut is that I can make personal and unique cards for those I love.  The heart on the front was designed with the word “LOVE”, but I decided that I wanted to change that up to my granddaughter’s name.  I did that by hiding the contours of the letters in the heart, then I used the Cricut Sans font to spell her name since that seemed to be the closest to the font on the hearts.  After sizing it to fit, I attached it to the heart.  You could also use the slice feature to do the same thing since both will end up cutting the letters in the heart.  I used a lot of scrap cardstock for the hearts along with lots of rhinestone hearts. To me the best part of my Cricut is the ability to design or change things up to make them personal.

Make your own personal Valentine project and add the link to the BBTB2 challenge here.

Happy Valentine’s Day – Denise

The challenge for this Bitten By the Bug 2 is to use something new.  If you haven’t been to their page, go check it out and add your own take on the challenge in the links.

I used a new cartridge for this card.

During Black Friday this past November one of my crafting sites had Cricut cartridges bundled with mats on special and I decided to get a few that I didn’t have.  I have a huge collection of cartridges but hadn’t purchased any for over a year, but they were a great price, so I decided I could use a few more, lol.  One of those cartridges was Anna Griffin’s Elegant Embellishments.  Anna Griffin has some beautiful cartridges.  The image of the butterfly along with the word from the cartridge.  I decided it would be neat to have the butterfly kind of flying off the front so I used the base layer of the butterfly along with with a basic rectangle shape to make a card base.  Placing the butterfly at an angle in the top corner, I used the slice feature and took away the part above the butterfly, then used the weld with what remained to put it back together.  The pretty double sided papers from a DCWV paper pack called Lilac Lane matched the elegance of the cut.  The base had a perfect two sides so that it looked like the butterfly was going from a garden into a starry night.  It is fun to get a new cartridge and be inspired by the images on it.  Even if they are not releasing new cartridges, there are still some wonderful old ones available out there.  Try a “new to you” one. – Denise

I have joined the design team for Bitten by the Bug 2 found here.  Projects are made using our Cricut machines and I  am super excited.  There will be a new challenge every two weeks.  You can add your link for each challenge on their post.  The challenge for January 6 is called Tick Tock and the you must use a clock or part of a clock in the project.

The cartridge called Folk Art Festival has a cute cuckoo clock in it, so I started there.  This cartridge also has a lot of border cuts in it, so I chose one that fit with the design of the clock. and kept only one of the three layers.  I flipped it horizontally and sized it to be 4.25″ wide.  That made the height 1.2″ high. Using basic shapes, I made a card base 4.25″ x 9.8″ (11 minus 1.2)   I placed a border design from the cartridge to the bottom of the rectangle and welded the two together. I did add a score line 5.5″ down from the top, but you could also do that manually.  Placing the cuckoo clock on Design Space showed that a vertical sentiment would fit better, so that is what I did.  This same cartridge also has a font including a writing font.  (Some of the older cartridges had tons of things on them). I wrote the sentiment and then separated the letters arranging them vertically.  Design Space is also great in that you can center things like the letters and distribute them evenly. Cutting that on double sided paper by Carta Bella allows the design to show up.  I used a Cricut fine point pen to write the sentiment in dark blue. The cuckoo clock has five layers plus a base.  Putting all those layers together made the clock thick like a chipboard element and really adds dimension to the card. It allowed me to use a cartridge that I don’t normally use and it was fun. – Denise

This past August my sister-in-law’s mother turned 90. She is a very sweet lady and I helped with some decorations for her party.  One of the things I did was to make a 3D 90.

The pattern for these letters came from svgcuts.com. My Cricut Explore does a great job cutting them out. Mary is such a wonderful designer and has videos on how to put her creations together. You really need that when working with something like this. The curved letters are the most difficult and of course mine were both curved. The flowers and leaves are stamps from Heartfelt Creations and come with a die to use in my  Cuttlebug. There are dried beans inside to give it some weight to stand up correctly.  – Denise

I was looking on Pinterest for something and came across this technique called faux leather.  You take a piece of fun foam and heat it with your heat gun until it starts to curl.  You then immediately stamp it firmly with your stamp that has been inked up with Stazon ink and hold a few seconds.  Because the foam is soft from being heated, it presses the image in and makes it look like tooling.  Going over the piece with Distress Ink and a sponge applicator makes it really look like leather.  I used a couple of Unity Stamps to try out the technique and love how it looked.

The moose if from the October 2017 SMAK kit called Winter Wild and the sled is from Memories Made.  The paper is from a 6 x 6 pad by Carta Bella called Warm & Cozy.  Below is a closeup of the Moose to try and show how it looks like tooling.  It is hard to see in the pictures, but looks cool in real life.  Just search on Pinterest or Google for fun foam faux leather for some detailed videos. – Denise

The Growing in Unity artists from July and August are have a blog hop.  These are so fun and all of the artists are great so I hope you hop along and comment on all of the blogs.

I haven’t had the time I want in my craft room, but I did get a chance to do a few cards for the blog.  The first is Maple Girl.  I was inspired by another GIU post this year to use her since I hadn’t inked her up before.  She is one of the smaller Angie girls which allowed me to use several papers from the Ki Memories paper pack called Autumn Flowers.  I used some oval nesting dies to cut the background papers and the sentiment mat.  I colored her with colored pencils and Gamsol.  Some twine wrapped around it gave it something extra.

The next cards are exciting for me because I was able to use one of the new cut files offered by Unity Stamp Company.  They have a new stamp called Ember Girl and it has a matching cut file.  Ember girl was originally in the October 2017 Kit of the Month (Conspiracy of Love) which I do have.  I purchased the cut file (which is an svg file) and imported it into Design Space to work with my Cricut Explore.  The file was meant to work with the new stamp which is smaller than the original in the KOM.  I played with resizing the image until I had a cut I felt was close enough to work with the stamp.  Below is how it looks on my computer mat as well as two of the sizes.  There isn’t  much of a difference and I could probably have gone even smaller to get those lines right at the edge, but I am OK with a little white around the edges since it saves all of that fussy cutting.  The final size was 5.3 inches high for the girl and 1.5 inches high for the sentiment.  Make sure that the size ratio is locked when setting the height.  I also ungrouped the two images before sizing them.

Here is my first card using colored pencils with her.

The papers I used were Photo Play’s Dear Santa. I put a clip to hold the papers and splattered White Picket Fence Distress stain on the red paper before adding the rest.

Next I did a cut with gold velum on my Circut.  That is part of the reason I love the new cut file.  Fussy cutting velum is not always the easiest.  This cut was so smooth. I stamped with Versafine Black and used clear embossing powder on it then mounted it on paper from DCWV (Very Merry 6 x 6).  I put a gold mat behind it and used a kraft card base.

Whitney had a video to show how you put the paper on top of the stamp when using these cuts.  Here is a picture of how I did it.  I put a little repositionable tape on the back of the cut before placing it on the stamp.  I then closed my case and it stuck to the other side allowing me to ink up the stamp and close the case to stamp the cut.  I do not own a Misti, but have been using a clear jewel (DVD) case.  These are the ones that do not have a hub in the middle.  I bought 10 of these for a good price probably about four years ago and still have some I haven’t used yet.  Unless you have something large, they work great until I decide to spend the money for a Misti.

Next up is Sue.  Here is the complete hop list in case you get lost or need to start at the beginning.

1. Jennifer Mitten https://jenmitten.blogspot.com

2. Jeanie Marie Hays https://thewashihorse.blogspot.com/

3. Denise Sayers https://thecraftyledger.blog/     {{You are here}}

5. Aimee Phillips https://aimeesstampingadventures.blogspot.com/

6.Helen SMit https://helenmazengarb.blogspot.com/

8. Teresa Godines https://purplebunnypapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win one of two Unity prizes.  Thanks for visiting – Denise

I was the designer for Card A Day Challenge Blog for the first week of October.  The theme was fall and the colors were fall colors of red, orange, yellow & brown.  There is a different challenge every day using those themes.  Below are my cards.  The details for them can be found on the Challenge blog here.  Just look at the posts for the first week of October.  Each week is a different designer and it is fun to see the various styles we bring to the challenges.  – Denise

 Christmas cards using the fall colors  A card that shows a scene.My favorite is this 3-D box card.  It folds flat for mailing.  A partial die cut card.    My simple card from Sunday jazzed up.