I am so wanting the summer and warmer weather to come that when I saw these cute paper boxes on Pinterest I decided to try and make them.  I just printed them out on my printer on normal printer paper,  The ice cream cone was kind of a pain and I definitely would buy the pre- cut, pre- folded version from the website if I wanted to make them, but the ice cream sandwich and the popsicle were easy to do and I can see doing them again for something!!!!

Just another quick reminder, if you are reading this and are not signed up to get an email  when I have posted something new just reply with the email address you would like it to go to and I will add you.  You can request to be taken off at any time as well, but I really hope you won’t!!!

thanks for reading my blog!!

Lu

Sorry I didn’t blog last week, I don’t really know why I didn’t. I’ll try and show you 2 fun things this week to make up for it!!

First is this Easter basket! I’ve had it made for a little while but not had the decorations for it. I finally found these cute garden picks yesterday! They are just the right color for the paper I used and just the right size! If I were to make the basket again I would make it bigger, some of the detail didn’t cut very well this small! But I have limited space for my display so …. And I had to put it together with hot glue to hold it together, you know how I hate hot glue!! LOL

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Next I thought I might just do a little tutorial on what the difference is between white core and not white core paper and how to tell the difference.

It used to be that both kinds of paper were very common, now it seems hard to find the white core. The labels used to say if they weren’t white core because white core was so common place (at least in Utah).  Now it seems like (in Missouri) that white core is the exception and solid core is the common.   So here is  little help to understand and tell the difference.  I bought 2 paper packs recently, one said white core, one said just card stock

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So this is looking at the ends. The white core is on the top and the solid is on the bottom.  You can see that the white core looks a little cloudy.  That is because on the ends you have a layer of the color, a layer of white (core) and then another layer of the color.  The solid is just color all the way through the layers.

So why would you want one over the other? Mostly the difference comes when you are tearing or distressing the paper.  So I have some pictures here showing the difference.  The first is just the 2 papers, looking very similar.

Then I ran them both through my Cuttlebug embossing machine and

you can see a little difference.

Then i took my sanding tool to each of them, making sure I did the same pressure, times over it, etc.

Also when you are doing a torn edge there is a lot of difference.

I think you can see the difference now.  The white core shows the white through where the solid just becomes a shade lighter.  So if you want the embossed image or distressing to show more you want the white core. I like both and use them both depending on the look I want on my project!!

I hope this was informative and somewhat helpful!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Lu

Since I learned to make these box cards I have been kind of obsessed!  I have gone a little overboard, but am happy with the results!  Here are the ones I am sending to my kids!!

They all lay flat so they go in a standard card envelope! And then they fold out to the box when opened!  I’m having a lot of fun wth this and hope you do too!!

Thanks for reading!

Lu

Sorry I didn’t post last week but my phone completely died and it took half a day to get a new one and we still haven’t figured it out!!!

So I love to make favor things and couldn’t resist these cute dollar store glasses or this fun bucket I fund in multiple colors! Then, of course, I just filled them with fun Valentine’s candy!  A little ribbon and there you go! So fast and easy!!!

And a little something extra to make up for last week..

This little paper purse is made from 1 piece of 6×6 paper!!! And of course you can make it out of any size paper!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Lu

This week I am trying to get a head start on my display for the next month and making up a lesson plan for the next Cricut class.  So I cut a couple of St. Patrick’s Day favors.  The hat was very simple but the pot has proven to be a bit of a pain to keep together.  I used extra sticky tape but it still comes apart when I leave it sitting. I’m going to have to fix that before I put it on display.

I need to work on some Easter but it is a little early for the stores here to have anything for it.  So I guess I’ll have to find something else to do!!!  Maybe something for fun instead of work.

The Cricut class is an advanced class. We are going to learn to import images from the internet and how to create our own things like Steve and I have with the cards and hearts. I’m a little nervous but have a week or so before class so I can get it all down!!

Miss all my Utah friends!!  Thanks for all encouragement!!!

Lu

This week I wanted to make some woven hearts from fabric. I did this years ago out of Christmas material for ornaments. But the funny thing is that I have never done any for Valentine’s. So this year I asked Steve to help me program it into the Cricut and got some Valentine’s fabric. I like the way this came out, I hope you do too!! Oh and you can do them out of paper too! (that’s the single one.)
Thanks for stopping by!!!
Lu

Well I finally got the things done for my display done! It is so much fun when things work out! So I made a pop up card, a mailbox, a layered scene, a cup and candy holders. The mailbox, card, and layered scene were in Design Space by Cricut. The cup was my idea and the candy holders I found online. Steve helped me improve it, so that once you eat the candy you still have the cute holder, and helped me resize it so different candy bars fit. He also helped me get the cup paper so we could cut it on the Cricut. So here are a bunch of pictures!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Lu

This week I am trying to get a display ready for my classes at Joannn’s. The projects for my class are a multi layered card, window cling and iron on.

The iron on was supposed to be a tote with a US map but I don’t want to do that so I did an apron!! Besides now it can be part of my Valentine’s display!!

It was tough to design and then figure out the tricks to the iron on and I made a mistake or two but I think it turned out cute! Next time sure won’t take me as long. This time took me about 2 hours. That is way too long but now that I have done it once I think I could do it in about half the time. The colors didn’t come out too good either.  the burgundy looks black in the photo. But the colors are burgundy and fuchsia.

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(The yellow marks are from the light box and are not on the apron)

I’m doing all kinds of things for my Valentines display this week so I will post more of those ideas as I get them done!!

thanks for reading!
Lu

Sorry this is late, Christmas is throwing my schedule off!!! Not news to anyone that knows me!!!  But I wanted to send out some cards to all my friends that take the time to read my ramblings, and that took a little time.

I had one more card that I wanted to make and I got a few new stamps that I wanted to try out! ( they are Close to my Heart)  I love the pine boughs and pine cones!!! And I got these small Christmas greetings!!  So this was a fun card to make!!  Yes it is the bigger size but I made an envelope too!!  Another new thing for me was this pen that someone here in Missouri told me about that lets you add a little sparkle to your work.  It’s hard to tell in the pictures but there are glitter highlights on the stamped images and the “flower” punches!  They have these pens in lots of different colors but I could only find the clear one here.  That was fine with me because then I can use it everywhere!!!  The pen is called “wink of stella” and I found it at Micheal’s by the glues.  I think in Utah you could probably find it other places. It was not cheap here but supposedly it lasts a long time, I’ll keep you posted on that.  I did look online and Walmart had a good selection. so I will order from there next time.

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I hope you all have a happy holiday and a blessed new year!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Lu

This week has been really busy for us again!!!  But I thought I’d show you how a pretty box can make a fun addition to your gifts!  And give you a little bit of help as to how they assemble best.  I cut this box, lid and bow out on the Cricut.  That was all pretty easy and self explanatory. But because of the way I see things assembling it was the hard part for me.  The Cricut scores all the lines that need folded so that is where you start.  You think everything folds to the inside but some of the tabs fold the opposite way.  So with some help from Steve we figured it out so I could help my ladies do it in class.  This is a fairly easy thing to do unless you have stiffness in your hands.  The folds are small and the space to put glue is small.  I have used several different adhesives and the ones that seem to work best are the 2 sided tapes that are extra sticky.  Make sure your folds are good and tight before you start gluing.  I applied tape to everywhere before I started to put it together. And that is another reason I like the 2 sided tape, because you can put all the tape on but not peel the paper off until you are ready to stick that area.  I like this box because the tabs (when you do them correctly) help stabilize the box (and lid). The tabs are meant to fold inside and attach to the side of the box that it is not attached to, so the adhesive is on both sides of those little tabs.  The tabs really are the key to a stable box and lid because they fold onto the opposite sides and make the corners good and crisp.  The bow is  pretty easy, you just line up all the middle curves.  The Cricut example has the bow just stuck down the sides of the box. but I wanted mine to open without damaging the box. So you can see that I adhered it to the side of the box and then cut it off and adhered it to the lid.

Ok a video would be better but I’m not that good yet!! lol lol lol

I made this box to take a gift to a gift exchange. I put a necklace in it. The box was the hit.  I also took the sample paper ornament cut outs I did for my demoing at joanns and those were a big hit. Sometimes I’m surprised what people like and what isn’t so liked.  Guess I just need to do more!!!!

Thanks for listening to my rambling!!!

lu