In celebration of National Papercrafting Month, I think it is high time that I update my blog! Nothing like a two year hiatus to make one think I’m not papercrafting anymore. Thankfully, that is not true. I’ve simply ignored this blog because it doesn’t get a lot of traffic and I spend my social media time posting to Facebook and Instagram. Yet, I do think about the blog a lot. I want to simplify the design so that I can get back to posting on a regular basis. I’m super busy with school right now–teaching AP Computer Science for the first time and working on my National Boards–so I know I won’t have time to work on it until after I take my final exam for National Boards. Even so, I’m going to make more of an effort to document my crafty endeavors here as I find Facebook depressing right now, and people tend to scroll through the images and ignore the description on Instagram. What I love most about being a Close To My Heart Consultant is the teaching aspect of what I do. My blog will allow me to share more details than those other mediums.
So, let’s get started by talking about the awesome National Papercrafting Month project CTMH released this year! I’m not really much of a home decor gal. We moved into a modern house and I’m going for a clean look and don’t want a lot of dust gatherers…LOL! Yet, I simply had to make the adorable Welcome Home Wreath. The kit was so easy and fun to put together. I figure it will make a great gift! Click on the wreath image to the left to watch a video tutorial I posted on my YouTube channel. Great news if you missed the special as it is only good through this Tuesday, all the flowers come from the Flower Market Cricut Collection, so you can recreate your own wreath in any colors you desire.
National Papercrafting Day
Yesterday was National Papercrafting Day, and I had a crop at my house with five incredible women. It’s so fun to get together and craft with friends! I created a make-n-take using the sweet Sugar Rush collection. Since the card featured donuts, my fantastic hubby bought the gals some donuts. Although they loved the idea of the donuts, they didn’t eat very many. Hmm…now my husband has to eat the rest…funny how that worked out. LOL!
Because I loved the design on the reverse side of the paper, I also created a card with the Sugar Rush Scrapbooking stamp set. I’m actually really excited about both of these stamp sets, because I have photos of my niece and nephew eating snow cones when they were kids and of my husband eating donuts from my trip to VooDoo Doughnut in Portland. I’m looking forward to sharing those memories on scrapbook pages using this paper!
Here are a few close ups. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image:
Silly Sayings Cards
While my friends worked on their projects I made some cards using the Silly Sayings and Some Kinda Wonderful–Cardmaking stamps. I had previously designed the cards using Cricut Design Space and will share those files as I complete each of the cards. There are five designs in all and this is the first of them.
After I took these photos, I realized that the cards need a little bling, so I’ll add bitty sparkles or sequins later. I made the plain card first and decided that I didn’t really like it, so I stamped the background using stamps from the Flower Market Cricut Collection. Since I’m doing 3 each of the 5 designs, I decided that I didn’t want to devote that much time to stamping backgrounds. Instead, I decided to use embossing folders on most of the cards. On one set, I’m going to sand the background to let a little of the white core pop out.
The frame is from Lawn Fawn but everything else is CTMH. I’m using the retired Fundamentals paper that had an embossed design on the front. I also used the ShinHan markers to color the fox and turtle. They are popped up using fun foam which I simply ran through my Cuttlebug.
I hope you will use the FREE Cricut Design Space file and share what you create with it! https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/52826610
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I have to admit that I designed these cards in Cricut Design Space at the end of January. I cut out all the pieces on my Cricut and did manage to put a couple of the cards together. Check out this post and this post for details and the free Cricut Design Space files. The final three designs have been sitting on my craft table just waiting to be assembled. Luckily, my crafting buddies came over last night, so it finally gave me an opportunity to finish these cards!
The good news is that the Some Kinda Wonderful Cardmaking Thin Cuts bundle I’ve been using on these cards is on sale for 25% off while supplies last! This set is adorable, so I would order right away. I also used the ladybug from the Dreamin’ Big Cardmaking Thin Cuts bundle and the Silly Sayings set which coordinates with the Artistry Cricut collection.
All of the cards use the following:
Here are the links to all of the free Cricut Design Space files for these cards:
On a final note, just want to mention that I used the Lawn Fawn stitched border die to create the borders on my cards, but each of the linked Design Space files includes a border that you could cut with your Cricut. 
