The Stockings were Hung

November’s theme for my card exchange group is (of course) Christmas!!! Normally I don’t like saying the ‘C’ word until Thanksgiving but here it is mid-October...don’t tell anyone.

The last time I went to my favorite LSS, I picked up this adorable metal die and immediately knew I was using it for my cards. I think this will be the first time I’ve ever made one of my cards without a Cricut cut. I have been to plenty of make ‘n takes that don’t use Cricut anything.

Here are my Cricut-free cards...that little metal die really got a workout.

I inked the just the stocking paper edges with some TH ink. You can see it better in the close-up picture.

I have the HARDEST time matching greens. I went through 15 paper packs looking for the right shade of solid-ish, minimal print green that went with the green from the patterned  paper. Just when I was about to scrap the whole project, I found it in a country styled pack. Thank goodness for Michael's and their $5 Hot Buy packs that I always have to buy.


My main issue with this die was getting all the “merry” to stick to the stocking paper. I used a little zip 2-way for the first few then I remembered I had an adhesive spray!!! …somewhere…

I picked up this little gem at the beginning of the summer and forgot all about it until halfway through with my cards. It took a while for it to get going but once it did, cough…cough… I accidentally inhaled some fumes, it was golden! I will be using this again for every Memory Box die I own.

Guess I should have picked up more than one.

Cricut cart: NONE – surprise!!!

Metal Die Cuts: Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas die Style #98680

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Mowed Lawn Ink around edges of paper

Paper: burgundy – Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co, Inc CSW-2-SVT (picked up at Ross over a year ago); stocking patterned paper - American Crafts “Jolly” paper pad; green (under Christmas) – Crate Paper “Farmhouse Collection”

Trick or Treat

It’s almost the witching hour and the theme for my card exchange group for October is Halloween or Thanksgiving.

Even though I have quite a few cutesy gobbler images, I wanted a scarier Halloween cut, something that said spooky. I scoured my Gypsy and mycutsearch.com (I think that’s what the new name is) and I decided on the Pumpkin Carving cartridge.

I had to cut the image 3 times so it's a very thick cut:

1.      Black cut image

2.      Yellow cut image hiding windows

3.      K & Co with just the outline

The rectangle was inked while still in the metal die for depth and the zig zag was inked after it was cut.
I found the “Trick or Treat” poem online and used Microsoft Word to print it using A Lolita Scorned font from dafont.com.

Thanks for looking!!

Cricut cart: Pumpkin Carving Seasonal “spooky house” cut twice. Yellow layer is with hidden windows.

Metal Die Cuts: Spellbinders Nestabilities (largest) Reverse Wonky Rectangles; Quickutz Zig Zag Edges

Ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink around edges of paper

Paper: Black & yellow Recollections paper for Cricut cut; K & Company Tim Coffey Designer pad (behind the Cricut cut and with the Reverse Wonky Rectangles; Recollections Simply Autumn pack (left with Zig Zag Edges and right (red leaf) base; craft colored Recollections paper for card base.