March Use Your Stash Blog Hop - Being Green

Welcome to the March edition of the Use Your Stash Blog Hop - It's Not Easy Being Green!  If you've come here from Sheila's Blog you are on the right track!

I'm ready for green growing things and happy days which made me think of our old Spendor paper pack - I love that grassy paper and thought doing an Easter egg scene with hard to find green eggs would be a hoot!  I pulled out two new stamp sets - Hopping By (the eggs) and Rain or Shine (the clouds) and a group of green family Shinhan Touch Twin markers.  I was even able to use some SUPER old Heavenly Blue B&T paper and my Martha Stewart fringing scissors!

Hopping By - D1633

Rain or Shine - D1634

Now hop on over to Shirley's Blog and see what she has created!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paige

Hanging Carrot Box with free CCR file

For our final quick and easy Easter project I created a giant carrot box to hang from a door knob or the back of a chair. This is a triangle box that I've left open at the top to add some green cellophane.  I'll pop the chocolate bunny in this one and leave it on the kid's door knobs for a morning surprise.  

You'll need one sheet of cardstock for the box and flower decorations (it cuts multiple flowers for use in other projects) and an 8x12" sheet of coordinating paper for the decorative front piece (my file cuts 6 per page of the front piece).  Here is our final Easter free Artiste CCR file:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s0bPFar76fTWJUVEdWTi13LU0/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you've enjoyed my Easter Project Egg-stravaganza this week!  What projects did you make for Easter?  

Stay crafty my friends,

Paige

Strawberry Baskets / Egg Baskets with Free CCR File

Today's easy Easter project is an egg basket / strawberry basket that fit 2 per page including a double sided handle and flower decorations for the side panel of the basket!

Here's what they look like made up in Chantilly.  I've added an extra paper flower (more using up stash - love it!) to the Cricut cut flower shape.

I found the sweet little carrot chocolates at the store and thought they'd be perfect for these baskets!

Here is the CCR cut file link for this CTMH Artiste Cartridge project.  If you need to pick up one of these versatile cartridges, please visit my online shopping site at www.Paige.CTMH.com!  

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s0bPFar76fRmNhOE9mbUNaVEU/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you were able to get some Easter crafting done this year!

Paige

Flower Cupcake Wrapper / Candy Holder with CTMH Artiste

A couple of weeks ago I was at Michael's and saw some adorable flower shaped cupcake liners - loved them but the price was high and if you are like me, whenever I see something cute I always think "hey, I can make that!"  When I started putting together my Easter project week I knew I wanted something like that but  hand made and inexpensive.  Boy was I happy when I found this little cutie on p.73 of the Artiste manual!

Here is the flower in profile.  I bent the petals out a bit by rolling them on a round barrel pen and added a set of leaves (p.32 Artiste Manual).

Each sheet of cardstock will cut 3 of the flower cupcake liners and the leaf sheet holds 9 sets of leaves.  I've put an empty cupcake liner inside and filled it with candy - you can pick it up and the liner won't fall out the bottom hole.  

Here's the link to the CCR cut file:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s0bPFar76fNmhydDBMSVBZNGs/edit?usp=sharing

If you need to purchase the CTMH Artiste Cartridge, please visit my site at www.Paige.CTMH.com!

I'm on a tight budget this year so creating something fun/cute/functional out of materials that we already have at the house is an area that I get really excited about.  I love that I was able to use up a bunch of retired papers for my Easter goodies this year, have a bunch of cute things to surprise my kids with and had fun spending time in my craft room!  Are you having fun crafting for Easter?  What kinds of projects are you making?

Hoppy Easter crafting my friends,

Paige

Giant Easter Egg Wall / Door Decor with AP and Artiste Cartridge - Free CCR File

Here is today's fast and fun Easter Project - a giant Easter Egg for your door or wall.  If you cut the egg as big as it can go on your Expression you'll get about an 11 inch or so egg but I played with the dimensions and angles in Cricut Craft Room and was able to get a 13" egg on a 12" piece of paper!

This one goes together really quickly - just a few minutes to cut and glue the pieces.  You'll need a sheet of CS, a sheet of patterned paper (good use of older thinner B&T) and a half sheet of darker CS or patterned paper.

Here is the Cricut Craft Room file for this one.  It uses both the Art Philosophy cartridge (egg and overlay) as well as Artiste (the word Easter).

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s0bPFar76fT0REUU1qcVFhRHc/edit?usp=sharing

Enjoy your fast and easy Easter crafting!

Paige

So Egg-Cited for Easter H2H Challenge - Bunny Boxes with free cutting file

I'm "So Egg-Cited" to be the guest blogger over at Heart2Heart Challenges this week to introduce this fun Easter/Spring themed challenge!  Easter is very early this year - next Sunday, 31 March so this challenge is perfect for hopping to your Easter crafting, gathering supplies in your crafting basket and hatching up some fun projects just in time for the holiday!

I was so inspired by this week's challenge that I created a week's worth of QUICK and EASY Easter projects to share with you each day this week!  As a little gift to you, each day I'll post the project AND a free Cricut Craft Room file that uses either Art Philosophy / Artiste so you can just import the file and cut.  I'll keep each project to around 30 minutes so you can fit them into the busy week in time for Easter.  No fussing with sizes and I'll let you know about how much paper each project needs!

I have three kiddos aged 17, 14 and 11 so they are too old for the little kid stuff but still wanting the sweets and treats to celebrate the holiday.  I like to buy a few high quality treats and then put them in fun homemade packaging to make the day special for them.  These bunny boxes from CTMH Artiste are sized for about 2 Cadbury eggs or the equivalent in candy.  

I love the trendy new chalkboard look - so easy with a bit of Black Cardstock and our new CTMH Chalk Marker!

Close up of a bunny.  The Cashmere and Slate bunnies were sponged with ink and then I did some easy detailing on each - a bit of pink marker for ears and nose, some black sharpie for an eye and a white gel pen for a fluffy tail and eye sparkle. 

If you own the CTMH Artiste Cartridge, this cut is found on p.73 (Accent 1).  I used Cricut Craft Room to angle the box on my mat and blow it up to its absolute maximum size and cut it in White Daisy - 1 sheet for each box. After I removed it from the mat, I sponged Pear ink on to the two visible flaps that secure the box and look like a big hill the bunny sits on.  The two small sides of the box were decorated with 2.125 x 3.25" scraps of patterned paper.

Here is the link to the CCR Artiste Cartridge Cut File on my Google Docs - just download it and then go to your Cricut Craft Room account and select "Import".  You must own the Artiste Cartridge in order to use this file, if you don't have it yet you can order it by clicking this link to my website at www.Paige.CTMH.com.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s0bPFar76fNGdyYU84RzRnZG8/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you'll hop on over to the Heart2Heart Challenges Blog and join us "Egg-Cited" girls as we craft our way to the holiday!  You need to use some CTMH product on your creation to join the fun so if your basket is empty then head on over to my website at www.Paige.CTMH.com and fill up on some new Spring goodies from our Idea Book!

Make sure you come back each day this week as I'll be sharing fast and easy Easter projects through Saturday all with a CCR file to make your crafting quick as a twitching bunny tail!

Hoppy Crafting!

Paige

What went into this project:

Paper:  White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Later Sk8r, Chantilly

Other:  Artiste Cricut Cartridge, Champagne, Slate, Pear Ink, Cotton Candy Marker, CTMH Chalk Marker, White Gel Pen (Uniball)

Easter Egg Card with Peeps for Heart2Heart Challenges

I hope all you peeps are more prepared for Easter than I am this year!  If it wasn't for the Heart2Heart Challenge this week where we needed to break out our eggs, bunnies and chicks I think I wouldn't have even remembered it was coming up next weekend.  Even worse I have all three kids home for Spring Break so the likelihood of hitting Target alone is near zero!  Guess I'll have to send Dad out on a Peter Rabbit mission.

When I read this week's challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to do - use the egg card shape from the AP cartridge and the My Peeps stamp set.  Cute, cute, cute!  This was one of the first stamps I bought from the new Idea Book 'cause those little bunnies were so darn adorable.

The pink pom pom ribbon is from our Designer Ribbon Pink collection - I started with a little bit and couldn't seem to stop adding it until the whole card was outlined.  The papers are from our Pemberley pack - told you it was versatile!

So hop on over to Heart2Heart Challenges and perk up your ears for our bunnies, chicks and eggs challenge, put it in a basket and deliver it with a bow so we can all admire YOUR inner Peter Rabbit!

If you'd like to make my project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Pemberley

Ink:  Chocolate, Honey

Other:  Designer Ribbon Pink Collection, Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel, Waterbrush, Art Philosophy Cartridge

Here comes Peter Cottontail with CTMH Mayberry and A Hop!

Okay, how cute is this bunny?  He comes from one of our new A size ($7.95) stamp sets called "A Hop".   Did you see the new pink ribbon collection in the Spring Idea book with the pom-pom ribbon?  How fun does it look on this card - I even used one pom-pom as the center of the flower.  Once again I couldn't resist adding a piece of our Kraft self-adhesive borders to a project - these things are da bomb!

If you'd like to make this card, get these supplies:

Paper:  Mayberry

Stamps:  A Hop

Ink:  Chocolate, Olive, Cotton Candy

Other:  Designer Pink Ribbon Collection, Kraft Ready Borders, Tim Holtz Die-Cut for white shaped piece, Black Sharpie to accent bunny eye

CTMH March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring Sensational Season

Who's ready to do the bunny hop?  The March Stamp of the Month is Sensational Season - a set of 10 stamps with a vintage bunny theme.  If you have come here from Nicole's Blog, you are on the right path! The bunny hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around by clicking on the links at the bottom of each post.

When I got this stamp set I immediately thought of making some carrot shaped Easter treat holders so I channeled my inner-Beatrix Potter and got to work making some of the CUTEST little bunny things for my kids this year!  Check out little Peter rabbit... don't you just want to squeeze his little bunny cheeks?  

I used our new 2" scallop punch on some White Daisy cardstock, embossed the images in Cocoa embossing powder and colored in using our ink pads and Waterbrush.  I just started using the Waterbrush a couple of weeks ago and I love the control and soft watercolor look you can achieve with this tool.  I also used our new 12" Kraft borders at the top of each box to help make each project unique for each kid.

Here is the top for each carrot box.

I was having so much fun with this stamp set I just couldn't stop - the Beatrix force was strong in me that day!  So I also made two 12x12 sheets of random stamp and Waterbrush colored paper to use later for more Easter projects.  On these larger sheets I stamped in Cocoa INK instead of doing the embossing - it was faster and gave an even softer vintage look to these papers.

Now "Hop" on over to Tonya's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available until March 31, 2011 - to get this set at a discount or free visit my website at Paige.MyCTMH.com!

CTMH Deal of the Day - June 9th Metal Rimmed Flower Tags

Close to my Heart's Deal of the Day is a set of 12 Metal Rimmed Flower Tags ($4.50 value!) for FREE with any A,B,C,D, or E size Acrylix stamp set! A package of these sweet little tags has 3 different sizes of flowers all with White Daisy paper in the center. You can stamp on the paper, sponge color, use chalks or even emboss as seen here. You can even remove the paper for a fun metal outline embellishment.

For this project I used our February Stamp of the Month Easter Eggs and created fun flowers and a butterfly for an Easter centerpiece. Each flower has a flower shaped Dimensional Element and/or a button with Sunflower Waxy Flax in the center. The butterfly has both sparkles and Sunflower Waxy Flax antenae. I used the largest size of Metal Rimmed Flower Tags to fit the seniment from Wonderful Charms ($13.95 has the cutest little critters including a snail, ant, worm and the little butterfly on the tag along with some tulips). I embossed the sentiment in black embossing powder and then used a sponge dauber to add Dutch Blue ink and a marker for the Watermelon colored butterfly. The base is an old perfume box and the sticks are all bamboo skewers so this fun little project was very frugal as well!

Materials Used:

Paper: Sunflower Textured Cardstock, Topiary Cardstock, Watermelon Textured Cardstock,W White Daisy Cardstock

Stamps: Easter Eggs, Wonderful Charms

Inks: Watermelon, Topiary, Dutch Blue, Hydrangea, Sunflower

Other: Metal Rimmed Flower Tags, Sparkles, Sunflower Waxy Flax, Summer Buttons

Dimensional Elements Perennials