Monday, May 30, 2011

Seeing stars

Hello bloggers, hope you are having a great Memorial Day! I have a patriotic card for you. It is my DT card for the Paper Crafting World Memorial Day Challenge.
This cute little guy is made from one of Melin's cut files over at Paper Crafting World. He is actually the "boy bear blowing bubbles" file but I decided this pose was just perfect to hold up a little flag.
(you can click the name of the folder and purchase this adorable file of Melin's for just $2)

I made a cute little cut file for the "fun flag" behind the bear.(see link at bottom of post)  Memorial Day makes me think of picnics so I thought of the red and white checks. For the stars, I knew I could not fit 50 stars in that little space and expect my cutter to tackle the job. I decided to just use a few stars and vary the sizes.

While making the stars, I went ahead and made some simple card  and embellishment files that have stars cut out of them. I have not made projects with them yet but wanted to go ahead and share the cut files so here are some pictures of the files.














These cards start off as 8.5 by 5.5. Once you fold them they are 5.5 by 4.25 (A2)



These cards are 11 by 4.25 and fold at the top to make an A2 card.


These files include a cut out to put on a project, a front panel for an A2 card and a card that will fold over to make an A2 card.

These files are no longer available. If you really, really want them, you can email me at
and I will send them to you. 


Head on over and join us for the Paper Crafting World Memorial Day challenge. The theme is, of coarse, Memorial Day and you are just required to use a cut file on your project.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

I am calling a do over

Well, my blogging buddies, apparently the online file sharing site that I have been using is corrupting  some of my files when I upload them. I am switching to a different file sharing site called box.net. Please let me know if it is working well or not.

**These files are no longer available. **





























The roses form this card were cut from Penny Duncan's rose file.



These files are no longer available.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It fits in my box

I wish everything fit into my boxes...literally and figuratively...LOL. I have started making such dimensional flowers that my cards won't fit into an envelope. I started making these boxes to fit a 5.5 by 8.5 card. I made them by hand at first just because I have been making boxes for years.(ever since I first saw Carol Duvall make one on her show years ago...does that date me :)

Anyway, I finally wised up and made a cut file for the box. But if you give a crafter one project...she will add more to it.
Here is my pretty box. I added a decorative band and label. Of coarse I HAD to add flowers. Theses are actually flowers I made files for back in March when my wrist was recouping from surgery. I had forgotten about them. I am calling the purple flower "tattered daisy". I fringed a thin piece of paper then quilled it and spread it open for the center of the purple flower. I bought a paper fringer several years ago when I did more quilling. You could also make lots and lots of tiny snips along the paper and roll it up with tweezers or a toothpick. For the white flowers, which I am calling "5 petal flower for lack of a better name, I just inked the center with a turquoise chalk ink and then went over that with a white chalk ink to blend it.
For the box band I altered my loopy mat file. I had to make the band in two pieces and fit them together. There is a one inch tab on one band so you can attach it to the other band with out messing up the loopy edge. I usually hide the seems under the label or on the sides.
The band file cuts really slow because of all the detail but I think it is worth it. When I don't have time to cut this with SCAL, I just cut 2 strips of paper and join them.

The box file cuts very quickly. There is a bottom piece and a lid that is slightly bigger.
To score, Just line up the v shaped notch at the end with your score board.

For the other end,  line up the small notches and score all the way across the tabs and side of box.

Then you fold the tabs in, press sides down with bone folder, fold tabs to the inside, and glue or tape the sides together.



Here are the cut files. They will be available for a little over a week.

rectangular box: SVG    SCAL

box band and flowers:  SVG   SCAL

Happy crafting!

PS: The birdhouse box file cannot be recovered so I will have to start all over.
In the meantime, I found several file that I have never posted so it all balances out :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Paper Crafting World Challenge

Here is a card I made for the Paper Crafting World  digi challenge. I used one of Melin's cupcake digi files. I colored it with colored pencils and used mineral spirits to blend the colors. As I have said before, I am not very good at coloring techniques. I added lots of glitter to distract from the coloring...LOL. Anyway, The cool thing about this card is that it is a gate fold card. Most gate fold cards have two panels that open from the middle out. This one is made where the top of the cupcake opens up and the bottom of the cupcake opens down.
To make this card, I printed out the digi image so that the main part of the cupcake would fit on a A2 card (4.25 by 5.5). Then I  colored (or at least attempted to color) it, and cut it out.
I cut a card base 11 by 4.25. Then I placed the card base and my digi image on the score board. I centered the image and scored the card base so that most of the cupcake would fit on the card and the candle would stick up a little over the top of the card.
Next, I cut between the top of the cupcake and the wrapper. I made sure the top and bottom pieces would fit on the two outside flaps of the card then taped them down. I made sure the 2 pieces would match up when the card was folded.

I always add a liner to the inside of my cards. This makes them sturdier and gives them a more finished look.  I trim the liner a quarter inch smaller than the card base on all 4 sides (4 in by 5.25in)
Because a liner on this gate fold card is a little tricky to score and line up, I center the liner on the card base and mark the score lines on what will eventually be the back of my liner.


For the last step, I put tape on the back of the liner, fold in the flaps and put the center of the liner on top of the center of the card base.

Then fold the flaps in to finish adhering the liner.
Hope this all made sense.
Come on over to Paper Crafting World and join in on the challenge.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Flowers and leaves file, again

Well my crafting friends, I am having all kinds of computer problems. Fortunatly, my son is home from college and can work on it.

If you downloaded the flowers and leaves file from the flower pot post or the twins b-day blop hop post, the file is messed up. I posted it again but that file was also messed. I have redone the file and have it below. Hopefully the 3rd time is a charm :)

Also, I finally got 100 followers! woooo hooo! I had a special project to post in honor of this occasion, but that file got messed up too. It was a box file that I converted from my very first post, birdhouse card.

As soon as I get everything worked out I will post it.

Thanks for following and being patient.


If you have anymore problems with the file, email me at papercompulsions@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Twins bday blog hop day2

Hello and thank you for joining us again for the twins birthday blog hop.
Here is the line up:
Jani- papercompulsions.blogspot.com <-----you are here
Gail- paradisescrapbooking.blogspot.com 

I have more princess goodies to show you today.

Yesterday you saw the cake topper that I glued to a skewer. Well, if you glue it on a dowel rod and add lots of ribbon, you have a wand or princess septer.


Next I want to show you the lovely cupcake wrappers I made.


Last I want to show you an idea for a decoration over the table or doorway.





These beautilful birds look as if they are holding the ribbon. I made all the flowers and used my flower cut files. I added glitter and beads to finish the centers.

These files are no longer available. If you really, really want them you can email me at papercompulsions@gmail.com
I hope you enjoyed your visit.
Thanks for hopping along with us and please become a follower to my blog if you like what you see.

Happy crafting!

The next stop on the Twins Birthday Blog Hop is
Christel- onescrappinsista.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Twins birthday blog hop


WELCOME
my crafting friends!
If you are looking for the Twins Birthday blog hop,you are in the right place.
 Here is the line up:

We have a wonderful line up of ladies you have to go visit.

Jani- papercompulsions.blogspot.com <-----you are here
Gail- paradisescrapbooking.blogspot.com 

For the birthday bash, I have some treats for a birthday princess.

First up is a crown for the birthday girl. I made the cut file for this cutie and will have the link for the cut file posted on my site tomorrow. (be sure and check back in)
It is fully adjustable so it should fit anyone

I also made some embellishments for the yummy birthday treats.

Here is a cake topper glued on to a bamboo skewer.

Here is a smaller version of the crown for a straw decoration.

Here is a smaller crown affixed to a toothpick for a cupcake wrapper.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my creations.
I will have all the cut files available tomorrow as well as a PDF template to use if you do not have a digital cutter and a program like Make the Cut or SureCuts A Lot.
Please continue with the hop and check back with me tomorrow to see my other princess birthday goodies.

Your next stop is

Thanks for visiting!

Flower pot pocket card



Hello my crafty friends! I have seen a lot of these flower pot cards lately and am finally getting around to making one myself. It has been on mu to do list for a long time. Somehow, I am really good at making lists but not as good about doing the things on the list...LOL.

(Speaking of lists, wait until you see the new cards with motion and boxes that I am working on. They are sooo cool!)

Back to the flower pot card. Since I am not any good at keeping real plants alive, I figured this was just the thing I needed. It will last so much longer than a real one.

I made a cut file for the card where the fold is on the bottom and tabs on the left and right fold in to form a pocket.




This is an A2 card (5.5 by 4.25). I am thinking of making one a little larger and adding an easel for my sister. She just moved into a new house so this would be a great housewarming card:)

If you do not have a digital cutter and Make the Cut or Sure Cuts A Lot, I am including a PDF. You could also install Inkscape and print any SVG file. Inkscape is a free download that can be found at Inkscape.org.
I love it.
 
THESE FILES HAVE BEEN MOVED TO MY ETSY STORE.
REMEMBER: It takes quite a long time to make cut files and I put a lot of effort into them. I offer the files for free for you to use for PERSONAL use. You can not sell my files or make things to sell using my files unless you ask me. Please give credit where credit is do when you use my files to post projects or to enter challenges. I don't mind sharing, but I do mind when someone takes my work and claims it as their own.