Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the Hop!  If you've never heard of it before, check out the main blog post here!  Tons of sponsors and tons of prizes for linking up a newly created project with a Coffee, Tea or Cocoa and Spring/Summer theme!  All the details are on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog!

Today I'm playing along with some of the awesome Coffee/Tea products from Paper Sweeties and still working on using up that Simple Stories paper pad!

One of my favorite cup dies is the one from the Keep Calm and Drink Coffee Sweet Cuts (not to mention the awesome steam I cut from vellum) and this Teapot from the Tea for Two Sweet Cuts follows close behind!

And this sentiment from the You Warm My Heart Stamp set ... so sweet!  And of course I added some beautiful wrinkled seam binding and sequins from the Paper Sweeties shop!

I'm also entering this card into the new Double Trouble Challenge to use Two or More Design Papers and that will fit the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Challenge... you should go and check out the details... very fun concept!

The Cutting Cafe Lip Balm Holder Inspiration

Welcome to some Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  Today we're working with the Lip Balm-Chapstick Holder Set!  I knew the chapstick gift I'd be giving would be this awesome Prickly Pear Lip Balm so I wanted to give it a desert feel... and the Mama Llama papers from Simple Stories were once again perfect for it!

I'm sure if you've been here before you'll remember that constructing things is not my forte'!...lol... I always say... I'm not an Engineer!  So these types of cards used to scare me... I hated the measuring and scoring that you had to do and hope it all came together the right way.  Using the SVG files from the Cutting Cafe takes all of the guesswork out of it!  I just pull the files into my Design Space, re-size according to the instructions that come with the files (which come in other formats as well), and then I decide what color papers I want to cut everything from!  Cuts are where they are supposed to be, as well as dashed scoring, and I just have to fold and glue!

The clear lip balm holder part especially!  I did watch the video that Regina has on the website to see where I needed to glue and where I didn't for my first one, but after that, it's easy peasy!    I mistakenly made my glue a little messy on the ends of the box so I decided to tie some ribbon around it and it turned out to be a happy accident!

And it's so cool how on the inside of the card, it's so easy to get the little lip balm out without tearing apart the whole card!  I think it would be cool when the lip balm is removed to then fill this clear box with some fun colorful sequins or balls or anything pretty so that it can still be displayed and then it's kind of like a shaker...

To decorate in my southwest desert theme, I cut the llama out of the Simple Stories paper and then used some dies in my stash to create this little scene.

There are PDF and JPG files included for the cute sentiments I used on the banner on the front of the card and for my little signature area on the inside as well as the lips and a few other sentiments.  I cropped the ones from the JPG file and then placed the ones I wanted to use in a word document and set them up so I could cut them out the way that I wanted.  I left room for die cutting the banner and knew I'd want to cut this layer for signing a little bigger so left a lot of room around it as well.

I'm entering this into the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge with a Twist of Something to Wear!  You definitely wear lip balm...lol!

Thanks for stopping!  Hope I've inspired you to try out one of these types of files that Regina has in the shop!  And don't forget to get on over to the Cutting Cafe Blog, comment there for a chance to win some free files and then check out what everyone else has created!

The Cutting Cafe Designers Choice!

Welcome to some Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  Today is one of my favorite!  Designer's Choice!  Well, you know what's gonna happen when it's my choice!

I decided it had been too long since I used this Coffee Cup Shaped Card 2!  I love it to use for the shaped card and sometimes just to cut a coffee cup to fit on another project!  I started off with a little bit of foil:

If you're looking for Coffee themed files, the Cutting Cafe is a great place to start!  I love this Coffee Bean Background!  You can print it in black, brown or an outline that you can color in!  I printed mine on my laser printer in black so that I could run it through my Minc machine with some of that beautiful Gina K Gold Sequins foil.  I printed a whole sheet of the background, foiled it, and then used my Cricut to cut the layer with the beans.

Oh my!  That yummy sparkle and shine!  Then for my sentiment I turned to a page of sentiments that is included with the 3D Cup file!  28 Sentiments for coffee and tea lovers and I printed the whole sheet.  There is enough room between them to die cut them... and sometimes I end up die-cutting over another one but that's ok because I can print a new sheet once this one is used up!  Or before...lol! And since they come in PDF or JPG format, I could always pull up the sheet in JPG format into my photo editing program and crop individual sentiments to print however I want!  Change the size... leave extra space... layer over another digi!  Lots of flexibility!

This set also includes a cut for a piece to hold a gift card which I didn't use today, but it's a pocket that fits perfectly on the inside of the card.

And then, I had this adorable Llama paper from Simple Stories that I picked up at my LSS and I did this:

So, it's easy to use these files in my Cricut!  I just pull in the cut file and with the entire set chosen, set the size per the instructions.  From there I can ungroup them and play with indicating which pieces I want cut in the same colors for quick cutting.  On this one, I used the wrap cut as a template and traced it on the back of a real wrap I saved from a past coffee purchase.  The sentiment is from a stamp set I have and I die cut that pretty llama who is not getting involved in the drama, from the paper.  And on the inside:

I added a teeny tiny cup diecut... she got her coffee and she's in her Happy Place now!  And another sentiment from the 3D cup sentiment sheet.

Both of my first cards are about the size of a A2 card, however, it was very easy in my Cricut Design Space to select all of my pieces and then change the size of everything at once!  It all still fits together perfectly and I made a smaller sized card... could be a tag... or just a little card to include in a gift..

So cute right!?  I fussy cut the llama from the paper and diecut another one of the sentiments from the 3D cup sentiment sheet.

Hope you enjoyed your visit!  Be sure to come back all week because there's a lot going on here this week!  AND stop over at the Cutting Cafe Blog and comment for a chance to win three free sets!  And don't forget to check out what everyone else has made for you today!