Monthly Circle Challenge - Halloween Home Decor

This is my Monthly Challenge for the Circle Blog. We are to make a home decor Halloween Project.

Yellow Circle cut at 3" cat cut at 2.5"

I used Chic & Scary Cartridge

Pumpkin Cut at 3" from Chic & Scary Cartridge.

Spider Web cut at 4", Spider cut at 2"

I used the Chic & Scary Cartridge.

Circle Cartridge Challenge

This card was made for a Circle Challenge.

Cartridge used: Sophie and Cricut Everyday

Flowers Cut at 2.5"

Circle Logo cut at 1.5"

Trendy Alternatives - Clear Embellishments

Trendy Alternatives - Clear Embellishments
I saw an embellishment online called clear pops. I thought it had a neat effect. What it looks like is a sticker with a clear acetate overlay. I saw it on Pink Paislee website. It is from the Butterfly Garden Collection.  

Pink Paislee

Well I thought this would be a neat project for my Trendy Alternatives post. They are hard to find and I found a trendy alternative for making these yourself.

First I printed and cut the butterfly from the Lori's Garden cartridge on my Imagine.

You can make these clear pops with any clear packaging. I used a cartridge box.

I cut on side off the box.

Next I used the cut only feature on the Imagine and muti cut 4 times.

I did not use the print feature. Pressure and Speed were 5.

Next I adhered the clear acetate overlay on top of the butterfly cut with terrifically tacky tape.

I just put the adhesive on the body of the butterfly.

I then inked the edges so the clear acetate would stand out more.

I bent the wings up to give the butterfly a 3D dimension.

I also used this method with my Vagabond Machine.

I cut my pieces out with the vagabond machine.

First the patterned paper and then the acetate.

I inked the edges of my flower .

I poked holes through the acetate and the paper flower to adhere a button in the center of the flower.

I sewed the button in the middle of the flower to hold the two pieces together.

I inked the edges of the acetate so the clear piece was defined.

I bent the petals up slightly to give the flower dimension.

Here's the card I made with this flower.

You could also make these embellishments with a regular sticker.

Print an image from your computer and cut it out by hand.

Cut the acetate by hand to overlay on top of the image and you have a pretty 3D embellishment.

You could also print the image with the imagine on ink jet transparency.

Trendy Alternatives - Accordion Fold Flowers And Rosettes

Accordian Fold Flowers and Rosettes
By: Mary

A big trend right now is to make flowers. Accordion fold flowers are hot. I'm going to show you some projects I made with these accordian fold flowers. They are a perfect way to give your projects dimension.

Here are some projects you can make with the accordion fold flower and rosettes.

You can embellish cards, layouts, treat bags, banners and boxes.

The possibilities are endless and they are a beautiful addition to any project.

These are some tools that you can use to make these flowers.

I'm going to give a tutorial on how to make accordion fold flowers without a die cut.

I use paper punches to get a variety of looks for the petals.

Take a 12x12 sheet of paper and punch a border with a border punch the full length of the paper.

Trim the paper at 1-1/4" wide

Score the fold lines at each valley of the punch paper.

Some paper punch borders you will want to score the peaks and valleys.

This border punch has a small design so I scored them only on the valleys of the punched design.

Accordian fold the paper strip.

Apply adhesive at one end of the paper strip.

I prefer using Glossy Accents because it dries fast and is a strong adhesive.

Hold the two ends together and adhere.

While the accordion fold flower is drying, punch 2 circles for the center.

One center is chipboard and the other is decorative paper.

Apply adhesive on the chipboard and adhere the decorative paper on top.

This makes for a strong center to hold your flower together.

Gather your folded strip and form a flower with it.

Adhere the circle to the center of your flower.

This makes a 2-1/2" flower finished.

Look at these flowers and see how different border punches create beautiful flowers.

My favorite way to make accordion fold flowers is to use the border punches I already have.

It is a great way to use my paper punches and you're not limited to the size of flower.

You can change borders punches to create a variety of different petals.

Also with dies you limited to one petal shape.

Making these by hand is a trendy alternative to die cuts. 

I do like my sizzix dies by Tim Holtz. I think the perforated fold line makes it easy to fold and saves time on scoring the lines. I just wanted to bring you another idea for those that don't have those dies to make these fan fold flowers. On the layout in the first picture that was made with the Tim Holtz Sizzix dies. They are just as pretty. You don't get as many flowers out of a 12x12 sheet of paper but the results are fantastic also.

1- 12x12 sheet of paper makes 5 flowers and centers for those flowers when you do it by hand.

Trendy Alternatives- Twine, String And More

Twine, String And More

By: Mary

Using twine, string, floss, cord and hemp are very popular right now to use on any craft project.

Here are some projects I made using twine, floss, hemp and cord.

Anyone of these products can be substituded for the other.

You can use them on layouts and slide it through a buckle

On this layout I used cord to run through the buckle.

You can use it for banners on layouts or hang the on the wall.

On these layouts I used cord to string the banners.

For wrapping packages or tie a tag

Wrapping this package I tied on some twine.

Add to Buttons

The first button is twine, The middle button is floss, the end button is cord.

Wrap them on cards

I used floss to wrap around this card.

Use them to stitch borders and frames

I used twine to stitch a border.

Decorate your Preserves

I used twine to hold on the decorative cover for this preserve.

You can hang ornaments

I used twine to hang this ornament.

You can tie treat bags, candy and snacks

I used twine to tie this treat bag.

You can make Lollypops then wrap them and tie them with string

I used twine to make the lollypops.

I used floss to tie the wrapper around the lollypop.

The possibilties are endless.

Use your imagination and find creative ways to use the products you have.

These are all projects I made using different products.

Trendy Alternatives - Smash Books

If your on a budget and you want to get in on the Smash Book trend. I haves some Trendy Alternatives to making your own.

You can use memo books or journaling books. The pages are thinner but you can glue 2 pages together to make your pages stronger. It  is a good idea if your going to put brads on your pages to skip  pages so when you glue the two pages together the back of your brads don't show onto the next page.

Another Alternative is to make your own using your binding system or book rings.
Here's one book that I made myself to personalize the event I am documenting.
I prefer making my own with my binding system using cardstock. This makes makes your pages strong so they won't easily bend or fold.

Trendy Alternatives

If you don't have the means to invest in the lastest trends here are some Trendy Alternatives.
I have a new category on my menu bar called Trendy Alternatives. I will be putting ideas in this section to give you some alternatives if you are budgeting your crafting.

I hope you find it helpful and encourage you to use things you already have or less expensive ways to do the same thing.

Smash Book Review

I'm giving the Smash Book Line a 2 Thumbs up!

I received my Smash Books awhile ago and they are awesome. I just love the books and all the things that go with the package. I wanted to do a review on them and give you some ideas on what you can do with them. I like them so much better then the journal book I tried when these first were released. The paper is a heavy cardstock and your pages are strong. The pages are not flimsy like journaling books.

I think they are a great way to put those pieces of memorabilia into and document the event.That is how I intend to use them. Then when your ready to scrapbook the event all the informations is right there in your smash books.

They are a great size that you can bring along on your vacations and write down what you did each day. The places you went and things you did.