City Sidewalks

Hi everyone, it’s Becca again for Sous Chef Saturday.  I make about eighty Christmas cards every year for family and friends.  I’ve been working through the year to keep my last minute crafting to a minimum…only thirty to go!  While I will do some mass production, I get bored doing the same card too many times.  The other day, I pulled out the City Sidewalks Paper and City Sidewalks Cricut Cartridge and went to town.

Most of these cards were made using only part of the paper that divided into small blocks of patterns intended for scrapbooking (which I will refer to as “blocked paper” for the remainder of this post).  I’ve thrown in a few added supplies which I’ll point out along the way.

This first card is straight City Sidewalks with just a touch of white twine to finish it off.  The border is part of the blocked paper while “Christmas” comes from one of the other patterns. (I used the same pattern of paper on the card with the tree so you’ll get a better look in a minute). The entire sentiment is a two-layer cut. “Merry Christmas” is one cut–done in Cranberry cardstock from the City Sidewalks Coordinating Cardstock–and then “Christmas” is a second cut glued over the top.

I also used the Cranberry cardstock to add a small border around the edge of the top panel and down the side of the striped border.

One of my tricks to hide embellishments is to create a top panel that I can mount on Foam Tape to the card base. In this case, the strings from the White Twine were taped to the back.

This card used lots of matting layers using just one of the blocked pattern pieces cut down to 1.75″x 3″. I waited until I had it cut before stamping the sentiment (A Little Jingle) in order to get the positioning correct.

The rest of the layers working out are 2″x 3.25 (black), 2.5″x 3.75″ (white), 2.625″ x 3.875″ (black) which is basically 1/8″ larger in height and width than the white layer it’s bordering, embossed layer is 3.75″x 5″ (emboss with Confetti folder first, then cut or else the measurements will be off from the shrinkage in the paper to create the embossed bubbles), 4″x 5.25″ (black), 4.25″x 5.5″ (white card base).

For added dimension, I mounted the smallest four layers on Foam Tape (everything on top of the embossed layer).

This card also uses another embossing folder as well as a little ingenuity with a couple of the City Sidewalks Cricut cuts.

I started by cutting the wreath image in Willow–also from the City Sidewalks Coordinating Cardstock. Using Micro-tip Scissors, I trimmed out a bit of the center.  Then I “ungrouped” the light strand image, deleted everything but the red bulbs, copied and pasted so I had two of them, and cut with Cranberry cardstock.  Here’s the Design Space file if you’d rather not fuss with all those instructions. 🙂

I ran a piece of White Daisy cardstock through the Woodgrain embossing folder, swiped Glacier ink lightly over the top, then used the Sanding Kit to fade out the ink. I also used the Sanding Kit on the wreath and light bulbs to expose the white core of the paper. (Note: don’t do the sanding on your All-Purpose Mat. Yeah…)

Now…here’s where things get a little tricky.  I actually stamped the sentiment (Merry Christmas Holiday) after gluing the wreath onto the woodgrain background.  I had to stamp it a few times and give it some pressure to get into the grooves, but it worked.  I trimmed down the panel to 1/8″ smaller than the 3.25″ x 3.25″ Cranberry cardstock, and then mounted it to a 4.25″x 4.25″ square card base.

I kinda went to town on this card, but that’s appropriate when using City Sidewalks, right? I started by cutting the tree and banner. The tree uses the same, large print paper that I used for “Christmas” on the first card. You’ll also notice that the “Fa La La La La” is in the same blocked pattern paper as the border for the first card. I make use of every scrap.

The banner is another two-layer cut. I only used one layer for this card and used the second one on the next card.

After my banner and tree were cut, I started from the bottom up to assemble the card. Using White Shimmer Trim, I created an outline all the way around the edge of the card base. (You could also use White Glitter Paper, which is why I’ve included it in the list of supplies below.) Next came the Confetti embossed layer measuring 4″x 5.25″. The next layer is 3″x4″. Before adding the tree and banner, I used the Stitch Guide and Piercing Tool to create a border along the left side only. To finish off the top panel, I added a small piece of White Shimmer Trim fishtail cut with Micro-tip Scissors. Like the All-Purpose Mat, I held off getting those Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors for a long time and really regret it. They are AWESOME!

Okay…last card. Whew!

I honestly can’t tell you how to create a banner that has the exact print of this one.  I was cutting the two-layer “Fa La” banner from the blocked pattern paper for the above card, and forgot to ungroup and delete the bottom layer. This is how it came out.  Since it looked kinda cool, I went with it.

Basically, my cut went from one pattern of the blocked paper over into the one that has the word bubble saying. I liked the banner so, in keeping with my “use every scrap” philosophy, I used the Micro-tip Scissors to cut out the “I Ruff Christmas” leaving a smidge of black to create a border. Yeah, like I said, those Micro-tip Scissors are worth every penny. Instead of using the dog that comes in the City Sidewalks Cricut Cartridge, I decided to use the one in the Artistry Cartridge. He is also a two-layer image so you get the red heart. Since I think it’s a waste of paper to cut a whole dog just for that peek-a-boo heart, I ungrouped the image, got rid of the bottom layer dog, and just backed the open heart  with a scrap of red patterned paper.

To reinforce the dual pattern from the banner, I added a skinny strip of the same pattern to the bottom. Told ya I use every scrap. I mounted the dog and the word bubble on Foam Tape and accented the banner with the white gems that come in the Grey Enamel Gems pack.

Kudos to you for reading through this entire post!  You’d think I was a novelist or something. Oh, wait!  I am.  And a papercrafter who needs to make thirty more Christmas cards.

Until next time,

Becca