Cards & More Projects for January

This month is all about the love. And what better paper than Close To My Heart's La Belle Vie? So romantic and gorgeous. It's perfect for those vintage style cards and projects for Valentine's Day. But HURRY because La Belle Vie is retiring at the end of this month (currently on a "while supplies last" basis) so you'll want to make sure you stock up before it's too late.



Here are the projects for my Cards & More Club this month...

Two cards and a sweet little mailbox.


The first card in the lower left of the photo above is my Stamp of the Month creation. You can view all the details about that card right here. Now let's take a look at that cute little mailbox. 



This little sweetie was made on the Cricut Artiste cartridge. The small card and envelope are from an old QuicKutz die I've had in my stash forever. To give you a sense of the size, the envelope is only 2-inches wide. So sweet!


Here's how it came together...

Even though the cut measure is dialed in at 3 inches, it takes almost a full sheet of 12 x 12 card stock for this cut. Three inches is about how tall the mailbox is once it's assembled.




I cut another (this time from Background & Texture paper) and eliminated the little flaps as shown. (to reduce bulk when assembling) In a later step not shown I glued this piece to the Bamboo one above to give the whole thing some stability.



Rather than use the coordinating cuts on the Artiste for the band and closure, I decided to simply cut one of the pretty zip-strips from the B&T paper. The cut is 1-inch wide and 12-inches long, but I will eventually trim it shorter. I used some scallop scissors and then inked the edges with Chocolate ink.




With the mailbox cut turned this way, I adhered the zip strip and trimmed the excess like this. Then I inked all the edges of the B&T paper with Chocolate ink.



I skipped showing you how to assemble the mailbox because it's pretty straightforward. Glue in the one side with the squared off little flaps, rolling the top over as you glue, then glue the bottom flap. Leave the scalloped edge flap open for now. It's the door to the mailbox. What you see in this photo above is the back of the mailbox where I used a sharp Xacto knife to make two slits to insert ribbon.




This is the front "door" of the mailbox. I made two slits here as well. The seam binding ribbon is 20 inches long and was colored with Smokey Plum re-inker and rubbing alcohol. (8 parts alcohol to 1 part re-inker)




The ribbon tails come through from the back of the box to the front. This helps to keep the door closed nicely, and also looks pretty.




I added an Antique Copper frame with two brads for a decorative element where the ribbon ties into a bow on the front of the mailbox. Sadly, these Antique Copper embellishments are now retired, but I'm sure you can find something similar like a buckle or metal label holder.




I added some adhesive pearl flourishes to dress up the sides.




The flag is attached with another Antique Copper brad so it can move.



Finally is this pretty swing card also from the Cricut Artiste cartridge. (Page 52, Olive cardstock cut at 6 1/2 inches.) The bracket in the middle was cut out of Bamboo cardstock from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and it was a perfect match at 2 3/4 inches for this card. I stamped "Thanks" with Black pigment ink and clear embossed it. So elegant.



This gives you a sense of how the card opens and the center bracket portion sort of "swings."






I cut another bracket the same size, this time from B&T paper and stamped the inside sentiment: Your Kindness is Truly Appreciated.



The rest is simple cuts from the beautiful La Belle Vie papers with coordinating stamping. More pearl flourishes adorn the card front and inside. As the card says, Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Let me know what you think of the projects today. I'd truly appreciate it!


Comments

  1. Wow! These are all gorgeous! That little mailbox is full of details and the paper and embellishments are perfect! I've really got to try the swing cards, I will definitely use yours as inspiration!

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  2. What a fabulous job you did explaining how to create the projects. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. This is lovely! I was looking for inspiration for mailboxes and I found it. I love the vintage look.

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