Yes, I have been playing with blocks and I have been loving every minute of it!!! It is true, I have finally had some time to craft in the past few days with our new My Collage Cube set, part of the Rock the Block promotion that is going on now until January 30th. With this set you not only get 9 super cool chipboard cubes but also a storage tray AND an E (for extra big) size stamp set especially designed and sized for these blocks. I have had so many ideas for these blocks that I have had to make an Excel spreadsheet to organize them! (Those of you that know me will know that I am NOT joking!) :)
The blocks have six sides. I choose to use a variety of techniqes to decorate them including embossing, stamping, die-cutting, shadowing, and distressing. I knew I wanted to have one side say "Welcome", one side for Halloween, one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, one for Valentine's Day and lastly one side that was patriotic. I tried to be able to rotate the blocks every few weeks.
I started my blocks by distressing every corner of every block with Chocolate ink. This is one of my favorite CTMH colors because it matches everything! I also distressed all of the corners (both inside and out) of the storage/display tray. Distressing the edges of your cut papers and letters is a technique that you can do in very little time and one that pays off BIG time in the look of your final project. I highly recommend that you try it on your next project- I know you will agree with me!
For two sides of the blocks I used the embossing technique. I love the look of black embossing on a project especially when the letters are embossed such as I did on the "Be Mine" side of the blocks. I also used embossing on the Halloween layout. The witch, crow, and fence are all embossed. I think embossing really adds a lot of interest and texture especially to these blocks of which you really can not use any 3-D elements such as foam tape on. The embossing technique is perfect- it really adds demension and an amazing gloss without preventing the blocks from fitting nicely together.
For three sides of the blocks I used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the letters for me. How easy was that! I absolutely LOVE this cartridge! It has everything you need from an alphabet to symbols which perfectly fit on these blocks. I used the 1 1/4" size to cut and a pressure of 2. This cuts beautiful and FAST letters and intricate shapes that I would never be able to do even with an exacto-knife. For the letters I cut two sets out and used one set as a "shadow" behind the other to make them pop. You can see that I did this with both the "Thanksgiving" and the "America" sides. For the Christmas side I used the decorative Font to add a bit more interest to the letters and topped the "i" with a cute snowflake cut right from the Cricut too!
As you can see you can leave the blocks in the tray to display them or you can stack them or line them up - it is totally "hip 2 B square" with this set! When you spend just $25 in products from our current Autumn/Winter Idea Book, you can order this set at a very special price of just $15! Visit
my website here to place your order online.
Lastly, I could not help but decorate both the inside and outside of the storage/display tray too! I wanted to decorate the tray in a neutral fashion so that all of the various sides would match with the tray at all times. I used the neutral B&T Roxie paper and some metal Antique Copper corners on all sides.
I hope you all have some time this year to craft too! Make it your New Year's resolution to finally get your family's memories preserved. I can help! Contact me at
s.m.brown@sbcglobal.net for more details on how you can get all of our products at 20% off!
May you have a blessed, happy and healthy 2012! Hope to hear from you soon! :)
List of Materials Used (All CTMH):
My Creations Collage Cubes/Rock the Block set
Cardstock Papers: Pacifica, Colonial white, White daisy, New England ivy
Paper Packets:
Fanfare, Mistletoe,
Mischief,
Roxie
Stamps: Wicked s1108, Spot on backgrounds d1280,
fright night b1359,
Thanksgiving c1426,
Baroque alphabet E1006,
Notice the details d1378, Amore d1445, Ms. Sweetheart d1345,
Bohemian alphabet E1019
Ink: Black, Chocolate, Pacifica, Pear, Cranberry, Sunflower, Barn red, Autumn terracotta, Creme brûlée
Other materials: Black embossing powder,
Versa mark ink,
Craft heater,
Blending pen,
Liquid glass,
Sponge daubers,
Micro tip scissors,
Mini medley Antique copper
Happy crafting! :)
