Carrie's Chocolate Treatbox

As I was skipping though all of my normal web-based scrapbooking haunts the other day, I can across the coolest card. In it, the designer had cut out practically the entire front of the card and replaced it with a woven ribbon mat. LOVED it! I decided to use this technique in a slightly different way for this weeks Design Team project. The result.....the super cute album card to the left that I made for my sweet hubby!

I started by plugging the new Paisley cartridge into my Cricut and hitting "fit to page". Then, using a piece of dark brown card stock I cut the card which turned out to be 4 1/2 inches. Next, I cut a piece of light green cardstock to 4 1/4 inches. This is where I built my ribbon mat.

Here's how:

• First choose 5 or more ribbons that fall into your palette. You want the colors to blend well, and the variety is what makes it unique beautiful.
• Then using mini glue dots, attach the vertical ribbons. You want the pieces to be side-by-side, but not overlapping. Also, only use one glue dot to attach the bottom end so that pieces can be lifted for weaving.
• Now start on the horizontal pieces. Attach a glue dot to one end and adhere it to the paper at 90 degree angle from your vertical pieces. Weave it over and under each vertical ribbon until you reach the opposite end. Add a second glue dot to secure far end.
• Repeat with the next horizontal weave alternating your pattern all the way to the top.
• Once you have reached the top simply use a single glue dot to tac down the far end of each vertical piece and you are finished!

Then, all that is left is to adhere your new ribbon mat to the inside of your card front so that the mat shows through the die cut opening! To accent my mat I used two complementary colors of Kaisercraft Rhinestones and the ever sweet Pink Cat Studio's Lily Valentine Fairy.

The card style that I chose to cut is a match book card. So to add a little bling to the back, I attached a single Flower and used a Kaisercraft Rhinestone for the center. The effect is simple a sweet and is the perfect finish for my album card.

I hate that the picture for the inside of this card did not turn out. But, if you could see them, they would show two pictures of my little girl taken one year apart. The pics anchor the card on each end. In the center I put the sentiment, "What a difference a year makes when it is filled with love." I then framed the sentiment with 1/8 scor tape coated with a light pink iridescent glitter. I love how my card came out, and I can't WAIT to give it to my husband on Valentine's Day!

Carrie's Chocolate Treatbox was created using the following products:

• Cricut Expression
• Paisley Cartridge
• Scor-Tape
• Scor-Pal (To help get exact folds on the card)
• Kaisercraft Rhinestones
• Pink Cat Studios Lily Valentine Fairy
• Copics (to color the image)
• Copic Spica Pens (To add bling to the wing!

These products can be purchased from Cutters Creek!