~Back to School Challenge

Last post for today!  I promise!  I will be caught up after this.  The weekend challenge this weekend was to create a back to school project.  Well, since I hadn't yet done the layout for Tacoah's first day of Kindergarten from LAST year, I figured I would do TWO layouts.  These weekend challenges are really kicking my butt into gear, and that's a GOOD thing!

Ok, for the Kindergarten layout, I used the Lite Recess cart to create the layered apple embellishment at 2.5" for the base layer.  I adjusted each of the upper layers down a little bit and used book paper to create the "inside" of the apple.  The School phrase was also cut from Recess at 1.5".   The First Day of School cut was in my stash, but pretty sure I cut this from Imagine More.  It was from one of the Imagine carts anyway.  Here, I hid the School in the phase with some patterned paper, so that I could add the School phrase to the bottom.  The little eyeballs in the O's were waste I found in my hole punch.

And here is Back to School for Grade 1.  Here the cricut cuts are the School Bus tag from Autumn Celebrations cut at 3" and the Back to School phrase from Simply Charmed at 2".   I really like the colors and patterns on this one.  For both of these layouts, the focal pictures were taken while waiting for the school bus to arrive.  Incidentally, that t-shirt she is wearing for her first day of Grade 1 is a vinyl kitty from Brooklyn Iron-On that I made over the summer.  ;-)  Thanks for stopping by!

~Staying Neutral - like Switzerland

There is an on-going conflict on the Cricut Circle message board.  When we received our new Circle cartridge - CHARMED - the gauntlet was thrown down.  Teddy Bears on one side and Piggies on the other.  Everyone was challenged  to make a project using one of these cuts from Charmed, or any other cut you liked.  I decided to play it safe and stay neutral with this one.  Besides, with Halloween coming up and Tacoah already bugging me about decorations, I decided that I really liked and wanted to use the SPOOKY cuts.  So instead of teddies and piggies, I have spiders, ghosts and pumpkins!

Tacoah's Halloween banner:

 

 

The letters in the banner were cut at 4.5" using a 5x7 Martha Stewart Holiday's paper back.   I did two cuts of each "critter" reversing one so they look the same on both sides.  The spider was cut at 2.1" and google eyes were added. The ghost was cut at 3"  and coated with white glitter glue and glossy accents.  The pumpkin was cut at 1.5" using an orange patterned paper.  After I took the original pictures, I went back and added a little black cat the the B and the E that I cut from Chic & Scary at 1.5" and added red gems for the eyes.  I strung the letters using back tulle.  The two outside spiders are suspended from the banner using coiled black pipe cleaners.  The rest of the characters are suspended using a boa-like black yarn.  Right now this is hanging across the stair rails in my front hallway.  I think I will be sick of looking at it by the time Halloween gets here. The things we do for our grandchildren.  ;-)  Thanks for stopping by!

~How many nuts are you?

The weekend challenge that inspired this card was to create a project, card, etc. for a celebration or party.  For some reason, I had squirrels on the brain that day.  I think it was because they were irritating me by eating all the seed out of the bird feeder.  ;-)

Anyway, I digress.  The card is really not a card, but an oversized tag for a birthday.  I used the acorn tag from Close to My Heart - Art Philosophy at 6".  I then cut two solid tags at 6.25 and 6.5 to layer it.  The squirrel was cut from Folk Art Festival at 3".   I pieced together the phrase from many different carts as follows:

How - Lyrical letters at just over 1"
many - Opposites Attract at 1"
Nuts/You - Just Because Cards at 1.5"
Are - Just Because Cards at .5"
? - Chalkboard Fonts at 1"

A little ink, a little ribbons and voila!  I will save this birthday card for a special someone having a special day who may or may not be driving me "nuts".  Haha!  Thanks for stopping by!

~Smile

The weekend challenge that produced this card was a picture that was posted of a poppy field that we were to use as inspiration for a project.  David saw the Wizard of Oz when he looked at the picture and while I could "see" that I really wasn't interested in doing a Wizard project, although I've seen some really cute Dorothy's done with the Teddy Bears on Parade cartridge.

I focused on the poppies themselves and some of the colors on the picture.  I wanted to try to use the negative space from a cut and I also wanted to use my new Home Décor Vinyl Wall Art cartridge.  Although I have yet to make anything vinyl with it, these poppies sure make a great card!  Another one for my card stash!  The poppy group was cut at 4".  The Smile phrase was cut from Create a Critter at .75".  I curled the inside of the poppies for a little dimension and instead of dealing with the teeny tiny pistals, I used glitter glue for the center of the flowers.  Thanks for stopping by!

~A summer mini album - or - Sun Part II

This is another project that was already in the works when the "use the Sun" challenge was posted.  I had this fabulous paper and knew that I wanted to try making a mini album using the Close to my Heart - Artiste cartridge.  I cut all the pieces at 4.25" tall.  The inside pages were each cut twice to give me more surface for MORE pictures.  I love to make these mini's of Tacoah so I can give them to my mother-in-law.  They don't get to see each other often, so she really enjoys having these little albums and showing them to visitors who stop by.

The sun on the front of the album was printed and cut using my Imagine and the Imagine More cartridge at 2.5".  I cut the face twice and pop dotted the face off the main sun and also pop dotted the sun off the page.  I have been trying to use my Imagine more, so I take every opportunity to use those wonderful cartridges.

Once I finish this, I will post some of the interior pages.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Ok - who stole my summer?

Seriously!  If you know where it is, please bring it back!

I've also noticed there hasn't been much activity here since July.  I have been crafty, I've just not taken the time to post anything on my blog.  There have been a bunch of challenges on the Cricut message board that I've participated in.  Some are weekend challenges with different themes and then there is a running pig vs. teddy bear challenge (don't ask) for our new Circle cart - Charmed.

So without further adieu, here is the first of the weekend challenges. The challenge was to do a project (card, layout, décor) that used the sun somewhere in it.  I made the following card.

The background card with the soak up the sun phrase is one of those Project Life type cards.  This batch was made by Recollections (I think).   The sunbathing beauty was cut at 2.5" inches from Fun in the Sun light and I used actual sandpaper for the sand.  I added a little bit of washi tape just because.  I'll put this in my card stash and send it to someone who is "blue" over the winter.   Thanks for stopping by!

~A Special Thank You Card

I really, really like this card.  And not just because I made it either.  :-)  I love the colors and the sturdiness (it has tons of layers) and the simplicity. 

I made this card to thank a very special someone who gifted my Church's CCD program with an Inspired Heart cartridge when I could not find one to purchase anywhere.  I just <heart> my crafting community and I hope when she gets this card, she will feel the love.

The card base was created from Close to My Heart Artiste (love, love, love this cart!) at 4.25".  I cut it twice and adhered the pieces creating a sturdy base.  On the front I layered several more patterned papers (all from MME) and then added the hummingbird cut at 3" from Art Nouveau.  I inked all the edges of EVERYTHING and on the inside of the card, I added the flowering vine cut at 4", also from Art Nouveau. 

I have never before made a card this heavy.  It was costly to mail, but oh well, I think it was worth it.  I will definitely use this card base again.  Thanks for stopping by!