Shaped Father's Day Card with CCR

Good evening,
Hope all has been well.  We have been enjoying the wonderfully mild weather here.  Although it has been so mild the pool has been too cold, so I have had to find other ways to entertain the kids.  But it is better than it being scorching hot.  So today I have for you a shaped Father's Day card.  I got the inspiration from the Fantabulous Cricut design team.  I have always wanted to try a word art card and the word Dad seemed like to perfect fit.  So here it is:

Card Recipe:

• Font and Font Shadow is from Birthday Bash cut at 3"
• Chair is from Life is a Beach cut at 1.9"
• Sentiment from Simply Charmed cut at 2"
• Crop-a-dile for the eyelets
• Ribbon from Michaels

So to do this card you need either the Cricut Craft Room, which is free, or a Gypsy.  The key in CCR is to not use the font feature.  Select each letter from the cartridge images.  You need to do this because to create the base of the card you need to edit the actual letter image.  In CCR you choose edit image and then hide the inside cuts.  (I realize I am not explaining this very well and really should do a video on this).  You need to do this on each of the letters (Font Shadow) for the base card and then weld the letters together.  Then just cut the Font separately to adhere to the card.  If anyone needs help with this leave me a comment and I will do a video with step by step instructions.

So there it is.  I am entering this in the Father's Day Challenges over at Fantabulous Cricut and My Craft Spot.  Hope you have a great evening and thanks for stopping by.

Cricut Crafted Easter Cards

Hi all, I have been missing for a while but I am back with my final round of Easter Cards.  Finally got them all finished last night and plan to mail them out tomorrow.  I have three cards today.  I think the kids are going to love them.  The first card is an Easter basket card.  I used one of the new Cricut Digital cartridges Easter for this card.

This card was really quick and easy to put together.  I think it is the little touches with the ribbon and stickles that make the card special.  I am entering this card in the Fantabulous Cricut Egg challenge this week.

Card Recipe:

• Easter basket cut from Stretch your Imagination at 4.4"
• Eggs cut from the digital cartridge Easter at 1"
• Happy Easter from digital cartridge Easter at 2"
• Ribbon from Michaels
• Crystal Stickles

The second card is a tulip Easter card.  This was another really simple card to put together.

Card Recipe:

• A2 sized card
• Bunny frame from Elegant Edges cut at 5.25" (This is the oblong feature)
• Tulips from digital cartridge Easter cut at 3.25"
• Banner from the Ultimate Creative Sampler cut at 1"
• Swiss dots Cuttlebug Folder

The third and final card is an Easter bunny card.  This is a shape card made by welding two images in the Cricut Craft Room.  The card base is the stamp shadow from Elegant Edges.  I welded two of them together to make the shaped card.  I am entering this card into the Easter challenge at My Craft Spot this week.

Card Recipe:

•  Card Base is the stamp shadow from Elegant Edges cut at 5.5"
• Card frame Elegant Edges cut at 4.9"
• Bunny with carrot from Simply Charmed cut at 4"
• Happy Easter is done using Gypsy Font cut at 1"

Hope you enjoyed the cards and have a wonderful Easter.  Thanks for stopping by.

Shaped Easter Cards - Part II

Hello all, hope you are having a great weekend.  We are having a wet one here on the east coast.  So wet the Easter Egg hunt for today was cancelled.  That's okay though, because we are still going to head over to our friends house for dinner tonight, should be fun.  We today I am continuing with the Easter theme here.  I have made two really cool shaped cards to give for Easter.  These are incredibly easy to do with the Craft Room by Cricut.  Here is the first card.

This first card is made from the Create-a-Critter cartridge.  There is the image of the cracked egg.  I placed this on the mat in the Craft Room and then copied and flipped it horizontally.  I then welded the two eggs together to make the card.  I then used scrap pieces of pattered paper to make to stripes on the egg.  I think this is one of my favorite cards I have made to date.  Just came out so darn cute.  Oh and again, all the paper for this card came from my scrap paper bin, yeah!!  I am entering this card into a challenge over at the Twineology blog.  

Card Recipe:

• Cracked Egg from Create-a-Critter cartridge cut at 4"
• Chick from Create-a-Critter cartridge cut at 3"
• Twine from Timeless Twine
• Flower and button from stash
• Google eyes from dollar store

The second card I have for you is along the same lines but a different shape.  I used the same welding method described above in the Cricut Craft Room to make the card base.

Card Recipe:

• Hatched Chick and layers from Simple Charmed Cartridge cut at 5.5"
• Spring ribbon from Michaels
• Scrap pattered paper for the polka dots

If you would like the cut files for these cards for the Craft Room or the Gypsy let me know and I will email them to you.  Hope you have enjoyed the cards and have a fantastic weekend.

St Patty's Day T-Shirts and Video

Good evening all.  Hope you have had a great weekend.  We had a pretty low key one here.  Just hanging out enjoying the nice weather.  So my project for today is some T-shirts I made for my girls.  I really think they can out super cute and can't wait for them to wear them for St Patrick's Day.  These shirts are different from ones I have done in the past because I used fabric instead of paint for the decorations.  I used my Cricut to cut the fabric and learned a lot in the process.  I also made a video for you to share some of my tips.  Here are the shirts.

Didn't they come out great.  I love the gold buttons on the pot of gold.  Here is the video and I will put a recipe at the end.

T-Shrirt Recipe:

• T-shirts:  I use regular t-shirts from Target instead of the craft store because they are softer and have more shape
• Heat n' Bond
• Fabric and embellishments from fabric store
• Ironing Board and Iron
• Shamrocks from Cricut Digital cart St Patrick's Day cut at 3.5" and 1.3"
• Rainbow and Pot of gold from Simply Charmed cut at 2.4"
• Text from Plantin Schoolbook Shadow cut at 1.12"

 So I hope you have enjoyed my video and the project.  The number one tip I can give you for cutting fabric is to use a new cricut blade.  It will reduce any tearing of the fabric.

I have decided to enter this project in two challenges this week.

• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge 101
•  Bitten by the Bug 2 Shamrock challenge

I will leave you will a picture of my cuties in their t-shirts.  Have a great week!!

Valentine's Card for Kids

Good evening.  I have been working on Valentine's cards for my kiddos this week.  It is only right around the corner!!!  This is one of my favorite holidays because it is all about expressing your love.  I decided to use a dimensional gate fold card that I haven't done before.  I think the cards came out great and the kids are really going to love them.  I also made a video showing how I created the cards.  Here they are.

Here are some pics of the other card I made as well.

Card Recipe and Supplies:
 Owl Card:
   * Start with a 5" x 12" piece of card stock - K & Company
   * Start at one side and score at 2" 4" 8"  and 10"
   * Should have an inside card dimension of 5" x 4" with two 2" folded flaps
   * Elegant Edges Hearts1 oblong feature cut at 4" - then cut in half
   * Plantin Schoolbook heart cut at about 1"
   * Create-a-Critter Owl cut at 3"
   * Ribbon from Jo-anns
   * Crop-a-dile used for the eye-lets
   * Cotton Candy Stickles

Love Bug Card:
* Start with a 5" x 12" piece of card stock - K & Company
* Start at one side and score at 2" 4" 8"  and 10"
* Should have an inside card dimension of 5" x 4" with two 2" folded flaps
* Elegant Edges Hearts 2 oblong feature cut at 4" - then cut in half
* Simply Charmed Love Bug 2 cut at 2.75"
* Simply Charmed Love Bug Sentiment cut at 1"
* Ribbon from Jo-anns
* Crop-a-dile used for eye-lets
* Cotton Candy Stickles

I have also entered this card into the Anything Goes challenge over at My Craft Spot.

Have a great weekend!!!

Welcome Baby!!

Good evening.  Just thought that I would pop in while my kids are watching a movie.  It is movie night around here and while I do sit an watch with the kids I really can't just be idle while doing so, just not my thing.
Anyhow as the title says Welcome Baby...  Wanted to congratulate my sister-in-law on thier new arrival this week.  A brand new baby girl.  We are so excited for them and really can't wait to meet her.  They don't live near us so we will be planning a trip soon to meet this new bundle of joy.  Speaking of bundle of joy I did make them a card to celebrate her arrival.

Card Recipe:

• Card size is standard A2
• Baby carriage is from Simply Charmed cartridge cut at 3"
• Sentiment is My Pink Stamper Sweet Baby set
• Used the Cuttlebug to emboss the white paper
• Ribbon is from Michaels

This card was pretty simple to put together.  I really like how the embossing matches the ribbon.  Hope you enjoy and have a fabulous weekend.  I have also decided to enter this in a challenge over at Bitten By the Bug 2.   

Advent Calendar and First Video

Hi all I hope you have had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  I having been having alot of fun with my family, with way more fun to be had next week.  So I have something exciting today.  I made my very first video!!!  Please no over the top laughter as it is my first video.
Anyhow I am going to share with you the Advent calendar that I made.  I really love how it turned out and plan to use if for years to come.  I got the idea here and made some simple changes that I think made it a little special.  I have been using all of the inspiration floating around the blog-o-shpere and am really thankful for all the ideas.
So here is the calendar and video of how to make the pockets.  The original author used library pockets but since I didn't have any of those lying around my video shows how I made them and then embellished them.

Recipe:

• For the pocket cut down a manilla file folder to 8" x 4" and score at 3.75".  See the video for more instructions
• The base layer ornament is 2.77" x 3.75" from Simply Charmed
• Top layer ornament is 2.36" x 3.2" from Simply Charmed
• Numbers at 1.25" from Plantin Schoolbook
• Insert card base is 3.5" x 3" from Once Upon a Princess
• Insert card top layer is 3.10" x 2.30" from Once Upon a Princess

I hope you enjoy and have given you more ideas for a DIY Advent calendar.

Thanksgiving Card

Hi all

I hope you are having a great week and not too stressed out about the upcoming holidays.  We are getting ready here.  So today I have a card that I did for my brother.  He is in Afghanistan and I wanted to send him something to remind him how much we love him and miss him during this holiday.  I made him cookies and a cute card.

I made this card using my Imagine and the Cricut Craft Room.  This is the first time that I have used my new Imagine to make an entire project, well except the ribbon.  I only used white paper as the Imagine allows you to put color to any image, even the standard cartridge images.  It was really fun.  I did have a little fuss with the Craft Room, but I am working through those issues.  I am sure that they are my issues!!!  Anyhow I hope you enjoy and have a fantastic Thanksgiving.


Card Recipe:

• Card base is 5" by 6" and used a paper patter from the Imagine More Cartridge
• Turkey cut at 4" from the Create a Critter cartridge
• Sentiment cut at 1.5" from Simply Charmed
• Golden Rod Stickles (After the fact I also added stickles to the top hat but never got a picture of it!!)

I have also entered this card over at the Fantabulous Cricut blog for their Challenge Me Monday Harvest Blessings.  

Halloween Treats

Happy Halloween everyone!!!  I hope yours is not so scary but very sweet.  I have a quick project to share with you today.  My daughters Halloween party at school was today and I signed up to make the edible treats for the goodie bags.  I decided to make cake pops.  Of course I got this idea a long time ago from Bakerella.  They are super easy to make, just go on over to her site to learn how.  I made orange and purple ones.  I also had to include a cute tag.  Here are the pics. 

The tag base is from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More on the Gypsy cut at 2.75" x 4".  The cute little ghost is from Simply Charmed cut at 2.0".  The sentiment is a stamp from the dollar bin at Michael's.  I have decided to enter this in to the weekly challenge over at Bitten by the Bug 2.  The challenge was to use the ghost from Paper Doll Dress Ups but I don't own that cart, so used this cute guy instead.  Hope you enjoy and have a safe Halloween. 

My Guest Post for You Had Me At Craft

Hi all

So here is my exciting news.  I applied to be a guest designer for Alex over at You Had Me at Craft and she picked me!!!!  Please stop by her blog and see all of her fantastic inspiration.  So here is the project that I did as well as the instructions and lessons learned for the project.

Today I have done some T-shirts for you all.  They are Halloween T-shirts to go with the upcoming holiday and so that I could have something to wear when I take my girls trick-or-treating this year.

This first T-shirt is a scary one.  The images are cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I used neon orange fabric spray paint for the scary pumpkin.  The cool thing about this shirt is that for the face and word I used glow-in-the-dark fabric spray paint.  In the dark, you can really only see the face and word.  One thing I did learn is that I don't like the spray fabric paint.  It is hard to control where it goes and rather drippy.  Lessons learned!!!

This next shirt is an homage to my love of wine!!  The wine glass was cut from the Simply Charmed cartridge and the text was from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I used regular green fabric paint for the wine glass.  Another cool feature is that the wine and the text were done with glow-in-the-dark purple fabric paint.  It really glows well, although I couldn't get a good picture to show you.

This last shirt was done using some cool iridescent orange paint and standard black paint.  Both images are again from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.

And know on to the supplies and instructions.

Supplies Needed:
1.  Freezer paper:  I use Reynolds brand from my local grocery store
2.  Cotton T-shirts.  Pre-wash the shirts before proceeding with the project
3.  Fabric pant
4.  Foam brushes

How To:

1.  Select an image to cut.  I used my Cricut to cut most of the images from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  When you cut the freezer paper, place the paper non-glossy side down on the mat.  If you are cutting an image that is not symmetrical you will need to flip it so that you are cutting the mirror image.  I did this using my Gypsy and I think you can do this in the Craft Room.  Really you only need to do this for words as images will work in either direction.

2.  After removing the freezer paper from the mat (you will be using the outline of the image not the actual cut pieces), break out the iron and ironing board.  Place the glossy side down on the fabric and iron on the highest setting that does not have steam.  It should only take a few minutes.  You will know when it is done when the inside edges don't lift up easily.  Allow it to cool and then test the edges to see if you need to go over it again.

3.  Choose your paint colors and using a foam paint brush apply the paint to the shirt inside the stencil.  It works best if you brush from the edge of the stencil to the inside to ensure a clean line. 

4.  Let dry 3-4 hours or overnight for best results and then pull the freezer paper off the fabric. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my T-shirts.  Happy Halloween everyone.

Birthday Madness

Hi all
We are into our crazy birthday month over here in our household.  We just celebrated our oldest daughters' 4th birthday a couple days ago and had so much fun.  I wanted to share a couple of projects that I did to celebrate her birthday.
The first project was a banner.  This is the first banner that I have made and really had fun doing it.  I wanted to embellish it more but ran out of time.  I plan on doing one for our younger daughter later this month and will definately try to do something different.  I think I may need to invest in a new camera because the white letters didn't show up so well in the picture but it looked great in person.

The Recipe is:

• Waved triangle from Birthday Bash at 6.25"
• Standard triangle from Birthday Bash at 6"
• Lettering from Once Upon a Princess at 2.5"
• I used craft ribbon to attach the banner pieces together and kitchen twine to hang the completed banners

The second project was a birthday card for my little girl.  She really loves bugs so I decided to go with a ladybug.  This was just a quick card that I through together last minute so it is nothing fancy but she still loved it.  The flowers were from her Daddy.  Some poor man in the future is going to be in trouble because my hubby always gets the girls flowers for special occasions.

The Recipe is:

• Card base is 6" x 6" of white card stock
• Image base is 5" x 5" of pink card stock that I embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.
• Ladybug from Birthday Bash at 4.5"
• After the fact I also added white stickels to the tops of the bugs antenna
• Sentiment is My Pink Stamper - Family & Friends

The last project I did was to make treat bags and cookies for my daughters school birthday celebration.  It is really nice that they allow us to bring in cookies for the kids and they all sing happy birthday at lunch.  I also made a triple batch of these cookies to send to my brother overseas.  He just left from is mid-tour leave and I thought that it would make going back a little easier.  So here are the cookies and treat bag toppers.

The Recipe is:

• Topper base is an image from Birthday Bash at 4.5" and is embossed with the Swiss Dots folder for the Cuttlebug
• Image base from Accent Essentials at 3.5" wide by 2.1" high
• Birthday hat from Simply Charmed at 2"
• Sentiment is My Pink Stamper - Sweetest Cupcakes

Hope you all enjoy these projects and please feel free to leave me comments on how I can make my pictures come out better.  It is either me or the camera and so far can't figure it out.  Anyhow hope you have a great evening.