BOO Luminaries - FCCB Challenge Me Monday "For the Birds"

Hi ya'll!  Happy Halloween!  It's going to be one busy busy day for me today with my kiddos.  Yesterday I was spotlighted at the FCCB because for some reason ;) back in September 28th, my project was picked by the awesome DT over at FCCB as one of the top 5.  I am truly shocked and very honored that they liked my project and was asked to be spotlighted yesterday and then invited to make a project along with their DT for this week's Challenge Me Monday.  The theme for this week is "For the birds." 

For this challenge I created a set of Halloween luminaries.  The base for each luminary was a frame from the Lacy Labels cart.  I welded 2 of the spider and cobweb images (from the Mini Monsters cart) onto the frame, as well as the crow (from October 31st cart) and each of the"'BOO" letters (from Happy Hauntings cart) before cutting in black cardstock.  Then I cut the blackout feature of the base frame in vellum.   My normal choice for glueing down my small Cricut cuts is my zig glue but because the cuts on this projects are so intricate, I had to use my Zyron 900.  I ran the cuts in black onto the Zyron 900 then put them over the vellum blackout cut. 

I embellished by putting orange irock gems on the crows for their eyes, 2 green irock gems for each of the spiders, then 4 orange gems for each letter. 

To make each luminary, I carefully punched holes in the ends with my Crop-a-dile tool then inserted snaps so that the vellum does not tear when I threaded black tulle. 

Then to finish it all off I put battery-operated tealight candles inside each luminary. 

And there you have it!  All supplies used to make this project were from my stash.  Project #16 for Using My Stash pledge at CC MB.  Special thanks goes to FCCB for inviting me to make a project along with their DT - can't wait to see what they have created for this challenge!

Have a fun and safe Halloween to all!   

Just Because.....it's Halloween ;)

Hi there!  Today I'm sharing a quick and simple triangle treat box I created for my kids to give out to their teachers on Halloween.  I am also linking it to a couple of challenges: (1) Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge [Feeling Gifty] and (2) the Bitten By The Bug2 [Happy Haunting Witch Challenge].  The base of the triangle box was cut from the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More (TBBM) cart at 5 inches so I can cut two of them using a double sided 12 x 12 cardstock.  The witch image is of course from the Happy Hauntings cart.

Before I assembled the box I inserted a piece of vellum paper to cover the negative cut of the witch image as you can see below.

For the tag I used the bat tag image from the Wrap It Up cart, both layers cut at 3 inches.  The blackout layer is cut in black because I am going to have my kids write their teachers' names in white gel pen.  I embellished the tag with some black raffia and a home dyed crinkle ribbon.  Then I attached the tag to the box using a ring spider as you can see below.

And there you have it!  All supplies except for the candies inside and the spider rings were from my stash.  Project #15 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB.  Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!  I do appreciate you stopping by ;)

BOO banner

Hi there!  Boy do I feel like a multi-tasker today LOL!  I made this BOO banner to enter in 3 challenges:  (1) the Cricut Circle Challenge Blog [create a home decor project], (2) Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog [create a project with a ghost in it], and  (3) Bitten By The Bug2 [create a project with purple in it].

Now on to the details.  The base for each banner pennant is a tag image from the Wrap It Up cart, both layers cut at 10 inches.  Then I cut 3 of the same cobweb image from the Chic and Scary cart and stuck each in the banner pennants in different orientations.  Each of the "BOO" letters were cut 3x then layered with foam mounts, the top layer embossed with the Script CB folder.  The letters were from the Happy Hauntings cart.  The ghosts were from Mini Monsters, Paper Doll Dress Up, and Happy Hauntings carts, respectively.  I used Peachy Keen face stamps for the ghosts' faces.  I hung the pennants with black tulle. 

Some close-ups:

 Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

***edited to add:  all supplies used were from my stash!  Project #14 for Using My Stash pledge over at CC MB.   

Happy Birthday card ala Sophie

Happy Monday everyone!  I made this card for my DD's friend who turned 6 this weekend.  The base of the card is an old double sided K&Company cardstock I have had for months, cut into an A2 size card using Sophie cart.  I again used a border image from the MS Birthday Cake Art cart for the holes to thread the ribbon through.  The ribbon I believe was from the $1 bin from Michaels.  The sentiment and the frame are two separate stamps from TCP Studio and Inkadinkado, respectively.  The rosette is made from my stash of printed cardstock using MS doily puncher and then scored using MS scoreboard.  The sunglasses and pair of roller blades charms are actually buttons so I threaded them together with a jute twine before I attached the sunglasses one onto the rosette.  The pink buttons are from my stash. 

Here is a closeup of the charm buttons:

Since I used a double sided cardstock, I adhered a cream colored cardstock inside for my DD to write her own sentiment to her friend.  I just added another piece of green cardstock on the bottom after punching the strip with an MS puncher. 

This is project #13 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB. 

Hope you like!  Thanks for stopping by!





Sew Ribbon Envy - still in a thankful mood ;)

Hello bloggers!  One of the crafting retailers I subscribe to (yikes I forgot which one and I have already deleted the email!) sent an email notice over the weekend about a set of We R Memory Keepers ribbon punchers available for purchase.  They apparently debuted in CHA (I think it stands for Craft and Hobby Association) this past summer.  Here is a link for a youtube video highlighting it - it looks very cool!  Well my crafting budget is tapped out at the moment so I know I can't possibly afford these punchers -  so I decided to see if I could create something similar using my Gypsy and my Cricut. 

For this project I've created more Thank You cards to build up my stash as I stated in my previous post below this one.  The base of the card is again from Sophie (did I say I LOVE this cart enough times?) and is sized A2.  To create the holes for the ribbon I borrowed border images from Elegant Edges cart and the MS Birthday Cake Art cart; I supposed you could use other border images as long as they have holes big enough for the width of the ribbon you want to use, or use basic shapes and line them up where you'd want to thread the ribbon.  For my cards I lined up the border image vertically along the front side of the card.  I stretched the border image to fit the height of the card, allowing for EVEN number of holes.  The border images I chose had odd numbers of holes so I just hid the extra ones using the hide contour on my G.  You would also need to hide the outline of the border, leaving only the even number of holes. 

Here's the image using the MS Birthday Cake Art border:

Using hide contour, hide the outline of the border and one of the holes:



Here are pics of the cards after I cut with the Cricut (the first one is using a border from the Elegant Edges cart and the one below is using a border from the MS Birthday Cake Art cart):

I then threaded ribbon.

After cutting the excess ribbon I tucked in the edges inside the card using ATG, attached a piece of green printed cardstock behind the bird "window", then covered it all up with a cream cardstock .  Then with the same green cardstock, I cut a strip the same height as the cream cardstock and punched one side using an MS doily puncher before I attached it on the inside. 

The sentiment is a stamp from Inkadinkado, stamped on a circle from George and Basic Shapes cart,  I used a scalloped doily from Elegant Edges cart to layer the sentiment and put them on a rosette.  To finish off the cards, I used purple strip of cardstock and punched both sides using the same MS doily puncher to adorn the sides of the cards - the strip wrapped around the back of the cards as pictured below. 



And there you go!  This satisfies my Sew Ribbon Envy for the moment  :).  Someday I'd experiment using other shapes on my G to recreate the other shapes of the Sew Ribbon punchers - or I'll cave in and buy those suckers using 40% off coupons if and when they hit the local Michaels or Joann's.

Oh, almost forgot, this is Project #12 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Thank you! Thank you!

Seeing doubles?  LOL sorry failed attempt at humor.  Well my SIL depleted me of Thank You cards recently because she wanted to send some cards to the nurses at the hospital where her twins were born.  I am honored she thought I make good enough cards ;). 

So to build up my stash of cards again I thought I'd play with my Sophie cart because this cartridge is one amazing and very versatile cart - my favorite of all the Cricut Circle exclusive carts!  All the bases for the cards were from the Sophie cart. The cards are all size A2.  "Thank you" sentiments were from the Princess Party project cart and Thanksgiving solutions cart. 

A peek at the insides of the cards

I used double sided cardstocks for the base and then just adhered a plain cream cardstock on the insides where the sentiments are glued.  Only embellishments I used were some buttons, irock gems and faux stitching using gel pens.  Really loving the window features of these cards - I could see myself using stamps instead of cutting sentiments from cartridges. Or using the card bases for other ocassions besides thank you cards.   

All supplies used were from my stash again.  Project #11 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 

CC Blogiversary Challenge #6 - "U R how old?" GC tag

Hope everyone is having wonderful Thursday so far.  Almost Friday.....hang in there! 

Well stick a fork in me I'm done!  This is my entry to the last CC Blogiversay challenges.  For this challenge we were instructed to follow a sketch outline created by the awesome CC DT Cindy Royal.  Below is the sketch we were to use for inspiration:

     Image copied from CC Blog, created by Cindy Royal

I opted to make yet another giftcard tag, this time for my eldest brother who is celebrating his birthday this Saturday.  The base of the tag is a stamp tag image from Base Camp.  I also cut the coordinating stamp image from the same cartridge for layering.  The banner is from the CTMH Art Philosophy cart.  The balloon image and its layer are from the Smiley Cards cart.  I decided to use a Peachy Keen stamp for the face as the facial feature did not look good to my liking cut at 1.50 inches.  The cake image is also from the Smiley Cards cart. The sentiment "U R how old?" was cut from Base Camp cart.  I have used this sentiment in another card before and I really like pairing the sentiment with the surprised and the laughing emoticons ;). 

Here is a shot of the back of the giftcard tag.  I cut another layer in the blue printed cardstock but cut part of the image on the top so that the giftcard can easily stick out and be noticed (haven't bought the giftcard yet).  I finished off the giftcard tag with a ribbon, some buttons in the front and the back and some doodling. 

I am happy to mention that all of the supplies used were from my stash.  Project #10 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB!

Thanks for stopping by.  I had fun entering all the challenges and have enjoyed looking at others' creations throughout the week at the CC MBs and the CC Blog.  Good luck everyone!  

CC Blogiversary Challenge #5 - Cutie Frame

Today's project is my entry for the CC Blogiversary Challenge #5 - "Recipe" Challenge.  Our mission for this challenge was to follow a "recipe" as stated below:

Use your Cricut machines to create a project using the following “recipe.” It must contain 1) A Title; 2) Atleast 2 Cricut Cuts, and 3) At least 3 buttons.

Here is a side view of the frame:

For this challenge I've created a frame for my 6 year old DD's fall class picture.  The frame and its layers came from the Fancy Frames cart.  (I had to cut the bottom layer in purple cardstock  2x and the "stand" 2x to make a sturdy frame.  I tried cutting chipboard with my E and my E2 but they were both screaming bloody murder even with the deep blade, the highest blade setting and several multicuts - someday I will be successful at cutting chipboard but for now cutting multiple layers of the same cut to make them sturdy works for me.)   The butterfly and its layer was cut using the Cake Basics cart.  I embossed the top layer with the D'vine Swirls CB folder and attached the two layers to each other only in the middle with foam mounts.  Then I glued 3 small pink buttons.

The green banner was cut using the CMTH Art Philosophy cart.  The title "Cutie" and its shadow layer was cut using the Hello Kitty Font - the layers were attached together using foam mounts and the the top layer was embossed with the Plum Blossoms CB folder.  I also added  3 green irock gems in each letter.  The flowers were from the Flower Shoppe cart, 2 different flower images cut in varying sizes, then embellished with 2 buttons with jute twine.  The leaves were from the Heritage cart, the top layers embossed with the Script CB folder. 

I finished off the frame with 3 pink half pearls in the top right side of the frame to somehow balance the look. 

I used only what is in my stash for this project, so this makes project #9 for my Using my Stash pledge at the CC MB. 

Thanks for looking - have a pleasant Monday! 

CC Blogiversary Challenge #4 - Imagine Challenge

My entry for the CC Blogiversary Challenge #4 is a quick and simple one - a tag/gift card holder.  My children have been invited to a friend's birthday party in a couple of weeks and since I know we are getting him a gift card instead of trying to find something a soon-to-be 12 year old would like, I've created a gift card holder.

For this 4th challenge, we are asked to use our Imagine machine.  Here are the cuts before I assembled my project:

The tag/gift card holder image is from the TBBM cart, flood-filled with an art image from the JT Imagine cart.  The bass guitar image is also from the JT Imagine cart, all layers cut  and adhered together with foam mounts.  The sentiment "Celebrate" is a stamp from CTMH, stamped on a tag that is preloaded onto the Imagine machine itself, flood-filled with art from the Imagine More Cards.  I just embellished with ribbon and some Irock gems. 

Yep, told y'all it was quick and easy!  Hope everyone's having a wonderful Sunday!

****Ahhh!  Almost forgot to mention that this makes project #8 for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB! ****

CC Blogiversary Challenge #3 - Bee U

Happy Friday, bloggers!  Today I finished another card for the CC Blogiversary Challenge #3 - highliting the Cuttlebug.  This card is size A2 and is titled Bee U. 

The base of the card is again another clear craft plastic, cut to size of an A2 card.  I embossed the front with the Flourished Frame CB folder.  You can see the embossed image better below:

Then I adhered a double-sided cardstock inside of my base by attaching both with a piece of purple crinkled ribbon.  If you missed how I did this technique previously you can click here.    I then added a quilled flower I created using my Cuttlebug.  Before I assembled the flower though I ran the purple pieces through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder.  I also added a half pearl in the middle of the quilled flower.  You can see  the details below:

The last thing I did was to add the Cricut cuts in the front.  The bee cut is an image from Create a Critter cart and the "U" is from the Gypsy Font cart.  I used a Peachy Keen stamp for the face of the bee.  The corner pieces were from the Picturesque cart. 

Below is a shot of the inside of the card.  Before I adhered the cream colored cardstock to hide the ribbon from the front of the card, I embossed it with one of the Iron Works CB border folders. 

And yes, all the supplies I used to create this card were again from my stash!  Project #7 for Using My Stash pledge over at the CC MB.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend y'all! 

CC Blogiversary Challenge #2 - Triple blessed!

Today's card is my entry to the Cricut Circle Blogiversary Challenge #2 - Monochromatic Color.  Although there was a hint of a pink (bonnet), blue (baseball cap) and purple (bow) on the kids' face images, I've pretty much kept the color scheme greenish.  I made this card for my SIL who is having 3 kids by 2 different surrogates - a girl and a set of twin boy and girl.  Long story short, all 3 kids are going to be born roughly within the month.  So happy for her and her husband! 

This card measures 6x6.  The strip of solid green was embossed with the Plum Blossom CB folder.  I then tied a crinkle ribbon I dyed myself using Christina's technique over at Creations With Christina.  There are probably other ones you can find on youtube but her technique was the one I learned from and is super easy - thanks Christina!  I tied a green flower button with a string of cream jute twine and attached some green glass beads in two tones on both ends. 

The circle scallop and its layer were from Lacy Labels cart, the top layer embossed with one of the Paper Lace CB folder set.  The carriage image was from Everyday Pop-Up Cards cart.  The kids' faces were cut from Everyday Paper Dolls cart, as well as the bonnet, baseball cap and the bow.   As you can see the faces were stamped with the Peachy Keen face stamps (I have forgotten how cute these stamps are!). 

The sentiment "Triple blesed!" was computer generated and then cut into a banner tag with a pair of scissors.

The sentiment inside the card "Sweet Wishes" was cut from the Everyday Pop-Up-Cards cart.  I then added some green buttons for the wheels of the carriage and then some irock gems.  The plain envelope was from Sweethearts cart.

This is also project #6 for me for Using My Stash! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day! 

CC Blogiversary Challenge #1

Happy Blogiversary Cricut Circle Blog!  Wow it has been a year since I joined Cricut Circle!  In honor of their one year anniversary, the CC Blog is celebrating in a big way by hosting challenges for Circle members all week with fun giveaways!  This is my entry for the first challenge of the week.  We were asked to create something using cuts from one or all of our exclusive Circle cartridges.

I opted to create a quick and simple card for my niece who is now in her freshman year in HS.  She called me yesterday which is really sweet of her cuz I haven't seen her in a while.  I used the Sophie cart as the base of my card.  The butterfly cut and layer is also from the same cart.  I embossed the bottom layer of the butterfly with the D'Vine swirls CB folder for added texture and adhered the layers together and onto the card using only foam tapes in the middle. I like the way the butterfly just seems to want to take off any minute ;)

For the inside of the card, I cut "missing you" from the Stamping cartridge.  I added faux stitching with gel pens and then 2 half pearls for the butterfly. 

And best yet, I used only my stash so this makes project #5 for me for Using My Stash pledge at the CC MB.  (yeah, yeah, I did have a bit of a not-so-secret craft spending indiscretion lately as I openly admitted in the CC MB, but I do promise to use those supplies soon).

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!