50’s Inspired Set of Shaped Note Cards ~ FCCB Challenge #171

Good morning everyone!  It’s Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and the theme this week is Shaped Cards! So after seeing my project, please go to FCCB and check out what the other Design Team members have created and then join in on the fun and make a shaped card yourself – any card as long as you have one Cricut cut on it – and upload it for a chance to win a prize from one of our sponsors!

For this week, I created a set of note cards that were inspired from the 1950’s and of course they were all made with the Suburbia cartridge!

The first card is the old telephone! I love all of these old images on this cart. I took two images from page 41, using the Shadow/Icon Shadow feature which is the phone’s shadow and flipped on of them upside down in the Cricut Craft Room. I made sure that they were even and then got the tops close enough together so that they could be welded. Then I cut out the two Icon shapes of the phone using two different patterned papers from Prima.

When I think of the 50’s I sometimes think of the “idealized version” (I know that my family didn’t live in that version but I often look at things with my rose-colored glasses on, lol, KWIM?) So I immediately thought of shows like Mad Men and I Love Lucy (I know, two VERY different shows lol) and of the stay-at-home wives doing their housework with their high heels on wearing a string of pearls! OK, back to reality! But I wanted my cards to have that same feeling so I added large and medium sized pearls to the dial, a flower cut from Artiste with Tim Holtz cardstock, and seam binding that I hand dyed myself with distressed stains from Tim Holtz.

I decided to add another layer to the inside so I could created my sentiment on lighter cardstock so I used the Icon feature again (no shift) and used the Hide Contour feature to hide the dial and cut it out using the TH cardstock.

Everyday this week I’ll show you another note card from this set so please come back tomorrow to see the 2nd card! Thank you so much for craving a little time out of your busy life to come visit me ~ I really appreciate it!

Now I hope that we have inspired you to create your own shaped card and upload it at FCCB! I know that my Design Team sisters have created some more great projects to inspire you as well!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Christmas in July Blog Hop ~ Christmas Ornaments!

Welcome to the third part of the Christmas in July Blog Hop! This weeks theme is Christmas Ornaments and there is a great line up of Cricut crafting bloggers to visit to see their projects. If you are stopping here from Paulette’s blog, Around the Block with Scrapalette, then you are in the right place. If not, then just hop on over to her blog to start at the beginning and see her fantastic project! She has blog candy for this weeks hop – a Trim the Tree Cricut cartridge! So be sure to leave a comment on each of the blogs to have more chances to win!

For my project today, I created not one but two different ornaments using the same Cricut cartridge – Artiste!

The first one is originally a three-sided 3-D box shape. I welded 3 triangle shapes from George & Basic Shapes to it to form openings on each side:

Before putting it together, I added rhinestones, ribbon, and beads to it. Then after adhering the box together, I added a Christmas pick to the inside.

The second ornament is also from the Artiste cartridge (and actually from the very same page in the handbook). I cut out 6 of the same ornament shapes, scored them and adhered them together to form a 3-D shaped ornament. I found this next tip the hard way – since this shape is not symmetrical, make sure that 3 of the shapes are flipped before you cut them out, lol!!! Here’s what it should look like on the mat in CCR:

Notice the red shapes are flipped! Again, before adhering the shapes together, I added strings of beads that I put together at the top, bottom, and on each side of the ornament. Here are some photos of the steps to create this ornament:

And there are my two Christmas ornaments for today! Hope you enjoyed them!

I also will have a drawing for blog candy today! To be entered, just leave a comment below and become a follower of my blog!

I hope you enjoyed your visit today! Next up on the blog hop is the fabulous Colleen at Col’s Creative Corner.

If you get lost while hopping today, here is the line up:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
Angela at http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/ <--- You Are Here!
Colleen at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/ <--- Next
Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
Laura at http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/
Lori at http://singingshell.blogspot.com/

I will be back on 27 July with another Cricut Christmas project for our next Christmas in July Hop so be sure to come back to visit! So until then – happy hopping and…

Merry Christmas in July!!!

FCCB Challenge #169–Set the Scene ~ Country Life Layout

Hello to all my crafty friends! Thanks for coming by to see the next challenge for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog! This week it’s “Set the Scene” so I immediately thought of my Country Life cartridge. I love the images on there because they remind me of my Grandmother’s home many years ago even down to the pot belly stove in the middle of the main room! So this layout was done in her memory. It’s called Simple Pleasures in the Country!

Here is the 2-page layout:

I used patterned paper that reminded me of wallpaper for the background and then I tried to make “wainscoting” at the bottom by scoring cardstock every 1/2” and then inking it.

Here is page 1:

Here is page 2:

Here are the details, close up photos, and cut sizes. All of the images were cut from the Country Life cart except the table and the window frame which were cut from French Manor.

Now the cat was a little tricky at that size, well, not so much the cat itself but the cat’s eye and his tongue! The chair was over 6” but those two things were itty bitty – so much so that I just didn’t even use them! (heck, I couldn’t even find them after taking them off the mat!) So I just used markers to color in the eyes and mouth.

I had to make the washboard since that is how my Grandmother washed clothes back in the day. I cut the bubbles twice – once in white cardstock and again in light blue vellum. I added Rock Candy Stickles and Glossy Accents on the bubbles.

The table from French Manor only had one layer so I put two of the table images on my mat in the Craft Room and used the Hide Contour feature to make one of the images solid and that became my base which I cut out in dark brown cardstock. Then I cut the original top layer out of some patterned paper that resembled old blue wood. I used distress markers to do some extra shading. The base of the lantern was cut from light blue vellum to make it look like glass. The window frame was also cut from French Manor but I cut the curtains and the rod free hand. I took a piece of white cardstock and used blue ink and a template to make the ‘clouds’ in the background and attached it to the back of the window frame. And who can resist a fresh warm pie cooling in the window?

There are many phrases on the Country Life cart and I used two of them to convey my feelings and welded the two phrases together. I made the pipe on the stove longer by using a rectangle from Cricut Craft Room Basics and welding it to the original pipe in CCR. You may not be able to see it but I tried to make the coffee pot look like the old fashioned kind by cutting it out in a light blue and then stamping random little dots all over it with white ink. I did the same thing with the pie dish.

Last is the old treadle sewing machine. My Grandmother had one just like it! I also added a vase full of flowers.

I added photos mats with a bit of cream lace around them and a tag behind one of the mats to add journaling and/or extra photos.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my Country Life layout. Now head over to FCCB and see the other scenes that the other design team members have created! Then join us in the fun by creating your own scene and adding it to the blog. Any scene will be fine just as long as you have at least one Cricut cut in your project.

Here are the cut sizes.

From Country Life:

• Chair – 6.375”
• Pie – 2.5”
• Vase of flowers – 2.5”
• Stove – 6.375”
• Washboard – 3.583”
• Lantern – 2.667”
• Sewing machine – 6.167”

From French Manor:

• Table – 4.208”
• Window – 5.708”

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

4th of July Cricut Crawl–Red, White, & Blue Challenge!

Welcome to the 4th of July Fantabulous Cricut Crawl - Fantabulous Cricut's version of a Blog Hop!!

In honor of the 4th of July holiday, we're having a Red, White and Blue Crawl.  Each Design Team member has created a fabulous project using Red, White and Blue as the main colors, and of course at least one Cricut cut!

If you came from Amy’s blog at www.craftingwithamy.com, then you're in the right place!  If you've just happened across my blog and would like to see all the fabulous Design Team creations head on over to Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog to start at the beginning.

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog!  There will be Blog Candy along the way at some of our DT members' blogs, and there will be a Grand Prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant who submits a "Red White and Blue" project at FCCB!

For my project I decided to create a scrapbook layout for my Grandsons first 4th of July! I can’t wait to take photos of him for this page!

I used 3 Cricut carts plus Cricut Craft Room Basics. You just can’t beat CCR for designing projects using multiple carts! The carts used on this layout are Stand & Salute, Independence Day, Plantin Schoolbook, and CCR Basics. I cut the exploding fireworks at the top from Stand & Salute in different sizes using glitter cardstock:

Plantin Schoolbook was used to cut out the title “My First Fourth”!

Independence Day was used to cut out the banners under the title above and the firecracker below:

To create the photo mats I resized a simple scalloped rectangle shape from CCR Basics, cut two and layered them with a piece of the patterned paper from the stack ‘Vintage Nation’ by The Paper Studio that I used throughout the layout.

After I added some ribbon to the mats I popped them up with foam tape on three sides and then added two more smaller mats behind them with stars attached so they can be taken out and used for additional photos or journaling. The stars were cut from Plantin Schoolbook.

I attached some red paper twine to the back of the banner and then attached it to both sides of the layout with my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. I love those tiny staples!

 

Thanks for coming by to see my new 4th of July layout for my Grandson! And for doing so, I am offering some Blog Candy – a 5x7 Anna Griffin embossing folder! All you need to do is leave some blog love (comment) below. If you decide to follow my blog, you’ll have an extra chance to win. Also, I’m just about 30 followers away from having 300 (YEA!!!) so if I reach 300 this week, I’ll be adding an extra surprise to the winner’s Blog Candy!!!

Now start hopping uh crawling to see what the rest of the talented FCCB Design Team has created for you! Your next stop is Catarina at http://blog.docerelashop.com/.  Make sure to visit all the stops along the way and when you get done, make sure you link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post!!

Happy Crawling!!

Here is the line up in case you get lost:

Amy HS  http://thestampingtree.blogspot.com/

Amy T   www.craftingwithamy.com

                                            Angie  http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com <<—You are here!

Catarina  http://blog.docerelashop.com/

Cindy  http://www.cindyvernon.blogspot.com

Connie  http://www.conniecancrop.blogspot.com

Emily  molliemugsblog.blogspot.com

Felicia  Sweetcreativemess.blogspot.com

Heather http://scrappingrunnercreations.blogspot.com/

Jackie  http://luv2scrappp.blogspot.com/

Jilliene  http://jillienedesigns.blogspot.com/

JoNeita  http://createwithjoneita.weebly.com/index.html

Kim  ogdendoll.blogspot.com

LB  http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/

Lynn  http://mycardsnstuff.blogspot.com

Michelle  http://justanutterpapercrafter.blogspot.com/

Missy  http://www.quickchickdesigns.blogspot.com

Nikki  http://craftycalamities.blogspot.com/

Rebecca  craftingmisfit.blogspot.com

Robin  http://robinscreativecottage.blogspot.com/

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Oh Baby! Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #161

Good morning! It’s time for another challenge on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and the theme this week is “Oh Baby” – create something for a new baby. Well, my project, at first glance, doesn’t really look like it’s for a baby – no pastels, baby booties, stroller, etc. but it really is for a new baby! I created this for my new grandson, Charles! (Such a BIG name for such a little baby! LOL) And he is new – in fact, today he is exactly 4 months old! So this is what I made for his room -

It’s a framed split letter monogram with his name in the middle! I should have take a better photo because I don’t think that you can tell by this one that the vinyl is just on the glass and there is no back to the frame. I did it in a “big boy” color and frame so he could keep it in his room for several years.

I learned how to do this during NSD this month over on the Cricut message board. Our wonderful and talented Narelle did a tutorial on her blog. So please visit her blog here – The Non-Crafty Crafter – to learn exactly how to make this with your Cricut. Narelle did an excellent job of explaining how to do this and she even has a video! (Thanks, Narelle!) You’ll only need to use the Cricut Craft Room and the alphabet cartridge of your choice! I used the Plantin Schoolbook cart to recreate my Split Letter Monogram! But the possibilities are endless depending on your font and design. It’s very easy to do, too!

While I had my vinyl out, I continued to create a couple more projects with it – another gift for baby Charles and something for Memorial Day. I’ll post those this week so please stop by again!

Thanks for visiting and until next time, Happy Crafting!

Mother’s Day Card –Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #159

Hey there my crafty friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend. There was so much going on these past couple of days – Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day and yesterday was Cinco de Mayo! And today is the Mother’s Day card challenge on Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog. Come on over and join in on this weeks challenge and not only will you be inspired by my fellow Design Team sisters, but you’ll have a special card that you created yourself for Mother’s Day next Sunday. Now here’s my Mother’s Day card -

I wanted to try some different card-making techniques that I came across on Split Coast Stampers. They have wonderful tutorials for so many different kinds of projects. So I combined this Lever Card with some Cricut images to create my card. The photo above is what the card looks like when it’s closed. Now this is what it looks like when opened -

Cool, huh?

For the front of my card I cut out the birdcage from the Bloom Lite cart at 3” and used pop dots to adhere it to the front ‘lever’ panel. I had forgotten how much I liked this cart – there are some very cute images on it! (The digital version is on sale now at Cricut.com.) I stamped a sentiment onto cardstock and punched it out and adhered it to the bottom front of the card with pop dots.

For the center panel, I cut out another birdcage from Bloom also at 3”. For this birdcage I decided that I wanted it to ‘hang’ from a tree branch that I cut from Serenade at 1.4”.  The branch is adhered so that it stretches across both panels. I then threaded some twine through the top of the cage and tied it around the end of the branch.

The butterfly was a part of the second birdcage image and it has three layers, two of which are popped up with pop dots.

I wanted to add a Mother's Day sentiment to the last panel but most phrases were a little too big for this spot. I needed something no wider than about 1.5”. Here is just one of the reasons why I love my Cricut so much (ok, I know that should be plural as in CRICUTS!, LOL). You have the ability to manipulate the images to your liking! For instance, the “I love you” sentiment from the Artiste cart is actually one long phrase that measures 2.7” wide. I really couldn’t make it any narrower because it would’ve been too small to read or even to cut out nicely. At 2.7” wide, it was only 1.11” tall! So I left it as it was, and after it was cut, I hand cut the word “love” from the rest of the sentiment and rearranged it into a vertical sentiment!

Here’s a screen shot of what the phrase originally looked like in the Craft Room:

I think it looks pretty good in it’s new arrangement! So there’s another challenge for you – if an image doesn’t work for you, change it!

So there’s my Mother’s Day card! (Sorry the colors in my photos are the way they are. This paper is so much prettier IRL! It was just hard trying to get it to look that way here!)

Now head over to FCCB, get inspired by the other Design Team member projects, and then join in on this weeks challenge!

If you’d like to learn how to make your own Lever Card, go to the tutorial here on Split Coast Stampers.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow on Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog. I write a post there every Tuesday with Quick Tips! I’d love to hear some of your comments about my tips!

Supplies used:

• Cricut Expression and Cricut Craft Room
• CTMH Artist, Bloom, and Serenade Cricut cartridges
• Sentiment stamp, label punch, patterned paper – Stampin’ Up
• Twine – Pink Paislee
• Ink – Tim Holtz Distress ink pad
• cardstock, adhesive, pop dots

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Soar Layout–FCCB Challenge #153–Spring is in the Air!

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a happy St. Patty’s Day! Today on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog our theme was ‘Spring is in the Air’ and the challenge was to create something with a kite or a balloon. So I decided to create a project with a hot air balloon! I liked the idea of soaring and dreaming as high as you can go and made a layout for my new grandson’s photo.

The hot air balloon is from the Everyday Pop-Up Cards cartridge and I cut all the layers out at 6.5”. I think there are 5 layers to this balloon but it was very easy to put together. The clouds are from Art Philosophy and were cut out at 1.5” and 2”. I love the background paper because it reminds me of wind blowing the balloon through the sky.

I ran some of the images through the Cuttlebug to give them some texture. I used the Polka Dots embossing folder for the top layer of the balloon, the Swiss Dots folder for the basket of the balloon, and D’vine Swirls for the clouds. I inked all of the edges and then inked very lightly over the embossing with a sponge to make it stand out a little.

A closer look at the clouds.

As you know, I love dimension so I HAD to use my pop dots to put the balloon layers together and pop up the clouds!

I used the Art Philosophy cart by CTMH to cut out the word “SOAR”. This font doesn’t have a shadow or second layer but I really wanted those little holes in each letter to stand out. So with the Cricut Craft Room, I created a bottom layer for my title. This is just one of the reasons why I love using CCR so much – you can do so many things with your images! First, I placed my title on the virtual mat, sized it, and then tilted it a bit. Then I made a copy of it. On the original title I simply highlighted each letter, one at a time, and hit the “Hide Contour” button that comes up when an image is highlighted. Just move your mouse over your image until the part that you want hidden, or gone, is red in color and click it. Hit “EXIT” and that part of your image has magically disappeared! I hid all of the little circles in each letter so when I cut out my title and layered it together, the circles in the top layer popped a little more with the solid white cardstock underneath.

I don’t know if you can see this next part very well but on each side of the balloon I put a dot of a liquid magic transparent pearl pen from Viva Décor. I’m really trying to use stuff in my stash that I’ve bought, put away, and then quickly forgot about! (Don’t even try to pretend that you don’t what I’m talking about!!! Go take a look in your stash and I’ll bet there’s something in there that you forgot about too! LOL!)

Then I found this poem on the internet about soaring and dreaming and it fit my layout so well that I had to include it. (The author is unknown.)

Well now it’s your turn! Please play along with us at FCCB and create your own project with either a kite or a balloon and link it at FCCB. Don’t forget that your project needs to have a least one Cricut cut. Come visit us and check out the other Design Team members wonderful projects.

Thanks for visiting and playing along with this weeks challenge. These challenges really are a lot of fun and help you get some projects done and also help you to use images and carts that you may not have used yet! I know it’s helped me – this was the first time I’ve used any image from my Everyday Pop-Up Cards cart and I’ve had it for a while now!

Until next time, Happy Crafting,