playing with shrink plastic

I signed up for a charm swap, Christmas themed. I have been having fun with "shrinky dinks" and I think I finally have my charm design. I used two carts, Give a Hoot for the inside triangle (found on the accent creative feature key)and My Community for the Christmas tree. The tree is cut at 2.7" high and the holes were punched with the crop-a-dile. I colored the shrink plastic with a Bic Mark-it permanent marker. Shrunk the plastic with my heat embossing gun and proceeded to use seed beads to give the tree some decoration garland. Now only 25 of these charms to go before mailing them off!

Pictures for Circle Christmas in July Online Swarm

I have been trying to complete a few challenges for the circle message board and the Christmas in July challenge.
so here they are...
Challenge #2: Theme Challenge
Create a card, LO, 3-d element that is Christmas or Winter Theme
Well, it is Christmas in July so I had to make a Santa with a swimming inner-tube.

I plan to add him to another family Christmas in July page, once I get it completed! Pictures are still in selection phase - in other words I have to go thru. the many pictures in the box!
I use dimensional adhesive to pop up the Santa coat, and beard and double popped the hat. The Santa and clothing is from Paperdoll Dress up cart cut at 3" and the inner-tube is from Everyday paperdolls, again cut at 3 inches.

Now Challenge #3 was to try a tutorial I haven't done...now don't laugh but I haven't been able to use my cricut markers and then cut the shape with much success.

So I gave it another try and here are two Christmas tree charms using the green cricut marker in the E2 and then tranding in for the blade. I used the Very Merry Tags and the tree is colored and cut at 2.10 inches.

Challenge #4: Fiber Challenge
*Use Ribbon, twine, fibers on your project

Okay, I used some shrink plastic that was scrap from the charms I am making for a swap. Saw the triangles and thought of a banner so here is my Merry Christmas banner using some beading string to sting the pennants to say "Merry Christmas"

The letters were written with the cricut markers (I used the markers again - I am so happy to utilized twice!) and alphalicious. The letters were "cut" (ie written with the marker) at .8" and I was careful not to touch the ink because it did not dry on the shrink plastic very fast. After I used my heat embossing tool to shrink the plastic, the marker became permanent.

Challenge #5: Simon says Challenge
Today I will be posting 3 challenges and you must use those items/themes in your project. You can wait till all 3 are posted and make it 1 project or 3 separate projects.
a. Simon Says to add 3 score lines to your project
b. Simon says to use the following colors: Red, Green, Gold (you can use other colors as well but these should be the primary color scheme)
c. Simon says to make a mini card/gift card holder/ mini envelope for journaling

I made a mini accordion book to adhere to a Christmas layout. I always have more pictures than room on a layout so I sometimes include pull out tags with the extra photos.

With the Simon Says challenge we had to use three score lines and instantly the folded mini book popped into my head. The trickiest part was making the gold reindeer because the glitter is of course all over me and my craft space! The paper is all from Kaiser Kraft. The accordion strip is cut 3" by 12" and scored at 3" intervals (3 score lines!)
The reindeer is from the Christmas cart and cut at 2.4 inches then I ran it upside down thru my xyron sticker maker and sprinkled the glitter on the adhesive side.


And now to share some things I made last week for the Fiskateers and the CHA online challenges...lots of fun there!

Christmas in July layout

We are having a bit of fun on the circle message board with some Christmas in July challenges during/ending of CHA. We were given the challenge to make a card or layout using the provided sketches and to keep in the Christmas theme. I chose the layout and being that is Christmas in July...I did a Christmas in July layout. My mother's family has been celebrating Christmas in July for over 20 years with a weekend gathering. It is tradition to have a horseshoe tournament, everyone brings their favorite holiday treat to share, and a small gift to exchange. There is a Christmas tree every year and sometimes we decorate our tents/campers. When I found this challenge I dug thru my many years of pictures and felt inspired to scrap a few from 2007. Now, will I ever do the other 20 plus years? :)

Recipe...
all paper is Stampin Up except the ivory shadow and journal is from my stash
Red ribbon from stash
Hay wagon 2" Pop-up Neihborhood
Horseshoes 2.38" Old West
Evergreen (Christmas) trees 3.2" Winter Frolic
Bracket square 7.2" square (used the gypsy to adjust w and h) Storybook
Numbers, Letters and shadow 1.3" All Mixed Up (gypsy to weld)

mini notebook

I made a small book for carrying in a purse or backpack. I think of it as a small version of a smash book. I already have a mini "smash" book that I carry with me and jot down ideas and layouts and glue in papers if I need to find matching supplies. Sometimes I write quotes I see/hear or use it to record websites friends say are must see. So, I decided to make another mini book for a niece who will be taking a long car ride. I think she'll enjoy writing poems and sketching places she sees.

I started with the plain book I picked up at Craft's Direct for a dollar. I used a gluber to make the fabric flower, the fabric was left over from a project my DD sewed and actually had the Pokemon Pikachu printed on it. I cut a strip of fabric, twisted and stuck it to the gluber starting in the center and twirled until I reached the outside edge of the gluber. The stems are from ribbon I purchased at the dollar spot at Target. The butterfly is a layered cut from Pooh and Friends cart. The small flower is from Plantin School Book and I used my i-top for the center brad, again using more of the Pikachu fabric. I used my white gelly roll pen to add the flutter path and some faux stitching on the snap hinge. It's not visible but I also added some stitching lines on the pink scallop boarder. The border is cut from Plantin School Book.

Bob's BBQ

I wanted try cutting fabric with my cricut and the challenge on the cricut circle was to "create something with a BBQ, Picnic, or Patio theme, AND a gingham or check pattern." My solution was to make an apron for DH because he is the master chef when it comes to grilling.

I used my gypsy to design the cuts but the only designing was welding the letters for "Bob's" Bob's is cut using the nifty fifties font and the background kidney shape(tan fabric) is also from the nifty fifites cart.

The barbeque cut on the check/gingham fabric is from Old West cart.
I have to send a thank you to DS for modeling the apron

Circle Weekly Challenge

We enjoyed watching fireworks from a friend's deck and their neihbor was shooting of some of his own fireworks. We decided to try to get a picture of couples kissing with the fireworks going off in the background because, hey, even after 20 plus years we still feel sparks! Well we never could perfectly time the kiss and the blast with the shutter but I did manage to capture a firework in the sky so I used that picture on the layout with DH and I smooching. And of course I had to include the gang that was gathered for a fun USA birthday celebration!
The paper used was coordination, with scrap white for the shadow cuts and the 12 x 12 white sheet if from a page protector insert. I used the cart Stand and Salute for all the cuts. The bottom swags was using the border feature and the fire works were cut at 1.5, 2.0 and 3 inches with the corresponding shadow layer. The firecracker layered on the photos was cut at 1.20 for height and 3.29 width. I added a bit of sparkle to the fireworks with a glitter marker from American Crafts and the "star" charms on the bottom border are charms from Creative Charms.