a gift for Bobby

My oldest DS will be having surgery on Monday and he's not too happy about that. To cheer him up I made this little popcorn gift.

He loves popcorn with butter and salt and I thought he would enjoy some different popcorn treats. I utilized my new Imagine machine to make the project. The popcorn container is from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge and filled the pattern from the Imagine more cart. The letter B, attached with a brad, was made using the Mickey font and Imagine More. The popcorn container cut-outs are from the Cricut Light Carousel cart and colors from the Imagine cart.

On the back of the popcorn container cut-outs I glued on print outs of names of pop corn recipes. I found lots of yummy recipes by doing a search on the internet but I only chose ones that I can make with the ingredients I have on hand. My plan is to give Bobby his gift the night before surgery so he has something positive to cheer him up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been busy with work and crafting and sending cards to loved ones. But never too busy for a little black Friday shopping preparation. I discovered the Target ads and just have to laugh :) Here's a fav. Enjoy!

cuttlebug circle challenge

I will be attending a conference soon and wanted a fun folder to keep my papers organized. I used Kates ABCs and Alphalicious and Create a Critter for the cuts and lots of different cuttlebug folders to create the fun texture.

Cricut Circle challenges

I have been busy creating but just not blogging. So what have I been making???
I made window/bulletin board for my library to start the school year.

The students like my large, easy to spot bathroom pass

I made a "Cute As a Button" layout for the recipe challenge:
1) a title - Cute as a button
2) at least 2 cricut cuts - I used my gypsy to weld buttons for a border, Kate's ABC for the title, New Arrival for the circle and footprints, Mini Monograms for the scalloped circle.
3) at least 3 buttons - used real buttons for another border and one button in the center of the flower on the title.

I made page dividers for an inventory book for the exclusive Circle Cart challenge
Exclisive cart used was Cricut Everyday. There is also a little from Alphalicious for some of the letters. Each card in the photo is for a section of my inventory book (6in x 4in) so I can have the information with me when I shop. I have a list of all the cartridges and highlighted the ones I have; a sample of all the cuttlebug folders, cutouts of cuttlebug diecuts; sample of Viva pens, stickles, etc.; samples of ink pads, chalks, embossing powders, flocking material; list and samples of markers - all to be held with the paper rings. After assembling, I even added a bit of ribbon to jaz up the book.

I used a sketch to make a decorative cover for an old popcorn tin - to be used to collect paper scraps! The peacock, feather, V monogram are from Art Nouveau and the flowers from one of the preloaded e-carts on the E2.

Another layout using orange for a monochromatic color challenge. Carts used: Everyday Paper dolls, Accent Essentials, A Garden of Words.

Lesson Plan Book Layout

I like to decorate my lesson plan book each school year and this time around I did a fun playground inspired theme. I couldn't bring myself to make a traditional school playground, I wanted a little taste of home. I grew up around cornfields and I pass some on the way to work so I had to have a field behind a fence. My parents had a tire swing when my children were small and we shared lots of giggles and family time on the swing. When I found the tree and swing on Pop-up Neighborhood I knew the layout for my planning book.

All the cuts are from Pop-up Neighborhood except for the school year numbers and the little dude gliding down the slide. The numbers are from Nifty Fifties cart and the little dude is from Winter Frolic (he's supposed to have some skis!)

I used some real twine salvaged from some rustic packaging and and untwisted the ends to make the hair/fringe on my sliding dude.

The same twine was used for the rope on the tire swing.
The yellow corn stalks are cut from bazzil paper, black and silver slide from my stash and the scarecrow and boy's clothes are from scrap stash.

The rest of the paper was My Minds Eye. I slicked up the tire swing with some Viva decor and added grass tufts with a green viva pearl pen. I get a nice happy feeling when I see the layout and hope it will serve to make me smile during the hectic school days to come!

apartment decor

Two of my children moved into their own rooms/apartment for college this month. My son had no interest in what I could make to decorate his walls but my daughter was delighted to have me make a vinyl cut out.

So I used my trusty Cricut and some black vinyl I bought at Craft's Direct and went to town.

The frames were cut using Ornamental Iron 2 and I did some hide contour with my gypsy.

I think the chandelier is from gypsy wanderings (we did this a couple weeks ago) and I made it a big as I could using a 12 x 24 inch mat. We added some self adhesive bling from creative charms after adhering the vinyl to the wall.
There is even a frame to jazz up her backpack hook.

My DD loves the fancy addition to her apartment bedroom and we even used some scrap vinyl to cut out her name. These we used to identify the cabinet and drawer she is using in the kitchen of the shared apartment!

Volunteering on Saturday

I did some volunteering on Saturday for Provocraft and met some wonderful Cricut friends. A few of us Circle gals ventured to Minneapolis to demo the E2 (love that machine!) at the Creative Memories gathering and had a great time meeting a some terrific folks from Provo. I just had to share a picture of Jinger (a very warm, personable lady/spokesperson for Provo) and me. The experience was very positive and rewarding and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again - it is always a pleasure to share to passion of paper crafting with an awesome die-cut machine and make some new friends!

and yes, Jinger had on some gorgeous shoes but the bummer is the photo doesn't show her Cricut green fabulous footwear.

Special Numbers

I have two crafty numbers I treasure...One is my membership number for the Cricut Circle and the other is my Fiskateer number. I was able to visit the beach while out east in Massachusetts and just had to take advantage of the sand and writing...here I am with a chignon in my hair with my crafty numbers

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.

Circle Monthly Challenge

This month for the circle the challenge was to make something for travel...I used an old baking cookie sheet and used the doodle charms cart to create a magnetic backgammon game.

My sister and her family will be moving from MA to MN and I thought this would be a good game to have in the car. I just returned from a trip out east and I know they will be driving cross country so my plan is to mail the game pieces (nice and flat!) and they supply the dice. And yes, I know they have some spare dice because I picked them up and told them to same it for the car ride! I used doodle charms to make a summer themed backgammon board. I use Maya Mist to create the game board on the back of an old cookie sheet and the cart Doodle Charms to make the game pieces. The watermelon and flower were cut at .98 for height and 1.24 width. For both game pieces (flower and watermelon) I used paper from Archiver's dollar spot scrap pack. To create the flower I sent the center layer through the cuttle bug useing the swiss dots folder. The watermelon seeds were made using Viva decor pearl pen dark brown. The magnet was cut using the blackout feature and I had a large selection of thing magnet sheets from a promotion. The gypsy was very handy to plot where to cut the images. the end result are some lovely game pieces that could also be used as tick-tack-toe game pieces or even checkers (but I am not sure how to "king" a piece).

I painted the cookie sheet on the parts where the magnets would not be placed for any long period of time so the paint wouldn't be hampering the adheasion. I thought magnets would be best for traveling in case of running over bumps in the road and the pieces would stay in place.

Challenge Card - New Arrivals

I have spent a good portion of my day in the kitchen baking bars and cakes for retirement party tommorrow that I am co-hosting. I already made a card for the school community to sign and realized I had not made a card to go with the gift I am personally giving.

I made this card after finding two challenges I can submit it to... CCCC (Cricut Cartridge Chaos Challenge) #19 at More Than Favors blog and the Wacky Wednesday #39 challenge also at More Than Favors. Hummm. So The CCCC was to use the cart New Arrivals and the Wacky Wednesday was to use the colors Pink, Brown, Teal, and Cream. Of course the sun has set and I had to photograph the card with a flash so the colors don't show true but I did use the correct colors! The Congratulations layered circle (brown with beige layer) are from the New Arrival cart and the baker's twine is teal. The gold square was cut with Fiskars border punch to give it the stitched look. The pink pattern was dry embossed with the moroccan screen cuttlebug folder and in person you can see just a hint of teal on the pattern that I chalked on the folder before embossing. Now I think the card looks like it's ready to give as a baby girl card but it does look nice with the white gift bag for the retirement gift!

Retirements

Two friends are retiring at the end of the school year and I have been busy creating cards and one special book for my Para (one of the retirees-I'll post pics later)



Today's post is of a card I made for a teacher and she loves to fly, she has her pilots license and gives lessons on the weekends. I made a special card for her retirement celebration on Tuesday
(I'm in charge of the center pieces!
here's a pic of the mock-up!)

On Friday I received the cricut circle cart - Pop-Up Neighborhood and when I saw the airplane I finally had an idea for the card.

And, with a challenge on the circle member's only blog I was inspired to create this card. Here is the front or cover and the fancy part is inside (white gel pen to add the "dots").

I used several carts, Pop Up Neighborhood(PUN), Alhpalicious(A), Life's a Beach(LAB), and Cindy Loo(CL) and three requirements (in addition to at least two cuts) chosen from a tick-tack-toe board. I incorporated, a sun shape (from LAB), used my gypsy to weld images (two welds, the word Enjoy from CL and Retirement from A) and buttons were part of the flowers from the PUN cart with the Airplane. I used two PUN, the one from the balloon was designed to be bushes but I turned is upside down to be clouds in the sky, and of course the airplane pop-up cut

and the flower/ grass layer. All the paper is from my scrap stash and I don't know the company or line with the exception of the green grass background, that is coredinations. The buttons are from my stash, many from old shirts that I removed the buttons before tossing.

New Cricut Blog

Coming soon...a new cricut blog! from Provocraft - Check it out :)

Me in my Scrappy Place

On the Cricut Circle blog they asked we post a pic of our self in our crafting space...so with DD's help, here I am with my wall of tools behind me (maybe some day I will post pics of the whole space!) and my cricut it off to the side not in the photo. But, if you look close, you might see my Gypsy :)

Above the tools/rail are the calling cards I posted previously from a swap and if you were to continue to look to the right, the is a counter/table with my new E2, but of course it isn't included in the snapshot!

My E2!

I ordered the 5th year cricut anniversay Expressions 2 machine from HSN when it launched last week and it arrived on Monday while I was at work. I was so excited for the E2 I buzzed home earlier than normal (in other words I only stayed half hour past my scheduled end time instead of the normal hour and a half!) and the four preloaded cartridges but before I could dive into the box I had to make supper for the family and DH wanted to make applesauce cake (he'd been talking about it for a few days, sigh).

So I took a shot of the cat, Willow,

having fun with my package, did my KP and headed for the craft room.


I also made myself clean off the table and area where the new bug now sits (had to pack my old E in the travel bag - now ready for crops!)

I had to try one of the preloaded carts and made a cat, seeing as how Willow played with it more than I did that day.




Then on Tuesday I used the machine to make a stencil for some glass etching. I attended a bridal shower for a teacher in my building and wanted to make her something special, so I etched her soon-to-be last name initial in a set of four wine glasses.

Originally I designed the B and frame using Cricut Alphabet (new E2 cart) on my gypsy but I can't link the E2 carts yet so I had to change the B to a cart I have loaded on my Gypsy. The frame is from Jasmine cart and the B is Blackletter.

Circle Calling Cards

Yesterday I received a lovely package I have anxiously been waiting for...it was full of Circle member's calling cards. I signed up for a swap of the 3"x3" beauties, worked diligently to make 45 of them and sent them off then began waiting for the return package. It was so much fun to see everyone's ideas of what to put on the calling cards, each one is a work of art! The next challenge was to figure out a way to display all the pretties.

At first I thought I would create a clothesline grid with wire in a large picture frame but alas, I didn't have a frame large enough to hold all the cards so I improvised. I found a few push pins, pushed them in the wall, then wrapped some florist wire around them. Tada! A clothes line for artwork. I didn't have any clothes pins (well I found one tiny one - I wondered where the rest of the package went 15 years ago!) so again I improvised and tried it with small plastic coated paper clips. It works! Okay the colored clips don't add anything to the art but hey - they're hanging! I must confess, before pushing the pins into the drywall, I had to do a bit of painting.

You see, my craft room is in the unfinished portion of the basement. I mean really unfinished, only part of the wall has drywall and it has seen some abuse. My son decided to tape some posters a few years back (mind you this wall was never taped or primed!) and the walls look atrocious. I knew I wanted to take a photo of all the pretty calling cards so I decided to quickly prime the un-taped sheet rock before putting up the display.

So, there is my disclaimer for my raw, unfinished room. But it is my little piece of crafting paradise and I love being in my crafty space, especially now that I have some lovely artwork from fellow circlets to gaze at. If you look closely at the second picture in the top left, you will see the pink fleur de lis, my calling card, and in the last picture on the top right there is a teddy bear card made by my wonderful SIL, marebare. I had to bookend the top row with our two calling cards so I could easily point them out!

E2 layout entries

HSN debuted the E2 and Provocraft had a contest to win a new E2 machine...it was simple (not!), create a birthday themed 12 by 12 layout (up to three different layouts), send in by April 22 and watch the cricut facebook page to see if you're a winner. I created two layouts and mailed them in with Marebare's three layouts - to see Marybares, visit her blog at marebaresscraps.blogspot.com..
Here are my two...

All the papers on this first layout are from Stampin Up. The cuts are from the Celebrations cartridge. The balloons are embellished with hemp twine for the string.

The oval is cut from Father's Day seasonal cart and all the flowers are from Mother's Day Bouquet seasonal cart. The few green leaves are from accent essentials cart. All the paper on the floral layout are coredinations with the exception of the vellum oval cut. The Happy birthday was cut from Wild Cards cartridge.

This final picture is a close up of the paper flowers I lightly misted with water to make them pliable and shaped/curled them with a bamboo skewer.
Over all I liked my layouts and was hoping to win an E2 but instead I ordered the machine 10 minutes after the debut on HSN and then promptly fell asleep. I was hoping to watch the shows to see if any of my layouts were shown (many layouts were shown quickly) but I just don't know. Maybe I can find a video on the internet so I can see mine (if indeed they were shown!) and all the other wonderful creations by fellow cicuteers that sent their layouts in for the contest!