iPad Cover

I was playing in CCR this morning.  I am really beginning to enjoy that program immensely!  Totally love the search right in the program!  It also lets you know which cart you got the image from.  I was just wandering through my carts and grabbed a bunch of images. Just a right click and viola! you can see where it came from!  (I am infamous for not remembering where I got something!)

 Now, I really like black things because they hide dirt really well! lol! besides, they just look classy! What I don't like about black is I can't see it very well.  If it is black sitting in the shade, on something else black, etc.  I can't see it.  So, what better way to fix that than with my Cricut?!  (You can use your Silhouette if you have one to make a different image, if you like.)  It's not the cutter, nor the image that matters here, it's just the concept!

Have I ever said how much I like vinyl?  OMG that stuff is the bomb!  It's great, because if you get tired of what you have, you can always change it later, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg!  I really want to get some printable vinyl so I can use my stamps and Silhouette.  I have used vinyl on so many project in my house, on my car, at work...  Okay, I digress. 

Without even more ado, here is my project.

The image is from home decor.  I just added some extra embellishments and it was a fast and easy project!  I had no intention of doing this project this morning, I was just searching through CCR and thought what a nice bird this was.   It just came together in a matter of minutes.  No-one will be able to say they picked up my iPad by mistake now!

Now go surprise yourself and make a quick vinyl project!  Fast, fun and easy!

Charmed, I'm sure!

I love to make charms!  I made these out of Cricut cuts from Flower Shoppe and Cricut Basics.

The first one is cut from a piece of plastic.  The second one is the same leaf cut multiple times, glued together, edges inked then glaze applied over top.  It is very important for this type of charm that you press the layers down well.  I used my brayer.  You can use spray laquer to coat these.  The more layers you use, the stronger it becomes.  It is better to use several light layers rather than one thick one so that it doesn't clump.  The third and fourth ones are a pieces of shrink plastic.  The sparkly heart was shrank, then a thin layer of glaze added and glitter over that.  The fourth one is dipped into my melting pot full of embossing powder.  This makes it really thick and melts the shrink plastic very quickly!  The 5th one is multiple layers of paper.  You must remember to flip the last one.  I found with this particular leaf, it is better to just flip a piece of paper and not the image.  For some reason when it flips, it cuts smaller!  The last one is a piece of shrink plastic that I colored with a sharpe and then melted.  Make sure you put your holes into the shrink plastic BEFORE you melt it.  Otherwise, it's too late.  Attempting to make holes will likely break them.  (Ask me how I know!)

There are so many different ways to make charms with our Cricuts!

Here are a couple of completed charms.

I think they turned out very well. I may try to retake the photos in the day light to help you see the charms better.  IRL they look really nice and will be making their way onto some projects!  I plan on continuing to find new way to make charms with my Cricut!

Enjoy your Cricut for more than just cards!

Shared post with cricutfanatics.

Well dog-gone!

Made this card using Four Legged Friends Cricut Cartridge for a colleague at work.

The eyes are little are rhinestone and I added glaze to the nose.  I am using up some of my stuff (It takes forever, truly it does!) so I used some rub-ons, stickers, ribbon, lace and bling.

You're So Special

I was digging through my stash and found this gorgeous MME paper which has the "you are special" and cut that out to be the saying for the card. 

The flowers are created from Flower Shoppe Cricut cartridge and the bird and branch are from French Manor.  The paper leaves are a Stampin' Up!/Sizzix die.  If you don't have a Cricut machine, you can make the flowers with other cutters, dies or even using a circle and cutting into it in a continuous spiral.  There are many bird stamps and dies for the birds.  There are also papers with birds on them you can cut out.  Don't feel limited!!!

I embossed the bird with copper embossing powder.  Pearls, lace and washi tape for a little extra touch.

Thanks for stopping by!

50th Southwest Anniversary

I decided it was time to try my hand at the Cricut Craft Room.  When I got there, to my delight, there was a "use it free" cartridge called Southwest.  There is also a contest for the cartridge as well that ends on the 21st of March.    All I can say is, "Thank you PC!  Your timing is impeccable!

My aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary is coming up.  My aunt loves everything Native so the release of this, plus free usage, couldn't have happened at a better time!  Her favorite colors are red and blue.  Her favorite animal:  the bald eagle.

I had originally wanted to get this done for the CricutFANatics blog, but life did not allow for that.   Do stop by there and check out the great ideas going on over there!

Here is a better look at the chunky charm I made to go onto the book.

 I made the heart, the eagle and 50 from Southwest using Poly Shrink.  I cut them out with my Cricut and then colored them and then melted them with my heat gun.  To the 50 I added some Judikins glaze and then sprinkled some glitter to match the 50 I made on the album.  I learned how to make chunky charms from the girls at the Cricut message board trades.  (I completed a full year of swaps!  So fun!)

The Oh Happy Day, the eagle and the border were cut from SW cartridge.  The book shapes were cut from Elegant Edges.  (One of my all time favs!)  The 50 was cut from the Gypsy Font, which is another free cart available on the Cricut Craft Room site.  The flowers were sprayed with copic markers to make them a better match.

These are the first two pages.  The heart vase and the love label were cut from SW cartridge.   I took one of the little hearts that were cut out from the border image and added it to the top button.

 The next two pages.  The arrows were cut from SW cartridge.  I added some hearts to them and also along the borders of the tag.  I covered a tag I didn't like with washi tape that matched the theme I was doing the mini in.

 The next two pages.  The one on the left is my favorite one in the mini.  I love the motion of the page with the bling and the man's motion looking like he is playing a song for them! 

 The next two pages.  The butterfly is from SW cart also.  The tags were cut from Gypsy Wanderings. I found the little pockets on the right hand page in my stash while I was looking for something else.  I thought they went really well.  She can put little treasures/notes in them.  Happy find!  The flowers and black pearls are Prima. 

 The next two pages.  I cut the Mr & Mrs and the feather from SW.  The little hearts are the left overs from the first couple pages with the heart border.  I love the feather!  It is so sweet!

 The next two pages.  I used Gypsy Wanderings for the mat on the left and SW for the border on the right.  The butterfly is from Recollections.

 The last two pages.  I added the rest of the left over arrows to the right page and another border from SW.  There were so many nice borders!  The mat on the left is from Gypsy Wanderings.

I am super pleased with how the album turned out.  It is definitely in my aunt's style.  She is a hard working woman, but not a frilly one.  She will like it because it is beautiful, but not in that girly-girl look.  She had 5 boys, so she didn't get much use for girly-girl things.  My uncle will like it because she likes it.  (He's good like that!)

The book was bound with my Cinch.

All of the papers were:  cardstock - Bazzill, DCWV for all the designer papers, except the orange swirl and the black swirl - they are 7Gypsies papers.

I didn't buy anything new to build this with.  MamaC (aka Carol) will be so proud!

I really enjoyed this project!

Thanks for stopping by!

My first attempt at putting a video on my blog!  Only my second video ever!  

First CAS Card

This is my first attempt at a CAS card.  (Clean and Simple) 

What I didn't know was how much stress it would cause me!  I tend to make fancier cards, or at least those with more embellishments.  I literally was shaking when I did this!  Good grief!  I originally put the three flags on just the white background, like I see in so many CAS forums.  I got so nervous, I had to put some purple on there before I could walk away!  The idea is to keep the cards simple with the focus on the design.  I did mange to do that.  It's tough looking at it and not "embellishing" it! 
 
I really wanted to go beyond my comfort zone and try these CAS cards.  I love the way they look, but have not felt comfortable enough doing them.  I found this new(to me) site CAS-ual Fridays which has a challenge each week on Fridays.  I also found out they do these cards each week in SCS in a forum challenge each Monday.  Also on Monday, there is a "try a new technique" at Splitcoast as well.  The challenges were:  CAS-ual Fridays - blocks of color.  SCS:  sketch challenge.  I also used their new technique challenge which was a graduated color challenge.  They worked well together. 

My card may not be a winner in any category, but I made it through my first card!  Yippee! 

I will be entering this into the CAS-ual Fridays Color Blocks Challenge

Shades of J

I made this layout of my daughter using an accidental photo that I just love.  The light was coming in the window,  directly across her face.  I'm not sure if you can see in this photo, but you can see both sides of her.  The portion on the right side of the photo is just darker.  

I used Quarter Note for the script writing, Printing Press for the J, Accent Essentials for the stars and Sophia for the doily under the photo.  I cut the doily in 1/2 and then cut two of the flower flourishes to add to the journaling card under the photo.   

I made the flower on the J with tulle and then added the brad.  I used some very old Glitz rub-ons and stickers, MME journal cards and labels, a fabric ticket from Webster's Pages, some buttons and washi tape.  Life is not life without a little washi!

Challenge yourself to do a scrapbook page of an accidental photo.  Try to also work outside of your comfort zone!  Use up some of those wonderful goodies you have!  Have a lovely, long weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!