Wine Plaque Mixed Media

     Hello fellow crafters!!!! I am so excited to be a Cricut Diva! That's right, I am now a member of the CricutDiva DT. For my first post I thought I would share with you a project I submitted as an example of my work for the application process in order to be  considered for the team. I love mixed media and have taken many online course so this is a favorite of mine. Our goal is to show you what you can do with your Cricut and the versatility of projects you can make with them.

     This project used 3 cartridges. I used: Word Collage, Celebrate With Flourish, French Manor and, as an extra bonus, Mini Monograms. Let's get started since I have a wealth of detail to share with you, lol.

     Let's start with this picture. I used an 8" x 10" canvas board and painted with Martha Stewarts Satin cream paint. It is hard to see in the pic but I also inked the edges of the frame with Antique Linen distress ink. I then cut the wine words from Word Collage using the wine section. This was all cut @ 6" with vinyl. I have a confession to make. This is not the original I started with! At first I tried a stretched canvas that I painted a wine color and was going to paint over the vinyl with the cream. Hint: not a good idea to start with a dark base if you plan to go over with a lighter color!

     I was satisfied with how this was proceeding but wanted to add some corners to the canvas. This is where French Manor comes in. I am not sure if the image on page 63 were glasses or not, but for this plaque, let's just pretend they are! I cut the Border+shift key and cut them @ 1.25" times 4 for all the corners.

     I have this wonderful stamp that I love and thought the Steam Punk look just fit in so well here. This is an Inkadinkado stamp that I used Archival Brilliance Coffee Bean to stamp with. I also had this wonderful braided cording that went fabulous with this project. Now what to do for the hands of the clock?

     Did you know that French Manor has a clock face with hands image? Well it does. It is on page 31 under Layer. I used my gypsy and moved the clock image off the mat so all I would cut is the clock hands @ 1". How cool is that, lol. Now on to my main image: the wine bottle and glasses.

     I bet you were wondering why I placed the word collage off to the side, well, here is why. I wanted to use this wine bottle and glasses as my focal point. The die cut is from Celebrate With Flourish and I cut it at 8.65" x 9.35". I used the main image as well as the shadow feature. All the edges were inked with Aged Mahogany and also sprayed with Glimmer Mist Brick and Fern. I also used some Gold Stickles to add a touch of class!

     I wanted a more realistic look to the glasses so I cut them separately out of Graffix clear plastic. I know it can be difficult to use the plastic or acetate without having the glue show so, I'll share my secret with you. I used a glue dot in the center of the glass which I knew I would cover with a Monogram. The stems were adhered with Glossy accents. If you have a spot that you are not happy with, no problem. I truly believe Stickles were made to hide mistakes!!!

     The little monogram circles were cut @ .75" from Mini Monograms. I also found a small cork in my stash so I just inked it up with some Aged Mahogany.

     If you remember in the first pic, I had glued a piece of fabric to the bottom part of the canvas. When I had laid everything out, it looked odd to me that the bottle was "just There". By adding the fabric, it gives the impression that it is resting on the table. The grapes are left over from small wine favors we used for one of my daughters weddings. Yes, I do have quite the collection of supplies! Before I show you the completed project I just wanted to show you the back. Why you ask? I like to show how everything should be finished off for a professional look.

     I had used Zutter rivets to secure my ribbon but didn't like the look of the rivets or ribbon ends showing. All you have to do is cut a piece of brown paper or card stock, a little smaller than the completed projects. Add a bead of glue around the edges (I use Arlene's Quick Tack) and then lightly mist with water. As it dries it lays taut and gives a nice finished look.

     I hope you have been inspired to use your cartridges for out of the box embellishments. If you have learn a little (or a lot, lol) I would love if you became a follower as well as leave a comment. I read each and every one of them and it always makes me smile!

  

     

Glass Etching

     Do you ever wind up with a collection of other peoples baking ware and don't know who it belongs too? I have a solution. This year I went to several Tastefully Simple parties and bought a bunch of their famous Beer Bread. If you've never tried it , it is fabulous. You can also substitute any carbonated beverage in place of the beer!
     Now, I just love to add a personal touch to my gifts (who doesn't,lol) so I thought I'd pair the bread mix with a personalized bread pan. I picked up a bunch and was so pleased to find they were made in America. Believe me that is a rarity!

     I used the Cricut cart From My Kitchen to cut the "bread" oval @ 1.5". I used contact paper since it was cheaper by the roll and I knew it couldn't be used again so I didn't want to waste my ProvoCraft vinyl.

     Next step was to apply the etching cream. as you can see I put it on fairly thick. Oh before you do this be sure to tape off any edges so you don't accidentally spill over with the cream. I used painters tape so it would come off easily. Also be sure to protect your work area.I left it on a good 10 minutes.

     I really wanted to personalize these, so on the other side I included the family initial. The only problem is when you have a letter with cutouts, ie, A,B,D,O etc.No problem, I just used Provo Craft's transfer tape to hold the "middle" in place! once you adhere it to the glass with the vinyl you remove the transfer tape.

     Here's the finished product. I also added a holiday potholder and wrapped the bread mix. I can't show you how the letters came out, these are gifts after all. This makes a really special gift. What are you giving?

Welcome baby!

     I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the cards I need to make, lol! We've had 2 birthdays  in the last 2 weeks and 1 more next week before I start on Mothers' Day cards now that the Easter cards are done, whew. However I have been remiss because one nephew and niece have both had babies in the last few months and I still haven't made a card let alone bought a gift! ( I am hanging my head in shame). I am glad they both had boys so I didn't have to think so hard to come up with these.
     First of all I had intended to use this as a color challenge for simply scrapping group but one of the colors was rose/pink so that would not have been appropriate. When doing something for the baby boys I usually do the typical blues and yellows but decided on a peachy color, kraft and blues instead.
     Once again I fall back on my scraps. Believe it or not the background paper was left over from a mini album I did a while ago and I had just enough for the 2 cards! Also, I get so upset with myself that I have small pieces of card stock hanging around that I cut out these baby monograms for boys and girls along time ago and put them in my embellishment box. I'm sure glad I did! I know they were cut from the Mini Monograms and I think it was 1". Next I took a scrap of peach color card stock and ran that through the cuttle bug with the tags die.
     The cute bunny is from Nursery Tails on the Imagine @ 2". I kept all the layers combined and printed the image however I really wanted a shadow on this. This particular image did not have a shadow so I used the background layer and chose a background print that would set it all off by cutting it @ 2.25". Its not quite perfect but I was satisfied enough to apply it to the card with pop dots. I even added a beautiful gradient gem to the flower center as well as the 4 corners of the card. Finished it off with some ribbon and a cute stamped sentiment.
     Now all I have to do is buy the gifts to go with the cards and I'm all set. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to leave a comment and say hi!