Elmo And Friends

     Whoot whoot!!! It's the last Friday of the Summer and time for some fun @ My Cricut Craft Room (we always have fun,lol). I was so excited when Erica asked the Design Team to create a lay out using a character. While on our huge family vacation we visited Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA where they have a Sesame Street section. Our youngest grand child just loves Elmo so he was super excited to meet him in person. Here is the lay out I made to capture the memory using Elmo's Party.

     Where to begin? I usually add more than one picture on my LO but today I decided to use just the one that we bought at the park. Charlie was not happy to have to look at the camera rather than his friend Elmo, lol. Most of the cousins were there (we are missing two). I thought the title says it all "Elmo And Friends". I cut all the letters at 1" for the font and the font shadow.

     After cutting the letters I used some Stickles on the letters for some pizzazz. It seems I am using the CCR for a lot of my projects and this one is no exception.I wanted to use a banner and include the kids names. This is so easy to do when you have the Imagine. I used the banners CCR exclusive digital cut and the same Elmo Font for their names. You use 2 separate mat layers. On the first mat I place my banners @ 1". On the second mat I made my names and then placed them over the banners. Now when you go to use the Imagine, I printed the mat layer with the names and then went back and cut only the banners.Voila, done. I didn't ink the banners because I wanted the pic and all the other embellishments to be more prominent.

     I had cut a lot of flower shapes a long time ago so whenever I needed some they would be ready to ink and use on any project that needed them. I just used some Cherry glimmer mist and added a brad for the centers. I wanted my flowers to be "grounded" so I drew in some stems and leaves. I really wanted a playful look. Speaking of playful, how about Elmo? This image is on page 31 and I cut it @ 3". I used some enamel accents in black to bring out his eyes more.

     Would you believe the background paper is My Mind's eye Sweet Dream Holiday Avenue. Yup, it's a Christmas stack! Although I have the Imagine and many pattern carts, I still want to use up some of the paper packs I have and this was perfect. The red roping and pennant banner were from my stash of K&Company banner packs.

     If you are looking for some crafting bargains then you should check out Erica's Store. She is having a fabulous moving sale that you won't want to miss. You can find it HERE.

     Hope you have something wonderful planned for this week end but be safe. Now please head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what my Design Team Sisters have to show you.

A Whale Of A Time!!!

    
     Welcome to Theme Day Thursday! I'm so glad you decided to stop by. Yes, I have a new look to my blog and hope you feel more at home here. Hey it's spring so it was time to freshen things up a bit!!
     Today at Erica's Craft room we were to create a project with a Beach theme. I am always amazed when I go through my library of cartridges ( yes I have enough to call it a library!). You would be astounded at the images that you can find on the least likely places. For example I used Life's for  A Beach for some of my images but, I also found some really neat die cuts on Stretch Your Imagination and (believe it or not: Sponge Bob Square Pants and Pack Your Bags). I have a lot to share with you so let's get started.

   
After almost two weeks of rain (can I just say torrential!!) in Hawaii we finally had 2 beautiful days so my daughter wanted to show me the famous spot on Oahu where the whales winter over. There is a lookout spot where the tide rushes into the rocks and sprays up like the blow hole on the whales. Thus the name Blowhole Lookout.

   
 I found the whale border on Life's A beach cartridge on page70. It was cut @ 1.5" for the height out of a gray shimmer pack from recollections.For a shadow I cut it again in black card stock and off set it from the gray. I added some black pearl embellishments for the eyes.
     I found the whale stamp on Pack Your Bags on page 56 and used the stamp feature.I believe I cut this @ 2.5". I cut all the layers and then added stickles to the water spout using Star Dust and Waterfall colors and again, a pearl for the eye. When I cut this out I loved the separate whale and the negative part of the stamp so I decided to use these to my advantage and turn them in a journal tag. The only thing I had to do was cut another layer of the water spout!
     I bet you are wondering where I got the wave die cut from.: Sponge Bob Square Pants!!! That's right. After looking at all my carts this was the most realistic looking waves. You can find the image on page 47 under Icon. I cut 4 sets then inked them with distress inks Evergreen Boughs and Tumbled Glass. I used liquid Glass as an adhesive and Donna Salasar's Sugar Sparkle for the glitter. Now let's follow the turtle as we head on over to the next page!

     It was so nice here in the sun so I had to add this phrase.I found this on Pack Your Bags on page 44. I used a cream card stock but inked the sun with Dried Marigold and Antique Linen distress inks and also used Perfect Pearls Lemon Sparkle on the sun. I also cut it again in black and offset it on the page.
     This spot is near the Blowhole and is sort of an inlet where the turtles get swept in with the tide. There is a beach area where people sunbathe and swim with the turtles. Unfortunately it was too windy and cool for us to venture in.

     Most of the turtles die cuts are from Stretch Your Imagination on page 41. These were so much fun to make!!! First I cut them at different sizes out of brown cardstock. I had left these on the mat until I inked them with both Frayed Burlap and Forest Moss distress inks. I wanted a realistic look and something that would bring out the sand and rocks in the photos. I cut the layers as well and ran them through my cuttlebug with the "Tiny Mosiacs" embossing folder.
     Now for my absolute favorite cut on this whole layout. this would be the "shelled turtle. You can find this imagine on Stretch Your Imagination on page 73-S. I love this turtle! I used the CCR tomake sure the layer fit and hide the outline of the shell. I cut this out of black shiny card stock. I will share a tip with you. Rather than try to glue all these tiny pieces on the shell leave them on the mat and remove the cuts you don't want and leave the tiny pieces on the mat. I use a piece of transfer tape (the kind you use for vinyl transfer) and apply to your cuts. I then trim the edge of the tape and run it through my Xyron machine. After you remove the Xyron backing I place it on my die and gently put into place. I can then use the Cricut "hook" to jockey it into position and then smooth it down! Easy Peasy!!!! I had just gotten some new liquid pearls in with the most fantastic colors and this was a project just begging for it.I used the Avocado to outline the areas between the shells and the  outer edge.
     Sorry this is so long but I just had to share. Although a lot of the Cricut cuts are cute, with some ink and the right cut you are able to achieve a very realistic look.
     If you are looking for products like the ones I used here, please visit Ericas Shop as she has a fabulous sale going on . Believe it or not she is giving 33% off your order! Here are the details:

      The 33% off code is 33 and it will take 33% off your total purchase, except ProvoCraft items (Cricut cartridges, they are only $15-$32 EVERYDAY :)

     Erica is also giving away 3 free action Wobbles. You heard that right FREE! Just head back over to http://www.mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/ and on the right side bar you will see where you can  follow the instructions on where to send a self addressed stamped envelope for your 3 FREE Action Wobbles from The Scrapbooking Queen.

     You will also want to download the most up to date Cricut cartridge list directly from Erica's blog on the top left. She has also posted the Excel and Word formats for you all!

     Lastly our design team is having a garage sale!!! Whoo-Hoo! What fun! Next Thursday our sale will kick off. Right now the group is "closed" please request to be added to the group and once we have all of our items listed I will APPROVE you into the group....

The crafty garage sale is Thursday April 26- Saturday April 28

EVERYONE will get approved into the group on Thursday the 26th.

This is the crafty one

http://www.facebook.com/groups/135244386606507/

     Our anything but Crafty Garage Sale will be Sunday April 29- May 2

and this is the non-crafty sale

EVERYONE will get approved into the group on Sunday April 29

http://www.facebook.com/groups/226289120806147/

    

     At this time it is only open for Design Team members to sell their items. This is a temporary group and will be deleted after the event.... I know there are other crafty sales and crafty auctions. This is not to replace any of those. This is a one weekend only event.

     Wow that's a mouthful but I just didn't want you to miss anything that is going on with our FABULOUS Design Team!!!

     Also, I would love if you would head back over to Erica's Craft Room to see what the rest of the Design Team has to show you! I hope you have a wonderful week with the week end coming up.

Castings At The Beach

  This was so much fun. I never knew about this until we were visiting the grand kids in Florida and spent late Friday afternoon and early evening at the beach for "winding" down the week. No this does not have to do with fishing, lol. It is a real fun craft to keep the kids busy. You can zoom on the pic where I explained how to do this.

     I used K&Company paper pack- Sea Glass. This is such a good quality paper.The border was an EK border punch of shovels and pails. I ran the border thru my Xyron machine on both front and back sides then sprinkled the front side with MS glitter:
sunstone,antique silver and crystal fine. The fishes were cut with the Life is a Beach cart and the Mariposa cardstock from DCWV. I also used the Life is a Beach cart to cut the sand dollar @ 4". TheSand dollar itself was cut @2.38wide and 2.31high.The starfish was also cut from the square card feature@ 4", just the fish @2.98wide and 2.60 high. I used the square card feature but used my gypsy to design it. The Bug Bytes had a great tip where you place the item to be cut on the mat but, since we do not have the hide contour feature yet, just let the part you do not want to cut "fall" off the mat. Only what's on the mat will cut!