Welcome to My Cricut Craft Room's 100 Cart Blog Hop! If you have come from Erica's Projects then you are in the right place, if not then you want to start at the beginning HERE so you don't miss a thing.. Each month the Design Team shows you projects made using 100 Cricut cartridges. We hope to inspire you to dig out those carts or help you to explore the possibilities on carts you already own. Hey you might even find one to add to your Christmas or Chanukah wish list. As a member of Erica's team, I have chosen to use the following 4 cartridges: Handy Man, Hello Kitty, Very Merry Tags and the Imagine cart Santas' Village.
     December is party month in our house. Next to October it is one of our busiest Birthday months. We have 6 birthdays this month. They are on the 7th, 13th, 19th, 22nd, 28th and 31st. My oldest child will be 39 on the 22nd and I came home from the hospital Christmas Day so it is always a special day for me in more ways than one! So I chose to make 2 Birthday cards as well as 2 Christmas projects for you so let's get started.

     My first project was a birthday card for one of my grand sons who is turning 6. I used Handy Man to make this tape measure and cut all layers @ 1.75".

     

      I used some silver card stock on this which looks awesome in person. I used a black gel pen to mark all the increments on the die cut.

 

     I used some screw brads for the corners and mounted it on robot paper since he loves Transformers. I finished up with a stamp by Pink By Design called "Tool Time".

     My next birthday card is a snowman shaped card for my grand daughter who turns 3 on Dec. 28th. Wanna see???

     Isn't she cute??? Believe it or not, this snowman was in Hello Kitty. I used my gypsy to weld the image into a shaped card. This was sized @ 5".

     I actually welded 2 snowmen together and cut an extra without welding for the top layer. Of course I had to use cinnamon stickles for a little sparkle!

     Oh yeah, more stickles, some chalk blush and , of course, the wonderful winter stamp by Pink By Design stamps again. I think her hat and scarf came out so adorable with the glittered card stock. Are you ready for my favorite Christmas project this season? Have you ever wondered how Santa comes in if you don't have a chimney? How about a Magic Key?

     I found this key @ Michael's and wanted to do something special with it. I found a wonderful story on the internet.....

     So now I needed to design something to store it in. I had some small plain boxes so I decided to alter it like this:

     I used George Basic shapes and  Santas Village in the CCR to design a circle and then place the image from page 5 in the center of the circle. All I had to do was to use my Imagine, print and cut and Voila a sticker image! I finished it all off by layering some green and red card stock and added some liquid pearls for dimension. I have already sold quite a few!
     My final project is the tags I plan to use on my gifts for the guys this year. I used Very Merry Tags to create these.

     I cut these @ 3". This reindeer is the negative cut from the image. I cut all the solid tags from Kraft card stock and then used the main cut and negative pieces so I get 2 tags from one cut! I added some snow to the bottom of the tag with a snow cap marker by Marvy. Once you heat it, it puffs up!!! I used a glaze marker to add an eye and some stitching around the edge. I finished it off with a small jingle bell.
     Whew, that was a long post. I hope you gained a little inspiration from me today. Now head over to Liz and see what enchanting projects she has designed to thrill you with! Be sure to start at the beginning and leave some blog love for each of our designers. Just in case you get lost along the way, here is the complete line up:

My Cricut Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
Jen L http://www.mybusycraftylife.blogspot.com/
Shelley http://shelley-scrapbookingforfun.blogspot.com/

Kathy http://3spoileddogs.blogspot.com/
Nadja http://nadjarobbins.blogspot.com/
Sarah W http://craftingwithsarah.blogspot.com/
Erica’s Projects http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com/
Mary http://Mary-fortheloveofart.blogspot.com/
Liz http://enchantress2614.blogspot.com/
Teresa http://freshandrenewed.blogspot.com/
Jamie http://craftygirl21.blogspot.com/
Robin http://cutonedesignsbyrobin.blogspot.com/
Sarah H http://itswhatkeepsmesane.blogspot.com/
Tami http://scrappinrabbitdesigns.blogspot.com/
Erica’s Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

    

     

     November 100 Cart Blog Hop Day One


     Welcome to Erica's November 100 Cart Blog Hop. Can you believe it is November already? Where on earth has this year gone???  
     Each month Ericas' Design Team uses over 100 different Cricut Cartridges in their projects during the two days of this hop. Be sure to check out each members blog for some major crafting ideas. We hope to inspire you to get a head start on your Holiday projects.
      You should have come from Kathy Salido if not, then you want to start from the beginning @ My Cricut Craft Room  Be sure to hop along and leave some love on each of the blogs for a chance to win some goodies. We love to hear from you.
     This month our theme is Winter/ Holiday related. When I first signed up I missed the part about winter theme so I chose these 4 carts for my project: Girls Makeup Party,French Manor, Handyman and the Imagine cart Greeting Cards Inside and Out. What on earth was I going to do now? With a few suggestions from my DT sisters I came up with this:

 

     I just love how this wall plaque came out! The stockings hung by the chimney, the ladder still out to finish decorating, the presents all wrapped and of course, hot cocoa and cookies waiting for Santa. Now let me show you how this finished project is really recycled from a previous project I had started and had discarded.

 

     For September's Blog Hop I had made a wine plaque. The finished project came out great but I had originally started with this canvas and really made a mess of things. I had put this aside and made my final project on a canvas board. However I did not want to waste a canvas. To start this project I lightly sanded this canvas and covered it over with 2 coats of Gesso and painted around the edges with a red paint. I am so determined to use up scraps that I separated all of them into color families and placed them in clear sheet protectors. I promised myself that all the embellishments had to be made from these scraps.To save time here (you would need a carafe of coffee to get through this post,lol), I'll give you the names of the carts and cut sizes to speed things up a bit.

     Let's start with the background. I am so sad that Provo craft is no longer going to produce the Imagine. I for one use it all the time. I love how I can coordinate all my papers for a truly original look. For this project alone I used 5 Imagine carts and was able to make a project that is an original of mine. I used the patterned paper on page 43 of Greeting cards Inside and Out for the upper wall paper and a solid for the bottom. I separated these with some white braid for a molding effect. For the floor I used George basic shapes for a 2 x 9.75" rectangle and flood filled it with the wood pattern from Snapshot:Everyday on page 4. I had a ribbon that went perfect for the base board. 

     Table1.7" page 33 French Manor glossy accents for table top
     Chair 2.5" page 28 French Manor cut 2, 1 is to cut apart and emboss to get chair cushion.
     Cookies and Cocoa Kate's Kitchen pg. 10 use separate layers to get cookies and plate, size @
       1.7 "then   combine these layers. Cocoa cup is on page 17 and also @ 1.7".

     Fireplace Joy Of The Seasons page 55 @ 2.5"I did all layers. The fire was also embellished with 3  shades of stickles for a roaring fire effect. (This is so cool!). The stockings are from Santas Village. I believe these are cut @ 1" sorry I do not have the exact measurement since these were leftovers from a project last year.

     The wreathe is from JOTS on page 66 and all layers were cut @ 1.5". I used a small mirror tile that I adhered to the canvas and then used pop dots to raise it up above the level of the mirror. Then I just added a few red stickles and a nice red bow.

     The ladder was cut 3 times from the image on Handy Man Lite cart @ 4". This made it real sturdy. The tree itself is from 'Tis The Season on page 39 of the hand book. I cut 2 from chipboard @ 6" and 1 from green card stock. After I glued these together I used a snow marker by Marvy to create a snow effect on the branches.This stuff gives a great 3D effect. You just add it to a project then heat it with a heat gun and puff, instant dimension!!! Erica was kind enough to send me some and I am now hooked.
The presents are from Snow Angel Imagine cart on page 17 and the ornaments are on page 2 and were print and cut @ .75". I love to add bows to my trees so why should a faux tree be any different, lol.

  The image is on page28 of Snow Angel and I separated the layers so I could have the individual letters to work with. I can't believe I forgot to write down the size of the banner but I think they were at .75". I used a circle punch to add a red banner for the letters to rest on and used some red twine I had received from Erica to string them with. Then I added some snow marker. (I love this stuff!!!!).
     My final project is a gift idea for the holidays using Girls Makeup Party:

          I had made this for my grand daughters 6th birthday. She is such a girlie girlie,lol!!! I bought a clear gallon pail @ Michaels and decided to make a bathroom tote for her. I cut the "Girls Night" @ 2" from Girls Makeup Party on page 19 in hot pink vinyl. The brown label is from French Manor on page 68. I used the border shift function.I first applied the brown label and then the letters over it. All I had left to do was to add some ribbons and a flower and Voila, you have a girlie presentation. I filled this with a towel wrap and plenty of bath fizz balls. Needless to say it was a huge hit!
      Now it is time to head over to Nadja's and see what  creative projects she has to show you. Should you get lost along the way here is the line up:

SATURDAY

1. MCCR http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com
2. Kathy S http://3spoileddogs.blogspot.com
3. Mary http://Mary-fortheloveofart.blogspot.com
4. Nadja http://nadjarobbins.blogspot.com
5. Miranda http://www.nanasscrapspot.com
6. Shelley http://shelley-scrapbookingforfun.blogspot.com
7. Lisa Chamberlain http://lisacustomscrapbooking.blogspot.com
8. Janet http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com
9. Lisa Carrier http://ourcraftingcorner.blogspot.com
10. Sharon  http://www.simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com
11. Tammy S http://www.Cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com
12. Jessica S http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com
13. Erica’s Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com

  

    

 

Beware Of The Ghosts!!!!

     Welcome to Would you Ever Guess Wednesday! Today Erica from My Cricut Craft Room asked us to use gel pens on our projects. When I signed up for this I didn't realize that my gel pens had dried up and I had used up a lot of the colors I had planned to use! What to do? I decided to use my Cricut markers instead. I really wanted to use my Chic and Scary cartridge and thought the phrase for Halloween would be perfect. I also had some adhesive velum and felt this was a great project to use this on. Before I continue I want to give you a heads up: this is not my best work but rather an exercise in what NOT to do, lol.

     I started by using my Cricut marker in black with speed @ 3 and pressure @ 2. I used the CCR and a rectangle shape from George and Basic Shapes @ 4.347"wide by 5.222" high on one layer. Next I used the phrase for Halloween @ 4.083" w by 4.75"h on a second layer. I set my Expression to Portrait mode so the image would be drawn/cut in the upper left hand corner. All I did was replace the blade carriage with a marker and pressed cut. This drew my image. I did not want to cut the phrase but I did want to cut the rectangle, so I replaced the marker with my blade, and cut the outside shape after I hit load last. All the phrase is now outlined in black.

     Lesson one when doing a project: make sure you have all the supplies you need AND that they are in working order, ie, markers that are not dried out. Oh I am not talking about my gel markers, no, that would be the least of it. Being the hoarder that I am, I have had these opaque markers for velum for a long time and finally found a project to use them on. The only trouble is that they must be old because some just wouldn't flow right. (Perhaps dried ink, grrr). I plugged away and thought I will be able to salvage this with some embellishments so not to worry. When I adhered this to some purple card stock it really didn't look too bad.

     The skull is colored with white opaque markers, but since it was a little dried up, it came out sort of grayish. It looked sort of cool especially when I added some green rhinestones for the eyes and some avocado Liquid Pearls for the nose.

     I added this Haunted House using Enjoy The Seasons image from page 15. I used all the layers combined @ 1.25". I added some Black Diamond Stickles to the spider web. So far so good until....

     I added Liquid Pearls and stickles to the spider. Once it was dry, I decided to add some green liquid pearls for eyes to the spider. Yikes what a mess! Lesson two: when using Liquid pearls or Stickles be sure to leave some room in case it spreads out.(It usually does!) Instead of having 2 eyes I wound up with a uni eye! also, if you look at the phrase next to "beware", my web really got mushed together. 

     in order to distract from this boo boo, I added a hanging spider from Happy Hauntings on page 102 and cut it at 2.5". I cut 2, one the adhere to the paper and the second with pop dots for dimension. I did the same thing with 3 ghosts (one I flipped) from page 37 cut @ .75". 

     I kept trying to salvage this by adding rhinestones to the corners and some yellow twine I received from Erica. Although I am less than pleased how this turned out, I'm sure the 2 year old grand son Charlie will love it! From now on I will make sure all my markers are in working order and also be all the more diligent on how I use my Liquid Pearls and stickles!!! I guess I need to replace some supplies over at Erica's Store.

     I hope you have learned from my mistakes (I have!!!). Now be sure to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room to see some spectacular projects my Design Team Sisters have made for you.

     What mistakes have you made? It would make me REALLY happy to hear what mistakes you have made, lol.