Altered Card Box

     Good Morning on this beautiful Memorial Day! I hope you all are enjoying beautiful weather and are not too stuffed from all the cookouts, lol. Today the Erica's  DT has some beautiful projects to share with you so I hope you will take a moment to see what we have been working on.

     I have been exploring the CCR and had just purchased the Banners digital download so I thought I would show you what I came up with. Of course I also used my Imagine!!

     I found these plain boxes @ Michaels' and thought they would be perfect to hold some handmade cards of mine. The boxes are about the size of a cigar box and are ready to paint, decoupage, stamp etc. I didn't take pictures as I went along so let's just jump into the details.

      First I painted the edges with a gold dauber and then used gel medium to decoupage my paper on the box. The sides and bottom have a faux wood looking paper. This gave me the idea to make the banner wood looking also. I started by making the banner at 5" long out of a cream card stock in the CCR. By adding another mat in the CCR, I was able to add the "Cards" font by using Divine Wedding cart at .75". I used the separate layers feature to print the font first and then cut the banner.
     I cut 3 banners and then adhered them together before I inked the edges. Once the ink was dry I applied some paper glaze to give it a little protection. Would you like to see the finished project?

     I told you you could paint, stamp and decoupage these boxes so I did all three, lol. I even added a braided ribbon and some Tim Holtz adornments to the corners. I'll show you a few more pics of the details.

     I used some Zing copper embossing powder and some Imaginisce bling for the top and bottom right hand corners.

     I have so many left over beads that I made a hanging charm to peek out of a corner of the flowers.

     Speaking of flowers I love how these turned out. I used distress inks and found I had some that even matched my paper. I even love how the leaves turned out.
   Erica is so generous with her DT that she sends us some really neat stuff to try for our projects. In one of my orders she had sent me some cuttlebug dies that had these great leaf dies. They are 2 pieces sort of like a blackout and the top part of the leaf. They look beautiful with a chalk glimmer. You can find all sort of supplies at Erica's Store and she has fabulous prices as well.
     I hope this project inspires you just a little. Please check out my team members projects back at Erica's Blog and see what else they have to help your mojo.Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all who gave their lives to keep us safe.

    

Scottie Dog Birthday Card

     Welcome to  Mondays from My Cricut Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/ where you are limited only by your Imagination, lol. On Mondays the Design Team is challenged to use either the Imagine carts, CCR images or the cartridges that come with the E2. If you have been following me you know I love to use the Imagine pattern carts to flood fill my images or to use the paper as my card base. This week I used the Imagine cart Heirloom to create my card base and insert with the Just Because Cards cartridge. The card and insert is on page 37 and cut @ a height of 5.50". This beautiful musical background from Heirloom is on page 10.

    I also cut some small rectangles (1:2 and 2:3) that are preloaded on the Imagine for the outside of the card as well as the insert tag using the color palette with this cart. The Scottie dogs are cut with Layer 1 + 2 as well as the shadow @ 1.50". I did use a black card stock for these cute little guys. The shadow was also shaded with distress inks.

     This is the insert that goes with this particular card. Again I used the preloaded label on the Imagine but this time I flood filled with the same musical paper that is on the front of the card. I used some distress ink on the edges and added some pearl dots to the edges. The sentiment is a rub-on as well as the Happy Birthday on the front of the card.

     Here's a close up of the embellishments on the card. I used some i-rock rhinestones for the collar and a pearl for the eye. I wanted the dogs to show up so I used a small prima flower with a pink brad for the center
and a few silver stickles to bring out the center.
      This is a Birthday card for my Mom who turns 87 on April 6th and she just loves anything Scottish. She is having difficulty seeing so I wanted to add some elements she could feel. This is why I used a silver wire to "tie" the two dogs together.
     Are you inspired to try this card? I certainly hope so. Now be sure to head back over to Ericas Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/  and see what my fellow Design Team sisters have to show you. While you are there, check out Erica's store for any of your crafting supplies.http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/

Not So Shabby Heart Book

     Wow I am on a roll lately! I thought I'd share this wonderful little project with you today but first I have to welcome some new followers, yeah! I hope I can inspire you a bit with my creative adventures!

     I have had this album on my craft table for months now and finally said enough, finish it! This will be picture heavy but thought you might enjoy seeing the finished product. I started with the chipboard heart albums they sell for $1 in the clearance aisle @ Michaels. Next I grabbed a Scrap Pad by K & Company called K-ology Peabody Scrap Pad. This is one of the yummiest pads I own. Isn't the paper just fabulous?
     I just added ran it through my Xyron 900 and rolled it down with my brayer. When it was done I used an xacto knife to trim around the edge and then lightly sanded it smooth. I then used a paint marker to go around the edges for a nice finished edge. All the inner pages were done the same way.

     For the cover I stamped a flourish with Inkadinkado stamps and then added some bling with my Imaginisce tool. I LOVE how this came out! The center tag was from the scrap pad but I decided to emboss a heart with some silver Zing powder. I also pulled out my stash of buttons and added them for some dimension before I used pop dots on the center image.

     This gives you a different view as to how I closed the album. I just used rivets by Zutter to secure the ribbon. Now for the inside view!

     The inside cover and first page have a pocket with tag for journal ling and the 1st page leaves room for a photo. The pink rhinestone flower is a creative charm. ( Love these things).

       The next page also has a tag with a very romantic feel to it whereas the next page is more shabby chic!

     Another tag from the pad only this time I added a little dimension to the "forever" wording by adding Diamond Glaze. This is a new product I tried and OMG I will have to do a review on this. It is amazing!

     I made a pocket for the left hand page out of scrap paper that was just screaming to be used. So I added 2 tags. These could fit some wallet sized pics. The patterned heart is the inside back cover that also would support a photo.
     That's its for now. I must try Audrey's tri easel card if I can find my craft table. Ughhh!

Wrapping Paper Inspiration

     Wow it's been a while since I posted! Have no fear I have an exciting project to share! We have several weddings this summer/fall and that means Bridal Showers. I refuse to pay a lot for wrapping paper (I'd rather put the money into the gift) but I am still picky about something I can dress up.
     This paper was so cute with the wedding dresses and had cute sayings like "big hair", big dress" and "big day". I thought this was adorable to use for one of the showers I am attending. Sooo I decided to make a cute gift tag.

     I have been using a lot of shipping tags to alter lately. (I think I am hooked, lol). First I distressed the edges with Zutters Distrezz It All and added both blue and white spritz. While this dried I printed the phrases: big hair, big dress and big day. After inking the edges of the tag I embossed this dress from My Sentiments Exactly using a white opaque embossing powder.
     I wanted to add some dimension to the dress so I gathered up some sheer netting and after gluing it to the waist I added a satin bow. The bodice needed something so I added some imaginisce rhinestones and finished the tag off with a nice fluffy satin bow. (Big of course!!).
     One other thing I love to do is wrap the present with tulle rather than ribbon. I find it cheaper and gives a soft look and is appropriate for wedding, shower, birthday or baby gift and it is so economical!

Wild Thing

     I'm back with another challenge I decided to do. As a member of the Cricut Circle, we are giving the opportunity to enter into some weekly challenges. This weeks was to do something using animals. This put a fire under me since I have several baby cards to do to welcome 2 beautiful babies Cohen and Collin. No they are not twins but cousins born several weeks apart, lol.

     My niece has a wild animal thing going and she and her husband love raccoons. This was a no brainier to use for the challenge and get a card done! I really LOVE how this came out. The reason is I love this paper for the raccoon. Its from DCWV the Safari Chic stack. Sometimes the die cuts look too "cutesy". This paper actually looks like fur! I cut the image from Animal Kingdom @ 3" and the phrase "wild thing" is from Zooballo @ 3/4". The stamp is one I had but wanted to keep with the "woodsy" feel so I inked it with Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage Photo and embossed with TH embossing powder. Just added a few white dots for the eyes and some imaginisce gold dots for a little bling!

 

I really am trying to use up my scraps so I just added some scrap strips to the inside. Oh I forgot to mention, the background paper was a sheet I had stashed away. It was perfect for this woodsy look. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think!