It's Snowing!!!!

     Welcome to my new family of followers and my post as a Design Team member for My Cricut Craft Room. I hope you are all ready for Turkey Day, lol. I'm having one of my daughters and her husband and their 3 children and one of my sons and his girl friend for the Feast tomorrow. Today I will be making pies and a wonderful Amaretti cookie and squash dish. Yum!!!
     Today we were to use a bonus feature to make snowflakes. I used the Cricut cart "When It's Cold Outside!" to make some 3D snowflakes for a terrarium I have. Let me show you how I started.

     Once again I used some scrap card stock I had left. I love the sheen this card stock has. It is from a stack of Recollections paper I had on hand. Here are the ones I cut from a cream card stock but I also cut some out of a silver that I also had. I used 3 different styles of the snowflakes and cut some @ 1 1/2" and 1 1/4". You need 2 different pieces for each snowflake since they have a slot to put them together.

     Next I added some silver stickles to the silver paper and diamond to the cream paper. Next came the fun part, seeing the dimension when they were put together!

     Aren't these just adorable? As you can see from the picture they are just a little bit different, almost like real snowflakes!!! Next I used some clear mono filament to hang these inside the terrarium.

     I bet you are asking yourself "okay so you have snowflakes hanging in a glass container, big deal". Well this happens to be in a corner of my kitchen that everyone passes by so I wanted it to be a focal point. I have quite the collection of Dept. 56 Snow babies so I tape blue and gold lights to the inside and cover the wires with fluff and then strategically place my snow babies in there. The kids love to just stop and stare. As soon as I get my decorating Mojo on, I be sure to show you some pics.

     Now its time to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and leave some love over there! I sincerely hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

     

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Mickey Topsy Turvy Birthday Cake!

     Welcome to a surprise post for My Cricut Craft Room! I was so happy to see this pop up from Erica and just had to join in the fun!!! We could use any project we had, old or newly created but the main thing is: it has to feature the top Mouse himself .... Mickey. Boy do I have a project for you, lol.
     First I have to explain before I show you my project. Longgggggg  before there was a Cricut Cake, I started using my Cricut to "embellish" my cakes. It just so happens that my oldest grandson just plain loves cakes. Not just cakes but specifically Birthday cakes. I swear he dreams of them. The cake is always the highlight of the party {at least for him).
     He was having a Mickey party so of course I was delegated to make the cake. I love a challenge and thought I'd try my hand at a topsy turvy cake thinking he would get the biggest kick out of it. Here is what I came up with:

      It came out pretty cute but.......there was a major problem. You see I assembled it at my house and my husband held the tray in his lap while I drove to my daughters house. Ok, it is not what you are thinking! My husband was trying to hold it straight thinking the cake was sliding over. I tried to tell him it was an optical illusion that the layers were supposed to look like they were falling and that there was a dowel holding all the layers together. Did he listen to me ? Of course not! So as I am driving I am yelling at him to hold the cake straight which he of course said he was. Anyways you get the idea.

     This is what it looked like after we arrived. Not only is it leaning more than it was designed to, the back of the cake fell off! My grandson Mattie was horrified to see his cake "break" and went crying face first in the couch. This was not what I had planned after all this work. But just then I had an idea: what if it was supposed to do that? What if Mema had made Mattie an exploding cake? What if the cake had M&M's that burst out of the cake? While I through the candy in the backside of the cake, my daughter went to retrieve the Birthday boy. Now everyone caught wind of what had happened and stood around to see if by some miracle Matteo would by my story and the exploding cake. Everyone praised me for the most unusual, spectacular and surprising cake they had ever seen and Matteo must be the luckiest boy in the world to have a cake that spits out M&M's!
     Matteo is now 8 years old and makes sure that when I make all future cakes that none of them has an exploding component. He wants to be the only one to have the most talked about cake. Gotta love that kid, lol.
     I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the other Disney characters that were REALLY falling of the cake. I think they were all cut @ 4". I just taped them to toothpicks and placed them alone the outside edges. Hope you enjoyed my cake and my story!!!!

 

3 D Princess Purse

     Hello new followers. I am so happy you have decided to join me on my crafting vision! Today I am posting  as a member of Erica's Design Team @ My Cricut Craft Room. Today is Theme Day and Erica asked us to do a 3D Princess Purse. Piece of cake ( at least I thought so when I signed up, lol). Anyways, I love silhouettes and thought the  image on Forever Young on page 43 would be perfect. Not!!!!!! Let me show you how it started, lay idle for a while, and then wound up with a project I am now so proud of.

I used the purse feature and also the shift for the insert piece. I had cut this at fit to length and ended up with a 4" purse. Hmmm, not too crazy about this. With the pattern background it seemed to take away from the silhouette. It also was small. Now what to do? Well, I am making clothing for my GD's American Girl dolls for Christmas and found this was a perfect size. Then I hit a road block. Mo-Jo gone..... what to do? I walked away for days and then decided to pick it up and really look at it.

     I decided to add a closed eye and some hair. I used Memento Rich Cocoa marker with Potters Clay for some highlights for the hair. I didn't color all the hair because I had other plans for that area. I wanted to define the face a little more so, of course, I added some blush to the cheeks. It's getting there but I still was not happy. She needed some definition to the neck line. Now the wheels started turning and this is what I came up with:

Of course every Princess needs pearls! Remember, the theme today is a Princess Purse. Now I am really starting to like this project a little more, lol.

 No Princess would be complete without a crown. This is why I didn't color all the hair in! I used Slumber party to cut the crown @ 1 1/4" out of some scrap card stock. I also added a pearl to the purse closure. Speaking of the closure, I was not happy with how the tab slid into a slot. The slot was on the main piece but not the insert piece.

I cut off this little tab circle and decide to add a small piece of velcro for easy opening and closing.  The velcro is on the inside lid as well as the outside of the purse. Notice the pink insert piece. It is the same on the front side and there is no slit for the tab. 

This is the view from the side. It would make a great favor for a Princess Tea Party but remember, I had plans to use this as an accessory for American Girl outfits. Want to see it all together? 

Voila. I will do this again using fabric with a chipboard base to make it more sturdy but, in the meantime, I have the basic idea and the perfect size.

     Well I hope I gave you some inspiration as well as encouragement to never give up. You never know, you just might be pleased with the outcome!! Now be sure to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what inspiration my DT Sisters have to share with you now.

Sunshine And Smiles Card

     Happy Tuesday!!! Oh, that means its my day to post as a member of My Cricut Craft Room. Today Erica asked us to make a card to read with a child as part of National Young Readers Day. I love how she always has great themes to chose from. My card is designed using the Imagine cartridge Greeting Cards Inside & Out.
Let's take a look:

 

     Isn't this just the greatest card for a young reader? This image is on page 21 of the handbook and 4.25". It comes out as a square card but I wanted a 4.25" x 5.50" but I just couldn't get it that size so I decided to go with it as the top of the card . I used the layers so I could have the thumb separate because I wanted to raise it up. You know, a giant thumbs up!!! Sometimes I just crack myself up.

     I used some white card stock I had hanging around and cut it slightly bigger to give it a matted effect. Before I glued it I added some twine by The Twinery to the outside edge. Then I glued it to a bright yellow card stock.

     I also had some "brads" by Candi to all four corners. I love how well these match my background card.

Since I wanted this to really show what an awesome job the young reader did, I thought they would get a kick out of  a little movement for the thumb, so.....

I put it on a wobble!!!! I am addicted to these things!!! Not only can they read the words but they can congratulate themselves by having a moving thumb! Here's another view:

     This was a super quick card to make especially with the Imagine since you can print and cut at the same time. I am so thankful I bought this machine when I did since they will no longer be making it. It was so sad when I heard this since I am using my Imagine almost exclusively rather than my other Cricut machines.
     Anyways, Erica has a great cause called Sunshine and Smiles. People make cards to hand out to the kids in the hospital. The cards are not supposed to be Get Well types, but rather cards of encouragement and I thought these were perfect since there are older kids as well as young ones. I will be sending 10 of these out to Erica as my small part for her cause.
     Well that's it for today. Be sure to head back over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what fabulous cards my DT sisters have to show you. I hope you all have a fabulous week.

 

Sammy's Shaker Card

   

     Good morning my friends! Can you believe it is November already? Yikes!!!! I hope you all are doing well since Sandy came to visit. We are fine except for some roof damage. I feel so bad for those in N.Y and N.J and those in VA as well dealing with the snow. By the way, I hope you all had a chance to Hop with us this past weekend. Hopefully you found some Holiday/Winter inspiration. Today Erica from My Cricut Craft Room asked us to use the Letter "S" and boy do I have a card for you.

     My grandson Sammy turned 4 years old October 27th and he loves Diego so I made him a Silly, Sammy, Shaker card. At least this year we didn't have "S"now. Here are the details:

     This is the first time I tried one of these and I just love how fun this is! I first started with a base card from Beyond Birthdays. This cart has so many aperture cards with squares, rectangles or circles. I cut this @ 5" from the image on page 92. I cut 2 pieces of clear acrylic @ 4 x 3 1/4". The yellow "S"tar back ground is from DCWV all about boys stack.

      "Diego" was cut from Everyday Paper Dolls. The main doll was cut @ 4" in Blackout. I used some Peachy Keen Stamps for his face. Here are the sizes for the clothing:

vest: 1.25x 3.71

hair 1.67 x 3.39

shoes 2.01 x 4.01

shorts 1.45 x 4.14

shirt 2.07 x 3.78

net .77 x 2.25

 

     I inked the edges with distress inks and added some faux stitching as well.  Of course he had to have some blush to his cheeks! He is also on an action wobble for some Shaking!!!!

     Now let's talk about how to put this together. First, on the inside you want to adhere one acrylic piece onto the card stock. Next you want to add some foam strips around the edge of the opening. Make sure there are no gaps so your beads don't fall out. Now you add whatever you like for example: sequins, beads small embellishments. I used some leftover bee embellishments and some glass beads. Now you are ready to add a second piece of acrylic. You can leave this as it is for a window effect. I however, chose to add the card stock with "s"tars since I wanted to continue with the "s" theme. Here's what the inside of my card looks like:

 

     I cut it almost to size so I would hide the way I glued the acrylic down plus I didn't want all the foam strips showing. I think it gives it a nice clean look.

      I finished it off with this cute saying from Pink By Design's age is only a #. You can find any of the supplies used here @ Erica's Store . Now be sure to head back to My Cricut Craft Room  and see what my DT sisters have to share with you. As always, I love when you leave me some love, lol. Have a safe and healthy week.~ Mary