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

 

     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

  

    

 

Thank You

     How ya all doin'? If you are able to read this then I guess you survived the effects of Sandy. If you are late in visiting, that's okay I'm just glad to have you stop by. Today Erica asked the Design Team to make a project using either Paper Lace or Ornamental Iron. I chose to make a card using Paper Lace. Let's get to it,lol.

     A while back I bought a card pack from DCWV and am slowly going through them. I love the fall look of this pack so I decided to make some Thank You cards to have on hand. There are several designs for Thank You on this cart. I used the one on page 61 using the main cut and shadow. I cut these @1.25".I inked the edges with the Distress inks Shabby Shutters and Spiced Marmalade. I layered this on some left over scrap pieces that just happened to match my background. I even found this great ribbon in my stash. It was from American crafts Elements: Uptown Orange.

     I found a bunch of flowers that I had previously cut from mothers' day bouquet so I decided to spruce these up and add them to my card. I painted them with Tattered Angels Glam Glitter Paint in copper. This helped to pick up the Stickles I used on my font. I used an orange brad for the center and some leaves. The "leaves" are made by using Martha Stewarts branch punch and I used a green velum for a soft look.

     Remember these that were popular a while back? They are "skittles". These small plastic rounds can be found in Michael's floral department. They are clear but, by placing them in a baggy with a few drops of alcohol inks, you can have a variety of colors to match your distress inks!
     That's it for today ladies. If you are looking for the supplies I used for this project, you can purchase them @ Ericas' Store. Now please be sure to check back over @ My Cricut Craft Room to see the inspiration my Design Team Sisters have to share with you today.

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.

Bat Mitzvah Card

     Hello Monday. Wow, these days are just flying by!!! Fall is really in the air around New England. Here at  My Cricut Craft Room, Erica has given us the option to use the CCR Exclusive carts so I decided to use the Jewish Icons. One of the reasons I love being on Ericas' Design Team is the opportunity to think outside of the box as well as to learn something new. I always have been curious about some of the practices of the Jewish faith. We all know about Christmas, however, about the same time, our Jewish friends celebrate the Festival Of Lights called Chanukah. I will be participating in the Chanukah Hop in December so I wanted to get my feet wet on starting some projects. Since I am Catholic, I turned to several of my Jewish friends to help me on the road to better understanding. I have had the opportunity to attend a Bat Mitzvah and was in awe of the tremendous job the young man did.
     In many Christian religions we have a Confirmation where the young adult learns more about their faith and receive the blessing from their Bishop in the form of a Sacrament. In the Jewish faith the young adults read in Hebrew from the Torah. Boys have their Bar Mitzvah when they are 13 years old but girls have their Bat Mitzvah a year earlier at age 12. This ceremony marks their rise in their religious standing. I decided to try my hand at a card for a Jewish girl on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah. With the exception of the banner, this card can easily be made for a young man for his Bar Mitzvah.

     I started with a 4.25" x 5.50" white card stock base and added a layer of blue, gold and green striped paper. This reminds me of a "tallit" (prayer shawl). For the Torah I used the following measurements:

Torah: 3.5", shadow: 2.819w by 3.694, pages of the Torah; 1.403x 1.917. I stamped the pages with a script stamp by Recollections with Versamark Vintage Sepia.

     The edges were inked with Rusty Hinge distress ink and I added some gold Stickles to add a little bling. For the Hebrew lettering I cut this @ 1.417"x 1.944".

     I cut the Star Of David for the both main star and background @ 1" and again inked the edges with Rusty Hinge. I decided to add some gold stickles to these as well. I cut a total of 4 stars with all layers. 

     I wanted to add something "girlie" to the card so I pulled out some paper ribbon I had from K&Company and I was so pleased how well it matched the background paper. Lastly I put some pop dots on the back of the Torah before I adhered it to the card.

     I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial on this card. You can always find great supplies like the ink and stickles I have used here, at Erica's Store. Now be sure to head back over to the blog and see what great projects my Design Team Sisters have to share with you. @ My Cricut Craft Room.