Grandkids Picture Project

I pin from Pinterest...I know, not an unusual thing to do these days, but I decided I needed to actually do some of the projects I had been pinning!  A friend's birthday is coming up and I wanted something special for this lady cuz she's pretty special herself.  I found this pin here.  She has a 5 children and 7 grandchildren all of which are her pride and joy.  I thought it would be great to recreate this project for her.  My disclaimer as I start this post is that I have not used my Cricut to cut anything other than paper..so for my first foray into other mediums I decided to do vinyl.  Why not do it up right the first time!  I made a trip to JoAnn's Fabrics with my android phone app and the sales flyer's...and lucked on a sale on the Cricut items along with an additional amount off of the total purchase!  Yay for me!

 So I picked up a roll of black vinyl as well as clear lifting vinyl!  It is a must if you are doing words or sayings! It lifts your cut letters in the position you cut them so your alignment on your project should be perfect!  I also had not yet downloaded Cricut Craft Room to my laptop!!! Why oh why did I wait so long!  It was so easy to use and much easier I must admit than my other Cricut software.  Once I found a font that I liked and for which I had the cartridge I set about designing the words and the layout.


I'm not a person that likes to "fly by the seat of my pants" if you will when it comes to designing stuff!  I like to have the dimensions, and know what the sizes are of the things I am cutting...but since I was working with a different kind of project I did some practice runs with the font size and spacing using papers that I didn't like...you know the ones that come in those paper packs and you're really not sure why they chose that pattern!  Once I liked the size of the letters I cut the first word...Grandchildren.  I was on pins and needles when I got ready to lift the letters...the vinyl requires some working with it to get the letters to lift correctly from the mat...the handy dandy little Cricut tool set was a lifesaver.  There are also very detailed instructions in the vinyl package you purchase.  Once I got the word lifted smoothly I laid it out on the board.  I had previously painted the board using Martha Stewart pearl paint as my base (2-3 coats) and then putting on a brown paint and wiping off most of it...I wanted the distressed look for the wood.  I the laid down the word Grandchildren using the clear lifting vinyl/paper and then rubbed the letters down.  It is very similar to transferring any type of letters like rub-ons...you gently work the vinyl with the stick to smooth it out and get it to adhere to the wood, then you slowly peel back the lifting vinyl/paper and presto, it's all nice and neat.  I decided I wanted a different color vinyl for the second row of words so back to JoAnn's.  This time I got the variety pack!  Yes there is a variety pack of vinyl...it comes with about 7-9 different colors in smaller sheets. I used brown for the second set of letters and following the same process set them down on the board.

I had picked up eyelet screws and screwed two of them into the board along the bottom edge.  I wanted them in the board before I put layers of Mod Podge on the board to secure the vinyl. I then put on Mod Podge, about 3 layers.  I wanted to make sure the vinyl was not going anywhere and I wanted to protect the project as well.  Once the Mod Podge dried I put two hangers on the back of the board through which I tied the pretty brown floral print ribbon and tied in a bow at the top.  I then tied a piece of jute cord I had in my stash to the eyelet screws and started adding the other embellishments...the bling at the top next to the word Grandchildren on both ends, the flowers, the butterfly.  I had picked up small clothespins to put on the cord to hold the photos, that was my intent in following the original pin; but when in Michael's I found in the dollar bins these really cute little rectangular and heart shaped chalkboards attached to clothespins.  I used these instead and I think they add a nice touch to the project and make it more personalized.  Sometimes those chance finds at the craft store are the best finds!

I wrote each of my friends grandkid's names on the chalkboards, rectangles for the boys and hearts for the girls.  I used a gold fine tipped pen...I couldn't find a white one. For illustration purposes I just added pieces of scrapbook paper to represent where the kids pictures would hang.

We had dinner last night and I gave her the gift.  It was a big hit, and I am wonderfully pleased with the end result!

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Wreaths

Hi there, it's been awhile...there have been big life happenings in my little corner of the world, but finally feel like I'm getting some of my time freed up again.  I have a small group of friends who try to meet once a month for a craft night.  It's a pretty eclectic group of ladies with a wide variety of styles and tastes.  We started the group to encourage ourselves and each other in our crafty pursuits.  We wanted to specifically set aside time for ourselves, visit and touch base with each other and hopefully accomplish something during that two hour window, one night a month.  We have no set rules, we don't require everyone do the same project, we put out suggestions and usually bring our version of the supplies to create our project.  Something unique and different for each of us.

Have we been successful you may ask?  Depends on how you rate success!  Have we met every month, nope...but in the months we have met, we have done what we set out to do, we've visited, crafted, and most every one of those times, made something new or different, something outside our comfort zone, something we'd seen on Pinterest or somewhere else and wanted to try, and done it with enthusiasm and most importantly...enjoyed ourselves.  For September's evening everyone decided they wanted to make wreaths.  Because we don't have strict rules or a set format everyone did something a little different.

I have a lovely Fall wreath that I had made a few years ago so decided to focus on a wreath for Halloween.  My design utilizes a couple of different design ideas I had seen on Pinterest.  I tried to use only supplies that I had at my house but ended up buying a couple of items as noted.  The first idea was to use wire insulation tubing from Home Depot (.97 cents) to create the wreath.   I cut the tube to the length I needed to create approximately a 15" round wreath.  I duck taped the ends together and then wrapped the entire wreath in black tulle.  I found some black 1/2 inch wide ribbon with glittery dots in Halloween colors at JoAnn's and wrapped that around the circumference of the wreath.  I found the same kind of dotted ribbon in 2 1/2" wide and made a bow for the top of the wreath.


The oval at the top was cut from an old file folder 2 times (recycling at it's best!) and covered in orange paper.  I used a strip of black paper and my Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch to have some black goo dripping from the top of the oval.  I bought "eeire" words from K&Company, this one says Boo! and has a bunch of glittery, swirls and such.

For the main part of the wreath I decided to go with rosettes!  My eyes are always bigger than they should be and I don't often take into account all the work involved in the particular design I've decided on.  I folded a lot of rosettes!!! Lucky for me I had the Tim Holtz rosettes die and the Ribbons and Rosettes Cricut cartridge which had a rosette pattern with spiders on the edges.  This helped a lot!  I used a variety of patterned Halloween paper I had at home as well as plain card stock in the standard Halloween colors, purple, black, orange, grey. After cutting all the rosettes I folded and glued and folded and glued, and folded and glued some more...you get the idea!  I started arranging the rosettes around the wreath, stacking and hot gluing.  I found a small bag of colorful little spiders that I also added as accents.  I then had enough of the 1 inch dotted ribbon left to make a hanger which I looped around the wreath and tied in a bow at the top.

Fun times!  Cya later!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Magazine Card File

Recently while on Pinterest I found this cute little idea here for holding cards. I frequently make card sets for individuals as gifts and have wanted a way to gift them to the individuals. I think I have found my answer. The lady who shares this idea has a detailed tutorial at the link above as well as a picture of the cuts on graph paper with dimensions which I printed out as my guide.  She made her example out of white card stock and banded the magazine file with two different papers and added embellishments on the front of the box.  I chose colored paper for my files, just to change things up.  Here is my first one using a nice deep grass green color... I created a white band for around the box and used a Martha Stewart punch (Starburst I think) for the edges. 

The circumference of the box is greater than 12 inches by about 2 inches, so I stopped the border punch at each front edge and just did a plain white piece on the front.  I then added a scrap of pretty floral paper from K&Company and brought that around the perimeter of the box and stopped at each front edge.  I used the big flower punch by EK Success and punched it out of the same floral paper and layered on top of it a piece of white card stock.  I inked the edges and stamped it with a sentiment from my friend Shawn's

new stamp set you can check out here.  I had made some monogrammed note cards with green card stock as the accent pieces so this magazine file went perfectly with them.

Next I chose a blue card stock without pattern.  The instructions are really straightforward and this is just a breeze to make.  It goes together quickly and easily.  After putting the box together I again chose a piece of white card stock to make the first band around the box.  This time I used my StampinUp! floral border punch.  This was a little more complicated making sure the borders matched top and bottom.  Again because of the circumference being longer that 12" I pieced together the part that went on the front of the box...I made it the width of the front of the box and and extra 1/2 inch on each side and matched as closely as possible my punched border to have continuity.  The inside floral boarder was from a package of K&Company adhesive borders that I bought with the papers mentioned above.  I also had some separate embellishments/stickers which I used on the front of the box and then again on the back spine of the magazine file.

  These cards were monogrammed note cards and I used a light lavender card stock for accent.  These card magazines hold about 10 A2 notecards and envelopes nicely.

I hope my friend enjoys her gifts.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

 

Scrap Cards

Still using up some of my scraps, from My Minds Eye stash.  These are just general cards for various occasions, thanks, illness, missing you.  I used the idea referenced in yesterday's post but turned the scrap pieces on their sides and added more to go the length of the card from top to bottom.  I also staggered them to add some visual interest.  I added some pretty green ribbon edged with gold from my stash.  For the sentiment I used my Sizzix Decorative Labels dies and stamped my sentiment in Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink then ran it through my Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I added a green pearl on each side of the label then popped it up on pop dots.

Next I took my Stampin Up lacy border punch and punched the same scraps used above and layered them from the bottom of the card about half way up the card.  I used some olive green satin ribbon and laid that over the edge of the top scrap to give it a finished look.  On the sentiment label I stamped in green and added green pearls to complete the look.  I also popped this label up as well.

Last, I grabbed my Martha Stewart punches and started playing.  This particular punch looks like a starburst...I'm not sure of the name of it and apologize for that...it went really well with the paper scraps I chose as it has somewhat of a starburst pattern. I used the punch around the page punch and punched along one side of each strip.  I punched four strips and laid one along the left edge and one along the right edge of the card.  The remaining two strips I put down the center of the card and backed up the straight edges to each other.  I used the large starburst punch and punched a 2 inch starburst out of the same paper.  I pulled a golden rod paper and punched a small 1 1/4 inch circle and a cut a large 2 1/2 inch circle.  I stamped my sentiment on the smaller circle and mounted on top of the starburst and then mounted the whole thing on the 2 1/2 in. circle and added a gold jewel at the bottom.  I put pop dots behind the circle to lift it off the page.  I really like the way it turned out.

And finally, my friend Shawn has designed her own set of sentiment stamps.  She is selling a small number of sets and if you are interested you can check them out here.  She is offering a great deal on them...there are 22 stamps in the set.  A great addition to your stamp collection for a really reasonable price. 

 

I really love to get comments, so please feel free to leave one.  See you around...until then, Imagine, Create and Enjoy!

Anniversary Cards

Needed some anniversary cards this month.  I had some papers from Valentine's Day so set about making a card for my BFF.  Becky and Ed celebrate their 35th anniversary this year.  I had picked up a Martha Stewart butterfly border punch and had not yet tried it out.  I started playing with it and decided that the border turned out so well that I wanted to use it on the anniversary card.  I used some pearly white card stock by Gemstones and cut it to a 6 x 9 size, scored at 4.5 inches and folded in half.  I cut the patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle called Love Story to fit on the 6 x 4.5 front of the card stock.  The paper had come out around Valentine's Day.  I punched the beautiful butterfly border using a pearly pink from the Gemstones paper.  I cut the tag from the Spellbinder's Nestabilities die and used my little stamp about true love stories...I added pink pearls at the top and bottom of the sentiment.  I mounted the sentiment using pop dots then cut more pop dots to mount on the butterfly border to make it stand up over the edge of the sentiment block.  To finish it off I stamped Happy Anniversary in the inside of the card and added a pretty matching pink bow with some satin edged organza ribbon from the dollar bin at Michael's.

Next up I worked on an anniversary card for my sweetie.  I used embossed craft paper from my Recollections Love Letters pad previously mentioned in my blog. I cut another 6 x 9 inch size card scored at 4.5 inches and folded in half.  I then cut one of the embossed papers from the collection to fit inside the 6 x 4.5 front of the card.  I used the Spellbinder's Nestabilities die mentioned above and stamped in horizontally with another one of my love stamps.  Since I was working with red embossing on the craft paper, I stamped the sentiment in red and then inked around the edges of the sentiment tag; at the top of the sentiment I added light grey pearls.  I used a pearly grey Gemstones paper and cut a butterfly border for the bottom of the sentiment.  I used pop dots to lift it over the bottom edge of the sentiment.  To finish it off, I added a sparkly red ribbon bow to the front and stamped Happy Anniversary inside the card.  Happy 30th Anniversary dear!

I think they both turned out very nicely.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Romantic Kraft Cards

A few weekends ago I was browsing Michael's aisles and found this wonderful kraft card paper pad from Michael's Recollections line of supplies.  It is called Love Letters.  It has some beautifully embossed papers that are wonderful for making Valentine's cards or love notes for your spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, well you get the idea.  I decided to make this as a gift for someone so will only share a couple of them here.  I'll share the rest once I've sent them off...so stay tuned.  This paper for the first card was patterned with writing and flowers, music, etc.  Additionally it had these two pretty birds perched on the front and they were overlaid with a burnished copper embossing.  I found the beautiful matching ribbon in the Thanksgiving decorations at Michaels on sale and knew it was a perfect match.  The other nice thing about the paper pad is it had two page of tags/embellishments in it.  The tag across the bottom is one of them.  It is kind of hard to see, but it is raised with foam stickies, it says For My Love in the same burnished copper and I stamped a love sentiment next to it in copper.

For the second card, I chose to highlight the perfect block on the left side of the page and use it as my sentiment location.  In the lower left corner there are two flowers that are embossed with a glittery red as is the word Love and the No. 206.  I used my Martha Stewart embossed heart punch and punched a small red glitter embossed heart for the upper right corner of the box and used the Butterflies Sizzlet from SU! to add a butterfly in the lower right corner.  Then to finish it off, I stamped the love sentiment you see in the box in red and added a glittery red ribbon from my Christmas ribbon stash.

I can't say enough about this paper pack.  It is really wonderful and has some beautiful patterns and embossing on it.  Check it out the next time you're in Michael's!  Great for making Love Notes for your sweetie!

See you next time.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Mother's Day Card

I have recently gotten some Martha Stewart punches.  They are the deep edge Aster punch, the Starburst punch around the page border and corner punch and the Starburst punch around the page punch that allows you to punch anywhere on the page (i.e., in the middle of the paper).  They had been sitting on my craft table, staring at me...you know...you buy something cuz you think how cute it would be to do a project like that, and you get the item and then it sits and stares at you...at least some of my supplies do that!  Not with everything, but with a few things.  Anyhow, I digress...I decided Mother's Day was the perfect time to use these punches.  After a few attempts with the punch around the page punch I got the idea.  First of all, the way these punches are set to work, you must have evenly sized paper on all sides (if I'm wrong, someone please enlighten me!).  If you don't, you get some half punched flowers or starbursts and others with holes in them.  After I figured that part out it turned out to be pretty easy.  I used purple card stock to punch around for the background against which I mounted some pretty patterned paper from K&Company's Botanical Specialty paper pad by Susan Winget.  She makes some beautiful papers.  I stamped my Mother's Day sentiment on the patterned paper.  I then had a background to mount the butterflies I had cut with my Sizzix machine and my SU! butterfly die.  I then added a large Aster flower made with the deep edge punch out of contrasting green color and added some bling.  What card or project is complete with out a little bling.  I mounted all of this on a specialty white iced looking paper.  On the inside of the card I used my butterfly stamp and stamped butterflies on the left edge of the card, then covered one of the stamped images with a pretty, glittery, blinged out butterfly, and added another butterfly die cut from the Sizzix and added the schwoopie in the lower right corner.  I thought it turned out pretty nice.  My mother-in-law liked it which is the important part!  Thanks for visiting today.  Hope to see you again soon!

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!