Christmas/Winter Blog Hop

Hello!!!  Welcome to the Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop celebrating our favorite time of the year. This Blog Hop is hosted by Paulette, from Around the Bock with Scrapalette. If you are following along with the Hop you should have arrived from Blingdazzler’s blog.  If not, you can start at the beginning of the hop at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com

Paulette and I will be following along with the blog hop from the Cricut Circle event in Greenville SC!!  My projects for today are serving dual purpose!  For those of you in the Circle you may know that these events for the Circlets typically include a theme, a swap and a contest.  Luckily for me the theme of today’s blog hop is also the theme for the Circle event (love killing two birds with one stone– YIPEE!!).  For information about joining the Cricut Circle please visit www.Cricut.com.  Now that all that stuff is out of the way…let’s get to the real reason you are here J!!

My first project for the hop is a simple card that will fit not only Christmas but Winter too.  It is the card I am entering into the contest at the Circle event.  I love the way it turned out.  I think this is going to be my stock Christmas card this year.  It was soooooo easy to put together, but yet I think it is simply stunning (maybe I am biased heeheehee).  I may decide to change it up a bit too…maybe a nativity scene, or a silhouette of an ice skater???  Who knows!! 

Materials Used for this project:

Stampin’ Up Cardstock & Ink – Basic Gray

Georgia Pacific Cardstock (Walmart) – White

PK Glitz Glitter – Crystal

Zig Two Way Glue Pen

EK Success 3D-Dots - 1/16” thick

EK Success 3D-Dots – 1/8” thick

Stampin’ Up Stamp Sets – Heard from the Heart  and  God’s Blessings

ATG gun

Gypsy (DS or CCR will probably work)

Cricut Cartridges:

Campin’ Critters – Bare Trees (layer 2 – button 42)

Celebrate with Flourish –Rabbit (layer - button 12)

Christmas – Snowy hill (shift  – button 43)

Don Juan – (Christmas) Pine (shift – button 33)

George and Basic Shapes – (shift – button 14; resized to a horizontal rectangle to weld to the snowy hill to provide a flat edge for the bottom of the card)

Live Simply – Squirrel (base – button 9; flipped right to left)

Wildlife – Deer family (base – button 39)

I designed this with my Gypsy.  First I opened a template I had created for a 4.25” x 5.50” landscape card.  This gives me a base to work from in making sure I have everything sized the way I want it.  There are three layers to the scene to give it the depth.  I started with the snowy hill from the Christmas cartridge.  I then welded a base using the square (resized) from George and Basic Shapes.  Then I added the Pine from Don Juan as well as several sets of the bare trees from Campin’ Critters, using the hide contour feature to space/organize the trees the way I wanted.  Next I began to add the animals; I wanted the deer family from Wildlife to be the main focus, then I placed the rabbit from Celebrate with Flourish and the squirrel from Live Simply (again using hide contour on both to avoid cutting the extras).  After I had my scene the way I thought I wanted it I copied it two times and then began to delete the items I didn’t want for each specific layer.  I welded and grouped the items on each layer and would occasionally place the layers back on top of one another to make sure I was getting everything I wanted in the right place.  Once I was satisfied I made my cuts.  Oh, in efforts to avoid wasting so much paper I flipped one of the layers down and moved the layers around so they would cut on one 8 ½ x 11 piece of cardstock (save the paper from the mat to use later on in the project). 

I used my zig two way glue pen to strategically place glue in the tree bends and on the ground where snow would lay and sprinkled with PK Glitz glitter.  I scored my card base and began by adhering the base layer directly to the cardstock with my ATG gun. I then added 1/16” 3D-Dots and attached the next layer carefully lining everything up and repeated with the top layer.  Then I used the leftovers from the Cricut cuts, and cut a piece to 5.5” by whatever I had to stamp my sentiment using Stampin’ Up’s Heard from the Heart “welcome Christmas into your heart” in basic gray.  I then carefully tore the paper to add another layer element, added a line of glue and sprinkled with PK Glitz glitter.  I attached directly to the top layer with my ATG gun. 

On the inside (not shown-sorry!) I cut down a piece of white cardstock and stamped my sentiment using Stampin’ Up’s God’s Blessings “May the miracle of Christmas find you Safe in the Peace of God, warm in the Light of Christ.”  I find this sentiment just beautiful!  While I respect the beliefs of others, I am a Christian and believe that there is no Christmas without Christ.  That is it.  The hardest thing about this card is the design.  Now that I have that out of the way I am excited about getting these made so I can mail them out after Thanksgiving.

I will be happy to share the gypsy file with you (leave a comment including your email), all I ask is for creative courtesy in that you do not share without my consent and please give credit where credit is due J!  If you do not have the cartridges required to make the cuts, I am sure you can find substitutions with cartridges you do have.  Just have fun with it!  I may be posting some additional versions in the future.     

For my next project I am showing you the tags I made for the Circle event tag swap.  These were soooo simple to make!!  You tend to want simple when you are making 50+ of the same thing LOL!!

Materials Used for this Project:

Stampin’ Up Cardstock & Ink – Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, and Cherry Cobbler

Staz-on Ink – Cotton White

(Unknown Brand) Cardstock - Vanilla

Caron Simply Soft Yarn (Walmart) – Off White #9702

Close To My Heart Stamp Set from the Art Philosophy Bundle – To: and From:

Studio G Clear Stamp Set ($1 Winter set) - Snowflake

Crop-a-dile

ATG gun

Gypsy

Cricut Cartridge:

Jolly Holidays – Mittens @ 2.75 (base & shift – button 29)

Again, designed with my Gypsy, I added as many sets of mittens I could to fit the paper I had; using 8 ½ x 11 paper I was able to cut 6 sets per sheet of cardstock.  On another layer I was able to add more of the shift layers, which was ok because I wanted all of the mitten “cuffs” to be vanilla for visibility on who the gift is to and from (I despise those sticker tags that are so dark sometimes you can’t find a pen that shows up or you can’t read when you are handing out presents!).  I cut the mittens in various colors, then cut the cuffs in vanilla.  I was careful to keep the cuffs for the left mittens together and the cuffs for the right mittens together…this way I knew which stamp should be used on them (to: stamped on the left cuff and from: stamped on the right cuff).  Using the ink color coordinating with the mittens, I stamped the to: and from: onto the cuffs and attached them to the mitten using the ATG gun.  I then stamped the snowflakes on the mittens; on the Cherry Cobbler mittens I used the Staz-on ink; on the Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery I used the coordinating ink.  Next I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes for my yarn.  I used the smaller hole punch and placed the mitten set together by putting them face to face and lining up the thumb then punching the hole as close to the bottom and edge under the thumb as I could.  I simply inserted the yarn, tied a simple knot and cut the excess off!  That’s it!!  Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!!

I love simple things.  Sometimes I want to get to elaborate and I realize that just isn’t my thing!  I have always liked clean lines, bright colors and cutesy images.  I do try to challenge myself every now and then to go  outside of my comfort zone, but when mass producing I just don’t have the patience…nope, not me hahaha!

Well I hope you have enjoyed my projects.  Please leave me a comment…all us bloggers just love comments.  If you like my projects please browse some of my other posts and become a follower.  You  never know, I may just randomly choose someone for a prize J….hmmmmmmmm…..???

Off to the next blog you shall go…that would be Sharon at  Designs by Sharon

Here are the other participants:
1. Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
2. Debbie at http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/
3. Carolyn at http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/
4. Brenda at http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
5. Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/
6. Chris at http://scrappin-nanapuddin.blogspot.com/
7. Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
8. Michele at http://www.michelegreen.com/
9. Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/
10. Dana at http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/
11. Nancy at http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/
12. Madylyn at http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/
13. Wini at http://www.looneybugdesigns.com/
14. Renee at http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/
15. Tammy at http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/
16. Debbie at http://debbieduddles.blogspot.com/
17. Kim at http://blingdazzler.com/
18. Brandi at http://scubascrapperbrandi.blogspot.com/
19. Sharon at  http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/
20. Liz at http://liz-lavendarandroses.blogspot.com/

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Cricut Circle Blogiversary Entry

The Cricut Circle Blog is celebrating their one year anniversary.  The challenge is to create a card using this sketch:

Here is my entry:

 

Materials need for this project were:

Halloween themed paper (DCWV stack from two years ago)

SU! Paper

PK Glitz Glitter

Xyron

Studio G Stamp

Peachy Keen Monster Mash Face Assortment

Staz-on Ink

MS Drippy Goo Punch (inside of card)

Cricut Cartridges:

Happy Hauntings (bats)

Holiday Cakes (moon)

Paper Doll Dress Up (monsters, pumpkin and tombstone)

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Birthday Diva!

My youngest niece turned 6 last week (yes, I gave her the card on time, just a little late with the post J).  Last year I gave her this guitar for her birthday.  She absolutely loved it.  In fact a few weeks ago she told me that she had been rockin’ it hard.  I got so tickled.  Being that we call her the drama queen of the family and that she had been “rockin’ it” I came up with this idea for her birthday card: 

Recipe

Paper:

SU! Pixie Pink - card base and Birthday diva

DCWV Rock Star - heart patterned background paper

SU! Perfect Plum or Lovely Lilac  (sorry!) for clothing and shadow for ‘Birthday’

Basic Black cardstock – card base and base cut of the girl
SU! Blush Blossom - skin color

Chrome paper (sorry don’t know the mfg) – Crown layer and guitar handle

Cricut Cartridge(s):

Rock Princess – Brttny, pg 28

Rock Princess – ‘Birthday’ welded and shadowed, on the Gypsy, using the heart font

Rock Princess – ‘Diva’, pg 69

Embellies:

PK Glitz Glitter Glitz, Eggplant – Guitar

Stickles, Magenta – Headband
Stickles, Waterfall - Eyes

Celebrate It Ribbon from Michael’s

Uniball Signo Pen (broad), White for doodling

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Happy 10th Dawson!!

My youngest nephew, Dawson, will be 10 this month.  I wanted to make him a card that would fit a boy his age but still be manly and “cool”.  He enjoys drawing so he actually appreciates the stuff I have made him in the past.  I think he will really like this.  Of course this is not an original idea, you can google these wallets all day, but making them your own is the trick.  Here is my supply list:

SU! Cardstock – Chocolate Chip

Cuttlebug Folder –  Mesh Texture

Cat’s Eye Chalk Ink – Dark Brown

Versamark – Frost

PK Glitz Embossing Powder – Crystal

Click HERE to see a video on how to make the basic wallet card

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A Birthday Card for my Diving Buddy

I made this for my very close friend and scuba diving buddy, Abbye.

I used the following supplies:

Paper

SU! Cardstock – Bermuda Bay

K & Company  patterned paper - Happy Trails

Scraps for Cricut cuts

Life’s a Beach Cricut Cartridge cuts

Divers @ 2.48

Treasure Chest @ 1.53

Seaweed @ 1.32, 1.12, 1.00

Coral @ 1.95, 1.59, 1.00

Turtle, Fish, Mermaid, Starfish, Seahorse @ 1.00

Fish @ 1.17

Embellishments

Glossy Accents (bubbles, crab, mermaid)

Gold Stickles (treasure chest)

Lavender Stickles (mermaid, seahorse)

Turquoise Stickles (fish)

Yellow Stickles (fish, mermaid’s flower)

Fruit Punch Stickles (coral)

Jolee’s Swarovski Crystals (jewels in treasure chest)

PK Glitz Embossing Powder – Eggplant and Fuchsia (coral), NST Copper (starfish), Crystal (starfish)

Stampendous Embossing Powder – Detail White  (starfish)

And as you can see I had a couple of mishaps.  I accidently cut off the arm of my girl diver…oooops J.  And the boy diver lost his hand in an envelope entry accident, but don’t fret, I found it (only after taking the pictures) and I was able to reattach it! 

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Cricut Cards for Kids

Here are my Cricut cards:

I made two of the Hang in There cards and two of the You’re so Cool Popsicle Cards.  Each card was made for a specific child and contained a personal greeting.  If their blog talked about something they liked I tried to tailor the card to their likes.  I hope they bring smiles to their faces!

 

Blogger will not let me post all of the labels, so I thought I would post the cartridges used here...

alphalicious, calligraphy collection, create a critter, cuttin up, dreams come true, everyday paper dolls, graphically speaking, gypsy wanderings, hannah montana, hello kitty greetings, indie art, lacy labels, life's a beach, paper doll dress up, paper pups, pooh and friends, preserves, zooballoo,

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My Day of Fun and Goodies from CKC!!

I had a great time at the convention Friday!  You didn’t think I wouldn’t did you?  LOL!  Sorry I am just now getting around to posting these.  I didn’t get home until 11:00 Friday night and was trying to get my housework done yesterday along with getting these pics and putting everything away.  The picture quality isn’t as good as I am used to…I used my little point and shoot for the first time in a year; I didn’t want to lug my good camera around all day.  You kind of forget the difference in quality ; makes me love my DSLR that much more!! 

So Friday morning my friend Debra and I left at 7:30 and drove down to Charlotte, which is about an hour and fifteen minute drive from my house.  We missed all the morning traffic (WOOOHOOO!) and made it there at 8:45.  Parked just about at the front door.  We went to the pre-registration booth, picked up our tickets and by that time the line that had formed for early entry was entering the vendor faire.  We got in line  to enter only to find out you actually had to purchase three classes to get in at 9:00…we misread our materials.  BUT, this wonderfully nice lady we talked to was sooooo nice to let us in .  I guess she felt sorry for us – even though it was our mistake.  It paid off though, I spent enough to make it worth their while. 

Our first stop was Tami Potter.  Funny thing was that we were taking her class that afternoon and had to get our mats for the class…their booth just happened to be the first one in the door!  I went ahead and purchased the kit that included the special mat with markings every 1/8 inch, a book with detailed instructions and page examples for the Mosaic Technique, the Quick Glance Guide, and two packs of grid paper containing 6 pages each (2 each of 3 different colors).  I guess it was my lucky day for some reason my kit had a Herma Dotto refill instead of the “Lil Chizler” that it was supposed to come with it. Debra and I discovered this later when we were in our class.  The even better news was that the Lil Chizler came in our class kit.  Kevin, Tami’s husband was nice enough to tell us that we would have a coupon in our class kit and to hold off on buying any pages until we took the class.

My second stop was SEI.  I wanted one of their assortment packs and had a coupon for 25% off.  I went to purchase On the Coast and ended up with Jocelyn.  I saw Jocelyn online, but fell in LOVE with Jocelyn in person.  Pictures just can’t do it justice.  And I totally love the names of the pages…check them out!  I also grabbed a few coordinating chalk inks.  What is so funny is that I hardly ever use SEI paper because it is so beautiful I hate to cut it.  I need to get over that!  It is great quality, and has a great thickness.  I haven’t used it in my Cricut YET though; but have heard it cuts beautifully.

My next mission was to find Jim at PK Glitz.  I love this stuff!  They have amazing glitter and I was on a mission to buy some embossing powder from him this time.  Of course, I walked away with a show special kit AND more.  I bought more glitter…I just couldn’t resist!  Their glitter is so sparkly and they have great colors.  I just can’t say enough good about their product.  The embossing kit I purchased came with two color wheels, a brush, an embossing tool, a couple of spoons and a 4 pack of Wonder Film.  In addition I bought one more embossing color wheel and two glitter wheels.  I saw these transparent glitters and thought they were so yummy I just HAD to have them!

After I hit my must haves I shopped around a little and came across this most adorable make and take at Strictly Scrapbooking’s booth.  The owner Sophia said she is setting up her online store now.  Her web address is http://www.strictlyscrapbooking.com/.  I made these two pages for $6…aren’t the butterflies gorgeous?  Of course I had to buy some.  I will definitely have her on my must have list next year.

It was now time to meet up with some of my Circle friends!  We were scheduled to meet in the café at 12:15.  Well the café had closed, but we still managed to find each other.  It was very good to meet everyone.  Here we are…from left to right we have me (Scubascrapper), SusanEdwards1, debraballance, SusanfromSC, Mary, and doodledo.   It is just so cool getting to meet people that have the same obsession, I mean share the same love for paper crafts as you hehehe and that you have been corresponding with on the message boards for a while.  It really is like a sisterhood.

After we met up with the Circle girls and had lunch I had to take about 30 minutes to do some work…then I headed back in to shop for a few minutes before my Tami Potter class.  I found the Paper Loft and found this awesome manly paper!  I just loved it.  I also found a few other papers I liked, but decided to just get the individuals instead of the entire packs since I didn’t like everything in them.  This is the Dude collection:

Isn’t that awesome for male pages, cards and gifts?  Here are the other pages I bought:

The first two are from the Slug Bug Collections and the last is from Autumn.  I just can’t wait to use those adorable scarecrows!

So on to the Tami Potter class.  We took the Falling for Mosaic – Advanced Technique class.  This class was focusing on the landscape pages that Tami had designed.  The pictures were provided in the kit, so these are not my pics.  Much easier for her to teach when everyone is  using the same thing.  Her techniques are truly genius!  She even explained that this technique will change the way you take pictures.  I am uber excited to use this technique for my upcoming trip to New York and for my Christmas Cruise!  I already have ideas and I haven’t even take the first picture LOL.  Anyway, here are the page layouts we made in class:

And LOOOOOOOK, I won a door prize !!  It was a page kit.  I guess Friday the 13^th is a good day for me (as it has always been in the past).  Of course, just like Kevin said, there was a coupon that allowed us to purchase up to 5 more packs of gridline paper for $2.50 off the regular price and page kits at buy 2 get 2 free.  So what do you think I did?  Of COURSE…went and bought more Tami Potter stuff.  So here it is…

Oh, and I can’t forget my door prize…

I also got this freebie from Storyteller’s Club

Ok, well I think that is enough!  Sorry for the long post - complete overload, huh?  If you are in the area I hope you can join me next year at CKC!!

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