Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever holiday you may celebrate.  I had a very wonderful Christmas in Missouri with my parents and am now at my in-laws (which is a good thing as I have great in-laws) until the weekend.  I got 4 of the Wal-Mart Lite Cricut Cartridges for Christmas and can't wait to get home to play with them.  I also got a mandolin which I am even more excited about.  I have not played a musical instrument since the 5th grade and man is it obvious!  But I'm trying anyway!! 

I got the Country Life Cartridge from ScrapbookPal.com for my January DT projects and I have to tell you that it is one CA-UTE cartridge.  I can't wait until you see the layout I created with it.  For once it does not have any hidden picture mats! 

Well just wanted to wish everyone safe and Happy Holidays!!  Catch you in the new year!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Village for ScrapbookPal.com Design Team

This new Christmas Village Cricut Cartridge is just so cute! I am going to be traveling for the holidays and did not want to pull out all of my decorations since I would not be home to enjoy them so this cart came in handy. I now have a village that will be much easier to pack away after the holidays. The picture quality isn't great because the village is too big to fit into my photo box so I apologize for that. I hope you enjoy it!







Using the new seasonal Christmas Village Cricut Cartridge I got from ScrapbookPal.com, I cut the 5 buildings (first 5 buttons on top row of the keypad) at 11.5" on designer cardstock. Using Design Studio, I used "hide contours" to hide the cut lines for the doors and windows and cut the houses again on black (no lights on) and yellow (lights on). The benefit to this is that it made the houses much more sturdy. I then hand cut out some solid cardstock to make the shutters and doors. I added some premade embellishments I had left over from other projects. I used Liquid Applique (heated with heat gun) on the roof tops to give the appearance of snow.

I cut the Christmas tree (3rd row, 3rd button) at 11.5" on dark green cardstock twice and then layer the 2 pieces together to give it more stability. I then handcut the trunk area in brown but you could easily recut on your Cricut and just trim to use only the trunk. I also hand cut the star on metallic gold paper. I used rhinestones and Liquid Applique (heated with glue gun) to decorate.

The carolers and ice skaters (2nd row, buttons 5-10) at 3" on black cardstock. I decided to leave these plain as a contrast to the buildings.

The fence (4th row, 8th button) was cut at 2" using the Real Dial Size button. The fence is one of the few pieces that is actually sized proportionately. So if you don't use the Real Dial Size button, you have to cut it at 7" to get a fence that was about 2" high otherwise you get a fence that is about 1/2" tall. Again, I applied Liquid Applique (heated with heat gun) to the top of the fence.

The snowman (3rd row, 2nd button) was cut at 5" on white cardstock. I used Black Diamond and Orange Peel Stickles and Vintage Photo Distress Stickles to embellish him.

This really is a pretty easy project to do with lots of impact because of it's size. It only took me 2-3 hours to complete this project.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

My First Blog Award - Stylish Blogger Award

I am so very stinkin' excited!!  I received my very first Blog Award today!  Hugh thanks and hugs to Angela from My Paper Passion for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award! So very sweet of her!  THANK YOU Angela!!!

Stylish Blogger Award

Now that I have this, I need to do 4 things:
1). Thank and link back to the person who awarded me
2). Share 8 things about myself
3). Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that I have recently discovered
4). Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards


OK, here are 8 things I will share about myself 
  1. I am a wife and mother.
  2. I have a beautiful 18 year old daughter who is attending the Aveda Institute in Denver.  She is just starting the 2nd of 9 phases but I'm proof positive that when it comes to foils she does an incredible job! She is loving Aveda and I'm so proud of how well she is doing!!
  3. I have twin 9 year old sons who are in the 4th grade.  They are just the sweetest, most polite kids (I know I might be a little biased).
  4. I own a meeting planning and online registration company and get to work out of my home.
  5. I am getting a mandolin for Christmas and can't wait to start practicing!!  My poor neighbors!!
  6. I am passionate about genealogy (family history research) and have been doing that for about 10 years.
  7. Genealogy led me into my love of paper crafts!  I had planned on doing my ancestry albums when I first got my Cricut 2 years ago and haven't done one yet!  I can't stop crafting long enough to get started.
  8. My resolutions for 2011 are to officially start my Ancestry albums and to practice on the mandolin every day.
I’m going to pay this award forward to some special Bloggers that inspire me every day. This was so hard because there are so many talented people out there but here are some of my favorites in no particular order:

Jessica at From J's Corner
Lisa at Bug Junkie

I hope that you can check out all of these blogs to see for yourself why I like them!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Painted Item for Partner in Swap

Here is the item I made for my partner in my swap on the Cricut.com messageboard.  The theme for this day was "Painted Item" so I painted a paper mache box that looked like a book, added some gold accents to look like pages (sorry did not get a photo of that side) and then I mod podged my favorite Graphic 45 paper (Christmas Past Deluxe) to the front.  My thought for this was that she could keep pictures, mementos or cards she has received in the box.  I hope she likes it!!


Tags I Made for My Swap Partner

Here are some tags I made for my swap partner on the Cricut.com messageboard.  She really likes mice so the mice ones are digis that I just added some stickles and ribbon too.  The others are ones I made.

I hope you enjoy them!











Friday, December 3, 2010

ScrapbookPal Blog Hop - Win a Cricut Cartridge!!

It's time for the ScrapbookPal.com Design Team Blog Hop!  Participate in the hop and you are eligible to win a Cricut cartridge of your choice (including the newest releases) from the in stock cartridges at ScrapbookPal.com!!

Here's how to play:
Start at the ScrapbookPal.com blog and become a follower (if you aren't already).  Visit each of the design team blogs below and leave a comment on their blog in their post regarding the blog hop.  When you've done this on all the blogs, go to the ScrapbookPal.com blog, leave a comment UNDER THE BLOG HOP POST stating that you have completed the hop.  You can also become a follower of each of the designer's blogs but it is not a requirement to win. I hope you will consider becoming a follower of my blog.

ScrapbookPal Blog
Jamie Cripps
Crystal Butler
Amy Crockett
Tammy White (You are here)
Leah Cornelius (Your next stop)
Tomi Ann Hill
Cheryl Walker
ScrapbookPal Blog

You have until 11:59 PM MST on Sunday December 5th to participate and get your name in the drawing to win a Cricut cartridge of your choice from ScrapbookPal.com.  Have fun!!

My post for the Blog Hop is a banner I created for a friend who LOVES mice.  We are talking over the moon for mice (not real ones though).  So I thought she would get a kick out of a banner of mice!!  I apologize for the coloring in some of the pictures.  The banner is too long to fit in my photo box so I had to take it in the hall on the carpet.  Instructions are provided below the pictures.  Click on a picture to enlarge.





Add some close ups:




I cut the mouse and layers (p. 37) from Create A Critter Cricut cartridge at 5.5" and assembled the layers.  Then I cut the Santa Hat and the layer (p. 47) from Joys of the Season cartridge at 3".  I used Design Studio to cut the shirt (p. 50) from Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge at 1.25" using the Real Dial Size and then stretched it to fit across the belly of the mouse.  I adhered the hat and the shirt to the mice and then used Thickers Alphabet Stickers to spell out "Merry Chrismouse".  Then just embellished with stickles, Liquid Applique, brads, rhinestones, Colorbox Fluid chalk cat's eye ink pads on the edges, Doodlebug Designs Crushed Velvet Flock (I used Lady Bug and Lily White), and a little pink chalk to create cheekbones.  I used my Crop A Dile II Big Bite to add the large eyelets for the holes for the ribbon so the hats would not tear.  If I had enough matching eyelets, I would have done 2 eyelets in each hat to help the mice lay flat. I may have to go back and add these before I mail it!!  I hope you enjoy.

Be sure to leave a comment IN THIS POST and then continue on to the next designer in the blog hop.  When done, be sure to go back to the Scrapbookpal blog and post a comment.  Be sure to provide an email address so they can contact you if you win!!  Good Luck!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Caroling Stair Step Card with Christmas Village Cartridge - ScrapbookPal Design Team

I love the new Christmas Village Cartridge I received from ScrapbookPal.com in our Design Team package this month.  I also love Stair Step cards and thought it would be fun to use with the silhouettes on this cartridge.




Ingredients:
Navy Blue Cardstock
Black Cardstock
Forest Green Cardstock
Scrap of Brown Cardstock
Scrap of Yellow Cardstock
Zing Embossing Powder - Silver Metallic Finish
Snow-Tex
Diamond Dust

Recipe:
Cut white cardstock at 6.5"wide.  You need 1 piece at approximately 1.25" tall, another at 1.5" tall and another at 2" tall.  Tear the top edges to give uneven appearance similar to what you might get from real snow.  Apply thick layer of Snow-Tex over the entire front of each piece.  Sprinkle Diamond Dust on the Snow-Tex to give it some sparkle and shine.


Cut navy blue cardstock at 10.5" x 6.5" and another piece at 5.5" x 6.5".  Score the 10.5" x 6.5" navy cardstock at the following measurements: 1.25", 2.5", 4.5", 6", and 8.25". Fold in a double "Z" shape (see picture below).


On the 5.5" x 6.5" navy cardstock, stamp with background stamp (I used a star background stamp) using the clear embossing ink pad. Pour Zing Silver Metallic Finish embossing powder of the card stock and then shake off the excess powder.  Pour excess back into jar.  Use embossing gun to heat embossing powder til it turns shiny silver.


Using the Christmas Village Cricut Cartridge, cut 3-4 buildings (row 1 on keypad) at 3" on black cardstock.  Adhere 3 of the buildings together to form a row of houses.  Then adhere scrap yellow cardstock behind the windows to make it appear as if there are lights on in the houses.  Apply Snowtex along the roof lines of the houses.  Cut 3 caroler silhouettes (row 2) at 3.5" on black cardstock.  Highlight edges of the carolers withColorBox MetaleXtra Pigment Cat's Eye Inkpad - Pearl Gray.  Cut 1 tree (row 3) at 3.5" and another at 3.75" on forest green cardstock.  Hand cut a small piece of brown cardstock to serve as the tree trunk for each tree and adhere.  Apply Snowtex along the edges of the trees.

Adhere the stamped navy cardstock to the last "front" of the Z fold.  Only apply adhesive to the lower 2".  Determine how much of the buildings you want to show and adhere them  to the back of the card then adhere the 2" Snow-tex covered strip. Make sure that you cannot see the edge of the buildings behind the snow  Determine how much of the Carolers you want visible behind the snow and adhere them to the middle Z.  Then adhere the 1.5" Snow-Tex covered strip.  Adhere the trees to the front of the strip using a liquid adhesive. Adhere the 1.25" Snow-Tex covered strip to the front Z-fold.

Wrap the navy blue ribbon around the front of the first Z fold (over the Snow-Tex strip) and adhere with glue dots to the back.  Cut out a shape (I used the Decorative Label Punch from Stampin Up) in Navy Blue.  Stamp Christmas greeting (I used "Oh Christmas Tree" from TPC Studios Christmas Greeting Clear Stamp set) on embossing ink pad and then cover with Zing Silver Metallic Finish Embossing Powder.  Use embossing heat gun to heat powder until it turns shiny silver.  Rub edge of punched/cut shape with ColorBox MetaleXtra Pigment Cat's Eye Inkpad - Pearl Gray and adhere to ribbon with glue dots.



Because this gets to be a rather heavy card with all the Snow-Tex, I cut some short strips of cardstock (about 2" by .5") and folded and adhered on the backside of the Z folds to keep the card from sliding down (see picture below).  

Saturday, November 27, 2010

ScapbookPal Blog Hop - December 3 - 5


Join us December 3 - 5 for the ScrapbookPal.com Design Team Blog Hop!  Participate in the hop and you are eligible to win a Cricut cartridge of your choice (including the newest releases) from ScrapbookPal.com!! 

Here's how to play:
Start at the ScrapbookPal.com blog, become a follower.  Visit each of the design team blogs below and leave a comment on their blog in their post regarding the blog hop.  When you've done this on all the blogs, go to the ScrapbookPal.com blog, leave a comment stating that you have completed the hop.  You can also become a follower of each of the designer's blogs but it is not a requirement to win.
 


Here are the blogs you will be visiting:
ScrapbookPal Blog (http://www.scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)
Jamie Cripps (http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/)
Rowena Valentine (http://www.creativegenealogyscrapbooking.com/)
Crystal Butler (http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/)
Amy Crockett (http://www.scrappingmommy.com/)
Tammy White (http://theeventqueen.blogspot.com/)
Leah Cornelius(http://paperblossoms.blogspot.com/)
Tomi Ann Hill (http://tomiannie.blogspot.com/)
Cheryl Walker (http://sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com/)
ScrapbookPal Blog (http://www.scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Christmas Tree

Warning - Daphne if you are reading this, close this window now!!  Do NOT Look!!!!!


After my success with the wreath (see post immediately below this one), I thought I would try this method on the paper mache cone tree shape you can get at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  I used the 10" cone.  I did cut these papers at 1/4" wide.  I don't think 1/2" wide would have worked well on this size project.




Christmas Wreath

Warning - Daphne if you are reading this, close this window immediately!  Do NOT look!!!

Here is a wreath I made for my partner in the swap I am hosting on the Cricut.com message board.  Here is a link to the tutorial for this wreath.  I made one change, I used 1/2" strips rather than 1/4" and glad I did.  I used hot glue and came away with several burns but it was worth it for the way it turned out.

I am heading out of town for a couple days but on Sunday I will try to do a video tutorial on the wreath.  If I can't get a video to work, I will at least do a photo tutorial.  I actually just packed the cardstock and my paper cutter to go with me so I can cut and roll the strips while in my hotel room.






Sunday, November 14, 2010

Christmas Layout using Joys of the Season

This is a layout I created for the ScrapbookPal.com design team.  I just love the Joys of the Season cartridge I got from ScrapbookPal!  I also seem to have a thing for layouts with hidden tags for photos as this is the 2nd one in 2 months that I've created this way.  This post is pretty photo intensive but I wanted to share all the details.

This is the 2 page layout - the silver star is metal and does not bend to put in the book.  Oops!  Can you tell how often I scrapbook??!!


The Left Side - note the gold string at the edge of the tree

The Window lifts up to reveal 2 photo mats

The top of the window sill pulls up to reveal a photo mat tag

Remember the gold string?  It pulls out to reveal an ornament tag

The ornament tag opens to reveal more places for photos

And the large blue present with the silver ribbon...

Pulls open to reveal photo mats

The Right Side - note the gold string at the edge of the tree...

Pulls out to reveal a blue star ornament tag...
  

With room for more photos

See the candle on top of the fire place?  Pull it out...
To reveal another photo mat tag   

Use 2 12" x 12" pieces of green cardstock as your base for your pages.  Select 2 designer papers to serve as your wall paper cutting them at 11 7/8" wide x 6.25" tall and adhere to your green cardstock leaving no green paper showing on the interior edges of your layout meaning that you will have the green cardstock showing only on the top, bottom and left edge of the left page and the top, bottom and right edge of the right page.  I used wallpaper from wallpaper sample books which adds a very nice texture.  Adhere a ribbon over the seams to hide them.

Using the Joys of the Season cartridge, I cut the Christmas Tree using the Shadow Button (CrsmsTre Shadow  - p. 59) at 11.5".  Then I took my paper cutter and cut the tree down the middle.  Using the D'vine Swirls Embossing folder and my Cuttlebug, I embossed both pieces of the tree.  Because it is so tall, I had to run it through 3 times lining up the edges as best I could to emboss the whole tree.  I then cut a piece of brown cardstock about 2" x 3" for the tree trunk and then cut it in half.  This will mostly be covered by your presents.  Apply Pop-Up Glue Dots to the back of the tree, allowing plenty of room for your ornaments to slide in from the sides.  Adhere right up to the interior edges of the pages (see photo 1 above).

I cut 2 Ornaments (using Shift and Ornament Button p. 79) at 3.75" on a metallic cardstock.  For the pink ornament, I cut the Bulb1 (using Shift and Ornament Button p. 62) and then ran it face down through my 5" Xyron Sticker maker and then applied glitter to it.  For the blue ornament, I cut the Star (Angel with Shift p. 53) at 2.5".  Adhere to the front of your ornaments.  To make the interior photo mats, using Design Studio software I flipped the image and recut on the same metallic cardstock.  If you don't have Design Studio, put your paper face down on the mat and then cut out the image.  This will help ensure the mats match up when you put it inside your original cut. If you use double-sided paper you will skip the step of making the interior photo mats. Score the ornaments down the middle and fold in half.  Adhere the photo mats inside your ornaments.  Tie gold cording to the holes in the top of the ornaments.  Slide under the tree.

For the ornaments on the tree, I cut ornaments in a variety of sizes on the metallic cardstock and then adhered them to the tree randomly.  For the top of the tree, my metal star obviously is not going to work in an album so cut a star in silver metallic cardstock and cut in half and apply to each side of the tree.  Note to self, metal does not bend!!

The Soldier (p. 58) was cut at 5.5" on skin tone paper, and then the layers on red and black (Soldier using Layers Button) - do not change the size.  Adhere the layers together.  Cut the bear (same page just use Shift) at 4.5" on brown and then his face parts on tan (using Shift and Layers Button) without changing the size.  I ran the bear face down through my 5" Xyron and then flocked him with brown flock.  I also ran the face through my Xyron face down and applied tan flock.  Adhere the layers together.  Adhere to left page of layout.

For the presents (p. 56), I cut Gift1 and Gift2 (using Shift) at 1.5" and 2.25" on the metallic cardstock I used for the ornaments.  Then cut the ribbon (Gift1 using Layers Button) on the metallic cardstock and adhered to the presents.  For the Present with the photo mat, I welded 2 of Gift1 (using Shift) together and cut at 2.25".  Then I flipped the images and cut the photo mat.  Adhere the layers together.  To keep the photo mat closed, I added a small velcro dot to each side.  Place a scrap of red fabric to the bottom of the tree on each side to serve as your tree skirt and then place the presents on top of the tree skirt.  Use Pop-Up Glue Dots to raise some of the presents up and give dimension to your layout.  I also used a few chipboard presents I had from another project for more color.

For the fireplace (p.55), I used Design Studio to make it 6.75" wide by 5.5" tall.  I cut the base on dark brown and then used darker brown ink and ran it along the edges and then heavily over the mantle area.  I cut the inside layer (using Layer Button) on metallic black cardstock and then again in brown for the wood and yellow for the fire.  If you have Design Studio, you can use the Hide Contour feature so you aren't wasting paper.  Run a red ink pad over the edges of the yellow cardstock to make it appear more like fire.  Adhere the layers together.  For the background of the fire pit area, I had a scrap piece of red crackled-looking paper and used a black ink pad to make it appear like soot and glued it to the back of the fireplace.  Use Pop-Up Glue dots only along the left, right and bottom edges of the fireplace and adhere to the right page of your layout.  Remember that you will be sliding a photo mat behind the fireplace so you need to keep the top and center free of adhesives.

Cut the candle twice (Fireplace using Shift p.55) on red cardstock at 1.75".  Cut the layers (using Shift and Layers Button) in green and silver cardstock.  Apply the layers. Because the holly berries cut so small at this size I used Christmas Red Stickles for the berries. For the hidden tag, cut a tag that will fit behind your fireplace when it is glued down.  My tag was 5" x 5".  Then using a designer paper, cut a photo mat to fit on the tag.  I used a Ticket Punch corner chomper to give detail to my mat and then adhere together.  Now you are going to attach the photo mat to your candle. Take a matching scrap piece of paper (about 1" wide and 2" long) and fold in half.  Adhere it to the photo mat on both the front and back side using a good adhesive.  Place additional adhesive on both sides of this tag.  Take the candle and add pop-up glue dots to the back of one.  Place the candles so that the scrap piece of tag is sticking in between the 2 candle layers and adhere together.  This way you can use the candle to pull up the photo mat.

Cut the wreath (Wreather 1 using Shift p. 66) on green cardstock at 2.75" and use Christmas Red Stickles to make the holly berries.  Adhere above the fireplace.  Cut 3 stockings (p. 54) on red at 2" and then the layer (using Layer button) on white.  I ran these pieces face down through my Xyron 150 Sticker Maker and then applied red and white flock to the appropriate pieces.  Adhere the layers and then adhere to fireplace.  Use rhinestones to create a garland between the stockings.

For the window, I took a piece of white paper approx 4" wide by 3.75" tall and cut out 4 squares to make it appear like the window had 4 panes.  I used a Stampin' Up paper punch on the bottom of the window sill to give it decoration.  For the "outside", I took a piece of dark blue paper cut slightly less than 4" by 7.5" and scored it across the middle.  Then using a Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen I made stars on the front of the folded piece of paper.  I made the illusion of snow by tearing a scrap piece of white paper and then applying Icicle Stickles (let dry!).  Adhere the white "snow" to the bottom of the front of the dark blue paper and then adhere both to the back of the window frame.  Now your window should flip up to reveal the photo mats.  Cut designer paper to make photos mats and adhere to the dark blue paper.  For the hidden tag, take a piece of white paper approximately 4" wide x 3.75" long and use the same paper punch on the top to make it match the bottom of the window.  Cut designer paper to fit the photo mat (below the punch area - see picture above). You are going to use pop up glue dots to attach the window to your layout so you will need to trim the side of your photo mat approximately .75" on each side so it can slide in.  Don't trim it all the way up though, you want the top to be the same length as the window.  For added stability, I used a scrap piece of white paper and the punch to make another piece of the window border and trimmed it to fit and adhered it over the first piece being sure to line them up.

Add embellishments like rhinestones to your tree and wherever else you desire. This layout did take some time but most of it was spent in figuring out what I wanted to do rather than actually doing it!

I hope you enjoy it!