A Christmas Card

I hope you all are doing well!  Life has flipped itself upside down here and I feel like the blood is rushing to my head!  lol!  

I made this Christmas card for a family member (It's posted on the Cricut  FANatics blog).  It was quick and simple.  I used one cart:  Christmas Cheer for the sleigh and trees.  A little flock to them both and they were done.  It was a super easy card to do.  It so reminded me of days when families used to go to the woods and pick out their own trees.  I don't live close enough to the woods to do this, but I sure wish I did!

I hope to get a video up of a bunch of quick cards I made using a bunch of stickers that I have had forever!  They turned out so nice.  Since getting my Cricut, I find I rarely use them any more and hence, had a huge pile of them!  Trying to economize, reduce, reuse... blah, blah blah!  You know the story.  lol!

Tickets

Tickets I made for a couple of swaps on the Cricut Message board.  They are so fun to make.

Winter Wall Hanging

I made this for the CricutFANatics blog.   It's been snowy and chilly here so this will be a fun reminder that just because it is cold outside doesn't mean we can't stay warm and cozy inside.

I started with a simple canvas that I purchased from the dollar store.  Guess what it cost me?  Ha, ha!  I painted it with Gesso so that it would be a solid white and if I wanted to add paint over it, it would be a good foundation for it.  I later decided not to paint it.

I then chose my image to put in the back ground.  I chose winter trees from the Holiday Cakes cartridge.  I wanted a simple design that I could repeat in different values of green.

I was more concerned with the tips of the trees being whole at the top of the image, so I allowed the stems to hang over the edge.  I later trimmed them off.    I then used Ultra Podge to glue them down.  I used a good, juicy layer on the canvas, but only one level of tree at a time.  If you cover the whole canvas at one time, it may not remain sticky enough to secure the papers down well.  You can use mod podge, deco page... any of those type of things work well.  I did not wait for it to try on the bottom before I covered the images with a layer to seal them.  

The rest was simple.  I cut out the house from Pop-Up Neighborhood, and the snowmen and saying from Winter Woodland.  I cut out pieces of lace and tucked them under the windows for drapes.  (That is why they look puffy!)  I fashioned a fancy metal embellishment with red bling to make the upper "attic" window.   I added shiny white twin around the brown "facia".  I used slick (sort of like stickles, but without glitter) to make snow.  I then added glitter.  The slick has been kicking around for a long time and needs to be used!

The snowmen were embellished with buttons and pearls.  I added teenie, tiny little pearls all over the picture to mimic snow.  I just found these at CTMH.  Wow, are they tiny and a really good price!  The flower and brown roofs were sent through the Sizzix using different Cuttle bug folders.  All of the edges of the house were distressed with walnut ink.  I added stickles to the words to give them sheen, without added bulk and to soften the colors.  I added one of the papers along the outer edges to cover the staples, then fancy ribbon over that to make the edges look nice.

Thank You Pumpkins

I made this for my boss's daughter.  I was looking for a pumpkin, but right now they are not on sale and I really wanted to make fresh pies!  She offered to give me one.  It was also made for a challenge on the Cricut Circle Canadian Members board.  You do no have to be Canadian to do it!!!

The pumpkins are from Paper Trimmings cartridge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thinking of You

I recently lost a client.  It was quite sad.  I made this card for his wife.  It is following a sketch on the Cricut Circle - Canadian Members Swarm.  Anyone in the Circle can participate.  I like their rules, they are quite relaxed! 

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

It went together quite quickly.  Sketches make work quite easy!   I used Heritage cartridge for the charm.  I enjoy looking for hidden treasures on carts.  I try to use different carts as often as possible.  I love the butterfly image.  It looks like a Martha Stewart type butterfly, but since it's out of its package, I'm not sure if it is.  I was trying to make more space in my craft room and took almost all of my stamps out of their packages and put them in  binders.  It works great for space, not so good for knowing who makes the stamps!  lol!

I wish I had better photos.  The butterfly has glitter that make the wings very elegant and airy looking - but you can't see it.  The brad in the center of the charm in a gorgeous Teresa Collins brad - but you can't see its details either!  Oh well, you get the general idea anyway!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tickets

I have joined a ticket swap on the regular Cricut message board.  These are the tickets I made.  I used the Tim Holtz ticket strip to make them.  I used Inkadinkado stamps for all of the images.   The coloring took a lot of time, but they are relatively fast and fun.  The spider's body is a large rhinestone.  You can't really tell that in the photo.

Once I made these I thought surely I could do these on my Cricut.  Yep, I can!  I have a couple of carts with tickets on them.  The one that is exactly like the TH ones I do not own:  Wall Decor.  I can't tell you how many times I have gone to use that cart only to find I don't own it!  (My sister owns it, not me!) Ugh!  I will need to add it to my want list.

So here are the tickets I made using my Gypsy and Expression.  If you want them to be in one continuous strip like the TH die, you need to use the Gypsy to weld them together. 

Oooo, see how dark the tickets I made in the center are?  That is much closer to the real colors!

The tickets on the top are made from Fabulous Finds.  You would need to use a piercer, a perforator or will need to score them to make them fold properly.  The lower ones I made from Mickey Font.  Yes, a font cart!  There are always so many hidden treasures on a cart!  I think both of them make great tickets.   

So, if you want to make the TH tickets to use on your projects or if you want to join a swap you can do it using your Cricut!  Oh, and invite me to join!  lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cogsworth

My husband asked if I would make a thank you card for his uncle Bob.  His uncle Bob gave him one of  his grandfather's pocket watches.  My husband was very pleased to receive the watch.  A great reminder of his grandfather!

So, I went to My Cut Search to look for pocket watch.  There were, I think two images that showed up.   So I looked up clock.  Cogsworth showed up.  I love his humble expression!  I do love Disney images, but fun, they are not!  Cogsworth was cut at 5".  Any smaller than 5" is just too darn difficult to do.

The pocket watch is an old Spellbinder's die that I haven't used in ages.  I used Core'dination paper for the white core so I could sand it and have the numbers show up.  I stamped "thanks" in the middle of the watch, I versa marked and then embossed the watch.  I then added some rub-n-buff that I got in a swap.  I added some chain and a cog.  The cog is what is on the inside of tape runners.  I had one that fell apart near the end of it's life and I tore out the little pieces and used one here.

I found a pot button and took wire for stems and some Prima flowers, and added bling. 

I like to use images in different ways.  A grown man may have laughed  if I had said I'd make him a Cogswell card because it is a kid's image.  I don't find the card juvenile at all.  I think the card turned out quite masculine!  I'm sure he will be grateful to receive it.  Very thoughtful of my husband!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!