Michael's Holiday Craft Contest - Week Five

I am sorry that I have been missing this week.  I didn't feel well early in the week due to three nights in a row of "party food/rich restaurant food".  After recovering from my tummy woes, I had yet another evening out with hubby and his business associate and I had to go into my office for a day.  But... In the midst of my busy week, I have been working a couple of projects.  The larger of the projects is this wall collage in my entry way for this week's Holiday Crafting Contest at Michaels.

For those who haven't been keeping up, this is week five of a seven week contest sponsored by Michaels on Facebook - Michael's Craft Some Holiday Magic Contest.  I have entered four of the five weeks and actually won week two.  Each of the seven weekly finalist will be in a final run off to win a Cruise.  I may be calling on all of you in a couple of weeks for help and support me in my attempts to win the cruise!

Each Monday morning Michael's releases three new mystery items that must be used in that week's project.  This week the three mystery items are WIRE, PHOTO FRAME(S), and WRAPPING PAPER. 

I took ten photo frames and framed seven family Christmas photos from throughout the years.  The oldest photo is my husband and his little brother with Santa in 1966; the newest is from last Christmas.  Two of the photos are family Christmas photos and two of them are my children with Santa - 18 years ago and 7 years ago (when the older two were in high school).  I used wrapping paper as matting behind the older photo of my children with Santa, and trimmed it out with peel offs (see above).

For the remaining three frames, I used wrapping paper, cardstock stickers or Cricut cuts to create Christmas scenes to add a whimsical touch to the collage (again see above).

I embellished nine of the frames with artificial greenery, curled wire, mini-ornaments, and HO-HO-HO red ribbon.  The embellishments not only added to the overall holiday feel of the project, but they also gave me a way to incorporate the final mystery element - wire.

The final addition to the entry way wall was three vinyl words cut with the Cricut, JOY, CHRISTMAS, and PEACE.  While I truly do not expect to win the contest this week (there are some cut projects posted), I was happy that both my husband and my daughter really liked our holiday collage.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!

Let It Snow Layout

February 2010 was a milestone month in Aiken, South Carolina.  We had snow.  Not just flurries or a dusting, but real accumulative snow!  We had enough snow on which to ride a sled, build a snowman (or five snow people like the kids across the street), and have a great snowball fight.  In the nineteen years that I have lived in Aiken, we had never had snow like this.  There was only one word to describe the experience:  magical!

I created the left page of this layout some time ago using the Gypsy for the Gypsy spot.  I had never created a matching right page.  At the Pre-birthday scrap bash on Saturday I made a matching page and added photos of our home in the snow storm.  At the time I was quite worried about the palm tree (see how sad and cold it looks?) but it weathered the storm nicely.

I love the dancing snow people from the Snow Friends cartridge.  I think they expressed our snow-happy joy quite well. I used Accent Essentials to create the large snowflakes and Winter Woodlands to cut the small snowflakes.  I used my snowflake nesties to create the date tag below. 

The LET IT SNOW phrase was cut from Winter Woodlands using Bazzill bling cardstock.  I added blue gems to the centers of the snowflakes and pearls to the snow people. 

The snowfall was so fun and I know we will be referring to it for years to come, in much the same way that hurricanes are "fondly" recalled.  Each time snow threatens for the next few years we will all recall the snow fall of 2010 and we will wonder aloud about the possibility of receiving that much snow ever again!

It's Snow Fun Layout

For some readers this winter has been filled with harsh, blustery weather. There has been an abundance of snow and ice, wintery winds and snow days for school children. And though most adults find the wintery weather tedious, children have ideas of their own on what to do with the white stuff.  In that spirit I designed this layout, It's Snow Fun, for Custom Crops.

The cut file uses only two Cricut cartridges, Winter Woodlands and Everyday Paper Dolls, and is available for download at Custom Crops at THIS link.  Full instructions for cutting and assembling the layout are available.  

You should note that this layout uses the mini gel pen holder and mini gel pens to create the blue outline snowflakes.  For those who have not used the mini gel pen holder, you remove the blade housing from your Cricut and replace it with the gel pen holder.  Your Cricut will then draw any image that you would normally cut.

Gypsy Spot Challenge - 3M Adhesive Backed Paper

Hello bloggers, happy Tuesday.  This week at the Gypsy Spot we were challenged to use 3M's Post It brand paper, which has adhesive on the back with a peel off cover.   I received three 8.5 x 11 inch sheets of the 3M paper - red, pink and white.  So of course I immediately thought VALENTINE'S project. 

I used my Gypsy and five cricut cartridges to design and cut this card:  Sweethearts, Tie the Knot, George, Graphically Speaking and Winter Woodlands.  Since so much of the nation is experiencing winter weather this Valentine's day, I chose the heart snowflake cut on Tie the Knot as a primary accent cut. The tiny red hearts in the middle of the heart snowflakes were cut from George.  I added small snowflakes from Winter Woodlands to accent the three larger snowflakes.

The layered scalloped hearts are from the Sweethearts cartridge as is the word LOVE in the middle of the top heart.  The word YOU is from Graphically Speaking.  I wanted a plain font so as to not draw attention away from the word LOVE. 

The base card was cut from Sweethearts and the rectangle on the top of the card was cut from George.  I used a new Valentine Cuttlebug embossing folder on the background rectangle to add texture.

The flower is a Prima product and can be purchased at Custom Crops. The ribbon was from my stash.  The brads are Stampin' Up brand. I hope that you and you Valentine snuggle up warmly this Valentine's Day!!

Note: The cut file has been added to the list of cut files at the right - 3M Love Valentine Card.

Little Winter Woodlands Rabbit Happy Easter

Happy Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday blog hoppers. This week's challenge cut at BBTB2 is the Rabbit from Winter Woodlands. I had not used this rabbit cut before and I must say she is just adorable! I love the layered pieces and the potential for this cute little bunny. I used cat’s eye chalk to add depth to the edge of the top layer leg and head pieces.

I know that I have jumped the season a bit, but I combined the rabbit cut with the new Easter 2010. I used the Easter basket and eggs from the Easter cartridge, as well as the scalloped circle cut. I used my Copic markers to color the edge of the scalloped circle and to color the flowers and leaf cut out areas on the eggs and basket. I added pearl embellishments, including the black pearl for the Rabbit's eye. I used my usual black and white pens to add dotted embellies.

Do I even need to tell you that the Happy Easter cut came from the Easter cartridge???  Probably not.  I used the same chocolate brown paper for the word shadow as I used for the Rabbit, basket and bow shadows. And again I used a Copic marker on the top layer of cardstock to to match the color on the scallops.
 

 
I love the close up of the rabbit in the basket; she looks so sweet and so happy. 
 

The inside of the card is stamped with a curved Happy Easter stamp.  I have a confession:  I dropped the stamp as I was completing the stamp.  You will note the little smudge on the word Happy.  And finally, below is one last look at the card front.

Note:  The cut file has been added to the list of available cut files in the left column - WW & Easter Rabbit Card.

Gypsy Spot Tuesday - Black & Gold Challenge

It's Tuesday and that means the challenges are up at the Gypsy Spot blog. This week Nilda challenged the team to use the colors black and gold to create any project of our choice. Since I had missed the BBTB2 challenge last week where they used the boy and girl Valentine cuts from A Child's Year, I decided to use that cut.

I used three cartridges, A Child's Year, Sweethearts and Winter Woodlands to make this vintage looking Valentine card. I cut the hearts from Sweethearts, including welding two shadow hearts together to form the base card. The base card was cut in a cranberry colored Swiss dot Bazzill cardstock. I cut the top layer of heart, with the eyelet scallops, in a lacey gold paper that my friend Kathy shared with me.

The two layers of silhouettes from ACY were cut in cranberry cardstock for the shadow and texturized core'dination cardstock for the top layer silhouettes. I enhanced the Valentine couple with white gel pen dots and doodles.

I glued ecru vintage looking lace around the inner edges of the scalloped heart and added Prima flowers to the top edge of the heart. I also added a double layer of the word love from Winter Woodlands cartridge to the upper left front of the card. I again used the black cardstock and gold lacey paper to create the two word layers.

I added an additional lacey heart inside the card so it is all set for me to stamp my St. Valentine's message.

Buried in Cookies, Gift Wrap, Ribbon & Bows, and Other Signs of the Season

I have been missing from my blog for several days now.  I just popped out from under the gift wrap, with flour on my face, to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!  I did manage to complete one last project before closing up my scraproom for the holidays. 

My lovely next door neighbor is creating a cookbook for her son.  She purchased a one inch ring bound notebook at a local office supply store which fits 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch paper to use as the recipe book.  This is the type of notebook she purchased.  She plans to print two recipes per page, using the landscape view, then cut the sheet in half and place in the notebook with divider tabs.  She wisely purchased a presentation style notebook with an plastic cover for sliding in a cover sheet and spine label.



This is where I came in.  My neighbor graciously allowed me to create the cover for her cookbook.  I had such fun with this.  I actually designed two covers, but went with a more traditional look, which my neighbor loved!  The file required only two cartridges, A Child's Year and Winter Woodlands.  I will add the cut file to the downloadable cut files on the left side of the blog, just in case anyone else is interested.  Though I will say that this is a very basic cut file. The cut file title is Mom's Recipes for Chris.

Once again, I wish each of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Bitten By The Bug Winter Woodland Branch

Happy Monday - It's a Bitten by the Bug challenge day.  This is the last BBTB challenge of the year as the team will take a holiday until Monday, January 4th.  The challenge cut was to use the branch cut on the Winter Woodlands cartridge.

I cut the branch in Core'dination White Washed blue cardstock.  I lightly sanded the branch to reveal more of the blue base.  I used red metallic to cut the berries.  I used Core'dination White Washed white cardstock for the snow on the branch and added icicle Stickles for a frosty look.

I cut the bird in red Core'dination cardstock (shadow), followed by red Bazzill cardstock for the icon cut.  I used the red metallic paper to cut the bird's body and gold metallic to cut the bird face.  Poor little cold bird; I hope he enjoys the berries.

The tag on which the bird and branch are mounted was cut in SEI Winter Song paper (I love this line of paper).  Under the SEI tag is a tag shaped card cut in navy Bazzill cardstock.  Inside is a smaller white cardstock tag on which a greeting has been stamped.

Below the tag is a red silk ribbon and bow, accented with a smear of icicle Stickles.  The word Peace was from the Joys of the Season cartridge.  I used the red White Washed Core'dination cardstock to cut the word. 

Gypsy Spot Snow Challenge

This week's challenge at the Gyspy Spot was to use snow or snowmen in a Gyspy created and cut design.  I used my new Snow Friends cartridge along with Accent Essentials and Winter Woodlands to make a Let It Snow layout.

My layout features these two happy dancing snowpeople playing in the falling flakes.  The snowpeople are trimmed in white ink dots and mini pearls.  The blue sweater snowman is trimmed in white pearls, where as the pink and burgundy snow-woman is trimmed in pink mini pearls.  Even snow-women like to be pretty. And don't you just love the striped hat?

The layout title is LET IT SNOW, a cut from the Winter Woodlands cartridge.  The title is embellished with two small silver snowflakes. There are also larger snowflakes falling on the layout.  The largest snowflake was cut in navy cardstock and topped with winter blue cardstock.  The mid-sized snowflakes were cut with a silver metallic base, and a light blue Core'dinations White Washed topper.  The navy sections of the flakes were hand embellished with white pen.

Above is a close up of my snowman doing his winter storm happy dance!

Not to be out done, the snow-woman is doing an Irish Jig as her happy dance!

Another Cupcake Wrapper - to Enhance Your Holiday Buffet

I know, I know - I'm late!!  It is Tuesday and I did not post my new Custom Crops project yesterday.   I had one new project this week, Poinsettia Cupcake Wrappers. 

I am going to be honest and tell you that this is my favorite cupcake wrapper to date.  They are cut with Plantin Schoolbook and Winter Woodland.... And are just SOOO festive.  I am picturing the top layer of my triple layer server filled with poinsettia wrapped cupcakes!!!  The cut file and complete instructions are available at Custom Crops - just follow the blinkie at the left to my articles at CC.  As a bonus, the cupcake and frosting recipes were also included...... And they are SUPER YUMMIE!!

By the way, today is Pink Tuesday at Custom Crops.  Pink Tuesday is CC's answer to Black Friday... Earlier and prettier!! Be sure to do a little shopping while you are checking out the new projects.

And finally, I wanted to share a photo of the flowers I received today from my husband for our anniversary.  Aren't they beautiful?  He knows I love pink roses.... But not as much as I love him!!!!