Sorry!

I am so sorry for anyone who had tried to comment on my post. It was brought to my attention that only google users could comment. I have fixed this so anyone can comment now! I am sorry for any issues this caused!

Jar Filled With Love

Happy Wednesday! Today I have a fun little card I made using Kate's ABCs. I have had an idea to make a card in the shape of a jar for sometime now and while looking through my cartridges I found the perfect one on Kate's ABC's. The original one has grass along with butterflies and while I love how it looks it wasn't what I was going for. So off I went to CCR to do some adjust and editing. I deleted off the grass and butterflies and then added the heart from CCR Basics. After I got the jar the way I wanted, I cut everything out on my Cricut. I used plain card stock for my jar, black for my outline, a various patterned papers for my hearts. I made the card jar shaped by simply cutting out the base twice. I then took the back of the card and scored the "lid" part of the jar. This made a little hinge for me to stick the front of the card on.

The hearts were cut out of scraps I had lying in my scrap bin. I have a ridiculous amount of bits and pieces of paper that I just don't want to part with. Thankfully after digging through I found some pieces that were apart of the same color families and probably the same paper pack. I don't normally mix patterns but I think it worked out on this one! The hearts were inked along the edges and then stuck on using pop dots. I finished it off with some twine!

I really enjoy making cards that are in the shape of something and I love the jar idea. I think I am going to play with this idea some more using markers and vellum so stay tuned! 

Challenges Entered:

Craftin Desert Diva's Shaped Card Challenge

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Mix and Match

Cheers!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. It's STILL snowy and cold here. I usually love winter but this year is brutal. According to my lovely weatherman husband we are heading for negative temps so the end is no where in sight! The upside of this weather is it is providing me with ample time to get crafty. I mean who would want to go out in this stuff?!?!

One of the projects I created was inspired once again by Pinterest. I am so addicted to that site. I came across a cool idea to turn a shadow box into a beer cap holder. There are tons of variations out there and I loved them all! After a little time with CCR I had mine designed and ready to go!

 

This was made using a shadow box, some vinyl, St. Patrick's Day (CCR Exclusive) and Birthday Bash font. Step one was the same as it always is for me. Using CCR and laying it all out.

Thankfully my shadow box was 12x12 so my mat was the exact space of my box. I layed everything out knowing that would be what it would look like on the glass. From there I cut the vinyl using the kiss cut method. With CCR they have updated it that you can choose the material you are cutting and it automatically changes the setting to what you need. Very convenient!

Whenever I cut vinyl, I lay out all the layers onto the base layer first and then transfer it. I have tried transferring a layer at a time, but for some reason it ends up not laying right.



Now it never seems to fail that when I transfer vinyl onto glass, it bubbles. Normally I would give the vinyl a few choice words and think that the project was ruined. That was until I learned the wonderful technique of pricking the bubble with a needle and then smoothing it out. The tiny needle hole is not noticeable and works every time. Check out my before and after photos.

I added a sheet of black vinyl to the back of the shadowbox to cover that basic cardboard color. After that I drilled a hole in the top that would fit a a beer cap. Now one thing that all the tutorials I read failed to mention is that shadow boxes have a spacer in them so you can fit 3d objects inside. You will need to remove the top bar of that spacer so when you drop your caps in they wont get stuck. Thankfully for me, mine just popped right apart. I am really happy with the finished product and ready to start planning our next get together with friends to fill it up! Hope everyone has a peaceful Sunday and be sure to come back to check out the Valentine's Blog Hop on February 8th!
Gina

Wood You Be My Valentine?

Good evening!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! We are back under a winter weather advisory so it's cold and snowy here. Is it sad that I am just hoping for a day where it's above 20 degrees? The good thing about cold weather means more time in my craft room.  Today I have another Valentine for you all!

This sweet little girl is made using create a critter and the font is from Disney's Pooh font. I used a peachy keen stamp on the face and the little hearts are from a punch I got the from the dollar store ages ago. I made my card front a lot bigger than I normally do so I decided to turn it into an easel card. I haven't decided what I want to put inside but I am quite pleased with how it came out. 

Have a great hump day and happy crafting!

Gina

O-H....

Now that I have lot's of free time I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try some new techniques...or even make some up. I was feeding my Pinterest obsession when I came across and awesome idea to cut out your home state and put it on canvas and mount. Being that I am buckeye I started looking at all the different variations of Ohio ones. After pinning away I truly forgot about. The other night I was looking at my old boards and came across these again. I decided I was going to try it out on one of the blank canvases I had collecting dust in my craft room. This project turned into many trial and errors but I really like how it all turned out!

I started with a canvas that was so white and plain. I was going to paint it but with the sub zero temperatures lately all of our paint in the garage is currently sludge. I then attempted to use an old stamp pad. I have inked canvases before but for some reason the gray I was using ended up looking weird. I then used red ink. It swirled well with the gray. I was finally making progress! However it all fell apart when I tried to seal it with Modge Podge. My lovely red turned pink! I love pink as much as the next girl but not when it comes to my Buckeyes! So I sat there watching my little spot dry hoping it would dry red again but alas, it stayed pinky pink. I started to think this was turning into a lost cause I pushed myself back in my chair and started to think. I looked over and saw an old tub that had my leftover wedding things. That's when it hit me! Our leftover sand from our unity sand!

I quickly slapped another layer of Modge Podge on the and sprinkled the red and white sand all over it! It was perfect!! It made this great distressed look on the canvas. You can see the parts where I inked it showing throwing through and it has a great rustic feel.

Then while it was drying I headed over to CCR to start making my state and laying everything out. I decided to fill it with our Alma Mater.  

I cut out the vinyl using the kiss cut method. All setting on three. I used transfer paper and layed it out on the canvas. Then crisis occurred again.....apparently vinyl doesn't stick to sand. Even after it had been modge podged. I just had to peel and pull and lay it out. After some choice words and tears I finally got everything stuck together. It wasn't perfect by any means but it added to my distressed look. I put modge podge over everything and hoped that when it dried it would stick. Thankfully it did!

I added some buckeyes in the corners and I was finished. This project was way more than I bargained for but the end results was exactly what I wanted. It is now hanging proudly in our foyer!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Gina

Jumping on the Starburst Bandwagon...

Well I attempted to make a starburst card the other night after seeing TONS of beautiful cards using the effect. I watched tutorials on youtube and it all seemed so easy....until I tried it. For some reason I couldn't get anything to go right with this. I think I need a better paper cutter that I can easily move and turn my paper in. I have one that came with the Your Story bundle that really isn't all that great but serves its purpose. Any way, I did finally finish it after working on it for a couple of days. I am still not happy with it but I think if I did anything more to it would just end up looking worse. I am hoping that after a few days I will come back to look at it and like it. If not it can sit in my box of card rejects for awhile. On to the card!

I had to flip the starburst upside down because it just ended up looking weird the other way. Then I had issues with width so I trimmed down the sides. I used a spellbinder for the circle and smacked a LOVE sticker on it. Added some bling and then punched the corners. I stuck this onto a hot pink piece of cardstock that I embossed with my cuddlebug. That then went onto a pale pink base. Sometimes you just have to walk away and that's what I did. I havent completely given up on starburst cards though. I definitely think it will just take some more practice!

Personally things have gotten very exciting as I have been accepted into the Advanced Standing Program for my MSW and a job prospect had come my way. One of my resolutions is to make time for myself though so I will be sure to take time to craft and hopefully keep this thing going. Fingers crossed anyway.

Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Hogs and Kisses

Happy Monday! Life has been a bit stressful lately so off to my craft room I went to de-stress and take my mind off things. The other day, I saw a fun little saying on Pinterest "Hogs and Kisses" and for some reason it has just been stuck in my mind. I then saw my lovely create a critter cartridge and a fun little Valentine's card began to develop. I used an awesome sketch provided by Die Cuttin Divas and went from there. I am quite please with how it came out!

Challenge Entered:
Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #147

Isn't she darling? Pigs are too stinking cute! Figuratively and literally of course. Now onto what I did...

Ingredients:

Create a Critter 2 Cricut Cartridge

Cricut Craft Room

XO Embossing Folder

Valentine Hearts Embossing Folder

Pearls

Cricut Markers

Peachy Keen Animal Face Stamps

Red and Black Ink

Red and Black Sharpie

Various pieces of cardstock

Popdots

The first thing I always do is layout my card in the Cricut Craft Room. This program is free for anyone with a cricut.com account and makes my life so much easier when trying to get everything to fit on my cards. I made the card base 6x6 then built on it from there. I used CCR basics for the 1st and 2nd layers. That is the beauty of this program. You can build your entire design and lay it out just how you want it to look. No need for cutting and throwing away because it doesn't fit or work!

The fun part is then the cutting and assembly. I have decided I am way to manic in my assembly to do photos as I go. But you get the idea. I used light shimmery pink for the card base, hot pink for the 1st layer and embossed it with the Valentine's Hearts folder. I then inked it up a bit with some red ink. For layer two I used some printed cardstock that I got in clearance pack at Hobby Lobby. I think it works perfectly!

Then to the fun of assembling my little pig. Her base layer is black and her body layer is a sparkly pink. I tried to get a good picture so you can see her shimmer. I then stamped her face with the Peachy Keen Pig animal face. Since ink smears terribly on my glitter paper I went over the stamp with a fine point sharpie. I then took a fine paint brush and gave her some blush.For her little bow I cut two hearts by hand and glued them together with a pink pearl.

For her little Valentine I used  my Cricut markers. I swapped out my blade for the marker and had it write out my fun little phrase. I then popped the blade back in and cut out the heart. I adhered it to her belly and then took her pig hooves and folded them up for a 3D effect. I used pop dots to stick her onto the card.

I then added some embellishment to each corner to give it some extra flair. I got these nice little half pearls on a Facebook group. I love to use them in corners to tie everything together.

All in all I love how my little hog came out! Thanks for checking my blog out and have wonderful week! Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday

I spent tonight watching football, ice skating, and working on a birthday card for my mother in law. She is a leap baby and only gets a "real" birthday once every four years. Despite the date not exisiting on the calendar, I wanted to make her a card that is fun and special. I decided to branch out a bit and try a different type of folding. Since my mother in law is no ordinary lady, she deserves a special card that goes beyond a normal square. I have seen a version of a side step card where the stairs go down the middle. I have always wanted to try it out but never had the guts until tonight! Now, I am still getting into the groove of this blogging thing so my nice camera isn't charged and I didn't think to take photos until I was finished. Despite that I am really happy with how this came out! I loved a layered look and a stair card seems to provide those layers and that extra "umph" I like my cards to have.

I messed around with measurements, scoring and cutting, with multiple pieces and sizes of cardstock until I finally got a base to look like I wanted. I added a darker shade of purple to accent the sides and steps. I embossed  them with a "Happy Birthday" folder in my cuttlebug. I put Washi tape on the front because I felt like I was in purple overload and wanted to balance it out a bit. I added cuts from the Cricut Cartridge Birthday Bash and some flowers that I had lying around. I used some very cute brads for the center of the flowers, but I can't for the life of me remember where or when I got them. They were just lying loose in one of my drawers. I then used my spellbinders and a happy birthday stamp to add my greeting. I am really happy with how it all came out!

Hope everyone has a wonderful night! Happy Crafting!

Challenges Entered:

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Let's Celebrate

Alphabet Challenge Blog - X-traordinary

New Year....

It seems that every time the new year comes around I think of my blog. It seems that life always gets in the way and this is one of the things first to go. I am going to try again to start posting more but I make no promises. My time has freed up quite a bit thanks to leaving my job to pursue my MSW. I am anxiously awaiting my acceptance letter to school and will hopefully start classes in the fall. In the mean time I have been getting my house in order and spending time doing things I enjoy. It seemed that while working for DCS I was too busy and too tired to do anything outside of the things I HAD to do. Now it's time for some me time! I will close with a bunch of pictures of projects I have done and hopefully I will be able to do weekly updates from here on out. No promises though! :) I have entered my newest Valentine's Day cards into a couple of contests!

Challenges Entered:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge

Valentine's Day 2014

A wedding card for a new Greenawalt

A Goodbye Card for a Co-Worker

My 4 Year Anniversary Card to the Hubby

A Thank You Card for my Mother in Law

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card 

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

Christmas 2013 Card

A Phone Cover Made for my Sister

Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine's Day 2014