An Attempt at an Eclipse Card

The challenge at BBTB2 a couple of weeks ago was to incorporate a word into the design of your project and I was inspired to try an eclipse card.  Plus, I have so much Christmas designer paper that my storage drawers won't shut and I really need to use some of it up!

The cards I have seen on Pinterest use a short word like 'Noel' or 'Joy' because they are created with steel letter dies and need to be cut in a straight line and have no repeating letters.  However, since I was using my Cricut, I did not have these limits.  I chose to cut 'Ho Ho Ho' and decided to use the Art Deco font.  I simply sliced the words from the 5.25 x 4.0 designer paper rectangle, duplicated the letters in red twice and cut a red 5.5 x 4.25 mat and that's it!

Next I glued the designer paper mat to the red backing mat, then stacked and glued the Ho Ho Ho's together making sure the designer paper was on the top.  I added strips of foam tape to the back of the letters and matching the design, I glued them back in the designer paper mat.  Lastly I added the insides of the O's.

 You can see how the letters are stacked here.  I added a silhouette of Santa and his sleigh from the Christmas cart, and added a Santa from A Quilted Christmas inside.

The stamped sentiment comes from Sunny Studio.  The magic of this card comes as you move it about and the words pop out at you.  Really kinda cool!  Quick and easy too!

Of course, by the time I'd finished playing with my card design, the challenge was over.  : )  Good job there's a new one every week!   Thanks for visiting today.  : )  Christine

Finally, Halloween!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!  We had lots of Trick or Treaters including several very cool inflatable costumes.  All our neighbors were out enjoying pizza and watching the over-excited little ones in the cul de sac running about and working off their sugar highs!

Here's a last few Halloweenie things to share before I get seriously into Thanksgiving...

SVG Cuts Candy Gang bags for the neighbor kids. 

By the time the older kids arrived, we were handing out spider rings and Tootsie Rolls : )  The mummy was my favorite because he was so delightfully inky!  I made these for my DGDs.

Tim Holtz Village dies Haunted Houses.  Love, love, love the versatility of these dies.

These little matchbox treats were for the shelter children.  I cut the boxes and wraps by hand and the decorations came from Mini Monsters, Create a Critter 2, Happy Hauntings, Charmed, Smiley Cards and Hello Kitty.

The boxes are just big enough to hold 3 nuggets and the Hello Kitty bat was their hands down favorite! 

Thanks for visiting with me today!   : )  Christine

A Little Batty

A quick post to share the bat wall decor I made for my DGD using the Holiday One Cut Gallery image set available in DS.  

Backing the cut with different colors of glitter paper results in very a different look and feel.  I really, really liked the neon green, but DH reminded me that I needed to cut a moon and stars for the outside and did I want green stars?  Sigh!   Purple looks spooky too and orange, fabulous!  Maybe I should just cut several of them with different glitter backings and group them together in a decor piece.  Oh yeah! Sounds like a plan to me.  : )

Thanks for visiting with me today and putting up with my ramblings!   : )  Christine

A Little Pick Up

Flicking through my stash of SVGCuts Christmas files, I came across a pick up truck box card and immediately thought of a friend's up coming birthday AND this week's Road Trip challenge at BBTB2. Don't you just love it when things come together like that?

Mary's file comes with a Christmas tree in the bed of the truck, but that was easy enough to trim away and replace with this cute sentiment patch from Just Because Cards. 

I added his age on the back of the truck - which I won't share with you! LOL -  and stamped Happy Birthday on the banner.  Honestly, it took me longer to choose the font for the birthday numbers than it took to put the whole thing together.  I finally settled on the Cricut font Southwest because of its simplicity. 

The truck body is cut with a shiny black paper that I have been hoarding forever and I left the edges free of inking to give the truck a little definition.  I added white gems for the headlights and red gems for the tail lights and called it done.  I think a red version of the truck complete with tree would be a great Christmas card for Master J.  Maybe add Santa driving it?  Hmmm!

Thanks for visiting with me on a rainy PNW day : )  Christine.

Pumpkin One Cut Wall Decor

We had a lovely visit from my sister this week and we shopped, walked Cocoa and Katie, shopped, dined out, and shopped some more.  : )   In snatches of down time, I worked on designing Halloween projects for my DGDs and Master J.  I made the Sizzix/Tim Holtz spooky houses for the girls last year so this year decided to go with some kind of wall decor.

 Cricut has just released some amazing One Cut Holiday projects including a pumpkin shaped piece and a bat shaped piece that are just perfect for the girls.  After I cut them,  I decided that I needed to emphasize the pumpkin and bat shapes by adding an outer layer to the cut.

Here's the finished pumpkin piece:-

The bats come from Happy Hauntings,  Chic and Scary,  Artbooking,  and Classroom October and November.  The "boo" cut comes from Holiday Cakes.  I cut the piece in orange card stock and backed it with black glitter card stock.  It's one of those cuts where you see something new every time you look at it!

Now to finish the bat project!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

I am linking my project with the Great Pumpkin Challenge at BBTB2
and with Challenge #311 at FCCB, and also with the Pumpkin challenge, at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenge blog.  Lots of pumpkin inspiration here!

Fall Twist and Pop Card

Yes, I know this is SO last year, but with all the packing and moving I couldn't ever find time to try one of these ingenious interactive cards.  And I'm hooked!

I'm kinda past Fall cards and into Halloween but I did want to participate in the BBTB2 Autumn challenge this week so I checked my Pinterest Techniques board and rediscovered the Twist and Pop card. 

I followed the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and was just so intrigued with the mechanism.  Cool!  The leaves are from CTMH Artiste and the font I used for the word 'Fall' is Liberty Regular.  The sweet little sentiment stamp comes from Sunny Studio. 

Because I can't just follow directions and be done, I tried and tried and tried to figure out how to make the card open horizontally, rather than vertically.  It was a fail, but DH is convinced he can make a mechanism that will do this so stay tuned!  (However, if you know of a link to someone who has already figured this out, let me know and I'll present him with a fait accompli! LOL)   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Apple Wall Decor

While searching for 'apple' in DS, I was intrigued by just how many ways one could die cut a simple apple! Each one seemed to have been designed either for a specific purpose or within the parameters of a certain style.  This apple variety made me smile and I wanted to capture their whimsy to add to my September home decor.

It WAS fun choosing each apple, selecting the right shad of red, and arranging them in a pattern that pleased my eye.  It WAS fun making a project just for the pleasure of making it!

I am am also linking this apple project to the current challenge at BBTB2.   I was totally fascinated with how the DT's apple choices flavor their projects.   Go take a look!    Thanks for visiting on this lovely Fall day.  : )  Christine

An Apple for the Student

I knew it was coming, but did it have to come SO fast?   Master J started Kindergarten last week which means no more Friday adventures with Grandma, Grandpa, Katie and Cocoa.  Sigh!  He loves Recess and Lunch but is not enamored with the schedule and routines.

I chose to go with a school theme for the OHM treats this month and, of course, I had to create special ones for Master J and the DGDs.

I adapted the fireworks box from Sweet Treats using the hide contour and resizing tools and glued on the apple from the Serenade cart.  I duplicated and flipped the apple to attach to the other side of the box.  The sentiment "School is Cool"  was written with the Beadwork font.  (This is my new favorite font!)

The boxes were filled with lots of treats and I popped a Dr. Seuss eraser in each.  A little twine, ribbon, and a brad and I was done.  Such a fun project!  Pop over to the BBTB 2 blog and prepare to be inspired by the DT's apple projects.  : )   Thanks for visiting today.  I'm off to call Master J and see how his day went.  : )  Christine

Sea Monster!

Being a fan of pop up cards, I've been waiting for an opportunity to make the sea monster card from the Simple Pop Up Cards cart and here it is! 

Every year I challenge myself to make a card with a turtle in the design for my DSIL's birthday and this little guy from Stretch Your Imagination is one of my favorite images. I layered him to the corner of the 'Just Keep Swimming' sentiment from Animal Antics and added some light green gems hoping they would look like bubbles.  Since the sea monster's tentacles extend beyond the card, I placed the turtle slightly beyond the edge too.  I love the monochromatic look of this card with its pops of color.  : )

Here's the pop up sea monster in the middle of the card.  I cut the inner sentiment in the inside layer instead of writing it.  Still can't decide if that was a good choice or not!

I remember being scared silly as a child after reading John Wyndham's "The Kraken Wakes."  My dad was an avid sci-fi reader and I used to read his library books when he'd finished them - and sometimes, to his annoyance, while he was in the middle of reading one!   (I kept moving or losing his bookmarks, and couldn't resist telling him what was going to happen.)  

Thanks for visiting with me today. : )  Christine

April Showers, Baby Groot and Paper Spinners -

Time surely flies by when you are having fun!  Let me tell you that I am MUCH happier with my new home now I have flowers, shrubs and vegetables busily growing in the garden.  The birds scold us if we let the feeder sit empty for too long, there's a beautiful white kitty in the neighborhood that loves to have it's ears scratched, and we have discovered a source for fresh eggs that are almost, almost as good as my girls used to lay!

Today I want to share the OHM treats that I have created in the past few months.  Here's the little baskets of Rolo flowers I made for the children in May.

The basket comes from the Art Philosophy cart and is sized at 5 inches high so that I could get two on a page.   I embossed the basket with the Gingham cuttlebug embossing folder.  The flowers come from a variety of carts, (Forever Young, Paper Lace 2, Artistry, and Sweet Treats) and all have a center large enough to fit the Rolos.  You can't see from the pics, but I bought the pastel foiled Rolos that are available at Easter time for this project. The label comes from Tie the Knot.

Having made something pretty and traditional for the May treats, I opted to go for cute and up-to-the-minute for the June treats -  Baby Groot!

He comes from the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy image set and I made him detachable so that the children could play with him.  Oh so cute!  The label comes from Spring Fling and the font I used is Cricut Sans.  I love how solidly this font prints.

Baby Groot is attached to the MCT Stitched Favor Box die (here) cut from Tim Holtz Kraft Core paper and embossed, by turning it crossways, with the Retro Kitchen Wallpaper 5 x 7 folder so that the craft side shows through.  I tied plenty of knots in the twine when I attached the label to the box and I accepted the fact that I might be the only one amused by this.  LOL!

Of course, I had to make an extra one for Master J who carried it around all day.  : )   : )  : )

Lastly, here's July's treats including a simple fidget spinner made from paper. I used the bit left over when a pop dot is removed to add height behind the brad and attached the brad VERY loosely so that it would spin freely.

After I had figured THAT out, these were very easy and quick to make.

Did you make it through this loooong catch up post?  It may not make complete sense since I am watching Anna Griffin on HSN at the same time and blogging is my method of resisting temptation.   : )    Thanks for visiting today.  : )  Christine

Edited to add - Hmm.  The movie doesn't work.  Still figuring things out!  Sorry!  : ( 

Son-tastic!

I hate to admit this, but I cannot re - find the card that inspired this birthday card for my son.  I think it was on Etsy, and it was super cute!  Ughh!  I wanted to make a masculine version of my shaped Happy Birthday card (here) and was looking for a sentiment when I came across the 'word' son-tastic on the front of a card.  Perfect!  

Of course, it didn't turn out to be a shaped card because I loved the arrow font from Boys Will Be Boys and didn't want to lose any of the definition by welding in the filler bits that enable the card to stand up.  (Clear as mud, right?)  Here's the innies:-

 

And another view of the outside.  Please ask if you'd like the file.  I'm not posting the DS access number because I used the candle from the To You From Me cart which is not included in the subscription and it will have to be removed before you can cut the file.  : )

Hope you had a fan-tastic birthday, Rob!   And thank you for visiting with me today.  : )

Tea Cup and Succulents Mother's Day Card

I hope that everyone had a lovely Mother's Day.  I very much enjoyed visits from my children and grandchildren, lots of flowers and cards, and a delicious brunch at DH's golf club.  Perfect!

Here's the card I made for my DDIL and you might notice that I added an extra insert.  This cute, cute tea cup file comes from Mary at SVG Cuts and is part of the Garden Party Box Card set.  However, since I was giving a succulent planter to my DDIL, I wanted to add succulents to the front of my card instead of flowers.

When I had cut the images (from CTMH Flower Market) and arranged them on the front of the cup, it looked flat, flat, flat.  Mary had shaped her flowers to add dimension but I could not do that with the succulent images I had chosen.  Hmmm.  I needed an insert inside the teacup and woo hoo! the patterned trim piece was the right shape and size to do the job although I did cut the side pieces down a quarter of an inch so that it could be glued in the center of the inside of the cup.

I also found that the center of the saucer patterned trim piece would cover the oval hole in the center of the saucer base piece which gave it a finished look. 

So what do you think?   I liked the tea cup card very much.  Mary always designs interesting cards and this one was quick and easy to make - unless you start messing with the flowers!  

 Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Mother's Day Zig Zag Card

Mother's Day is just around the corner and when we visited the Home and Garden Fair last Friday, I found exactly the right plant gifts for my DD and DDIL.  Woo Hoo!  Master J accompanied us and I begged him not to tell his Mama about her present but... he is only 4 nearly 5!

I wanted to try and make a zig zag card with a shaped top edge and by welding all kinds of triangles and squares together, I managed to make a straight edged template in DS.  Then I added the bases of the flowers I chose from the Bits and Pieces, Serenade and Hello Kitty carts and welded them in a pleasing arrangement along the top edge.  Easy peasy!

I inked the flowers, and added them to the card remembering to glue them on the opposite side of the middle fold.  (Note to self - add them to the back of this section too!  It looks so unfinished.) 

Then I had a great time adding bees and butterflies, ladybugs and caterpillars to each of the 5 sections of the card.  Pearls, glitter, vellum and Wink of Stella - embellishment heaven!

Such a fun card to make and I already have another zig zag card with a shaped top ready to cut in DS3.  : )

I am linking my card with the Mother's Day Challenges at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog # 300
and the Bitten by the Bug 2 Happy Mother's Day challenge.  Pop over and have a look at the lovely projects.   I have tons of ideas for next year!    Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine