Hello Kitty Halloween Card

I was 'enabled' into buying some gilding flakes by a very nice lady I met at the GNPE in Harrogate.  She told me how easy they were to use and that I didn't need any special glue, etc. and indeed they looked gorgeous on all her projects.

They were the first thing I wanted to try but when I opened the box, it was like a mini explosion of foil flakes EVERYWHERE!  Jamming the lid back on, I googled 'gilding flakes' and found a tutorial here for a mosaic card background.   Love it!   She recommends decanting the flakes immediately to a larger container. Great tip!

 What a cool technique and one I will use again with my scraps.

Here's the front of G's card.   Kitty comes from the Hello Kitty Greetings cart and the font I used for the sentiment is from Cherry Limeade.

I used my Technique Tuesday zip die on the inside so that G can access the gift card from one of her favorite stores, Target.  I usually have a ton of little gifts for them but it wasn't happening this year!  Hope she likes it.

The challenge over at FCCB is Halloween projects.  There's tons of inspiration from the DT and the challenge entries.  Check it out!     

Thanks for visiting with me!   Happy Halloween!   Christine  : )

Craft Fair Haul!

We had a wonderful trip to the UK visiting friends and family and researching our ancestors.   Just wonderful!  So many 'moments' like visiting the church where DH's grandparents got married, finding a four poster bed in our room in Annan, Scotland, and standing on the Giant's Causeway and hearing the tale of Finn McCoul from a real Irish storyteller.

On our way up to Yorkshire, we spent a couple of hours at the Great Northern Papercrafting Exposition in Harrogate.  While I cruised the hall talking to everyone and trying to limit my purchases from Craftwork Cards, DH stocked up on some favorite food in the Yorkshire Cafe. I think I'll take him with me again as it was very convenient having someone to take care of my goodies while I went back for more!

Here's a couple of 'haul' pictures I took in the hotel.  I could not post them earlier since our internet connections were sporadic and I returned home to a computer that was well and truly dead!  

Thanks for visiting with me today!  I'll be back later with a card I made using the gilding flakes.  : ) Christine

A Print Then Cut Card

We are off on our travels tomorrow and I needed to make a quick card to encourage someone who has just had surgery. Thank you ProvoCraft for Print Then Cut!

The background comes from the Animal Antics cart and the cars come from the Disney Cars cart.  The cars are pop-dotted for dimension.

  I think it turned out cute!

 Right, back to the packing!  Thanks for visiting with me.  : ) Christine

Print Then Cut is Here!

Provo Craft released the much-anticipated Print Then Cut upgrade for the Explore last night, when the East Coast was fast asleep!  All I can say is that every crafter needs this machine.  The accuracy of the cuts is amazing! 

So here is my first project, waiting on the 'fridge, for Master J when he comes on Friday.  Sorry about the pictures.  :(  It's not easy taking photos of a stainless steel 'fridge!

Thanks for visiting with me today.   I'm off to 'play' again.  This time - Hello Kitty!   : ) Christine

Sam and Joe

In September 2001, we came home with two of the most wonderful border collie pups ever!  We named them Sam and Joe because traditionally, in Yorkshire, working dogs are given short names.  They quickly settled into their new home and into our hearts.

Sadly, we lost Joe five years ago and last week, we had to say goodbye to Sam.  Cocoa is as devastated as we are and won't let us move without coming along!

Joey and Sammy were excellent travelers and whenever the SUV slowed down their heads would pop up over the back seat to see if there was a walk in the offing.   Here's how I remember them.

They loved running and playing 'fetch' on the beach and were spectacular frisbee players.

Their job was to patrol the yard and this they did with passion even in the snow.

Run and play boys!  We love you and miss you.   Christine

Happy 40th Birthday!

My nephew turns 40 in October and since we will be in the UK at the time and hopefully, able to celebrate / commiserate with him, I browsed through Design Space looking for a suitable card to make. 

I found this one in 'Simple Cards' and cut it in black for an 'over the hill' feel.  It reminds me of a wrought iron graveyard gate.   LOL!  Just to emphasize his great age, I used this wonderful paper that resembles newsprint from the '50s, as a liner.

I added the '40' and the inside sentiments (from 'Life's a Party' and 'Smiley Cards') in bright orange.   O.K!  I'll admit that I had way too much fun making this card!  Hope he likes it.  : )

This week, the BBTB2 challenge is "Celebrating Cricut" and this week we Explore owners have a lot to celebrate with the announcement of the Print Then Cut feature going live on September 22nd.  And, since I have a registered Imagine machine, all the images from the I carts will be available for PTC.   Woo Hoo!  Thank you Provo Craft.

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Christine : )

This One's for the DGDs!

I just LOVE the weekends when the construction site in our yard is quiettttt!  DH took some time off to play golf and I, after freezing the day's quota of carrots, headed to the Craft Room to make a second SVG Cuts Bewitched Cabin for the DGDs.

When we went to pick the girls up on Thursday to take them to dinner and a quick trip to the hardware store (again!!!!!), we found a sign outside their house warning all the spiders in the neighborhood to STAY AWAY!   So what's a crafty grandma to do but make a haunted house full of spiders?

The paper comes from Graphics 45 'An Eerie Tale' and the vellum was part of an old Martha Stewart Halloween stack.  Very cool!

The battery tea lights kept sliding around inside the completed cabin, and I wanted to add candy, so I decided to make a little holder to glue inside.  I spent an hour trying to construct a holder and then realized that it did not need to be round!!!!   Ten minutes later they were made.  LOL!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  I'm off to deliver the spiders to their new home.   (Insert monster laugh!)    : )  Christine

   

Happy Fall Y'All

Since I've been making treats for the children at OHM, I find that I peruse the candy shelves at Safeway from a different perspective.  When I saw the beautiful bronze wrappings on the Hershey caramel kisses, I just had to buy them for the September treats.

I found my stash of 3 inch treat bags  and determined how big I needed to make the topper.  Searching for 'leaf' on Design Space, I came across this leaf label from Paper Trimmings and to save time, changed it from the 'cut' icon to the 'draw' icon.  I attached a rectangle to form the topper base and found some gorgeous Colorbok copper foil paper for the leaf layer.    Everything went on just two mats! 

Here they are:-

I was kinda glad to get away from cutesy for this month's treats.  Hope the children enjoy eating them as much as I enjoyed making them.   Thanks for visiting with me today!  : )  Christine

September Challenge

My local Craft Warehouse store hosts a Craft and Card club every month.  It is such fun and very inspiring to meet other crafters in person.  We get to see new supplies, sometimes before they go on the shelf, participate in a card swap, show 'n tell our latest projects and enter the monthly theme challenge and have our entries displayed in the store.  Of course, there are give-aways and prize drawings.

The September Challenge was 'In my Garden' and we had to incorporate seed packets, twine and a teeny, flat backed mason jar in our design.   It was amazing to see the creativity and variety in all the projects.  It never occurred to me to stamp flowers and place the mason jar over the stems like a vase, or to add real tiny seeds to the jar.  I just glued mine on top of a picture!  LOL!

I made a never - ending card and embellished it with images from 'Garden Soup' and 'A Child's Year.'
Several people hadn't seen this kind of card before and enjoyed its interactivity.

Terri Anderson from Technique Tuesday hosted a Make and Take using the zipper die she helped design.  Of course, I brought one home!

 Check out your local store for crops and clubs.  Crafting people are some of the nicest people I know!   Thanks for visiting with me.  Uh oh!  I hear Master J stirring - time for play dough and splashing in his little pool!  : )  Christine

Here comes Halloween!

The 'building site' was quite still and empty on Sunday and we were able to run to town and do a few errands, including a trip to M's for black Recollections paper.

I had the Bewitched Cabin from SVG Cuts imported into Design Space and ready to go so I slipped up to the craft room to cut out the 20 mats.  Ha!  I really only meant to glue a few things together but...  well, here it is, totally completed.  : )

The chimney was the part that I had the most difficulty with and at that point I had to walk away.  Five minutes later, I had a thought about fussy cutting some of the Fairy Tale characters from the Graphics 45 Eerie Tale and adding them around the cabin.   It doesn't take much to get my enthusiasm back for a project!

Look how cool it looks with orange tea lights inside it!    This was SO much fun!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

New Barn...

Want to see the progress on the new barn?   Ignore the Honey Bucket and the crazy people dumping ice water on their heads AND the crazy dog who thinks the ice cubes are for his crunching delight!

I was SO determined to keep that British stiff upper lip!  Ooops!  Thanks for visiting today. : ) Christine

FCCB Back to School Challenge

It's been a while since I joined in the FCCB weekly challenge so when I saw the theme "Back To School" I had the idea to enlarge the school house treat bags I made for OHM and fill them with goodies for the DGDs. 

I liked the grade level banners on K-12 image set and wanted to incorporate them into the design.  I cannot believe that S and G are going into 2nd and 4th grade!

 I also added a couple of sentiment cuts from one of the very first carts that I ever bought 'Locker Talk.'

Check out  the DTs inspiring projects at FCCB.  Wow!

It still feels like we are living on a building site as the new barn sloooowly rises on the site of the old barn.  We haven't ever had so much traffic up here as wood, doors, windows, siding and roofing arrives.  The concrete truck is due again on Friday, and the Honey Bucket maintenance guy (thankfully) visits regularly!  On the bright side, the noise and bustle seems to be discouraging the critters and it looks like we'll have a bumper crop of corn this year.  Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Back to School Treats

We had a lovely week up in British Columbia camping at the Brae Island resort.  It was only marred by the knowledge that this will probably be the last trip for our grand old border collie, Sam.  : (  Much as he loves all the extra attention he gets from the other campers, he was glad to be home, off the leash, and sleeping on his own soft bed.

As anyone with a garden knows, the veggies don't stop growing just because you are on vacation and we came home to zucchinis, green beans and peas demanding to be picked and packed away in the freezer!

In between loads of laundry, I started work on the Back to School treats for the shelter children at OHM.   My DGDs are cramming the last weeks of 'freedom' full of activities and I am so glad NOT to have the stress of getting my classroom ready, although I still miss teaching Kindy every day.

This simple little school house box comes from SVG Cuts and I added an apple brad to the center of the stamp from MCT for added interest.  (And, truthfully, I've had them forever and not ever used them!)

Thanks for visiting with me today.   
                                                        : ) Christine

100th Post!

We are up in beautiful British Columbia to celebrate my sister's BIG birthday.  (The one that I am kindly not noticing or emphasizing! LOL!) 

Last year I made her a banner with one of my favorite CTMH sets, Laughing Lola.  This year I made her one of the 3DCuts letter boxes from the lovely Graphics 45 Botanical Tea stack.  The Explore wrote her name  and I was able to cut the tea pot and cups from the SVG Cuts Tea Time file that I used for her card.   How coordinated is that!  

We are planning to browse around some of the delightful little stores in Fort Langley today.  Fun!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Tea Time Card In A Box

It is so hot and muggy here!  I don't do hot and humid very well which is why we live at 1100 feet in the PNW!  I retreated to the craft room with the fan on high to work on this card for my sister's birthday.  It's a BIG one but I'm kindly ignoring that and reminding her of the birthday teas we had in the UK as children.

The Tea Time box comes from SVG Cuts - of course, and, of course, I could not leave well enough alone and took off the cake stand and replaced it with a tiered birthday cake from the Anna Griffin 'Soiree Lettering' cart.   Love those tiny circles!

The Explore wrote the sentiment, and I used the Cuttlebug folder 'Kaleidoscope' to emboss the outside panels.  The paper comes from Graphic 45 'Botanical Tea.'

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

And Beautiful Birds!

The Explore has had a workout today and yesterday cutting and printing Hello Kitty pictures for our DGDs to color!  They needed the handbook to refer to as they colored so I was very glad that Design Space imports EVERYTHING on to the canvas rather than the hunt and find method I used with my dear old Gypsy girl.

They always leave us refreshed in spirit and yes, I will admit it, exhausted when they go home but they also re-open our eyes to our surroundings.  So, the footings for the new shop building are in and the builder sprayed the corners with orange paint, and I mean it was the orangiest orange you have ever seen!  Naturally some of the paint landed on the ground around the corners and coated some pieces of gravel.  Well, you would have thought the DGDs had found gold pieces when they spotted those orange rocks!  They carefully collected every piece and arranged them and re-arranged them on the deck in a pretty (and extraordinarily vibrant!) pattern.  Oh to recognize the treasure of painted rocks.

I completed my Art Nouveau decor pieces this evening and they look very pretty on the wall.

I love the swan - so peaceful.

And the heron that was the inspiration for the pieces.

Although I can't put up summer wallpaper as Loius XIV did at Versailles, at least I have some summer decor to enjoy between July 5th and the Fall apple and leaves 'stuff!'
Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

The Haunted Piano!

Have you seen the latest release by Mary and Leo at SVG Cuts?  I had to buy it as soon as it was released because, of course, it will take me until Halloween to put it together!

As I was putting the file in my SVG Cuts folder, I noticed the piano box card file that I had made for my DD's anniversary and it occurred to me that it might be fun to make a haunted piano!  It WAS fun and here it is:-

Most of the cuts come from "A Frightful Affair" but the ghost is from "Happy Hauntings" and the sentiment from "Holiday Cakes."   I sprayed a lot of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and almost used up my Wink of Stella pen! The bat is a sticker from Carta Bella. 

It was very humid yesterday and we don't have AC so my paper was not cutting properly but I think a few tattered edges on a spider web are OK! 

Thanks for visiting with me today.  I'm off to pick MORE blueberries and freeze them for muffins and pancakes in the cold winter months.   : ) Christine

Beautiful Bugs

Last year I used the Cricut cart "Art Nouveau" to create a summer time canvas wall decor piece.  (Love, love, love this cart!)  Browsing the blogs that I follow, I came across a post by Paula at Craft with Bee in which she created a gorgeous piece of wall art for her bathroom featuring the heron from "Art Nouveau."  This inspired me to make smaller pieces to complement the canvas I made last year.

I planned to make a series of birds from the cart, including the heron and the humming bird and a series of bugs including my favorite Cricut bee.  Since the challenge at BBTB2 this week is to include a bee on a project, I started with the bugs! 

Since I only had ONE piece of weathered barn cardstock, I pulled out my Imagine and printed this grey birch looking pattern from the "Snapshot: Nature" cart.   I used the base shadow box cut that came with the alphabet cuts from 3D Cuts and lined it with grey paper from the DCWV Shimmer stack.

I mounted my bugs on a doily cut from Artiste inked with TH Antique Linen.  I also used some TH rub ons in an attempt to make the pieces look more like specimens rather than art nouveau.  Hmmm.  Not sure that worked!

Here are the pieces:-

And mounted on the wall:-

Here's a close up of the moth:-

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Time to get some yard work done before it gets too hot.  : ) Christine

Hoo's Having a Birthday?

The summer prior to my last year of teaching, I decided that I would do something that I'd always wanted to do - give my classroom a theme!   I chose 'owls' and had a ball decorating, labeling and embellishing.  Since I had 40+ Kinders, I used every Cricut owl image I could find.  What I didn't anticipate was all the cute little owl themed gifts the parents found for Teacher Appreciation Day and the holidays!   Fun!!!!

The challenge over at Bitten By The Bug 2, this week, is to use an owl on your project.  Using 'All Images' on Design Space, I searched for an owl that I hadn't ever used and I found one on the CTMH Artiste cart.  He is such a  colorful party animal that I needed to put him on a birthday card.

The trifold card comes from Wild Card and is cut at a height of 5 inches.   The owl on the front comes from Live Simply, and the sentiment, from Hoot n Holler.  I had to leave the outside clean and simple because I wanted to use my Explore to write on the inner part of the card. 

The inner liner paper actually has a couple of owls on it but unfortunately, they got covered up!  And, the paper is so busy that the party confetti I cut  disappeared into the background.  A scattering of sequins saved the day.

 This was such a fun challenge.  Pop over to BBTB2 and admire the variety of owls that the DT utilized. : )    Thanks for visiting with me today.   Christine  : )

 

If Music be the Food of Love...

... play on.   My DD and DSIL are very active in the theatre and both love the Bard.  So when I saw the piano card - in - a - box from Mary at SVGCuts, I knew I had to make it for their Wedding Anniversary this week.

The candelabra and bouquet cuts come from Divine Wedding and 'Happy Anniversary' comes from the Phrases cart.  The hardest part of the card was layering the flowers!

Mary always adds an optional cut to write a personal message and I added this to the back of the card.
I wanted to add "You two make beautiful music together." but DH thought it too corny!

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine