Crazy Bird Halloween House

Why is this pretty princess so apprehensive?   Well...

It started out as a project using the 'fill' patterns in Design Space.  Ever since I sadly disposed of my Imagine, I have waited, not very patiently, for this feature to be added to Design Space and finally, here it is!  The patterns are available after you flatten your image in the Layer Attribute panel and then the edit button brings up a slider bar that allows you to scale the pattern:-

 Be aware, however, that the size restrictions on the image you can print and cut also limit a pattern filled cut.  (Go here for more details.)

So, having decided to make a birdhouse (a free pattern from Bird's Cards new svg shop here.) using one of my favorite bark patterns from the Snapshot Nature Imagine cart, it occurred to me that I could use up some of the (many) crazy birds that I watercolored by adding them to the birdhouse.  Naturally, I could not stop there, and the whole Crazy Birds Halloween Birdhouse was born!  Here it is:-

And, of course, the reason that the pretty princess is so apprehensive about Trick or Treating at the birdhouse is that those crazy birds went way over the top with their decorating!  Can you tell I had fun, fun, fun, fun, fun with this project?

I used images from A Child's Year, Monster Bash, Classroom - October and November, and Creepy Critters carts.  One last view with the tealight glowing:-

I am linking my birdhouse with the 'Anything Goes Challenge #111' at Decorate To Celebrate challenge blog.  Check it out!  : )

Thanks so much for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Hello Kitty Halloween Shaker Card

My sister came down last week and we had a lovely 'catching up' visit!  Cocoa was very happy that Katie had a new doggy cousin to pester and chase instead of being the sole recipient of her attention.

Jan brought down a box containing cards that I'd made for her over the last ten years or so.  Hmmm!  Thankfully,  I've learned a lot about paper choices, color selection and design over the years.

I found time to work in my craft room today and quickly transformed it from its unnatural tidy state to its usual comfortable muddle and mess.   I have been playing with the new flood fill feature in Design Space and really like being able to adjust the size of the pattern to 'fit' the design.

Since I was using Halloween confetti inside the shaker, I needed to allow plenty of space inside the  mechanism.  I cut a circle of black craft foam and sandwiched it between the patterned paper, the acetate, and the black construction paper circular frame.  My trusty Explore cut all the elements perfectly and good old Glossy Accents glued it all together.

Here's the inside: -

You'll see that for once, I added the HK nose but I'll confess to cutting it in white and using a Distress marker to color it pink.  LOL!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Hope you like this year's HK card!    : )  Christine

Leo's Lanterns

We're back to reality after a wonderful camping trip in Crater Lake National Park.  Visiting this park has been on our 'to do' list FOREVER and finally, this year, we made it!  The lake is wonderfully blue and the geology absolutely fascinating. 

Every time we stopped at a pull-out, the view took our breath away.  And every time we got out to take pictures, Katie popped into the front seat and sat looking extremely bored, with her front legs draped over the steering wheel!  She reminded us of a tour guide we had while we were doing one of those "If it's Tuesday, we must be in Lucerne" bus tours around Europe. 

Although I packed my Explore, the wifi at the campground was intermittent and the update confused the heck out of the internet connection!  Fortunately, all was well when I got home and I have enjoyed playing with the flood fill feature.   More on that later!

Also while we were away, Leo, part owner and co-developer of SVG Cuts, opened up a new site of his own called Dreaming Tree and offered a bundle of three amazing Halloween lanterns which, of course, I had to have!

The designs on the lanterns are amazing and cut with great accuracy.  Leo has included a Supply List with the files which is very useful and he does have a video tutorial on the web site.  I love the look of the printed vellum. Note to self - let it dry for a LONG time before cutting the pieces apart!

That said, I had a hard time gluing the pieces together because IMHO, the panel openings are too wide, and the supporting structure too thin.  I had glue everywhere until I switched to my good old Zig pen!   Nor do I like the closure at the top - it's hard to insert the last tab.  Leo recommends  a very cool set of LED lights that are remote controlled but these are over my budget, I'm afraid.  I guess I'll reconcile myself to the fact that these are to be one time only decorations!   Oh no!  That means more crafting!!!!

I'm off to work on the other lanterns in the bundle.   : )   Thanks for visiting with me today.   : )   Christine

Zombies!

DH is in Seattle for a couple of days and I have Katie sitting duties.  All that entails (sorry!) is keeping her entertained so that she's NOT tearing round the house chasing Cocoa down and wrestling with him, because she's not really supposed to do that for at least two more weeks.  (I really should have taken the vet up on his offer of extra Katie sedatives...)

Anyway, I was able to creep up to the Craft Room while she slept and play with the Triple  Easel card again.  Isn't this fun?

This card is for Master J's mom who taught him a totally inappropriate Girl Scout song about tombstones, that he absolutely loves!  The tombstones feature absolutely dreadful puns - the kind my Dad relished telling his grandchildren for their predictable reactions - 'Dawn Under,' 'Lon Gawn' and my favorite 'Al B. Bach.'

I cut the tombstones from the Life's a Party cart, the zombies and hand are from the Zombie digital set, and the spider webs from A Frightful Affair.  I used the Art Deco font to write on the top layer of the tombstones.

I am linking my card with the Fun with Puns challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas.  Go take a look at all the DT creations but be prepared to groan!

Thanks for visiting today!   : ) Christine

Edited to add https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/31366966   : )

Halloween Triple Easel Card

The plan was that we would add a satellite TV outlet in the family room so that DH could watch football while I sat in the lounge and watched DWTS.  Unfortunately, the couch in the family room is covered, and I mean COVERED in books that need to be sorted and delivered to Goodwill. So we both watched football.  Fortunately, I was able to play on Design Space at the same time and create a triple easel Halloween card for my eldest DGD.   Here it is!

I followed the tutorial from SplitCoastStampers here, and added three pumpkins sized at 3 inches, 4 inches and 5 inches.  I ungrouped the shadow layer of a pumpkin, and duplicated it.  I used a square to slice away the stalk of the pumpkin and then duplicated the resulting shape.  I flipped the duplicate pumpkin vertically and welded the two stalkless pumpkins together. 

I changed the color of the stalk to green and added a leaf.  I repeated this process with the other two pumpkins.  Then I decided that I needed a carved face on the pumpkins, so sliced in spooky faces from the Pumpkin Carvings cart.   Then I decided that I needed some children in Halloween costumes peeking out besides the pumpkins, so added three characters from the Trick or Treat cart.  Enough!!!!  One last step was to add "Boo" as the stop for the front card.

 Here's the DS file number if you would like to replicate the card.  : )

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/31290037

The challenge over at BBTB2 this week is to create a project with imaginary characters.   I LOVE what the DT came up with!

The challenge at FCCB is to create a project for a kid.  What a fun idea!   Pop over and take a look at the creative designs.

Thanks for visiting with me today!   : )  Christine

Creepy Critters!

We're in Gig Harbor WA for a few days with DH's Flyfishing Club to do some surf fishing - 'pinks' I think he said.  All I know is that he tied some very sweet little pink and orange flies that he did not appreciate me calling "pretty!" 

While the guys were out, my friend C and I got together for a Craft 'n Chat session assembling these cuuuute little Halloween treat bags from the new Cricut cart 'Creepy Critters.'

I sized the bags to cut at 3 inches when flat - 5.23 wide and 6.1 high per group - and they hold 4 pieces of candy quite comfortably.  In fact, these little bags are so easy to arrange on a page so as not to waste any cardstock and so easy to assemble, that I am sure I will be redecorating them to use for baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays, and for Valentine and Christmas treats.

I added my favorite CTMH stamp on the back - the one that goes perfectly on a 1" scalloped punch!

Well, time to get ready for the potluck.  TTYL!  Thanks for visiting sunny Gig Harbor with me today.  : )  Christine

Playing With a Fall Gap Card!

I love all the 'scene' cards that are out there in blogland, but know that even with my Misti, I could never ever get everything lined up, masked, inked and positioned correctly.  But I can, sorta, kinda create a 'scene' with the Print 'n Cut feature of the Explore!  And here it is:-

I started with a gap card (directions here) and made the gap 2.86 inches wide to allow the 'scene' to peek through. The card stock comes from DCWV Pumpkin Patch and proved to be rather difficult to fold correctly even with the score line.  I had to manually score on top of the line the score tool made.  Ughhh!

It was fun choosing the images to go inside the card and arranging them to make a pleasing scene.  Can you see Katie in there?  

Wouldn't this be fun with the word 'Noel' and a Christmas scene inside?  Or 'Birthday' with cake, balloons and presents inside?

 I used Art Nouveau for the word 'Fall' and Birthday Bash for 'Happy' and 'Y'all!'   The other carts I used are Country Life, Pop Up Neighborhood,  Summer Celebrations, and Pet Shop.  I selected the leaves from the Sesame Street Seasons cart, but there are tons of other leaf images in DS if you do not have this cart.

Here's the file for the card

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/31000571

and for the card without embellishments

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/31103598

One last peek at my oh so flat card ready to mail!:-

 Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Back to School

Last week was Back to School week for our local School District and a VERY good time for me to be camping in the RV!  This was Katie's first trip and our friends laughed and told us we sounded like new parents after we delightedly told them that she had stayed in her bed and slept the whole night through!  Of course, I think it was Cocoa's good example, right?

One of the things a teacher must think through is how to manage supplies.  I was thinking about the Master J's little desk and how to organize his pencils when I remembered the candy cane holder from SVG Cuts.  I didn't want any thing so big and gingerbready looking, so off I went into DS looking for a school house with a roof.  I found a very plain one among the images in Classroom - August and September.  I added windows and doors from Sweet Tooth Boxes and the trim is my hard working Falling Water punch.  Here's my box: -

I added the last two apple brads from my collection and the Explore wrote the "Sharpened"  and "Pencils to be Sharpened" labels for the sides.  I could not resist popping a Bird Crazy image behind a window!

I am linking my pencil organizer up with the BBTB2 Back to School Challenge here.  There are some fun projects on the blog!

And to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog here.

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Bird Crazy Halloween!

I was NOT going to jump on the band wagon and buy the Tim Holtz Crazy Birds even though I think they're fabulous!  Nope.  Don't need them.  Haven't even made one card from the blueprint stamps that I HAD to have. (In my defense, I have practiced water-coloring a few of them  Not a pretty sight!) Then, sigh, Mr. H. introduced the accessory stamps and dies and I pushed the 'Buy' button.


Here's my card:-

If you haven't tried a cascading card before, go here for easy peasy directions from Flowerbug.  The trick is to use a nice heavy 'designer' double sided paper AFTER you have practiced with some old, ugly card stock. 

This was a lovely project to work on a little at a time while it was my turn to watch the puppy. (Just to make sure she was not chewing on her stitches.)  I used my Spectrum Aqua watercolors and a small paint brush to pick up the color from an acrylic block.  I love the vampire owl with his fangs and the HP bird with his wand which is really the paint brush stamp with the brush end cut off!  The sweet little bunny bird's tail is the fluffy ball from the end of the Santa hat stamp.

The sentiments were written with my Explore and say "Trick or Tweet!"  "Happy 'Owl'oween!" and  "Flying by with a witchy "Hi!"  Such a fun, fun card to make.

Thanks for visiting with me today.  I'd better go watercolor some more birds!   : ) Christine

Friends!

Just a quick, last minute post to share my project for this weeks Bitten By The Bug 2 challenge "Friendship."

A couple of weeks ago, Master J was reeling off the names of his friends to his mama, and he added at the end, "And Grandma is my friend."   Can we have a collective "Awwww?"   Love that little boy!  Anyway, I wanted to make him something to celebrate all his friends and came up with the idea of photo blocks to which he could add little pictures, including, of course, Grandma!

I made little 2 inch pockets with my Fuse tool and adhered them to the boxes with scor tape.  The font is The Mickey Font and I added the characters since Master J is a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse devotee!

Thanks for visiting with me today and please pop back tomorrow to see my blog post for She's a Sassy Lady.  It was the most fun project EVER!  : )  Christine

Aha! Another Gift Card Holder!

O.K.  Maybe I am a little obsessed with all the varied ways crafters have come up with to give gift cards!  Amy, at 'All Things Beautiful' shared an adorable matchbox pop - up card she made for her nephew and of course, I had to try one too!

I needed a couple of holders for my DGD's gift cards and since their bedrooms were restyled over the summer, I decided to match their room themes rather than the usual pencil, notebook, school bus Back to School theme. 

I followed a You Tube video - here - but be warned, read her comments below the video before embarking on the project.  Just sayin' ...   It was really quite easy and such fun adding the pop up embellishments from Design Space.  I haven't used "Back to the Beach" or "Summer in Paris" forever and I hope this qualifies for the "Old School Challenge #79" at the Cut It Up blog.

Here's a look at the pop - up elements: -

Plenty of room for the gift card: -

(It's a prop, Miss G!  I'm not really giving you a movie gift card.  Haha!)

The monograms on the lids come from the new cart 'Monogram Motifs.'  I can see this becoming one of my favorites.   : )   Thanks for visiting with me today.   : )  Christine

'Minc'ing Christmas

A new box of Anna Griffin Minc goodies arrived in the mail yesterday.  There's foil, glitter paper, extra toner sheets, tons of die cuts, and two toner pens.  Unfortunately, some of the die cuts are not usable because they are badly off center.  : (  Sigh!  I can't decide whether to cancel my auto ship or not.  I guess I'll see how much I can salvage.  I'm hoping to use the pens to 'repair' some of the black patches I sometimes get when foiling.  I'll let you know if that works out or not.

I pulled out my little Minc machine this afternoon and foiled one of the background papers.   Lovely!   Then I was inspired to run the used foil through again over a piece of toner paper to make use of the negative space.  How cool is that!

Next, I tried the glitter paper on the holly leaves.  I ran it through twice and flipped it over between passes.  Look at the leaf in the corner and you'll see that part of the vein line is missing.   I have no idea how that happened but it was probably OE!

Since the puppy was still napping, I tiptoed up to the craft room and assembled this card in about 5 minutes.  Know what?  This is a pretty good card and will work perfectly for several of the non - crafty people on my Christmas list!

Off to play with some more cuts until Katie wakes up and demands to go out.  Shhh!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Fruits of the Summer Shaker Card

I wanted to participate in the BBTB2 'Fruits of the Summer' challenge and make a card to remind me of the wonderful bounty we've gathered, eaten and  preserved this summer.  We've had cherries, blueberries, raspberries, a few gooseberries that the deer graciously left for us, and we're still picking and enjoying strawberries and blackberries.  I brought in the first of the plums today and the apples and pears are ripening nicely.

An aside note - our little flock of chicks are almost fully grown and such fun to watch as they explore the orchard.  They have discovered that apples are yummy and leap up to peck at the lowest growing fruit.  We're quite happy to sacrifice a few apples in exchange for newly laid eggs.  My DD suggested that we name these ladies after Downton Abbey characters and so we have Cora, Violet, Mary, Rose, Sybil, Edith, Daisy and Mrs. Patmore!

On to the card!  I loved this sun image from Summer Celebrations and thought it would be fun to make it into a shaker card.  I cut an extra 'sun' layer from acetate to use as a template to make the shaker pouch from the page protector and it worked!  The Fuse tool slid around the acetate and made a perfect sun shaped pouch.

Then of course, the pouch had to be concealed between the layers of the card and I solved that little problem by slicing a thin sun shape out of the shadow layer and gluing that over the shaker pouch.  Unfortunately, the rays of the sun looked 'wrong' somehow and the Fuse got plugged in again and I traced around the half circle sun shape and cut off the rays.   Much better!

I had to ink the edges of the fruit because although CTMH card stock cuts beautifully, it has that oh so visible white core.  Ughh!

Lastly, I pop dotted the word 'summer' over all the other layers.  Such a fun and challenging card to make and it exactly captures the long, hot summer of 2015 and it's yummy fruit bounty.  I'll have to  make more cards for myself!

Thanks for visiting with me today and please do consider entering your own card in this fun challenge.  : ) Christine

A Bendy Card from Bird

Hello from the sunny PNW where we are longing for rain!  This is Christine from iamcocoasmom.blogspot.com with my latest post for Sheila at She's a Sassy Lady.

One of my favorite 'freeby' sites is Bird's Cards.  She designs amazing cards, freely shares her files and responds with variations on her designs at the request of her followers.  Crafters are the nicest people!

I have been waiting for a chance to cut this file for a "Special Day" bendy card.  Unlike the more elaborate three piece bendy cards available from the Sil store, this card is just one piece with a single top layer.  I needed to resize the card after uploading it to DS so that it would cut on a 12 inch mat.  I made the card 11.1 inches wide and then ungrouped.  After selecting the card, I attached the score lines and changed the color of the top sentiment layer. Easy peasy!  I chose to use the Graphic 45 By the Sea stack and it cut beautifully.

Hmmm!  Lovely, but it's not exactly 'special' enough for my sister's birthday card.  I wanted to add more dimension and so cut a strip of coordinating paper 5 3/4 by 1 inch and scored one end at 1/2 an inch and the other at 1/2 an inch and at 1 inch.  I attached it inside the bendy front:

and after fussy cutting some of my favorite images from the stack, I collaged them to the inside of the card and to the strip.

Much better! I kinda like this shadow box effect.   I tied the card with a twine bow and a compass charm from Tim Holtz and called it done.

Don't forget to pop over to Bird's Cards.  You'll love her inspirational designs.  

This week's theme over at Die Cuttin' Divas is "Nautical" and I love the variety that the DT shared.  Here's another blog you might like to peruse.  : )

Thanks for visiting with me today and thank you Sheila for the opportunity to share.   : ) Christine

Sea Critter Treats

DH is giving Cocoa a haircut and keeping an eye on Katie because she thinks EVERYTHING in the world is a chew toy just for her delight - except the 101 real chew toys that litter the lawns, dog pen and all three levels of the house!

It's time to create the August treats for the children at OHM and I did enjoy making these lollipop covers from SVG Cutting Files.  They have such happy little faces! 

I used my Explore to write the sentiments for the back of the critters since I don't have (or more likely, couldn't find!) appropriate stamps.  The font is Anna Griffin Soiree Lettering and I love how this font is blocked in at this size.  (Note to self for future reference - 24 pt.)

One last picture of those happy little critters enjoying the sunshine on my deck.

Thanks for visiting with me today and please pop back on Wednesday as it's my turn to post on the She's a Sassy Lady blog.   : )  Christine

Art Deco Card

The challenge theme this month at the Craft Warehouse card club was 'Friendship' and I chose to make 5 cards for the card exchange in the category 'Animals are our friends.'  I struggled until I found this stamp in my stash and the whole card flew into my mind.  (It seems to me that I must have seen a similar card somewhere but I cannot track it down. )

The lovely lady comes from the Art Deco cart and the poodle from Suburbia.  Don't they look as though they were meant to be together?  LOL.  I attached a one end of a length of hemp to the lady's hand with a glue dot and attached the other end to the poodle. 

I embossed the cream background panel with the Old Paris Cuttlebug folder and then I inked it lightly with Tea Dye Distressed ink.  For fun, I added 'diamonds' on her finger, shoe and hat as well as on the collar of the poodle. 

I do enjoy seeing how everyone else interprets the challenge and I love bringing home a selection to add to my stash,  Next month's challenge will take some thinking about.  Glad I've got a month!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine