Sunday, September 28, 2014

Creating keeps me sane

I have found that if I am stressed out the best thing to help me relax is to jump into a project. And if I can't get home to my art room? I create in my head....I have assembled so many cards in my head that if I could have actually been making them I could open my own card store lol

I thought that I hadn't really had time to make anything over the last 2 weeks and yet when I downloaded my pictures I found out that I had been busy after all....yay me! And yay you if you like seeing what I have been making. :-)

Hubby wants to start decorating for Halloween so I knew I needed to get this little gem made before he started so I would be sure to have a place to display it.


This is haunted housed from the Elmhurst Hollow set at SVG Cuts.  It is 8 1/4" tall including the little points on top. It looks really complex and yet I put it together in just a couple hours (that is including picking the papers which is always the hardest part!)


It is assembled in 3 sections and has openings in the back so you can add battery operated tea lights.
You can see in the photo that I added embossing to the chimney and window boards.
I also rubbed distress inks over all the corners and edges to give it more of a dark look but that doesn't really seem to show up much in the pictures.


A couple weeks ago my friend Helen told me if I made one of the SVG Cuts haunted houses that she wanted to see the ghost of a woman peering out of one of the windows.

I stamped this Stamp Clinic image of a Victorian era cleaning woman, on the back of the vellum, using ink that was almost the exact same peachy color as my vellum. When the house is not lit it is very difficult to see her. She really shows up when the candles are glowing....just as any good ghost should. :-)


I think I am becoming addicted to SVG Cuts designs. They are just soooo cool!
This box card is from their latest set Autumn Box Cards. It can be an invitation, place card, greeting card or just a cute decoration. And the file comes with an envelope for mailing this gorgeous card!


I love all the little details like the trim on the plate and pitcher, the layers on the pumpkins, even the battenburg lace on the sides!

I embossed the top layer of the pumpkins slightly so they would have a bit of roundedness (is that even a word? lol) and look a little more 3D.

I had so much fun digging through my papers for this one as these are some of my favorite colors to craft with. :-D



I told you I actually made stuff these past two weeks! lol

I found a couple glass blocks at a yard sale this past summer. $1 each! I couldn't pass them up....but also couldn't decide on what I wanted to put on them. (one of them is still sitting in the garage waiting for inspiration)

I finally decided I wanted to create a fall scene on one so that I could leave it out from September through November.

I frosted the front and back panels using Amour Etch so that the lights wouldn't be glaring when I turned it on.

Here it is unlit so that you can see the details.
The tree is from the October 31st cartridge. I think that is probably the coolest tree image I have! I just love it!!!
The fence, which is actually 2 of the image welded together, is from Happy Hauntings.
The pumpkin comes from Close To My Heart Artbooking.
And the leaves are from Disney Mickey and Friends, Disney Dreams Come True and Close To My Heart Artiste.

I had originally planned to use colored vinyl so that it would look colorful when not lit but went for the silhouette effect instead as I think it is more striking.


And here it is lit with orange mini lights.

Notice the diffused light because of the frosting. It creates a soft glow in the corner of my living room.

I have other blocks I use at Christmas that we have to put in strange places because the glare is so annoying. Guess what I will be doing once I unpack all the Christmas stuff this year?! lol


And lastly, I finally got a chance to try out my new Close To My Heart Artfully Sent cartridge.

 It was just released a couple weeks ago. It is totally geared toward card making so if that is what you like to do, you should check it out.
It has the bases for 5 different card types, Scenes, Pop-ups, Sentiments (which is what the one above is), Sleeve and Pocket cards.

And they are so versatile! My card originally said "Dream" and it was cut out of the base piece. I removed that and had the Explore 'write' Happy Thanksgiving. BTW this card is made with only 2 pieces of paper. The red is red on the front and brown on the back. The little frame is cut from the red piece and how you fold it creates the brown frame. Then you have the cream inside panel with the writing. It is very cool and yet goes together in just a couple minutes.

If you are interested in this cartridge you can check out the link above or click here.
The kit includes the cartridge with over 700 images, 3 exclusive coordinating stamp sets and a full package of White Daisy cardstock!

Happy Crafting!










Saturday, September 13, 2014

I am soooo ready for it to be fall already!!!

I am loving these chilly nights. The temperatures dipping down into the low 50s. Windows open all night. Burrowing down into the blankets and feeling all warm and snuggly. Struggling to make yourself climb out of your warm cocoon every morning to go to work.

But what is up with it going clear up into triple digits in the day time?!!!

I love fall! It is my favorite season. But it needs to just get here already!!!  I do not like how Mother Nature toys with us. Teasing us with these lovely, cool nights just to harass us with these sweltering days.

But I guess I should stop and savor what we have because soon it will be winter and we will all be begging for this hot days again. lol

I really did pop on here today to share my latest project (not just to complain about the weather haha)

If you have been here before you know that I just recently began making 3D projects with my Cricut. I bought my first Cricut in 2007....what on earth took me soooooo long to get into 3D???  Well I will tell you.....the projects just look very intimidating!  But it turns out they really aren't!. Wish someone had told me that years ago! lol

And do you know which projects look the MOST intimidating? The ones from SVG Cuts! They have these amazing houses and boxes and teapots and typewriters and ...  You look at them and your brain says No Way! How on earth do you take simple cardstock and turn it into THAT???

Well they had a big sale for Labor Day and since I had just started 3D and found out that it wasn't as tough as I thought, I took the plunge and bought a few of their kits.

I took yesterday off from work (no not just to play although that is what I ended up doing all day lol) and decided it was time to start a project from one of the sets I had purchased. :-)

I wanted to make something fairly simple since I wasn't sure how easy their pieces might go together and didn't want to waste paper (cause with my lifetime stash heaven forbid I waste a sheet or two! lol)

I picked the Keeper's House from the Seaside set. You can view it here. Hubby and I love lighthouses so that was a natural choice for one of the sets I bought. But I also saw so much potential for the house for any season or holiday.

Today it is no longer a Keeper's House but an Autumn Cottage.

I dove into my stash and found some warm colored papers and cardstocks (that took about an hour! lol) I then loaded my mats and cut everything out and assembled the pieces. I did take about a 20 minute break at some point but from start (picking papers) to finish I think it only took me about 2 1/2 hours. I was not rushing, I had the video on to be sure I was doing things correctly. And it went together even easier than I expected.

Oh, did you know that SVG Cuts has videos showing you step by step how to assemble their projects? How cool is that?!

So here is my house.


Cute isn't it? No clue where the papers came from. I haven't bought printed cardstock in years and then usually from the clearance section after every season lol

But you know I couldn't stop at this point. Now comes the really fun part! Embellishing!!!!!


I added a climbing vines adorned with red, orange and yellow roses. The vines are from the free Creativebug files on Design Space. I had never even heard of it before! But it popped up on my search for vines so either it has always been there and I never noticed or is just free for the week. Either way it was exactly what I needed.  The roses are from Flower Shoppe.
And of course I added pumpkins. The left one is from Disney's Happily Ever After. The one on the right comes from Close To My Heart Artbooking.
Tucker always loved pumpkins so I thought he would like to be included. The cat image is from the Pet Shop cartridge and I colored it to look like Tucker using Prismacolor pencils.
The fence corners are from Picturesque. I think next time I will make them slightly bigger.
The door knob is a brad from BoBunny from the Bugs & Hisses ICandy brads set that I bought at least 5 years ago....probably more lol


This is the left side of the house. Kitty insisted that if I included Tucker that he wanted to be there too. :-)
He is also from the Pet Shop cartridge.
His set of 3 pumpkins is a single image from the Pooh and Friends cartridge.


Here is the right side....and of course Minnie said "Me too" lol
She comes from the Meow cartridge and her pumpkin is from the Thanksgiving cartridge (minus the vines that come on that image).


And finally the back. I think I need something more on the wall but haven't decided what yet. Maybe a window frame? Just to fill the blank space.
Again, more of the pumpkins used on the other sides.
And a tree from Create a Critter. I scored the trunk and folded it so that the tree could be glued to the corner of the house. I think I should have done some shading on the large leaf mass (I did shade the individual leaves but it doesn't show very well in the photo) but I like the effect of the tree on the corner.


Here is a close-up of a couple of my pumpkins. I shade them first with Prismacolor pencils. I then score the lines in the pumpkin from the front using a small stylus. I then flip them over and emboss them with a larger stylus to give them a rounded, 3D effect.


Here is a close-up of Tucker. I still miss that little guy. Smartest little cat I ever met and the best friend I ever had.


Here is Kitty. He really has 1 yellow and one gold eye and is a big fluff ball lol
He is almost 19 years old and still going strong. :-)


And my baby girl, Minnie. She poses like this when she wants to be petted....up on tip-toes, back arched. Cracks me up every time.  :-)
For some reason I forgot to paint her white chin and chest....oops. Sorry Minnie.


And finally, another cool feature. Because this is a box (the roof lifts off) you can put in a battery operated tea light! Isn't that awesome? I had it lit all evening and the lights flickered softly in the windows made me wish I lived there all warm and cozy and ready for fall. :-)

Thank you for stopping by and if you made it this far....I'm sorry. I sure was extremely wording this week wasn't I? LOL 

Have a wonderful, craft filled week! :-)

Sunday, September 07, 2014

I am done with Halloween!

Ok, not really. But I am done with making Halloween cards. I have been making a card whenever an idea came to mind. The other night I pulled them all out and counted, I have 11 Halloween cards! My list of people that I wanted to send them to was only 6! lol 

Here are cards 9, 10 and 11  haha

All of the primary images came from the cartridge A Frightful Affair.


I love this cat under the street lamp. I just think it is so cool. The green background is from Elegant Edges. The text is from A Frightful Affair.


I love to cook so no way could I pass up this image lol
Again, the background image is from Elegant Edges and embossed with Anna Griffin's Fluted Damask Cuttlebug folder. The spider web border comes from the CTMH Artbooking cartridge.


I wanted it to look like her cauldron was bubbling over so I added blobs of Crystal Lacquer. It looks sort of milking in spots because it wasn't quite dry when I took the picture. It dries totally clear which makes it great for adding cool effects like dew drops on flower petals. (or bubbles in cauldrons)
If you notice, the 'bubbles' on the top have a yellow/orange tint. This is because the Crystal Lacquer is reflecting the orange base layer of the image cuts. Makes for a cool/icky looking brew lol


And finally, what party is complete without a diva? Here is Mrs. Frankenstein modeling her gorgeous gown and striking (heehee) new hairdo.  :-)
The orange background is from Elegant Edges and embossed with Anna Griffin's Crowned Medallion Cuttlebug folder. The spider web frame comes from CTMH Artbooking.

I love this card! I never thought of making an elegant Halloween card before but that is how it looks to me. I am seriously considering keeping this one for myself lol

And of course, I have more birthdays in the near future so I got busy getting some of those cards completed.

I wanted to try out the sunburst technique I am seeing everyone doing lately. Here is a great tutorial if you want to try it yourself.


My friend Crystal was born on Halloween. I usually make a Halloween themed card for her but not this year (although the stamp set I used it basically a Halloween set).
I created the sunburst following the instructions from the tutorial. But I needed a larger card base to fit in my stamped images. You can't tell but my sunburst stops over an inch above the bottom of the card lol

The oval was cut from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge.
The owl is from the CTMH stamp of the month set for August 2014 called What a Hoot S1408. He was colored with Prismacolor pencils, all his parts glued together and then added to the card with foam tape to give him some height.
I stamped the Happy Birthday on a hand cut strip of paper. It comes from the Joyful Birthday stamp set B1419.

I have no idea where I got the cardstock I used for the base. I think it was in one of those jumbo value packs you find around the holidays. It has a metallic sheen to it. (I have it in this teal, a burgundy and  gunmetal blue/black....the Explore does NOT like them lol)


And last, a birthday card for my father in law. He carves decoys so hubby wanted a decoy on the card. The duck is from the Outdoor Man cartridge. The Happy Birthday, heat embossed in gold, is from the Joyful Birthday stamp set.

Since I don't need any more Halloween cards I guess I better get busy on Thanksgiving! :-D

Have a wonderful week everyone. Thank you for dropping by!

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

I am so glad Autumn is almost here

For me, Autumn starts the day after Labor Day. Schools are back in session, trees are beginning to change colors and temperatures are beginning to drop (slightly).

I love this time of year!

I have been designing projects in the Cricut Design Space but haven't really had a whole lot of time to actually make them. At the rate I am going I will be lucky if I get caught up by Christmas. Speaking of which, I have Christmas card designs already swirling around my head!

I will share the few things I did get assembled this week.

I love yard sales! I am always looking for antiques or things I can use in my projects. Well this past weekend I found this awesome jar! I have found these before (and grab them if the price is right). I use them to hold wooden spools, buttons, balls of ribbon....whatever I need to stuff into a container lol  But this is the first time I have found one with a rubber gasket so that it is air tight! I have been wanting one to hold my flour (we are coming into prime baking season ya know!!!)


I used navy blue vinyl from Cricut.com. The text is from either Creative Memories Storks Delivery or from Close To My Heart Artbooking. (hubby and I were going back and forth on which one to use....he wanted one, I wanted the other and I can't remember which one we finally agreed on!)

I am still making Halloween cards but I have slowed down a bit. I only made one this week (but still have ideas for a couple more).


This little trick or treater comes from 3 Birds on Parade. I think that cartridge is just adorable!
The moon is from Pooh and Friends. I did some tweaking and removed some of the cutouts on it. His little treat bag was originally plain but I welded the face onto it. Sorry, I don't remember what cartridge it is from but any jack o lantern face will do.  I also removed the text "Boo" and had the Explore type the new text for me.

Like I said, only 1 Halloween card this week. But my sister in law has a birthday coming up (in mid November) so I created a card for her.


I wanted something simple yet elegant. The bird cage is from Straight From the Nest. The background shape with cutout swirls comes from Elegant Edges. The banner is from CTMH Artiste and was plain and only a single layer so I duplicated it and increased the blue one slightly to use it as a bottom layer. I then welded the swirls from CTMH Artbooking so that they were cut out of the white layer. I made the matching envelope using the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board.

And lastly, I took today off....because a 3 day weekend just didn't seem long enough...and I made this.


I call it a hunting cabin. My plan was to make this little box, add a couple embellishments and use it as a gift box for my father in law's birthday. But.....I went crazy adding goodies and I don't think I will be able to part with it lol

The box itself is the same one I used last week from CTMH Artiste.
The door and window came off of a house on Kate's ABCs.
The duck and the kettle are from Outdoor Man.
I as for the 'Gone Fishin' sign. It was a sign with 2 boards on it. I did the hide contour feature and only kept one and then had the Explore write on it. It comes from Outdoor Man as well.
The roof was just strips of black cardstock that I embossed with Darice's Woodgrain folder and then rubbed with a white ink pad to show the embossing.
And I used chalks to give the illusion of a log cabin.


It looks like the resident didn't finish his chores before he took off fishing. Notice the woodpile and ax propped against the wall. :-)
The logs are from Create a Critter, the ax is from Outdoor Man (have you noticed A LOT of the items came from Outdoor Man? lol)
The grass behind the logs (and on the other sides of the box) comes from CTMH Artbooking.


This guy must be quite the outdoors man. Look at that deer head mounted on the wall as well as his snowshoes propped against the cabin.

The deer is from Outdoor Man, the snowshoes from Campin' Critters.


And look, he has a visitor! What can I say, I live in Bigfoot country lol

The fence comes from Mini Monsters, the coonskin cap hanging on the post is from Suburbia.
And bigfoot hails from Campin' Critters.

I had so much fun designing this one! And I have to say, even though it has a lot of elements, none of them contained a lot of pieces so it went together pretty quickly.

Yeah, I am 99% sure that the father in law is never gonna see this lol

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!