ATCs and Contests

Ok, let me start with.....Rain, Rain Go Away!!!!!!!!!

It is pouring even as I type. I know spring is just around the corner, my ornamental plum is beginning to bloom. But these downpours could stand to lighten up a bit...in my opinion. :-)

Here is the current view from my art room window.

 

 

Enough whining, on to the art!

I am entering a contest....I have not entered a contest in years and YEARS! And never one for Cricut. But, since I have fallen back in love with my machine and am totally obsessed with it I figured why not?!

This weeks challenge on the Fabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is "Pick a Holiday". I chose Christmas. Is there a better holiday???

I love this card! It is simple yet elegant (in my opinion lol)
I used the Joys of the Season cartridge and added highlights and shading with Prismacolor pencils. The background was embossed with Tim Holtz Sheet Music texture fades folder.

I think this might be the design I use for this year's Christmas cards!

Of course I could have used the following card for the challenge as well! I made a birthday card in a box for my Mom (her birthday isn't until June but I am obsessed and making ALL my cards early lol)

I love the concept of these cards! You can find instructions in lots of places online and tons of video instructions.....just search for "card in a box". The cool thing is that it folds up flat and fits into a standard envelope for mailing!

I used several Cricut cartridges for this:
Birthday fairy ~ Teddy Bear Parade
Packages ~ Celebrations
Cupcakes ~ Celebrations and Simply Charmed
Text - Create a Critter

The background paper on the box flaps was embossed with Cuttlebug's cupcake background folder.

Here is another view. Notice the embossing is reversed on the front flap....on purpose...so that the text would adhere better.  :-)

And finally, the ATCs.

I belong to a few online art groups but I think those things are falling by the wayside. None of them are very active any more. You very rarely see anyone post anything. Possibly because Yahoo has made such a mess of the groups pages that it is next to impossible to figure them out or use them (but that is a whole other issue)

Anyway, the Bad Babies started talking the other day...complaining about the weather but at least they were talking. And we are going to have a SWAP! The first one in ages!!!  We are having an ATC color swap. I take this to mean the ATCs have to be colorful since we are so sick of gray! lol

We have to create 3 ATCs. I completed 2 of them yesterday and have an idea for the third.

ATC #1

The background paper is from DCWV Garden Party stack. The butterfly is from StampIt and the text stamp is from Tim Holtz.
The butterfly is colored with Prismacolor pencils. The text was stamped with ColorBox chalk ink and then highlighted with a Sakura pigma micron pen.

I think this one definitely fulfills the 'color' criteria.  :-)

 



ATC #2

My second card goes back to my love of French images.
I again used the Garden Party stack for my background paper. The white flowers and swirls are a glitter embossing already on the paper (which created a wonderful resist when I added the distress ink to the edges). The trees stamp is from Inkadinkado stamped in black StazOn and the foliage added with acrylic paints. The word Paris is from Impression Obsession and the Eiffel Tower comes from the French Manor Cricut cartridge.

Until next time.....Stay dry, keep warm and keep making art!  :-)

 

 

 

Is It Spring yet???

I am so sick of rain and gray skies. I know most of the country is being slammed with more snow and I truly feel for you all!  It seems like winter is really pushing the limits of what we can handle this year.

Thank goodness it is March and spring is just around the corner!

I am still playing with my Cricut almost every day. (and seriously debating as to whether I need the new Cricut Explore or not)

Last time I shared my 'in progress' Art Nouveau hummingbird project. Well, that is done now. 

I mounted the bird and flowers on maroon cardstock (I cannot tell you how many colors I debated over until, with hubby's help, I decided on this maroon). I cut the shape from the Elegant Edges cartridge. Then, after another exhaustive search for another background color (pink), I decided I needed a 'shadow' layer of white to break it up. The pink is also cut from Elegant Edges. Such a great cartridge!

 

 

 

I honestly think it is the weather! My artistic muse seems to have gone into hibernation so I am extremely thankful for my Cricut and all my cartridges! I want to create and yet cannot put pencil to paper and have anything show up.

So, waking up yesterday morning with the urge to create and nothing flowing from my fingers, I grabbed the Pet Shop cartridge and made this little card. (actually it hasn't technically been mounted on a card yet so maybe I should call it a portrait?)

 

I welded the Shih Tzu with a frame from Elegant Edges. I then built the puppy right on the frame. This is a portrait of Molly, the little fur baby of my friend Crystal. Notice the frame and background are the same colors as my hummingbird backgrounds. I am all about using up my scraps! I keep them all sorted by color in gallon ziplock bags so I can rummage through them quickly to find what I need.  :-)  The background was embossed with Darice's Paw Print background folder and then I rubbed it with an ancient ColorBox pigment stamp pad in Frost White. Do they even make those anymore? I think I need to hunt for a re-inker, this poor thing is a tad on the dry side.

 

And finally, last weekend, my friend Mary came over and was checking out my Cricut storage system and my cartridges and fell in love with Teddy Bear Parade. I can't blame her, it one of the most adorable cartridges out there...assuming you love teddy bears, which I do!  So, I just had to make a bear! And seeing how Easter is coming up soon (although I am not sure of the date yet and really need to check my calendar!) I made this adorable 'bunny'.

Now, I have been painting for over 30 years and if you ever saw my fence post pumpkins or egg Santas (I am pretty sure they are way back in the ancient history of my blog lol) you will see that I have been painting cutsie eyes for decades.....so why did I never think to paint them on my cuts? It took seeing a couple of them on the internet to give me one of those V8 moments! Duh!!!

The eyes are painted with acrylics, all shading was done with either pencils or chalks.

Happy Sunday! Keep warm and dry and try to find some creative time....even if you let a machine do half the work  :-)

 

 



Is it Autumn yet?

Summer has to be my least favorite season. Yes, we have flowers but they come with pollen! And we have vegetable gardens, which I love, but they are a lot of work and mine did not grow well at all this year. And the heat! Yuk!

I am an Autumn person. I love the weather, the colors and the PUMPKINS! I am anxiously awaiting fall!!!  :-)

I didn't have a whole lot of crafting time this week but what I did have I made the most of...

Last Saturday evening, while hubby was grilling dinner, I wanted to see if I could whip up a little something.
I grabbed my Simply Charmed cartridge and some scrap paper and made this little guy. He is cut at 2 1/2 inches and shaded with chalks.

And since hubby wasn't quite ready to serve dinner, I headed back into my play art room and made him a tag to live on. This was cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More at 3 1/2 inches and 'aged' with distress inks. I typed up the text with Word and cut it with decorative scissors.

Isn't he cute? I am thinking I might send it to my mom to use as a bookmark as she randomly tells me she is craving a cupcake.....although looking at one all the time might not help that problem lol

Sunday morning as hubby was cooking breakfast (no he doesn't do all the cooking lol) I stamped this fellow from the Happy Fall Y'all Stampin' Up set, colored him with Prismacolor pencils and then inked up the 6" tag with distress inks.

I had to wait until later in the week before I had time to work on this again.
I ran the tag through my Cuttlebug using Tim Holtz Texture Fades folder called Sheet Music. I then rubbed distress ink on the embossing to make it show up more. And finally mounted the tag on some paper that looked like peeling paint.

A couple days later I headed back to my Cricut.  :-) I was in the mood to make an ATC. I used Create a Critter for the adorable panda and stamped the bamboo with a stamp from VivaLasVegas Stamps.

And finally, this morning, I made my Thanksgiving cards! I told you I made the most of what little time I had lol

This dapper turkey also comes from the Create A Critter cartridge cut at 2 inches. He is shaded with chalks and mounted on a background that I embossed with Cuttlebug's Autumn Type folder. The 'gobble' was resized a bit in the Cricut Craft Room before cutting.

Just another little project that I threw together one evening.....Hubby saw me browsing through the Teddy Bear Parade leaflet and thought I needed to make a bear with a camera. There is a bear on that cartridge that has a camera but he is dressed for a Hawaiian vacation. I mixed and matched the clothes (a great feature about this cartridge), switching out his shirt for a plain one, adding a baseball cap and glasses. Now he looks just like my hubby....who collects and restores vintage cameras and is NEVER seen without a baseball cap lol

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
I am already thinking about Christmas cards!!!! And Pumpkins! lol