Fall is my favorite time of year. The cooler temperatures, blue skies, colored leaves, apples and PUMPKINS!
Yesterday we headed out to the farm and bought our first pumpkins of the season! :-)
I'm sorry I haven't been here for a few weeks. My mom got sick. My parents live on the opposite side of the country so all I can do is worry, pray and spend a lot of time on the phone checking up on her. It puts a damper on my crafting spirit and decreases my crafting time....but that's ok. My primary goal right now it to get my mommy well.
But, I do have some things I made before she got sick AND a few things I have been working on the past few days. (the better she feels the more my creativity comes back) :-)
This first item I actually made a couple months ago. I just finally got around to downloading it off my camera lol
In July I started participating in virtual races because my sister wanted me to do the RockNRoll 5k in Las Vegas in November and I am totally out of shape. She convinced me to start doing virtual races to get into walking. Well, I am now not going to go to Las Vegas....saving up for a much bigger trip. But I am still doing the virtual races. It turns out that if you dangle pretty things in front of me I will actually get off my butt and exercise! lol
I have completed 7 races and am almost done with the 8th ranging in distances from 5k to 40 miles. And I have a collection of really cool medals to show for my efforts! (I will get some pictures of those for a later post)
Needing a place to display my hardware, I created this board. I used my Cricut Explore to cut vinyl to use as stencils. I added cup hooks across the bottom to hand my medals.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but my mom loves tote bags. I mean she really LOVES them. She has tons of them! lol I have made or bought her several over the years.
When I got my Easy Press I knew I needed to make her another one.
The bag itself came from Walmart. It is one of their shopping bags. They are usually on a rack near the door and cost $4.00. They are fairly large, have a magnet closure at the top and are made of a medium weight canvas. I don't know that I could make it for less then $4.00.
I used both glitter and lite Cricut heat transfer vinyl.
The pelican/beach, turtle and crab are from the Life is a Beach cartridge.
The sun is from Disney Princesses - Believing in Dreams. I sliced it to get just a few sun rays.
The banner is from CTMH Artiste. I sliced the letters into it.
The text is various fonts from my computer fonts files.
I mailed it to my mom the day after she got sick. She loves it and is looking forward to taking it to the beach.
I had been working on Halloween cards. Those kind of got put on hold (because of my mom but also because new Christmas craft supplies arrived lol) But here are a couple I have done.
I carved this skeleton stamp at least 30 years ago! I love him! lol
I think he plays well with this dog from Tim Holtz' mini Crazy Dogs. (although the dog seems to be playing a bit too rough lol)
I initially was inspired by this Ken's Kreations video which is why I was stamping on craft paper.
If you have never seen Ken's videos before you need to check them out. He has great tutorials and the banter between him and Sean always makes me smile (and sometimes double over laughing)
See, this doggy does not play well with others. Or maybe he takes 'playing with others' too seriously. lol
I cut a small slit in his mouth to insert the end of the bone. (when I carved the skeleton many years ago I also carved extra bones just in case... )
This next card was also inspired by another Ken's Kreations video.
Like I said, they have great tutorials and they cheer me up (which I have needed a lot lately).
I used Distress Inks for the background: Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw and Peacock Feathers.
And of course, one of Tim Holtz' Crazy Dogs wearing a bowler hat and sunglasses from the Crazy Things set.
The dog was colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.
The Happy Halloween was stamped and then embossed with white embossing powder. I had so many different stamps out for this text....some from CTMH, some Tim Holtz and some from Diamond Press. I honestly cannot remember which one I finally used (and not in the mood to dig them all out again lol ...sorry)
So, let me preface these next cards with....I have to always be learning something new otherwise I get bored. It can be just the smallest technique or a totally new craft.
Today it is a totally new craft lol
Parchment crafting.
I have seen it before. I think we might have sold the supplies at the craft store I worked at in the 80s. It was always called Pergamano whenever I saw it. Turns out that is just a brand name that has become synonymous with the craft. (like Jello or Kleenex lol)
Anna Griffin sells parchment craft supplies on HSN (of course she does!) And on her last appearance she introduced Christmas parchment supplies. Oh My Goodness! Talk about gorgeous!
What can I say, I purchased the every day and Christmas sets. It is something I can do while watching tv unlike most of my crafting where I have to be at my art desk.
The above is from the every day set. It looks so elegant yet it is so easy to do.
Here are the links for the every day set, the Christmas set and the tool set.
I attached my vellum to card stock using brads.
Here is one of the Christmas layers. It is vines with holly. So simple yet so pretty.
Oh and look! Anna has Christmas Go Press and Foil stamps!!!
I used the new wreath and Season's Greetings stamps to make this card.
I love the Go Press and Foil machine! It had a slight learning curve but once I got that all figured out I have had perfect results every time.
The wreath is foiled in gold on dark green card stock. I then foiled just the bow in red on white card stock and used foam tape to give it some dimension.
The Season's Greetings was foiled in gold directly onto the parchment.
The parchment layer was then glued down onto dark red card stock.
Do you have a Go Press and Foil machine? Having problems getting even coverage? Check out my post where I share my tips.
Here is another Christmas card using the Go Press and Foil machine and one of the new Christmas stamps. Isn't that tree gorgeous?!
The tree was foiled in gold on dark green card stock. I then hand cut the edges with decorative scissors.
The background is cream colored Cricut Pearl paper embossed with Anna Griffin's Sleigh Bells embossing folder.
Helpful tip: to ensure that thinner papers/card stocks like the pearl paper or vellum don't tear when embossing add a second layer of card stock to the folder. I used just plain Staples 110lb white card stock. Now I have a perfect pearl layer and a spare white layer to be used in another project.
I hand tied tiny red satin bows and glued them on the tree with Aleene's Tacky glue.
Last but not least...
My brother in law had a birthday last week. Of course I made him a card.
I was in the mood to try something new.
Last May our town had their community yard sale. The automotive repair shop participated. They had sample books of leather and vinyl upholstery for free. I grabbed a few....no clue what I might do with them but couldn't just leave them there!
So, I finally came up with an idea. Could my Cuttlebug cut through thin leather and vinyl?
Why Yes! It could!
I used an Anna Griffin oak leaf cutting die. I ran it through twice just to be sure it cut completely. They turned out great!
The background is craft paper. I inked up Anna's Acorn Scatter embossing folder with Tea Dye Distress Ink and ran it through the Cuttlebug so that the deboss was a darker brown.
The Happy Birthday is a Diamond Press die.
See what happens when I don't pop in on a regular basis? Tons of photos! lol
Here in the Pacific Northwest autumn has definitely arrived! I hope you all will get to enjoy the season very soon too.
Thank you for stopping by and Happy Crafting!
Summer is probably my least favorite season just because of the heat. And with the high temperatures we have been having it makes me crave Fall even more! They are saying we will hit 110 degrees tomorrow. That is just crazy!!!
Not venturing outside gives a person more time to play in the art room. :-)
I am not sharing much today because most of what I did was trying out new dies and such that came this week....almost like Christmas lol
I did actually toss together a few cards.
Like I said above, I am ready for fall!
I am still playing around with my Tim Holtz 'crazy' stamps while I wait for the dogs to arrive. My order is supposed to be here sometime in September. :-D
The embossing folder is from Cuttlebug. It is part of a set of folders (but I only have this one I bought in a clearance bin at the local craft store). I think the set might have been Happy Haunting.
The images were colored with Copic markers.
This adorable little kitty is from Close To My Heart. It is from the August stamp of the month set S1608 Purr-fect Halloween. The cat body has no eyes or adornments but lots of stamps to create a costume with 4 sets of eyes, a couple hats, the bat (which I used as a bowtie), a pennant banner and some phrases. I also added the jack o'lantern from Tim Holtz's mini Bird Crazy stamp set. All images were colored with Copic markers.
I have a friend whose birthday is on Halloween so she gets 2 cards from me every year. :-)
I used the Acorn Scatter embossing folder from Anna Griffin's summer/fall folder set. The leaves and feather are from her summer/fall die set. The sentiment was written by my Cricut Explore and I am 99% sure it is from an Anna Griffin cartridge.
Close To My Heart released a brand new Cricut cartridge on August 1st. (and retired several of their older cartridges)
The new cart is called Flower Market and has tons of flowers - both 3D and 2D. I thought these 2D ranunculus were very pretty. Lots of cool containers to display your flowers like the jar with lace band I used. They also have fun icons and 2 fonts. It is a gorgeous set of images.
You can get one from my friend Debbie on her CTMH site.
I used Darice's Fall Leaf Background folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug.
I told you I was trying out new toys this week. Not only did I get a cartridge and stamps, I also got some new cutting dies. This lacy oval is one of Crafters Companion's Downton Abbey dies. You can cut the lace to be a free standing oval or cut it like I did so that it is in the paper (no outside edge). It then comes with several smaller oval dies that fit in the center. I also got the circle, square and rectangle sets.....What? I had a coupon and they were grouping 2 sets together in each package. Trust me it was a good deal lol
And now I have officially made my first Christmas card of 2016.
But I am not quite done.
Sometimes I just get in the mood to play with supplies I haven't pulled out in a while.
That would be my embossing diffusers from Tim Holtz. This is the circle one.
I used Anna Griffin's Fluted Damask folder. I then stamped the cupcake (CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut bundle D1497) in 2 colors (CTMH Hollyhock and Cocoa)
I felt it still needed something so I cut some 3D flowers on the Explore and glued them around the lower left edge of the circle.
I think it turned out cute and now I have another card on hand for....whatever. :-)
So that covers most of what I did this past week.
I hope you are all staying cool wherever you may be.
Happy Crafting!
No, I am not going away for a year... well let's hope not anyway lol
The Index Card a Day challenge is over for this year. The last day was July 31.
I completed all my cards, I just haven't had a chance to get on here and show them to you.
I have the last 2 cards to share with you today.
Day 60: Sorbet
I am not a fan of sorbet. I prefer ice cream. :-) So, I focused more on the ingredients than the actual product lol
This was done with watercolor and Inktense pencils.
Day 61: Path
This verse and song immediately popped into my head so I went with it.
Again, watercolor and Inktense pencils and Sharpie pen.
I want to keep drawing every day but it is so hard to stay motivated so hubby bought me a book called "642 Things to Draw" from Chronicle Books. It is a large book full of nothing but blank pages with a prompt on each page. Like today was 'desk chair'. Nothing exciting but it made me draw a chair. I have worked through several of the prompts so far....my book now contains a skunk, a seagull, a rolling pin, a hammock....and a few others. So far I am liking it. I spend about 10 minutes a day with my book and pencil which is always a good thing.
But, I have been doing other things too. You know we have holidays coming up and I wanted to get started on some cards.
First, my sis-in-law has a birthday in November. Yeah, that is a bit far away but an idea struck so I made the card (it was that or probably forget the idea....or the birthday lol)
This was made with Anna Griffin's Floral cutting dies. I love how simple yet beautiful they are. The background is also from Anna Griffin, her chrysanthemum embossing from from her Summer/Fall embossing folder set. I sanded it after embossing to make the design show up better.
Last time I showed you a Tim Holtz Crazy Cat that I had colored but didn't know where he was going to be used. Well, I put him on a card. I had intended for a cute/quirky card and ended up with a sort of creepy Halloween card. lol
I would be a little freaked out if I saw a 'crazy' bird in a tree calling to me lol
And of course, once you start playing with these birds and cats you can't stop!
Some silly Trick or Treaters
Scaredy Cat!
And of course more cats looking for homes lol
I also thought I would share a few pics from our mini vacation (the reason I didn't get my ICAD cards posted right away)
We headed over to the coast for a long weekend. It was cool and breezy....much nicer than the triple digit temps we get here at home in the summer.
This is Battery Point lighthouse in Crescent City, CA. I did a painting of it for one of my ICADS a couple weeks back.
It was overcast in Crescent City and the wind was blowing like crazy! We walked way out on the fishing pier to get this great, straight on shot. (and froze our butts off lol)
This is Cape Blanco lighthouse just north of Port Orford, OR. Normally the winds are so strong it is a struggle to walk around. Not this time, it was down right balmy and calm....and gorgeous!
This lighthouse sits on the farthest west point on the Oregon coast (and some say the farthest most west point of the continental US)
And last, Coquille River lighthouse in Bandon, OR.
It was getting late in the day so I was looking into the sun when taking my pictures. (which is better than standing out in the roaring river I guess lol)
This lighthouses sits in Bullards Beach State Park. It no longer has a light in it but is still a beautiful building and worth the drive out to the beach to see it.
If you want to see and learn more about Oregon lighthouses, hubby and I have a website. It also has information about Oregon covered bridges, vintage camera, trains and of course, Tucker's website. Check it out at http://www.tunnel13.com/
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!!!
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!
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!
I have been a Cricut user since 2007 (and no I do not need a support group lol)
I have used it to make cards (tons of cards), embellishments and elements for journal pages and ATCS. I have cut vinyl to attach to anything that doesn't move and made some cute cutouts to hang above my work desk to keep me calm and happy at my job.
But for some reason I have never ventured into the world of 3D....until now.
I see so many fabulous projects being shared on the Let's Learn Cricut Explore facebook group and I want to be able to try some of them too. But having never tried 3D paper (except for an off the wall art project in college that didn't quite go as planned) I was very intimidated.
I decided to start with images I own (I will venture into the SVG-cuts.com incredible houses and such one I feel comfortable lol)
So, here is my first project. Be nice lol
I struggled with gluing it together when I first started out but got the hang of it by day 2.
To create the pumpkin I used the 'Ornament' from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2. The ornament hanger top is actually under his hat. :-)
The hat and faces pieces were all shapes cut from George and Basic Shapes. (I had to hand cut out his teeth though)
I crumpled and scrunched his hat and then swiped distress ink all over it. It looks much darker and more aged in person.
As you can see, the ribbon I used was over an inch wide so I folded it in half and then twisted it to create the band. I made a small bow and glued it on. The flowers were cut from the Flower Shoppe cart. The red and rusty looking ones were left as is. The bright orangy one was bright yellow but I didn't like that so I swiped some Barn Door distress ink over it before rolling it into the flower shape.
The vines came from the Thanksgiving cart. They were attached to a central leaf which I had planned on using with the flowers but decided it was too large so I cut off the vines, wrapped them around a pencil to give them more shape and dimension, and tucked them under the flowers and bow.
I am pretty happy with how this first try turned out and have more ideas stirring around my head.
I have never shared any of my project files before but had a couple people on facebook ask me for this so, if you have an Explore, here is the Design Space file for my pumpkin project. :-)
https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/project/19745158
But of course I cannot abandon my card making. :-)
I think I am almost done making Halloween cards.
This house if from Autumn Celebrations. The moon comes from October 31st. A pretty basic card but I added the swirled embossing to add some interest.
This little owl always makes me smile. She comes from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge. Her perch is from Monster Bash and the text is from CTMH Artbooking. I embossed the tree with a wood grain embossing folder and then rubbed ink over it.
And my last card for the week is NOT a Halloween card! lol I needed a birthday card for someone that loves monkeys. I have to say, the faces are not that yellow. They are actually tan. But no matter how much I played around in Photoshop I could not get them to not look yellow (unless I changed all the other colors too)
Both of these party animals hail from Create a Critter 2. The vines are from Create a Critter (1) and the Happy Birthday text is from CTMH Artbooking.
And one more thing...
I won the Fantabulous Cricut challenge for last week! :-D
Here is my winning card. Thank you to the challenge blog. I really appreciate it!!!
I would add the special blinky button showing that I won but my blogger won't let me change anything any more including my header, my background, my guest counter...nothing. Thanks blogger...NOT!
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
Yeah Yeah, I went missing again! I'm sorry! It is just so hard to find time to blog when I am either working or out of the house. But have no fear, fall is almost here which means more indoor time :-)
That is not to say that I haven't made anything lately. I have made a few things. I just never have time to even take the photos off my camera. I did download them today so hopefully soon I will have a picture heavy post for you but until then...
I just got my Explore back (long story short: it developed a very odd issue and they decided they needed to replace it.). I had a 2 week withdrawal period but am now back in business and wanted to play in this weeks Fantabulous Cricut Challenge.
I have been wanting to start making some Halloween cards and this was the perfect excuse!
I made 3 cards and have not decided which one(s) I want to enter. :-)
For this card I chose the cat from Pumpkin Carvings. The Beware sign is from Autumn Celebrations and the fence comes from Paper doll Dress-up. I duplicated the cat, used the contour feature and removed all the lines so I would have a solid yellow circle for a background.
Here I used the witch from Celebrate with Flourish. The diamond borders are from CTMH Art Philosophy and the Beware with crow (raven?) is from Teresa Collins Chic & Scary.
And finally, the cat face from Autumn Celebrations (I have been dying to use that cat since I got this cartridge last spring!). The Spooky text is from 3 Birds on Parade and the border comes from Paper Lace 2.
Like I said, I am not sure which to enter....you can enter up to 3 and I have an idea with a frog ... lol
Until next time (when I finally get all my summer project posted) Happy Crafting!!!
