New Year, New Goals, New Projects

Happy New Year!  I have spent the last few weeks enjoying Christmas Break with my kids and hubby and trying to get through the mad rush that always accompanies the Christmas Holidays.  The rush to finish shopping, get Christmas cards sent, packages in the mail, presents wrapped, cookies baked, and craft projects finished.

Whew!  As much as I love Christmas, I am always happy when January 1 rolls around and I can take down all the decorations and get things back to normal around here.  Well, as normal as they can be.

I did remember to take a picture of one of my favorite projects before I put it away.

I am becoming a huge fan of canvas.  I buy the value packs from Michael's and like them a lot.  I used an 8x10 canvas for this one and "borrowed" my hubby's staple gun (it is now part of my craft supplies and will not make it back into his toolbox) to attach the ribbons to the top and bottom.  I left the mini clothespins plain but I can always change that later if I feel like it.  I wanted to see how well they would hold up with the cards we hung from it.  It worked very well and I am thrilled to have a cute place to display the cards we receive from our friends and family.

Parts and Pieces:

8x10 canvas

Plaid Folk Art Paint - Red

Cricut Vinyl - White

Christmas Ribbon

Small clothespins

Cricut Christmas Solutions Cartridge

You've Got Mail!

These mini mailboxes from Target are so cute!!  I bought these last year from their dollar spot and never did anything with them.  Well, I came across them in my flurry of crafting and decided to do something with them this Christmas.  I am going to fill these with Hershey Kisses and a special gift for a few of my friends and family.

I cut the Christmas paper just short of 4 inches and it fit perfect.  The reindeer (isn't he so cute!!) is from Doodlecharms.  I tend to forget about that cartridge when I am crafting.  I will have to move it to my favorites drawer so I am reminded to use it more often.

I also like these because I was able to use some of the busier Christmas paper I have without it being overwhelming.  Great way to use that paper you just don't know what to do with.

I like that this can be a cute Christmas decoration after the gift is opened.

Parts and Pieces:

DCWV Christmas Stack

Mailbox from Target

3/4- inch circle punch

Stampin' Up! Card stock - Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge

Stickles - Christmas Red

Stampin' Up! Ink pad - Real Red

 Stampin' Up! Stamp-n-Write marker - Handsome Hunter

My Pink Stamper stamp - Christmas Wishes

Google eyes

Stampin Up! scallop circle punch

Keep Calm...

This is yet another idea from Pinterest (I really, really love that site!).  I could not wait to make it for my kitchen.  I really should have been working on Christmas presents, gift wrapping, and cookie baking but I couldn't get this one out of my mind.  I am a huge Disney fan and this was so perfect for me.  I wanted to make this on canvas and needed to use my Cricut Gypsy to design and cut this one.  Mickey Font was perfect for the sign and I was so happy I had white vinyl on hand.  I also used my iRock tool to add the sparkles. 

I need to design and make some for my kids as well.  When I showed the girls this one, they all wanted it for their rooms.

Parts and Pieces:

8x10 Canvas from Michaels

Black Acrylic paint - Plaid

White Vinyl - Cricut (Provocraft)

iRock tool and gems

A Pretty Lamp to Light the Way

Another idea I saw on Pintrest (I just LOVE that site!!).  My oldest daughter has decided to redo her room.  I really did not want to have to buy new bedding and change everything that was blue so I was thrilled when she agreed to just add some new colors.  I saw a redone lampshade like this one on Pintrest and thought it would be perfect for her room.  It would add a girly flair and make use of a lamp we already had.  We plan to paint the base once I get out and get the paint.

I got the ruffle trim from JoAnn's and already had the jeweled brads and Prima Flowers.  I needed 6 yards of the trim to cover this lampshade.  I used my trusty hot glue gun to adhere the trim to the shade.  The lamp uses a low wattage bulb so I am not too worried about the heat.  In spite of the many times I burned my fingers with the hot glue (I really need to pay more attention to what I am doing and less on the Harry Potter movie playing in the background) I had a lot of fun making this.  Of course, there was the added bonus of a happy teenager when she saw her new lamp.  I think I got some good mom points for this one.  :)

Happy Scrapping and Crafting!

Pintrest!!!!

So I have spent the last week completely obsessed with Pintrest.  This online pinboard has given new life to my creative side.  I was feeling very blah and non-creative over the past few weeks and this site has made me happy and crafty again.  LOL 

One idea I saw was using decals to decorate a Kitchen-aid stand mixer.  Well, I have a Cricut and I have vinyl so I can do this!!  The hardest part was deciding what to put on there.  My kitchen is Disney so I considered putting Mickey heads from Mickey and Friends but I wasn't crazy about the space it would take on the mixer.  I really like my red mixer and didn't want to cover it too much.  I also wanted something more swirly.  Then I thumbed through the Disney Princess cartridge books and found this leaf swirl icon in Happily Ever After.  I used my Gypsy to get the sizing right and to flip a few of the swirls.  I cut a few at 3-inches and a few at 2 1/2 -inches.  I also used the transfer tape to help make adhering the vinyl to the mixer an easier process. 

I am very excited about my pretty new mixer and can't wait for everyone to see it on Thanksgiving.

Happy Scrapping!

Parts and Pieces:

Cricut Expression

Cricut Gypsy

White glossy vinyl

Happily Ever After Cricut Cartridge

Thanksgiving Canvas

This project was truly a labor of love.  I loved the look of it and I really wanted to make it but I took many, many wrong steps.  I saw this one on Facebook, Old Cricut Community page, and fell in love with the look.  I proceeded to go out and buy the materials and attempt to crate this beautiful project.  That should teach me to try out new techniques before working on the actual project.

The first type of crackle medium I bought was just not a good one.  I was determined though and went back to Michael's for a different type.  This one was much better!

Then I learned that for bigger cracks, make the topcoat nice and thick, do not skim on the paint.  As luck would have it, I liked the streaks from where the paint had thinned out so it wasn't a total disaster.  When working with crackle medium, you can't go over it again, you will lose the crackle effect.  Once it starts to dry, that is it, you are done. 

Then the biggest lesson of all: practice with vinyl and transfer tape before attempting to work with it on the main project.  It will save you many headaches later.  I ruined two 12x12 sheets of vinyl and one 12x12 sheet of transfer tape learning that lesson. 

I think the only part I did right was sizing the image.  I used my Gypsy to size it to 11x11.  I wanted to have some space at the sides and this way I knew the sizing would look good.

Once I got everything figured out and all lessons learned everything went much smoother.  I am making several of these as gifts and I plan on making some with the Christmas art for gifts as well.

Happy Scrapping!

Parts and Pieces:

12x12 Canvas - from Michael's

Cricut Vinyl - Brown

Cricut Transfer Tape

Word Collage Cricut Cartridge

Crackle Medium - Plaid Folk Art brand worked best for me

Acrylic paint - Mink Tan (Americana brand), Wicker White (Plaid Folk Art brand)

Halloween Word Art

Sorry for the quality of these pictures.  I took them in a hurry with my iPhone.  Most of my blog pictures are taken with my iPhone. It is always handy and easier to upload than with my big camera that has a lot of pictures on the memory card.  I have found that my computer tends to download duplicates of a lot of pictures and I have to spend a lot of time deleting all the extras.  I do not need six copies of the same picture stored on my computer.

OK, enough techno babble.

I know Halloween is over but I have been wanting to make this one for a while.  It was so super easy and inexpensive to create.  My favorite type of projects.  :)

I did this one with the Cricut markers.  I don't use them very often but someone from the Old Cricut Community Facebook Page suggested it and I thought it was a great idea for a simple project like this one.  The cartridge works best with vinyl but that gets expensive sometimes.  I used the Fit to page feature on my Cricut Expression for this and it fit very well.  I did cut the card stock down first so it would fit in the 8x10 frame.  I think if I were to make more of these I would cut the card stock smaller so I could create a mat for the art.  Just to add another color/dimension to the project.

Parts and Pieces:

Word Collage Art Cricut Cartridge

Stampin' Up! Card stock - Pumpkin Pie

Cricut Markers

Orange Peel Stickles

Frame from Target

Halloween Decor

This shadow box is one of my favorite Halloween Decorations.  I made it a few years ago but wanted to share it today.  I really do not like spiders at all and it is so out of my comfort zone to use one in a decoration but this one from Doodlecharms just was so perfect for this frame, I couldn't resist it.  I think the "Have a Spooktacular Halloween" is from a retired Stampin' Up! set.

Parts and Pieces:

Shadow box from Michaels - Unfinished

Black acrylic paint

Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge

Creative Memories card stock