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

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

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)