A Heart and a Cow

I’ve got two cards for you today.   They are both for my husband and are tied to the little gifts I give him.  My husband loves candy—more than me, so some of my little gifts are candy and these two cards will accompany candy he likes.  This first card is going to accompany some Fire Balls.  He loves these.  He will be so happy. 

That heart comes from Indie Heart and it’s the first image I’ve used from this cartridge.  It seemed the right choice for this card.  It’s a 5x7” card and the paper is from DCWV and the cardstock is a mix of scraps from my scrap drawers. The phrase is cut from Pooh font and the wood feature.  I welded the phrase with my Gypsy. 

I sprayed the heart with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist Gold, and when I was done I held it in front of my little space heater because I wanted it to dry fast and this caused the strange looking mottling and cracking!  I like it!  It wasn’t my intent but I like it! 

This next card is sort of silly but I really like how it tuned out and I think Jim will get a laugh out of it.  It sort of just came to me and I made the cut file with my Gypsy. 

This card will accompany a box of Milk Duds.

I know it’s pink but I think it works for the card!  The cow is from Paper Doll Dress Up, and I cut it out 4 times.  I cut it once in pink for the face and udders, once in tan for the horns, once in black and once in white.  I used my little scissors and cut the spots out on the white to give the cow some spots.  I trimmed off the hooves, the tail as well as the very top of the head.  Looks pretty good I think.  The font is Alphalicious and was welded with my Gypsy.  The cartoon bubble is from Smiley Cards and scalloped rectangle is from Mini Monograms and I stretched it one way.  The patterned pattern is from DCWV All Dressed Up Stack.  Cute, huh! 

This card is another 5x7 and when I embossed the pink card stock with my Cuttlebug, I had to do it in several passes. It’s easy with the Dotted Swiss folder because it’s so easy to match the pattern. 

And that’s it for today.  I’ll be working in my studio putting together some new projects because we are in the middle of a major winter storm complete with freezing rain and massive inches of snow!.  I’m so happy I am be warm and snug in my house. 

There’s stars on that Mantle!

I wanted to say there’s stars on thairs!  Get it?  Dr Suess!  OK, anyway on with the business of the day! 

I added these stars to my mantle garland today.  They look very pretty and added some glitz to my plain garland.  I am really into metallic accenting this Christmas. 

See the silver and burgundy ink!

Here’s what I did.  First I created this 3-D star with my Gypsy  and George and Basic Shapes, and I cut 18 of them.

I choose white paper because I wanted to use some silver Rub and Buff paint I had and I thought white would be best for this.

After cutting them out I scored them using my clear ruler and my bone folder.  I don’t have a Score Pal or Martha Stewart score board. 

Then I trimmed the tabs on a slant so they wouldn’t stick out when I glued the two stars together. 

 

Next I rubbed some Rub and Buff on my Swirls Cuttlebug folder and ran one side of each star through the Cuttlebug.

Next I used a cranberry  or pine ink pad to layer in some more color. 

Next I folded the star and tabs and shaped the star

I added glue to all the tabs.

Then press the star flat so that the edges meet and are sealed and if needed clip to hold tight until glue adheres.

And ta-da!  Cute huh!  From here I punched a small diameter hole, added red ribbon and put them on my mantle garland. 

Here they are on the garland.

That’s it for now!  I hope you are getting everything done you need to do!

Another Word 12x12

I’ve got another 12x12 canvas for you!  This one was inspired by the reason for this season and all the names given Him in the scriptures.  I think it turned out great and love the elegant look of it. 

I don’t have a tutorial for this one.  I used the same procedure as for the Thankful  one I did in November.  After I was finished I brushed some very light and scattered brush strokes of gold paint.  Nice! 

With the help of my Gypsy, I laid the whole 12x12 piece out on one mat fitting all the words on it and adding the star and corner pieces.  It really helps to design it this way first and then move the separate elements to separate pages to cut them. I used Designer Calendar’s script font which has no capitals for the red words and Winter Wonderland for the word Jesus.  The star is from Christmas Solutions and I blocked out the tree that is included in this cut.  The shadows of the word Jesus and the greenery in the corners is a very deep green . 

I used 1 sheet of green patterned paper for the background and one sheet of gold dotted paper for the word Jesus from one of this year’s premium DCWV Christmas stacks per I used for the word Jesus.  The center of the star is a sheet from the DCWV’s Glittered stack and the other papers are all Core’dination Cardstock. 

For this project you will need:

1 12x12 artist’s canvas

Mod Podge

6 different papers including 3 full sheets

gold paint (I used Folk Art.)

Tools

Cricut

Gypsy

Designer’s Calender

Christmas Solutions

Winter Woodland

Paint brush for painting the Mod Podge

sponge brush for the Gold paint.

Here some more photos of the project. 

 

 

An ornament and a pass

No, no one made a pass on me or my ornament. 

It’s been a very busy weekend with my next to oldest grandson.  We went to see Harry Potter 7 Part 1 and then to the local Christmas parade.  It was cold!  Brrr!  But not nearly as cold for us as it was for the belly dancers who shimmied down the street with bare midriffs! 

We took Cayden back home today and it was a 6 hour trip total so there’s hardly been any time for my little pink studio and all that paper. 

I do still have a couple of little projects for you.  One is another ornament for my little studio Christmas tree and the other is  a pass.  First the ornament:

This fan is from Ashlyn’s Alphabet and is the second fan.  I used the shadow feature and cut a second fan that I flipped with my Gypsy.  The paper is Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby and the roses are ribbon roses I picked up from the bridal section at Hobby Lobby.  I have a little collections of these as I do so many things. The fan is also edged with Stickles.  It turned out very nice I think.  It’s cut at 3.5”.  I wrapped the handle with ribbon and punched the hole for the ribbon hanger on the side of the fan. 

I am working on some other ornament ideas I hope to share later in the week. 

For my other little project I have some hall passes I made for a friend who teaches high school English.  Her passes have been walking away, so I made a couple of clearly identifiable hall passes.  They turned out cute and very clean looking I think! I laminated them for durability. 

I gave them a little faux stitching to pull it all together.  I used the icon feature on the Mickey and Friends for the bomb and I used Base Camp for the letters and their shadow. I even used George for the base which is 3 x2”. On the back I used Cuttin UP for the lettering, and I welded all the lettering with my Gypsy.  Love my Gypsy!

I’ll be giving Melissa her passes tomorrow and though I know it wasn’t a complicated project or very involved, I know Melissa will love them.  They cost me very little to make as I used scraps, but I know they will be appreciated.  I hope you all have a fabulous beginning to a new week! 

Yeah, That Stack over There!

But before I talk about my project for the day, I want to encourage you to pop by http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/ and take a look at the wonderful work being done over there and join in on the Linky Party going on.  It’s a place I can always go to see fantastic projects and gain inspiration. 

Pumpkins—again!  I’m terrible about latching on to an idea and just doing it to death! But this time it’s a stack of pumpkins, and I’m using them for a table centerpiece on one of my tables at Thanksgiving.  I’ll be adding more to it—I think!  Anyway, I thought I’d share them with you now. 

So how did I do it?  I used a dowel and glued the pumpkins pieces together around the dowel with a glue gun. The pumpkins are cut using a cut file I made using George and my Gypsy.  I adapted the file for the tall skinny pumpkin, but it’s essentially the same file. The bottom pumpkin is about 7” across so the piece is a good size.  There are a few more pieces to this that I haven’t finished yet.  I’ll post them all when I am done.  I had the ivy left over from doing the flowers at my son’s wedding , so I added it to give the pumpkins a lusher feeling.  Anyway here’s a few more shots of the stacked pumpkins. 

The ivy is attached with a hot glue gun. 

I hope you all have a productive day!  I think I’m going to make some pumpkin bread, and no, I won’t be using paper pumpkins. 

Giving Thanks

Today is Veteran's Day, and I for one am grateful for all those families who make the sacrifices that come when a family member joins one of our armed forces and serves our country.  It is a huge sacrifice and one without which we couldn’t enjoy the freedoms we now have.  Thank you, all of you, who served and those who endure long periods of time without your loved ones and who sometimes endure the loss of that loved one.  Thanks YOU!

What are you thankful for?  That’s the question I asked myself when I started this project. I wanted to create a project that put all those things I hold dear together and expressed my feelings.  My husband jumped in when he saw what I was doing and added his own thoughts.  It turned out great except for the couple of words that I got crooked and I didn’t catch it until it was too late to change it. 

For this project you’ll need:

One sheet of solid colored card stock

One sheet of background paper

one small scrap of contrasting paper

One 12x12 artist canvas

Paint to cover the edges of the canvas

Mod Podge

Glue

Tools:

Gypsy

Several Cricut Font Cartridges.

paint brush

craft knife

This project started with my Gypsy and really was pretty easy because of the Gypsy.  I used just about every font I have, and I threw in a few graphics in to fill some holes and to add interest to the canvas. 

Before I cut the words out, I took my 12x12 canvas and painted the edges with black paint.  It took at 3 coats to sufficiently cover the canvas.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this process as well as all the other steps.  After the sides dried, I liberally painted the canvas with Mod Podge and added a sheet of paper on top of the canvas from the Old World stack from DCWV and then liberally spread a coat of Mod Podge over the paper. 

I cut the words from a sheet of black Core’dinations paper and then left them on the mat until I was ready to glue them on.

When the canvas and paper was dry, I trimmed the edges of the paper that over lapped the edges of the canvas, and sanded off the rough edges.  This meant that I had to go back and touch up the black paint on the edges, but I didn’t do that at this point. I began gluing the words on the canvas using the negative images left in the paper as a guide.  I actually laid the 12x12 negative image of the words on the canvas and began gluing the words on according to the outlines of the words.  I did cut one of the graphics in a deep autumn orange to give a little pop of color and to add interest.

Once all the words and graphics were glued on and dry, I went back and repainted the edges pulling some of the paint onto the edges of the paper.  I like the look this added to the canvas.  Sorry for the glare on this picture.  Pulling the black paint onto the top of the canvas covered the edges of the paper which has a white core. 

At this point it was time for a top coat of Mod Podge, and I was careful to make paint brush strokes as though there were actual paint strokes on the canvas. 

And I was done.  I hung it on my family room wall to show you my work. 

One more look:

That crooked “friends” is really bugging me!  Oh, well!  I like how it turned over all. 

My final words for you all today are be thankful for the freedoms we have and the people who have made it possible.!