Christmas Décor—via my Cricut!

Every year I try to add to my Christmas decorations with a few new ornaments and some new things I make.  This does not even include the additions to our Santa, Nutcracker, and snowman collections that our family and friends add to for us. 

As I started thinking about what I wanted to do for this year, this idea came creeping into my brain.  I’ve been wanting the Christmas Noel solutions cart every since it came out and then it was discontinued and despite my efforts to buy it or get it with Cricut reward points I never got it. 

Was I ever happy when Provocraft announced that the Christmas Solutions cart was going to be part of the free download of carts to Gypsy owners.  Yippee!  I’ve been waiting to use those angels.  They are so beautiful. 

I picked these frames up from Walmart a couple of weeks ago with this project in mind.  They are 5X7s and I removed the little mat and glass that was in them.  I think they were $2.50 a piece.  The gold paper in the background is from my stash.  I Cuttlebugged it with the Victorian embossing folder.  I laid the paper in the folder sideways since it was 5x7 and too big for the A2 embossing folder.  Then I turned the paper and did the other end of the paper. 

After I embossed the gold foil paper, I wiped it lightly with my white ink pad and then gently wiped off the excess ink. This took away the super bright quality of the gold paper.  The angel were cut at 6.5” from the Christmas Solutions cart, and I flipped one of the angels so that they were both pointing into the middle picture.  They are cut from DCWV white cardstock.  I inked the edges with a silver ink pad and a cosmetic sponge and then sprayed them with Tattered Angels gold mist.  I wished you could see how much this added to the the little pictures.

The words are from Opposite Attracted using the upright feature and welded with my Gypsy and were cut at about 2” and from this beautiful red velvet paper I bought a few years ago.  So lush and beautiful.

I used pop dots to attach the angels to the embossed gold foil and then popped the words on top of the  angels.  So pretty! 

I love how they turned out.

 

Here they are hanging on my wall. 

I think they make quite a nice addition to my decorations this year. 

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.!