Rouse House

This was inspired by the January issue of Scrapbooks, etc. magazine which spotlighted a project for making a 'house' out of foam core board. So I spent part of my day today scraplifting this project and turning it into one of my own. The original directions can be found on the Scrapbooks, etc. website.

For my house I did not have access to a copy machine in order to enlarge the templates. However, I enlarged the pdf file to 125% and set my print options to print on borderless paper. Once printed I then measured the diagrams and drew them out on the foam core board for cutting.

I also used the following carts:

Accent Essentials for the picture frames (Accent 47 at 1.5"), rug (Accent 5 stretched to measure approx. 3"x4"), and the trim on the roof (4" and 4.5")

Happily Ever After for the chair (2.5" cut twice - one in blackout and one layer - for the back of chair and pieces. The pieces were then glued to other paper and cut to include 'tabs' for creating the dimension)

Paper Pups for the puppy cut at 1"

Making the Grade for the Rouse verbiage - R cut at 1" and the "ouse" were welded together to create the size needed.

The book on the chair was a piece of foam core board cut and covered with scrap paper.

First Christmas Layout

So Christmas is behind us and now it's time to start scrapping all the pics that were taken. Question is where do I start? Especially since I haven't done a layout in months - it's all been card making. And truth be told I still have a card or two that needs to be made for some upcoming birthdays.

Anyhow, I sat down today and just started creating a layout with Santa and a tree. As time went on it evolved into what is now the final product. For this layout I used Paper Dolls Dress Up and Christmas Solutions.

PPDU: Santa cut at 4" for the white portions of his outfit I painted with a white metallic paint and sprinkled with white glitter while it was still wet

Tree cut at 6" and decorated with lights and metallic dots

Solutions: Window was modified to create a 3.5" wide and 3" tall window. The snowflakes and snowman are buttons that I picked up at Walmart

Christmas Carousel

Last year one of the ladies on the Cricut message boards posted this wonderful carousel that she had created with whimsical reindeer and santa. It was such a great idea that I had to save the directions for the day when I owned the cartridge she used. Well this Christmas I have that cartridge but went for a different look all together.

For this project I used the Christmas solutions cartridge and cut the sleigh and reindeer at 2". The scallops are from Accent Essentials cut at 3/4" and 1".

The posts are wooden dowels that were cut to size and then 'painted' with my silver ink pad. The center post has metal dots adhered to it to give the effect/feel of the lights that are normally on the carousel.

Mrs. Potts Birthday Wishes

This is the second of the three cards that my sister needed for today. This particular card she needed to coincide with the "tea" theme she had going on for the recipient's gift basket she put together. So I thought what better than Mrs. Potts and Chip from Beauty and the Beast.

This was a very simple, clean card but I think that lends to the overall look. The colors of which are more vibrant in real life, but it turned out well and my sister was delighted with the results.

Cars Christmas

My baby sister hit me up this afternoon with a need for three cards: birthday, Christmas and a farewell. Okay I thought - why not - I've been in a little bit of a slump since I haven't been feeling well maybe this will help get me out of it.

So four or five hours and a couple computer problems later I completed the task and she loved them all.

This was my second time using the Cars cartridge and I do believe that it is the most difficult one I own. Lightining was cut at 3" and even then there's a lot of small detail pieces that have a difficult time cutting properly.

The elf sticker is from Jolee's by You.

Snowman Soup & Gift Bags

This morning I started bright and early with making Christmas candy and peanut butter fudge. Once that was completed and laid out across the kitchen island for setting I got to work on cutting and putting together the tags for the dozen gift bags needed by tomorrow.

For this project I used Tags, Bags, Boxes & More and Doodlecharms. The tags were cut at 5" and the snowman was cut at 2".

The poem was created in MS Word and then printed directly onto 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and then cut to size for placing on the tag.

Brr.....

I was inspired to make this card back in October when I saw a similar one published in one of the card magazines I had purchased. I never made it though because I didn't have a tree that I liked well enough to use.

But last month dh bought me the Graphically Speaking cartridge for my birthday and voila! I had the perfect tree. I only wish that the camera would take a picture that did the card justice - it really looks better in real life.

The tree is cut at 4"

The "BRR.." tag is cut at 1" from a glittered paper

The bird is from Word Builders: A Garden of Words and is cut at 3/4"

I heard him exclaim

This is a card that was buzzing around in my head while I was awake and sick in the wee hours of last night/this morning. It is also my first creation using the Christmas Noel cartridge.

For this card I stretched the window to make it fit a 5" tall card but at the same time making it wide enough to actually look like a window. The santa and moon were cut at just under 2" high. The hair is from PPDU, and the hand as well (I manuevered the 'body' so that most of it was off the cutting grid - that way I didn't waste paper).

The inside sentiment reads " I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night".

UPDATE: Oh my gosh! I made the Cricut Chirp newsletter....I have never had such an honor before - this is so exciting. Check it out http://www.cricut.com/newsletters/volume.aspx?ID=156

1st to the Finish Line Birthday Card

My youngest son is turning 11 on Sunday and so I have created this one for him. DH bought me the Cars cartridge (along with others) for my birthday last month and this was my first creation using that cart.

The finished size of the card is 5" x 6 1/2" and McQueen was cut at 3 1/2". The saying was cut at 2".

The sentiment inside the card reads, "Picks the best piece" and there's a picture in the bottom right corner of the card of a slice of birthday cake.

Decorating the Tree

I made this card several days ago, but could never get the picture to come out with being fuzzy or having a glare. Well today I finally got a picture that I liked. So with that I give you my Penguins decorating the Christmas tree.

For this card I used my Cricut only to cut the tree which was used as my "canvas" to apply the Martha Stewart branch punches. Once completed I dressed the tree up with some 'lights' and bulbs to give it a little pizzaz.

The penguins are stickers from Jolee's and the ground was embellished with my snow writer's pen and some diamond dust.

Bringing Home the Tree

After being on vacation for a week and trying to get the new craft room organized enough to create a card (still not complete and probably won't be until this weekend - will post more on that when it's done) I was finally able to do so tonight. I thought I'd go crazy since it's been so long. Not to mention the fact that my wonderful husband bought me four new cartridges for my birthday. So what do I do the first night I scrap in almost two weeks??? Why use all the old cartridges of course.

For this card I cut:

Truck from New Arrival at 3 1/2"

Snowmen from Speaking of Winter at 3 1/2"

Tree created using the new Martha Stewart branch punch

Pooh's Dreaming of a White Christmas

Today was a rather stressful day at work. So much to do and a very short period of time to get it done in. Needless to say I couldn't wait to get home, cook dinner and get to work on finishing this card that had been running around in my head.

I had been trying to figure out a way to use the Snowman from the Pooh and Friends cart for a while and then this idea came to me the other day. Yesterday I started laying it all out, and then last night my youngest daughter decided she wanted to switch bedrooms with her brothers. So instead of finishing my card I helped her. Of course I had a good time, but I really wanted to see this through as well.

So here it is - It's not exactly the way I envisioned it, but then again they rarely are. Sleeping Pooh was cut at 2" and the snowman icon was cut at 2 1/4" and pop dotted for a bit of a 3D effect.

"Best Gift" Christmas Card

The inside sentiment for this card was found in a Jolee's sticker set I had purchased. I loved it so much that I just had to create my own take on it......It says, "The best gift around a Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in one another."

So for this card I used Speaking of Winter. The tree was cut at 5" and the snowman was cut at 3 1/2" with the image flipped. I embellished the treetop with my snow writer's pen and sprinkled with diamond dust while still wet. The ground was run through my Xyron Creative station and then sprinkled with a white/bluish glitter.

The background paper has more vibrancy to it than is pictured. For whatever reason my camera just wouldn't capture it. Perhaps if I ever get more table space I'll have to invest in a scanner printer so I can just scan my cards.....

It's Just Cheese - Altered Clock

I so love the way that this clock turned out.....

My boss has been given a new assignment and this Saturday will be my last day with her. So I just had to create a special gift for her to remember us. Needless to say there's an inside joke to the saying "it's just cheese" and bottom line is that it's something we say when it's time to quit belaboring a point.

The clock face is 10 1/4" so I cut a 9 3/4" circle using Accent Essentials.

From Animal Kingdom:

Large mouse is cut at 6.5"

Mice heads are cut at 1.5". For the eyes I used mini brads and painted the whites with acrylic paint.

Pooh and Friends:

"Cheese wheel" is actually the birthday cake from Pooh cut at 1.5" and reworked

Verbiage from Making the Grade was designed using Design Studio and is cut at 1.5"

To determine where to place the mice heads for the 12, 3, 6 and 9 I used a 5/8" circular punch to punch out the positions needed from the original clock face. I then placed this on top of mine and lightly drew the circles where the heads should be.

I Love Snow

You know how you have every intention of creating something brilliant and it just doesn't turn out quite like you envisioned? Well this morning I tried to do that. I had this great idea to cut out a scallop that had a design in the middle that I could string beads across like cards you see in the store. Problem was my choice of colors were just too dark, and since I didn't want to waste the cut-outs I created I had to figure out what else I could do with them. And so this card was born.....

The scallop was cut from AE at 4" and then embossed with the snowflakes folder.

I then dry brushed with white paint and when that was set I came back and rubbed it with my gold metallic ink pad.

The snowman is a chipboard sticker and the gold snowflake is an iron-on both from my stash.

Inside Sentiment: Snowflakes are kisses from heaven.

Nativity Card

Today I decided to try my hand at making a nativity scene using the PPDU cart. For the most part I'm pleased with the outcome.

The card size is 5" x 6.5".

Manager is cut at 4"

Mary & Joseph cut at 3"

Animals cut at 2.5"

Baby Jesus cut at 1"

Star from JOTS cut at 2", inked in red and stickled

For the inside "sentiment" I used Isaiah 9:6:

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace' "

Blessed Home - Christmas Card

Tonight's a two for one since I have not had time to post the past few days. Life has been crazy getting ready for three Annual Membership Meetings set to occur in the next two weeks. Thank goodness for cardmaking or I'd be in a white jacket by now. :o)

This was also inspired by a card I saw (remember no time to be creative with all the board stuff going on). It didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned but there were a couple items I just couldn't get my Cricut to cut properly because of the small sizes needed.

The house is 2 3/4" from JOTS. I cut four different ones so that I could layer for effect. The snow was drawn with the snow writers pen and then sprinkled with diamond dust.
Fence is 1" from PPDU and cut to create two pieces

The background paper is from Heidi Grace Designs and is Frost Blvd/Snow Blues.

Over the Fields

I saw a picture of a card that was created like this using 3 dimensional stickers for everything. Well of course I just had to try my hand at making my own using my Cricut Expression.

The snowmen are 2.5" from doodlecharms (eyes are mini brads and the scarfs are scraps of fiber strands)

Sled is 1 1/4" from JOTS

Mittens are 3/4" from JOTS

For the hills I tore a couple pieces of white paper and then drew over the torn edges with my snow writers pen and sprinkled with diamond dust. The sled and snowman in the foreground are pop dotted for a dimensional effect.

Rocking Around The Christmas Tree

So this one was inspired by a card I saw in the November issue of CardMaker magazine. I didn't have any of the supplies listed so I decided to create my own and this is the end result.

The background papers are from the DCWV Christmas stack.

The frame (3.5 x 4.5) was created in MS Word by creating four different textboxes and formatting the text in the directions needed in order to create the frame. Once sized and placed the way I wanted I printed onto my cardstock, measured, and cut to create the frame itself.

The Christmas tree was cut from Christmas Cheer at 3 3/4 inches. I cut two so that I could create a base and then pop dot for a dimensional effect.

All edges were inked using Colorbox in Chestnut Roan.

Two Lumps of Coal

This is a card that was inspired by an ecard I saw online today. Don't remember which one of the popular ecard sites though. Regardless I thought this was just too cute to pass up scraplifting....

For this card I used Doodlecharms for the snowman and Christmas Cheer for the stocking. The snowflakes are "confetti" that I purchased from Hobby Lobby and lightly inked with Prussian Blue from the Color Box.

Birthday Dance Shaker Card

For days I was in a creative slump and could not decide what kind of a card I wanted to make for my daughter's 16th birthday. Thing was I was worried that she'd think it immature or lame or any one of the million other things teenagers think these days. So this morning I was looking at my carts and saw the mice from Cinderella and thought that was a cheery, dancing celebration looking "pose" and went with it.

I have also been wanting to try my hand at making a shaker card and so I turned this into one. However, I didn't have acetate so I cut up a plastic type file folder and used it for the cover. All in all I'm pleased with the results.

Winter Window

This card was inspired by one that I found in the latest Holiday Cards magazine from Paper Crafts.

For my take on the card I used DS and the George Cartridge to create the window panes and curtains. The curtains and valance were cut from the DCWV Christmas stack. The paper for outside the window is Let it Snow from the Paper Studio and that was covered with a piece of glittered vellum. I then glued some white glitter to the window sill to create the "snow".

The verse inside comes from a song I found on the net called Old Toy Trains. I'm not sure who wrote it or sings it but the particular verse I chose for the card says, "Close your eyes, Listen to the skies, All is calm, All is Well, Soon you'll hear Kris Kringle and his jingle bells."

Let it Snow Globe

I used my Cricut and Cuttlebug to design this card. The globe was created using DS and George. The sled is from the Joys of the Season cartridge to which I stickled the runners. The penguins are stickers I picked up from M's and the snowflakes are cut using the cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die.

For the background paper I "painted" my dots cuttlebug folder with gold glitter ink and then ran it through the machine.

The inside of the card says.....

"It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you"

Polar Peace

I created this card using the wonderful cut file that Susan Bluerobot shared on her blog. (Thank you Susie for sharing your talent & hard work)

There is only one cartridge used for this: Joys of the Season

The ornament was cut at 3" using a snowflake patterned paper. To that I inked in gold for the 'hanger' and edges of the bulb.

I cut another ornament from glitter paper using DCWV's winter stack and placed the polar bear inside the ornament. The bear's scarf is cut at 1".

Peace script was also cut at 1" from a gold metallic paper.

Dreaming of a Pooh Christmas

I had this card envisioned for some time but never could put it together because I didn't have the Joys of the Season cart. So imagine how excited I was to find out that my mother bought it last week during the big M's sale.....

Fireplace: cut at 4" from the Joys of the Season cart using the DCWV glittered Winter stack

Stockings: cut at 1" from Christmas Cheer using regular red cardstock and DCWV glittered Winter stack

Baby Pooh: cut at 1 3/4" from Pooh Font using regular cardstock and pop dotted for dimension

Snow"globe" Belly

I have had several people ask how I created the snowglobe effect for the Snowman's belly on the card I've entered in the BBTB challenge. It was very easy actually. The 'globe' is nothing more than store packaging that I cut apart and kept for purposes such as this. I measured the diameter of the circle and using my Fiskars circle cutter I cut into the top layers of my card (leaving the main base in tact). I also cut a circle in the center of the snowman's belly where I wanted to globe to be.

Inside the circle I added a smidge of white glitter, pinch of silver/red/blue glitter that was mixed together and a pinch of mini heart spangles. I then lifted the white snow sheet and glued the edges of the plastic in place, laying the snow back over the circle. Then I glued the bottom of the snow sheet in place and added the snowman.

Viola, I now have a snowman with a globe belly.

Believe

This card was inspired by a stamp I saw from Whipper Snapper Designs. Just a simple card that was quick to put together but turned out rather well I thought.

All pieces were cut from PPDU at 5". And the background papers are from a couple of different DCWV glitter stacks. The font on the card is printed in Christmas Card font.

Shaker Snowman

This card I was created using the Christmas Cheer cartridge. I stickled the trees and stars and created a snow globe type effect for the Snowman's belly.

Season's Greetings is a 3D sticker that I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

Fall Scarecrow

Several days ago I posted the Auburn clock I made for my husband. What I didn't tell you was that I entered a RAK contest on one of the Cricut message boards. Well last week I found out that I was one of two winners in that contest and my prize was the new Skeleton Scroll embossing folder. So today I was trying to decide what to make with it and while I was perusing one of my many card making magazines I came across a wonderful "verse" that I thought was perfect.

I inked the front of the Skeleton Scroll folder with black ink before embossing. The scarecrow was cut from PPDU using the pilgrim's shirt and hat as well as frankenstein's pants. For the hair I used a fiber thread that I glued along the edges on the reverse side.

The font on the inside was done with Friday the 13th found on dafont.com.

I decided to begin making my Christmas cards this evening and first two were inspired by Cardmaker Magazine.

The "Joy" tree was done with a 5/8" circle punch. Each circle was inked with red and the star was cut at 1.5" from Indie Art. The inside says "its' the most wonderful time of year".

For the other card I inked the background paper with a gold ink (didn't show up in the pic). The tags were cut from TBBM at 2.5" by 3" for the white tag and the blue I copied and then stretched it to enlarge to the size I wanted in DS. The polar bear is a sticker that I picked up at Michael's today for $1 for the set. The inside says "Be Merry".

Football Season & Altered Clock

So as golf comes to a close (I hope :o) ) football season begins, and tonight I finished a special clock for my husband to hang in his office at work.

I used Accent Essentials to cut the clock face and Plantin Schoolbook for the numbers. The helmet and AU symbol were pre-cuts that I found at the local scrapbook store.

Of course I noticed that a couple of the numbers "tilted" when they set and by then it was too late to fix it. But that's okay because I think it turned out pretty good anyway.

Sleepy

So I found some pictures that we took of my daughter asleep on the couch with the pups curled up around her. Only I never could figure out what to really do with them and then this week one of the groups I'm on posted a sketch challenge for which I created this layout. The flash of the camera; however, would not cooperate (whether I left it on or turned it off :::sigh:::) so the colors did not show up too well.

On the right it says "Sometimes the most productive thing one can do is sleep".

VBS & Return of the King

So this week is VBS week for us and our theme is Return of the King. Our family has been having a lot of fun with this and the children that we are working with have been great.



My dh is playing the part of the Black Knight who Merlin wants the children to choose as their king, but the White Knight keeps telling them that the King is Coming and to wait for Him. So while they are waiting for the return they are learning Bible verses that mention the Lord's return and each night during their feast Merlin appears and quizzes the children about the meaning of their verses.

I've been working in our banquet hall as a common server, my youngest daughter is a page/guide and my oldest son has become affectionately known as our Royal Cup Bearer.


All in all it's been a great week so far and I can't wait to see how it all ends on Thursday. Not to mention all the fun I'm going to have when I get all the pictures in so I can find the time to begin scrapbooking. Needless to say, I forsee a lot of Paper Doll Dress Up in my near future.......

Sad but busy day

Today my oldest daughter left home to go back to college in Georgia. It was a sad day for me since I'm not certain when I will see her again. College and the social life seem to keep her very busy. Which is a good thing I suppose because then she isn't getting into trouble.

So while I was trying not to cry and feel depressed about it all I decided to isolate myself and stayed in my craft room pretty much all day. I did come out long enough to do some laundry and cook dinner for the family, but other than that I made baby cards all day.

My boss, who has also recently left me (like yesterday) for a new position in Orlando, asked me to make 50 cards for her to give her sister as a gift. Since I'm still new to the card making arena they were all simple but I still love the way they turned out.

Now that the baby cards are done I can begin on some that I've been wanting to do and I can get back to scrapbooking too.