My Cricut Craft Room's Would You Ever Guess Wednesday

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means!!!! It's Would You Ever Guess Wednesday over at My Cricut Craft Room!!!! If you came here from there, you are in the right place! If you just happened upon my blog, then please be sure to visit My Cricut Craft Room to see all of the wonderful creations Erica's Design Team made for today!

What exactly IS Would You Ever Guess Wednesday? Well, it is a day in which we, the Design Team, make a project using only the feature keys of our cartridges, or make a paper creation with a Cricut Cake cartridge.  We would just like for you to take a second look at all those wonderful Cricut cartridges and see what ELSE they can do for you and your paper crafting!

Now, on to my project for today.  It is very simple, as is most of what I do, just because I am a time-crunched single mom to an 8-year-old little boy and haven't had a whole lot of time lately to learn some of the "better" techniques.  I am determined to learn some, though! :) 

If you have been to my blog before, you know my cousin is getting married soon.  Well, she and her fiancee and her daughter have found a new house and I wanted to make them a "congrats on the new house card".....so, this is what I came up with:

I created this little card using.......Would you EVER guess: Create A Critter!!! Yes, Create A Critter! This is a cute little house that can be found using the Accessories button!  I believe it's supposed to be a birdhouse or doghouse, but it makes a cute "Congrats" card as well!  To find this cute little house, it is the second key from the left on the bottom row of your keyboard.  The "critter" is a bird, and the "Accessory" is the house. The Shift Key (while still in Accessory mode) will get you the heart and roof.

When I first started this project, I wanted to turn this little house into a shape card, so I put two houses, at 4.06", on my Gypsy, flipped one and welded them together at the point of the roof.  In reality, it was a VERY flimsy card when it came out.  So, I just glued the "card" shut to make a more stiff front, and then cut out a second "card" to glue together to make a stiff back. :)  I scored the back house about 1-1.5" from the point of the roof so as to provide a way for the card to open and just glued the back to the front using the top 1-1.5" of the roof (the little triangle there).  The house itself was just beige plain cardstock from my stash. For the roof, I used brown cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Argyle folder to look like some roofing tiles.  The heart was just plain hot pink cardstock.  All of these were cut at the same size as the house, 4.06". I just used a "Congrats!" stamp from my stash and Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) for the sentiment on the front.  The inside is just hand-written with a brown Sharpie. When cutting the roof and the heart, though, they come together on the button, so you may wonder how I got them to be two different colors without wasting a whole lot of paper....

Here's how:

I use my Gypsy for just about EVERYTHING and this is why.  You can see on the left how I welded the two houses together.  Then, for the roof and the heart, I put that button on my mat twice, and used the Hide Feature to hide the heart on the top and the roof on the bottom (you can see how the "hidden" parts are a lighter gray on the screen).  That way, I can use smaller pieces of cardstock (scraps even!) and get all of my cuts at one time, rather than feeding through a sheet at a time for several cuts, and getting things like brown hearts and pink roofs. :)  I DO have access to Cricut CraftRoom (CCR) now, but my computer and my Cricut are never in the same vicinity, so even if I use CCR, I still transfer it to my Gypsy for the final cutting.

OK, so that's it for the cute little Congrats card I made for my cousin; it is very simple, but I hope you like it nonetheless!  I sure enjoyed my "time out" while making it!  Be sure to stop by again soon to see what else I have created!  Also, don't forget to go over to My Cricut Craft Room to see what all else the DT is up to these days!  Erica has also gotten her webstore up and running, so you can go see what wonderful deals she has on Cricut cartridges and accessories as well as some wonderful products and papers from Imaginesce, BoBunny and more!!

Catch you later!!!!

My Cricut Craft Room's Card Creating Sundays

Making cards is fun!  And, much simpler (to me) than entire scrapbook page layouts.  Apparently, I am not the only one, as Erica has now had to add this, a SECOND Card Creating Day because it has become the most popular day among the Design Team. :)

If you came from My Cricut Craft Room, you're in the right spot. If you just happened across my blog, be sure to go and visit My Cricut Craft Room because Erica has a sneak peak at ALL of the wonderfully fabulous cards that were made for today.

Here's my card for today:

First, I love this card because I LOVE monkeys!!!  And frogs, but that's another story. Secondly, I love it because I just LOVE these tri-shutter cards Kat turned me on to.  You can make the cutest little card without having to figure out some lengthy sentiment to put in it. :)

Directions on the tri-shutter card can be found here.  I used a base of brown cardstock and layered in using the polka dot sheet from a cardstock pack I found at Big Lots (Precious Petals Assorted Openstock Paper Pack - Little Safari), some plain turquoise cardstock from my stash (which was embossed with Circles and Spots on the Cuttlebug), and the green is from an adhesive 4.5x6.5 paper stack I bought at Hobby Lobby.  The vines on the green strips are from a stamp set I won from Erica (thanks!) and used chocolate brown Martha Stewart ink.

The little monkeys I did using Create A Critter, using black, cream/tan and brown cardstock from my stash. They are cut at 3".  The monkey on front is FUZZY!!!  Acutally FUZZY!!! Eek! I just love it!!!  I used my Zig 2-way glue pen, applied it liberally on the brown layer and covered it with flocking just like you do with glitter.  After drying (I left mine for a full day before I checked it just to make sure the glue had dried well) you can shake off any excess flocking to reveal your fuzzy monkey. (I should note here that you should do the flocking BEFORE adding that layer to the monkey - keeps you from having to be SOOO careful with where you apply the glue.) The "SMILE" sentiment also came from Create A Critter and is cut at 1.35" (I use my Gypsy for everything) using the same plain turquoise cardstock from my stash as the other squares (though I did NOT emboss the "SMILE").  I attached the SMILE and the fuzzy monkey on front using foam strips I also won from Erica. (I highly recomment these as opposed to the dots you can get simply because you can cut them to whatever size you need and they are skinny enough for things like these little monkeys' arms and legs.)

That's it!! I hope you have enjoyed my fun little monkey card that I plan to send to Erica for her St. Jude Project Sunshine and Smiles and come back to see me next week for some more fun!

My Cricut Craft Room's Card and Invitation Blog Hop

Hi! And welcome to the Card and Invitation Blog Hop presented by My Cricut Craft Room!!!  You should have come from the graciously talented Kat.  If not, please head on over to My Cricut Craft Room so you can see all of the wonderful projects and blogs (there IS Blog Candy if you post on ALL the participating blogs, too, so you definitely don't want to miss out on that!).  If so, you're in the right place! So....let's HOP right on to the projects I have for you!

First, I made this cute little invitation using Create A Critter. I'm not totally happy with the way this turned out, but I'm still somewhat of a novice, so this was a new technique/idea I tried out and I'm glad I tried it, anyway. :)

I started with a standard white A2 sized card from my stash and added some orange polka dot paper, also from my stash (just a paper pad from Hobby Lobby).  Then, I wanted to add monkeys....but not MONKEYS monkeys....like SHADOWS of monkeys. So, I took the "remnants" of my St. Jude Card making and used it as a stencil:

These are the monkeys from Create A Critter, cut at 3" and arranged for space utilization via my Gypsy (I made 5 monkeys for some St. Jude's cards and other projects).  I laid this "remant" on my card and rubbed Tim Holtz Distressing Ink (color: Vintage Photo) into the voids using my Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool.  Then, I cut leaves (also from Create A Critter) of varying sizes out of green cardstock from my stash (differing colors for some interest) to add to the top for a jungle "feel". The big leaf, I had to cut to fit the stamp, so I believe it was cut at around 2.75-3".  The stamp is one I've had for years from Stampabilities.  And that's it for this cute and simple invitation that can be used for anything from birthday parties to baby showers!

Next, I made this gorgeous Thank You card using Damask Decor. This is really turning out to be a favorite cartridge of mine (be sure to check back on Wednesday for some more Damask Decor projects! Hint, hint!) even though I probably would never have looked at it twice on a store shelf.  I am SOOOO glad I won it from Erica!!

If you've been reading my blog, or my Facebook page, you know my cousin is getting married in October. And, you know how excited I am for this.  You also know her color scheme is turquoise and orange - a color combo that is a little off the beaten path, yet one I have fallen COMPLETELY in love with!!! So, I stuck with that theme, and will probably make her some of these if she wants me to. :)  All of the paper is just basic cardstock from my stash - turquoise, white and orange.  The "Thanks" sentiment is one I had stored from another project (I NEVER throw anything away unless it is TOTALLY trashed and useless!), and was from Gypsy Font, cut somewhere around 1-1.5" and welded using my Gypsy.  The card itself is the Shift Key of the Card Feature of Damask Decor (<Damask24-s> on p. 44 of the handbook) cut at 4.29" out of turquoise cardstock.  Then, I cut the Card Feature out of white cardstock at the same size for the overlay. I used my Gypsy, so I could lay the card and the overlay on one mat, but you could do this separately if are just using the cartridge and not the Gypsy. Just cut it at 4.25". After that, it's all over with but the gluing! :)  I used my Xyron X adhesive for the "Thanks" and then used a Tombo Adhesive Runner for attaching the white overlay to the card.  These are so simple to make, yet make a really elegant statement that says you spent either way too much time or money! ;) Only you will be the wiser!

Thank you for looking at my projects! I appreciate any and all feedback you guys and gals can give me. Also, My Cricut Craft Room is giving away some pretty SWEET Blog Candy to a random person, but only those who comment on ALL of the participating blogs will be entered to win!!! So comment away and GOOD LUCK!

Next up in the hop is Sam Pirkle of Scrapping with Pirkie

Here is the whole line up in case you get lost, or there are glitches along the way (gotta love Blogger!):



http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com  
http://www.micraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://katscrapfever.blogspot.com
http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com   YOU ARE HERE
http://scrappingwithpirkie.blogspot.com/   NEXT
http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
http://britkdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com http://cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com 
http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com/
http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com/
http://jshandcrafts.blogspot.com http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com Http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com (special post for blog candy)

My Cricut Craft Room's Festive Fridays

Hi, everybody, and welcome to Festive Fridays!!! What is Festive Fridays, you ask?? Well, every Friday, some designers from My Cricut Craft Room make some wonderful projects with HOLIDAYS in mind!!! Our favorite is Christmas, and I think that's what Erica had in mind, but we sometimes branch out and do other holidays as well. :)

If you came from My Cricut Craft Room, you are in the right spot.  If not, go back there and see all of the wonderful projects the Design Team has for you!

I decided to do Thanksgiving this week and create some cute little placecards for the Thanksgiving table (I didn't put any names on these yet)....These could also be modified to just have Bible verses or "thankful thoughts" on them so you can set them out anywhere for the holiday. :)

Both Placecards

"Indian Turkey" Placecard

"Pilgrim Turkey" Placecard

To begin with, I used my Gypsy and picked the shape for my card and its inset.  I used the Elegant Edges cart (button #5) and set it at 4" x 2". I then duplicated it and flipped it to combine with the first one and welded it to make the foldable card (for which I used plain brown cardstock).  To the side, I duplicated the shape and decreased the size to 3.45" x 1.73" to make the  inset (plain cream cardstock).  I wanted the inset card to look a little more aged, so I used Tim Holtz distress ink (Vintage Photo color) around the edges.  Then I mounted the cream insets on the brown cards.  For the turkeys, I used Create a Critter (key #47 - ALL its layers) and cut the layers at 1" two times (2 turkeys). I used dark brown cardstock for the background image, light brown cardstock for Layer 1, orange cardstock for Layer 2, red cardstock for Layer 3. I hid the hat to cut the turkeys but then cut again, hiding the turkey and using the hat - black cardstock.  Then, I used  Paper Doll Dress Up to make the Indian Headband and feathers - using the light brown cardstock for the headband and red and orange for the feathers (these cuts were made at 0.87").  After assembling the turkeys, I attached them to their cards with my Zig 2-way glue pen. (I almost always use my Zig for anything that requires layers - it works the best!)

I hope you have enjoyed my cute little placecards; feel free to scraplift if you like them as well as I do!  Don't forget to check out My Cricut Craft Room for all of our Festive Friday fun!!

My Cricut Craft Room's Christmas in July Blog Hop

Merry Christmas!!!!  I know, I know; it's not Christmas YET. However, it's never too early to get started on your shopping NOR is it ever too early to get started on your cards and gift tags and other handmade items!  For this reason, today is My Cricut Craft Room's Christmas in July Blog Hop, where we hope to give you plenty of inspiration for your handmade Christmas items!!

You should have come from the wonderfully talented Tammy; if not, please go back to My Cricut Craftroom and start at the beginning. Believe me, you're not going to want to miss ANYTHING!!

My big thing at Christmas is wrapping the gifts!!! I used to LOVE spending hours making sure the wrapping was just so, the ribbons so pretty....But, then LIFE happened and I just don't have time for all that anymore. My new favorite Christmas wrapping idea is GIFT BAGS!!!  They're so easy!! But, who says they have to be boring??  I love dressing up my gift bags with cute gift tags and now, thanks to My Cricut Craft Room and all the ladies that I have met through there, I know how to make some pretty cute gift tags, if I do say so myself!  I have two different ones to show you today. Remember, I'm all about simple yet cute, so either of these takes a very long time and can be turned out by the dozens fairly quickly.

This tag was made using Create a Critter (yes, Create a Critter!) and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More (TBBM).  I first cut the tag out of manila cardstock from my stash using the blackout feature of a basic tag from TBBM. I used my Gypsy to make the tag our standard Tag Swap size of 4.75" tall by 2.375" wide. Then I added a tree cut from Create a Critter (Accessory button on p. 33 in the handbook) that was cut at 1.47" high on my Gypsy (1.5" on your machine if you don't have a Gypsy) on green cardstock from the Creative Memories Shades of Green cardstock pack. 

Here, I have a confession to make: the tree was in my stash because, when I made the card for Card Creating Tuesday (see post below), I cut the trees too large.  But, so as not to be wasteful, I put the trees into my "scrap shapes" box and saved them for later.  See, WHOOPSIES don't always have to be a bad thing!!

Now, back to the tag. Once I added the tree, I wanted it to look like snow had fallen on it, so I added some Star Dust Stickles to the branches.  Then, I had to add the "To:" and "From:" which came from a little pack of acrylic stamps I picked up in the Michael's clearance bin some time ago using Tim Holtz Distress Inks Barn Door.  Lastly, I added an eyelet and some red and green raffia ribbon from my stash so I can tie the tag onto my gift!

I took a little poetic license with this tag, as our rules say our projects HAVE to include AT LEAST 1 Cricut cut. Well, the tag itself is my Cricut cut: I used the blackout feature of a standard tag from TBBM and cut it using my Gypsy at our standard Tag Swap size of 4.75" tall by 2.375" wide. I just used some light gray cardstock from my stash.  I then "dabbed" or "rubbed" some ink onto the background to give it a cloudy, chilly effect.  The color is Tumbled Glass from the Tim Holtz Distress Inks line (I'm absolutely LOVING these inks!!).  I then used the same color, Tumbled Glass, to stamp the snowflakes all around the tag using some more of my Michael's clearance bin Christmas acrylic stamps. And, of course, what gift tag is complete without "To:" and "From:" - same as the tag above, using Barn Door ink again - and an eyelet and ribbon for attaching to a gift?

I hope you have liked the Gift Tags I have created for you. As I said, I am all about quick and simple - yet cute! - so these can be turned out by the dozens! You could even add your own flair by embossing the snowflakes, or the to and from....the possibilities are endless!  Enjoy, and Mele Kalikimaka!!! (Hawaiian for Merry Christmas!)

Your next stop will be:  Melissa

Here is the whole line up in case you get lost:

Start http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Tina http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com

Laurie  http://www.lauriecandoit.blogspot.com/

Gayle http://gscraptime.blogspot.com/
Jen  www.mybusycraftylife.blogspot.com

Lucinda www.thegrowinggibson.blogspot.com

Sheila  http://2pawprints.blogspot.com

Yvette http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Enjoli http://mississippihippycrafts.blogspot.com/

Connie  http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com

Raina http://www.scrapwithraina.blogspot.com/

Heather www.papercrafteranonymous.com

Tammy  http://crazycardcreator.blogspot.com/

Autumn http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com  YOU ARE HERE

Melissa http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com  NEXT

Erica http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-entry-for-christmas-in-july-blog-hop.html
Kat http://katkscrapfever.blog​spot.com/