Creative Teacher Gift!

Lori here from ScrappinMyStressAway with my project for the challenge ~ 3 or more cartridges.

I wanted to make something special for Tanner's kindergarten teacher.  Mrs. Stock is an awesome teacher! I wanted to personalize something for her and kept coming back to a tile.

I started with gold vinyl, but the gold seemed thin and I had some issues with it bubbling and tearing.  I was ready to scrap the whole project and started removing the gold words and decided to leave the apple.  I kept thinking that a golden apple is kind of like an academy award for teachers.....so I kept going.

Here is my screen shot.  I used several words and icons from 15 cartridges:  Cheerful Seasons, Cindy Loo, George, Graphically Speaking, Gypsy Wandering, Hannah Montana, Home Accents, Home Decor, Locker Talk, Lovely Floral, Lyrical Letters, Makin' the Grade, Elegant Cake Art, Nursery Rhyme and Plantin' Schoolbook.

I opened a 12x24 mat and put all of the words and icons on my mat.  I started with Mrs. Stock (used a heart instead of a period) in the center.  I like subway art and wanted to make this look like some.  The words I chose are: discover, create, patience, inspire, transform, direction, explore, #1 Teacher, guide, adventure, learn details energy and 2011-2012.

It took some time to move words around and size them to get my final piece.

I erased the apple from my screen and cut out the rest in black vinyl.  

When you cut vinyl, set your Cricut to 3-3-3 (speed, pressure and blade depth) for a kiss cut.  I use my Cricut pokey tool (dental tool) to weed out the extra vinyl pieces.

I usually use clear contact paper with vinyl, but I was having trouble with the amount of stick and my pieces were tearing and not clinging to the tile.  I was getting frustrated not knowing if it was the gold vinyl or the contact paper or a combination of both.  I bought the ProvoCraft transfer tape and had much better luck!

I use my scraper to burnish the vinyl to the transfer tape.

I used my E2 and set it to cut on Vinyl.  You can see here that the blade did cut through the paper backing in a couple of places.  I honestly have better luck with my E cutting vinyl, but it is a pain to dig it out for one project!!

I bought my 12x12 tile at Home Depot.

  Here is my tile with the gold apple still on it.  I set the transfer tape right over it, burnished the vinyl into the tile and peeled the tape off.

Here is my tile all finished up!  I just need to get an easel so she can display it in her room.

Thanks for having me over today Bobbi Jo!!

Chicks dig me!

Good Morning!
 This is Jen from 3 Cats and a Bug!  This week at SweetSaddyDiva's  the design team is doing anything that uses 3 or more Cricut cartridges. I went with the "or more" part and used 5 cartridges.

For Easter, my daughter bought my Grandson the cutest lil outfit! The shirt says "Chicks dig me" and he was so adorable in it. I had to buy him a huge bunny for Easter since he's too little for an Easter basket.   So, on to my layout.

 I cut out two different chicks, one from Easter 2010, cut @ 3 and one from A Child's Year, cut @ 4. I embossed the chick from ACY and debossed the other one and then colored it in.

I cut the bunny from Easter 2010, cut @ 6 and embossed that one also.

I added stickles to his ear, white enamel accents on his tail and black enamel accents for his eye.

Also from the Easter 2010 cartridge I cut out two eggs, cut @ 2.5.  I added stickles, gems and used my viva decor pen to decorate them.

I cut the words "Dig Me" from Cindy Loo, cut at 3.5. I embossed the D and M, added stickles and a gem to decorate them. I also cut out a bow for the chick, cut @ 1 from Easter 2010 and added a matching gem to that.

I cut out the word Chicks from Straight From The Next, cut @ 3.5. I embossed the heart and used my white gel pen to decorate the letter.

For the grass I used MS Birthday Cakes Cartridge. I welded two pieces together, each cut @ 2 twice for both layers. I only wanted each piece to go 12 inches.

On the light green grass I used my thumb nails to curl up the tips. When I glued the two pieces together, I just ran a strip of glue on the bottom half so that the grass would still stick up. I did it the same way when I glued it to my background paper.

Thanks for looking!

Blessed!

Good Morning! This is Jen from 3 Cats and a Bug. This week at Sweetsassydiva's the DT is creating something we are wild about. Today I'm also using a Boy's Rule sketch. {More info on my personal blog, 3 Cats and a Bug.}

I started out with a double sided patterned paper from K & Company. I created a layout on the other side and didn't want to waste this page.

I added a 3 x 12 strip of patterned paper with a darker shadow paper.

Next came a 8.75 x 10 blue, with a brighter blue shadow.

Next came a green patterned paper cut at 7.75 x 9 with a bright green shadow.

I added a blue grey strip at .75 x 10. I also took a strip of patterned paper and used my MS punch to create a heart border at 1.25 x 9.25 and glued them down.

Next I took 3 pictures of my Grandson and trimmed two of them to 3 x 4 and one at 3.25 x 4 and matted them all in light blue and glued them down.

Next I cut out three arrows from Gypsy Wanderings at 1.6 x 5.25, 1.5 x 3.32 and 1.10 x 2.39. I ran two of them through my big shot with a cuddlebug folder.

and glued them down.

I cut out two green star shapes at 2 x 2 from Gypsy Wanderings and glued them down.

From Cindy Lou I cut out the word Boys in blue and green at 1.3 and glued that down. I added some gems, some stickles and used my white gel pen.

Just some detail shots...

Thanks for looking!

Family Reunion!

Good Morning! This is Jen from 3 Cats and a Bug

The theme this week for SweetSassyDiva's; DT is Picnic, which comes at a great time for me! Every year my family has a reunion at the end of July at Fox Lake. My Grandparents bought a place there about 40 years ago, so my family has been going there for a long time. My parents bought my Grandparents place just before they died and my husband and I bought a place two doors down about 5 years ago. It's on a small island, so not only is there fishing, but there's also a lot of wildlife to see, hence the animals in my LO. (I wasn't trying to "say" anything about my family! LOL)



I used 11 different carts for this project. The background paper is My Mind's Eye, the Penny Lane collection. The photo mats were left overs, so I'm not sure what collection they are from. I always use Core'dination paper, I think it cuts the best in my expression. I added glossy accents to the firefly's wings, black enamel accents to the watermelon and the grill, white enamel accents to the frogs and liquid pearls to the deer. All the cuts were just regular cuts, so I didn't take pictures of each step.

Country Life: the banner cut @ 3, the white letters were also the banner, but I used hide contour on the banner to get just the letters in the correct size without too much work. The "July 2011" was cut @ 2.



George and Basic Shapes: the photo mats in different sizes



MS Seasonal: the grass was cut @ 1 and welded together in Design Studio



Walk in my Garden: the caterpillar was cut @ 1



Animal Kingdom: the frogs (3) were cut @ 1



Kates ABC's: the bunny was cut @ 2.5 and flipped in DS



Doodlecharms: the fireflies were cut @ 1.5



Paper Dolls for Everyday: the grill was cut @ 8.25. The utensils were cut @ 4



Indie Art: the birds were cut @ 2



A Childs Year: the watermelon was cut @ 1



Cindy Loo: the deer was cut @ 4 and the squirrel was cut @ 3