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!!

Slider Invitation!

You are invited!!!!  Hi ~ Lori here from ScrappinMyStressAway with a super fun invitation for you!

I saw a slider invitation in Hobby Lobby's  Scrapbooking Magazine (1st Quarter 2012) and thought it looked like fun to make.

As usual, I grabbed my Gypsy and got started.

I lined up all of my elements on separate Layers.  I started with a 6x6 square.  I put a circle at 5 inches on the next layer.  

I put the doily from Easter 2010 on the next layer at 3.13 inches.

I put a scalloped oval from Art Philosophy on the next layer at 2.57 inches.

I put the fancy oval tag on the next layer at 1.25 inches (the size of the coordinating stamp).

I welded two butterfly borders from Paper Trimmings at 1 inch and put them on the next layer.

I opened yet another layer and copied all of the pieces onto one mat to cut them out.

I used white card stock for my doily, orange cardstock for my circle, and scrap paper for the rest.

I cut a 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 square from light blue cards tock.  I cut my striped paper 6x6 and adhered it to the blue card stock.

The blue scalloped oval is cut on 2-sided paper.  I don't like the blue side as much as I thought I would.

I flipped it over!  Much better.

I used the You're Invited stamp from CTMH ~ these stamps come with the Art Philosophy Bundle.

I cut out this butterfly (2.24 inches) from Hannah Montana to attach to the slide.

I only glued the center of the butterfly layer and bent the wings up just a bit.

Here is the closed invitation.  I hope you can come!!

Love is in the Air!

Hi Crafty friends, Brenda here from Friends Craftin with Friends.  This week on Sweet Sassy Diva the DT was asked to make something fun, no layouts, no cards.  So after thinking about it for a while I decided that I wanted to make a kissing ball.  I started with a 5" styrofoam ball.  Picked out my paper-old stack in my stash that was called Love Letters from Little Yellow Bicycle and then deciding on what flowers I wanted to use on my kissing ball.  I decided on some spiral flowers from the Flower Shoppe, the spiral on page 12, the spiral on page 13 and the spiral on page 15.  I my flowers at 2.25, 2.50 and 2.75.

There are around 160-170 flowers on my ball.  So I started cutting and rolling flowers, and cutting and rolling.

I placed a piece of ribbon on my ball for my hanger using to straight pins with heads. After having a pile of flowers done, I started gluing them onto my ball. 

Taking care to get them as close to each other as possible, I kept working around and up the ball. After I got to the top I glued flowers to each side of the ribbon hanger making sure to glue tight up against it so the pins wouldn't show.

Here it is with all the flowers in place. 

Now I thought that I would add a heart from the Sweethearts Cart, with the lips from Hannah Montana and the "muwah" from Smiley Cards.  I glued this to the side of the kissing ball. Then I took some pink twine and punched to hearts using some old Creative Memories punches.  I sandwiched the twine between the hearts and glued the other end in a crack of the kissing ball on the bottom.  Here it is handing from my ceiling. 

Thanks for joing us here at Sweet Sassy Diva, be sure to keep checking in to see lots of inspiration from our fabulous design team, you won't be disappointed! You may even walk away with some inspiration!

Three Kings Day!

Please be sure to go to Gaby at http://www.gabycreates.com/ after you finish here for the El Dia De Los Reyes Magos Blog Hop today!
Well, I see some different stories online about the Epiphany or in Germany they call it Heilige Drei Koenige. As Gaby explained the custom of her family on this day and about presents rather than Christmas, I thought that I would share the customs of this day in Germany.

Children dress up as the Three Kings and go from house to house caroling on the Epiphany in Germany on the 6th of January. The children are known as Sternsinger which translates to Star singers. They take a pole with them that has a star on top. They also take blessed chalk with them to write the initials of the Three Kings— K.M.B. for Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar with the year over the house door to protect the household from danger and keep evil spirits out.

I can say living abroad it is a bit confusing when you keep having the door bell rung and you have no idea what is going on. I thought they were pranking the house. The children are going around and looking for sweets like the custom of Halloween in the states. They have the added joy of writing on the house.  They write the first two digits of the year "+K+M+B" and the last two digits of the year. The initials are of the three kings. 

The children do not receive presents on this day and observe Christmas for three days in Germany. They are learning more about Santa Claus as the world seems to be shrinking with the internet and other media. They do know of Weihnachtsmann (Father Christmas). Mostly they celebrate the Christkindt translated to Christ child. The Christkindt brings presents on the 24th of December in the afternoon during the customary family afternoon walk.

While touring Europe, we visited Koeln and the Cathedral there has the remains of the three kings. It is in a golden chest within the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. The following pictures were taken by me during our visit. We also enjoyed the Christmas market surrounding the Cathedral. It truly is magnificient. You can read more about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_the_Three_Kings

The pictures and video does not even get close to the awe of the shrine nor that of the Cathedral.



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Here are the blog hop participants:

I used this cartridge as well as a few others. 

Here is my layout that I created using Hannah Montana, Christmas Village and Winter Frolic.

Most of it was using the Christmas Village cartridge but, I used the frame from Hannah Montana and the title comes from Winter Frolic.  This could be used to place a family picture for Christmas, or the Three Kings Day.  I am going to place a picture that I took in Germany of the Three Kings Shrine. 

As you can see below, the cuts on the Christmas Village were designed to be propped up.  I used the hide contour to remove the base piece.  Also, I used a small rectangle from George & Basic Shapes or you could use one of the other Gypsy cartridges to weld together with the image to eliminate the cut line. 

After you weld them, it will show in red what will cut.  As you can see the little rectangles at the base are in gray while the rest of the outline is in red.  Only the red of the camel and king will cut.  Also, I placed the manger on the mat to cut out the same color as the camel.

The word 'THREE' will cut out the same color as the king.  I also hid the crown as I wanted that to cut in another color.

I originally layed out the title to be between the star and the photo mat.  However, when I was putting it all together it was too much right next to the photo.  As soon as I add the picture, I will make the final determination where I will place the title.  For now, it looked better on the lower left of the layout. 

I also used the Chomas Creations Glitter mini gel pens and holder on the camel. You can order a set from http://amychomas.blogspot.com/ She also has a really cool engraving kit. I really love how easy it is to use. I also have a video in my archives using it on another project.

Instead of cutting out the details on the camel, I used the gel pens.  I did this by using my hide contour to hide all lines except those for the blanket.  Then, I went back doing the reverse only cutting out the outside lines. 

As you can see I just swapped the housing between the two steps.

To finish the detail on the camel, I used the gel pen and colored in the lines.

The title comes from the Winter Frolic cartridge.

The frame for the photo is from the Hannah Montana cartridge.

I did not know about the customs of the Three Kings Day that Gaby and some countries celebrate.  I had only learned about Germany's custom while living in Europe.  Traditionally in the States growing up our family kept our Christmas tree and decorations up until the 7th after the Three Kings Day. 

I hope you have a Blessed Three Kings Day!

Movie Challenge: Moulin Rouge

Hey everyone! Kristin from The Crafty Kitchen (http://kristinscraftykitchen.blogspot.com) here. This week our task was to create a project around our favorite movie. One of my favorite movies of all time has to be Moulin Rouge. I love the music, the costumes, and of course, Ewan McGregor :)

There is one quote from that movie that I always remember and I love:


"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return".

I made a card around that quote, and I really love it! I tried to stick with reds and blacks, and a lot of distressing for a vintage look. Hope you enjoy!


Recipe:
*Hannah Montana Cricut Cartridge
*Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art cartridge
*DCWV Black Currant Stack
*Cream Cardstock
*Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink
*Martha Stewart Glitter in Kunzite and Tourmaline
*Felt flowers from Making Memories
*Top note punch by EK Success

Hope Layout!

Hope Layout and Introducing.....
Alma!   I am a stay at home mom to 3 beautiful kids and a college student. I have always loved documenting my kids' lives, but it wasn't until last year that my hubby bought me an Expression and I haven't looked back since. I love learning new styles and about new products!

Recipe:


12x12 black cardstock
11x11 pink cardstock for center square
3 4x6 pink photo mats
3 3/4x3 3/4 black square
3 1/2x3 1/2 pink square
Martha Stewart flower punch (2 strips of 11x2 pink and black cardstock)
Hope cut out with Alphalicious font
Butterfly cut from Hannah Montana