Live Love Laugh

I saw these layered signs hanging on the rack in Hobby Lobby the last few times I've gone shopping. Each time, I've passed on buying them, this time I bit the bullet and bought them. I knew I wanted to do a black and white coloring on them and knew I had the perfect paper pad to use!

Using sheets from DCWV's "the Bella Armoire stack" I traced, cut, adhered (Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive), sanded and inked up each sign. I used StazOn black ink and Black Soot Distress Ink by Ranger to blacken the exterior and interior of all the letters as well as inking ip the edges of the paper for a cleaner finish. Afterwards, I took Tea Dye Distress Ink and inked up the edges for a more vintage effect. I don't know about you, but I truly love the way these came out! I even got thumbs up from the hubby and my older 2 kids. Not bad.

ScrapBook Expo in Ontario, CA 10/12

It's that time of year again! Scrapbook Expo came to Ontario, CA! I had completely forgotten that it was coming... My daughter's Bday is a week away and our best friend is getting married too. I wasn't planning on going with the multitude of things needing to be done, but hubby convinced me. Here are pictures of everything I bought. There were plenty of booths to visit, some I didn't bother with because the lines were too long.

Enjoy!

(Sorry for the sideways pics, it's been so long since I last posted that I can't remember how to rotate them.)

This set of borders and shapes is from "Kiwi Lane Designs".

These items are from ScrapAce.

These items were purchased from ClearScraps, my favorite place to buy acrylic!

These trendy Washii tapes were purchased from Queen & Co.

These trendy tapes were bought from  the Accent ScrapBooking booth.

These fun jewelry, glue and clear squares & rounds were purchased from Craft Fantastic.

These Glue Dots and Distress pack were purchased from BEE Creative.

I spent a ton of $$$, but I'm excited to play with it all, especially the Kiwi Lane Design items!

Winner Announcement for "Our Favorite Things" Blog Hop

I wanted to announce that the winner of my blog candy is Cathy from "cathyplus5". I will be emailing her/you to get your mailing address and sending you the "Monster Chow" altered notebook.  Congratulations Cathy!

Our Favorite things

Welcome to the Our Favorite Things Blog Candy Extravaganza! You should have just come from  Dena's blog. If you are just joining the hop and want to start from the beginning, please start at Dena's blog  Dena.This is going to be an amazing event!  Many of you are familiar with Oprah Winfrey's famous "Favorite Things" show where audience members walk away with an array of fabulous gifts.  It was always so fun to see how excited the audience members got with each giveaway.  Well, if you've always wished you could sit in the audience of one of those show tapings, we have the next best thing for you!

Each participant in this hop is going to share a favorite of hers.  It could be a craft-related item or a non-craft related item.  In addition to that, each blogger is giving away blog candy!  This means you have a chance to win at every stop!

Each blogger has her own rules for winning her blog candy, so please be sure to read the rules on each blog for a chance to win.

Without further ado, here is the project I created for this hop:

  I have become a "regular" in my kitchen. Sounds funny, but growing up, I had NO desire to cook. It always seemed like a CHORE, what a dirty word! LOL! Anyway...In the past 12 months, I have really become creative in the kitchen. So much so, I started my own little candy business. So, I thought, for this hop, I should make an altered notebook and turn it into a Recipe Book, something you can hand down to your kids or just compile a bunch of recipes (hand-written or clipped from newspapers or off the internet) and give to a friend. (Someone like a 1st time parent, newly single, college student, or even just your average friend who doesn't know how to cook other than from a box.)


Below are the majority of the items I used for this project. I added a couple after taking this picture.

• Standard notebook
• One 12 x 12" sheet of printed paper and a coordinating plain piece of cardstock. My sheets both came from DCWV's "Prints for the Year Ultimate Stack" that I found at Michael's on clearance.
• Tim Holtz's Distress ink pad in "Tea Dye" and "Black Soot", as well as the blending tool
• McGill's large tab punch (2 1/4" wide)
• ProvoCraft's "Happy Haunting's" cartridge using the Vampire font in 0.75"
• Sparkle Glitter pens by MultiCraft Imports to line each letter
• Martha Stewart writing pen in "Sepia"
• Scotch brand Scrapbooker's 2-way glue
• Mini glue dots (to apply the vellum)

Cut the printed sheet in half. Line up the edge of the paper to the outside edge of the notebook. Make sure to line up images so as to not cut off too many faces. Adhere.  Repeat on back cover. Once you've got the cover sheets glued in place, THEN trim off the excess. (I learned this the hard way.)  Decide how wide you want your spine cover to be and make sure it overlaps the printed paper slightly.  Use your trimmer. (I can't give you measurements on this as it seems each notebooks varies ever so slightly.  This one measured out to be 3.25" x 9.75". Ink up the edge of the spine cover.  Mold the spine cover to the notebook itself, BEFORE adhering, this helps a lot!  Apply glue to spine COVER and then carefully align to the spine of the notebook. Make sure to line up the edges of the paper (front and back) at both the top & bottom of the notebook, this makes it look more clean.  Also, flatten the spine against your work-space to make sure that their are no unnecessary gaps.

Using the Cricut Expression, cut out your letters.  I used the same plain card stock. However, since this was too close to the printed paper, I inked the letters in "Tea Dye" and "Black Soot". It was still a little too similar, so I adhered the letters to the vellum to give some contrast without taking away from the cute paper. To show where the vellum ended, I added the faux stitching lines with the Sepia pen. Adhere the vellum sheet to the notebook with mini glue dots. I placed one at each corner of the vellum and then placed more randomly behind the letters to help ensure it would stay. (I had already rounded the 2 corners by this point.) Ink up the edges of the notebook with "Tea Dye".  The letters write out: "Monster Chow".

 Using the gold sparkle glitter pen, I edged the letters and filled in the "drippings" to add that extra something.   I also took random glitter gel pens on hand and colored in the eyes of the monsters.  Using "Blush-R20" Copic marker I added cheeks to one monster and to the empty heart of another.

For my blog candy, the winner will receive this altered notebook.  I have already cut 7 of the large tabs out for you to fill in and adhere where you want.  To enter to win this fun notebook, please leave a comment below with a way to reach you (ie. email).  I will choose a winner on Tuesday, March 6th. I will announce here on my blog the winner's name and I will also message the winner.  I will then ship out this notebook to him/her.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed what I shared with you today. Please be sure to hop on over to Ashley's  blog (insert link to blog stop that follows yours on the hop) to see what she has to share with you and for more blog candy fun! Happy hopping and good luck to you!
 
Below is the entire blog hop lineup in case you lose your way:
 

Dena - http://missdjones.blogspot.com/

Lisa L.- http://craftylam.blogspot.com

Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com

Jennifer - http://craftycardgallery.blogspot.com

Paula D. http://scrapyourworld1.blogspot.com

Cely - http://hawaiipaperparty.blogspot.com

Jamie - http://scrapqueen141.blogspot.com/

Ellen - http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/

Shannon -http://my-o-scrappin.blogspot.com

Liz -http://decadeofscrap.blogspot.com

Wendy -http://gilbyscraftster.blogspot.com

Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com

 Ashley W.--http://proudusmcwife415.blogspot.com

Sexy Sirens Blog Hop

Welcome to Day One of the Sexy Sirens & Vixens Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from  Michelle's Blog . If you are just joining us and want to start from the beginning, please visit Dena's blog  Miss Dena's Blog . The complete blog hop lineup is listed at the bottom of this post.

We are a group of fifteen fun, sexy gals, most who met on Facebook with one common connection: our love of card making and other paper crafts! This weekend, the "Sexy Fifteen" will be sharing Valentine's Day projects using some of the sexier images from our awesome sponsor: Kenny K. Downloads!
 http://www.kennykdownloads.com/ 

If you are not yet familiar with Kenny K. Downloads, what are you waiting for?! Kenny K. has the cutest digi's, from cute images suitable for kids to sultry images perfect for a card for your man! *WINK* Whether you want to try out one of their images for the first time or add to your existing collection, this could be your lucky weekend! Our sponsor, Kenny K. Downloads, will be awarding one commentor FIVE Kenny K. digi's of their choice ! Be sure to read the contest rules below!

 Now, on to my project :

Looks like the beginnings of any other project, right?  This project has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone. Not, because of the digi I got to use, no, but because I had to color this image.  I'm terrified, yes TERRIFIED of correctly coloring in images. Getting the hair just right,  highlights, low-lights, shimmer effects. Skin coloring, shading, shadows...UGH! SCARY stuff!  I wanted to use Copic  Sketch markers, but I only had 3=not enough to work on an image like this. So, I resorted to my colored pencils I also used the Stampin' Up pencils, not pictured here).

Here are the items I used for this project.

• Blue card stock and black card stock (the blue depends on your preference, I wanted mine to enhance my digi's eyes).
• Damask Decor, Opposites Attract and Art Philosophy cartridges
• Black bling
• Stickles: Stardust and Black Diamond as well as Distress in Fired Brick
• Water based blending pen
• Helmar's Scrap Dots
• Most importantly: Kenny K's digi image of "Bodacious Bev"

We printed up Bodacious Bev to be 9.5".  Her hair was colored with: black, dark brown, red and burgundy. Using the water pen, I blended the hair coloring so the strokes are less visible.  Stickles are added to add shimmer to her high lights.  The skin is a bit harder, pink, orange, white and yellow were all used VERY lightly to get her this way.  I added an extra stroke or 2 of pink along her decollete. Pink, fuschia and black were used to give her a smokey eye.  Blue was used for her eyes, tear (tattoo) and her cross earring; Stardust Stickles was added to the "shine" in her eyes as well. Red on her lips, heart tattoo and nails. Red Stickles was added to her lips for a glossy effect.  Pink Stickles are added to the beads of her corset and underneath is "Black Diamond" Stickles.  The same pink Stickles was used to enhance the laces up those sexy thigh high boots. "Gunmetal" was added to the shiny parts of the boots.  The boots were colored black, but the tongue is grey.  The fuschia on the corset comes from the Stampin' Up pencil collection, whereas her leg is colored from the pencils pictured above.

The huge heart Bev is sitting on comes from the "Damask Decor" cartridge found on page 67, using the "layer 1" button.  This was cut at 10.5" and placed at an angle. Black bling was placed on just the true round ends.  I finally got to use my Scrap Dots for the first time. I applied the dots on the back of the heart and then let them dry for a while, then came back and added another level/layer before placing down on the blue background.  I wanted that depth that pop dots can't really give.  However, between Bev and the heart, I used the pop dots.  For her bottom/extended boot, I used 3 pop dots piled on top of each other.

The "Opposites Attract" Cricut cartridge was used for the letters.  They were cut at 1" with the exception of the "l" which was cut at 1.5".

This corner piece also comes from the AP cartridge found on page 58. Using the "font layer" key it was cut at 3.5" and also Stickled with the vlue color

The vines (3 in total) are cut from the "Art Philosophy" cartridge (my go to cartridge).  It is found on page 59 of the handbook and were cut at: 2", 1.5" and 1", using the "font layer" key.  The 1" was flipped so that I could create a heart shape with the swirls, pretty cute, huh???  The blue and pink Stickles were added for a little pop of color.

Here is a close-up of Bev's face and hair.  My daughter says everytime she looks at this image, she gets drawn to Bev's eyes.  

Here is a close-up of those sexy boots with the shiny pink lacing. (DH suggested the lacing feature.)

I really like the way "Bodacious Bev" turned out.  I am "tempted" to get my hands on more images and get coloring. (pun intended)

Thanks for stopping by. Your next hop lands you at Amber's Blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you like what I did with "Bodacious Bev", please be sure to visit Kenny K. Downloads to purchase your own digi or check out what else they have in their extensive collection of digital images (some already pre-colored too!).   Don't forget about the blog candy. To be eligible to win, you must, comment on each of the blogs in the hop.



You will get one entry per day if you comment on Day One's posts as well as Day Two's posts.  Please note, that not all participants will have a second project up, but a lot will!   You do not have to become a follower on each blog, but it sure would be nice if you did ! You MUST include an email address where you can be contacted should you win. The winner will be notified by February 20, 2012 via email. Winner must respond no later than 3 days after being notified. Otherwise, a second winner will be selected.

Thanks again, and be sure to hop on over to  Amber's Blog  to see what she has to share with you today! Below is the complete blog hop lineup:

1) Dena : http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
2) Lynne : http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
3) Ashley ; http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
4) Zenita : http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
5) Gill : http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com
6) Jamie : http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com
7) Jen : http://www.expressivelyme.blogspot.com
8) Jill: http://craftwithanangel.blogspot.com/
9) Sherry: http://patternsbysher.blogspot.com
10) Clare: http://cricutcraftyclare.blogspot.com/
11)Haidee: http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/
12)Michelle: http://craftychelle.blogspot.com
13) Lisa L: http://craftylam.blogspot.com 
14) Amber J: http://pixiperfectcreations.blogspot.com/

15) Cely : http://hawaiipaperparty.blogspot.com/

Valentine's Decor & Gifts Blog Hop

If you happened here by chance you're in luck! There will be 20 stops full of great ideas, so grab a beverage and head over to the hostess' blog. Staci's blog is at http://preciousmem.blogspot.com/. The sponsor for this hop is Designs on Cloud 9 at http://designsoncloud9.com/ and she has offered us a $20 gift voucher for the GRAND prize. Head over to her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Designs-on-Cloud-9/189551027737837 and show her some love. One lucky person who comments on this hop will be the winner of this generous prize. (One person from each stop will be chosen at random and we will then hold a random draw with those 20 people and one lucky person will win the grand prize).

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!  With that said, how much fun is it to decorate your house with items to help set the mood?  I have 4 kids and I LOVE to make decorations for the upcoming holiday or season.  Here is my "LOVE Is In The Air" project.

Ingredients for this project:

• Twine or ribbon
• McGill Heart punch
• 3" Scallop punch
• Circle cutter or punch for 3" circles
• Ranger Distress ink in Victorian Velvet
• Printed cardstock from the "Ka-Zoo" paper pad by K &Co
• Pink, red and white card stock sheets
• Pop dots and glue dots, ATG glue glider
• Hannah Montana cartridge for the font/letters

Cut/punch 24- 3" circles/scallops for each ball.  Score each disc, using a ruler, to where the edges of your disc measure 2.5" across.  You want to do this 3 times, forming an equilateral triangle scored within your circle shape.  See the picture below for an example.  (This design is originally based off of a mathematical sphere my daughter had to make in 5th grade, I hated it then.)  Once, scored, fold the edges and grab your adhesive.  First, attach 6 of the triangular circles together forming the top (circle). You can do another 6 together to form the bottom/circle.  However, the next 12 are done attaching the triangles with one tip up, then one tip pointing down, going back and forth in this pattern.  Once you get the 12 adhered, one side at a time, start applying them to one of the 6 you put together for the top or bottom.  Before adding the bottom, run your ribbon or twine through the center point of the top. Use a strong glue dot to adhere it to the underside tip of one of the top triangles to keep it secure and in place.  Now, start gluing the bottom 6 to the 12 sides, making sure every side gets glued down together.  Allow the bottom of your twine or ribbon to flow out of the center point at the bottom so you can hang your letters.

After your ball is completely glued together, you'll need to work on the drop down circles and letters.  Using your circle/scallop punch, cut 4 circles at the 3" size from the pink card stock, edge both sides of these discs with the Distress Ink.  Then, cut 8 circles at 2.5" from the white card stock using your circle cutter and edge those with the Distress Ink on one side.  Next, using the Hannah Montana cartridge cut 2 of each of the letters "L O V E" from red card stock at 1" each using the "Pop Princess" function key.  (I set my machine at P-high, S-med, and the blade at 6.)  Using a fine/thin liquid glue to adhere the letters to each white disc.  (Spell out LOVE twice.)  Attach the first set of "LOVE" letters to the pink discs/ scallops with pop dots.  Now, to ensure that you can read "LOVE" from both directions, rearrange your first set (already attached to the pink) to spell out "EVOL", flip them over for the blank pink side to be up,  then attach the second set of "LOVE" letters in order using pop dots.  Make sure you attach your ribbon/twine to this second side so the letters actually get to hang.  

Here is the 1st ball assembled close up.

Here is the "O" ball close up.

Here is the "V" ball close up.

Here is the "E" ball close up. (Note, I only did one ball in the scallop shape, because I found that trying to match up the scallops took more time than I had with my 4 kids needing me every 5-10 minutes.)

Here is my "LOVE is in the Air" hanging ball decoration that is visible from my front door and from the main living room.  I attached the punched out hearts to the top (one on each side of the twine using strong glue dots) and then attached them to my wall using the glue dots.  Also note, I deliberately hung the balls at varying points on the twine to give it character, even though the twine is the same length for all the balls.

Below is the line up of fellow blogger ladies participating in this hop.  Remember to leave a comment on all blogs for a chance to win the grand prize for Designs on Cloud 9!  Happy hopping!

Your next stop is: Janet

Staci: http://preciousmem.blogspot.com 
Ashley Glamourous:  http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
Lisa Peters:http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com// 
Audrey Dickinson: http://scrappyemt.blogspot.com 
Anita Meadows Cannon:~ http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com
 Lucy Kelleher:  http://love2createitall.blogspot.com
 Michele Eickholt:  http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/  
Sylvia Solorio: http://bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com 
Darla Haverstock:  http://stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com/ 
Kimberly Pate:   http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com
 Liz Mullen: http://scrapiliciouslife.blogspot.com 
Lisa Marie Lam:http://craftylam.blogspot.com 
Janet Nagai: http://createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com  
Dena Jones:  http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
 Daisy Collins: http://tsunamirosedesigns.blogspot.com
Amanda Youlkis: http://a-prata-design.blogspot.com/ 
Nancie Brungard: http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/ 
Tricia Colon : http://www.mycrazybubble.blogspot.com/

You ARE Loved-Black/white & a splash of color

We are celebrating Ashley's Birthday!  How fun!  Ashley was even able to score a sponsor with "Blog Candy" for one lucky winner!

Blog candy is sponsored by:  3 Girl Jam
"Bundles 1-6" which consists of 48 total yards of ribbon in 12 colors, a $24.99 retail value.
Must "like" their Facebook page-   https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Girl-JAM/129045323859706
Follow the 3 Girl Jam Blog-   3 Girl JAM
 
Paper Piecings By Nikki-$25 gift certificate
http://www.paperpiecingsbynikki.com/ 
Must "like" her Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paper-Piecings-by-Nikki/210135505721726
Follow her blog- http://www.paperpiecingsbynikki.blogspot.com/
 
 
Decade Of Scrap-4 valentines digis
http://zibbet.com/beautydecade 
Must "like" her Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/DecadeofScrap
Follow her blog-http://decadeofscrap.blogspot.com/

MB's Treasurista-$10 gift certificate
http://www.zibbet.com/MBsTreasurista
Must "like" their Facebook page-https://www.facebook.com/https://facebook.com/pages/MBs-Treasurista/167767899982066
Follow MB's Treasurista Blog-http://mbtreasurista.blogspot.com


Even if you are not the lucky winner of their candy, go check them out to see all the cool items they carry and for more inspiring project of theirs.

Today, we are creating a project with the theme "Black, White & A Splash of Color". Below is my project. I was inspired by the song "Jar full of Hearts" by The Band Perry.  I had an empty jar sitting on my desk I just had no idea what to do with, but knew I needed to keep it to craft with.  I am glad I did. Enjoy the project.

Here is a picture of all the items I used to create this "jar full of hearts", minus the adhesives because I didn't know exactly which ones I would be using.

Ingredients List:

• Scissors
• Any size jar desired, or that you have on hand
• Xmas Red Stickles
• 36" of red ribbon
• Black and white card stock sheets from Reflections
• "Scarlet Red #118" PITT artist pen big brush, Faber-Castell
• Studio G stamp set (VS4911 Series 61)
• Heart stamp,from Close to My Heart, the Celebration set
• Inkpads used: "Moonlight White" by Tsukineko/Brilliance; Stampin' Ups "Real Red"; and Stampology's "Onyx" Clear stamp ink pad

First, I stamped hearts onto the right edge of the black card stock. Then, folding the card stock to the left of the hearts, I cut them so that they would be mini- card hearts. See image below. Repeat until you get enough hearts cut out of each color of card stock.  Don't forget to do ONE heart in a different color!

Here are all the hearts after I stamped & cut them all. Notice, I made sure to add 1 red one, hubby's favorite color (it's my splash of color).  At this time, I added stickles to the red heart & let it dry, before placing in the jar.  Next, you can add notes like: hugs, kisses, I love you, massage..... Just little love notes that the recipient can pick and maybe get something from you. Not sure if you can really tell, but I cut most of the hearts with the fold at the top, these will flip up instead of open like a book.  Next, fill your jar with the hearts dropping them in one by one so they won't catch on each other.  Once you get it pretty full, start placing hearts in the jar so that they are facing outwards. Ensure that your special heart (in my case the red one) is facing outwards in the front of your jar for presentation.

Using the lid for reference, trace it to cover the top.  Cut it just a little smaller than the top (my jar is a canning jar) because it will be smooshed between the top & the ring and you don't want it bulking up.  I stamped a white heart on my cover and stickled it with "Frosted Lace".  Next, stamp the "you are loved" sentiment in black but redo the heart with red (here's where I used the scarlet red pen brush and then stickled the heart). Cut out & hole punch the sentiment and attach it to the jar with your red ribbon.  All done!

Here is the finished project.

Happy Crafting!

Your next stop is over to Liz to see her fantastic project.

Here is the blog line-up just in case you missed someone...

Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com

Misty - http://mbtreasurista.blogspot.com

Leslie - http://ScrapOfArtDesigns.blogspot.com

Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Zenita - http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com

Kari - http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/

Liz- http://decadeofscrap.blogspot.com/

Carla - http://racincrafts.blogspot.com/

Lisa - http://craftylam.blogspot.com/

Liz - http://tryin2craft.blogspot.com/

Jamie - http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com

Teresa - http://scrappintplace.blogspot.com

Jessica - http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/

Jearise- http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com

Mac & Lightning McQueen

About a week ago, hubby and I headed out for our date night. As usual, nothing planned, just out to enjoy quiet time away from our 4 munchkins.  So, I asked if we could stop by Big Lots, I heard that they had some of the Cricut Cake cartridges as low as $15.  I did find one and I also found this "CARS" one for $25.  I felt compelled to buy.  Well, I had forgotten about it until yesterday, when my 5 year old picked it up ecstatically and yelled out "Lightning McQueen Mommy!!!"  He asked me if I could make him a "decoration".  Aww, how could I say no to that sweet request?  I opened up the packaging so he could better look at the box.  I figured he wanted McQueen, but alas, he chose Mack! My almost 4 year old chose McQueen, so of course I can't do 2 of the same, which would have been much easier to do.

Here is Mack, cut at 4" using most of the layers available.  I used a black pen to add accent to the grey pieces (grill and his upright exhaust pipe).  Instead of cutting out the "Rusteze" emblem for the hat, I just used "Goldenrod" Stickles where the Cricut lightly cut the hat at.  I also used "Platinum" Stickles on the backs of his mirrors, head lights and the splash guard.  "Silver" Stickles was used for the little mirror up by Mack's nose (the piece that was cut for this spot was lost).  "Black Diamond" Stickles was used to highlight the top of the exhaust pipe and the lug nuts of the front wheel.  "Xmas Red" Stickles was used (freehand) to color in his tongue.  Blue glitter glue from "studiog" was used for his eyes.

Lightning McQueen was cut at 3.25" using most of the available layers.  Stickles used: Golden Rod, Orange, Silver,Blue and Platinum.

Just for the record, I spent over 2 hours on these "decorations".  So, with all that effort and time invested in these 2, I decided to use my "YourStory" and laminate them so they last longer than 2 hours.  Well, the good news, they are still in one piece (each), however, the monkeys have already forgotten about them with 15 minutes of being handed them. *SIGH*

DDs Crafts Fabulous Fifty Birthday Blog Hop Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of DDs Fabulous Fifty Birthday Blog Hop.  If you landed here after visiting : Cheryl's Blog   then you're in the right place. If not, please go to DDsCrafts, to start from the beginning.  Today, I thought I would try to create something a little different, it's not a card and not a layout, but more of a display item to place on the table top (if you add a base stand) or on the wall.

Here are the items I used for today's project.

• 2 Shades of pink card stock and one sheet of black card stock
• A circle cutter, I used my Making Memories one, cut a circle at 7.5" out of the darker card stock
• Glitter glue: I used 2 shades of pink from Studio g, found at Michael's and Gunmetal by Stickles
• Cri-Kits Glitter pen in black as well as the pen holder/tool
• ProvoCraft's Cricut Expression as well as the Elegant Edges and Rock Princess Cartridges
• Sticky tape and pop dots

Using the Elegant Edges cartridge, refer to page 58 (circle 3). Press the "frame" button, set size to 5 1/4", P-Hi, S-Hi, B-6. Cut out of the black card stock and then set aside.  Using Rock Princess, refer to pages 32 and 37 for the numbers.  Press the "Heart Font" and cut the numbers out at 2.5" each, use the same settings as earlier.  Now, refer to pg 67. Cut (Butterfly2) at 2.25" out of the darker pink card stock. Then, press the "shadow" button and cut at same size out of the black card stock.  Next, press "shift" and cut in the lighter pink shade.  Assemble the butterfly, only attaching the body to the black shadow base. Use pop dots to attach the wings.  I forgot to show the Forever Young cartridge I used to write "fabulous".  Refer to pg 70 (flower7) and press the "word' button, you will "cut" at 1".  Insert the Cri-Kits pen holder and mini glitter pen in stead of the blade.  Make sure you drop the blade down about an inch into your circle so that there is enough space for the lettering.

Time to assemble! Pop dot the frame onto the pink circle, ensuring not to cover the sentiment. I chose to have the "fabulous" on top.  Adhere the 50 inside the frame against the pink circle.  Adhere the assembled butterfly to the pink circle, bend up the wings for that 3-D effect.  Stickle/glitter glue the butterfly, the 50's hearts, under each circle in the frame and the circles within the sentiment.

Next, take the a sheet of 8.5" x 11" black card stock and cut in 2" strips lengthwise.  Using your scoring board, score at (every) 3/4" and 1", so it you should be scoring at: 3/4, 1/ 1 3/4, 2, 2 3/4, 3, 3 3/4 and so on.Your last score will be at 10 3/4 for each strip.  Pleat fold.  Attach each pleat folded strip to the back side of your pink circle using sticky tape. NOTE: ensure that you are forming your strip to follow your circle's shape.    Once adhered, stickle a dot in the center of each pleat but onto the edge of the pink circle, all the way around except where the butterfly covers the edge.

Here is a close up of the gunmetaled hearts and the empty spaces of the sentiment.  You can see the stickles under each hole in the black frame.

Here is a close up of the 3-D butterfly stickled as well as the edge of the pink circle.

I hope you enjoyed this project.  Happy Birthday DD!

Your next stop is:   Shannon.  Happy hopping and thanks for viewing my project.

DDsCrafts Fabulous Fifty Birthday Blog Hop Day 2

If your hopping along with DDsCrafts Birthday Blog hop, you are on the right path, especially if you arrived from  Cheryl's blog.  If not and you would like to see all the projects for today, please start at  DD's Crafts site.  Below is my simple project for today.

Today, I decided to make a 4 x 4" card use some pink card stock.

Items used:

• Pink card stock 
• Black curling ribbon
• Marvy tab punch
• Close to My Heart "Celebrate" stamp from the Celebration kit
• Sparkle Glitter pens
• Stickles in: Silver and Thistle
• "Black Soot" Distress Ink
• "Zebra Print" Stamp by Stampabilities, purchased at Hobby Lobby

For the most part this card is very simple.  However, I cut a notch in the top right of the fold to accommodate the ribbon. For the sentiment, I placed it in the Marvy punch just far enough to accommodate the words/writing.  "Thistle" Stickles surround the sentiment and "Silver" Stickles edge the right side of the card.

Happy Hopping.

Your next stop is:  Shannon's blog

DDsCrafts Fabulous Fifty Birthday Blog Hop

So, DDs Crafts is turning 50, what an awesome milestone!  We decided to join forces and put together this hop to help celebrate this wonderful lady.  If you just happened to land here, go back to:  DDs Crafts to start at the beginning.  If you've landed here after visiting  http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/ Cheryl then you're on the right path.  Below is the layout I put together for this event.

Here are the items used for this project:

• Sheet of 12"x12" paper from DCWV's "Bella Armoire Stack"
• 8.5"x11" black card stock
• Glittery sheets from DCWV's "the Mariposa  Matstack" and "the Glitter Matstack" 
• Cricut cartridges needed- Rock Princess, Home Decor, Sentimentals, & Once upon a Princess

Using the Home Decor cartridge, tap the first button "chandelier", cut on card stock at 3.5". Speed-medium, pressure max and your blade set at 6 (this was cut out of some olive textured card stock I had left over from the "Christmas is for Kids" blog hop project).  Next, using the Sentimentals cartridge, cut out the desk found on page 42 of your handbook, at 4", speed-medium, pressure-max, and blade at 5. (I used ivory card stock from The Paper Company, 8.5"x11".)  Using left over olive card stock from the chandelier, I cut out the drawers for the desk, just use the "layer" key and the same settings from earlier. Also from the Sentimentals cartridge (using the ivory and olive card stocks), refer to page 29 in the handbook. Cut the Vanity Mirror frame at 4.5" after tapping the "layer" key, and the mirror backing at 4.5 using the "shadow" key.    Next, using "Rock Princess", go to page 56 of the handbook. Tap the "diamond" , "shift" and the "phrase" keys.  Cut the  "I wanna Rock" at 3", P-max, S-medium, Blade-5.

Once everything is cut, ink the edges using a blending tool. I used "Antique Linen" Distress Ink by Tim Holtz,  black ink pad and silver for the phrase.  Glue the vanity drawers on and the mirror pieces together.  Apply a section (preferably unwrinkled) of aluminum foil to the the backside of the phrase and to the mirror.  Adhere all the pieces to your background.

Grab your Cricut machine one more time. Can you tell I like, no LOVE my Expression?  Hahahaha!  Use the "Once Upon a Princess" cartridge, page 56 of the handbook, cut the "Diamond" (P-max, S-med, Blade 6), at varying sizes.  Use varying colored papers from the 2 matstacks from DCWV.  (I cut about 30 diamonds/gems.) Lay the gems out to your liking, adhere.  Bling up the chandelier with rhinestones.  Using the GellyRoll "Stardust Clear" glitter pen, trace the edges of the phrase, don't forget the interior edges.  At the last minute, I decided to add "For My Birthday" cut from the "Cursive 101" cartridge at 3/4".  Remember to trace the edges!

Here is the final project!

(Sorry about the lighting, I tried several times to really show the colors and glitter, this was the best I could get.)

Okay, that's it from me today (I know, it's a lot).  Jump on over to Shannon's blog to see what awesome project she came up with.

Happy Hopping!