Friday, May 27, 2011

Altered Acrylic Photo Frame

Hello. This month's challenge on the Cricut Circle Blog was a Tic Tac Toe challenge. A tic tac toe board was set up with a different design element in each square. Participants were to choose three squares in a row and complete a project using the elements in those three squares. The project also had to include two Cricut cuts. I chose the first row down, which was:
Use the cut of a sun shape
Use Ric Rac
Use the cut of a flower shape
I decided to alter an acrylic frame that I picked up at Dollar Tree a while back.
Here's what it looked like before.
And here's the after.
Using the Gypsy, a mat was created to go inside the frame. The paper is from SEI, Playdate collection. Then the ric rac was added around the edge of the frame. The flower border cut is from Give a Hoot and red Fun Flock was added to the flowers. The sun is from Pooh and Friends and the face is a stamp from Peachy Keen from the Everyday Character Face Parts set. I didn't like the blank space at the bottom, so I added my grand daughters name. The beads are threaded with Color Infusions Memory Thread by DMC.
I've had these frames for a while and just couldn't think what to do with them. Now that I've done one though, I have ideas for the rest of them. Better write them down before I forget!
Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Happy Accidents

The weekend challenge over on the Circle blog was to use mat stacks. Well, I rediscovered a whole drawer full of paper because of it. At one time these were all I used for my cards, I guess because I thought it wasted less paper or something. For some reason, I had also taken them all apart and they were  just kind of thrown in the drawer. So, also because of the challenge, I got them all organized and now I will remember to look through them  when I'm trying to find just the right paper for a project.
 The peach background paper is from the mat stack. Unfortunately I don't know who made it, because, as I said I had taken them all apart. The stamp is from Unity stamped with SU Chocolate Chip ink. The frame is from Elegant Edges. I loved the way the pattern mimicked the print of the paper. The flowers are from Mother's Day Bouquet and I used the Imagine and RGB codes to get the color just right. For You is from Sentimentals and the corner flourish is from Storybook. All the inking was done with Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink. The pearls are from Recollections.
Here's a close up of the stamped area. I used a Copic marker B00 to color the bird. When I was inking the edges of  the stamped image, I accidentally bent and even tore it a little. Rather than trash it, I decided to crumple the whole thing up, then straighten it out. I then inked over the whole image with the Antique Linen ink. I love the way the folds picked up the ink and gave the whole thing an antique look. There were also stamped flowers, but I didn't like how they looked after I colored them, so decided to add the cut flowers instead. What a huge difference it made. The little pearls finished them off perfectly. After I stitched the image to the lacey looking frame, I thought it looked a bit like an old tapestry pillow. I attached it to the background paper with foam tape to add to that effect. It's definitely different from what I normally do, but I like it a lot. Hope you do too!
Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Today is my youngest daughter's 25th birthday. Where did the time go? It still seems impossible sometimes that she is all grown up and has a little one of  her own. She loves cupcakes and the color red, so I used that as my inspiration. (although you can't see much of the red on the card.)




The cupcake is from Straight From the Nest. The top is DCWV glitter paper and embossed with a Cuttlebug Devine Swirls folder. The cherry is coated with Crystal Color Lacquer, though it's hard to see in this picture. The other papers for the cupcake are scraps. The background scalloped tag is from Gypsy Wanderings and the paper is from Me & My Big Ideas, Sunny Days collection. I added some stitching around the tag. The label is a Nestability Label 1, the smallest of the set. The Sentiment is from My Pink Stamper Sweetest Cupcakes set. It's stamped with SU Riding Hood Red ink. The background paper is SU Riding Hood Red and embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Sentimentals set. The ribbon was actually white that I colored with a Copic marker. I love doing this when I don't have just the right color ribbon on hand.
Here's wishing my daughter a wonderful, happy birthday! We are all going to her house tonight, her husband is cooking dinner. Should be good!
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Mother's Day Card for My Mom

For the blog hop I posted the card I made for my MIL. Here's the one I made for my mom. She is 85, and a few years ago she told me she didn't want any more stuff, she had too much and needed to start getting rid of some of it. Well, I took her at her word and now I send her only cards for special occasions and usually tuck in gift cards to her favorite restaurants. She's always very pleased!
Several years ago someone posted a card they made with these chicks on the Cricut Message Board. I thought it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. The birds are from Stretch Your Imagination and there are actually 7 birds that are stacked. It's cut at 8" and only the bottom 3 birds were used. I used the Gypsy and the hide contour feature for the faces so I could just draw them on. The mailbox is from Jolly Holidays, I just left the layers with the snow off. The flower and grass border is from Give a Hoot, cut in white then colored with Markers. The flowers are also coated with Crystal Color Lacquer. The tag is from Twinkle Toes and the sentiment is computer generated.
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria

Monday, May 16, 2011

1st Birthday Card With My New E2

So, is it the first birthday card I've made with the new E2 or is it for a 1st birthday? Actually, it's both. This is one of those cards that ended up nothing like I originally intended. It started out as one of the trifold cards in the Just a Note cartridge. Then, for reasons I can't remember now, I decided to just make it a regular A2 card. I still think it's pretty cute though!




The bunny is from Just a Note, cut at 5". I heat embossed the balloon with 2 coats of UTEE to give it a shine. Then I added a piece of baker's twine for the string. The tag is from George. I used the Gypsy to size it and to do the letters, which are from Alphalicious. The star is a punch covered with Diamond Stickles. The number 1 is also covered with the Diamond Stickles. The background paper is from American Crafts, Playday stack. I even broke out my sewing machine for this one. Let me tell you, I've been sewing for years, and after always taking care to sew perfectly straight lines sewing those curvy ones for the border was a real challenge for me! I managed though and I really like the look of it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria

Sunday, May 15, 2011

National MPS awareness day


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This is my neice's son, Logan, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Sanfilippo Syndrome, a form of MPS. Today  the National MPS society is trying to bring awareness to this awful disease by asking everyone to wear purple. If you read this post, please take a moment to go here MPS society to learn more about MPS and the devastating effects it has on it's victims and families. To learn more about my great nephew's story, please visit the family blog here.
Thanks everyone!
Maria








Tuesday, May 10, 2011

And the winner is...

First of all, I want to thank everyone for joining us on the Thanks Mom blog hop. Thank you to everyone for all the kind comments and a huge thanks to everyone who decided to become a follower of my blog. I actually hit 100 followers and then went over that, so I'll be doing something special for that milestone too. But that's a post for another time!

Thanks also to Debbie, our wonderful hostess, for putting this all together. She is very organized and really made this easy! And last but not least, to my fellow hop participants, great job everyone!

So, without further ado, the winner of the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge and Imaginesce paper stack is...


loving3boys1girl said...Wow! LOVE this card!!! I loved it when I thought it was just a pot of flowers and was thinking about making one for my scraproom but having the flowers pull out makes it so much better!!!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Thanks Mom Blog Hop

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcEKZZotKhImn5h3lBg7PfVsPqEVgERUZqsYjseZH0EaDV1IzF5JUurG3LmP15qtpLZ0kChaJDcX8O804Je7FNpv6zrxZEKnWngOlD-wD70IiPKEVMZGcP4qLRboiLUmizWuUNn_3epvV/s1600/Thanks_Mom_Blog+Hop.jpg
Welcome to the THANKS MOM BLOG HOP. Thanks for joining us to enjoy all the wonderful crafty inspiration in honor of mother's everywhere from the talented designers in this hop.

You should have arrived here from Brenda's blog . If you missed the beginning of the hop, please go to Debbie's blog to start so you don't miss any of the projects. There is a Grand Prize Blog Candy offered so you want to start at the beginning and read how to participate to win.

I'll be giving my own blog candy  as well and all you have to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment  on my post any day during the hop. I will announce the winner on Tu, May 12th.

My  project is a flower pot card that I made for my Mother in law. I first saw these cards last year and after reading several tutorials I was able to create a cut file in the Gypsy. The pot is actually a little narrower than I would like it to be so I'm going to go back and tweak the design when I get a chance.  The flowers and leaves are from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. All the paper used is scraps, except for the flower pot. It's from My Mind's Eye, Just Dreamy. The white flower layer is a pearlescent paper from Martha Stewart and the tiny pearls in the center are from Recollections. I realized too late that I meant to tie a ribbon around the top of the pot. Oh well, I don't think my mil will mind!

Here's what the tag looks like. The sentiment is from the Holiday Cakes cartridge. I didn't print a sentiment on the back, just left it blank for a hand written note.
When my husband saw it he seemed pretty impressed. Said he liked all the dimension of the flowers. He has an art background, so I am always thrilled when he likes my work! Hope his mom feels the same way!

Thanks so much for joining in on the hop today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed participating in it. Please be sure to check out all the participant's wonderful projects. I've posted the list below in case you've missed anyone. The next blog you will be visiting belongs to the very talented Robin .
Maria

Oh, I almost forgot, here's what you have a chance to win from me:

A Cricut Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge and a beautiful 6 X 6 paper pad, Garden Party, from Imaginesce. Just leave a comment to be eligible!
Thanks again!


http://www.debseclecticthoughts.blogspot.com/
http://scrappyrn-scrappyrn.blogspot.com/
http://chatterscene-mom.blogspot.com/
http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
http://cricutcraftingrammy.blogspot.com/
http://www.owlbescrappin.com/
You are here
http://scrappindeltadiva.blogspot.com/
http://www.housesbuiltofcards.blogspot.com/
http://thepaperfarm.blogspot.com/
 http://irwdanataft.blogspot.com/
http://www.cricutydoodah.blogspot.com/
http://scrapwithjenny.blogspot.com/
http://allthingscrafty3.blogspot.com/
http://scrappinpalace.blogspot.com/
http://stylesbystefani.blogspot.com/
http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com/
http://dlmbscrapping-time2create.blogspot.com/
http://kbiendesigns.blogspot.com/

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Versatile Blogger

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7szrCykhqNoITnlvQ3eNg886Q5iFsLImVfhU-4mROPaH51SUUrUs9ytPoT1Vj4rUcDKvnJhrWd0hgRQTRV4EfIPBtHgNLsKnejTYIw5whVBV3UCM-DbI26yhhTT7tMZLeTV9TWS1B-Rj_/s1600/Versatile+Blogger+Award.jpg 
Last week I received a message from Cassie at scrappinpalace that she was sharing this award with me. Then later in the week Brenda at happyscrapper64 let me know that she was also giving me the award. I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me. Thank you both so very much!

So, I'm to list 8 facts about myself and then pass this on to 15 other bloggers.

1. I am very quiet in person, until I'm really comfortable around someone.
2. Today is my oldest daughter's 29th birthday!
3. I caved and bought an E2, even though I swore I wasn't going to get another machine.
4. I have a black toy poodle named Dixie who doesn't realize that she's a dog!
5. I was born in Japan. (Air Force brat)
6. I grew up in NW Florida, after my father retired from the military.
7.  Each of my 3 children was born in a different state. Florida, Mississippi and Texas (more Air Force brats!)
8. I love papercrafting and card making!

Here are the blogs I've chosen, in no particular order:

NSD 2015 Challenge: Leave You In Stitches

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