Circle Blog Weekly Challenge #40

 This week's challenge on the Cricut Circle blog was a sketch challenge that we were also supposed to use glitter or some kind of bling on. It's been a while since I've participated in one of the challenges, so I thought I'd give this one a try. Here's the sketch:

 And here's my card:

As you can see, I didn't get too creative in my interpretation of the sketch, just pretty much followed it as is. Except the pumpkins are a little on the large size. I used the new Sophie cartridge (this quarter's circle cartridge) for the pumpkins and they are cut from a DCWV orange glitter paper and adhered to the card with pop dots. The other papers are also from DCWV, Amber Autumn collection. The stamp wasn't in it's original packaging, so I don't know who made it but it is stamped with SU Close to Cocoa ink. I also added some machine stitching around  the edges.
I hadn't done any crafting for a few weeks before I made this card, so it was a good jump start for me. This hot weather we've had here this summer has really drained me but I'm looking forward to creating some fall projects and getting out of this slump I've been in.
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria

I Baked Some Gingerbread

No, I'm not getting an early jump on Christmas! The gingerbread I baked were made out of Shrinky Dink, and while they didn't smell as yummy as the real thing, I think they turned out just as cute.
To start, I purchased Shrinky Dink for Inkjet printers and cut the gingerbread boy and girl images from Kate's Kitchen at 3.5" using the Imagine. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them before I shrank them.

These were baked in the toaster oven set at 375 degrees. I guess my oven doesn't heat evenly though, because every batch turned out like this, with some being longer and more stretched out than others, depending on where they were on the pan.

After they were baked and cooled off  I put them on a piece of plastic wrap and took them outside to spray with a clear coat. I do not recommend doing this in 105 degree heat, however, as it took them forever to dry! The clear coat  I used was Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze.

Hope you can see how shiny they look. It doesn't look it in the picture, but they were really smooth too, almost glassy looking.

And here's the finished product, all packaged up and ready to go. I used Kate's Kitchen for the recipe card too. The printing is computer generated. Oh, I almost forgot about the little heart. I actually printed out a section of the print from the Mr. Frosty cartridge on a piece of Shrinky Dink. (I think it was a 5X7 rectangle). Then I hand cut the individual hearts. Another important point, if you are planning to make charms or other jewelry with Shrinky Dinks, be sure to punch your hole for your findings before you shrink them. I used a 1/8" hole punch and that worked just fine.
My grandson was here while I worked on some of these and he got the biggest kick out of watching them shrink. He asked me if it was magic! I'm planning some fun Shrinky Dink projects that we can do together.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Maria