Hello Kitty Heart card

We needed yet another birthday card for one of my son's classmates who had a party last weekend. Since my son is too little to assist, my daughter made the card for him. The Cricut cart Hello Kitty Greetings is full of shaped cards. In order to have the card a different color inside, we cut the card in green and then assembled the Hello Kitty as usual on a black background. Then I added adhesive and lined up the card front and the Hello Kitty to create a seamless marriage between the two. We cut this card at 5" and stamped using Ranger Archival ink in black and TPC Studio: Celebration stamps. My daughter expertly assembled the Hello Kitty, did the stamping and wrote his name in the card. She also added some doodles to personalize it.

La-Vie

Hello Kitty Cheerleader card

My daughter's close friend is really into cheering so when it was time to celebrate her birthday, we knew just what to make! The Cricut cart Hello Kitty Greetings has many shaped cards so we chose the cheerleader. We used coordinating scraps to cloth Hello Kitty. The top was stamped with a star from TPC Studio: Celebration stamp set. The sentiment on the inside is from the same stamp set.

The pom poms and the skirt are cut from the same patterened paper. We decided to add glossy accents and Martha Stewart clear craft glitter to the pom poms to make them glittery. It was very hard to take a picture of the glitteryness. We hope these views give you an idea how fabulous it looked.

We had lots of fun putting this one together!

La-Vie

Dinosaur Birthday Card

Usually when we need a boy card we go right to the cars or super hero themes. But this time we wanted to try something different. So we pulled out thge Cricut cart Dinosaur Tracks. This simple dino cut was embellished with millenium zig pen outlining and inked with a brown EK Success sweetheart inker. The pre-cut card is from DCWV.

In order to make a scene for the dinosaur I used a Martha Stewart punch called cracks along the bottom and inked it with Tim Holtz distress ink called Iced Spruce. We decided that the scene needed a sky so we included a blue layer punched with a Martha Stewart punch named laurel leaf. No sky is complete without puffy clouds so we added two felt ones from Pebbles. Once the scene was set, the dinosaur was added... perched on pop dots.

The sentiment was built from several stamp sets. The brackets were part of a stamp in the Art by Design set from Stampin' Up! I only inked the brackets since that's all I needed. The font we used to spell roar is from a $1 set I bought Micheal's.  I freehanded the "=" and Zora stamped Happy Birthday from the Inkadinkado Birthday Fun set. We are excited to have stepped out of the norm and created a super cute project together.

La-Vie

Hello Kitty Happy Birthday Card

Here's another card my daughter and I created for a friend's birthday. I taught her some stamping techniques on this day. We started with a pre-cut white card from JoAnn Essentials. Using a rainbow stamp pad by Big n Juicy, and Impression Obsession Mega Mount and Cover-a-Card background stamp called swirls she stamped a background over the front and back of this card in one step. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Stampin Up! Hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes set.

I cut the Hello Kitty and layers from the Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut Cartridge and Bazzill cardstock. Zora added adhesive using the Xyron and assembled everything. She decided to use pop dots to raise the Kitty image to create a 3D look to the card. It came out so nice. I am so very proud of her craftiness!

Look out for more creations by the dynanmic duo ...

La-Vie

Superman Birthday Card

You may not know, but I also teach crafting to children. My #1 student is my 7 year old daughter Zora. We always make cards for her classmates when she is invited to a party. We've had a bunch of invites in the last few weeks. I always ask her about her classmate and what she thinks they may like. This time she chose Superman. I cut the items from the Superman Cricut Cartridge for her but she used the xyron to make the layers into stickers and assembled the die cuts. She is also very handy with the cuttlebug. She added the embossing (with the brick yard folder) to a pre-cut card by Recollections. We wanted the feeling of Superman flying by a brick building.

The font is from the Superman cart as well. I used the Cricut Imagine to print and cut all the layers in the colors I needed. I couldn't figure out which color to make his skin, so I cut it out of white paper and colored it in with Copics (E00 skin white) before I removed the cuts from my mat. That assured complete coverage with the color. However, my daughter lost one of his hands which is why he had one black (or gloved) hand. The licensed characters are difficult to layer but she did a very good job and for that I am proud of her. It was a quick fun project for some mom/daughter time. I'll share a few more cards we make together in future posts.

Zora Alexis

Thanks for tuning in....

What kinds of fun crafts do you complete with children in your life?

La-Vie

Happy Father's Day!!

My daughter Zora and I decided to make a giant card for my husband for Father's Day. Together we designed the card. I did the cutting and Zora did the assembling. Here she is putting the finishing touches on Superman. She's my little crafting superstar!

Superman came out very well because he was cut at 11.5" so layering was a snap! I suspended it on my Scrap n Easel from Contain ya Crafts. The magnets are super strong and the black background is helpful for making my pics look their best.

The card is a poster board in neon green folded in half. To tone down the neon I added a 12x24 piece of  DCWV patterned adhesive-backed cardstock. Before applying it to the card I cut about 3" off so that there would be a border of neon around all sides.

Zora took her time and wrote a poem inside the card from my go to book The Ultimate guide to the perfect card. I chose a prayer from the book as well. We used the Cricut Father's Day cart for the word art and layers. Super Dad was cut at 5" and Happy Father's Day was cut at 4.5"

My husband Will thoroughly enjoyed our craftiness! Both kids presented him with his card and gifts. Aidan is 3 and he was super excited to help.

Aidan gave dad a travel mug with marvel comic characters on it. He knows it's his dad's favorite!

Zora made a book about her dad at school before the school year ended. She was so excited for daddy to read it. I gave him the new Nikon underwater camera and accessories and a huge collage poster of 35 fitness pics Will took last year. I also make his favorite pumpik pancakes for breakfast. He was floored. It was a great day!!

La-Vie

BBQ and Pool Party Invite

I designed this invite for a mega birthday shin-dig I'm throwing for my husband's birthday this year -- The LOVE of my life! It all started with the title that I created by welding the phrases together from 3 different Cricut carts to create the title. His birthday is near Independence Day so I went with the patriotic colors. I made 100 invites and wanted to use items on hand (since I have a craft store in my house) so I designed 2 color schemes. The first scheme involved cards in different shades of blue as the base.

When I ran out of the blue cards, I switched to cream. To try to stay in the red white and blue scheme, I added blue ink to the title on the second 50 invites. I like how it highlights the embossing on the title. My 7 year old daughter was pivotal in helping with the invites. She embossed the red layer for half the invites (before she ran out the room stark raving mad...lol). Thanks Zora!!

Here's a third version I was dying to try.  I think this is my favorite one...

All of the invites were printed on my new Epson printer (so happy with it!) on metallic text inserts from The Paper Cut. I put the invite details on the left hand side and some logistic notes on the right.

I made sure to ad my branding just in case some of these 100 invitees might need my services in the future!

Crafting tips -

I printed and cut the grill image from the Cricut Imagine. Sometimes the print and the cut weren't exactly lined up. Plus the cut is very delicate. It takes nothing to rip the smoke coming up off the grill. I used the black Copic sketch marker to color in any part that was white instead of black or when the ink started running out and some parts were gray.

Since I cut it so small, I couldn't cut the layers. Instead I used the silver EK Success metallic collection writer to draw on the accents . I really like how it came out.

Supplies

• 100 pre-cut cards and matching envelopes - blue: recollections, beige: Jo Ann Essentials
• Cricut cuts - welded at 3.36" BBQ: Block Party, &: Base Camp, Pool Party: Luau and cut at 3" Grill: Block Party
• Red layer- red linen textured cardstock: The paper company
• Cuttlebug embossing folders - stars, swiss dots
• Markers - black Copic sketch marker, EK Success metallic collection writer - silver
• Ink - blue sweetheart inker from We R Memory Keepers
• Cardstock - Bazzill Basics for grill and title (white, blue, black) 

We're looking forward to a wonderful BBQ with friends old and new and lots of family. I might make more crafty items to adorn the tables and condiments etc. We'll see....


La-Vie

Crafting Storage: My RicRacRoller is HERE!!

Have you heard? There's an awesome product on the market called the RicRacRoller that houses all your ribbon spools for easy access while crafting. I am so excited I can barely type!!! I ordered it from etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ricracrollers?ref=pr_shop_more after seeing the ad in the May/June issue of Scrapbooks ETC magazine. I immediately called the number and had a lengthy chat with the creator of this wonderful contraption.

Needless to say I bought the carry caddy that same day. I chose that one because I thought did I have enough ribbon to fill the large one. Soooo I was wrong. I still have a drawer of ribbon that needs to be categorized but it's OK. The one I got is pink and it's portable and I love it!! As I use my ribbon I will add more as space becomes available.

This is what it looks like right out of the box. (Except I removed one of the dowels to show you how that works). It has a retractable ring that has scissors and a glue stick tool that helps remove the dowels. And a little gift of ribbon. Thank you very much!!

It was so easy to pop out the dowels one by one and load two drawers of ribbon onto this baby!! It spins around slowly like a lazy susan so that I can see all my ribbon. The creator told me to use glue dots to secure the end of my ribbon so it won't flop around. It worked like a charm! I was also able to store the smallest spools to the largest ones I own. Amazing!!!

Then the dilemma arose. I had one dowel left but all the remaining ribbon I have is unspooled in baggies to save on storage space. So I googled home made ribbon spools and found a lovely southern belle Chan4Crafts who explained in detail how she makes her own with empty toilet paper rolls. Check it out at http://youtu.be/L_zqfRuDQJs I was like wow! It made the lightbulb go off in my head. I used a paper towel roll covered it with scrapbook paper and a little more than half a toilet paper roll and it covered the whole dowel. I then wrapped ribbon side by side down the length of the roll. The ribbon is secured with regular tape to the roll and glue dots at the other end.

You cannot tell the difference, can you??? The toilet paper roll with ribbon is in the middle of the picture. I decided to take the largest spools off so I can house more of the small ribbon once I finish my next roll of paper towels (lol).

Here's a close up. I love the cupcake ribbon and the harlequin and the red striped one from Stampin' Up! I am going to be more functional now. I am so excited because I usually say... I know I have ribbon with x on it ... and then I can never find it. Now I am will be sure to use more ribbon in my projects. Can't want to take this to a crop!! The best part is I can unroll the ribbon without removing the dowels. So fun and functional.

Convinced? When you get one, let them know I sent you!!!

Wait...Tell me in the comments below, how do you store your ribbon??

Thanks for taking the time to read. I appreciate all my faithful followers.

La-Vie

Happy Mother's Day

As you may know, I love the Sophie Cricut cart. This is one of the card bases I keep cut in abundance! That way, if I need to make a quick card I can whip it out and spend more time on the creative aspects. This card was very simply designed by adding dimensional stickers and stamping. The bling and pearl sticker (yes it's huge) is from K and Company Elegance line. It was a little hard to maneuver and place because it is wiggly. I ended up having to cut a portion off (the overhang) once the sticker was placed. But as you can see, if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have noticed!

I also decided to add a couple of dimensional layered flowers by EK Success just to lessen the blank space on the card. There are clear and colored layers to the flowers (which I couldn't capture with my camera unfortunately). I then stamped a casual happy mom's day that I got from the $1 bin at Micheal's with Ranger Archival ink. The next time you need a quick card, consider adding large statement stickers as your main element!

La-Vie

For Your New Home

I rarely use my Cricut Imagine to print and cut regular Cricut cartridges. But this day I needed to make 2 cards in a hurry. The first was the baby card I debuted last week and this housewarming card was the second. I used the Cricut cartridge Wild Card (personal fav). I used this card as my Christmas card a few years back so I had the trees left over from then. I knew one day they would come in handy! LOL. They were cut at 1 inch with American Crafts foil cardstock.

The house and layers were print and cut from Bazzill basic white cardstock at 7.7 relative size. The card was cut using the blackout feature. Otherwise the round window would have been cut out and the door would swing open. The colors were chosen from the colors included in the Imagine machine. I added some scraps of Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker Halloween paper in the windows using herma dotto repositionable adhesive and then cut around the shapes to make it flush with the door/window. I also added a small flower brad for the door knob.

On the same page as the card was this sentiment so I filled it with red and cut it the same size (7.7 Relative). It left plenty of room for me to hand write a note and insert a gift card. I created a simple, white, size 10 envelope that is located on the same page as the card.

I am starting to get my crafting urge back so look for more posts from me in June! I plan to start scrapping my Disney trip. Lots of fun layouts ahead!!

La-Vie