Birthday Banner

This week at sweetsassydiva we were challenged with a Disney theme. I happened to also be having a little girl's birthday this week. So I combined them and made a "fairy princess" banner, which is what was requested. I did not use any Disney cartridges for this, however the princess part can be tailored to fit any Disney Princess, according to color, and such.

So here we go....

I started with pastel cardstock for the crown's....I laid it out on my gypsy...this is one project that took a lot of layers on it.

I used the Once Upon a Princess Cartridge for the majority of my cuts. After cutting out the crowns (shift lock, font) I used scraps of different colored paper on the back to "color in" the openings...I then glittered the letters with a clear glitter to add some shine, and then decorated the crown with a bit of glitter for the gems. (If time would have allowed I would have cut the gem figure out which is also on the Once Upon a Princess Cartridge)

The fairies were cut in different colors, and their flags wave in different directions so that they can carry the banner for me.

I didn't want to do the same ribbon tie up banner that I usually do, I wanted something a bit different. I decided since it was fairies, and they live in the trees, that leaves and vines would be better. I used my gypsy and welded some vines together that were on the Calligraphy Cartridge. I used some flowers from Accent Essentials, and butterflies from Once Upon a Princess.

Then I could put the girls to work carrying the banner....the finished banner turned out really cute.

*recipe*
Cricut cartridges: Once Upon a Princess, Calligraphy, Accent Essentials
Misc. Papers
Glitter
Buttons

Time

This week's challenge was a fall theme. Fall means back to school, and as a homeschool mom I am the one who gets to come up with our bulletin board ideas. However we don't have a bulletin board as such, so we make do with poster board when needed. This year I'm incorporating things for my 3 year old as part of school, and so that means more hands on. I also wanted to give the older kids a different perspective on seasons. The fact that with each passing season, time is moving forward....so there sprang my idea of a calendar/clock for the seasons. (That is what my 10 yr old has decided that it is called.) This project literally took me some time. I am so thankful for my gypsy and the weld function....and that I can load up several images from different cartridges at one time. I can't imagine having done this one without it. It's a very simple poster, but it took a lot of time welding, layering, and then some...so here we go...

This is how I laid out one of my sheets for cutting. This is the one for all of the little symbols that I am putting around the clock. This is another reason I love my gypsy...I can lay things out according to the screen on my mat, and not waste paper. I get so much more use from scraps then I ever have. As you can see on this one I have all sizes laid out.

Another tool I used was my heat embosser...another one of those things I love. I had cut out the title of my project on some ugly paper that just didn't do it for me. With the help of some stampendous ink and embossing powder it really stands out...which is good or it would get lost.

After getting everything cut, and starting to lay it all out I realized that I had forgotten a circle. I grabbed my creative memories circle cutter and had one if just a few seconds. (I'm thinking this one should have been on tools.)

Finally here are all of my pieces ready to start placing.

I started with the clock face. I cut out 2 inch strips in colors I thought would represent each month and glued them around the circle. I then added the small circle to the center of the clock to cover the edges.

I embossed all of the months and the title, glittered the numbers, and some of the symbols. After it was all dry I laid it out on the poster board. It doesn't look fancy, but it shows the idea of what I wanted for the kids to realize, that seasons, and months as they go by are time passing by. I want them to enjoy what each one brings, and not keep wishing them away. So each month has some symbol of something to look forward to. I also used the landscape scene from camping critters to give an idea of what the world outside looks like. Here is my finished project and then I will give the whatnots on the pieces.

Ok here we go I hope I don't miss anything:
Cricut cartridges:
Plantin schoolbook for the numbers, title, and months (welded with the gypsy)
George and Basic shapes for the large circle (clock face)
Camping Critters for the landscapes.
Gypsy wanderings for the seasons, seasons shadows, and jack-o-lantern
Create a critter for the turkey
Doodlecharms for the stocking, snowman, valentine, flower, sun, ice cream, and school bus
Sugar and Spice for the kite and umbrella
Independence day for the flag banner

Creative memories cutter for small circle
Stampendous embossing powders, and clear stamping ink
heat embossing tool
glitter glue
a brad for the clock arm.

Have a great day, thanks for looking, and remember to enjoy each month, each season, each day for that matter, because it is all passing time. You can't get it back.....Angie

Still Strong

This week the design team is remembering 9-11. I can remember exactly where I was and all that was going on that day. My husband was active duty Navy, thankfully he was on shore duty at the time. I sat in my living room holding my two youngest children at the time, and praying that my older two who were in school were ok. I didn't know if they were going to show the kids, or not....I am thankful that they didn't.

One of the biggest things that I remember of that time was how long our flag was at half mast. I know that it was in honor of those that had fallen, and I respect that, but I remember feeling like we finally lifted our heads when it was raised again to full mast. I have always been patriotic, being active Navy myself and then married to it for 20 years this country, what it stands for, means the world to me.

My younger children that I held so tightly 10 years ago watched the footage of the attacks this year and finally understood exactly what we were remembering. I'm proud to see that the patriotism runs deep in them as well. So I'm proud to say that in these 10 years I have not lived in fear as the terrorists would want us to. I hold my head high as an American citizen. Ok so now onto my project ;)

I like to reuse or recycle whenever I can. I cut these frames out of cheerio boxes. I used my gypsy and welded 2 squares together. The outer is 6x6 and the inside frame is 4x4. I used George and basic shapes, the inside frame is the one with the rounded corners.

I then used the same cut to cut the red frame from the DCWV Old World Stack. I cut the blue backing also from the Old World Stack in 6x6 squares. (I also cut 6x6 squares from another cereal box to strengthen the frame)

I glued the blue square to the backing cardboard square. I also glued the frame to the cardboard. Before glueing the frame to the square I inked all of the inside and outside edges with brown ink. Then I glued the frame to the square.

I had welded on the gypsy the words GOD BLESS the (all at 1 inch) I used Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge for those as well as the USA. I cut the country stars out from George and Basic shapes. All of these were cut from misc. scrap paper.

I embossed the words God Bless the in black embossing powder, the stars and the letters for USA were embossed in gold embossing powder.

Then I had to decide how I wanted to hang the frames. I pulled out my handy dandy tools (a hammer, nail, and piece of wood) in order to pound the eyelets into it.

I used 10 black eyelets in order to thread some twine thru to attach the tiles together. I used twine and metallic thread to hang them from the top. I used pop dots in order to make the letters USA stand up, and to hold the stars on.

It's a simple little plaque, but it shines the way I feel that it should. I love the old colors like a worn fabric that still holds strong, just like us.
So here is the finished plaque....

I hope that you have enjoyed this.

*recipe*
gypsy
cricut cartridges Plantain Schoolbook, George and Basic Shapes
DCWV Old World Stack
misc. cardstock
stampendous embossing powders in black and gold
pop dots, glue
cereal boxes
twine and thread

Trick or Treat

Fall is in the air...the trees are turning gold, and nights are getting cooler. I love this time of year...I wish it lasted longer. Here fall comes and goes as fast as a bag of candy corn. Which brings me to our project of the week....Halloween banners. It's time to start preparing for all of the decorations needed throughout the season. I've never been much for the spooky, scary, part of Halloween so I went with something a little sweeter.

Yep you guessed it...candy corn. I cut the banner pieces from the Country life cartridge, then layered smaller banner pieces (triangles basically) to make the base of my banner.

I tore the very top edges of the white and orange triangles so that it wasn't a straight cut....candy corn isn't straight afterall. (I know because I think I went thru 2 bags while creating this one....only for inspiration of course.) I then placed an accordian rosette in the center so that I could attach my letters. I cut the letters from Blackletter at 2 in.
I also cut 2 jack-o-lanterns from gypsy wanderings at 2 in. To give them a little shine I used my heat embosser with some black embossing powder with a tiny bit of gold powder mixed in to it.

Then all that was left was attaching the letters, running the ribbon and hanging the banner. I used pop dots so that the letters would stand up a bit.

*recipe*
2 bags of candy corn (for inspiration)
yellow, orange, white and black cardstock
Gypsy and Cricut cartridges Gyspy wanderings, country life, black letter
ribbon
pop dots
heat embosser and embossing powder
possibly another bag of candy corn if the kids are around....Happy Halloween!

Sweatshirts in Summer

Hi everyone, it's Angie again. This week we were asked to design something from what we did this summer. My summer was filled with farming with a few adventures here and there. This particular layout is special to me because I don't have many pictures of me and my hubby. Even after almost 20 years those pictures come few and far between. This was in June, we had went exploring in Hatcher's Pass (Alaska)....there was still snow on the ground and the actual pass was still closed. As you can see we are still in jackets and sweatshirts. For this layout I started with a sketch....

As you can see I have notes all over it on different ideas that I had. My 3 yr old had picked out 3 buttons for me to use so I chose the paper to match it. It comes from DCWV Latte stack, and another DCWV for the stripes, and DCWB Pastels for the light green.

I used my accent essentials cartridge and my george cartridges for the wingdings, scallops and flowers...also the rectangle and square for journaling boxes. The title was cut from Gypsy wandernings...it seemed appropriate for the occasion.

Then it took time to get it all just right. In the end I have a great page to remember a great day.

*recipe*
DCWV cardstock from Latte, Neutrals (and one other can't remember)
Cricut cartridges accent essentials, george and basic shapes, gypsy wanderings
buttons
ribbon

School Days

We are quicly approaching the end of summer vacation. As a homeschool family we never really quit schooling, just the book learnin' so to speak. We have started getting the older kids school books in already and my 3 year old keeps asking for her school books. So for my back to school challenge I made her a colors and shapes book.

These little books were really easy to make, and she has been carrying them around the house informing everyone they are HER books. I love it!

I used 3x5 index cards for the base pages. Using my gypsy I laid out each page with the words and object. I also cut out a rectangle in the color to cover the lined side of the index card. I put eyelets in the corner, threaded ribbon and it was a book.

The shape book was done generally the same way, except I used a hole punch and a binder ring instead of eyelets and ribbon. Her favorite color is green so I used green ink around all edges to take away some of the starkness of the white. I also dotted all I's with a green self stick gem.

I hope that back to school is as fun and exciting for everyone reading this as it is for my 3 yr old.

*recipe*
DCWV The grade school stack (red with dots)
misc. scraps

cricut cartridges:
doodlecharms- lady bug, popsicle, teddy bear
gypsy wanderings- jack o lantern
new arrival- duck, butterfly
live simply- turtle
george- rectangle, triangle, square, star, diamond, circle
plantin schoolbook- all wording and shadows

self stick gems
3x5 index cards
silver eyelets
binder ring
ribbon
ink

Apple Card

It's National Apple Week...and mmmmm who doesn't love something with apples, be it apple pie, or apple flavored jolly ranchers....it's time for apples. That is also our challenge for this week at sweetsassydiva.com

This week I even pushed myself beyond my comfort zone in crafting and used all patterened paper.....oooo, ahhh...laffin. I'm one of these gals who has to match everything, plains with patterns, not just patterns...so it was interesting for me...so here it goes.

I gathered up my papers (DCWV autumn paper stack 2010, and DCWV harvest gatherings stack)

I used my gypsy to lay everything out and cut all at once.

I then glued the apples together, and colored the stem with a brown marker.
I used brown ink and edged the card and the frame on the front of the card. I added green and tan raffia to the frame and then placed my apples on. I finished it off with a button for a little extra.

So there you have it a sweet little card for any occasion.

*recipe*
dcwv fall papers
tan/green raffia
cricut cartridges: Paisley (apple) Spring Card Collection (frame)
Tags, Bags, Boxes and more (tag) I didn't use it afterall
button
ink (brown)
glue