December 15th

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

For my projects I made a card and a gift box.

My gift box is the Christmas Tree from Tags Bags Boxes and More.

 

I used paper with a glitter design from DCWV's Doodlin Around stack and cut the tree at 13.37 x 7.73.   I made a pouch with plastic I had laying around, filled it with glitter and then taped it inside the box.  I made a sample cut and used it as a layer inside the box to cover the glitter pouch, for a neater finish inside the box.    If I had to do this tree again, I think I would try to move the opening to the other side of the tree so you don't see where the box folds together.    I wrapped some funky yarn around the trunk of the tree then added a tag.   I used Winter Lace to cut the snowflakes at  2.10 x 2.20 and then attached them to a round circle.   I then secured it to the box with more funky yarn that I also tied around the box.

For my card I used the Christmas Cartridge and Winter Frolic.

I saw this somewhere on the internet and really liked the idea so here is my version.    I made a shaped card using the base.  I placed 2 on my Gypsy mat, sized at 5.5 H by 3.62, flipped one and welded together.   I then cut out the top layer the same size.     The presents are from Winter Lace and cut from Stampin Up Paper.   The base size was 2.40 x 2.57.

To put this together I first covered the top tree layer with Opalite Pigment Sterling Frost ink, then added embossing powders and heat set.  I then added some Studio G Red and Green Bling to the tree.   I put the presents together and attached them to the side of the tree.

I really like the idea of this card but not the finished product.   If I were to make this again, I would probably place the tree base with the present base on my mat and weld those together and then making that the welded shape card.  It stands up nicely as it is but just seems flimsy because of the tiny bit that is welded on the tree..  It might also be better suited to a larger card, mine is 4.25 x 5.5.    

I hope you are enjoying all the wonderful projects in 25 Days of Christmas Projects.

Laurie

December 14th

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

For my project I made 2 ornaments.   The first ornaments I made using Winter Lace and Vinyl.

Vinyl is really easy to cut on the cricut, not so easy to put on a round ornament.   I found that the more delicate snowflakes were much easier to place on the ornament than the more full shaped ones.  

First I took my ornaments and filled them with Delta Creamcoat Varnish.  It is pretty thick but it works, it probably just takes a lot longer to let the varnish drip out than if you used the floor stuff.   I wasn't very patient and probably should have let the excess drip out longer.   I then poured in Martha Stewart Blue Sapphire Glitter and let it dry.

To cut out the vinyl snowflakes I used the kiss cut.   The kiss cut means you do not cut through the backing paper and that makes it much easier to work with.  I used Stampin Up Vinyl and their transfer paper.

I cut Accent 4 at 2.11 x 2.417 and Snowflake 6 at 2.22 x 2.417.   I also tried to cut Accent 6 and Star and those were a major pain to put on the ornament.   I set my expression at  Blade 3, Speed 1 and Pressure 2.   Once it is cut, you get to pick out all the tiny pieces so that the only thing left on the backing is the snowflake. I cut a piece of transfer paper to fit the snowflake and placed it sticky side down on my snowflake and went over it with my scissors handle to make sure the transfer paper was stuck to the snowflake.    Now remove the backing paper and you are ready to carefully place the snowflake on the ornament.  It works best to start from the center and work your way out.    

I then added a beaded hanger that I made a few years ago and pulled some thick silver tulle through the top of the ornament and tied a knot.

My 2nd Ornament is a Baby's First Christmas Ornament.   

I used a block from a set that I picked up at Salvation Army.   I sanded the paint to rough it up and then used  a thin coat of Modge Podge to adhere paper from Recollections Holiday Traditions 4.5 x 6.5 paper pack.   I  use pieces that are cut a bit bigger and I then cut the paper off using a finger nail file.  I like the sanded edges but I had to be more careful this time because of the photo printed on photo paper would not appreciate being sanded.   After all the pieces were attached I went over all the edges with Walnut Distress Ink.  

I then cut out a tiny 1st using A Child's Year cut at .569 x .833 welded and Stamped Christmas on the block.   The tree is from Winter Frolic (Tree 3-s) cut at 1.125 x 1.736.  I then cut 2- 2010 from George and Basic Shapes at 1.569 x .944 out of gold paper to use as a charm for the ornament.

To finish the ornament I screwed a tiny screw eye into the center of the block then attached the charm using a couple of jump rings and tied a bow and a hanger using some gold ribbon.

I'm not sure how this will hold up over time.  I would like to put a protective finish on it, but I am not sure what I should use.   If you have an idea, I would love to hear about it in a comment.

Laurie

Dec 11th

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Today's projects are all about my favorite thing... SNOW!  I really do not think there is anything prettier than freshly fallen snow especially when it looks like this.

I love being able to look out my back windows and see this and that is my inspiration for my layout.  I also challenged myself to use one cartridge that you would not think to use for a snowy winter layout.   So I used Cindy Loo for this layout.

I used a ColorBok cardstock for the blue and the snowy background paper is from a Paper Pizazz kit.  I am sorry but I have looked everywhere and cannot find my cut file for this.   I think I might have wrote over it in CCR.   Be very careful when naming and renaming projects because if you use the same name accidentally, the first project will be gone forever.    Anyway these are the cuts I used

Serenity pg 73 - cut 2 - 1 in white to create a shadow.

Bird pg 64

Tree pg 65, I used only the shift..

Background, shadow for Doily 3 pg 70

White photo mat, Shadow for doily 1 pg 68

After cutting everything out, I used stickles, lots of them.   I traced the swirls in the background paper with Diamond Stickles.   I then used one of the sponge eye shadow applicators to paint stickles on the tree, the bird and serenity.  I use these applicators for so many things and they work great to paint with stickles.  

I then cut a blue photo mat to fit, added a bow and then adhered everything to the page.  I used pop dots on the tree and the bird to give it some dimension.

I think it turned out only ok.  It certainly doesn't do justice to the real thing!

Laurie

Dec 9th

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

For today's project I made my grandson a backpack.   I remembered I had this pattern, no idea where I got it from, I might have actually copied it from something my stepdaughter had.  I looked all over the net trying to find the pattern and I cannot find it.  There are a ton of free patterns out there and a couple that are similar to this style.  Sewing was probably my first real craft.   I used to play with my mom's machine making Barbie Doll clothes from fabric scraps.   So, from my perspective, this was a very simple back pack to make.  If you sew and can put in a zipper you can do this.  

I used the dog from Boys Will Be Boys (shadow) and cut at 6.931 x 5.875.  I used the deep cut blade set at 6, multi cut 2, pressure 5 and speed 1.  The fabric is a fake suede scrap I had left over from a Halloween costume.   After ironing the fabric to the Heat and Bond and then the denim, it really feels like suede.   I was really worried that this fabric would not cut well, but it cut great.   To make the mouth and nose I played with the sizing of the dog in CCR to make the heads a similar size and then cut in paper and used it as a pattern to cut the nose, trace the mouth and placement for eyes.  I added the brown fake suede nose with embroidery thread and then sewed and glued on button eyes and made the mouth and then thought what the heck sew around the whole thing, that way it will hold up better.   It probably would have been fine without the hand stitching.   I then sewed the backpack together.  Much better than the bib I thought I was going to make.  I think this little dog would also be cute on a sweatshirt.  I would probably machine stitch around him if I were to do that.

Here it is with the books ready to put in and be wrapped for Christmas.  If you have not heard of Mo Willems, I very highly recommend his books.   The first book of his that I picked up was We Are In a Book and had to have it and it is staying at grandma's.  Very cute books but I still love Dr. Seuss too!

Hope I have inspired you to try something new or different with your Cricut machine.

Laurie

December 6th

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Today's theme is sports and I created a layout about my favorite winter sport, snowmobiling.

I used Potpourri Basket for the Snowflakes and A Child's Year for the photo mat.  

5.5 x 4.3 Photo mat 

Various size snowflakes approximate sizes is 2.1 x 2.3.   I just filled the page with snowflakes and then placed papers on the mat so I would have assorted colors.

Papers used are from DCWV Green pack, White is AC textured cardstock.

A snowflake punch.

I also used Karen Foster Stickers.   I love her papers and embellishments, she has the best for boys and more masculine projects.   I especially love the sentiment "The more snow the better" on the small sticker.

To make this I first made a rough design in Cricut Craft Room, sort of laying out the general placement of everything and getting the snowflakes sized.   I then cut a strip of paper to use as my starting point on the page.   Adding the mat, then the stickers to see the placement.     Now the snowflakes, I just took the ones I cut, along with the ones I punched and just layered them until I liked how it looked.   I also added gold Distress Stickles to the snowflakes to give them some dimension and sparkle.   I love how the stickles curl up the snowflakes a bit.   I then topped the snowflakes with blue, brown and gray buttons that I tied crochet thread through.  I then attached all the pieces to the background paper using my ATG gun, pop dots and Glossy Accents.   

I hope I have inspired you or given you some new ideas to use in your projects.   If you haven't thought of using crochet thread, I very highly recommend it as it is cheap and comes in assorted colors.   I also very highly recommend using Glossy Accents as adhesive on smaller pieces because if you accidentally get it in the wrong place, you don't end up with a sticky residue on your finished product.

Hope you are enjoying our projects in 25 days of projects!

Laurie

December 2nd

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Today I have a layout to show you.   I used Winter Frolic along with Recollections, ColorBok, and Coredination papers.

The 2 boys are both cut at 4 inches.   I used a white Gelly Roll pen to add some faux stitching to the boy with the snowball.   I sanded the sled to give it some dimension and added some Silver Gelly Roll pen to the skis.

Snow much fun is cut at 6.139 x3.556 and I cut one in brown to use as a shadow.  I just offset it a bit and then just the white gelly pen to add faux stitching to the word snow.

The North Pole is cut at 7.472 x 8.347.   I cut all layers except the green tree layer in the same color blue card stock.   I used the cuttlebug embossing folder with dots to add dimension to one of the 3 top pieces and then went over it lightly with stickles, I also went around the other two with stickles.    I opted to leave the North Pole off of my layout because I want to use it to put the month and year at a later time.    

I then layered a photo mat over the bottom portion of the North Pole mountains.

Winter with snow is by far my favorite season and I simply cannot wait to show my grandson just how much fun it is to play in the snow, so this layout was made with that in mind.

Don't forget to check out all the other 25 days of projects!

Laurie

December 1st

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room

25 Days of Christmas,

with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today....

and every day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

I am so excited to be part of 25 days in December.

I totally experimented cutting fabric with the Cricut, no idea what I was going to make or how it would turn out and I ended up with a Poinsettia Pin.

Supply list.

1. Fabric that has been washed, dried and ironed.
2. A sticky Mat
3. A blade that is brand new or one that is dedicated for cutting fabric.
4. A deep set housing blade, if you have it.
5. An iron that you don't care if it gets gunked up.
6. Iron on interfacing.  For this I used Steam a Seam 2 because I had it and wanted to see if it would work.
7. Stickles
8. Brad
9. Pin finding, look in the jewelry area at the craft store

After preparing the fabric for cutting, I placed the fabric with the Steam a Seam down on the mat.    I used the deep set blade and my settings were Blade 6, Pressure 5, Speed 1 and Multi-cut 2.

My poinsettia is cut from the Christmas cartridge at 5.16 x 3.81.  It cut really well.   I didn't like that the back was sticky and ugly so I decided to iron my cut out pieces to the piece of fabric that was left over after cutting.   I had to hand cut the poinsettias out but it was relatively easy using the cut pieces as a guide.  So, now I had a bunch of double sided poinsettia leaves and didn't know what to do with it.   I figured it was another one of my many projects that failed and then I decided that I could probably add some dimension by folding and ironing just the tips.  Somehow I managed to not burn my fingers.  I then outlined the edge of each piece with stickles.  I sort of painted it on using and eye shadow thing.   I was going to sew this together and put on the front of a felted wool eye glass case but didn't really love that idea and decided to make a pin instead. 

To make the pin I pierced the center of each piece so I could put a brad through it and then attached the pin putting the brad through the center hole in the pin finding.  I also hand sewed the bottom piece to the pin to make sure it was secure.    I added stickles to the brad and added a few dots.

I decided that I was going to give this to my mom when I saw her at Thanksgiving and made this box to wrap up the pin.

To make the box I used the inside part of the matchbox, box from Tags Bags, Boxes and More.   I used my gypsy and put 2 on the mat, then I made one a bit smaller so it would fit together better.   The cut sizes were 6.26 x 4.65 and 6.22 x 4.62.   I used paper from a Recollections cardstock stack.

To make the bow I used the scallop border from Winter Frolic to make strips for the bow.   To do this, you have to weld 2 of the borders together flipping one so you have a scallop on both sides.  I grouped those together and copied several more that I welded together to make longer strips.  The size of the scallop border welded was 1.75 x .50, after welding more together my strips were 6.85 x .50.    To put the bow together I cut my strips as I went.   The center piece is first, you will need to punch a small hole on each end and make a loop putting a brad through both holes.   Cut the 2nd piece and make a loop and punch a hole through the center and add it to the first, then do the same with the 3rd strip.  Open the brad to secure.

I had extra of the strip so I used it along with a strip of green paper to make a paper ribbon for the box.   The red paper is from Stampin up.

I hope my project inspires you to experiment and try new things because you never know what you will end up with.   My mom loved the pin.

Laurie