My First Video!!!

OK, I admit it, it's pretty awful.  Lucky for all of you it's SHORT!  So watch it please and constructive is very welcome!  I know there's too much hemming and hawing.  I don't think I'll be going into the movie business anytime soon, but it's fun to learn something new.

It's a teaser for FCCB's Vinyl University!  I'l (hopefully!) be making another video or two showing vinyl techniques.  So keep checking back!  Thanks for dropping by!

FCCB Challenge 3 175--Heat Wave

Ordinarily, a heat wave is something Kansans know a lot about!  But this summer (so far, knock on wood LOL!)  we have only had a few 100+ days and they were at the beginning of the summer.  July was mostly cool and rainy--in fact we went from drought to no drought during that time.

Well, enough about the weather--our challenge at FCCB this week was to create a project having to do with summer heat.  I remembered this fun lady from Fun in the Sun and cut her out at 3".

I cut the base out of both black and Riding Hood Red and cut off her hair so she would have that brassy red hair.  You can't tell in the pic, but I added Crystal Effects to her sunglasses lenses to make them look shiny.  All CS, ink, punch and brads are SU.  Polka dot DP is PTI.

Is it hot where you live?  Why not join in this fun challenge?  Just make a project pertaining to summer heat and be sure to use at least ONE Cricut cut.  Then upload it to FCCB!  That's all there is to it.  You could win a "fantabulous" prize from our sponsors!

Please come back tomorrow--I will be uploading my VERY FIRST VIDEO!!!  It will be sort of a sneak peek into our Vinyl University Blog Crawl in a few weeks!  

FCCB Challenge # 174--Summer Camp!

 Good morning, Campers!!!  Is everyone ready for a new Fantabulous Cricut Challenge?  This week the theme is Summer Camp.  Make a project having to do with summer camp and using at least ONE Cricut cut.  Please join us!  Visit FCCB for more inspiration.

Being the mom of a Boy Scout, I have LOTS of camping photos.  So I decided to make a layout, something I need to do a lot more of!  These pix are from my son's trip to Philmont Scout Ranch last summer.  This is THE premier scouting experience.  Brad went too.  They backpack through the mountains of New Mexico.

This is a 12 x 12, two-page spread.  I used CTMH Artbooking, Outdoor Man, and Campin' Critters cartridges.  The sort of chevron BG is from Artbooking and cut at 11" in Garden Green.  I think this is my fave BG--it's just too cool, and I have been wanting to use it ever since I saw it on the cover of the CTMH catalog.  I also cut 4 different colored squares at 5.5", laid them on my mat, butting the edges together, and cut it again, so I would have some different colored pieces to fill in places in the lattice.

All the photo mats are cut from Artbooking also, out of Real Red.  I wound up cutting these with Real Dial Size on, to make them closer to the size I wanted.

The letters are cut at 1.75" from Outdoor Man.  

I backed the arrows in the photo mats with some K & Co. DP from their BSA pad and also filled in some of the chevrons with it.  

What says Boy Scouts to most people?  Why, badges, of course!  And Campin' Critters has a nifty badge feature, which I used for some embellishments.  These are not official BSA badges of course, but I felt like they conveyed the general idea.  They are cut at 1.5".

The base of the pages is Creamy Caramel; other colors used are Summer Sun and Night of Navy.

I really had fun with the Summer Camp challenge this week, and I hope it will get me back on track with my scrapbooking.  What are some of your favorite summer camp memories?  Hiking, swimming, s'mores?  Whatever it may be, make a project celebrating it and link it up to FCCB!  Thanks for dropping by today--have a great one!

FCCB Challenge # 173--Cool Treats!

It's Challenge Me Monday over at FCCB again and I just realized I goofed on the theme of this week's challenge.  I thought it was Sweet Treats, turns out it's Cool Treats!  Oh, well, I'm going to say since gingerbread houses are made when it's COLD, and the icing on the roof is meant to look like SNOW, it's going to have to count! Besides, I need to get cracking on Christmas projects! LOL!  Our sponsor this week is Cri-Kits.  They make all kinds of nifty gel pens and markers to be used in Cricut and other electronic cutters.  So stop by their website and check them out!  

I thought it would be fun to make a box for treats with a Christmas theme.  Wrap It UP has an adorable gingerbread house box, so I used that.  I cut the box and its layer at 11.5 with my Gypsy.  This box was extremely easy to put together and at that size makes a box that would hold lots of candy or 3-4 large cookies or a cupcake.  The main image has several layers but the box only has one.  I used a red Cri-Kit glitter gel pen to outline it, then cut it in white and then used punches and scraps to add color.

Here is the front of the box.  I used a scrap behind the door frame.  I cut out the door so it would be brown.  I punched some strips for the "curtains" over the windows and the porch roof and trimmed a little piece for the top of the chimney.  I colored the cut out pieces of the square windows and the arched window yellow (to look like candlelight).

Here is the side.  The front and back match and so do the two sides.  I used some old SU Christmas DP, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White CS, Nesties,  and Gumball Green ink, plus some old Dress It Up buttons I had in my stash.

 

Here is a detail of the little wreath I made--I think it's so cute!  It's an old SU punch with a hole punched out of the middle and some stickles.  The tree punch is current SU.  You can also see the Cri-Kit outline a little in this picture.

Here are some close-ups of those cute little cookie cutter buttons.

Other CS used is Gumball Green and Close to Cocoa.

Well, thanks for dropping by today, and don't forget to play along with FCCB this week!  Remember, be sure to use at least one Cricut cut on your project!  And if you have some Cri-Kit markers, use 'em!  They are really fun and can add a lot to a project.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge # 172--Make A Splash!

Good morning and happy Monday!  Today over at FCCB, the challenge is Make a Splash--make anything having to do with water and make sure to use AT LEAST ONE Cricut cut.  Our sponsor today is The Paper Nest!  

They make darling digi stamps and they sent us 5 freebies to choose from!  I chose Mermaid Ellie.  There are several super cute Mermaid Ellie's on their site--I think I'm going to have to do a little shopping over there...

I chose to make another shaped card--I hope y'all are not too sick of these LOL!  I used the shell shape from the Splish Splash Lite cartridge and welded 2 together with my Gypsy.  I sized the card to be 5.25" wide, which made the height of a single shell 4.72", so I cut my layer at that size.  The color is Crisp Cantaloupe.  I cut another shell 1" smaller out of watercolor paper and ran that through my printer to print out Mermaid Ellie.  I sized her at about 2.25" high by 2.75" wide.  I heat set the printer ink.  Then I used my Aquapainter and Twinkling H2O's (boy it's been a while since those have seen the light of day LOL) to watercolor my image.  I wanted her to be all shimmery, and she is IRL, although I'm sure you can't tell from the photo.  While she dried I scored some lines on the scallop shell, sponged the edges with Baked Brown Sugar, and spritzed it with some glimmer mist.  Then I popped up my main image on foam tape, attached it, and added the pink pearl flourishes (Recollections--Michaels brand).

Here is a shot from the side.  I like how this turned out, but I definitely need to practice with my Twinkling H2O's some more!  I didn't put a sentiment on the inside, so I can use it for whatever comes up.  I do have a stamp that says "Just sittin' here thining of you" which I thought would be cute since she is sitting on a rock.

Well, thanks for stopping by today, and please pop over to FCCB and take a look at the other DT creations.  They are all fabulous.  Then play along with us--you might win some adorable digi stamps from The Paper Nest!