Penguin Gift Box

Part of the Christmas present for my father and his wife is a gift card to one of their favorite restaurants.  Today I made a box in which to put that gift card.

The box is from a set called Winter Paver Favor Boxes & Cards by My Scrap Chick.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut it out.  Once it is all assembled it stands about 5 1/4" tall, by 3 3/4" wide, and 1 3/4" thick.  I did alter its size a little, so that at its widest point the box perfectly fits a gift card.

Before putting the white part of the penguin on the top of the box I wrapped it with some red and white twine.  I also made sure the run the twine through the hole of my tag.  The tag is from the "Mickey and Friends" Cricut cartridge.  It can be found on page 116 of the handbook, the icon feature.  I cut it at 1 1/4."  I cut the white layer twice, once for the front and once for the back.  I used stamps from My Craft Spot for the sentiments.  Both of them are from the Tiny Tags Christmas set.

I embellished the penguin with some little buttons that I made using the "Cricut Essentials" cartridge.  They can be found on page 42 of the handbook, using the shift function.  I cut each one three times, at 1/2," to make them nice and thick.  I inked around the edge of everything (buttons, beak, feet, bow tie) with tea dye Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.

I decided not to use the eyes that come with the box.  Instead I stamped some eyes using Peachy Keen stamps.  The eyes are from the Erkle & Merkle Face Assortment.

I made this for the following challenges:

Cardz TV: 3D Challenge - create a gift card holder

My Craft Spot: 3D Christmas

Fantabulous Cricut: use three embellishments (buttons)

Tuesday Throwdown: Christmas tags

Another Jungle Layout

Since I am not putting titles on these little 8"x8" jungle layouts for my friends it is hard to know what to name the posts!  ;)  This is another one for the little companion album.  I should only have about three or four more double layouts or six or eight singles left.  Depends on exactly which pictures I decide to go with.  Here is the one I came up with for some shots of their kiss in the jungle:

The photos are 3 1/2"x5" and matted with some green cardstock, cut at 3 3/4"x5 1/4."  I used Folk Art Festival for the borders, which are cut at 2 3/4."  I adhered the photos down, then added the borders.  I trimmed them off on the outside edges since they were a little longer than 8" wide.  I covered the hearts on the border with some green glitter, then used foam tape to adhere them for asome dimension.  I also used folk Art Festival for the heart.  I cut it at 4."  I layered it all togher, then cut it in half so that I could put one side on each page.  I then used some platinum Stickles to "color in" the birds within the heart.  The flowers are all from Cricut Essentials, cut at varying sizes from 1 1/2" to 2 1/4."  I used foam adhesive to adhere some of them down as well.

      

Jungle Layout

Another 8"x8" layout for the companion album to my friends' wedding album.  I used some patterned paper from the Anthology stack by Colorbok for the background.  The photo is 3 1/2"x5."  I matted it with some tan paper cut at 3 3/4"x5 1/4."  I then cut some green patterned paper at 4"x6" and some dark brown cardstock at 4 1/4"x6 1/4."  I cut some more green patterned paper at 4"x6" and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Geometric Rings embossing folder.  I then inked that with peeled paint Distress Ink.  I matted it with some dark brown cardstock cut at 4 1/4"x6 1/4."  I used Life is a Beach for the long leaf in the lower left corner and the large wide palm leaf in the upper right corner.  I also used Life is a Beach for the plumeria flower in the lower left corner.  I used Cricut Essentials for the two larger flowers in the upper right corner and the two long leaf branches in the upper right corner.  The two smaller flowers are the cut-outs from the middle of the larger two flowers.  I covered one of the branches in verdelite glitter by Martha Stewart.  The other two branches were covered in lime green Stickles.  I also added some tattered rose Stickles to the plumeria flower and some dried marigold Stickles to the two larger flowers.

 

I used the layout sketch challenge at Stuck On U Sketches for this layout.

Spring Wall Banner

It was time to make another banner for the wall between my front door an window. This time I made one for spring! I didn't initally like how this was looking when I started. I chose the colors based on the inspiration of the patterned papers. They all came from The Spring Stack by DCWV. Once I had all the scalloped circles and letters put together I thought it looked a little dark, but once I added everything else to it I actually loved it!

The scalloped circles were cut at 4" and the inner circles are cut at 3 1/2," both are from Cricut Essentials (pre-loaded on the E2). The letters are cut at 3" from the Songbird cartridge. I used both the shadow and regular feature. I used foam adhesive to attach the letters to the scalloped circles. The sun and clouds are cut from Pooh and Friends, the rainbow is cut from Hello Kitty Greetings, The rain is from Indie Art, and the umbrella is from the Wedding cartridge. I added some Glimmer Mist to the sun, I embossed the cloud on the rainbow with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder, I flocked the clouds and added glossy accents to the rain for some added dimension. I finished off the banner with some pale yellow pearls and tied a bow around a loop of ribbon and attached it to the back of the banner to hang it on the wall.

I made this for the following challenges:

• Cupcake Inspirations: cupcake photo inspiration
• Celebrate the Occasion: "welcome spring"
• Cooking with Cricut: spring song inspiration (I kept thinking of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" and that song from "Bambi" where one of the lines is "drip, drip, drop little April showers...")
• My Craft Spot: spring theme and use scallops
• Whimsical Designs: celebrate spring

Sleepy Puppy

This is a double layout (12"x12") that I created in memory of my German Shepherd, Gin. We just recently had to put him down and I thought this would be a nice way of remembering him. I have enough pictures of him to give him his own scrapbook, so I probably will eventually. The papers/cardstock I used are a mixture of DCWV's Pets Stack, TPC Studio's Paws and Claws Dog stack and ones I had in my stash. I matted all five of my pictures. The two on the left hand page are both 4"x6," as is the vertical picture on the right hand page. The other two on the right hand page are 3 1/2"x5." I matted all of the pictures with a brown paw print cardstock (which is hard to tell), cut 1/4" larger than the pictures. For all but the vertical one, I matted them with the blue cardstock, cut 1/8" larger than the brown mat. On the vertical picture the blue mat is 1/4" larger than the brown. I also gave that one a third mat out of orange, also 1/4" larger. I wrapped the right hand page with two ribbons, the orange bones and brown paws, then added three buttons that I found in my stash and thought were perfect. I cut the large circle from the dotted cardstock at 10" using the pre-loaded E2 cartridge, Cricut Essentials. I used Paper Pups to cut my title. The "puppy" cut was actually "puppy love" on the cartridge, I just didn't cut out the "love" part and paired it with the "sleepy" cut. I used both the shadow and the regular feature to create my title, which is cut at 2." I cut the little dog from Four Legged Friends, at 3 1/2." I used a light ivory color for the body, then chalked over it with some brown chalk to give it a little texture and make it a little darker. I also added some glossy accents to the nose. The tag was created from a mixture of cartridges. The actual tag and its shadow (brown and orange pieces) are from All Mixed Up, cut at 4." The blue paw print circle is from Paper Pups and the ivory circle inside is from George and Basic Shapes. I used my Gypsy to lay it out so that I could make sure the sizes were right and would fit together how I wanted them to. I put a brad through the hole in the tag so that the tag is interactive, it swings to reveal my journaling spot.

I made this for the following challenges:

My Sheri Crafts: faithful companions

Picture Perfect Creations: two ribbons, three buttons

Whimsical Wednesday: scrapbook page with interactive element

Stars & Stripes Birthday

This is a 3 3/4"x9" card made from dark gray cardstock. I cut a piece of striped cardstock 1/4" smaller and adhered it to the card base. I then cut a strip of dark gray cardstock at 8 3/4"x2" and a piece of white cardstock at 8 3/4"x1 3/4" and adhered them together and then to the card base. My sentiment is stamped in london fog ink by Tsukineko using stamps by Fiskars. They are actually two different stamps that I decided to use together for a fun effect. The star is cut from Cricut Essentials, which is one of the pre-loaded cartridges on the new Cricut Expression 2. I used pop-dots to adhere the star to the card. Nice and simple, and I think it works as a masculine birthday card (which is always a good thing to have on hand). I made this card for the following challenges:

• 365 Cards: "Day 118" - Super Sketchy Sunday sketch


• Birthday Sundaes: stars & stripes birthday card


• Picture Perfect Creations: poppy parade, whisper white, basic gray