Gel Pens & your Cricut!!!!

I finally had a chance to play with my get pens again.  They are fabulous!!!  I have been wanting to do a layout of this photo.  It's my 2 daughters and my neice.  Aren't they gorgeous?!!!  I love the clean lines and detail the gel pens give on intricate designs.  You can draw much finer than you can cut.  I got my pen holder from Chomas Creations.  It is designed so well.  The holder installs much easier than my blade assembly.  I draw first, then cut a shadow layer around the drawing.  The possibilities are endless.  If only there were more hours in the day!!!!

Name Tile & Card

I made this for a baby shower I am attending this weekend.  The nursery theme is jungle.  I saw a picture frame similar to this on the cricut MB, and thought it would look good as a tile.  It is a 12 x 12 tile.  I used vinyl and paper for this as I didn't have all the vinyl colors I needed.  It worked.  I finished the back of the tile by glueing a picture hanger on the back and covering the tile with heavy cardstock.  I cut narrow strips fo brown vinyl to cover the raw tile edges.  As a finishing touch I added some rhinestones to the name.

Does anyone know why blogger keeps rotating my pictures??!!!!  It is driving me nuts!!!

College Mom T-Shirt

We take my daughter to college tomorrow, so I will need a shirt to wear while she is gone.  This was done with heat transfer vinyl.  I love the stuff-so quick and easy.  She is the second child to leave home this summer-my son got married in June.  I have one left home, and she is just a high school freshmen, thank goodness!

Glass Block Night Light

I made this for a baby shower.  A group of us went together to purchase the crib bedding.  I just happened to have a digital paper pack that matched the bedding, so of course I had to make something.   I printed my design on vellum, sprayed it with clear acrylic spray to protect the design,(it gave it a nice finish too) and used spray adhesive to adhere it to the block.  I really like how it turned out, and how quick and easy it was.  I will be using vellum again!

I added little silicone dots for "feet".  It made it sit nicely on a table.

Vinyl Frame

sorry for the glare!

I saw a picture of this posted on the cricut message board.  It was perfect for a friend of mine so I went looking for a file.  I searched all of the vinyl websites I am familiar with, but couldn't find a boot I like.  So I took the picture from the message board and attempted to convert it in inkscape.  I am a novice inkscape user, though, and didn't get the result I wanted. A BIG THANK YOU to Mary (Mardenz on the mb)-in a matter of minutes she had a great file for me.  Thank you Mary!!!!!!  If you are not familiar with her blog (http://www.mardenz.blogspot.com/)  you need to check it out.  She does fabulous work and very generously shares her files

Vinyl Tile & Frame

So much for posting more frequently...

Anyway, here are a couple of vinyl projects I did recently for a friend.  I am also including pictures of the backs in case anyone wants ideas for how to "finish" the projects. For the tile I use 1/4 sticky tape around the edges of the tile and adhere ribbon to it.  The back is covered with a heavy piece of textured cardstock.  For the floating frame I use 2 pieces of glass so the vinyl is covered.  Then I use my glue gun along the back to  hold the glass in place.

25th Anniversary card

This is a card I made for a 25th anniversary party we recently attended.

  I used metallic and pearlescent papers.

CD Envelopes

     I needed cd envelopes for some picture cd's I made for 3 of my friends.  In July the 4 of us flew from western NY to Denver, then spent a few days in Colorado Springs.  We had an absolute blast!!!!  It was our first "girls get-a-way".  It wont be our last!
    We flew standby and all went well on the way out.  On the way home however, we got stuck in Baltimore.  The 3 remaining flights to Buffalo were all over booked and there were 25 people on the standby list.  Long story short, we ended up getting a rental car and hitching a ride home with a fireman from Phoenix, AZ!!!!!  (He was trying to get to a funeral)  The long version is quite a story, believe me!

Graduation Cards

I don't know about you, but we have had a lot of grad parties to attend this year!  We have one more this weekend, then I think we are done.  Here are a couple of quick cards.

I'm alive and well!!!!

I want to thank all of you for your concern about my absence!!!!  I am fine.  Life has just been too busy to keep up with my blog.  I was out of town on vacation, then when I got home an opportunity to do some freelance design for a new company fell in my lap.  I just had to give that a try!!!!!  It has been a great experience and a chance to earn some money doing something I love.  Unfortunately I cannot share any details about it at this time!  I have been crafting too, and hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis.  Once again, thanks for the concern and kind words!!!!!