Creative Teacher Gift!

Lori here from ScrappinMyStressAway with my project for the challenge ~ 3 or more cartridges.

I wanted to make something special for Tanner's kindergarten teacher.  Mrs. Stock is an awesome teacher! I wanted to personalize something for her and kept coming back to a tile.

I started with gold vinyl, but the gold seemed thin and I had some issues with it bubbling and tearing.  I was ready to scrap the whole project and started removing the gold words and decided to leave the apple.  I kept thinking that a golden apple is kind of like an academy award for teachers.....so I kept going.

Here is my screen shot.  I used several words and icons from 15 cartridges:  Cheerful Seasons, Cindy Loo, George, Graphically Speaking, Gypsy Wandering, Hannah Montana, Home Accents, Home Decor, Locker Talk, Lovely Floral, Lyrical Letters, Makin' the Grade, Elegant Cake Art, Nursery Rhyme and Plantin' Schoolbook.

I opened a 12x24 mat and put all of the words and icons on my mat.  I started with Mrs. Stock (used a heart instead of a period) in the center.  I like subway art and wanted to make this look like some.  The words I chose are: discover, create, patience, inspire, transform, direction, explore, #1 Teacher, guide, adventure, learn details energy and 2011-2012.

It took some time to move words around and size them to get my final piece.

I erased the apple from my screen and cut out the rest in black vinyl.  

When you cut vinyl, set your Cricut to 3-3-3 (speed, pressure and blade depth) for a kiss cut.  I use my Cricut pokey tool (dental tool) to weed out the extra vinyl pieces.

I usually use clear contact paper with vinyl, but I was having trouble with the amount of stick and my pieces were tearing and not clinging to the tile.  I was getting frustrated not knowing if it was the gold vinyl or the contact paper or a combination of both.  I bought the ProvoCraft transfer tape and had much better luck!

I use my scraper to burnish the vinyl to the transfer tape.

I used my E2 and set it to cut on Vinyl.  You can see here that the blade did cut through the paper backing in a couple of places.  I honestly have better luck with my E cutting vinyl, but it is a pain to dig it out for one project!!

I bought my 12x12 tile at Home Depot.

  Here is my tile with the gold apple still on it.  I set the transfer tape right over it, burnished the vinyl into the tile and peeled the tape off.

Here is my tile all finished up!  I just need to get an easel so she can display it in her room.

Thanks for having me over today Bobbi Jo!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Good Morning! This is Jen from 3 Cats and a Bug. This week at SweetSassyDiva's; the theme is All about Mom's. I decided to make a two page layout for my Grandson's Mom for her first Mother's Day. I used several different cartridges for this layout. I wanted to use the floral circle from Mother's Day 2010 cartridge, so I started with that cut @ 11.5. I cut it in 3 different layers using my gypsy. The bottom layer was in green and I used the hide contour to hide the small flowers around the edge. The second layer was blue, which I left alone. The top layer I hid all the lines except for the flowers, which I cut from yellow, green and blue patterned paper. I wanted the circle on both pages, so once I figured out where, I cut it in two.

I saved the leftover from those cuts.

I used my Viva Decor Pearl Pen and added purple dots around the edge. I added some flower gems to the larger flower cut outs and smaller pearl dots to the small flowers.

The next thing I needed was a frame for the picture. I used a frame from Mother's Day 2010, cut @ 6.8 and hid the inside cut. From lacy labels I took the butterfly oval, cut @ 4 and welded it into the MD frame. I also cut the same oval to layer on the frame in a darker blue.

I added the picture to the frame, adjusting it how I wanted it to sit, and then flipped it over and taped the picture down. (The picture is of the three of them when Bentlee was about 1 hour old. Such an awesome day!!)

I love decorating my cuts. To the layer on the frame I added "stitching" with a white gel pen. I used some Stickles to the butterfly and when that dried I added glossy accents, although it really doesn't show up well in the picture. I used 4 of the bigger flowers from the circle leftovers and added green brads to it. I inked the edges of the frame in blue chaulk.

I cut out "Happy Mother's Day" from Mother's Day 2010 @ 5.

I used my white gel pen to decorate it.

I cut out an image of Mom and child from A Child's Year @ 6. I will admit I messed them up when laying everything out to cut. I had meant for the dark blue to be the shadow. When I realized what I did, I put them together anyways and actually liked how they looked, so I didn't fix it. :)

I cut out the purple swirls from Lovely Floral @ 3. I added pink liquid pearls to the flowers.

This is the first page,

and the second page,

and the two of them together.

Thanks for looking!

It's all about fun!

This is Jen from 3 Cats and a Bug! This week we have a fun theme at Sweetsassydiva's, using a Mojo Monday Sketch! I can't wait to see what the rest of the design team comes up with for this sketch. I'm using this sketch to make a birthday card for my son's 21st birthday.

The tags was cut from Sentimentals, @ 3 and I used my white gel pen to add a border to the dark blue tag. The scalloped circle was cut from Easter 2010 @ 3. I used my Gypsy to hide the inside cuts on it. The banner was cut from Lovely Floral, @ 3. I used my Gypsy to hide the two slits in the banner and the circle part of the image. I used my white gel pen to add the border. I used Straight from the Nest to cut out the cupcake @ 2. I used Sweet Treats to cut out "21" @ 1.5 and added orange stickles to the flame.

Please stop by my blog, 3 Cats and a Bug and see what else I've been up to! Thanks for looking.

Lovely Florals!

Good Morning! This week at SweetSassyDiva's; the design team is making thank you cards!

I have several envelopes that aren't standard sizes, so my card for this challenge is 9 X 6.5. The front face of my card was cut @ 4.5 X 6.5.

From Lovely Floral I cut a red banner @ 6.11 and did some faux stitching with a white gel pen. I cut a green banner @ 5.4 and glued them together.

From the Sophie cartridge I cut the floral oval @ 4 1/8 and the background oval also @ 4 1/8. Using the bookmark and shift button, I cut two images. One in green and one in blue. I laid everything out on my gypsy. I placed the blue at the very edge, so that for the blue flower it didn't cut the whole image.

I added two brads to the flower to dress it up a bit. (I also used my white gel pen and added dots along the oval ~ shown in the final picture.)

I used the Stamping cartridge to cut the words "Thanks so much". I used my gypsy and hide contour to cut the phrase out in two colors.

I used my leftover paper from the front to decorate the inside. Then I typed up my sentiment on my computer and printed it out.

Please come visit me at 3 Cats and a Bug. Thanks for looking!