April Showers, Full of Flowers Blog Hop

Welcome to My Cricut Craft Room's April SHowers, Full of Flowers blog hop

  

If you arrived here from Ashley's blog, then you are in the right spot. If you just happened upon my post, you will want to start at My Cricut Craft Room as she is giving away a Cricut Mini.

On the first day we will show you a project with the theme, April Showers, then on Sunday we will either transform our project into a "Full of Flowers" project, or we made a matching item with the theme of Flowers....

Erica's Craft Room is sponsoring this blog hop with ONE of the prizes being a Cricut Mini machine. Be sure to comment on ALL of the blogs both days to be entered to win the Cricut Mini Machine! 

Yes, you read that right Erica's Craft Room is giving away an actual Cricut Mini Machine. This isn't small candy you guys. This is super generous of her, so spread the word and invite your friends to the hop.

Here is my project for today. I made a card featuring rain.

 I wanted the card to have that rainy day blues feeling. That is how I feel when I miss my sister, so I think this is going to her. I started with a plain white piece of cardstock. I used Tim Holtz Stormy Sky distress ink with a felt pad. I used felt instead of a foam pad, because I didn't want the color too dark. I have a lighter touch with the felt. Once I had the blue down, I came back in with wild Honey distress ink on a foam blending pad. The little girl with the umbrella was cut from A Child's Year using Cricut Craft room. I simply dropped her on the mat and then enlarged her until I felt like she would fit well on my standard sized card. She ended up with a height of 3.944 and a width of 2.292. On a side note, if you are cutting silhouetted figures like these you want to make sure you have smooth edges, so keep some extra blades on hand. I hate when I need a new blade and don't have one of hand. Add an extra pack of blades to your cart while you are shopping with Erica this weekend

 I wanted a rainy finish on the umbrella, so I used my glossy accents to make rain drops above the umbrella and splatters on the umbrella. I actually glued the little girls down with glossy accents too. It makes a great adhesive too. You can also get your Glossy Accents from Erica's Store

 To carry the rainy feel through the card, I wanted a splattered feel to the background too. Tim Holtz's distress inks are formulated to react with water. Once I had the inks on the paper, I dipped my fingers in water and flicked the water at the card front. You can see where the ink reacted and the splatter marks it left.

 Although I wanted rainy day blues, I didn't want depressing, so I added a playful splash of the puddles. I know I tend to stomp my feet or kick at puddles when I am not getting my way, so I created the splashy puddles using Ice Stickles. The ice stickles are a little different from the regular stickles. I used the Artic Ice Stickles which you can order from Erica's store HERE.

I used the Artic Ice stickles again to create a rain cloud feel at the top of the card. I really like the way the card turned out and hope you enjoy it too.  Come back tomorrow to see the companion project. Remember to visit all the blogs in the hop and comment on each one to be eligible for the Cricut Mini.

Next you should head over to see Haidee. You will love her blog  created2bunique.

Just in case you get lost along the way, here is the complete line up. 

Erica's Room Erica- http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
Claire- http://www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com/
Tanya-http://litle/-scrapper.blogspot.com
Janet- http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Lisa Peters http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Jessica Bashaw - http://thecrafterscottage.blogspot.com/
Doris Parker - http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com/
Ashley http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/
Kathy Jo Page Ritchie http://skrappindiva.blogspot.com/
Haidee Shableau http://created2bunique.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you tomorrow.
KathyJo
My Cricut Craft Room Design Team Member

Theme Thursday - Hannah Montana Cartridge

It is Theme Thursday over at My Cricut Craft Room and I chose to use the Hannah Montana cartridge. Let me start off by saying this is one of my all time favorite cartridges. I almost didn't buy it because I didn't have kids into that, but I use it a lot. It has several great fonts, music notes, hearts, birds, flowers, and more.

My main project for today is an awesome kraft wreath. I used the Daddy's Girl function key and did the scalloped shape on page 68. I cut a ton of these. In order to make these work, you need a relatively thin paper. I found cheap shipping paper at the Dollar Tree and it was the perfect thickness. I cut the roll into 12x12 sections. I set the dial at 2" and did autofill. I cut several sheets this way.

 I melted glue sticks in my melting pot so that it made things easier.

I wrapped each piece of paper around the end of a pencil and dipped it in hot glue before pressing to the styrpfoam wreath.

 I lined them up really close to get a really good scrunchy look.

 Once the whole wreath was covered, I added a few crumple flowers.

I love how this came out. I will warn you that about half way through you are going to want to throw it out the window and quit. Keep pushing through though because the end result is gorgeous.

I love this cart so much, that I decided to make a layout with it too. The pictures aren't great as they were snapped with my phone after dark. I just wanted you to see the Daddy's Girl font and the inking I did on it.

I hope you enjoyed the projects. Now, head on over to My Cricut Craft Room  and check out the great projects my design team sisters made.

KathyJo

PS.... Don't forget to come back this weekend when there will be a blog hop where erica is giving away a Cricut Mini.

My Cricut Craft Room 100 Cartridge Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to My Cricut Craft Room's

100 Cricut Cartridge Blog Hop

You should have started at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/  if not please start at the beginning

Make sure to follow Erica's blog so you will know when she has contests, prizes, challenges, swaps & special online coupons.

Currently she is running a Scrapbook & Card challenge over on her challenge blog and you can win a gift certificate to her webstore!  http://ericascraftroomchallenges.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to comment along the way on all of the blogs today and tomorrow to be entered to win the Cricut cartridge that Erica is giving away today.

Winners will be announced on her blog on Tuesday! 

I am using two different cartridges today. The first is Old West. I use this cartridge a lot for baseball things. The flourish font reminds me of the Texas Rangers lettering, but today I actually used it for something a little more western. I was flipping through some old photos and came across these pictures of Nick riding a mechanical bull at the Louisiana State Fair several years ago. I hope you enjoy the layout.

 I cut the Ride'em from page71 at 2 1/2"  first with the flourish key and then flourish shadow.

The sign was from page 67 using the rope key at 3". The steer is from page 34 using the icon key at 3".The badge is page 59 icon key at 3" and the skull is page 62 icon key at 3".

The next cartridge I used was Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana is not usually something I would think of as having much to do with Tim Holtz other than the fact that they both love Disneyland. I used the Hannah cart to make some tags using Tim Holtz products.

 This tag was created by first using a foam blending tool lightly inking around the edges with Victorian Velvet distress ink. Then I used the distress ink to ink a Tim Holtz stamps and moved it around to create the floral design at the bottom of the tag. I used Ranger Archival ink in Sepia to stamp the sentiment. The butterflies were found on the Hannah Montana cart on page75 using the music key and shift and cut at 1" from kraft card stock. I bent the wings up slightly and then glued down with Scotch Quick dry Adhesive. I used Liquid Pearls to embellish the bodies.

 This tag was created by using a blending tool to ink the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. Then I used Broken China distress ink and a Tim Holtz stamp to stamp the swirls and flourishes. I used the archival ink in Sepia to stamp the sentiment. The birds were cut from the Hannah Montana cartridge pg 77 from kraft card stock. I glued the birds downs and then used my finger to coat them in rock candy and broken china Distress Sickles. One of the things I love about distress stickles is you can dry them with your heat gun and they won't smoke like regular stickles.

This tag was created by first cutting the butterflies from adhesive vinyl. The butterfly was found on pg75 and I cut two at 1 1/2" and one at3/4" using the pop princess key. I then weeded them which means I removed all the extra vinyl. The little cut outs had to be removed and the vinyl around the butterfly. Make sure you use the re-positionable or indoor vinyl. I then adhered the butterflies to the tag. Make sure you rub them down very well. I took Tim Holtz distress stain and rubbed it over the tag and vinyl. I let it dry and then removed the vinyl butterflies. This allowed the color of the original tag to show. I sprayed it with some pearl glimmer mist just to give it a little shimmer.

Next you should go to Candice's Blog. The whole line up is below in case you get lost. I hope you enjoyed these little goodies and will come back often.

Sunday

1.   Start My Cricut Craft Room http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

2.   Sharon http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com

3.   doris http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com - 

4.   Yvette http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

5.   pattie http://sweetpsscrapbooks.blogspot.com

6.   heather f - http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com

7.   Sue-ann http://suzyssimplecrafts.blogspot.com

8.   claire r http://www.threewaterscreations.com/  

9.   heather m http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com

10.               Ericas’ Project http://ericasprojects.blogspot.com

11.               Miranda  http://www.nanasscrapspot.com

12.               heather e http://pinkpunkcosmo.blogspot.com

13.               gloria c http://craftnthings.blogspot.com  

14.               Vickie M - http://stayathomemomof2inohio.blogspot.com

15.               lisa carrier  http://ourcraftingcorner.blogspot.com

16.                claire s http://www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com/

17.                Deirdre http://glitteredroses.blogspot.com/

18.                ava   http:scrapbookdesign4u.blogspot.com

19.                Shelley  http://shelley-scrapbookingforfun.blogspot.com/

20.                Cheri http://cheribug-lovincricut.blogspot.com

21.                kathy jo http://skrappindiva.blogspot.com/

22.                Candice http://stampinpearls.blogspot.com

23.                Sara W - www.craftingwithsarah.blogspot.com

24.               Erica’s Blog candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

LR Hippity Steampunk Blog Hop

It is time for the Steampunk Easter Blog hop. As usual, life went a little crazy, but I got my card done. Yes, I said card. I had other plans, but it just didn't come out the way I planned. Then I goofed and what I had completed, is a project that can not be revealed quite yet. I stared playing around and this card developed.

To make this card, I cut a piece of craft cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 inches. I scored it at 4 inches and folded to create the base. I cut 2 pieces of white cardstock 5 3/8 x 3 7/8. One was for the cardfront and one was for the inside. I then inked/distressed the front with Tim Holtz distress inks in Vintage Photo and Broken China.

I stamped the images with Ranger Archival ink in sepia. The images are from Inkadoo and they are the Steampunk stamp set. I used Walnut stain distress ink and walnut stain distressed embossing powders to stamp Happy Easter. The stamp is out of the CTMH Happy Easter set.

I added copped Liquid Pearls to the crown on top of the balloon. I colored the balloon using Spiced Marmalade distress ink. I simply pressed the ink pad to my nonstick mat and then sprayed the ink with water in a mini mister. I then used a q-tip to color in the balloon.I applied Glossy Accents to some of the flowers on balloon.

I added a Tim Holtz gear and game spinner. I layered a few Prima flowers and added the copper liquid pearls to teh center of those also. It needed just a little more, so I grabbed a few cheap little white roses. They were in a bag in the $1 section at M's. They were way too white for this card, so I pressed them onto a spiced marmalade distress ink pad. It edges were bright orange. I sprayed them with a mini mister to make the ink spread, but they still weren't ready. I sprayed them with some Creme De Chocolate glimmer mist. It was still not quite right. I sprayed them with some copper glimmer mist (my favorite shade of glimmer mist) and they were perfect. I love the way the roses turned out.

I hope you enjoy my little project and will head on over to see Jess B's project. She is uber talented, so I know she has something great in store.
 

Leslie gave us this great code to use, so there is no getting lost.
Happy Crafting!

Erica's Craft Room Theme Thursday

It is Theme Thursday over at Erica's Craft Room. I chose to use the Forever Young cartridge. As I sat trying to decide what to make, I flipped through the booklet and this shadow reminded me of this picture of my daughter. I dug out the photo and got to work on the layout. I cut both the shadow and the piece it is mounted on were cut at five inches. I added some liquid pearls that are available from Erica's Craft Room Store. I typed up the text and couldn't resist using a play on words with the cartridge name as my title and last two words of the journaling. I used the shadow feature in Calligraphy to cut the title. The title was fading into the printed paper, so I went over it with stickles to help it stand out. I hope you enjoy the layout.

Okay, I don't know what is wrong with the camera. It is leaving what looks like a grease spot in the middle of all the pics. I will try to figure it out.

Okay, since I had the cart out and I needed something to put some stick pins in to send to someone I had to make this little purse. Isn't it precious? I love it. I just cut it fit to page and then cut the flower at 3inches. Added a little stickles, okay I admit it. I have a stickles addiction. Anyway, don't you love that polka dotted paper? It is the back side of one of the BoBunny Sweet Tooth papers. If you don't have these papers, trust me you want them. Head over to Erica's store and order them now. Check back tomorrow and I will show you a little set of cards I made using a sheet of this BoBunny paper. Yes, me the non card maker said a set of cards. These papers make it easy. They are just so fun to use.

Well you know I love your comments, so feel free to leave me a little love. If you want to see more projects like mine head over to Erica's Craft Room and check out all of today's projects. You will love what the other team members have come up with to share with you.
Hugs!
KathyJo

My Imagination Monday Design Team Post

Mondays at My Cricut Craft Room are all about using the Imagine or a letter of the day. Since I don't have an Imagine, I went with the letter and today's letter is "N".

I created Nine Needed Notecards. Okay, my inner literature teacher is showing in my alliteration with the triple n. Anyway, these were made to send to our military overseas. They are kept relatively flat to insure they don't tear up in the mail and they are glitter free, as it keeps our guys safer that way.

We have had lots of rain and my good camera is no more, so the combo of a crummy camera and bad lighting makes for not great photos, but I hope you can get the general idea of what I did here.

Okay, there are a lot of photos. I used Echo Park papers. They are from the Life is Good line. I used lots of Tim Holtz Distress inks, Ranger Liquid Pearls, clear embossing powder over the words, and cuts from the Hannah Montana cartridge.  I hope you enjoyed the notecards.

To see more projects like mine, please visit My Cricut Craft Room.

A blog hop with lots of blog candy

Two of my design team sisters are co-hosting a blog hop this weekend. Go check them out here.