Home for Christmas with Everyday Cricut

 Oh guess what??  It is that extra special Saturday of the month where Melanie and Joy from Everyday Cricut allow me to be their third Saturday designer!  I like these two women so much and it is such a treat to be part of their team!  This week I have a fun and festive Christmas layout to share - Home for Christmas! 

All of the details on the layout are available at Everyday Cricut today.  The article discusses how to make the train photo car and flatbed car, in addition to other elements. Also all of the photos at EC enlarge to super size when clicked to give you better views. 

The cut file (using design studio) is available for download right here on my blog.  Locate the file name, Home for Christmas Layout, in the left column of this blog, in the downloadable cut file section. 

 This is one of my all time favorite Christmas layouts and I am pleased to share it will each of you.  I hope that you enjoy the layout and that it look fabulous with your family's Christmas photos!!!!

Michael's Holiday Craft Contest - Week Five

I am sorry that I have been missing this week.  I didn't feel well early in the week due to three nights in a row of "party food/rich restaurant food".  After recovering from my tummy woes, I had yet another evening out with hubby and his business associate and I had to go into my office for a day.  But... In the midst of my busy week, I have been working a couple of projects.  The larger of the projects is this wall collage in my entry way for this week's Holiday Crafting Contest at Michaels.

For those who haven't been keeping up, this is week five of a seven week contest sponsored by Michaels on Facebook - Michael's Craft Some Holiday Magic Contest.  I have entered four of the five weeks and actually won week two.  Each of the seven weekly finalist will be in a final run off to win a Cruise.  I may be calling on all of you in a couple of weeks for help and support me in my attempts to win the cruise!

Each Monday morning Michael's releases three new mystery items that must be used in that week's project.  This week the three mystery items are WIRE, PHOTO FRAME(S), and WRAPPING PAPER. 

I took ten photo frames and framed seven family Christmas photos from throughout the years.  The oldest photo is my husband and his little brother with Santa in 1966; the newest is from last Christmas.  Two of the photos are family Christmas photos and two of them are my children with Santa - 18 years ago and 7 years ago (when the older two were in high school).  I used wrapping paper as matting behind the older photo of my children with Santa, and trimmed it out with peel offs (see above).

For the remaining three frames, I used wrapping paper, cardstock stickers or Cricut cuts to create Christmas scenes to add a whimsical touch to the collage (again see above).

I embellished nine of the frames with artificial greenery, curled wire, mini-ornaments, and HO-HO-HO red ribbon.  The embellishments not only added to the overall holiday feel of the project, but they also gave me a way to incorporate the final mystery element - wire.

The final addition to the entry way wall was three vinyl words cut with the Cricut, JOY, CHRISTMAS, and PEACE.  While I truly do not expect to win the contest this week (there are some cut projects posted), I was happy that both my husband and my daughter really liked our holiday collage.

BBTB2 Spooky Candle Card

Hello Monday Bloggers!  Today the BBTB2 design team was asked to use the candle cut from the October 31st cartridge to create a project.  Sadly, I do not own that particular cartridge so following the design team rules, I used a different candle cut to complete the challenge.  I used the candle from Christmas Noel Solutions cartridge.  I love Christmas Noel; it is one of my favorite holiday cartridges. 

I cut the candle in rust Bazzill cardstock and used gold cardstock to cut the top layer of the candle stand.  I cut a basic black Bazzill shadow.  I used fabulous glitter cardstock to cut a frame from Happy Hauntings, tweaking the size in Design Studio.  I must tell you about this particular glitter cardstock:  I cut the glitter cardstock with the blade set on 6 and the pressure on High.  I only needed to cut this particular cardstock once.  This is not the hugely heavy glitter cardstock that you will find in the craft stores.  I purchased this cardstock from Scrap Your Trip (Yeah Julie!) at this LINK. 

I cut the boo two layer cut from Holiday Cakes to create the inside sentiment.  I also added a strip of the the front background paper.  The base card was cut in light gray and a strip of boo/spooky ribbon was added to the bottom front edge.

Be sure to go by BBTB2 and check out all of the fabulous designs.  I am always amazed at the talent of this group of designers!

Gypsy Spot Weekly Challenge - A Christmas Card

This weeks challenge at the Gypsy Spot is to use the Gypsy to make a Christmas Card.  While I was enjoying the tag shapes on Winter Woodlands I went ahead and designed a second card with this shape as a base.  I added scalloped eyelit edges on the card to dress it up a bit. 

The card was constructed of Core'dination cardstock.  I am really enjoying the Core'dination line.  I purchased a variety of colors and finish treatments from Custom Crops as they have a huge selection (and a sale thru this Wednesday night).  The base card was cut in White-washed white cardstock.  The base tag was cut in red Core'dination cardstock and the top layer tag was cut in peach White-washed Core'dination.  If you look closely you can see where I sanded the edges to allow more of the "core" color to peek through.

The flowers and words feature multi-layered cuts, each featuring a light green base cut.  The words are topped in the same red Core'dination cardstock and the flowers feature a white layer then repeats of the red and peach colors.  The flower centers were made using German ground glass (also available at Custom Crops).

I finished my card off with a ribbon and bow, but I am not sure what is going on with the color of the ribbon... It is an irredescent light green ribbon with streaks of pink and gold... but it photographed yellow!  Seriously, I have no idea why that happened.

Just like the Bitten by the Bug blog, the Gypsy Spot will also be taking a two week vacation.  Fear not, both sites will return the first week of January!