My name is Nadia and crafting is in my blood! I love to create cards, invitations, banners, cupcake toppers, party decor and all other sorts of paper crafts.
The newest addition to my craft room is my very first sewing machine! I got a Singer Esteem (endorsed by Martha Stewart....and I love her...just sayin'!) and I couldn't have made a better choice.
My mom needed another bridal shower card so it was a perfect excuse to try out my sewing machine. I had so much fun trying out the different stitch patterns and I can't believe what a difference real stitching makes on a card. I plan on taking some adult beginner sewing classes so that I can not only sew on cards, but learn to hem pants, a create other kinds of crafty projects.
This was also the first time I used my Sizzix 3-d flower die, which I love! I ran the die through my Big Shot machine and with my quilling pen, turned the paper into a rose. I sprayed my pretty little rose with some Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist in Interference Red and placed a pearl in the middle.
A close up of the sentiment and stitching. Not too bad for my first time, huh?
Inside detail of the card (because the inside is just as important as the outside):
Recipe:
Cricut Formal Occasion cartridge
Scrappy Mom Stamps
Sizzix 3-D Flower die
Recollections Pearl
I-Rock and jewels
Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist in Interference Red (appears pink when sprayed)
Like most, I find it challenging to create masculine cards. This past weekend was my husband's birthday and he loves cards so with a little bit of plaid, I turned it into a "Guy's card".
Inside detail of car:
Recipe:
Cricut Nate's ABCs cartridge
Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Black Soot
Twine
My Creative Time "Wow So Many Candles" stamp set
Black and White Gelly Roll Pen
2 white buttons
In this post I am going to share with you my experience using my Cricut Cake machine for the very first time. I am in no way a professional, but I have created cakes before and I have taken all three Wilton Cake Decorating Classes at Michaels. This cake was created for my nephew's second birthday which had a Disney Cars theme. If you want to look at my post which contains the two Cars cards I made for him, you can check them out by clicking here.
The picture above shows the ingredients I used for my cake.
Tip#1: Duff's Cake mix may be expensive, but it is by far the best tasting store-bought cake mix I have ever tried. It is extremely moist and very delicious. Doesn't even compare to the cheaper $1 or $2 more popular cake mix brands. I purchased the 2 boxes at Michael's with 40% off coupons.
Tip#2: I used both Duff's fondant and Wilton fondant. I bought the 5 lb white Wilton fondant (with a 40% off coupon at Michaels) as well as two tubs of Duff's fondant. While Duff's fondant tastes a little better, the better value is the Wilton package. The only con is that you have to do some of the dying yourself...but that's where my patient and strong muscular husband came in handy ;) Here's the important part: make sure your fondant is fresh. I decided to try using some tightly packaged and air tight sealed fondant that I had saved and was leftover from a previous project, however, it must have lost some of the moisture because when the Cricut Cake machine was cutting it, the edges of the cut were crackled and not smooth.
Tip#3: Prior to "guesstimating" how large your want your cut to be using fondant (and avoiding any loss of cake materials), cut it out on paper first (as I did pictured below, using my Cricut expression), then place it on top of your cake to see if it is a good size for your cake!)
Picture of the bottom layer cake, Duff's Chocolate cake.
Here's the tasty homemade Oreo buttercream filling that I placed in the middle of the yummo cake.
Although not pictured, I sprinkled additional crumbled Oreo's on top of this...for added taste!
Homemade buttercream icing has to be placed on top of your cake and smoothed out in order for your fondant to adhere to the cake.
Top layer of fondant has been placed on top of the cake.
Top view of the cake
I added a checker pattern all around the cake to resemble a race track flag.
Here's a view of the first fondant cut I made with Duff's fondant. It cuts amazing!
Tip#4: Prior to cutting your fondant, place it in the freezer for approximately 5 minutes or until hard. You will especially want to do this if you are food colouring your own fondant because with all the kneading, the fondant eventually becomes warm and will start to stick to your hands. If this happens, simply stop the kneading for a few minutes until the fondant hardens again.
Tip#5: As you can see from the picture above (look carefully!), the bottom of the cake is not even. My priority was to line up the top of the cake since I wanted it to be a clean cut all the way around. To hide the uneven-ness, I placed a tip#21 on my baggie and piped a shell border all the way around the base of the cake. A perfect way to hide all the imperfections!
I used Cricut Boys Will Be Boys cartridge for the font and used the shadow feature, since the regular font is a bit too slim for fondant.
I had originally tried using the Cricut Cake Frosting Sheets for the red part of Lightening McQueen. However, when I tried applying water to the back of the cut with my brush, I accidentally applied way too much water and the cut fell apart and got soggy extremely fast.
Tip#6: When using Cricut Cake Frosting Sheets, change your speed settings to a slow speed. If you watch my video, you will see that when I initially tried cutting the sheets, my speed was way too fast and the sheets started chipping and crumbling.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE VACATION BLOG HOP, PLEASE CLICK HERE
Welcome to my blog and the Summer Blog Hop hosted by Jennifer at Crafty Card Gallery. If you have come from visiting Lucy, you are in the right place. If you are just checking out my blog and want to play along, you can do so by clicking here. This blog hop is intended to help you with Summer themed ideas so sit back and enjoy all the wonderful inspiration!
When Summer comes to mind, I think of BBQs, backyards and great weather. I love creating invitations and so I came up with an apron shaped BBQ invitation that can be used for a birthday, bridal shower, baby shower and all sorts of other parties.
Isn't this the cutest invite ever? I just love it!
Welcome to the Vacation Blog Hop hosted by Jessica-Creative Stamper and Fancy with Nancy. If you came here from Jackie's Blog, then you are in the right place. If you are stalking my blog and want to play and want to play along, you can start by going to Nancy's Blog.
Thinking about a vacation excites me! I need one pretty bad! The one thing I look forward to about vacations is creating new memories. I thought about when I vacation, and how I become a hoarder wherever we go: I keep tons and tons of momento's such as receipts, coins, postcards, programs, tickets, etc. I wanted to create something that would help me gather my momento's and keep them organized, since most of the time it gets shoved into pockets of my luggage. I also rarely get around to organizing it once I'm home and when I finally do get around it, I can barely remember what was what!
So I created this super handy travel book to take with me on my next vacation. As each day ends, I can journal and attach all my momento's, then once I get home, all I will need to do is embellish it a little and the task seems so much easier!
Quick video to see the inside details of the travel journal:
Travel Journal Recipe:
Cricut Locker Talk cartridge
Cricut Sentimentals cartridge
Cricut From My Kitchen cartridge
Your Story Photo
Your Story 5x7 metallic covers (cream)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut
Tim Holtz paper stash
Cardstock (cream, kraft, brown)
Recycled plastic (I re-use the plastic wrapping from my cricut cartridges)
Foam squares
Black Jelly Roll pen (for faux stitching)
We are very fortunate to have a sponsor for this hop. Betty from Simply Betty Stamps is offering up these fun stamps! So to qualify for these stamps you have to do the following:
1) If you are not a follower of my blog, please do so. 2) Leave a comment on my blog AND on every blog along the hop. 3) On Monday, 5/23 @ 10 AM CST, Nancy athttp://blog.fancywithnancy.com/will pick THREE winners and each will receive one of these fun stamps.
Thank you for visiting my blog! Your next stop is Shannon!
Hi Everyone! A little while back, I participated in a Graduation Blog Hop. If you missed that you can click HERE to see what I created. Since then, I have had some requests for a tutorial on how to create that cute homemade tassle! I whipped up a video tutorial that I hope helps some you!
I forgot to mention in my video that I cut each piece of twine 10 inches long.
I am honoured to say that Lisa from Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons has awarded me with a super-cool blog award! Thank you so much Lisa!
Here are the rules for the Cricut-tastic award:
Your blog has been deemed Cricut-tastic! Wear this badge proudly on your blog and share it with friends. Share this award with 10 people that you think have Cricut-tastic blogs. You also have to share 5 Cricut-y things about yourself.
Here are 5 Cricut-y things to share about myself:
1) I bought my first Cricut machine, a Cricut Expression in 2010 when I happened to be in the baking aisle at Michael's and came across the Cricut Cake. I was amazed at what this machine could do for fondant! I went home and did lots of research and found out that there was the Cricut Expression that did paper cuts.
2) My family of Cricut Machines now includes a Cricut Expression, Cricut Cake, Cricut Imagine and a Gypsy.
3) I am a Cricut Circle member. If you aren't one, and really love your Cricut, I highly encourage you to join! You get exclusive cartridges every quarter, Magazine every month, Cricut.com discount, access to the Cricut Circle Blog (loaded with talent and lots of ideas)...and much more!
4) I have a subscription to the Cricut Magazine (Northridge Publishing) and I recommend that magazine as well. The pages are beautiful to look at and will inspire you to play with your machines.
5) I'm addicted to collecting Cricut cartridges. I dont have a final count but I do have a binder with printouts of the images that way I can browse through a book without having to lug out all my carts!!!
Now it's time to pass on the Award! And, since I hate having to choose people without feeling bad for eliminating others, I would like to share this with all of you who use your Cricut often enough and would love to post this on their blog!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR JENNY'S 3-OH! BLOG HOP, CLICK HERE!
Welcome to the My Blog and the Disney Blog Hop. If you have come from Amber's blog, you are in the right place. If you are just visiting my Blog and want to play along, you can do so by starting at Sylvia's blog. I created two Pinnochio themed cards!
I just love this vintage twine!!!
Disney Recipe: Cricut Disney Classics cartridge Pinoochio, Gipetto, J Cricket and Fairy all cut @ 4.5 My Mind's Eye Complete Boy paper stack Vintage Twine Buttons Grosgrain and Satin Ribbon
Thank you for playing along. Your next stop is my crafty bestie and one rockin' talented girl, Giselle! I am giving away a Cricut Martha Stewart Elegant cake art cartridge
once I hit 500 followers...and I am super close to hitting 500 and super anxious to give this away to someone!!!
You know the drill, one comment per person, available to followers only.
Welcome and thank you for joining us for Jenny's Big 3-OH Birthday Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Kristen Blog. If you just happened to stumble upon this hop, please be sure to go back to Jenny's Blog , so you don't miss any of the wonderful projects we have to share.
I created a soft pastel card with one of my Cricut cartridges that I have really been liking lately, "Paper Lace".
Inside card detail:
Supplies:
Cricut Paper Lace
Core-dinations Cardstock
Pink, White and Green cardstock
My Creative Time "Wow So Many Candles!" stamp set
Pink Satin Ribbon
Heirloom Button pack
I-Rock and Tulip crystals
Foam Squares
Martha Stewart Embossing Powder (green)
Color Box Chalk Ink
Thank you so much for joining us for Jenny's Big 3-OH Birthday Blog Hop!
BLOG CANDY: I am giving away a Cricut Martha Stewart Elegant cake art cartridge
once I hit 500 followers...and I am super close to hitting 500 and super anxious to give this away to someone!!!
You know the drill, one comment per person, available to followers only.
