I love my I-Bond! Here's a quick video with some helpful tips and information on my new favourite glue gun!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
My First Sewing Machine and Card!
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):
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.
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)
Tim Holtz hanger clips
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Happy Birthday to my Hubby! (Masculine Card)
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".
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
Thanks for looking!
Inside detail of car:
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
Thanks for looking!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Disney Pixar Cars {My first Cricut Cake!} Video and Pictures!
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.
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.
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.
Lastly, a quick video!
Hope this post was helpful and enjoyable!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Summer Blog Hop
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE VACATION BLOG HOP, PLEASE CLICK HERE
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!
BBQ Recipe:
Cricut Imagine Kate's Kitchen cartridge (pattern paper)
Cricut Lite Block Party cartridge
Tim Holtz Long Fasteners
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen
White Satin Ribbon
Color Box Chalk Ink in Red Magic
Fonts used: Army and Batik Regular
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. Your next stop is Beth.
Here's A List of Blogs in case you are lost:
Vacation Blog Hop
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!
Nancy - http://blog.fancywithnancy
Monica - http://scraps2treasure.blo
Nadia - www.nadiasbeautifulmess.bl
Shannon - www.purplelionpaper.com/bl
Jenn P - http://jennscrap2.blogspot
Monday, May 16, 2011
500 followers and a Winner!
WELCOME TO ALL MY NEW FOLLOWERS!
I've gained quite a few followers in the past few months and I just wanted to say, "Welcome Everyone!"
There were loads of comments to sort through for my 500 followers promotion, the Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art Cartridge!!!
And the winner of the Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art Cartridge is...
KRISTY from CRAFTIN' ON MY DOOR ! ! ! Congratulations Kristy! I have contacted you. I hope you enjoy this cartridge!
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