Quickest Card Ever!

Kaisercraft paper for card base

Robotz Cricut Cartridge

JT Imagine Cricut Cartridge

This card is probably is the quickest card I have ever made - but I like it, and Tom was pleased with it on first impression and happy to give it to his friend.

Having had a busy day, a Tom going to a party after school, I made it in 10 minutes. Thanks in all honesty to the Cricut Imagine - I was able to print and cut all the robot layers at once (so no swapping lots of bits of paper). I also have to admit to finishing in the car, adding the peel offs and placing the robot on the front - hence the photo taken in the car !! (giving a hint of the absolutely terrible weather we have had today - so where is summer?)

So - a question - Does it look like the quickest card I have made, or does it just about work? hehe

From my Niece - Elena

This is a card that my 6 year old niece Elena, made for her Dad on Fathers Day. It is all her own work, with a tiny bit of help from Mum to tie the yellow ribbon. Its a beautiful card Elena well done xxx

I set Elena a little fun challenge to make some of her cards for me to here on the blog. Elena has quite a stash of card making goodies herself now, rubberstamps inks, cutting and embossing dies for her cuttlekids machine plus loads of paper, glitter, ribbons etc etc. So I shall look forward to seeing more of her creations.

Finally # 3 - From Me

I really enjoyed making this for Dad, I was able play around with my stamps and inks, the creating that I really enjoy.
Apart from the tiny background newspaper print (printed from the Imagine country carnival cartridge), and the text on this card, it is all stamped and inked.

I was naughty a couple of weeks ago and succombed to another set of Tim Holtz stamps (well they were in the sale and it would have been rude not to !!?!), and I put them to good use here, the bike, clock face and chequered numbers had a vintage London feel to them - perfect for Dad.   The London theme of course, not the vintage......how could you think such a thing ! hehe (only joking Dad x)

I used the faux herringbone stitched ribbon rub-ons in the background (that was a mouth full).
I made the scrolls in the cluster around the photos and stamped and embossed in copper the padlock and key.

Really love those stamps, so keep an eye open, they may crop up some more!

Thanks for looking, bye.

With Toms help...

For some reason this card didn't photograph particularly well, and looks much better in real life.
I didn't stamp the bottom images very well, i applied too much pressure so they aren't as crisp as they should be. But I persevered because Tom created the lovely background with distress inks for me when he was playing and making his Fathers Day card.

Thanks Tom, the colours are perfectly me (and my blog, and my kitchen, and bar stools and kitchen blinds......well you get the picture ! hehe)

Second of 3 - Father's Day, Tom's Creation

Cricut Imagine Cartridge, JT & Country Carnival

Ranger Alcohol Inks - Slate, Salmon, Latte & Silver blender

This card is entirely Tom's creation, and once he had been shown how to apply the inks he was well away. He even operated the cricut imagine (with a slight bit of driection from me) The shield and wings was cut from the JT cartridge, layered over 3 layers and was actually made into a badge (by attaching a safety pin to the back) because Tom was so pleased with it. I will have to make sure that his Dad does spend some time wearing it otherwise Tom will be offended (hehe!)

The lettering was cut from the Country Carnival cartridge, and coloured with patterns from the JT cartridge (all very clever stuff).

First of 3...From Stephen

Bazzill basic card stock - blue, yellow green

Orange paper from stash

White Shrink plastic

Zooballoo Cricut Cartridge

Wild Card Cricut Cartridge

This is Stephen fathers day card, that I designed for him on the Cricut gypsy (my first project). I have been very sceptical of its use in the past, but the more I play with it now, the more I am understanding its benefits. a bit of an extravagance considering the free Cricut Craft Room software is due for public release soon, but with my internet connection I probably will end up very frustrated at not being able to design anything.

I was particularly impressed with the text. It was cut on the cricut out of white shrink plastic (at round about 5 inches or so), coloured with very pale promarkers, then shrunk. I though Stephen would enjoy watching it twist and turn then right itself - but he has been in such an awkward mood all day I ended up finishing it myself!!!
You can see in this photo the original cut size of the greeting...

The advantage of the gypsy is that you can size up each cut layer of the card against the next (as transparencies) to ensure that the sizes and proportions of the characters are correct. This is something that can be tricky when you are trying to put all the elements together straight from your head to the cutting mat. It really comes into its own when you are using more than one cartridge, and also characters that are not prelayered and set out in the booklets for you.
In this example the Lion (in the cartrdige booklet) is not related to the blue frame it sits on or the front green frame. With the gypsy I was able to size the Lion to fit both.

I hope that is clear, over coming projects I hope I can demonstrate what I mean with other images. Perhaps a look at the photo of the gypsy screen you can see how the card was mapped out.

ABC,,, Layout

I have been wanting to get back to scrapbooking, and Stephen created the perfect opportunity for me the other day. We were drawing and making in my craft room, and Stephen was asking about letters and numbers, so I thought I would give him the chance to write his name. I faintly wrote it out in pencil for him to over write, and I was amazed how accurate and how much concentration he had - the results were great - well I would think that wouldn't I, he is my son. :).

I grabbed the chance for him to write all of our names, and I created the layout so I wouldn't lose them.
The journalling explains all, but basically watching Stephen play you would not imagine that he is capable of sitting still and actually having the patience to write - but he is so considered in how he colours its comical (but he mustn't see you laugh, that spoils the moment). There are usually big deliberations, and contemplations when faced with colouring a character, and the result would be a strategically placed spot/line. A huge anti-climax....

Tom on the other hand (even now still) likes to do everything just right and isn't happy unless he feels he is good at something - yet, when making, phew, he is like a bull in a china shop. He gets an instant idea runs with it until he's finished, all within the space of 2 minutes flat. Exhausting to watch....

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it, thanks.

Recipe

Bazzill basic card - white

JT Cricut Imagine carttridge for patterns

Country Carnival Cricut Imagine Cartridge (ABC)

Robotz cricut cartridge

Backing papers, ribbon, rub-on from stash

I did try something new on this layout. I layered Stephens writing onto the backing paper and then stitched around the outside. I have tried doing this before but without success because the machine would usually leave a big knotted mess. But I loosed the stitch tension slightly on the machine , stitched, and it worked YAY!  needless to say I will be doing this again (keep your eyes peeled for it hehe).

I used the JT cartridge to print the background for the ABC's and the dog robot - using the red blue and white colourway from Stephens jumper as the theme.

I couldn't choose which photo to use, I loved the black & white one just as much, so worked them both into the layout.

Visitors for the Day

This is not a crafty blog at all, but I just had to share our day with you. From about 8am this morning we saw a couple of stray donkeys wandering up and down our road. Around about 1pm they were in our garden, so to be safe I cosed the gates to stop them having and or causing an accident on the road. They are so peaceful and placid mooching about the garden, its a shame they can't stay. We later found out they escaped on an adventure from the farm across the way. But while they were with us they had water and carrots and plenty of grass...