Gypsy Contest

So I did it!! I BARELY made it in time but I DID get to submit my entry for the 24 hour Gyspsy contest.

CLICK HERE to vote for my project!!!
Or simply copy and paste this link into your web browser: http://www.cricut.com/gypsy/designchallenge/entries.aspx?did=280

This link will take you straight to my entry and all you do is click the "vote" button. You may only vote one time per computer and voting will close at midnight on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL THIS LINK TO ANY FRIENDS OR FAMILY WHO MIGHT BE WILLING TO GIVE ME A "CLICK" AND FEEL FREE TO POST THIS LINK TO YOUR FACEBOOOK, TWITTER OR ANY OTHER SOCIAL NETWORK.

For those of you who may not be familiar, the Gypsy is a handheld device that you pair with a Cricut Personal Diecutting machine in order to design and create paper crafting items, quilting designs, cake stencils and so on and so forth. The Gypsy is a new machine and Provo Craft (makers of Gypsy and Cricut) teamed up with Michaels crafts to host a 24 hour Gypsy challenge. We were given 24 hours to create a crafting item (within given contest guidelines) and post it under one of the given categories. I chose DIY wedding for my category. I love making paper flower arrangements and I wanted to show that you could make beautiful centerpieces that are still budget friendly.

I didn't get as much free time in the 24 hour window as I had hoped and it didn't turn out QUITE as I'd imagined but I was pleased to have participated and still have my fingers crossed for the outcome!

Directions are listed in my entry. Feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions or would like any tips on how to create your own paper flower arrangement.

3D Pumpkin Card

A friend of mine recently created a miniature 3D pumpkin and I fell in love with the concept right away. She mentioned finding it on the cricut message boards and after doing a little checking, I believe the original idea post came from this blog: http://happileighscrappin.blogspot.com/2009/09/fall-fun.html.

I was thinking of making these to use as placecard holders for a family dinner coming up in October but I really wanted to play around and see what else I could use them for. I decided to create them only halfway, leaving a flat surface to attach to a beautiful fall card and this was the result.

For Cricut users: I used the scalloped oval cut from the Storybook cart ("W" button using the Accent/Blackout feature). These are cut at 1 1/2 inches. The leafy cuts are from Storybook as well ("3" button using the Fancy Corner feature)and are also cut at 1 1/2". You simply ink the edges, fold the ovals in half (long ways for the tall pumpkin and short for the shorter one) and attach them to each other. I used 7 ovals each on these pumpkins. For the stems I just folded small scraps of brown paper together.

The sentiment was welded in CDS and is cut at 1 1/2 inches using the 'Loop Dee Loo' feature from Lyrical letters.

Bouquet Gift

This is just a little arrangement I made. My mom wanted a gift for a friend who just accomplished a big goal so this is what I came up with for her.



I didn't want to do the flowers on both sides so I just black backed them so you didn't see the big glops of hot glue on the backs.

Black & White Pooh Series

I just wanted to make some cards using the Pooh & Friends cartridge that had a little different look to them than usual. I liked how they turned out.

My First Diaper Cake - Lil Prince

So this summer I ventured into the fun and fabulous world of Diaper Cakes! I've seen people make these so many times and I finally had not one, but TWO excuses to try them out! I looked up lots of pictures and directions from others and then braved the baby section of walmart for supplies. (Having no children of my own I can confidently say that picking out the diapers was BY FAR the hardest part of this creation -- the sheer volume of options made me dizzy.)

My first diaper cake was for my friend and neighbor April who was having a boy. I really didn't want to do the traditional blue colors so I copied a great idea from the cricut messageboards to do a "little prince" theme using frogs. Green is a great color and it ended up working beautifully on the cake. (I even found green baby wash and matching lotion for the center -- I think it was like a cucumber melon flavor or something like that.)

I used white hair bands to hold the rolled diapers. Most directions called for rubber bands but that seemed 'icky' to me so I ditched that idea.

For cricut users: I used NA for the stork, baby and frogs. Letters are from Pooh Font, the crowns on the frogs are from PD and the grass around the base is from Zoobaloo.

Baby Pooh Diaper Cake - Phases

So this is the 2nd diaper cake I made. It was for a friend of mine having her 2nd girl. I didn't want to do the traditional colors (once again) so I decided to do a Baby Winnie The Pooh theme with yellow and brown. It turned out pretty cute.

On this one, I took pictures of each phase of the cake. When I first went to make a diaper cake, I found lots of pictures of finished cakes and lots of explanations but I'm such a visual person and wished I could have seen it in phases so I knew if I was doing it right.

On the base I attached flower cuts that were folded in half to sort of imitate the frosting edge look of a normal cake. These diaper cakes were both SO much fun to make and SO easy.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!

This year I decided to keep it simple for Mother's Day. My mom is so hard to shop for so I just made her a little customized present. I bought a simple vase from Hobby Lobby and etched Bee images all over it. She likes bees as a symbol and I thought it was cute for something you tend to put flowers in. :) I used the bread tag cut of a bee from Walk In My Garden and etching cream per the instructions on the bottle. It turned out quite nicely.



I made her card with a cute little fairy cut from Hello Kitty Font and a sentiment from Wild Card.



In lieu of a bow, I dressed up her present with paper roses. I got the paper rose idea from the Cricut messageboards (surprise!) and I just LOVE them! These are my interpretation of Susan's design here: http://susanbluerobot.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-make-paper-roses.html. I used the cut seen below from Accent Essentials and incorporated the same method's used on Susan's website.



I made three different sizes and hot glued them together on the top of the package. I also used a few dots of hot glue to keep her card in place with the roses. She loved them.