Cutest Pillowbox Evah!!

Forgive my channeling Kathy Orta here, but I soo love this next project! Sometimes I impress myself!! I really love pillowboxes, they have totally made my list of favorite things to make and I bought the Wrap It Up cartridge for all the wonderful containers. Unfortunately PC did not cooperate and include a design for a baby pillowpox (hmmph! the nerve!) so I had to create one myself.

The crafty details:

I began with the Poinsetta Pillowbox (row 3, button 7) and hid contour of all the poinsetta leaves in the center. I sized it at 10 inches because I wanted to be sure my onesie would fit. On top of that I added the baby buggy under the tag feature (row 1, button 3), hid countour of the outside line and sized at 4.50 inches.

On Layer 2, I used the same baby buggy tag (outside line still hidden) and added a circle from George sized at 3.80 inches. I grouped them together so they would cut as one. Finally, on Layer 3, I used the regular buggy cut, sized at 3 inches, and did a little cricut surgery (as Kathy would also say), cut off the handle and wheels, and ran it through the cuttlebug in the Swiss Dots folder.

Finally I tied a sheer ribbon in a bow around the white layer, and adhered it to the blue tag layer. The blue layer I adhered to the pillowbox and added some brads to the wheel spokes. On the inside of the pillowbox I cut a layer of thin plastic and adhered it to cover the empty spaces.

All done! This really was less complicated than it sounds - it took less than an hour to assemble and it turned out so nice I know I will be making it again. In fact I may be making sure all the baby gifts I buy can fit into a pillowbox! That's all for this week - please remember if I don't post for a while it doesn't mean I won't be back!

Sour Cream Containers + Shrinky Dinks = Great Baby Shower Favor

If you read the yesterday's post you will know what I am talking about. If not, ketchup!! Man I crack myself up sometimes! (this usually means I should have been in bed long ago.)

I tried to respect my friend's wishes about her anti-shower but I mean c'mon........who doesn't like an excuse to make favors?? and since I now feel compelled to add shrinky dinks into my projects when I can, I thought about making some charms. And what can you add charms to?? How about sour cream containers??

If you have never made them, sour cream containers are very easy to make. Okie has a great video tutorial you can watch on this link.  Mine were a little on the small side since I don't have a lot of paper that is boy themed so I was trying to get 6 out of a sheets of 12x12 paper. If my friend had been cooperative and was having a girl we would have been all set (as I have a gamillion sheets of baby girl appropriate paper), but noooooooo.... there is just no accounting for some people.

Where's the project?? Oh you probably want to see it don't you??



The crafty details: 

I chose three designs in New Arrival to use: the onesie, the rattle, and the feet. Pre-shrunk they were cut at 3 inches. The feet required some overlapping and welding to get them to be in the same cut, but it worked out well in the end. I drew them first with my cricut markers, cut using max pressure, blade depth 6 and multi-cut twice, and then colored them in with my watercolor pencils. Then it was into the toaster over for shrinking, and I added two jump rings to each so that they could be attached by brad to the containers. The shrinky dink material was NOT my friend on this particular occasion but I made it work eventually!

I cut a scalloped circle from Mini Monograms (I would so be lost without that scalloped circle! worth buying the entire cartridge for!!) at 2 inches and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. I assembled my containers, adding some M&Ms, then used my Big Bite to punch a hole in the container, added the tag with the shrinky dink and fastened with the jewel brad and they were all done!

These really are a sweet treat that is as simple or as complicated as you want to make your tag, and they were a bit hit at our girls night dinner. Up tomorrow is that baby themed container I teased you about yesterday.

Baby Onesie "Little Squirt"

I have a colleague who is expecting her second child, and she really didn't want any gifts or anything shower-like, but I couldn't let the occasion just pass! So we organized a girls night out dinner and I had to create just a little something for the baby. She is obsessed with ketchup, eats it on absolutely everything - her wedding favors were personalized bottles of Heinz Ketchup! I put my thinking cap on for ketchup puns and came up with absolutely nothing, but another colleague came to the rescue with the idea of "Little Squirt".

The crafty details:

When I searched my gypsy, the only ketchup that came up was on Block Party Lite, which I do not own, and while I do look for any excuse to buy a cartridge, I just didn't love the rest of the cuts so much. I decided to use the shapes from George to create my own. There is a bottle layer of red, and the three white pieces, and a teeny tiny green layer for the top of the tomato. The tomato is from the From My Kitchen cartridge.

The entire bottle cut is about 6 inches high. I wish I knew an easy way to explain how I created it, but I don't think that is possible! I put the shape I want to copy on Layer 2 and then on Layer 1 I use my shapes, a lot of welding, and some trial and error to get what I want. The "Little Squirt" uses the font from Car Decals (which is what sold me on that particular cartridge in the first place) and it cut quite small at .5 inches.

If you haven't used Heat Transfer Vinyl yet, what are you waiting for? It is so easy! Once my cuts were done and weeded it took less than 10 minutes to iron all the layers on and let it cool. What actually takes the longest is letting the layers cool in between before peeling off the plastic. First I did the red, then positioned the layers of white and ironed those on, next came the green. Finally I added the text. When all the layers are complete, I usally run the iron over the design to make sure they are all set (with a layer of parchment over the design of course).

I was very pleased with the way it turned out and my friend really loved it - which was the important part! I actually loved the box I made to give it in, but I am going to be a tease and make you wait to see that!

Guest Designer today at Tuesday Treats

Although I have been busy, and sadly not getting in my daily dose of crafting, I did find the time to create one of my Post-It Shaker holders (this time with a Valentine's theme) for Tuesday Treats! Thanks so much to Pam aka TheBugBytes for having me!

This cute project was created using George and Gypsy Wanderings, and of course some Martha Stewart glitter. For all the details, please visit Tuesday Treats!

I made the Chirp!!

First many apologies to my followers  - I have sadly been neglecting my blog as I have been very busy at school in my capacity as a co-curricular advisor. Only a few more weeks and I can give my blog the attention it deserves! I do have some posts scheduled for this week - I am trying to catch up!

I did have a nice little surprise when I discovered last week's "Your Notable Tip" was by......me! The question was a thread about how to apply vinyl, and in case you weren't aware, I heart vinyl! And who knew I could sound so intelligent?? Not me!! It was my tip about using painter's tape if you don't have transfer tape available to you, but you can see the whole tip here. I know many of you are nervous about coming to the vinyl side (bwahahahah) but I will keep working on you!

Another post is coming tomorrow - I promise! In fact, I have been super ambitious and you can count on a full five days of posting (to be followed by another absence......but such is life - anyone who thinks teaching is an 8 to 3 job is welcome to come with me for a week!).

Shrinky Dinks meet Cricut Markers

***WARNING SHRINKY DINKS CAN BE ADDICTIVE (BUT NOT AT ALL HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH)***

Well certain enablers over at the cricut message board (they know who they are) have been talking about shrinky dinks for a while, and I bought a package on Thanksgiving, but I really have had no time to play with them until this last week, and of course now I can't seem to stop making them. Up until this week, they were my daughter's domain and I have spent a lot of time drawing Christmas shapes for her to color and cut out.

I spent the first day just trying to cut some numbers and experimenting with stamping on the shrinky dinks, and then my Cricut markers caught my eye (since I finally got my husband to hang the shelf I bought so I could reorganize my supplies). Now I have always been a fan of the Cricut markers, and while I recently have used the Cri-kuts more, this project has knocked those right out of the running as my favorite drawing tool. Sure enough, with some layering on my Gypsy and my licensed cartridges, those markers made it super easy to create great shrinky dinks for my daughter and I to color (she made me share).

Here's what we have been up to:

Tinkerbell and Friends

Spongebob and Friends

Cinderella

Hello Kitty

The crafty details:

The sizes of the cuts all vary, they could be anywhere from 2 to 6 inches, when doing the character sets I tried to make them somewhat proportional to each other (yet Spongebob is still huge). Some characters draw more complete images than others, and for Hello Kitty I used the Silhouette feature.  I followed the marker directions just as if I were using paper, and on the first layer drew the images with the marker. Then I switched out the marker for the blade, and cut out a shadow on the second layer (with a welded circle from George). I used max pressure, blade depth of 6, and multi-cut twice.

When we unloaded the mat, we had pre-drawn Shrinky Dinks ready to be colored with watercolor pencils. Then we baked them at 325 on a piece of parchment paper in the toaster oven. As you can see, we used them in a variety of ways: a necklace, a pin, and a card for her teacher. I am hoping to get a shrinky dink break today, but I doubt it, as I am sure my little addict will come looking for some more. I hope to write a tutorial soon with more detail, but as I start back to work this week, I can't make any definite promises.