Last Photo Paper Layout

We are back to Disney layouts again - I didn't forget about them,  I am just currently up to my ears in birthday party preparations - but trust me - it's going to be a good one! This layout was perfect for this particular paper of Epcot because the photos are of my daughter and how she spent her time with Grandma while the rest of us were inside the ball!

The details:

I used Hannah Montana for the "Epcot" part of the title, cut at 1.10 inches with the shadow and then I added some heat set gems to bling them up. The "excitement" are Making Memories Passport chipboard letters. The journaling tag is a Maya Road sheer.

I do love the corners of the top photo mat because I used a CM punch that I won at the crop when I was working on this. And so I had to add some more bling there. I do remember spending a lot of time on this layout - the other paper choices were hard for me to decide because I didn't want to take away from the background. I am happy with the end result so I can forget all the sweat and stress that went into it!

I have one more Disney layout before it will soon be time for the birthday extravaganza! If you are missing the Halloween projects it isn't because I am not doing them - it's because they are over at the Paper Craft Weekend Challenge. I feel like I have split crafting personalities! Until next time I will just have to keep myself company!

It's a Cupcake - no, it's a Crayon!

This is a project that I started with my daughter this week to curb the "I don't have anything to do-itis" that children seem to come down with this time of year, and of course like all such projects I ended up putting in more time than I wanted to - but it did keep her occupied for two summer afternoons. It is an idea that I got from a class I attended at the CKC convention - and I knew when I saw it on the idea sheet it was right up her alley PLUS a way to get rid of all those old broken crayons.

But then of course before we gave it away I had to have a little help from my Cricut and the Cupcake Wrappers Lite cartridge.

Front View

Back view

This was a gift for a little girl's birthday party - so I coordinated the paper with the gift bag and card (*warning* sad birthday card ahead - but I only had about 30 minutes notice that I was making it and not my daughter.)

Gift Bag



Sad Birthday Card

The details:

To make the crayon, we dug through the box of broken crayons and separated them by color (which was one afternoon's craft time),  then the next day we peeled off the papers and melted them. I used some cooking spray on the cupcake wrappers and put them in the oven at 350 degrees until they melted together (about 10 minutes). After taking them out of the oven I stirred each one with a toothpick to blend the colors - and then we let them sit for a little while before adding the birthday candle and sprinkles. When they were completely set we popped them out of the tin and replaced the waxy wrapper with a fresh one. For the birthday wrapper, I used Cupcake Wrappers Lite and cut out both layers at 2.25 inches.

For the gift bag and card I used Colorbok holographic paper from Target and the Hannah Montana cartridge. On the gift bag, the guitar is cut at 6 inches and the name at 1.50 inches. I also used the leftover stars from the name to decorate around the guitar. For the card, the guitar was cut at 3 inches and the stamp is from Fiskars.

I highly recommend this as a child occupying activity. It would be nice to give a whole set for a birthday - but I would plan in advance as it does seem to take more time than I had expected. Happy melting!

More Teacher Gift Ideas

Hi everyone! Happy to be once again at TheBugBytes today! While Teacher Appreciation week is past, I thought I would share these altered mini chalkboards with you in case you were looking for a nice end of year treat! I made one each for her music, art, and PE teachers. I found them at ACMoore for around a dollar apiece - with some vinyl, paper, mod podge, and some magnet strips to the back and they turned into great gifts!

The details:

For all three I used my gypsy to plan out the sizes of the lettering and shapes. I set up Layer 1 with two rectangles in the same measurements as the chalkboard and used the subsequent layers to plan each board. The names are in vinyl to make sure they stick while I used paper for the shape cuts.

The music teacher's board I used Hannah Montana for both the name and the cuts.I nudged each of the letters together some more on the Gypsy so that it cut as one piece and wasn't too long. And yes, it was as big a pain in the butt to weed and put on there as it looks! But I was very happy with the results.  A closeup of the music notes:

I cut them using DCWV new Performance stack which I just love, and then applied a thin layer of modpodge to the top and the back edges that hung over the sides.

For the art teacher's board I used Hannah Montana again for the font, and while I was not crazy about that color vinyl, my daughter had veto privileges and she liked it. The brush and palette are from Locker Talk  - I am really trying to use my older cartridges and find those hidden gems! I used stickles instead of cutting the paint circles, and added some to the brush. I think it came out really nice! (and you can modpodge over stickles in case you were wondering like I was) A closeup:

Now the PE teacher chalkboard has a story connected to it - I asked about the teacher and was told that she was "really really sick - she's been out for a looooooong time - I am worried about her Mommy". Well, after a quick call to the school secretary I discovered what I had suspected - she was on maternity leave! But the secretary didn't remember the name of the substitute so a generic "sporty" theme chalkboard had to suffice!

I used Car Decals for the font, and Sports Mania for the 4 corners - another oldie with hidden gems! The cuts already had the corner shape built in so I knew that it was Cricut fate! I went into a little more detail on the different shapes. I used the Cuttlebug mesh folder on the football and basketball, and inked the baseball and soccer balls. Some closeups so you can see what I mean:

I also loved the way they turned shiny after the mod podge! I did get good feedback via thechild (although now I wonder about her school stories) so I hope they liked them. We shall be back to the layouts soon!

Quick and Easy Bouquet

Oh vinyl - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!!

In all seriousness, if you have not tried vinyl yet - what are you waiting for??I absolutlely love working with this medium and today is a great example of that. I needed to put together a quick gift for my daughter to take to her friends at a play and I imediately thought of doing a lollipop bouqet! I had plenty of extra lollipop flowers leftover from Princess Party, so I concentrated on decorating the tin.

The crafty details:

I designed this cut in my gypsy, using the Hannah Montana and Printing Press carts. I used a 3.5 inch star from Hannah, and then put a smaller star inside it. Then I added the text from Printing Press and another teenier star. I grouped it all together and kiss cut it using my vinyl settings - 3 for blade depth, and medium for presure. I weeded the excess and then used painter's tape to transfer it to the tin.

All in all, it probably took me longer to design the Gypsy file than it did to actually cut the vinyl and put it on. If you haven't tried using vinyl in your crafting yet, get to it!!