Holiday Blog Hop & Snow Globe Ornaments

Hello all! Today is the Holiday Blog Hop for the BugBytes Design Team. This is your last stop on the hop and you should have arrived here from Melissa's blog, and when you are done, make sure to go back to Pam at TheBugBytes so that you can add your holiday project to the linky! If you are joining this party already in progress you can also start the hop with Pam's blog!

Apologies to my regular followers for being a bad blog mommy lately and neglecting my blog, I have projects done just no time to write the posts! And more apologies to the hoppers because I really love this project but it totally does not meet the requirements of having red or green or silver or blue. So what my migraine medicine is telling me is that I should go with my inner lawbreaker and say since there is purple in this project and red + blue = purple then this project qualifies. Yeah - let's go with that!!

The details: 

This is a snowglobe ornament that I picked up at Michael's  - they come in two pieces and allow you to place something in the middle. I decided that they were dying to be made into snowglobes and I have had this idea for a long time - so glad it actually worked out! This is also another one of my "recycling" projects because I used my cartridge clamshells as the center of the ornament! (I have a few clamshell pieces....or perhaps a alot). My original photos are taken on my daughter's purple Christmas tree so I thought I would take some without the distracting background so the directions would be clearer.

 I cut a 3.05 inch circle out of the clamshell using my Gypsy - and yes it has to be that size - 3 inches is too small and 3.10 is too big and then placed a 2 inch snowman from Winter Frolic cut in vinyl with some of the layers on one side of the plastic circle. I flipped the image and all the layers and placed the other snowman on the other side of the plastic circle, layering it as exactly as I could over the first snowman. I stamped two different snowman faces using my Peachy Keen Stamps and Stazon ink and colored in the nose with an orange sharpie. I felt like he needed some bling and I especially appreciated I could use two different kinds - one for each side! Who wants buttons when you can have MS mini bling??

I added some Martha Stewart snowflake glitter to one half of the ornament, placed the circle over it, added glitter to the other half and sandwiched them all together. I did add some glue to the inside rim but I am not sure a) that it was necessary or b) that it really worked. Since this was going in my daughter's room I mixed some glow in the dark glitter with the snowflake glitter too, but you can only see it when the lights are out. Oh well - it was still fun!

This project just reinforced my love of vinyl + acetate - they are a match made in crafting heaven! My only regret is I only bought two of these ornaments which means a trip to Micheals is now a necessity and I don't know when I will have the time! I will strive to post my other snowglobe ornament next week.

Make sure you go back to Pam at TheBugBytes and particpate in the linky party! And in case you need it, here is the full blog hop list:

1. Pam 
2. Jeannie  
3. Jen 
4. Carole
5. Lisa Brooks 
6. Audrey  
7. Mila
8. Sheila aka sassylady 
9. Elizabeth 
10. Kelly Millet 
11. Dayna Sabrina 
12. Lori   
13. Denine Vajja
14. Melissa 
15. Allison - you are here! :)    

I hope you found lots of inspiration and have a wonderful holiday season! Happy crafting!

Cricut Marker and Shrinky Dink Tutorial

Christmas in July is continuing here with a tutorial of how to combine the Cricut Markers with Shrinky Dinks for a whole bunch of fun and some cute projects! I decided to make a snowman charm using Winter Frolic and you really can make anything  - but it tends to be easiest when the cut has a shadow layer. I also have written these directions for someone using the Gypsy. I do not know if the layers would line up correctly using the "old fashioned" method.

The details:

I begin with my snowman shape on one layer, and the shadow directly behind it on the second layer.

You can also see I added some circles from George to create a spot for the finding to go through. (I need to resize them - I thought they were a little big for the final product.)

I put my marker in the machine, set for low pressure, and "cut" the first layer which draws the outline of the snowman for me.

This next step is important, instead of unloading the mat, I select Return to Design. If you unload the mat, the design won't be centered.

I move to the second (shadow) layer of the gypsy design. Then I swtich out the marker for the blade housing and change the settings. The settings that have worked best for me are: Blade depth 6, Max pressure, and Multi-cut of 2.

This cuts out the shrinky dink around my image and gives it a nice border, resulting in this:

Now I am ready to decorate and color my snowman  and make him adorable.  Here he is all ready to be baked.

I used a Peachy Keen stamp with Staz-On ink, I used Sharpie markers for the hat and gloves, and some watercolor pencils for the nose and cheeks. I put him in the toaster oven at 325 degrees until it curls up and then lays flat, which brings me to my final product.

I started out with a three inch snowman and my final charm is about 1.5 inches and (I think) super cute!. I hope the directions are clear and encourage you to start cutting and shrinking!

Christmas in July Vinyl Tutorial

Hello followers - Merry Christmas! Yes I know it is rather early but in the crafting world Christmas does seem to fall in July doesn't it? (And for those of you who may have expected  an emotion filled rant for my next post- sorry - not my style. And to my non-circle followers - ignore these parentheses!)

So in case you didn't know, I heart vinyl! All types of vinyl really but today I am bringing you a tutorial on how to create a great ornament using sign vinyl - and the best part? It takes hardly any time at all!

The details:
I began with my supplies: scraps of sign vinyl (Orcal 631 - I get them from a sign shop), painter's tape (to act as transfer tape), a ceramic ornament, and my vinyl tool (but you can also use your Cgull scraper tool).

Next I laid out my vinyl on my mat and smoothed it down using my tool. You will see white vinyl here and not in the finished product because I had planned on using it but then changed my mind. Using the tool to apply it to the mat gives you a nice smooth surface to work with and ensures a nice cut.

I always have cut vinyl using 3-3-3 settings on my machine and have never had a problem. After cutting my design, I weeded off the excess which just means I picked out all the little excess scraps.

The "Let it Snow" is from Winter Frolic and cut at 2.10 inches. The snowflake is from Joys of the Season and cut at 2 inches. Now, technically you should use transfer tape for all layers but for the phrase I just used my fingers to add the dark blue letters and then placed my transfer tape over it, again smoothing over the top with my vinyl tool.

It should then lift off pretty easily, and this allows you to place it on your ornament.

Again, smooth everything down on the surface and then slowly peel away the tape. You should have your design in perfect shape on your ornament! (and psst! it if tears a little - no worries! vinyl is very forgiving - just smooth it down!)

Of course I added some Martha Stewart bling with some glue dots and replaced the ugly gold thread with some delicious Trendy Twine for the final product.

And for the back of the ornament? I will admit I used a white transfer tape so that I could more easily see to  layer the vinyl but I also think clear contact paper would work the same if you want to try tricky layers. I think I would just make the contact paper a little less sticky first by applying it to my clothes or the rug first.
Here is how it turned out:

Wasn't that easy? It would have taken me under half an hour but I had to stop and keep taking pictures. And if you are looking for another idea that combines vinyl and ornaments, you can use it etching cream and come up with a final product that looks like this:

All I did in this case was place my vinyl on the ornament, cover the rest of the space with etching cream, and let it sit! All that was left to do was wash off the cream and peel off the vinyl and I was done!

If you still haven't had enough of vinyl and ornaments you can check out this post - where I used it with the infamous Glitter Balls.

I would love to give away some vinyl scraps to someone who wants to play! Leave me a comment and I will pick one person on July 26th to get an envelope filled with some vinyl all ready to use. (Please know - these will be odd-sized pieces of various colors - not new vinyl sheets.) Oh and even though it is 90 degrees outside - Merry Christmas!

Shake It Up Baby Now! Post-it Holder

I am really in love with this next project, especially because it combines two of my obsessions - post it holders and shaker cards! I am going to feature a number of these this upcoming week, as I think these will be my gifts to my colleagues for this holiday season.

The crafty details:

I started out with a 7.25 by 3.5 inch rectangle for the base. Using a score board you score at 3.5 and 4.25 inches. Then between the score marks make two slits with a razor for the pen.

The top layer of the front is a 3.5 inch square with a 2.5 inch square cut out in the middle, and a layer of plastic behind it. The clear plastic is from the clamshell that the Cricut cartridges come in! Don't you just love recycling? I cut them apart as I load and link my cartridges and re-use the plastic in my projects.

My snowman was cut at 2.95 inches and he is from Winter Frolic. I cut the bottom layer  of the snowman as he wouldn't have any facial features so I could use my Peachy Keen Stamps (they were feeling neglected). I tied a little chiffon ribbon around his neck for a scarf and sealed it with a heat set gem using my I-rock.

Then I outlined the outside of the top layer with some foam tape, and placed some Martha Stewart snowflake glitter (which I am love in with and want to use on everything) in the center and very carefully placed the two layers together.

The post-its I got from Staples a few weeks ago when they were 12 for a dollar (and this was accomplished by totally stalking the store waiting for them to get a new order in before the sale was over and bringing my daughter with me so she could get some too) and the mini pens are from the Christmas section in Walmart.

Stay tuned over the next few days for more shaker post-it holders! I am working on a pic tutorial so you can spread the shaker love!