Hamster Art

The paintbrush is drawn with my Cricut and the Locker Talk cartridge using my Gypsy, then I drew over it freehand, adding the little drop of paint. The hamster is from Paper Smooches Party Posse, stamped on some scrap paper and fussy cut. I'm adding it to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge.

Thanks Ewes Variation No. 2

Sometimes I have to make variations of things I've made before. This time I used a mash up of Papertrey Ink's My Punny Valentine and various Cricut cuts.

 

But what was realllllly fun about making this card was making it so the feet move side to side. 

The sheep faces and feet are from Papertrey Ink's My Punny Valentine stamped on PTI's Stamper's Select Ink (with Black Soot Distress Ink) and fussy cut, except when I was cutting the legs I left enough paper at the top to punch a tiny hole. I looped the wire through the leg hole and then stuck the straight end into a very thick piece of dimensional foam.

For the Cricut parts, the "Thanks" was a two-part process. One layer of the Gypsy used for the "Thanks" to be drawn with Cricut Markers using Street Sign Solutions, colored in with regular markers. The word bubble is a rounded rectangle from Gypsy Wanderings and altered pennants from Pretty Pennants welded on the Gypsy on a second layer. The flock body is made from a cloud on Create-A-Critter.

The background is a 4.5" x 5.5" PTI's Kraft cardstock embossed with Darice's Wood Grain embossing folder. The card base is an A2 made from PTI's Vintage Cream.

Monochromatic Color Card

And the inside says, "For helping me when I was stumped".

A brown Cricut Marker was used first (on the lowest pressure setting and the fastest speed). The "Thanks" sentiment was only written on and then filled in with Twinkling H2O's Indian Copper. Everything else was cut from the same cream/ivory cardstock and painted with Distress Inks. The card base is 5 x 5 made with Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate.

And I couldn't have done it without my Gypsy and my Cricut Expression 2. The Thanks sentiment is on the first layer (hit return to design, NOT unload mat when layer 1 is done). The Doily and the Tree Stump are on the second layer because after they were drawn with the Cricut Marker, they were cut. If the Thanks was on the same layer, it would have been cut out also.

Cricut Images:
Thanks - Font Feature on Cindy Loo cartridge, 0.57".
Tree Stump - Create-A-Critter cartridge, 3.63".
Leaf Doily - Doily Feature on Sophie cartridge, 4.96"

Coloring.
Thanks, Indian Copper Twinkling H2O's painted in the lines drawn with Cricut marker.

Tree Stump. top layer, pressed on Antique Linen Distress Ink pad, face layer, painted with Vintage Photo "paint" made by smudging the ink pad on a non-stick work surface and spritzing with water, applied with an aqua brush, then put in puddle of "paint" made with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Base, put in a puddle of "paint" made with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Leaf Doily. Painted with "paint" made from Wild Honey Distress Ink applied with an aqua brush. While the doily was still wet, I sort of gently scrunched the leaves, which held the scrunch when they were dried.

Using the Gypsy for really long titles

Hello everyone! Today is my day to be the Guest Designer at TheBugBytes! Today I'm sharing a project made almost entirely from my October 2011 Club Ruby Designers kit. The only supplies that aren't in the kit are my Twinkles H2O Orange Peel paint (the picture doesn't do justice to the amount of shine there is in it) and Black Tuxedo Memento Dual marker.

This was a realllllly long title, and I didn't want to keep track of all those letters if I didn't need to. And much to my delight, with my Gypsy and the Cricut Expression 2, I didn't need to. If you don't have a Cricut Expression 2, you can do this direct from the cartridge with your Original Expression, it will just take a bit more experimentation to get the lettering where you want it. (I have heard that some Original Expressions are less shaky with markers and Gypsys than others, so yours might work well.)

My Gypsy is my favorite design tool.  The MOMMM title and it's shadow are laid out on separate layers since they will be cut with different papers. Just before each one is cut it's moved to a paper-saving location. The written title is printed on a sheet of thin white paper first so I can hold it up to the light with the patterned paper behind it and make sure it's where I want it. Have a piece of scrap paper on hand to put under the marker when it's swapped for the blade.

This is the title all written out.

This is it painted in with the Twinkling H2Os Orange Peel.

The MOMMM title shadow and the photo mat are both cut from the Enchanted paper and edged with the Twinkling H2Os paint. The MOMMM cut in orange cardstock is edged with the brush side of the Memento marker. The other end of the marker was used for the journalling. The photo mat is only attached on the side and bottom so it doubles as a pocket for more journalling.

The Journalling is written with the marker end of the Memento Dual marker.

Supplies

October 2011 Club Ruby Designers kit:

• Fancy Pants Trick or Treat
• Fancy Pants Trick or Treat Enchanted (MOMMM shadow and photo mat).
• Cut Mates orange - MOMMM lettering

Additional:

• Twinkles H2O Orange Peel
• Black Tuxedo Memento Dual Marker
• Blue Cricut Marker
• Inexpensive White 12 x 12 sheets (for testing)

Tools:

• Cricut Expression 2
• Gypsy
• Robotz cartridge

Cricut Cuts:

• MOMMM!!! Robotz font  and Font Shadow - 1.41"
• Painted title Sesame Street Elmo's Party - 0.75" (with marker).

On Your Marker, Get Set, Scrap!

Hello everyone! It's my turn to be the guest designer at The Bugbytes. For this layout you need a gypsy, an E2, brown cricut marker, Cindy Loo cartridge and Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.

On layer one arrange the caption using the Cindy Loo font feature at 1.06". The 4.35" frame is made with the frame feature with the bird house layer placed on top of it.

The scallop is on layer 2 with the inner square hidden with the hide contour feature.

Insert the marker (with the pressure set at 1) and "cut" layer 1, then after it is finished hit "return to design", go to layer 2 and "cut" again. Then unload the paper.

Fill in the scallops and birdhouse doors by hand. Add dots to the inner frame and wash with a small amount of water and a brush to spread color. Draw flowers around the outside. Cut the birdhouse on the inside of the frame with a craft knife so a photograph can be slid under it.

Military Thank You Card

The current challenge at Club Ruby Designers is a Military Thank You card. This is my sample for the Design Team post. BTW the winner will receive a goodie bag from Megan.

and on the inside

Cardstock: Papertry Ink, Kraft, Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate.

Brown Cricut marker set at a pressure of 1 (if it is too light at 1, go to 2).

Cricut Expression2, Gypsy

Calligraphy Collection cartridge for the "for all you do" ( 0.92" high) and the Thank You phrase (1.61" high)

Stand and Salute cartridge: Service Woman cut at 3.82" high.

Boo-lated Birthday Card, but wait there's more :D

 Hello everyone, today is my day to be a guest designer at the Bug Bytes!

 Ok, so it's a scary tree card, nice but...

 

Inside there is writing with a Cricut Marker... nice but wait... there's more.

It's barely visible in the picture (it glows brighter in real life). The moon and tree face glow in the dark! :D I used the Art Deco Glow in the Dark paint on the base, I think four layers would be even better, this is with two.

Using the E2 is vastly improved for using with markers, but I haven't figured out if I can move the blade and what to do when writing inside a card? Gypsy to the rescue :D. Select the card you want and arrange it on the Gypsy. Then make another layer and copy the card to that and line it up exactly. Hide the score marks and add the sentiment where you want it placed.

Using the marker layer, put the marker in the machine and hit the cut button.

After the drawing is complete, return to design.

Take out the marker and put in the cutting blade (and please use scrap paper lol). Then go to the cut layer.  Do not hit the load/unload paper button. Easy Peasy :D

WOYWW - 102 feeling a little bookish

Since I can't show you my desk today, I'll show you this, a little mini book I made as a lark (well actually I retained my human form lol, think those feathers would make crafting difficult).  So this is the book bound closed with a piece of twine.

The open book.

I used my gypsy and a Cricut Marker (instead of a cutting blade) to decorate the inside of the pages. Before I cut and glued them into an orderly book, they were a wild jumble of spring folds. OK, confession time. I am a mini-bookoholic, specificially at this time, a Meander or Maze bookoholic. I just love how a simple 12" x 12" sheet of paper can become a little book with so many possibilities. This is my fifth variation. I'll be posting directions at some point, but if you search the internet for Meander or Maze mini book or mini album there are several videos and well-written tutorials if you want to get started while I bask in the golden light of caffeine (I am in serious need of coffee).

Happy 102 everyone :D. If you want to know what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a snoop at crafty desks from all over the world.

King of the Road - Club Ruby Designers For the Guys Challenge

The second challenge this month at Club Rubys Designers is a For the Guys Challenge. My father taught me to (eventually) love traveling. We used to travel in a VW camper van when I was a kid and then my Dad had an Airstream. I stamped the trailer and VW Camper on this great paper and then cut it out by hand (kept telling myself to turn the paper, not the scissors).

I used the same paper as the base for the Happy Father's Day sentiment from Calligraphy Collection cartridge and a black Cricut marker.

Materials:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Kraft cut as an A2
Pattern Paper: American Traditional Designs "Road Trip" scrap pad
Stamps: Inkadinkado "Road Trip"
Ink: Black Soot Distress Ink
Cricut: Black Cricut Marker and Calligraphy Collection cartridge

Three Cricut Things That Work Better With the Cartridge Than They Do With the Gypsy.

1. Plain Old Autofill. When I need a lot of a certain cut all the same size, I just love setting the size and then pushing the autofill button. It's just soooooo fast!!

The two exceptions to this are if I want to keep the negative of the cut for lace paper or a frame, then the Gypsy gives me control over how that will actually look. That's something something that you can't get with just Plain Old Autofill. With the Gypsy it's copy and paste to make a row, then copy and paste the row, etc. And you have to actually know where the physical cart is, not just in a bin at the back of the closet, otherwise, again, it'd be faster to use the Gypsy lol.

2. Endcap Fonts. Endcap fonts are lovely, especially before I had DS or a Gypsy. I could cut out words in the middle of a tag, or make a Mickey Mouse ticket with my favorite rides in it, or make a note in a musical score. It was something that could take so long to make without the DS or Gypsy, not iimposssible, but a lot of room for error lol.

But a plain space simply can not be put between words in endcap fonts using the Gypsy without having to cut the paper above and below the space manually after you take it out of the Cricut.  It's also faster to make an endcap shadow directly on the Cricut. The shadow feature overlay on the Gypsy just has blank shapes. But to make the shadow fit correctly the correct shadow must be used or the shadow will not fit the endcap cut. The "a" blank shape needs to match the "a" for example. On the Cricut the overlay stays the same, so it's easy to see where the "a" is.

3. Markers. The shaking might be related to a lack of speed control on the Gypsy and DS, but that's total guessing on my part lol. I used a cut from Home Decor. The height set at 1.5" and pressure set at 2.

When I used the cart directly in the Cricut, I set the speed to 2.