A Snowman's Soul

Hi Peeps,

The Cricut Circle Magazine has a challenge every month. October's challenge is to follow a sketch in October's Cricut Circle Magazine. Also 3 Cricut cuts must be used, the prize is $150.00 credit at Cricut.com! And the best part is the winner is to be published in Cricut Circle's on-line monthly magazine!! Fun!!

I recently bought Santa's Village Imagine cartridge and I love it!! I knew I had to use that cart to make a card for this Challenge!! I really, really like this card!! ( I just floor myself!!! hehehehe)










I started with a 10" x 7" peice of white cardstock which I folded in half for the card base. Then I cut a 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 peice of white cardstock that I ran through the Cuttlebug using the Snowflakes folder. I used a Zig glue pen to trace all the raised snowflakes and covered the paper with Stampendous fine white iridescent glitter!! Ohhhh sparkly!! I inked the edge of the paper with Tim Holtz's new Gathered Twigs ink.

I then started up my Imagine, put in Sweethearts Cricut cart in one side and Santa's Village (SV) Imagine cart in the other. Next I cut the layered snowman images at 4".

I then chose and filled the 3 1/2" heart from Sweethearts with red and cut it with the Imagine. I then ran the heart through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss dots folder.

I picked the 4 1/2 scalloped circle shape from the Imagine's built-in shapes and filled it with a pin wheel candy pattern from Santa's Village. I did a second scalloped circle which I decided to color brown color also from SV.

I cut a 2 1/2 " tag from Sweethearts which I colored cream from SV.

Next I added a 5" x 7" and a 3" x 5" square from the Imagine's memory which I filled with a candy-cane diagonal stripe pattern from SV. One of the things that is really cool about the Imagine is that it prints the same pattern on both sizes accept the pattern image is smaller on the smaller square. This way the same pattern can look very different on different sized cuts. Clear as mud??? This is what I mean.




After all the cutting is done I used my Creative Memories circle cutter to take out the centers of both the scalloped circles. I cut off a 1 1/4 " x 4 3/4 piece off the 5"x 7" candy-cane printed paper. (I guess I should learn Craft-room...another time I guess)

I inked all the edges wth Gathered Twigs...love this new color!! I layered the snowman and the scalloped rings. I stamped the sentiment from Stampabilities on the tag, super-cute one I thought. I put the card together and added hemp twine to the paper strip at the bottom. I also tied the twine in a bow on the little tag. I stamped a sentiment from Stampabilities (Merry Christmas Love Hope and Joy to you always) on the 3 x 5 " piece of candy-cane paper for the inside of the card. I added 2 black Swarovski crystals to the eyes of the snowman with my I-rock. I also put 3 pearl accents from my stash on the candy cane strip in the bottom of the card.

This card went together in a snap!!


Hint: Stuck for an idea for a card...pull out your sentiments (stamps, rub-ons, stickers or die-cut phrases on Cricut carts) and work from there. Find a Cricut cut to match, choose appropriate papers and accents and there you have it!! Have Fun!!

Thanks for checking in on me....happy crafting and have a great day!!

Cricut Spooks Alice and Tim!!

Hello Everyone! I have been wanting to create some wall art using a canvas and my Cricut for ages and finally found the time. Inspired by The Cricut Circle Blog and a Sister Cricut Circle member who loves Halloween, Miss Becky. I'm lovin' how this project turned out and I hope you will too!!






I started with a 12 x 12 pre-framed canvas which I painted Shimmer black. The paint was applied in one directional strokes. After the paint was dry I painted areas of the canvas with Tim Holtz's crackle paint, Shabby Shutters. After the Crackle paint started to crack, I hit it with my heat gun to speed the drying process. I then inked the Crackle paint area with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks. This was to be the base for my Cricut cuts.

After choosing two images from my Cricut Cart collection , a pumpkin and a gravestone I decided to switch things up a bit. I love using my Gypsy to alter the original Cricut cuts!

For the 5" pumpkin I used hide contour on my Gypsy to hide the window and some of the ribs on the pumpkin image from Nursery Tales. In their place I put Trick or Treat from the cart. I cut this layer in orange. I fussy cut out the stock, vines, leaves and stairs. The next layer I used black cardstock and hand cut out the leaf and stairs. I cut the third layer in grey cardstock, I inked the leaf with Shabby Shutters Distress ink and used Crackle paint on the stairs which I inked later to show the cracks . For the final pumpkin layer I chose black cardstock and handcut out only the leaf.

Being inspired by one of Cricut Circle blog challenges of late I knew I wanted a window in the gravestone. The gravestone is cut at ". I decided on a spider-web window. Using my Gypsy I placed a " spider web in the top-center of the gravestone. I cut this image twice, one in light grey cardstock and the other in dark cardstock. I removed the spider-web from the light grey gravestone and cracke-painted the gravestone using Pumice Stone Crackle paint. After the paint was dry I inked the paint using Distress inks. I took out the spider-web from the dark grey cardstock and glimmer misted the web. For the image in the window I used Graphis 45's spooky Alice in Wonderland. I hand cut the tea party image out to fit the window behind the spider-web and glues it in place.I used black card-stock for the base of the gravestone, and off-set the light grey windowed piece on top.

For the phrase I chose another part of the spooky Graphic 45 paper. I cut apart the title and knocking Alice to reposition her to better fit on my canvas. I inked the edges of these cuts using Tim Holtz's Black Soot Distress ink.

I used Mod Podge to adhere the pieces to the canvas. Then came the really scary part for me, I wanted to seal my work to protect it but I did not want to ruin all my hard work!! Well I took the plunge and put Matte Mod Podge over the whole canvas. I used a large artist's brush and was careful to only stroke over each area once as I did not want the water-based Mod-podge to move the water-based ink. The Mod Podge took on a green hue in some areas as I was applying it. I was very anxious during the drying process but it turned out great!!
Thanks for looking and have a Spooktacular October!!