Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Mulan's Mushu shirt

Living in an apartment and not having a crafting space has put a kink in my creativity.  So many projects and no place to work.  My husband is tired of my taking over the dinner table!  No creative space = no creativity.  We are fortunate to end 2016 better than we started.  My hubby has a new job so we will be moving states again in the next couple of months. 
I am finally sitting down and dealing with my stored pics to set up several posts to cover the move and, hopefully, I will be blessed with a new craft room.  First, we have to find a house!
So, here is another shirt I made on the Cricut with iron-on vinyl.  My daughter is a sassy, sarcastic teen and loves Disney characters with the same traits.  She asked for a Mushu shirt to wear on our trip this past summer and here is what we came up with. 
She was stopped by several people during the trip to ask where she got the shirt.  Her answer was "My mom made it!"  She even got compliments from Disney cast members.  I consider that high praise. 
Thanks for looking!
April

Friday, April 22, 2016

Peace on earth Christmas card

With the limited craft supplies and work area, I decided to go on a crafting binge to replenish my cards.  While I was at it, I was inspired to make my cards for this year featuring Stampin Up's Going Global and Holly Jolly Greetings.
The card base is kraft, with layers of Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White.  I stamped the base is Crumb Cake with the stars stamp from Holly Jolly Greetings.  I stamped the globe from Going Global in Old Olive on Marina Mist, then punched with my 2 inch circle punch.  The ornament bobble on top of the globe is punched in silver glitter using a mini cupcake wrapper from EK Success turned upside down.  I added a Cherry Cobbler baker's twine bow, using a micro glue dot.  I used the coordinating Holly Jolly dies to cut Peace in Cherry Cobbler, and the smallest banner die to make the flags.  On Earth is stamped in Night of Navy.  Inside, I used a sentiment from the SU Simply Snowflake set from My Paper Pumpkin.  Thanks for looking!  April

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom box

My son, an avid Pokemon fan, is chomping at the bit to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.  Each person can get a 5-card pack, each day.  There are a total of 70 cards, plus 2 special cards, issued only at the Halloween and Christmas parties.  Players often trade cards to fill gaps in the decks.  My son has researched and well prepared to help Merlin but we wanted a way to protect the cards while needing easy access.  He was certain a book was the best bet, but when we talked about constantly pulling them out for the game, it was decided a deck box would be the best option.  I got a basic baseball card deck box at Hobby Lobby for $3.60 with coupon.
I have some leftover printable shrink plastic from another project, so I chose an icon I found online.  It is still a bit dark for my liking, but it came out better than some others.  TIP:  lighten all images by at least 50% before baking.  Colors will darken as the image shrinks.  My largest complaint is that the image distorts a bit.  It was originally a circle and shrunk to an oval in the bake process.  Once cool, I used E6000 to attach it to the box before adding Liquid Glass to seal the image and give it an epoxy look.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday, April 11, 2016

Disney shirts


Here are my Olaf and Mickey & Pluto shirts.  Mickey has Best Pals in Mickey Font on the back collar.  Olaf is from the Cricut Disney Frozen cartridge and the writing under him is Pooh Font.

Thanks for looking!  April

Friday, April 8, 2016

Avengers shirts




Here are some other shirts I have been working on for my friends.  The yellow shirt is icons for Thor, Captain America, and Iron-Man.  The orange shirt is the Avengers logo.  The blue shirt is the Captain America shield, using red and white iron on vinyl.  The back of the shirt is a portion of a quote from The First Avenger and is printed in Varsity Letter.  All icons are hand assembled on Cricut Craft Room.  Thanks for looking!  April

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Vinyl water bottle labels

We are prepping for a trip to Disney World and I wanted to get the kids some simple water bottles.  The parks happily provide free ice water but I wanted to keep spilling to a minimum.  The bottles were $1.99 and 40% off at Hobby Lobby.  At that price, if they break or get lost, I will not be upset.  I love the lids and they have rubber gaskets.  I used the Cricut Craft Room and made Avenger icons for the older kids before adding their names.  Maggie picked Iron Man's Arc Reactor, Alex picked Hawkeye's target, and Matt picked...Mickey.  (If you know Matt, he's all about the mouse). 
A little tip: use clear contact paper from the Dollar Tree as transfer tape.  (It's sold as book cover in the school supplies.)  Cheaper than buying Disney brand bottles but the kids get original Disney-themed fun.  Thanks for looking!  April

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Incredibles family shirts

Here are the shirts we are wearing to Disney this summer.  I chose the Incredibles from the Cricut Best of Pixar cartridge.  I cut them on the Expression using white iron-on.  The back collar on Bob and Helen's shirts say Mr. and Mrs.  Without delay, here are Bob, Helen, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. 






Thanks for looking! April

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Star Spangled Paper Pumpkin extra

This is a card inspired from Pinterest.  The base is the bulk card base with a layer of Whisper White.  I used some SMASH tape, stamps from June 2014 (inked in Daffodil Delight and Purely Pomegrante), silver glitter paper stars, and Bermuda Bay baker's twine.  The clear photopolymer makes lining up the stamps easy peasy.  Thanks for looking!  April

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Latte Paper Pumpkin extra

More extras from July 2015 Thanks a Latte My Paper Pumpkin kit.  Inspiration for the card from Pinterest.  The base is bulk cards with layers of kraft and papers from SN@P.  The matching SU colors are Red Riding Hood and Baja Breeze.  I also used left over sequins from February 2016 Hello Sunshine kit and jute twine from a past kit.  I don't get to play with my crimping tool often enough and forget the great texture it adds.  This card was also a great way to use up some of the many, many extra glue dots and dimensionals often found in the kits.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday, March 28, 2016

Sunny Paper Pumpkin extra

Here is the next card featuring My Paper Pumpkin parts.  Inspiration came from here.  I used the bulk card base and stamps from February 2015 Layers of Gratitude (inked in Daffodil Delight) and February 2016 Hello Sunshine (inked in Versamark and black embossing powder).  I kept these in a single layer for easy mailing but used the embossing for a little texture.  These were so fast to make that I completed 10 cards in under 15 minutes. Thanks for looking!  April

Saturday, March 26, 2016

My Paper Pumpkin extras

I love finding the monthly Stampin' Up subscription for My Paper Pumpkin in my mailbox.  Even if I am not totally sold on some of the monthly projects, I love the supplies.  I normally find there are plenty of "spare parts" to make some extras.  Since our move, I only have the kitchen table to work at, so I tend to let the kits stack up for a bit then binge craft.  I was in desperate need of a restock of cards, so out comes the box holding several kits.  Since you can see the basic kit all over the web, I will feature the extras over the next few posts.  So, away we go...
I will admit, I am cheap.  While I love the quality of Stampin' Up cardstock, I love to buy bulk card base kits, especially for holiday cards.  They are a bit lighter weight, which is nice for postage, but the color is a bit different.  However, when you can get 50 cards and envelopes for $3.50, you deal with it.  The design is based on a card on Pinterst, found here.  This card base is from that bulk stock.  I used left overs pieces from the October 2014 Sweet as Pie kit and August 2014 Seriously Amazing, and stamps from February 2015 Layers of Gratitude inked in Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Soft Sky.  I stamped the envelope flap in the same pattern to match.  It took less than 30 minutes to make a stack of these and I still have some feathers left.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday, March 14, 2016

Tinkerbell shirt

You are going to see a lot of shirts over the next few weeks, as we prep for our summer trip to Disney.  My bestie loves Tinkerbell and purple.  She is overrun with boys in her home, so something this girly is few and far between.
I made this in Cricut Craft Room using the Tinkerbell and Friends (Tink fillagree and "Pixie Dust") and Nursery Rhymes ("faith, trust &") cartridges.  Instead of having to cut each part and try to line them up during the ironing process, I put everything onto one mat and, after selecting the entire image, flipped it right in the program.  It cut the whole thing on a 12x12 sheet of vinyl.  It took a lot of work to weed out the wings and the sparkles but it was gorgeous, and turned out beautifully.  I can't wait to send it to her and will absolutely demand a pic of her wearing it.  I am not sure if there is still sharing on the Craft Room designs or if it is only sharing in Design Space now, but let me know if anyone is interested, and I will be happy to try sharing it. 
UPDATE:  I have been asked for this file so many times.  I have tried to transfer it to Design Space, now that CCR no longer works.  I had no luck, so I decided to recreate it in Cricut Design Space.  Here is the link to the public file.  Hope you can access it here and enjoy!
Thanks for looking!   April

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Wall-E shirts

So we are finally heading back to the Disney World parks for the first time in six years.  I am so excited, as our youngest had just started walking last time.  He has come so far over the last couple of years and he can really appreciate the trip this time.  I am making each family member shirts.  (Look for our family shirts is a coming post.)
My boys asked for a couple extra shirts, and when Michael's puts the shirts on for $1.99, how can I resist? 
My sweet hubby treated me to an upgrade on my Cricut, so I now have the Expression.  I know, it's not the newest or most advanced, but I still prefer having the keyboard.  (The new Explore requires computer access to use.)  NOTE: The Expression will not work with Cricut's Design Space, but still works with Cricut Craft Room.  I have found it is much more user-friendly than the old Design Studio on CD.  It will link to a gypsy but a word of caution, once you link a cartridge, it cannot be linked to any other Cricut device.  If you need to reassign your cartridges to Craft Room or Design Space, you will need to contact Cricut and have them manually moved by one of the Customer Service members. 
front of shirt
Without further delay, here is Wall-E!  I did not have enough vinyl to make a large character, so I used scraps.  I used the Wall-E icon from the Best of Pixar cartridge.  It cuts a large rectangle with curved corners, but I weeded out the oval and used the lettering.  I was so excited about my idea, I forgot to flip the image!  Not wanting to waste the vinyl, I came up with an alternative....mirror images!  I used the last of my scraps to cut the icon (flipped this time!) and cut a tiny 2 inch Wall-E silhouette.  Cricut has a helpful little chart online with how to kiss cut and popular placements on different clothes.  I put the Wall-E icon up the right side of the shirt, with the red dot up by the shoulder.  I used the oops cut on the back in the same spot, so when you hold up the shirt, they match up.  I placed the little Wall-E cut near the collar on the back yoke.  It came out so cute and my 13 year old thinks it's sporty.  Thanks for looking!  April
back of shirt

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Playing catch up again...

Since the move, I have not been doing much crafting...mostly the monthly Paper Pumpkin subscriptions.  However, I have been taking photos, just not blogging.  These are the cards I made as part of this years teacher gifts (emergency gift wrap kits).
The base is Whisper White and I kept them pretty simple.  The stamps are Stampin Up's Holly Jolly Greetings and inked in Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay and Night of Navy.  Simple layered stamping technique.  For those of you new to stamping, always work layers from the lightest color up to dark.  Thanks for looking!  April