Hi Everyone, I have had so much fun playing with this cartridge – Giant Flowers. At first I thought this cartridge wasn’t necessary as you can cut any size flower on the Cricut – right ??? Well, this cartridge is definitely different. Rather than cut the whole flower – the size is for each petal. This “Ashley” below is cut half the full size at 6″. I’ve placed a pen beside the flower to give you an idea on the size.

Here’s a close-up of the gorgeous centre of the Ashley. All the small pieces cut so easily then just popped out as I put it together.

I’ve decided to make this Lotus a table centrepiece with a flameless candle in the centre. The piece at the bottom is cut full of slots for each petal to slip into. The Lotus is cut at 4″.

How cute are these Pansies. The lilac one is cut at 6″ and the pink at 5″. A little folding of the edges and the flower is complete.

This is the centre piece of the pansies – you can see the slots for the petals.

I added a couple of little butterflies to this Pansey …..

And added it to my daughter’s birthday stash

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peak at Giant Flowers.

Till next time, Tereesa 

Hello fellow crafters!

Its time for another tutorial with me Fiona from Fee Lee Designs on Copic Markers. Following on from my skin tutorial, I  demonstrate options for skin colours. Pop over to Fee Lee Designs for Skin Colouring Basics # 2. The stamp used for this project is Kitty Kat Marci from the La La Land Range which is currently on sale for $5.00 AUD.

In my next tutorials to follow over the next few weeks will be light and shadows, hair, and clothing.

Thank you for joining me. Take care and happy crafting!

Hugs

Fiona xxx

Hi, As Mother’s Day is fast approaching here in Australia, today I’d like to share the cards I made for the three special ladies in my life.

The stamps are from Sugar Nellie, and remind me of old-fashioned china dolls.

I love how different colours give similar cards totally different feels. Do you know what I mean??

All images are coloured with my Copics - it’s fun to try different hair colours each time.

It doesn’t show in the photos, but the clear Spica Glitter Pen was used to highlight certain elements in each image;

and a clear Glaze Pen was used for the eyes and ribbon. The Glaze really made the eyes come to life.

I didn’t want to use the classic oval shape, so I used the side of the large Nellie’s Fancy Oval Die, and shaped only the top and bottom.

This is one of my favourite Cheery Lynn Doiley Dies - the Canadian Kaleidescope – looks gorgeous in any colour.

This fine lace detail is in Paper Lace 2, page 42. I’ve sized it at 3/4″, and using the Gypsy welded a number of images together to form a continuous 12″ lace border (which I could then trim to size).

The lace borders are then overlapped – dark over light – as you’ll see below. These flowers caught my eye, and are cut from the  Sophisticated cartridge. They are sized at 1 1/2″, stamped with some tiny dots, and stickles added to the layers. The greenery is the Cheery Lynn Pine Branches die.

“HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY” to all the special Mothers around the world.

Till next time ….  Tereesa

Hi everyone!

This month’s challenge over at Lessology is a Chest of drawers. Here is my rather large entry. Be sure to head over there and check out some of the amazing entries from around the world.

We bought a second loft bed on Gumtree on Good Friday and have spent a chunk of our spare time the last 3 weeks making it pretty. I forgot to save a photo of it how it looked listed on Gumtree and it was in bits when we brought it home but it was the same as this one that I just found on gumtree.

It was functional but not very pretty. The brief  for the bedroom makeover from the client (Miss nearly 6  Sophie – aka Pinky) was pink, pink and more pink! This loft bed satisfied the budget nicely, in fact we sold her old bed and bedside table for more than we paid for this. Unfortunately it  just was not going to satisfy the brief. It had to be pinkyfied.  I took my inspiration for this project from a pin on my Pinterest board.

Our purchase was only 8 month old and in pretty good condition but the little boy who owned it had stuck surfie type stickers on some of the drawers. The brown surface was a cheap wood look paint finish on MDF.  We were able to remove the stickers, along with the paint finish, quite easily by sanding.  It was then ready for a paint coat. The drawer pulls were pretty ugly so Chris fashioned some mdf circles which we used to plug them up so we could add pretty handles later. The cupboard doors and drawers were given coats in various shades of pink, chosen by the client.

The whole thing was sanded and given a couple of coats of British Paints water based enamel semi gloss in white from Bunnings.  How many trips, on average, do you do to Bunnings during a home handy project? I think we average 3 per day. Chris has added to his bucket list “Complete home handy project with only one trip to Bunnings”. Yeah…as if! There’s always one essential item you run out of, didn’t realise you needed or some bright idea you did not consider earlier in the planning. Well there is for us…

When we assembled the newly white loft bed in her room Sophie said, “oh, that’s a nice white undercoat Daddy. Are you going to do the pink coat now?”  We refrained from painting the whole thing pink as her bookcase and chest of drawers are white. Plus she is not yet 6 and we have already been through a yellow phase and a purple phase. Who knows what’s next?

The edges of the MDF were not easy to sand so we bought some iron on white melamine veneer for 50 cents a meter. We used 17 meters all up and it was the best  $8.50 we spent as  it saved a lot of time and effort. A quick sanding and it adhered really well with the iron. we then covered all these with Sawyer’s Place Washi tapes in various pink shades and designs.

My favourite thing of the whole project is the cupboard doors. Each door is s slightly different shade of pink. The flowers motifs were chosen by Sophie from the Sophie Cricut Cartridge. We cut them from the paint chip samples we had brought home from Bunnings when deciding colours. They were cut at 3 inches, colour side down and Scor-tape on top so we could just peel and stick once cut.

Aren’t the door knobs just darling? I got them from  Australain eBay seller igrabaustralia for less than $4 each. I reordered on Tuesday, Wednesday was a public holiday and they arrived onThursday, from East Coast to West. That is fab service! Then I decided they were too small and within a few hours of me contacting them to buy some more in a larger size they had shipped them over to me. Sophie the client decided she liked the smaller size best anyway but I am sure I will find a use for the larger ones.

We left the stair treads in the wood colour as they are a similar shade to the laminate flooring and we thought they would wear better than a hand painted finish. On the inside of the cupboard doors I stuck up ( with – you know it – Scor-tape) some decorated pegs so that Sophie can put some of her smaller art pieces up there as we are always running out of places for them.

Next we tackled the desk. The client requested “hearts flowers and butterflies. So we cut more of the same flowers as the drawer and cupboards. The pink Border was cut from Paper Trimmmings using the 11 by 1 inch border feature. Using the Gypsy I welded 2 together and cut them across a 24 inch piece from the Cricut 12 x 24 inch pad in Pastels.  I score taped the back to make easy peel stickers. This border is the complementary border to the flourish heart corners that are on the front right and left of the desk.

The butterflies are from the Hannah Montana Cricut Cartridge. We are not Hannah Montana fans but this cartridge has so much to offer.  We added some glue dots to the bottom of the wings and glittered them. A happy accident was that the glitter also stuck to the edges of the cuts in the wings so it gives a pretty sparkly outline. Sophie peeled the backs off and decided where each element would be stuck on the desk. The large butterfly on the side wall of the desk is  mosaic Sophie did herself from one of her kits.

Sophie loves Dr. Seuss books so we had a look through some of his quotes and Sophie chose, Think and wonder, Wonder and Think.  Using the font on Paper Lace, we welded the letters together for each word and used the rotation feature on the Gypsy to curve them slightly to follow the curve of the desk. We cut them in pink vinyl at 2 inches. This font is a good one for vinyl as it is not too delicate. We used a piece of transfer tape to position the words accurately.

We then applied a layer of clear contact to protect the desk top. This will be easy to remove and redecorate when it is time for a change.

The drawers at the back of the desk have been recycled form my craft room. I was not all that keen to give them up. I had bought some from an op shop that I was going to decorate to go here in Sophie’s room but they are a tad too tall. My cubes from Arnold’s are the perfect fit and are ideal for organising all Sophie’s art and craft supplies. They got pinkified with washi tape too. I used my dynamo labeller to label each drawer. The little angel lights were from Sophie’s first Christmas in 2006, which we  spent with Sophie’s granny in the UK and we had a pink and silver decorated tree.

I think it turned out really great.Check out the two gorgeous houses. My good friend Lisa made these for Sophie to store all her hair accessories. Check them out on her blog here. 

It’s been a wet weekend so here is Princess Pinky, and guest Princess Jessica, seeking shelter in “the castle tower”. I was appoint the Wicked Witch. “Why can’t I be a Princess too?” I protested. “But Mummy,  the princess dresses don’t fit you…but the the witches hat and broom will.” well, I suppose if the hat fits…Hence you see Jessica is trying to cast spell on me…hang on…isn’t it the witch who casts the spells on the princesses?

Hi, I’d like to start this post by showing you this absolutely stunning quilt made for Alyssa’s birthday by a very special, very talented lady – Rachel.

Unfortunately the photos don’t do it justice – it is embroidered with rich, beautiful colours, shimmer threads, and a touch of bling. It truly is a work of art.

Here is a close-up of the detail of one of the large butterflies – with the small embroidered butterfly border surrounding it.

And here is my project for the week – a “Thank-You” card. Of course my inspiration was the quilt itself. It was hard to fit so much detail onto a card – but it was great fun to give it a go.

So the card could be as close a copy as possible, the top “Thankyou” part is a flap with Alyssa’s name underneath.

For the small butterfly borders, I used my Gypsy to make 9 x 1 1/2″ squares. Then using a butterfly border from page 74 of the Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art, I welded 2 borders for each side, then welded these together to make the square. Sized at .2 of an inch, the Cri-Kits Gel Pens were the best way to show all the detail of this border.

These pens are very easy to use - simply insert your colour choice into the holder, and replace the blade from your Cricut machine with this. Here is my Cricut hard at work.

I used 2 layers on the Gypsy – one for the drawn images, and one for the cut images. After the drawing was finished, and without removing the mat, I replaced the pen holder with my blade, selected layer 2 on the Gypsy, and pressed cut again. Now the squares are cut and drawn – with the borders perfectly lined up.

Remember the gorgeous embroidered butterflies…

Here is mine …..

I wanted to replicate them as close as possible, especially with all the beautiful colours, so I chose matching Distress Inks and randomly blended the colours on a piece of cardstock.

Then using the Cheery Lynn Mini Butterfly dies, I cut out a number of multi-coloured butterflies. They are all so pretty.

Copics was a great way to match the bling – turquoise, pink, lilac and yellow.

Of course there had to be some horses – Alyssa loves them.

And here is my horse – again coloured with Copics and a little Spica Glitter Pen for that touch of dazzle.

I used part of a tiny flower stamp around these squares, and again, coloured them with the Copics.

A Creative Memories punch was used for these minute butterflies. I used a marker to define the edges on the ones above, and added a little Spica to those below.

“ALYSSA” embroidered with pretty lilac flowers.

“ALYSSA” drawn with the Cri-Kits Gel Pens (and some tiny flowers added). The almost identical font is from Elegant Cakes – sized at 1/4″.

“Thank You” is also drawn.

When the Cri-Kits pens draw, it is only the outline as that is what would normally be cut. If I want it to look bolder, I use the pen to then go and colour each letter.

As the quilt is finished in a purple/turquoise fabric around the edge, I blended similar Distress Ink colours to use as my matt.

And for the final touch, I used the Martha Stewart Score Board / Scor-Pal with the Scor-Bug Embossing Tool, to criss-cross over the entire card to imitate the stitching.

I’d love to hear if you’ve found inspiration from something similar.

Till next time … Tereesa

 Look at how Cool this strawberry basket is from “Spring Cottage” Cartridge.

Have you ever bought a cartridge for just one cut?  Maybe its just me…….well, this is that cartridge for me!

I fell in love with these little strawberry treat boxes:)

 The strawberries and the leaf were cut at 4 in.

 This is what they looked like before……….You just thread twine through the holes and pull it together to close.

 The basket was cut at ‘Fit to page.  I recycled some curtain binding for my frill around the top and inked the edges.

Enjoy your day………Happy Crafting:)

Tracey

“Spring Cottage” cartridge has some really great images to cut!

Like the window box on my card.

The images are simple but by cutting a few extra layers, adding some foam tape for dimension……..the whole picture comes to life.

The window box was cut at 4 in. , the flowers are the top of the strawberries cut at 1 1/2 in. and 1 1/4 in.

I love recycling cereal boxes. Some boxes have more of a grey colour inside but nutri grain tends to have more of that Craft card stock colour…………I’m so happy my kids like it:)

When I cut the boxes I have the blade and pressure at 6, I don’t need to multi cut, and as you can see I get very clean lines.

I then  brushed  it with some white paint to give a weathered effect.

I’d love to see what you create with this cartridge…..

Happy Crafting

See You Soon

Tracey

Hi, When Art Nouveau was released, it was one of those cartridges that I just had to have. It’s full of the most gorgeous images, and I’ve chosen to use the Hummingbird and Bluebells for this card (and I even found some background paper in my stash featuring hummingbirds).

The Hummingbird is on page 66 in the handbook, and is cut at 3 1/2″. All of the images on this cartridge have a number of layers which is great for easily adding dimension - but I also added foam dots between some of the wing layers for even more depth.

After inking the layers with Versamark Dazzle, and using a small brush, I applied some perfect pearls straight from the pot to add a real shimmer to the bird. The circle background is one of the hummingbird layers. It looked a little dull behind the bird so after embossing with the snowflakes folder, I heat-embossed with clear glitter embossing powder.

These pretty Bluebells make a lovely corner flourish. They were cut at 2 1/2″ with some inking and stickles added. Again there were a number of layers to give a dimensional look.

To give the card some extra colour, I made these flowers using Mother’s Day Bouquet.

Flowers 8, 15, and 39 were used to make each flower a little different. Sizes: pink 1 1/4″ – blue 1″ – orange 3/4″ – yellow 1/2″ – leaves 1 1/4″ and 1″.

These flowers are quite easy to put together. I used 6 of each flower, and after inking the edges, crumpled them into small balls and lightly sqritzed with water as seen in the above photo. Leave to dry then carefully unfold and join with a brad.

Then one layer at a time, tightly scrunch them up around the centre brad.

Finally, carefully pull down the layers as much as desired and sqritz with a little Vanilla Smooch Shimmer Spray.

These Bluebells were cut at 3″, and as they were too big for the front of the card, I thought they finished up the inside nicely.

Make sure you check out Art Nouveau – it’s definitely one worth adding to your collection.

Till next time, Tereesa

Hello……….I’d like to show you some  of the fabulous cuts from the “Art Philosophy” cartridge.  I’m sure you saw Lisa’s great Layout – she is so right, this cartridge does having every thing a girl needs:)

When Jordyn was younger she really loved her hair curled.

These are all the embellishments I cut with “AP” cartridge………..Flowers – page 50 cut @ 3 in. and 2.50 in, Scallop border page 64 cut at 1 in,  Banner page 59 cut @ 1. 50 in, Circle page 31 @ 3 in, Tab2 page 58 cut @ 1.50 in.

I used “Forever Young to cut Gorgeous @ .80 in.

I hope my layout has shown you some more of the really cool cuts on this cartridge.

Happy Crafting

Tracey