Happy Bird-day Shaped Card!

Today I took leftovers from my playday with Pam and made a card!  SHHHHH… it is a secret.  It is for my sweet sis in law who’s birthday is coming up soon!  I am posting it now because I want to show it off to my bloggy friend Sheila… she inspired me every day right here at She’s a Sassy Lady and she has a linky up for making shaped cards… well I made a shape card WITH a window!  Take a looksie 🙂

 I made this card with this layout on my gypsy using Elegant Edges and the hide/contour button.  Notice the bird on the top left of my mat?

 I cut it out in the blue base color to put over the pink mat and popped it up… see here…

 This is a saying I have wanted to use for a while but didn’t have a stamp that said it so I printed it on my computer and laid it out on the grid of my cricut mat where I thought it would cut best and it worked!  Yay!  I did size the circle down a couple of taps to make it so the blue showed around it.. you could easily ink the edges too but I have been inking so many edges I opted out and seriously like the CAS look of this card.

 I used Doodlebug Designs Lovebirds 6 x 6 paper pad and the blue is from my stash… the stem is brown because I used a chocolate pen on it 🙂  the finished card is about 4″ x 4″… PERFECT!!!

Have a blessed day and thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget… if you haven’t registered for my BLOG CANDY giveaway check this out!

Kathi

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Renew your cricut mats!

There are many youtube vids out there on how to renew your cricut mats.. after much deliberation I decided to use a zig 2 way broad tip glue that looks like this… I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $6.50 but a great store online is Scrapbook Pal.  I get most of my adhesives from them and it is cheaper there 🙂

You also need a scrubber sponge like this…. I got mine at the Dollar General for $1.50

and a little Dawn or other good cleanser that is nonabrasive

Finally you need a baby wipe that is alcohol free…..in case you have an oops outside the cut area.

Got your supplies????

Take a cricut mat that needs replacing and scrub it well with a little soap and water… initially I was afraid to get in there and use elbow grease to scrub but you are trying to CLEAN all the gunk off your mat so pick up a sponge or sponges at the dollar store and use them up for this!  I do recommend a sponge scrubber specifically for this job that hasn’t been used prior.

Drying the cricut mat after washing was tricky because paper towels will add lint to the still tacky mat.  I shook it off and let it air dry about 1 hour… that was overkill but I wanted this test to be accurate 😉

With a clean, dry mat prime your glue pen until the tip is blue… if it already primed go to the middle of the mat to start it well… get a small puddle of glue and wipe is with the broad tip in lines all across your cricut mat making sure to cover it well and evenly and not going outside the cutting area… THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!  If you go outside the lines wipe it off with a baby wipe before it turns clear and you are golden!!!

All together I spent about 5 minutes scrubbing the mat then another 5 minutes later gluing the mat.

An hour after that… air drying again… the glue is all clear and my mat has a shine to it that it hadn’t seen in quite a while!  lol  BUT WAIT THERE’s MORE!!!

Now SEASON your mat so it isn’t super sticky and pat the palm of your hands all over it… it will stick to them but just put them down and pull them up and repeat until you have seasoned the whole mat! 

You now have a mat ready to use.. as a precaution always make your first few cuts with heavy cardstock… I have used lighter cardstock with less pressure too and didn’t have issues new mats have of being oversticky even when seasoned… this Zig glue seems to stay sticky longer than my new mats do too!  SCORE!

If you would like to see a video tutorial on this process just let me know in a comment below.

I hope this post has been helpful!  It will save me a TON of money as I spent about $8.00 on supplies and I am using mats I just couldn’t throw away!  lol  And not buying new ones!  I hear money being saved… cha-ching!

*****One more tip I can share is to write on your mat cover on the front side so it doesn’t get put on backwards (use a permanent broad tipped marker for best results)… one side doesn’t really stick to the mat but lays over the mat… that is the correct side to use against the mat.  The other side sticks and removes sticky with each removal and replacement.*****  I write my name and the date I glued it

Have a blessed day and have fun crafting with your new mat!

Kathi

P. S. For all you Cameo owners I have heard that Cricut mats work better in the Cameo.. you can still restick them for the Cameo using this technique… it shouldn’t change the depth or dull your needle 🙂

The card that almost wasn’t!

Hello my friend 😉  Glad you could join me for a bit today.

Have you ever had a project that never seemed to be just right to call it mission complete!  I just had one of those projects… not my first by far though!  lol

I made this card… I thought I took a pic of it but can’t find the before pic so you just get to see the beautiful after pics… check it!

 And a close up….

It was all shades of brown… my daughter decided it needed the black so she painstakingly doodled on my stamped areas and brought out the designs in the K and the swirls of the butterfly imagining where the swirls would go from where I had inked the edges with a dauber!  She ROCKS!

For the card itself I used dry embossing on the card base front that I inked with tea dye ink, heat embossing on K in gold that didn’t come out as well as when I used pigment ink with detail powder!  Live and learn folks 🙂

I cut the butterfly out of  Florals Embellished on my cricut and cut out 3 of them scoring them in the middle… after stamping them with a swirly tone on tone inked stamp.  I then folded them in half and glued them together… let them dry then attached them to my card… this has been the 4th butterfly I have made… but I have now mastered how to do it for the best results!

I am happy to show you how to make the butterfly.  If you are interested… leave me a comment… 🙂
Thanks for visiting with me today and stay tuned for a casa del loro update!

Kathi

Making a sympathy card for someone near and dear is hard…

Hello my bloggy friends.  Do you ever have the occasion to make a specific card for a specific person or family that NEEDS to be done yet you find because of the emotion attached to the project it is difficult to complete?  Am I making any sense at all???

Here is the situation.  My brother and his wife recently lost a baby at 10 weeks gestation.  It was very difficult for all of us.  I could have sent them flowers as she LOVES gerber daisies… but I know as the card maker I should make her something special… I say her but it is something for the family!

So I started out with my desk looking something like this…

I really liked the patterned paper with the pops of orange yellow and light blue!  I thought it would be a cheery card… then I saw a vid on how to make a 3d butterfly and thought a butterfly would be the perfect thing for a card for this specific occasion… so off I went to cut out my gypsy created inspiration card pieces and the paper messed up … it was all good I had another piece… it messed up on a different mat!  UUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!  Okay… at this point I stopped and prayed and ….

It all got better… I picked out new paper that still had pizzazz but was more toned down and I think more appropriate for the occasion…

and turned it into 2 “s-fold” cards!  I used the cricut and the Art Philosophy and Gypsy Wanderings carts!  It was super fun and easy after I took a minute to pray and everything cut out perfectly!

So when you get downhearted… do what this Bible verse says…. and Trust in the Lord!

Isn’t it nice when a deed you do for someone else winds up being a blessing for yourself!

Hope you find something good to share in your day!  I would love to hear a praise report 🙂

I am sharing this card on ABC Challenge blog 😉  They want CAS cards and this is as CAS as I get so I hope they accept it!  lol

Blessings!

Kathi

How to make a basic scrapbook layout with video!

My first crafty video is now on youtube… please watch it there and like it if you will.  I was so camera shy you will probably laugh but I had a blast and learned a lot! 

This is also an exciting post for me because it is my 100th post blogger tells me 🙂  Yipee!  I started blogging in earnest in June of 2012.   I first posted some things in 2011 but didn’t find my niche and some great friends too until I came back with focus in June!

So what I learned making this video starts with the video being 23 minutes long!!!  I thought I had only gone about 15 minutes… so I had to divide it into 2 videos to upload to youtube or blogger… neither site liked it long… I hope you will watch both vids as they have a wealth of knowledge in them and I would love to share with you as so many have shared with me!

Get a cup of coffee or a soda and enjoy it!

Hope you enjoyed the vids… would love your feedback here or on youtube!

Have a blessed day!

A special shout out to Sheila with She’s a Sassy Lady for helping me with this!

Kathi aka the Gypsy Chik

Uplifting palm tree card!

Today for the Paper Cabana I was asked to be inspired by a website… check that link out here!

So this is the picture that really made me feel happy!  Loved the tall palm trees on this poster!

 So I decided to create my own and mine turned out to be an uplifting card in the end!

So in being asked to be inspired by a website, with many many choices, it is good to just browse… until you find something you like… I could have added more art deco pieces and I even cut out some dancing girls but they didn’t make the final design…

After being inspired, try to figure out what exactly about that poster, picture, sketch, layout, et al that really impresses you and run with it… I was really inspired by the palm trees but couldn’t imagine them on a card… I loved the blue sky and the sand was my take on the boardwalk.  So I added a little of that… the ocean is solid cardstock that I tore to give it a wavy edge and the scalloped “sand” is my interpretation of a boardwalk.  This is the foundation of the card and grounds it.

After the inspiration I laid it out on my gypsy using Life is a Beach.  Like this:

In doing this design I used the flip buttons located under the advanced tab and it is in the middle.  You can flip horizontally or vertically but you have to flip all of your design that is pre-grouped in the cart… I did that with the trees and with the palm fronds!  I wanted my trees to pop!…

You can see the vertical and horizontal flip buttons here!

Now it is time to lay out all your colors on your mat!  That looks like this…

In the end I had some spare parts… I decided not to keep them but be assured I do keep them a lot… the sand in my card is a prime example!

What do you do with your spare parts?  What is your design process like on a broad spectrum like this challenge?  Don’t forget to go over to the Paper Cabana and play for a chance to win prizes!

Blessings!

Kathi

Theme Challenge … Dress Up!

Hello everyone and a special hello if you found me at the Paper Cabana… If you haven’t been there go get inspired right here!

Today we are playing DRESS UP!  I am dressing up Christmas Cards with my new Create a Critter 2 cartridge!!!!

They started like this being designed on my Gypsy … check out that post here!

Then I cut out all the elements as below!

 Then I dressed that card right up and made it BEAUTIFUL!

 I used my Xyron sticker maker 5″ to get adhesive on the joy and the wreath… stuck them in place on my window card that was made on my gypsy for my cricut like in this post.

After the layers were glued together I embellished with stickles and diamond dust.  Look how the diamond dust stuck to the wreath.. it looks adorned in snow!  I added wet embossing to the joy with snowflake pattern and dry embossing then inked the wreath with some CTMH New England Ivy!

Hope this card inspires you to make some for those close to you this year!  Everyone loves a nice Holiday card!  🙂

May the Joy of the Season be with you as you show us your dressed up items 😉

I plan to enter this in several challenges including ABC Challenge Blog by Patty Gorka!

Kathi

You have been Booed door hanger!

What says Boo more than a ghost!

Welcome back to me… been busy this week showing our house (we are trying to sell it) and haven’t had time to chat with you!  I have missed you though 😉

So for inspiration today at The Paper Cabana I have a great door hanger for you to put on your own doors… or as I will do “BOO” your friends and neighbors!!!

So pull out your Art Philosophy and Create a Critter 2 carts and lets play!

First I cut the door hangers… now they will be bigger if you only cut one but then you have paper left over so I made them a tad smaller and set it up with my gypsy to cut out 2!

I will post the second one later this week.  Today I wanted to focus on the ghost.  I chose a neutral light gray for my background as I wanted the ghost and the boo to really pop off the page!

Next I cut my elements…

Then scored each box that I had eliminated the fold lines on… by looking back at the book… added some red Tacky tape to make sure it held well…

Put the elements from the second page together… the poor haunted house didn’t cut our right… luckily I didn’t have room for it so… live and learn moment!  lol

I sponged on some CTMH Slate ink behind the ghost and added an action wobble to the ghost to make him float around!  Want info on how to make your own action wobble?  Check out this post!

I added some fun size M & M’s and now we are ready to Boo our neighbors!

Hope this post has inspired you that anyone can make something 3d… use what you have and have fun!

Monochromatic Challenge Card!

Welcome from the Paper Cabana… if you didn’t start there and want to check them out click here!

This weeks challenge is making something monochromatic.  So I did!!!  Lucky me my bff Brandy needed a birthday card for her sister… so she came over and we got creative… here she is with my Daisy Mae!

And here is the card we made!

First we picked the color… PURPLE … it is her sisters fave color.  I pulled out my purple colored paper bin and we chose colors of cs that we liked and that coordinated with each other.

Next we played in my stamp stash and picked some CTMH and HOTP stamp sets.  Then it was over to the gypsy to design our card …

Using the CTMH Art Philosophy cart we picked out the base that she liked… I “hide contour” on the hash line it cuts at the fold line… that is why it is light gray.. it doesn’t cut if you hide it.  The we made 3 flowers in the upper left hand corner that coordinate with CTMH stamp set that comes with the Art Philosophy cart.  Each layer of the flower has a different pattern stamped on to the electronically die cut image!  Isn’t that cool!!!!  Okay back to designing the card now .. hehe… In the upper right hand corner is a place for our sentiment.  This gets changed later and I will explain why…

So now it is time to cut… get the mat ready and fire up the Cricut.  Look at the beautiful purple and lavendar tones…

So here is the story… the sentiment stamp we wanted to use to wish her sister a Happy Birthday was too large for the size we cut out of the upper right lavender glitter paper.  Then the stamp smudged on the glitter cardstock so we finally cut one the size that a)fit the stamp b) that we liked with the card and c) was still in a lavender shade!

We put it all together after stamping the flowers with SU’s Lavender Lace and the sentiment in Megan Elizabeth’s Lush deep purple.  Then she added “May this be your grandest year yet” inside and whaalaaah!

But how to put it together… what layout with these elements looks best… we decided on this loosely…

then thanks to some zots glue dots and my handy dandy ATG gun we got the elements in place in their permanent home!

Love the button on the front with the hemp tied through it too!  What do you think?

Do you like playing with monochromatic projects?  Hope you play along with us this week at The Paper Cabana!

Craft on and have a blessed day!

Kathi

How to make a lot with your gypsy!

While perusing my fave blogs I found this from Sheila at She’s a Sassy Lady here!  It is a youtube video about making multiples and the series she does there is called Gypsy Made Easy (GME)!

Thanks to her inspiration and some happy mail I got in the form of a new cart…Create a Critter 2.  I didn’t get 1 when it came out and I have no cutesy carts… but I sure didn’t expect to make christmas cards when I ordered it!  lol

 I found this image and turned it into a window card!

 Watch where the arrow is on the cutting mat to know which way to line yours up if you try this but I need 30 Christmas cards… I have 15 sheets of ds Heidi Grace design paper that is gorgeous red and green polka dots on one side and a light green polka dot on the other… planning my cards I laid this out so that the Joys on the bottom of the paper will cut out on the red side and the card will cut out with the light green side as the outside.  My plan is to use the extra “Joys” to make cards for friends and neighbors with some premade cards I got on sale at Hobby Lobby for $5.00!!!!  Yay!  Love sales!

 Now I have 2 sizes of red cs so I needed 2 layouts for the different sized papers…here is one…

 And here is the other… I did use labels on this project to keep me honest when I am cutting these cards out so I labeled one 8 x 10 and one 10 x 12 to go with the 2 sizes of similar red cs I have.

Next for the green cs I am cutting these cute wreathes… they have holes in them for the ribbon and berries so the red shows through .. but my idea is to add some stickles I have for BLING!

 Because my cards are red on the inside I need a place for a sentiment… so I chose my stamp I wanted to use for the sentiment and measured it and found this shape in the Art Philosophy Cart by CTMH.

 It took me about 1 hour to design once I had picked out what I wanted to do and now all I have to do is hook up my gypsy to my cricut and cut away!  Then put them together… embellish and done!

Finally.. here is a pic of me and my honeys.. Rick and Daisy last Christmas!  This is one of my fave photos of us. 

Do you make Christmas cards???
Have you mass produced before???
What is your advice for someone about mass production if you have done it???

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Blessings to all!  Big announcement tomorrow October 1 you don’t wanna miss!!!

Kathi