Vicki's ISSMA Layout

I got some inspiration from my favorite sketch site... Page Maps. This sketch is from February 2011. The one thing I really like about sketches is that you can adjust them to meet your needs.


I used espresso colored paper for the base. The center print band on the sketch reminded me of sequins, so I pulled out some leftover Bazzill Bling in a cranberry color leftover from my holiday crafting! The bottom print is from my musical paper stash. I mounted each photo on black card stock to help them stand out.



Most of my embellishments are cut with my Cricut, so I used my Gypsy to arrange everything I wanted for my page on a single mat. The tall musical notes and gold title frame were cut using the Disney Hannah Montana cartridge. The title "ISSMA" was cut from Blackletter, which came with my Gypsy. Finally, the tiny tag that is hanging on the ribbon was cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More...not everything on this cartridge has to be cut BIG!


I finished this up using some cute brads and ribbon in my stash. I used Scor Tape to adhere the ribbon...this ribbon is somewhat sheer, and the Scor Tape hides nicely. All the delicate pieces always stick well with the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen!

So don't be afraid to take a sketch...and make it yours!

Fairy Thank You Card by Vicki

I have been needing a lot of Thank You cards lately, so here is one I made for a family member. Since I have needed a bunch, I felt like my mojo was out of sorts, so I used a sketch from a new Facebook friend I made, Sketch Support.

I used a simple kraft paper base, and then challenged myself to use a color I normally do not gravitate towards...Orange! Since it was a simple 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 card, I was able to use paper scraps in my stash - I didn't need to cut up a bunch of sheets of full cardstock!! I used my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper to round the corners of the nested squares.


The 'Thank You' sentiment was cut from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge. I sized it up just the right size on my Gypsy, and cut it in orange cardstock. Then, I used my markers to outline the sentiment in brown, so it would stand out better on the card.

The sketch called for a variety of hearts cut in matching papers, but I wanted to make this a little more personal for my family member, so instead, I used a digi-image. I used an image called Fairy Belle, from The Character Cafe. I printed the digi on my laser printer on Bazzill Simply Smooth White Cardstock. I colored her with several of my Copic markers. I used G24 and G28 on her dress, E21, E00 on her skin, R20 for her cheeks, and E44 and E47 on her hair. I didn't have any orange Copics, so I supplemented with my Sharpies. I thought she still needed a little something, so I used Rusty Hinge Distress Stickles for her flowers, and Diamond Stickles in her hair. The Diamond color has flakes of orange, gold and green tinged glitter that matched perfectly! I was making her wings separate from her body, so I cut around the image closely with my Cutterbee Scissors. The images from Character Cafe often come with little extras. In this case, they have a separate image of just the wings on the PDF file. I cut her wings out separately, coated them with Flower Soft Glue, and used Polar White Diamond Range Flower Soft to make her wings look like feathers. Although the Flower Soft has a touch of glitter in it, I thought it need a little more, so I used more Diamond Stickles as a thick outline on the edges of the wings.

Just a hint - when using Stickles AND Flower Soft - allow PLENTY of time for the products to dry before you try to assemble them. Otherwise you end up with glitter and glue all over your fingers!!

So, after waiting a sufficient time to let them dry, I assembled her on the card, using 3-D Dots. The result is a fairy that appears to 'fly' off the card with a little bit of magic dust.


Just a reminder that EVERY comment left this month will be eligible for our Blog Candy drawing at the end of the month. You can comment once per project so make sure you check back often!!!!

Cutters Creek Shopping List:
Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper
Cricut
Bazzill Simply Smooth White Cardstock
Copic Markers: G24, G28, E21, E00, R20, E44 and E47
Rusty Hinge Distress Stickles
Diamond Stickles
Flower Soft Glue
Polar White Diamond Range Flower Soft

Vicki's Dive Team Poster

My daughter is on the Varsity Dive Team at her high school, and our Sectional competition is on the very near horizon! As an encouragement to the girls, each of the parents is asked to make a poster for their daughter, to be placed in the hallway going into the pool. This is what I created for my daughter. (Her name is Carleen, but we call her "Charlie"...and the dive team calls her "Chuck"...which is where we got "Good Luck Chuck"!)


On the bottom, I used my Cricut Expression Machine and the Everyday Paper Dolls (EPD) cartridge to create the 'swimmer girl', selecting cardstock to match her school colors for her swim suit. She is blonde, so I used my Copic markers to 'highlight' her blonde hair with accents of browns and golds. I placed a tiny piece of blue for her eyes behind the eye cutouts, and then used a black marker and white gel pen to give the eyes a realistic look. I used chalks to put pink in her cheeks. The diving board on this cartridge is a high board, so I simply cut off the legs of the board to create the shorter one-meter board. I actually cut the board three times, in different colors. I used the aqua as the base, and cut out only those sections in cream and metallic silver (AC Metallic) that I needed for the details. The water in the pool for diving really isn't wavy, but I still wanted to get a watery effect. I cut several 12 inch sections of the waves from the EPD cartridge, and used white chalking ink to highlight the 'wave' portions. The pool walls are typical blocks, so using a black marker, and my Tim Holtz ruler, I designed the large 'subway tile' look for the background.



The judges score cards with '10' on them are from Graphically Speaking. Using my Gypsy, I used the 'Tag' base, and placed the '10' inside the tag. I cut the base of the tag without the numbers, in red cardstock, and then cut the whole tag, with the numbers cut out of it, in black, and glued them together.


The "CPHS" letters on the wall are done with Base Camp, and the top letters are from "Hannah Montana". I used a similar technique with each of them, just with different colors. I used my Gypsy to create the Shadow layers first, and welded those together. Then, once I got the sizing exactly how I wanted, I created the regular letters on a separate layer of my project to fit inside the shadow layer. This is really easy to do with the Gypsy!! The shadow layer is a simple cut, however, I had to pull out my 12x24 mats since the lettering is so large. The top layer was 'drawn' first, using the Cricut markers, and then, without unloading the mat, cut - swapping out the marker for the regular blade. Then, I used my Sakura Quickie Glue Pen to adhere the letters together.

Cutters Creek Items used:
Cricut Expression Machine
American Crafts Metallic Foil Card Stock - Silver
Tim Holtz Design Ruler
Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
Glue Glider Pro

Cricut Cartridges Used:
*Note* Kim can special order any of the Cricut Cartridges you might want!
Base Camp
Graphically Speaking
Hannah Montana
Everyday Paper Dolls