Circleville NSD 2013 — What’s It Owl About?

May 4, 2013 by 23 Comments

 

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  To celebrate National Scrapbook Day, some of the crafty members of the Cricut Circle are posting projects and activities on the message board all weekend long.

I created a challenge for my project and would like to share it with you.  My theme is owls — and the challenge is pretty simple, just create a project with an owl on it.  I made a layout using a cute owl family from Hoot ‘n’ Holler.

LO3

I laid out my design in Cricut Craft Room.  The patterned paper is printed on my Imagine using the Nursery Tails cartridge.  The solid cardstock is from Bazzill.  I began with Elegant Edges for the scalloped square in the background, cut at 10.5″, using <sclop2-s> and the shadow feature.  I used a white Sharpie poster paint marker to make the “stitch” lines around the square.

Scallop

Next I cut the two wood frames from Pooh & Friends at   5.5″ and 6.5″.  The frames are three layers — the basic feature and then two on the blackout feature.  For the piece cut using the printed paper, I hid the inside cut lines in CCR, so the piece was solid — it did not look like a frame.   Here is a picture of what it looks like in CCR.

FrameMat

I first assembled the basic cut and the blackout frame feature, adhering them together.  Then I prepared to glue the frame to the printed frame piece.  I wanted to leave an edge open so the picture could slide inside, so after deciding which end I wanted to leave open, I glued the frame to the mat on three sides only.  I used a liquid glue, but for the photo I laid some papers on the frame to show you were I put the glue. I did this to both frames.

FrameToMat

You can see in this photo how the pictures will slide into the frames.  I used a piece of scrap cardstock for demonstration purposes.

FramePic

Next was adhering the frames to the layout.  Since I wanted to hide tags behind the frames, I put the adhesive on the back of the frame the same way — gluing only 3 sides.  I marked the back of my frame to indicate which side was open for the photo, so I could be sure and leave the same end open for the tag.  I used the red sticky tape to adhere the frames to the layout.

FrameTape

Before attaching the frames to my background, I laid the cut pieces on it to get an idea where I wanted to place the frames.  I made light pencil marks on the background to guide me in the placement.

FramePlacement

I then checked to make sure the tags slid into the pockets behind the frames.

FramePocket

 

I made the tags to fit behind the frames, adjusting them in CCR to get the proper fit.  I used Tags, Bags, Boxes & More and the cut is <rndtop2>.  The large tag is 6.5″ x 3.75″ and the small one is 5.5″ x 3.125″.   The lined notebook paper is from  Simply Charmed, cut at 2.75″ x 4.5″ and 3.375″ x 5.375″, with the facial features and holes hidden.  This is a screenshot of the CCR file for the tags.

Tags

 

I used a punch to round the corners and a ruler and colored pencils to go over the score marks on the paper to make it look like actual notebook paper.  I just lightly held the pencils to the paper.

ColorPencils

I adhered the notebook paper to the tags.

Tags3

Next up was the owl family.  They were cut at 5″ using Hoot ‘n’ Holler.  After I cut all the pieces, I used chalk and ink to shade them.  I went over all the edges with chalk first, using a pom pom and chalk applicator.  Then I inked the edges using Distress Ink.

Chalk

 I assembled each owl first and then glued them onto the branch.  I bought a mustache punch a couple of weeks ago, so I had to try it out on Papa owl.  I think he looks pretty dapper with it.  The bow on Momma owl’s head is from Simply Charmed.  I attached the leaves next.

Owls

After adhering all the owls and leaves onto the branch, I attached the branch to my layout.  The owl cut did not include the flowers.  I used Cricut Essentials, cutting Flower 4 at 1″.  I cut three for the branch and four for the tags.  I used Distress Ink (Squeezed Lemonade) to ink the edges of the flowers and Stickles for the centers.

OwlsCU

 The title is from Hoot ‘n’ Holler, cut at 3″.  The scallop oval is from Francy Frames and the cut is <fram13lr>.  I hid the inside cut so I ended up with a solid piece.  I resized the oval to fit the title and it measures roughly 5.625″ x 3.75″.

TitleCU

Here is a picture of the completed layout with the tags pulled partially out.  Hiding journaling tags behind your photo mats is easy to do.

LoTags

LO7

To top off the fun,  I am offering a prize for comments here on my blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment, but only one per person will go into the drawing.  I will leave it open for a week, until May 12 at 8 p.m. (EDT), when I will randomly draw a name.  I am giving away some Graphic 45 goodies — an 8″ x 8″ Secret Garden paper pad and a small matchbook box.

SecretGardenCover copy

SmMatchbook copy

I am sharing a list of some of the talented members of Circleville who have joined together for the weekend festivities and invite you to visit their blogs and see their wonderful projects:

NSD1_edited-200

 

Cricut cartridges used:  Elegant Edges, Fancy Frames, Hoot ‘n’ Holler, Nursery Tails (Imagine), Pooh and Friends, Simply Charmed, Tags, Bags, Boxes & More

  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Distress Ink
  • Chalk
  • Stickles

 

Filed Under: Cards and Projects, Circle Challenge, Elegant Edges, Fancy Frames, Hoot 'n' Holler (Lite), Layouts, Pooh & Friends, Simply Charmed, Stickles, Tags, Bags, Boxes & More Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tiptoe Through the Tulips Layout — Tulip Field in the Netherlands

May 20, 2012 by 7 Comments

I was inspired to make this layout after my dear daughter, Erin, posted a picture of herself standing in a tulip field in the Netherlands.  Erin and her hubby, Brett, were in the Netherlands the first week of May looking for a place to live as they will be moving there at the end of June.  They are currently living in Taiwan — have been there about 2 1/2 years.

Erin has been to the Netherlands several times before, but she has never been in the country when the tulips are blooming.  She thought they would be too late to see any this trip, but on their way to the airport in Amsterdam to leave, they found this field still in bloom.  Brett snapped the picture and Erin posted it on Facebook.  Once I saw the picture I knew I wanted to do something special with it.

Bitten by the Bug 2 has a frame challenge that began on May 7, right around the time I first saw the picture, so I designed my layout around that challenge.  We were to use a Cricut frame on any project.  The challenge ends today, so once again I am getting my project in just under the wire.

I have to first say that on this layout I finally used my Cricut Imagine.  It has been sitting in the box for some time.  I read some of the problems people were having with their Imagines and it took me quite a while to get up the courage to fire it up.  I discovered that the cartridge that came with my Imagine (Imagine More) was defective.  Luckily I had another cartridge I could use to get the machine running.  I called Provo Craft customer service and they are sending me a new cartridge.

I did manage to get it printing and cutting.  I am having some issues with the machine not cutting each time though.  Sometimes it just spits the mat out after printing.  I will play around with it some more and hopefully it behaves.

For this layout I printed the background paper on the Imagine.  I used a pattern from the Yummy cartridge and filled an 11″ square with the design.  I love that I can now print my own paper!

The solid color cardstock is mostly from Core’dinations, with a little Stampin Up thrown in the mixture.  For my swirly frame, I used the Cricut cartridge Fancy Frames.  I made the tulip frame in Design Studio by welding four corner shapes together from the Art Nouveau cartridge.  I welded just the shadow layer (black layer) only.  I cut the other layers separately so the tendrils would overlap on the center sides.  I also cut some extra tulip petals so I could layer them on the flowers and inked all the flower petals with some Tim Holtz Distress ink.  Here is a close-up of the frame.

The title is cut from the Bloom Cricut Lite cartridge.  Erin posted on Facebook shortly after she arrived in the Netherlands that she was hoping to tiptoe through some tulips, so this was a perfect choice for the title.  I used pop-dots under the title.

And, finally, to balance out the left side of the layout I added three butterflies from the Indie Art cartridge.  I cut three different layers, and on the last layer I only glued down the inside portion of the wings so I could bend them up.  I added some Stickles to the wings.

I have been playing around some in Cricut Craft Room and have to say that I am impressed by what it can do.  As with the Imagine, I have read some problems people have encountered with CCR, so I haven’t tried cutting with it yet.  I just didn’t have time to try it with this project, but I want to share what my project looked like laid out in CCR.  It is a great design aid because you can color your layers and see exactly what your project will look like.  For my background paper, I tried several different patterns before I decided on this one.  With the click of a button I could see what a different pattern would look like with my layout.  I think the final project looks pretty much like what I laid out in CCR.  I made a few changes as I started working on the layout, but this was my blueprint for my project.

  • Cricut cartridges:  Art Nouveau, Bloom, Fancy Frames, Indie Art
  • Cardstock:  Core’dinations, Stampin Up
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink
  • Stickles
Filed Under: Art Nouveau, Bitten by the Bug 2, Bloom (Lite), Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Challenges, Cricut, Fancy Frames, Indie Art, Layouts, Stickles Tagged With: , , , ,