Barbie Suitcase Gift Card Holder for National Convention

July 14, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

I had a lot of fun with this project.  I was asked to make ten gift card holders that were to be handed out at the 2012 National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention this week in Garden Grove, CA.  They were originally going to hold gift cards, but then it was decided that they would contain raffle tickets.  I guess there are some fabulous prizes in the Raffle Room.  The theme of this year’s convention is The Grand Tour.

My first thought was to make the card shaped like a suitcase, as a rectangular shape would work well with a gift card.  I searched through suitcase cuts on mycutsearch.com and decided to use the one on the Summer Celebrations cartridge, since it looked sort of vintage.

I welded two shapes together at the bottom in Cricut Design Studio.  I cut the base of the card from chocolate Bazzill cardstock.  All the solid cardstock is Bazzill and the prints are from Basic Grey.  I chose a pink print for the front of the suitcase, using a neutral color for the hardware.  Since Paris and Rome are on the itinerary of the Convention, I cut those words from pink vinyl using the Word Collage cartridge.  Here is a picture of the vinyl lettering.

I chose a vintage stripe print for the lining of the suitcase.  I used a rectangle from George & Basic Shapes to create the pocket on the inside, using a punch to round the bottom corners.  Velcro at the top holds the suitcase together when closed.

The shoes, sunglasses and bra and panties are all cut from Forever Young.  I used a black glitter cardstock from Core’dinations for the shoes.  I applied Glossy Accents to the lenses on the sunglasses.

For the small flower embellishments on the shoes and bra and panties, I used the negative cuts from a Martha Stewart punch called Flower Shower.  It makes the tiniest of flowers.  I added Stickles to the centers of the flowers.

Now comes the most fun part — making the charms.  This was my first time using Ink Jet Shrinky Dinks to make charms.  I followed a great tutorial from the talented Nadia to make my charms.  Here are her step-by-step instructions.

I did not use my Imagine to make the charms as I used a jpg of the Convention logo.  I printed the design on the Shrinky Dink material using my ink jet printer.  So instead of having a Cricut to do my cutting, I hand cut around the charms.  I am not the greatest when it comes to cutting around objects — I got a little wobbly in places.  But the great thing about the Shrinky Dinks is that you don’t really see my wonky cuts.  Here is a photo showing the size of the print I started out with and what it looked like after shrinking.  I also lightened the jpg in Photoshop before printing, as the colors get intense with baking.

Following Nadia’s instructions, after the Shrinky Dinks baked and were flat, I applied some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) to them.  I then popped them back in the oven and waited for the UTEE to melt.

I was so happy with the way they turned out — even my hubby thought they were neat.  The circle part of the charm is not quite an inch across — and look how well you can read the tiny lettering.

I attached jump rings in the holes and hung the charms from key chains that I shortened to fit on the suitcases.

Here are all ten suitcases.

  • Cricut Cartridges – Forever Young, George & Basic Shapes, Summer Celebrations, Word Collage
  • Bazzil cardstock
  • Basic Grey designer paper
  • Vinyl
  • Martha Stewart Flower Shower punch
  • Stickles
  • Glossy Accents by Ranger
  • Ink Jet Shrinky Dinks
Filed Under: Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Cricut, Forever Young, George and Basic Shapes, Martha Stewart Punches, Stickles, Summer Celebrations, Word Collage Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Father’s Day Card From The Smoochy Poochy

June 20, 2011 by 4 Comments

 

I decided to make my dear hubby a Father’s Day card from our dog.  Her name is Fifi and she is a rescue dog — part Pomeranian and part Chihuahua.  She is such a daddy’s girl that I figured he would enjoy it.

I call her our Smoochy Poochy because she loves to give kisses.  She also loves toys — her favorites are the fake fur bones with squeakers inside.  She has an assortment of them in all different types of prints — from giraffe to leopard prints. 

I made this card to enter into two challenges.  The weekly challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog is a sketch challenge, so I followed that for the layout of my card. 

The latest challenge at Cooking With Cricut is a Father’s Day related project that includes a Cricut cut.  I used several Cricut cuts on this card.

I couldn’t find a dog that looked like Fifi, so I opted for this cutie on the Paper Pups cartridge.  I chose this one because the dog is on its back and Fifi has a tendency to go “belly up” while she is sleeping.  The dog is lying on an envelope that she has so thoughtfully placed one of her squeaky bones inside for Dad.  The ribbon and bones are from Paper Pups also.

I used Doodlecharms for the envelope, Beyond Birthdays for “Dad” and Sans Serif for “#1”. 

The solid cardstock is Bazzill and the printed paper is all from Basic Grey — their Lauderdale collection.

For the inside of the card, I used Paisley for the “xoxo” and Simply Charmed for the “Happy Father’s Day” sentiment.  I added another bone inside.

  • Cricut cartridges used:  Beyond Birthdays, Doodlecharms, Paisley, Paper Pups, Sans Serif, Simply Charmed
  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Basic Grey — Lauderdale collection
Filed Under: Beyond Birthdays, Card Challenges, Cards and Projects, Cartridges, Circle Challenge, Cooking With Cricut, Cricut, Doodlecharms, Paisley, Paper Pups, Sans Serif, Simply Charmed Tagged With: , , , , ,

Duffy the Disney Bear Celebrates Cinco de Mayo Layout

May 26, 2011 by 1 Comment

Whoo hoo — I’m back with my second layout.  I haven’t posted in quite some time, but I am so excited because my first layout won in the Provocraft contest that was held in conjunction with the launch of the new Cricut Expression E2.  I was the next-to-the-last winner announced on Provo’s Facebook page and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my layout pictured on their wall.

This is my first “major award”  — and what did I win?……A new Cricut Expression E2 — whoooo hoooo.  It has already arrived and I hope to start playing with it soon.  Thank you so much Provo Craft!!

I created this layout to enter in the latest Cricut Circle Blog weekly challenge, which ends in just a few hours.  This is a sketch challenge and you have to follow the sketch posted on the blog.  It always takes me time to come up with inspiration, particularly when doing layouts.  Hopefully as I gain more experience the ideas will come more quickly. Now for a little background info about this layout.  Erin (my daughter and co-conspirator on this blog) is currently living in Taiwain and is a huge Disney fan.   She has visited all five parks many times.  She got bit by the Duffy Bear bug while on a visit to Tokyo Disneyland.  Duffy is Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear, sewn by Minnie Mouse to keep Mickey company while traveling.  Notice his face is shaped like Mickey’s head.  While Duffy was exclusive to Tokyo Sea, he is now being featured at Disney World, Disney California Adventure, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Erin brought me a Duffy and Shellie May (the girl version, and still only available at Tokyo Sea) on one of her visit’s home.  She has since given me a Duffy bear from Hong Kong Disneyland, and I added two of my own from California Adventure.  While Erin’s bears have traveled all over the world (Japan, Hong Kong, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Tahiti, Belize, to name a few), my bears are content to reside mainly in California. Living in Taiwain, Erin is about 15 hours ahead of our time here in California.  For Cinco de Mayo, she posted pictures of one of her Duffy bears celebrating Cinco de Mayo on her Disney travel blog, Pooh’s Travels.   She dressed him in his outfit from Mexico and shows him sitting at the dinner table with a meal of chicken taquitos and mango margaritas spread out before him.  As soon as I saw her post I knew I had to do something special with one of my Duffy bears for Cinco de Mayo so I could send pictures to Erin. As my hubby and I had plans to go to Acapulco restaurant for dinner on May 5, I dressed my bear in his serape and sombrero and he tagged along.  Yep, we took a bear to dinner!  The older I get the less I seem to care if people think I’m crazy! I took a couple of pictures of him sitting in the booth with chips and salsa.  And my hubby is the one who put the chip in Duffy’s paw and moved the salsa close to him.  But the coolest part was that the restaurant had this beautiful young lady acting as a greeter for Cinco de Mayo and she was all dressed up in a gorgeous outfit from Mexico.  On the way out of the restaurant I asked her if Duffy could take a picture with her and she obliged.  I couldn’t wait to get home and send the pictures to Erin. When I first saw the pictures, I thought Duffy looked like he was sitting in a cantina and a song immediately came to mind — El Paso, by Marty Robbins.  So I included the first two verses when I sent Erin the pics and decided to include them on my layout too.

The patterned paper I used on this layout is from Basic Grey, their Life of the Party collection.  The cartridges I used are Elegant Edges for the stamped background mat and the diamond trim at the bottom of the pictures, Old West for the title, Mickey & Friends for the Mickey heads (I welded one to a rectangle for the tag that pulls out at the top), and Wild Card for the sombrero.

  • Basic Grey — Life of the Party
  • Cricut cartridges:  Elegant Edges, George & Basic Shapes, Mickey & Friends, Old West, Wild Card
  • Stickles
Filed Under: Cartridges, Circle Challenge, Cricut, Elegant Edges, George and Basic Shapes, Layouts, Mickey & Friends, Old West, Stickles, Wild Card Tagged With: , ,

Speedy Turtle – Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog – Challenge #36 Achoo!

November 21, 2010 by 8 Comments

Here is my card for the current challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, which is to make a project that has something to do with being sick.  I don’t know why, but this challenge stumped me.  I couldn’t think of anything exciting that I wanted to make.  I started several different projects before the light bulb finally went off and I had a clear vision of what I wanted to make.

The card base is Bazzill cardstock, the patterned paper is Basic Grey, and the solid that the turtle is cut from is Stampin’ Up.  I cut the turtle using my Cricut and the Create a Critter cartridge.  Since I am wishing the recipient a speedy recovery, I figured I needed to give my turtle some running shoes so she could speed things up a bit.  I cut the shoes from My Community and laced them up with some white cording that I found in my stash.  I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots to emboss the bottom edge of her shoes.  I also gave her a hat, which I cut from Paper Doll Dress Up.  The label that the sentiment is printed on is from a Lite cartridge, Lacy Labels.  I used Create a Critter for the flowers and the tufts of grass.  I added pearls to the centers of the  flowers. 

The flowers on the inside of the card are also from Create a Critter. 

  • Bazzill cardstock
  • Stampin’ Up cardstock
  • Basic Grey designer paper
  • Cricut cartridges:  Create a Critter, Lacy Labels (Lite), My Community, Paper Doll Dress Up
  • Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
  • Pearls
  • Cording from my stash
Filed Under: Card Challenges, Create a Critter, Cuttlebug, FCCB, Lacy Labels (Lite), My Community, Paper Doll Dress Up Tagged With: , , , , , ,