Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hello Kitty Treat Bags

Happy Halloween!  I'm here to share with you some treat bags I made to send along with DD to daycare.  She was really excited when I asked her if she wanted to take treat bags.  She has been learning more and more about my Cricut lately and really loves to see it work.  I pulled out a few cartridges with Halloween images for her to choose from.  One of those was Hello Kitty Greetings.  She really likes HK right now so it was the perfect fit!



Hello Kitty in a cat costume was cut at 2.5".  I didn't cut this according to the book however.  This was one of the early carts where they wanted you to make all those teeny tiny cuts and layer.  No thanks.  What I did instead was cut the blackout layer in orange, then the Silhouette feature key in black and from there added the white face and the blue sucker cut.  That was so much easier!

Here's a closer view of the top.  I used a K&Co Halloween stack for the orange topper and a mini Halloween stamp.


I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a great All Saints day tomorrow! Enjoy!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Halloween Blog Hop


Hello, hello!  Welcome to the Halloween Blog hop being hosted by Yolonda.  You should have arrived here from Tammy's blog. If you are just beginning the hop, you can go to Yolonda's blog to start at the beginning. Thanks for joining us! 

Today's hop focuses entirely on Halloween which is coming up very quickly! Today I have a layout to share with you: 


This started out as a one page layout...

...but once I got it together, I realized that it would look so much better if it continued flowing into a page on the right.  So I added a second page. 

Here is a close up view of the title.  I cut the top layer in white but then inked it black.  I wasn't entirely pleased with that so I also inked it orange to bring some brightness back to it and that seemed to work okay. (And I see here that Mr. Spider in black is popping up off the page - I hope he doesn't jump off! Haha...)


This is the first layout I have ever made without the pictures being picked first.  I know what pictures are going to go in here but for some reason I do not have any of them printed! :( Boo.  Last year a zoo in our area hosted an event called Zoo Boo.  You dress up in costume and can trick-or-treat inside the zoo.  You go in the evening so it is dark out and they have carved pumpkins everywhere.  They even had a DJ set up so there was a mini dance party with animal mascots.  The girls really had a great time.  Hopefully I captured three great vertical pictures!  If not, I can always use the trick of trimming two horizontal pics to fill one vertical space. My girls were both Smurfette so the blue from their costumes will match the blue bats.  (Yes, they BOTH were Smurfette - long story involving sibling jealousy...) 

I decided to do the journaling right on the orange.  I tried putting a white square there and just didn't like it.  Then I channeled my Cricut Circle Blog designers and wrote right on that paper!  :)   I used a white pen to decorate my bats to match the blue base paper. 



The cuts I used on this layout were:
Zoo Boo - Blackletter and shadow @ 2"
Spider web - Paper Trimmings circle key @ 2.5"
Bats - Simply Charmed @ 2.5" and 4"
Border was MS Drippy Goo punch
Papers were K&Co

Thanks for stopping by today!  Your next stop is BETSY'S BLOG.  Enjoy! 

Here is the entire blog hop list if you need it.  


9. Michele  http://www.michelegreen.com/  <-- You are HERE
10. Betsy   http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/  <-- Go here next! 
11. Tracie  http://www.thecraftytouch.blogspot.com/
12.  Sherry   http://macybella.blogspot.com/
13.  Terri  http://tdycreativegal.blogspot.com/

Monday, October 15, 2012

Falling for Halloween winners!

Hello!  Wow, last week was busy!  It's time to announce the winners of the Falling for Halloween Blog hop! 

Here they are: 
Day One: 

 Donna, please contact me, I don't know you! 


My friend LB!  Yay!  I think you're really going to like the mystery prize! 

Thanks everyone for coming by the hop. Another blog hop will be happening this Saturday focused on Halloween so stop back!  See you then!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Falling for Halloween Blog Hop - Day 2

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Hello!  Welcome to day two of the Falling for Halloween blog hop!  You should have arrived here from Sara Andrews' fabulous blog. I am sure she has amazed us again in day two!  If you missed the beginning of the hop, please go to Maria's blog to start so you don't miss any of the projects.  If you have been following along, you have made it to the last stop! 

Today I am sharing adorable treat bags from Mini Monsters. 



These are the three treat bags at the end of the cartridge.  They are meant to be made into little monsters but I used my Gypsy and hid all of the cuts besides the actual bag and the handles.  I even hid the score lines so I wouldn't have those awkward sticky out bits left after folding. Here they are cut and scored. 



I used two sided Halloween paper so that the boxes would be cute on the inside too. The box was cut as big as it would go on a 12x12 which ended up just over 6".  I didn't realize until after I had cut them that box one and box three are the same without all the monster parts! 

Next was making the characters for the front of the boxes.  DD has three friends at day care to give treats too.  I wanted a card and bag all in one so I used the card feature on the Mini Monsters cart.  Many of the cards are unique in that they only cut the main part of the body and then you make the full monster to go over it.  This was the case for the mummy.  The ghost was interesting, as there is no way to fold the card to make it work with the original cut.  He is supposed to have a ball and chain attached to him but I just cut it off since it wasn't working out. Each of these are cut at 3". 


Since these are serving as the card, I stamped Trick or Treat on the inside.  The sentiment is one long piece but I broke it into two by using two colors and a piece of paper to protect the cut from any accidental stamping from the wrong part of the stamp. 


Last steps, assemble and FILL! 

Aren't those little guys cute? And just like yesterday's hops, this entire project was from one cart! 

Now that you've made it through the post (and the hop!), how about some blog candy?? Yeah!  I will choose one winner to receive a mystery fall and Halloween mini pack!  To be entered to win, leave a comment below and be sure to include your email address or Cricut MB name so I have a way to contact you!  Hmm... wonder what you'll get in your mailbox!! :)

Thanks so much for joining in our hop this weekend!  We hope you had a lot of fun and gathered some inspiration for your own fall and Halloween projects! 

Here's the entire list of blog hop participants in case you need it:

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Falling for Halloween Blog Hop - Day 1

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Welcome to the Falling for Halloween Blog Hop!  This is a two day hop focused on both fall and Halloween.  You should have arrived here from Sara Andrews' fabulous blog. (I really love her layouts!!) If you missed the beginning of the hop, please go to Maria's blog to start so you don't miss any of the projects.  If you have been following along, you have made it to the last stop! Phew! 

Today I am sharing two cards with you, one fall and one halloween.  Tomorrow I will be sharing cute mini Halloween bags!

I was recently in a Fall Swap on the Cricut Message Boards and I made my partner these two cards.  First up is a Thanksgiving card, although it could totally be a thank you card sent in the fall too! This is the phrase button of < NatvBear >.  I cut it at 4 inches and used brown cardstock as the base. The acorns are from the < Squirrel > accessory button.  



Everything is inked over in brown to give it that fall feel.  (I apologize for the pics, I used my daughter's camera and do not like it as much as mine!)

The second card is a Halloween card, also using the phrase feature, this time from the < WitchOwl >.  The spider web is from the < Pumpkin > accessory key.  I flipped it so it goes the right direction for my card.



I started out with the entire phrase but as I was assembling, I wasn't sure if I liked the bold orange of the "happy" so I left it off.  Here it is though, as it would be an easy addition right above "Halloween". 



Both of these cards are entirely from the Create a Critter 2 cart but use no animals!  I love doing projects entirely from one cartridge.  Maybe I'm just not good at mixing and matching!  :) 


Now that you've made it through the post, how about some blog candy?? Yeah!  I will choose one winner to receive a Halloween mini stamp set, some jewels and a $10 Michael's or JoAnn's gift card - you pick!  To be entered to win, leave a comment below and be sure to include your email address or Cricut MB name so I have a way to contact you!

Thanks so much for joining in our hop today!  Stop by again tomorrow for another round of great crafting!  

Here's the entire list of blog hop participants in case you need it:


Thursday, October 4, 2012

I Love You Because...

I created this wedding shower gift for a woman I work with.  She is very sweet and when I saw this frame idea, I knew she would be a perfect fit for it. 

I saw the idea for an "I love you because..." frame HERE at A Content Housewife.  She gives great directions on how to make this cheap and easy gift.  The hardest part was picking out a frame!  This is an 8 x 10 frame from Hobby Lobby. 


You use a dry erase marker on the glass of the frame to finish the sentence and leave it in a place that your hubby is going to find it.  Hopefully he writes a message back to you too! 

I made a coordinating card to go with.  I used a matching piece of the silver damask cardstock I cut for the frame to create this easy 4"x4"card. 


To stamp on the ribbon, I used StazOn ink.  I find that works the best because it doesn't wipe off like some of the other inks I have tried doing this with.  StazOn is pretty amazing stuff! 


Please come back for another visit this weekend.  I am part of a two day fall and Halloween blog hop.  I hope to see you there!