Chalkboard look mini book

I have wanted to make a chalkboard-look mini book for a long time, and I have been collecting supplies in a box for a few months.  I really like how this little book turned out.  I only have this one picture since this was a gift and I forgot to photograph.  I hurriedly took this photo with my cell phone in the car before putting it back into the gift bag.
     I used chalkboard papers from MAMBI plus solid chalkboard colors from DCWV.  I used the flip book die from Accucut to make the chipboard pages and then covered the chipboard with the die cut papers with Mod Podge.  The girl on the cover is a Cricut cut from the cartridge called Forever Young.  She cut fabulously and was the perfect cover piece.  The embossed words on the front are part of the MAMBI paper.
     This album was extremely fun to decorate.  I loved using the little enamel dots on the punched scalloped border.  I made the red ribbon with my new Bow It All and used red line tape to adhere it in place.  It does not go around the page because of the design of the backside.  It instead adheres only to the front of the page.  I held the book pages together with black rings from 7 Gypsies and decorated the rings with neon colored ribbons from American Crafts.
     This album is a birthday gift to a teen age girl who has a ponytail just like the girl on the front of the album.  I hope she enjoys adding her pictures.  You can't see the little additions inside, but I backed  MAMBI foil and glitter blackboard pocket sayings with the DCWV colored cardstocks and put several pockets inside to which pictures can be added.
     I will definitely be making some more chalkboard projects.  This one was too much fun!

Fun in the Mail!

Look what came in the mail last week

I previously subscribed to Jenni Bowlin's Papercrafting Kit of the Month.  This 2015 she has changed her offerings from papercrafts to collections.  This is the first Magpie kit.  Each month there will be a new collection of fun things that we can collect, collate, craft, or just crave!  Here is the box as I opened it:

And below all the lovelies unwrapped:

There is an antique spoon, with a hole in the handle for hanging.  There are three snowflake doilies, a train ticket, some antique sequin trim, three wood circles, a tiny china cup, a bottle of glitter, an antique cluster earring, and various and assorted ephemera.  I love this stuff!  I will definitely use it for crafting, and I am thinking a shadowbox of the month, each month featuring items from that month's collection plus other items from my stash.  A couple of years ago I had bought a whole bunch of Tim Holtz' shadowboxes from Tuesday Morning and I am thinking this stuff would be perfect for those destinations.  Now I can clean out one of the boxes in my garage!

Here is the link for the Jenni Bowlin site:   http://www.jbsmercantile.com/

Wishing You a Whale of a Good Time Pop Up

This card was really fun to make, and I think pretty fun for a special little someone to receive.  I think it could be appropriate for a birthday card, especially for a birthday visit to Sea World!
     Again, I made the interior and then had to think a while for what to put on the outside of the card.  As you can see, my trusty oval die cuts and computer have come to the rescue for a third time!  I hope I won't get in a rut about those oval dies!
     This card is an actual A2 size card, blue for the "water" background.  I cut the whale pop up three times at 4.5" x 8.653":  Blue, black, and white.  I then worked out how I wanted my whale pieced and glued the pieces together.  I think he came out having a little "angry" expression.  I will see if next time I can make him happier looking!  But the piecing and folding did work out properly.  Again, I used temporary adhesive and a trial card base to get him situated properly.  The pop up slots are folded right onto the background card, inside the "water" circle.
     The outside of the card uses the "Get Whale" shadow option.  I cut off the "Get"part of the cut after cutting in white.  I also cut one in black so I could piece the whale's tale on the sentiment.  The sentiment was cut 4" x 1.11" to fit at the the bottom of the portrait style A2 card.  I added Stickles glitter glue in True Blue for the water on the cut sentiment.  I mounted the entire front onto a red background before adding to the blue card base.  I wish you could see how cute this card turned out in "real life"!  It all works so properly and is what I think of as a true "pop up" card.

Pop Up #2 Crown

Here is the second Pop Up card I created with Cricut Everyday Pop Up Cards cartridge.  Again, I made the interior before even thinking about the exterior.  One thing I did learn, however--I liked the idea of putting the pop up slots underneath a separate sheet.  That way the pop up appears as if by magic!
     This card ended up being a little thick however, so next time I make it I will have to include a ribbon or magnet to keep it closed.  One reason for the thickness is that I used a fabric lace ribbon and rhinestones.
     This crown was cut at 11" long and 3.458" wide from gold cardstock.  It didn't quite fit into an A2 card size, so I made a card 4.5" x 6.5"  The separate card that serves as a base for the crown is an A2 size.  The pop up mechanism was very easy since it involves a single fold and two notches that turn down.  The important part was situating it properly on the base so it opens into an almost circular shape.  I used temporary adhesive on a trial base before deciding where to cut my slots for the notches to fit into.
     The outside of the card is a simple panel of scrapbook cardstock with a band of ribbons covering the base front of the card.  I added some computer generated sentiments inside and out, die cut with ovals.  I added a Hero Arts crown image heat embossed with gold pigment ink and powder.
     Voila!  A birthday card fit for a queen!

Cricut Pop Up cards

I have been having fun with my Cricut monthly subscription.   This month, I am making pop up cards using the images from Everyday Pop Up Cards cartridge.  While there are lots of fun images to choose from with this collection, the pop up feature itself can be pretty daunting.  Witness the very negative reviews of this cartridge even on the Cricut site.  However, Cricut does supply a PDF pop up instruction booklet, which I downloaded, and I am feature by feature becoming a master (I will not say mistress!)  of how these work.  I probably will never master all of the features, like the little pop up table I so desperately want to make.  Since after tons of searching I did not discover very many projects using the pop up features of this cartridge, I decided to upload my projects to the Cricut website, where you will be able to see them.  Of course you can always see them here, although I am not brave enough to try videos again yet.  The ones I am making are simple enough to put together with the pop up instructions provided by Cricut.
   So let's get started.  Here is the first one I made--the pop up chandelier:

This card is a regular A2 size, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" so I cut my chandelier to fit inside that dimension and still have the card close without having edges of the pop up peek out.  I cut the pop up chandelier to a width of 5.139 inches and a height of 4.181 inches.  Now you have to realize that my Cricut Expression is not cutting well at the moment--I don't know what is wrong, but something definitely is.  So I hooked up my little original Cricut to the Craft Room and am using that, and so I am restricted to a 6" wide mat.  But I found that for these cards that is OK.  Anyway, I also cut a regular chandelier, not the pop up feature, to about the same size and found that it works as an overlay.  I only had to make one adjustment and that was at the very top of the chandelier.  I used two shades of gray for my pop up.  After glueing on the overlay, I folded the chandelier according to the provided instructions and used the tabs to glue it down on my card.  I used removeable adhesive to gauge position, and when I was happy with placement I used glue on the tabs to hold down the chandelier.  A note on glueing down pop ups:  Glue one side down, put glue on the other tab, carefully fold the card, and hold in place until dry.  That way everything fits when the card is folded as well as when opened.

I cut the letters to spell "bright" from the rhinestone alphabet from the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge at .75 inches and glued them to the inside of the card under the chandelier.  I used Stickles glitter glue in gold to add sparkle to the letters and the chandelier.

For the outside of the card, I was in a pickle.  I had no idea what images to use.  All I know was that I wanted it to say "I hope your day is..." to go with the "bright" on the inside of the card.  I generated my panel with sentiment from the computer and just added a ribbon and a damask die cut (Tim Holtz flourish).    The power of the card is with the inside pop up!

OK, I was proud of myself, and I wanted to show off what I made!  I hope you like it!  I learned a lot by making this card, and I have cut some more chandeliers for other cards as well.  In the coming days I will share some more pop up cards and how I used what I have learned to improve upon them.