Autumn Splendor

Well I'm tearing through the Chai tea and spicy Yankee Candles. The annual trip to Apple Hill, our regional cluster of apple farms, has been made. And the comfort foods are flying off the stove. Cioppino, chicken noodle soup, penne bolognese, and a couple of McDonalds slip-ups to be sure. But tis the season to craft. It is the time of year when I feel most inspired. Maybe it just seems natural to want to go along with all the natural beauty that is flourishing everywhere.

I wanted to create something that would capture the essence of how I feel at this time of year so I created the following piece:

The page utilizes the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutant papers, Prima Strawberry Kisses-Berry Splash paper, French Manor Cartridge, and Gypsy Font Cartridge. The gold vine is from Prima and can be found at Michaels. The edges of the page are distressed with Tim Holtz distress ink in Frayed Burlap and Broken China. The page is also sprayed with Tattered Angels gold pearl spray. I accented various elements on the page with Distress Stickles in Antique Linen and Broken China.

I am still working on my Disney Album and have created the following pages with a dash of Halloween spirit:

I utilized my Gypsy and Cricut to cut these images from glitter paper and adhered with 3-D Zots.

The images on this page were cut using the October 31st cricut cartridge and the paper is from the Basic Grey Eerie collection.

Now I have a confession. Many would agree that scrapping and paper crafting can be just as bad and expensive as any other drug addiction. I have recently led my mother and sister astray and have gotten them hooked and spending. I almost feel bad. Anyhoo, take a peek at the gorgeous Autumn/Halloween display they did:

Note the cute banner cut using the Cricut and the black cat on the pumpkin from the Pumpkin Carvings cartridge.

Part of their downfall experience included a day-crop to support breast cancer research. Many of you are familiar with the extremely talented and inspiring Monique Griffith of Monkey Doodle Cricut and are aware that she is fighting like a champ in her own battle with breast cancer. Well an amazing group of women along with Monique's bff and Bling Queen, Wendy Pope Lawrence, put on a fantastic crop to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. The day was inspiring in so many ways! Check out the new addicts cropping away:

Thank you Monique for being so amazing and showing women everywhere how to be brave and strong!

Another very special highlight of October was the wedding of my dear Aunt and Uncle. It was a beautiful wedding at the lake where my mom, aunt and uncle grew up and it was uniquely them. The bride wore three gorgeous gowns starting with a traditional white dress, then an amazing Chinese dress, then a hot and spicy red satin number that showed all the right moves on the dance floor. The food was great (my new auntie is an amazing professional chef who has worked in the best kitchens in San Francisco). And the music was fantastic. My dad even sang a song for their first dance:

I am so lucky to have these two!

So Long Summer!

When the sunlight starts hitting that angle through my windows that lets me know that it's fall, I get in an entirely different mood. The world just seems more romantic and mysterious. It's automatically time to start making Halloween projects and lighting spicy candles. I have a carton of Oregon chai ready to go in my fridge and rice crispy treats are on the counter. Best of all, the trail that I hike a couple times a week is laden with golden oak leaves and has that grassy berry smell of California.

The best part about hiking in this peaceful place is the weight loss! And it doesn't even feel like work!  But as I soak up the last bits of summer sunshine I can't help but look forward to the rainy, cozy days laden with baking and crafting. 

It is only one week until my Aunt and Uncle's wedding and I have been churning out the last of the wedding album pages.

The first page I created uses a super cute Jolee's hammock embellishment. The papers are by Making Memories, the Hawaii sticker is by Me and My Big Ideas, and the flowers are Prima. I was glad to finally be able to use all this cute stuff that has been sitting around looking good for quite some time.

The next page uses a K & Company paper from the Que Sera Sera stack. The Tree was cut using the Cricut and the Heritage cartridge. I painted over the tree with metallic green acrylic paint and then went over that with shabby shutters distress stickles. The sparrow was cut from the French Manor cartridge and embellished with stickles. The matt was from the DCWV Rockstar matt stack and was distressed and inked around the edges. The frame, blue bird and "romance" die cuts were all from various K & Co die cut packs. And I attached a random silk leaf under the corner of the photo matt.

The last page features Prima Mountain Lilly Vines at the top in Robin's Egg. The paper is Prima titled "Romance" from the Analee collection. The large matt is from K & Company Margo stack and was cut on the Cricut using the French Manor cartridge frame and shadow feature. The Quote reads "All that is good and sweet and true has come to me because of you." The photo matt is from the K & Company Ancestry Matt pad. The crystals are from ZVA creative and the ribbons and lace are scraps from the fabric stores.

Lastly I did a page for my personal album because my Disney pictures have been stacking up. The paper is Prima "Ashton" from the Analee collection. I cut the frame using K & Company Margo stack paper and the French Manor Cricut cartridge Frame feature. The flowers are the second piece of the Prima Mountain Vine Robin's Egg pack. The Crystals are Prima. The Circular matt is from Webster's Pages and the cherry branch was cut using Cricut Lite Botanicals cartridge and the remaining scraps of Margo paper against pink card stock.

I also received my new Tim Holtz embossing folders. Here are swatches that I inked to better reveal the detail:

Clockwise from the upper left quadrant the folders are "Bricked", "Woodgrain", "Damask" and "Regal Flourishes". As promised, the embossing is very deep and when done with thick cardstock and run through the cuttlebug several time can distress the paper and create small tears. I actually like this effect.

So enjoy the cool down and I'll be getting back to you with the final wedding album projects and details on the ceremony and beautiful Bride!

Me Like Make Pretty

Lately I've been really interested in exploring beauty and makeup in particular. As a crafter, I like making things pretty, and if I can help myself then all the better. Back in high school I would rock out bright green glittered eyes to school, crimp my hair, and round in out with a sparkly pair of jeweled earrings that would hit my shoulders. Extravagant yes, but I kind of miss it. So I have been picking out fun bits and pieces here and there and this week I bought something that I've never had the gall to try. BRIGHT RED LIPSTICK!!!
I got my hands on the limited addition Moulin Rouge lipstick from Make Up Forever:

It is so beautiful, pigmented and rich. I am pairing it with a simple black lined eye and a sparkly black beret!

In contrast to bright red lips, I also played around with dramatic blue eye makeup. My pick is the new Tarina Tarantino Starchild Odyssey palette available at Sephora.com.

The colors are so unique and bright! My favorite has to be the darker purple on the right. When applied to the skin it appears almost holographic. Also the dark blue is very rich and is solid shimmer which makes it very easy to apply and it also doubles as an eyeliner. Here is the look I came up with:

I used the purples all over the lid and above the crease, the dark blue on the outer corner and as an eyeliner and the bright silver in the inner corner and along my bottom lashes. I had people checking it out all day because it was so bright and the colors are so interesting.

I always encourage people to explore with makeup because it is an inherent part  of being feminine to appreciate feeling pretty. In fact I believe that it is a trait programed straight into us for the betterment of the universe and mankind in general. Thanks God. And I hope that women can become supportive of each other in our pursuits of beauty, whether through makeup, gardening, interior design, painting, crafting, etc. and start appreciating and complimenting each other rather than writing it off as vanity or silliness. Because the world can be very ugly and a little light-heartedness never hurts!

I've been taking it easy in the crafting department this month. I've had three major family birthdays, my darling friend came to visit from Seattle, and we took a family trip to Disneyland. So I haven't had the mindset to nurture my crafting creativity. But I did get an awesome birthday card for my Grandpa who loves Mexico. What a treat to have found these awesome Dio de los Muertos skulls on the new Rock Princess Cartridge:

I cut each skull at 3 1/2" and mounted them on pop dots against plain black card stock.

I have been building up my crafting stock though. In terms of cartridges I acquired the following:

• 
  
  Rock Princess
• 
  
  Country Life
• 
  
  October 31st
• 
  
  Toy Story
• 
  
  Happy Hauntings
• 
  
  Winter Frolic
• 
  
  Straight From the Nest

Some of the newer products that have been on my radar for fall are the new Prima release including crystals, flowers, stamps and papers. I purchased the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland paper pad along with the Steampunk Debutant pad. I also landed some Tim Holtz Texture fades to use with the cuttlebug mentioned in my previous post. Now Fall is by far my favorite season and I really get amped up for drinking tea, lighting candles, and cranking out a good project. I'm thinking that making sure I'm well stocked now will help when I really get going next month.

So to round off the month of August we took our fourth and final trip to Disneyland since we purchased annual passes last September. We got some pretty sweet hotel deals and were able to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel that is centrally located in the park. In addition, my friend, her husband, and their two little boys came with us along with my wonderful Grandpa. We had so much fun! I was also able to capture some footage of the new World of color show:

It was very awe inspiring. The affects they were able to create with water, color, and light were unlike anything I've ever seen. And I also got to ride one of my favorite roller coasters ever, Screamin!


So lots of fun stuff to play around with and share coming soon! And if you're feeling fine then go slap on some red lips and blue eyes!

The New Girl

There is a new girl in the house and she is mean, nasty and CUTE!!! Behold.....Fluffers:

Basically, like all of our cats, she was a stray that I brought in and cleaned up. She was absolutely infested with ticks and fleas. So much so that you could part her fur in any part of her body and see 2 or 3 bugs and their eggs. She had two flea dips and a thorough comb through with a flea comb and tweezers and she is as good as new! Here she is checking out my cricut machine:

So this week I made a trip to Michaels and finally got something that my lazy butt should have had ages ago. A Cuttlebug! There was a good sale so I picked up some metallic acrylic paints, D'vine swirls cuttlebug folder, some paper stacks, new Recollections vines and glittered ginko leaves, K & Company alphabet stack and the 12" x 24" K & Company stack that was on clearance. Here is my awesome haul:

The stacks are K & Company Life's Journey and DCWV Travel cardstock stack. I prefer the colors in this stack for fall rather than the actual DCWV autumn stack. They are a little more natural.

This week I cranked out some projects that I am very happy with. The first was a card using the new French Manor Cricut Cartridge. At first I was wishing that there were more layers to the images on this cartridge but once I started working with it I realized that half the fun was laying glitter, jewels and color on. It allows for a lot more creative license than my lazy butt was originally planning on working with but here is what I came up with:

And the inside:

The card feature on the cartridge was perfect and the chandelier, lion, borders and frame were a blast to sparkle up. I'm loving this cartridge more and more. In fact, I also used it to make a page for my Aunt and Uncle's wedding gift album:

I used the border feature and layer from the Eiffel Tower page 68 of the booklet and cut it using the fit to page feature which calculated out to 5". I inked the edges of the piece and adhered it to the blackout piece using Elmer's Craft Bond spray glue which is my go-to for intricate large pieces. I Then matted the photo using the K & Co Ancestry mat pad and used the diamond pieces from the cut out to create a border on all four sides. The mat is also inked using chocolate brown chalk ink. The bling is from Recollections and the die cut metallic flowers are from K & Co Handmade collection. The paper is Moda for Daisy D's in Antique Parchment - Paisley and the cut outs where done using Basic Grey paper in Mandarin Slice from the Marrakesh collection. The smaller flowers are popped up on 3-d Zots as well as the little Butterfly.

Next week I will be having a furry house guest and will also be embarking on an adventure in San Francisco. Also can't wait to share more on the bigger project that I've been working on!

Later Gators!

Exploring the French Manor and California Foothills

cSo as many of my crafting colleagues know, the past couple weeks have marked the launch of the Cricut Circle community and the receipt of the elusive French Manor cartridge (formerly European Decor). Now it has been fairly consistent of Provocraft to adhere to two styles (excluding fonts): cute/fun/cartoony and ornate/vintage/classic.

Examples of cute/fun/cartoony cartridges are:

• Create a Critter
• Disney Licensed Cartridges
• Cricut Lite Meow
• Mini Monsters
• Once Upon a Princess
• Life is a Beach

Examples of ornate/vintage/classic cartridges are:

• Storybook
• Nursery Rhymes
• French Manor
• Cricut Lite Botanicals
• Summer in Paris
• Heritage

Of course there are more and there are also cartridges that bridge the gap (Wild Card, Serenade, Cindy Loo) but these are generally the two main styles that Cricut art generally fall into. The big trick is making both work for your style. Seeing as the new French Manor cartridge is a very specific style and is an exclusive cartridge to members of the circle, many members who have received the cartridge are lacking inspiration. So after much soul searching and creative manipulation in the deepest recesses of my imagination I have come up with the following projects featuring French Manor:

The first is a piece of wall art I made for my Mom to hang at work. She loves to decorate her workspace and I love to provide the means to do that so here is her new welcome sign:

My inspiration was Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland. The blues, golds and creams of the castle coupled with the ornate detailing fit perfectly with the European feel of this cartridge and the gorgeous font of the "Wilkommen" cut. I used Recollections Precious Metals card stock in the bronze and pearl /to make the cuts and mounted them on a 12" x 12" piece of paper from the DCWV Old World premium stack. The border pieces are cut using the Fit to Page feature and are from page 49 of the cartridge booklet and . The screen piece (page 54) and layer were cut at approximately 4 inches. Then the text was cut from gold card stock at approximately 1 1/2".

GLUING INTRICATE PIECES:
To adhere intricate pieces like the screen to the pearl backing I like to use Elmer's Craft Bond spray permanent adhesive. It is acid free and water resistant. I typically find an old box that I received a package in and spray in there in order to contain the mist of glue. Otherwise I might put it inside a garbage can with a new bag and spray there.

The next project I created is an addition to the wedding gift album for my Aunt and Uncle's upcoming wedding:

The paper is from K & Company and is in the Que Sera Sera 12" x 12" stack. I also used K & Company adhesive chipboard flowers from the Urban Rhapsody collection. The leaves are from the Prima Jewel Box Leaves collection in Faberge. And I used a large variety of stickles to embellish the cuts and the design of the paper, including the butterfly, berries and foliage. As for French Manor cuts I cut the peacock from pg 46 at 6" and the border to the photo is from pg 55 and was cut using the Fit to Length feature twice at 4" long and twice at 5" long.

ADHERING CHIPBOARD

I have found that chipboard that already has adhesive on the back tends to fall off pretty much immediately. So I always apply my own adhesive in addition to the factory applied adhesive. My go to glue is my ATG 1/4" which is what I used for the flowers above. Other than that, any glue runner or Scotch permanent double sided tape in the yellow package should work.

Other than racking my brain for ideas for the beautiful French Manor artwork I have also been continuing to love the Cindy Loo cartridge. I made the following double page layout but have not yet decided what photos to feature:

I have also embellished a little box that contained makeup brushes featuring the cut from Cindy Loo pg 59 at 4 3/4" on the lid and the cut on pg 60 at 4 3/4".

Also the flower in the box is handmade. I will look for the tutorial and share it in my next post.

In other life news I am currently working on some big things in terms of discovering what my new career will be, having ran like a bat out of hell from a career in accounting. It does involve design and embracing my creative side. I'll be sharing more in my next post. 

I have also been re-discovering the outdoors by hiking, swimming and kayaking by my home in the gorgeous, hot California foothills. My current favorite place to explore is Folsom Lake and have been absolutely loving and enjoying every bit of it. Here is a picture of me on a hike above the big, beautiful, blue lake. This is right after a hike and right before I went for a turn in the kayak's along the lake shore followed by a relaxing swim to cool down. Best part about it all? Losing weight and getting tan!

Talk to you all soon!