Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thankful Heart

Cricut  Circle Blog
NOVEMBER MONTHLY CHALLENGE: HOME SWEET HOME
My Entry


Here are the details:
The theme for this month’s challenge is all about cozying up your home with Handmade Home Decor! Please create a home decor project. Project must be newly created for this challenge and should include the following elements to qualify:
  • Use atleast one Cricut Cartridge Cut
  • Use the Cuttlebug in some way (embossing folder, Cuttlebug die, Quilling kit, etc.)
  • Use Felt in some way
  • Use the color GREEN somewhere on your project
{This picture includes all of the criteria}
The heart cut is from Gypsy Wanderings. I used white card stock and then hand cut the felt using the card stock  heart as a template. It is pretty much impossible to see but I did use the Cuddlebug to emboss the felt with script. It seemed the more I handled the felt the embossing slipped away. The texture is very subtle but still visible in person.  I think next time I will use a stiffening agent to help the embossing to hold better.
I had planned on having much more green in this project but as the creating process continued I found this small touch of green was the perfect fit.


{Alcohol Inks and Glossy Accents}
For the scroll I cut one layer of brown card stock. Then I used a transparency sheet to try out my Tim Holtz alcohol inks for the first time. I used his "cozy cabin" set and copper metallic.  I cut the scroll again out of that. Once I glued them together I used Glossy Accents to give it a shine. I think it turned out nice for my first attempt at alcohol inks.


{Splatter Stamp}
I just love this stamp. It's the "splatter" stamp I use to make things look aged. It's just a plan background stamp but it makes me happy when I use it.  


{Shadow and Scroll}
I was originally going for a more 3D effect with the phrase. It just wasn't working for me. I tried just altering the letters and leaving them at one layer of card stock but that wasn't right either. So I decided to do a darker layer and off set it from the top layer. This, along with the distressing and clear embossing, helped to give it more of the look I wanted. I wanted to so some kind of treatment to the "T" to make it stand out. It took me forever to finally commit to the scroll embossing folder. I thought it might help in case the embossing on the heart wasn't visible.


So one more challenge down and I am ready for the next one. This one took me longer than expected but that is my MO. I always have a completion date in mind but it always seems to come sooner rather than later. It makes me wonder how Design Teams, consistent crafters, and all the creative people out their who are continually posting their creativity on message boards and blogs find the  time. You would think that my projects are whipped out in no time. Well, just ask my family...it is a lot longer than it seems. I must say that I would be lost without my Gypsy. It allows me to start and stop my projects with no clean up. Then when I am ready to get down to business I am ready to go. But then there is always the constant evolving nature of all of my creations. I always have a design in mind but it is rarely as simple as is seems. But I find that part of the process and one of the things I enjoy about my "hobby."


Thank you for stopping by and listening to my babble. Look for my December entry, I can't wait to see what the challenge involves.