What to do With a Can of Beans? (Lighthouse)

 This was going to be a “gag” birthday gift, to return a can of beans we have been passing back and forth.  My friend collects lighthouses so....I thought I would turn the can of beans into a lighthouse for her.  I set to work on developing a plan and experimenting.  Well, it turned out so darn cute! 
 I only used my Cricut for the fence rail.  I wielded 3 fences together in Design Studio for both levels.  The Fence is from Paper Doll Dress-Up and the three wiled together were cut 11.5 by .75.  I also used my Cuttlebug for the roof (Mosaic Texture folder) and a Fiskars wood grain-embossing card for the walls.  It was a little tricky putting the paper in the Cuttlebug to make the pattern cover the entire length of the paper.  I had to turn it and put it thru on the other end (I do not have the long boards for my Cuttlebug L ).  After I embossed them, I scored the walls at ¼-inch intervals so it would look like wood planks.  Some ribbon and a tooth pick for the flag, a circle punch, and a mini square punch for the windows.  I even pulled out some decretive scissor for the grass around the base (I hadn’t used those in a long while).  Of course I did some inking and glued everything together. 

The can of beans is the perfect weight for the base.  I put an individual serving size can in the middle level as well. 

 I made the top open so I could put in a flameless tea light – after all, a lighthouse does need to light-up.


The hardest part was getting the paper to fit snuggly around the cans at even intervals and figuring the score lines to make it the hexagon shape fit.  I have a ¼-inch flap on top and bottom of each level so I could fold it over and have a surface to glue the sections together with. 

It was also tricky figuring out where to place the red strip of paper so it would line –up just the way I wanted it.  After a little trial and a few errors, the desired result was achieved. 

 

I made a matching card and tag from the “Life’s a Beach” cart.  The card was cut at 4 ½ by 6 inches.  The tag was cut at 2 ½ inches.  I added a little backer’s twin and here you have it. 

I am very pleased with how it all turned out.  Maybe I won’t get the beans back this time -  J  Hope you all like it.

Mini Teacher Gift Bags

I had my first Close to my Heart home gathering - only 2 people showed (sad face here with big pouty lips).  Oh well.  You win some you lose some.   We had a good time with the ladies that did show.  Big shout-out to Cyndi and Anna - Thanks for making it a fun evening!. 

Here are the projects we did at the gathering.

 

I used these cute little bags (cut from the Art Philosophy cart) for the teacher thank you gifts.  The stamps and papers are CTMH as well.  The bags are cut at 5” and the plaque on the bags are  cut at 2”. To fit a gift card better I would maybe stretch the bag a bit 5 ½ .

We also made a bookmark. I used papers from CTMH Florentine paper pack for this.

God Bless & Happy Scrapin!

Happy Easter -- Simple Gifts

Hello Friends. Family, and Followers,

I just wanted to share some quick Easter crafts with you. 

First, I made some supper easy candybar wrappers with the imagine and Nursery Tails.  I layered some patterns and images and added a monogram initial from A Child’s Year.  Since the Imagine and Cricut Craft Room (CCR) still don’t know how to cut and print a multilayered image without cutting all the layers into pieces, I only printed and then hand-cut the rectangle shape with my paper cutter.  Easy Peasy. 

Hey, did you notice -- Organic Chocolate?  We have been trying to eat healthy, fresh, natural, and organic – Who knew they could make chocolate even better for you --- Wooo Hooo!!

Next, I made some simple bunny Action Wobble head gift cardholders.  My kids are older, so I make a lot of gift cardholder these days.  Just used some stretched ovals, circles, ink, gem eyes, gamit glue, and ribbon – simple simple simple!  Then place I-tune cards inside and you’re done.

 Then I made the unhealthy stuff for the neighborhood kids.  Little Debbie brownie eggs with nerd feet turned in to cute little bunnies!  Stretched a tag from Art Philosophy cart for the carrot, added “Jesus Luvs U!“  -- my way to let them know it’s about Jesus.  The head shape is a folded shape from Art Philosophy again.

Simple Easter gifts – Hope you enjoyed my post.

God Bless and Happy Scrappin’!

Just Ducky - Baby Gift

This was super easy!  I put these together for some twins of an acquaintance.  I scrap-lifted the idea and added my own flare.  The idea was posted by craftycathryn on the circuit forum.  Hers are supper cute – she has the large Peachy Keen stamp set for the faces (you can see them on her blog In the Pink Designs, by cathryn here.  I love the way hers look so bright & cheery.  For mine, I added a receiving blanket wrapped around the packages of wipes.   

Duck features:    First, cut a sheet of paper to fit around each package.  I did not have the big peachy keen stamps so I had to piece- mill them together in the Cricut Craft Room.  I actually wielded two light bulbs ornaments from Create-A-Critter cart to make the duckbill, and then I used a sign shape for the feet.  Then cut in half, what I think was a pillow, for the individual wings ( all from Create A critter).  I inked the edges of everything, added two brads each for the eyes, then made a quick little card using Nursery Tails.

Thanks for looking

God Bless &  Happy Scrapin’

Tea Light Lantern -- Altered Project

 Our big lug of a dog broke an outdoor candle that used to set in a metal base.  My Husband threw this base stand in the recycled; So……

 

I recycled it in to this

 I think this would make a wonderful Mother’s Day gift!

I used Art Philosophy (AP) for most of the cuts and sized and wielded things together in Cricut Craft Room (CCR).  Here is how the lantern looked once it was cut (x2).

I spray-painted it with “Hammered Metal” Cream colored spray paint to make it more durable.  I also spray painted the inside with glow in the dark paint (just for fun).

All the roses are made from Art Philosophy (AP) cricut Cartridge on white and red paper.  Once all the roses were “quilted” and glued, I misted them all with glimmer mist in scarlet.    

The swirly scroll vine is from AP as well but I wielded some leaves from Flower Shop on the scrolls to make it look more like a vine.

I add some clear panes (cut from cartridge clamshells) behind the screen.

I am happy with the final product.  Hope you enjoyed!  God Bless and happy scrappin’

ABC Animal Book (Deployment gift)

 

I have a neighbor who is very sad about going TDY (Temporary Duty) for 6 months to Afghanistan (no they really don’t seem to be pulling out). She will miss all the holidays and birthdays for her 3 small children (ages: almost 1, soon to be 3, and 5 in spring). I wanted to do something to help her stay in touch with the kids.

I immediately thought of little cute cards for her to send home to them. I finally decided on a card a week, and thought that ABC card would be fun. I told her, she can tell the kids, she will be home before “Z”. I wanted the little ones to be able to see all the little animal cards mommy was sending home so I made up an album and place corner tabs for every card with a little label that said the name of the animal and the letter it represented. The front of the book says “How may weeks until mommy is home? Count the missing animals to find out” .

My hope is that it will be fun way for her to keep in touch and a cute way for the children to count down the weeks until she gets home. I also added a birthday card for each child and card for each holiday she will miss.

With all the work I put into this, it surprisingly only took 5 days from start to finish. I packaged all the cards up in a little box for her to pack in her bags, and gave the kids (and dad) the Blank Album to put the cards in as she sends them home. I left plenty of space for pictures of mommy in th front and back of the album  -- so the kids can “see her” as they look at all the cards she sent to them. I was going to pre-pay the postage for each card but have since found out that the military covers the coast of postage for our deployed troops.

I cut all the animals at what ever size each would have a good fit on a 4X 6 card.

I used only five cartridges on this project: Animal Kingdom, Create-a-critter, Designer Calander, Everyday Paper Dolls, and Zooballoo.

I printed the cover using Microsoft office and I used old sticker letters to place in the corner of each card. I also embellished come cards with googol eyes, stickles, brads & gems. I added a note of caution “not safe for children under 3” but hope it will be a book that the kids will share with an adult.