Friday, August 31, 2012

Scrapbook Friday: Character Page

Welcome to another Scrapbook Friday with My Cricut Craft Room. The call to the design team was character layouts. I have such a hard time with all the little details of the Disney Characters, but I also like a challenge so I decided to make a layout using the Tinker Bell & Friends cartridge.
I started with a layout idea from Becky Fleck's pagemaps book. I picked this layout out months ago when looking for a ideas for my photos and it turned out to be just right for what I wanted to do. I went searching for the right papers and found the colors I wanted with My Mind's Eye Laundry Line stack.  I pieced all my papers together first, even using a edger for some fun on my brown strip.
Once had the photos in place I patiently went on work on Tink. I cut her 2 times (throwing away the first after not being satisfied). I find that the larger I cut my characters the better so I made her pretty big,but not to large for my layout. The face parts are always the hardest for me so I choose to color the eyes with white and the blue over that rather than use the tiny pieces.

The final touches were a journal box and title. I cut the title off the Tinkerbell & Friends cart as well and placed it where it went with the sketch. Then added a simple journal box and extra piece of "ribbon" paper on the left side. I followed the sketch pretty close and love my results.


I hope you will stop by My Cricut Craft Room today and see what the other members of the Design Team have worked up today. I am sure they will not disappoint. Have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A Little Pick Me Up

 
A close friend recently lost her grandfather and I wanted to send a card as a little pick-me-up. I know many people often say how hard it is to make a sympathy card and I agree. I choose a sweet stamp from Pink By Designs Breast Wishes set to make this simple card.
I used paper from s-e-i Bright Blossom stack and cut a 5 x 5 card. Using my Creative Memories circle cutter I cut out the small circle on the front so you could see my sentiment on the inside.
Next, I cut out some simple butterflies from the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge.  I added them on so they would stick up a little and added some gold Stickles to them for a little something extra.
I know this is a hard time for her and I hope my card can bring a little smile her way. I will be linking this up to the Tuesday link Up Party at Sarah Hamer Designs.  Have a good day and thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

In Our Class: Twist on the Rules

Over the years of teaching I have learned that saying, "Don't do that!" or "Don't do this!" hardly ever get the message across to my middle school students. They know what not to do and often encouragement if best so this year I made a poster using my Silhouette and all my favorite fonts. The twist for this rules poster...it is what we do that matters.
I found this great poster idea on Pinterest and decided that I could make one to fit my own needs with a little tweaking. I love free printables but wanted mine to be much larger. I  started at my local teacher store with a blank notebook poster.
Next step was my planning process and selection of fonts. I made sure they were all readable. Once everything was cut out I started the gluing process...that took a long while. Getting each letter in the right places was not as easy as I had hoped (I am very thankful for the lines on the poster). When the letters were all in place I felt something was still needed.I added some simple star bursts that I cut using my Alphalicious Cricut Cartridge.
We went over these on the first day of school and now it hangs right in front of the room so they can all see it. So far the school year is going well. I'm hoping it stays that way. Thanks so much for stopping by this weekend.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Apple Page Pals

Welcome to Theme Day Thursday with My Cricut Craft Room. Today is all about Apples & Fruit. Very Back to School if you ask me!!

One of the things my students always need is bookmarks. I keep all sorts of them in my desk, but recently discovered these cute corner book marks and had to make some.
I found the cut for this with the Cricut Craft Room Exclusive Page Pals. There are 9 different corner book marks you can create. I selected the apple one with the word "read" on it for my first one. Once it was done I wondered what other apple cuts I could use so I went searching and selected the apples off Create-A-Critter and Doodlecharms to make 2 more book marks. (I used a blank Page Pal for these.)
 For the background of my Create-A-Critter apple I cut a small tag using the die from Pink by Designs Artisan Tags set. So easy to cut with your Cuttlebug (I used a B & C plate together on the white base)
Don't they just fit in the corner of a book so well? I think so and plan on making a bunch to keep on hand for students. I hope you will head over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the other design team members have created with our apple and fruit theme. Have a great day! 

Monday, August 20, 2012

Which Direction Will You Go?

Back to School time has officially arrived for me. Today is the first day with my new group of middle schoolers. I tend to love the first day of school, but I am sad to see summer go. BUT... It is time now for the 3rd installment of my Back to School Wall Display. This display is all about getting involved in the different sports and clubs offered at my school and I so love creating it each year. My theme for the year...
Thanks to my sister's travel theme I came up with the idea of creating this giant road sign pointing towards all our school offers students for getting involved. I cut out 20 of these sign markers with my Cricut Pop-Up Neighborhood and using my Silhouette I select 20 different fonts to add on with the titles.
It was a lot of fun selecting all the different fonts and finding a few new free ones for my collection. For the title of the wall I selected the cute arrow font on Boys Will Be Boys.
I made myself a road map before heading out to hang this at school, last week, because I wanted to make sure I had things in the order I planned (Very helpful).
I am happy with the results and several teachers have already told me it is there favorite of the 3..not bad!!  Happy Back to School to everyone. I hope it is a great year!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

I Do Box

My cousin is getting married..super excited for her and her soon to be groom. There was a wonderful engagement party last weekend and I wanted to get the couple a little something. I got a gift card to a fun shop that carries all sorts of fun things for home and party. I made this cute little gift card box to put it in.
This simple box was cut with my Cameo. I used a 3D gift card box by Lori Whitlock, but I removed the "Happy Birthday" saying from the lid. This box goes together so easy with super sticky red adhesive tape.
This paper is from the DCWV Cotton Bloom stack and I love how the striped patterned paper look on the lid. I cut the topper using my Sweethearts Cricut Cartridge.  I added a cute little bow and away we went to a great party. Here is the inside of the box (a third cut you place inside to hold your gift card.
The party was super fun (a Pinterest explosion...so many great ideas came from there for the decor).  They even had a fun photo booth..my daughter was mad for it. My husband was not to happy about this picture though... Have a great weekend.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Luggage Locker Tags

In first grade, locker tags are very important. Your name on your locker is a big deal. For my sister, locker tags have become the topic of discussion the last few years. Each year she creates a wonderful theme and make locker tags to go with. Other teachers and parents often ask her what the new theme will be.

In the past she has hand drawn and traced characters from books, but the last two years she has had me as her secret weapon. Last year I made large paper dolls that matched the school uniforms (she was very picky about the hair styles and colors..thanks to a yearbook). This year a travel theme.
We went back and forth on what to use and decided that suitcases for the lockers would be best. I found two we liked on Going Places and Summer Vacation. I cut out 20 and backed them with white.
Next, we selected a luggage tag from Fabulous Finds. I cut these in a variety of colors and then printed and attached each students (or teachers) name into a tag. She felt this was plain so I suggested adding a pennant and letter in the school colors. Cutting out all those small orange Varsity Letter E's was not fun, but we got them. They look great on top of the Locker Tag pennants.
I have heard from her that this year's locker tags were a great success and being the great sister she is, she gave me some credit for helping out. It is fun to get my elementary teacher on every now and than. Next week I go full time back to being a middle school teacher so it was a welcome break.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Flower Frame Fanatic!

A few weeks ago I made a sweet little frame for my daughter by covering up a leftover frame from our school dance this Spring. Now I have become obsessed with making them.
I am not sure if it is because...
A. They are super easy to make.
B. I love making 3D flowers with my Cameo.
C. They make great gifts.
D. I am using up this box of leftover frames without throwing them away.
E. ALL OF THE ABOVE
I start out by measuring, cutting and gluing down all the base papers. I draw lines on the back to make this easier and use my cutter to do the inside square. Next I used ribbon adhesive and attach my ribbon selection to the inside rim to cover the cut edges.
Next, it is all about flowers. I have been using my Cameo to make this flower by Lori Whitlock over and over again. I cut it in various sizes and often mix and match patterns and solids to create these fun flowers. Smaller brads work best with these holes. I attach them with large glue dots and curl the edges in with my hands.
The final touch on each frame a is sentiment. In this set all the stamps are Pink By Design. I used the Capture Life (SOTM July 2012), Just Breathe, & Life's A Garden sets to add these little touches. These frames will be Back 2 School Gifts for the teachers in the 8th grade English department (my team!) as we start off the new year. What a perfect link up for the Tuesday Link Up Party!

Monday, August 13, 2012

My Imagine-ation Monday: Better Together

Welcome to another My Imagine-ation Monday with My Cricut Craft Room. Today, for my design team post I am using the Imagine Cartridge Better Together. I was looking over the book and decided I really liked all the flower cuts on this cart. I print and cut a few of them to make this sweet card for a friend I am sending some photos to.
I used a stock 5x7 card and added a layer of  of color after I used some sandpaper to bring out some of the white core to the edges and middle.
I added the flowers onto the bottom using some small pop-up dots that I rolled up to fit the stems. The final touch was a stamp from Pink By Designs Just Breathe set which I added on with some large pop-up dots and placed a cute mini clip to the side. 
Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. I hope you will head over to My Cricut Craft Room and see what the other designer's have in store for you today.  

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Teacher Sign

Last Spring a co-worker took a class in sign language and enjoyed it so much. I wanted her to have a fun memory of that for her classroom this year. Do you know what this sign spells out??
TEACHER
I used the CCR Exclusive American Sign Language to cut these wonderful hands out for my sign. I glued the black on top of the red while they were still attached to my mat, so lucky it all cut so nicely.
After getting a solid backing piece put together I wanted to cover the places my paper overlapped so I pulled out some fun decorative tape in a few different patterns and placed the strips all along the back in a semi-organized pattern. (some got a little crooked!)
Once the letters were placed on with pop-up foam pieces I felt that just one more little touch was needed so I added a little bow. 
I stuck magnet tape on the back so she could display it on her board at school. Us teachers arrive back to work on Thursday so it is time to get ready to go!!