Project #3 Spring Self Challenge & Polka Doodles Challenge Entry

Good evening to all! I hope everyone had a great weekend! It was a gorgeous, warm & sunny weekend here in Northern Connecticut. I'm sure it won't last long but I've been trying to enjoy it while it lasts! I have been super duper inspired this weekend by a lot of new (and treasured not-so new) creation blogs and many hours spent wandering around both Michael's and JoAnn's Fabrics! Because I can never remember what products I want or where it was I first found them, I have decided to make a visual wish list. So while I was meandering around the craft stores, I took pictures (sometimes with my cell phone camera and other times with the regular camera) of the things I wanted to purchase at another time. Just a way I have come up with to help with my Fibro-fogged brain! I would love to hear your suggestions for remembering or wish listing! I need all the help I can get these days! lol OK, now on to the Project!

"Gear Up For A Happy 5th Birthday Mason"

Have you checked out the Polka Doodle Challenge Blog? It's FANTASTIC and there are so many great crafters! Be sure to check it out! I have been working on this birthday card for my Great Nephew for quite a few days. Piece by piece and a little at a time...it's finally finished! :) He is turning 5 at the end of this month (bet you couldn't figure that out?! lol) and is obsessed with the movie "Cars". I saw a really cute collection of "Cars" chipboard shapes at Michael's a few weeks ago and knew they would come in handy!

The Polka Doodle Week 10 Challenge was to create a card to celebrate a milestone birthday or anniversary. So Mason's 5th birthday was the perfect milestone I needed! The background card stock is black and the large 5 on the front is cut out from the front card flap.

I used the Cricut Alphalicious cartridge and the Design Studio Software to make the "5". I cut it once in white using the shadow function and again in bright red using the base number. Added some yellow card stock to the left side and adhered the white "5" shadow first. Then added the red "5" with pop dots to add dimension. I added the Lightening McQueen chipboard image with pop dots as well so he would be as high off the card as the number 5. Just to be certain he wouldn't drive away (heehee) I adhered him to the bottom of the 5 as well.

One of the movie's tag lines is "Gear Up". I decided to bring that into the card as an added bonus for my Car's loving nephew! ;) I cut "Gear Up" using the Cricut Alphalicious cartridge. I did one cut in black card stock using the base shift letters and a one cut in white card stock using the shadow shift feature. I adhered them together and plopped them on the yellow strip. As a finishing touch to the outside of the card I added a little line/dot border with a fine tip black marker around the yellow section and around the red "5".

There we have the front of the card! I took this picture to try to show the "5" cutout. In hindsight it would have been great if I took these pics on something other than a black table so the card would have shown up better! Oh well! (sigh)

For the inside of the card, I adhered two strips of white card stock that would stay hidden behind the solid part of the front flap. Using the Alphalicious cart (again!) and the DSS I was able to get my letters small enough to fit in this small space. I shadowed the "5th" with black and used the same yellow card stock from the front to make the milestone pop again! (Five is a BIG accomplishment you know! It takes a WHOLE hand to show your age! lol) The other words were welded together (FAVE feature of DSS!) and cut on black card stock.

Here's a closeup of the inside wording. I like how the letters came out different sizes. Usually I'm a perfectionist about my sizes and positioning of things but for this card, I let myself be a little crazy! (woohoo! lol)

It feels great to be creating again and participating in some blog challenges along the way! :) Check out the great blog candy opportunities on the right sidebar of my blog!

Happy almost Monday! :)

"For Your Little Monkey" Shaped Card

PROJECT #1 of 30

I created this Monkey shaped Baby Shower card for my dear friend Rebecca. She has chosen not to find out what gender her new baby is, so keeping with neutrals and her nursery "jungle" theme, I thought this Monkey cut from Everyday Paper Dolls would make the perfect card!
To begin with, I wanted my monkey to be fuzzy so I decided to use felt. Mind you, I've never used felt with my Cricut before so this was definitely a learning process! To make the felt less flexible and easier to cut, I adhered felt to card stock using a spray adhesive. I cut the monkey from dark brown felt first then light brown felt (for accents). I cut two more monkeys using dark brown card stock to create the card background. I cut one more monkey in white card stock for the inside.
After drawing on my monkey's accents with a black fine-tipped Sharpie, I assembled the rest of his accents using hot glue. I added a heart shaped felt nose and googly eyes. I also outlined the whole felt monkey using a regular tipped black Sharpie and blotted red Sharpie in his mouth for added color. When assembling was finished, I used a wire brush to "rough" up the felt to make the monkey appear more fuzzy. I used small circular movements to get the felt to "fuzz up".
Once the background card was assembled, I adhered the white monkey cut to the inside bottom portion of the card. I added a little ribbon to the top for a seamless fold. The phrase "For your little monkey" was penned using a Creative Memories fine-tip brown pen as well as the border around the monkey shape. After finishing both sections of the card (the felt piece and the card background/inside) I adhered the felt section to the front of the card using hot glue for a permanent bond. One last look to make sure all my pieces matched and the monkey was still fuzzy and (ta-DA!) he was ready to go!
This picture is taken as a side view to try to capture the "fuzz factor"! The pictures do not do this little monkey justice!

The monkey is now in his new home and waiting eagerly for the new arrival!