Later Sk8r Pillow Box

 
Of all of the items I did for my swap, this project is my favorite.  Which is funny because it's the one I struggled with most of all trying to decide what to do.   I love it because it has a bit of feminine flair (as I was so done with doing boy things by then...did I mention we have a girl dominated household?) and it's the first time I've done this flower.  I've been very much stuck on the roses, but I felt that this paper was too casual for the formality of the rose.  So I took a chance and did this one.  I think its my new favorite flower.  LOVE IT! (sung with a beautiful, angelic vibrato) Plus, it was a TON easier to put together than a rose.

And just so you know,  I used BOTH Cricut cartridges for this project.  The pillow box was cut from Artiste and the flower and frame was cut from Art Philosophy.

Here's what you will need for this project:

• Cricut Art Philosophy
• Cricut Artiste
• Later Sk8r paper
• B1417 Perfect Fit- Birthday
• D1536 Perfect Fit- Frames 2 (or 1...either will work...check out our whole Perfect Fit collection)
• Outdoor Denim Ink
• Slate Ink
• Pear Ink
• Lagoon Ink
• Licorice Opaque Pearls
• Harvest Bakers Twine
• Foundry Metal Accent Pin Clips
• Round Studs
• Quilling tool
• Scoring Stylus
• Liquid Glass
• 3-D Foam Tape

If you've never done one our flowers, let me talk you through it.  Step One...cut it out.  Step Two...place the end (which will be the middle of the flower) into the slit in the quilling tool and roll the flower around the tool as far as you can.  Take it off the tool and flick it to loosen it up.  Step three...add liquid glass to the base and arrange flower as tight or as loose as desired.  Step 4...once it's dried, I add a bit of liquid glass to the center of the flower and place a pearl or sparkle to the center.  Viola. Done!

To get the texture on the leaves, I cut the leaves out using the Cricut Art Philosophy. Then, I scored a line down the center with a stylus, folded it in half and ran through a crimping tool at an angle. 

Later Sk8r "Awesome Day" Layout

I was recently in a swap and was given our new Later Sk8r papers to work with.  It was quite the challenge for me as our household revolves around all things girly.  Poor Greg is out numbered!  Even the dog is a girl...well we do have one boy dog, but he's a tea cup Yorkie and his masculinity doesn't count for much.  One of the biggest complaints I hear is that there isn't enough "boy" scrapbooking stuff.  Well, if this doesn't scream "BOY", I don't know what does! So for the next several posts, I'm going to be focusing on projects created with Later Sk8r.

All the gears and letters were cut from the Cricut Artiste cartridge.   I used all things pewter and threw a few stamps on as well.  If you want to duplicate this layout, here's a few things you will need:

• G1057 WOTG Later Sk8r (this has the paper and stamp set needed)
• B1415 In Gear
• Z1790 Cricut Artiste
• Z1705 Studs
• Z1487 Pewter Mini Medley
• Z1366 Brad Assortment
• Slate Ink
• Outdoor Denim Ink
• 3-D Tape

The pattern I used is found in the "Make It From You Heart" book on page 8.  When arranging the gears, I just imagined they were flowers.  I also placed them as random clusters and not so straight and lined up as the pattern shows. 

Hammer the brads flat for a more industrial look.

I distressed the edges of the gears in slate ink.  I also stamped textures on some of the cogs using B1415 In Gear.  This stamp set is awesome because it coordinates with the Cricut Artiste.  Layer and double layer the gears with 3-D foam tape for added dimension.  Use brads and ribbon slides to finish the look. 

 

It never fails that every time I finish a project, I can always come up with something else I should have or could have done.  Have you ever done that?   I've been seeing a lot of great things being done with the new glitter paper and couldn't help but wonder what this layout would have looked like if I had done some of the gears in silver glitter paper.  If I had done that, I would have changed the embellishments to silver and not used pewter as it would have had a completely different look and feel.

Sadie's Cake Smash Banner

Wednesday night was Sadie's official cake smash photo shoot.  I did a bunch of research before hand and loved the ones with banners in the background.  I thought to myself, "I could do a really cool one".  Late Wednesday afternoon, I finally HAD to get something put together.  Luckily, I had something in mind already AND a stash of amazing papers, embellishments and supplies, so it went together pretty fast.  And can I say...there's nothing better than a NEW bottle of liquid glass when you're in a hurry!

I knew I wanted to use our new Chantilly paper.  Now, to find a lace romper to match.  There were too many choices.   What would your choice have been?

 Here is the full banner:

Some MUST HAVES for this project are

• Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge
• Chantilly Paper
• Sparkles Clear Flourishes (small and/or original)
• Hollyhock Zipper Lace
• Hooray Bouquet Stamp
• Liquid Glass
• 3-D Foam Tape
• Cotton Candy Ink
• Creme Brulee Ink
• Adventure Mini Pigment Ink Tower (Hollyhock and Cotton Candy)
• various ribbon and other embellishments as desired

Here's a few close up shots and tips:

I cut the outside pennant out of the Cotton Candy cardstock (comes in paper pack) at 7 inches. The inside piece was cut at 6 3/4 inches.

The flowers were cut at 1 1/4" and stamped in Cotton Candy and Creme Brulee.  Buttercup is actually the yellow color in this kit, but I preferred the richness of the Creme Brulee ink since the yellows needed to pop and not blend.

The letters were old Dimensional Elements that I had handy. I could have cut them out on the Cricut or used any of our various letter sets.  I chose to use the chipboard letters because I wanted to cover them in liquid glass and cardstock would have curled.  I didn't have time for that.  So I had to color them.  Here's a tip: If you use our exclusive ink and liquid glass, the color will change a bit since the ink is water based.  To prevent this,  I was so thrilled to use our new mini pigment pads. I did use both the Cotton Candy and Hollyhock to give the letters the rich color I wanted so they would pop and not just blend into the paper. Then, I covered them in Liquid Glass and set them aside to dry.  They came out perfect. Speaking of Liquid Glass...it's also perfect for attaching the zipper and pom pom trim.

I'm ashamed to admit that this was the first chance I had to use our Sparkle Flourishes.  WOW!  LOVE THEM!  I'm definitely a sparkle girl, but I was afraid they would be difficult to pull off the carrier sheet and lace on my project.  Boy, was I wrong!!!! So easy!!!!

I think that's about all the tips I have for you.  It was a pretty simple project even though it doesn't look it.  Comment or message me on Facebook if you have questions.

Here are a few behind the scenes of the actual photo shoot.  I can't wait to see the final photos.  Sadie was absolutely hilarious to watch and really enjoyed herself.  I'm so glad we did it. Needless to say, there wasn't much recognizable cake in the end.  She absolutely pulverized it!

Here is Greg feeding her a treats to keep her in place for the pre-cake shots.  She has never been on a hard floor and was totally sliding around going nuts.  Maybe I should clean my kitchen floor on occasion and let her go to town.

Her first cake exploration moments. "What is this stuff?"

Now she has the hang of it!  

 

Thanks Lynette! We had a great time!