Jigglin' Christmas in July...

Hey Everyone,

Well, today, I get to be a "Sassy Dude" again.  Hee! Hee!  Thanks so much, Sheila, for letting me play with ya'll again.  So... I know around here, it's been so stinkin' hot!  I guess this project was just wishful thinking, but I was really excited with the way it turned out.  A dear friend of ours sent us a card that they made.  They got a kit where the cards rock and wobble.  When I saw the card, I thought it was really a cool idea and knew that... with enough time... could figure out a way to make one with the Cricut and Gypsy, so that is exactly what I did.  At the bottom of this post, you will find the Gypsy file for this particular one so that you can play and make your own too!

 Isn't he just too much fun?!?  This was actually pretty simple to make, but it did take a few cartridges to get the reindeer out of it all.  The cartridges I used are 3 Birds on Parade, Christmas Cheer, Create a Critter, George and Basic Shapes and Plantin Schoolbook.

 There are several basic shapes used together to assemble the body and the base.  Layer 1 is really all you need for any design.  The intricate details are on Layer 2.  You can see the body on the bottom right, the rocker base on the bottom left, the 3D legs in the middle-upper right and the tail on the top right.  The hooves are on the top left.  The two rounded rectangles on the bottom left are going to be used later...

 Layer 2 is going to be for your personalizing to make it the type of critter you are going for.  The base of the head shape is actually one of the fat little birds from the 3 Birds cartridge.  The antlers are from another type of reindeer on Christmas Cheer.  The Saddle was made using Plantin Schoolbook with the banner backgrounds.

 This is using the eye view so that you can see what will actually cut.  It makes it easier to see the actual shapes with the red welding removed.

This is also using the eye view so that you can see the other layer without all the red.  This one is easier to describe, so on the left bottom, you have your deer head shape and the second 3D layer.  On the top left, you have your antler layer, chin and back of the nose.  On the top right (left side) you have white eyes with the cut out for the black.  The black is on the right side.  On the bottom of this 6 inch square on the left side, you have the nose.  On the bottom right you have the center of the saddle.

 To make this a little easier to follow, I threw in a couple of mat pics.  Above, you will see how to layout the paper for Layer 1.

When cut, this is what comes out when you pull away the extra card stock.

 This is how the paper is laid out for Layer 2.  You can use whatever pattern papers you like, but I just wanted to show my choices so that you can see the finish product, but all of the layers through out the process.

This is what you have when you remove the extra card stock.  Staring to see it?  Hee! Hee!

The next thing is to ink all of your pieces.  I used Cocoa with a makeup wedge to ink everything.  Super easy.  I don't always ink everything when I make cards, but for this one, you pretty much have to because so much of it is solid.

The next step is to put start assembling your pieces.  Here is where the magic begins.  Can you see where you could make lots of other critters with this design?  You could do a cow, pig, horse, etc.  Really fun!  I simply used Scrappy Glue to put all of these layers together.

 The next step is to put together his head.  I used 3D foam adhesive on the back of the pieces.  Then just peel and stick!

 This is what his face looks like when it's all stuck together!  Cute, huh?

The next thing is to take a black marker and draw on his mouth.  Also, use a white opaque marker to dot his eyes and add a little glow on his nose.

The next step is to fold a couple of pieces.  Fold the body in half, score and fold.  Also the tail.  Take the white rounded rectangle pieces.  Fold one direction in the middle and then fold the opposite direction in the middle again, going the other way.  This will give you the zig zag shape as shown in the picture above.

Next, open the folded body and glue on the tail in the center.  Then add the white rockers to the bottom.  Glue one side first, then fold it back to make sure you have even placement on both sides.  Otherwise, it may not stand up.  It does need to be pretty precise.

Next, glue in your zig zag pieces.  Folding this way will allow the card to stay flat so that you can send it in a regular envelope.

Now you have your rocker platform!  Cool, huh?

Finally, add your saddle to the body, 3D adhesive on your leg pieces and take a piece of acrylic 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long.  For mine, I always cut all of the flat pieces out of my Cricut Cartridge wrappers and they are perfect for this project!  I just used ATG tape on both sides to make it stick.  This actually will hold the head on the body with strength, but when the card is rocking, the head will jiggle.

This was such a fun project and I couldn't wait to share it with you today!  There are so many more cards on our blog.  Visit anytime!  We would love to have you over!  Here is a link to Cricut Couple.

As always, we would really love to hear your comments!

In closing, hopefully, he cooled you off a little bit in this heat!  We are so excited about Christmas this year.  It's never to soon to start planning.  Below is a link to the Gypsy file for you to try as well!  Thanks so much for visiting today!

Click Here to Download Jiggling Deer Gypsy File