Fourth of July Flip-Flops!

Hi Everyone, It's Sonya from Sonya's Paper Trail today and I'd like to start off by wishing my fellow American crafters a very Happy Independence Day!   I wanted to create a card that was patriotic, but a bit funky and fun...and flip-flops seemed to be the perfect combination.  

Check out my card for today:

 

The papers for this card are from a We R Memory Keepers 6 by 6 paper pad called, appropriately enough, "Red, White & Blue."  My wonderful neighbor gave this to me as a gift and I could hardly wait to put it to good use!  The flip-flops are from the Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons Cricut Cartridge and are cut at 3 inches.  The "USA" letters are from Base Camp, which is an older cartridge, but still one of my favorite font cartridges.

 

To add a bit of flair to my sandals, I pulled out some small Prima Flowers and adhered those to the toe strap with glue dots.  I used an adhesive gemstone for the center of the flower.

 

Here's a close up of the border I created.  I only have a couple of edge punches, but I sure get good use out of them.  This particular punch is by EK Success. Do you have a "go to" punch?  I'd love to hear your suggestions, perhaps I'll add another one to  my little collection. 

That's all I have to share today...just a simply summer card that mixes a lot of patterned papers for a fun look.  Hope you like it!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

--Sonya--

Birthday Banner

Good Thursday to Everyone!
Gaby here with a From Start to Finish Banner.
My Sister Monica recently celebrated her 40th B-day and I want to show you how I created this banner. I was inspired by a banner Jana Eubank created back in October for Halloween.
After deciding on the design and my sister's likes and her colors (yes, we were all asked to wear black and turquoise!..that's my family! Never mind be happy that I show up to you party, and maybe bring you a gift, but I must wear specific colors? lol... we actually enjoy that kind of stuff!) I set out to create or design on my Gypsy.
For the design: I first had to decide how many pieces/flags I needed for my banner: -HAPPY- -4OTH- -MONI- That is a total of 16 pieces/flags (I cut her name short, phew!!...kidding again, we do call her Moni). Next, I had the colors, black and turquoise and finally I had to decide on the actual theme. Even though my sister is on dialysis, she still keeps her spirits up by always wearing make up and wearing dresses and stockings with high hills most of the time. So there it was the other part of my design!
My next step was to see how much card stock and pattern paper I needed.
After I gathered all the pieces I decided to use
Cricut Country Life, Forever Young, MS All Occasions Cake Art, MS Seasonal Cake Art, and Base Camp cartridges for my project.
Using Country Life I cut 16 of this banners at 11.5" our of very thick heavy DCWV card stock.

I cut 16 of the layers using patter paper also at 11.5"

I adhered the base and layer together using my ATG gun.  I want to mention that I did not need to cut the layer using card board because there was no need since the base card stock was heavy enough, otherwise I would have had to cut the layer twice, once in card board, the other using pattern paper.

My next step was to create 16 rosettes, one for each piece/flag

Using the MS Seasonal Cake Art cartridge and my Gypsy just to see how many I could fit on sheet.  I was able to fit 6 pieces cut at 2".  I used 4 pieces for each rosette, so I had to cut 64 pieces or 10 times a whole sheet plus an additional sheet with only 4!!! My Expression was churning!

Here you can see that I had to score at each peak and valley.  That is 64 x 11.. that is 704 times!

Yes, my fingers were sore!  And I had to fold them too! (now you know why I cut her name short! lol)

This is how I folded each piece in a zig-zag motion.

Next I had to adhere 4 pieces together. You do this by overlapping the ends or two peak and one valley.

This is what it looks like when all 4 pieces are adhered to each other.

Next step is to bring it down or push it down and inward.  It is much easier than it looks. Here I am using one hand so that I can photograph with the other. But with a little finesse and both hands, it is not that hard.

At this point you need to have some 1" circles already punched and the glue gun ready!

Oh, you will be so glad you have a glue gun!

I forgot to take a picture of the scalloped circle I cut to use in between the flag/piece and the rosette.

I cut 16 scalloped circles at 5" using MS All Occasions Cake Art

This was my basic piece/flag for my banner.  I now had to create something to decorate each one of them.

I am not very please on the location of the banner's placement.  I don't think that it highlighted the design and colors, but the party was not at my house! I feel that a banner like this placed on a flat colored wall or surface would emphasise the design much better! What do you think?

For the 3D star I used a Sizzix die and for the 40th I used my Gypsy to weld everything together and create the layer/shadow. The 4 and 0 were size 5" and the t and the h were cut/welded at 2.88" using Base Camp.

She was cut using Forever Young at 7" and her layers. Added a little bling and tulle to her dress.

The lipstick was also cut at 5" with its layers using the Forever Young cartridge.

Added bling and Glossy Accents.

I additionally cut and decorated a piece/flag with a nail polish cut at 5"; the high hills/shoes at 5"; the perfume bottle at 4"; and the boots at 6" using the Forever Young cartridge.
All the letters were cut using Base Camp at 5" with their respective layers.
I finished the banner using lots of black and turquoise ribbon and black tulle.

Thanks for visiting and thanks to Sheila for allowing me to be part of this Awesome team/blog

Baseball Purse & Box

Guest Designer Lori Apgar
I was in a Gypsy rut and SassyLady challenged me to make a box. Now, I have never made a box before AND I loaned my TBBM cart to a friend over a year ago. I got the cart a long time ago BE (Before Expression) and then was frustrated at how small things cut!! Well, SassyLady inspired me to make a box so I finally had a reason to get my cart back!!

I am a Baseball Mom and baseball season is just getting started, so I wanted to make a baseball themed box. I couldn't just make a box ~ I NEEDED to make a purse too!! One of my fellow Baseball Moms is a 5 year Breast Cancer Survivor, so this purse is dedicated to her. When our boys went to nationals at age 10, she had recently lost her hair from chemo. She proudly painted her head to look like a baseball and put all of the boys' jersey numbers on it for opening ceremonies. She wanted all of the other Baseball Moms to know that this can happen to Baseball Moms too - get your mamograms!!!

I used the purse on page 118 sized at 11.79 x 7.26. I used watercolor paper to cut out the purse with the multi cut set at 3.





I repeated the cut (no multi cut) with the baseball paper. I found this paper at Hobby Lobby from Paper Studio. I scored thw watercolor paper purse and the paper. I put the watercolor purse together and used tacky tape to stick it together. I trimmed off the flaps and bottom of the baseball paper and glued it to my box using my 5" Xyron.




From the Baseball Cartridge, I used Baseball at 2.40 x .68 and 2nd Base at 3.31 x .92. From Base Camp I used MOM at 1.39 x .58 and SAVE at 2.01 x .85. I cut these words out of pink cardstock.



I used my Xyron 1" sticker maker to adhere Baseball Mom to the front flap and Save 2nd Base to the back of the purse. I used pink acrylic paint and a foam brush to ink the edges. I added a ribbon handle, some boa trim (to make it Sassy!) and three crystals to the flap.



Baseball Box:
I wanted to make a basic box. I cut out the box on page 119 at 11.96 x 9.29. I used watercolor paper to cut out the box with the multi cut at 3. I repeated the cut just once with the same baseball paper as the purse. I scored both the watercolor paper and the baseball paper.



From the Baseball cart, I cut out the scoreboard at 2.82 x 2.71. I also cut out all three layers of the baseball at 1.15 x 1.11. I cut out the numbers for the score board from Base Camp. I had to rotate the numbers in order to determine the best size. I originally cut the numbers out in the regular font option in white paper. I changed to black letters and also to the shadow option. The regular font was too delicate. I decided not to put the baseball paper behind the score board, so white was not going to show up!

I cut out the HOME RUN from Base Camp in regular and shadow. I rotated the shadow letters around the blackout baseball shape. I welded HOME RUN around the ball.



I arranged the pieces on my mat by color, placed the paper on the mat and cut. I used green for the score board, red for the baseball, black for the blackout baseball, white for the numbers (originally) and the shadow ball and blue (for my son's team)for the letters.


I assembled the box and used tacky tape to adhere it together. I used my 5" Xyron to adhere the score board to the front of the box. I cut apart the pieces of the box from the baseball paper and used my 5" Xyron to adhere the paper to the remaining three sides. Originally, I was going to put the baseball on the opposite side of the scoreboard (back of the box) but I liked it better on the top. I lined the inside of the top flap with the baseball paper. I tied a ribbon on the inside of the box to make a handle. I planned on inking the edges in brown, but really liked the clean look of the box ~ so I left it!!


Thank you SassyLady for the inspiration and for the opportunity to guest design on your blog!! You are so talented and it is an honor to be here!!