A lightbulb moment ...!

A little while ago, Mr Crafty Cow saw a motivational quote on a poster belonging to one of our friends who owns and runs Development Matters, a Management & Business Development  Consultancy back in the UK,  and instantly wanted one for his office at work.

After studying it for a while, I wondered whether I could possibly make something similar using my Cricut machine and so decided to have a play.  Mr CC wanted a smaller version in a frame that he could display on his desk (as those who know him will also know that he is severely 'DIY challenged' and therefore anything that requires hanging on a wall is a non starter!).

After finding a frame that he liked at our local Home Store which was 8" x 10", I went about creating the template in Cricut Craft Room.  I played about with the lettering from the cartridges I already owned, but in the end went with the font from the free Cricut Craft Room Basics as this seemed to work the best.   The original poster featured a crown,  however,  as I didn't have anything suitable on any of my cartridges (and buying a new one just for the one element seemed to defeat the object of the exercise) I decided to use a lightbulb image from the Cricut Alphabet cartridge (I just used the blackout image as I didn't want the swirly bits!).

I then cut it out from a red cardstock with gold foiling which came from the gorgeous DCWV stack called 'Dear Jane', and using the negative image, matted some plain white card behind it.  (This was infinitely easier than using the positive images and trying to line them all up exactly!).

Here's the end result ...

I am still not too sure about the light bulb and think I would have preferred a crown, but that would have increased the cost by at least another $20 for a new cartridge.  As it is, it just cost $9.99 for the frame and two pieces of card that I already had in my stash.  Mr CC loves it, which I guess is all that matters, but I am still undecided.  What do you think?

Here is the original piece owned by our friend (thanks Julia!) .... and if you are in the market for any coaching or leadership development, check out her website and testimonials over at Development Matters!

Card Concept Challenge #38

Whilst I have seen lots of challenges on the multitude of craft blogs out there, I have never submitted one before.  The latest post from the The Card Concept really caught my eye and motivated me to get out my stamps and ink and have a go.   Even if you don't feel confident enough to enter one of these challenges, they are great to get those creative juices flowing - hop and over and take a look!

This one is a color challenge - Yellow, White & Grey - which are colors I would never have thought to use together in a craft project.  This is what I came up with following I guess the 'Clean and Layered' style ...

Supplies used (all Stampin' Up unless otherwise stated) :

Cardstock in Hello Honey, Whisper White
Patterned paper - Moonlight DSP stack
Flower patch stamp set
Inks - Smoky Slate and Daffodil Delight
Flower Fair dies
Sentiment from Crazy About You stamped in Smoky Slate
A few crystals from my stash
Silver glitter ribbon - I think I picked this up at Tiger Tiger in the UK before we moved over :)

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.
Bev x

Paper Roses

Hello Crafty Friends!

Now that we have settled into our new home in Scottsdale, Arizona (you can read all about that on my other blog if you are interested - just click here Barlow's Big Adventure) and all the boxes of crafty stash ... and trust me, there were A LOT! ... are finally unpacked and installed in my new craft room (which Mr Crafty Cow thinks is his study ... honestly), I finally managed to carve out some 'me' time this past week and scratch that crafty itch ... Yay!

As well as completing three Project Life pages (being behind is killing me!), I also made these cute pink sparkly roses, which I saw over on Dawns Stamping Thoughts.

She used a die from the Stampin' Up range, however, as I don't own that particular die but have a very similar image on my Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge, I decided to use that and give it a go.

Tip:  If you don't have access to any dies you could still have a go at making one of these by drawing round a saucer or small plate and then cutting the spiral shape with scissors.  You obviously wouldn't get the scalloped edge and the width of the spiral would not be consistent, but that doesn't matter, it will just makes a more interesting flower shape - there are no rules in crafting!

First I cut the 'Basic Shape 1' at 5" from pink cardstock.

Next, I took a bone folder and gently shaped the paper to make it more pliable and easier to work with.  (I stress the word gently because if you tear it you will have to start again .... ahem)

The paper will curl up as you work your way around, but that's OK, just keep going.

Then, starting with the small end, start to roll it up tightly, until you reach the large circle at at the end.

You can now see your rose taking shape.  Let it go so that it unfurls a little into a more natural flower shape.

I turned it over and pressed down hard with the back of my hand to break down the fibres of the paper a little more and make it look a bit more 'distressed'.

Then, when you are happy with the shape, place a dab of good quality wet glue on the circle and hold it in place for a minute or so until it dries (I used Tombow glue but I also like Cosmic Shimmer as it doesn't stick to your fingers as much!)

Finally, I used a 2 way glue pen, to dab some glue on the petals, and then drenched it in some dazzling diamonds glitter.  Shake of the excess and .... Ta Dah!  A sparkly pink rose.

You could use this to embellish a special card (that you are going to hand deliver!) or put it on the front of a parcel or gift bag, but I decided to use mine to adorn the front of a cute Dress Box that I had been dying to make from the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes & More 2 cartridge.  Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by, and for sticking with me through the Crafty Mooo-ve!

TTFN

Bev x