25 DAYS OF CHISTMAS! THEME: ANIMALS

Welcome to Erica's Craft Room 25 Days of Christmas, with 25 Cricut projects a day.

Don't forget to stop by Erica's blog to see 24 more projects today and EVERY day in December.

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

I'll be sharing two projects with you.  Our theme today was "Animals".  I have a really cute page from a scrapbook album I wanted to share with you.  I'm sure that you'll be seeing a lot of Create a Critter today, but I wanted to highlight these two pups along side a tree from Heritage.  The idea is that the tree will include names of the family and the dogs will also be represented as members of the family too.  The paper is DCWV.

Above view, without leaves, on my messy table....

The Family name leaves.

A Close Up of the Pups..

 My second project to show you today is one I have been wanting to try for a while... Long before my three year old mastered the game, I developed a slight addiction to the game Angry Birds.  I'm the type of "gamer" though, that once I beat all of the levels I'm done with the game.  My sone, however, plays it constantly.  He loves "Ang-y Birds".  His Haloween pumpkin was an "Ang-y" Bird, and I searched like mad to find toddler sized Angry Bird apparel (they don't make it...  I had to have one custom done..!)  Anyway, as I began to make ornaments using my Cricut this year an awesome idea popped in my head.  Their design is simple, and I'd bet I can make it out of George.  Well (forgive me for this one....)  BY GEORGE I CAN!

Here is a screen shot of what the cuts look like on CCR:

In order: White, Black, Yellow

 The larger circle was supposed to be his underbelly.  I was using scraps.  Up until now, I had been using glossy outdoor vinyl.  This was the first WHITE Cricut brand indoor vinyl I had used on an ornament.  It did not work well.  The contour of an ornament needs plyability which you get with the ourdoor glossy stuff.  Not so much so with the matte indoor.

Anyway....  the final product:

He he he!  I can't wait to get more ornaments at the store and try to make the pig tomorrow!  I'll be sure to share if I do!

Thanks, as always for stopping by!  Have a happy crafty day!!

OCTOBER CRICUT 100 CARTRIDGE BLOG HOP DAY TWO

Welcome to DAY TWO of our monthly hop around the block and visit a wide range of wonderful Cricut crafters. SO MUCH TALENT on this Design Team that I am honored to be on, and on your travels you will see over 100 different Cricut cartridges in use!

You should have come from the super amazing Laura's blog.  If you did not please start at the beginning of the hop at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/  
Too many great projects we don't want you to miss!   NOT TO MENTION THERE ARE PRIZES INVOLVED!!!  WOOO!  Should you get lost the entire lineup can be found at the bottom of this post.

Onto my cartridges for this month.  I was recently asked to make a banner and card set for a John Deere themed birthday party.  I thought...  sure... I could do a green tractor, but how cool if I could get the logo on there somewhere.  So here's how I did it:

Using Cricut Craft Room (trust me, its worth the wait.  The kinks are annoying and the program seems to work better every time I use it) I selected the tractor from "Everyday Paper Dolls" and then found the perfect deer shape on "Going Places", tilted it, and dropped it ontop of the tractor engine area.  I cut that from green.  I cut one of the same without the deer in yellow.  Once cut, I trimmed the green seat, wheel and bumper away to further show the yellow.  Then I custom created ovals to match the wheel sizes to cover over the tractor wheels.  Once it was put together it looked a little too "clean" to me so I dirtied it up with some walnut ink brushed on with a piece of felt by hand.

Not sure what to do with my new little creation, I decided to give it a sceen on a card.  Not sure if I will put a child's age in the clouds?  Either way, its blank for now.  I used Plantin Schoolbook for the grass and Going Places for the clouds.  The sky and grass hill are hand cut.  Chalking completes the detail. 

My next project was made for a friend of mine named Amy.  She has a business called Forever In A Flash Photography and she is incredibly talented.  Her pictures literally make me gasp sometimes.  If you are in the Baltimore area, you should check out her work.  MY photography, on the other hand, leaves a little to be desired.  Sorry for the poor quality here....

Once I saw this posted photo on Amy's page, I wanted to show what a custom mat could do to enhance the photograph.  I wanted to compliment the soft browns and reds of the photos and add some femininity with a soft purple.  I used CCR to create a mat, and a plum border for the mat opening.  I chose a little sentiment from "Sugar and Spice" and cut it at 3.25" in a dark gray color and used the plum cardstock for the heart.  For a variation, I made a second mat "accessory" cutting "S" from Ashlyn's Alphabet  in black and used a prima flower on the bottom right side.

Thank you, as always, for stopping by and honoring me with your visit today!  I hope that along this weekend's hop that you have found some great project inspiration from the fantastic gals on this team!

Your next stop on the hop is on Lezlye at  http://lezlyes.blogspot.com

In case you get lost, here is the lineup:

18. Erica – http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

19. Connie - http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com

20. Lucinda Gibson - http://thegrowinggibson.blogspot.com

21. Tanya Adams - http://nonnascraftcorner.blogspot.com

22. Karey Jeans - http://www.creativecraftcorner.com

23. Jenny R http://myimagitivity.blogspot.com

24. Gayle Schrader- http://gscraptime.blogspot.com

25. Laura - http://laurascraftsandmore.blogspot.com

26. Heather S - http://operationcricutdesign.blogspot.com   YOU ARE HERE

27. Lezlye http://lezlyes.blogspot.com

28. Rosa http://kleymanr.blogspot.com/

29. Autumn Willis - http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com

30. Lisa Newton-Orensky - www.allmadebylisa.blogspot.com

31. Sharon http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com

32. Kat http://katscrapfever.blogspot.com/    

33. Laurie http://lauriecandoit.blogspot.com/

34. Blog Candy http://ericasblogcandy.blogspot.com/

Operation Write Home

I follow the My Cricut Craft Room blog amost daily : )  Well her FB posts anyway : )  Erica is awesome and the information she posts is both educational and inspirational!  Recently, she posted a call to action:  Participate in Operation Write Home.  Prior to reading about this, I had no idea about the service, which collects hand made cards and then ships them to soldiers who can then choose from the ones the like to write in and send home.  What a great idea!  And though Memorial Day is a day of rememberance and appreciation for those who have fought and died for our freedom (not active service members), I decided to participate in their honor.

I loved this last one, but I thing the pearl would make it too bulky to be able to withstand international mail.  I'm putting this one in my back pocket though.  I love making the 3-D flowers...I might have to do a tutorial on them at some point. 

Thanks for looking and have a great rest of your day!