Showing posts with label Circle Mania 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Circle Mania 2012. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

My Circle Mania TRENDS Make N Take

Anytime a group of crafters get together we always love to share tips and techniques with each other.  At Circle Mania a few of the Circlets volunteered to do Make N Takes for everyone.  I love to teach others new crafty things so I thought hard about what I could offer my fellow Circle crafters that might be more unique so that had me pondering what was hot trends right now. And what could be used on a variety of projects...cards, layouts, home decor, party decor, etc.

Washi Tape is all the rage right now in the crafting world.  Many of the scrapbook companies such as My Minds Eye, Teresa Collins and others are making it to match their scrapbook lines.  You can even find Washi Tape at Michael's craft store, Target, Archivers. And of course you can find single rolls of it or pre-cut sets of it on Etsy and Ebay too. It can say either Washi Tape or Decorative Tape on it.  Washi tape is more translucent so you see a bit of the background to which you apply it.  It is easy to tear or cut and apply to your projects. It can even be pulled up easily if you need to reapply. 

And another BIG trend is using decorative Twine in a variety of colors on your projects.  Again, many of the scrapbook companies also offer packets of matching Twine to their scrapbook lines.
I have bought many different sets of Twine...two of my favorite Twine companies are Divine Twine and The Twinery.  They both offer gorgeous colors of twine.  Again, you can buy entire rolls of it or a variety pack.  One of the our Circlets, Mary Cork, even did a Twine share where you could get a variety pack of lots of the different colors in smaller portions.  I have also bought it that way on Etsy.

And a third trend is making projects using Kraft cardstock.  Colors really pop when use Kraft as your base.

Many have bought these products and have no idea what to do with them. So I jumped on the chance to do a TRENDS Make N Take using Kraft cardstock, Washi Tape & Twine along with my Cricut.

TRENDS MAKE N TAKE TUTORIAL - I had a choice of two cards for the Circlets to make.

 
Trends Make N Take Card #1

Step 1: Start with a blank Kraft card base.
These are A2 size Kraft cards and envelop sets I bought a
Michael's craft store but you could easily make your own.
 
Step 2: Decide which Washi Tapes you want to use.
Here I selected a variety of 6 patterns but you could easily do this
with only two or three and repeat on the card
 
Step 3: Tear off various lengths of Washi Tape. See how easy Washi tape is to tear with your fingers.
See how it is slightly translucent.
 
Step 4: Place the Washi tape torn at random lengths across your card starting slightly from the edge on the left of your card base and alternate the patterns working towards your right. I focused more of where the ends of the washi tape ended up on the card base than on the top.  Once I was finished, I just trimmed the tops off the washi tape to give a clean edge to the top of my card.
 
Step 5. I used the new CTMH Artise cartridge and matching stamp sets to make a sentiment for my card base. On this card I used the Quote Bubble pg 65 Accent 2 cut at the appropriate size to the matching stamp.  I love the fact the CTMH stamp set has the dimensions printed on it so I know exactly what size to cut out my base image.
 
Step 6: To finsh off the card, I used a foam pop dot to add the sentiment to the front of the card.  Then I tied a piece of twine at the top of the card into a little bow.  TIP:  To keep the twine from slipping, I cut a small slice on each side of the card with my scissors on each side of the card and threaded my twine through that before tying the bow. 
 
This card went together really fast and easy. 
 
 
Trends Make N Take Card #2
 
Step 1: Start with a Kraft Card base and variety of washi tape of your choice.
Step 2: Use a piece of Twine about twice the width of card base. 
Step 3: Starting in center of twine, begin wrapping washi tape around the twine to form a banner piece. Don't worry about matching the ends just yet.
Step 4:  Alternate your washi tape patterns across the twine creating 5 little banners.
Step 5:  Trim your washi tape banners using scissors into whatever banner shapes you like. Just be sure and alternate the sizes so you have variety to make it more interesting.
Step 6: Make two small slits about 1/8" apart from each other on each side of your card base where you want to place the banner to hang.
Step 7: Place your banner across your card base until you have the banner you created centered across your card.  Now take one end of the twine and wrap around the two slits you made on one side of the card base and tie a bow with the twine ends so your banner is hanging properly across.  Repeat on the other side of the cardstock base and tie a bow.  Cut off the bow tail end to your desired length.
Step 8: Place a piece of Washi Tape all across the bottom of your card about 1/2" up from the bottom of the card to create a border. Trim the edges with your scissors to get a clean edge on your card.
Step 9:  Using the CTHM Artise cartridge, cut the Banner shape on page 58 Accent 3 out of cardstock and stamp with the matching "Oh Happy Day" stamp from the Artise bundle. And adhere on the left side of the card across the top of the washi tape border.
 
This card is a little more complex than the first one but it is fun to make and looks darn cute to give for any festive occassion.
 
I have quite an extensive collection of Washi Tape now.  I am sure you will too once you see how fun and easy it is to use on any of your projects. Before I go, I wanted to show you one more card I made for display using nothing but washi tape to decorate the front of a kraft card base.
 
This card was made by selecting a few fun patterns of washi tape from my stash.
I think most of these were ones I bought a Michael's.  Starting in the center of the card, I angled my washi tape across the entire card.  Then proceeded to alternate other patterns diagonally across my card.  Even that Congrats! pattern is washi tape...how cool is that? When I was finished I went back with my scissors and trimmed off the edges of the washi tape to give my card a clean edge.
 
The card still needed a little something so I decided to make a bow out of washi tape.  I took a long  strip of the rose washi tape and folded it sticky side together to create a doublesided piece. I cut than in half.  I folded the first piece together to form a loop, used a small piece of single sided washi tape across the center of the loop to form the bow top. I took the second doublesided piece and used it a s a base for my bow and trimmed the ends.  Using a glue dot, I adhered the base to center strip on my card, then used another glue dot to adhere the bow on top of the bow base. 
 
As you can see, the bow added some dimension to the card but thanks to the washi tape it is still flexible to placed inside an envelop. 
 
I hope you enjoy the TRENDS Make N Take and try it yourself sometime. 
 
TRENDS MAKE N TAKE GIVEAWAY : I am giving away on the Circle MB a Trends Make N Take goodie bag with supplies to make one of the two cards we made at Circle Mania to 10 lucky winners.  Find the thread on the Circle MB to enter to win by 11:59 pm CST on Saturday 10/6.  Winners announced on Sunday 10/7 here and on the Circle MB.
 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

More Circle Mania Fun !

Take Two...More Circle Mania Fun Pics for your viewing pleasure !
The calling cards were GORGEOUS !  So much thought and
love went in to each 3X3 creations.
Here are some of the awesome goodies people gave out.
Many contained chocolate or homemade candies.
Again the attention to detail was so thoughtful and
was much appreciated !
And one of our favorite Australian Circlet,
Narelle, brought us each these Australian goodies...
Cadbury Koala candy, a mini Tim Tam cookie (yummo)
and even a packet of Vegemite !  The little handbag
held a lip gloss too.  Thanks Narelle for sharing
your Australian heritage with us !
There were a TON of Door Prizes given out.
Here is the big bag of goodies I received.
I was overwhelmed with all the crafty things in this bag of goodies.
Even one of these items would have been a coveted prize.
 
Mama C and Barbara Stokes both one Cricut Mini's donated by
Provo Craft...lucky girls.  Hope they enjoy their new toys too!
 
Here are some of the Good Morning Thread Ladies
I chat with most days on that thread.  I love hearing what
everyone is up to during the day ! 
 
RockinRenee..at dinner the first night she was sitting
at a table singing "Don't Wanna Be All By Myself"..no one
was joining her table.  Poor baby.  Personally I think if
she would have stopped singing someone would have sat with her. Ha, Ha :)

As you can see, our table took "pitty" on her and asked her to sit with us ! \
(L to R):  Maria (Marcjo), Debbie (me), Donna (Donnagravel), Alex (Alex)
and finally Renee (RockinRenee)
Missie Todd...and her funny undies.
It says "My Husband thinks I am scrapbooking "
Ha, Ha...Missie was a table mate and had us rolling
on the floor laughing every night in to the wee hours
of the morning ! 

And who's that in the red Ariel wig? 
Why that's Crystal Kovack hamming it up
with the hotel Security guard.  It was so funny.
He came in every night to what we were all working on and
to snag some treats to eat too.  He took pics to show
his wife some of the projects we were working on.

Cassandra made us all these adorable page kits
to put together to celebrate Circle Mania
And the very talented Barbara Stewart
(who was a delight to meet IRL) made
everyone their own altered tag. 
Each one was so different and was
decorated front and back.
This is the front of the tag I received.
This is the back of tag I received.
Thank you Barbara for sharing your
lovely work with all of us !
And Renee was the lucky recipient of the
awesome canvas witch made the uber talented
Barbara Stewart.  All I can say it up close this
project is absolutely amazing in it's detail and depth.
 
AmyS was so fun.  And kind.  She picked a few of up
from the train station...and took us shopping on Saturday.
It was wonderful getting to spend time with her as she
helps me as an Administrator on the Cricut FANatics Blog
Renee teaching her Halloween Class on Saturday night.
There were 4 amazing projects...A banner, a scrapbook page,
a card and treat bag or lumunaria.

Here are some of Circlets putting together their banners.
 
I helped Nadia with the Ustream that we posted on the Circle MB.
Unfortunately it was the blind leading the blind and while we
could show it to you...we don't seem to have recorded it for
prosperity or later viewing.  Sorry gals.  We tried and will
do better next time for sure now that we know what we did wrong!
Missie Todd's CTMH Make N Take was to
make this stamped Halloween image. I then
used some TC Halloween Paper to create a
background and created a card ready to give !
Thanks Missie for the Make N Take...it was fun !
 
On the last day of Circle Mania, Paulette had this
Make N Take Project to create an adorable
muslin tote bag with Heat Set Vinyl.
She also gave us all a Circle Charm (which used to be pink
but her hubby spray painted them all purple so we had a different color
from the ones we had already received).  And she gave us all
this yummy Mania Treat Mix in a cute basket.
Paulette really out did herself at this Circle Mania....I can hardly wait for the next one !!!!
 
I also did a Trends Make N Take using Washi Tape and Twine to make a card. 
I will be posting the directions in another post so you can create it yourself at home
 
 
That's it for now....I need to go make room for all these wonderful goodies I received. 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Circle Mania Atlanta 2012

I just got back from a fabulous weekend event called Circle Mania held in Atlanta, Georgia with some of my Cricut crafty peeps !  The event was hosted by Paulette aka Scrapalette.  Kudos to her..she did a fabulous job with the entire weekend from arrival to departure with lots of crafting, inspiration, eating, and laughing squished in between !   The hotel was great and very accommodating for our group of 50 crazy crafters. 

Here are some photos to share from the event.  I will post a few more in another post after I unpack.
Our hostess, Scrapalette (Paulette) showing us the
aweseome photo prop that Gina made for us to use.

 
Goodies from our welcome bag and what greeted on on our table when we arrived for the event...
so much fun stuff !
There was even a folder with helpful info...like best places to shop in Atlanta
& an agenda for the weekend too ! 
Just a few of the awesome calling cards we exchanged with other Circlets
 And Granny Anne made us these adorable table tent cards.
She even made me a sparklie crown for mine !  Thanks Granny Anne.
Lots of greeting and talking going on all weekend !
Here is Nadia (in red facing camera), Rockin Renee (in stripped shirt),
Gina (back of her with long hair), not sure who is in the black shirt..sorry.
And even some crafting went on too !
That's Linda aka Tulip Collector and Cassandra working
on a project.  And all the others mingling around.
 
And Friday Night we did some Tim Tam Slamming,
courtesy of Narelle from Australia.
Tim Tams are a delicious cookie with a wafer cookies sandwiched between
some delicious chocolate cream and then coated in more yummy chocolate.
I hear there are other flavors, but frankly why bother !  LOL
 
Here is Tracey trying her hand at Tim Tam Slamming.
You take the Tim Tam cookie and bite off opposite corners of the cookie.
Then you take a cup of hot beverage...hot chocolate or coffee then
dip one corner of the cookie in it and suck through the other end.
The results are the hot beverage melts the filling and gets all creamy and then
 you pop the entire thing in your mouth.  It super, super DELICIOUS !!
 
In fact, it had me declaring I should open a Tim Tam Slamming bar...
I think it could be the next big food craze instead of cupcakes!
Speaking of Cupcakes...Sis o Snap bought us all cupcakes from
Julie's Cupcakes (I heard she won the Cupcakes Wars show on Food Channel).
They were delicious !!!
 
And it was my roomies birthday so of course we all sang happy birthday to
Maria aka Marcjo as she blew out the candles on her birthday cake !
Circle Greetings  (from left to right)...Debbie (me aka ScrapHappyDeb),
Maria (Marjco) and Donna (DonnaGravel)
 We LOVED this Polaroid photo prop for us to capture our Kodak moment.
 
I will post more photos tomorrow of some of the make n takes, and items we received from each other so check back then.  I really really need to go rest now !!!!!! 
 

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails