Halloween Centerpiece a Creepy Vulture

It is Monday and that means it is time for the Bitten by the Bug 2 weekly post.  This week's challenge cut, the Vulture from Cricut's Life's a Party cartridge, was selected by Agnes, my fun design team sister.   I have to admit that I found the vulture to be quite a challenge!  I did not want to do the expected birthday project, so had to put a great deal of thought into this week's project.  I designed a Halloween card that I felt rather indifferent about, but finally Sunday afternoon I had an inspiring thought! 

I remembered that I had this fabulously huge centerpiece vase, with the beads and the candle, that a friend had decorated for my 50th birthday last year.  I took the centerpiece apart, removing black ribbon and flowers, pulling the beads out of the inside, and completely disassembling the birthday vase. 

Using chalkboard vinyl, I cut the vulture from Life's a Party at 3.5 inches tall.  I then cut the graveyard fence from Happy Hauntings at 5.5 inches tall.  I peeled the backing from the vinyl and applied the vinyl to the vase.  Using rusty metallic orange vinyl, I cut the word BOO!, also from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. 

I applied adhesive runner around the top edge of the vase and about one inch from the bottom of the vase. Using black and silver beads, the top of the vase was decorated in a random draping design.  I was pleased that the adhesive held the beads in place.  I trimmed the length of a strand of silver beads and pushed them into the adhesive on the bottom of the vase.   I finished the project by wrapping silver beads around the candle in a criss-cross pattern.

I photographed the centerpiece in two different areas of my house.  I really liked it sitting on the baker's rack (pictured below) but the lighting was not good and I kept getting glare in the photos.  I found the photos above, on the coffee table, showed the details of the cuts far better. 

If you have not already done so, head over to the Bitten by the Bug 2 blog and checkout the design team's great projects.  Also, please consider playing along with us this week and post your project in the Mr. Linky area under this week's post at BBTB2.

Thanks for stopping by today, I will be back with more projects to share this week. 

A Birthday Boy in the House

We had a "birthday boy" in the house yesterday; my beloved husband celebrated another 50-something birthday!!  I wanted to make a him a very "Doug-like" card, meaning less fuss and more fun.  By mixing the football cuts from the Father's Day and Life's a Party cartridges (and tossing in a T from Art Philosophy) I scored a win with this card (bad, I know....).

The large football cut is from Life's a Party.  I welded two of the shadow cuts together to create the base card then topped the card with a white layer and the "icon" image cut.   I used an Anna Griffin HAPPY BIRTHDAY stamp on the bottom front of the football.

Next I cut the helmet and football cut from the Father's Day cartridge.  The cut was completed in orange cardstock and backed in white. Yes, I was going for Doug's favorite college football team's colors - Tennessee  (though I know that Michigan State green and white are much better colors)!!   :-)   I used a Stampin' Up "For You" stamp on the little football. 

I cut a second white football layer and added it inside the card as a journaling space.  I used a generic Happy Birthday stamp from my stash on the inside of the card.

We celebrated Doug's birthday with dinner out followed by cake and ice cream at home.  Doug did his own birthday shopping over the weekend at Home Depot (the man mall!) which was FINE with me!!  If I could remember I would detail his gifts, but frankly just think yard tools and that about covers it.

I will be back tomorrow with a new fall project to share.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Welcome Rookie Baby Boy Card

Hello everyone.  It's another Bitten by the Bug 2 Monday.  My talented design team sister Karen selected this week's challenge cut - the BASEBALL from LIFE'S A PARTY cartridge.   I used four cartridges to complete my project for this week's challenge:  Life's a Party, Baseball, Kate's ABCs, and Art Philosophy.  Additionally, I also used one Cricut Imagine Cartridge to print the fabulous coordinating cardstock for my card - Theresa Collins Baby Boutique. 

After designing my card in Cricut Design Studio I printed three 8 x 8 inch squares of cardstock with Baby Boutique, the Baby Boy Words print, the light blue with grey damask print, and a coordinating solid blue.   With additional white, black and brown cardstock scraps, I was ready to begin my card.

The base card was created by welding two baseballs together in Design Studio.  I also welded the shadow cuts for the baseball bat and the word Rookie to the top layer baseball.  I cut the base card in white American Crafts lightly textured cardstock. 

Next I cut the elements for the card front in layers, back to front.  The baseball bat was cut in a solid brown cardstock and a brown print paper.  The baseball bat cuts were adhered to the base card and the large black baseball was glued over top.  Next the baseball top layer, cut in Theresa Collins baby boy words, was added over the black baseball.

The word Rookie was cut from the Baseball cartridge in two  additional layers - a polka dot shadow and a light blue top layer.  I added black doodle dashes to the edges of Rookie.

The "Congratulations" tag was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I wanted to use one of the new Close to my Heart Art Philosophy stamps - "Congratulations on your ...".  After referencing the cut size listed beside the stamp on the acetate packaging, I cut the Theresa Collins blue and grey print top layer at 2 inches.  I then cut a light blue layer at 2.25 inches and a black layer at 2.5 inches.  I stamped the top layer and then attached all of the layers together.  I add the word "boy" to the bottom of the tag.

I used the negative cut from the baby boy words baseball (from the card front) and glued it to the inside of the card.  I welded the phrase "Welcome baby boy" using Kate's ABC's and using a xyron, attached the phrase inside the card.

I finished the card with a light blue polka dot ribbon bow around the bat.  An especially cute baby card for the baseball fan new parent!

I will be back tomorrow with another new project to share.  In the meantime, remember to drop by BBTB2 and check out the amazing baseball projects the design team is sharing.  Remember that it is also fun to play along on our weekly challenges!

If you would like more information on the Art Philosophy cartridge, stamps, and chipboard set, you can visit Melanie's Close to my Heart consultant site.   I love the versatility of this great set!