ScrappinGalz Cafe

Cricut Christmas Ornament

While surfing online, I saw the cutest little ornament but didn't want to spend $ buying the kit when I had my trusty cricut sitting right next to me just waiting for me to do my next project.  The ornament looked pretty easy to make so I pulled out all my cartridges and lo and behold I had everything I needed right on my Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge! 

For this project you will need patterned cardstock, matching solid cardstock, 8 pop dots per ornament, a picture that you would like to use for the ornament cropped to 2 1/2" square, and a 6" piece of ribbon per ornament.

                                

I started out by cutting a 3" scalloped square in a patterned cardstock and used the window button on my cricut, then I cut out a 3 1/2" rounded corner square in a matching cardstock and punched two holes at the top to run the ribbon through.

I started assebling the pieces by placing a pop dot at each of the four corners of the window of the scalloped square, then i placed the photo on top of the pop dots.

                                       

Next I placed another four pop dots on top of the photo above the original pop dots, and then placed the solid cardstock on top.  I mounted the photo square slightly lower on the solid cardstock in order to accomodate the ribbon for my picture.

   

Simple and quick these make a terrific inexpensive Christmas present.  I put a little note on the back of each telling the place and year the photo was taken.  Now my DD can have a scrapbook on her tree when she has her first tree when she grows up!

     

Enjoy!

Christmas Treat Bag - A perfect gift for the teacher

A long long time ago when I first began stamping and scrappin I went to a crop where this type of bag was the make and take of the day.  I found it to be the perfect treat bag for party give aways or teacher gifts at Christmas time.  I figured I would redo it this year because lets face it in this economy, there just simply may not be enough money to go around for expensive teacher gifts this year.  And the nice thing about this treat bag is that you can use any sentiment and any stamp so its perfect year round.  I plan on doing these for my DD's upcoming 13th birthday party for the kids to take home.

Remember to click on the pictures for a larger pop up window to appear

So lets get to it.  You will need 3x6" treat bags (I picked up mine in the candy section of my local Michaels), a piece of cardstock (SU Real Red) 6x3 3/4, 2 pieces of silver cardstock 2 3/4 x 2 1/2, 2 pieces of white cardstock 2 1/4 x 2, a piece of ribbon, and 4 Nugget candies.  You will also need a page of labels - Avery 5160 which have been stamped with a matching roller unless you want to free stamp using a traditional stamp).  Handy tools to have on hand are your handy dandy paper cutter, a crop o dile or hole punch and a long armed stapler.

Begin by wrapping the Nuggets with a label which you have peeled off of the label page.  Do this four times per treat bag.  Put aside till later.

Then stamp your sentiment image and matching image on the white cardstock.  On the white cardstock with the sentiment, punch two small holes and tie ribbon thru the holes.  Adhere white cardstock to silver cardstock.

                                    

Then place the candies in the plastic bags and attach the bag to the lower half of the red cardstock with a staple, fold cardstock in half and adhere with tape runner.

                        

Adhere the sentiment and matching card to the red cardstock, covering the staple.

                               

These are so simple to make, but certain to make a lasting impression. 

Have a wonderful day!

String Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Hello All - I know I know I have been away from the computer forever!  It seems like a million years ago that I last posted.  Lots has been going on here emptying the house and reorganizing everything so that the house can go on the market.  Its been going slower than I had planned, but I am still good time wise.  Anyway I had enough time the last two days to put together this tutorial.  A thread on SCS inspired me.  So here is my crack at it.

These String balls are super simple to make and you can even get the kids involved.

You start by getting some string, good craft glue (Elmers school glue works great too), a plastic cup, and a balloon blown to the size ornament you want to make, and some pam or other non stick cooking spray (if you don't have any spray just rub with oil or butter).  I tend to do balls in various sizes so that I can put them in a glass bowl on a table for decoration.  This time I did something a little different.  But more on that at the end. 

 

 

 

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Once you have it all together, dump the glue into the plastic cup and cut a very long length of string and add it into the cup and work the glue into the string.  Spray the balloon with Pam and then begin wrapping the balloon with the string.  Make sure to leave holes or you won't be able to get the balloon out in the end.  You can decide on how much or little you want to fill in the balloon with the string.  Once the balloon is covered, dump the excess glue and set the cup aside.

 

  

At this point what I did is optional...While my glue was still wet I doused the string and balloon with gold glitter and then set it on top of the plastic cup to dry.  I let my balloon dry overnight.

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  Once my balloon was dry I pricked the balloon with a needle and let the air out.  Spraying the balloon with pam helped to release it from the string.  Gently pull the balloon out via one of the holes within the string.  If the balloon is stuck anywhere gently push on the balloon area from outside the balloon rather than pulling on the balloon.  It causes less damage to the string.

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For this string ornament I decided to attach it to a light string.  This would have worked better had I had my icicle strings but I just used a regular strand of mini lights.  But I hope this pic gives you some inspiration.  Put a whole small string in it, put a small ornament over each light.  Do different colors of glitter.  There are many options.

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1So here is my end result

 

 

Enjoy!