Unicorn Ornament Tutorial

Hi y'all! I'm so excited to kick off this fun new monthly challenge that all of my Cricut loving friends and I have begun! What better kick off than a Cricut Christmas Challenge?! A huge thank you to Jeanie and Michelle who had the great idea to get us all together!

**Though I was compensated for this post in product and/or monetarily, all opinions, ideas and comments are 100% my own. Please note: this post may also contain affiliate links.**
 
As I mentioned, this month's challenge was to create something Christmas inspired with our own little twist on it! I, of course, decided to stick with what I love....

UNICORNS! :)

For this quick and easy, yet adorable ornament you will need the following:

-Cricut Air 2 
-Cricut Vinyl in Black (You can use Outdoor/Permanent as well, but honestly the regular stuff is fine)
-Iridescent Glass (or Acrylic) Ball Ornaments
-2 Different Colors of Felt (I chose purple and white to go along with my color scheme)
-No Bake/Air Dry Polymer Clay
-1.5in. Sheer Ribbon
-Assorted Scrapbooking Flowers in your choice of color 
-If your flowers don't come with tiny pearls in the center, get those too.
-E-600  
-Unicorn SPiT in Purple Hill Majesty and I also used a touch of Spakling SPiT* in Dove's Cry. 
*(Please note: the Sparkling SPiT was a special release, which is no longer available for purchase, though some retailers MIGHT have a few left.)

Method:

One day ahead of time, roll out your air dry polymer clay into two thin, approximately 1 1/2in cylinders. intertwine them to form your unicorn horn. make sure to flatten out the bottom so it will lie flat once glued onto your ornament.

When you are ready for your vinyl, cut out your eyelashes using your Cricut Air2, weed out, and transfer using transfer tape.

Once that is done, cut out your triangles, two larger ones in the one color, and two slightly smaller ones in a different color. If you have a Cricut Maker, you can cut your felt out with the brand new rotary blade! :)

Using the epoxy glue, add the uni-horn and ears, as well as all of your flowers which will serve as the unicorn's mane, onto the top of the ornament. You might have to hold the uni-horn on there until the glue begins to dry so that it stays where you want it to and doesn't tip.

To finish off, take a small brush and paint your (completely air dried and hardened) uni-horn with your Unicorn SPiT, as is only appropriate. I mean, sure, you could use regular paint, but why would you?! ;)

Top it off with your ribbon to hang your adorable Unicorn Ornament!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and please share your thoughts in the comments!

Don't forget to check out all of the other awesomely talented bloggers and THEIR Cricut Christmas Challenge projects!

They are as follows:

Upright and Caffeinated | Weekend Craft | Create & Babble
Refresh Restyle | Smiling Colors | A Turtle's Life for Me
Happy Go Lucky | That Sweet Tea Life | Happily Ever After, etc
The Kim Six Fix | Dragonfly & Lily Pads | Daily DIY Life
Evey's Creations | Home with Cupcakes and Crinoline

Excited to see what everyone else has made! Stay tuned to next month's challenge, as well!

 

How I decorate my Faux Mantel using my Cricut Air 2- Interchangeable Holiday Decor

I know, I know...yesterday was barely Halloween...but Christmas is my favorite holiday and I couldn't help myself. Also, I jumped at the thought of being able to participate in such an awesome holiday campaign, especially since at the very end of this post, you'll be able to enter to win a brand new Cricut Maker, just in time for the holidays! :)

**Though I was compensated for this post in product and/or monetarily, all opinions, ideas and comments are 100% my own. Please note: this post may also contain affiliate links.**

I saw this Make It Now project, and was inspired to use the same idea but for some Christmas fun. While my project didn't contain the cardstock on the outside, I did use some cardstock for the mat inside the frame. You can check out the FB video tutorial I did below. Warning, it's long and I dropped the camera a couple of times. (I'm a mess, but fun, I promise!) I'm still trying to get my new office nook properly set up, so please bear with me. If you want to recreate the frame project, you can go here for the file in Design Space!



I told you I'm a mess...but ROSIE is in the video so all is forgiven, right? Love that silly bird!

You will need the following:

-A white shadow box or frame
-cardstock
-THIS file in DS3
-Cricut Cutter
-Cricut Gold Adhesive Foil, Matte
-Cricut Air 2

Here's my awesome Air2 in action! I get very excited every time I get to push that blinking 'c'! :)

Tutorial:

All you need to do  is the following.

Go into Design Space, and open a new project.

Insert a square or rectangle onto your canvas. Size accordingly. My shadow box was 8"x 8" so I made the square that size.

Duplicate the square/rectangle, then create a frame by making the second shape about 1.5" to 2" smaller than the first one. Center the two squares, then hit 'slice'.

Delete the smaller squares until you are left with a frame.

If you are using the same size frame as I did, feel free to just cut the frame I have in my project file here.

Place the mat/frame inside the shadow box and apply the vinyl lettering to the glass on the outside of the frame. I used Cricut Gold Adhesive Foil in Matte.

Here's the finished project:

 

These plain white ornaments got the same treatment as the frame...some Cricut Gold Adhesive Foil, Matte. If you want the lettering to be permanent, just use some Cricut Outdoor Vinyl. 

This plain white charger from the Dollar store got some Gold Glitter Vinyl and the words to my favorite Christmas Carol. I honestly think this is my favorite Christmas faux mantel vignette I've ever done! I think gold and white are officially my favorite Christmas colors. They're truly just classic and classy!

I'm in LOVE!

 The Christmas ornaments found a home in a thrift store set of apothecary jars.

I think I might customize some more ornaments!

I'm loving my entryway table! I don't have a traditional fireplace mantel, so I use my favorite table instead!

Hope you enjoy this sweet vignette as much as I do! Now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for...GIVEAWAY TIME! Enter to win the brand new Cricut Maker via the Rafflecopter widget below! GOOD LUCK! Also, check out all of the other #cricutholiday posts on social media from a bunch of my awesomely talented bloggy friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Embossed Favor Bag tutorial with the Cricut Cuttlebug!

**Though I was compensated for this post in product and/or monetarily, all opinions, ideas and comments are 100% my own. Please note: this post may also contain affiliate links.**

Hi, yall! I'm SO excited to begin sharing some of the projects from the wedding I worked on last month!

The first one I'm sharing was created using my amazing, brand new, mint-colored Cricut Cuttlebug which retails for $89.99. Make sure you take full advantage of the current deal going on over on the Cricut website! 30% off mats, blades and tools (valid until 7/5 only)!

Also, if you use the code CHRISTMASINJULY at checkout, you will receive free shipping within the U.S. (valid until 8/1).

The Cuttlebug is an adorably cute, compact die cut and embossing (manual) machine by Cricut. Just like the Air2, it comes in various colors to match.

Check out the sweet embossed favor bags I created for the reception! They held beautifully hand piped cookies by my incredible friend, Dawn. Thank you Dawn! I LOVE YOU!

Here, via FB live, is how I made them! Honestly, I made a ton in just a show amount of time. The Cuttlebug made it a very easy, quick and fun experience. My daughter helped me, of course!

You can see all of the embossing folders that Cricut has for sale, here.

I'm excited to add some more to my collection, especially the holiday and birthday ones for card making.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Be sure to share you Cricut projects on Social Media, using the hashtag #cricutmade. Until next time!

 
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Is it really worth it to buy a Cricut Air 2? What other tools will I need to purchase alongside it?

Hi y'all!

If you visit my little corner of the internet, you know that I often share Cricut crafts and DIYs. Y'all know that I LOVE my Cricut Air 2 VERY much! :)

Many people often ask me if buying a Cricut Air 2 is truly worth their money...they wonder if they'll use it enough to justify the cost. I also get asked what tools need to be bought alongside it in order to properly use it.

Here's a quick video I did explaining why I think it truly IS worth the cost, and what other tools you will need to purchase alongside it in order to properly use it.

Now see for yourself how much I use this baby! :) Honestly, I do so much more that I never get around to photographing or posting to the blog but here are some of my favorite projects that I have done using my Cricut machines:

A Keychain in honor of my favorite college football team...

A bunch of T-shirts for both my daughter and myself...

Plenty of signs and other home decor items for all seasons and some even inspired by my favorite books...

Bookish Signs and Gifts

Custom Bookish Etched Wine glasses

As you can see, I truly DO use it quite often and in my humble opinion, it truly DOES pay for itself! The above doesn't even take into account all of the parties or photoshoots I've styled! Stay tuned for some fun ones this summer, including a WEDDING and a Sweet 16!

UPDATED: Here's the BEST bundle, aka more bang for your buck! It is the Air2 Everything Starter set and comes with a nice array of supplies to get you started!  Use code ANNIVERSARY until the end of the month for free shipping on orders over $99 (U.S. and Canada). I'll update this link when sale ends and new ones begin.  If I forget, please feel free to email me for it.  As always, if you sign up for Cricut Access Standard, use this link and you get 10% off all orders on Cricut.com and in Cricut Design Space.

Also, for the month of April 2018: Hello April Sale: Spend $50 this week and get a $10 digital discount code!

Show us YOUR Cricut creations by using the hashtag #cricutmade on Social Media! I often feature my favorite projects by other artists on my Instagram and FB page! If you have been on the fence about making the purchase and diving into the Cricut world, hopefully this post helped push you in the right direction! ;)

 

My passion for books and the projects that come of it...

It's no secret that I am a very dedicated Bibliophile...or that I LOVE both the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) and ToG (Throne of Glass) series by Sarah J. Maas.

**Though I was compensated for this post in product and/or monetarily, all opinions, ideas and comments are 100% my own. Please note: this post may also contain affiliate links.**

It's also no secret that I LOVE my Cricut Air 2. ::Smile::

I feel like the majority of my crafting these days consists of Cricut projects, if only because the machine makes my projects so much easier and way more fun!

Being in love with the above book series, I decided to some some projects in their honor! I also posted them to my store, the first one is sold out, but I have a few left of the others!

I had some boards left over from some of my workshops and decide to put them to good use. For this one which was inspired by a quote from the second book of the ACOTAR series, called "A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOMAF), I stained the board in purple, as the book often describes purple to be one of the colors often visible in the Court of Dreams. It's one of my favorite quotes and I just love the part of the book in which it's found. I used about three different custom fonts that I downloaded onto my computer awhile back. This actually uploads said fonts onto Design Space (DS) so you can access them when designing. You can also use any old cartridges that you may have, just upload them into your DS account and they will be there forever!

For this one, inspired by book four of the ToG series, called "Queen of Shadows" (QoS), I designed in PicMonkey, online, then saved the .jpg and uploaded it onto DS. Make sure that when you do this, you design on a transparent canvas to make it easier when you upload onto DS.

In honor of the quote, I stained the board in a galaxy-inspired motif, and made sure to add some shining stars to my design. Making a stencil is super easy! Cut your vinyl stencil, then weed away the letters , making sure to leave the centers of letters such as 'a', 'e', etc. Then, simply use some transfer tape to transfer the stencil onto the board. I would recommend sealing the stain in before attempting to stencil or to even transfer the stencil. Make sure your stencil has no air bubbles. You can use a scraper tool or even a credit card to smooth it out. Always seal your work when completely done, also.

I used the same design for this sweet fitted t-shirt I made for myself! I do sell stuff over on Etsy, too!

I used some glitter Cricut iron-on vinyl to enhance the theme behind the quote. I even let my son photograph me in it! It's my new favorite t-shirt!

Do YOU have a favorite author or book series?

 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Last Minute NYE Decor with Cricut and Hometalk!

Hi, y'all! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you are getting ready to party like it's 1999! :)

Did you catch my FB live from the other day on Hometalk's FB page? If not, you can still see the recording HERE and make these last minute NYE Decor ideas with your Cricut Explore Air 2!

I showed you how to make some cute decor items for NYE!

'Cheers' Etched Wine Glass

'Pop, Clink, Kiss' DIY Throw Pillow

My theme for the day was rose gold and mixed metals. Make sure you check out the video for the full tutorials and go check out my Hometalk Profile for some more details!

A HUGE thank you to Hometalk for letting me share my love for all things Cricut and rose gold LIVE on their amazing page! Thank you to all who tuned in!

Remember you still have a few hours left to win your very OWN Cricut Air 2 if you don't yet have one! Go check out that post and enter!

Cricut Air 2

 I loved reading some of your New Year's resolutions during the FB Live! Thank you for all of you that participated in the giveaway during the live event and congrats to the winner! Excited to see you all there again, soon! Thank you Hometalk!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!