Neighborhood Mailbox Project - Part Two

It is great to get a community together to achieve a common goal.  We all had a lot of fun despite the hard work and the neighbors who were unable to help on Saturday have been surprised and happy to see the results.  The final finishing touches to the mailbox house restoration were added on Sunday and Monday.

At the end of the day Saturday, the difference was dramatic.  It's funny how you get so used to something looking run down that you stop noticing the problem.  I think we all will be more aware of the condition of this area and more likely to keep it maintained.

The flower boxes on the sides needed some repairs so my husband brought them home Saturday and fixed them.  Once he put them back on Sunday, Michelle filled them with flowers.  With hot summer weather coming, we opted for artificial flowers so no one has to water and tend them constantly.

 I thought it would be nice to add a welcome sign to the top of the structure, so on Monday I cut some dark brown vinyl to match the color of the flower boxes and finished the project.

I used the Martha Stewart Crafts Elegant Cakes Cricut cartridge and set up the cut with my Gypsy.  I thought about using my Cameo with a standard true type font but I have read reports of people clogging their Cameo blades when cutting vinyl.  I have used the Cricut a lot for vinyl so I decided to stick with it to finish this project.

I arranged all of the words together to conserve the amount of vinyl I needed.  I used the 24 inch mat and set the blade at three and the speed and pressure at three for a perfect "kiss cut" (the vinyl is cut but the backing remains intact).  Then I "weeded" the vinyl, removing the excess external pieces in sections.  It helps to use scissors to cut the excess as you go along.  Then all I had to do was remove the trapped center pieces.  The little hook tool works very well for this job.

Here are my final letters.  I decided not to weld the letters because I thought it would be easier to read.

Next, I applied transfer tape to each word.  I burnished the tape to the letters and then lifted each word and returned the tape to the backing material until I could take it to the mailbox.

Here are all of the words with the transfer tape applied.  Since there were only four words I didn't think it would be too difficult to line them up.  In hindsight, it might have been simpler to do a long row so the spacing would be totally consistent.

I measured the distance from each side and put the words up with a few pieces of regular tape to check the placement.  Then I marked pencil dots at the start and finish of each word so I could remove the transfer tape backing and put the words into position.

I've never put up vinyl outside and the breeze and sun made it a little tricky to get everything perfect.  The brown vinyl was Cricut brand (Oracal 631 vinyl).  Even though it is indoor vinyl, I think it will be fine here.  The area is protected and I wanted the matte finish so it would look like it was painted on.  I find this vinyl to be a bit thinner and prone to static which makes it a little harder to work with than the Wall Pops vinyl.    The "Partridge" section stuck to itself after the backing was removed and a few letters tore a little as I pulled it apart.  I decided to realign then and burnish everything down and it worked.  If I decided to fine tune the spacing, I can always cut another set.  I think I'll wait until these show signs of age...

We are due to get some very hot weather - in the 90's - this week and I hope that the bench in the shady spot will give someone a place to rest when they walk to get the mail. 

My Dad will most likely be discharged from the hospital today and I am going to Pennsylvania to see him.  I might not be able to do much to help but I haven't been there since Easter.  Thanks for all of the kind comments.  I will try to keep up with the blog but I'll just have to see how things go...


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Creative Charms and Creative Memories together for A Time to Celebrate Card

When you combine two of my favorite companies you can be even more "creative" - so this card is "creative squared"!  I made a square card to showcase the Reminisce Accents Cricut cartridge from Creative Memories and the Vintage Velvet Poppies and Vintage Jewel Brads from Creative Charms.

The two Creative Memories cartridges have quickly become part of my group of "go to" cartridges.  The artwork is very versatile and they cover a wide variety of occasions and styles.Today's card features Reminisce Accents with two of the layers and the words slightly altered in Design Studio.

When I first got the cartridge (I ordered mine as soon as it was available) I was so excited to find this frame feature.  There are fifty multilayered and beautiful frames that would keep any crafter busy for weeks.  These will work for cards or scrapbook pages and are similar to the Lacy Labels cartridge.  However, Reminisce Accents has so much more than just the labels for a price that is just a little higher.

I wanted to use the beautiful velvet poppies and I saw this frame with flowers at the top and realized it would work perfectly.  I sized it to fit the flowers - the larger one is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter - and 4 1/2 inches turned out to be just right.  Since I knew I was going to add the flowers I hid the lines that cut the flower centers in the original design.

It is so helpful to be able to do color previews in Design Studio.  This feature has often helped me improve a design choice and saved me from wasting a lot of paper.  I set up a rectangle and some squares to represent the size of the final card.  (I cut these with a trimmer but I can figure out the sizes to cut in Design Studio).  The image above is the preview with all of the cuts in their original format.

I knew the sentiment would be in black and when I did the preview I realized that the shadow layer is designed to show through the center of the medallion (since it is a frame) so I needed to hide the interior cutting line on the middle layer to prevent this. There is only one line to hid and there are only two lines in the image so you will have to "re-hide" the line each time you use the Design Studio file.  On the Gypsy the line will stay hidden.

I hid the lines that I needed to hide and previewed again - this is an approximation of how my card will look. I would love to be able to preview with the actual paper choices I will be using.  I suggested this possibility as a goal quite a while ago and I am wondering if eventually the Imagine will have this capability.

There is a nice script font on Reminisce Accents and there are some words and phrases in the "extra" spots on the keypad.  I chose "A Time to Celebrate" thinking that my card could be an invitation to a special party - possibly a golden anniversary.

 

The space available was about 1 1/2 inches high so I set that value on the slider bar.  The words are much too wide to fit the card but with Design Studio the fix is quick and easy.  I used the handle on the right center to adjust the width to a bit less than 2 1/2 inches (the original was about 4 1/4 inches).  Just click the handle and slide it to the left to make the entire image thinner.

 With a sentiment this tiny I have found that it is best to cut it in vinyl.  I have had excellent result with the smallest details in vinyl and the adhesive is already on the cut which eliminates a possible mess with adhesive showing around the cut.

 The cut is delicate and it helps to use a tool to place it on the card to avoid stretching or tearing the letters.

 I was even able to get the tiny dot for the "i" to cut and adhere - I don't think I could do that with paper !  (When cutting vinyl i use blade depth 4 medium pressure and medium speed to "kiss cut" - cutting through the vinyl but leaving the backing paper intact which makes it easier to lift the cut.)

 I used some beautiful papers for this card.  The medallion center is Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock and the frame is from the Making Memories Autumn Splendor collection.

There are two colors of this textured metallic paper and I used the gold on the first mat layer and the leaf paper also from that collection for the top mat.  The black card base is Papertrey Ink cardstock cut at 11 x 5 1/2 inches and scored for a clean fold.

 The Vintage Velvet Poppies come with a pearl brad in the center.  This is lovely but for this card I decided to change it out and use a Vintage Jewel Brad to compliment the paper colors.  I can always use the pearl brad for another project.  These were both part of the October Kit of the Month - Vintage Halloween from Creative Charms.

 Here is a closer view of the poppies on the card.  I used different gem colors for the large and small poppies.

This card has a lot of pieces but it is easy to put together.  The mat layers are cut at 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (gold layer) and 5 x 5 inches (leaf layer).

I used glue dots to adhere the poppies.  It is easiest to put the on the paper and place the poppies on top - adding glue dots to the velvet can get messy!

 I used foam squares to lift the entire medallion for a little bit more dimension.

 Here is the "almost finished" card.  You can see the lovely foil effects on some of the leaves in this photo.  It just needed a little something more to frame the card.

 

I added a large gradient gem sticker  to each corner for the finishing touch.

My friends Joy and Melanie are featuring the Creative Memories cartridges this week on their blogs and invited me to join in a mini blog hop this week.  Be sure to check out their blogs each day this week to see more projects and information about these cartridges.  You can find them here

Joy - Obsessed with Scrapbooking

Melanie - Courtney Lane Designs

Joy and Melanie also run the Everyday Cricut blog where you can always find inspiration and giveaways from Provocraft and other sponsors.  All of these blogs should be on your "must read" list!

If you would like to see some of my projects with these cartridges that I have posted already here are two more links for you  - Reminisce Accents and Cheerful Seasons. 


If you are interested in purchasing these cartridges you need to purchase through a Creative Memories consultant.  I am a consultant  and I would be happy to help you if you don't have a consultant already.  You can order the cartridges through my Creative Memories personal website day or night from anywhere in the country.  If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Here are the links

Reminisce Accents

Cheerful Seasons

These cartridges have coordinating papers that are also exclusive to Creative Memories.  You can find these in the various categories under Scrapbooking Paper on my site.

There are also digital versions of most of the papers which can be found HERE.
 
I have a goal to sell at least 40 cartridges this month so I can be included in a contest to win a spot on the Cricut Cruise.  I'd love to go along with some of my lucky friends who have already been invited so I appreciate your purchases to help in getting me one step closer.  Thanks!

(For those of you who asked - the MRI was fine.  Fortunately I am not claustrophobic since it was not an open one.  I don't have any results yet and I do appreciate all of your good wishes and prayers.)


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Albany House (and the stair step project)

Before and after my trip to CHA in Chicago I visited with family in Wisconsin.  My sister and brother-in-law are the owners and innkeepers at Albany House Bed and Breakfast in Albany, Wisconsin.  Albany is a small town about 30 miles south of Madison.  Their website can be found at http://www.albanyhouse.com/  You can get all of the details about the B & B and take a virtual tour on the site.

As you have seen from my photos over the past week - there is something intriguing to look at wherever you go in the B & B or on the grounds.  This is the "bottle garden" in the back of the property where they grow flowers and gourds to decorate the house.  Beyond the gardens are corn fields.

Here is just one example of a creative table arrangement with the garden flowers.  This sort of centerpiece makes it easy to see and get to know your fellow guests over breakfast at the large table in the dining room.  The food is fabulous - both Margie and Ken are excellent cooks.

The main house was built over 100 years ago - you can read the history of the property at this LINK.  The style is influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement with lots of oak woodwork and interesting period details.

The floor in the foyer is made of imported French tiles in this hexagonal pattern and they used this geometric motif for the lawn sign and website.

An old corncrib on the property was moved and renovated into this charming summer house - it is a great place to relax and chat on a hot summer day.

There is a large barn on the property with parking for bicycles (many people come to the B & B and use it as a home base for bicycle touring in the countryside).

Last year they started offering artist workshops which run from Tuesdays to Thursdays once a month in the summer months.  The instruction is by Deborah Meyer, a very talented artist,and there is a limit of 9 artists per session for personalized teaching.  You can see some of Deborah's work on her website HERE.  The workshop classes are held in a section of the barn that has been renovated but still has rustic charm.

Everything I know about collecting I learned from my sister - she has a fabulous "eye" and can spot finds and arrange objects in very pleasing displays.  Aren't these old metal wall pockets in the barn interesting?

Margie has collected pottery for years and there are colorful displays all over the house and even in the barn.  These are great for still life classes.

There are two more workshops this summer.  August 17-19 is called "Explore!" and is aimed at expanding your art horizons with different materials and techniques.  September 14-16 the workshop is "Cards and Gift Items" for a head start on the holidays.  For more details about the workshops you can contact Deborah by email  momwow51 (at) hotmail (dot) com (typed the usual way - I am just trying to prevent spam pickups).

There are also quilting and knitting groups that hold retreats at Albany House and it would be a great place for a cropping getaway as well.

About a year or so ago their neighbor was ready to move into a retirement apartment and they purchased her cottage which is directly across the street and provides river access to the Sugar River for canoeing and kayaking.

They made extensive renovations to turn the cottage into a great vacation rental property.  The second floor was just an attic but now has this lovely bedroom suite with a fireplace and sitting area.

The room is at the top of this steep and narrow set of steps.  Ever since the renovations began, we have been planning on adding a saying to the steps - a little surprise when you open the door to go up to the bedroom.  It was hard to think of the right phrase but the carpenter working with them on the house had a great suggestion. "The rise to the top takes many small steps" is both literally and figuratively true.

I cut the words in Cricut vinyl using the Plantin Schoolbook font before I left on my trip.  I "kiss cut" the vinyl using the medium pressure, medium speed and #4 blade depth.  This will cut the vinyl cleanly but leave the backing intact which makes it much easier to work with the vinyl.  I used the beige Cricut Vinyl in the 12 x 24 size.

I cut the words at three inches and the carpenter's name at 2 1/2 inches.  First we "weeded" the vinyl - in other words we removed all of the background vinyl leaving only the actual letters on the backing sheet.  I had decided not to weld the words because I wanted the look of the separated letters. The Cricut vinyl is very thin and sticky and with this many cutouts I could not salvage the offcuts for another project.

I cut small sections of transfer tape to use on the individual words so I could space them properly on the stair risers.

Then I placed the words on the stair risers trying to get the spacing even but not "too perfect," using the empty vinyl box as a spacer to keep the words level on each riser.  Once we stepped back and were satisfied with the arrangement, I burnished each word on to the risers and peeled off the transfer tape.

It was difficult to get a clear photo in the stairwell but here you can see the final result.  Kelvin is the carpenter who came up with the saying so we attributed the quote to him on the bottom step.  It is in the same shade of vinyl but looks brighter since it is closer to the light.

So that was my "crafty project" at Albany House.  It was fun to do and now we are looking for more places to add words and sayings in vinyl.

If you are interested in staying at Albany House sometime check out the website HERE and tell Margie that "Capadia sent me!"  It is a great place for a getaway and only two hours north of Chicago if you need a break from the city.

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