SVG Attic DT Friday! Tangled Lantern

So I was completely swamped with projects when SVG Attic was having their Lantern Contest a few weeks ago and although I got mine started, I just ran out of time to finish it. Lol! But here it is nonetheless, I spent a lot of time designing it to look like scenes from our most recently favorite Disney movie "Tangled". If you haven't seen the movie, you probably wont understand the lantern. But you should definitely go out and rent it tonight! Or better yet, just buy it. It's totally worth it!!

Anyways, you know the drill, here's a million pictures coming at ya!  :-)

The sun has a huge significance in the movie and it just happens to look awesome on a lantern!!

Side 2 is Rapunzel's tower with a glowing window, and Rapunzel's magic golden hair all glowing.

Side 3- Rapunzel in the boat with Flynn (not pictured) looking at all the floating lanterns around them. And yes, her hair is braided just like in the movie!

Side 4-Rapunzel on the tree tops staring at the "floating lights" far away.

 

I tell ya, I used a TON of twine on this lantern!! Lol! But it just looks so cute as her hair!! I got my twine from The Twinery. They were the ones with the best selection of colors, and I needed a sunshine yellow!

I braided some sheer wired ribbon for the handle and tied a bow around the top so it wouldn't look so bare up there. 

Now the best ones....... Lights off!

Here's my inspiration pictures I found online......

Now for the details. I used soooooo many sets from SVG Attic to make this lantern!

I used Cape Cod for:
-the "tower" (which is the lighthouse svg)
-the grassy hill (supposed to be the sandbar)
-the sailboat (which I modified and added a swirl to)

Just Beachy for:
-the sun
-the waves

Luau set for:
-the lanterns
-the grass skirt (welded to the lighthouse for a "thatched roof" look)

Paper Dolls:
-the woman

Summer Lanterns:
-obviously the lantern
-the bushes (at the base of the tower)
-the bricks for the chimney (modified to fit the shape of the lighthouse)

Give a Hoot Set:
-trees
-vines for side of tower
-long branch with swirl on it (modified and welded to the boat)

Just so you know, I use Make The Cut with my Cricut Expression to cut out my SVG files. I absolutely cannot live without MTC!! Because of that program I am able to manipulate and change different svg files to make them suit my needs. For instance, the bricks on the side of the tower, are really from the chimney bricks in the house lantern file, and I was able to crop them into the right shape to cut out of one the tower layers.

I am thinking of doing a video tutorial on some of these MTC tricks that I know. Is that something anyone might be interested in seeing??

Another useful tool in Make The Cut, is the rhinestone feature. A couple weeks ago I was hearing about a fun tool called the Sew Easy, which basically just punches stitching holes into your paper in certain designs. Someone mentioned that they thought it would be neat if someone made a tool that would cut the stitching holes in a variety of shapes.

Well, MTC already does!! It's called the Rhinestone tool. If you have MTC, try it!!!  That is how I made the holes around the sun on my lantern! You could totally use it for threading twine or embroidery floss through in any shapes!!! How cute would a rainbow card that way be?!!!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like my Tangled Lantern, and if you are one of the few people who has not seen this movie, seriously, go do it now! :-)

*Hugs*
-Anna Dawn

My First DT Project for SVG Attic!!

A few weeks ago Jessica Bashaw, of Jessica's Crop Corner, asked me to be on her Design Team for her new store SVG Attic, which sells SVG files to use with your personal die-cutting machines. I couldn't believe she wanted me!! I mean, yeah I applied for a spot on the DT, but did I really think I was gonna be picked? No! Totally blew my mind! Go check out her stuff, browse around the store, and if you don't use SVGs or own a cutting machine then at the very least just go check out the bio page that has my picture on it!!! HERE

Well I've been so excited to share what I made with her super cute Backyard BBQ set and Cupcake stand and wrapper from the Bridal Shower set. Hope you enjoy!

 

I totally missed out on the 4th of July, it came and went and I didn't even get a chance to decorate or do any cute festivities! But I figured, summer isn't over yet, so I still have a chance to put up some cute decorations! Since we love having people over, and grilling is my husband's specialty :-) I made some fun barbecue decor!

I made the cupcake stand and wrapper to look like a little grill, then put some adorable "grill" cupcakes in them! I cut a half-circle out of the base of the stand in MTC, and omitted the stand's top sides and just hot glued the circle into the cupcake wrapper. I also had to hand cut the decorative edge off the cupcake wrapper. My incredibly talented friend made the awesome cupcakes for me! They were Perfect!

I also made a fun candy dish the same way, but larger, and added a lid to it so I could use the cool little shishkabobs in the set! I created the grill's grate in MTC with their fun lattice feature, and layered 6 of them on top of each other for more dimension.

I loved playing with these barbecue files! I don't think I'm quite done with them yet, I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve :-) lol!

There's the inside of the candy dish!!

Now for the details:

Backyard BBQ
Chef hat               3.2630 w  2.9946 h
Apron                  4.6114 w  5.7260 h
BBQ Caption       1.6253 w  1.1739 h
Oven Mitt            2.3615 w  1.4427 h
Pitcher                 3.2224 w  3.3849 h
Soda Can            1.1984 w  2.2297 h
Ketchup              1.1416 w  2.8036 h
Mustard              1.0681 w  2.3173 h
Steak                  1.6965 w  1.2294 h
Hot dog w/Bun   1.2080 w  2.9662 h
Spatula               1.2980 w  5.7885 h
Fork                    .4890 w  6.6864 h
Steak bits           1.1798 w  1.1798 h
Onion                   .8630 w  1.0413 h
Mushroom            .8229 w .8787 h

Bridal Shower Kit
Cupcake Wrapper                   11.7222 w  4.9502 h
Cupcake Stand Base                  2.6923 w  3.9015 h
Circle for cupcake stand top       2.9375 w  2.9375 h

Thanks for stopping by! Now go buy some SVGs! Lol!

Baby Shower Gift

So, many of you have heard me talking about SVG's right? And how I use my Cricut to cut these types of files instead of purchasing lots of Cricut Cartridges. I've even designed a few of my own SVG files. But there are a ton of shops online now that sell these SVG cutting files. One fun place is called SVG Cuts. They have some adorable files and cute 3-D projects. Like these 3-D letters! So if you start seeing an abundance of 3-D letters from me, here's where I got them!

For a Baby Shower Gift I made some 3-D letters in the baby's name to go with the pink/brown color scheme of the baby's room. Hope you like!

To package it all up nice and pretty I made a box for it with another svg file from SVG Cuts called Big Boutique Boxes.  I used my shredder to make some paper filler and had the kiddos help me crumple it all up! Lol!

Well thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think!

Oh, and don't forget to check back next Friday for my 1st Design Team Project for SVG Attic!! Plus, go check out my bio on their website! CLICK HERE!! It's all so very exciting!

Guest Designer at Paper Dolls! and a Giveaway!

Thanks for coming to visit!

If you just came from the Paper Dolls then keep reading for all the details about my guest designer project.

If not, GO visit them right away, then come back! Lol!

So anyways,

I feel especially honored to be one of the first guest designers on The Paper Dolls blog! Tamara and Thienly are seriously amazing and uber talented women! I have stalked admired their blogs and creative projects for quite some time now. Seeing as how they ARE the "paper" dolls, I didn't even want to try to compete with their paper crafting skills so I went another direction with this challenge. The point is to show people ways they can use SVG's right.

Many people don't realize that you can actually cut fabric on your Cricut machine. I'm gonna show you how to do it! Bear in mind, it can be a little frustrating, and the settings that I use may or may not work for your type of fabric, but if you really want to do it, it's worth the adjustments and test cuts to get it right.

I wanted a way to "Thank" these dolls for letting me be a part of their new adventure, and also help them get the word out about their new blog. So I decided to make iron-on fabric appliques for t-shirts and I'm sending each "doll" a shirt of their own! When they wear it they will be getting free advertisement for their blog and at the same time showing off all the fun things you can make with your die-cutting machine.

**Here's the fun part, there is a shirt in it for one of you lucky followers as well!! (I'll explain at the bottom of this post)**

Now let's get down to business!

How to Cut Fabric with Your Cricut:

You will need:
Light cotton fabric
Heat n Bond - iron on adhesive ( I used a no sew, ultra hold type)
    (available at Joann's or local fabric store)
Brand NEW Cricut cutting blade
Iron
SVG's, cut files, or Cricut Cartridges

Okay, got my fabric. Check.

Got the Heat n Bond. Check.

Super Cute SVG files. Check.

STEP 1: Cut a piece of Heat n Bond to your desired size. I cut it into a
12 x 12 square to fit onto my Cricut mat.

STEP 2:  Read the Heat n Bond directions and apply (with an iron) to the wrong side of your fabric as instructed.

STEP 3: Then cut your fabric out around the square. (Ironing the Heat n Bond on first helps eliminate the amount of fraying you will have along your fabric edge.)

STEP 4: Replace the blade in your Cricut cutting machine with a NEW blade.That's very important! Adjust your settings. (For my fabric weight and Heat n Bond thickness I had to use a blade depth of 5 and pressure at MAX.

STEP 5: Load your fabric onto the cutting mat, fabric side up, and Press firmly to adhere. (Helps if you have a fairly new mat also.)

STEP 6: Load the mat into the machine and press cut. It really is THAT easy!

(If this is your first try I would recommend doing a small test cut first, checking to make sure it cut all the way through your fabric before cutting out a whole bunch of stuff.)

When it's done cutting, take out the mat and carefully lift off the pieces. I LOVE my little hook tool that came with my Cricut tool set, so I use that for just about everything. (It's even better than the spatula!)

I pulled the fabric pieces right off the Heat n Bond backing, so I had to later go back and remove all that paper backing from my Cricut mat.

I FILLED up my mat with cuts and after about the 3rd fabric my blade was already dulling. I continued using it however, and just had to snip away a few spots that didn't cut all the way out. You can see them in between the doll's dresses.

Although you could really go through blades quick doing this, I actually got a LOT of stuff cut out with one blade, and it will still be plenty sharp enough for cutting paper.  See all the cuts I got....

You could really have a lot of fun with this stuff! Now all you do is figure out where you want to apply your applique and iron it on. (Again, refer to your Heat n Bond instructions for this part.)

Here's just a few of the designs I came up with, but the  possibilities are endless!

I even made these cute fabric flowers to go on the shirts with some leftover fabric!

Looks cute on bags too!

Like my shirt?!! Now here's the cool part! You could win a Paper Dolls shirt of your own!!! All you have to do is become a follower of my blog, and leave me a sweet little comment on this post telling me you did!  I also have a facebook page, and if you come "like" me over there too you will get an extra entry for the drawing (just leave me another comment telling me you did)! See how much I like comments! Lol!

I will pick a winner (at random) next Sunday before "the dolls" kick off their next challenge, so you have to either come back to see who I announce the winner is, or leave me a way to contact you.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you like what you see, and let me know if you have ANY questions!! Hugs!

Oh, and did I mention how much I "heart" paper dolls?!!!!!!!  :-)