Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sweet Treats Thursdays - Mardi Gras

Greetings Everyone … This is ♥Carol♥ and I am so pleased that you are visiting me here today at my Little Creation Corner … I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week that extends throughout the week-end.


Over at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, the Sweet Treats Thursdays design team are celebrating Mardi Gras. By now, you've likely noticed a trend with me and know that I have to make a card … but with a theme like Mardi Gras … I just had to include a mask … in fact, I had to make two of them! These masks are to represent the King and Queen of Mardi Gras. I created them in Design Studio by combining shapes from the new Cricut Paisley Cartridge. I did miniature versions of the masks for the cards.

(Please click on images to see details full size.)


Follow along as I share how I created them …

First is the King’s Mask (Whoops, did you notice a little green feature was stuck to the fleur-de-lis?) …



This was created in by combining two shapes in Design studio, the crown and glasses from the Paisley Cricut Cartridge, and welding them together. I made the eyes by adding little paisleys and tilting and/or flipping them to get them into position at the right angles … it gives it a bit of an Oriental flair, don’t you think? There were several tick marks in these shapes, which I removed using the “hide contour” feature.


The paper I selected is actually a textured gold with bright glittery golden Swirls (Golden Swirl by ANW Crestwood), which was a little thin and would not hold it’s shape when attached to the stick, so I cut 3 additional heavy cardstock masks and glued them all together, one on top of the other, to give it stability. This worked great and gave a thickness similar to thick chipboard.

For the decorations, I cut the fleur-de-lis (found on the Cricut Stamping Cartridge), ran them upside down through my Xyron Sticker Maker, then covered them with purple and green glitter. I added feathers, a large purple one and smaller green ones. Whoa, what a mess … I’ve decided that I do NOT like working with feathers … I had feathers flying EVERYWHERE! I then covered a 12” wooden dowel with gold ribbon and attached it to the right side of the mask along with purple, green and gold ribbons and Mardi Gras beads.


Next is the Queen’s Mask


This was created much the same way as the King’s mask, except that I used the princess crown and the glasses from the Cricut Paisley Cartridge. There was a slight gap between the bridge of the nose piece on the glasses and the bottom edge, so I welded an apple (from the same cartridge) into the center to cover the gap and give the nose bridge a slightly more curved finish.


With the Queen’s mask, I selected a butterfly and hearts to decorate the face … other than that, the supplies, embellishments and techniques used were identical to those used to make the King’s mask.


Lastly, the Card


(Don't forget to click on any image to see details full size)

This was actually a very simple card to make … using the same basic steps to create the King and Queen’s masks, I made smaller versions from textured gold foil cardstock. The card is matted with green foil paper card stock and a textured feather paper. The edges are inked with a metallic gold (although it really doesn’t show much in the image). I popped the masks and sentiment, added gold ribbon, and the card was done. It’s not particularly fancy, but it does match the masks pretty well.

Don’t forget to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations made by the other Sweet Treats Thursday Design Team members … they have truly made some amazing projects!

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today and liked my Mardi Gras projects … They were really fun to make, except for those messy feathers, of course! (*wink*) I hope you will take a moment to leave a comment to share your thoughts, I adore reading what you have to say … I’d also really love it if you would sign up to be a follower too, your visits make my blog so much more meaningful.

As always … thank you for stopping by to visit me here at my Little Creation Corner.  Have a great day, and HAPPY CRAFTING!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥

10 comments:

Sheila aka SassyLady said...

Carol this is just gorgeous!!!! I love NewOrleans, MardiGras and everything about it!!! You really have a beautiful masj one that you could find in one of the little specialty shops right on Bourbon Street! Feather, beads.... you have it all! Thanks so much for sharing your talent!

tsrel said...

very nice carol

zopeloti said...

Outstanding job!

Carole Beath said...

Oh my Carol, the masks are absolutely wonderful... What a great design.
Carole

Sheila aka SassyLady said...

I left a little something for you on my blog.

Brenda said...

AWESOME job!!! I love the colors!
hugs
Brenda

Crystal said...

SImply magnificent!

I left you something on my blog here: http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/2010/02/lisa-loves-me-sunshine-award.html

Denise Hill said...

I have a blog award for you on my website! :0)

Audrey Frelx said...

Carol, thank you so much for visiting and following me. You always leave me such kind and warm comments on the mb -- all the time!

You too have a beautiful blog! I don't know that mine is so beautiful as it is so immature compared to so many others I see, but I do work hard making it grow.

Your masks are gorgeous and you share a lot of detail; I like that! I love to share what I have too, but haven't figured out yet how to use all the tools available to be very thorough and descriptive.

Anyway, I love your blog and have "peeped" a little in advance -- I'll go and browse around more now. And, thanks again. I'm following you too, so I'll be seeing you!

Audrey Frelx said...

Oh, I forgot to mention -- your mardi gras masks remind me of family. My maternal family is from Louisianna and many of my family are scattered all over. Your masks made me think of mardi gras and family times!