Christmas 2012

Here we are, one week before Christmas.  Time to get started on my cards, I suppose!  I let the challenges guide me this week.  The ornament is from A Child's Year and the word Joy is from Create a Critter.  I was trying to use as many scraps as possible, so each card looks a little different.  Here is one example:

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #128

Cardztv challenge #21--I'm dreaming of a white Christmas (snow, snowflakes, or snowman)

Simon Says--What's your favorite tool, stamp, or product?  (My Cricut!)

Die Cuttin' Divas #94--Holiday Spirit

Really Reasonable Ribbon #62--Anything Goes & Ribbon

Dilo en español--Feliz Navidad

Tuesday Throwdown #127--use wrapping paper

Baby Shower

My little sister is expecting twins in February and her best friend and I are throwing her shower.  Since my sister is a scrapbooker, we knew she would love home made invitations.  Since we needed around 50 of them though, we didn't want them to be too complicated.  We decided a baby bottle design would be simple enough and give us the space we needed for our information.  We used the bottle from Doodlecharms.  I changed the proportions on my Gypsy so the invites will fit in a business envelope.  I used Opposites Attract to print "Twins!" on the ring of the bottle with my Cricut markers.  The colors are a bit non-traditional, but my sister doesn't know the genders of the babies and we had access to a large quantity of free cardstock in bright colors, so we thought this would be fun and eye catching!

(Identifying information has been hidden for privacy.)

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Cricut Cardz Challenge #118--Anything goes

Peachy Keen Challenge #40--Word up!

Little Clair #26--New Arrivals

You can BEAT this!

A recently retired coworker is in need of some cheer.  She was thought to have an aggressive form of lymphoma.  The doctors now say that is not what it is, but they are not sure what she does have.  The staff where I work has created a calendar where we each signed up for a day to send her a card so she can keep receiving them over a period of time rather than all at once.  Tomorrow is my day and this is the card I created for her:

The mixer is from From my Kitchen.  The shape behind it is from Gypsy Wanderings.  I embossed it with the Cuttlebug folder Spots and Dots.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Skipping Stones Design--sketch challenge 146

Simon Says--emboss it

Little Claire's--Stand up straight (easel card)

Wedding card

I am going to a wedding in a couple weeks.  My sister will be standing up in the wedding and is going to make the bride a scrapbook of her wedding.  I wanted to make a card using the wedding colors so it will coordinate with everything as part of a scrapbook layout.  The sentiment on the front of the card is a free word art file from Papercraft Memories.  The layout idea is from Skipping Stones Design.  The bride handmade her wedding invitations.  The flowers and ribbon on my card are recycled from her invitations.  I used one of my new Cuttlebug folders, Tiffany, to emboss the card base and added a couple of i-rock gems.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Skipping Stones Design--sketch challenge
Cute Card Thursday #228--clean and simple
Really Reasonable Ribbon #53--bling and ribbon

Pinterest sewing project

I've pinned several projects on Pinterest for refashioning t-shirts and finally got brave enough to try one.  I wanted to do the first attempt on a t-shirt that wasn't too sentimental for me.  The one I chose was from my sister's trip to London around 15 years ago.  The London Olympics seemed like the perfect time to pull this shirt out again and give it new life.  The tutorial I followed can be found here.  I decided to finish the edges, and I took one commenter's advice and used the bottom hem I had cut off as the tie rather than cutting off another strip above that.


Here is the before picture:

And here's the after picture:

I've gotten several compliments on the re-do already!

Update:  I wore this shirt recently when I knew I was going to see the sister who had given it to me.  She looked at it and said, "When did you go to London?"  She didn't even recognize it!

Summer Love

Tuesday Throwdown, Dilo en español, and Totally Papercrafts are having summer challenges.  What summer goes by without a wedding?  And, as a result, anniversaries.  I have a wedding and several anniversaries coming up, so I made some cards that would work for either occasion.  (They could also work for Valentine's Day, I suppose.)

This is *gasp* a Cricut-less card!  The sketch is from Mojo Monday.  The sentiment was a free word art file from Papercraft Memories.  After printing it on my computer, I cut around it with my Creative Memories Custom Cutting System.  The background was run through the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Mojo Monday 248--sketch contest

Tuesday Throwdown #104--summertime

Totally Papercrafts #124--Here comes summer

The Scrapbooking Queen--Digi Challenge #10 anything goes

Dilo en español--#3 Summer

Have an EGGcellent birthday!

I have a friend who is a farmer.  She and I have exchanged cow themed cards for years.  I'm running out of cow puns though, and since she also has chickens (I buy my eggs from her) I decided to go with an egg themed card.  The sentiment inside says "Have an EGGcellent birthday!"

Again, please excuse the poor photography.  I had to use the camera on my laptop.

The tag is from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More.  The brown eggs are from Smiley Cards.  The cracked egg on the tag was cut freehand with scissors.

This card will be entered in the Skipping Stones Design's sketch challenge.

Father's Day

Tomorrow is Father's Day, so I guess it is time to make some cards!  In addition to my dad, I wanted to make one for my brother-in-law.  My sister said he was bummed when I didn't get make him a card for his birthday this year, and he and my sister are having us over for dinner on Sunday.  I thought a card with a grill would work for both men.

Please excuse the poor photography.  I don't have access to my camera and had to use the one on my laptop.

The grill is from the From my Kitchen cartridge and the circle is from Graphically Speaking.  It was run through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #115--Father's Day

Cricut Cardz Challenge #110--Father's Day

More than Favors--Wacky Wednesday #72: Father's Day

Die Cuttin' Divas #69--Father's Day

Celebrate the Occasion #66--Father's Day

Craft Spot by Kimberly #59--King of the Grill

Reto Dilo en Español #2--Dads

Creative Time for Me--Color challenge

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge--sketch challenge

Puff the Magic Dragon

My mom has always been a fan of Peter, Paul, and Mary, so when I saw that Peter Yarrow was coming to town in May, I knew what to get her for Mother's Day.  I e-mailed the woman in charge about getting tickets and mentioned that they were going to be for Mother's Day.  Imagine my surprise when she e-mailed back inviting us to meet Peter at a restaurant afterwards!

Ever since this came up, I've had the song Puff the Magic Dragon in my head and I wanted to make a card with Puff on it.  Unfortunately, there are not many dragons on the Cricut carts.  There is one on a Paper Dolls cart, but it has no layers.  I decided to use a dinosaur from Create a Critter and attempt to make him look dragon-like.  I cut out a bat from the Holiday Cakes cartridge and cut it in half to make wings.  I cut out some ears and a little spike for the tip of his tail by hand.  I think it worked pretty well, except I'm not completely happy with his face (which I used my Cricut markers on.)  I think she'll get the idea though :)  Because of the musical theme, I ran the white background through the Cuttlebug Allegro folder.  The sentiment was printed from my computer.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Peachy Keen Stamps--sketch challenge #17
Cricut Cardz Challenge--#107 "There's no other like my mother."
More than Favors--Wacky Wednesday #70: Mother's Day
Really Reasonable Ribbon--#47 Mother's Day
Dilo en español--All about moms
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--#110 Mother's Day
Scrapalicious--Mother's Day
Tuesday Throwdown--#97 Mother's Day

"Manly" confirmation card

My cousin's son is getting confirmed tomorrow, so I had the challenge of making a "manly" religious card.  I used a couple of challenges as inspiration.  I also tried to use one of my more "manly" Cuttlebug folders--Diamonds in the Rough.  The cross is from Indie Art.  Here is what I ended up with:

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Die Cuttin' Divas--sketch challenge
Totally Papercrafts challenge 115--white on white
Cute Card Thursday challenge 215--one for the boys

"Green" cards

I had an old calendar with photos too gorgeous to throw out, so I decided to cut it up and make some cards with it.  I used my the cutting plate from my Cuttlebug Everyday Greetings set to cut out an assortment of words from scrap paper.  On a the cards where the photo I cut from the calendar wasn't quite large enough, I added some Cuttlebug embossed paper.
Here are a few of the cards:

These cards will be entered in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--use a recycled item
The Cuttlebug Spot--flowers

Happy birthday to Ewe

My sister's birthday is approaching and she used to love lambs (or "woolies" as she called them) when she was younger, so I decided to incorporate one into her card.  I made a few extras also to add to my stash.

Here are the details:
sketch--Skipping Stones Design
diamond--Gypsy Wanderings
sheep--From My Kitchen
embossing--Spots and Dots (background), Swiss Dots (on diamond), D'Vine Swirls (sheep)
sentiment--printed from my computer

This card will be entered into the following challenges:
Skipping Stones Design--sketch challenge #121
Fantabulous Cricut--#104  Out like a lamb
Carson's Creations--embossing blog hop; I didn't try any new techniques here, but did use 3 different Cuttlebug folders
Creative Time for Me--Throwback Thursday; any cartridge, any project
Tuesday Throwdown#91: Outside the box; Have part of your image go outside the frame (I made the sheep a bit larger than the diamond he is mounted on.)

Purrrfect birthday

My mom's birthday is this week and despite being super busy, she is one person I don't want to give a store-bought card to.  So, here is a card I whipped up tonight.
Mom is a cat lover, so I used the cat face from Animal Kingdom.  I used my Cricut markers to outline his face and gave him some googly eyes.  In my hurry, I decided to hand write the sentiment rather than use my computer.  I just wish I would have thought to run the blue through my Cuttlebug before I taped it to the other piece.

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Skipping Stones Design--sketch challenge #116

Paper Playtime #68--pets and a sentiment

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--challenge #99 fancy trims (I used ribbon.)

Totally Papercrafts--challenge #104 Ribbons and/or bows

More Than Favors--Wacky Wednesday #65 Circles

Die Cuttin' Divas--Challenge #53 Favorite Pet

Scrapbookaholic by Abby--Dilo en español #3, birthday

Tuesday Throwdown #86--use blue

Gifts for my Scrap Girls

A few years ago, my sister invited me to scrapbook with her and her friends.  Since then, I've become a regular member of the group, even getting my "official" t-shirt :)
Our group recently submitted a HUGE CM order and I was the lucky party hostess reaping the rewards.  I decided to make a little thank you gift for them--personalized wine glasses with a coaster.
I picked up the wine glasses at second hand stores, and it's a good thing I did, since it took me a few glasses to really get the hang of it (Smoothing out the vinyl stencil on the rounded wine glasses was tricky!) and my husband ended up breaking one.  I made a vinyl stencil in my Cricut using Ashlyn's Alphabet and dabbed on Armour Etch, leaving it for 15 minutes.  This is a pic of one side of the glasses.  The other side is personalized.

I used the tutorial found here to make the coasters that slip around the base of the glass.

Happy Birthday to a real classic!

Mom invited my husband and I over to celebrate my dad's birthday tomorrow, so I couldn't put off making his card any longer!

The car and circles came from Holiday Cakes, a cartridge I'd picked up a while ago because it was a good price and I figured a variety of holiday images can always come in handy.  I hadn't used it until today though.  The black circle was run through the Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder and the green strip was run through the Spots and Dots folder.  With the patterned paper, I figured I'd better put the sentiment on one of the red circles, but I didn't have a stamp that small and didn't want to mess around with my computer printer, so I went with handwritten sentiments this time.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Skipping Stones Design #113--sketch challenge

Whimsical Designs--Bringing out the old (Holiday Cakes cartridge)

Die Cuttin Divas #50--Anything goes

Craft Spot by Kimberly--Anything goes

Birthday Sundaes--Challenge #41, Easel card

My first attempt at bottle cap magnets

My mom enjoys purchasing soda in glass bottles from a local bottling plant for our big family get togethers.  The bottles are small, which is perfect for all the kids in the family, and they come in lots of fun flavors like cherry and grape.  This summer, at one of our family get-togethers, I saved a handful of the bottle caps.  This week, during my Christmas vacation, I finally decided to try making some magnets with them.

I purchased a 1" circle punch to cut out the designs.  After using an Exacto knife and some tweezers (pliers would have been easier) to remove the rubber from the inside of the caps, I used Mod Podge to glue the pictures in.  After researching a bit online, I wanted to try using Diamond Glaze to fill in the caps.  I didn't find any at Joann's though, and rather than running around town to look for it at other stores, I decided to try using Glossy Accents.  I followed the directions and did not shake the bottle.  There were still a few tiny bubbles, which I removed the best I could with a toothpick.  When the Glossy Accents dried though, there were tons of minuscule bubbles.  When this bottle of Glossy Accents is gone, I think I'll try something else.  I used an old tube of Goop to glue the magnets on.
Here are the finished magnets:

Cricut Expression covers

Soon after I got my Cricut, I asked my mom to help me design a dust cover for it.  I had seen some online and knew that I could make one myself, and much cheaper.  We used a piece of old newspaper to trace the pattern and determined that 3/4 yard of fabric and a package of bias tape were needed.  I chose some double-sided quilted fabric.  Here is what I ended up with:

I saved the pattern, thinking I might want to make one for a friend in the future.  I was right--my sister bought a Cricut this year, so I made her a dust cover for Christmas.  Now that Christmas is over, I can post pictures of hers also: