'Prairie Primer' Quilt

It's been about 8 years in the making but I have finally finished my Prairie Primer quilt.  Years ago when I used to homeschool my children I belonged to a yahoo group dedicated to all things related to the study of the Little House on the Prairie books.  Now, if you're asking yourself what one could possibly have to study that would turn these books into schooling - you'd be amazed.

When my children and I used these books for our schooling one year we learned all sorts of things.  We studied the gold rush, learned about various Indian tribes, learned how to make butter/jerky/other foods, learned a variety of 'crafts' such as sewing and making soap, we learned about homesteading, the Civil War and many other history items and we learned a variety of science related items about the human body and nature.  It was a great year and I think one of the most enjoyable of our homeschooling.

Now during our time in this group the ladies got together and decided to do a quilt block swap.  We all designed a block that told who we were and what state we were in and the fabric was related to something studied in the Prairie Primer.  Once I received my blocks I decided to make a Jacob's Ladder block to intertwine with mine and then put my quilt top together.  Well that was as far as I went all those years ago.

Fast forward to a couple months ago when I came across my quilt top and decided it was high time that I finish putting it together.  A month later I am happy to say that she is finally done and ready to be enjoyed!

Tag, You're It!

Today's post is brought to you by Cricut Cardz Challenge #98 where today we present you with two different Christmas tags using any cartridges of our liking.  As you will see I chose several cartridges.  And you might also notice that one of my tags is a recreation of a tag originally created by Scrapping Mommy.  Truth by told these tags offered me that final push I needed to go ahead and buy the Winter Frolic cartridge, and I'm so glad I did.

All of that said, I created these two tags using:

Winter Frolic for the Christmas tree
Accent Essentials for the scalloped tag
Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the snowman's tag
Gypsy Wanderings for the Snowman

Snowman Toilet Paper Cover

After making a couple of hats and scarves I finally felt brave enough to venture out and try something new on my knifty knitters.  So I took a couple hours and scoured the net for newbie type patterns and came across this great one over on Loom Lore.

With the exception of the nose (because it's crochet - which I have always struggled with but want to conquer) this was very easy to put together.  Now to decide what to do with him.....

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree......

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It's been one of those weeks in my little part of the world.  My oldest daughter is graduating from Armstrong State this Saturday and wouldn't you know it but at the last minute I decide to go and get sick.  Regardless of all the chaos I did find time for this week's fun, fun, fun Cricut Cardz Challenge over at Cardztv.

This week our challenge was to create a card based on our favorite Christmas carol.  While I don't have an end all - be all favorite because it's too hard to chose just one - I did choose to use Brenda Lee's  Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. 


For my card I used:

Christmas Cheer for the tree cut at 4"
George for the frame - I laid two rectangles one inside the other.  The largest one cut at 3 1/2" x 5" and the smaller one 2 1/2" x 4".

In order to get my text to print on the frame I had to use MS Word to layout three different text boxes at the correct size and spacing to print as seen on the card.

And now that you've seen my card why don't you play along?  Create your own Christmas card based on a carol/song  link it up to this week's challenge.

Annual Holiday Sales Event

In need of a last minute gift?  Looking for something unique and one of a kind?  Come check out my webstore at Spot of Sanity where you'll find a variety of hand crafted items ranging from Christmas ornaments, crocheted dolls and plushes, home decor and more.

Right now everything in the store is discounted 20% so what are you waiting for?  Stop by and reap the savings today.

Snowball Fight

Here in sunny Florida we don't really have the opportunity for snowball fights but that doesn't mean I can't dream   it......So today's card is another in my line of quick and easy.  

One cartridge is all I used - Winter Frolic.  Cut the boy at 4" - and the words snowball fight at 1 1/5".  I used pom poms for the snowballs and after putting it all together wish I had pop dotted the top snow hill layer.

On the inside I chose a clip art piece that would coincide with my sentiment to finish out the card.

Outdoor Nativity Set: Product Review

I was provided with a wonderful opportunity to set up, display and review this beautiful outdoor nativity that you see pictured.  Now before I tell you about the nativity I want to apologize that my yard isn't as well manicured as most but seeing as how I have massive oaks, grass that never wants to grow because of the trees, dogs and children, I have what I have.  lol  Even still this nativity puts the focus where the focus needs to be.....

So who made this little beauty and where do you purchase one?  Well let me tell you.  Outdoor Nativity Sets is a  child company of Teak Isle Manufacturing - a marine supply company.  In 2010 they faced the possibility of having to lay off some of their workforce due to the economic challenges.  Instead of doing so they listened to an employee who recommendation that they try building nativity sets for the holidays as they had done in the past and the rest as they say is history.

Made of a marine grade plastic this nativity is different than any I have ever seen.  It's simple in design, and as I said earlier leaves the focus where the focus needs to be - on our Lord.  The set up was amazingly quick and easy.   And when the season is over everything will be able to be stored in one box thus minimizing space unlike the plastic or inflatable type nativities.

Now all I need to do is start purchasing the add-on pieces such as the angel, wisemen or shepherds.  And you need to "run" on over to Outdoor Nativity Sets to purchase yours today.  What are you waiting for?

Coming Down the Chimney Tonight

Hello fellow bloggers.  I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving.  We spent our Thanksgiving in Alabama with family and had a wonderful time.  But now that I'm back I figured I'd better get back to making my Christmas cards since it's almost time to get them in the mail.

So today I wanted to share my Coming Down the Chimney Tonight card.  I made this one with the Jolly Holidays card.  It's another quick, easy card - just set your cuts for 4 1/2" and have at it.  I originally cut the house and door in other coordinating colors but it just didn't look right so even though I wanted something other than black for the house I thought it looked best.

And now that I have shared my card I guess I best get back to the unpacking and getting ready to go back to work tomorrow......

Say it With "S" Challenge

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the cards I've shared over the last couple of days.  Today's card was created for this week's Cricut Cardz Challenge.  Our directive this week was to create a card using any image that started with the letter 's'.

For my card I chose:

Snowflake - cut from Accent Essentials embossed with the snowflakes folder and then lightly inked with broken china distress ink

Santa hat (and bird) - cut from Jolly Holidays

The words Merry Christmas were also cut from Jolly Holidays.

And now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge be sure to check out the other fabulous designs our team created.  Then create your own and link up to play along with us.

Here We Come a Caroling....

Hello fellow bloggers.  Today I would like to share another card in what seems to be becoming my "Winter Frolic line".  And this is another card that was inspired by the background paper.  I have this paper in my stash for a couple years now - patiently waiting for the perfect card........

I cut the carolers at 4".  Since I didn't have a paper print that would work for creating the song book I decided to emboss it with the script folder and lightly ink over the embossing.  The music notes were cut at 1".

And remember how I mentioned the other day that I've been using clip art on the inside of my cards to help "finish" them off?  Well today I wanted to share a picture with you.  It's very simple but yet effective, and I love how it looks.

Old Fashion Santa

I love the way that this card turned out and wish that you could see it in real life because I promise that it looks better than the picture.  I made this one using Christmas Solutions/Noel, Accent Essentials and George (for the ribbon holes).

I chose this particular Santa cut because I thought it was perfect for the paper - another Tim Holtz Seasonal mat stack selection.  On the inside of my card I even printed one of the clip art pics of Santa under my sentiment to help finish/compliment the card.  And because I like the look it gave I decided to start doing that on the inside of all my cards that I don't actually scrap.

So what are you doing for your Christmas cards this year?  Are you doing just one design or are you designing a different card for each person on your list?  I'd love to hear how you're doing yours.......

A Child Is Born

This a quick and easy card that I put together this afternoon.  It only required one cartridge - Winter Frolic.  The cuts were done at 3" and the top star was coated with a yellow glitter to add some bling.

Since I wanted some hills I started looking around on some of my other cartridges but then remembered My Cut Search and completed my search there.  However, I was unable to find a cut that I wanted and had yet another recollection.  A while back I purchased one of those Fiskars paper edge guides, found and used it to create my hills.

All in all I was able to get four cards designed, cut and put together today.  Hopefully this means I'll be okay with getting all the cards made that I'll need this year.  lol

Christmas Light

I was looking through one of my card magazines and saw an advertisement that had this card layout in it.  I loved it so much I just had to scraplift it!

I used:

Christmas Solutions/Noel for the street light cut at 6 1/4" and then stretched to widen just a bit
Accent Essentials for the scalloped oval and oval - both of which were circles that I skewed into the oval shape

The paper is from Tim Holtz's Seasonal mat stack.  Don't you just love all things Tim Holtz?  I know I do.

My First Knifty Knitter Scarf

I made this scarf for my little sister who's adoption into the family was finalized this week and has a birthday coming up this week.  She'll be 5 and is all about the princesses and anything dress up so I hope that she'll like this scarf.

I've been trying off and on for weeks to figure out how to use the long looms and after scouring the net found a step by step pictorial that was more helpful than any of the videos I've seen.  Finally, everything clicked and I was on my way.  So to make this scarf I used my smallest knitting loom and then the 12 peg flower loom for my little flowers.

Now that I have this figured out I'm going to try my hand at making some Christmas bells.  According to the pattern it's supposed to be an easy pattern - only thing is I've got to learn a new stitch.  Shouldn't be too difficult to do after watching one of the youtube videos I found.

I'll let you know how it turns out.  Until then..........

Christmas Squirrels

Now that the Cricut Craft Room is up and running I wanted to play around with my E2 so I broke it out and made this card using:

Just a Note for the squirrels
Cricut Essentials for the scalloped circle
Paper Dolls Dress Up for the Santa hats

I love these little Cosmo Cricket critters on the Just a Note cartridge but I'm saddened that my choice in papers did not help the card pop as I had envisioned.  Guess I'll just have to try a different set of cuts and colors for the upcoming CCC challenge for this Wednesday.

Stay tuned..........

Peppermint Hat

Last week I decided to pick my knifty knitters back up so I could give them another whirl.  The long boards have been frustrating me so I set that aside again and went with my round loom for yet another hat.  I love the way that this one turned out, but I think that the beautiful colors of the yarn is what makes this one look so good.

And after finishing this hat I scoured the net to find even more instructions for long looms and think I finally have it figured out.  I pulled out a play skein of yarn and actually have a scarf going so we'll see what happens soon as I'm almost at the end.

I Heard Him Exclaim

I first made this card three years ago but had lost the file.  Thank goodness I photograph all my cards (even ones I don't like - lol) because I was able to recreate and add a new twist on this one.

For those who would like to try creating this one themselves I used:

Christmas Noel/Solutions for the window (door cut stretched to look like a window and fit my card size)
Christmas Noel/Solutions for the Santa and his sleigh
George for the moon
PPDU for the hair and hand

I adhered the window frame to a piece of an acrylic sheet and then pop dotted that to the night sky so that I could add a little bit of flower soft and MS mica flakes for the snow on the window sill.

Harvest Blessings

It's that time again......Yep, it's time for another installment in the Cricut Cardz Challenges and this week our challenge is all about thankfulness.  Our directive this week was to make a Thanksgiving card using any card feature of our liking.  

I chose to use the card feature from page 35 of the Autumn Celebrations cartridge.  I cut this feature out at 5".  But since I wanted all the colors of the cornucopia I cut the top layer of the card feature at 4 1/8" and hid all of the inside contours on the cornucopia.  This then would enable me to create the cornucopia to fit on the card.

I then cut the top half of the card feature in a colored paper so that I could use that to create the inside of the card.  As for the sentiment, it's in there but I had to use my handy dandy ruler to measure and decide where to place my printing so that it wouldn't show behind the cornucopia.

So now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge hop on over to Cardz TV take a gander at the other fabulous cards our Design Team members have created then create your own and play along with us by linking up.......can't wait to see what you come up with.

Elf Approved

Hello fellow bloggers.  I hope that today's post finds you and yours doing well.  As I sit in my craft room smelling the wonderful smell of Spruce mixed with Apple Cinnamon thanks to the air fresheners around my doorway I'd like to share another installment in my Christmas card collection this season.

Today's card is another that was inspired by one I saw in a magazine.  I don't remember which one but the card had an elf and a little tag that said "elf approved".  I thought it was a great card and chose to re-create the theme (not the card itself) using:

Jolly Holidays for the elf pulling his wagon
Christmas solutions for the bear and the baby doll
Christmas Cheer for the gift
Accent Essentials for the tag (which is pop dotted for effect)

Dear Santa

This is another quick and easy card that I put together last night.  I just LOVE Christmas and have all these ideas running around in my head.  Now I just need the time to start committing them to Design Studio or my Gypsy.

In the meantime I created this card by beginning with my computer to create a couple of letters to Santa.  I found this great font called Darlin BTN which I used because it looks just like a child's handwriting.  The hardest part in writing these letters was deciding which words to misspell.  Well okay, it was also difficult remembering what a 6 and 8 year old would ask Santa for - even though I wasn't sure what parts of the letter would be visible when the card was complete.

Once the letters were printed I cut them down to place on my cutting mat so that I could use Graphically Speaking to cut the paper to look like it came from a notebook of some kind.

I also used Winter Frolic for my Santa and the verbiage.  And I must say that I'm happy that I finally broke down and bought this cartridge.  I've toyed around with that decision for the last year so it was about time that I made one.  lol

Warm and Toasty

It's official.....my Christmas card season has now begun.  And this is my first card - inspired by a stamped one I saw in the current issue of Paper Creations.

For my card I used:

Create a Critter for the lamb

Just Because Cards for the word "Ewe"

George for the rectangles

The lamb's scarf is a scrap of eyelash yarn, and speaking of the lamb - I pop-dotted her layers to give her a little bit of dimension.

Spooks, Monsters, Ghouls and Goblins Challenge

Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to another Cricut Cardz Challenge where this week the challenge  is "Spooks, Monsters, Ghouls and Goblins!"   Our directive?  Make a card for Halloween using any Halloween image, from any cartridge(s) and using any colors.


Now, I'm going to admit that I have been super busy preparing for a craft show this Saturday so I chose a 2009 redo that I fell in love with thanks to Papercrafts Magazine.  That was the time that using glitter on cards became all the rage and a particular project had caught my eye.


This card though I did more in a post card fashion so it doesn't open, but flips over for the sentiment.  I used Stretch Your Imagination, A Child's Year, and Paper Dolls Dress Up, and I embossed my trees to add some texture.  My background night sky is made of nothing but glitter.  I used two different colors beginning from the top and the bottom for each and then fading the one into the other.

So now that you've seen my card take a look at the other Design Team entries for this week for more inspiration then create your own and link up to share your design with us.  C'mon it'll be fun.

Hot Chocolate Mugs

 

 

I know this was all the rage last year, but sometimes I'm a little behind the eight ball.  For whatever reason though I had the urge to make some and went on a search trying to find how they were done last year.  Once satisfied I opened up my Design Studio and went to work creating my own.

For my mugs I used Everyday Pop-Up Cards.  Oh, and I used George to create the slit for my hot chocolate packet to slip inside.  All my little characters are cut using the Jolly Holidays cartridge.

Now to add some peppermint sticks and marshmallows.......

Happy Graduation

I had a few leftovers from my daughter's graduation cards that I made a couple weeks ago so I decided not to waste. ......

Yep, all I changed was the you're invited to Happy Graduation using the Graduation cartridge and now it's the perfect card to give to a graduate.  Best thing about this card is that the colors are those of my local high school as well as FSU so I won't have any problems finding someone to give this one too.

The inside sentiment says - Now - go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Count Your Blessings - Altered Charger

Isn't it funny how sometimes you figure out a new "trend" before it even becomes one?  Case in point, I decided about this time last year to try my hand at altering charger plates like the ones you get from Michaels, AC Moore or any other craft store.  And now it seems to be the rage - I even have one that's being published in the November issue of Cricut Magazine.....

Today though I want to share with you a redo of the first one I created last year.  I used the same cuts:

Thanksgiving for my verbiage (Count Your Blessings)
Christmas Noel (Solutions cartridge) for the Christmas tree and the star
George for the Circle cuts
Speaking of Winter for the snowman

So what's different about this plate and the one I did last year you ask?

This time I decided to add a couple of different glitters for added texture on my snow covered ground.
The tree once again has textured snow from my snow writer's pen.  I sprinkled a little snow glitter while damp and once it was dry I came back with a layer of glossy accents.

I also decided to add a sentiment to the backside of the plate.

So now that you've seen my altered plate I'd love to see what ideas you come up with.  In the meantime, I have another idea or two running around in my head.  Fortunately I have several plates that I bought on clearance after the holidays last year......

Last of the Onsies

Finally, finally, finally I have finished the last of all the onsie albums I needed to get made.  For the longest time I had an inspirational block but then I found the Cricut Lite cartridge 9 months and it was game on.  Not all of the pages for these albums used the new cartridge but it at least got me out of my funk.

And with that I wanted to share the new pages I made for these particular albums.

For the covers I used 9 months for the blocks and the heaven sent.

This cute little elephant is also from 9 months.

Now I know that the tubs are nothing new, but I found these great "bubbles" with the cutesy buttons at Michael's this past weekend and just had to redo these pages.

And finally, these cute rubber duckies were perfect for this new baby print I found.  The ducks and the hands are both from A Child's Year.

Nativity Scenes

Today I'd like to share another plastic canvas project that I recently finished.  These were quick and easy to put together and I love the way that they turned out.

Sadly though my carpal tunnel is flaring up in my right wrist somewhat so my wonderful husband has banned me from needlework for a couple nights.....Guess that means I'll have to do more papercrafting!!  LOL

Halloween Envelope Album

I purchased this wonderful little Halloween envelope album kit from Scrapbook.com a few weeks ago and finally had the opportunity to sit down and put it all together this weekend. I had a lot of fun with this one and even broke out some old and new cartridges as well as some Martha Stewart punches that had not been used in a while - if at all.

So let's break it down..........For the cover of the album I use Happy Hauntings for my cuts.  When adhering my headless horseman I wanted the pumpkin raised so I cut it away from the die cut and then pop dotted for a better effect.

For this page I used Happy Hauntings once again along with some papers from Tim Holtz and DCWV and then used my MS cracks punch around the page set.

Happy Hauntings and Accent Essentials were used for this page along with some stickers from the Booville collection from My Little Yellow Bicycle.  Oh and I used my MS Drippy Goo punch.

On this page I used a cut from the October 31st cartridge and this is one that I just purchased this summer but had not yet found an opportunity to use - until now.

For this page I broke out one of the 'oldies' - Paper Dolls Dress Up for the spider web.  After cutting, I ran it through my Xyron and then sprinkled on some glitter fibers.  The spiders are from a Recollections pack in my stash.

The eyes have it......or so they say.....lol.....these eyes are cut from October 31st.....gotta love that sinister, don't mess with me look they give.

And last, but not least, my ending pages.....nothing fancy - just a couple of rectangles punched and distressed.

Ruler of the Remote - Coaster and Tray Set

Happy Friday everyone.  Today I'd like to share a plastic canvas project I just finished up last night.  I love doing this craft but hate that it takes so long to complete a project.  I worked on this one for a couple hours a night for about 3 weeks - talk about time intensive.  But that's okay, the end product is worth it.

view showing the coasters

College Graduation Announcements

Sorry that I've been so quiet lately.  Things have been beyond crazy over here with getting ready for an upcoming graduation and a couple of craft shows.  We just tried our first time at the Oktoberfest and were pleased with the turnout.  Needless to say we'll do that show again next year.  But now it's all about getting ready for the big one next month.

All of that said, I completed the first half of my daughter's graduation announcements for this December.  We worked together to come up with a design and she decided on the verbiage.  This is the final result.  I posted them up on FB the other day and quite a few people loved the way they turned out  my daughter included....and that is of course a good thing.  lol

For these announcements I used:

Accent Essentials for the maroon & gold mats

Hello Kitty for the diploma

Locker Talk for the graduation cap; and

Thanksgiving for the "you're invited"

Trick or Treat Spooks

Today is the day that our Cricut Cardz challenge moves to Cardz TV and this week we are on challenge #91 - things that go bump in the night.  For this challenge our instructions were to make a card for "Halloween with the spookiest, scariest image you can find on any cartridge(s), and using any colors".


I chose to use:


Autumn Celebrations for my trick or treating spooks
Paper Doll Dress Up for the tree, moon and stars


The spiders are from a Studio G punch that I picked up at Walmart. 


And now that you have seen my card pop on over to Cardz TV and take a look at all the other delightfully spooky creations our DT has in store for you this week.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Purse Album

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today I want to share a new album with you that I made using the booklet purse and pages die from Sizzix along with a couple of Cricut cartridges - Girl's Makeup Party, Graphically Speaking, Indie Art, Rock Princess and Accent Essentials.

This is a smaller album with the pages measuring only 2 x 3 inches at their largest so my cuts were small but they all cut rather well.

Starting with Rock Princess I cut the word 'diva' for the purse cover.

The shoes and word attitude were cut from Graphically Speaking.

The blow dryer, compact, lip gloss, and sleeping mask were cut from Girl's Makeup Party.

The lips - coated with a pink glitter - are from Indie Art.

Finally all of the mats are from Accent Essentials.