Love Bubbles

My sister needed a quick wedding card the other day and once upon a time I had a couple extras on hand.  But not this time.  So I had to think of something quick. 
 
Looking through my Silhouette files I came across this card called Valentine Bubbles of Love.  It's pretty and it's different and therefore I thought, why not?  After cutting it out I realized rather quickly that to add any kind of sentiment - whether stamped or handwritten - would pretty much destroy the card.  There was nowhere to hide it.
 
Quickly I pulled out the different shades of velum in my stash that might work.  Nope.  You could still see through every one of them.  Next I thought about using a glittered cardstock, knowing that would look nice.  Then I remembered that I'm not always successful with getting the adhesive to adhere correctly with some of those papers.  Finally I settled on a regular piece of cardstock, and while my photograph doesn't give my card the full justice it deserves (it's dark and rainy outside) my card turned out pretty good.

Batman Shirt

My oldest son is a HUGE Batman/DC Comic fan so I was rather excited when I came across this Batman file in one of the Silhouette groups I belong to.  Only problem was that I had to learn how to use iron-on vinyl. 
 
So over Black Friday week I purchased a few rolls of Cricut Vinyl since one of the craft stores had it for 50% off.  I bought a couple different colors but mainly white and red.
 
Once back home I opened my file and got everything ready to cut.  I placed my vinyl on the mat and started cutting.  Not once did I stop to think about checking my cut settings before doing so.  Needless to say when it was time to remove the vinyl for adhering to my shirt I quickly realized I messed up because my blade was set for cardstock and not vinyl.  That means everything cut clear through and there was no way for me to salvage my design.  Oh and let's not forget the fact that I forgot to change my mat size so the last four inches of my design didn't even cut. 
 
::::SIGH::::
 
Lesson learned.  Scrap the red vinyl and move on to the white.  All settings checked and changed as needed I started my second cut.  This time it was success.
 
I placed the iron-on onto the back of the shirt, read the directions for applying heat and got busy with the iron.
 
Uh-oh.  The iron-on was not adhering to the shirt.  What in the world was I doing wrong?  I called for my husband and he came to check on the situation.  After a quick survey he asked why I had a towel over the design.  Well that's what the directions said.  Right?  Even with my glasses on my face some of that print is hard for me to read.  He suggested I try ironing without the towel, and reluctantly I proceeded as advised.  Much to my surprise it worked!! 
 
When our son received his shirt and he pulled it out of the box he asked if bought or made the shirt.  Happily I told him that I made it and he told me how much he loved it.
 
SUCCESS!

Ornament Set

I know.  I know.  Christmas is over and we now have, what? 362 days until Christmas?  But with as busy as things were I never got a chance to share these ornaments with you.
 
The fuzzy slipper ornament is a free pattern that I found at free patterns dot com.  They have a variety of patterns for crochet, beading, papercrafting, plastic canvas, etc.  The other three ornaments:  birdhouse, santa skating and the plate of cookies are from the book Homemade Christmas.  This one was published by Kount on Kappie back in 1989.
 
When I was at Joann's this past weekend I noticed that there were plastic canvas pattern books on the rack.  I saw the same thing when I was at Hobby Lobby in Birmingham over Thanksgiving week.  Who knows, maybe this 'dying' craft is starting to make a resurgence, and we'll see more of it in the coming months.

Christmas Eve Ornament


I have another ornament I'd like to share with you today.  This one is from the Leisure Arts leaflet 361, titled Santa's Workshop in Plastic Canvas.  As with so many great patterns from years gone by this was another creation designed by Dick Martin.  (This particular pattern was published in 1985.)
 
I've never created the entire project from this leaflet.  Instead I've only created a variety of the ornaments and this calendar of December 24th is one of my favorites.
 
And since today is December 24th it was the absolute perfect day to share these ornaments with you.

Christmas Fairy

 
Today I'd like to take a break from papercrafting and share with you a beaded Christmas ornament I've made.  This Christmas fairy is from a kit created by the Beadery.  I actually purchased this kit a couple years back and like with all kits, I kept the directions so I could make more later.   I'm even going to make some in with teal and pink beads next time and see how they turn out.  I think that would be a pretty combination.
 
As hard as you might think it is to buy beads for creating beautiful beaded ornaments, it is actually pretty easy.  There's a company that's been around since I was a teenager that my mom used to purchase supplies from called Bolek's Craft Supply.  These guys are amazing as far as variety, pricing and quick turnaround. 
 
And there you have it.  Just another one of my crafty passions.

Have an Ice Day

I needed a gift bag night and everything I had was either too big or too small.  But I found this one plain ol' brown bag that was just the right size.  Like I said it was plain......and brown.   So I sat for a brief moment thinking about what I could do to make this plain, brown bag more Christmas-y.  Then it hit me.  It was rocket science.  Just use my trusty print 'n cut feature and have fun.  That's just what I did.
 
Using this wonderful snowman from the Snowy Christmas file by Marjorie Ann Designs  I revamped this gift bag in no time.  I cut a snow print background.  Added my snowman with his ornament and then added a wonderful, fun sentiment from the Cardz TV Stamps set titled Merry Everything and viola.....almost instant gift bag.

Winner Winner

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Emily's 16th Birthday Blog Hop.  And thank you to everyone that left a comment on my post.  Your comments always make me smile and I appreciate greatly the feedback that you all provide.
 
But now it's time to announce the winner of the Space Party cartridge.  And the winner is............
 
 
 
Congratulations Gail!  To claim your prize please send me an email at Barbara@ThreeCraftyDivas.com  You have one week to claim your prize.

Elf on a Shelf, Jaded Blossom Style

Today I am honored to be a guest designer for Jaded Blossom.  And for my guest spot I decided to incorporate our Elf on a Shelf into the fun and games. 
 
Using Santa's Chair (Design ID #89412) from the Silhouette Design Store I created a chair the perfect size for the elves.  On the back of the chair is a sign and for the sentiment there I used the Jaded Blossom stamp set Elf Workshop and the recently released Holiday Designer Tapes.
 
I created my elf's book using the Mini Mint Book from SVG Cutting Files.  The stamps I used on the cover of my book are from the Elf Workshop and Christ is Born (the star in the bottom corner).
 
 
 
And what's a couple of elves and a reindeer getting ready to help Santa without a sack full of goodies?  I couldn't find a paper sack quite like I wanted so I decided to cut one out for myself.  It's kinda crude but that's okay.  To decorate my sack I used the recently released Holiday Designer Tapes.  I then filled the bag to over flowing with lots of yummy Hershey's kisses all decorated using candy stamps from Elf Report Card and Winter Candies.
 
And that's my guest design project.  I hope that you've enjoyed it and thank you again Jaded Blossom for allowing me to join along in the fun!
 
Merry Christmas everyone!!

Emily's Sweet 16 Birthday Blog Hop


Hi friends!! Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate Emily's recent Sweet 16th Birthday! Shh, it's a surprise so don't tell anyone!! We're so thankful you've joined us to celebrate the sixteenth birthday of a fun loving young lady.  She will be blessed by your participation, designs and comments.  

 
You should be arriving from Julie's blog. If not, please check out the blog hop line up below so you can hop along with us from beginning to end.

What is a blog hop without candy, If you are a follower of The Crafty Scrap Yard just leave a comment here along with the other blogs in today's hop and you'll be entered to win two sets of Cardz TV stamp sets! "Make A Wish" and "Girl Talk" both sets that will help you celebrate a birthday celebration or a girl in your life!




Remember some of the other designers are also giving away blog candy too (HINT:  I'm one of them), so don't forget to visit everyone, read carefully and become a follower of all blogs, and leave some comment love!
Here's my Birthday design:
 
For my card, I used a sketch that I saved as my beginning point, building my card from there.  The cutting file I used is from SVG Cutting Files and it's one of the files that we received during a FB Sticker blog hop months ago.  This little cutie is the Trixie Cupcake.   

The stamped sentiment on my card is from the Say it Big stamp set by Craftin Desert Divas.  I absolutely love this stamp set because it has so much versatility. 


And now here's the complete line up for Emily's Surprise 16th Birthday blog hop.  There are 18 stops and I promise you won't want to miss a single one.  Thanks for hopping along with us. 

But before you begin, how about a little blog candy?  Up for grabs is the Cricut cartridge Space Party. 



To be eligible to win just leave a comment and then on Monday I will choose a lucky winner so be sure to check back to see if you're the lucky one. 


2.    Mary - http://cardztv.blogspot.com















 



Football Glasses


Today I have a quick project to share.  I needed a quick Christmas gift for an extended family member.  Now I don't know this family member that well as they are on my husband's side and we haven't seen them in many years.  But they are coming to the family get together this year so it was time to punt.
 
I quickly found out that this person is an Auburn fan and still having a couple of the football glasses left I knew exactly what to do.  So I pulled out my Silhouette sized this Auburn emblem I had in my files, cut from vinyl, layered and viola - I have a set of Auburn glasses to give as a gift.
 
Now after work I'm going to stop by Michael's and see if I can find a basket to package them in and then see about an ornament or something to go along with them.

Sweetest Holiday

 
It's the middle of the week and that means we are closing in on another weekend.  Ours will be full of excitement as we are making a quick trip to see some family for an early Christmas celebration.  So there won't be much papercrafting done but I'll get some cross stitch in.
 
Today though I have a Christmas card I'd like to share with you.  I made this one using the Cookies N Milk Gingers file from Marjorie Ann Designs.  I love that all her files include clip art because if I'm short on time I can use the print and cut feature and still create a beautiful card.
 
My sentiment is from the Gingerbread Wishes stamp set from Jaded Blossom.  I also added a couple of ginger colored skittles from DoubleClick Connections.  And there you have what might be my last Christmas card for the year.  Who knows though, these are my favorite cards to make......

Custom Logo Stamp

Over Black Friday week Silhouette had a great sale going on and my husband gave me the go ahead to purchase the Silhouette Mint.  If you haven't heard of this little machine, it's one that creates custom self-inking stamps.  Like anything in life it has its own pros and cons, and right now the two main cons I see are the start-up costs for supplies and the limited stamp sizes.  But with 40% off the supplies and then being able to buy the machine from HSN for $80 I was in.
 
The day I received the machine (which by the way fits in the palm of your hand), I downloaded the software and got it ready for use.  It wasn't until a week later that I finally had time to play.  For the longest time I have wanted to create my own custom logo that I could stamp onto my cards and tags for items I sale at craft shows.  So this past weekend I created my logo in Silhouette Studio.  I decided to incorporate both the name of my craft blog/Facebook page as well as the website that I manage for selling my crafts.
 
For those of you who don't know, I do the local craft shows along with my mom and baby sister - thus the name Three Crafty Divas.  As such we hand out business cards directing people to our website for future sales and special/custom orders (of which my receives a lot).  There's a brief bio about us on the website if your interested and you can read it here.
 
But back to the Silhouette Mint.  While creating my first stamp I read everything step by step and it was actually pretty easy to follow along.  The only thing I didn't get at first was how to adhere the stamp piece itself to the block and once I realized what I was doing wrong I felt silly.  Overall it's very easy to use and I love the way the stamp turned out.
 
What do you think?

Holiday Hellos

It took some doing but I was able to squeeze in a little bit of crafting time over the weekend.  Today I'm sharing one of the two cards I was able to get done.
 
For this one I used the Happy Owlidays file.  There are five different owls in this set and as you can see I used the Santa Owl for my card.
 
The sentiment is from the recently released Merry Everything stamp set from Cardz TV Stamps.
 
Instead of using skittles or sequins on my card I opted for buttons.  Luckily I had a small stash of Christmas themed buttons and these snowflakes were perfect.
 
And now I'm off to enter my card into the following challenge:
 
Die Cuttin' Divas - Tic Tac Toe (Santa, embossed belt buckle, snowflake buttons) - Ends December 13th
 
 

Infant Evil Minion Hat

My son has a friend that wanted an evil minion hat to give as a Christmas present.  Being new to crochet I had not yet tried making one of the evil minion hats like I did with my knitting looms, but I was willing to try.  So over Thanksgiving break while I was on vacation I gave it a go.
 
In a nutshell I just crocheted a basic beanie (using Redheart yarn), changing the colors for the band.  To create the 'hair' I used Lion Brand Hometown USA in two different shades of purple.  Cut the strands and tie them to the top portion of the hat all way around.  I then separated the strands and fluffed it up.
 
And that's my take on the evil minion.

Spongebob Ornaments

 

I had a lot of fun this past weekend making SpongeBob ornaments for each of my children.  Growing up this was one of their favorite cartoons and since all but one has turned 18 and moved into their own place I thought it would be fun to create a memorable ornament for them to hang on their tree.
 
 
 
 
 
At first I had purchased the wrong ornament but then I lucked out and found these cube ones at the Hobby Lobby while I was in Birmingham, AL for Thanksgiving.  So using some yellow Martha Stewart glitter I coated the insides and then set up my Silhouette to create the faces.   At first I thought about making them all the same design but then decided there was no fun in that so I created each ornament with a different face. 
 
 
 
 
I think the kids are going to love them.....
 
 

Winner! Winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop and commented, telling me your favorite Christmas cartoon. 
 
Congratulations go out to Cropaholic who said:
 
 
 
Email me with your mailing address to Barbara@ThreeCraftyDivas.com and I will get send you your Cricut cartridge.  You have one week to claim your prize.

Baby's First Christmas

Now I know it doesn't say that on my card.  Heck I didn't even use a sentiment at all on the outside of my card this time.  BUT - that is the name of the cute file that this baby with his/her ornament came from.  The file is another cutie from Marjorie Ann Designs and you can find it here.
 
I also used the recently released Holiday Designer Tapes stamp set from Jaded Blossom.  I stamped them using a couple of my Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads.  The green is peeled paint and the red is fired brick.
 
Oh, and did you participate in the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop that just ended this past Saturday?  If not there's still a little time left to hop along the participating blogs and have a chance at winning some blog candy.
 
I was a guest designer Saturday and I will be drawing a winner for my blog candy this evening.  If you haven't checked it out yet that post is just below this one.......
 
Have an awesome Monday everyone!!

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop - Day 12


 
Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop Day 12. Today ends an amazing 12 days full of inspiration. If you’re like me there’s been so much inspiration that you’re having a hard time figuring out how to fit in all the crafting you’d like to get done.  
 
Over the past 12 days we have seen layouts, greeting cards, ornaments, gift boxes/bags and all sorts of goodies shared. 
 
Today I have the honor of being a guest designer in the hop, and would like to share my Christmas project with you.  I love to create altered projects and chargers are one of my favorite items to alter this time of year.  So when Michael’s had their chargers on sale over Black Friday you bet I picked a couple of them up. 
 

 
 
To create my chargers was simple.  I used files from the Silhouette Design Store (Nativity Circle Shepherd and Believe Nativity) and cut them from vinyl and adhered them to the center of the plate.
 
I have some blog candy that I'd like to give away to one lucky winner.  It's a Cricut Space Party cartridge.  All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment telling me your favorite Christmas cartoon.  (Personally I'm torn between Rudolph, The Year Without a Santa Claus and the Grinch.)
 
Winner will be announced on Monday, December 7th allowing the weekend for everyone to play along.  So remember to come back on Monday to see if you're the lucky winner.
 
And now that you’ve seen my project for today, be sure to continue on with the hop and visit Melinda. 
 
Barbara - http://spotofsanity.blogspot.com (Guest Designer) 
Be sure to check out the wonderful sponsors:
Craftin Desert Diva's:  Stamp Set
Pretty Cute Stamps:  $15.00 gift certificate
Kathy's Cozies:  $25 gift certificate to her Etsy shop.
TreasureBoxDesigns: Three FREE files of their choice.
My Creative Time!:  Stamp Set
SVG Attic:  $15.00 gift certificate
Pink and Main:  Christmas Stamp Set
Little Scraps of Heaven Designs: (Sponsoring 2 Days)  $15.00 gift certificate each day
Jessi Buehrle: Twine bundles, and Three CTMH Stamp Sets
Scrapping Bug Designs$50.00 gift certificate. The gift certificate excludes sale prices.
Marjorie Ann Designs: $20.00 gift certificate
Cuddly Cute Designs: 3 Free Files
Too Cute By Jessica: $25.00 Gift Certificate
KaDoodle Bug Designs: 12 $5 gift certificates 1 for each of the 12 days of Christmas.
Midge and Madge Mingle:  A fabulous gift box Valued at $50.00 Retail
SVG Cuts:  $35.00 gift certificate
Lettering Delights: 50% coupon code on any purchase of $10.00 to all hoppers and a Christmas themed free printable for anyone that visits.