Love Letters

Today I'd like to share with you the project that I made for my husband's Valentine's Day gift.  I found these wonderful little 3 in x 4 in paper bags at Michael's and just knew I had to have them.  Especially since they were on sale 50% off.  I loved the idea that they had the space for journaling on the bag and thought they were the perfect size for making tags and hoped they wouldn't be too big to fit in one of the mailbox tins I had.  After discovering that they weren't too big off to work I went.

I used a variety of cartridges on this project including:

Going Places for the globe

Create a Critter 2 for the owl, phrases and bee

Handyman for the hammer and nails

Paper Dolls for the moon and stars, and the weights

Graphically Speaking for the smiley face

Suburbia for the fan

Indie Art for the dice

Wild Cards 2 for the boat

Mini Monsters for the monster

TBBM2 for the tags

This is a picture of the front of the tags

And this is the back of the tags.  As you can see I printed different sentiments to coincide with the graphic on the front of the tag.

Once they were all put together I matched them up with the paper bag that also had the sentiment written on it.

Then in to the mailbox all but 4 went.  Throughout this week I've left one tag in different hiding spots (truck, lunch bag, bowling shoes, shaker cup) for my husband to find at some point during his day.

For my mailbox - I cut a strip of 4 x 12 paper, wrapped it around the box (cutting out a spot for the flag).  I then traced and cut out the pieces for the front and back.  The stamped sentiment is from Cardz TV Stamps snail mail.

Tomorrow I will place the mailbox - along with a Mine Craft Creeper plush (he's a huge Mine Craft fan) I picked up - in the front seat of his truck.......

Falling In Love.....

Since today is one of those homebound days due to weather and a hubby with the flu I decided to sit down and do a little cardmaking before I began housework.  And even though I really need to get some birthday cards made I decided to do one for Valentine's Day.

For this card - which is a loose scraplifting of one I found on Pintrest - I used the cute little owls from Create a Critter 2 - both cut at two inches.  As you can see I positioned both of them on a rope of twine which I picked up during the after Christmas sales.  Because of my inside sentiment (which I'll show you momentarily) I wanted to position them so that it looks like one owl is "falling" in to the other owl.  Oh and the hearts that are scattered across my twine are also cut from CAC2. 

My background paper is called Lots of Love and is one I've had in my stash for years.  And that just goes to show you how much paper I have.  LOL

So about the inside of my card......I found this quote on Pintrest and I just fell in love with it.  (No pun intended.)  Knowing that I'd use it somewhere I pinned it to my Crafty Projects to Try board. 

The stamped sentiment on the outside of my card is from the Cardz TV Stamps set title "Snail Mail". 

And there you have my first official Valentine's Day card of 2014.  Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be more to come.

Mini Coffee Cup Candy Holders

I found this awesome and fun idea over at Inking Idaho a couple weeks ago and immediately I had to purchase the cups and lids so I could make my own.  However, I needed these to house my own special homemade candies that I make ever Christmas to give as gifts to co-workers, friends, teachers, etc.  Problem was my candies were going to be heavier than the typical store bought chocolates so I had to figure out a way to stabilize the holders. 

 

Now before I tell you about the couple of changes I made to this project, you'll find the directions at Inking Idaho and the template for the cup covers over at Stamping & Scrapbooking.  Be sure to download everything before you begin. 

 

Okay, so the changes I made to the project were:

 

To stabilize the holder I cut a piece of chipboard 2" x 4 1/2", covered it with a piece of matching paper and adhered it to the inside bottom of the holder BEFORE adhering the handle.

 

Because not all of my cups will be placed in holders or have the straws I wanted to cover the tops.  I found that cutting a circle on my Cricut at a size of 1.9" fit perfectly.

 

 

 

And in case you're wondering, the snowman I have on my holder is from Create a Critter 2 and was cut at 2".  The stamped sentiments on my lids are from the Cardz TV Stamps set Very Merry.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas Tags

I had a couple of shipping tags left from my stash that I decided to finally do something with this past weekend.  Of course that something was turn them in to Christmas gift tags. 

Once again I used the shaving cream technique which is so perfect for these tags.

My owl is from Create a Critter 2, cut at 2 1/2".  After putting him all together I used my snow writer 'pen' to add the texture to the brim and tip of the hat.

The "to" and "from" cuts are from Christmas Cheer cut at 1".

The stamped sentiment is from the Bright and Merry Winter Wishes stamp set from the Unity Stamp Company.

Christmas Gift Tags

This my first official "Christmas" project of the season.....the snowman globes being my first "winter" project.  lol

 

For these tags I used the shipping tags like you can buy at an office supply store and marbled them using the shaving cream technique. 

 

For my cuts I used the following cartridges:

 

Bears from Teddy Bear Parade

 

Star from Create a Critter 2

 

"To" and "From" are from Christmas Cheer

 

The stamped sentiment on the bottom of the star tags is from the Cardz TV Stamps Happy Days stamp set.  The stamp on the bear tags is from the Beary Sentimental set from Maymay Made It.

 

I love making these gift tags.  They're so easy to do and the size is perfect for all occasions. 

Be Mine

Now that the Christmas holidays are over and the New Year has begun it's time to start looking to the next 'big' holiday - Valentine's Day.  So yesterday as I sat in my craft room playing I decided to make my first Valentine's Day card.

 

For this one I used Seasonal Characters for the cupid; and,

 

Create a Critter 2 for the hearts.

 

I wanted to print the verbiage on the hearts with my printer, but I forgot that my son used all the ink so I had to write the verbiage instead.......

Speaking of Christmas....

....it is coming fast.  No creeping up on us this year.  And today I'd like to share a card that I created for the Speaking of Christmas DT challenge for the Cricut Cardz Challenge.  This week our directive was to create a Christmas card using any cartridge and colors we wanted; however, we had to use a Christmas phrase.

 

For my card, I used:

 

Create a Critter 2 for the Ho, ho, ho phrase cut at 2"

 

Seasonal Characters for my Santa cut at 4"

 

I was so excited to find this awesome digital download when Cricut had their digital cuts on sale for 30% off a couple weeks or so ago. 

 

And now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge be sure to check out all the other great designs our team created.  Then create your own, link up, share and play along with us.  I can't wait to see what you create.

Snowman Gift Tags

Well it's almost the end of the week and I don't know about you but I'm ready for the weekend.  Of course mine is going to be jam packed as this weekend begins our craft show season.  We've only got a couple of shows this year but we've doubled our booth sizes and are already talking about maybe taking on another one next year if we do well again this year.

Today, I'd like to share another set of gift tags I put together.  I used the shaving cream and food dye technique again and I just love how the yellows turned out.  The marbling and color is so perfect as a backdrop for these adorable snowmen from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge.

Surprise tho' - I did use Christmas Cheer for the "to" and "from" one these tags.  Yep, I actually used one of my older cartridges.  LOL

These tags were a lot of fun to put together and the hardest (not to mention the messiest) part was the shaving cream technique.  As you can see I "dyed" both sides of my tag thus giving them a finished look.  Don't remember what the shaving cream technique is?  You can view the tutorial here.

Now go have fun and create some gift tags while you still have time.

Soooooo Spooky S-Fold Challenge

Okay, it's not sooooooo spooky, but it is soooooo cute. 

Today's challenge is brought to you by Cricut Cardz Challenge where our directive this week was to create an S-Fold card for Halloween using any cartridges and colors we choose.

As you can see I have once again reached for my ever so handy dandy Create a Critter 2 cartridge.  For Halloween this year these cuts are the best!  Besides I have to admit that these were more of the cuts I had in my stash that I mentioned in yesterday's post.

My papers are from a mat stack that Recollections put out last season and sadly I'm about out of them.  I think these have been some of my favorite Halloween themed papers to create with.

But I digress a little.  When you open my card it looks like this.....

I had one little ghost left and he was the perfect size to add to the back of the card 'flap'.  And the purple paper was just perfect for a ready to go sentiment so I just had to use it.  But then I needed a little spot for someone to write their own greeting so I added a small strip of white as well.

And now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge be sure to pop in over at Cardz TV to check out the other great designs our team has to share with you.  Then be sure to create your own take on the challenge, link up and play along with us. 

I can't wait to see what you create.

By the Glow of the Moon

Happy Tuesday everyone.  I'm back again with another Halloween card to share with you today.  This time I'm using a combination of Cricut and Sizzix cuts.  When I go through my creative slumps sometimes I'll just sit around and make various cuts and put them into a bucket for later creativity.  And since my computer was down over the weekend I pulled cuts from that bucket to create my projects that you'll see through out the week.

Now I know you're probably thinking that this card looks just like one I shared a week or two ago when Cricut did their CAC2 sneek peak - and you're right it is very similar.  But there are a couple of variations.  For this one I did use the CAC2 cartridge for the house cut.  However, the bat and the tree were cut using my Sizzix dies.  I absolutely love this spooky tree cut and thought it would be great with the house.

This time I also opted for a less cutesy background paper.  For this card I chose one from Pink Paiselee's Hocus Pocus line.  Oh and since I did have a ghost cut in my bucket I couldn't go without using it, and did so on the inside of my card.

The font that you see pictured is another of the sentiment downloads that I got from Paper Crafts.  They have several great ones to choose from so hurry on over to select one or all for your crafting pleasure today.

It's a Piggie Birthday

I have been having so much fun with the new Create a Critter 2 cartridge.  Today I have a quick and easy birthday card to share with you.  It's ridiculous how easy this was to put together but when you have a great cut and cute paper to back it up that's just how it is.  LOL

All I did for this one was cut the pig and her balloons, matched it up with the Happy Birthday phrase and viola.  How's that for when you need a last minute birthday card?

I just wish I had had this done in time for my sisters' birthday.  Problem was I had a virus hit my computer late last week and spent the weekend backing up needed files and rebuilding the system.  Oh well at least they know I still love them...

Christmas Card Holder - Altered Project

I've been working on this project for the past week and half and am now ready to share this fun project with you.  These card holders were inspired from a Holiday Cards & More magazine published by Papercrafts a couple years ago.  I've been searching for the holder so I could make my own and as luck would have it Hobby Lobby delivered a sale email to my inbox that just happened to have them featured!!!  You might be able to find them in the store but since the closest one to me is an hour away ordering them online was well worth the shipping costs.

So I started my project with this........

And after a couple coats of white acyrlic paint, I had this.....

After the inside and sides were dried, I turned the caddy upside down and painted the underneath.  Once that was dry I took them outside and sprayed them down with a sealant to help protect the paint.

The next step was finding the right papers for each of my caddies.  Once selected I measured the rectangular sides, cut the needed sizes and then traced the two ends onto the left over paper.  In all one 12" x 12" sheet of paper was all that was needed.  After inking the edges of the paper I used Scotch quick dry adhesive, I glued my papers in place, carefully trimmed any excess and then lightly sanded all edges.

Now for the fun.  Deciding what cuts I want to use to embellish my caddies!  I wanted to use cuts that would enhance the papers used.  While some were easy choices, others were not as easy as I anticipated.

All caddies of course have the same folder.  I cut these from Grapically Speaking and repurposed an actual manilla folder for the job.  After cutting the folders I ran each one through the printer and used the Christmas card font from dafont.com.

I then used the following cuts between the four caddies:

Teddy Bear Parade - Elf Teddy Bear (pictured above)

Christmas Solutions - Santa (after several attempts to cut his glasses I gave up)

Create a Critter 2 - Snowman

Christmas Cheer - Candies and Stocking

Oh, and that card you see in my caddy - here it is in full view.

I originally cut this little bear out for one of my caddies but with the antlers he was too tall.  So I combined him with this tree cut from one of my Sizzix dies.



I hope you enjoyed seeing my project and if you make some I'd love to see what you did so come back and tell me about it.....

Creature Feature Challenge

Happy Wednesday everyone.  This morning I'd like share my DT creature feature card I made for Cricut Cardz Challenge #116.  Our directive this week was to create a Halloween themed card using the card feature from any cartridge and colors of our chosing.  For my card, I chose the original Wild Card cartridge. 

I have looked at this cut many times but never chose to use it before this week, and I'm glad I finally did because I love the way it turned out.  To make this card I cut the entire card feature from one of my card blanks.  I then made a second cut of the pumpkin portion of the card so that I could layer papers of my chosing.  So using papers from a Recollections Halloween mat stack I bought last year I cut my layers for the pumpkin.  I then took a scrap piece of yellow paper and layered it between the card feature and pumkin cut to give my pumpkin that yellow candle glowing look for the eyes and mouth.  And finally I took yet another sheet from the same mat stack and cut it down strategically to have some little hooligans peeking out through the blades of grass.

As for the little ghost floating around, he's from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge.

And now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge take a moment to pop in over at Cardz TV and check out all the other fabulous creations our team made this week.  I promise you will not be disappointed.  Then create your own card, link up and play along with us.

I look forward to seeing what creature feature you create.

Squirreling Acorns

I love Saturday mornings.  Even though it's my day off I still wake up early and everyone else generally stays in bed for a couple of hours giving me time to enjoy a cup or two of coffee and some quite crafting time.  This morning I was able to get a couple of cards put together for upcoming challenges.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you another project I created for the Create a Critter 2 sneak peek contest Cricut was running last week.  There were a lot of awesome projects entered into the contest and they're supposed to announce the winner/s on Monday and I can't wait to see who's picked.

This project is a Fall home decor project and because of the mat size with this frame I created my picture just like I would for a card.  The opening measures 5 x 7 so I of course started with a background piece of cardstock on which to build my picture.

Using a paper trimmer, I cut two rectangles - brown 4 x 3 1/2" and red 3 3/4 x 3 1/4" and then two squares brown 3 1/2" and green 3 1/4".  The red and green squares I embossed using the swiss dots folder and inked all edges.

From Accent Essentials I cut what started as a scalloped circle but ended up as a scalloped rectangle.  I made two different sized cuts so that one would mat the other while allowing enough room for my squirrel to be framed.

From Create a Critter 2 I cut the pilgrim squirrel at 2" and three acorns at 1".  While putting the picture together I decided to see if I had wiggle eyes that would 'fit' the squirrel's face while adding to the cute factor, and I think these were successful.

Other than that it was placing the picture in the mat, putting on the back and standing my new picture up on the table for display.

Wild Thing

Happy Friday everyone!  I have a quick and easy card to share with you today.  And yes, it is yet another Create a Critter 2 creation.

For this one I used that adorable lion that was available during the sneak peek week.  I cut him out at 2 1/2".  I also used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for the tag, cutting two - one at 2" and one at 1 3/4".  (Looking back I do wish that I had used a larger font, but that's okay.)  After adhering the two tags together I added a piece of scrap ribbon.

My background paper is from DCWV's Animal Crackers and the brown strip is a piece of corrugated cardstock that I had in my stash. 

Then on the inside I added the following sentiment, "If I was stranded on a desert island and could only take one thing, it'd be you."

See, told you it was easy.

The Haunting Hours

Today I'd like to share with you another project that I had created for the Create a Critter 2 sneak peek contest.  I just love these cutesy halloween cuts and could not resist cutting several of them while they were available this past week.

For this card I cut the house at 6" and the ghosts at 1 1/2" and 1 1/4".  I also used Happy Hauntings for the bat (cut at .75") and the tree (cut at 3 3/4"). 

As I was laying my cuts out for the card the tree didn't really go as tall as I wanted for the overlapping of the branches so I hand cut a piece of the brown cardstock that I could use to add height and yet hide behind the house cut so you wouldn't know what I had done.  The end result was just as I wanted.

I've been having so much fun with this cartridge and can't wait to see it hit the shelves in my area.  Stay tuned because I have more to share with you later........

Christmas Joy Tags

I was so excited last night to discover that I could now see and use the Create a Critter 2 sneak peek!  Needless to say, I made my husband a craft widow because I decided that it was time to get cracking and just make a bunch of cuts while the cutting was good.  So I set to work just placing a bunch of cuts at different sizes on my mat.  Cut, bag and start again.  I had no set project in mind as I cut on my merry way but I knew that I wanted them - after all they're free.  LOL

Well today, I decided to use these cute little birds and make some tags with them.  I also decided that now was as good a time as any to give that shaving cream technique I heard about a long time ago a try.  So off to Splitcoaststampers I went in search of the tutorial.  Talk about a fun tutorial!  Now I won't lie and tell you that I didn't make a mess - even my husband chimed in to let me know I was making a big one.  But that was okay because I was having fun.  Have you tried this technique yet?  If not you should.

My cuts for these tags were made at 2" for the bird and 1" for the Joy phrase.  After the tags were dried and flattened I found a coordinating paper from My Mind's Eye, tore it to size, inked the edges and glued each strip on about the center of my tag.  I then adhered the phrase to the bottom of the tag and the bird about center on the strip.

Oh what fun this project was.  Now I'm really going to have to sit down and see what else I can come up with for these cuts I made.

Btw, I published the project in the Cricut project center if you're interested.  Not to mention that I wanted to try my hand at that contest they have going on right now.  There's a lot of great talent out there so I don't expect to place but it's always fun trying........