Christmas Notes

This is Jazzy. She is my velcro dog. Wherever I go, she goes. <3 I love her to pieces.

Here are some things I want to remember for next Christmas and I don't know where to put them so I will remember to look. Then I thought of here! Ok, here goes:

1. The calendar kiosk at the mall isn't lying with it's "One day only" 50% off sale on Black Friday. Buy them then!

2. 2 pounds of shrimp is PLENTY for 4 people. 3 pounds is ridiculously too much.

3. Add a little more liquid to the McCormick batter so the excess batter drips off easily (IF you fry again next year).

4. Set the outside lights timer for "hours after dusk" and set it for 6-ish hours.

5. Use only the silver beads around the tree. It looks pretty.

6. It's ok to get to 9:30PM mass by 9:15. 9:05 was a little early.

7. 2 trays of baked ziti is perfect for 9 people. Just the right amount of leftovers!

There's Snow one like you

It appears Blogger is having some issues. I can't seem to add hyperlinks to anything after a certain point. Maybe it's just me? Oh well, here is a Christmas card I made. The sentiment is from Scrappy Mom set called Winter Wishes. The snowman is a retired Stampin Up set called Stitched Snowman. That paper is a Martha Stewart mat stack I purchased at Joann's and that twine is from Martha Stewart also.

Terrific Tuesday Challenge/Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #67

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I only cooked for 9 people, but I couldn't have been more tired. No more frying fish next Christmas Eve. It's too time consuming! Ok, onto the challenge. Scrappy Mom's TTC challenge this week was to create a project using a bag. I love me some cello bags. They are good for everything. For this project, I made a set of cards to give away as a Christmas gift. I made a generic and simple bag topper to match the first card. The bag/package is for the TTC challenge and the card is for the Peachy Keen sketch challange #67

The actual card is for Peach Keen's Sketch challenge #67. The challenge was to create any project as long as you incorporate a PK stamp. How easy is that?! The turtle is cut from Create A Critter. This whole pack includes shaped cards. Here's a close up of some of the cards included. The turtle is from Create A Critter. The patterned paper is DCWV Citrust stack. That stamp is from My Pink Stamper and that adorable face is Peachy Keen's Princess Faces.

For my next card, I used the snail from Walk In My Garden. The sentiment stamp I later added is from Papertrey Ink. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with the sentiment, but it reads, "Inching by just to say". I cut off the workd "hi". I love this sentiment with the snail.

For my last card, I used Everyday Paper Dolls for this adorable doggie. I have a confession. I bought this cartridge solely for this cut. I don't really use the paper dolls much, but this dog was the cutest. I made 4, each using one of the faces in one of Peachy Keen's newer releases, Happy Go Lucky Dog Faces. Aren't they just too adorable?!

The sentiment stamps are from Mr. Cricut Crazy, Man's Best Friend set. Here's a close up of this adorable pup:

Throwback Thursday Challenge

Emma's Throwback Thursday Challenge this week over at My Creative Time is to use a kid friendly cartridge and make a kid friendly themed project. I just had to use this little cutie from Playtime. I just love this cartridge. I searched high and low for it a while back and was finally able to get it from Ebay. I was SO excited because I love almost every cut it has!

The sentiment is from Emma's set called Turn that Frown Upsdie Down. That set is so versatile. I would say it's my favorite set, but I'd be lying because I love all of Emma's stamps. I can't wait for her next release this week! Her sad little face is from Peachy Keen's Cutie Pie face assortment. Don't you just want to hug her?!

I'm so happy to be entering this challenge. I missed her Design Team Call two weeks ago. I was so swamped that week. I was planning a surprise trip to Florida for my mom's birthday (which went great!), it was my husband's birthday, I had company coming, and I got out of work late every night. I was so, so disappointed because to design for Emma would be so exiciting and mean a lot to me. I do feel that it just wasn't meant to be. I hope I can try out next time. In the meantime, I still get to enjoy her inspirational blog and awesome stamps! Ok, sorry for the tangent. LOL

Throwback Thursday Challenge

The challenge this week at My Creative Time is to use an older cartridge with a card feature. The card must be Halloween themed. This was the perfect opportunity to use my Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge. I have been wanting to use this cut for a while. Hello Kitty is so cute with her little cape! I just love how she turned out. I decided against using a sentiment stamp on the outside because I thought it would detract from her adorable outfit.
I cut the base card in Kraft colored cardstock at 5". Then I used the blackout feature to layer on top of that because the card feature didn't cut one side of her whiskers. I cut out the cape freehand because I didn't like it just black. It didn't really look like a cape to me. I used glossy accents on her eyes. They will dry clear and give her some dimension.
The patterned paper is from DCWV Midnight Spell. This is the most awesome Halloween stack ever! So many glittered, embossed or foiled pages and such amazing colors. I'm going to really miss this stack when it's finished.

My Craft Spot Design Team Submission: Mini Book

Kimberly at My Craft Spot is having a Design Team call. I was so inspired I couldn't wait to get started. For my project, I made a mini book. I had so much fun creating this project. I just purchased a new Martha Stewart punch, Doily Lace, because I had this tri-fold card design in mind. A confession? This project started off as a card, but then I decided to use a new technique I just learned on creating a mini book with glue as the binding; no binding machine necessary. I couldn't wait to try it and this was a perfect opportunity.

I popped up the title on the book to give it extra dimension.

For the pages, you start by scoring the patterned paper the same spot as your book, in this case, at 4.25". You adhere the first page down and then adhere each additional page to the previous. That is how the binding is made. You can view an awesome video on this technique by Heidi Swapp here on My Craft Channel. That bright circle on the top right is actually a flower cut from glittered patterned paper with an epoxy sticker over it.

You can see the epoxy sticker effect better in this picture. I created a pocket on the bottom and stuck a tag in there that can be used for journaling or a small photo.


I left the middle page kind of plain because the paper is so graphic and I wanted to have it vacant for a larger photo.
I had so much fun creating this mini book, I will definitely be making more of these! Thanks for looking and come back soon.

Recipe:

• Base at 5.5" x 10". Score at 4.25" and 8.5"
• All paper from My Mind's Eye Lovenest and Spring Feast from First Edition
  
• 1" circle punch and 3/4" square punch for the cover banner and base for facets and epoxy stickers
• My Creative Time Anyday Bingo & Crossword for the letters on the cover
• My Pink Stamper Stamps Family & Friends for the "memories" on the cover
  
• Tim Holtz Facets
  
• 1" Epoxy stickers
• Brad on outside from Basic Grey Sweet Threads collection
• Glossy Accents as adhesive for facets and epoxy stickers
• Cricut Cartridge Kate's ABCs for the flower
• Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch
  

My Pink Stamper Christmas Card challenge

Robyn from My Pink Stamper challenged us to start our Christmas cards. I've been making a few here and there, but tonight I was really motivated. I've been going through a couple of weeks of feeling creative. The paper for this card is from a stack I bought at Joann's last year from Cloud 9. It's a mix of fall papers, Halloween and Christmas. I never want to use paper from this stack because every sheet is so adorable. But, I realize how ridiculous that is and got to work.

The snowman stamp is from an old Stampin Up set that I recently acquired and the sentiment is from a set called Winter Wishes from Scrappy Moms Stamps.

MPS Christmas Card Challenge

The snowman for my next card is from the Jolly Holidays cartridge. His face is a Peachy Keen stamp, Snow Faces and that adorable sentiment is from My Pink Stamper's Winter Punnies.

MPS Christmas Card Challenge

For my last card for this challenge, I used the stamping resist technique. I stamped the trees with Versamark on shiny white cardstock then rubbed colored ink over the image. It's a really fun technique. I've done it with flowers and it gives it such a soft look. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Halloween Treat Bags

I made a bunch of these Halloween treat bags to give to coworkers and the staff at my father-in-law's Assisted Living facility. They are super easy. You can make them as simple or detailed as you want. Most were very simple, using just a piece of patterned paper from last year's DCWV Midnight Spell and then on others, I used solid card stock with a layer of patterned paper. I saw the idea here at Scrappin with My Bug several months ago. Michelle's treat bags were adorable. Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle!

For the closure, I cut some pumpkins and ghosts and used some Peachy Keen Pumpkin Faces stamps for their faces. I decorated the front with some stamps from Emma's All Around Halloween set. These were a lot of fun! You can see the pumpkin and ghost die cuts below.

For others, I used a ribbon closure. I had a hard time lining up the center, so the ribbon was off center on a few.

And here's a side view:




Instructions:
The dimensions are 3.5" x 10".
Score at 4", 4.5", 5", and 9".
Fold at the 4", 4.5" and 5" inch lines forward, back, then forward again to make a "W".
Then fold on the 9" score line.
Decorate the front as you wish.
Adhere a 3x5" cello bag on the inside panel using red tape/sticky strip.

Throwback Thursday Challenege

The challenge over at My Creative Time this week is to use a Font cartridge to create a project. I only have two font cartridges, Plantin Schoolbook and Mini Monograms, so it wasn't too hard for me to choose. I chose Mini Monograms for the card base and the ladybug is from Create a Critter. That adorable little face is Peachy Keen's Wide Eyed Kids face assortment. I used some glossy accents on her eyes.

I'm so pleased with the finished project. I had lost my mojo for quite sometime and this really got it back again for me. Thanks, Emma!

Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #61

So, I received my order from My Creative Time's latest release last weekend. I couldn't wait to use this set. Peachy Keen's Sketch Challenge was the perfect opportunity to use it! I purchased Anyday Bingo & Crossword. This set is so versatile. Not only does it have a Bingo card stamp and the crossword squares, but it has the whole alphabet AND a ton of adorable little image stamps! This set is awesome!! I made this card for my mom. She recently bought me an under the counter radio for my kitchen and it has made being in there much more fun. The picture isn't the best quality, but the card is much cuter in person. The challenge was to create a card following the sketch and use embroidery floss or twine on the card. Here's the sketch followed by my card. Thanks for looking!

Mini Album with Your Story Photo Personal Bookbinding Machine

I love this little machine. I purchased it from HSN and got a bunch of covers with it. Very inexpensive and it's still available here. It's so easy to put a little album or personalized little pad together - the possibilities are endless! Well, for this album, a dear friend recently lost her kitty and they were very good pals. :( I wanted to give her something that she could always have as a special keepsake and have it chock full of memories. I hope she likes it.

For the cover, I used small square tags but I can't remember which cartridge it's from :(. The font is Roly Poly from Plantin Schoolbook. I love that font and it, or the Gypsy font are usually my go-to fonts. Of course, I only have one or two other font cartridges anyway. LOL. Every other image is from the Meow cartridge. I roped some twine through the hole in the tags. The paw prints are from the Cricut Lite cartridge, Meow. I blinged up the cover with some gemstones.

Here's a view of the whole book.

And here are some individual pages:


I cut a 1/2 inch circle and wrapped it in twine to make it look like a ball of yarn that the cat is playing with. I did that on a few different pages also.

The last page are pockets that I made from envelopes. I glued two together to make the pockets. I put a blank piece of paper in one of the pockets so she could do some journaling. I stamped"memories" from My Pink Stamper stamp and the paw is from Mr. Cricut Crazy stamp set titled, Man's Best Friend Vol. 1.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

A Sweet Suprise

This card started out as a corner bookmark, but things went awry. I didn't like the dimensions of the bookmark or the whole overall look of it. I really liked the colors and it was the perfect size to use my new cupcake dies from Papertrey Ink, so I decided to turn it into a card with the corner bookmark as a treat holder. It turned out pretty cute. The stamp set is from PTI, The Cupcake Collection. This is one of my most favorite stamp sets I own. I just received the dies and it's like the set is brand new again. I tucked a Ghirardelli chocolate in the pocket, but you could use a Hershey miniature or peppermint patty also, and probably a bunch of other things.


Here's a close up of the corner bookmark turned pocket.
Thanks for looking!

MCT: Throwback Thursday Challenge

This week, Emma's challenge over at My Creative Time was to create a CARD using the colors PURPLE, ORANGE, GREEN & BLACK and you aren't allowed to use your Cricut! Well, I was so excited to get started because my mom's birthday is on Halloween and I wanted to make her a Halloween-y birthday card this year. Mom, if you're reading this, stop here! Ok, so I had a busy weekend and couldn't start creating right away. When I finally had time to sit in my room and craft, I never looked at the challenge again. I was sure it was to incorporate the colors purple, black and orange and not use the Cricut. So, that's what I did. It was only when I went to link up my project, that I realized green was part of the challenge! Oops. I think I did a fairly easy fix of that my switching out the bottom layer of my sentiment cut from purple to green. Easy peasy! But then when I went to post this card a little while ago on my blog to enter the challenge, I realized I DID use my Cricut for the background of the sentiment! Argh!! This turned out to be quite a challenge for me. LOL. Another fairly easy fix, thanks to some Stampin Up! punches! So, finally, here is my completed card and I do believe it finally complies with the rules for this week's Throwback Thursday Challenge!


I got to use my favorite set from MCT, All Around Halloween! The sentiment is from Scrappy Mom Stamps, Quirky Quotes. For the "one of a kind" pumpkin, I added Glossy Accents to make it stand out even more.


And here is a picture of my "illegal" card, where I used the Cricut. LOL.
Thanks for looking!

Your Story Personal Book and Cricut Imagine Pink Endcaps. Finally!

My Godson is turning 7 next week and I wanted to make him something special. I made a 5x7 journal/all-purpose book for him using my Your Story Photo Personal Bookbinding machine. I decorated the cover using the Cricut Imagine cartridge Imagine More. The font is from Plantin Shoolbook, but I filled it in with matching colors from the Imagine More cart. Using the Imagine on this project made it simple, rather than having to find pattern papers and lay them out on my mat and figure out sizing. I am really happy I used the Imagine for this project. I haven't used it in quite a while.
Speaking of the Imagine, today I finally received my pink end caps! I was SO excited. I ordered them 3 weeks ago and 2 hours later they were out of stock. I lucked out and LOVE the way it changes the whole look of the machine. It brightens it up and gives it style, which is nice because it's such a large part of my craft room.


For the embossing on this card, I used an embossing folder from The Paper Studio. I was nervous at first, figuring it wouldn't give a good impression, but I didn't even need a shim when I ran it through my Cuttlebug. I will definitely be purchasing more of these. Hobby Lobby had a bunch to choose from. I love that store. The boy is from the Cricut Lite cartridge, Playtime. The Happy Birthday sentiment is a My Pink Stamper set and his adorable face is Peachy Keen's Wide Eyed Kid face assortment. I used glossy accents on the eyes; I love that look.
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

MPS Card Donation

Kathy Mortl, a nurse from Wisconsin has asked for card donations for an event honoring breast cancer survivors and women fighting the disease now. Kathy is hoping to place a handmade card at each of 1500 survivors' place setting during a breakfast prior to a walk/run in support of the cause. Here is my contribution to these very courageous women. You can read more about this special project at My Pink Stamper

PKS Let's Face It Friday Challenge - Our Furry Friends

The LFIF this week is to create a project using animals as the main theme. How easy is that? Almost every project I create uses an animal of some kind. LOL. I used the Wide Eyed Kids face assortment for that adorable face and the sentiment is from My Pink Stamper's set, Punny-licious. I used eyelets for the first time ever. I had wanted to try them for some time, but never bought them. I used glossy accents for her ears and hooves? Do ewes have hooves? I flocked her fur and called it a day.
Sorry the pic is a little blurry.

Throwback Thursday Challenge

Emma's challenge over at My Creative Time this week was to use any retired cartridge and make a project. For my card, I used Doodlecharms. The heart and dog are both from that cart. I used my Gypsy to weld the heart together. I used a Peachy Keen stamp for the face and glossy accents for the eyes and nose. It looks cloudy because it was still wet when I took the picture. It will dry clear. The sentiment is from Mr. Cricut Crazy's set, Man's Best Friend.
Thanks for looking!