Kicking Off Christmas

It seems like so long since I've done any crafting. A week! Thanksgiving was rough, with the husband and me getting sick. So I didn't have a lot of time to play with my Cricut.

I was finally able to make this card to start off the Christmas season. I used Simply Charmed for the penguins and gift boxes. I added ribbon and glitter glue for a little extra decoration.

Here's a close-up of the cute penguins.

I stamped a simple sentiment and snowflakes inside the card.

Challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody: AG

The Hybrid Chick: Winter Photo

CI Paints: AG

Fantabulous Cricut: Holiday Wishes

Forever Friends: Glitter and sparkle

Tuesday Throwdown: Layers

Pause Dream Enjoy: AG

My Sheri Crafts: Tis the season 

2 Sisters: Winter Wonderland

Crafty Boots: AG 

Hiding in My Craft Room: Christmas

Hooked on Crafts: Christmas

Lexi's Creations: Christmas

Pan Pastel: Frosty and bright

Scrap-Creations: Christmas

Fashionista Challenge: Blue Christmas

The Crafty Pad: Add some glitter

Gift Tag

Everyone is making plans to visit family and friends for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I decided to make a gift tag that would be perfect to attach to a bottle of wine for the host/hostess.

I used George and Basic Shapes to cut the tag and Simply Charmed for the tree. I also inked the edges for a little dimension. I've never used that technique, but I like the subtle difference it makes.

Thanks

Challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything goes

Hybrid Chick: Thankful

The Pink Elephant: Give thanks

Really Reasonable Ribbon: Anything but a card (with ribbon)

Ribbon Carousel: Fall

Paper Pretties: Anything but a card

Crazy 4 Challenges: Create a tag

Forever Friends: Use ribbon or twine

Paper Playtime: Anything goes

Broken Box Stock: Thank you

Pause Dream Enjoy: Thank you

Fantabulous Cricut: Be thankful

Bitten by the Bug: Gratitude

Creative Inspirations Paint: Thankful for you

Exploring Cricut: Count your blessings

My Sheri Crafts: Give Thanks

Cupcake Inspirations: Fall
Crafty Sentiments: Thanks 

Fake It While You Make It

Because I've only had my Cricut for a few months, I don't have very many cartridges. Actually, I only have five. I know, it's sad. So when I want to make a card, sometimes I have to get extra creative.

I made two birthday cards inspired by Mickey/Minnie Mouse. The first was for a friend's little boy who celebrated his first birthday with a Mickey Mouse-themed party. I used George and Basic Shapes for the Mickey shorts and name, and just added a little ribbon.

For my niece, I used George again to cut circles for the head and triangles for Minnie's bow. The "A" was made with Alphalicious a little glitter glue. Then I just added girly ribbon. I also made a matching envelope.

I like how these came out. One day maybe I'll get the Disney Mickey and Friends cartridge, but I can fake it for now.

Thanks

Challenges:

Forever Friends: Ribbon or Twine

DL.Art: Anything Goes

Back for Seconds

Last week I shared a Thanksgiving card. Sticking with holiday tradition, I had to serve up another helping. I made two more Thanksgiving cards using Simply Charmed.

I used classic fall colors with patterned paper, and I stamped the same sentiment on both to make it easy on myself. I think I like these better than the first.

Challenges:

Creative Cutter Room: Thanksgiving with turkey

Die Cuttin' Divas: Use brown, yellow, orange

Card Makin Mamas: Thanksgiving/Thank You

Little Scrap Pieces: Thanksgiving

Simply Craft: Thanksgiving/Turkey

Fantabulous Cricut: First Thanksgiving

Simon Says Stamp: Thanksgiving

Bitten by the Bug: Thanksgiving 

Creative Inspirations Paint: Turkey 

The Sisterhood of Crafters: Thanksgiving

Papercraft Star: Thank You



Scrappy Birthday

As anyone who enjoys paper crafting knows, the scrap box fills up fast. So I decided to try to make a dent in the pile by making a birthday card. I worked on this one as the Spurs were beating the Lakers! Woo!

I used Simply Charmed for the ice cream cone, and like I said, it's all scraps! The patterned paper is from Hobby Lobby, and the rest is Recollections.

And the inside:





It was super simple, and I'm glad I didn't let pretty patterned paper go to waste.

Challenges for this card:

Hiding In My Craft Room: Super Scraps
Simply Create Too: Use Your Stash
Spark Your Creativity Now: Anything Goes
Tuesday Alchemy: Anything Goes
Divas By Design: Anything Goes
Penny's Challenges: Anything Goes
Raise the Bar: Birthday
Pause Dream Enjoy: Food & Beverage
Paper Crafting Journey: Anything Goes



Cheap Shirt

Tonight we're taking my daughter to Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music. (We're not letting the unfortunate Elmo scandal get us down.) Madelyn doesn't really have any clothes with Elmo on them, except for pajamas, so I figured I would make something.

I started out with a shirt from Wal-Mart and fabric paints. I can't stress enough how important it is to get the right paint. You'll see what I mean with the pictures below. Oh yeah, sorry for the crappy pictures. It was really late so I had to keep the lights low. Also, the paint kept giving off a glare.

I started with a sandwich cutter that just happened to be the perfect size. I used it as a guideline.

This is what I mean when I say know your paints. I thought it would be cute to use the Tulip Metallic red for Elmo's face and the Crystals in white for his eyes. Obviously, it didn't really work out. The Metallic paint didn't have great coverage over the black shirt, and I didn't want to do a ridiculous amount of coats. The Crystals paint didn't work well on the eyes either.

Then I remembered I had the Tulip Slick paint that I used a few years ago on a project. I just had to find it. At that point it was about 2 a.m. and my daughter woke up, so that was the end of crafting for the night. However, while trying to put her back to sleep, I remembered where the paint was!

So anyway, this is the final product. I went over the design with the Slick paints, which have bright colors and better coverage. I created a stencil using the Alphalicious Cricut cartridge. I went over the name with the Crystal paint, just because I really do love the sparkle.

I think it came out OK for my first time doing something like this.

Thanks for looking.

Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day, I created a classic red, white and blue card. The stars are cut from George and Basic Shapes, and I layered them for extra pops of color.

I added foam squares to the stars for more dimension.

Inside the card, I added a simple, but heartfelt sentiment.

Challenges for this card:

Exploring Cricut: Veterans Day

Paper Crafting Journey: Anything Goes

Card Crafter's Circle: We Remember

Forever Friends Challenge Blog: Anything Goes

The Crafty Pad: Anything Goes

Thanks

Thanksgiving Card

While I was up the other night watching the election coverage, I decided to make a card for Thanksgiving. I finished it up as President Obama was making his victory speech (around midnight).

I plan to enter a few card challenges with this one. I've never done it, but it seems like fun. I hope entering a few challenges will help me try new techniques and tools I haven't used.

For this simple card, I used glitter glue around the turkey and stamped the sentiment and leaves in the background.

Thanks


Challenges for this card:

Cardz TV: Attitude of Gratitude
Bloggers Challenge: Give Thanks
Broken Box Stock: Thanksgiving
DL.ART: Thanksgiving
Paper Playtime: Autumn Colors

Birthday Card

When it's someone's birthday in my office, we always pass around a card for everyone to sign and we decorate the birthday boy/girl's desk. I made this card for a male co-worker. It is the most masculine paper I have, so I have to make a trip to the craft store soon to get more options.

This is a simple card, and I used Pretty Pennants for the cut. I also love the paper on the matching envelope. I got inspiration from this great card.

The inside of the card:

Thanks!

October Recap Part 2

As I mentioned before, we had a lot going on in October. I'd like to share a few more projects I worked on.

Below is a gatefold birthday card I made for my nephew's 10th birthday. The football player on the front is a plastic piece used to decorate homecoming mums. The card opens up to some cute football-themed paper.

Halloween is special for me because it's my wedding anniversary. I made this card for my husband to celebrate.

I used Simply Charmed for the cuts and used glitter glue on a few details. He loved that the tuxedo on the little groom is brown, just like his was.

I also made a birthday card for a co-worker whose birthday is on Halloween. I love the party hats on the bat and ghost.

As a gift, I made my co-worker this cute tote bag. It was really easy and she loved it! I followed the tutorial from this site, but I skipped the freezer paper and used my Cricut to cut out the M.

 

I had a few more projects in October, but these are some of my favorites. Thanks for looking!

October Recap

October is a very busy month in my house. There are birthdays, weddings, my anniversary and Halloween! Part of the reason I wanted to start this blog is to share some of my creations as I dive back into crafting. Some aren't great, but I think they're pretty good for a beginner.

I apologize for the photo quality; my camera died, so I took these with my phone.

We had two weddings to attend in October. They were on the same day, at the same time!

I created this card using Simply Charmed for the cake. The heart cake topper was made using a small punch from the dollar bins at Michaels. Actually, a lot of my supplies are from those bins.

Simply Charmed was used again for the champagne flutes. I found the great metallic paper at Wal-Mart.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my October Recap.

Thanks!

First blog post!

Hi! This is my first-ever blog post! This blog is mostly for my own amusement, but if anyone else happens to find some enjoyment out of it, then even better.

I have always been crafty, working on projects here and there. But a few months ago, my husband got me a Cricut! I had always wanted one, but never pulled the trigger and got it. When my husband's aunt was selling hers, he got it for me for Mother's Day. Of course, now I'm addicted.

So now I try to squeeze in my crafting in between work and home obligations, and running after my toddler. She's not into sleeping much, so my crafting is usually done late at night, after she's asleep (hence the blog name).

So this blog is mostly for me to share my creations as I explore my Cricut and get back into crafting.

Enjoy!