Bright Birthday

I'm always trying to build up my birthday card stash, so I decided to join the sketch challenge at Seize the Birthday.

I used bright, fun paper and cut the circles from Alphalicious. I added ribbon and a gem, and I've had both of those for at least a year, so it's time to use them up. This card came together pretty quickly. I left the inside simple.

 Thanks!



Challenges:

Seize the Birthday: Sketch

Glitter n Sparkle: Anything goes

Lexi's Creations: Birthday

Die Cuttin Divas: Anything goes

Shopping Our Stash: Numbers

Divas by Design: Number

Paper Crafting Journey: Anything goes

DL.Art: Anything goes

Crafty Ribbons: Anything goes

3 Girls Jam: Anything goes with ribbon

Pin and Tack: Anything goes

Hiding in my Craft Room: Colors (all primary)

Fiesta!

Fiesta just wrapped up here in San Antonio. It is a great celebration filled with food, parades and a carnival.

My daughter's day care celebrated by having its own parade. Each child created a "float" made from a shoebox. Then each class walked around the school showing the others kids their creations. It was adorable.

My daughter is only 21 months, so she needed some help, but she had a blast making her float. We worked on it over a few days, and she was so excited.

I used Pretty Pennants and Alphalicious for the banner. The digi image of the dancing bears is from Paper Crafting World.

Here is my Madelyn working on her float. She colored the digi with crayons, glued the paper and flowers to the box, and added glitter glue to the banner.

I was lucky enough to leave work for a bit to see the parade. It was the cutest thing. All of the kids were so proud of themselves and loved showing off their floats.

Thanks for stopping by!


Challenges:
Paper Crafting World: Digi
That Craft Place: Altered item

Baby M is Coming

My sister-in-law is having a baby girl soon, and her baby shower is this weekend. I made a picture frame with her daughter's initial and a matching card.

I used Simply Charmed for the baby and cut the background mat from Formal Occasion. I added ribbon and put glitter glue on the carriage. I also added pearls to the wheels. I found those pearls in the $1 at Michaels, and I've had them for years. I also put the carriage on foam tape for dimension.

Inside the card I added another mat and a sentiment.

I also made a frame for one of her gifts. I've made these before, and they always get a great reaction.

The frame is black, so it's hard to see, especially since I took the pictures really late at night. I used Alphalicious for the letters and added ribbon to the frame. The baby shower theme and baby's room is ballet, so I added ballet slippers to the letter. I think they are from The Paper Studio.

I hope my sister-in-law likes her gifts.


Thanks


Challenges:
That Craft Place: For a Child
Fantabulous Cricut: 3D Project
Lexi's Creations: Lace or Ribbon
Corrosive Challenge: Special Occasion
Shopping Our Stash: Dollar bin (pearls)
Oldie but Goodie: Girly
Crafty Creations: Pink plus 1
Simon Says: AG
Crafty Ribbons: AG
Moving Along with the Times: Baby
Simply Create Too: Baby
Designs by Lisa Somerville: Black, White plus 1
UnstampaBelles: Anything but card
Little Scrap Pieces: Baby
Creative Inspirations Paint: AG
Sisterhood of Crafters: AG

Ahoy!

My goddaughter is turning 3 this weekend, and we're so excited. She is having a pirate-themed party, so I wanted to make a fun birthday card for her.

I used Create a Critter for the octopus and phrase. I left off the skull on the pirate hat and added a 3 using Alphalicious. After that I decided the card was still missing something. So I made the balloon using George and Basic Shapes and used twine to tie it to the octopus.

I also used glitter glue to add sparkle to the balloon and #3. The octopus and balloon are on foam tape for dimension.

Thanks!


Challenges:
DL.Art: Anything goes
Sisterhood of Crafters: Animals

More than Favors: Birthday

My Craft Spot: Anything goes

Craft Your Passion: Animals

Paper Pretties: Birthday
2 Sisters Challenge: Hat
Ladybug Crafts: Child or teen
Corrosive Challenge: Special occasion
Dream Valley: Birthday
Come and Get It: Kid birthday
Inky Chicks: Birthday girl

Get Well Treat

My husband had family visiting from out of town last week. I had never met them before, so it was nice going out to dinner and getting to know them. Unfortunately, the reason they were in town was because their 1-year-old girl needed surgery.

Luckily, everything turned out fine, and I wanted to make something special for her. I decided to make a matchbook card with a treat. I've never made anything like this before, but I wanted to give it a try.

I used Alphalicious for the matchbook cut and Create a Critter for the ladybug and grass. The grass is on foam squares for a little dimension.

Inside the card, I add fruit snacks and attached the bag with glue dots.

Here is a close up of the sentiment.

Thanks.


Challenges:
My Paper Crafting: Things with wings
Paper Playtime: Sentiment stamps
Exploring Cricut: Animal
Crafty Boots: Out of your comfort zone
The Hybrid Chick: Cheer
Pink by Design: Sweet treat
Tuesday Throwdown: You're on my mind
Scrap-Creations: Green
Make it Monday: Anything goes
Pin and Tack: Anything goes
Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything goes
Divas by Design: Anything goes
Creative Inspirations Paint: Anything goes

It's a Girl -- Finally

There is a baby due very soon in my family. My aunt and uncle have three boys and now they are expecting a baby girl next month.

My aunt loves dragonflies, so I wanted to give a new gift that incorporated them. I bought a cute picture frame and used Alphalicious to add the baby's initial -- J. The background paper is pink and sparkly, and I added glitter glue to the dragonfly wings. It is from Simply Charmed. I really love the way this frame turned out. Their house needs pink, glittery cuteness after all those boys.

I kept the theme going on the card. I used the same dragonfly, but cut the flowers and background mat from Create a Critter. I added ribbon and pearls, and that was it. I love the soft, pastel colors -- perfect for a new baby.

I stamped my sentiment inside.

Thanks!



Challenges:
Celebrate the Occasion: Baby
Cardz TV: Baby New Year
Go Fish: Pastels
Crafty Boots: New
Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything goes
Pan Pastel: Nature
Make it Monday: Anything goes
Little Scrap Pieces: Use a flower

Gone Fishin'

I've been working on building up my birthday card stash, and I am seriously lacking in cards for boys. So that was my project last night.

I used Simply Charmed for the image and phrase. The "U" is from Alphalicious.

Here's a close-up of the poor fish.

Inside:

Thanks


Challenges:

My Sheri Crafts: Sports
Tammy’s Scrapin Corner: Manly
Forever Friends: Birthday
Celebrate the Occasion: Boy birthday with blue
The Pink Elephant: Celebrate
Lexi’s Creations: Anything goes  
Divas by Design: Anything goes  
Paper Crafting Journey: Anything goes  

Getting Organized

Over at Fantabulous Cricut, they are trying to get organized for the New Year. That inspired me to get a little organized myself.

I had a plain, white photo box lying around, so I decided to decorate it for my card stash. I've been trying to make extra cards here and there to have on hand, and I thought this was a great way to organize them.

This is what I started with:

Pretty boring, right? So I grabbed paper from my stash and my Cricut. I used Paisley and Alphalicious for the top of the box. Hmm, I just realized I put the S on upside down. I'll have to fix that!

It was quick and easy, and now I have a place to put my cards. I'm thinking of making one for my clear stamps.

Thanks!

Challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut: Organization
Tuesday Throwdown: Bright colors
Hiding in My Craft Room: Freestyle

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year. I'm so excited to start this year with my great friends and family, and of course, crafting.

I created this simple card to celebrate 2013. I used Simply Charmed for the champagne flutes and Alphalicious for the year.

I used really great gold paper for the champagne and little gold gems for the bubbles. I also added glitter glue to make the flutes sparkle.

Inside, I used the word feature in Simply Charmed to cut the sentiment.

Challenges:
Exploring Cricut: New Year
Little Red Wagon: New Year
Paper Pretties: Bling
Just Us Girls: New Year
Hiding in My Craft Room: Freestyle
Scrappy Moms Stamps: TTC  (Baby New Year)

Picture Perfect

I am so excited because today, my project is featured on Exploring Cricut. It is a great blog that provide a ton of inspiration for newbies like me. Head on over there to view great, creative projects.

For this project I created a picture frame to showcase a great holiday photo. I started off with a plain wooden frame from Hobby Lobby and painted it a color called Christmas Red. I thought that was the perfect name for this project.

I used Simply Charmed to cut the Santa, chimney and present. The year was cut using Alphalicious. After everything was on the frame, I added a layer of Mod Podge to seal it. I added festive ribbon and that was it.

This was a quick, simple project that would also be great as a gift.

Thanks for stopping by!



Challenge:
Cricut Fanatics: Decorations

Sprucing Up the Office

My mom recently moved into a new office building with typical boring cubicles. So she asked me to make her a name tag to put on her cubicle, just to pretty it up a little.

This is a really simple project, but it adds something special to boring office spaces.

I used green papers because that is her favorite color and cut her name using Alphalicious on my Cricut.

I had never made a paper rosette before, but it was really easy, especially using my Martha Stewart score board. I love the look of the rosettes, so I have to think of new projects to use them.

Because this is for an office, I wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any problems attaching the tag, so I just used clips from an office supply store to attach it.

Challenges:

DL.Art: Anything red/green

Scrap-Creations: Anything but a card



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

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.