Teacher Appreciation Day!

Greetings, fellow paper people! While I know that I've been away for a bit (life, job, etc.), I have a crop coming up and I'm teaching a class on making rosettes - the quick and easy way!

This rosette is for all those who willingly give their time, effort, money, emotion, and all those other things that take up too much time to type.  Love you guys!!!

Anyway, I used a few simple tools to make this rosette.  I'll give you the recipe below the picture . . .

I used scrap paper (again) and made the rosette and the top layer out of scraps as well.  After I cut the paper, I scored it and punched it using my Martha Stewart Gothic Arches punch.

I adhered and put it together using two 1 1/4 chipboard circles I cut out of - yes, scrap chipboard.  I cut two pieces of ribbon from ribbon I got from Hobby Lobby on sale.  I used hot glue to adhere everything together and then attached a pin on the back.  I stamped the notebook paper, embossed the sentiment, and stickled the "A+".  Whatcha think?  I love it!  Here's the recipe:

1. 1 five in. piece of scrapbook paper, scored at every 1/2 inch
2. Punch both long sides of paper, beginning at the center in order to line up punch design.
3. Three 1 1/4 in. chipboard circles
4. Two pieces of ribbon cut to desired length.
5. Verve stamp (notebook paper) which can be found here http://shopverve.com/
6. Perfectly Clear Stamps (Teachers Rule! and A+) which I've had for awhile and can't find anywhere (sorry!)
7. Black ink, black embossing powder, and red stickles

I found out how to make the rosettes on youtube.  It's not difficult.  Just go there and type in "paper rosettes".  I haven't graduated to videos yet, or I'd make one on camera.  But really, it's not hard - really.

Thanks for looking.  Remember, gotta love it! (life, scrapping, and paper crafting that is)  :)))

Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More 2

Hi, fellow paper people!  Just thought I'd share a project that I worked on this weekend. 

With Easter coming soon, I thought I'd make a couple of "Easter baskets" for my son and his pooch, Doobie.  I'd been dying to try TBBM2 so this was the perfect time!  That first cut was just calling to me, so how could I refuse?

This cartridge is different than the other ones.  You really need to buy the scoring housing to use with this cartridge.  While I've heard of others trying to turn the blade upside down and the housing upside down, using the correct scoring tool works best, in my opinion.

Okay, let me give you some quick tips first.  Put the scoring housing in your machine first, before you load the paper.  Make sure you press the shift key and score the paper first.  I had my scoring "blade" set to 6, pressure = full, and speed = full.  Now, (and this is VERY important) when the scoring is finished, leave the mat alone and change the housing back to the blade housing without moving the carriage.  After you have changed out the housing, THEN press "Load Paper" and the mat will be taken back to the beginning of the paper.  Make sure that the Paper Saver button is NOT on.  It could cause a misalignment of the cut and scoring.

Do you like Doobie's "basket"?  I plan to put Easter grass inside with dog treats.  WARNING: This was cut using "Fit to Page" and put together using two pieces.  It came out to 11 inches on the mat.  I used My Mind's Eye paper titled "Union Square - Home Sweet Home - Collage Paper".  This is double-sided and works very well for this type of project.  For this large box, I cut a piece of chipboard the same size as the bottom of the box and covered it in basic cream-colored cardstock to give some stability to the inside bottom of the box.  I used cream ribbon as a band and cut the puppy and "Yappy Easter" from an older cartridge - Paper Pups.  The tag was cut at 2 1/4 and the dog was cut at 3 3/4.  I used a bit of red satin ribbon to tie around his neck and popped him up.  The "Yappy Easter" was adhered flat to the top section.

My son's "basket" is considerably smaller.  My mom always told me that good things go in small packages, so that's the theory behind his box.  :-)

This double-sided paper is from K&Company Wild Saffron.  I cut it at 5 3/4 and it came out rather small.  (Don't tell my son, but he'll get a Cadbury egg and some $$$).

I used the reverse side to make a band and then used my Martha Stewart button punch to make the button.  I used a Copic marker to color the button and then threaded floss through the button.  I used a pop dot for the button.  (Can I say "button" just one more time?  tee hee)  Gotta love it!

Want to see the difference in size??? I'm still learning how to use my camera, but here's a way to compare the sizes.





Remember, dog biscuits take up a lot of room so Doobie's box has to be bigger, right?  :)))

Hope you like them.  They were a lot of fun to make!  I see myself using this cartridge over and over.  Let me know what you think.  Love to read your comments!!!

A Cup of Joe . . .

In an attempt to make something worthy of the newest release from Emma's stamps, I thought I would make an 8 1/2 X 11 layout to showcase her newest release.  If you want to see them in their entirety, check out her shop at My Creative Time

I stamped the small backgrounds before I stamped the cups.  That way, I could make sure that I had enough of the background to cover the cups.  Then I used craft paper for the lids after I stamped the cups again and cut out only the lids.  This is called "piecing".  I used the die to cut out the cup and label in turquoise then pieced the other parts on top of it.  The turquoise background was inked with CTMH chocolate ink and I stamped the size (from the new release) on top of the label.

I took a scrap (again) for the dark brown background and randomly stamped the coffee cup, the coffee beans, and one of the phrases all over it and inked the edges in the same chocolate brown ink.  I cut one inch off the width and length of the red gingham paper and sewed it to the white cardstock.  I then inked the white cardstock and lightly stamped the coffee beans in each corner.

I cut a piece of craft cardstock (4 1/4 X 6 1/4) and adhered it to white cardstock for the mat.  I took that mat and used a piece of the same turquoise cardstock to make a third mat.  Before adhering the mat to the base, I took a piece of $1 ribbon from Michaels and ran it the length of the base and adhered it.

I used another stamp from Emma's former release (Cherish This Moment) to stamp a journaling box on white cardstock and matted it on the same turquoise cardstock.  I stamped title (from Emma's new release) and matted it on turquoise cardstock.

After everything was assembled, I put the page together.  The recipe is as follows:
*Stamps - "You Are Perk-fect", "Coffee Break", and "Cherish This Moment"
*Ink - CTMH chocolate
*Paper - craft, turquoise, white, and red gingham from Hobby Lobby
*Ribbon - $1 from Michaels

Hope you like it.  All comments are deeply appreciated.  Thanks for looking.  :)))

Another one . . .

Hi guys!  I've posted some pictures of my covers for my Cricut and sewing machine, but I thought I'd share a picture of my Cuttlebug cover.  I made this to go with my other covers.  I had this embroidered at the same place that my other covers were embroidered.

I made a slit in the side with the handle and put grommets in the bottom of the slits.  I used a piece of sheer green ribbon threaded threw the grommets to tie it together.

Hope you like it!  Let me hear from you if you do.  Thanks for looking . . .

 

It's Birthday Time!!!

It's my son's birthday (Happy Birthday, Jay!).  Can you tell?  I wanted to make him a card so I decided to make a Cricut-less card and use this opportunity to enter it into Emma's challenge.  Isn't it cute???

He loves to travel so I tried to incorporate his love to see new places with a birthday card and voila!  He's getting a suitcase!  Don't ya just love it?

Recipe:
* polka dot 8 1/2 X 11 paper from the sale bin at Michaels
* cream 8 1/2 X 11 paper for printing sentiment and names of places
* scrap craft paper
* scrap red paper
* scrap brown paper
* scrap light green paper
* brown ink

I cut the polka dot paper in half to get an A2 size piece (4 1/4 by 5 1/2) and folded it.  I used my Corner Chomper to round the corners (1/4 size).  I cut two 1 inch pieces of brown scrap paper in half diagonally to get the corners.  I rounded those as well.  Then I cut brown strips 1/4 inch wide for the straps.  With the small piece of brown paper left, I cut a 1 inch round piece with my paper punch and then cut 3/4 inch from the round piece to form the handle.

I inked each piece separately and adhered all the pieces to the places.  Before I forget, I cut a slit in the top of the card so I could fit the "handle" into the suitcase.  I taped the bottom of the circle down on the bottom of the inside of the card because I planned to mat the sentiment and cover it up.

I printed and cut out the names of the destinations and double matted them on light green paper first, then red paper.  I also cut out a rectangle for Jay's name out of cream cardstock and hand-cut a tag to back his name.  I zig-zag stitched the two together and tied the tag to the handle of the suitcase.

After I printed the sentiment, I inked and matted it to red cardstock.  Then, I adhered it to the inside of the card.  I inked the entire outside of the card and set it out to dry.

I hope he likes it.  Do you?  Still using my scraps . . . gotta love it!

Happy Birthday Scraps

Can you tell that I'm on a mission?  I have a TON of scrap paper that I want to use and what better way than to make cards and scrapbook embellishments. 

Today, I'm sharing a card for a friend of my daughter.  I decided that I wanted to add a bit of stitching to it, so I ruffled 1 1/2 inch ribbon and attached it to the card.  Let me give you the recipe first . . .

*card base - scrap patterned paper (as usual, don't know the name) cut at an A2 size
*Cricut cut - number mesh cut at 5x3.75 (Art Philosophy) out of craft paper
*green with brown polka dots ribbon from Hobby Lobby
*scalloped circle (1 3/4 in.) out of craft paper
*circle (1 5/8) out of brown scrap paper (didn't have a big piece)
*circle (1 1/2) out of the reverse side of the card base paper
*CTMH ink in New England Ivy
*birthday stamp set from Creative Time's "All Around Birthdays" stamp set



I cut and folded the card base.  Then I used the reverse side to make a base for the number mesh.  After adhering the mesh to the mat base, I ruffled the ribbon and stitched it on the mesh.  Then I stitched the mat onto the card base.  It may seem like a lot of sewing, but it's really not.

When all the layers were set, I stamped the "Happy Birthday" on the round green piece and adhered that to the other layers for the medalion.  I used pop dots for the medalion in order to raise it above the ruffles of the ribbon.  Otherwise, it may get lost in the dimension of the ruffles.

I hope the recipent likes it.  Can you tell how old she'll be on her next birthday??? teehee

By the way, I took the picture in the laundry room and I think it turned out better than my other ones.  I don't have a light box and haven't gotten around to making one.  I'm beginning to think that I don't need to.  What do you think?

Thanks for looking.  I hope you get inspired and can take something from this to create your own masterpiece.  Gotta love it!  :)

Once again, it's about the scraps . . .

I thought I'd share a baby shower card I made for a friend of my daughter.  If you look closely, you'll notice a bit of sheen on the embellishment (baby bottle).  I tried something new . . . I sprayed the embellishment with polyurethane.  I thought I'd try to add some sheen, but it may have backfired.

Anyway, I'm sharing it so you can see the effects.  By the way, before anyone asks, I sprayed it it separately from the card.  In other words, it was not on the card when I sprayed it.  It was hard to get a good angle, but I'm showing it in two different views.

WARNING . . . I'm really into using up my scraps.  I have so many parts and pieces of beautiful papers that I feel the need to use them up.

Recipe:
*premade A2 card and envelope in offwhite
*once again, scrap paper in pink gingham, light pink, dark pink, pink polka dot, light tan, and light green (gotta love it!)
*green ribbon with pink polka dots from Hobby Lobby
*EK success border punch
*CTMH stamp pad in New England Ivy
*CTMH stamp pad in Watermelon for the inking around the edges
*sentiment stamp from My Creative Time (love it!)
*light pink and kiwi green stickles


I cut the baby bottle at 3 inches from the Baby Steps Cricut cartridge.  I cut the little flower on the front of the bottle twice because the cut was with the bottle ring and I wanted it in different colors.  Because I cut it twice, I had extra cuts that just HAD to be used.  Know what I mean??? 

Okay, so I used the extra cuts to make the little tulip that graces the inside of the card.  Isn't it cute?

Anyway . . . that's it.  I'm off to help my daughter with this baby shower.  I'll try to take pictures of some of the other decorations I made and show in another post.  Gotta love it!

Thanks for looking . . . and in the infamous words of a former governor, "I'll be back!"  teehee

Coverage . . .

Like it?  It's my Cricut cover.  I didn't use a premade pattern.  All I used was the mouse pad that came with my Design Studio purchase several years ago.  That formed the the pattern for the end pieces. 

Once I got that cut, I laid a piece of quited fabric over my Cricut to get an idea of how much I would need for the actual cover.  I then stitched the end pieces to the the cover piece, attached quilt binding all around the bottom, and  . . . Voila!  A Cricut cover.

Then, I took it to my local embroidery shop and had them put my initials in the center.  I REALLY like this font.  It's fun and creative. 

The initials are in lime green and the cover is a deep chocolate brown.  Btw, some of my cartridges are on a floating shelf in the background.  What you see on the right is a homemade ribbon spool.  I took a dowel, a wooden base, and drilled, glued, and painted them.  I use washers in between the spools of ribbon to help them turn easier when pulling off lengths of ribbon.  One of these days, I'll show you what I use to store large spools.  (It's in the closet.)

Hope you like it.  I'll be engaged in creative endeavors this weekend while connecting on a personal level with some peers.  In other words, I'm goin' scrappin'!!!  WOOHOO!  Gotta love it!

I'll be in touch.  See ya . . .

Cherish this moment . . .

Okay . . . so this time, I've made a card for a challenge organized by Emma on her blog at http://www.creativetimeforme.com/ The challenge was to make something with a bug on it. 

Well, my favorite bug (if there can be such a thing) is a ladybug.  They are cute, red, and ungross.  However, I don't want to "ladybug" myself out, so I thought I would try a butterfly.  I don't usually put butterflies on things because so many people use them, but I found the most beautiful butterfly shape I've seen on a Cricut cartridge, and it's on the Hannah Montana cartridge.  Who knew???

I need to apologize for the blurriness of the photo.  I can't seem to get my new camera operating to my expectations.  Could it possibly be the photographer?  I'll keep trying . . .  anyway . . .

The card shape and mat were cut at 5 inches and 4 3/4 inches respectively from my Art Philosophy cartridge. The card is cut from a multi-colored polka dot pattern (scrap paper) that is white on the back so the inside of the card is white.  I used a mat that's a green weave pattern for the cover (using up my scraps here).  I cut the butterfly out at 1 1/2 inches (using Coordinations cardstock) and the shadow (in a basic red) is the same size.  I inked the edges in dark brown and then I went Stickle crazy.  I used the same colors for my Stickles that are on the background paper.  The flowers and branch are also out of scrap paper (gotta love it!) and also came from the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I used Emma's "Cherish This Moment" stamp from her "Cherish This Moment" stamp set.  One of the cool things about her stamps (other than the quality) is the fact that you can curve them on your block.  Isn't that just the neatest thing?  I love it!  Next time, I'll use a darker brown for the stamp, but I think it still turned out beautifully.

Using up scrap paper . . . I have so many neat patterns and pieces that go so well together.  Unfortunately, I've cut the name off so I have no idea where or what the pattern is from.  Sorry . . .

I think this one is my favorite.  I really REALLY like the bling.  Hope you like it too. 

Ah-h-h-h-h . . . another project down.  Gotta love it!

Thanks for looking and I'll be around . . .  :)))

So soon?

Yup . . . I'm back.  I started thinking about all those projects and things I'd made for weddings, peers, and stuff and thought I'd share.  After all, that's what this blog is about, right?

Anyway, when I finally got my own craft room, I decided that I wanted a way to keep dust out of a few of my prized crafting/sewing tools.  I had no pattern - just measured, cut, and stitched these up.  Then I took them to a local print and embroidery shop (Who Dey) for the embroidery.

On the right, I have a pocket for bias tape or whatever is in a fairly wide package.  On the left, I have a set of double pockets (taller) that are used to house my pinking shears and fabric scissors.  If you can tell, my pinking shears have a green handle to match the cover (love it!)

Anyway, the back right corner is finished, but not seamed.  I did that to allow the power cord freedom to come out from my machine without having to fold it and risk it coming unplugged.

I used brown bias tape to finish all the edges and the embroidery is in dark brown also.  While I'm not really the "matchy-matchy" kind of person, I do like the cohesiveness of the look.  It brings all the other covers into alignment and makes my craft space a bit more organized feeling.  Notice I said "feeling".  lol

I'll try to be back in the next week or so with another picture of the "organization" in my craft room.  Until then, I'll be around . . .

I'm back . . . . . . .

Yup . . . I know it's been a long time.  Yup, it's been awhile.  That's what happens when you have a daughter get engaged, plan a wedding, get married, and have to do it all over again for your brother.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Yup, it's been a long time.

Anyway, thought I'd share this little project that I did for a Peachy Keen Challenge.  It's made out of a toilet paper roll and other odds and ends.  Let me explain . . .

I took a toilet paper roll and made about six 1/2 inch cuts on both ends and folded the pieces into the roll.  I did that to shorten it a bit and to give it a more stable base.  Then I cut a piece of black harlequin scrapbook paper (had it a long time so not sure what kind but I think I got it from Hobby Lobby) and wrapped it around the roll.  I then made random cuts in the top piece to make the edges look raggedy.  Then I wrapped some baker's twine in red cherry several times around the top piece and tied it into a bow.  Next I cut a round piece of red cardstock and adhered it to the bottom.  Then I cut two hearts and their shadows from the Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge.  I flipped one of them and layered them on their shadows of red gingham paper. 

Now, the good part!  I used the Corny Faces stamp set from Peachy Keen Stamps to stamp the cute faces.  I just love the buck teeth!!!  Anyway, I added some pink chalk to the cheeks and the edges of the white hearts, added faux stitching, and popped them up.  Voila!

Isn't it cute?!  I could use this to give Valentine goodies to special people or just sit it on my shelf and look at it.  Ahhh . . . creativity . . . don't ya just love it?

Check it out . . .

First of all, a big "Thanks!" goes out to Diane of Capadia Designs (click http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/ to check out her blog).  She has given us a site that references the designs on all the Cricut cartridges.  If you use a Cricut at all, you know how confusing and difficult it can be to find a particular cut, especially if you have tons of cartridges!  This site should help those of us who have one or two cartridges be able to find an obscure design needed for a layout or card.

They're still new and want feedback, so check them out (http://www.cricutsearch.com/) and let them know what you think.  Personally, I'm looking forward to the help!

Have a good weekend, and I'll be in touch.

The Beautiful Gulf of Mexico . . .

A different type of sea urchin

Angelfish

Hightop

A baby angelfish

Just thought I'd share some of the pictures from a very recent dive trip in the Gulf of Mexico.  I've never claimed to be a good photographer, but some of these turned out to be fairly good shots. I'll try to label them as I post them.  Enjoy -

It's been awhile . . .

Yes, it's been a long time since I posted.  No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  Yes, I'm still paper crafting and enjoying every bit of it!  I'm currently working on something called "5 Pictures, 5 Pages".  Diana came up with this idea in order to get new ideas infused into our scrapping.  Five people share 5 pictures with 5 people who then scrap the pictures on an 8X8 layout.  The whole idea is to get different styles and ideas for our scrapbooks.  It's truly an ingenious idea because the book is unique and special without being repetitive. 

As soon as I finish my 5 pages, I promise I'll share.  In the meantime, I'm off to go on one last dive before the water cools off too much. 

See ya!

Need a long Gypsy cord?

A good friend of mine (thanks Maggi) gave this to me not too long ago.  I didn't realize how much something like this was needed until I plugged mine in for the first time,  No more craning my neck, twisting my back, moving my Expression, or stretching to keep my Gypsy connected to my E.  This extension cable has been a true treasure!

Check out this link to find out where and how much.  They're reasonably priced and truly a needed item.  Don't forget to check out the new updates and cartridges being released also this week (I think).  They're supposed to be very special holiday solutions cartridges. 

See ya -