Christmas Panorama

This month's Monday2Create evening focused on a Christmas Panorama.   My friend Tina over at The Crazy Stamp Lady had featured a Christmas Frame gift box she did last year for Christmas gifts.  One of the options was a panorama of the Nativity.  We decided to make this the project for this month's group and liked the idea of doing it using blue papers.  I popped over to Jo Ann's for some blue papers, various shades, and I picked up a silver pigment stamp pad.  I have many blue and silver Christmas decorations so this project was made to blend with the rest of my decorations.

We chose three shades of blues, the outside piece stayed a 12 x 12 paper, the mat for the panorama was cut to 10 x 10, and then the third piece of paper was cut into 3 x 3 squares and then stamped with the images for our picture.  Frames with scripture, the Nativity scene and wishes for Peace on Earth, and the rest of the elements of the Nativity, shepherds, wise men, Bethlehem, the Star.  I chose to ink my stamps with silver pigment ink by Colorbox, and then added Embossing Tinsel with silver in it and embossed each frame.  I added a silver jewel to the middle of the star over Bethlehem.  Once I completed stamping and embossing all of the frames I added pop dots to the back and centered the frames, three in each row and column to reveal the Christmas story.  Once it was completed, we added some shimmer mist to the entire project.  I had picked up a white shadow box frame at Jo Ann's and framed the completed project.

It's a little hard to see the glitter and sparkle but it is there.  I love the colors and the simplicity.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Baby Gift Shadow Box

When my children were born, I saved some of those things of importance that reminded me of their birth, their hospital wrist bands, their hospital pictures, their hospital crib cards, etc.  Recently I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought what a great way to display your child's collectibles.  Well my babies are grown men now and one of them is expecting his first child, a son.  I figured this would be a great gift for him at the baby shower.  I had my hubby find the storage tub with baby memorabilia in it and found my boy's things.  For this project I used his hospital going home outfit, the ankle ID band he wore, his first picture at the hospital, his crib card, the measuring tape that measured his length, and a ceramic plate my best friend from high school made when my boys were born.  It had their vital statistics on it and a cute little poem about boys.

I happened into Jo Ann's during one of their Moonlight Madness sales and got a 16 x 20 shadow box frame in basic black.  I took off the back and covered the insert paper with blue scrapbook paper for the background of the shadowbox. It also complemented the outfit he wore home.  I attached the outfit on the right side of the background and I used fasteners to hold them in place on the board so it wouldn't slip down board.  Along the top the case I put the measuring tape and with his length circled on the tape.  In the upper left I put his going home from the hospital picture here.  I cropped it an oval and added a blue and white set of mats under the picture to make it more visible.  Below his picture I put his crib card from his hospital bassinet. I also mounted it on coordinating mats as well.  Between the picture and the outfit I put his hospital ID band.  Finally, in the lower left corner of the box I set the ceramic plate my best friend made.

After getting it all mounted in the frame, I didn't have any room for his first shoes, so I had to come up with a different idea for those.  I was describing to my friend Judith what I'd made and about my dilemma about the shoes.  She gave me the solution which you see here.  I tied the shoe strings of the baby shoes in bows and then ran a 3/8" blue grosgrain ribbon with brown edging through the lace.  One for each shoe and one longer than the other so they would hang at different lengths.  I knotted the ends of the ribbons for each shoe and knotted those two together.  The back of the frame had two eyelets.  I picked up another role of blue ribbon like the one I used on the diaper cake.  I cut two pieces of ribbon the same length.  I knotted one end around the eyelet on the back of each side of the frame and brought them together at the top of the frame tying the first part of the bow and then looping the ribbons with the shoes through the knot and draped them in the middle and tied the bow.


And here is the finished project.  I hope my son likes it, maybe he will hang it in his son's room.  What a special treat it was to make for him.  I'm sure he will be a great Daddy!


Congrats to Nathan and Tiffany!

Until the next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Diaper Cakes!

I am becoming a grandma again...my middle son is expecting his first child at the end of January 2013.  We are excited and for the baby shower I decided to make a diaper cake.  I've seen various types and shapes of diaper cakes on Pinterest, but decided I would start with one of the easier designs in a traditional cake style. So after checking out a couple of You Tube videos on the basics, I gathered my supplies and got started.

This particular idea used diapers rolled up into sausages and rubber banded in the middle.  Since I was going to build a three tier cake I found three round pans/bowls in graduated sizes in my kitchen to use to help me hold the banded diapers in place until I could put the final large rubber band around the entire group of diapers.  For the first two layers I used newborn sized diapers.  The first layer is 7" in diameter the second layer is 9" in diameter.  I used about 1 1/2 packages of newborn diapers for the first two layers.

Once I completed a layer I added ribbon around the perimeter of the cake and covered over the rubber band with the ribbon.  I chose blues and browns using some ribbons from my stash...they are expecting a boy!  For the third layer of the cake I used the next larger size of baby diapers, and again finished it off with a ribbon around the center.  The diameter of the third layer is 12" inches and I used the entire package of diapers and supplemented in the middle of this layer with some of the newborn sized diapers.

Once I had all three layers completed and tied with ribbon I added some accents to complete it.  After a quick trip to Wal-Mart I found some small blue clothespins and small colored plastic baby rattles.  With the layers stacked on top of each other I distributed the baby rattles around all three tiers of the cake.  On the top of the cake I added a circle cut from scrapbook paper and mounted on the top a pair of baby shoes with monkey's on them.  Monkeys seem to be the theme for the layette and shower!  Around the second layer of the cake I took two sets of baby socks and pinned them with the clothespins around the top of the ribbon on that layer.  For the final layer I added some baby spoons tucked in behind the ribbon and a couple of pacifier's.  The cake will be set on a cake board like an actual cake.

This was a fun project to make, made even more special because it is my grandchild!  My future daughter-in-law was wondering if I've figured out how to mail one yet!  Hmmmmm...I'll have to work on that!

Until next time...Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

More Fall Decorating!

October came and our monthly craft group was once again looking for ideas...Pinterest to the rescue!  We found this cute idea shown here for a framed craft.  I decided to go with something in the fall theme as my Fall and Thanksgiving decorations are not as plentiful as say my Christmas decorations.  Once again I attempted to use everything from my own stash and was fairly successful!  I do believe Tina contributed some of the stamps and ink for the sentiment and she found great frames at Wal-Mart for $3.  I picked up one package of KandCompany fall accent pieces/die cuts and was ready to roll.

I used a solid piece of Gemstones tan card stock for the back ground and I used five different 1/4" ribbons and one 3/4" ribbon from my stash.  I pretty much followed the Pinterest idea for the basic layout, but added my own personal touches.  I utilized the die cuts around the centered sentiment piece rather than offset it to the left.  I used a golden colored card stock and chose a fairly large sentiment stamp so needed something to make it pop from the other brown tones.  I added a scalloped edge die cut in a deep reddish/burgundy behind the sentiment oval.  I added a small brown bow at the top of the sentiment and jeweled up both the sentiment and the background die in gold jewels. It's a little hard to see the shimmery paper with this picture.

I think it's time for some Christmas projects!  Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Fall Decorations

So I have been perusing Pinterest as I know many of you do.  I found this cute little idea for a Christmas decoration, but because I have so many Christmas decorations I decided to use the idea with a Thanksgiving or Fall theme.  The original post was found here.  I decided to do the word Thanks.  I found these cute wood letters on sale at Jo Ann's and picked them up along with a bottle of Folk Art metallic bronze paint.  I painted the entire set of letters front and back with the bronze color.  I think I did about 3 coats to make sure it was covered well.

In the original idea the letters are painted white and hung with green ribbon.  Because I have a brown china hutch and this is where I wanted to hang the letters I decided the letters needed a little more "punch" so they would be seen against the brown hutch.  I found in my craft stash some pumpkin colored glitter.  It was the perfect color match for the letters so I glittered each of the letters up and sealed them with Mod Podge.  I then found some glittery fall ribbon at Michael's (on sale of course!) and picked that up to hang each letter from.  Since I wanted the letters to drape down from the top of the hutch I needed a piece of wood to hang them from, something that was sturdy enough to hold the ribbons and weighty enough to stay on the top of the hutch but would remain hidden.  So off to Jo Ann's I went again and found a 1/4'  by 3" by 24" piece of craft wood to use as my mounting board to hang the letters from.  I spaced the letters evenly but staggered them slightly so they were not all at the same level.  And here is the finished product!  I'm still thinking I might add some more accents to the top of the letters, maybe some small colored fall leaves or pieces of pine cones, maybe some buttons?  We'll see!

Go on, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Wreaths

Hi there, it's been awhile...there have been big life happenings in my little corner of the world, but finally feel like I'm getting some of my time freed up again.  I have a small group of friends who try to meet once a month for a craft night.  It's a pretty eclectic group of ladies with a wide variety of styles and tastes.  We started the group to encourage ourselves and each other in our crafty pursuits.  We wanted to specifically set aside time for ourselves, visit and touch base with each other and hopefully accomplish something during that two hour window, one night a month.  We have no set rules, we don't require everyone do the same project, we put out suggestions and usually bring our version of the supplies to create our project.  Something unique and different for each of us.

Have we been successful you may ask?  Depends on how you rate success!  Have we met every month, nope...but in the months we have met, we have done what we set out to do, we've visited, crafted, and most every one of those times, made something new or different, something outside our comfort zone, something we'd seen on Pinterest or somewhere else and wanted to try, and done it with enthusiasm and most importantly...enjoyed ourselves.  For September's evening everyone decided they wanted to make wreaths.  Because we don't have strict rules or a set format everyone did something a little different.

I have a lovely Fall wreath that I had made a few years ago so decided to focus on a wreath for Halloween.  My design utilizes a couple of different design ideas I had seen on Pinterest.  I tried to use only supplies that I had at my house but ended up buying a couple of items as noted.  The first idea was to use wire insulation tubing from Home Depot (.97 cents) to create the wreath.   I cut the tube to the length I needed to create approximately a 15" round wreath.  I duck taped the ends together and then wrapped the entire wreath in black tulle.  I found some black 1/2 inch wide ribbon with glittery dots in Halloween colors at JoAnn's and wrapped that around the circumference of the wreath.  I found the same kind of dotted ribbon in 2 1/2" wide and made a bow for the top of the wreath.


The oval at the top was cut from an old file folder 2 times (recycling at it's best!) and covered in orange paper.  I used a strip of black paper and my Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch to have some black goo dripping from the top of the oval.  I bought "eeire" words from K&Company, this one says Boo! and has a bunch of glittery, swirls and such.

For the main part of the wreath I decided to go with rosettes!  My eyes are always bigger than they should be and I don't often take into account all the work involved in the particular design I've decided on.  I folded a lot of rosettes!!! Lucky for me I had the Tim Holtz rosettes die and the Ribbons and Rosettes Cricut cartridge which had a rosette pattern with spiders on the edges.  This helped a lot!  I used a variety of patterned Halloween paper I had at home as well as plain card stock in the standard Halloween colors, purple, black, orange, grey. After cutting all the rosettes I folded and glued and folded and glued, and folded and glued some more...you get the idea!  I started arranging the rosettes around the wreath, stacking and hot gluing.  I found a small bag of colorful little spiders that I also added as accents.  I then had enough of the 1 inch dotted ribbon left to make a hanger which I looped around the wreath and tied in a bow at the top.

Fun times!  Cya later!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Green Bay Packers

Last month I shared some baby shower cards I'd made and also made reference to the different ideas that could result from these patterns.  Today I'm sharing those cards.  Close friends of ours became grandparents for the 2nd time recently and were blessed with a baby girl.  While I myself have three boys and a stepdaughter, three grandsons and a granddaughter, I love making my projects in more girly colors!! I'm surrounded by too much testosterone in my house, so I welcome any chance to make things with girly colors.  However, in this instance I gave up that idea for some sports oriented colors even though it's a girl! 

Gene our friend and his daughter Jasmin, the new mommy, are huge Green Bay Packers fans! I mean huge fans! When I was making these cards last month it dawned on me that they would be cute done in the Green Bay colors, so I researched the colors for the Packers (really, I knew they were green and gold) as I wanted them to be as accurate as possible.  So here is the baby carriage in what I believe to be the correct color match.  I used a dark green Gemstones card stock I found at Stamper's Corner and a pretty gold that was a great match.  I used Colorbox Evergreen to stamp the sentiment on the yellow oval and added some green gems to make it girly and then used pop dots to lift it off the front of the card.  Inside I mounted a white card stock inside on the bottom half of the carriage.  I found some Jolee's football helmets and I picked up some small letter stickers in the style I figured most closely matched the Green Bay "G" on their sports stuff.  I put green pearls in the middle of the wheels to carry through my green and gold theme.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

My friend Cathy over here at Scrappin Cat's Creative Endeavors had done a baby onesie a couple of years ago and had sent me her cut file.  I had not yet used it...what can I say...it takes me awhile to try out some projects!  I thought this would be a cool way to showcase the Green Bay colors a different way.  I used basic white for the onesie cut and the same Gemstones dark green for the front of the onesie and utilized the gold for the ruffles on the onesie.  I added the football helmet again with a small "G" below it and then added a football on the left side of the onesie.  I also added some small gemstones on the bottom of the onesie to simulate the snaps on real ones.  The sentiment stamped on the inside of the onesie was stamped in the same Colorbox Evergreen.

The shower was yesterday...I hope that Mom and Grandpa Gene enjoy the salute to their favorite pro sports team!

Until next time, Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Threaded Card Toppers

Over the weekend I worked on some threaded card toppers.  Many, many thanks to my friend Cathy over at Scrappin Cat's Creative Endeavors for the Cricut cut file which she created and showcased here. Her blog title indicates a Pazzles file, but bless her heart she also made a Cricut cut file which she graciously shared.  I am always looking for ways to use up my paper scraps...my mother was raised during the Great Depression where you used and reused everything, what can I say, waste not, want not.

These are my first two attempts which I did horizontally.  The patterned paper is from K&Company, one I have shown before on my blog, I added some bling on the front and the papers have some glitter already so I think they turned out nicely.  I left the insides blank for the recipient to write her own notes.

 

The next one was done vertically.  I added a butterfly to the one on the right and added a swooshie with some dots as accents.  On three of the four cards I did a layered sentiment tag and then mounted that on pop dots.  I added some bling to the bottom of two of them.  I used cream card stock for the backs and used one of the patterned sheets in the paper pad for the background paper.

And finally, I decided to do a couple of these with ribbon.  I had some ribbon I'd picked up in a grab bag over at Stamper's Corner and decided to use it.  I chose white card stock for these and once threaded with the ribbon I mounted it on a lavender card stock and then mounted all of that on a white A2 size card.  I chose the lavender background paper scraps to cut a small sentiment block and made a thank you card.  After stamping the sentiment I inked the edges and mounted it on pop dots before affixing it to the front of the card.  I added a couple of the butterflies from the sizzlet to the top of the front of the card, added a quick sentiment on the inside and called it done. 

The next one used the same ribbons only in reverse order with the darker purple ribbons on the outside and the green one in the middle.  For this one I picked a darker purple to mount the threaded layer on and for the larger tag and mounted a lighter green (to match the ribbon on the front) on top and stamped my image and added some darker green bling above and below the sentiment.  I used my Spellbinders die for these tags.  Again I raised this one with pop dots to give it some dimension.  I left the inside blank.  

These were fun, easy and best of all used up scraps!  See you next time!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

 

Baby Shower Cards

As I mentioned in a previous post, busy month for us with celebrations, including a baby shower and a couple of other babies being born to people we know.  I was surfing some blogs recently and saw this cute idea for a baby carriage card at MaggieMadeCards.  (I've tried the website, but it says it's currently not available, sorry.)  I'm trying to utilize my Cricut so I can learn all the wonderful things it is capable of doing.  When I saw this card I figured it would be a good project to hone my Cricut Design Studio skills. When all done, I had created my own little cut file!   

The first card I did was for my son's boss whose wife had delivered a baby boy.  I chose to make it with bright primary colors, blue and red since it was a boy.  I didn't get pictures of it before he gave it to the boss, but I had made a second one so he had a couple of options to pick from.  For this one I chose a burgundy colored paper for the carriage and a gold colored card stock to accent it.  I wanted something a little different than the traditional boy/girl blue/pink options.  I embossed the bottom piece of the carriage insert with a bubbles or circle embossing folder and used a texture plate with squares on it for the smaller piece on the top of the carriage.  I chose three small brown buttons and laced them with some brown and tan bakers twine I had and threaded it through the buttons.  I chose an ivory oval and stamped special delivery on it and used pop dots to give it some dimension.  For the inside I used another half circle of the gold card stock and stamped a lovely baby sentiment on it.

This next one is for a girl...now I've flipped back and forth on the color scheme idea and decided to go with a lavender baby carriage and pink accents.  I've embossed the lower half of the carriage front insert with a small flowers and the carriage cover with Swiss dots.  I added a matching lavender oval to the front with the word baby in blocks stamped on it.  I added white pearls to the inside of the carriage wheels and used my Stampin Up! butterfly sizzlet to punch out some little butterflies for accents.  I dropped two on the carriage cover and one on the carriage handle.  On the inside I stamped my sentiment in a pretty purple ink to stand out on the lavender card stock.

This idea can be done is so many different colors (think pro sports teams) and even some patterned paper for the inserts which would make a wonderful option! 

Go on...Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Patriotic Banner -- Remember

I've been seeing banners for some time on different blogs and have been wanting to make one but never getting around to it.  Decided to change that this weekend.  I used my Cricut and my George Basic Shapes cartridge and cut some stars.  This cartridge has one icon that has slots in the image.  I decided to use that one to make the base of the star and then cut smaller shadow stars and silhouette stars in alternating colors.  I used red, white and blue in honor of our Memorial Day holiday and I figure I will flip it and use the other side for the 4th of July holiday in another month.  I decided to alternate the colors of the stars and my constant color was the silhouette star which would always be in white.  I cut the large base in alternating red and blue and then the shadow star that went on top in the alternate color.

I chose the word remember for Memorial Day as that is the reason for this holiday...to remember the sacrifice of those who have served our country, who have gone before, who have bled and died for our freedoms.  I cut the letters for the word from the same cartridge.  The "R" and "B" letters have a solid mat background which I sprayed with some Perfect Pearls in silver.  I also sprayed the solid stars with the Perfect Pearls before I glued the silhouette star over the top of it.  I tried to get a pic of it here to the left so you could see the glitz.  At the points of each of the stars I put some bling, red and blue rhinestones to match the background star and the letter on each star.  Then I found some clear or white star bling and added those as accents to the letters to make them pop a little. 

As you can see from this next photo I picked up some red, white and blue grosgrain ribbon at Jo Ann's to thread through the back of the stars.  There are eight stars on this banner and the largest star is cut at about 7.69 x 7.34 inches.  I then scaled down the inserts so there was a nice border on the base around each smaller star.  In order to have enough ribbon and the ability to tie a bow at each end I bought 3 yards of the ribbon.  I strung each of the base stars onto the ribbon and then spaced them out a little, once I had them on the ribbon I affixed the top stars on with glue dots.  I didn't want to use adhesive as I wanted to be able to slide and adjust the stars location as was necessary.  I may have to add a few more glue dots though as they seem to want to pop off of the background star. 

I plan on hanging ribbons with pics of my sons and my future daughter-in-law who all serve as reservists in the Navy and Army National Guard respectively.  As my oldest serves his country right now in Afghanistan, we pray for the safety of all of our enlisted and retired military personnel and offer our thanks to them and their families for their service to our country, both at home and abroad!

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!  Happy Memorial Day! 

Bridal Shower Card

Spring, early summer...the time for Mother's Day, Father's Day, weddings, graduations, babies....it seems like we are experiencing all of them this year.  Last weekend went to my first bridal shower this year.  I wanted to do something special for the card and use my Cricut machine.  I have the Tie the Knot cartridge so figured I could come up with a pretty cute shower card.  Opened up my Cricut Create software and got to work.  The bride to be was registered at two places...Target and Fredrick's of Hollywood!  New, first time bride so this was going to be fun!!!

I decided to go with the lingerie theme for the card and chose the corset for my card.  I chose the outline image and copied it and then flipped it and melded the two pieces together.  That was my card base.  Then I did the layers.  The card is cut to about 5" high.  If you want exact measurements, send me an email!  I had found a You Tube video using this image so I just modified it for the layers and created all of it in a cut file.  The bride's colors are purple and green.  I chose a deep purple for the card base and then a sparkly blue for one layer and finally a piece of scrap from what's left of my Susan Winget Botanical paper pad and cut the overlay.  It is a combination of purples, greens and other floral colors.  I had to play with the corset top layer some to get the exact image size down, but the finished product was definitely worth it. 

After assembling all the pieces together, I added three pearls to the button holes on the front and then added some bling along the top edge of each leg.  The shimmery layer of light blue paper and the little bit of bling made it pop nicely. 

For the inside of the card I used the exact same layer but cut it out of a lighter lavender card stock and layered it on top so I could stamp the sentiment.  I inked up the edges with some purple ink and added the sentiment.  The sentiment says: True love stories never have endings.  Great sentiment for a new bride.  I also added a little stamped duo of hearts on the top right and a little bling on the curly Q at the bottom. 

Turned out quite nicely and the bride was tickled with it too!  That's probably the greatest feeling as a crafter is to have one's work appreciated by the recipient! 

I decided to make a gift tag to match the card.  The Tie the Knot cartridge is set up with a whole tab devoted to tags and they mirror the larger projects.  I could have done a corset tag but decided on the lips cutout.  I cut the tag in the dark purple to match the card base and then layered different colors of purple and even chose a sparkly paper to make the lips look glossy!  This cartridge also has a lovely swirly letter alphabet, so I cut a "T" the bride's new last name and placed it on the bottom of the tag.  I inked up the edges with purple ink and put a grommet in the whole and laced it up with some glittery ribbon.  Sorry the pic is a little blurry.

Thanks for stopping by today...hope you enjoyed today's offering.  I love hearing your comments, so please leave one.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Mother's Day -- Part Two

I decided to blog about my craft stuff because I've live(d) with men most of my married life.  While I have a daughter by marriage she lived with her mom while growing up, and all I have delivered are boys.  Three boys to be exact, all born within a five year period.  Surrounded by men..and they have their hobbies, and things they are good at...cooking, wood working, mechanics, and more cooking...but not particularly interested in crafty things that I do...scrap booking, paper crafts, etc.  Blogging was my way of sharing with others my little bit of passion for card making and scrap booking. 

Today, I want to talk about my men...and Mother's Day, and the blessings I'm experiencing as I watch them grow up.  Don't get me wrong...they are grown, my baby is 25 and my oldest will be 29, but they are still growing up, maybe not physically, but emotionally and mentally, and maturing in a good way. While they were little, there were handmade cards, macaroni necklaces, beaded key rings, as a mother you know what I'm talking about, those precious items that are tucked away safely in a keepsake drawer.  As they've grown older, their gifts have matured as they have, small pieces of jewelry, cologne, gift cards to my favorite craft stores, flowers.  These are beautiful items and ones that I have treasured as much as the small handmade gifts.  Not because of the gift necessarily, but because of the sentiment and hearts of the gift givers. 

Today as I arrived home from a friend's bridal shower, I found on my front step the beautiful bouquet you see at the right.  Beautiful red and pale pink roses.  From my oldest son who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. What a surprise.  As I carried them inside I was so tickled!  What woman doesn't like to receive flowers.  Especially when you're not expecting them!  Let me reiterate, I've lived with mostly men the last 25 years...for the most part they don't think about these things cuz you're mom.  They aren't being mean, they don't do it on purpose, they just don't think along those lines.  Please don't think I'm generalizing either, because I think this is probably true for most guys.  They don't think about flowers for mom especially.  They are busy with their own lives, they have girlfriends, they think of it for the girlfriends, but not necessarily for mom. 

The flowers are gorgeous, I know I've said that, but I want you to know I really love the flowers!  What I want to share more is the sentiment that was on the card with the flowers...because as a mom and parent this is what makes the experience and ride of motherhood and parenthood worth it.  These are the things that bless my socks off and bring me to tears because I see the maturity and the appreciation for what is not an easy job, a job that has many layers and nuances and ups and downs.  And I think more importantly, he recognizes that I wasn't perfect and I didn't do everything right all the time, but I tried my hardest to be the best mom I could be.  It's not an epic poem, an ode to mom or fancy words...it is an appreciation for me...for what I've given to him...for being mom!  "If there was a day for everything you have given to me as a mother, it would be Mother's Day every day."  Wow! For everything I've given to him?  How about for everything he's given to me!  For everything they have all given to me!

My younger two sons are taking me to dinner tomorrow, Mother's Day, and I am blessed because they are here to spend time with me.  It will be a fun time of good food, laughter and joy, recognizing me in a different way. I pray that all of you mom's out there are recognized for who you are and what you've done in your child's life, how you've impacted them and influenced them and helped them to become the people you hoped they would become.  Thank you to my mom, although no longer here, I miss you mom, and to my mother-in-law for raising the son I married.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

I have a new Tim Holtz Alterations die, Hanging Sign.  As you can see from the picture, it looks like a quaint country sign at a cute little bed and breakfast inn surrounded by a field of flowers.  There was born my idea for my Mother's Day card. 

I chose to use white card stock for the card base, actually I used the 6 1/2 x 5" pre-made card base in the packets you can get from Michaels.  I decided to make it a landscape orientation card and chose one of the flower papers from the K&Company, Susan Winget Botanical paper packet.  It has a lot of lavenders, blues and other pastels in the color scheme.  I utilized that for my main background and then cut the sign post from brown card stock.  For the sign itself I chose an off-white paper with a lightly speckled background.  I printed Happy Mother's Day on it using Word and cut it out with the die.  I inked around the edges with Tim Holtz' vintage photo ink pad, added some lavender bling under the sentiment and had some butterfly and floral embellishments that went with the papers and used them on the sign. 

I wanted the sign to be free swinging, like a true sign would be, so I grabbed some jump rings I had and used those to hook the sign to the sign post.  Around the top edge of the card I put a pretty lavender ribbon around and tied in a square not.  Inside the card I stamped the sentiment "How dear to the Heart is a Mother like you..." and added one more butterfly to accent the inside. 

That's a wrap...more fun cards to come...wedding showers, baby showers...more projects!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Dates to Remember Card File

I have finally finished my card file.  I first saw this idea over here.  Cathy had been inspired by a Pinterest pin and I just lifted that idea.  For my card file I decided to use some pretty floral papers...it will be a gift for a friend.  I used papers from the K&Company Susan Winget collection.  She has some really great papers.  I pretty much used the original ideas as they were, with a few exceptions.  I chose to use my Cricut to cut the word Celebrate in purple and layered green under it for the backdrop.  I had some small sentiment stamps and decided to stamp them on white paper to indicate different occasions for which cards would be needed.  I mounted them on a larger circle of some of the leftover scraps from these pages.  I then scattered them over the front of the file around the word Celebrate. 

Another thing I did a little different from the original is I cut some reinforcement rings using my Cuttlebug tag die.  For these I also used leftover scraps.  I was really successful in using most of the scraps from the papers I had chosen for the project.  After covering each of the envelopes for the twelve months, I also covered the inside and outside of the envelope flaps as well.  I used the two hole punch to punch the holes and then used the reinforcements on each page to add some substance to the ring holes.  It will help with the wear and tear when the file is opened and closed frequently. 

I chose a font in Word and printed the twelve months of the year on white card stock.  I allowed enough room between the months so I could utilize my other Cuttlebug tags die to cut out the month tags.  This die has some ornamental embossing on it so it spiffed them up just a little.  After centering the months on the die and cutting them all out, I chose to ink up the edges with purple ink to make them pop just a little bit more and affixed them to the envelope flap.  Just a note here:  If you ink the edges of the tags, make sure you blot them or they will bleed onto the lined cards that contain the dates for the month. 

For the dates in the month I used Word again and created a two column table and numbered the lines 1 through 16 for the first half of the month and 17 through 31 for the second half of the month.  I printed the tables and cut them down to size to fit on the inside of each envelope.  Each month of the file is one envelope, and the back of each succeeding envelope is the 2nd half of your month.  The way the file is put together you need to have two sides to put the tables of the dates for the halves of the month on each side, because the last month is the last envelope I needed a back to the card file.  I used an old cereal box and cut two 6 x 9 size pieces and fastened them together with my tape runner, the patterned sides facing the middle.  After that I took the remaining piece of 12 x 12 card stock and backed both sides of the card.  This became the back of the card file. 

I used some green colored rings I had picked up at the Scrapbook Expo back in October.  I added some ribbon to them to match the colors of the papers.  I chose not to add dimensional embellishments to the pages or to the cover as I don't know if the recipient will carry it with her while out and about or if she will leave it at home.

I think it would be a great idea if giving this as a gift I was to include a couple of different cards for the recipient, say a baby card, wedding card, or a birthday card. Hope you enjoyed my take on this great project.  Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Magazine Card File

Recently while on Pinterest I found this cute little idea here for holding cards. I frequently make card sets for individuals as gifts and have wanted a way to gift them to the individuals. I think I have found my answer. The lady who shares this idea has a detailed tutorial at the link above as well as a picture of the cuts on graph paper with dimensions which I printed out as my guide.  She made her example out of white card stock and banded the magazine file with two different papers and added embellishments on the front of the box.  I chose colored paper for my files, just to change things up.  Here is my first one using a nice deep grass green color... I created a white band for around the box and used a Martha Stewart punch (Starburst I think) for the edges. 

The circumference of the box is greater than 12 inches by about 2 inches, so I stopped the border punch at each front edge and just did a plain white piece on the front.  I then added a scrap of pretty floral paper from K&Company and brought that around the perimeter of the box and stopped at each front edge.  I used the big flower punch by EK Success and punched it out of the same floral paper and layered on top of it a piece of white card stock.  I inked the edges and stamped it with a sentiment from my friend Shawn's

new stamp set you can check out here.  I had made some monogrammed note cards with green card stock as the accent pieces so this magazine file went perfectly with them.

Next I chose a blue card stock without pattern.  The instructions are really straightforward and this is just a breeze to make.  It goes together quickly and easily.  After putting the box together I again chose a piece of white card stock to make the first band around the box.  This time I used my StampinUp! floral border punch.  This was a little more complicated making sure the borders matched top and bottom.  Again because of the circumference being longer that 12" I pieced together the part that went on the front of the box...I made it the width of the front of the box and and extra 1/2 inch on each side and matched as closely as possible my punched border to have continuity.  The inside floral boarder was from a package of K&Company adhesive borders that I bought with the papers mentioned above.  I also had some separate embellishments/stickers which I used on the front of the box and then again on the back spine of the magazine file.

  These cards were monogrammed note cards and I used a light lavender card stock for accent.  These card magazines hold about 10 A2 notecards and envelopes nicely.

I hope my friend enjoys her gifts.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

 

Magnetic Bulletin Board

A small group of gal friends gather once a month to craft and share ideas.  Our March meeting was fast approaching and we were looking for a project and recently while perusing Pinterest I found this lovely project here and suggested it as our project for the month. It is a magnetic bulletin board using a standard cookie sheet, patterned scrap booking paper and cork board.  The instructions given at the Scrap Yard Chicks website are very thorough and she provides a complete supply list as well. 

What was nice about this project was that I had the majority of the supplies at home, I just had to pick up a cookie sheet, cork board, and some magnets.  The dollar store was my quick stop for the cookie sheet and while there I found some butterflies for what else a $1.  There were 3 in each package and various colors so I picked up a couple for my stash.  I tried the office supply store for the cork board and ending up finding it at Michael's.  They had a pack of 4 -12" squares which ensures I have extra pieces of cork board for other projects that I'm sure will come up. 

I'm not going to go into all the details of the making of sheet as you can find them over at the Scrapyard Chicks, but I will explain my changes to their design.  The sentiment across the top of the cookie sheet can be changed up to whatever you want, thus allowing many variations on this idea.   I decided to use my Cricut machine and the cartridge Graphically Speaking and chose the words "Life is Good."  I liked the idea of counting my blessings and having a positive statement on my board.  I cut one in black card stock and then a pink pearlized card stock at the same size.  I then cut a mat from a sheet of Tim Holtz' Grunge paper, more lightweight than chipboard but with some substance.  I mounted the pink on the grunge paper and inked up the edges with Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo distress inks, then added ribbons and buttons on top of some of the letters.  When I mounted it I used pop dots to give the words some dimension and left the black version of the word as a shadow effect which you can see when you are closer to the board.  I put some of my buttons on magnets as well as the flowers.  I printed my calendar smaller so that there is more room on the board to stick up items with magnets.

The original instructions called for one cork board square cut down to fit the cookie sheet.  I found though that because most push pins are longer than conventional tacks that one layer was too shallow; so, I decided to double the cork board.  I inked around the edges with Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo and Crushed Olive on the top piece and affixed the two pieces together. Then to hide the look of the cork board edges I took a length of the same ribbon I used on the cookie sheet at the seams, to wrap all the way around the edges of the cork board.  I took and glued the conventional tacks on the back of flowers with a button center and also to the back of the butterfly.

So when the ladies gathered to work on their cookie sheets they had some different takes on the original idea.  Some of them used Gesso or Mod Podge to create an opaque paint look around the edges and added some color to that.  Others used some clear contact paper to make a white board only with patterned scrapbook paper!  Great variations on the whole idea!  I can see this as a gift for a bride to be or a grandchild with a great variation on the theme, sports for kids or guys, hunting or fishing for men for Father's Day gifts, or maybe even an advent calendar for the holidays!

Here is a look at the complete project.  I punched two holes in the lip of the cookie sheet with my cropadile and added grommets and then threaded the grosgrain ribbon through the grommets and tied at the top.  I'm going to use a wreath holder over the edge of my cube at work to hold the board.

Until next time, Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Luggage Tags

Recently while in JC Penny’s with a girlfriend I spotted these really great luggage tags and thought I could scrap lift the idea for making my own version.  Unless you have some really unusual luggage most pieces come in pretty standard colors, black and maybe dark blue or green.  When there are 100 plus pieces of luggage coming around the luggage carousel at the airport it is sometimes problematic to immediately identify your bag.  I usually try to put some colored ribbon or yarn around the handle to easily identify my bags.  When I saw this idea I decided to make some new ones.  I used my Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut cartridge and chose a tag style and then used my Cricut Design Studio to arrange four tags within a  8 ½ by 11 page size.  In a Word document I typed the sentiments from the tags I had seen using different font styles and sizes.  When I typed them up I utilized the same orientation on the tags text as was on the original tags I saw in the store. 

Since I wanted the tags to be easily spotted, I chose bright orange for the text side and a pretty floral pattern from a Susan Winget pad of papers.  Once I determined the correct layout of the sentiments in a Word document I printed it on an 8 ½ by 11 inch piece of paper and then cut it with the Cricut.  This helped me fine tune adjustments to the location of the tags on the page with the location of the words on the page.  Once I had that done I printed the words on orange card stock and cut a matching set of tags on the floral paper.  On the back of the floral tag I added some labels with our names and city we live in and our cell phone numbers in case they got lost.  I ran the tags through my Xyron machine with adhesive on one side and laminate on the other and then backed the printed orange tag and the floral tag together.  I then had some orange and yellow ribbon with butterflies on it which I ran through the tag opening.  I think they turned out pretty darn cute and they were easy to spot when they came around the luggage carousel.

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Card Gift Set

I was playing with my Cricut today and looking through some cut files sent by other friends and crafters and found this lovely card box and decided it was time to give it a try.  I've been using the papers from My Minds Eye and made this cute card holder.  I used a heavy white card stock and then used a goldenrod for the first layer and one of the patterned papers with fleur d'lise on it.  I think it turned out really nice.

I then put together four different cards to gift in the box along with envelopes.  I'm sure the box could hold five or six cards with envelopes if they were flat cards; mine however, were dimensional with lots of pop dots, ribbons and dimensional paper flowers.  I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die for the flowers and utilized my Cuttlebug tags and labels embossed dies.  I inked them up with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo inks and used my new sentiment stamps from my friend Shawn.  I added some bling, pearls, and ribbon as appropriate. 

That's it for today.  Continue to Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!