Valentine's 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I purchased a Cricut Explore on Black Friday 2014 and I haven't used it much.  I decided to try out the print and cut feature and it turned out pretty cool!  Below is the Valentine's Day card I made for my boyfriend.  I thought the owls were super cute.  The heart and guitar I turned into a tag to go along with a small box of chocolates for my coworkers.

I'M BACK!!

Well ... it's been nearly 2 years since my last post.  I know life can become hectic and it's a shame that we can allow ourselves to put our passions on the back burner when actually they can be our stress relievers or at the very least, a temporary escape.

I'm very proud of this post as I'm using my passion to put smiles on some unsuspecting faces.  Helping Hugs is a volunteer group in the Plainfield / Joliet, Il area that assists with local families for a wide variety of reasons.  Recently, they have asked for volunteers to make Valentine's Day cards that will be distributed to seniors in a local nursing facility.  When I saw this, I was more than happy to help.

Below are the Valentine's that I have made for Helping Hugs.  There are 24 different Valentine's, and I don't have a papercrafting recipe for them.  Most of the papers and embellishments came from a card pack by Authentique, that I purchased at the Scrapbook Expo in 2014.  Some of the backgrounds were cut on my Cricut Explore using Elegant Edges or other designs.

Thank you to Helping Hugs for all that you do for the community!

PKS Challenge 13-8 :: 3D Objects :: Metal

My first challenge entry!!!

Peachy Keen Stamps has weekly challenges with specific themes ... this week, 3D objects / metal.  The metal portion could be either the main part of your creation or metal embellishments could be used.  I chose to use a miniature glavanized steel pail for my project.

I had many projects recently that required me to use a LOT of pink so I made sure that I didn't use it for this project.

Here is my kreation:

Items used:

• Used a border punch to create the brown strip at the bottom.  The strip is .5" tall.
• Lightly inked with a slightly darker brown
• Used a strip of pattern paper, 1.75" tall.
• Scored & "z" folded every .25" inch
• Inked top edge, bottom edge and peaks of the folds
• Flower layers
• Used 4 white paper flowers of various sizes
• 4th layer (largest), (1) edged in tobacco brown ink, filled with bright yellow ink
• 3rd layer, (1) colored with pine green ink
• 2nd layer, (2) colored with turquoise blue ink
• Used 2 yellow flowers as first layer
• Stamped PKS - Dolly Dumplins Face : .5"
• Used 5 ribbons tied on handles
• off white
• turquoise
• green
• light brown
• white
• Used green scallop ribbon under rim of pail
• Wrapped handle with a braided, brown p'leather cord

Kody's Birthday

My nephew just turned 10 and I wanted to make a card for him ... but how do you make a card that a 10 year old MIGHT appreciate? Let's face it ... kids don't usually pay attention to the cards that accompany a gift.  Knowing that he is a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog and that I needed to keep it simple, this is what I came up with.  May not be the most impressive, but hopefully he'll like it.

• Used pre-scored 4" x 5.5" blank card (portrait)
• Cut 3.75" x 5.25" light green rectangle
• Cut 3.25" x 4.75" white rectangle
• Embossed using a pattern of rings and circles
• Rubbed yellow ink pad over the texture
• Used yellow stickels on a few of the rings and circles
• Printed Sonic the Hedgehog image and cut

Baby Shower Thank You Card

My boss was so pleased with all of the decorations from the work baby shower, that she took them with her and made her sisters use them at the family & friends baby shower!

She did reach out as asked if I would make her Thank You cards.  Keeping with the brown & pink theme (colors of the baby's room) ... this is what I created.  I will say that hand punching paper for 75 cards was a bit much, but when finished, it was worth it!

The first picture is the final product and then the following pictures show the steps taken to create it.

Using 12"x12" sheets of pattern paper:

• Cut into 4" x 12" strips 
• Use a decorative edge punch on along both 12" sides
• Cut down to 4" x 5.5" rectangles

Using 12" x 12" sheet of brown paper:

• Cut into .75" x 12" strips
• Use a decorative edge punch on one 12" side
• Apply glue to the back of the patterned paper and line the brown strip to create a shadow
• Trim excess with scissors
• 1 strip will provide the shadow for the top and bottom

I added the shadow strip because the decorative edges of the pink & white pattern paper were lost against a white background.

Step not shown:

• Glue trimmed rectangle to the front of a 4" x 5.5" card (landscape view)

For the remaining elements:

• Use a "Thank You" phrase from a Cricut cartridge
• Apply smooch shimmer to the phrase (does not show up in the photo but looks amazing in person)
• Cut a 2.5" brown circle
• Cut a 2.25" white circle
• Ink edges with light pink ink
• Use embossing folder for texture
• Glue to brown circle
• Cut layered baby outfit from the Baby Steps Cricut cartridge
• Light pink bottom layer
• Dark pink top layer
• Use a white pen to add stitching to bottom of dress (there is a stitching detail in the die cut, but I programmed the machine to not cut the stitching as it was too hard to see on this small piece)
• Add heart layers to hanger and center of dress
• Apply Star Dust stickles on the heart in the middle of the dress.
• Glue to white circle
• Glue thin white ribbon with simple knot

Baby Shower Centerpieces

(sigh) ... I wish I hadn't left my camera at work because I wanted to upload all the photos from my boss' babyshower.  At least I had taken pictures of the centerpieces on my phone.  I haven't done much in the way of floral arrangements and I think these turned out quite well.

The band around the fish bowl vase is brown tulle w/ pink glitter under a pink stretchy ribbon that looks a lot like a child's headband.  The bear is from the Cricut cartridge Baby Steps.  I just layered some paper under the bear and textured the white layer.  I decided to use 2 shades of pink carnation and some baby's breath.  I did add two "twigs" of gems that are slightly lost in the photos.

Blackhawks Parade (2010)

This was from the Blackhawks NHL Championship Parade.  It's an 8x8 album

The album was a plain SEI album and I created the cover.