Perfect Day

My birthday was yesterday so I got to take some time in the morning to work on some of the projects that I have had going on before spending time with my family (the perfect way to spend a birthday in my opinion).

My Pink Stamper is giving away a cricut expression at the beginning of the week.  Her challenge was to create a Father's Day project.  I came up with this card for my dad.  The owl is from Give a Hoot and the scalloped square and stitched square are from Mini Monograms.  The embossed pieces are done the swiss dots folder and spots and dots folder.  I must admit I'm a bit corny with some of my projects and couldn't resist a little humor here.  The text reads, "Hoooos the best Dad?"  The inside reads, "You are.  Happy Father's Day!"

While I had a few other things going on I used my Gypsy and Lyrical Letters to create letters for a t-shirt.  Our Youth Group at church led worship in honor of the 2010 graduates. We tie-dyed shirts a few weeks ago and I decided to take mine just a step further.  I used my Gypsy to curve and lay out the letters then using freezer paper (depth, pressure, and speed all set at 3) I cut out what I needed.  You can see my picture tutorial on freezer paper t's by clicking here.

We had a great worship service and everyone looked fantastic in their tie-dye!

Happy Memorial Day.  Special thanks and many blessings to the men and women (and their family members) who have served and are serving in our military.

Happy Crafting,

Waiting on paint to dry

Hi Crafters,

I just finished painting a freezer paper t-shirt for tomorrow and thought I'd post a quick update.

For those gypsy users they did post an update for the gypsy software and firmware. Can I just say it's AMAZING?!
Click here for update download

A few features they have included with this update

• Keypad feature labels (now you can see the names of the creative features for the cartridges)
• Hide Contour (this is a fix if you don't want to cut the whole image, especially handy for layers)
• Numbered Rulers around the mats
• Photo feature (I'm not quite sure I want to load it up with pictures and take up memory but we'll see how this feature progresses)
• Ease of switching files from DS to Gypsy and vice-versa
• Faster load time

I'm sure I've forgotten something but I've been playing with it all morning and been enjoying the new features!

Happy Crafting,

Gypsy 101

Hi crafters,

I made this quick little gypsy video for you all.  A lot of people on the Gypsy message board have just purchased this fantastic crafting tool.  I hope this answers all your questions about all the cords.

Happy crafting,

Inspired

Hi crafters,
I saw a few people on the Cricut Message Boards were posting these fantastic step cards.  After looking around a bit I found Dawns Stamping Studio had a fantastic video tutorial.  I decided to make this my weekend challenge for myself and a few friends have agreed to join in.

My other brother in law is graduating from high school in a few weeks so I took this as my inspiration for the card.  I used the cricut markers to outline the hat and the lettering.  The cap and the font are both from A Child's Year.  The cap is cut at 2.25 inches and the lettering is about 1 inch.

I used the spots and dots embossing folder and a few pop dots behind the cap for extra detailing.

I admit I was a little nervous about trying this but it didn't take long and I was up and running.  I did run out of double sided tape and am about out of the photo mounting squares (a paper crafter's worst nightmare...out of adhesive aye)

I picked up these little easels and canvases from Joann's today and I'm thinking about all the possibilities for these.  I will use these as my inspiration for my next project.  It occurred to me after I got home these would make a great baby gift spelling out the baby name.  I, of course, did not pick up enough for Miss Penelope, darn!  They were on sale for .89 for each piece (canvas and easel sold separately).

Happy Crafting,

Shutterfly

Hi Crafters,

I was so lucky to be chosen as a hostess for a Shutterfly party (through HouseParty this weekend.  My parents let me use their house.  We had a bunch of ladies over and we made 8x8 books.  Everyone that came got a free 8x8 code as well as 12 free stationary cards. Shutterfly has very reasonable prices and wonderful products.  They often run discounts and coupon codes.  I order most of my pictures through them and have always been impressed with the quality of the photos and the photobooks.

I always have to find a way to incorporate my love of paper crafting and this is how I did it.  I used Plantan Schoolbook end cap features to make tags for everyone's reusable shopping bags.  These were cut at 2.25 inches with tag feature.

You can see all my photobooks and a few of the tags.  I do like free stuff and they sure sent some goodies!

A few of the ladies hard at work!

Little Penelope Jane even got in on some photo book action.  She'll be a crafter in no time!  She can even multitask...napping and creating at the same time! I'm so impressed.

Happy Crafting,

Happy Mother's Day

I am so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful ladies in my life.  My mom is just the greatest.  We are also lucky enough to teach in the same building.  It's nice to know she's there (and often has chocolate to share).  My mother in law is also fantastic.  I really lucked out.

Here are the Mother's Day cards I made for them.  This one was for my mom. I am one of three girls so when I saw this little gardener I thought she was perfect for the occasion. The girl is from A Child's Year and the font is from Storybook.

This is for my husband's mom.  She lives in the country and often has deer just wondering around.  The deer is from Give a Hoot.  The font is from Storybook as well.

I also started a little 6x6 album of Penelope for my mom as her gift.

I'm sure you recognize some of the pictures from before but she's too cute.  Not to mention when I ordered wallets it comes with a set of 4 so that leave's one for mom, one for me, one for grandmother, and one to spare.  It all works out.

Happy Crafting,

Spring Time

Hi crafters,

I am enjoying the flowers blooming in the garden and admiring the beauty that surrounds me everyday.  It's been a crazy and stressful two weeks for me and I'm glad I was able to take the time to craft a bit.  This first card was made in a set of three.  I made these for a few co-workers who really helped me out at school.  The canoe and forest are from Camp Out!  I outlined them with a cricut brown marker before cutting. I used the core-dinations paper as the lake at the bottom.

My brother-in-law is graduating with his undergrad tomorrow (he actually finished in December of '09 which is why it says 2009 not 2010) and starts grad school in the fall. I made this card with A Child's Year. I'll say once again I'm always surprised how jammed packed the carts are now.  I didn't even realize I had a cap for graduation! The font and numbers are also A Child's Year.

TGIF! I have a packed weekend full of festivities.  I do have a little teasers for my Mother's Day card however... more details to come.  

Happy Crafting,

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

My Pink Stamper is doing some FANTASTIC challenges and giveaways today!  Go check her out.  I hope to get at least some of her challenges done.

Happy Crafting,