Scraps

I was cleaning up all of my valentine projects, paper, embellishments and putting them up - I usually have all of my seasonal papers and embellishments out to help inspire me. Anyway, while I was cleaning up the mess I kept thinking how nicely some of the papers and patterns matched - they are all differant companies! So before tossing all the little scraps into the round file I made this card.

I am not sure - but I think one too many trips to the quilt shop with my Mom inspired this card. This weekend I took her to a new quilt shop in a town a couple hrs away, it was find of fun watching her drool over the fabrics, patterns, and quilts. After a couple hours passed by I asked her if she was hungry yet, she replied "Food? How can one think of food at a time like this?" I got her to leave the building only by telling her we had 2 more quilt shops to visit. At lunch she said "You must think I am nuts wanting to stay that long in a quilt shop." Hmm, she has never seen me at Archievers - the nearest one is 4 hours away!!!

Oh yeah -- I quick tip when you sew on a card, make sure you open it first! I didn't do that and so this card is sewn shut, oooops! This one might end up in the trash after all.

St. Patrick's Day

'Top of the morning to ya!' I just finished off this pretty and simple St. Patrick's Day card!

If you would like to have this 3-leaf clover SVG file for your own use -click here.

I just love the ribbon here - it is 100% silk and ties so easily and doesn't add bulk to the envelopes! I can't get enough of this kind of ribbon, I think I bought a couple yards of every color the store had! I purchased the ribbon at my local scrapbook store.

In case you can't read the quote, here it is..

May the Irish hill caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - MOM!!

My Mom's birthday is this week, and this is the card that I made for her. She is into quilts so I picked some pattern paper (K & Company) that reminds me of quilt fabric. This card is made with the Celebrations cartridge - very fast and easy card!! - I think I made this card under 10 minutes.

New House

My little brother and his fiancie are in the process of purchasing a house -I am excited for them. Congrats Seth and Erin! I put together this card for them. I also bought them a couple of books which I will have to mail to them. It really sucks being in a differant state I would like to see their new home, I will have to wait until this summer.


The card is a 'Matchbook' card and opens in the middle. I cut the house out with my Cricut machine using the Joys of the Seasons cartridge (page 50). The embossed brown background is made with a cuttlebug folder. I also took out my sewing machine and sewed around the edges. The welcome tag is made from a Spellbinder Tag die.

Scrapbook -February

I am not a big scrapbooker, I have always prefered the mini albums over the big 12x12 space. But for the last 3 years I have made calendars to put up in my kitchen. I started doing these calendars as a way to make myself do at least one page a month. It is funny over the last three years I confess to having a few 'blank' months - about 2-3 a year. I have to say I like the calendars as a keepsake for the year due to all the scribbled notes in the days, like all the Dr. appointments, valentine partys, and birthdays.


Here is my February calendar. I had this picture taken at JCPennys right before christmas, we had gone in for family christmas cards. I thought it turned out cute! Here is the quote that I used:

Siblings are the people we practice on,
the people who teach us about
fairness and cooperation,
kindness and caring.

Porthole - Wild Card

Are you ready for yet another Cricut 'Wild Card'? I was playing around with the 'Porthole' card on page 55. The top card is my first attempt at the card, pretty simple. For this card I cut out the card in blackout mode in cream cardstock. Next I made my own liner in pink by tracing the outer flap onto pink cardstock (and cutting by hand). Then I cut out the 'Liner' -- the only problem with this liner is that you can't cut it out in blackout mode and I didn't want the window. So to eliminate the window I had to hand cut my own liner too.

The hearts are hand embossed from old Lasting Impressions brass stencils. The leaves are made with a Martha Stewart punch.

By the way I found out that this card will fit into a standard A2 envelope if cut at 5 3/4".



Well I had the top card sitting on my desk for couple days - thinking to myself 'pretty plain'. I have been trying to challenge myself by incorporating more pattern paper, as I generally graduate towards plain cardstock. So this is what I came up with on my second attempt! Quiet fussy, but it is growing on me.

To make the 'Ruffled' edge -- I used pink paper streamers (trimmed down to 1 inch wide). I simply took the paper streamer and ran it thru my sewing machine. I used the biggest stitch I had, and then pulled on the strings to gather and ruffle the streamer - done! I then glued the ruffle onto the inside flap. I also tried to make the inside of the card pretty and conceal the glue and ruffled mess - I cut a plain cream 'Liner' and glued this into the inside flap.

Valentine - Mini Album

Here is a mini album I made for Valentines Day. The hearts came from the Doodlebug Charms cartridge (page 85). I used the Scallop Heart on the very last page.

The words 'I Like You' and 'Wild About You' are from the Wild Card cartridge (pages 71).

Cereal boxes were used to make the album, which I cut with my deep cut blade. I used a paper hole punch to make holes in the side for the rings to hold the album together. I made 2 holes in the side for 2 rings but found later that 1 ring worked better - 1 ring makes page turning easier!

On the cover I pieced a few strips of paper together with my sewing machine. I was trying to be thrifty and use all my scraps. I used a Martha Stewart heart border punch on a few strips to add interest and texture. I made 2 albums and with only 3 sheets of patterned paper!

The other Valentine mini album is going to be giving away as a door prize for my Moms Club. Hope that they like it!

Kids Treats

The is Valentines week - so I had to have so treats for my son's classes. These are what I came up.

Here are some simple treat bags that I filled with M&Ms. I found the cello bags at Hobby Lobby and made a simple rectangle topper and used a pair of scalloped scissors to make an edge for the bottom of the rectangle. The 'Be Mine' and 'Love' are made using a Revolution Die.


Here are some other Valentine Treats that I made for my other son -not sure why I made two differant types this year. These are simple Lolipop covers. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to get the pretty heart edges. The heart on the covers is cut out from the Bags, Tags and Boxes cartridge.

Bitten by the Bug2 - Heart Challenge

I am excited the Bitten by the Bug2 blog is finally hosting a challenge in which I have the cartridge to play along. So here goes ... is my Wild Card - Heart Challenge card. I cut out the heart first in plain pink paper, then I did a second card using a patterned paper.

I also used my cuttlebug to emboss the big heart as well as the little heart. The tag was made with a cuttlebug die and stamped with a Stampendous 'With Love' stamp. The small purple flower is a dry embossed from a Lasting Impression brass stencil.