Christmas

Getting into the Christmas spirit with some homemade gifts.  Next week we're having our Office Party and will be playing the white elephant game.  I made a gift card holder using the Vintage Santa from Miss Kate's Cuttables.  I used the Cricut cartridge Pretty Packages to make the blue bow on the gift.  I love how well Santa turned out that I decided to make some more gift card holders and put him on the closure band.  I completed several vinyl cutting boards for gifts and made little gift bags to go along with them.  I put specialty oils and vinegars in small bottles to place in the gift bags.  I completed my Sister in laws journal.  That present is killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.  I always make her a journal for our trips together and since we already booked our trip to Greece in September, I finished her journal.  Hope you like my projects and feel inspired.  Thanks for looking.

Christmas Shadowbox

I was perusing FB when I came across the Christmas svg from Treasure Box Designs.  I purchased it and decided I wanted to make some Christmas cards using it.  Well, my plan went awry when I didn't size it correctly.  I made it way too big and decided to make a little Christmas scene.  That didn't work either because he was just too big.  So I came up with the shadowbox idea.  I like how it turned out and will be taking it to work to display there for the Christmas season.  I used Treasure Box Designs, Scrap Factory, Cricut, and a purchased cutout (wreath) that was garland and I changed.  I did some fussy cutting out of Graphic 45 paper for the toys.  I used stickles on the glass to emulate frost and snow tex on the edges to emulate snow.  I hope you like it.

Baby Book for Ally

After two years of retirement, I went back to work.  I work part time for Active Lifestyle Clinic in Ahwatukee.  Dr. Jen Winton is a Chiropractor and Dr. Todd Winton is a Naturopath.  I'm really enjoying myself and find the change mentally stimulating.  I work with two other ladies, Barb and Whitney.  Barb is a cancer survivor and one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met.  Whitney is a new mom and the book is for her little girl, Ally.  I used Kathy Orta's file that I purchased from her site.  I changed a few things about it to make it more of a baby book.  I did use the Kraft Tex paper for the cover, inside straps, and the cascade portion of the book.  I am in love with this stuff.  It is so amazing and it looks like leather.  Anyway, the pictures follow.  I hope you like it.  Thanks for looking.

The front cover with butterflies cut with the print then cut feature on the Explore.  After placing them on the book, I used Glossy Accents to make them shine.  Her monogram was downloaded from dafont and cut with the Explore.

The inside of the book.  Both sides hold a lot of pics.

Front cover of the right side opened.  The baby cutout is from Graphic 45.

When you open the right side, flip the waterfall to the right and find the two inside pockets.  I decorated with svg's from Scrap Factory and Little Scraps of Heaven.

Waterfall closed again.  The first three pic holders are vertical.  Decorated with ribbon and Graphic 45.

More pics of the vertical waterfall.

The horizontal waterfall on the right.  These were not decorated so that there would be more room for personal pics.

The horizontal waterfall completely opened.

The left side of the book is the cascade.  It is very unique.  It is very easy to make also (if you follow her directions).  I tried to get ahead and ended up wasting a lot of paper/cardstock.  The embellishment is from Graphic 45.

Butterflies are all from Cricut.  Some were print then cut and others were just cut using the Explore.  A little bling was added also.

Both flourishes were from Cricut.  The flowers were from my stash.

Graphic 45 embellishment.

The left page has some bling and a sticker from my stash.  The right page was a svg from Miss Kate Cuttables.  I really like how it turned out.  It's hard to see but the Sunshine was highlighted with Wink of Stella.

More flourishes and butterflies from Cricut.

I don't remember where I purchased this svg but I love it.

The block on the left side was cut out of vaneer.  The Explore does such a great job with vaneer.  I painted the letters then glossy accented them.  Ribbon was added to the right page.

Last page is a cricut cut.

This is the cascade portion of the book opened up.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We left this morning bright and early to catch our flight from Phoenix, AZ to Miami, FL.  Due
to the flight times, we had to spend the night in Miami before continuing our vacation to Ecuador.  So this is just a picture of a plane.  Will try to blog about our trip as we continue.  Looking forward to hiking in the Amazon Rainforest and visiting several cities in Ecuador.  Talk to you soon.

2014-2015 School Year Album

I try to make a little book for the grandkids every year for the first day of school.  This year, all three are in school.  Ayva started 2nd grade, Kingston started 1st grade, and Nico started Kindergarten.  Time sure does fly.  I remember when my own kids were in those grades.  I used my Cricut Explore along with several svgs from Scrappy Dew and Little Scraps of Heaven designs.  I also used my stamps/dies from Stamps of Life.  I really like how it turned out and I'm sure the grand babies will too!  Hope you like it and thanks for looking.

Front cover using the Scrappy Dew Back to School svg file.  I used cardstock and vaneer.

I started with the oldest grandchild.  Ayva had her picture taken at home.  I used the Scrappy Dew Back to School Kids svg file.  Ayva really likes giraffes so I made her backpack out of giraffe paper.

A little bling and cuts using the Explore.  I then added glossy accent to the cut outs.

Kingston wasn't happy about going to school.  He fell asleep on the way.  The cut out is from Cricut and glossy accent was added.  I added the stars because he received a star on the board from his teacher for being well behaved.

Once he got there, he was happy.  The Bear with a Pencil is a Little Scraps of Heaven Designs svg.  Again, stars because he was so good at school.

Nico started Kindergarten this year.  I used cuts from Cricut and the Crayola Bear was from Scrappy Dew.

Nico was happy to be in school.  They started the day with coloring.  He really likes to color.  The email at the top was from his teacher.  It states, "Just wanted to let you know Nico was great today.  What a good boy! He listened, worked hard and was so respectful.  I would take a whole room full of Nico's if I could!"

The word cut out is from Scrappy Dew Back to School Kids and the crayons are from Stamps of Life.  They are stamps and dies.

Thanks again for taking a look!

Sympathy Card

I'm not much of a card maker but needed to make one for someone who lost a family member.  I decided to include a magnet.  The base card is a typical A2 card.  I sewed a piece of vellum on top of the accent piece and added some bling and a condolence.  I used my Explore to cut out a tag using magnetic material for the back portion.  I then cut the top portion of the tag and stamped it with a saying I really believe.  I then adhered the top to the back and placed it in the vellum pocket.  I hope you like it.  Thanks for taking a look.

Another Baby Album

My daughter's boyfriend Seth asked her to go to the store and buy a baby book for his sisters baby shower.  My daughter told him "absolutely not.  My Mom makes baby books and they are so much nicer."  I guess I should feel honored!  LOL!  Anyway, they both liked the last album I made and asked if I could make another one.  Seth's sister is expecting a baby girl and doesn't like "pink".  I tried really hard to stay away from pink.  Seth and his family are from Ghana and really love soccer.  They wanted me to incorporate soccer if possible.  I didn't get much in but a few pieces did make it.  I found the Ghana uniform online and printed out the jersey on cardstock to create the front soccer player.  I used yellow, teals, red, and purples in this album.  I hope you like it.  Thanks for looking.

The binding is material purchased at Joann's.  The doll is the soccer girl from Scrap Factory.

Inside the front cover is a Scrap Factory doll head and the "free kick" is a Cricut cut.  I used my Explore for all the cuts.

I wanted her to be able to include pics from the baby shower in the book.  This is a waterfall picture holder.  The Baby Shower is a Cricut cut.

This zebra paper piecing is from a set I purchased from Crafty Cat 957.  She is currently not selling but I do love her svg's.  The butterflies are from Cricut.

The giraffe is another Crafty Cat 957 svg.

The cuts on the bottom of this page are from Cricut.  I pop dotted the baby girl tag at the bottom and used adhesive for the sneakers and onsie.

This page is a combination of svg's.  The doll is from Scrap Factory bedtime expansion pack, the moon/sweet dreams is a Cricut cut, and the bunny is from Little Scraps of Heaven.  The bunny was suppose to be part of a pile of jelly beans but I modified it a little to make the stuffed bunny.

I added some flowers from my stash to decorate this page.  It's a photo holder in a pocket.

Nico came from the Rio blog hop.

These strawberries were the freebie from Miss Kate's Cuttables earlier this week.  I really like the looks of this svg.

These strawberries are from Stamps of Life stamps and dies.

I think this is my favorite page.  I was up way too late and started looking for another svg to use.  I found this adorable sandbox at Little Scraps of Heaven.  I used a tan cardstock to cut out the sand pieces.  I then coated each piece in a liquid adhesive.  I poured sand over the top of the adhesive and left it to dry.  After it dried, I covered it with a matte medium to ensure that the sand didn't come off.  I then pop dotted some of the sand piles to add dimension.

This page holds an accordion picture holder.  The baby blocks are a Cricut cut.

Another modification.  I wanted a bear sleeping on a cloud.  I modified a Scrap Factory bear to accomplish what I wanted. The cloud the bear is on is a Cricut cut and the upper clouds are a die from Stamps of Life.  The upper clouds are pop dotted.

This bear is from Scrap Factory.  The day I made this, I had received a post on Facebook with a bear holding a jar full of moon beams.  This is my adaptation of that post.  The jar is a die from Stamps of Life.  I used acrylic for the jar and covered the bottom and some of the top with platinum stickles.  I tied some string around the jar and cut out vellum on the Explore after writing moon beams on it.