I'm back.........

So I can't believe my last post was this past February.  It doesn't seem like more than 6 months have passed!!  Things have been quite busy and eventful in our household.  However, I have managed to create of few things that I would like to share with you.  The first item is the wonderful "Beach Bag" project from Kathy over at Paper Phenomenon.  I just love her projects!  I have not finished embellishing my bag, but will be using mostly sea shell stickers and dimensionals. If you have never visited her site or created any of her projects, it's a must!

 

Next I've been working on some note cards.  My current mission is to make a bunch of cards so I will always have one on hand.  Lately all the cards I have sent out have been purchased.  I get so frustrated that I never seem to have any cards on hand, but if you know me, you know I can't just whip up a card in a few minutes...Over Thinker!! LOL  So here is the start of my batch and I will continue to post more as I complete them. Thanks for looking!

Now if I could just stop procrastinating about my page layouts!!! YIKES!!!!

A Girl's Favorite Things!

My Dear Friend is a Valentine's baby (actually the day after but who's counting) and I wanted to surprise her with a gift card bouquet. After brainstorming on how to do this, I came up with the flower pot with the scallop edge (can't remember which cartridge it came from) and the flowers from Accent Essentials. I glued styrofoam in the box and and added shredded black and brown paper to look like the dirt. From there I assembled several sizes of the flowers to a wood stick and curled the edges in different directions. I inked the edges and sprayed them with my own concoction of glimmer mist.  Then I attached her two favorite splurges.....A wine gift card and a Cold Stone's ice cream gift card. I figured what girl wouldn't want flowers, wine and ice cream for her birthday.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and I would love to hear your comments.

Birthday Beach Basket

 

My dear friend is having a birthday this weekend and her wonderful husband is taking her to Amelia Island for some much needed rest and relaxation. My thoughts went to...... How can I make this birthday even more pleasurable without being there?  hahahahahahahha  So, I prepared a little basket for them to get cozy on the beach and enjoy their time together.  Besides the usual finger foods and snacks, I included 2 bottles of wine, glasses and a lantern candle.  This way they can enjoy the beach at night watching the stars and listening to the relaxing sounds of the ocean.

Additionally I proceeded to make my first easel card.  I thought the beach theme would be appropriate for this card since they are going to the beach! LOL  The beach chair, sun and palm trees are some SCAL files I have picked up along the way.  The shells are from the Doodlecharms cartridge. 

 

 Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your comments!

What....? No card, layout or even my Cricut.

So has anyone heard of Pinterest? My daughter recently showed my this website where you can pin your interests to boards on your homepage that shows all your likes. Each pin usually has the link to the site it came from.  It is pretty amazing to see all the things people pin to there boards.  Well of course I came across some craft ideas!  I fell in love with the refrigerator magnets so I decided to start my quest on recreating these (I'm sure these are not new to many of you!).  Of course I combined the ideas of several of the websites on magnet making and started on my quest. After receiving all the supplies, I began my search for just the right pictures.  In these pictures I show the completed 1" magnets, how I attached them to the chip board and then the packaging. The first set of magnets were for my sister. She loves owls so I found cute pictures and made her a set.

Next I made a set for my other sister in Northern Michigan.  She loves to watch the different birds that visit her bird feeder so I found pictures of birds native to her area of the US.

Then my 3rd sister loves flowers so I thoughts a mix of different flowers would be appropriate.

After completing these, I decided to make some for both of my children to put in their Christmas stockings.  This time I used some personal pictures of them, their university mascot/logo, the Nike saying and Tom Brady's logo (of course my son thinks it's his since he has the same initials, is a QB and his number is 12).

 

I have since ordered the 2" glass tiles to make even more magnets.  I can't wait for them to arrive!!  Thanks for looking and I would love to hear your comments! If you would like the information I compiled to make these magnets, please email me and I will forward the information to you.  Have a blessed day!!

Spice Rack

One of my Christmas gifts to my daughter is a spice rack. She has embarked on her career and has moved into her first apartment. During a recent conversation she mentioned that she wanted to make a recipe but didn't have any of the spices. This gave me an idea of a Christmas present! After researching all of the available spice racks, I came across a test tube type one that was compact and had 40 spices.Unfortunately  the price was in excess of $150 so I decided to recreate this spice rack. I found a test tube rack on Ebay for $11. I purchased 40 test tubes with stoppers off of Amazon for less than $25. I have a ton of spices so I split my supply and then ordered small amounts off of the website My Spice Sage. This a great site for spices since you can order quantities as little as 1oz. Next I wrapped strips of the "So Delish - Spice Rack" paper from TPC Studios.  The spice signs were cut from the Cricut Freshly Picked cartridge. I labeled each test tube with my Brother label maker.

Drum roll please..............................

I did it all for less than 1/3 the cost of the one they were selling online.

 

 

The total size of this spice rack is 6.5" x 3.5". It's compact yet has a ton of spices! Thanks for looking!

Travel Tales Suitcase Album

A dear friend of mine took a trip of a life time to Spain and France (Italy too, but I messed up! LOL).  Thinking of all my trips I have taken and that my pictures are either in my computer or still on the memory card, I decided that I wanted to make her something that she could use to display her photos. So once again I found myself at Kathy's blog - Paper Phenomenon.  This is her Travel Tales project that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE! Kathy has the most amazing projects and is truly a crafting genius!  Her blog is always my go to site for inspiration or just to pick up one of her projects and craft away! If you have never done one of her projects, please do, you won't be disappointed.  Thanks for looking and I welcome your comments.

Recipe Book

I would like to give a shout out to Kathy over at Paper Phenomenon for all her fantastic designs and creations.  Kathy is an awesome artist and has so many wonderful projects to share.  If you have not been to her blog, you can visit her at www.paperphenomenon.blogspot.com.  I promise you will not be disappointed! I would also like to thank Tuki @ Tuki's Place for converting all of Kathy's designs to DS files.  Without Tuki I would have never been able to complete the recipe album!

I have been in the recipe book mode lately and was looking for ideas when I came across Kathy's videos.  So after spending several hours watching her videos and taking notes, I attempted to create her Recipe Book! This book was so much fun to create and Kathy has so many helpful techniques. I also love how she makes regular items become interactive with pockets and such. My book is pretty much the same except for the paper.  I used DCWV Nana's Kitchen and the cover pages are from the "So Delish" series by The Paper Company. I purchased my charms from the Charm Barn and found the rolling pins on Amazon.  All my cuts were from the Cricut  "From My Kitchen" cartridge.  The border on the front of the book is a border I found and printed through SCAL.

Thanks for looking and remember to check out Kathy and Tuki's blog!

Christmas Recipe Mini Album

Here is a chipboard mini recipe album I just finished for my sister Terry. My sister is an avid baker at Christmas time so I thought that she might like a recipe holder album just for her Christmas baking recipes! Not to mention the fact that she is my Guinea Pig for all my new projects! Also I was able to try out my new We R Memory Keepers-the Cinch Bindery Tool I received for Christmas. This machine is so easy to use. The Cinch is compatible with the wires for the Bind It All as well. The only thing I read is that you shouldn't go with anything less than a 3/4" wire for ease of movement. If you do not have a binding machine I really recommend The Cinch! .The Cricut cartridges I used were "From My Kitchen" cartridge for the album and "Christmas Cheer" for the word Christmas on the front cover. The paper used was from the K&Company Wintertide Collection. This mini album was inspired by Mary over at Cardz TV. Mary has such lovely work and has inspired me so many times to try something new. Thanks Mary!