Spring Banner

Howdy friends!!  Wow!  Some crazy weather we've had around here!  One day we are riding in the 'Stang with the top down, and the next we are wearing jackets and have the heater on in the house!  Yikes!

So, if you happened to see my post yesterday, I had a picture of my mantel for a project I just did with the mirror.  On the mantel is a Spring Banner that I made with Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line.  I was inspired to make the Spring banner for this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut since we were to make a Spring project. 

Fresh and Spring-like - unlike the weather out my window right now.  Gloomy and drizzley.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I love to read your comments and really appreciate the time you spend here!

Supplies used:

Cricut Cartridges (Storybook, Simply Charmed, Stretch Your Imagination) - Provocraft

Patterned Paper (Twig) - Little Yellow Bicycle

Cardstock - The Paper Studio

Stickles - Ranger

Twine, ribbon and other random embellies - from my stash

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall....

Howdy friends!  How are things where you are?  Life is great here, and I've finally gotten around to working on a project I've wanted to do for a while now.  I cannot for the life of me find the blog that I originally saw this concept on, so I'm very sorry that I cannot give proper credit to that person.  Basically, I've been visiting a few sites that focus on decorating homes on a small budget.  I've been trying to work on things in my home to make it more special for our family - but I don't want to spend a lot of $$$.  Even better is finding stuff I already have and make it fresh and new.

Here is what I'm talking about:

I really love this mirror!  My mom and her bestie Cindy found it for me and gave it to me as a house warming gift when we moved into our new home 7 1/2 years ago!  It kinda looks weird in this picture though (note to self - take a photography class, girl!!) and I don't know what those weird lines are in the mirror, but I promise they really aren't there.  I've toyed around with painting it black, but that's for another day.  So for now, on to the original plan. 

I have started to collect vinyl that I can cut with my Cricut.  I have done 2 projects so far as a test run - one is a peace sign for my daughter's room, the other is using the outline from said peace sign to make a t-shirt she wanted too.  Now, its been easy to work with so far and this project will test my patience.

  I wanted a saying cut out on vinyl and placed on my mirror.  Let me tell you, it really takes that patience - I probably worked on it from start to finish about 8 hours.  That includes getting the phrasing laid out in my Cricut Design Studio software, cutting out on paper to make sure the size is right, making adjustments, cutting out vinyl and CAREFULLY taking it off the mat. 

 By the way, don't let it stick to itself because you WILL have to remake it - trust me, I know these things!!  And then, voila!  Put it on the mirror, step back and admire yourself, er I mean your work!!

Probably should have used a ruler to measure the in between spaces, but oh well - for now that is enough.  I'll go back another day and scrape off the top line and start over.  I wonder how long it will take for hubby to notice - usually he will right away, but his week is busy!

If you feel inspired, look around and see what you already have in your home that you could make fresh and exciting again!  I'd love to see your results if you want to share.  Just leave me a link in the comments section so I can come visit you too!!  Happy crafting friends!

Double Up

Howdy friends!  Happy Friday to ya - its beautiful today and though I should be out enjoying it I'm inside playing in the Studio - so be it!  It is supposed to pretty this weekend so I figure we will be out in it all weekend long.

For today, I made a tag to share with you.  Now, I L.O.V.E making tags to go on presents but I never think to make a stash of them for when I need a last minute gift.  I mean, I have a stash of cards, but not tags - I think I'm going to change that beginning today!  Why not? 

I'm even doing something else today that I don't usually do either - I'm submitting this tag for 2 challenges!  Gasp!  Papertrey Ink has a Challenge Me Monday tutorial on coloring on colored cardstock, so I tried it with my growing collection of Copics and am happy with the result.  It looks a bit messy, but I like the 'mistake' I made anyway.  Also, The Paper Variety has a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  I chose Make a Tag, Use 2+ Flowers, Use Stamped Image or Sentiment.  Here it is! 



I'm happy with the result overall, and glad I have my first tag to start my stash!!  Thanks for stopping by today - and I hope to see your work at Papertrey Ink or Paper Variety too!!

Supplies:

Manilla Folder for Tag - Avery

Tags, Bags, Boxes & More Cricut Cartridge - ProvoCraft
Patterned Paper - Echo Park
Cardstock - DCWV
Image and Sentiment stamp (Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers) - Papertrey Ink
Scallop and Circle Die Cut (Limitless Layers) - Papertrey Ink
Flowers - Prima
Button, twine, ribbon - my stash
Pink/White Twine - The Twinery
Ink - VersaMagic, VersaColor
Punch (Doily Lace) - Martha Stewart
Copic Markers (RV04, RV11, RV17, RV19, 0) - Copic
Stickles - Ranger
Pen (purple)- Creative Memories

Happy Birthday Fantabulous Cricut!

Howdy bloggin' friends!  I feel like I've been away from my studio FOR.E.VER!!!  I'm back from Spring Break and I've been itchin' to get in here and get crafty!  So, after the laundry and appointments I'm finally here and ready to share.

This week Fantabulous Cricut (and founder Robin) is celebrating their birthday!  Appropriately the challenge this week is to create a birthday project and use a Cricut cut.  Wanting to use my new Simply Charmed cart, I dug it out of the box and here we go:

So, so much fun to make this card!  I can't wait to send it to a special someone on my birthday list!

Thanks for coming by today - and hey, who knows, I might get crazy in my studio and post something else today too!

Supplies:
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned Paper - Cosmo Cricket
Cricut Cartridge (Simply Charmed) - Provocraft
Embossing Folder (Happy Birthday) - Provocraft
Stickles - Ranger
Ribbon - Target

Christmas Already????

Yep - I'm already thinking about it in March!  Actually, I'm trying to plan ahead a bit better so I'm not stressing so much come Christmas time 2011.  I have challenged myself to make 5 Christmas cards each month, so by the time I need to send them out I already have them done.  The past few years I've cranked out one design each year which makes it easy to do bulk cards, but this year I'm thinking more budget friendly cards and USING WHAT I HAVE!!!  I've raided my stash and have been coming up with some fun cards for 2011 - not one is exactly the same as another. 

In doing this project, I needed some inspiration and at Nichole Heady's Papertrey Ink blog just happens to have some fun tutorials on Mondays.  This week was using impression plates.  Check out the link here.

Here is my card using the impression plate technique from the video:

Not a traditional color scheme for Christmas, but that's part of the fun of using what you have already!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper - Cosmo Cricket, KI Memories
Cardstock - The Paper Studio
Embossing Folder ( Spots & Dots) - ProvoCraft
Stamps (Vintage Ornaments, Background Basics: Sheet Music) - Papertrey Ink
Die Cuts (Limitless Layers) - Papertrey Ink
Twine - The Twinery
Ribbon, Buttons - my stash
Gems - The Paper Studio
Ink - Quick Quotes, Color Box, Stampabilities
Shimmerz Glitter Paint

Tuesday Trigger Meets A Happy Anniversary

Howdy friends!  I want to start off today's post to wish my parents a Happy Anniversary - 38 years!  Sometimes Mom checks out my blog so I've had to wait until today to post the card I'm giving them.  It all started when I saw the Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World - check it out here.  This is the Trigger:

...and this is my inspired card:

I wanted to make a big statement with the orange flower against the blue patterned paper.  The button inside of it is kinda vintage-y so I took that inspiration from the shabby chic chair.  I had fun making the flowers, I need to get busy to make more - they are addicting!!

Supplies:

Card base - The Paper Studio

Cardstock - Bazzill

Patterned Paper - October Afternoon (Fly A Kite)

Ink - Quick Quotes (Powder Puff - Mocha Mama)

Sentiment - My Pink Stamper (Simply Sweet Occasions)

Cricut Cartridge Tags, Bags, Boxes & More - ProvoCraft

Twine, Lace, Button - from my stash

Adhesive - ATG, FabriTac

Its Not Easy Being Green.....

Howdy Friends!!  Happy Monday to ya!  Well, we all seem to be thinking GREEN with St. Patty's Day next week and I've joined in the challenge at Emma's Throwback Thursday challenge!  Make a project with St. Patrick's Day theme using an OLDER cartridge.  My go to cart this week is Designer's Calendar.  I originally got this thinking I'd be going back into teaching soon, but that is not the case right now, so I had to find another use for it - and boy is this cart FULL of F-U-N!!

Layout for taking a picture of the kids wearing GREEN next week!

Here are some close ups of a couple of enhanced embellies:

I cut out a shamrock from Designer's Calendar, then used Tim Holtz Distress Ink to color my embossing folder, embossed the shammy, then inked edges and blinged it a bit with GREEN Stickles!  Added a twine bow for some P-O-W!!

The word GREEN is flocked.  I used Diamond Glaze then poured flocking that I found at Michaels for $1.00.  Cheap way to try out a new fun product!  I added bling to the 'e' in wear and in the by coloring a clear gem with a GREEN marker.

So, hope you like the layout!  Its been a while for me to have done a layout, I've been too busy with cards and other projects!

TTFN - Jennifer