Scrappy Moms' TTC Challenge - St. Patrick's Day!

Hi my fellow paper crafters! It's been waaaay too long since I've posted! I'm so sorry!! I have been crafting, just haven't had a moment to post. My daughter's basketball team made it into the state tournament which was last weekend, so I was super busy making all sorts of things to go along with that event. It was so much fun! The girls ended up winning the consolation bracket-YAY! I will post those "March Madness" projects very soon.

In the meantime, if you notice on my sidebar, I am Scrappy Moms' March guest designer!!! It seems like forever ago that I was selected for this distinguished honor and oh my goodness - it's HERE!!!! I will be posting some fun projects soon for that, but to kick off my March posts, I of course had to jump into the current Terrific Tuesday challenge over at Scrappy Moms. The challenge is St Patrick's Day! You can make any project relating to this fun Irish holiday.

I must give credit for this project to Paulette over at Around the Block with Scrapalette. She made an adorable St. Patrick's Day candy purse, which I just loved! So, I decided to make my own, but with a Scrappy Mom twist. :)

Here it is:

The purse!

Close-up of me pot 'o gold!

Supplies:

• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for backing shape and mat (edited on my Gypsy)
• Cricut Simply Charmed cartridge for pot of gold
• Recollections green cardstock
• Georgia-Pacific white cardstock
• Clear party favor bags purchased from Wal-Mart
• Gold coin candy purchased from Walgreens
• "I TREASURE you!" sentiment from Scrappy Moms' Designers Choice stamp set
• Mandarin, maraschino cherry and pea pod bakers twine purchased from Scrappy Moms
• Terrifically Tacky tape to adhere bakers twine "rainbow"
• Gold Stickles
• White Offray craft ribbon for purse handle

Well that is it! Such a cute little purse! I made 2 of them so I will give them to my daughters next weekend for the big St. Patty's Day holiday.

I will be back soon with more projects AND keep a lookout for a giveaway!! Have a great weekend!

Christmas Teacher Gifts

Hello again my crafty friends! I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I really don't know where those weeks went. They were so busy!! If I didn't have photographic evidence of my Christmas events, I would be in disbelief that the holiday actually came and went!!

So let me go back to December 15th and post my teacher gifts that we gave to my girls' homeroom middle school teachers. I literally assembled these gifts on the 15th to give on the 16th - GASP!! Yes, that's how my whole holiday season has gone. I was not ahead of the game for ANYTHING!!! It's usually like this for me, though, so I am very glad I get my Christmas cards mailed the day before Thanksgiving. It's crazy, but I honestly don't know when I would get to them if I didn't do them in November.

Okay, enough babble and onto the teacher gifts:

Here is a vinyl personalization of the teacher's last name

on a rectangular platter from Michael's - Loved these!

I got this idea from the Expressions Vinyl blog.

This was pictured when the Stickles were freshly applied.

AGAIN, I made all of this the night before - Ugh.

I used a mix of Scrappy Moms Christmas stamps for this tag.

I know the cookies look a bit skimpy on this platter,

but I didn't have a lot of cookies baked yet at this point

in the season. Also, I wanted the personalization to peek a bit.

And lastly, I contributed to the middle school teachers' gift

where this teacher was included, so this was just extra.

He is a fave of both of my girls. :)

This was a Cricut Birthday Cake Art cartridge

for the other homeroom teacher!

We gave her my daughter's Cricut Cake Mini

earlier this Fall as we upgraded to the big one.

(Of course ours is still in the box - insert heavy sigh here)

I used mirrored cardstock and the Cricut Accent Essentials

cartridge to mimic the snowflake on this Target foil paper

from the dollar section- such fun paper! 

I also popped the middle dot up with 2 dimensionals.

This is a new Scrappy Moms stamp from their

"A Holiday to Remember" set - Love it!

Supplies:

• Cricut A Child's Year cartridge for green vinyl letters
• Cricut Stone Script cartridge for red vinyl letters welded on my Gypsy
• Cricut Simply Charmed cartridge for candy cane
• Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge for snowflake
• Expressions Vinyl outdoor vinyl in Red and Lime Tree Green
• Lime green, red, white, and mirrored cardstock scraps from my stash
• Scrappy Moms "A Holiday to Remember" and "Winter Wishes" stamp sets
• Stampin' Up Basic Black ink
• Stampin' Dimensionals on candy cane and snowflake (doubled up on snowflake)
• Icicles and Christmas Red Stickles

Ok, that's about it for this post. I am entering it into Fantabulous Cricut's Challenge # 91 - Trimming with a Tag. Thank goodness they gave extra time on this one!!

Enjoy the last few days of 2011!!

Eat Beef, not turkey!!

Hello everyone!

This weekend I finally put away the Halloween decorations, put up the little bit of Thanksgiving ones I have, and got busy with my Thanksgiving crafts! I made all 16 of my Thanksgiving cards, which I will post soon, but I've been slaving away at this project the better part of the weekend so I could jump into the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge # 84, "For The Birds!"

Like last school year (see post HERE), I made treats for the monthly teacher luncheon that each class sponsors at my girls' school. It is my older daughter's grade's turn this month. I was talking to the parent coordinator about it a few weeks back and she said she didn't want to have turkey as the main entree because the school puts on a big traditional Thanksgiving feast closer to the holiday. She is doing beef sandwiches instead. So, I offered to make the crafty treats to have at each school staff member's place setting and this is what I came up with:

 The holder was made using Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge -

I'm SO getting my money's worth out of it!!

I got mine through Melanie Brown, just in case you need a

CTMH consultant. She's the one that tempted me into getting

the Art Philosophy bundle in the first place by showing

so many fun projects on her blog! :) 

 Here is the back view of my treat.

 Here is a close-up of the message to the school staff.

I handcut the signs.

This is what each staff member will find

when they untie the baker's twine!

BTW, I got a 230-piece bag of these miniature chocolates

50% off after Halloween at Wal-Mart- Woo Hoo!!

The turkey is from the Cricut Simply Charmed cartridge.

He's whimsical but not too whimsical I think.

All my turkey treats together!

Supplies:

• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge p22 for the treat holder (Got 2 on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of kraft cardstock using my Gypsy!)
• Cricut Simply Charmed cartridge for turkeys (created layers on my Gypsy-much easier!)
• The Paper Company kraft cardstock from Joann
• Recollections black cardstock from Michael's
• Red, orange and yellow cardstock scraps from my stash
• Cappuccino baker's twine purchased from Scrappy Moms
• ChildWritten font which you can download for free HERE (I used all caps for "EAT BEEF!")
• Monotype Corsiva font for message to school staff (Mine was installed with Microsoft Office, but you may find for free somewhere on the web)
• Foam dots for behind the turkey

Why do I show a photo of this tray with all of my treats to one side? Well that's because I have 20 more to make and add to this tray -Yikes!! And if I didn't take a break and post, I wouldn't have made it into FCCB's challenge- LOL!

I will be back soon with a post of my Thanksgiving card. Also, I will post all of the previous Thanksgiving cards I have made since I started making my own cards (circa 2004, I think?). That post will be more of a reference for me, but bear with me. :)

Well, back to the turkey treat making factory. Have a good crafty week everyone!

For a Berry Sweet Graduate!

Here is my last graduation card for the season (well at least I think it is!):

I came up with the idea during one of my many recent visits to Bath & Body Works' semi-annual sale.  There is a Berry Vanilla collection that came out last year that I just love, and they brought it back for the sale at 75% off - at least at my local stores.

I used my Gypsy and the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge for the berry, Wrap It Up for the graduate cap, Lasting Impressions red dotted patterned paper, and I outlined everything with Stickles - shocker, huh? :)

I'll attach this berry-shaped card to a bottle of the Berry Vanilla lotion and add either a gift card or cash to the inside of the card. I haven't decided which one yet since this is for a grammar school graduation.

Well that's all I've got for now. I'll be back soon with my card for Scrappy Mom's Terrific Tuesday Challenge - YES!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

Valentine Cards 2011

Here is my valentine card for this year sent to close family showcasing the photo shoot torture for my girls!

I must admit that this card is not one of my faves that I've made. I had it in my head that I would use the conversation hearts from the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge, but the card turned out a bit plain and the color of the prints were off from my cardstock colors. But, I like the photos and at this point in my jam-packed life, it got the "It'll have to do" stamp of approval from me. I seem to be doing that a lot lately!!

 The font I used for the inside of my cards is called Hank BT.

Another valentine card I made was just me playing around with ideas for a really good friend of mine who is having a Valentine tea party for her daughter this coming weekend. It is an invitation using the Once Upon a Princess cartridge. The hearts were stickled onto the paper doll's dress and the tea pot. I so wish I were going to this party! My friend has been sending me photos of crafty things she's made for it so I just know it will be a FABULOUS event! Her daughter is one lucky girl . . . :)

Well, that's it for this post. We're getting toward the weekend, so enjoy it my paper-loving friends!!