Christmas Tags

Hello Friends!

Happy Holidays to you and yours.  I wanted to show you the tags I made for my four dearest friends. I used Cricut's new cartridge, Bits and Pieces and these cuties when together in no time!

Thank you so much for visiting today!  

MIL's Birthday Card... in a box!

Hi Friends!

I wanted to write a letter to my favorite machine ever, the Cricut Explore for helping me in making my darling Mother-in-law a Card in a Box!

Dear Cricut:

I wanted to sincerely thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart for making a machine that I can start with a simple 9"x5" rectangle and turn into a "Party in a Box" for my sweet Mother-in-Law, Jill.  She started me on my crafting journey in 1996 with Rubber Stamping.  I fell in love with crafting way back then and I just couldn't get enough.  In 2005, I became a Mom for the first time and crafting was my "me time".  In 2007, my handsome hubby gave me my very first Cricut Expression and let's just say I used that thing to death!  Literally, it died.  :)  In 2013, my MIL and FIL gave me a Cricut Expression 2, and that was my favorite machine of all time, and it opened so many crafting doors for me that I couldn't have imagined without it.  

Enter, the Explore.  Can we say "OH MY HEAVENS"??  I HAD to have one.  As soon as I heard about them.  It was almost too good to be true...  March 29th, 2014, my husband took me to Michael's to check out the Explore.  He bought me their last one and I've been hooked ever since.  It's more than incredible, it's out of this world with what it can do.  I thought I would love it solely for the scoring it could do for me, but NO!  It literally has taken me to great heights with my crafting and I cannot believe I can do what I did for my MIL.  

I began with a 9"x5" rectangle, and added score lines, cut lines, smaller rectangles for the panels,the "Happy Birthday" banner was written with the Explore and cut out and all the cute birthday cuts from Birthday Bash and began to glue.  My Explore made every cut and line and piece of this adorable card, and I was SO excited to give it to her.  SHE LOVED IT and my engineer Father-in-Law even called it a masterpiece!  My heart was bursting and I couldn't believe I made this.  Without my Explore, I couldn't have pulled it off, and I sincerely thank you for your machine.  It has made me a total rock star to my family and I think it's safe to say that I am truly a "FAN FOR LIFE!"  

Here's a close up of the sentiment flag.  I love having the Explore write my sentiments.  It's SO easy, and cute to boot!  

Thank you, Cricut.  You have made this once shy, scared to try anything, introverted girl into a Confident Crafter, and that's what I need in my life!  

Sincerely, 

CraftsManda 

Lego Friends Birthday Party!

Hello Friends!

Well, my sweet daughter is on her last year for single digits.  She turned 9 on Saturday and requested a Lego Friends theme.  I knew when we began to look at Amazon, Zurchers, Party City, Target and anywhere else we could think of, we'd have to get very clever and come up with some decorations.  No problem, thanks to my Cricut Explore!  Man, that machine made me a total rockstar and my sweet Shelby was SO excited with her party.  For starters, her cute daddy wrapped her gifts to look like Legos.  Holy cute, I must say!

She ordered a strawberry cake with vanilla frosting.  So, once again her awesome daddy made her a cake, also resembling a Lego: 

Next, is where I was able to help out.  I made the confetti to match all the colors of the presents and her banner that I was so delighted with.  Here's a close up of one of the panels: 

I found this Lego Font and had added it to my computer so I could use it in Design Space.  Well, this font in particular has characters in some of the letters, and Design Space only added them as X's.  I was panicking a little but I decided to add her name in Photoshop and make it a Jpeg so I could use it in Design Space.  It looked SO cute and I could get to work.  I made 9 panels on her banner, each panel had 9 circles with her cute name on them.  I double stick taped them to give them a little dimension and asked my 5 year old if it looked like a Lego.  She said exuberantly, YES!  I was so excited.  The first panel and last panel needed to look like a Lego scene.  I scoured my cartridges and found the perfect cuts to weld and add to the scene.  

The branches were from Cindy Loo and the grass was from Walk in My Garden as well as the butterflies.  It was SO fun to make this look as Lego-y as possible and I have to say it was perfect.  She now has it hanging in her room and I love that she wanted to keep it.  

Here's the whole thing that we hung in our front window.  It was a hit!  And I love that font written with my Explore so much.  The word is "AWESOME" on her banner.... Thanks to the Lego movie, I could include that as the birthday theme.  It was such fun and I am so happy we could pull off this not-so-easy theme.  

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I hope your Thanksgiving is the best.  I'm thankful for each of you!

Gift Card Holder

Hello Friends!

I wanted to show you a gift card holder I made to give to my daughter's substitute teacher.  She is having surgery next week and won't be subbing anymore.  My cute Shelby is so sad to see her go so I thought we could do something that may help her after surgery.  She decided on a gift card to Kneaders and I thought that would be perfect!

I decided to try something new with my Cricut Explore and have it emboss my words "Thinking of You" and then I'd scratch off the color and see what happened.  WOW!  Can we say "Love!!!".  I was so excited at how quickly this worked and it has that shabby distressed look that I just go crazy for. I just love when things work out exactly how I think they should!

I've only tried that technique just once, on a paper with a white core, but I will be trying solid colors soon!  I mean, why not!?  It worked so well, and I am even more in love with my Explore than before.  HOORAY!

Thank you for visiting today!

A Wood Turkey? YES, PLEASE!

Hello!

Today I have a project I actually completed in November and have been loving it as a Thanksgiving accent to my house.  Hooray for the The Wood Connection and their adorable wood crafts.  Oh how I love that store!

I of course had to add feathers cut with my Cricut Explore and some 12x12 paper.  

Thank you so much for visiting today!  I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'm so thankful for you!

Bestie's Birthday Card

Hi again!

Today I have a card that I made for my Bestie.  Her birthday is a big deal!  I had to make sure her card was as sweet as she is.  I think this was the ticket!  

Thank you for visiting today!  Hope you've had a great weekend!

Base Camp Wood Monogram

Hello sweet friends!

I wanted to show you one of my favorite projects I've done so far.  I actually entered it into the Cricut I Made It Contest.  YAY!  I used Base Camp to make a template for my husband to cut some wood for me.  He cut the shadow and made the stand, and then I painted and cut another "N" not the shadow.  It wasn't the easiest thing to put together but I'm SO happy with how it turned out.  My cute friend loved it as well.  

Thank you for visiting today!  I appreciate you so much.  

Mini Box of Cards

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today I have a post of a gift I made to thank the previous Box Tops for Education Coordinator at my girls' school for all of her help to get me set up as the new Coordinator.  I saw this beautiful project from Karen's Krafty Korner and knew it'd be perfect!  The cards all had flowers that I dry embossed and scuffed the color off to make the white trim and I loved the band around the box and I can't wait to make some more. I of course had to add some rolled flowers using my Cricut and then my gift was finished! 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  Stay tuned for some more fun crafts I've done over the past few months.  

A Baby Shower in Record Time!

Hey Friends!

I have been so busy with Summer things I'm stunned that July is 1/2 over!  Where does the time go? 

My post for today is a baby shower that my MIL, SIL, I and our cousins did for our other cousin who had a baby in June.  She was due in August but the baby had other plans!  We decided to go with "Mary had a little lamb" but since her name is Megan, we changed it up.  Let me say that finding lambs was darn near impossible.  So, we decided to make the invitation in Photoshop and it all started us on a crafting journey that I was SO excited for!  

The invitation was a photo card and we mailed out on the 7th and the shower was the 14th!  Record time for sure. 

That lamb was our theme.  Since my Cricut Explore is in perfect working order, I suggested we just turn that cute lamby into a die cut.  I gotta say adding our own images in Cricut Design Space makes crafting the perfect party a breeze!  

We incorporated lambs into all of our decor.  The favors, the banner, everything.  It was so cute and I was thrilled at how adorable everything turned out.  The favors were courtesy of my darling SIL Melissa who is hands down the most amazing crafter with the steadiest of hands I've ever seen.  She traced the die cut with a marker and filled it in with puffy paint and slick pant and we had a cute canvas bag to fill with all sorts of lamb related goodies!  Great job, Miss.  You're amazing!!  

We were having fun with the play on words so that tag on there certainly does say "It's Your Baaag!"  Haha! Yes, we are quite cheesy!

Next up was the vase of flowers that my MIL and I made.  I love, love, love paper straws, but they are a bit too pricey for me so I don't use them as much as I should.  We cut some uber cute flowers and pinned them to the straws and ta-da!  Cutest vase of flowers ever.  

The vase sat next to the cutest chalkboard frame that Missy made with a white pencil.  Once again, AMAZING!!

Of course we had to change the name, to make the shower match!

We spent almost the whole week working on a banner to hang in the baby's nursery.  It was so much fun and I cannot wait to make more!  It was a joint effort and I learned that vinyl is going to be forever my tool of choice for gluing letters!  So slick!  

I was so excited with this and I know that my MIL was too.  We had rolled flowers, rosettes, folded flowers, poofy sheep, and the baby's information from her birthday.  It hung up the whole shower and we took it down to give to the new mom.  I was sad to see it go!  

Here's a close up of the poofy sheep. One was a tissue poof with the die cut on the front and the other was a doily with the same die cut on.  I was dying at the cuteness.  

Here's the panels with the flowers and the baby's information. Vinyl in such a cute font...

Oh so sweet!

Next are the rosettes that I finished off with a dark grey brad, since it matched!  This panel was the same on the left and right, and the flow of the banner couldn't have been better!

On to the rolled flowers. The first panel of the banner, and the last.  Oh how I love those flowers! 

Well, I think that's it for the decor for that baby shower.  It was so much fun and my Explore made it all possible.  I am forever going to turn to that awesome machine for all my crafting needs!  

My sincerest thank yous to Jill, Missy, Sandie, Stacie, Amy, Val and everyone who came to the shower.  It was a success and I can't wait to craft again with sheep!  

End of Year Teacher Gifts

Hello!  Today I have the cards I made for my cute kiddos to give their teachers for the end of a great school year.  I have loved all the teachers and thought they deserved a break in the sunshine!  Don't we all, actually?  My baby is done with Preschool tomorrow and my heart is so heavy that she's growing so big.  She has two of the best teachers around and we were so fortunate that she got to have the same ones as my 8 year old!  I hope I don't cry too much while delivering them!  Their gifts are sunshine related.  A beach towel, sunscreen, a water bottle, some treats and a magazine!  It was so fun to put together and I hope they love them as much as I do.  

Here is the card I made.  And I gotta say, I LOVE my Cricut Explore  I used a ball point pen in the machine on a whim and it totally worked, and my card just fell together!  I used Create a Critter and wow is that a cute cartridge!   The inside is from All Mixed Up and the stitching is just a computer font I turned and twisted and added to my writing!  I was SO excited and I cannot wait to do more sentiments with my Explore!

My 8 year old said "It looks like the crab and starfish are having fun!"  Good thing, 'cause that's what I was going for!  

Thank you so much for visiting today.  Hope you all can enjoy some fun in the sun!

Diva Tuesday Sketch Challenge!

Hi Friends!

I am so excited I could finally join the amazing Die Cuttin' Divas for their amazing "Diva Tuesday" today.  I have a birthday coming up for one of my sweetest and most dear friends and I was sooooo excited when this sketch was posted:

I had to join and it was just the inspiration I needed.  Here is my project I am submitting to the Die Cuttin' Divas

I used the adorable gift bag from Birthday Bash and it just fell together.  Be sure to check out all the beautiful entries at the Die Cuttin' Divas Weekly Challenge

Thank you for visiting today!!

Baby Shower Favors

Good Morning!

Today I wanted to show you some baby shower favors I got to make for my cute friend.  I had made a little box for the ladies I started working out with two nights a week with the rosettes from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and one of them was so excited with the decoration that she asked me to make some for her niece who was going to have a baby.  Of course!  I decided to do one of my favorite Peachy Keen Stamp faces and a rosette.  They turned out cuter than I could've imagined!

Thank you for visiting today.  Have a wonderful day!

Flowers for Mom

Hello Friends!

Today I have a post that should've been made in 2012, but I wasn't quite ready for it.  My sweet Mom passed away in February of 2012 and her birthday in August was truly a hard time for me.  I wanted to do something special with my girls to celebrate my Mom's life.  I decided to decorate her grave with some crepe paper flowers I made and some zebra print bags with hearts and I used some leis to decorate the edges of her grave stone.  She loved black, white and red so I went with those colors and it all fell together.  Although I cried my eyes out while I was decorating, it was such a healing project for me and my girls loved helping water her flowers and it was a beautiful day. 

Thank you for visiting today. 

Valentine's Day

Hi There!

Today I wanted to show you my daughter's Valentine Box that my husband made.  I was looking at Pinterest and trying to find activities to do at her school party I was in charge of.  I asked her what kind of box she was thinking to collect her Valentines.  Of course she said "A MINION!" Her daddy can't say no, so I was searching and searching and he finally just designed one with a Nordstrom box and some yellow wrapping paper. 

He did let me help with the font on our computer.  HaHa.  The hair is pipe cleaner and he just hand cut the teeth and tongue and it was so fun to watch him create this Minion Masterpiece.  It truly was the hit of the class! 

 

Of course her Valentines she was going to pass out had to match.  Little sis wanted to pass the same ones out and thanks to The Winthrop Chronicles I found a perfect printable and the girls' Valentines definitely were "one in a Minion".

 

My girls are obsessed with Despicable Me so these were the perfect thing for them to give their friends!

Thank you for visiting today!

Old West Monograms

Hello Friends!

Today I have a project to show you that my husband helped me with for Christmas of 2013.  I wanted to try actually sticking to our budget and asked him if he could cut some wood monograms for me that I could paint and decoupage.  He helped picked the font Old West from Cricut and I cut them on plain white cardstock at 11" and he used them as a template and cut the wood for me.  I was SO excited!  I could then have the Cricut cut the same letter again in my cute paper.  Quite possibly the easiest wood to paper project I've done so far.  Next time though, I'm going to have him cut the shadow, and then I'll do the normal letter with paper.  It'll be perfect! 

I did three C's, four N's and one M for all of my husband's relatives that we trade gifts with.  I was very proud of them and can't wait to make more! 

 

Thank you for visiting today!

Cuttlebug Thank You Cards

Hello!

Today I have two cards I made to say "thanks" and I decided to challenge myself to mostly use my Cuttlebug.  Easier said than done, I must say.  But I truly love how both of them turned out. 

I love to emboss flowers and cut them out from the Cuttlebug.  It makes a whole new look! 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

More Cards for Trade

Good Morning Friends!

Today I have some more cards I was able to trade with my friend for some girly headbands and clips.  I have to say I LOVE being able to trade my craft for something my girls can use.  I'll try to post her website address once she's got it up and running so you can see her amazing work.

She needed "Thank You" and "Birthday" cards this time and I was happy to oblige.  Those are my favorite to make! 

Thank you for visiting today.  I appreciate you!