Happy (almost Belated) Valentine's Day!!!

I know it's almost at the end of the day, but I wanted to share this post with you -

I had the best intentions of planning a relaxing, fun, enjoyable Valentine's Day for the kids, but we've been buried under so much snow lately that I haven't had much time to myself to create. I managed to get the valentines made for Little Man to exchange at school only to have 12+ inches of snow fall and cancel school for two days - right before a three day weekend. I was able to wear the kids out by creating a massive sledding track complete with a spine-jarring ramp so that I could create some time to myself tonight before I go to bed. And here's what I came up with:

Tshirt using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This is my Valentine's gift to my husband, and he got it right away. He he, it's like I know him or something!  

Baby bodysuit using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

 This was supposed to be my gift to my daughter this morning but due to a phone call from the school changing a two-hour delay to school closing this project didn't get completed till after she was in bed. Oh well!

Tshirt using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This shirt I made for myself to remind me to "speak love".

I raided my closet and found my two favorite shirts (from H&M for less then $5 each) to make these shirts and from beginning to end, I made all three shirts in less than 1/2 hour. I used my Artbooking cartridge for each image, flipped the image when cutting and made sure to "kiss" cut (cutting through the vinyl but not the transfer tape). I had to find my iron (he, he!) but it was simple to iron the images on to the shirts. I made sure to model each shirt for my hubby to get the final seal of approval!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope you got to spend it with your loved ones!

Joyful Stars January Blog Hop

Hi All! Welcome back to January's version of the Joyful Stars Blog Hop!! If you're coming from Krista's blog then you're on the right track. If you're picking up here, then you'll find the link for the next blog in the hop at the bottom of this post. All blogs are posted on Joyce's blog if you get lost. Let's get started!

This month is a wrap up of the holiday paper pack "Sparkle & Shine". I bought the WOTG (Workshop on the Go) so that I could take advantage of the all the goodies that come along with the papers and get the exclusive stamp set. After making the first layout from the WOTG I decided to venture out on my own to use up the paper pack (only because I put more pictures on a layout then the second one uses). I used the Make It From Your Heart vol 1 # 6 (pgs 16 & 17) to make this layout:

I used the Sparkles flair and pin banner from the Sparkle and Shine assortment to jazz up the left bottom corner.

I combined two images from stamp set to make a pretty corner decoration for the top right corner.

On the second layout, I used Pattern #2 from the MIFYH vol. 1

I used the Ruby (light) alcohol marker to brighten up the sparkles to create a contrast from the houndstooth pattern paper.

Using the Cricut, I cut a full page of  the stars for this stamp set out of White Daisy paper. I stored the left over stars in the stamp envelope for the next time I want to use the stamp set.

I also cut extras of each of the Cricut compatible stamp shapes to store in the stamp envelope.

Now you're off to Helen's blog. Have a crafty new year!!

One Last Christmas post...

For the most part, Christmas is over in our house. But just because the paper is torn off and the toys are scattered through the house and cries of "I'm bored!" are now shouted almost to the minute, my job of putting the decorations away are just beginning. As I was pulling garlands off the doorways, I realized I never showed you my favorite decoration!

Over the summer, CTMH was selling out of the chipboard banner pennants (If you don't stalk the While Supplies Last section of my website weekly, you are missing out on GREAT deals from CTMH!). I bought a few packs to make a fun way to display Christmas cards.

I pulled B&T papers in all shades of green from my stash and cut the pennants using Art Philosophy. Using hemp, I tied the pennants together in the shape of a large triangle.

I added a gift bow as a topper.

I hung the tree on the door leading to my attic (only because it's in the very center of my house) and clipped photo cards to the edges as I received them.

 Viola! Instant gratification!

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!

New! My First YouTube Video!

I am attempting to try my hand at something new...

Making YouTube videos!

Check me out on YouTube on my first video.... I'm showing a gift card holder for a card swap I'm doing and doing a tutorial on the 3D flowers from Art Philosophy.



 And let me know what you think in the comments section!!!

{Yes, I know the video is blurry when I move my hands and the sound quality is poor... I'm looking into getting better equipment, but this is what my laptop does for now!}

Little Miss is One!

I can't believe my little girl is a year old already! We celebrated her birthday this past weekend with family and I wanted to share some of the decorations with you.

This cute little battery tea light is decorated with CTMH's washi tape - it's so cute and so easy to use and best of all - the adhesive is tacky so it's easy to remove from the tea light when I want to change it up for the next party.

And since washi tape is available in so many colors and designs (non-CTMH) I used other fun designs in my color scheme to make little toothpick flags for the food trays.

Then using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, I cut four pages of flowers in Hollyhock and Gray Flannel (retired) and adhered them to some garden twine to make a garland. I used the soft set eyelet punch (retired) to cut the circles out of Glitter paper for the flower centers.

Also using the washi tape and Art Philosophy cartridge, I decorated clothespins to make another banner full of monthly pictures of the birthday girl.

I hung the banner up over my china closet for guests to look at while they waited in line for the food. (Little Man helped me decorate, he wanted his toys out on display too!)

I did make the invitations for the party, but I used my computer skills for this one. I wanted to go super trendy and I knew it would be faster and easier to just make it in Adobe Illustrator.

My sister was a great big help getting this whole party ready. She and the kids came the day before to help clean the house and even assemble some of the decorations. She also made the fondant flowers for the cupcakes. Here's a picture of Little Miss's cupcake - so cute!

Here's a shot of the table. It was a storybook theme - guests were asked to bring a book as a gift to build her library (since Little Man doesn't want to share *his* books) and all the food was from a storybook: Jack & Jill's water, Strega Nona's spaghetti, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", "Peter Rabbit"s veggies, Snow White's apples and "The Little Boy Who Shared His Lunch" (bread).

Everyone had a great time and while they were asking when the next party is going to be, I was patiently waiting to go to bed! I am now done with my long list of parties, gifts and such so I will be recuperating in my craft room for a few days.

Disclaimer: I apologize for the horrible quality of the photos. I pulled my camera out of the padded camera bag to take pictures and it wouldn't focus on anything. So I had to use my cell phone to take these photos. Not the best start to the party... but it got better from there! :)

Christmas Card Workshop

I'm still recovering from my awesome weekend! I love papercrafting and the only thing that makes it better is getting to do it with friends. This past weekend was a lot of work to pull off but having so many great friends to do it with makes it worth all the extra effort. Here are a few photos of the day:

This is my "grandmother" Krista. Check her blog out at kristascraftycorner.blogspot.com

This is my "mother" Brenda Rutt teaching a group of ladies. She is a popular teacher at this event!

The best way to decorate a tree is with some handmade items! These are examples of cards we've made other years.

But I know you're really interested in the cards we made. Here are a few and I'll share the rest on Friday.

This one isn't a card but it is made with the new Artiste Cricut cartridge from Close to My Heart. Designer: Gennette Feagan.

Add any pretty flower to Christmas-y paper to have a great twist on the holiday. Designer: Sherri Reiff

Frosty Friends and Avonlea make a lovely card. Designer: Krista Hershberger

Dakota paper makes a great rustic background for a symbol of winter. Designer: Martha Zook

Peace is a constant theme throughout the holidays. Designer: Katie Fisher

A little sparkle lights up the Christmas tree. Designer:  Brenda Rutt

Chocolate Tins

This is a quick and easy gift I made for my "bosses" at my volunteer job on Fridays. It has been "sweet" working for them this fall that I wanted make something pretty to brighten their day - and a little chocolate is never a bad idea. I got the idea from my sister consultant, Nicki (check her out at her blog here) who got the idea from Lisa Stenz (check her blog out here). Sorry, I don't have the links to their posts about their versions of the chocolate tins, but I know you'll enjoy browsing their sites looking for them yourself.

Here are two of my versions of the tins:

For the tin on the left, I used a discontinued paper pack called Mistletoe (an beautiful assortment of tradional styled designs), Tulip cardstock (for the flower), White Daisy cardstock (for the the tag), Tulip ink, the September Stamp of the Month, Sweet Leaf ribbon and a Pearl Opaque gem.

For the tin on the right, I used Winter Wonderland paper pack, Sky cardstock, White Daisy cardstock (for the tag), Sky ink and the Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon.

I cut both tags from White Daisy cardstock and the flowers using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I used Liquid Glass to adhere the flower together while I worked on the rest of the tin. I wrapped each chocolate in a 1" x 3" strip of B&T paper and adhered with Tombow adhesive. The tag on the right, I used Sky ink sponged over an Art Philosophy cut snowflake I used from the gift tags I made (the second round, but that's another post). I tied each of the tags to the ribbon with waxy flax then made a bow with the ribbon. Each tin took about 15 minutes to make and were very well received. I do have to recommend buying an extra bag of chocolates if you are not strong of will. Even thought I bought chocolate with nuts (I'm allergic to nuts) I still had trouble not eating them as I worked. The veggie I had to snack on just weren't cutting the tempation!

Here is another card my upline, Krista Hershberger, designed for a team meeting back in November. It uses the November stamp of the month and Dreaming paper pack. I love how the bronze Glitz gel sparkles up the ribbon. Make sure to check out her blog!

I have such talented uplines and I am awed by their creativity. My second upline, Krista Hershberger, was in charge of the Christmas Card Workshop back in September and aside from planning an awesome day for 14 consultants and 40 guests (and their kids!) she designed three awesome cards.  Here are her creations. Please make sure you check out her blog too. She posts a lot of great ideas!

 The last two cards, Krista designed with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and the matching stamp sets. For the workshop, she precut all the design elements for all the guests to show them how fast and simple this cartridge can make your papercrafting. After seeing these designs, I'm a believer!

Christmas Cards

It seems that a lot of my busy-ness has come down to one thing - homemade Christmas cards. I struggle with this every year because as a crafter I want to give a homemade card to everyone. Unfortunately, my card list is much longer than I want to make cards for and I never start early enough to make it possible. I also love sending photos of the kids to family and friends and the photo cards are so simple to do. Maybe when I don't have cute kid photos to send each year, I will work on shortening my list down to a managable level (or just start earlier) but for now, I simply save the cards I make in classes for "someday". Over the next few days, I will share with you some of the cards my sister consultants designed for our Team's Christmas Card Workshop back in September. I shared with you the card I designed but here are some of the other designs the guests got to make throughout the day.

Christmas Gift Tags

I am loving how easy the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge is making my holiday gift giving this year! I am able to make some really easy gifts that look like a million bucks! Below are some of the gift tags I made to attach to the kids' gifts. I went a little more dramatic for the tags that will go on the adult gifts but for the kids' I kept it simple.

I cut 14 of the tag from the Art Philosophy cartridge in Olive cardstock and 14 of the rectangle from White Daisy cardstock. Using the December 25th stamp set, I used Cranberry ink to stamp the image onto the white cardstock. Super easy!

This the tag I am using for the adults' tags. I cut Barn Red cardstock to 4"x 6", White Daisy cardstock to 3.5" x 5.5". I used Olive ink with an image from the June Stamp of the Month stamp set and some of the gingham ribbon from the red collection. Since the adults actually care who the gift is from, I made it bigger to accommodate all the extra sentiments adults like.

I had been anticipating that this post would feature my advent calendar I've been working on but the pressure has been ruining my creative mojo so I've shelved that project until I feel more inspired. I moved on to my next project which is planning my team meeting for this coming week. It's also our Holiday party but I wanted to do a quick Make & Take for the gals to cross of something from their own To Do lists. Oddly, Close to My Heart posted a video on the exact project I was planning on doing so I'll share it with all of you!




For more information on the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge check it out here.

Christmas Money Card

I designed this card based on a Wishes card design (Classic Closure, page 62) but with a little twist. I made the card base 8"x8" out of White Daisy cardstock and scored at 2", flipped the card over and scored again at 2.5" leaving 3.5" between the score lines. This will create a "C" fold. I cut the tag and border using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge and used the stamp images from the September Stamp of the Month: Limited Edition in Holiday Red and Sweet Leaf. I used a brad to attache the ribbon to the tag and the tag to the card. I used adhesive to glue down the inside flap on the outside edges to create a pocket to put a money gift inside. I used a little repositionable adhesive on the inside flap to keep the card closed.

This could easily be adapted for other occasions as well that a money gift would be appriciated - graduation, wedding, birthday. Simple and handmade - that's a gift that gives twice!

Gift boxes made from Art Philosophy cartridge

Here are two examples of gift boxes I made from the Art Philosophy cartridge:

 This is a pillow box I made using Kraft paper. I cut the box out at "Fit to Page" to make it as big as possible. I used the December Stamp of the Month: Mad About You" which is compatible with Art Philosophy (which means don't cut something out by hand until you've double checked the stamp carrier sheet for more information!!! Learn from my mistakes.... I cut all of these out by hand and all of them are on the cartridge!) I also stamped Juniper cardstock with Juniper ink with an image from the stamp set to make the band that goes around the box. I used Sorbet ink to make the hearts and bamboo and chocolate ink on Colonial White cardstock to make the rest. I accented with an arrow from the new Milestones Shapes.

This is the "Fry Box" in Olive cardstock. I accented with chocolate grosgrain ribbon, a pewter ribbon slider (new), some Bling, and some pin clips that I just love. I am getting used to big embellishments (I'm rather plain in most things) but the new accessories are so darling I want to use them all!

I am addicted!

I am so totally addicted to the new Cricut cartridge from Close to My Heart - and here's why:

This is a display board I made up to show just what one button can do on the cartridge. There are over 700 different images on this cartridge and that's not including all the sizes you can do based on your machine. One button made this board (except for the letters) but there are tags, cards, solid shapes, filigree shapes, frames and so much more! The butterfly at the bottom was made using different sizes to showcase this additional option. Here is another example of what the cartridge can do:

I made this from the Idea Book - it was too cute to just look at in a picture! I made the bag "fit to page" which came out to be 11.25" but when it's folded, it will hold 3x3 cards. How cute! The stitching on the bag was done using the new ruler to punch the holes. The new ruler has two lines of holes in the ruler to use a paper piercer to punch a hole through your paper to make either a zig zag stitch or a straight running stitch. I was not a big fan of stitching before because it was too time consuming to line it all up but this ruler takes the thinking out of the project. So easy!

My Cricut is chirping!

Since it's arrival on my doorstep, my Cricut has been chirping everyday as I explore all that the Art Philosophy cartridge can do! My son has actually told me to "stop working, Mommy!" I guess I have been spending more time in my craft space than normal -- but oh! it's so much fun! I am working on getting projects made for my Open House this weekend so I will post some pictures of finished projects soon but for now, I will show you what you get when you purchase an Art Philosophy cartridge of your very own:

You get 2 sheets of die cut chipboard, 3 exclusive stamp sets plus the Art Philosophy cartridge for $99! The retail value is over $124 - saving you money. Plus, have you noticed in the Idea Book? Some of the stamp images are outlined in red? This indicates there is a coordinating image on the cartridge! How cool is that?!

Take a look here, on the stamp set itself, there is a dark outline around the image but also there is a size indicated so you there is no guessing on the size setting for the Cricut! CTMH thought of everything! The hardest part is to pay attention to your work so you don't hand cut something the machine can do - learn from my mistakes! ;)