First Day of School and Lunch Box Notes with the Silhouette

Hi all, happy September and happy first day of school for many of you.  We sent our little, or I guess now big, one off to her first Day of Kindergarten today!!!  It was exciting and emotional around here.  All excitement from her and all emotional for me.  Here is a pic of our big girl...

She is looking all smart, beautiful and grown up.  I made the sign by taking a frame we had and painting the back board of it with chalk board paint.  I then used a pencil sharpener to sharpen the chalk to a point to make the writing better.  Of course I got this idea off of Pinterest.  

To go along with her lunch box and show her how much we love her, I usually make a special card.  This year I decided I wanted to spread the love over the whole year and not just on special occasions.  I made a box of lunch note cards to keep in the kitchen to help me do it.  Here is what it looks like ...

This box is a Lori Whitlock design from the Silhouette online shape store.  I did have to look on Youtube to figure out how to assemble it.  I used some Dear Lizzy paper to cover the box and cut the title out with the Silhouette.  I decided to make seven different notes for the box so I did add some dividers and tabs to the box to keep them all organized.  Here are the notes ... 

I made these cards using the print and cut feature of the Silhouette.  Once I designed each one, I just duplicated them and was able to fit 6 to a sheet of 8.5 x 11 inch card stock.  I made 12 of each note to go in the boxes.  I also added a little stickles to each note to make them extra special.  Each note is 2.9" x 2.9".  Just the size to write a quick note for the kiddos.  

So that is all I have for you today.  Now that the kiddos are back in school I will definitely have more time to post my craftiness!!  Have a great day.  

Graduation Card with the Silhouette

Hi all I am back with yet another post about school.  As we are starting school next week I can't help but feel a little scared and anxious.  You see my oldest starts Kindergarten next week.  This is a big milestone in hers and my life.  She is all excited, I am all anxious and a little sad.  My feelings run the gambit from 'is she going to be safe' to 'I am excited for her to spread her wings'.  So with that I thought that I would show you the graduation card that I made her back in May.  She was so excited to be graduating from preschool and soon becoming a real kindergartener.  Here it is ...

I think the card was 5"x 5".  The first thing I did was use the print and cut feature on my Silhouette to draw that cute stick figure.  I then used the stars and hearts stencil by Heidi Swapp and some gold lame color shine to spray the paper.  I used a stamp from Heidi Swapp as well on the front.  The grad was cut with the Silhouette as well. Some gold stickles and gold tinsel ribbon finished off the card.

She really loved her card.  Here is my beautiful girl on her big day looking all big and grown up.

Thanks for stopping by.  Remember to savor those precious moment!

School is Coming...

Hi all, how have you been?  We have been living up the last week of summer here.  As I write I am sitting inside a children's play area, letting the kids get out some of their energy on this rainy summer day.  With school fast approaching, for us it is next week, I thought I would share with you some gift card holder's I made for my kids teacher's at the end of last year.  I know, I know, why am I posting this now?  Well because once summer started I lost all track of time.  But this idea could also be used for any occasion, including the beginning of the school year.  So here they are ...

I used my Cricut and the Forever Friends cartridge to decorate the front of the card.  Both gift card holders were made by cutting a single 8.5" x 11" sheet of card stock in half.  I then folded the cards in half and added a pocket to one side.  I used a Heidi Swapp stamp to embellish the front as well as some ribbon from my stash.

So that is it.  It is really easy to create a custom gift card holder.  It makes a somewhat impersonal gift look and seem well thought out.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Swim Album Made from Scratch

Hi all, again it has been a while.  We have been living up summer with the pool and cool outings.  We just went to a Harry Potter themed event at an Apothecary Museum.  It was cool to learn that the actual herbs mentioned in the books and movies, such as Dragon's Blood, are actually real and where used in medicines.  So back to the title, as I mentioned previously, my daughter was on the summer community swim team this year.  She had a blast and learned a ton.  I actually feel comfortable letting her swim by herself this year.  On the swim team, she participated in a few of the meets and did do quite well.  So because she was getting ribbons and wanted to keep them safe, she asked me to make her a scrapbook of sorts to hold her ribbons and keep track of her times.  Here is what I came up with:

I decided to make a book from scratch.  I took two pieces of chipboard and cut them to 8" x 8".  I then covered both sides of the chipboard with some pretty patterned paper.  I tried to stick to the colors purple and teal, because those are her swim team colors.  I spayed some pre-cut chipboard triangles with Heidi Swapp color shine in teal.  I then used my Cameo to cut the letters out of white paper to attach to the chipboard.  I then used some purple and teal twine to complete the banner.  The photo frame was made using my Cameo as well, and I filled the letters with stickles.  Next I filled the book with plain and patterned paper.  To make sure the pages were sturdy, I used two pieces of card stock for each page.  To bind the book together, I used my crop-a-dile to punch two holes and used some metal rings to hold it together.  Here are some pics of the inside of the book:

This last page is pretty cool.  During the swim season, the team hosted some Olympic and Championship swimmers for a fundraiser.  The kids were able to get their autographs.  I decided to cover the signatures with some vellum that I printed on and attach it to the top of the page with washi tape.  This way you could still see the signatures and you were able to lift the vellum up.

So that is the book.  I hope each year to add more pages for as long as she decides to be on swim team.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope I have inspired you to create your own books from scratch to make them what you need them to be.  Have a great day and enjoy these last few days of summer!!

Birthday Cards Galore

Hi all, so we are in the throws of summer.  It is so hot here I melt every time I go outside. We have been spending a lot of time at the pool between swim team and trying to cool off!!!  I hope you all are having a good summer.  So today I have a few birthday cards I have made to show you.  Interestingly enough these are all birthday cards from past months because we actually have no birthdays in July to celebrate.  I feel fortunate for that though, because I might not have had the time to make the cards if there had been.  So here we go:

These two cards were made for a double birthday that my girls were invited to.  The first card was for a boy.  I searched for an Angry Birds svg on the internet and happened to find one for free.  I decided on Angry birds because my youngest had chosen an Angry birds car set for the little boy.  I used some embossing powder to stamp the sentiment on the front.  The second card was for a little girl.  I was teeming to use some glitter so I cut the hat and sentiment out of the Silhouette double sided adhesive paper and then sprinkled the glitter on one side after I had adhered it to the card.  I have to say I really love this paper and glitter technique.  I believe I came across it on the blog Sprinkled with Glitter.

These last two birthday cards were for some rather great people in my life.  The first card was for my good friends 40th birthday card.  It really is fitting to her as she is fabulous and doesn't look the least bit 40.  I used some Dear Lizzy ruffled crepe paper as the background.  I used the Silhouette to print the sentiment on the Heidi Swapp patterned paper and to cut the photo frame and arrow.  I then created the bow with some scrap ribbon that I had on hand.  The last card in one for my dear hubby.  He loves his motorcycle.  I took some inspiration form Pinterest for this card as I have a really hard time with masculine cards.  I again used the Silhouette print and cut feature for the sentiment.

Well that is that.  I hope you have enjoyed and get some new inspiration from the cards.  Have a great evening and try to stay cool during these hot days.  Till next time ...

Cards and Albums made during the Motography Class

Hi all, look three posts in a row!!!!  How about that!!!  So back in February I took this awesome online class by Jessica Sprague and Heidi Swapp called Motography.  Here is the link to the class page.  It was a week long course about using your camera phone to take better pictures, editing your pictures on your phone using various apps, and also getting the photos off the camera and using them in different kinds of projects.  Let me tell you this was a fantastic class and well worth the $20 I paid.  I learned everything I mentioned above and more.  One of the big focuses of the class was learning how to use Instagram to quickly edit and post your photos.  In addition to the camera side of the class we made a couple really cool card and mini-book projects to showcase the photos.  Here are the cards we made:

These cards were really simple to make and would be great to send to friends or grandparents to give a little update on the kiddos.  I learned while making these cards that you can use your inkjet printer to print on sheets of vellum for a really cool photo effect.  I really love the slider card on the right.  You can put three 2x2 photos on the card for a fun photo booth strip effect.  I sent the first card to my Mom as a birthday card and the second to my sister-in-law as a thank you for hosting us for a weekend.

The second project that we made was a mini book using just a 12 x 12 sheet of scrapbook paper.  I wish I could remember the details, but they were pretty intricate in the way you had to fold and attach to papers.  Here it is:

These little books are so cute, I love them.  I made one for each of the girls with silly photos of them I had taken of the week.  They kind of got irritated with me by the end of the class, because I was taking so many photos with my phone.

So that is that.  If she offers this class again I would highly recommend it.  It was a great combination of  photo and scrapping education.  Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy your weekend.

Hello Again and Summer Journals for Kids

Hi there, it has been a very long time since I posted last, almost two months!!!  I hope this finds all of you well and enjoying your summer.  We have been really busy here with the end of the school year and getting started with our summer fun.  I have to say I haven't really been crafting that much but I do have quite a few projects that I have done but just haven't had the time to post.  This year our summer is especially busy because my daughter started swim team for the first time, and that is an almost everyday  activity until the end of July.  She is really loving it and I think it is great for her self-esteem so it is not so much of a burden in those respects.

Well on to introducing a project.  My daughter starts Kindergarten in the fall and I wanted her to have some summer learning opportunities so that she would be ready for school in the fall.  I had heard from a friend that her children had to keep journals in Kindergarten, so I thought that would be a fun idea.  So here is what I created:

This book was really easy to make, only took about 15 minutes total.  First I found this great school lined paper on the internet and printed about 50 pages front and back.  Then I took some cereal box cardboard and cut it to 8.75 x 11.25.  I used some of my scrapbooking paper to to cover both sides of the front and back covers.  I then used my Bind-it-All to bind the journal.  Next I used my Silhouette to cut the cover title and adhered it to the cover.  Last I used a bunch of my scrap ribbon to add some fun embellishment to the binding.  

The way we use the journal, is almost everyday I ask her a simple question.  Example:  What is your favorite sport?  The when she tells me, I write the answer in sentence form on the first line.  I have her then draw a picture of whatever it is and copy the sentence on the remaining three lines.  I figure this gets her writing, spelling, and sort of reading all at the same time with some fun art thrown in there.

Now my 5 year old has a 3 year old sister, and as those of you with two kiddos know, the younger one always has to have and do the same thing as the older one.  So I made the little one a miniature version for her to do art projects in.

Well that is all I have for you today.  I hope to get back on a regular posting schedule soon.  Hope you keep enjoying your summer.