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.

Teacher Appreciation Week Gifts

Hi all, sorry I haven't been around in a while.  Just been busy with the kids and friends.  I have been crafting, just not enough time to post about it.  So today I am sharing the Teacher Appreciation gifts I made last week.  We gave them to the teachers today.  I decided that you can never have to many cards for notes lying around, so I made each teacher a set of 10 monogrammed cards.

As you can see I really love Chevron!!!  It also made it super easy because I just printed the pattern on a letter size paper, then cut it in half to make 2 A2 sized cards from each sheet.  I made the monograms with my Cameo and a monogram set I purchased in the Silhouette store.  Next I made some boxes for the cards to be packaged in,

This is a Lori Whitlock card box file I purchased in the Silhouette store.  It was really easy to put together and decorate.  All the paper if from a Dear Lizzy paper stack I got on clearance at Target.  I think Target decided to stop carrying scrapbook supplies, so when I noticed them all on clearance I picked up a bunch of paper packs and albums.

So that is all I have for you today, hope you enjoyed.  Don't forget to thank all those wonderful teachers in your life.

Thank You with the Silhouette

Hi all

It has been a while since I posted.  We have been doing a lot of spring cleaning around here and I haven't really spent much time in my craft space.  Just took a break I guess.  Well I am back and have been crafting plenty of cards.  The one I have to show you today I need to explain a little before I post the picture.
So I have been taking a dance class now for about two years.  It is really a dance/fitness class.  It is called pole fitness or pole dance.  Now before you go all crazy and get judgmental on me, let me explain the background.  Two years back some girlfriends and I decided to go out for dinner and a fun fitness class.  We chose an Intro to pole class.  We went and had a blast, never really thinking we would go back.  Well the next morning I woke up and was in such pain (the good pain you get after a good workout) that I decided I was going to try Pole Level 1.  Well two years later and I am at Pole Level 7 and graduating to be able to do Pole Masters classes.  I am telling you this workout has transformed my arms.  They used to wave back when I waved!!! No longer does that happen.  And it is really fun.  So with that here is the card I made as a thank you to my class instructor, who has pushed me passed my limits (or what I thought were my limits).

So I made this using my Silhouette Cameo.  The card base is the step card from Lori Whitlock found in the Silhouette online store.  The girl silhouettes are done by importing the jpeg image into the Silhouette Designer Studio and using the trace feature.  This took a bit of work but I love how it came out.  All the papers are from Heidi Swapp, the Sugar Chic collection and her ColorMagic Papers.  I did the poles with some glitter powder.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this card.  I know it is a little racy, but it comes from a place of fitness.  And just to let you know I can do many things upside down on the pole!!!!  Takes strong arms and legs to do that and I am pretty proud of myself.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.