New Craft Planner

Hi all - I am back for two days in a row!!!  Must be starting the week off right.  Hope fully my diet stays on track!!!  So I wanted to share with you my new Craft planner for 2013.  I followed much of the same format as I did last year.  You can view the post here.  I liked the size of it, just added new printables and different tabs and such.

I used the same paper and transparency pack as from last year just different colors for the cover.  I decided not to make a matchy-matchy planner like I did last year, and just chose papers that spoke to me.  If you want more pics just let me know in the comments.  I used my Cameo to print the month labels and cover text.  I kind of mixed up the insert pages.  I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to blogging, where you can find the planner pages that I used.  Again I kind of used a mixture from the sites that I found to create my perfect planner.  I am also entering this in the New Years contest over at the Cameo Creations Challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is fantastic.

Happy New Year -- I Know I am a Little Late

Hi all - whew what a start to the year.  I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year even though it is a little late.  It has a been a weird start to the new year for me.  First I have been missing because I didn't even have family gone until the 4th and then two days later I promptly got sick with some virus that caused me to have vertigo followed by extreme weakness.  Let's just say it hasn't been fun.  So now I am back up and running and ready to start my New Year.  I have been crafting sporadically in my absence.  I have to say a big thanks to my DH who got me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas.  He didn't even know I wanted one!!!  Did all the research by himself.  I have to tell you I am absolutely in love with it.  Now don't go getting the wrong idea and thinking I will be kicking my Cricut to the curb, because that is definitely not the case.  It is just has way more capabilities when it comes to making your own designs and typography.

So with that here is my first project of the year.  It is our New Year's cards.  I usually don't send New Years cards, but since I didn't get around to making Christmas cards this year I thought I would send them out. Here is the pic:

I again had to keep it super simple because I had to make 25 of them.  I used the Cameo to cut the 2013 and the tag.  The text on the inside is done with the Cameo's print to printer function - which opens up a whole new world of possibilities in making your own cards and invitations.  The Chevron paper on the bottom layer was from a pin on Pinterest here.  Happy New Year is stamped in silver ink and I used silver Stickles to accent the tag.  If you can believe it, I actually took that photo of us.  I love my camera remote!!!  I am entering this in a challenge at the Cameo Creations Challenge blog, a new blog I found in my Cameo research.

So there you have it.  I hope you have had a great New Year and continue to find inspiration throughout the year.

Merry Christmas

Hi all!!  I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  I am doing my last holiday baking tonight before the big day tomorrow.  The kids are so excited.  Especially my oldest.  She hasn't stopped singing Christmas songs for two days now.

So I also wanted to share some last minute Christmas crafts I completed last night.  The first is some gift card holders I crafted.

I created these using an image off of the Elegant Edges cartridge.  I created the pocket for the gift card by cutting one of the top or bottom covers in half and then only sealing them on the edges.  They were super simple to make.  I even did some stitching around the edge of the inside.

These cards I made last night.  All the images are from the Christmas Solutions cartridge that came with my Gypsy.  I kind of wanted an old-school look for them.  I still haven't made Christmas cards to mail out to family and friends.  I decided to take some of the pressure off myself and instead send out New Years cards.  I will be getting to making them later this week once Christmas is done and cleaned up.

So that is all I have for you today.  Again I hope you have a safe and happy Christmas.  Remember the greatest gift is being able to share the holiday with the one's we love and celebrating the true spirit of the season.

Dear Santa with the Cricut

    Hi all, long time no write!!!  The holidays really do get in the way of this blogging thing.  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and really are enjoying this Holiday season.  I have been actually crafting, just no time to post.
    So today I have my kids Dear Santa paper to write their letters.  My oldest daughter specifically asked me to make her a pretty paper to write her letter on.  When I asked her why, she said that she thought Santa really liked the paper and he would pay more attention to her list.  So essentially she thinks it gives her a leg up with Santa!!!  Kids can be so funny.

    The Dear Santa cut is from the Ultimate Sampler cartridge.  The Ho Ho Ho and Naughty or Nice cuts are from Create a Critter 2.
    So that is all I have today.  I have been working on some gift card holders and gift tags.  I will post them later this week.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi all, I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I am a day late, but I spent all day cooking and doing dishes and just crashed in the evening.  I hope you all had a wonderful time with your family and friends. 

Guest Post for Exploring Circut - Mini Recipe Book

Good Morning and Happy Monday everyone.  I hope you have had a fabulous weekend.  Today I am so excited to be guest posting over at Exploring Cricut.  They really have a fantastic blog with so many inspirational projects using the Cricut.  I hope you will stop over and check out the fun.

Today I am sharing a mini recipe book I plan to give as a Christmas/Teachers gift to my daughters' preschool teachers.  Every year I make all the teachers a breakfast as the Christmas gifts.  I have been asked several times for some of the recipes so I thought this year I would make them a mini recipe book to go along with the breakfast.  This way I don't fall behind on emailing them out (which is what usually happens).  So here it is:

Book Recipe:

• Outside covers printed from Mr Frosty Imagine Cartridge and cut at 4 1/8" x 5 3/4"
• Inside recipe pages printed from Kate's Kitchen Imagine Cartridge and cut at 4" x 5 1/2"
• Recipe label printed from Kate's Kitchen and cut at 1" x 3 7/8"
• Sentiment tag cut from Craft Room Basics at 1" x 2 1/2"
• Oven Mitts printed from Kate's Kitchen and cut at 2"
• Stamped sentiment from Michaels Recollections Christmas collection
• Stamp Ink is Quick Quotes Chalking Ink in Maraschino Cherry
• Corner chomper to round all the edges
• Inked all edges with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink
• Used 1/8" eyelets and the Crop-a-dile 
• Red and white bakers twine to bind the mini book
• Ribbon on cover from Celebrate It at Michaels

Well that is it.  I hope you have enjoyed and are not to shocked that I have already thought ahead to Christmas.  I still haven't started our Christmas cards yet, but did you really expect me to get started in July like I said that I would???  Don't forget to stop by the Exploring Cricut blog.  Thanks so much Diane for the opportunity to be a guest blogger today!!

Halloween in our House

Hey all hope you are having a good Monday.  I am having a great one because I just got back from a much needed girl's weekend with one of my best friends.  I only do it once a year and this one was some much needed R&R.  We went to a great resort in VA and played golf and talked and did puzzles into the wee hours of the night.  I was fantastically low key and just what I needed to get ready for the holidays.  So that is why I am posting Halloween a few days late.  This year I made the costumes for the girls and I.  It was an ambitious feat but I got it done and think it turned out great.  Here is a pic of the whole family.

We were the three witches.  That spooky guy is my husband.  The torch he is holding is real and got accolades while we were out trick or treating.
So for the witches costumes I made the t-shirts and the tutu's.  Here is a pic of the shirts.

These shirts were made with bleach.  I cut out the words and image from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I cut them on freezer paper and them ironed them onto the shirts.  I then mixed a solution of 70% bleach with 30% water and sprayed the shirts with the bleach.  I let them sit for a couple hours and them rinsed them in the tub with cold water and put them through the wash.  The bleach didn't bleed and has not through two washes!!!  I love how it looks like the witch is flying in front of the moon.

The skirts were made with purple, green, orange and black tulle.  I think I used about 40 yards of tulle for all three skirts.  The girls loved them and they are now in the dress up bin!!!  The hats that the girls are wearing actually came as headbands from Jo-Ann's.  I knew they would be constantly falling off, so I cut the headbands out and hot glued clips to them.  It worked great.  Interesting enough, with all the accessory's and t-shirts I spent about $25 per costume.  I think this is the same or even less than I would have spent on store-bought costumes. 

So that is all I have tonight.  I am off to work on a project for another blog that I love.  It will be up later this week.  Hope you have a great week.