Wendy's Blog Hop

Hey, I forgot to mention, Wendy is having an amazing Blog hop on 1/1-1/3...here is the invite. Make sure you check it out!

Another Type of Ornament

Becca at AmazingPaperGrace.com makes the most incredible creations. Well, she created an ornament on her site utilizing the Spellbinders new item with the Fleur de lis. I loved it but finances were tight right now, so I created the same thing in Adobe Illustrator. However, I had some problems with it when trying to move into an SVG for SCAL. So, I went to the CraftEdge boards and someone there was so nice to help me get it to work right and then I cut this out using my SCAL. It is still a little rough...but I think getting there. I didn't have any ribbon spools to use as Becca did so I butted them up to one another. What do you think?

Christmas Ornament

Here is an ornament that I created. I absolutely love this ornament and will be creating more of these. I can't remember where I found the instructions for this, but I know I didn't come up with this, but it sure is pretty.

Christmas Card Front Swap

It has been a while since I have posted, but I have been very busy with my daughter starting cheer and dance this year and my oldest going to a new college this year. I joined several swaps on the Cricut message board and here are a couple Christmas card fronts that I created for one of the swaps

Birthday Gifts - Boy and Girl

I have been keeping my husband's soda bottles in hopes of creating an altered soda bottle. I finally had an excuse to create one. Yesterday, my neighbor had a party for her daughter and son. Daughter was turning 11 and son turned 8. They are both into Pokemon cards. So, easy I bought them each a special pack of Pokemon cards and for the girl I also made her a shirty with a vinyl fairy(sorry, no picture). Here are my bottles with presents already inside. It was so much fun to see them figure out how to get the presents out. The girl asked how...and I said that is part of the surprise, you have to figure it out! LOL They did very easily!

Post-it Holder and Beaded Matching Pen

I had an order from a co-worker for a friend of hers to make a special gift for a friend. She liked the post-it holder that I made for my desk and asked if I could personalize it....sure I can with vinyl! So, I personalized this cutting with a font in SCAL (sorry, don't remember which one), made a paper rose, and then made a beaded pen with the micro beads in a paper to match the post-it holder. I also created a custom bag to wrap it in and had it matching the paper as well. The entire gift was sold for $12. Hope you enjoy!

Fleur de Lis

I have been so busy lately with parties and family that I haven't had time to post my projects on here. So, I thought I would try to get caught up today. First, we had a new family move onto the block and I have always wanted to make a housewarming gift for the new families. I am a military spouse and live on a Naval Base. I think it is important we stick together and I try hard to make friends with all military spouses that I can. I was an ombudsman for many years but now that my husband is retired, I miss that comradeship. So, this is my way of trying to keep that feeling alive. Anyway, I decided to make an etched votive and some coasters for this family.

I downloaded an SVG for a fleur de lis and created a cut file in SCAL and then cut it out in vinyl. I like to use the contact paper from the dollar store as my transfer tape. I find it doesn't stick to well but works great for a temp stick like transferring vinyl. I then found this amazing ribbon that has fleur de lis' on it and wrapped it around the glass. I found a votive for $.25. This project cost me about $2 when you consider etching cream.

I didn't want to just stop at the votive so I continued with a set of coasters to match. However, I really didn't like working with the fleur de lis that I found originally and then found another one that I thought was so much prettier. So, I cut that out in a chocolate vinyl and adhered to a 4x4 ceramic tile. I adhered cork onto the back and sealed the front with Mod Podge. I know a lot don't do that, but I find it better especially if the coaster will be coming into contact with water (condensation...duh!!! LOL) .

I wrapped these with the same ribbon. So I hope you enjoy!

A project to be....

I am thinking of new thigs to do all the time. I want to start making items for craft sales to be held this fall. Years ago, I made christmas ornaments for my family. I bought the glass balls from the craft store and took my moms ceramic paint in the pretty pearl type colors and poured them inside of the balls. I then swirled the balls to make all sorts of designs. I let them dry upside down and then painted their family names on the balls with a gold paint pen. However, I think this time around I am going to create a template in cricut and paint sayings on to the balls...I might try to even etch some and see how that goes...

Anyway, this is a (not so good) picture of the old balls that I made for my family. After my mom passed, I acquired hers.

New Glass Etchig Project

OK, it has been a while, but I had a large project due and have been quite busy at work. But, here it is...my glass etching project. I started with regular beer glasses that I bought at Home Goods. I found a coat of arms for the client out on the internet, downloaded it and changed its wording, etc. in Adobe Photoshop. Then I converted the image to an SVG so that I can cut it with SCAL. I cut this out on some scrap vinyl that I had around and then put on the glass. Can I say, the biggest problem I had with this was the transfer tape. I just found out about some new transfer tape that is supposed to be better so will keep you posted if I can get my hands on it and it works well. Other than that, these glasses went pretty easily...just time consuming with all the tiny detail! Hope you like.

Paper Cupcake

Hope you enjoy! I just didn't get to spray it with adhesive to add sparkles.

Ellen Hutson Shoe

Here is my take on the Elllen Hutson Shoe.

I'm so excited!

I went to the local thrift store yesterday. I found this huge pack of paper for $2, what a way to reuse, huh? I also found tons of different ribbon.

On a side note, my mom and grandmother always had a favorite cookie cookbook. It was an old Better Homes and Gardens one, Cookies. Anyway, I inherited my moms and in my military moves it lost its cover and has started to become ragged. I found it at the thrift store yesterday as well for 0.50. Can you believe that! I also found this great Hershey chocolate cookbook. I'm so excited!

Going Green!

I have made a decision that I am going to try to be different than most scrapbook designers in that I will be trying to re-use materials to create exceptionally beautiful scrapbooks and paper piecing products. What do you think about reusing products to create your web pages? I know that most of us are pretty thrifty! Let me know your ideas!