Happy New Year!

On our way to Epcot to ring in the New Year. May yours be fun and safe. Hopefully, I'll have lots of ideas to share with you next year. 2012, here we come!

Merry Christmas!!! Card #3

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! May your day be filled with family, friends, good spirit, and yummy food. We're spending the holiday with my husband's parents in Chicago with mine flying up from Hawaii. There's sadly no snow on the ground, but it's a nice crisp wintery day nonetheless, which along with family makes it feel Christmasy enough.

Today's card goes along with my (apparently unrequited) love of snow. This might be my favorite snowman from the Winter Frolic cartridge. I also used a stamp from Tanner's (aka Mr. Cricut Crazy) Christmas, Christmas stamp set.





Supplies
Cartridges: Winter Frolic, Sesame Street Seasons
Mr. Cricut Crazy "Christmas, Christmas" stamps
DCWV Holiday Collection Paper Stack - 2009
Paper Company glossy cardstock
misc twine, brad

2011 Christmas Cards - #2

I didn't particularly care for this reindeer from the Winter Frolic cartridge at first, but I'm quite pleased with how this card turned out. I don't remember where I cut the tag from, but that shape is found on several cartridges as well as many punches. Hope you like my card:





Supplies
Winter Frolic Cricut cartridge
Bug Bites - All Year Round stamps
Cuttlebug embossing folder
DCWV Holiday Collection Paper Stack - 2009
Celebrate It ribbon

2011 Christmas Cards - #1

Sorry for the long bloggy absence. Somehow life's been exceptionally busy since Thanksgiving--too much shopping I'm sure. Now we're traveling until the new year, so it's even more difficult to maintain a routine since there are a variety of social obligations. That being said, through a marathon bit of cardmaking, I managed to make all my cards before we left on Wednesday. I sent 18 to my office some time ago, then made about 30 more for family and friends. The trick to getting them all finished was to keep them relatively simple and make multiples.

Here's the first:



Inside


Another rendition


Supplies:
Papertray ink cardstock
Gingerbread cartridge
DCWV Holiday Collection Paper Stack - 2009 (bought online at Joann's this year)
Scrappy Mom's Stamps - A Holiday to Remember
Cuttlebug folder - Candy Cane Stripes
twine

Hope you're having a wonder holiday season!

Holiday Tissue Boxes

I should be sleeping, but I wanted to share what I whipped up this evening. No, I haven't started decorating for Christmas, but these guys will go out right away as my tissue boxes looked naked. I modified a pattern in the February 2010 Crochet World magazine to add a holiday stripe. Here they are:

Today I'm unpacking my scraproom!!!

Why the long silence? The last three months have been overcome with moving--a move should never take that long, but this one has mainly because due to factors mostly beyond our control...mostly. Here's the long and torrid tale (and a card):

I packed up my apartment in late August and shipped off my Cricuts (and husband) to the mainland while I stayed behind, working throught mid-September. I did keep my Cricut Create and a few scraps of paper and cardstock, but crafting was a challenge. I had forgotten to keep useful tools like adhesives and sentiment stamps so wound up buying substandard items from Walmart and Ben Franklin. I was able to make this cute little guy using the Create a Critter cartridge and my gypsy.



Here's the inside. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the name of the stamps set is, but I believe it is from Hero Arts.


Next in mid-September, I left Hawaii for DC, arriving a good two weeks before my husband was scheduled to arrive and a good three weeks before our household items were scheduled to arrive from Hawaii--plenty of time to get things settled, right? Finding an apartment took only a weekend as there wasn't a whole lot to choose from in the geographic area north of Quantico that we wanted--most folks live south of the base where I am told the schools are better, but the congestion is terrible and the quality of schools isn't a concern at the moment. Plus, I'm far closer to good shopping where we're living now, yet still in a nice residential community. Anyway, after finding a place to live, I zipped over to Chicago to arrange movers for all my things which were packed up last October when I sadly left my apartment in Chicago with the wonderful lake view.

Source: smg.photobucket.com via thefishie on Pinterest

Source: smg.photobucket.com via thefishie on Pinterest

As I predicted, I was able to arrange for movers from Chicago to have my things delivered in Virginia in two weeks or the first week of October...the only probably was that the apartment would not be ready till mid-October. Here came the first delay, although theoretically that was fine as the Hawaii stuff was scheduled to arrive around then. Little did I know that the "required delivery date" on the household moving paperwork was a joke subject to at least two more delays.

After rescheduling my Chicago movers to late October, nearly a month after my arrival in Virginia, our first delivery of furniture arrived. Unfortunately, my craft room was not in this shipment and to say that I had enough stuff to fill an apartment one and a half times the size of the one we rented is an understatement. Thus, it took some creativity and a storage locker just to get a handle on those boxes.

Another two weeks later, and nearly a full month after the first "required by" delivery date, our things from Hawaii finally arrived, Cricuts included. Though we're still climbing over boxes in spots, a good handful from the Chicago delivery, the apartment fairly functional. Thus, today's the day to unpack the craftroom with the goal of getting in some quality crafting time tomorrow!

Happy Cruisin' Card

My mother-in-law recently said good by to her trusty Lincoln town car, which she drove for over a decade. This was a traumatic experience for her as apparently town cars are no longer made. However, like the loyal Detroit auto girl she is, fortunately she found a new car--a Cadillac, at a Detroit dealership. Hopefully, she will find as much pleasure driving it as she did her old boat. Here's the card we sent this week wishing her happy cruising.


(Note: her new car looks nothing like this one)





Details
Wrap it Up cartridge
Papertrey Ink cardstock and ribbon/twine
Quick Quotes Paper - Good Times Collection (this is from my local scrapbook store)
Scrappy Moms Stamps - Sun-Kissed
My Pink Stamper - Happiest Moments
Seeing Spots Cuttlebug folder
Sizzix Sizzlits labels #2 (oval)
Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

10 year old Birthday Card

I made this shaped card using my Gypsy for a special ten year old. There are tons of cupcakes and butterflies, but I used Create a Critter for both. The font is from Pooh Font.







Details
Create a Critter (butterfly at ~2" and cupcake at 3.5"), Pooh Font (~2")
Martha Stewart Brights Mat Pad
Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Love Collection
Misc daisy punch
Scrappy Moms Stamps - Simple Sentiments

Jolly Holly Elves

One of the most identifiable image from the Jolly Holly cartridge is the elf. Actually, there are about 4 or 5 different ones. Something about the hat, I think. Anyway, this is the third of the three different Christmas cards I made in July. I also did a couple of winter layouts, but other than that am not as far along on my cards as I'd like. One of my close friends had their first baby early throwing my paper crafting schedule a little off :) I'm still using up holiday paper from last year. Actually, unless I do a ton of layouts and mini-albums, I won't have to buy new paper this year at all. Well, I won't have to buy any more paper. I bought a huge DCWV collection pack (180 sheets) from Joann's for $5 not too long ago, but I'm not really counting that. . . ;) Anyway, I hope everyone's having a great Sunday. Here's my card:











Details
Jolly Hollys Cricut Lite Cartridge (images cut at 3.5")
October Afternoon (not sure of the name, but it's a holiday stack from last year)
Papertrey Ink cardstock and twine
EK Success Large Slim Paper Punch - Journal Plate & Bracket
Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Scrappy Mom's Winter Wishes stamps
Peachy Keen Stamps - Wide-eyed kids
Stickles
Misc ribbon and embellishments

First Christmas Cards of the Year

In efforts to jump-start my holiday card-making and celebrate "Christmas in July", I participated in a swap hosted by the fabulous Dusti of Scrappin With Cricut. Here are two of the three cards I make using the Cricut Lite cartridge Jolly Hollys. When it was released just before Christmas, this cartridge was impossible to find. Fortunately, Cricut released it on their website just in time for "Christmas in July" projects. The paper is leftover from last year, but I if you like it, so retailers may still have some on clearance.













Details
Jolly Hollys Cricut Lite Cartridge (images cut at 3.5")
Bella Road - Everybody Loves Christmas collection pattern paper
Papertrey Ink cardstock and twine
EK Success Large Slim Paper Punch - Journal Plate & Bracket
Stampin 'Up Scalloped Border Punch
My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments stamp set
Misc buttons and ribbon

First Mickey Layout

As you may know, I bought both the Pooh and Friends cartridge, as well as the Mickey and Friends cartridge. Here's my first layout--a super simple Mickey. He's cut at 8" and the grass at 1.75". The fence appears on the My World cartridge, as well as the Potpourri cartridge (thank you Mycutsearch.com!) and is cut at 3.5".

Happy Fourth of July!

We're running out the door to my auntie's for a bbq, but I wanted to post the banner I made for her. I used the Stand and Salute and Cricut Essentials cartridges, K&Co Marines paper pack, Bazzil cardstock, My Pink Stamper and Scrappy Mom stamps (set names to be added later) and twine from Papertrey Ink.

Wrap it Up - Old Fashioned Car

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I wanted to make sure that the Father's Day card I sent to my husband's father made it on time before I posted it. Then the week zipped by. Hopefully he won't think that I'm implying that he's circa 1920 or whenever this car is from, but I really liked it so made it in a couple colors. For this card, I went with dark cards to make it more masculine despite the swirls. Actually, I'm almost positive that the decorative swirls are in the shape of peppers, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but oh well. The important thing is that it's cute. I lined the inside with white cardstock and stamped "Happy Father's Day" using the My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments stamp set. Here's his card:



Materials:
Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink, Stampin Up, misc
Paper: My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose collection
Cartridge: Wrap it Up
Ribbon: Paper Trey Ink
Stamp: My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments

Pooh Album Cover

Here's the cover and the final page of my first Pooh album. I had originally intended to cut out the big tree that serves as Pooh's house, but it didn't turn out well. Using the fit to page function, the larges I could cut the tree was at 8.25", however the door and other features were far too tine. This sign was much more simple and allowed me to include yet another Pooh! The font is from American Alphabet.







Next I'm not sure whether to make more pages or start filling our Disney pictures. All together, the Pooh & Friends pages offer about 11 photo mats, which may be couple more than I have of us with the characters. Stay tuned!

The Gang

When I started cutting names and faces, I had hoped to put a face with a name on separate pages. Then I realized that the names were cut too wide to fit with a head in most cases or just weren't proportionate even though cut at 4". However, the three of them fit together perfectly. I used stamps from the Pink by Design "Big Thoughts" collection and more paper from the My Mind's Eye Stella Rose collection.