For the Record Bouquet

Today's Flower Bouquet was a first for me in making a bouquet.   I made this for my mom using the Echo Park For the Record 6x6 stack and My Mind's Eye brads for the centers.   I cut all the flower petals using Mother's Day Bouquet at various sizes using the printed paper and coordinating solid colors.  

 The flower 'stems' are bamboo skewers that I inked in green and the leaves are hand cut from folded paper.   I embossed them using a Tim Holtz folder and then inked them and wrapped them around the stems and attached one side to the other, using ATG tape.

I inked all the flower petals and rolled the tips in and out.   The bucket was $1 at Target and I filled it with a piece of foam and added some green crinkle shreds and a bow on the outside.

Good Luck in Kindergarten

Just finished this one for a little friend of my son's.   She's going to kindergarten next month.   The card was cut at 6" from Wrap It Up.   I cut the base in red and then the trim pieces in yellow.   I used a Sharpie to color in the window trim and the roof of the bell tower.   I cut the bell layer from the main cut.   I also added a white sheet on the inside.

For the inside, I traced the exterior and then cut out the sheet, stamped it with the sentiment and added a piece of $1 bin ribbon from Target.

Under the Sea Favors

This is my last Under the Sea post!  These were the favors that I made for my daughter's party.   I bought the mini takeout boxes and then cut strips of paper to wrap around them and added a 2" octopus from Birthday Bash for the boy boxes and a 2 1/2" seahorse from Create -a-Critter, to the girl's boxes.   I added google eyes to all and stickles to the seahorses. 

The tags were printed on my computer and then mounted and tied on with curling ribbon.   That wraps up the week+ of Under the Sea party stuff.   I love having the parties for my kids as I know they feel special and it really doesn't cost much when you are using paper.  ;)  Now I need to start my wheels turning on next year's creations!!   Have a great weekend!

Under the Sea Invite

I had been thinking of ideas for my daughter's Under the Sea birthday party invites.   Well, before I go on, let me just say that it was a good thing I only needed 18 invites or I would have been way over my head! 

Well, this was a case where it took one product to get things in motion!  I found these Martha Stewart Crafts glass microbeads on clearance at Michael's for $2.50 per bottle.  I got the blue and the green.  I decided to do a rectangle card and use my Fiskars wave border punch across the top of the front of the card.  Then, I cut a second sheet but only about 1 1/2" wide and border punched it.  I ran all of those through the sticker maker and then poured a mixture of the glass beads on top.   This turned out pretty good!  Pictures below show those steps.

Then, I cut another 1 1/2" strip and border punched it.   I glued the beaded strip on top of the card front, just under the waves that were punched in the card base.   Then, I glued the next, plain green strip on top of the beaded strip.  My next layer was a piece of Bazzill double dot paper, cut down to about 4x4" and again, border punched across the top.   Once I did that I thought, 'oh how cute real sand on the ocean floor would be' so, I used my ATG and added a small strip of glue to the bottom of each, with a little curve to it.  I had some real sand that my little sis (Crazy Cricut Lady) gave to me and she also had the idea of adding gold glitter to give it a little sparkle.   So, there I went.

This is the final layer with the sand added.  But, I couldn't stop there when it came to added some visual texture!  I had this decorative cord that I got on clearance a couple of years ago, after Christmas.   It's feathery and I usually use it for wrapping BUT, when I cut the 'feathery' pieces back, it looked just like seaweed when it was attached to the card!!!   Woohoo!

So, then my Cricut cuts.   Using Life's A Beach, I cut the mermaid at 3" in a light yellow paper, her tail from Coordinations paper, her hair from kraft paper and then her top and flower using a solid pink.   I added aqua colored Stickles to the scales that cut on her tail and then I inked it so that you wouldn't see the yellow of her body.   I added a green pearl to her flower and inked in her facial features.   I pop dotted her on but, used a little glue to glue down her hands (so her arms wouldn't get ripped off). 

I cut the coral from the LAB cartridge as well but, I found that it was easier on my machine (AND ME) to cut it at 4" and then cut them apart to make them smaller and use them on several cards instead of just one.  I added yellow and orange stickles to some and then red pearl paint to the third, one for each card.   The inside says "Mermaids and fishes under the sea are singing Happy 4th Birthday to Avarie!!!   You are O-fish-ally invited to:"

Under the Sea Cutlery Caddy

A couple more posts left to go for my week of Under the Sea.   Today, I have the cutlery caddy that I bought for a party last year.   I re-did it this year with the theme.   I covered it with blue paper and then a strip of green all the way around, border punched with the Fiskar's wave punch.

I can honestly say that I don't recall the measurements that these were cut at but the dolphines, shells, coral, mermaid, and seahorse were cut from Life's a Beach.   I did add the eyelash ribbon for seaweed, some glitter stickles to the coral and liquid pearls to some of the shells.   I also embossed the seahorse with the 'reptile' embossing folder from the Cuttlebug animal set.   The mermaid had some stickles added and I used pen to add her face in.

On the opposite side, I added the whale from B is for Boy along with the shells, coral, and seaweed.   I used double dot paper for his blue body, added stickles to his spout, and a black gem for his eye.   This was also a big hit with the guests!

Something Sweet for a Summer BD?

Today's card was made for my niece.   I used the Just Because card cartridge to cut the popsicle at 14" (remember on the card cartridges, the cut size is the CARD size, not the actual cut).   I used DCWV dots, stripes and plaids paper for the popsicle and a real popsicle stick.   The mat paper is from American Crafts (I love it) and then I added a piece of solid stock that was embossed using the Cuttlebug Spots and Dots folder.   I also added two strips of ribbon from the Target dollar bin.   The sentiment is from Studio G and the inside Birthday sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Enjoy!

Blog Giveaway!

Check out Melissa's Blog to enter for her great Blogaversary giveaway.   How fun would it be to win!

Mussels in a Melon

Today's post is not a paper related one, it's a RARE food related one.   I took a seedless watermelon and cut off a small portion of the one end and then used a melon baller to remove the watermelon fruit inside.  

When I was done, I used a vegatable peeler and peeled back the edge around the 'mouth' and then used the Pampered Chef tool to cut the 'teeth' on this guy.   Once at the party, I filled it up with fruit and then added some eyes, using toothpicks and grapes.   This was such a hit and really was quick to do!

Fan Sea Fruit Buckets

Moving on with our Under the Sea party posts, today I have these 'buckets'.   They are actually cheap plastic planters that I got for $1.49 each.   I cut small pieces of styrofoam and put in them and then filled the rest with brown sugar and then added the fruit skewers.
The octopus on the front was cut from Birthday Bash at 4" in the purple polka dot paper from a K and Co baby stack.   Then, I cut the solid layer at 4 1/4" just to give a layers effect.   I added google eyes to each of them and the band of solid paper in the back, border punched with the wave Fiskar's punch.   I loved how cut these turned out!

Under the Sea Centerpieces

Hello craft friends, hope you are all well today!   If you happened to see my under water creation yesterday on the Decorate to Celebrate challenge blog, you probably wondered why I didn't have the second picture posted on my blog.   Well, that was one of the 8 centerpeices that I made for the tables at my daughter's 4th BD party this past weekend.  

To make these centerpieces, I got 8 different large molded foam pieces from our return center (that I mentioned in yesterday's post) and I covered them with blue tissue paper.   The animals were all cut using my Cricut, two of each animal and then they were glued together with a floral pick taped in the center and google eyes added.  I poked each one down into the foam piece.   Once I had that done, I surrounded the foam with some blue cello and sea shells then I sprinkled brown sugar and swedish fish around to make it look like an ocean scene.   The little animals around each one are bean bags that I picked up for 3/$1 at a local discount store (from Target though).

In an effort to not make this post a massive one, I am going to list the different animals that I cut, the sizes and the cartridges and then a picture after.  Note that most of these cuts had to be moved around on Design Studio to make them at these sizes, sometimes hiding cuts.

This whale was cut from the B is for Boy cartridge at 14 1/2", I didn't cut his spout because I wanted him as big as I could get him.

Next is the Octopus from B is for Boy, cut at 11 3/4"

Then we have the Turtles from Life's a Beach, cut at 12 1/2" and two of them at 6 1/2" and some layers added

Next we have the dolphin from Life's a Beach cut at 12" and the Seahorse from Create a Critter cut at 14"

We also have two smaller dolphins cut at 6 1/4" and the jellyfish from Create a Critter cut at 13".   On the jellyfish, I cut the tenticles off and added some ribbon for the new tenticles.

And, we have the Lobster & Crab from the From my Kitchen cartridge, cut at 13" (this was one that you had to hide one animal to cut the other at that size. 

We also have this little whale from Create a Critter as well, cut at 11 1/2"

And last, we have the Octopus from Birthday Bash, cut at 11 1/2"

I have to admit that I was thrilled with the way these came out.   I think I spent $8 on the roll of cello, $3 on the tissue paper, $5 on the floral picks (and I have over half the package left over) and then $6 in bean bag animals.   I used the brown sugar and swedish fish for other parts of the party and got them both at Sam's so, I think total that was $10.  So, it was very cost effective and then I threw it all away afterwards except my animals and sea shells!

Under the Sea Birthday Party!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by the very talented Rhonda & Amy, over at Decorate to Celebrate! to be a guest designer for this week's challenge...A Child's Birthday.  I was so honored to have been asked and then I realized, I needed to step up my game!  :) 

For this challenge, I created an under the sea oasis!  It really was quite inexpensive to pull this off because most of the materials were recycled packaging!!   The company I work for has a return center close to our headquarters so, I went over and collected the brown kraft paper that was already wrinkled up, some bright colored bubble wrap, and a couple other things that you might see in some later posts from me the rest of this week (wink wink).

I taped all of the sheets of kraft paper to the deck  and brought it up onto the rail as well.   Then, I took two plastic table skirts that I purchased for $.50 each at a local discount store and attached them to the top of the rail to look like the water.   I took some lightweight nets that I purchased for $1 each at Michael's and draped them across the back of the rail. 

The centerpiece of this creation was a large vinyl seashell (sewn by my crafty mom) and a banner that said Happy 4th Birthday Avarie!  I made the banner using my Cricut.   I cut the seashell from the Create A Critter cartridge at 5 1/4" in blue and then a second layer of them at 4 3/4" in green.   I cut the letters at 4 1/2" using Life's a Beach and then attached each piece to the next with brads and added some American Crafts wave ribbon for hanging.

Around the shell and banner, I stapled piles of tulle and the bright colored bubble wrap.   I added some seashells that I was able to collect, some $1 inflatables that I also found at Michael's, and some balloons.  And, the crepe paper you see in the first picture is a 'tp' job, of sorts.  The rolls were thrown up into the tree and then cut in different lengths   When the wind was blowing, it looked like peaceful ocean waves.  Pretty darn good for recycled packaging I think!!

Thank you Rhonda & Amy for inviting me to be a Guest Designer this week!  I am so thrilled and I hope you all enjoy my creation.   Check back throughout the week to see my invite, favors, food containers, centerpieces and even my 'Mussels in a Melon' and, if you like what you see, become a follower!!  Don't forget to join the challenge at Decorate to Celebrate and become a follower there too!  Have a great day!!

Project Voting

So, over at Scrappin with Cricut, I entered my Rocket Favors and it is now up for voting for the best No CARD or LAYOUT Monday.   Check it out!! Thanks!

New 'dog' Home

A close friend and her fiancee just bought a massive old tudor home that they are completely in love with. I haven't been able to visit yet with my own house stuff going on but, I am sooo looking forward to it. They have three massive dogs as well so, what better themed card?

This was cut using the card function of A Child's Year, at 5".   The cut includes the scallop and the bones cut out.   I assumed the layer for this would fit inside but, that wasn't the case so I had to cut it down to make it fit.  Sentiments are from Studio G and paper is from SEI.

A Birthday On the Go

Who says you can't use 'B is for Boy', for a girl card?   The car was cut at 4" from B is for Boy, using paper from the DCWV The Stack 6.   I also used some brads on the wheels and didn't glue them, so that they can spin.  

The background paper is from Best Occasions, as well as the tag.  The 'Ready Set Go' is an Imaginisce stamp and some pink and white Twinery twine.   I also used a Sizzex folder to emboss the yellow sheet across the bottom and a piece of ribbon. 

On the inside, the sentiment is from Hero Arts and the flower medallion is from the Best Occasions stack.

Heart My Teacher

This card was for my son's wonderful kindergarten teacher, from him for the end of the year.   The base apple paper and the polka dot frame paper are from DCWV Schooldays stack.   The 'heart my teacher' sentiment is from a double sided kindergarten sheet that I got at Archiver's. 

My favorite part of this card is the gem paw print that I got for $1 up at the checkout at Michael's.  Perfect as it is part of my son's school mascot theme.  I hand cut the red and yellow paws that the gem paw print is mounted on.

I didn't take a picture of the inside but, I printed a poem about teacher's and added a gift card!  She will definitely be missed until my daughter starts school in 2012!!!  

Happy 7th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary and I didn't have a card for my husband!  I had procrastinated and then both of our kids came down with a virus that caused a high fever and sore throat with blisters.  Not strep though.
With that said, I was checking out some blogs and saw Emma's Cricut Lite & bling challenge over at My Creative Time and I got to thinking about our anniversary.   So here's how it went....
The base card is an A2 in black and then I mounted a sheet from the DCWV La Creme stack.  Then I added a strip of paper in black, that I embossed with the moroccan screen folder.  I used the Lacy Labels cartirdge (which I love), and cut the base of the 'beautiful' cut at 2 1/2" in a cream colored pearl paper.  Then, I used black stickles on each 'flower petal' to make it look a little more manly.   The sentiment is a Making Memories metal embellishment that also has gems on it, and the ribbon is also from Making Memories (looks like a perfect match, doesn't it?).  So, there is my Cricut Lite cut with bling.  I managed to get it done and to him in the nick of time and he seemed to think it was 'manly' so, win win.  ;)

Rocket Favors

With my son's Robot/Outer Space themed party, I was trying to come up with something cute for the favors.   I considered the 3D Robots from the Robotz cartridge but, I didn't want to get in over my head.  So, I was thinking a tubed filled rocket.   I got the tubes from my mom and then covered them in scrapbook paper that had gears all over it.  I knew that I would make cone tops but, didn't know what I would do to stand them up.   When I had almost decided to lay them down, my son took some magnetic clothespins I had and put them on the bottom of one of the tubes.   A 6 year old genius!

So, I cut the top cones using the circle on George and Basic shapes, cut at 6" and then I cut them in half and glued them together.  I bought some standard clothepins and then covered them with the leftover paper from the circles that I cut.  I added the 'loot' and some yellow, orange and red plastic Easter grass tied together, hanging from the bottom, to look like flames of the rocket.   They turned out Super Cute!!!

I entered this in the Decorate to Celebrate Challenge this week as well as the Getting Cricky with K Andrews challenge!

Teacher Card Set

My son's kindergarten teacher this year was just amazing!  He absolutely loved her and so did we.  As an end of the year thank you from me, I made her this set of Thank you cards because she always sends thank you cards.

I bought a sheet of paper from Archiver's that was a kindergarten theme.   One side was this mat yellow with the word kindergarten all over it along with red crayons and easels. 

For the above card, I just added a strip of red paper and then the Thank You sentiment stamped onto orange.

The second card, I used the same paper again and then a lined pattern stamp, stamped in four different colors and then a Thanks sentiment stamped onto green cardstock.   I mounted it all together and then added two yellow brads.

On the reverse side of the paper, there were some cut outs and one was this 'Simon Says'.   I mounted it onto green and added four square brads in each corner.

The last card, I cut two apples from A Child's Year, one at 3 1/2" and one at 3".   I stamped them with the sentiment and added inked the leaves and stem.

Vintage Birthday

Today's card is a vintage birthday card for my friend's mom, inspired by her love of vintage and the latest Getting Cricky Challenge.   It's hard for me to pull off these kinds of cards because I don't normally like the vintage look but, I was really pleased with the way this turned out. 

The paper and charm are from the Bo Bunny Gabrielle collection.   The charm is mounted on a frame cut from Lacy Labels at 3" for the pink and cream layers and then 3 1/4" for the black bottom layer that I also inked up a little with white.

The grey lace ribbon is hemtape that I hand pleated and added some added hat pins.   The sentiment is from Fiskars.

I used the same papers inside along with a strip of the hemtape and a Scrappy Cat sentiment. 

3D Robots

Happy 6th Birthday Aiden!!!  My son's birthday theme is Robots/Outer Space.  The party is at a Bounce House type of place so, it works well.   We aren't allowed any hanging decorations so, I decided to make a 'banner' using the 3D robots.  Since I used this same Robot for the invitation, I decided to make three of them for the cake table.   I cut them at 12" which means, I had to use Design Studio to rotate the cuts but they were super easy to put together.   I used some Stickles to add a little detail and some google eyes.  Then I printed the words and glued them to the fronts.