A Musical Birthday Card

I meant to share this last week on his birthday, but like always, forgot...

Here is the card I made for Shaun's birthday:

The top (white) layer was made using the Cricut and an image that was part if the subscription that I had a free trial to. (I haven't yet decided if I will actually subscribe.) I thought it was a fun image and I like the simplicity of it. 

I then used a blue layer under it and attached it to a black card base that I used decorative scissors on. I thought it looked good, but that it needed something more, so I did one of my favorite things and Inked the edges of the blue layer to add a bit more interest. Better, but still needed...something.

I thought it could use some highlighting  didn't want it to look overly perfect. (I have a thing about my cards looking perfect, and almost always want to much them up-in a nice way-at least a little bit.) So I took a black Sharpie and traced the words and music notes. Aha, perfect!

I also made a hand made envelope, but for some reason didn't get a picture of that. When he opened the card with his presents, he seemed to really enjoy the card, so that's all that matters to me!

Memory Jars to Bring Happiness

By now, I am sure you have seen the Happiness Jars or Memory Jars all over the internet. Myself, I have shared the idea on Facebook several times and have forgotten to actually create one. Lather, rinse, repeat for a few years.

Well, this year, my friend Susan and I committed to doing it. So we each got our perspective jars (and then I ended up giving her one because I had so many) and she came over and we decorated our jars.

Now, it doesn't have to be decorated, but we figured something that looks pretty would inspire us a bit to use them. 

Here are our jars:

Mine:

Susan's:

I love Susan's glitter gradient look and her tiny heart on her lid. So cute!

The best part of finishing our jars was that as soon as were done, we each already had a memory to toss in the jars-spending time making crafty things with a friend. (Technically, I had already had one in my blank jar of the day my Cricut arrived, but still.)

I really like the concept of these jars because it is a reminder to remember the happy things, big and small, and technically gives you scrapbook fodder if you are one who does those things. And of course, jars are so easy to come by, who can resist making it into something happy. And I know Shaun is happy since I have a tendency to collect jars or, really, glass containers with a lid, so I am sure he is happy I am finally using at least some of them...

Did you create a happiness jar this year?

Cricut-Palooza! (Or, My first week of having a new toy.)

 Last week, My Cricut Explore Air arrived and I was very excited.

Since then, I have been playing with it and learning how to use it. I've made lots of random things so far and am getting the hang of it. This is my very first cutting machine, so I knew I would have a learning curve butI gotta say, I am hooked. :)
 

Reading instructions and learning how to use it.

Pushing the "go" button for the first time! How exciting!

 Here are things I've made with it so far:

Whee! Look at the machine go!

 The pride of the first project.

This was the card that came as a "starter" project with the machine. The software walked me through the whole process to make the card and what to do. I like that it was so easy to get it set up and running.

 I chose a snowflake to test the intricacy of how it can cut. Shaun and I were very impressed with it. This whole snowflake is only 2 inches square or so, as you can see by the measurement lines on the mat under it.  I used the pen to show size comparison, too. Of course, it snowed the next day, and we hate snow, so I joked that since the Cricut controls weather, I guess I'll make a thermometer showing 70 degrees...

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 With this, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make, but I wanted to see different sized objects, so I just stuck with a simple heart. I love that I can basically make things as big or small as I could possibly need!

 This is actually a mistake. I was trying to make simple card I designed. I thought by selecting "write"  for a certain layer and "cut" for a different part of it, it would cut out the black IN BETWEEN the silver writing so that it was both. I am still not sure how to do that part, but I know the option exists. Oh well, that's what experimentation is for, and I can always use the letters by themselves to make something.

 Here is a card I designed using a  blank pre-set card option that had the notches in the side, and used the write option to do the Thank You.

What thrills me is that you can use your own "system fonts" of fonts from your computer or that you download. I love that! I already used my fonts creatively by printing them, but now I can put it right on something with my Cricut, that is even more awesome!

 Some little speech bubbles I made with some shapes and some of my own fonts. I like that I can use the cut sentiments or the letters by themselves if I wanted.

 I had to test the "poster board" option. I cut some cereal box cardboard and just made whatever I had on the screen. This took me a few tries to get right, but once I did I was SOOO excited. I told my husband "see, I knew I was justified in keeping a bunch of random cardboard!"

Since I was getting used to the design software, and it's January and didn't have anything to decorate my desk with (I like to change the decorations every month), I wanted to make something fun for my desk. Here's the banner I designed in the software.

And I quickly learned how to place things so I can cut them all on one mat, instead of having to take everything off and replace it between cuts.  I was glad I could make that trick work. It's a big time saver when working with smaller items.

The finished banner. Not a great picture, but at least you can see the final thing.

 A card I made.  While at work, I randomly had the idea that it would be fun to make a card that says "you rock my socks" either as a Thank You card or just a greeting. So I uploaded a simple clip art image of socks and designed the card layer to be cut. I put some striped paper behind the socks, which, I have to say, works perfectly and looks like socks I would actually have. I put some other paper behind the cut out words, which I liked when I put it there, but now I think would look better if it were another shade of blue or maybe white since the rest of the card is blue. And I added the ribbon later. I was about to throw it out because it was just a scrap from the banner, but thought it would look cute, so just added it on. I like it.

And finally, something I was playing with today. I wanted to see how small I could make something. The smallest hearts are 1/4 inch each, and the bigger ones are 1/2 inch. I love that it can cut something that tiny. Which means, if I wanted/needed, I could technically make custom confetti. How fun!

I can't wait to try even more things! Those are the things I made just in my first week, I can just see how useful this will be to my crafting.  I am very excited.

Thank You Cards in a Snap!

A couple months ago, I saw these Cards in an Instant from Me And My Big Ideas (MAMBI) on sale at Craft Warehouse near me, and couldn't resist. Since I like to make cards, and wanted to make thank you cards, so I knew I would make use of them.

Here are the MAMBI cards themselves:

A fairly good selection-36 cards, of 6 different types. The multi-colored, Multi-Language one reminds me of one I designed and created myself (including looking up all the languages) early this year (maybe February?) that I realize now I never shared. But it just goes to prove that good ideas aren't always truly original ideas. That's OK. I still love the one I designed. (I will share that one in another post.) Anyway...here are the cards I have made so far with these:

 This one is much shinier than the picture lets on since the sentiment is on Foil Paper.

I just made this one tonight for a coworker and will give it to them tomorrow.  As you may know from looking at some of my cards (or almost all of these just in this post, haha), I really like distressed look for things. For this one, I layered it, but felt it needed....something. So I ripped the green card base but it still needed something, so I ripped the pink as well. Getting closer...Once I inked the edges, I knew this was the way it was always intended to be. Perfectly imperfect. :) The photo doesn't do the colors justice, though.

I love that with these, it makes the creative process easy. I can whip up a card using my materials in just a few minutes, but they still look professionally done (or so I am told) and they are still MY creativity shining through.  I love that you could give the same sentiment to two different crafters, and they'd come up with two different cards. I think I will be exploring more options like this in the future. I love that these are hand made in a snap. :)

Scrap Stash Ideas

A while back this year, I re-defined how I personally think of scraps for my paper stash.

I am constantly evolving my ideas. Paper scraps used to be all jumbled in a drawer of my storage cart, then some point last year I put the smaller ones in a metal box but the larger ones were still piled in a drawer. At some point earlier this year, I moved the big scraps to a binder in a color organized way. That helped some  and it was nice to sort of see what I had (at least compared to a pile in a drawer, anyway.)

One day though, I thought I could do even better.

So I cut all card stock scraps  that were big enough and sturdy enough to be cards into the standard 4.25x5.5 inches card base size. I then cut all paper scraps that were big enough into card layer size of 4x5.25 inches.  So this is what my card layer collection looked like after it was all done (not pictured, card bases):

(There's over 125 pieces there, but you can't tell because it's not totally spread out.) Much easier to look through and be inspired by things this way, for sure. I even had an idea for a piece that was in there AS I was organizing it and wrote it down on a sticky note and attached it to said piece! I left anything that was smaller than at least this size in the notebook, so there are still a lot of strips of things and smaller pieces, but this is MUCH more organized.  So now whenever I make a cut on a new piece of paper or card stock, I always follow this rule. I feel like it will make it a lot easier, and my friend who comes over to make cards on occasion was pretty excited when she saw my new system, so I must have been right. :)

And since we're on the subject of scraps...One day I saw an example of using some scraps to make a new card layer (sorry, I don't remember where I saw it, or I'd link it), and thought I'd give it a try with some of the strips I had in the notebook.  Over random days, I made these:

I like them, and think they are fun. I made the pink ones one day, and then a few days or weeks (? who knows) later made the red/green ones. So far, I think my favorites are the red and green ones. I love the thickness of the stripes for the basic one with the dots, but the green damask with the darker red seems to have taken on a life of its own and created a new pattern.  I didn't have any reason to use any of these yet, but I do think it's a great way to "scrapbust" and to create a whole new look.  Hopefully I will be inspired to use these for something someday!

What are some ways you manage your usable scraps to keep them from getting overwhelming? Feel free to weigh in below.  I am always looking for other ways to use scraps.

2015 Holiday Cards

Happy Day After Christmas! I hope you enjoyed, or are enjoying, a lovely Holiday Season! Hopefully you are not too conked out from too much food.

Here are the cards I made and sent out this year:

(As Always,  Click on photos for larger images.)

 This one is actually recycled wrapping paper. I was inspired by the stamp I have that is ornament shaped, and remembered that I had this paper. So I cut the ornaments from the paper and made tiny bows for them (so hard to make tiny ones, by the way!), and used decorative scissors on the edges. And Voila! These adorable cards, and a great way to recycle in one. This says "Happy Holidays" on the inside, but I forgot to get a picture of that. Oh well.  I even hand made the envelopes for these ones. 

Only problem with these: I had several of them returned because they are so small. Apparently, postage standards are 3.5x5 inches minimum. I didn't even know that was a thing! And SOME people received them and others didn't, so it's totally random. Lesson Learned: No Tiny Mail. 

So, all of you that I advised would be getting your card late...you can just pretend to be surprised when they come, OK?

I love the way the lighting in this picture makes the card look almost like stained glass.

 I didn't actually end up sending these cards out to anyone because I had enough of other varieties for people on my list. But since I made these this year, I figured I'd include them in this year's post.   I had bought a heart punch earlier this year and went totally crazy punching hearts for no reason at all (seriously, I have snack bags with heart cut outs that I need to either use or throw away) so when I thought of a tree, I tried it out of hearts and liked it. I really like that for these cards, even though it is the same shade red card stock as the base for both, that by using different reds for the poinsettia stamps and different shades of green for the trees, that they do actually look like two different cards.

 For this one, I made  the background with a snowflake stamp and embossing powder (one of my new favorite things to play with lately), then stamped the sentiment with embossing power as well and put it over coordinating ribbon. I really love the monochrome look to this one. I think it comes together really well.

 I bought a cute gingerbread stamp a few months ago, and one day, I was really just looking for an excuse to use it. I couldn't think of anything for awhile that day so set it aside and went about the rest of my day. When I came back from running errands, this idea just popped in my head and I gave it a shot. (And yes, more embossing powder.) I like the simplicity of the gingerbread men on the ginger-y colored card stock (that honestly probably wouldn't get used for anything else since I am not a huge fan of the color by itself so great way to use it for something) and just a little bit of color with the sentiment and edging.

Close up of the sparkly gingerbread men.

And lastly, we have what was probably the easiest of the cards, but that I still like. (Never mind the crooked picture. Whoops.) I really like making simple cards like this with Washi Tape. It's simplistic, but still looks really nice. I think they key is to make sure the tape is well coordinated and the sentiment in similar colors. I have made Halloween Cards in similar fashion that were liked.  Maybe not for everyone, but definitely something I like to do. :)

Merry Geek-Mas

Earlier in the year, I started making ornaments for our tree. I was doing my usual Glitter and Paint Ornament thing and had an idea for some of the Olive-ish Green colored paint I have...

A Grinch! So I practiced a few times and then made this one:

After I made that one, and showed it Shaun and he was impressed with it (He thought it may have been store bought), I had the idea for other ones I would love to have for the tree including My Little Pony, Batman, and Captain America. We have yet to make Captain America, but we did get to make the others:

I say "we" because while it was my concept and I did the paint and some of the other stuff, It was Shaun's awesome drawing skills that really helped me bring the Cutie Marks and the Batman Logo to life.  I then wrote the names of the Mane Six Ponies on the back, in a style that they would use themselves, I imagine. I LOVE the way they turned out.

Here's how they look on the tree:

Our tree is kind of accidentally My Little Pony themed because in addition to the six cutie mark ornaments we made, Shaun gave me a set of MLP ornaments last year or the year before, and we have two foam ornaments we bought (Pinkie and Dash) and we bought a Princess Luna figurine ornament this year. So since it has so much Pony-themed  on it, I said maybe one year I will make the mini ornaments (like the paint ones) with the colors of the ponies and make it an intentionally themed tree. That could be fun.

What do you think of our "Geek Tree"? We LOVE it. Someday, we'll have even more of the things we love on it, too. :)