A Squirrellytines Day Card

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are enjoying the day and sharing the love,  and of course getting prepared for my favorite day in February: Half-Priced Chocolate Day! (TM)

Here's the card I made for my Very Special Somepony this year:

I recently found some woodland themed stamps with cutesy love sayings associated with them and I just HAD to have them. And of course, I had to use at least one right away.  I think it's a super cute card!

(How to Make) Yarn Wrapped Valentine's Wreath

It's almost Valentine's Day! You know what that means?! An excuse to put hearts everywhere (not that that I needed one) and a chance to make some fun crafts!

For me, that fun craft was a wreath. I decided a while ago that I wanted to make a Valentine's wreath, but did not know what. I am very into wreaths lately all of a sudden-which is actually pretty random because I never use to care either way for them before. (And I still need to share both my Halloween Wreath and my [second] Holiday Wreath from last year.)

After trying for a while, and failing, to find a heart-shaped wreath form for the project, I finally decided that I would just go ahead and make a round one. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so bought some hearts and flowers stuff, and decided I really liked the idea of a yarn wrapped wreath, so that's what I went with. I made this in about 2-3 hours a couple weeks ago.

I am really pleased with how this turned out. I just love how it's so simple, but at the same time, so charmingly perfect.  We joked that it looks like a little life preserver, and Shaun called it a "LOVE Preserver". So now that is its official name in our house.

If you would like to make one, too, here's how I did it. I am sure most of it is self-explanatory, but just in case:

1. Gather up your supplies.

You'll need:
-A Styrofoam wreath form (I found this small one at the dollar store back when I made this wreath, and just grabbed a few-it's about 9 inches across)
-Yarn in color(s) of your choice
-Things to decorate the wreath if you choose (not pictured)
-Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue

2.  Decide on a pattern for your yarn.

You don't have to mark on the Styrofoam like I did, but I did find that it helped me keep it (mostly) even sectioned and to make it easier to remember what I was working on. I actually made the yarn balls because one of my colors was tangled and after I got it sorted out, I made this size ball, and it turned out to be just about perfect for my project, but this is not necessary if you don't want to-you can just cut long lengths of yarn to work with at a time.

3. Hot Glue the edge of the yarn to the back of the wreath, and then wrap the yarn around the section for that color.  Make sure to keep the yarn tautly wrapped around the wreath so it stays in place.  Remember to hot glue the end down once you get to the end of that section.

4. Do this a few hundred (or thousand?) times... Seriously, it looks nice, but does take a while. Your wreath  will start to look like this:

5. And then this...Yay, you're getting so close! You could even stop here if you like just the yarn-wrapped look.

6. Hot Glue any decorations you'd like to use onto the wreath where you like. (No Pictures for this step.) For mine, I used hearts that came in a roses stem that I found at the dollar store-one from each of my red and pink-and for the leaves and the curly-cues, I took off of some of my Christmas floral picks. (The nice thing about those types of things, they weren't specifically Christmas related so YOU can decide what you do with them.)

And.... Voila! You have an adorable yarn wrapped wreath to enjoy!

Mine is currently on my cubicle wall at work so it can bring me joy and be showed off. It does its job well, and everyone who walks by has told me it is really cute or that it turned out well. So I am pleased.

Here it is on our wall with a cute sign I got from Michaels about a year ago:

What Valentine's Crafts are you working on? (Or probably have finished by now...)

Monochrome Hearts and Flowers Thank You Card

When exploring some images in my Cricut's Design Space, I found a cute Thank You overlay with these hearts and flowers on it. Since I have occasion to use Thank You Cards somewhat frequently at work because of a recognition program we have,  and it's good to have them on hand just in case, I went ahead and made one with this image that I liked.

I just used whatever card layer scrap I had in my stash just to test it out, but once I cut it out with the Cricut, I really liked it, and decided to make a card with it right away.

Here's what I came up with:

A monochrome blue card. (The top layer looks white, but it is blue, I promise.) I really like how monochrome color schemes look for certain things, and this is no exception. I really liked it as soon as I made it.  One thing the picture doesn't show very well is that I took a file to the edges of the dark blue base, which gave it a very subtly soft-worn look that I really liked.

I ended up giving this to a coworker just a few days after I made it, and she really liked it.  (I think I am actually getting a reputation for my cards at work, too!)


I am really loving that having my Cricut is making it easy for me to be creative. That was one of my goals for 2016, to be even more creative, and it certainly seems like I am doing that. It's nice to be able to be inspired when I may otherwise not have ideas, but to also have something that is there but builds on my creativity. I love seeing what I come up with for it. :)

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?