Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year. Yeah.... I know {sigh}... I haven't posted anything since my October Halloween treats. I wonder if I even have anyone who looks at my crafty ramblings anymore. I promise have made some treats since then. There were candy bar treat boxes for Thanksgiving and Fisher and I made some turkeys out of trail mix and pipe cleaners. For Christmas I made a variety of treats. I have over 40 teachers that I work with and I had each of them a little crafty gift. I even have pictures of some of the creations. But now that the holidays are over I'm not sure sharing them at this point would be proper blog etiquette. Maybe I'll write them and schedule them for next year {can you schedule posts that far away????} or maybe I'll just pin them on Pinterest.

Anyway, I welcome anyone who takes a glimpse at what I've worked on tonight. It's been relaxing and a much needed activity. {Today has brought me very sad news and crafting is real therapy for me.} I saw these "ready to bake" sugar cookies at the grocery store on sell for $0.99 for 2 dozen. I snatched up three boxes with this New Year's treat in mind.

I created a simple print and cut using the Silhouette Designer Software (but you could easily do it without designer.) Thanks to a quick Google search I found an easy tutorial here on how to get my words to wrap.

 I even have enough cookies left over to send to Fisher's class tomorrow. Isn't the snowman cute?

I really enjoy making treats for others. It is great to surprise someone with a "thinking of you" gift. Well, I suppose that is enough for tonight. Have a blessed day!

Easter Treat Buckets

For my birthday last month my DH got me a wireless printer and the Silhouette Cameo. I had been talking about how much easier it would be to do print and cut projects. I had been able to do it with my Cricut but it was not an easy process. He listened and totally surprised me.

Here is my first project using my new tools. I found these cute little buckets in the $1 bin at Walmart so I snatched up 5 of them for Fisher's teachers and ladies at school. 

Although I didn't do anything to the bucket (they came with the sticker on the front) I did create several little goodies to fill it up.

These are cranberry walnut chocolate granola clusters. The label was created with the Lettering Delights Easter Beasties. I used a 3"x 2.5" rectangle and designed the image in the bottom half. The Silhouette Cameo smoothly cut out the rectangle which I then folded in half and stapled to the bag.

These jelly bean bags were made the same way using Easter Beasties as well. Fisher picked out the saying "You Crack Me Up" which was one of the graphics provided in the set.

For the cards I used the chick from the Animal Buddies set from Lettering Delights. The scallop was cut from a nestability and the frame was embossed using the Cuttlebug. The stamps are Studio G Easter set.

I purchased chocolate bunnies and covered the boxes. Again the quote is from LD's Easter Beasties. The paper is from DCWV The Sweet Stack.

I included a Cadbury egg and some other pieces of candy in the bottom. Here are the finished buckets. We delivered them this morning.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Jin Yong of Under A Cherry Tree. I have learned so much through her video tutorials. Take a look. She has some wonderful projects.

Have a blessed day!

Fearful Fiends Treat Bags

My boys are away this weekend celebrating my DH birthday at the beach. I couldn't go so I am taking my own retreat by crafting all weekend.

I started last night making the Halloween treat bags for my son's Kindergarten class. I found little boxes of tattoos, tiny activity pads, plastic bracelets, Hershey kisses, gummies, and mini Oreo packs. My plan was to make little treat boxes but there were so many items I found the sandwich baggies were easier.

I created the top header using Fearful Fiends from Lettering Delights with Make the Cut and my Cricut. To make the print and cut work I create a shadow image slightly larger than the image itself and only cut the shadow layer out. I used the Chiller font for the phrase. I also used my new punch that I have been wanting for some time. It's the drippy goo from Martha Stewart.

These are so cute and my son will be excited to hand these out on Halloween. Thanks for dropping by.

Have a blessed day!

Easter Basket

Saturday my SIL called me to see if she could visit and if I could help her in decorating my 1 year old nephew's Easter Basket. She had picked up this bright little box at Target and thought it would be just the right size for the little man. When she went to AC Moores to look at embellishments she went into a little sticker shock. She then remembered "Karen has a cricut." I was more than willing to assist. (Really, it just takes a small suggestion to get me to craft, especially when it is for others.) The name is a print-n-cut from LD Hodgepodge alphabet. The frog is from Frogs and Kisses SVG set. The eggs are cut from patterned paper using the Peep SVG. The other little critters are from a sticker set she did buy. It all goes well together. On these two sides, there are more eggs. The chick and bunny are from LD Easter Beasties SVG set. The grass is from the Plantin Schoolbook cart.

I used the cricut, MTC, Lettering Delights, a cartridge, and stickers to create the images. My SIL put it all together. I think she did a marvelous job. Here are close ups of each side.

Thanks for visiting and have a blessed day!

Belated Valentine's Post

Let me start with the card Fisher gave to Rylie at church. What you must understand about this relationship is that my son is 5 years old and Rylie is a freshman in college. He picked out the image from the Lettering Delights "Love Pets." This was my first Print-and-Cut card. It was so easy with the Make the Cut software. I added the google eyes, some glossy accent to the hearts, and the ribbon. The background paper is from DCWV.

This next project was a few weeks in the making. I was inspired by an idea I saw in a magazine (can't remember right off which one) to use a miniature chocolate for the body of a robot. I decided to use the Robots cartridge to make these Valentines for my son to give away at preschool. I wrapped the miniature chocolates in spare design paper and used my Cuttlebug to emboss the background paper. They were just too cute especially with the different size eyes. I was proud of Fisher. He wrote each of his classmates name and signed each card. He was very excited to hand these out.

Here is a closer look at the girl and boy cards. By the way, the heart is a Creative Memories punch and the "Hello Friend" stamp is Studio G clear stamp.

For my colleagues at work I chose to use the Lettering Delights "Love Pets" again with the PNC method. Did I tell how easy I thought this was :) Each tag has a magnet on the back and is attached to a goody bag filled with chocolate and candy.

I chose to use the Lettering Delights "Monster Love" for my DH's card. The border at the bottom is an EK Success punch which has quickly become one of my favorites.

I really wanted to do somethiing very special for my mom's card. I have made a tri-shutter fold card. This allowed me little canvases to be creative.

See the little inchie down in the bottom left corner--- love it!

The butterflies are a Creative Memories punch. They were the last thing I added and it really made the card pop. I hope my mom realized that the heart at the top right was a magnet.

Thanks for taking a look. Although Valentines Day has come and gone I hope this inspires you to send a note to the one(s) you love.