An Artful Album

What do you do with all the pieces of art that your child produces? I realistically know that I cannot keep everything yet I find it hard to part with Fisher's masterpieces. I have a couple of solutions. I keep pictures of almost everything and display them on a digital frame. I also keep a box of some of my favorites. For these, I have finally decided to create an album for his artwork. I started with a simple 12x12 album. (Excuse the messy desk. It was a last minute thought to snap a photo of the album before I worked with it.)

I started by gluing a ribbon over the gold stripe. I used green ribbon with yellow dots that I found in the $1 bin at Target and Zip Dry glue to adhere it to the album. The side border is cut using Plantin Schoolbook and welding (with the help of my Gypsy) two of the scalloped borders together. Next I used glue dots to place the ribbons and the colored circles on each scallop. I topped the circles with a dab of clear Stickles for a little 'bling'.

The letters are from a new cartridge I got for Chrsitmas. It is the Cricut Lite Zoo Day. I really like the font on this. I cut the letters at 2". Using my Gypsy, I was able to align the letters of similar colors together and lay the paper out exactly where it needed to be, thus making cutting them out easy. I edged each letter with a matching colored pencil to give the letters a little more depth.

The art supplies were cut from Locker Talk. I used the Crop-a-Dile to place the eyelet on the scissors. I also used Glossy Accents from Inkessentials to make the handles of the scissors shiny.

Finally, what art album would be complete without crayons. I really like the way these turned out. Again, I added some stickles and outlines with colored pencil.

Fisher is really excited about his album. Today I was able to complete the cover and make three layouts. (The snowfall that has covered the South has allowed me a few days home in order to work on this.)

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment. I love to hear from others!

Bunch of Flowers

A friend of mine and fellow crafter fell last week and broke her leg. This is on top of the cancer that she is fighting. I wanted to make her a card to brighten her day. I ask that anyone who reads this please say a prayer for Connie.

I used the stamp set Spring Garden from Stampin' Up. The cardstock is The Paper Company and the pattern paper is from My Big Ideas. The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper's Everyday Occasions. The ribbon is from my stash. I added some stickles to the flowers and the butterfly that just made the card pop.

Thanks for looking and praying for my friend.

Christmas Ornaments

I have a problem with procrastination. I purchased these glass ornaments in September with full intentions of having them made way before Christmas. Well, it turns out I was making them the night before I was going to give them to the teachers I work with. Add to it that I haven't made this post until a week after Christmas. I guess better late than never.I used the Christmas cart for the angel, cross, and tree. I used the Its Cold Outside cart for the snowflakes and Very Merry Tags for the JOY. I cut each out using vinyl, adhered it to the glass, and applied etching cream. I am always worried as a clean the cream off that it hasn't worked because I can't see the image. It is not until I remove the vinyl that I can tell the difference. Hope you enjoy and have a Happy New Year!

Halloween Crafts

Today I worked on special treats for Fisher's teachers. They are three wonderful ladies and I enjoy making them little favors to let them know I appreciate what they do. I found these plastic orange containers at Walmart for 4 for $1. I decorated them using black vinyl from Vinyl Expressions. After decorating each side I filled it with candy corn, miniature Hershey bars, and carmels. I also created popcorn wrappers to go around a bag of microwaveable popcorn.

I found clear plastic bags used for storing homemade breads at the grocery store and they have been perfect for packaging these and other goodies I have made. I found the ribbon on sale at AC Moore which I used on the bag and on the popcorn wrapper tag.

These are the four sides to the container. I used the Make the Cut program and images from the gallery to design each side. I cut all of it with my Cricut.

These are a few images of the popcorn wrapper. Each wrapper starts as a 6"x 12" sheet of orange cardstock. I wrapped it around and glued it together. Fisher signed the back of each wrapper and then we decorated the front. I used a tag punch from Creative Memories for the black tag and stapled a piece of the ribbon to the top. Next I cut the yellow tag using a die with my Cuttlebug. The pumpkin is cut from one of my Cricut carts and I used a stamp from Peachy Keen stamps for the face.

Thanks for taking a look and have a Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday!!

Wow - it has been a long time since I last posted. I thought having finished graduate school I would have more free time. Actually, it turns out I go to bed at a more decent hour (hee hee). I haven't been completely away from crafting. I have gone to a couple of crops with my awesome cousin Kerri and I have already started Christmas cards. (Yeah, I know, I will still be making them the night before.)

For this post I have created a birthday card for a young girl whose costume party we are going to tonight. I used a new program called Make the Cut. I had never used a computer program with my Cricut before. I have always relied on my carts or my Gypsy. This program is really neat and easy to use. I visited the MTC gallery and downloaded the Happy Birthday cut created by user 648. My Cricut did the rest. I embellished with a little ribbon, pattern paper, a border punch, and some paper flowers. Voila - a funky birthday card.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

Beach Bottles

Heading to the beach with my husband, son, mom, niece and nephew, I thought we could use some personalized drink bottles. I bought plain bottles at Walmart for 99 cents. I cut names and images from vinyl using a variety of carts. I used a fish and a sea lion on Fisher's, a butterfly and heart on Sierra's, a flower and dragonfly on Nana's, a skateboard and water splashes on Hunter's, a sea horse and jellyfish on mine, and a bomb with HARDCORE DAD on Shea's.

I think they turned out great. Thanks for looking.

"DINO"mite

My 4 year old son has the sweetest crush on a senior in high school - Miss Mary. Mary plays basketball for the high school and recently hurt her knee. Fisher wanted to make a card for her. He chose the dinosaur from the Create a Critter cartridge. He chose the colors and the pattern paper. I did the assembly. Inside the card he wanted the following joke -

What do you call a dinosaur that explodes?

DINOmite!