Birthday treats

To celebrate Mr. Randall's birthday I bought a big box of single serve Cheez-it's (thanks Costco) and raided my paper scraps to make some bag toppers. I cut the scraps at 2" wide and 5" long. Then I scored the piece at 1". In retrospect I should have done 3 or 3.5" wide to have enough room to use a border punch, but not this time ;) I used a clear Happy Birthday stamp and using black Staz-on ink stamped most of the toppers. For the dark purple ones I used a white ink pad. Then I used a Sizzix die to cut the present, I used a ton of paper scraps for these. Sometimes I wonder why I hold onto all these scraps, but then I come up with something and am glad I am not using whole sheets of paper. I used some gel pens to add a little definition and affixed the present to the topper with a glue dot. I stapled the topper onto the bag, and viola cute gifts for the 4th & 5th graders at Forrestal

Quick birthday card

I volunteer at a school two afternoons a week - tutoring and helping out. The head teacher in the room has a birthday on Wednesday, and I wanted to do something nice for him. So I threw together some bag toppers for some crackers to hand out (future post) and this card. I am going to try to get all the kids to sign it or write him a note today. I embossed happy birthday with a Sizzix embossing folder then sanded the white core card stock base. The cake was cut with a Sizzix die (4 times). Then I used my trusty Cutterbee scissors to create a pretty multi-colored layered cake. Happy birthday Mr. Randall!

Pumpkin Fest

We continued the tradition and went to Pumpkin Fest. It was chilly but we managed to carve some pumpkins and enjoy the festivities. Don't know if we broke the record yet - need to wait until 10/31 and watch Pumpkin Wars on HGTV

Birthday LO

Pirate Birthday LO

For Maddox's 6th birthday we had a family and friends party at the house. I was pretty crafty for this one - I made the invitation, the food, and even made some bleach t-shirts.

The Indie Art cartridge was my go-to staple for the skull and cross bones (both on this LO and for the bleach t-shirt)

The paper is from the DCWV All About Boys paper stack.

The title was cut with SCAL.

Christmas Cookie LO

Christmas Cookies!

The letters were cut out with SCAL and then some faux stitching was added to each letter to give some visual interest.
The shapes were cut with the Cricut Gingerbread cartridge. I used a Nestabilities scalloped circle die to cut the red circle behind the picture. I outlined it with a white gel pen.
The final perfect touch is a picture of Rileigh and Maddox in the midst of cookie decorating (or rather cookie dough eating).

Here's an altered gift bag I made

I threw this together for a last minute baby shower gift. The bag is from Frost (yum!) but was actually made for/by Uline (shout out for the hubby here)
Back to my project... I cut out a large navy circle (in vinyl) using a Creative Memories circle cutter. The Baby Buggy is cut from Stretch Your Imagination - all in vinyl, and cut again using the layers function,

I've seen a ton of altered gift bags over here, and was inspired to try my hand at them. I started saving lil shopping bags, and  hope to start using them for gifts. I like the idea of including a creative gift bag on top of a gift. Thanks for looking.

Father's Day card

Here's a card created for Papa

The background is from the Paper Studio Adhesive Simplicity. The guitar is cut from Indie Art. I used SCAL to cut Papa, and then also cut it with the shadow feature. A little white stitching added with a gel pen. The finishing touch is "You rock!" typed in Word and printed out.

I'm back :)

It has been quite a while since I've posted. Rest assured I have been crafting though - quite a bit really, I made 13 LO's last night and today (working on Christmas presents). I took pictures of tons of projects, but haven't taken the time to post them. So my project for tonight is to make several posts to upload over the next few days. Wish me luck, and I hope to share some inspiration with you. Thanks for looking.

Thank you notes

I made some quick thank you notes for Rileigh to send out for her birthday gifts (and her recent trip). She picked out her favorite sheets from a DCWV mat stack. Then I cut "Thank You" at 3" from the "Beyond Birthdays" cartridge. I also cut "Thank You" using the shadow feature. I mounted the mat stack on a blank 4x6 index card, then used a zig pen to affix "thank you" to the front of the card. Rileigh then worte her messages and off they went.

Jeff, Maddox & Hockey

This past weekend was a little different - only Maddox. It was fun to see him make choices all by himself and delight in not having to take turns with his sister. There was a lot of guy time. One of Maddox's favorite things was playing hockey in the garage. Jeff surprised him with a set of goalie pads (adult - that he got from a friend at work) Maddox played really well, he is really good!

The pads are a little big on him - but he loved wearing them.

Update to Angry Birds Valentine

Well, Maddox did not think it was sufficient to just suggest a helmet - he wanted to show you one. So here is an updated Angry Birds Pig - notice the cracks in the helmet and the black eye - all drawn by Maddox himself.

Angry Bird Valentines

I found this post from Megan at Brassy Apple to make some Angry Bird Valentines for Rileigh & Maddox. Jeff & I cut out all the pieces and here's what we came up with...

Then, Maddox wanted a pig - and I could not find a template for one, so I made my own. It isn't very technical, but he's happy. So without further ado, an Angry Birds Pig - with instructions - as requested (and approved) by Maddox! (*Note - the sharpie is to draw on eyeballs, nostrils and the centers of the ears. Feel free to add a crown, helmet, etc. Maddox suggests drawing cracks on the pig)

Valentine's subway art

I actually made this subway art last year - but did not post it :(

Inspired by someone else - so sorry I can't give you credit - but you had amazing instructions.

The idea was to tape off squares on the canvas and then to paint these sections dark colors (red, dark pink, etc). Then after they dry and the tape has been removed, to paint the whole canvas a lighter color. The darker squares will show through and offer some visual interest.

I used SCAL to cut Valentiney words in different fonts in red vinyl. Then after the paint was dry, I applied the words in a random fashion. The "10 reasons I love you" tag came in a K & Co paper stack. I added in reasons I love my husband.

Bon Voyage

Rileigh was gifted an extraordinary gift from her grandparents - a trip to Boston for the weekend. It was a pretty big deal going away without her mom or Dad. SHe is handling it like a champ. Before she left Jeff wanted to get a few things (such a sweetheart). His ideas included a book about Boston and a necklace with his phone number. He picked out the book and ordered the necklace, and I helped with wrapping and deocrating a bag. I did pick up a journal and pen to finish out the gift. He gave it to her after dinner the other night, and from his description she was super excited. She's been gone for 7 hours and has called twice. I guess she really likes the necklace that has his phone number engraved. (ugh, I forgot to take pictures of the gifts before I wrapped them or once they were wrapped.)


I re-purposed this REI bag - covered it with a piece of purple cardstock. I used a Recollections border punch on the top and the Martha Stewart loop punch on the bottom. Using the Life is a Beach cart and the Title Words feature cut Bon Voyage at 3" from purple cardstock outlined with a white gel pen. I carefully cut out the words, preserving the boat for a possible future need. I ran the title through the Polka Dots embossing folder.

I cut the R with the Storybook cart at 3" from turquoise cardstock, then I cut an R using the shadow feature from deep purple cardstock. Lastly I cut the R using the Accent/Fram feature from a scrap of medium blue cardstock. I used my trusty ATG to adhere all the paper.

Get well card

Inspired by this post from Pinterest, I made a Get Well card for Jeff's uncle. He recently had a heart attack and is dealing with some new life-changing challenges. I really liked this card, and thought he would like to know we're thinking about him.


Instead of using actual band-aids, I realized Cricut's Indie Art has a bandaid cut on it - how perfect. I cut 2 on beige colored card stock at 2.25". The words "Get Well Soon" come from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge. Cut on a scrap of green cardstock at 2". I outlined the words with a white gel pen.

Taped them onto a piece of hot pink carstock, and viola - insta card.

I think I will be mass producing this card for future use.

Long time no post

It has been a very long time since I posted - but I am back in the crafting game. I just started catching up on my 2.5 year back log of scrapbooking (*cry*) and been lurking in blog world. So I should be posting some LO's or crafty projects soon. I do check out Pinterest regularly so I have been gathering inspiration - hopefully I will come up with something good. See you soon :)