Here come the Easter Beasties!

I always try to be the "treat bag mom" for at least one of my kid's parties every year.  This week is the "Spring" party, and I found the funnest little SVG file over at Lettering Delights!  The file is called Easter Beasties Bag, and I needed a whole herd of beasties!

Don't they look excited to be here?!  Those pretty colors are all American Crafts cardstock in Tropicals.  The white CS is CTMH, the pink is Bazzil swiss dot, and the black is a combo of CTMH and Bazzil swiss dot (because somehow I managed to let myself run almost completely out of black CS - time to order more!).

After I imported the SVG into my Make The Cut software, I added three small circle cuts to the back side of the bag.  I had some parents send pencils for the bags and it was the only way they were gonna fit!

The best part about this SVG is how quickly they go together.  The pieces are all big enough to not get lost and make for easy stacking.  Even folding the bag goes quickly.  To make sure everything held together properly, I used my Scotch ATG for the layered bits, then assembled everything using Scor-Tape.  (I would swear that "Sookwang" is Korean for "best damned tape EVER", lol.)  In fact, these are so easy that the kiddoes & I are going to make some  more this week.  And all I'm going to do is cut, and maybe help fold.  I'm making them do their own assembly!

Winter Tag/Gift Card Holder

Well, have to head off to work soon (the price I pay for getting other time off to spend with DH while he's on vaca this week), but I wanted to share this tag I made.  Just presented it to my SIL this afternoon with a B&N gift card attached, as she's a book worm like me!  She likes to reuse card fronts, tags, etc. for the following year, so I thought this would be cute.  Or, she can keep it and use it as an ornament!  Overall size is less than 4x6 (not including the ribbon.  Here are some pictures with and without the gift card attached:

My tag and snowman were cut from Lettering Delights SVG files using Make The Cut software with my Cricut.   The Snowman is from the Merriment collection (FREE!!) and the Tag is from the Basic Tags collection.

The tag is cut from plastic packaging, then embossed with a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.  On the back side, I filled in parts of some of the snowflakes using various shades of blue Stickles.

My snowman layers are cut from (bottom to top) orange CS, pearly cream colored CS (I think it was Club Scrap), blue Bazzil textured CS, and dark pink velvet paper from my stash (I believe I purchased it at Michael's before Valentine's day a few years ago).

I added an I-rock gem on top of my pink velvet button for a little more bling.  I attached the snowman to the tag using Liquid Glass to be sure he stays put.  I then added the gift card using Glue Dots.

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round monthly challenge

One of the funnest blogs I follow is Christmas Cards All Year 'Round. Each month, you need to make 5 Christmas cards that follow the theme/challenge for that month. Now normally I'm not very quick with these, but this month was especially easy: make any 5 Christmas cards, no restrictions. I was in a crafty mood, so over the last couple of days I've actually managed to finish my 5 cards for September ALREADY!

To make it more fun, I made all 5 cards with different supplies and played around with things a bit. Here's what I came up with:

The first card has a vintage, Victorian feel. The card base is from Hobby Lobby, and all other products are from Close To My Heart.

I stamped my image with Timber Brown Staz-on on white CS, and colored in using both markers and a water brush with ink pads. Image is popped up on adhesive squares.



Supplies used for the card to the right include a card base from Hobby Lobby; CS, ribbon, ink pads & gold EP from Close To My Heart, and stamps from Club Scrap.

I went with a simple design on this one, highlighting my main image by running my pigment ink pad along the edges and heat embossing with gold EP.



To the left is another vintage style card, this one uses large chipboard corners from Daisy D's, along with CS, hemp, stamp, & ink from CTMH. Eyelets are source unknown.







To the right is a fun little card, using Bazzil CS and Making Memories pattern paper. Stamps, ink, and ribbon are CTMH, and deckle edge square punch is from McGill.








I made this final card just so I could play with certain items! Other than the star button and the Stickles on said button, all supplies are from CTMH.

The presents along the bottom are actually from a border stamp, which I stamped in the three different colors and cut apart.

On the felt tree, I embossed with white EP to make it look snowy. (Not exactly how I wanted it too turn out, but EP sticks to felt like crazy!) I also used round clear Sparkles on my tree, and sponged around the edge of the entire card for definition.

Want in on the fun? Go visit "Christmas Cards..." and challenge yourself this month!

Disney Memories

Well, I'm finally making some real progress on scrapping that Disney trip from January! Here are a couple of my favorite layouts that were completed recently.

Here's meeting Minnie, after our hour plus in line. The patterned papers and regular cardstock are from CTMH. The scalloped cardstock is Bazzil, I believe. Title is a rub-on from a Creative Imaginations swatch book, the journaling box sticker is from Reminisce, and the colored stickers are CTMH. The fun flower is made using a Clear Scraps flower, painted on back with pearl paint from CTMH. I added small rub-ons from CTMH to the front along with doodles of yellow Stickles. Added some red polka dot ribbon, and stuck an EK Success bottle cap in the middle - voila! Layout also uses black grosgrain ribbon and red eyelets.


Here are Sarah & Holly meeting Princess Aurora. I LOVED making this layout, but it was not as simple as it looks! I embossed the white bling cardstock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Since those folders aren't very big and I only have an original Sizzix, it was pretty interesting. (Now I think I need to save my change for the Big Shot!) Luckily, the random flower design made it easier to hide the "seams" and parts I couldn't quite reach! Light Pink CS is CTMH, white and med. pink are Bazzil Bling. Darker pink is velvet paper, brand unknown (I think I picked it up at Michael's). Sewed the edges of the white bling to the page. Title is from a Cricut cartridge. All of hte paper flowers, buttons, etc. is CTMH, and I think I have one rhinestone brad from 7 Gypsies on there.

You'll notice I didn't journal on the Sleeping Beauty page. Since I'm stepping out of my box and actually doing a theme album, there were a lot of pages where journaling just wasn't neccessary. And it left me more room to add "stuff"!

Now, an additional "saving" tip: do you toss your cardstock scraps? Use them up making cards. Even if you're not a card maker, kid birthdays are the perfect opportunity for practice! They never care if they don't look perfect, and you need nothing more than a single "Happy Birthday" stamp or sticker pack. If you're not comfortable designing your own, there are plenty of books available on the subject, and PageMaps even offers card sketches now. I guess that's a future entry: cards I've made from scraps.

Until next time...