Clouds!

Ok, so I kinda have this weird obsession with clouds, but only when I'm singing.  (I told you it was weird).  I love to sing and am on the worship team at my church.  A long time ago, I was listening to some worship music on YouTube and came across a song which quickly became one of my favorites.  (Here's a link if you're interested in listening: Here In Your Presence)  In one of the videos of this song, there was a big screen in the background with these beautiful clouds floating by.  I just thought that was fabulous and ever since I've been convinced that I need some clouds to make me sing better!  I am not sure why I thought it was so pretty, but it just looked so peaceful and beautiful and I really liked it.  I keep trying to tell the folks at church that they should invest in a huge, expensive screen so I can have clouds billowing while I sing.  It hasn't worked.  Yet.  

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so I wanted to share the card I made for her.

Paper Clip Bookmarks

Howdy Folks!  I am back with another project I made for teacher appreciation week.

I decided to make them all a set of paper clip bookmarks.  Each set contained a butterfly, rolled flower and a regular flower in coordinating papers.  I made several styles, so I have lots of pictures to share!  I failed to take any pictures until they were packaged and ready to go, so please excuse the glare from the plastic packaging.

**I used a different paper pack for each set of clips.  I am posting this from work on my lunch break and don't have the list with me.  If you'd like to know about any specific paper, please leave me a comment and your email address and I will gladly respond with that information.  I will post the cut sizes when I get home.**

This one is my favorite...I think.  I keep changing my mind because I love them all!  I got the paperclips from Staples and they are jumbo size.  I chose gold instead of the traditional silver because they looked shinier.  True story.  I really like things that shine.  I put each item on the clip with a glue dot.  I will be doing a tutorial on these soon.

For each butterfly, I cut two sizes and adhered them together, then bent the top one to give it some dimension.  The butterflies were cut from Gypsy Wanderings.

This is glitter paper so it's all sparkly!

I have mixed reviews on this set.  I really like the "earthy" tones for a change.  And I love the patterned paper on the flower on the right.

All the rolled flowers came from the Flower Shoppe cartridge.  I basically just went down the line on the keypad and used a different flower for each set.  I have never been so sick of rolling flowers in my life!  Thank goodness I bought a quilling tool a while back because it really helped make it go faster. 

The rolled flowers on this set were a big pain in the backside!  Because I cut them so small, this one kept tearing on me.  I like the way they look, though!

And, last but not least, the men's sets!  There are only 3 male teachers and I really struggled with what kind of clip they could use.  I honestly figure they'll never use these, but I didn't want to do pencils or crayons since they're on the other boxes I made.  I really like how bright and fun they.  I may need to make some for me...

I put each set of clips on a card I designed on my Gypsy using George and Basic Shapes, then put them in the clear bags and taped them shut on the back.

That's all, folks!  I hope you're having a fabulous weekend.

Hugs,

Cheryl

She's Back!!!

Finally, I am back in the land of blogging and crafting! I have really missed you guys and I think I might have actually heard my Cricut & Gypsy sobbing last night from feeling so neglected. It saddened my heart.

The last few weeks have held some stress and busy times for me. Besides the family situation we had, I had orders for almost 200 teacher appreciation items, had a garage sale (Yea for me...made over $400 on my junk!), made 30 paper teacups for our women's tea last night (with help from my good pal, Cassie), had to make what seemed like a gazillion birthday cards for May and a bunch of other little stuff that took up way too much time.

I am officially taking a breath for the first time in 2 weeks.

WOW! That felt good.

Ok, so now for the real reason you're here... My good friend Trudy is the president of PTA at her kid's school. She was kind enough to hire me to make goodies for their teacher appreciation week festivities. Although it's hard work, I really do enjoy it and I certainly enjoy the money!

This is one of the 3 items I made. This hanging treat box was designed on my Gypsy and was actually easier to design than I'd anticipated. I am planning to make several styles and offer them for download in my store in a few weeks, if any of you would like to try them as well.  There were several blogs I saw where they hand cut them all, but if I can use my Gypsy, that's what I do.  It's such a time saver for me. 

The patterned paper is from The Paper Studio and I purchased it at Hobby Lobby. For the crayon, apple and pencil, I used the Gypsy and the cartridges are listed below. The sentiment was printed on my computer, then punched out with a 1.5" punch. I used a 2" scalloped circle punch to cut the bigger circle.

Pencil - Smiley Cards

Apple - Doodlecharms

Crayon - Simply Charmed

I glued everything to the box and then adhered the pencils/apples/crayons with a foam dot. 

Each container held a single serve packet of drink mix (I used Hawaiian Punch Lemon Berry and Strawberry Lime - YUMMMMM) and a pack of either cheese or peanut butter crackers. From what Trudy said, they were hit and that makes my heart happy!

I'll be back soon with the rest of my projects for the school and then will post my Mother's Day projects after I deliver them.

Have a blessed and wonderful Friday!

Cheryl

One more...

I have one more Mother's Day card to share with you.  As I mentioned before, I was asked to make some brightly colored cards for a display for Mother's Day.  I think this one is my favorite!

Flutterby!

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Mine did not go as planned, but turned out OK.  I will be drawing the winners from last week's giveaways tonight and posting them tomorrow.  I had hoped to have them posted last night but was unable to.  Now, on to the card...

Episode 3 - Sizing Envelopes Using the Gypsy

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope your week has been fabulous!  I want to say thanks to all of you for a wonderful grand opening week for me and I hope you all enjoy the products you've ordered!  I have another video for you today...

I {heart} Valentines Day!

 Happy Thursday!  I hope you're all having a good morning so far.  I finally have something to share with you guys.  It seems like it's been forever!  Thanks to all of you for your kind wishes for me to get better - I am!

We're off to see the Wizard...

A few weeks ago, we had a mini-retreat at our church for the women.  The church was set up with scenes from The Wizard of Oz.  We followed the yellow brick road to each scene and heard from different speakers along the way pertaining to different characters from the story...

Business Cards

Hola Amigos!  I had a discussion with my friend a few weeks ago about business cards, so I wanted to share some examples with you that I made.  I've only done a few craft shows over the last few years, but I've noticed there's always someone who wants a card with your email or # on it.  I decided I didn't want plain printed business cards, so I embellished mine.  I figure a paper crafter needs a crafty card, right?  Here's what I did.

(Disclaimer on photos: I broke my light that came with my light box so I bought a replacement.  I'm discovering it's not as good, so please bear with the poorly lit photos until I can get another light!  On my little camera screen they looked ok, but on the computer you can really tell they need better light.)

I printed the business cards myself on cardstock.  I added a striped mat to the back of the card and then punched some flowers and layered them in the corner.  Here's my theory - If you give them a plain business card, they end up putting it in their pocket or purse and it falls to the bottom.  If you give them one that's a fun shape or has something fancy on it, they're less likely to just toss it somewhere and forget you.  I have no idea of my theory is correct...but it makes sense to me!

I also made a couple that would be great for a photography business.

On this first one, I was thinking it would be fun to make it look like film.  I realize most cameras are digital now and don't use film, but who cares!  It's still fun!  I used George and Basic Shapes to make the rectangle, then added smaller rectangles along the edges (using my Gypsy) and cut it out.  I just added the business card right in the middle.

For this one, I cut the camera from Create A Critter.  I printed the business card, then used the circle cut out for the lens as a pattern to cut the "card" portion.  You could also print several on a page and use the center point feature on your Cricut to cut around the wording.  I then glued the "card" onto a black oval and adhered it to the camera cut.

As I was thinking along these lines, I had several ideas that would make fun business cards.  I think it's really important to have your contact information available when you are out and about, so why not make it reflect your personality and style?  Never be boring!  =)

Have a blessed day!

Cheryl

Quick Project!

I wanted to share a quick project with you today.  As I've mentioned before, I always make a favor for our monthly ladies meeting at church.  This month, my original project was not working out like I planned, so I had to make a last minute substitution, and I made bookmarks.  They were really easy and fast and would be great for a party favor or to add to a card as a little something extra.

For each one, I used word art from Gypsy Wanderings.  It has GREAT word art!  Each word was cut at a slightly different size.  I tried to keep them all around 5"-6" long and 2" wide when sized on my mat on screen.  Please forgive the background that doesn't match at all.  I have no idea what possessed me to use the kitchen counter instead of the plain white table for a background!  I was at church and in a hurry and it must have been a blond moment.

To make these, I welded a circle onto the shadow of each word.  I then placed another circle on top of it (not welded) so it would cut like a hole punch.

It took a little trial and error to figure out what size I wanted the holes to be.  This could vary based on the width of your ribbon.

As you can see these are sorta plain.  Since I was in a mad rush, I just used paper scraps I had on hand.  I hope to make more later using patterned paper, embossing and some bling.  I think you could really spruce them up and have fun with them! 

There are tons of artsy, swirly words that you could use from many different cartridges.  This is just a sampling of what I chose.

I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Blessings,

Cheryl

Flowery Thank You!

As some of you may remember, I mentioned a few weeks ago that several folks helped me out and spent a TON of time helping me with my booth at the conference earlier in the month.  Now that I've given them their thank you cards, I can share them with you! 

Lately, I've been totally enthralled with the work of Donna Mundinger over at Popsicle Toes.  She's fabulous at making shaped cards with tons of layers.  This card was inspired by her style.  I am not nearly as talented as her when it comes to layering, but I'm certainly gonna practice!

Here's a front view of the card.  I used Gypsy Wanderings, Serenade and George and Basic Shapes for the card. 

From the front, it's hard to tell how it's put together.  As you can see, the front of the card is shaped and the back is plain.  For the base, I used brown Kraft paper.  The patterned paper is from a stack by Recollections from Michael's.

This is an inside view.  I welded the shadow of the flowers and the phrase to the shape to form the card.  I cut a liner from patterned paper to cover the inside.

For each flower, I cut a few shadows and a few layers of each shape.  I added pearls to the center for accent on each flower.

I put some pearls on the letters because they looked sorta plain to me.  I've never been a big fan of pearls, normally I prefer something more "bling-y", but I am starting to love them after using them on this card!

On several of the blogs I follow, I've read about alot of folks using colored foam and making their own dimensionals, so I tried that with this card.  I bought a big pack of colored fun foam that's sticky on one side.  I've heard about people running it through their Xyron machine to make a sticker, but I just ran a line of adhesive from my ATG gun on it and stuck it on.  If you look closely, you can see a tiny bit of the foam, but since it's color matched to the flowers, it's actually quite camouflaged.  I never thought it would be that much cheaper, but now I'm a believer! 

Here's one last look at the front of the card.  There's just one problem - I didn't leave much room to write without my words showing!  Yikes!  It's for my mom and I know she understands beauty over function, so it's all good!  Things have to look good and then we worry about them being functional!!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed day!

Blessings,
Cheryl

Tea Time!

Every year, in May, we have a ladies tea at our church.  We had this last week and had some yummy tea and food.  I made some little envelopes to hold tea as favors for everyone and then forgot to photograph them.  So, when I got to church that night and was about to put them out on the tables, I snapped some quick pictures so I could at least share them.  Please excuse the background (butter, tea, platters, etc).

I saw this idea on a party website but for the life of me can't remember where, so I'm sorry for not giving credit where it's due!

I created the little envelopes on my Gypsy.  Super easy!  I just took a plain envelope (from Plantin Schoolbook, I think....) and welded a scalloped border on top of it.  Voila!  Easy as pie.

 I then added a ribbon to each one in a coordinating color.

I punched some circles, inked the edges and wrote "Tea Time" on each.

I attached them with a pop up dot and added a bag of tea.

I think these would be great for a party or a shower and are so easy that they go really fast when you're mass producing them.  I wish I'd taken a picture of them on the tables because they looked so much better sitting on their coordinating plates and tablecloths.

Man, I love my Gypsy!   It can do almost anything.....  =)

Blessings,

Cheryl

My first window card…

Happy Saturday to all of you!  I hope your weekend is starting off wonderfully.  I am finally feeling back to normal after a full week of being sick and trying to get over it…ugh!  That was some nasty crud I had!
I’ve seen people make what I call a “window card” many times, but I have never attempted one, so I decided to try.  I just got Birthday Bash, so I used that for this card.  I created the card base using George & Basic.  I designed it all using my Gypsy.  I made a liner from white and embossed it using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.  It was a little time consuming, but I am loving it!  It’s hard to photograph to show the card properly, but here’s what I have to show you.

I will have a few more cards to share tomorrow.  Have a fabulous Saturday!

Ribbon Storage

I wanted to share with you all something I created with my Gypsy.  I have a really, really small crafting space – the corner of my living room!  So, I have to find creative ways to store all of my junk supplies in a compact way. 

I needed to store my growing collection of ribbon, so I decided to use a photo box.

I created cards that fit into the box using George and Basic Shapes with my Gypsy.  This is what each card looks like.

I’ve seen similar items for sale, but I figured I could save money and make my own.  I took some old cardstock I had that was pretty sturdy and cut two of each card.  I glued them together so they would be thicker.  I’m sure chipboard would be really good for this, but I used what I had on hand.  I was able to cut 3 cards from a 12x12 piece of paper.

I then wrapped the ribbon around the cards and secured with pins.  I sorted mine by color.

I just got a lot of new ribbon on clearance at Michaels, so my box isn’t quite full yet, but it seems like it will hold quite a bit of ribbon.  I got the photo box at Michaels on sale for 3/$5.00.

This is how the full the box is with my current ribbon.

If you are interested, I wrote the dimensions on the card if you’d like to duplicate it or use this idea.  So far, it’s worked pretty good for me!

If any of you have great storage solutions, I’d love to hear them!

Also, don’t forget to check my posts from earlier in the week for the giveaways.  I have one more coming this week, so get ready!

Blessings,
Cheryl