Strawberry Shaker Card

I have another shaker card to share with you!  I just can't get enough of them!

This is one I made a few weeks ago during my all day card making party (I was the only one at my little party...LOL!).  I love this giant strawberry!

This card was super easy.  I found a drawing of a strawberry online and pasted it into my Silhouette software.  I traced it and smoothed the edges to make a cut file.

I again used my fuse tool to make a pocket for the shaker part of the card and filled it with lovely pink micro beads!

The card measures approximately 6" x 6".  That's one big berry!  

Do you love shaker cards as much as me?  If so, please post a pic on Pink and Paper on Facebook and let us all see your creativity!!

Adios!

Simple Masculine Card

I love making cards.  I think it has to do with the fact that I love giving people gifts.  Like, seriously love it. I have never read the book, but I'm pretty sure my love language is gifts.  It's not always feasible to give a gift, but you can always find an occasion to give a card!

I haven't made a card for anyone in over a year. For me, that's an eternity.  I used to make a ton of cards.  I tried to make my mother-in-law a birthday card a few weeks ago and it was a disastrous mess, so I quit and bought her one.  [sad face]

I wanted to say thanks to some awesome teens in our church for helping me out, so I decided to see if I could get the creative juices flowing today.  And I made 5 cards!

Here's one...

I've said it before and it's still true - Masculine cards are HARD to make. I always want to sparkle or glitter or shimmer it or something.  My hubby picked out this paper at Hobby Lobby a while back.  He said it's his favorite paper I own.  Poor guy... he has bad taste - except in women!  Actually, I am glad he talked me into buying it because it's perfect for simple cards.

I used my fuse tool and page protectors to make a pocket, then added micro beads to fill it up.  I cut out the sentiment using my Silhouette, then put it on with foam tape.

It's quite plain and perfect for the recipient!  The young man I gave it to is definitely no-frills, so this was right up his alley.  And he enjoyed playing with the shaker part!

Once I came up with the general idea, I made several. I would suggest whenever you make a card, always make a couple, then you'll have them on hand when you need one fast.

Happy Crafting!

Harry Potter

I don't love Harry Potter.

(GASP!)

I really don't.  I have tons of friends who love the books, love the movies and just love everything Harry Potter.  I just don't get it.  My husband read the books, then saw the movies.  I went to the theater for one and ended up sleeping for more than half the movie.  I just couldn't get into it.

For those of you who love Harry, I thought I'd share what I worked on this week...

A lady I work with ordered this wall decal for her daugther's reading nook in their new home.  I hope she loves it!

I have made several wall decals and don't have any in my own home.  Do you?  Since I've had my Silhouette, I have all these ideas and never do them for myself.  I must change that!

I just thought I'd share what I've been working on.  Now, I'm off to work on bunnies and baskets for Easter....

Smiles,

Cheryl

Wedding Shower Fun

A few months ago, one of my dearest friends got married.  None of us are drinkers or big into partying, so a bachelorette party wasn't going to happen.  I decided to throw her a sexy shower instead!

I went with pink and gold for the colors and loved how it turned out!  I thought I'd share some pics with you because I was on a tight budget and was still able to do an elegant shower.

The lighting in this room is really poor, so please ignore the yucky photo.  We sat up the drinks in the kitchen dining area, and this was on that table.  I bought a frame from Michael's and then purchased the gold foil honeycomb paper at Hobby Lobby. I covered the mat with the paper, then used gold vinyl for the wording.   I let the bride take this framed art home but now I want one!  I think I'll have to make me one...

I bought several candle holders at the dollar store and glittered those babies like crazy!  They were everywhere.  Thankfully, my mother has a serious obsession with cake plates, so she had tons we could use to elevate our decorations and make it fancier.

As you can see, I love my gold vinyl! Everything that didn't get glitter, got vinyled!!  I use several paper punches to make dots and then did simple stripes on some.

I also made some big confetti using vellum paper and placed it around the table. This fab candle holder came from a 70% off shelf at Hobby Lobby.

It's hard to see in this pic, but I made ring dishes as favors. I used gold vinyl and put their first initial on each bowl, them put in a cute bag and tied with a bow!

More cheap candles looking all fancy...

The night before the shower, I found this cute cup at Michael's. Of course, I had to personalize it for the bride!

Just a few more shots of the spread...

That's all folks! I just thought I'd share some ideas for an easy and cheap party!

Hugs,

Cheryl

Simple Thank You Card

A few weeks ago, I needed to make several thank you cards.  I had been working a big wedding order for several weeks and was up to my eyeballs in glitter paper and glue dots.  I decided to settle for making a card with a ready-made design and I settled on one of the free files from Miss Kate Cuttables.

Side note - Miss Kate, you rock!

I took a scalloped frame and welded two pieces together to make the card base.

The woodgrain panel, flowers and wording are all a part of the file from Miss Kate.  LOVE!

I inked the edges of everything with brown ink, then added the flowers with foam dots so they would stand out. Voila!  Quick, easy and pretty card!

Have a fantabulous day!
Cheryl

Rudolph Lip Balm Holder

It's Christmas Time!  I love it.  I love the lights and the parties and even the crowded stores.  I completely enjoy this time of year.

One of my greatest joys is giving gifts that bring a smile to some one's face.  I don't have a ton of extra cash (paying off debt...ugh!) so I try to make the small gifts I can afford more fun.  We're doing Secret Santa at work and right now I'm compiling a bunch of small goodies to leave for her over the next few weeks.

Here's the first one...

I downloaded the reindeer file from the Silhouette Store.

I used a scalloped frame in the background.  I used the offset feature to make an outline, then added text.  The font is Grandma's Garden and you can get it at DaFont.

It wasn't designed to hold the lip balm, so I had to alter the shape of his nose to fit it.  I have seen these all over Pinterest and I think they're adorable!  I looked at several printables and used them as a starting point for sizing the hole for the nose.  This particular lip balm isn't the name brand, it's Walgreen's brand and it's a little more oval shaped than the original.

I really hope the recipient likes this!  I am going to leave it for her on Monday, so we'll see.  I have made a few other projects, but didn't have time to photograph them until today.  I'll share those later in the week.

Hugs,
Cheryl

Cute & Simple Halloween Cards

Earlier in the week I posted some cute little Halloween treat bags for my co-workers.  Of course, I had to make cards to go along with them!

I made 6 different cards, mixing and matching the colors using up my scraps from last Halloween.  They were easy and fast to make.

Each card measures around 3" x 3".  I took a simple pennant shape and imported it into Silhouette Design Studio.  I flipped one over and welded them together to make cards.  For ease of folding, I added a score line in the middle of each card so it cut that for me.

I then used the internal offset function to make some layers to cut my patterend paper.  

The font I used is apparently unavailable now, but it's very similar to Galpon from DaFont.  You can get it HERE.  For the font, I used the offset feature to make an outline, then welded the letters together.

I love Halloween colors!  I had a blast making these fun little cards.  It's been a long time since I've sat at my craft desk and played.  It was wonderful.  And I must do it again very soon!

Happy Halloween!
Cheryl

Halloween Cheezy Poofs!

Halloween is just around the corner.  Are you ready?

Every holiday, I have great intentions.  I decide I’m going to make these fabulous treat bags or boxes full of fabulous goodies for my family, friends and co-workers.  Most holidays, I’m good to just show up with whatever I agree to bring, much less something cutesy and fun.  I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew and then I run out of time for the fun things… like making treat bags!

This year, however, I have turned over a new leaf.  I am trying to stop doing things out of obligation and do more of what I want, in my downtime. 

So, guess what?  I made Halloween bags for my co-workers!  I totally stole the idea from Pinterest, so I can’t take credit for the creative genius, but I did them my own way. 

I started with a GIANT tub of cheezy poofs.  (Yes, I realize they are actually called cheese puffs, but thanks to my husband and his younger days of watching Southpark, they will forever be known as “cheezy poofs” in our household!)

That sucker is massive, huh?  You can see my Silhouette machine to the right, just for scale.  I got this whole tub at Sam’s for about $6.00.  What a bargain!

I bought some treat bags and measured them to see how much space I had for the faces.  On Pinterest, everyone had drawn the faces using Sharpie markers.  What?!?!?  They obviously don’t own a Silhouette.

I went to Google and searched “jack o lantern faces clip art” and got tons of cute little faces.  I imported a few of them into design studio, then traced them.  Voila!  I cut the faces from some scraps of black vinyl I had in my stash and applied to the bags. 

After all the faces were applied, I filled them with cheesy goodness and tied with twine.  Sooooo cute!

I love these little guys!  

If you haven’t yet made Halloween goodies, this is an easy and quick project you could do tonight.  Of course, if you try it, I’d love to see your pictures.

Happy Wednesday!
Cheryl

Batman Card

My co-worker ordered a card from me for her sister's 18th birthday.  Apparently, she's a huge Batman fan, so she found an idea on Pinterest asked me to recreate it.  She wanted me to merge two cards. Here's the inspiration...

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

And here's what I came up with...

I created this on my Silhouette.  (Sorry for the bad lighting...I finished late at night!)  I also was lazy and didn't set up my photo tent so please ignore my messy desk!  My co-worker told me what she wanted it to say, but I designed the rest.

 

 

To create the cityscape, I found an image on Google and traced it in my Silhouette.  I added the windows, made a compound path and cut it in black.  Then, I removed the windows and cut a yellow layer to put behind it.  For the words, I designed them in Silhouette as well and used the print and cut feature.  The font is KG Beneath Your Beautiful.

The Bat Signal is attached with an Action Wobble.  You can purchase these on Amazon HERE.

I love Action Wobbles!  I think they make whimsical cards so much better.  Here's a side view.

And get ready for it....

The Action Wobble in action!

One more.  I was quite impressed with my speedy photography skills to catch this.  Wow.  Love these little springs!

Here's the inside of the card.  Again, I found the image online and traced it in Silhouette Studio.

She texted me after I'd already made the card and asked for a gift card holder to be added.  Nothing fancy, but I put this inside.

If you ever need a card for a super hero in your life, go ahead - use this layout!  It's easy and fun!

Hugs,

Cheryl

Hello Kitty!

Anyone remember this store?  We had one at a mall here when I was younger.  I loved this store! Mainly because I love Hello Kitty, but also because they had the coolest stuff.

Ahhh...memories.  {sigh}

This past Sunday, we had our monthly fellowship and potluck at church.  There is usually a theme and this month was "Pinterest".  We were asked to sign up to decorate tables and get our ideas from Pinterest.

I signed up and got online. After many, many hours spent perusing Pinterest and changing my mind 72 times, I decided to do a Hello Kitty table.

Wanna see?

My friend took this picture.  I was on a budget, so I resorted to basically using my Silhouette to do 95% of the table.  That's a lot of pink... and I love it!

How adorable are these plates?  Yeah, I can't take credit for them.  Totally a Pinterest steal, but they're still cute.

Another Pinterest steal.  I used a circle punch and some vinyl to jazz up the cups, then added bows to the straws.  Only one person didn't want to drink from the bow straw and he was a man.  Go figure....ha ha.

This centerpiece was a pain in the you know what!  As I said, our budget is tight right now so I was trying to use things we had on hand.  I didn't have a vase to use, so we stuck some plastic risers together and wrapped them with paper.  Not the cutest thing ever, but it worked.  This looks lopsided and I did fix it, but it was after I took the picture.  I love those rainbows!

So the plan was to hang three balloon flowers above the table.  And that I did...sorta.  This flower looks great, but the others not so much.  Apparently, manipulating balloons is not my forte.  They all started out as flowers, but one of them turned into a nice cloud-like group of balloons with no shape.

Someone took this with my phone, so I apologize for it being blurry, but I wanted to show the entire table.  If you need cheap decor for a party, you can't get cheaper than this.  I spent less than $5.00 for the entire table.  It took some labor and my Silhouette did most of the work, but I love how it turned out.

All the "confetti" on the table was cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  I googled Hello Kitty and found several images.  I then imported them into the software and used the trace feature.  I love that trace feature!!  It's awesome.  If you've never used it, don't be scared.  It's easy and wonderful!

Have a happy Tuesday!

Cheryl