Christmas Banner

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all having a crafty and wonderful holiday season. Last night we took Peyton to see Christmas lights at Temple Square. It was cold, but we bundled up warmly and had a lot of fun. It has been a while since we had ventured downtown Salt Lake so it was great to see all the changes that have been going on there. It's going to be really nice when it's all finished. Hopefully it will help bring back small businesses when it's all finished too. All the construction didn't stop there from being Christmas decorations everywhere!!!

So for my sister's baby shower, I borrowed my friend, Marci's standard Cricut. She also let me use some of her lettering cartridges. They came in super handy. And I admit, I totally fell in love with it! So I started talking to my mom about it, and sure enough, that's the very thing she got me for Christmas! I got the standard Cricut too, thinking of price and portability as the key factors. After I had it, I started looking more and more into the Cricut, and found a brand new one they came out with recently called the Cricut Mini. So I have decided to list mine for sale - along with a few other things - on the local classified listing site, ksl.com. And then I am going to get the Mini. I am pretty excited either way though.

But enough about that...

I have been a busy little beaver making all sorts of fun things with my Cricut. Thanks to being trampled on Black Friday, for $10 cartridges, borrower some from Marci, and my hubby's cousin's Bea and Thia, I have been able to do quite a lot. I went down to the American Crafts Warehouse Sale that is going on this entire month and picked up really cute paper by Crate Paper super cheap. I brought it home, and made a darling banner with it!!!

What I love most about the Cricut is how much you can do with just one cartridge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock - Bazzill Basics Textured, Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper - Crate Paper
Die Cut Machine - Cricut
Cartridges - Christmas Cheer,
Ribbon - Mostly my stash, May Arts, Stampin' Up!, Offray, tulle, American Crafts, baker's twine, stretchy silver elastic cord is from Stampin' Up!
Little Somethings - bells Stampin' Up!; Red Jewels Reflections; button Autumn Leaves
Adhesives - 3M glue stick, glue gun, foam adhesive, Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up!

Cutest Tree Hugger Ever!

Peyton loved all the lights, but she was slightly disappointed by the lack of blue lights! I know, she is pretty silly. So when we found some blue trees though, she was pretty excited. She ran right up to one so we could take her picture in it.

The Reason for the Season

Part of the road was converted into this garden at the side of Temple Square. It was sort of a big controversy here when it all happened. Literally, the road was torn out and a garden was put in, so traffic has to go around now to get down the road, instead of being able to go through like they used to. I have to admit, it is rather beautiful though. And right now, with it being Christmas and all, they have the big tree, you can see in the distance, plus animals, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and lights everywhere. I love the little bubble lights on top of the water. Those were my favorite. I was really happy, that despite all the people around, I was able to actually get this photo. It's so peaceful and it's such a great reminder what all the fuss around this time of year is actually all about.

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays this year!! Merry Christmas!

P.S. All the photo editing was done using picnik.com. Check it out! It's a great site and it's free!

Next Card Kit

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. I had a busy one but still it was good.

On my last post, I showed you all the next card kit I am listing on Etsy. But I decided to try something a little different out of my normal kit process this time around. I always get idea overload and come up with several concepts that I want to attempt. But because of time, most of them get pushed back. So what I decided to do this time was to create a few cards at a time, and then make the kits for each card at once. That way I can still use my creative energy to make the cards that I want to in this moment, get them out of my system, and finally move onto creating the kits. I am hoping I can then start the cycle over again. So I plan to make 5 cards in this particular series - so far that is how many I have planned out in my head; we'll see how that goes though - before I start making the kits. Designing is always my favorite part anyway. And seems to take up most of my time. So cross your fingers for me and here's hoping! :)

So I continued with the same sketch to come up with this next card. I do have to say though that I made the dimensions 4 1/4x3 this time, just to try to get more use out of one sheet of cardstock. I am still LOVING this Echo Park paper line - and as I mentioned above I am trying for a series here - so I stuck with that patterned paper. For the stamp image, I went with Stampin' Up! of course, as well as for the embellishments, punches and cardstock.

And here is the card:

Amour Eiffel Tower card:

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper - For the Record Echo Park

Stamps - Stampin' Up!

Ink - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake Stampin' Up!

Button and Bling - brown button and half pearlie Stampin' Up!

Ribbon - 1/8" Old Olive Stampin' Up!

Punches and Die - Small Heart, Scallop border, Designer Label, butterfly {embosslit die} Stampin' Up!

Adhesive - glue stick 3M; Continuous Line Glue Dots; liquid adhesive Crystal Effects Stampin' Up!

I thought it would be fun to make the focus of the card not fit on it entirely. So that is why I kept with the smaller card and made the main section taller than the card itself. And I do have to say, I like the results. It was fun to experiment with going outside of what I normally do. Another thing I don't usually do is mat the main stamped image, but again, I wanted to try to get out of my comfort zone a bit. Although I don't love that part of it, I like the color the mat provides, as well as helping with the overall flow of the card. So my gut told me to leave it. :)

Hope you all are good and staying crafty! I am off!

Christmas Tags

Hi Everyone! Hope your weekend is going crafty. I was able to get a little more Christmas shopping last night with my mom. I am hoping to avoid shopping the week before Christmas this year for sure! So it's been good to get as much shopping done as I can. Unfortunately I left some of my shopping inside Ikea after I had already paid for it! A whopping $6 worth of merchandise - $2 kitchen scissors and a $4 two pack of cardboard portfolios {Heidi Swapp showcased the cutest mini album with this portfolio on her weekly web show about 3 weeks ago or so!}. This was after going there last night with my mom. When I got home, I realized that I didn't come home with my stuff. So Peyton and I headed off to there this morning. We went to the returns area to explain our predicament, showed the receipt, and sure enough, they pulled up the camera feed of me leaving the stuff at the register, but making sure I put my mom's stuff in the cart :). So then I had to go all the way back through the bottom section of the store and get my stuff all over again! But at least I got it!! And I can't wait to attempt the mini album Heidi made! She used a binding machine to attach the pages. So I will have to see if I can borrow someones. But I can't wait nonetheless!!!

Finally after my adventures in Ikea today, I was able to come home and get some crafting done!!! Yay! And I was totally hit by the Christmas tag bug! This is the first set that I made. I can't wait to get a few more sets done, package them up all cute, and sell them on Etsy :)!!!!!

Here is what I have so far:

I couldn't decide if I wanted to sell a kit or the finished product. I decided for the finished product but may still sell a kit separately from this set. I do plan though to sell 2 other sets with this set, for a total of three. And I want to get them packaged up and presented all cute :)

Here are the supplies I used:

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper - Tinsel & Twig The Girls Paperie {love this paper!!!!!!!}, book pages my own stash from a book that i didn't like. As much as I love books, I was so happy to figure out a better use for a book that I didn't like! What better than to combine my love of crafting and reading!

Stamps - Wreath & Bird  are I Believe from My Minds Eye, Merry Christmas sentiment Stampin' Up!

Inks - Softy Sky, Early Espresso, Kiwi Kiss Stampin' Up!

Punches - Double Scallop Ribbon border, Itty Bitty Circle and Flower, Scallop border, Tag corner Stampin' Up!, 1/16" hole punch Fiskers

Buttons & Bling - Jewel rhinestone sticker & Itty Bitty clear button Stampin' Up!

Red Glitter - Studio G {love love love this stuff!!!It's so cheap and is lasting forever!}

String - Baker's Twine my stash

Adhesives - Crystal Effects & Sticky Strip Stampin' Up!, Pop Dot {cut in 4 pieces} Glue Dots, Glue stick Scotch Brand

I am loving this stamp set from My Minds Eye {the wreath and bird}! It was super inexpensive for how many images it came with - $6!!!

Oh, I used Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up! to make the flower with the piece of book page. I glued the bottom of it to a piece of heavy packaging {chipboard packaging from the ornament of my previous post} cut into a circle. Then I put some more in the center and the jewel on top of it. The jewel is self adhesive, but the Crystal Effects helps hold the flower together. I also used the Crystal Effects to attach the Itty Bitty punched flower and clear button together. This product is so versatile - from epoxy to adhesive! The Ranger brand has a comparable product that I also really like a lot that accomplishes the same thing.

I am for sure going to be making some more tags, but for now, I am off to go work some more on my countdown calendar! Hope you all are good!

Day 2 Is Complete

Hi Everyone! I haven't really had any crafting time lately, but to our surprise yesterday, we found out we got to take Veteran's Day off! I figured I could use some of the time to craft and of course more time to spend with Peyton! Thong left just a bit ago to go to Jordan High School's football game today with his brother. So it's just Peyton and I hanging out right now :).

I started working on Day 2 last night. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but it did turn out nonetheless :). Hopefully I can get some more time today to get a few more numbers done. I want to get the whole thing done before Thanksgiving, if not sooner.

Here are the pics:

It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be on the tree, but I thought it still worked perfect.

I was having a hard time with the colors of the chipboard ornament and the patterned paper that I have. The reds are different shades, but I tried to make it work.

The chipboard is from Amber. One of her really good friends, Kausi, has a husband that has done some work for Making Memories. They have given him free supplies because of it!!! So of course Kausi shared the love with Amber and then Amber shared the love with me! There is the cutest metal pink reindeer that i can't wait to use for one of the days!

I did the same thing for this number that I did for the 1. I put a strip of magnet behind the scallop circle and then die cut the 2 backwards and put it behind the 2.

Here is another picture of the full tree so you can see just what I am working on filling up. I have some mini ornaments and beads and ribbons to decorate it further!! Can't wait to get it all done!

Here are the supplies for this number:

Chipboard - Making Memories

Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye, The Girls Paperie

Cardstock - Very Vanilla Stampin' Up!

Ink - Early Espresso Stampin' Up!

Ribbon - Red Organdy May Arts, Baker's Twine is from my stash, Blue with Brown Polka Dots All My Memories, Blue Grosgrain Stampin' Up!

Magnet Sheet - QuicKutz

Die - QuicKutz

Punches - Large Scallop Circle, Ticket Label, Itty Bitty Circle Stampin' Up!

Stamps - My Minds Eye

Button - Itty Bitty clear Stampin' Up!

Glitter - Red liquid glitter Studio G {a whole big tube of glitter is only $.99!!!! Think Stickles, but a lot more and cheaper!!!} I love this stuff! I used it on the reindeer's nose :)

And there you have day 2. Hopefully I can update you soon with more numbers today!

SPOOKY Bat Banner

It's me again. I am sad to see Halloween to go, but look forward to Thanksgiving and of course Christmas! I never posted my Spooky Halloween Banner, so I figured I should do it now, or wait a whole year! I love this banner! It turned out cute and it is super fun. I will look forward to getting it out every year!

The year Thong, and I moved into our house, my parents got me a gift card to one of my most favorite stores, Rod Works! I was ecstatic to see that it was for $200!!! So I ended up buying the mirror and shelf you see in the picture below. I am wishing they would have had the bigger shelves they have now, when I bought it, but I love the red color! I bought some of the smaller decorations too that you see - black drawers, green candlesticks and candles, the red clock.

The one thing I don't do is change out the items really for holidays. I am thinking I need to start though! I change it out for Christmas every year, but other than that, the items stay the same. I put my Halloween decorations on my high counter top, but next year, I think I will add them to the shelf. And maybe I can start adding to my Halloween decorations. I have hardly any.

The one thing with my banner is that it is heavy - which I didn't take into account when I was making it - so it weighs down too much to actually hang. I set it up on my shelf, but as you can see, there aren't any other Halloween decorations with it. But next year, I think it will be cute when it's all Halloween!

Here are the pics:

Here are the details:

Banner - Black bat glitter Tai Pan Trading

Patterned Paper - My Minds Eye, Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up!

Cardstock Letter Squares - Little Yellow Bicycle

Gold Glass Glitter - Stampin' Up! {Careful with this! It hurts when you cut your finger!}
Black Lace Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Stamp Set - Dark & Dreary set Stampin' Up!
Ink - Basic Gray Stampin' Up!
Punches - Large Scallop Circle, Large Oval, Scallop Oval, 3/4" Circle, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Stampin' Up!; Real Estate Sign EK Success
Jewels - Black and Silver Rhinestones Stampin' Up!
Buttons - Stampin' Up!
Clear Buttons w/Rhinestones- Bazil Basics
Crystal Effects - Stampin' Up! {I used this to attach the glitter. I also used it to trace each letter and have them stand out more}
Black Glitter Spiders - Paper Creations LSS here in Salt Lake - aren't these so cute! They were all cut out and ready for me to buy them! I had to buy like 8 of them since they were only $.15 each!
Ribbon - Purple Satin May Arts; Cream and Gray Polka Dot Tai Pan Trading
Embossing Plate - Spider Web Stampin' Up!

Hope you guys like it! It was a lot of fun to make! I can't wait to get started on Thanksgiving and Christmas projects! I still have my village to work on, and wreath to finish!

Hope you all are good!

A Sneak Peak Of A Halloween Banner - Spooky Bats!

Hi everyone! I was too excited to wait until I am finished to start posting about this project!!! I took pictures from my phone and emailed myself. So hopefully you can see them all okay.

Here are the pics of it so far:

As I said, I am not finished yet. I know, I know - Halloween is right around the corner. My craftiness has been fleeting lately. I just haven't been feeling like crafting a whole lot. But I got out this banner that I purchased from Tai Pan a month or so ago, and all of a sudden I felt the urge to add to it! Love it when inspiration strikes!!! I have said before how much I love that store, but it's true. I so do love it! The banner part is the glitter bats, wire and beads. And it was only $3! My goal is to have the banner finished tomorrow, so hopefully that will happen. Knowing me, the lollies that I have pictured here will have much more stuff on them before it's all said and done! Cause that's the way I like it! :D

I am off everyone! Have a great day!