Spring Cleaning

Well, it looks like it's that time of year again - "Spring Cleaning time." Of course this is also known as the time year that I feel really bad about myself for letting my apartment getting so out of hand. I always make a list of the things I want to clean / organize / take care of and manage to accomplish about 1.5 items on the list. Not one to break tradition, here is my list for this year. Let's see how it goes:

• Take the "donate" pile to Goodwill finally - Daniel and I actually did this yesterday, after a full year of letting the pile grow! I refuse to let this count as my one item on the list I have accomplished, though.
• Organize my scrapbooking paper - overall I would like to organize all of my craft supplies, but the paper is easily the most overwhelming area, and it has got to get under control.
• Clean out my car
• Organize the closets
• Go through / organize the kitchen cabinets

The list is not too crazy so we'll see how it goes. I've been reading a lot of FlyLady so hopefully that helps me get motivated. Here goes nothing!

"Painted Petals"

I took my and second card making class at Archivers today and enjoyed it muchd more than the first one I took. The class was "Painted Petals" and focused on using Distress inks to "water color" stamped images. How beautiful! One of my favorite cards we made was this one with some adorable hummingbirds:

 


Of course I couldn't resist buying the stamp to take home. Here's what I've come with so far:

Cuttlebug Quilting / Masculine Birthday Card

I've been pretty obsessed with flowery, glittery cards lately, so I wasn't really sure how to go about making a masculine birthday card. I decided that leaning toward browns / neutral colors would do the trick. I also decided to use a technique I've been wanting to try lately - "Cuttlebug Quilting." This technique admittedly sounds pretty girly, but I think it worked out great.

Supplies: 
Cuttlebug "Textile" Embossing Folder
Cuttlebug "D'vine Swirl" Embossing Folder
Nestabilities "Classic Squares"
Inkadinkado Chalk Ink

Valentine's Day & More

I've been really loving these little fabric Prima flowers lately. I think that they are perfect for Valentine's day!

Some supplies for this multi-purpose card..

Hero Arts Beautiful Peacocks clear stamp
Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder
Bright gemstone embellishments

Vintage Christmas Cards

  It's the most wonderful time of the year! I whipped up these vintage-inspired Christmas cards last night while watching Rudolph.

Hopefully the Christmas spirit will inspire me to be a little crafty-er and update my poor neglected blog!

Supplies used:

•  Christmas past double sided paper pad 8x8
• Textile texture embossing folder
• Festive stickles

Overdue!

Oh Blogger, I've neglected you so...

The past few months have been a blur to me. I got promoted, got married, finished school, and bought more yarn than is really necessary. I've been a little busy to be uploading a blog, but I have been a crocheting machine.

Today I finished this super cute elephant for one of my husband's friends. I could make this a super lengthy update about my awesome honeymoon in Maui, my new job as an auditor or the dilemma of my rent increasing, but I really think that this elephant is sufficient. The pattern is from Tiny Crochet Animals by Tamie Snow and is only slightly modified. 
I used I Love This Yarn in Medium Blue. I find that he is adorable.

More projects to come... Christmas is approaching!

DIY Wedding Project: Flower Girl Basket

 

This is the first do-it-yourself project I have embarked on for the wedding. The whole thing was pretty simple and cost less than $5 to make, which isn't bad considering some baskets can cost $40-$50. The ribbon is pretty long on the sides right now, but I plan on cutting it down a bit once I have access to my flower girl and I see how it looks when she holds it. 

Materials:

Small wicker basket

Lavender satin (less than one yard to cover the whole thing)

Hot glue/glue gun

Ribbon (two colors, silver and lavender)

Valentine's Card!

Wedding planning has kicked into high gear and I have been SUPER busy lately, but I did find some time to make a couple Valentine's cards!
This one is my favorite. The SVG is from Stacky Scraps. She has tons of adorable cartoon character SVGs on her site. Hello Kitty has always had a special spot in my heart, so here she is:

 

Some supplies:

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - D'Vine Swirl 

Round Gemstone Embellishments

Wedding Planning Update

The wedding is less than five months away! I can't believe how close we are getting after being engaged for nearly two years. Recent updates include:

• The bridesmaid dresses have been purchased
• We met with the photographer we will most likely hire
• We have meetings with two bakeries to try cupcakes in the next few weeks
• We selected our invitation style
  

Most of the major things are finally starting to come together. We need to actually book the photographer, find a DJ, think about a hair stylist, blah blah blah...

Since we are so close, the DIY projects have started in full force. I have been bringing home items from work every day for potential centerpiece ideas. In fact, I just special ordered a gazillion tealight holders for us. Good thing I have an employee discount!
I also plan on making our guestbook and the flower girl basket. I'm not thinking about too many other projects right now since I already have five nights of school plus six days of work every week on my plate.

We're counting down!

Operation Write Home

With all of the holiday madness going on right now, I haven't had a lot of time to post anything terribly interesting here. I did want to take a moment to highlight an important cause, however.

I have been spending the past few months trying to make some nice cards for an organization called Operation Write Home. This organization accepts handmade cards from crafters all over the country and sends them to the troops that are stationed overseas. The troops use these cards to send back to their families for holidays, birthdays, or just because.

I hope everyone takes a second to check out the website. Think about sending in some cards yourself; they could always use more!

Simple Christmas Card

Christmas time is definitely upon us! The fire is going, the stockings are hung, and the tree has been trimmed! I have made/bought a lot of my gifts far, but I still have a few items on my list. One thing that is definitely consuming my time is making Christmas cards. I've made a few very detailed ones, but I also wanted to make something that I could mass produce fairly quickly to fill up the slots on my card list. I opted to put the Cricut away for these cards and just stick with my Cuttlebug (which was actually an early Christmas present for me from Daniel).

I used the basic stamp die and gift box stamp embossing folder that comes with the machine, as well as the Snowflakes embossing folder. I cranked out a bunch of the embossed stamps and embossed snowflakes on some Christmas-patterned paper I picked up from work. After adhering the paper to basic A2 cards, I stuck three present stamps on each card with some pop up dots. The result is not the most intricate card ever, but it takes very little time and still looks very festive.

Save the Date SVG

Today is a big day in wedding planning news: I mailed my Save the Date cards! Unbelievable! Of course I have a few extras for a scrapbook that I am already planning. I have a whole layout for the cards and envelopes in my head, so I decided that I needed a nice "Save the Date" title to put on the top.
It turned out pretty nice, I think... it might even work well if you are adventerous enough to make your own Save the Date cards.
Some of the lines are pretty delicate, so if you do cut this, be careful lifting it off of the mat.
Download Save the Date SVG

Octo Claus Card

Octo Claus is made with the SVG file I posted yesterday. I think he is a adorable!
The Santa hat I used came from My Cricut Scrapbooking.

The background is snowflake patterned vellum over a paper from the Old World stack by DCWV.

Octopus SVG

There are simply not enough octopus SVG files out there. I've been thinking of a cute Christmas card in my head- Octo Claus. My mom is a huge octopus fan, so I plan on making the card for her featuring this guy with some googly eyes and a Santa hat. It sounds crazy, I know.
You can download the strangely un-Christmas-like octopus here:
Octopus SVG

Cricut Demos @ Work

In an attempt to boost our sales at work, we've decided to do Cricut demos the next few weekends. Who gets to do these demos? You guessed it.... me! I've been playing round with some cartridges at home to try to think of easy and fun projects to show off that will stir up some interest in customers. I've decided to try to sell off some of our glass blocks as well, so I made some using the Cricut.

 

The Holiday Cheer SVG used on the smaller of the glass blocks is from SVG Cuts. Everything else is either from Stretch Your Imagination, Christmas Cheer, or Joys of the Season.

If I can sell at least a machine and a cartridge, or several glass blocks, I'll be happy!

Top 10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

Time to get on my soap box a little bit and share this information from the ASPCA:

Top 10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

1. Your female pet will live a longer, healthier life.
   Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying your pet before her first heat offers the best protection from these diseases.
   
   
2. Neutering provides major health benefits for your male.
   Besides preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.
   
   
3. Your spayed female won't go into heat.
   While cycles can vary, female felines usually go into heat four to five days every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for mates, they'll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes all over the house!
   
   
4. Your male dog won't want to roam away from home.
   An intact male will do just about anything to find a mate! That includes digging his way under the fence and making like Houdini to escape from the house. And once he's free to roam, he risks injury in traffic and fights with other males.
   
   
5. Your neutered male will be much better behaved.
   Neutered cats and dogs focus their attention on their human families. On the other hand, unneutered dogs and cats may mark their territory by spraying strong-smelling urine all over the house. Many aggression problems can be avoided by early neutering.
   
   
6. Spaying or neutering will NOT make your pet fat.
   Don’t use that old excuse! Lack of exercise and overfeeding will cause your pet to pack on the extra pounds—not neutering. Your pet will remain fit and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food intake.
   
   
7. It is highly cost-effective.
   The cost of your pet's spay/neuter surgery is a lot less than the cost of having and caring for a litter. It also beats the cost of treatment when your unneutered tom escapes and gets into fights with the neighborhood stray!
   
   
8. Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community.
   Stray animals pose a real problem in many parts of the country. They can prey on wildlife, cause car accidents, damage the local fauna and frighten children. Spaying and neutering packs a powerful punch in reducing the number of animals on the streets.
   
   
9. Your pet doesn't need to have a litter for your children to learn about the miracle of birth.
   Letting your pet produce offspring you have no intention of keeping is not a good lesson for your children—especially when so many unwanted animals end up in shelters. There are tons of books and videos available to teach your children about birth in a more responsible way.
   
   
10. Spaying and neutering helps fight pet overpopulation.
    Every year, millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized or suffer as strays. These high numbers are the result of unplanned litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering.

Source: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter/spay-neuter-top-ten.html

Wedding Planning News

As of this point in wedding planning land:

• The dress is ordered
• The venue is booked (Grant-Humphreys Mansion)
  
• The florist is booked (Plum Sage Flowers)
  
• The wedding party has been selected
• The Save the Dates are in production
• And we have a tasting scheduled with a caterer this weekend.

Only eight million other little things to go.... and eight months!

Christmas Crafts...the Beginning

I guess I started going on about Christmas a little too soon, because we have gotten over this whole fall thing and gone straight into winter. Here in Colorado we got a ton of snow dumped on us on Wednesday and Thursday. Some parts of Golden had two feet, and here in my parking lot there was at least a foot. School has been canceled the past few nights, so I've had some time to get my brand new apartment nice and messy with craft projects. I'm thinking Christmas presents already....
Amazingly, my work was not closed the past couple days. There are those few people who will drive straight into a winter wonderland to get some craft supplies. I picked up some supplies of my own to begin making those glass block lights I have seen all over. There are so many different possibilities! For my first attempt, I decoupaged some Christmas patterened tissue paper I had to the front and back of the block. This was super easy, since the pattern was already there, and super cheap, since I already have boxes of Christmas tissue paper laying around. (I have a problem with buying gift wrap paraphenelia.)
I have plenty of other ideas for the next few ones.... vellum cut with my Cricut in Christmas designs would be pretty, too. I've seen people make these for every season and they always look great. Here's my first attempt:

I got everything from my work, except the tissue paper. We sell the blocks that are pre-drilled, which makes adding the lights a breeze.

Glass Blocks

35 Count White Lights

Floral Ribbon

Snowflake SVG File

I know, I know, Halloween hasn't even passed yet, but I already have Christmas cards on my mind. If there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's snowflakes, so I'm sure I'll be making several more of them between now and December. Here's the first of many, I'm sure.
Download Snowflake SVG here

Where the Wild Things Are!!!!!

I was lucky enough to go see Where the Wild Things Are on Friday night, and it was definitely worth the wait! While I agree with most critics that the movie is not necessarily for little kids, it makes adults feel like they are a kid again. It also makes you re-think how you treat your fellow adults, especially the ones that you love. I left with such a strong emotional connection to the movie that I knew it had done the book justice. Obviously a screenwriter is forced to embellish a children's book with only ten sentences, but they really went in the right direction.
The book has had a soft spot in my heart for years and years and years. I can't imagine being a kid and not reading it. Maybe that's why I find myself donating to classrooms who are interested in purchasing the book for their students. Here's a whole list of them that need help getting the book.

Of course, immediately after leaving the movie, I started thinking about making Wild Things cards. How cute would it be to send a birthday card that says, "Let the wild rumpus begin!" I went home and starting working on a SVG file. The tree was pretty time conusming. Hopefully this one gets a lot of use, I love it. You can download it here:
Wild Thing SVG File