A Christmas 'Thank You!' Card

I have a scrapbooking friend who creates wonderful layouts!  Last Summer she helped me with some of the pages that I did for S and G, and on Christmas Day,  I opened up a wonderful package stuffed with crafting goodies that she had mailed to me.  Yeah!

Here's the 'Thank You!' card I made this morning for my friend. (I've had this idea in my head for a patchwork stocking for months. Thank goodness it is now out and I can get on with other stuff! KWIM?)

The stocking shape is from Echo Park in the Silhouette store.  I could have used any of the Cricut Christmas carts but I find it easier to duplicate, align and weld with the Cameo software and I needed to make the top of the stocking open up to add my sentiment. Hope you can stand one more hexagon card!

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Merry Christmas!

Hoping your days are filled with joy!   : ) Christine

I Love Tags...

but I am so intimidated by the care and creativity that goes into making them!  Last year I hit on the idea of monograms cut with the Cricut from American Crafts foil paper.  They were gorgeous!
This year my media of choice was, of course,  DCWV Glitzy Glitter paper.   I found this monogram set at the Silhouette on-line store and cut the letters at about 2 inches.  (It's called Winter Monogram Flourishes.)
I start out color coordinated...     So pretty, much easier than tags, and everyone always knows the gift is from DH and me!  LOL!

And look how pretty my sister's 'J' looks on her package!  Thanks for visiting with me today.
                                : ) Christine

Home(work) for the Holidays

Most of the family got together last weekend to celebrate DH's birthday.  Such fun!  The DGDs had just received their first trimester report cards and we were asking, as Grandparents MUST do, how they had progressed.  S confessed that she had been asked to master her multiplication facts through 4 over the holidays.  Poor S!  Everyone tried to help by springing multiplication questions on her at random moments!

Later that evening, I remembered the 'Flip Chute' that I had made 100 years ago when student teaching and how that had made the memorization process a fun game.  DH did his part by finishing off the carton of chocolate milk and after it was washed and dried, I added the card stock chutes inside and covered the outside with DCWV paper.  To make it seasonally appropriate, I used my Imagine and the Snow Angel cart to decorate the outside.  I finished off with plenty of Stickles and bling! 

If you haven't ever seen one of these before, you read off the question and post the card in the top slot.  You must answer the question before the card flips and presents the answer through the lower slot.  Very cute!   Is your mind racing with possibilities?  Parts of speech, states and their capitals, historical dates?  LOL!   

I am linking my Flip Chute up with the challenge at

Exploring Cricut . " It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas "


and the

FCCB Challenge #191 Anything but a Card, Holiday Ed.

 Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Brrrr!

Here in the PNW we are trying, like the rest of the country, to keep warm! I did tear myself away from the wood stove this afternoon to make another attempt at a floating easel card using my E.  ( I just LOVE this design by Karen B. at Sizzix but don't have the necessary dies to create a card the 'official' way!)

I had in mind this week's challenge at Cardz TV and the cold, cold, weather reminded me of a time long ago when we lived in Northern Alberta.  In winter, the Fire Dept. constructed a skating rink on a vacant lot close to our house and flooded it.  Every day after school it was filled with children practicing figure skating, playing skate tag, and having a glorious time.  Later, the ice hockey players would take over the rink and we'd hear the thud of the puck hitting the boards until late at night. 

This ice skater cut from Winter Woodland is a favorite of mine. Her dress is a scrap of my precious Theresa Collins paper flocked to resemble the furry outfits of the little girls in their 'tippy toe' skates.  I flocked and sparkled the tree too. 

I am HOPING Santa brings me a lightbox this year so that I can get some reasonable pictures of my stuff!  So, once again, my apologies for the quality of the photos.  I could NOT get a picture that didn't show the snowflake lines!  You can hardly see them in real life.   Aghhh!  Thanks for visiting with me today.  Stay warm!  : ) Christine

Cardz TV Go-To Galz Linky Party Challenge #9 

“Winter Wonderland"  

Create a card, layout or craft with a Winter scene.

So much for crafting plans!

Since the painters were painting the upstairs hallway as well as the great room, it was all taped and papered and covered in plastic and drop cloths!  No craft room access!   Aghhhh!  I spent the whole day watching "Downton Abbey' and trying to keep Cocoa from 'supervising' the painting process! 

Day 2,  I was prepared with a project prepped and ready on the kitchen table before the long suffering painters arrived to re-tape etc!  (Cocoa and Sam were banished outdoors since the sun was shining.)

This lollipop holder die came from My Creative Time, and is one of my favorite treat holders.  I have used it for Valentine's Day, Hanukkah, Halloween, July 4th, baby showers, to name a few occasions.  I have used it to hold mini bottles of hand sanitizer and hand cream, and stacks of mini chocolate bars, as well as various kinds of lollipops.  Pinterest has tons of ideas for decorating the holders.

Anyway, I made dozens of them yesterday as table decorations for a party.  They're not really blingy or sparkly as per request.  Gonna make some super fantastically sparkly ones as place name cards for my Christmas table as a reward for being so restrained!  LOL!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

What's a girl to do...

when DH announces that it is time to send out the Christmas cards to friends and family overseas and the resident card crafter is still making THANKSGIVING cards?  Why, run right over to SVG cuts and download their Merry and Bright files!

I love this first one because it uses scraps and like everyone else, I have boxes of scraps!  I added glittery tulle and sequins since I thought this design had a 'quilt' feel to it.

The 'JOY' shaped card came together quite quickly and is easy to mass produce although since I am quite incapable of making two cards exactly alike, embellishing took a little extra time.

The painters are coming in tomorrow, so I will be staying out of the way and crafting in my room.  What a sacrifice!  LOL!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Sparkle and Bling!

I had a lovely day yesterday!  I was invited back to school to help with some math testing for the end of the first trimester.  It was wonderful to see everyone and to get to know the new Kinders.
Lovely as that was, I was happy to leave at the end of the day knowing that I was free to play in my craft room.  No grading!  No lesson plans!  No Report Cards!

Here's what I was playing with - Christmas treat boxes sparkling and shining all ready for the latest challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!

                      Challenge #188: Sparkle and Bling

   I used Anna Griffin's Winter Wonderland cart to create the snowflake and poinsettia.  I do love the DCWV foil papers and their Glitzy Glitter line.  Can you see that I used my new TH Distress Glitter in the center of the poinsettia? I backed the embellies with glittery tulle from the Bridal aisle at J's and added some bling to the center of the snowflake.  Can't get much sparkly or blingy than that, right?  LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!   Happy Thanksgivukkah!  And thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

The first card of Christmas...

is quite nostalgic!  I made several 'quilt' cards way back before I bought my first Cricut but could NEVER get the pieces to fit together nicely.  I was reminded of this technique by Mary at CardzTV and as I have a friend or two who quilt, I resolved to try to make a Christmas quilt card.  

The idea of a button and thread on the center square is totally scraplifted from Mary and was a much nicer (and easier) embellishment than the faux stitching and knots I used to do.   I added a holly sprig from Winter Wonderland as this seems to be my favorite die cut this year and I have quite a few made up ahead of time. (They are easily put together when the resident football fan has possession of the TV remote!)

Thank you for visiting with me today : ) Christine

"What does the Turkey say?"

We had quite the PNW rain storm yesterday but that did not deter DH from taking the drift boat out to fish on the Lewis River!  After Dinner, he sat by a roaring fire drying his rods, line, and tackle boxes while watching Monday night football and I escaped to the craft room to get this card out of my head and onto paper!

My three DGC are enamored with Ylvis and the video "What does the fox say?" (I like it too!)   I have been seeing fox cards on Pinterest and wanted to make one for J  with an interactive element.  This is my first try at a teepee card and I love that there are THREE surfaces to decorate!  I used Create a Critter for the fox and the turkey - who is on an action wobble, and the stamp comes from CardzTV.

I am linking my project with

  "Count Your Blessings" 

challenge at 'Exploring Cricut'

Animal Crackers: Use an Animal

 challenge at 'Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog'

and the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2

You're a Turkey - Turkey Challenge 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting with me today!  Stay dry!  : ) Christine

  

Trigonometry anyone?

Last year I wanted to make a star fold card for my DSIL to wish him a 'Happy Hanukkah' but 45 report cards kinda got in the way!   So last night I went up to the craft room determined to figure it out.
I wanted the height of the equilateral triangle to be 6 inches and knew the angles had to be 60 degrees but where to go from there?   DH to the rescue and had it all worked out to 3 decimal places.  Three decimal places?  And where was the protractor?  
After wasting several sheets from my ugly paper stash, I did what I should have done to start with and looked it up on the Internet.   Peggy, at Daily Grace Creations had a tutorial here and with a bit of tweaking, it worked!   And here it is, sparkly DCWV paper and all!

Cool, huh?  Now, the first day of Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving this year and I found this little image on the Silhouette on-line store.  DSIL has a great sense of humor and will enjoy this sentiment - I hope!

Well, time to put the roast beef in the oven and bake a carrot cake - courtesy of Mr. Duncan Hines!  Enjoy the weekend!    Thanks for visiting with me today.   : ) Christine

Hershey Nugget Holiday Treats

I am LOVING this DCWV Holiday Glitzy Glitter stack!  It cuts wonderfully - just look at the camels' tails and blankets - and doesn't spread loose glitter inside my E, on the floor, over my desk and on my clothes!   Loving it!

These are the December treats for the OHM.  Mary at CARDZ TV made Halloween treats by stamping on address labels and wrapping them around Hershey Nuggets.  I had to try it, and then demonstrate to DH who thought that I had unwrapped and re-wrapped the nuggets and was a little dubious about taking them to the shelter!

Forgive the pictures!   It is a dark and dreary PNW day outside and I was endeavouring to show you the paper's lovely sparkle and shine.  The treat topper is from Elegant Edges and the cuts come from Inspired Heart. 

I am entering my treats in the Hiding in My Craftroom challenge using die cuts.  Pop over to see all the fun creations at

http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com

 HIMCR #124 - Die Cuts

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

MIA

Well, I HAVE been crafting -

eighteen of these little treat boxes for DH to take to OHM today.  When he told me that this would probably be his last volunteer day before Thanksgiving, I went into panic mode and scrambled to get them all done in time!  

Today, I plan to start on their Christmas treats.    

        Thanks for visiting on this rainy, PNW day!    : ) Christine

What to do with left-over Halloween candy...

... fill Thanksgiving treat boxes!  We had a wonderful weekend with our 3 grandchildren but the house went from bright, energetic and noisy, to dark, damp and dull when they left.  Unfortunately, I consoled myself with left-over Halloween candy as I set about cleaning up.  I HAD to do something with it before it all vanished and so I made these little treat boxes for Thanksgiving.

The box pattern comes from the Silhouette store and since I just love that Create A Critter turkey, I added him to the front instead of the one that came with the pattern.  A few leaves cut from the cart at 1" decorate the top.

I am linking my little box to the challenge at Exploring Cricut where the challenge is "Cricut Choice"   Make a card, layout, or paper craft using any cartridge and any theme, but it must include 1 pattern paper, 2 cricut cuts, and 3 different colors.  

and to the

Cardz TV Go-To Galz Challenge #39 

“THANKFUL" 

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Menu Planner

Roree Rumph posted the inspiration for my menu planner on the Cricut Circle Blog last year.  (I do miss popping on there with my morning cup of coffee and really hope that PC will revive the idea of a daily blog.  Facebook is just not the same!) I have made several of them for friends and family.

The papers and images come from the Imagine cart, 'Kate's Kitchen' and the menu cards are attached with velcro.  The board is inserted into a 12x12 pocket protector and three lines of magnetic tape ensure it sticks firmly to the 'fridge.

We have all our favorite dishes written on the cards and plan our week's menu before we grocery shop.  When we are being adventurous and trying a new recipe, we post a sticky note on the planner.  Just the other week, a Looneyspoons recipe for pork loin made the transition from sticky note to menu card!

The one card that doesn't change is "Fish and Chips' on Friday for, as our DD says, "The world would come to an end if Mom and Dad didn't eat fish and chips on Friday!"   And now you know what's for dinner tonight! 
                                Thanks for visiting with me.    : ) Christine

Bat Slider Card

... straight from the Silhouette store!   I was inspired by Katie from 'Crafting With Katie' to try a slider card and found this one ready to cut in the store.  After reading the directions, I watched a YouTube video and that made putting it together MUCH simpler.  (If you've never seen one of these interactive cards, the bat rolls as he 'flies' down the curved slit in the card. )  Now I can't wait to design one for myself - maybe one of the 'Five Little Pumpkins' rolling out of sight!

  Thanks for visiting with me today  : ) Christine

11/01/13      Just have to add a picture of J enjoying his Flying Bat card! 

Pop-Up Halloween Card

Only one more Halloween card to make now this one is made for my DGDs.   I like this simple mechanism and wish I could figure out how to attach something similar to the bottom of the card. Hmmm!
I used the Happy Hauntings cart again and Doodlecharms for the spiders.  I was trying to make a card to fit the color challenge at CardzTV but fear I may have used too much cream!  My spiders wouldn't show up against a purple background.   It is what it is!

Thanks for visiting with me today : ) Christine

More hexagons...

Do you have a stack of embossing folders that you've never used?  I have, but after creating this anniversary card, my stack is quite a bit shorter!

I really like the quiet gentleness of the CTMH Huntington paper but found I had to soften the corners of the hexagons with TH Distress Tea Dye to compliment the look.

Now I have to make this design again to use the rest of my unused embossing folder stack!

Thank you for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Monster Bash Luminaries

We had a lovely day out in the Gorge with some friends this weekend.  The weather was glorious and we had wonderful views of Mount Hood and Mount Adams as we toured the area around Hood River. Such fun!

I put together a couple of the luminaries from 'Monster Bash' to use as treat bags for our friends.  They were so easy to put together and looked quite spooky with the orange tea light flickering behind the haunted house.  I added some of their favorite chocolate treats and tied the top of the bags with black sheer ribbon.  Don't you just love this flocked paper from an old Martha Stewart Halloween stack?

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

        

           
         

Spider Time!

Fall is definitely in the air and the Halloween spiders are trying to cocoon my house in spider webs, yuck!  We SO enjoyed our end-of-the-year camping trip to Champoeg State Park with my sister.  We introduced her to Geocaching and I have to tell you that she is persistent!  LOL!

The RV is now cleaned and ready to be winterized and I was able to get back into my craft room to make these Monster Bash treat boxes for a local homeless shelter where DH volunteers.  And no, there isn't a pumpkin box top!  That was made with a little Gypsy magic. : )

   Thanks for visiting with me today.  :)  Christine

The Colors of Fall

This stamp came with my latest batch of CTMH goodies last week.  I love it!  I instantly thought of the Colors of Fall challenge over at CardzTV and here is my card.

Did you know you can run little pieces of metal through the Cuttlebug?  I 'm probably the last crafter in the U.S. to find this out but I love the embossed results.  Gonna try this on a Christmas card as soon as I can get the chaos in my craft room straightened! 

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Flying Witch Easel Card

Have you seen the wonderful 'Floating Easel' cards that are popping up on Pinterest lately?  I was sure there was a way to make one using a cut from one of the gazillion Cricut cartridges I own and here it is!

I used a card cut from French Manor for the base and folded it into the traditional easel card.  I added the frame cut from the same key and secured the witch with fishing line stolen from DH.
I also used the Monster Bash, Chic and Scary, and Paper Trimmings cartridges and now you know why it is SO important to have a gazillion cartridges!  LOL!

It was difficult to photograph the card since I kept getting so many confusing shadows.  But, it did look amazingly spooky!  Thanks for visiting today!  : ) Christine

Treat Boxes

Don't you just love these little treat boxes from Samantha Walker? Linda at the Paper Boutique blogspot featured them this week and I ran right over to the Silhouette store to download the file.  (Like I need an excuse to hang around the on-line store, right? LOL!)

The paper is from my new DCWV Pumpkin Patch stack and I filled the boxes with yummy chocolates.  We are having overnight visitors from Canada this weekend and since Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up soon, I plan to leave these little treat boxes in their room. 

It looks like a wet weekend coming up for us.  Hope your weather is better!  Stay dry and thanks for visiting with me.  : ) Christine

Birthday Cupcakes

We are just back from a lovely weekend camping with friends at Offut Lake.  While the fishing crowd fished off the dock and from boats, I glued together cupcakes and arranged and rearranged and rearranged them trying to find a pleasing effect.  The idea came from something I saw on Pinterest

(http://www.patchesofpink.com/2011/02/cupcake-picture-frame-what-to-do-with.html)

and I knew it would solve a little problem.

So... one of the things I miss is sending cards to our parents now that they are no longer with us.  I always feel the need to celebrate their birthdays in some visible way.  Hence the Cupcake Wall Decor.  
 I made two "Happy Birthday" tags, one pink and one blue, that can be attached with the butterfly clothes pin.  I can't wait to put it over my mantel for the first time on November 5th.  Look closely to find the cupcake that reflects one of my MIL's favorite activities!    LOL!
                         
                                  Thanks for visiting with me today.  :) Christine

Vinyl and the Silhouette

Here is one of my projects this week.  In the kitchen, we have white IKEA back splash panels which are easy peasy to clean but not very pleasing to the eye.  I decided to cut out the names of herbs and spices with 'Frosted Glass' vinyl from the Silhouette store and randomly apply them to the panels.  It was SO easy to do and the best thing is that I can remove the vinyl when I tire of it!

The photos are not the greatest, but you get the idea.  It was so much fun that I am walking around the house wondering what else I can vinyl!   LOL!  Thanks for visiting,  : ) Christine

A Silhouette Project

I am still learning the intricacies of my Silhouette Cameo and am often surprised at how the cut turns out!  This subway wall art piece is much 'blockier' than I had imagined and to soften the overall look, I went with this very curvy tree - which turned out far 'curvier' than I anticipated. But... I like it!  (Sorry about that window reflection on the glass over the piece!) 

Can you tell that I am missing decorating my Kindergarten classroom according to the season?  LOL!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Playing with hexagons...

is harder than you would think!  Being absolutely terrible at estimating quantities, I cut 8, (yes 8!) of the larger hexagons and then could only fit 3 or 4 on the card!  Naturally, I cut fewer of the smaller hexagons and, of course, had to go back and cut more!

It isn't easy to arrange them in a pleasing shape, especially when wearing a fuzzy sweater that acts as a hexagon magnet! 

Anyway, here are the two cards I managed to complete,  Not thrilled with either of them.  So, on to Plan B - totally scraplift all those beautiful hexagon cards on Pinterest.  Good plan!

Thanks for visiting : ) Christine