Gifts for Greg

Hello Happy Wednesday, I had some time today so I'm finishing off my Christmas tags and gifts for Greg. We're off to the Christmas market tonight so that will be fun and we can enjoy a Gluhwein! I decided to make a little pillow box for Greg to hold a cake decorating gift I got him so I cut the Pillow Box at 5.25 inches on Art Philosophy in some striped cardstock. I cut the label from Art Philosophy too at 2.5". I used Doodlecharms to cut out the Reindeer at 1.5". I stamped a greeting and used some scraps of Santa ribbon I had. For the other item I made a chocolate bar wrapper, underneath is a Ghiradelli Peppermint chocolate bar so I wrapped it in green star paper and a scrap I had left of the striped cardstock. I used some borders I had in my box and then I used A Quilted Christmas to cut out the jolly Santa (this is my favourite Santa out of all my Cricut Cartridges). I used a Close to my heart stamp and cut out circles for that. Sorry about all my pens and stuff in the side there lol, I wanted to get the photo on before we go out. Thanks for looking : )

I'm a winner

Good afternoon just wanted to share some good news that I won a challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut's blog, I entered a Christmas card last week and won I was so happy and surprised, I've won a $25 Gift Certificate to use at Verve Stamps so I feel like Santa has come a bit early in the crafting department.

You can check out my win here 

We are off to the Christmas market tonight looking forward to that : ) Have a nice day!

Tag for Greg

Hello Happy Snowy Monday it's just started snowing here and it's time to go out typical oh well it's nice to go out and see Ivy with Greg and we'll play in the park so I"m happy!

I made this tag for Greg last week (along with many others) but I'm going to enter this one in a challenge here over at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog have a challenge to make anything but a card so I chose to exhibit my tag. I'm also entering it into a challenge here over at Bitten by the Bug where they want you to make a tag as well.

 I cut the tag from Art Philosophy it's a fold over tag in Kraft cardstock. I cut this at about 4". I cut another smaller layer in red about 3.25" and embossed it with the Argyle Cuttlebug folder. I printed a sentiment "Just for Choo" (sorry it's a bit hard to see) on red and added that along with some green ribbon and blingy fancy tape. I cut the train about 1.5" from the Gingerbread Cartridge (so cute). I know Greg will love this tag, this one might even be kept and used on a later scrapbook page. Have a nice day, thanks for looking!

Cushions

Hello Happy Sunday I thought I would show you the first sewing project I've made here and the first project I used my Cricut Vinyl for. Mum sent me a magazine and they had some cushions in there for Christmas so I thought I would try it using my Cricut and Vinyl as I've been wanting to try this for ages. So yesterday we went to Joann's and I got some red material and some snowman material and some Polyfill to stuff them with. It was very easy to make the cushions, Greg was there for the first one in case I needed help but the second one I did on my own. I used my Winter Wonderland cartridge and cut out the Merry Christmas with the glittery vinyl and ironed it on my cushion before I put the stuffing in. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Next time I make a cushion I'm just going to watch some video's on how to make the covers with the removable inserts so I can make a few more and swap them around but for now I made two simple ones with Polyfill. Chockie bear likes them too and I love how they look on our couches.

Another Christmas card

Hello I have a card to show you that I made tonight, I was lucky enough to win some blog candy from a blog hop I did recently, I thought that I had just won the lantern die and the matching stamp set but when I got my parcel today I saw that Teresa (the lady I won it from) had included all sorts of other bits and pieces, it was a lovely surprise, I'm looking forward to using all of my goodies, so I decided to make her a Christmas card. I used a card that I had in my stash and did a layer with some green spotty paper. I cut a fancy shape from my Art Philosophy Cartridge and embossed it with my Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder. I used my Winter Wonderland cartridge for the Merry Christmas sign which was cut in layers. I added some gems to finish. I hope Teresa likes my card, I will mail it tomorrow! : ) Have a nice weekend.

Christmas Card for a nice person.

Hello I've got a Christmas card today to show you that I made for a girl on a knitting forum I belong to, she was really kind and sent me 3 patterns to try as a Christmas gift. I'm not used to complete strangers being so kind. So I decided to make and send her a Christmas card to say thank you and Merry Christmas. She lives in Illinois too. I used a red card base and then I cut a strip of green to which I embossed this in my Cuttlebug Candy Cane folder. I cut a 3.25 inch fancy circle from my Cricut Artiste Cartridge in kraft and then a 2.75" one out of some chevron paper. For the stocking I used my Christmas Cheer cartridge and cut this out at 2.25 inches. Before I stuck everything down I wound some green and white bakers twine around the embossed strip. I had a sentiment in my stash and I just matted this onto a scrap of mirrored green card.

I've also decided to enter this card into the Mojo Monday challenge here 

and

FCCB Challenge #190 Holiday Cards here

Thanks for looking.

Christmas Dog Treats

Hello Happy Snowy Sunday here I am glad to be inside with Greg and I've got a bad cold so it's good to be inside and warm. It's a good day to do some baking too, I baked some treats for some of the regular dogs I walk as I love them and love to bake so what better. For Miss Ivy though she is extra special so she deserves a bit more, So she got more treats and in a special box, Greg even made her a special wreath which was two bits of the dough wound together and formed into a wreath shape it's also a bit like her rope that she loves so much! The recipes I used were all natural one was Peanut Butter Pumpkin and the other was Apple Carrot. The other dogs got some treat bags full of treats. I made some special tags on my Cricut, I used Art Philosophy for the tags and Create a Critter for the dogs and bones. I used a stamp for the greetings. I look forward to the doggies verdicts! Have a nice day.

Christmas Crackers

 Hello I made these Christmas Crackers a little while ago but haven't had chance to put them on my blog til today so here they are. I used my Artiste Cartridge to cut them out, some tuille for the bows on the ends and Greg gave me his wrapped little gift for me and Greg has a little gift and joke in there from me, sorry about the photos, this was the best I could do, I think they will look lovely on the Christmas table.

Christmas Cutlery Holder

Hi everyone Happy Thursday, I've got 2 cute little cutlery holders to show you today. I got a Joann's catalogue last week and they had some nice ideas. I took some inspiration from a Cutlery holder they had in there from David Tutera's products and I thought I would make my own using my Cricut. I cut 2 of everything for Greg and I. So first I cut a 5 x 7 postage stamp style rectangle from Art Philosophy from some lovely glittery paper (Greg bought me a great stack last time he went away for work), I also cut 2 more from some green mirror card (from the same stack) and just glued the sides and bottom. I then used my Artbooking cartridge to cut the red lattice layers. I sized everything in the Cricut Craft Room as it made it a lot easier. I then cut 2 green patterned borders from Artbooking as well. I cut 2 fancy labels from Elegant Edges and then from Doodlecharms I cut the cute reindeer face and Santa. I added some Christmassy cord through some holes I punched and I made up one for the photo, I'll do the other one nearer to Christmas. I tied some gold chiffon ribbon around the cutlery and added a tag. Thanks for looking.

More Christmas cards

Hello just showing some more cards I've made over the past couple of days, mostly stamping and cuts from my Art Philosophy Cartridge. The bauble is from my Winter Wonderland cartridge and I stamped and embossed in white. Thanks for looking : )

Treat Bags

Hello I made these treat bags today. Every year I just do a small treat for the owners of the dogs I walk to say thanks for letting me look after their pooch. I just used plain brown lunch bags and I cut some off the top with pinking shears and then punched two holes. I stamped a greeting in black and then a little candy cane treat on each side. I filled them with the chocolates in the photo, Greg and I sampled the one in the silver wrapper, wow they were nice, they were an Italian one and tasted like coconut. The other is a classic Ghiradelli square, they bring out the Christmas peppermint bark flavour each year and that is very nice also.

I've half completed the treat bags for the dogs, I'm just waiting on the Christmas dog biscuits to come in at the shops.

Have a nice day!

Christmas cards

Hello from a snowy Chicago, can't believe the snow stared already, oh well it's nice to be inside looking at the snow falling and glad we're in here together!

I made some simple but yet nice cards to give to the owners of the dogs I walk, I'll be doing a few more but these are the first two. A new Joann store opened up near us on the weekend so I got a great box of glittery and sparkly cards for only $4 so I used two of these and also whilst at Joann's I got a great UK magazine called "Make Christmas Cards" it came with lots of free goodies including papers, sentiments and some clear stamps. I thought the reindeer stamp was so cute so I decided on using him for these cards and coloured him in using chalks and markers. I also used some of the paper and sentiments. I cut the oval and circle from my Elegant Edges cartridge.

I also give my dog parents a little treat as a thank you for asking me to care for their dog, usually a little bag of chocolates so I'll put the card with this and a little bag of treats for the dogs and everyone will have a Merry Christmas : )

Forever Friends bear card for Christmas

Hi everyone Happy Friday, the sun is shining here which is nice but it's cold but to look on the bright side it's sunny!

I made this card for my friend Christina in Germany for Christmas, I love the Forever Friends bear and I'm sure she does too so I''m sure she will like her card. I used a white square card and then I matted on top a red spotty later as well as a strip of light green and grey spotty paper. I used my Teresa Collins December 25th cartridge to cut out the circle frame. I used Art Philosophy to cut out the green circle and stamped a sentiment and did faux stitching with a gel pen. I added the bear to finish.

Greg's Christmas Card

Hello everyone I haven't put anything on here for a while I've been enjoying my knitting when I have time (which isn't a lot at the moment) and my skills are constantly improving but I decided to make another card for Greg for Christmas as I did make him one but I felt it was more of a wintery themed card in the end, so I'll still give him that but I made a Christmas one as well. I cut a snowglobe card shape from my Doodlecharms cartridge, I put it in the Cricut Craft Room to make it into a card. I cut a layer from some snowy paper and then cut my own bit of "snow" to which I added glitter. I cut a Christmas tree from Art Philosophy and decorated with rhinestones. I cut my font from Simply Charmed and I used a cute Forever Friends die cut I got with a magazine. I know Greg will love this, hope you like it too : )

Anniversary card

Hello I finished off another card this afternoon using a card all scraps, except for the stamp. My friend Conny sent me some of these cute Forever Friends stamped images a while back and I thought it would be nice on an anniversary card. Hope you like it!

Easel Christmas Card

Hello here is a card I made and finished today it took a while as I've had to do it in bits and pieces due to lack of time! I like Easel cards so I used my Cricut to make this one using scalloped circles from Art Philosophy. I cut a circle with a Christmas tree aperture cut out from Art Philosophy as well and used an adhesive sheet with green glitter on top, I added some rhinestones to the tree. I cut smaller scalloped ovals and stamped my sentiment, hope you like my card : )

13th anniversary

Hello I have a page that I made today on our recent anniversary, I haven't done any scrapbooking in a while as I've been getting Christmas things done but I was looking forward to scrapbooking these photos. I started with a pink cardstock base then added some hearts pink paper. I cut 2 borders in pink from Artbooking then added 2 more patterned borders from my stash. I added a heart cut from Art Philosophy around the number 13. I cut the title from Chalkboard Fonts and the butterfly from Artiste. I added various stickers and a little spinning embellishment. I did a strip of journaling on the computer. I love these photos as Greg made such a beautiful cake I love how proud he looks but then I am very proud of him too!

Snowman card

Hello everyone Happy Thursday I have another Christmas card to show you I don't have many more to do now, so I may take a break for a bit and do some scrapbooking, we'll see.

This one I really liked how it turned out. I used a blue card and then some snowman patterned paper. I cut a fancy oval from some spotty paper from my Elegant Edges cartridge. I cut a scalloped oval in a scrap of blue star paper I had from the same cartridge. The little banner is cut from Artiste and stamped and the Snowman is cut from my Artbooking cartridge (he's so cute). I just went around his hat and scarf with a sparkly glitter pen. Hope you enjoy my card.

Reindeer card

Hello hope you are having a nice Wednesday, I made this card today using a few of my Cricut Cartridges. For the card I used my Artiste cartridge. I cut the layers and the tree branch from Art Philosophy and the reindeer was from the Winter Wonderland cartridge. I stamped a greeting at the bottom and added some tinsel around the reindeer's neck and sequins have made a comeback in the papercrafting world so I dug out my sequins and added them to the branch. Hope you like my card.

Joy fold card

Hello another card I made today, this one is a "joy fold" card, a new one I thought I would try. It's not hard to do and I found the tutorial on YouTube. I just used red card and red snowflake paper. I punched a holly border on silver glitter paper. I cut the holly from the Winter Wonderland cartridge in layers. I cut out 2 circles one scalloped in green and a plain circle in white and stamped my greeting. I also stamped a greeting inside.

Christmas card for Greg

Hi hope you are having a nice Tuesday it's cold and dull here and they say maybe some snowflakes later! Don't like that, but lucky it's warm indoors. I made this card today for Greg for Christmas, I think it turned out very cute. I used a blue card and then a snowy background paper. I cut a scalloped circle from Art Philosophy and stamped my greeting. I also stamped the snowman and coloured him in and cut him out. I cut my branch from my Serenade cartridge and also stamped the little bird onto the blue and also stamped him on white and cut out his wing and hat and coloured those in. I added some snowflakes and cut out my "snow" out of white felt. Hope you like it, I'm hoping Greg loves it too : )

Merry Fishmas

Hi Happy Friday, I have a card today to show you that I just finished off today. I made this for my brother who loves to go fishing so I combined a fishing and Christmas card in one! I made a square card from kraft cardstock using Art Philosophy and then a scalloped square layer from the same cartridge. I cut the fish in 2 layers from Create a Critter and then the label on the bottom was from George and Basic Shapes. I printed out my sentiment "Merry Fishmas" on the computer. I added a little felt Santa hat, very cute isn't it? Have a nice weekend.

Jingle

Hi again, the sun has come out now it's nice, it's been raining and cold most of the day. So I made a card using a new cartridge, Greg bought me the Anna Griffin Winter Wonderland cartridge for our anniversary so I was eager to try it out. There are some lovely images on there and I loved the "Jingle" sentiment. So I started with a red card, then a green layer which I embossed with my Candy cane folder. I cut out another layer in music paper. I added a red scalloped circle and a sticky border. I cut out the Jingle word in 3 layers and glued them all together. I added a real little jingle bell with some bakers twine so it really does jingle! I then added a silver gemstone to the "I". Hope you like my card.

Dear Santa..I've been nice..or naughty?

Hi everyone here is a card I made a week or so ago I just haven't got around to putting on here till today : ). I bought the Dear Santa stamp for another reason but I decided to use it on this card too, it turned out cute. I guess there are a few naughty people around who could get the naughty box ticked including our canine friend Little Miss Ivy.  I  used a holly border punch for the green strip of paper and some Christmassy ribbon. I used my Cricut A Quilted Christmas to cut out my jolly Santa. Hope you like my card.

My first knitted toy - Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

Hello everyone, I am really pleased to present a knitted version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, I think he turned out so cute and I'm very proud of him. It was my first toy I've knitted and sometimes challenging but I persevered and I got a great result, which proves you should never give up! Chockie bear and Rudolph are best mates now as you can see, I think I'll leave Rudolph sitting there until it's time to put up our little Christmas tree. My wonderful Greg helped me put him all together, what a man, big hugs to him.Hope you like my little reindeer.

Surprise inside Christmas Card

Hello, happy weekend, hope you are enjoying your Sunday (or soon Monday in Australia). I haven't done any papercrafting for a bit, I've been using my spare time to do my knitting, I've finished my reindeer, just have to put him together, so today I've been able to do a Christmas card, I realised I had better get a move on with them. I bought this stamp set a while ago from Michael's it was so cute and then the other day I had a 50% off coupon so I got the matching honeycomb paper you need to go with this set. I watched a YouTube video on how to do it as it takes a bit of thinking and working out where to stamp etc on the inside of the card. I cut my card then scored 2 score lines in the middle to make a small spine. I stamped my snowman then stamped my bauble onto the honeycomb paper pad and cut this out, then it gets glued. when the card is opened the honeycomb opens up and you have a 3D bauble, very cute. I coloured in my snowman and stamped part of my sentiment. For the outisde I did a spotty layer, then cut a green patterned flower shape and embossed a red circle with my snowflake embossing folder. I stamped my snowman and coloured him in and cut him out. I stamped the first part of my greeting and layered this onto some red and the card was done I was really happy with this, a very cute card.

Another Autumn Card

Here is another card I made using scraps I had lying around. I made the card from my Art Philosophy Cartridge it had the leaves cut out already so I cut this out in white at 5.5 inches. Next I cut another one in the patterned yellow paper but cut one half off and placed it on top. Now for the inside it uses a masking technique I recently learned. I cut another card using a scrap piece of card and cut one side off. For the leaf side I just used reposition able tape and stuck it on top of the leaf shape. I then used my ink pads and dabbed all over it with brown ink like you would a stencil. I carefully took the mask off and voila a lovely stamped leaf branch. For the rest of the front of the card I used two borders and then a stamped greeting. Time to get dinner now I recently walked down to Whole Foods and got a cupcake treat for us it was a nice treat as we don't' eat them often. Time for dinner now have a nice weekend.

Autumn/Fall Card

Hi Happy Friday, hope you are having a nice day and will have a nice weekend. I made a card today for my friend Christina in Germany, she sent me a lovely Autumn card in the mail and I got it yesterday and it was so pretty with all the leaves and golden colors, so I decided to make her one as well as Autumn is a nice time of year with all the pretty colors and leaves.

I started with a brown card and then cut a lighter brown layer which I put through my Cuttlebug using a Darice tree embossing folder. I used white core cardstock so I got my sanding block and sanded the tree to distress it a bit and bring out the white. I then got out my chalks and coloured in the leaves with some orange. I used an Alphabet stamp set to spell out Fall in black ink. For the cute little squirrel I sized him in the Cricut Craft Room using Create a Critter at 1.5 inches cut in layers. I drew the face on myself with black marker. Hope you like my card and I'm sure Christina will : ).

I'm also going to enter my card in the following challenges:

CardzTV Colors of Fall
Bitten by the Bug 2 Fall Theme

Main Street

Hello I have a page today on our trip to Disneyland last year I realised after seeing the horse and carriage cut on my desk that I needed to finish it so here is the last page.

I started with some Mickey Mouse paper and then layered on another piece of red patterned paper and black patterned paper. I cut a green frame from my Artbooking cartridge to go around the photo of us. I added some stickers and then a horse and carriage cut my mum sent me from her Heritage Cartridge as I didn't have any images like this, it goes well with the photo of the horse and cart. Thanks for looking.

Ruby Mini Album

I have 2 pages I made quite a while ago on Ruby for the mini album I am making on her and I realised I forgot to share them. I really love the Christmas page as Ruby looks quite fed up with her reindeer antlers on so I thought the Not So Merry & Bright title fit well.

San Clemente

Hello Happy Tuesday I had some time this afternoon to finish a page on our visit to San Clemente this past August. I started with white card and then some dot paper for the background. I matted the photos onto blue. I added a floral border and some other floral and chipboard embellishments as well as a chipboard palm tree. I added some word stickers as well. For my title I used chipboard letters and rub ons. I added a chipboard word bubble on my photo and a rub on. Hope you enjoy my page.

Happy Day

Hi everyone, happy Friday, I am glad it's Friday we are going to the theatre tonight so looking forward to that.

I have a page today again from California this year, this is probably my favourite photo of the trip as Greg managed to get a great sunset photo of us but the flowers in the foreground also made the photo a lovely one.

I really love the chalkboard craze at the moment, it's a favourite of mine so I found this paper and knew it would make a great page. The paper came pre-printed with the little banner up the top and the title. I also bought the "You and Me" die cut on clearance and I like how it ties in with the chalkboard theme. On the banners I used white and black rub on letters to spell out the location and date. My lovely husband gave me that idea (thanks sweetie). I used some stickers to decorate and I used my Cricut to cut out the palm tree from Create a Critter and Straight from the Nest for the leaves. I used a small flower punch for the flowers and pearl gemstones for the centres. I really love how this one turned out so did Greg, hope you do too, have a nice weekend.

Coolin Off

Hello I have a page that I finished today of our California trip just in August. This one was at the beach in San Clemente. Greg and I had a great day on the beach and in the ocean. I used a sheet of ocean paper for the background then used my Artbooking cartridge to cut out the overlay. I cut the wavy frames for the photos from Artbooking as well as well as the title which was perfect as it was a hot day that day.

I added a strip of patterned summer word paper and some stickers I got from Big Lots in California (love that shop it's a treasure trove and the ones in California were even better than here). I added some trim and then cut an arrow from my Accent Essentials cartridge.

Beach Breakfast

Hi everyone, I'm back, I was on holiday with Greg in California and this is the first chance I've had as the dogwalking, gym and household things have been keeping me busy. I decided to do my first page on California, I really loved these photos of us in San Clemente in Orange County at The Fisherman's restaurant. It's right over the water and a lovely spot for breakfast.

I started with some white card and then a nice blue patterned piece which I cut a bit smaller. I then added another strip of striped paper and a border which I picked up in a pack from Big Lots in California. I added 2 epoxy stickers and then for the title cut out beach from Life's a beach then did the rest of the title in rub on letters. I cut out the heart bubble from Artbooking and then backed the negative part of it in blue paper. I used the heart from that near the title. I also cut the arrow from Artbooking and did some journaling behind it. For the final touch a shell embellishment. Hope you like my page : )

Third page on Ruby minialbum: Playtime

Hello I have another page I have made for Ruby's album, this one is called Playtime and Ruby really loved to play with her ball and toys as well as running around the park with us chasing her. I started with an 8 x 8 page and then cut a frame from Elegant Edges. For the title I cut the phrase from Nate's ABC "Playtime" and then added 2 embellishments and some ribbon.

Second page of Ruby mini album: Doggy Treats

Hello hope you are having a nice Tuesday, I put together a second page for our Ruby album. I"m keeping the pages quite simple in this album for most of the pages but for some I might add some journaling, we'll see. For this page I cut an 8 x 8 piece of glittery paper for the base and cut out some snowflakes in another shade of grey. I used my Nate's ABC cartridge to cut out the Doggy Treats title and then added a Woof bone sticker. In this picture Ruby was "shaking paws" for her treats she loved to do that even in the snow. She also loved the snow (unlike Greg and I!).

First page of mini album for Ruby

Hello I have a page to show you today on a 8 x 8 mini album I'm making on Ruby. We miss Ruby so much she was such a beautiful dog so I wanted to do an album on her so we can look through it and think of all the wonderful times we spent with Ruby.

I've taken a few days to do this but got the first page done. I started with a pink page and then some very cute owl and tree patterned paper. I found this at Michaels and I knew it was perfect as it matches the owls on her collar. Ruby was a real fashionista and had many beautiful collars. I cut a black frame from Elegant Edges for the photo and then a strip of green card which I punched with a Martha Stewart flower edger punch. I had some pink sparkly chipboard letters in my stash so I used these for the title and also some chipboard flowers with a gemstone in the middle. Two little hearts on the frame finish it. I look forward to showing you more pages.

My Sunshine

Hello Happy Monday hope you had a nice weekend, we had a nice weekend with our friend visiting from Germany. I decided to do a page today on one of the photos taken over the weekend, both Greg and I like this photo of us at Red Mango enjoying a frozen yoghurt so I decided to use my new Artbooking cartridge to do a layout of it. I really like how I can now use Artbooking in the Cricut Craft room as I can resize any of the images to customize the layout. For this one I used a patterned piece as the background then resized the sunshine overlay to be 11 x 11 inches in a yellow glittery paper. I cut out the I love you bubble out of some yellow patterned paper and placed some blue underneath. I cut a tag and did my journaling in Publisher for his and also cut out the font in red. I used my Sweet Shoppe cartridge to cut out the little frozen yoghurt and added some glossy accents on the cherry to make it shiny. I added a butterfly sticker and some buttons to finish.