A Cheerful Thought.....

I made this "Cheerful Thought" for a crafty girlfriend of mine who recently left the SAHM world to return back into the full-time work force-Gulp!  Really-why???   OK...She'll read this so I'm only joking, really!

Anyways, I wanted to make her something to spice up her new office and of course make her feel a little guilty for leaving us other SAHM's because we'll just plain miss her....sigh.

I thought a vase of cheerful rosettes would look nice sitting in her office.  I love making rosettes and I usually just make them by hand but this time I wanted to play with a few of the unique cuts off the Ribbons and Rosette cartridge. 

I used Ribbons and Rosettes to cut various rosettes in different sizes:

4 1/2 inch Scallop rosette (pg 23)

3 1/2 inch Crown rosette (pg 66) 

2 1/2 inch Lattice rosette (pg 58)

1 1/2 inch hand-folded Fan rosette 

For the middle of the rosette's, I added flower Medallions (pg 53)  and stamped the centers with a some cheerful sentiments.  After the rosettes were assembled, I hot glued them onto dowels, hot glued the dowels inside the vase, added some colored rocks and wrapped a raffia bow and button around the vase.

My girlfriend works long hours and is away from her boys for most of the day now so I hope this gift brings her a few "Cheerful Thoughts" throughout the day.  Ha-who am I kidding?  I bet she just enjoys the peace and quite of her new office without battling boys daily.

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Thanks for looking!

Linking with:

My Craft Spot- Buttons & Bows

Jaihart- Link Up Party

Tatertots and Jello- Link Party

Die Cuttin Divas- Anything Goes

Celebrate the Occasion- Anything Goes

Use it Tuesday- 2 Stash Items ( Stamps/Raffia Ribbon/Dowels)

The Paper Variety...Paper Cone Wreath Tutorial

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for The Paper Variety on how to make Paper Cone Wreaths. 

I just love these types of wreaths 'cause they're bold, make a statement and are super easy and make!

BOLD, right?

Gorgeous papers, huh?  These papers are from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Kit  by American Craft that Cassie from Paper Issues sold through her Paper Shop.  Love these papers, it was hard to cut them up.....sigh....but totally worth it don't ya think?

Here's the tutorial so you can make your own:

Supplies Needed:

Hot Glue Gun

(guess I should of cleaned up my glue gun for the photo- Ack!)

8-12x12 sheets of double sided card stock

Fluid chalk or ink

1-12 inch cardboard circle

Cut pattered paper into 6x6 inch squares.   Roll them into cones and hot glue together.  You'll need to make approximately 17 cones for a 12" wreath.   Ink the edges of the cone as desired.

Pencil a circle template in the center of the the cardboard to use as a guide.  Hot glue the cones on  the cardboard following your template lines.

 

For the wreath's second layer, cut patterned paper into 4x6  inch pieces.  Roll them into cones and hot glue together.  You'll need to make approximately 17 cones also for the second layer.  Ink edges as desired.

 

Hot glue the 4x6 cones to cover the gaps between the first cone layer. 

Ahhhh....now Smile at your creation!

For the center of the wreath,  I added an 8 inch scallop circle and shadow cut from Cricut Elegant Edges and a sentiment cut from Gypsy Wanderings at 3.35 inches.    I laced Hug Snug seam binding ribbon  throughout the circle scallop and stuck in a couple of cute leaf stick pins.  These fun embellishments also came from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan kit.  So Yummy!

Here are a few more examples of Paper Cone Wreaths that I've made.....

Giving Thanks 

 Ornament Wreath

 I hope this tutorial inspires you to make a paper cone wreath statement and be BOLD!

Linking with:
Ribbon Carosel- Flowers
Pink Cricut- Link Up Party
Go Fish Challenge- Browns/Kraft
Craft-O-Maniac-Link Party
Cooking with Cricut- Pink/Ribbon/Flower

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge......You Did It!

It's that time of year, school's getting out and celebrations for Graduations at all levels are happening.  This week at Fantabulous Cricut we want to see your "You Did It" projects celebrating those special grads in your life.

My daughter is graduating from preschool this week.  She's super excited about this big event and keeps practicing  her "Gradulate" songs.

Here's what I made her for her special day.....

Yes- this is another Target dollar bin find that I've been hoarding in my "to do" pile for a while. It's actually a Paul Frank pencil holder that I just recovered with yellow paper.

The graduation cap is cut  from Locker Talk and I added some yellow twine to make a tassel.   I welded my daughter's name together using Opposites Attract and added a few layered stars to the top of the pencil cut from George and Basic Shapes.

She's 5 and it's only preschool graduation so there's no need to purchase an extravagant graduation gift like a computer, leather luggage or a even a car (Ha!) 'cause she'll be just as excited for some......

La La Loopsy's! 

Thanks for looking and linking up with FCCB this week!

Linking with:

4 Crafty Chicks- Graduation

Creative Cutter Room- Graduation

Exploring Cricut-Rarely Used Cartridge (Locker Talk) 

My Craft Spot- Congratulations

Celebrate the Occasion-Graduation

Scrapalicious- Altered Item

Garden Party Favors.....

   Spring is here and summer is right around the corner.  Thinking about having a outdoor party?

Here's the perfect favor box to give out at that Garden Party.   I  embellished these gable boxes for Jinger Adam's to showcase during her recent TV spot on Utah Studio 5 "Flower Power" segment this past week. 

During Jinger's segment she showcased several flower projects using a variety of materials and techniques. Jinger had asked her design team to create some projects to showcase in the segment, and this is what I made. 

Here's how I decorated these boxes:

Gable Favor Boxes- Target Dollar Bin ( Love these finds!)

Echo Park Paper-Dots & Stripes 6x6 pack

White Gel pen for faux stitching around box

Glue Dots Adhesive

Flower Shoppe cartridge (pg 15) using <heart2> function.  

The flowers are cut 2 times each per box at: 2 1/2inches, 2 1/4 inches, 2inches, 1 3/4 inches & 1 1/2 inches.

I embossed the flower layers with Sizzix dots folder and inked the edges using Martha Stewart's Fluid Chalks.

Assemble the flower layers together with a brad, wrap twine from the Twinery around the box and  attach a flower in middle to each side of the box.

I'm totally in love with these gable boxes.  After I sent these off to Jinger, I loved the boxes so much that I hit up 3 different Target dollar bins to buy up all I could find.   Seriously, I did!  The boxes came 3 in a pack for a buck- what a deal!

 Now head over to Jinger's blog and leave a comment on her post that showcase's my project so you'll have a chance to win a pack of  Basic Grey paper!  The winner will be randomly chosen on May 20th, 2012.   

Keep following Jinger's blog for the next couple of weeks too since she'll be showcasing more of  the Design Teams flower projects along with some awesome giveaways!

To see Jinger's appearance on Studio 5, click here.

Linking with:

The Paper Players- Polka Dots

Craft-O-Maniac- Link Up party

Die Cuttin Divas- Flowers

Jaihart- Link Up Party

The Paper Variety Sketch.....Got Ice?

This week at The Paper Variety we have a sketch challenge for you to follow.  TPV is also having a Design Team call -Woot Woot- you can check out the details-  HERE!

     This past January we took a trip to the Grand Canyon via train. The weather bitter cold and equally miserable for the adults yet it didn't seem to bother the kids.  I mean, who doesn't want to climb trees in the dead of winter and eat fresh icicles? 

For this layout, I stuck to the sketch by cutting strips of ribbon and crimped blue card stock into flag banners. The sentiment frame is cut from Cricut Storybook cartridge and I used a stamped sentiment from K. Andrew Designs Winter Wishes stamps. The layout title font is cut from Cricut Birthday Cakes at 1.5 inches.

Now doesn't this layout make you miss the Winter snow and fun?

We look forward to seeing your layouts this week at The Paper Variety  for a chance to win some

 Bo Bunny "Sun Kissed"- Yum!.

Don't forget to check out the TPV  Design Team call too.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:

Shopping Our Stash- BINGO-G (old photos)

Little Wooden Birdhouses....

Today's Thursday Tutorial over at Fantabulous Cricut features a fun video from Court at Court's Crafts on how to use paper to decorate a wooden birdhouse.

I've had these two little birdhouses just sitting in my "things to craft one day" heap pile and Court's video gave me the perfect reason to blow the dust off them and make something cute.

You can check out my Thursday Tutorial post and Court's video over at FCCB- HERE!

I made one house shabby chic using the Art Philosophy cartridge and the other house whimsical using Cindy Loo and the Ribbons & Rosettes cartridges.

Here's how I decorated my little birdhouses:

Shabby Chic house:

Distress a white painted birdhouse with sandpaper and inks.   
Mod Podge Paper - White Oak Fence  from The Paper Studio (I heart this!)
Lace ribbon and adhesive pearls
Spiral flower cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

Whimsical House:

Mod Podge Paper -K & Company -Edamame Designer Paper.  ( I heart this too!)
Roof -Ribbons & Rosettes scallop boarder cut at 1/2 x 3 inches in coordinating paper.
Twine from the Twinery
Bird -Cindy Loo cartridge cut at 2 inches.
White Gel Pen   

 

Like Me on Facebook!

Linking with:
Shopping Our Stash- Use 3 or more Designer Paper
Jaihart- Link Up Party
Craft-O-Maniac-Link Party
Pink Cricut- Link Up Party
Paper Issues- Non-traditional Items

One in a Melon....

Sharing another Teacher Appreciation Gift that I made for my son's teacher.  Today the kids were asked to bring in a beverage to express how refreshing learning can be.

I adhered a pattern paper band around the fruit juice bottle and cut a 2" watermelon from Doodlecharms.  The stamped sentiment is from My Pink Stamper Fruit & Veggie Puns.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:

Jaihart- Link Up Party

Decorate to Celebrate- Graduation/Party Favor

A Flower for a Favorite Teacher....

My son's class was asked to bring in a flower from there garden to make a bouquet for there Teacher during Teacher Appreciation week.  Well, we live in the desert and I've had zero luck in growing flowers but I can make a paper flowers! 

My son got over his grumbles from "breaking the rules about bringing in a garden flower" when I showed him the corsage I made for his teacher to wear.  

I used Flower Shoppe to make the 5 layers of flowers cut at 4 inches each and the leaves are cut at 2 1/2 inches.  The corsage still needed something so I added a little pennant flag stamped with a sentiment from my new Pink By Design stamps that I recently purchased. 

Thanks for looking and a special thanks to all the teachers out there. 

Linking with:
Cooking with Cricut- Teacher Appreciation
Pink Cricut-Link Party
Jaihart- Link Up Party
Decorate to Celebrate- Graduation/Teacher Gift

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge...Mother's Day & Blog Hop Winner

Happy Blogoversary to ME!  Yep-It's been exactly one year ago today that I signed up to blogger, chose a blog name and wrote my first post.  It's amazing how much I've learned and been inspired over the past year.  

The look of my blog has changed a few times too in the past year thanks to the help from Jill at Jaihart and Natasha at My Cute Lobster Designs.

Natasha designed my header, blog button and signature.  Cute, huh?  Natasha works through Etsy and was patient, open to suggestions and her prices were great!  I'm so happy with my new and improved, cheerful look.  You can check out Natasha Etsy shop- HERE!

Now on to my FCCB challenge post:

We've got a Mother's Day Challenge for you  this week at Fantabulous Cricut .  We want to see any project made for that special women in your life using her favorite colors.

I altered this wooden box to send to my mom for Mother's Day.   She has 3 children so I added 3 flowers to symbolize us kids.  Since I'm the oldest, I get to call front seat the biggest flower mine...HeeHee.

I purchased this wooden box in a natural finish so I spray painted it flat white and used sandpaper and ink for a distressed look.  The spiral flowers are cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge and I wrapped a ribbon around the top of lid.

Under the lid of the box I cut a frame and the word MOM from Storybook and adhered it to the inside of the lid.

Isn't the texture on the letters neat?  I used Shabby Pink heat embossing powder from Stampendous to give the letters that look.

Soooo, now on the the winner of my blog candy from the FCCB Crawl last week.  I did have a little secret goal to reach 350 followers by my blogoversary.  I made it to 348, oh-so close but I'll take it- Thanks! 

 The random winner is comment #22  Sherri who said:

Sour cream Pringles!! Great use, and I didn't throw them out... I think I have 2 cans just waiting to be recycled. Congrats on the blogversary! I can't figure out how to get mine started... and can't find it anyway! lol New email follower here :)
 

Yeah Sherri!!!!!

Thanks for looking and we look forward to seeing your Mother's Day projects this week at FCCB.

Linking with:

Frosted Designs- Recipe (Ribbon/Flowers/Glitter Embossing Powder/Rhinestone Stickers)

Exploring Cricut-Mother's Day

Craft-O-Maniac-Link Party

Crop Stop- Emboss it

Bitten By the Bug- Frame

Jaihart- Link Up Love Party

Cooking with Cricut- Mother's Day

More Than Favors- Mother's Day

The Paper Variety Challenge.....Handmade Flowers

If your looking for the FCCB Cricut Crawl.....link HERE!

The new challenge this week at The Paper Variety is to add handmade flowers to you project. 

Handmade flowers are fun to make and the options are really endless.  You can roll spiral flowers, make flowers out of buttons, ribbon, fabric or cut them with dies.    That seems to be the hardest part about making handmade flowers, just figuring out what type of flower to make. 

For this challenge, I decided to make a gift bag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and I added a spiral flower cut from Art Philosophy.    Seriously, this Art Philosophy cartridge is amazing, if I had to recommend one Cricut cartridge to take to a deserted island (that had electricity of course) I'd choose this one. 

I added some silver liquid pearls along the rim of the flap and some crystal Stickles inside the flower. I've been totally into Jute Twine and Burlap lately so I added a Jute handle to the bag and tied it all together with a Jute bow.


Thanks for looking and linking up with TPV for your chance to win this awesome prize collection:

Authentique "Journey" collection plus extras

Linking with:
Frosted Designs-Rolled Paper
Cooking with Cricut- Diamonds and Bling
Scrapalicious- Flowers
Heart 2 Heart- April Showers brings May Flowers