Celebrate Rustic Style...

I've always loved the look of Old Rustic Americana.  Add in some kraft paper, jute twine, torn paper, burlap, a few buttons and you've got yourself the perfect recipe to make a rustic 4th of July card.

I cut the stars at 2 1/2 & 3 inches from Cricut George.  I then scored and inked them for dimension.  Such an easy peasy technique that add lots of  rustic character.

Thanks for looking! 

Linking with:

The Kraft Journal- Anything Goes

Scrappy Mom's- Patriotic Challenge

Pink Cricut-Link Up Party

Paper Issues-Patriotic &Picnic

Go Fish- Patriotic

Simon Says Stamp- Patriotic

Shopping Our Stash-Red, White, Blue & Stars ( Stash Used- buttons, jute, burlap)

My Sheri Crafts-Love America

Mario Kart Birthday Banners....

My sister wanted me to make something Mario Kart for my nephew's birthday cake.  She couldn't find anything appealing or worth the money in the party store and she knew her paper obsessed Sister would be able to come up with something unique.....Awe, thanks Sis-sure, that will be $19.99!

Anyways, here's my Mario Kart decorations that I came up with for his cake.  The cake was big and was going to have a figure 8 race track design, so I decided to make some Mario Kart racing banners.  

Unfortunately, we live in different states so I wasn't able to attend the party and take my own personal "OCD photographs" of my project but this photo gives you a good idea of how the decorations turned out.  The other Mario Kart decorations on the cake are his own Mario toys (sanitized of course) and fondant accessories purchased off Etsy. 

To make the decorations,  I cut pattered paper into the shape of banners, hot glued them onto dowels and used Cricut Just Because cards to cut the trees. The font is cut from the Cricut Batman cartridge. 

I think it turned out super cute and of course he had a great time!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:

Die Cuttin Divas-Orange/Red/Yellow

Jaihart-Link Up Party

Crop Stop-Children

Craft-O-Maniac- Link Up Party

Old Jeans Out, Denim Flowers In...

I've finally recovered a composition book and I'm not really sure why it took me so long to try this idea.  This must be the most simple and inexpensive personalized gift you can give to a teacher, a student or really anyone in general...I'd like to have one for myself!  

My daughter gave this notebook to her teacher when she graduated from preschool.   

I made the rolled denim flowers out of a pair of my son's old jeans, added pearls in the middle and then used a font cut from Birthday Cakes . 

Now that the Fall/Winter season is over, I've recently came into a lot of denim.  Let me tell you why...

My son has many pairs of ragged out jeans, not out-grown jeans,  just plain worn out jeans.   He seems to blow out the knees on every pair of  jeans he owns, especially the right knee.  I'm still not quite sure how he manages to do this and since I don't sew (Ack!),  there's no way I'm attempting to sew in any sort of knee patch. 

Instead, I've just decided when he's reached the trash picker look and I can no longer allow him out in public with gaping holes in his knees.....the denim is getting retired to my craft room.

Anyways, thanks to my son, the denim pile is stacking up so get to craft.   I heart denim! 

Thanks for looking.

Jaihart- Link Up Party
Frosted Designs-Make your own Embellishment
Cardz TV- Anything Goes
DIY Diaries- Link Up

Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue....

     For our new challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut, we want to see you link up a project that contains a bell, church or cross and incorporates the color blue.  Religious or non-religious, all your Blue Bell inspired projects are welcomed!
    
For this challenge, I decided to make a bell ornament that could be given to a couple who may be celebrating there first Christmas together.  This could also be a little unique something attached to the outside of gift bag or pretty package. 

 

This bell actually is something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new.

Borrowed- Silver Glitter Spray from my crafty neighbor (which unfortunately, doesn't show up in photo really well)

Blue- Blue ribbon along with blue flowers and font cut from Art Philosophy cartridge.

Old- Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.  I made this bell 3D, by cutting the ghost from PDDU, 12 times at 3 inches, scored down center, folded and then glued them all together.

New- My project of course and Tim Holtz Distressed Clear Crackle Paint.

 

 

 

I added a pearl on the bottom of the bell to look like the clapper (Ok- I did google "what is the swingy thing inside of bell called"...lol)  cut a pennant tag to incorporate the year, embossed the tag  with dots and applied Tim Holtz Distressed Clear Crackle paint over the tag for a little stability.

 

I liked my bell ornament so much that I decided to make another one for myself with the year I married my husband.  Our wedding anniversary is actually next week....13 years-Yikes!

Thanks for looking and we look forward to seeing your Blue Bell inspired projects at FCCB.

Linking with:

Heart 2 Heart- Ribbon

Crop Stop-Pennants

Unstampabelles- Ribbon

Jaihart- Link Up Party

Pink Cricut-Link Up Tuesday

Our DIY Diaries- Link Party

Fishing you a Happy Father's Day....

I've wanted to make one of these Criss-Cross cards for a while now and since I needed to send my Dad a Father's Day Card, I thought I'd give it a try.

The fish is cut from the Potpourri Basket cartridge and I used Holiday Cakes for the inside sentiment.  The stamped sentiment "Fishing you a.." is from Pink by Design, Simply Everything Stamps.

I can see my Dad now when he takes the card out of  the envelope, he won't know how to open it up.  I'm sure he doesn't know what a belly band is....lol

You can check out Suzanne's tutorial on how to make this Criss Cross card HERE.

Thanks for looking and Happy Father's Day to all you great Dad's out there!

Linking with:
Cardz TV- Father's Day
Make My Monday-Masculine
The Cuttlebug Spot-Shades of Blue
Celebrate the Occasion-Father's Day
Die Cuttin Divas- Father's Day
Jaihart- Link Up Party

It's the Thought that Counts....

Well Father's Day is this weekend and I'm stumped as usual on what to give my husband for Father's Day.

Since I needed to get started on something soon,  I decided to make a gift box.  I still have no idea what's going to end up in this box I just know that I started with a piece of camouflage 12 x 12 paper and ended up making this....

I started by adding any masculine things I could find in my craft stash to the box like burlap, hemp cord, brads and wooden buttons. I adhered some torn, distressed paper to corners of the box and cut some font from the Old West cartridge at 1.5 inches.  

These 1 sheet cookie boxes are really easy to make, you can find my tutorial on how to make them  HERE.

What's funny about this box is it doesn't even really reflect my husband's personality... he's not a rugged outdoorsman, sports fanatic or military man.  

He's Canadian, likes hockey, chocolate and ketchup potato chips.   Well, I did add a few wooden Maple Leaf buttons to the box so at least his Canadian heritage is covered.  Oh well, it's the though that counts, right? 

Thanks for looking and Happy Father's Day to all those great Dad's out there!

Linking with:
Paper Issues- Burlap & Canvas
My Craft Spot-King of Grill
More Than Favors- Father's Day
Pink Cricut- Link Party
Use it Tuesday- All About Dad
Cooking with Cricut-Father's Day No Card
Scrappy Moms- Dad

What's the buzz.....

   There's just something about honeycombs and this cute bee that made me want to make another bee themed card.   I'm totally digging this color combo and the outside snapshot of nature pulled it all together...don't ya think?  .... lol

Anyways, I actually do have a few trees that attract bee's during the Spring, now that it's Summer, I'm glad I only have paper bees.

I made the base of the card by welding 2 hexagons from George and Basic Shapes together, cut the bee from Just Because Cards and used some left over smaller honeycombs that I made for my last bee card, Bee Happy.  The stamped sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.

Thanks for looking!

Frosted Designs- Stitching

Paper Issues-Honey Bee

Jaihart- Link Up Party

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge.......Bee Happy

For our new challenge this week, "Don't Bug Me" at Fantabulous Cricut we want to see a project with a bug on it. 

If you're like me, real bugs aren't my thing and I actually just had my pest control guy come and spray the house again since the bugs were starting to crawl....Ack! 

I do however, love using my favorite bug Cricut, to make paper bugs so here's what I came up for our challenge.

I used Just Because Cards on my Gypsy to enlarge the bees, honey pot and sentiment cuts.   I made the honeycomb's by welding hexagon's together from George and Basic Shapes and then welding a smaller hexagon inside. 

Then I embellished the card with some twine, faux stitching and embossed the "Bee Happy" sentiment.   Aren't those little bee's soooo cute?  I just love them!

Thanks for looking and linking up with FCCB.

Linking with:

Paper Issues-Honey Bee

Little Scrap Pieces- Emboss It

Jaihart- Link Party

Bitten by the Bug 2-Garden

Pink Cricut- Link Party

The Paper Variety Challenge....I Heart Burlap & Bling!

We've got a fun challenge for you this week the The Paper Variety.  We want to see any project other than a card or layout.  Yeah- so bring on those fun altered items!!

I love doing these types of challenges.  For my project, I'm sharing this altered 8 x 10 picture frame that I made for a friend of mine who recently turned the Big Four-Oh! 

Since 40's a special birthday, I wanted her gift to be clean, simple and went well with her home decor.   I originally got this idea from another design team member of mine, Liz at Liz's Paper Loft.

To make this monogrammed frame, I covered a piece of 8 x 10 cardboard with burlap fabric (I heart burlap!) hot glued flowers from Cricut Art Philosophy cut at 4 inches, inked the edges with silver fluid chalk and then added a rhinestone center. 

 I just loved the way this turned out! 

Sadly, this will be my last post as a member of  TPV design team....sigh.    Abby, Suzanne and the rest of the team were awesome to work and very inspiring.  I thank them for pushing me out of my comfort zone to challenge myself to create a variety of projects.  Guess that's why there called The Paper Variety, right?  You still have until June 8th to apply for the new DT- HERE. 

Thanks for looking and linking up with TPV for a chance to win some yummy......

Crate Paper "Pretty Party" collection.

Linking with:
Craft-O-Maniac-Link Party
Cooking with Cricut- Flowers
Pink Cricut- Link Party
Heart 2 Heart- Distressing (Inked Flowers)
Party Time Tuesday- Anything Goes
Tatertots & Jello- Weekend Party
CAS-ual Fridays- Bling
Our DIY Diaries-Link Party