Birthday Banner

 For my sister Joy's birthday party, I knew I wanted to try and make a banner.  I saw lots of ideas online and decided to stick with what I know and use my Cricut.  I used the George cartridge - my trusty old sidekick.  First, I cut out 5 1/2"  rounded triangles in white.  I inked each one with red. Then I cut out the same triangles in a 5" size using some red papers I had in my stash.  After glueing these together, I cut out "Happy Birthday Joy!" using the George font.  Finally, I stapled each piece to some thick silver ribbon I found at Crown Imports - a store here in Phoenix that carries just about everything.  The banner was HUGE and fit perfectly across my kitchen - although everyone had to duck to get by. 

 I really like how it turned out and it was the perfect touch to a fun night.  Happy Birthday Joy!

Happy 40th!

It is shocking, but I have many friends turning 40.  How did that happen?  I do not like the doom and gloom of most 40th birthday cards so I made this one a little bit cheery.  My friend loves shoes so I used these embellishments from Meri Meri Accents and then added some number stickers I had in my stash.  No black and doom and gloom here.  Have a great Saturday!

Thank You Holly!

My dad had heart surgery last week so much of our time was spent in the hospital for the past few weeks.  Not a great place to get crafty!  After he got home, we wanted to thank everyone who helped us so I took a Christmas card idea and turned it into this thank you note.  I cut out the holly leaves (wink, wink) at 3 1/4" from the Joys of the Season cartridge.  Then I used the Ultra Embossing powder on the leaves to make it look wet.  I added the three buttons for the berries.  Finally I took a red pen and a ruler to make the border and added "thank you."  We are so thankful to the nurses, doctors, staff, and our friends and family for helping us out.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Whoo's One?

For the past few weeks, I have been struggling with making my Christmas cards.  I just have no ideas and no inspiration. They are done, but I do not love them and they will probably never show up on my blog.
Then this morning, I had to make a birthday card for Dylan's one year old birthday. The theme was Owls.  I used the Create a Critter cartridge and actually got this card idea from the front of the cartridge book.  I love how it turned out.  I covered the white card with different solid papers and folded the card to give it more dimension.  After finishing the owl, I added the tree branch and leaves to the inside.  Now why couldn't my Christmas cards have been this easy and cute?
Have a great week!

With Sympathy

When I logged into my blog tonight, I realize I have not posted in a long time.  November is just flying by!  Another thing I realized is that I have had to make too many condolence cards recently.  These are always hard to make because I am not sure what images to use.  I found this simple bird in the Pink Journey cartridge.  Most of the images are for breast cancer awareness and the 3 day walk but this bird seems to fit sympathy and condolence perfectly.  Hope I do not have to make many more of these this month.

Wedding with a Swirl

For our friends' wedding, I did not want to create the typical wedding card of bells and hearts.  There is nothing wrong with those, but Holli and Ryan deserved something different and unique.  (I got this idea while looking at the wedding cards at Target.)  First, I covered the card with some green Basic Grey paper because the wedding was in October and I wanted fall colors. Then I cut out the green swirl using Storybook.  I covered the swirl in clear embossing powder and heated it to give it some shine and texture.  After adhering it to the paper, I added the rhinestones and the quote that says, "to have and to hold . . ."  On the inside, I continued the same colors and finished it with, "from this day forward."  I usually am a stickler for capital letters, but the lowercase letters seemed to fit this card perfectly.  I hope their marriage is as wonderful as their wedding was.  Congratulations Holli and Ryan!

Metal Signs

I found this cute and spooky sign idea from Authentique Papers.  Start with a Metal Decor sign from Michael's.  It is part of their Celebrate It line and I found these near the wooden frames section.  I then layered two pieces of cardstock.  These are all just extra Halloween papers I have collected over the years and never used.  (The original idea used their own line of papers that I think looked great on their site.)  I used a foam brush and painted the edges black.  While those dried, I tied some black wire ribbon into bows at the top.  Then I used the We R Memory Keepers paper piercer to punch holes around all four sides of the papers to give them a little more texture.  I glued this to the middle of the signs.  Then I tied some various Halloween ribbons to the bottom half of the signs.  Using my Cricut, I cut out some orange tags and addeed some Soft Spoken embellishments from Me & My Big Ideas.  I love how these turned out because I used so many Halloween pieces I have had for years and never knew what to do with.  Think of the what you can make with your Halloween stash!