International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!

AHOY!!!

So..... a few years ago... probably five years, I purchased a book by Paper Crafts Magazine.  It's called "A Card A Day" and it actually has a card for each day of the entire year!  It lists all of the regular holidays, and then it also has cards for other occasions such as Wedding, Baby, Back To School, etc.  But my favorite part of this book, is that it has all of those quirky and offbeat holidays!  Today is one of them.  September 19th is "International Talk Like A Pirate Day!"

I have wanted to make cards for this 'holiday' for the past four or five years, and each year I have just been to sick.  I even say, "I'm going to start on them WAY early," and.... yeah... I never have!  This year I thought was going to be the same. I was excited to start on the cards the first part of September, but my Gastroparesis had other plans. :(  BOOO!    I went into a pretty bad flare (these are the ones that hospitalize me for about a week out of every single month.)  Plus, I never fully recovered from my August one!  UGH!   Well, I am home and feeling a little better, and have even been able to craft a teeny bit!   So I got to make cards for Pirate Day this year!  I filmed a video that I will post here, but I will have pictures below the video in case you don't want to watch it. :)  

 Thanks for watching!  Here are the pictures of my projects:

The first card is for mu youngest niece.  She just turned 3, and loves pirates! (There are some cute pirate themed cartoons on for preschool age kids on TV right now!)  So I turned a Hello Kitty Cut (from the Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut cartridge) and just turned her into a pirate!! 

The background paper is a pirate map from a DCWV stack called "Boyhhood" (I believe that's correct.) It's one of their 8 1/2" x 11' stacks.  The "Ahoy Matey" is from a Cricut Cartridge as well. (I can't remember which one off the top of my head, but if anyone wants to know, I'm more than happy to look it up.)   The map she is 'holding' is a stamp from Stampendous.  It's a pirate set, and I can't find a name on it. Then the gold coin she is also 'holding' is a sticker from a Kids Club sticker pack I got at JoAnn Fabrics.  Then, I just added some gemstones to bling it up a bit.

This next card is for my 7 year old niece. (They are sisters.)  I made them similar, but of course, I couldn't make them exactly the same!   Since her favorite color is purple, this Hello Kitty has a purple and skulls outfit. 

The background paper is from that same DCWV stack (in the pirate section.  There are like three more pirate themed papers in that stack too!  That's an awesome stack, and so versatile!  It's a boy stack, and here I used it for two girl cards!)  All the other details are basically the same as the card above. 

And the last card is for my Nephew.  He is 13 now, so he will probably think this is pretty lame.  But he is SOOOO GOOD to his little sisters.  So I wrote in his card that he can put on his eye patch, and teach them some pirate lingo!  Haha! Here is his card:

For this card, I just cut a skull and crossbones from the Cricut. (if you want to know the cartridges, I can look, just ask!)  This card is very simple, because like I said, he's 13.  The sentiment is on the inside of this one, and I made it say "Yo Matey!"

And then for the kiddos, I gave them a goody bag with Hershey's Nuggets, wrapped in pirate paper, and a cute topper. (Forgot to take a picture of these, but they are in the video)  Also in the goody bag is a pirate eye patch, a fake pirate earring, and a gold coin necklace.  These items are found in the party supplies section of stores.  I got the eye patches from Walmart in the party favors section, and the other earrings and necklaces at Hobby Lobby. (I did get some eye patches there as well.)   See, these eye patches were leftover from my birthday the year I started to go blind.  I had just had my first laser surgery (the doctor tried that to see if it would help slow down the rapid deterioration of my eyes before he preformed the actual surgeries.)  Well, I couldn't see out of one eye at all, and my other was real bad.  But I did still have a little vision, so I invited my friends and family to go bowling, but the catch was.... they each had to ALSO wear an EYE PATCH!  Lol!  If I couldn't see to bowl, neither could they!  Hahaha!  (A couple months after this, is when both retinas detached, and I went completely blind.  Thank GOD for my Ophthalmologist! He is one of the best and most caring doctors I have ever met. (And I've seen a thousands!) 

Wow, that was a lot of unnecessary rambling wasn't it?!  Ok, here are the pictures of the finished goody bags:

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and checking out my projects mateys!!  Don't forget to talk like a pirate today!!  AAARRRGH!!

 
"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
               

More than a bandaid

Hey guys!

So.... my Gypsy broke.  And right after that, my heart!!!   I feel like I lost a limb.  I can not craft with my Cricut without the Gypsy.  I'm not being high maintenance, I just can't see well enough to use the Cricut on it's own.  I can't see the images in the little handooks, I can't see the buttons on the keypad overlays, etc.  Even with the Gypsy it is difficult for me.  I've heard that when you weld and use other features, the lines turn colors! I can't see that stuff.  On my Gypsy, everything looks black to me.  (haha)   I also have to use the zoom feature in order to use the Gypsy at all. 
BLAH!!

So, what happened is the port that the cord goes into (that connects the Gypsy to the Cricut, or the Gypsy to the Computer) BROKE!!!  Quoting the support helper, "there is nothing we can do when the port breaks.  That can not be repaired.  You have to buy a new one."
ARG!!!
I think the reason that I am most upset is because I was working on a couple summer projects for my sister in law.  She is a teacher, and I made some stuff for her last year, and her co-workers saw it, and all wanted a set.  I said, "OF COURSE I'LL DO IT!!!" and now.... I can't!  I have them about 1/3 of the way done too!
Oh well.  I guess I'm off to look at a few places to see if anyone has a Gypsy on sale. Oh, and how frustrating is it that you have to send in your brand new one, with the old one, so they can transfer the SN's just so you can re-link all your cartridges!  AND!!!  I lose ALL of my PROJECTS saved on the Gypsy!  I think I am going to cry. 

So here are a few projects that I have done over the summer:

This is a card I made for my niece who turned 2 in June.  She loves La La loopsy, so I designed a card to look like a La La Loopsy doll.  After I was done, I showed it to my mom who said, "You gave her the wrong color of eyes."  I said, "what? I copied it from the picture of the doll I bought her!!"  Mom said: "A doll? That looks like Tessa!!!"  Haha.
So I changed the button eyes to brown like my niece, and voila!

Then another niece had a b-day on July 4th, and for her card, I made a cheerleader.  She is a SF49ers fan, and wanted me to make a cheerleader with the paper doll cartridge.   Well, once I got the newer Paper Doll Teen Scene cart, I had to make one with it!!

 And finally, here are a couple 4th of July cards that I made:

I apologize for not posting in so long.  I've been sick (as usual) and In my rare moments of feeling ok, I have been working non-stop on those projects for my sister in law.  I will try to post more frequently in the future.

I hope you're all having a  better crafting week than I am! 
'Till next time!


"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
              

April Fools!!!

Hi everyone!

Happy April Fools Day!!  Have you all played a great prank on someone today!?  Hopefully you were the prankster, not the victim!!

Growing up, I wasn't a big fan of this day.  I have three brothers, no sisters... so I was always the victim.  I tried not to be gullible, but it didn't always work!  I think the best prank happened when I was about 2, my brother Scott was 4, and another brother Larry was about 19.  Larry was getting ready for work, and Scott came in from outside and told him that all four tires on his Jeep were FLAT!!!  Larry, of course, was angry, and ran outside as fast as he could to see what would possibly cause all four tires to go flat.  And he turned around, and there was Scott standing at the front door just CRACKING UP!!  He got pranked by a FOUR YEAR OLD!!! :)  Good times.  My brother Scott has always been the biggest tease.  He absolutely loves pulling pranks.   I hated that growing up, but looking back it was pretty funny.  Now he has an eleven year old son that is JUST like him.  So he's getting a taste of his own medicine! haha.

For my craft today, I decided to send an April Fools Card to my Nephew.  (Scott's kid.)  Do you know how hard it is to come up with a CARD forApril Fools!?  It was sure hard for me anyway!!  I had to dig into the brain of my mom for this one.   I went to her last week and asked, "Do you have ANY idea of something funny that I could use for a card for April Fools?"  She thought for a second, and said, "Why don't you make a real fancy Christmas card, and make sure it says 'Merry Christmas' on the front.  Then, when it opens up, you can say April Fools!"  I LOVED that idea!!!!!

Instead of using a Christmas card though, I used a Halloween one.  Not because Halloween is my favorite holiday, but because I already had this card half done!!  I had this simple A2 size card already:

So I cut the card in half to use the front, slapped it on some Halloween patterned paper and onto a 5x7 card.  Added the 'Happy Halloween' sentiment, and it was ready to go!

And for the extra trick for April Fools, I made it open on the left instead of the normal right-side way!! YAY!!

Thanks for the idea mom!!  I hope you like my card for today.  

Have a nice day, and watch out for all those lil' pranksters out there! 




"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
             

Happy (late) St. Patty's Day

Hello crafty friends!

It has been so very long since I have been able to post.  The past five-ish months have been not so great, health-wise for me.  This disease is never fun, but some times are just way harder than others.  The past five months, I haven't done nearly the crafting that I hoped to do, and that makes me sad. :(

But I was able to make a few projects, and I will try to post those that I took pictures of here in the next week or so.   Since yesterday was St. Patty's Day, I will show my cards that I made for it! :)  Did you all wear your GREEN!?!? :)  

Here is my little leprechaun friend.  I had so much fun making these cards.  This is one of my favorite holidays anyway, so it's always fun! :)

And here are the cards I made using him (and different versions of him.)

Gatefold version:

Lady Leprechaun:

For this card, it is a Z-fold card, and I made it so when it opens up, the boy and girl leprechaun hold hands!

Here is a card I made showing a pint of green beer!

I don't know if you can tell, but I cut the mug out in vellum, and also in acetate.  I embossed the vellum cut with the distressed stripes cuttlebug folder, to make it look more like the beer stein shape, and the vellum gave it the "frosty" appearance.  Then, the acetate was cut to make it look like glass.   I wish my camera took more clear photos!

Here are my Shamrock cards:

For these next 2 shamrock cards, I made the shamrocks using a 'love' heart stamp that I got from Hobby Lobby. (I don't remember the brand.)

Close-up of the stamp:

....And the final shamrock card:

 Oh, and I decorated all of the envelopes like this too!

 Boy, it feels good to be able to post again!!!  Thanks for stopping by and looking at my projects!  I'm off to look at all of your blogs now!! YAY!!


"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
              

Two Cards: One Old, One New

Hi Again!

This will be my last post for the day...I promise! :)
I made a card the other night when I needed to just fool around and get my mind off things. I made it for my Mom, who LOVES Hummingbirds.  Here it is:

I love the hummingbird stamp!  (I heat embossed it.)  And the circle is hand cut, obviously..it looks like a  3 year old cut it!  LOL.  No offense to three year olds!  Then the gold scalloped/wavy circle is also hand cut.  Next time, I will use the Cricut for sure.  We had a blackout, so I couldn't use the Cricut.  I forget how dependent I am on technology until the power goes out in a stupid Arizona Monsoon Dust Storm! :/   Luckily I had stamped and embossed the hummingbird a few days earlier.  (Because my heat gun wouldn't have worked either!!)
I threaded a thin ribbon through the top of the lace, to gather it into a circle.  I like how the lace looks on the card.  The background paper is from the DCWV Tradewinds stack. (I'm pretty sure it is, anyway.  It's either that or the performing one.. but I can't remember what that one is called.  Performer..something...?  Crap..I don't know!)  Here's another pic:

 And here's my old card.  I was inspired to post this by Jen over at Jen's Happy Place  She posted some of her past father's day projects,  HERE is the link to that post of hers.  Anyway, I found this card that I made last year for one of my brothers and somehow it never got sent to him.  I probably went into the hospital, and by the time I was released, it was after Dad's Day.  Typical!

I'm about 72% sure that the tools are cut from the Handy Man lite Cricut Cart. (lol)  And the tool box looking design is from a Cuttlebug Folder.   I love my cuttlebug.  (Oooh, I gave my niece a Cuttlekids for her b-day. along with a Xyron Create-a-sticker.  She LOVES doing crafts with me, so now she can do some at home....with parental supervision of course! haha.)

So a shout out to Jen for inspiring me (as always) to post my past cards. :)  Thanks JEN!  Also, thanks for awarding me with

  I will follow the rules of the award, and pass it along soon.  Thanks Jen! :)

Hey...question for you all...
Have you guys heard of Cricut Cartridge Cuts Swaps?  I would really, REALLY LOVE to do one!!  If you haven't heard... they are where you get a group of people and partner them into twos.  Then exchange a list of the cartridges that you own.  Then you write a list of cuts you would like from the various cartridges that your partner has, that you do not.  You can request them to be assembled, or not. There's a lot more that goes into it..but that's the gist..  I think it would be so much fun to do one!!  I wouldn't mind coordinating one either, except the fact that I go M.I.A. randomly for at least a week just about every month.  I think it would probably freak some people out if they couldn't reach the coordinator of the swap.  OR, if the person I was paired with couldn't reach me.  :( 
I know these swaps don't have like, a week deadline to do them.  But still.  As long as I had roughly a month to six weeks to do the cuts, I could do it!! :)  Even if just a few people were interested, that would be neat!!

Just typing some of my random thinking!  :)  I think one of those swaps would be so fun though!! :)

Ok...thanks for checking out my cards!  Have a nice week!





"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
               

Happy Birthday America, and my Niece!!!!

Hello everyone!!

Happy 4th of July to you all!

I was able to make some cards this week (Yay!) and want to post them real quick.

They are all for the 4th of July, here they are:

The embellishment on the tag is from a K & Co pack of USA/Patriotic Rosettes that I fell in LOVE with! 

This next card is probably my favorite one!!  the USA part is done by sanding!!  The blue paper has a white core (white-core cardstock)  and I just sanded it over some chipboard letters to have the letters show through! I have so much fun with that technique! :)

Thanks for looking!  I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL and SAFE Independence day!! 

P.S.  Does anyone know who won the Hot Dog Eating Contest?  I didn't get to see it! Boo!




"Don't glue anything I wouldn't glue!!"
                  

A Card That's Quick, An Egg And A Chick!

Hello!!

I just wanted to post  the two cards I made the other night, in between struggling with working on my wordbooks. :) 

Just a couple Easter cards.  I welded two egg shapes together to make an 'Egg Card,' then just added the Chick from the Create-A-Critter cartridge, and put him inside an egg!

Thats it!  Two super quick cards.  I think this is these are the quickest cards that I've ever done, but they turned out cute (I think!)

Thanks for looking!  :)

-Lori

Everyone's Irish Today!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

As I am out grocery shopping today, I think I shall pinch everyone who isn't wearing green!!  Although, that could quite possibly get me beat up...so...scratch that thought! 

I absolutely love this holiday!  It is one of my favorites, and always has been.  I made a few cards, and mailed them off without taking pictures of them!! ARG!  I find myself doing that more and more these days.   I'm losing it. :)

Here is the ONE card that I actually took a picture of.  

It is a regular A2 size card, the background paper is a foil-type, so it's shiny when you get it in the right light.  I placed 14 eyelets along the side of the card, and laced it with green ribbon.  I love the look that gives.  I've done it on a few different projects in the past.   

The shamrock is cut from Paper Doll Dress Up (Maybe..it's on of the Paper Doll Cricut Cartridges) And then I put some green Crystal Color Lacquer on the shamrock.  It makes it look glossy, and hardens to an almost plastic-like feeling. I love that stuff!  (My mom actually found it for me at a Quilt Show earlier this year.)   Here is a close-up of the shamrock:

  And on the inside, I just stamped Happy St. Patrick's Day

I think this was my favorite of all the St. Patrick's Day cards I made this year, so I am glad I at least took a picture of this one!! Ha.

I also made a St. Patrick's Day Milk Carton Box for my Mom.  I wanted to just give her a little something for giving me an Irish Heritage!  Ha ha.  Here's the finished product: 

I tied the top back half closed with twine and green ribbon.  If I put smaller items inside the carton, I would go ahead and glue the top half closed....so it would open like a regular milk carton:

But with this one, I needed it to be able to open across the entire top.  (I should have just filled it with Hershey kisses or something. Lol)  Here's just another view:

And here's a closer picture of the tag:

This box stands about 7.5" tall, and is 3.5" square. I really love making these.  I really love making all types of boxes, bags, and gift-packaging.  The more unique...the better!  This milk carton is an svgcuts file.  But, I also have directions to cut them by hand.  There are instructions and tutorials all over the web. 

Well, that's all for now.  I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL St. Patrick's Day!!!