I Made New Crafts!!

Are you as surprised with that heading as I am?!  YES!! I actually was able to craft this past week!   It was more the past few days than the rest of last week, but still!!  :)   My brother's family went on vacation last week so I we dog sat.  They have an adorable dachshund named Sparky. Well, he is just getting out of that puppy stage, so he.... is........ ACTIVE.  At the beginning of the week, I started calling him "Tropical Storm Sparky", and by the end of the week, I had upgraded his status to "Hurricane Sparky!" LOL! .   Needless to say, I didn't get much crafting done.  As soon as I sat at my desk, he was up in my lap and hopping on my desk to try and craft too!  :/ 

My nephew (Sparky's owner) had a birthday a week ago!!  He is 11 years old now. I can't believe it!!  It seems like just yesterday I was holding him in the hospital!!!  It is CRAZY how time goes by so fast as you age!  So, with me being in the hospital for his actual birthday, then he left on vacation the day I was released from the hospital...so I haven't been able to celebrate with him yet!  I am going over to his house today to give him my gift, so I had to share what I made!

I had to make him a paper cake, (of course!!)  I went with a football theme, because he, like everyone in my family, is a huge football fan!  So here is his cake:

This picture was taken before the cake was filled...the pieces fit together much better once they aren't empty.  That's why there looks to be such a big gap between the pieces!! Arg!

I embossed the pieces too, to give it the football texture. 

And I made a simple helmet for the centerpiece...Chargers of course! (His team.)

And one more shot of the whole thing:

I'm actually real happy with hit.  I originally set out to make a Lego cake, because I was going to get him this Lego set that he wanted.  But instead I got him an Amazon Kindle.  He actually really enjoys reading, so he will LOVE it!!  So I didn't want to do a Lego theme anymore, and just went with a basic football one. :)

ALSO!!! I was messing around online and found a SVG of a Kindle!!! SO...I made him a card that looks exactly like his gift!  I'm actually thinking of putting it in his case, and saying, "you can put this one around your books, and just pretend you have a kindle." or..."Did you really think that you were spoiled enough to get an ACTUAL kindle?!"  Yeah...I'm a mean aunt!  Hahaha. Of course..then I will give him his gift!! OR..I might just give him it as the card, and see if he even realizes what it is!! haha.
Here's the card Kindle though:

I hate not giving credit where credit is due...but I don't have the link to where i picked up this file!! I always save them with the files, and for some reason I can't find this one.  I will post it when I find it!!!!
Here's a pic of it (looking like a card):

With my very, VERY poor eyesight.... I totally messed up on the part on top that says "amazon Kindle" and has the swish/arrow under it.  I HATE that!!! I hate not being able to see well enough to do simple stuff like WRITE!!  UGH!  But oh well, it makes it unique, right?! Haha.
I am excited to see him later today!! :)

I also made something for my youngest nephew.  Well, it was for my mom to give him.  She got him into gardening. (He is five years old.)  So Grandma got him some flowers and plants and he has a little garden, and he LOVES it.  He feels so important and grown up to take care of his plants!  It's a cool way of teaching him responsibility too!! :)  So she bought a watering can and wanted me to decorate it.  She asked me a while ago, but then I was in the hospital and just real sick and didn't do it.  I wanted to make it really special for him.  But my mom just wanted it to be personalized for him, nothing too special. She said that she wanted mickey, but knew that there are quite a few pieces to mickey.  So I suggested just doing the Mickey Icon, with my nephew's name... and she approved!!  So here is the finished watering can:

My mom told me that he LOVED it!!  So that makes me feel happy.  I feel like there was so much more I could have done.  But sometimes simple, is just right! :)


Well, that's all for me today!  Have a great week ya'll!!  Happy crafting!! :)






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

Coupon Organizer

Happy Monday!! (More like Tuesday by the time this actually posts.. haha)

I just got home from spending another week in the hospital, so I don't have a "new" craft for you today.  I'm trying to just rest and recoup. :)  Although, I did go to JoAnns today, just to get out of the house and walk around a bit.  Not too long ago...I'd say a month or two tops... my local JoAnns stores all dedicated an entire aisle to Martha Stewart Craft Products.  It was pretty cool because they have everything  coordinating and organized.  BUT!  Today, at one of my local stores, EVERYTHING Martha Stewart was on clearance!! AT LEAST 50% off!!  There were some GREAT buys!!  Like those punch sets that are called something like, "Punch Around The Page" where you get 3 matching punches, including the corners.. were only $12!!  The big glitter sets were about $10.00 (the ones with 24 tubes of glitter!!)  Even the paper stacks were under $9.00!  Amazing deals!!  Just thought I'd share that in case your local stores are having the same deals going on.....you don't want to miss out!!  I wonder if they are discontinuing her stuff at JoAnns??  I know she is coming out with an all new line for HSN (I believe it's HSN.......it could be QVC.......nah, I'm pretty sure it's HSN.)
Soooo it's safe to say that I went over my crafting budget today!  But hey, I did get some AMAZING I wanted to buy one of everything, but hey...I had to show SOME self-control!! Lol!

And now for my project!!!!

Not too long ago, I made four coupon organizers.  Of course, being the scatterbrain that I am, I gave them away without snapping pictures of them!! UGH!!  So, luckily one was for my sister-in-law, so I was able to get some pictures of it last week!! :)  I had fun making these, and think they turned out real cute! (And hey, bonus...practical!!) 
 Here's the cover:

The book measures 8 3/4 x 4 1/2 and is bound with my Bind-It-All. (LOVE that thing!!)  The front and back covers are made from heavy chipboard, and laminated for extra protection.  

The inside pages/pockets are made form  12 x 8 1/2 sheets of paper.  I folded the bottom up 3 3/4 inches to measure 8 1/4 x 8 1/2...then folded it in half so the final product is 8 1/4 x 4 1/4.

Here is what the inside pockets look like:

The Mickey Heads for each pocket were cut at 3 1/4" and I cut  the shadow feature as well.

I tried to use very common/basic  themes to organize the coupons.   I also left a few in the back blank for them to write in something more specific to their shopping needs. There are 10 pockets, so 5 sheets of paper were used.

Here is the back cover:

I punched two holes and inserted eyelets using my crop-a-dile...to add an elastic band closure.  I like adding these to my books of this type so that it helps hold the book closed, and helps to keep the contents inside.  :)


Thanks for stopping by my blog!!   Remember, if you like Martha Stewart products, make sure to check out your local JoAnns!! Maybe they will have all of her products on Super-Cheap-Clearance too!! 

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week!!!!



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

Garden Decor

Hey everyone!!

It's been a few days since I've posted anything.  I have had quite a few "bad days" recently.  We all know I have my "flares" where I am admitted in the hospital about every month, but this one just hasn't seemed to get there yet.  It's the sickest I've been without being hospitalized.  Needless to say, I haven't done any crafting. :(    I started feeling a teeny bit better a couple hours ago, but it's been off an on.  So this post will be short and quick. 

I just wanted to show you all something I made for my mom a week or so ago.  (Last week?  Dang, I can't remember!! My days tend to blend together when I'm sick.) My mom has been busy planting flowers and a mini garden this year!!  Usually she doesn't even bother because the heat kills off everything you try to grow here! Lol.  But she has a pretty looking garden so far! :) I love the way decorative plant stakes look in flower pots!!  Since my mom LOVES Mickey/Minnie I decided to make her one!  So I got busy with my Cricut, Gypsy, and Mod Podge, and here's the finished product:

 Thanks for stopping by!! 

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

Flash Cards

Hello!

This is one of the projects that I was asked to do this past week, and got sidetracked with!!  My sister in law asked me to make 'sight words' flash cards for her kindergarten class over two years ago.  This was pre-cricut for me, so I just printed them on the computer.  She asked me again this week to make her two sets for her daughter who is in preschool (these sight words are for the kindergarten curriculum)  Of course, I had to make  them cuter than just normal flash cards....I do have a CRICUT now, and they're for my niece!  So I took normal white index cards that measured 4"x5" and used various patterned papers that I thought were cute.  I then used the Mickey Font Crucit Cartridge for all the words.  I liked that it was a bold font, a good one for flash cards!!  With the patterned papers, I had to keep in mind that they couldn't be too distracting from the sight word.

 

I then laminated them using my Your Story machine. (love that thing!)  I organized them into groups of 25 (for each quarter of the school year.)  Then I made a cover for each set of 25.  I used the Makin' The Grade cricut cartridge for the apples with the numbers, colored the leaf on them, and used Mickey Font again for the "sight words" title.  I used my Bind-It-All to bind them together. I think they turned out cute!!

The apple paper is from an All Seasons stack from the Paper Studio.  The apple paper was found in the 'back to school' section.  I again wanted something simple, and cute.  here is a picture of the front and back covers:

For set #2, this set she wanted to place various words around the house so my niece can see them on a daily basis.  For these, I wanted to make them something 'fun' to look at.  My niece LOVES mickey.  Her whole family loves everything Mickey, so I made the flash cards out of Mickey heads!!!

The mickey head is also from the Mickey Font Cricut Cartridge.  I used the San Serif Font cartridge for the words on this one because the Mickey heads are smaller, so the words couldn't be as 'fat.'  San Serif offered a thinner letter, that is still bold at the same time.

 I made these double sided.  The first 50 is on one side while the last 50 is on the backs.  That way there weren't so many of them!  With these being three layers of good quality cardstock, the completed cards feel like chipboard!

I also laminated them (pictures were taken before this,) and punched a hole using my cropadile in one of mickey's ears, and put them on a jump ring for safe keeping.  That way, my sister-in-law can take off the words they want to work on that week, and keep the rest all together! 

I hope my sister in law and niece like them, and have many hours of fun learning!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my project!!

-Lori

Disney Autograph Books!

Hey there!!

I haven't posted in a long time, I have been so busy making various projects...and have had no time to post them!  :( Boo.  

I started making these Autograph  books last May.  (yeah, I know!)  I didn't work steadily on them, but just did a page here and there when I had spare time between other projects.   My brothers typically take their kids to Disneyland in the winter, so I had plenty of time.   Then the holiday season came, and I had many, MANY other projects to make, and the autograph books were pushed aside.  So, around December 27th, I hear that one family is heading off to Disneyland in January!  AND.....I only had about three pages done!  EEK!  It was time to buckle down!  

Luckily I finished theirs in time, and I hope they get to meet all the characters, and get a ton of autographs!  The kids were excited to have them, I can't wait 'till they get back to hear how it went! 

I have a LOT of pictures.  I tried to make each child's book a little different from his/her brother or sister's book.  So the characters and names are different in their books.  Keep in mind, I had five of these to make, and I didn't have that many options in some of the Cricut cuts, so I did what I coul.d   I am going to show two different books in this post.     Again, I have a LOT of pic's!  

Also, I designed the book with room for the character's autograph on the right page, and left room for a photo of the character on the left page!! My brothers typically get a picture of their kids with the characters, and I thought it would be neat to display them next to their autographs!! :)

And now, here are the pictures! 

Here is the inside cover and front page: 

Mickey Mouse!

Minnie Mouse:

Donald Duck:

Daisy Duck:

Goofy:

Pluto:

Chip:

Dale:

Winnie The Pooh!!

Tigger:

Piglet:

Eeyore:

Cinderella: 

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty):

Aladdin & Jasmine:

Belle:

Ariel:

Alice:

Snow White:

The 7 Dwarfs:

Tinkerbell:

Faries:

Woody:

Buzz:

Inside of Cover and first page, along with Inside of Back Cover and last page:

Outside Covers: 

I put paper over the kids names on the covers.  Just because they are not MY kids, so I'm not showing their names in the pictures I post online..  :)

The book covers are laminated for protection.  The covers are made out of thick chipboard.  I punched two holes in the back cover, inserted eyelets and elastic strap for a closure.  I like that style of book closure. It's so easy to do, and keeps the books closed tightly so they don't get damaged in backpacks / purses / suit cases /etc at Disneyland!!  

The books measure 4.5" tall by 8" wide.  And all of the characters were cut at 4" 

Wait, I lied.  Not ALL of the characters are cut at 4", but most are.  The faries are cut at 3" I believe...  And Buzz Lightyear is also smaller, but i can't remember off the top of my head what he is cut at.  

I had so much fun making these books!!  I hope the kids have just as much fun getting them autographed! :)  

Thanks for looking!