December Daily Album-- The Beginning

I have a new goal! This month, I will be documenting our lives daily. I want to show our Advent preparations and our daily lives.

So... to begin I need an album.

I have chosen the My Crush Holiday Happenings Book.

There are 30 pages in this book which isn't enough for a page a day. I am starting on November 30, the first Sunday of Advent, which is when our celebrations begin, and I plan on ending on January 1, when our family celebrates new beginnings with a New Year's Adventure. Some days might need more than one page. Some days will need a half of a page. I will supplement this book with flip flaps and adding fold out pages made of card stock. I have high hopes for this album.

Now to begin!

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. I took many pictures yesterday and have a couple ready to be printed as wallet sizes. Here are a few that I am printing. Not all can make it to the December Daily Album but I do want to have my options ready.

The Advent candles I think are a must to be in the album.

My daughter's dorm room window. She hung her lights before she came home for Thanksgiving so they would be ready. When I dropped her off Sunday night, she turned them on so I could see. Love it!

Then I have a couple pictures of the kids hanging up the lights around our house. Not great pictures. I might skip these pictures and just describe it in words. 

           

Lastly, I have a several pictures of my monsters. I was trying to get a good shot of the three of them together for our Christmas card. I think they are getting too old for me to have a formal shot. This casual shot shows them as the happy teens they are. But the messy hair and sweatshirts are driving me crazy. This is them though. It is best to show who they are and not a staged shot. I'm still thinking about it.

I will have the pictures printed today and pick them up while I am out running errands. Then I will be ready to start with Day 1!

A Thankful Heart Mini Album

In September, I decided I wanted to make a Thanksgiving album that my whole family would contribute to at Thanksgiving dinner. I worked up a few ideas and ended up teaching a class at our annual Holiday Extravaganza on this album.

I cut out 6 4 inch tags for each person and had a bunch of embellishments on the table. Everyone had a great time putting it together and creating the base of the album in a way they liked. I loved how it came out!

Now, to try this on a larger scale!

I decided that I wanted a picture on each tag as well as my family writing. I thought about using the printer but decided that would be too time consuming.  A dear friend has an instant camera so I decided to try that out.

 I always loved the old Polaroids even though the quality was so poor. Sometimes they were great for quick projects. This new instant camera by Fuji worked great. Again, the quality is not as good as a digital camera. But it was quick and easy (and a bit pricey- don't waste these shots!).

My craft room was cleared out to make a large dining area so I had to set up a crafting area in my bedroom. My daughter and I set up the tags (cut from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge at 6 inches), paper, ink, and embellishments on my dresser ready to go. As people arrived, one of us would take a quick picture then go into the bedroom and put it on the tag.  We embellished the tag quickly, leaving a space at the bottom to write. Just before we served dinner, Cait and I handed out the tags and asked each person to write what they are thankful for.

My daughter, Elyse, writing her tag

My daughter, Cait, handing out the tags.

I was surprised that I only had a few grumbles (from my brothers, of course!) but everyone wrote on their tag. My big mistake was not having enough quality pens. I didn't think about gathering them up beforehand. I found 2 archival quality black pens right when we started the writing portion of the project. I must have a dozen in various bags and places around the house. I should have grabbed them before guests came.

I put each card on a binder clip and ended up with a completed album before our celebration was over. 23 tags in all.

I will switch my binder clip to a larger size and add some ribbon on the clip. But other than that, it is perfect!

Items used:

Thankful Heart stamp set

Pathfinding Paper Pack

Gold Sequins

Gold Shimmer Trim

Chocolate Ink

Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

Flip Flaps

Have you used Flip Flaps? They are wonderful! Really. Everyone should have a set. Add extra pictures or memorabilia to any page.  I love the 4x6 size. They are perfect for pictures or postcards. But all the sizes have their uses. Pick up a pack and give it a try. You'll be hooked.

Fall Cards

Since I am in California, I never really see the seasons. I have never been too interested in the snow but I love the fall colors. One day I hope to spend a few weeks in New England during fall to see all the colors. Because of my love for this season, I tend to do a lot of cards and layouts in this color scheme. Here are a couple of cards that I worked on this past week;

The leaves on this card are made by mixing inks. The leaves were cut out on the cricut from Colonial White paper. I wiped ink pads (barn red, honey, and goldrush) on the All Purpose Mat and used a spray pen to spray water on the inks. I then wiped the leaves in the inks to create a new look. It is very easy and a lot of fun. 

Other products used on this card were Pathfinding paper, Metallic Bakers Twine, Happy Autumn stamp set, Colonial White ink, 3-D foam tape, and colonial white value pack cards.        . 

The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge is always fun to play with. This card was cut from Barn Red paper. I set the Cricut at 4.25 inches. It will create an entire card measuring 4.25 by 5.5 when folded over. In the Artfully Sent booklet, go to page 42. I set the Cricut on Sentiment and pressed shift and cut. I do keep the cricut on the slow speed setting when making these intricate cuts. There is less change of ripping when it is slow. 

The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge makes card making easy and quick.

Other products used on this card were Pathfinding paper, bronze shimmer trim, barn red ink and Happy Autumn stamp set.

Hope you are enjoying the season as well. Make a few Fall cards and have some fun with paper!

Making Christmas a Little Easier

I love making things for people for Christmas. Everyone expects a hand made card. Everyone expects a tray of goodies. Even my Christmas packaging is hand made. It all takes time. As much as I love to make it all, do I really have that much time and still enjoy my family during the holidays? Here are two ways, you can make your life easier this holiday season.

Isn't this a beautiful card? Wouldn't you be proud sending this out this December? This card will take you no time at all because it is a kit! 

The pieces are cut and ready for you. Take your favorite stamp set and some ruby ink and stamp the sentiment on. Put it all together using your favorite adhesive.

The card is 5x7. There is plenty of room to add a family picture and a note inside.

I weighed the finished card. It was 3/4 of an ounce. No extra postage.

The kit come with the cut pieces, embellishments, and decorated envelopes for 10 cards for just $11.95. I added the Merriest Christmas Stamp set ($9.95) and Ruby ink ($5.95). If you need to make 30 cards, 3 packs, stamp set, and ink are under $52 (plus tax and shipping). Deal!

And of course, this stamp set can be used over and over again. Think of the great tags, scrapbook pages, and cards another year.

Your holiday cards will be out and done quickly.

The family picture to put inside may be your biggest challenge.

How cute is this?!

Ready for an easy way to wrap up treats for co-workers, teachers, friends?

How about adding a gift card behind the candy?

Once again this is just a kit. Everything is cut and ready to go-- except the candy.

There are little stickers to go on the bottom of candy. I used Hershey Kisses but any candy with a flat bottom will work. Put the candy in the plastic bag, staple the opening, and close it up. I added a little gold shimmer trim to the outside which is not in the kit. I do tend to add shimmer trim (all the colors) to all my projects. I can't help it. I always need a little more shimmer.

The kit comes with white circles that you decorate. I used Merry Merry stamp set with topiary and ruby inks. I picked Merry Merry because I already had it out working on another card and the "Merry Christmas" fit. I'm sure I have a ton more stamps that would fit just fine as well.

The Holiday Treat Bag kit is just $14.95 for 10 bags.

Pop over to my online store to grab what you need.

Hope I have helped to make your holiday a little less stressed. And don't forget to have fun with your paper.

More Artfully Sent Tips

The "Sleeve" Function key on the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge gives you so many options!

This Trick or Treat card was cut at 5 1/2 inches on black paper. Click "sleeve", shift, (page 43 of the Artfully Sent booklet). This cut gives you the spider web card base.  Then I used thistle paper at 4 1/2 inches - "sentiment" and . The Trick or Treat was cut as a card since the "sentiment" function is another set of cards. I cut it down with my paper trimmer to make it into a title and used the other part of the card base as a layer. I added a little glitter paper in the center, backed the title in black, and finally added a third layer to the title with the extra thistle paper. The spider was cut at 5 1/2 inches, "icon," shift, from slate paper. Remember that the pop up and icon functions are linked. So, cutting the spider at 5 1/2 inches did not give me a 5 1/2 inch spider. It gave me a spider sized perfectly for a 5 1/2 inch card. If you have a specific size you want, be sure to click the real dial size button.

So the cuts are made quickly and easily. I just put it all together. I backed the card base with a piece from the Scaredy Cat paper pack and all came out perfect. I was really happy with the results. It really is quick (and I like quick!). The hardest part is waiting for the cricut machine to finish cutting the spider web.

Be sure to check out the Artfully Sent Cricut Collection and all the wonderful projects it has to offer. You are going to love it!

Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge

I am having fun playing with the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge. There are so many different projects on this cartridge! With over 700 cuts which come together to make over 400 projects.

Take a look at this pop up card:

There are 6 different function keys on this cartridge. I used the pop up key.

The size was set at 5 inches for both the card and the liner. The cartridge is set to go together without changing the size. The daisy white cardstock (a pack of which comes with the cartridge) was cut using the pop up function and "env 11" key (page 47 of the cartridge booklet). The liner was cut from glacier paper the same way but with the shift button pressed. One thing that I noticed with this cartridge is that although it does make little tick marks to help you fold properly, it really needs to be scored. Make sure your creases are very crisp especially the pop up portion. 

The card is decorated using snowhaven paper and silver geometric washi tape. The stamp sets are the October stamp of the month and the Best Christmas Stamp set. 

The second function key is the Scene key. 

I cut this card at 5 1/2 inches. The recommended size listed in the booklet is 7 inches. But you can change the size. I prefer a smaller size card. 5x7 is just too big for me. This one is 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 and it is just perfect. 

To cut this, take a look at page 34 of the booklet. Size is 5 1/2 inches. Press scene then "v" and cut. The wreath is also cut at 5 1/2 inches. Press scene, shift, "v" and cut. 

When you are working with a paper that is two sided on the scene function, the inner part of the card needs to be face up on the cricut mat in order to get the cut on the right side. 

The inside of the card was just hand cut and the flowers were cut from the Artiste cartridge. I loved how the shape matched the paper. 

I used Pathfinding paper to cut this card. The wreath is cut in chocolate and the flowers in glacier. I really love the glacier color and seem to be using it a lot. the stamp set is Casual Expressions, and the ink is chocolate. 

I'll post more about the cartridge later. In the mean time, have some fun with paper.