Decoration for St. Patty's Day

I put together this table decoration for St. Patty's Day.  I like to decorate for each holiday/season, only if it's a little something.  I think everything was purchased from Joann's.  I cut Luck o' the Irish from the Celebrate with Flourish cartridge, and stamped and embossed the "Everyone's Irish for a Day."  I've always liked that expression.  I'm not Irish, but I can be on March 17!  TFL!

Purple Flower

You've probably seen these big flowers at Michael's in the dollar bins.  It was so pretty, I felt I had to get it and make something with it.  It's rather simple, and after I put it together, I decided I just want to display it for a while!

A Little Bow!

Well, Gigi found two tutorials for me on how to make a bow, and I'll be darn, it worked!  See her comment at my post below on my Shopping trip, and try it yourself.   I did this one after only two tries.  Now I need to work on the larger bow with that spatula thing!  Thanks, Gigi, that was really nice of you!

I've Been Shopping

I bought the Wrap It Up cartridge at Joann's today for $34.99.  Not a bad price, but I've been checking online lately and a lot of cartridges can be had for $20-$30 at Amazon and even less at other sites.  So I  cut this little gift bag to see how it would turn out.  It was very easy.  Cut, score, fold and tape in no time.  I selected Fit to Page using a 12x12 sheet of paper, and my bug said it was cutting the bag at 9-1/2".  When it's all folded, it measures 3-3/4" w x 1-1/2"d x 5-1/4"h (not including the handle).  

I was wondering what other cartridge(s) might make bags and boxes or other 3-dimensional items.  I know you can make a complete castle, wand and crown with Once Upon a Princess.  What else is out there?  I'd also like to know if this size bag is the largest we could expect to cut from our Cricut.  What's the largest box we can make?  If anyone knows, I'd appreciate hearing from you. 

And, can anyone direct me to a tutorial for tying bows?!  I wound up with this little "thing" below because I couldn't tie a real bow!

 

And here's the rest of the stuff I got this weekend.  Think I went a bit crazy?!  From Joann's...

I didn't pay full price for anything.  All the paper stacks were on sale, the cricut deep cut blade housing and extra [regular] blades were 40% off.  I used a 40% off coupon on the book which was regular price at $18.95.  It's packed full of all kinds of paper craft ideas--288 pages!  The Trim the Tree cartridge was marked down to $14.97, and the bling and flowers were $1.00 items.  Plus I had a 20% off coupon on my total purchase!  I love bargains!  And here's what I got at Michael's...

These paper stacks were on clearance at $3.99 and $4.99, the markers were marked down to $8.95.  The paper clips were 25 cents!  The embossing static bag and cuttlebug embossing borders were regular price, but I also had a coupon for 25% off my total purchase.  Great deals!!  [oh, and yes, that's my black cat sitting on my desktop; she keeps me company]

THANKS for looking.  Look forward to hearing from you about the 3-d objects we can cut. -- Pat N.


Just had to show you this.  Here's my little black kitty now in her "office."  That's what we call this space that she loves to crawl into above my computer in my computer desk; it's nice and warm in there!

Wow, More Awards!

I received 2 awards yesterday! I'm really enjoying this crafty bloggers' world.  Isn't this fun!!??

The first one came from Hilda at http://hildascraftylounge.blogspot.com/  Check out her blog; she makes neat stuff!!  Thank you Hilda, I really appreciate the recognition.

It''s called the Liebster Blog Award, and is given to people with talent you admire and whose work deserves gigantic praise.  So now I need to pass it on to 3 other bloggers.  Here are three very talented ladies that I follow:

1.  Norma at http://pinkblingcrafter.blogspot.com/
2.  Jen at http://jennyscards.blogspot.com/
3.  Georgiana at http://carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com/

Stop by their blogs, check out their projects, and show them some love.  And become a follower! 

The second award came from Lauren at http://scrappinwithlala.blogspot.com/   She's also a very talented blogger, so check out her site.  Thanks, Lauren, for the award.  When you receive a Stylish Blogger Award. you should:  1) thank and link back to the person who awarded it to you, 2) share 8 things about yourself, 3) pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered, and 4) contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards.  

Here are 8 Things You Don't Know About Me:

1.  I'm pretty short; only 5'2".

2.  I have short, brown hair.

3.  I currently have 19 cartridges in my Cricut collection.

4.  I haven't used 3 of them at all yet!

5.  I love The Beatles music.

6.  My all-time favorite band is The Moody Blues.

7.  I saw them 8 times in concert between 1981 and 2000.

8.  I had my picture taken with them!

Here are 8 blogs that I've recently discovered and to whom I'd like to pay it forward with this award:

1. http://letsgocrafting.blogspot.com/

2. http://craftwithbee.blogspot.com/

3. http://daniellescorneroffice.blogspot.com/

4. http://funpapercreations.blogspot.com/

5. http://strivingforcreativity.blogspot.com/

6. http://sandeeallen.blogspot.com/

7. http://luvs2scrapbook75.blogspot.com/

8. http://stampinwithcandy.blogspot.com/

Now it's your turn to pay it forward.  Congrats and have fun with this!

A Valentine for My Hubby

Here's a cute card I made for my hubby; at least I think it's cute.  The Smitten Kitten is from the Sweethearts cartridge cut at 3".  Papers from Target (Valentine's mat pack).

A Valentine-Birthday Card for My Sister, and My Challenge Entry

My sister's birthday is tomorrow, on Valentine's Day!  So today, all of the family went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant to celebrate.  Great day.  Here's the card I made for her. 

I'm also entering this into Karen's-Kakes-Krafts Challenge.  She has two (yes, two) great prizes to give away!  Here's the link to her site, so please check it out.  http://karens-kakes-krafts.blogspot.com/2011/02/challenge-time.html

I used a deep red cardstock to make this 5x7 card.  The rose background paper is from DCWV Love & Wedding 8x8 "scrapbook in a kit stack."  I cut the heart from Sweethearts cartridge at 4" (or maybe 3-3/4").  Well, first I printed the sentiment on white cardstock from my computer, and after several attempts, was able to fit the wording on the right hand side of the heart where I wanted it.  Originally I tried the "center point" function and it worked great, but I didn't want the sentiment in the middle, so I wound up tracing the heart around the sentiment and cutting it out by hand.  The reason this worked is because the heart is placed between a blackout base and the flourish that goes on top so all the edges are hidden.  I recently discovered this font, it's called Fiolex Girls.  I love it!

The cake is cut at 2" from Stretch Your Imagination.  The picture doesn't show this well, but the cake is actually pink on top, the middle is a metallic cream colored paper, and the plate is white.  I also used the cream colored paper as a border on the heart so it would contrast better on the rose paper.  Used ribbon for a finishing touch, and some gemstones.  Inside the card, I stamped the sentiment on pink cardstock, used a Fiskars corner punch with a heart design, and punched a few hearts from the same paper I used for the flourish (it was a scrap I had from Bo Bunny). 

I was happy with the way it turned out.  Hope you like it, too!  Thanks for looking.

My New Space

Let me first say that looking back at my "before" pictures, my space had gotten really messy!  Things were literally piling up, and I had run out of places to put all my great buys.  My old space consisted of office furniture (desk, file cabinets, computer desk) and a makeshift area for crafting.  So to make more room, I now have a separate office, and a room for crafting. The office furniture was moved out to a small bedroom upstairs, and the space remaining was filled with modular furniture from Ikea.  I kept my computer desk and hutch in my new space.  Here's a pix of the craft side of my room "before."

 And here's the "after" pix.

I did the same thing on the other side of the room, which used to be the office side.  Here's the before.

And here's the after.

And in the middle remains my computer desk. Before...

 After...

And the best addition of all is on the wall opposite my computer desk.  It's one of those "cubby" bookcases from Ikea.  I love it.  Here's the picture before the file cabinets were moved out.

And here's the after.  I love this bookshelf; it has so much room.

If you can't tell yet, my accent color is red!  The colors of the room are sage green, tan, and red.  My husband repainted the ceiling and the walls above the chair rail for me.  And of course, put all this Ikea furniture together.  That was a job.  The square baskets, the red boxes and magazine holders all came from Ikea.  I bought the photo boxes (red and green) from Joann's.  The white baskets with green trim I had bought at Michael's several years ago.

Now let me show you what I did with my papers.  For all the 12x12 paper stacks and cardstock, I laid them horizontally in one of the cubes, and labeled them on the binded edge.

I put my 8-1/2x11 white cardstock and other packaged colored cardstock in a basket, along with 8x8 stacks and 4x6 stacks, most of them standing vertically.  And because they're pretty tight, I don't think there will be any problem with them bending.

For my single sheets of patterned 12x12 papers, I bought a Cropper Hopper Vertical Organization Value Pack.  Says it holds up to 400 sheets of paper (way more than I certainly have).  A little expensive, but I used a 40% or maybe 50% off coupon at Joann's for this.  Original price $24.99.  I haven't filled it yet with my papers.  For my scraps, I got the cutest thing at Target.  It's a hanging file organizer, made of plastic and holds 10 hanging file folders.  Comes with clear tabs and labels.  I figure my scraps will be this size or smaller, and I plan to organize them by color.  I can store it away with my vertical paper holder and get one or both organizers out as I need them.  Isn't that great?!  Cost $9.99.

And I have another drawer (this one in my computer desk) that is full of more 8-1/2x11 cardstock, which unbelievably was given to me by a woman I work with!  How nice is that!?  She stopped her paper hobby and is into photography now, so I was a lucky recipient of a lot of her craft supplies!

Lots of storage in the 2 drawer units.  They both have 6 drawers each.  Here's what's in some of them.

 

And, here's my little scrapbooking mouse proudly displayed on a shelf. 

 Well, what do you think?  Did you perhaps pick up an idea that might work for you?  I still have some fine tuning to do, but at least I can function now, and hopefully keep my new space nice and clean as it appears in these pictures.  I'm thrilled with my new space!  Thanks for looking!  I certainly enjoyed sharing. -- Pat

I made a card!

Well, my new craft room is put back together and I was able to make this birthday card.  My husband's sister's birthday is this week, so he needs to get it in the mail tomorrow.  And it serves dual purposes.  Not only is it my sister-in-law's birthday, but it's also her husband's birthday.  Isn't that strange?!  They were born on the same day, but a year apart.

This is from the Celebrate with Flourish cartridge.  I cut the balloon at 5-1/2" and the shadow sizes itself.  Inside the card, I cut the sentiment at 3-3/4" fit to length, so it cut the wording at 2". 

My next post will be pictures of my craft room.  Thanks for looking!

100 Plus Followers and A Winner!

Hi Everyone,

What a busy day it's been.  You know how Saturdays can be - running errands, going shopping, busy around the house.  I was out most of the day and when I left this morning, I checked by blog to see that I had 98 followers!  I never imagined I would be up to 115 followers by time I checked again!!  WOW!  THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO LEFT A COMMENT AND IS FOLLOWING MY BLOG. 

And now I can announce the winner of my blog candy, picked by random.org.  The winner is...

Cindylu2u of http://scrappingroom.blogspot.com/  who said,

"Hi Pat I am your newest follower!! I only recently started making cards and doing challenges but my family asks for the cards that I don't use, so I am happy to oblige!! Thanks
Cindy"

I'll be sending you an email, Cindy, for your address so I can mail you out your goodies!

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughtful comments.  This was really fun finding out what everyone does with their cards, and has given me a few new ideas to think about!  I hope to be making something again real soon.  I almost have my "new" craft room up and running.

I Received Another Award!

Sweet Libby at Beach Creations has given me the Stylish Blog Award!  Go check out her site; her work is terrific!  http://beachcreationsforyou.blogspot.com/  Thank you, Libby!!

When you receive this award you should:  1) thank and link back to the person (or people) who awarded it to you, 2) share 8 things about yourself, 3) pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered, and 4) contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards.

Here are 8 things about me:

1.  I have 1 brother and 1 sister, and we're 10 and 15 years apart, respectively (I'm the baby!).

2.  I have a daughter, a stepson, 1 niece, and 3 nephews (small family).
3.  Unfortunately, both my parents had passed away by time I was 25.
4.  My favorite color was always blue; but I really love red too.
5.  Fall is my favorite season; I was born in the fall.

6.  I met my husband after he responded to my personal ad in the newspaper.

7.  We got married exactly one year later on the anniversary of the day we met.

8.  And now we're almost empty nesters, with 4 cats though (our second set of kids)!

Now for 8 blogs I've recently discovered to pass this award along to:

1.  Tanya at http://scrappinkymomma.blogspot.com/
2.  Marcia at http://marciasmemories.blogspot.com/
3.  Savahannah at http://svioratomora.blogspot.com/
4.  Sarah at http://sarahvaitstamps.blogspot.com/
5.  Cassie at http://gluemeetspaper.blogspot.com/
6.  Erika at http://cricutlove1.blogspot.com/
7.  Donna at http://donnasdreamworks.blogspot.com/
8.  Kelsey at http://onecreativeteen.blogspot.com/

So Close!

I now have 85 followers, thanks to many of you for spreading the word.  And thanks to all my new followers.  I appreciate everyone's kind words, and especially enjoy reading what you all do with your cards.  Can't wait to announce a winner of my first give-away!  And I can't wait to be able to make a card or something again.  I've been so busy, I just haven't had the time to make anything.  Plus I've got my craftroom torn apart.  So it's not the best time to easily find stuff.   I'm revamping my space, and can't wait to share pictures of the new digs with you!  Maybe that will coincide with reaching my 100th follower!!  Wouldn't that all be so cool?!