More Holiday Goodies To Share

More goodies from talented friends to share! Pictured here are cards and treats that dh recently excitedly brought home, which were created by a dear friend who is also one of dh's very talented and creative co-workers...

Super cute punch art Santa M & M candy toppers and sweet treat bags of kisses...

And look at these super FUN and adorable spinning penny cards! Though I've seen tutorials for these spinning cards  before, I was only  mildly interested in them...until we received these! With a slight tilt to the right, the little snowball spins round and round...(squeals of delight!)  Gwen's version of these cards have got to be the CUTEST I've ever seen and now I can hardly wait to try one too!

I just love how this adorable little snowman rolls round and round downhill! Everything about these cards is beautifully done with so much attention to detail...the stamping, paper piecing and inking.  Thank you so much, Gwen! Your sweet projects brought such a smile to our hearts that I just HAD to share!

Feeling So Special...

Don't you just LOVE getting Happy Mail? I do! I received some fabulous goodies in the mail in recent weeks and just have to share! I nearly fell off my seat when I found these treasures in my mail!!! This beautiful birthday card and box were lovingly created and sent from my dear friend Gene...

Gene used kime komi or oshie style techniques to put together this exquisite washi quilted heart for the front of this very special birthday greeting. Gene enjoys creating Asian themed cards and projects the most....and I can see why...she does such beautiful work! I just love how she used the pretty sakura blossom stickers to accent the front and inside of this card....

Also included was this very pretty box. Untie the bow and the box opens up like a book.  Inside are three little compartments, filled with adorable little glittered embellishments... so clever!

Then from yet another very special friend, Patti from Creations by Patti...

...this AMAZING decorated album!  This is the front of the box which holds the album. The sentiment on the front is behind a window/frame which can be replaced with a photo....

Inside the box, a mini album which slides out..

Here's the front of the album inside, covered with more of that beautiful washi paper. Everything is so beautifully finished and edged in gold.

True to Patti's unique style, everything is about attention to detail. These beautiful charms hang from the spine of the album. And check out the beautiful chrysanthemum embossing on the inside cover of the album. Definitely a keepsake that will be treasured forever!
Big hugz and mahalos(thanks) to Gene and Patti for making me feel so special! You gals are just amazing, and I am truly blessed to have you in my life as friends!!!!

And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to share this photo of this little suprise from my dh that was delivered to me on my birthday at work. It looks like my little Latte came to visit! LOL, this has got to be the absolutely cutest & sweetest floral arrangement I've ever received! These flowers brightened my day and brought a smile to my heart at work everyday for nearly two weeks!

Cricuteers Holiday Party

We had our second annual Cricut Club Holiday party today...so much fun! For our gift swap, we were asked to bring a gift either decorated or created with our Cricut. For my gift, I decided to decorate an OXO Good Grips Pop container with another dragon image, this time cut in vinyl.

This Chinese paper cut dragon image is one I had previously come across while searching the internet but did not use for my earlier New Years jars project because it was a bit too intricate and the resolution of the original image was too low to get a good cut in MTC. Determined to create a cutfile of this image, I found some time after the holidays to re-scan and do some extensive editing in Photoshop to boost it's resolution so it would render a cuttable file.

I used black and red Oracal 651 vinyl for the cuts so it would be washable, and created shadow layers using gold mylar. Then baked up a batch of almond cookies to put inside.

Really wanted to give my new Cheery Lynn Designs Dragon die a try...just love how intricate their dies are! Had to run it twice through my Big Shot machine with a metal shim and spend some time pushing out all the tiny pieces, but I think the results are well worth the extra time. Backed the dragon cut with gold foil cardstock and used it to decorate the bag for my gift.

I tried to get photos of all the gifts that were swapped at our party, but unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to match the names of the creators with their creations.

Nevertheless, I wanted to share the photos of all the awesome gifts. Everyone in our group is so amazingly creative and inspiring!

 

We spent the afternoon lunching on bentos, playing games and having a good time together. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put this together! Looking forward to spending yet another fun year of creative Cricut crafting with the Cricuteers!

Enter the Year of the Dragon

I guess the Year of the Dragon doesn't officially start until the 23rd, but since my family gets together to celebrate New Years on the 1st, I decided to use a dragon image to decorate the jars of cereal mix I shared with my family today.

The dragon image I used comes from the Pagoda cartridge. I wasn't entirely happy with the way he looks, so I did do quite an extensive image search on the internet hoping to find a better image to render into a cutfile but was unable to find one that would cut well or quickly enough for this last minute quickie project. Reluctantly, I settled on using the dragon from the Pagoda cartridge and welded the "2012" using the Don Juan font onto its shadow in Design Studio.

The Chinese character for "dragon" was easier to find, and I used MTC to render it into a simple cutfile to place next to the dragon. Background patterned paper for the label comes from a digital pack called "Dreams of Japan" which I downloaded from another favorite digital site, Designer Digitals.

Decorated 13 of these and wrapped the jars in cellophane bags, finishing them off with this round seal. Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year of good health, good fortune and good times!