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!

Is it Christmas Already?

I wasn't going to do Christmas this year....been so busy with "other important stuff" that I just didn't think I'd have the time. So what could possibly be more important than Christmas?!!! Sigh...sorry, I can't post about it just yet...but I will definitely have a lot to share about this "other" project in a few months from now...

For the first time in 31 years we didn't put up a tree to decorate in our home. It usually takes me several days to decorate the tree and another several days to take it down after holidays...this was time I just didn't have this year. The only tree I had time for was this tiny one I decorated to take to my fil's grave. Happily, it brought some holiday spirit into my heart so I could sneak in just a few more quickie holiday projects...




And though I had also decided I wouldn't be doing my usual 100 handmade Christmas cards this year, I knew there was no getting out of making the batches of cereal mix dh passes out to his co-workers every Christmas. Baked up two batches and packed them into twenty plastic jars for giving....but they looked so naked that I just HAD to come up with something quick and simple to dress them up just a little bit!

Printed up strips of Echo Park digital patterned paper from their "All I Want For Christmas" set which was on sale over at Jessica Sprague.com to go around the jars. Love that I can purchase papers online and download them immediately to use even in the middle of the night when all the stores are closed... the procrastinator and late night crafter's dream come true!

The little peeking polar bears are a cut I actually designed in Make the Cut last year but didn't have time to put to use last Christmas. Labels were printed from my computer and cut using Nestabilities Labels Four dies.

I loved that the polar bears were so quick and easy to put together that I couldn't resist cutting out a few extras in a smaller size to put on gift tags... but sadly, that was the extent of my holiday projects for this year. Used the Nestabilities Lacey Circle die and Marvy Uchida 2" scalloped circle punch for the base of the tag, an old Quickutz die for the holly and Fiskars hand punch for the heart.

One last project I want to share are these goodies dh brought home from work this week. This adorable decorated take out box filled with an assortment of yummy cookies and this "too-darned- cute-to-eat" decorated Santa cooky were created by Heather. Isn't she amazing?
Hope everyone is having a wonderful time celebrating the holidays with friends and family. Merry Christmas!

A World of Thanks

Here's a quick and simple card I came up with for a couple of extremely kind and helpful guys who came to my rescue a while ago when I had some trouble with my car. My dear friend Kris and I were on our way to our monthly Cricut Club meeting when my old car stalled right in the middle of the street where she lives, blocking all traffic. We were two helpless damsels in distress when two of Kris' neighbors came to our rescue to help us move my car to the side of the road. 

Really don't know what I would have done without their help! Thanks to their quick thinking and help, we were able to make it to our meeting on time and I later called AAA to have the car towed to the repair shop. I enclosed a couple of free chili tickets in the cards as a meager token attempt to express my appreciation for their kindness. Isn't it heartwarming and reassuring to know that there are people in our world as these two who will unselfishly come to the aid of those in need? Thank you, guys... you are special indeed!
(Deets on the card: Heart-shaped world cut using Give A Hoot and banner from Wedding Solutions cartridge.)

Sending A Latte Love

This was the card I sent to my dd for her birthday in October. Really wanted to do something using CottageCutz' Shih Tzu Peeker die for her...thought she'd get a kick out of how much it resembles our own little doggy, Latte...

Decided I wanted to have the puppy peeking out of a teacup...because afterall. she's a Latte...LOL, couldn't resist the play on words!  Teacup is from the Love You A Latte cartridge...cut this in several layers and surrounded it with a few sweet treats cut from CottageCutz' Stacked Candies die. My collection of dies from this company has been steadily growing...I just love these intricate and detailed dies and how they cut so clean!

For the inside of my card I used a Pop Up Stage technique, which I first saw used  by Jenny over at Sister Stamps.  I loved the wonderful staggered winter scene she created and I knew I had to give it a try too. The tutorial for this card by the very talented Kim Score can be found at Splitcoast Stampers.

Unlike the usual pop up card where the pop up elements are adhered to the back panel of the card, the tabs for the pop up stage card are hidden underneath the "stage".

Used a lot of different dies for the inside of the card. Doggie, tiered cake, and round balloons are from CottageCutz, presents are from Quickutz, heart shaped balloons from  the Create A Critter cartridge, and banner from the Wild Card cartridge. I used clear acetate for the tabs on the balloons to give the illusion that they were floating in air.

Had loads of fun putting this together! Can't wait to try this stage pop up card technique again soon....