"B-A-B-Y" Blocks Cards

These baby blocks cards were put together a few months ago for two of our friends who had new additions to their families. These were surprisingly very simple to make and only takes half a sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock. The easy to follow video instructional by papercrafter45 for this card can be found here on YouTube.

The fun part....decorating each of the blocks takes a little longer, depending on how fancy you want to get. I decided to keep mine simple with paper piecings of baby toys. Rubber ducky was cut from a Quickutz die, and the others are from Cricut cartridges. Ball is from Create A Critter, and diaper pin and rattle are from the New Arrival cartridge.

 

The alphabet cuts on the blocks were created in Make the Cut (MTC) using Times New Roman font. I used them to spell "BABY" on the front of the card and the names of the two babies on the back. Fluffy Bear and Bunny are two of my most favorite cutfiles purchased over at My Scrap Chick.

 

 Just love that these cards actually fold flat so I could add my sentiment to the bottom and easily slip them into their envies.  Had fun with these cards and I wish I could come up with other ways of using this block type card other than just as a baby card...any ideas?

 

One In A Minion!

Shopping for gifts for my son in law is easy because he maintains a wish list at Amazon.com. When I checked his wish list a few weeks before his birthday this year, I saw that he had recently added a pre-order for the "Despicable Me 2" DVD slated to be released in December. And so of course it was a no brainer that I had to do a Minion birthday card for him to go with his gift.
Happily, super talented Shirley aka Okieladybug created and shares her cutfiles of a trio of Minions on her blog, Okieladybug's Scrap 'N More. As always her cutfiles are wonderfully detailed and cut nice and clean...thank you, Okie!
I used one of the Minions for the front of my card together with a birthday cake cut using CottageCutz' Celebration Cake die, and a gift of bananas (a Minion favorite food) cut from Cricut Create A Critter cart.

Then on the inside, for some birthday fun and silliness, I used the Sizzix Spinning Platform die for a surprise Minion pop up.

And for an extra dose of silliness, I mounted the Minion onto an Action Wobbler before gluing him to the spinning platform...when the card is opened, the Minion pops up and wobbles...fun!

Here's the card completely open ...don't you just love the corny sentiment?

Since the "Despicable Me 2" DVD is a pre-order and won't be available till next month, I had no gift to send to my son in law with his birthday card. So instead, I made a little "gift card" to let him know what his birthday gift was together with some Gru funny money...all created in Printshop.

Had a ton of fun putting this together...though I have yet to see even the first "Despicable Me" movie, I watched several trailers and clips from both movies and learned a lot of cute things about these Minions...now I really hope to see this movie soon! Till next week...."Poopaye"! (Goodbye in Minion)

Wishing You A PAR-fect Birthday!

While searching the internet for golf themed images recently, I was happy to come across a few of good ol' Snoopy that I thought would work perfectly on a card for hubby's birthday. After using MTC to create a cut file for my golfing Snoopy,  I thought it might be fun to use him on an open front sliding box style card.

A tall panel was added to the back of the box to create a golf course background scene with the green, some trees and clouds. Snoopy and the tee were attached to the sliding element in the center.  I used a 3/8 inch circle punch for the golf ball and adhered it to a strip of clear acetate, which was glued to the inside of the card, hoping to create the look of it taking flight as Snoopy struck it with his club...fun!

Lastly, I added my sentiment to some labels and attached them to the front panels of the box.

Here's a view from the top that shows where each of the elements were attached inside the box.

And here it is folded flat, ready to slip into an envelope. LOL, as it turns out, this card worked out as a perfect match for the set of golf irons I just found out I was buying hubby for his birthday!

 

More Scary Treats!

Though I didn't go trick or treating this year I still scored some fabulous Halloween treats from my generous and uber talented friends! Just had to share!

This beautifully detailed Frankie cookie topper was created by Cricuteer pal Jean. Frankie's head is a Stampin' Up top note die, and Jean used different sized circle punches for the eyes and nose. Love how all the chalking really brings this guy to life!

Spooky girly skull box was Lorna's Halloween treat this year. Skull image is a cut from the Cricut Rock Princess cartridge which she created into a treat holder by adding side gussets. And ooooh.... look at the scary skeleton cookies that were hiding inside....too darned cute to eat!

This adorable mini coffin box with vampire bear treat holder was  created and shared by my sweet friend Kris. She used a svg cutfile template from Scrapping Bug Designs to create this. The most amazing thing about this treat box is that it's no more than 3-1/2 inches tall by 2-1/2 inches wide....wow! How did she do that?!!!!! LOL, I believe the photograph you see here is LARGER than actual size!

Oopsie...I forgot to include this last treat box created by our dear friend Heather in the group photo at the top. That's because it was hiding in the kitchen where hubby and I were devouring the last of the delicious decadent brownies that were once inside! Heather used a Chinese takeout box adorned with a cute and not so spooky spider cut from the Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge. Love those googly eyes!

And this is the reason I always have so much fun at Halloween! I am truly fortunate to have such generous and creative friends....thank you so much!!!!

Jack-o-Lantern Wishes and Mummy Kisses

Happy Halloween! I think more than any other holiday, Halloween has got to be the funnest of all. With all the cute and scary costumes, haunted houses, jack o lantern carving, pumpkin patches and trick or treating, there's always something fun for everyone of all ages. This year I decided to make these little jack o lantern treat holders which were totally inspired by the one created by SVGCuts Design Team artist, Tamara Tripodi.

I decided to create my own box template in MTC by welding an octagon shape (for the base) with oval shapes (for the sides). Then I used rectangular strips to glue the sides together to form the shape of the jack o lantern. Mini eyelets were added to the sides and I used 20 gauge black craft wire for the handle. 

Jack o lantern face was a freebie cutfile from KaDoodle Bug Designs, and peeking kitty was also a freebie from Treasure Box Designs. Jack o lanterns were filled with bags of cookies tied with a bow. For once I got started early and was able to finish 20 of these in time...wow, that's scary! Lol, in fact, I even had time enough for these...

...Hershey kisses dressed up with cute Halloween stickers! These always seem so silly to do, but oh so much fun...and so easy! Sticker designs are a free download from Amanda's Parties To Go. Simply printed them up on sticker paper and used a 3/4" circle punch to cut them out.

The mummy bag toppers is an idea I cased from Candace Pelfry of Papercrafts By Candace. I thought it was so clever how she came up with these cute bag toppers using just strips of paper, punched circles and a bit of ink for edging. Quick 'n easy...just my speed!

Oh, and can't forget the Halloween treat bags for Latte's doggie friends!

Used yet another freebie cutfile from Treasure Box Designs, "Bobble Dog" to decorate the doggie treat bags. Little witch hat...another freebie...comes from My Little Scrap Chick. Yes, it definitely pays to subscribe to all those newsletters to collect a lot of cute freebie cutting files!

Now that our only daughter has grown up and moved, we have fun dressing up our little Latte in silly costumes for Halloween instead. But when hubby saw the costume I bought for Latte this year, I think he felt really sorry for her and so we ended up getting her another one...that's the hotdog one I posted earlier this week. Well, nevertheless, I still thought the first costume I got was cute....even if it might seem so wrong to dress a dog up as...

 ...Hello Kitty!

Happy Halloween, everyone!





Halloween Gift Bags and a Riddle

Halloween is this week already...wow, where did October go? Just a short post today to share a couple of gift bags I quickly decorated to hold some cookies for giving to two friends we had dinner with earlier this month.



This little kitty peeking out from a pumpkin was a weekly freebie cutting file offered by Treasure Box Designs, another one of my favorite sites for adorable paper piecing cut files. Designer Dina St. Laurent comes up with some of the cutest paper piecings perfect for cards and scrapbook pages. Be sure to sign up for her weekly newsletter so you won't miss the weekly freebies offered every Tuesday.
Right now I'm still working on finishing up the last of my Halloween projects. Mailed out and personally delivered about half of them already to family, but don't want to post them quite yet until they're all delivered...
Till then, I have a Halloween riddle for you!

"What happens when hubby forgets to turn on the air conditioner

before we leave for work in the morning?"

Answer: We come home to a HOT DOG!!!

 Hahahha! (sorry Latte!)  Okay, so if you'll stop by on Thursday I'll have my Halloween projects finally posted and an even funnier picture of sweet Latte to share...

"Get Well Beary Soon" Tissue Holder

The theme for our annual Cricut Club project this year was "Anything Goes". Creativity unleashed! We could choose to create and share anything our hearts desired...the only requirement was that it included at least one Cricut cut in it. We each made 17 sets of our chosen project to swap and everyone would go home with 17 different and very special handmade projects.

For my project, I decided to go with a easel tissue box card using the bear from my favorite Create A Critter cartridge. I tucked him under a blanket and gave him a little thermometer with a little "get well" message. Used  a bell flower punch with liquid pearl for the centers together with a tiny leaf  punch to embellish the front of the card and also to serve as the stop for the easel on the inside. Spellbinders Labels Four die was used to cut the opening for dispensing the tissues. 

Here's what the "card" looks like closed down. You can find a video tutorial for the construction of the tissue box holder with a display panel over at Create! with Dee. Folding down the top panel and adding an easel element to it allows the "card" to close down for ease of giving. A lot of little steps to embellish 17 of these but definitely fun to put together. And in the end it was all worth it 'cause I got to  bring home 17 brand new and amazing handmade goodies shared by my fellow Cricut Club friends!