Make a Wish

Hello friends! Have you seen the new Sew Easy Circles tool by We R Memory Keepers?? It is super cool! I am a gadget girl. I collect and collect and rarely use. Soooo, as you can imagine, I have a nice little stash of Sew Easy and Sew Stamper tools. So I decided to give the Sew Easy Circles a try and see if I liked it. Guess what? I do!! Here's a fun little birthday tag I created using it...

For my tag base, I used my new Spellbinders Just Swingin' die template set and used only the outer die to cut and emboss my tag from American Crafts white cardstock. Next, I chose to try the Zig Zag Stitch Piercer and I put it in the Sew Easy Circles tool. I staggered my zig zag circles by making one in the upper left hand corner and one in the lower right hand corner. Next, I pulled out my stash of October Afternoon Cakewalk goodies and set to work. I inked all edges with both Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip inks. And to top it off, I added some seam binding I had colored with my Strawberry Shortcake Chalkboard Glimmer Mist.

I really like how it turned out and am anxious to try the Sew Easy Circles on a layout!!

Spellbinders CHA Release...

Have you seen the Spellbinders 2013 CHA Winter release? All I can say is W.O.W. I seriously don't know how they do it year after year. This release, like all that have come before, is chock full of amazing and innovative dies. I was SUPER lucky to have received a big ole' box full of them last week and couldn't wait to work with them. I was browsing through the January Page Maps and ran across a sketch I really liked so I used it as my inspiration for this layout.

The base for my layout is a piece of black American Crafts Cardstock. The green star paper is from a Dear Lizzy collection. I used the Page Maps Office Supplies dies to cut the little mats for my pictures. After adhering those, I decided to cut some little tags for the top using the new Page Maps Charmed I'm Sure set and tied them off just above the pics with some We R Memory Keepers Bakers Twine. For the title, I cut out a speech bubble from the new Page Maps Say What? die set then embossed it and stenciled the lines with my Silver Copic Spica glitter pen. For the words, I used the Donna Salazar Girlie Grunge Labels and followed the same steps as on the speech bubble. American Crafts Thickers finish off the title. Here's a closer view of the details...

It felt so good to be scrappin' again! It has been quite a while. :) This layout is headed to our trade show booth...coming to a show near you soon!

January Saturday Sketch #4 from Kaisercraft

Have you ever started a layout or project, not too sure the exact direction, but ended up LOVING it when you were done? That is exactly what happened for me this this layout. I was on Facebook the other day and my friend, Lori Williams, had shared Kaisercraft's link to the January Saturday Sketch. Soooo, I thought it would be fun to play along. Here's a peek at the sketch...

I went right to work digging through my Kaiser stash and stumbled upon the Merry & Bright collection. I had some pics of my littlest ones and my niece with Santa and thought it would be fun to work with them.

I started with a 12x12 sheet of Twinkling as my background page. I wanted to keep with the square layers so I grabbed my new Grand Decorative Labels One and cut it out using the cream side of a 12x12 sheet of Luminous. Once that was done I started picking out various die cuts from the 6 1/2" Merry & Bright paper pad. I really like how they add some embellishments in with the paper pads!! I LOVED the Twigs & Berries and knew right away it HAD to go on my page. I felt it needed a little something more and since I didn't have any Kaiser Christmas flowers, I decided to use one of the foil pages in the paper pack to cut some poinsettias with my Spellbinders Poinsettia Creations dies. Here's a close-up view of the Twigs & Berries...

Isn't that just gorgeous?! Lucky me, I have a small one left to add to a future project. ;) After I got all the flower pieces cut and assembled I arranged all the elements then set to work on my title. I hand cut a banner piece from the paper pad then added some bling using some Kaisercraft Rhinestone Strips. The title was die cut using an old font and the wood grained paper from the pad. A little tag for the date tied up with some twine finished it off. Here's a closer look at some of the title details...

I love the added detail of the foil paper on the flowers. Like I said, I am extremely happy with how this layout turned out. Be sure to check out the Kaisercraft Blog for some amazing inspiration! And who knows, maybe I'll see you in one of the February challenges. :)

Anchored with Love

The Nautical theme has made it's comeback and is a hot new trend. With Valentine's Day just a few short weeks away, I figured I'd better get going with my cards. I decided to make hubby's card first. I recently acquired the Quickutz Nautical Embossing Folder set and couldn't wait to use the anchor one. I started by creating a standard card base with kraft cardstock with a red mat on top. After embossing and adhering my white cardstock I began on my embellishments. First I cut the Scallop Heart and Heart using my Spellbinders Grand Calibur. Next, I stamped the sentiment, from the JustRite Stampers Anchor's Away stamp set and added the Silver Heart Nestabling then added the Quickutz Anchor. I thought it needed something more, but since it was a masculine card I was trying to avoid using ribbon. So I went with the Quickutz Rope Border from the Maritime release.

I think my favorite part is the embossing! Here's a closer look at the details...

Another Nautical favorite of mine is navy blue and white stripes with yellow color pop! I may have to do something with that soon! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I'll see you Monday!

Gift ideas Day 3

I think I mentioned my new love of jewelry making back in the summer after I had tried my hand at making some neckalces for my mom. Well, it has turned into not only another hobby for me but a business, believe it or not. Here is a matching set I made recently for an order...

Jewelry supplies are readily available not only in big box stores but also online in many places as well. I order some of my supplies from Craft Fantastic, which I actually found at the scrapbook shows I work. ;) Etsy is also a great source for beading and jewelry supplies. My favorite glue to use is Diamond Glaze by Judikins. Fast drying and water based so it cleans up easily. You could order your supplies in bulk (qtys of 10 or so) and make personalized gifts for your family, co-workers, etc. for as little as $3-5 per person. And you can use scrapbook paper or images you print from the internet or even fabric pieces to complete your jewelry pieces. Visit my etsy store: HandmadebycreativeK8

Gift ideas Day 2

Happy Monday! I am back today with another great gift idea. And the best part is that this gift is VERY inexpensive! I mean, could be as little as $1, if you already have the vinyl on hand like I did. So, let's get to it. What is today's idea you ask? Well, customized/personalized water bottles. :)

You can pick up these aluminum water bottles just about anywhere, including the Dollar Store! A friend of mine snagged up some in our school colors and I added Rockets and the player's numbers to them using vinyl. Her hubby coaches the team and they are going to be the player's gifts. Cute eh? And check this one out...

College rivalry is B.I.G. here in OK, and I am sure it is in every state. So I dolled up a silver water bottle for the OSU Cowboys fans. A die cut machine, some vinyl and a $1 water bottle from the dollar store and you have yourself a super easy, and super inexpensive yet thoughtful gift. You could even add some fabric or ribbon strips to the top or maybe a personalized keychain. So many possibilities!

'Tis the season...

Gosh, I can't believe December is already here. What a year 2012 has been. Christmas will be here before you know it so I thought I would take the next few days to share some gift giving ideas. First up is glass etched baking dishes. It may sound difficult, but this is actually a fairly simple projcet. And, if you have a die cut machine, this project is even easier.

Sorry the pics aren't the best. These were for an order and by the time I was done, my natural light was g.o.n.e. But, you can still see the images in the bottom of the dishes. I searched online until I found the images I wanted them imported them into my Funtime software. After vectorizing the jpeg's I sized them then mirrorred the image and cut it from vinyl. I had to "weed" the vinyl, taking away the actual die cut because you want the "negative" for this particular project. Then I used transfer tape to move the vinyl to the dish. I spent about 10 minutes centering and placing the image then burnishing the vinyl WELL to make sure there were no bubbles where the cream could get under the vinyl. Then, I applied the cream and waited. The whole process, start to finish, took about 45 minutes per dish. That includes searching for the images, the whole nine yards. Not too bad really. If you are looking for some fun ideas, do a search on pinterest for glass etching. Cute stuff!