Suuuper Long post on Valentine's Day cards

Happy New Year all! I am back! I have not been around for quite a while. My mom passed away in November and I had no desire to scrapbook or create for that matter. Yesterday I found a bag of her ribbon scraps and decided to make a few cards in her honor so I hope you enjoy them.

I like the vintage look for Valentine cards it feels right to me. The aged, distressed and worn in "love" look reminds me of timeless treasures from years ago.

There are quite a few looks I go with when creating my cards including the cutesy, whimsical fun look. I just love the All About Valentines Day set fom the Cutting Cafe. Regina covers all the looks you could want from whimsy to classy at very affordable prices too. The files are printable pdf files you just print out on cardstock and create with. I love the ease of it. Sometimes the Cricut just doesn't give me the sense of really crafting because it cuts for you. I hand cut (I am sure you can tell ;) but it relaxed me and eased me back into the creating mode.

Some of the cards have combined looks with Cricut and hand cut items along with some super sparkly glitter! Oooh! I love that look too! I bought Martha Stewart glitter to use and I just love it. Its texture is so super fine and it coats so well. I am in love with her products all around honestly. My next purchase will be the lady bug edger. Did you see that yet? I almost bought it but then I saw the corner one as well and to make it really look like the ladybugs are walking all around the edge of your paper you need to use both. It will be a future purchase for sure. I just love lady bugs.

Here's a trick I thought I would share with you. If you already knew than I guess I am just out of the loop then! To get the look of "stitched" down ribbon without actually sewing apply a piece of double stick adhesive to the back of the ribbon length first and as you apply it to the card gather and pinch the ribbon to pucker up the adhesive as you press it down in place. Just be sure you cut a little extra ribbon as you need more length to gather to get the "ruffled" look. I found it "sew" much easier than turning on the sewing machine! No pun intended!!
This effect is used on the Valentine card ~Be Mine~ with the two flowers and pearl in middle.

The word KISS is cut from Winter Woodlands-I cut apart "Frosty Kisses" and just used what I needed. Cute right? This is yet another versatile cart to own. The glitter is Rose Quartz by MS.

The mini hearts are embossed using my Cuttlebug get this- on Coredinations paper and then ever so gently sand them in a circular motion to expose the inner color. I used here chocolate and cherry cordial. Yummy!!!! I wish I had purchased more than one sheet of it now. : (

The Valentines children are cut from A Child's Year. This cartridge amazes me every time I use it. I had no idea it contained so much. It is a must have if you are considering it. It's now my go to cart when I need a cut. It covers all seasons and occasions even the every day events like picking a flower or walking a dog (puppy in our case!!!). That will be covered in my next post!

Have a fabulous Friday!

Don't forget if you want to see anything close up just click on it.

2 New Pages for School Scrapbook

Band Demo Assembly-this page was fun because I was challenged to find music related things for the layout. I finally got to use my Cuttlebug embossing folder "Allegro" It looks like a sheet of music I ripped out of a notebook well, sorta! I used the notebook tab punch from SU.
The violin was cut from "A Child's Year" cart- under the icon tab. The girl playing the recorder was also cut from the same cart. I love this cart-it's so useful for children of all ages. The background paper I used on that page was from "My Minds Eye Academy" slab - for storytellers and phototakers-Glitter Book. Ooh-what great papers!
The title was cut from "Plantin Schoolbook"

Raising of Flag -The photos were on the busy side so I matted everything on more of a solid (well repetitive stars fall into that category for me today ; ) ) background to rest the eyes a bit. The star paper was already cut to that shape-it came from Target. It was a gift to me from a friend for having her over for 4th of July. The stars were punched with a CM punch and I added a food flag pick to finish it off! The title was cut from "Plantin Schoolbook" in Shadow feature.

Nothing crazy detailed but thought I'd share what I'm up to these days.

Holy Family School Scrapbook

Just wanted to post of few pics of a 2 page layout I made for a school scrapbook. It's the 2nd and 3rd page so far. "First Day of School" and "First Lunch". Nothing crazy here because it's an extensive project and it's needs to be turned in by Nov 7th so I am just putting a few accents on each page but really want to keep the focus on the kids and the events. It's just fun playing with my supplies and finally getting a chance to use some stash up. I love the "me & my BIG ideas" slab-it's all about school and primary colors. Perfect for this project.

Thanks for checking it out!

Don't forget if you want to see details just click on the image to get a better view.

Pirate Treats

Today is my son's 6th birthday so I made treats for him to take to school for his teachers. They are Oreos covered in chocolate. What a fun mold to use. It is policy at his school to provide safe snacks (peanut free) as opposed to baking from home. This is to ensure the safety of the children with allergies. Oreos are safe and so is the Wilton chocolate I used to cover the cookies, but I sent in Rice Krispy treats and Cheez-its instead. I am kinda grateful I didn't need to make 21 of these! They sure look cute though! I didn't have a food paintbrush to detail the spider or skull in a contrasting color but they came out ok anyway I think. I went to my local grocery store and bought the little clear boxes with lids (for olives) to hold the treats. Perfect size for a "little snacky snacky" and cute and easy to decorate too! The tag I made was from the
"Kitchen Circle Words" set purchased at the Cutting Cafe. I used a SU circle punch (1 3/8") and then backed it with the SU scallop punch in red. The skull gem was from Michaels dollar section.

All things pirate right now!! Arrrr!

Thanks for checking them out ; )

Don't forget you can click on the image to enlarge it.

This Kitchen is Seasoned

Two posts in one day! Woo hoo!!!

I made another kitchen card using yet another cut from my newest cartridge
" From my Kitchen" along with a cute sentiment from The Cutting Cafe's set of
Kitchen Circle words.
It is simple but I just love it. Can ya just hear the "ting" when you look at the accent on the plate!!

Like the dishwasher commercials - sparkling clean -ting!!

The plate and silverware were cut from the From My Kitchen Cart and the patterned paper was from the DCWV "Sweet" stack. I used my Martha Stewart edge punch for the scallop finish.

That is all form me today. Have a happy 2nd day of fall!

Jenn

Perfect Pumpkin Picking Day

I never thought I would say this but I feel like I enjoy making cards so much more than layouts these days. Cards are so much faster because there is less surface area to cover unless you are sewing and inking and crazy stuff like that. I guess it's really not that much faster for me because I am doing that too. Anyway, I made a 2 page layout today using the printable files from
The Cutting Cafe. Autumn Days is what it's called. So cute. The huge block of words helped me move it along and gave it a title in one chunk. Love that! The white printed background words is a set called all about autumn background.

I can't wait to actually go picking with the kids so I can lay down some photos.

Can you see the stitching along the title block on the left page? It is olive leaves falling down the right side. I try to sew on most projects for a home spun look or vintage feel. I like that look. The brother sewing machine makes it "sew" easy too! No pun intended ; ) I'm pretty sure it has over 100 stitch options. Ohhh! Fun! Moving on...Using my Cuttlebug swiss dots folder I quickly embossed the stack of pumpkins and left them white just because I like the look of it that way. I cut away the happy fall yall and made it into a broom stick handle. If it were a rake I should've cut up some leaves but the layout had to end somewhere ; )

Supplies:
Cricut Expressions,Paper Dolls Dress up cart: tree , broom
CTMH: chocolate hinges and brads, organdy ribbon-"Autumn Garden"
Michaels:rhinestones, patterned paper "Recollections-Autumn"
Can you look closely and see that the black crows are flocked and fuzzy! I bought this paper slab because of this little cutie! Each and every single double sided sheet is scalloped and cuter than the last sheet (total 24 sheets).

Hope you have time to leave me a comment if you drop by!

Jenn

From My Kitchen

Fall is about to be officially here any hour now so I have started making some cards that go with my mood. I love warm comfort foods this time of year, don't you? I don't typically make a lot of foods in crock pots but I would love to try more this year. I have loads of recipes that are perfect for crock pot meals I just need to make them. It was easier to make the card than to make the meal so I did just that! I have waited sooo long for Provo Craft to come up with a kitchen/cooking cartridge. Finally!!! I am super happy because I can use all the kitchen and food scrapping supplies I have collected!!
The cards I made use the cutting files from The Cutting Cafe as well as cuts from my newest addition "From My Kitchen" cart. Right now I could go for a chicken pot pie and for dessert warm apple pie with a cup of coffee on the side. How about adding butterscotch schnapps to it? Ooooh- how about Bailey's Irish coffee? mmm.....well not now maybe later ; )

Can you see how the steam from the hot coffee is off the card itself? I thought that added a little interest! I cut up an embossed scrap of swirl paper. The paper I used is from DCWV-Nana's Kitchen Stack, it's so retro isn't it?!

Thanks for looking at my cards and leave a comment for me to let me know what you think.

Happy Fall Y'all!!!