Simple Birthday Card

Sundays, I love them. Sunday nights, not so much. I hate to see the weekend end.

I like to go back and take a look at some of my older Cricut Cartridges. Today I rediscovered Beyond Birthdays. At one time this was my favorite. Then new carts came along and it was soon forgotten.

I cut the Happy Birthday at two inches, and then cut it in the blackout feature rather than the shadow feature in two inches also. I like the effect on this card.

The flower was cut using the George and Basic Shapes cart. I cut the flower 3 times, twice in the solid rust and once in the patterned rust. Each cut was a 1/4 smaller in size. The ribbon was a perfect match, although it doesn't look it in this photo. The paper was purchased at Michaels in the single sheet section.

Until next time, Jana

Quickstik

Products I Love

I'm starting a new topic today, products I love.
I will be posting these from time to time. Today's post is the Quickstik from QuickKutz. I haven't seen this in my local craft shops. I purchased mine on Amazon. If you own a Cricut you need this, or something similar. It's used to pick up and position the smallest of cuts or pieces. The end is a bit of tack that picks up the cut but then gently releases it once your glue dries. The other end is chiseled. I used this to hold down and smooth out pieces while they dry .


Ihope this post has been helpful.
Later, Jana

Another St.Patrick's Day Card

Cricut card
I woke up to overcast skies this morning but at least the snow had stopped. In all I think we received 30 inches. That would have been bad enough but the winds turned it into drifts of 4 and 5 feet. That was enough to keep me inside today.
I took advantage of the opportunity to work on another St. Patrick's Day card.

This is a 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 inch card. I used my Cricut to cut the shamrock from A Child's Year cartridge. The hunter green and very vanilla card stock is from Stampin Up. The sentiment is a Stampin Up stamp, stamped in hunter green and heat embossed. The patterned paper is from Michael's. I used pop dots to add some dimension.

See you soon, Jana

St. Patrick's Day Card

Cricut Card

This card I made for Wee Katie. She's 2 1/2 and in love with snowmen.

I cut the card at 5 inches and the hat at 1 inch using A Child's Year cartridge.

The Snowman was cut at 2 1/2 inches using The Snow Friends cartridge. I had to ink in his mouth. The pieces were just to small even using my sticky pen.

The word bubble was cut at 1 1/2 inches from the George and basic shapes cartridge. The stamp is from Stamping up! In hunter green and heat embossed. I inked the edges and used pop ups on both.

I don't know if you can tell from the pic, I used the glitter and tape technique for the shamrocks.

If I made this again I'd cut the snowman larger and either not use a ribbon or leave out the shamrocks.

My comments are working now so feel free to leave one.

Always, Jana

Comments now working

I'd like to thank Joanna for letting me know my comment button wasn't working. It's fixed now so you can comment away, lol.

Cricut Designed Laptop

Good morning everyone. Looks like were in for a big snowstorm. I don't mind it as long as my power doesn't go out again, lol.

I love cutting vinyl on my Cricut E. I decided to use up some of my scraps and create a design for my laptop. I used the Home Decor Cartridge. The large bird is cut at 9" and the other at 5".

There are some very good instructional videos for cutting vinyl on youtube. Here's one of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dMxcSQhZBg

Thanks to Joy at:

http://www.obsessedwithscrapbooking.com/

for posting this. If you haven't been to Joy's site you really must visit. She's amazing.

With all the snow coming down I may be back later today with another post.

Until then,

Jana

Faux Pinwheel Card

Good morning All, well it was until my power went off. Not to worry it's back on now.

A very dear friend of mine has been in the hospital for the last few days. I took advantage of the power outage and made her a card to take with me when I went to visit today. I did add a sentiment to the bottom and inside of this card. Sorry those pics didn't come out good so I can't post them.

I found this technique on youtube. From there I went to the Stamperdog site to take a look around. Well let me tell you, I was not disappointed. She's a Stampin Up! demonstrator with some very cute ideas and other videos too. Here's a link to this video on her site.

http://www.stamperdog.com/2009/07/new-technique-video-faux-pinwheel-part-1.html

The only change I made was I didn't use dotto. I used my Zig two way pen. I put a dab on the backs of each square and let it dry. Then the glue is reposition able. When I finished the pinwheel I went back and re glued with my zig pen so that it was permanent. Also I don't have a square punch so I did cut them out with my guillotine. I just love this technique and this card. I'll be making more of these in different colors.

Thats all for now, see you soon.

Jana

Faux Window Card #2

Good Afternoon everyone. For the first time in over a week we had sunshine. It only lasted about three hours but that was enough to boost my batteries.

I enjoyed making yesterdays card. I just wasn't happy with the results. So I decided to give it another try using a different stamp. This time I used a pine tree stamp. Stamping my paper four times to make it look like a stand of trees. I heat embossed it with a crystal clear embossing powder. I added a wee bit of MS glitter to make the trees shimmer. I used a glitter pen to draw a line of snow under the trees. I drew a small red cardinal in one tree. I didn't add a background because I like the look of the stark white.

I do like this card better than the first. But next time I'll make it smaller so that I can add a sentiment to the front.

Thanks for stopping in today. Please leave a comment if you have any questions. The link for a tutorial video is on yesterdays post. You won't want to miss it.

Jana

Faux Window Card

I was so inspired by a card and video I saw on Stamptv.com that I decided to give it a try. I think it came out good for my first attempt. I went back after I took this photo and tacked down the window panes a bit more. I will Definitely make this type of card again.

I used a rubber stamp and ink, blender pen with a glittery ink and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper. Here's a link to Gina K's. site and video. She did such a fantastic tutorial video, you won't want to miss it.

http://stamptv.ning.com/video?page=2

Thanks for stopping in,

Jana

Here's my entry for a non-traditional valentine over at Glue, Scissors, Paper.

http://gluescissorspaper.blogspot.com/2010/02/challenge-14-non-traditional-love.html#comments

The challenge was to not use the traditional colors of red or pink.

The Stamp and paper is from Stampin Up!

I sued my Cricut to cut the circle and scalloped circle.

I embossed the white background.

The ribbon came for the dollar tree.

Valentine Cookies

I just finished my Valentine cookies. Now I have to find a place to hide them before the cookie monster who lives on my couch does, hehe.

I love making cut out cookies. For these I used an antique heart shaped cookie cutter my Mom gave me. I love that it has scalloped edges. I don't spend much time decorating them because my family eats them up so fast.

Until next time, Jana

Time for Scrappin

Time for scrappin has a great give-a-way going on. Stop over to her blog for a chance to win a pink Crop-A-Dile. And while you're there take a look around her blog. Her boy mini album is too cute for words.

http://timeforscrappin.blogspot.com//

Jana

More Valentine Cards

Here are the last of my valentines. The last one is a very simple card I made for my DH. I cut out the hearts with the Cricut, covered the back side with a strip of tape, sticky side over the heart holes. Then covered them with red glitter so it only sticks to the hearts. I layed that on a strip of red card stock. Tied on a ribbon and added a personal sentiment to the inside.The valentine's stamp is from Stampin Up!. Sometimes less is more.

The first and second cards I made for my sister and niece. I stamped the truck on red glitter paper and cut it out. Then stamped the truck again on card stock and colored it in with Marvy markers. Then I pop-dotted the red truck on top. I used the sentiment "Loads of Love" on both. I filled in the truck bed with hearts and added the black ribbon to make it look like the road on my nieces. On the other one I stamped the dogs, colored them in and cut it out. I also pop-dotted them in the truck bed.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours,

Jana

Magnetic neckwrap

Ilove this neck wrap. It goes with so many of my sweaters. It couldn't have been easier to make. And a great way to use up leftover yarn.

All it takes is about 20 yards of yarn, a spool of 32gauge jewelry wire, and a magnetic necklace clasp, scissors and a measuring tape.

Begin with a 21 inch length, loop back 20 inches, loop another 20 inches, and then back another 20 inches, repeat all together 18 complete loops or (36 strands) You may want to hold this up to your neck to see if you like the length. Tie off the loose ends. Take a 6 inch length of wire and slip it through one end of the looped yarn and twist it tightly. do the same with the other end of the loop. You should have more than enough wire it thread it through one end of the magnetic clasp. Feed it through the clasp two more times and then twist around the already twisted end. Repeat with the other end. (It may help to loop the yarn over a door knob while doing this to keep the yarn taut.)

To wear the neck wrap just give it a twist, clasp the magnetic ends and enjoy.

If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments.

Jana

PS: I'll be back tomorrow with the last of my Valentines.

Mom's Valentine Card

When I was at my Mother's home this weekend she asked me to take down a box from the top shelf of her closet. It was a large shirt box and felt heavy for it's size. She asked if I had a minute to look at something. Inside the box were Valentine's her father had given her. Each card had it's own small flat box. Most of them were 70+ years old. She had saved them all these years. The Valentines themselves were very ornate. Most had lace, ribbons, embossing and embellishments. With that in mind I came home and made my Mom her Valentine. It was much harder than I thought it would be. As hard as I tried I just couldn't make one that fussy. This is what I came up with. I'm not happy with it, but I gave it to her today. She was so pleased. I also gave her a Package of the candy I made yesterday (see 2/8/10 post) That may have sweetened her up ;)

I embossed the greeting and flower stems and the hearts. I used pop dots for the flower heads. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the lacey edge. The ribbon came from Micheal's.

Thanks again for visiting my blog.

Jana

Valentine Candy Packaging

In my last post I made Valentine candy.

I thought I'd share the Valentines packages I made to put the candy in.

I bought the clear bags at AC Moore and tied them with pink ribbon.

Next I cut these packages out using my Cricut Expression, design studio, the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge and a cut file that Kasey at Stayathomemomcrafts.blogspot.com

so generously shared. I punched a tag out of the scrap paper and tied to to the ribbon. The card stock came from JoAnns.

You can find the recipe for this candy in my last post. Try it, it's super easy.

Valentines Candy

This morning I decided to make some Valentines Candy for friends and family. This year I've made "Rollo Turtles". At least thats what my Mom calls them.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper place on small pretzel and center a unwraped rollo on top.

Bake in the oven for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently tap a pecan on top. pushing down just slightly. Allow to cool. Enjoy.

If anyone has another name for these please post, thanks.

A card for my daughter

Yesterday was such a laid back day that I decided to finish up my Valentines. Here's a simple one I made for my DD. I used Stampin Up card stock and paper. The heart was cut from The Storybook cartridge using my Cricut Expression, the half pearls are from AC Moore and the ribbon came from the Dollar tree.