Last Monday Made It 2014

Well, its back to school time here so this will be my last Monday Made It for the year.  For more great ideas, visit Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.  On with the creations.......

I wanted a new, stylish clipboard for all of my important teacher stuff (and mainly to be able to clip things to a place that I won't loose them the first week!)  So, off to Walmart I went and picked up this clipboard for just under $4.

Well, you know I can't leave well enough alone, so, I added my touch!  I pulled out some trusty vinyl from my stash, got my cameo all set up, and went to work.  I got the inspiration from this fabulous teacher blogger HERE.  She was even so kind to tell me what font she used (because it was perfect) so that I could copy her.

I did place the vinyl on the back of the clipboard so that when I write on the clipboard I don't have lumps and bumps.  I forgot and cut my name out in pink regularly, but I went back and flipped the text horizontally so that the sticky part would be on the front and I could place it on the back. (not pictured correctly)  

I also use drywall tape to transfer my vinyl.  Its not as sticky as the transfer tape and I can see through it better.  I don't do a ton of vinyl work, but this roll has lasted several years so far.

And here is the finished product.  I did also add some black vinyl circles.  I used Cricut brand (black and white) and Silhouette brand (pink).  Both cut great on the machine, but the Cricut vinyl is thicker and more opaque than the Silhouette brand.

Since the machine was out, I decided to add my name to this caddy to use at my group table.  

Thanks for looking.  If you have any questions, please let me know!  Thanks!

Birthday Card Swaps

So school is going to start soon and before I know it, I'll be back to work with no time on my hands.  I decided now was a great time to build up my swap supply of cards for the next few months.  FYI swaps are cards that I make for a monthly stamp group that I attend.  We each make 12 of the same card and bring it to our meeting.  We then "swap" cards so we will all come home with 12 cards that are different.  I use these cards as ideas or to send out when needed.

                                                 
I was browsing Splitcoast Stampers the other day looking for a bit of inspiration.  I haven't pulled out my Crazy for Cupcakes Stampin' Up! set in quite some time, so I decided it would make a perfect swap card.  I found several cards that were lovely, but this one caught my eye.  I, however, did not want to hand cut all of the images so I decided to use this lovely invention to help me out!!

Well, I'm falling in LOVE with my Silhouette even more!!!  So the silhouette has this great Trace feature on it.  (Don't get me wrong!  I still love my Cricut too, but this is something that my Cricut cannot do!)  Here's what I did:
     * I stamped the images from this Crazy for Cupcakes Stampin' Up! set onto plain, white copy paper.
     * I then scanned the page into my computer and created a .jpeg file.
     *I then used the fabulous 'trace' feature in the silhouette software and traced the outer edges of each image.
     *I also used the 'offset' feature and created a little "border" around the stamp lines.
     *I went back and deleted the original traced image, copied the offset image about 12 times, lined up all 12 images onto my paper, then cut the images out.

I LOVED that I did not have to "fussy cut" around all of the cupcakes and balloons that I used on these cards.  I am NOT a very patient fussy cutter, nor am I very good at it, so this was AWESOME!!!!

After all of the stamping fun, I colored in the images with my Pink Pirouette, Cool Caribbean, Smoky Slate, So Saffron, and Only Orange SU! markers.  I also coated the sprinkles, the flame, and the balloon with SU! glitter glue.  I used an embossing folder to emboss the pink paper on the one side, stamped the greeting at the bottom of the other with smoky slate ink and called it done!!!

If you have any questions, please let me know!  Thanks for looking!!!

Easter Peeps Cards

Happy Spring everyone!! This has been a busy 2014 for me so far. I finally got some inspiration for my Easter card swaps. I wanted to do a "peeps" theme.

I got onto the silhouette store and found some cuts that would work!! I cut out the bunny silhouettes in three colors to resemble the Easter peeps candy! I then ran them face down through my Xyron sticker maker and  made them sticky on the front side. I then applied Martha Stewart flocking powder to make them appear sugary. I added black enamel accents for the eyes and nose. This spread a little after it dried so if I did it again I would apply a smaller amount so it would look right when finished.

I found a Jillibean label in the silhouette online store for the sentiment and used the print and cut feature. That machine is awesome!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Superhero Gifts

We are invited to a birthday party for two brothers who are 4 and 2.  They both love superheros.  Their mom always does such great parties for boys so I love seeing everything that she comes up with each year.  This year I decided to make their gifts using my new silhouette cameo machine.

I first found a .png image for each logo online by doing a google search.  I then put it into my silhouette designer edition software and created a cut file by tracing the image.  (This is probably my favorite part of the cameo.  I could NEVER do this with my cricut!)  I then make the file and cut it from black paper.  I attached it to the yellow background and placed the red 'S' into the superman frame and viola!  Framed names!!

I decided to make a matching birthday card for each boy using the same cut file just modified a little to fit on a standard A2 size card.

If you have any questions, please let me know!  Thanks for looking!!!

Summer Re-Cap

Oh WOW!!!  It's been forever!!  I won't bore you with all the details about what has been going on.  A LOT has happened since this summer and I hope to be sharing some projects with you really soon!  I have been crafting, just not as much as I would like.  Here is a recap of my summer.....

In late May I got this in the mail!

I got a great deal here and I couldn't resist.  I purchased the designer edition when it was half off this summer and I'm still learning all the quirks but so far I'm in love.  I still have my cricuts and gypsy and I don't plan on getting rid of them.  I will still use both machines.  I made this purchase mostly because I want to use all my true type fonts from my computer instead of having to purchase new cartridges and still not have the exact font that I want.



June was the annual CKC Houston with my besties.  Here is a pic of my goodies.

We had a great weekend (as usual!) and made lots of memories!!!

July was pretty quiet.  I took lots of naps and organized my scrapbooks.  I've been so busy of the last couple of years with showers and other projects that my scrapbooking was neglected.  I purchased the above page protectors a couple of years ago (not sure if they are still available but I know several companies are now making similar ones).  I decided that the pages didn't have to be perfectly pretty and done just so.  I wanted to get the pictures out of the boxes and into albums so that I could share the memories.  I placed the photos in the pockets by event and added a little journaling spot to note the date/location of the pictures.  If I ever have time to go back I can make pretty pages with them.  For now, I'm calling them done and officially saying that "I'm caught up!"  I no longer feel overwhelmed and uninspired because I am "so far behind."

August was back to school time.  I didn't make too much for my classroom other than a few teacher math manipulatives to use in the classroom.  Poster sized ten frames to use with my students since my white board is not magnetic and a set of numbers and math symbols that have magnetic tape on the back that I use with a small hanging magnetic board over my math board.  The "counters" have a red side and a yellow side and each side has a Velcro dot in the middle.  (I store the numbers in the blue and red pockets below the ten frames and the counters in the alphabet pocket under the frames as well)  Everything on my math board is attached to the flannel fabric behind it with Velcro.

Stay tuned for more news later.  I'm trying to get back on track of posting projects.

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!!!