Cupcake Baby Shower

My latest baby shower was cupcake themed.  If you've followed my blog for some time, or if you know me personally, you've probably guessed that I take the theme and run with it.  This time I had two other sweet friends helping with this endeavor.  Here are some pictures from the party. 

This was a Pinterest idea.  A 100 ct. light string with colored strips of tulle tied onto it:

Tissue paper pom-pom balls:

The cupcake diaper cake:

Cupcake liner topiary.  We did 4 total of these:

Of course cupcakes for the sweets!  I made the cupcake picks:

Another Pinterest idea.  The baby's name is Mollie so we made a letter "M" from cupcake liners with some added embellishments:

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

Copic Coloring

Ok, so I know I've been a bit MIA on the blog world for a few weeks.  Projects and life have gotten in the way, but I'm back on track. 

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I was the VERY lucky winner of two sets of Copic markers back in May of last year.  Thanks to Peachy Keen Stamps for their very generous gift!!  Needless to say, I haven't played much with them.  :(  I am by no means an artist of any official kind.  I hold degrees in Surgical Technology and Elementary Education and I only took two art classes to get them (Art Appreciation & Art Basics).  Needless to say "I don't know much about being an artist!"  In fact, in high school I took Theatre Arts to earn my "art" credit to graduate distinguished because this girl cannot draw!!! 

I said all of that to say I was really, really excited to get them, but really, really intimidated by them.  Luckily I am an avid YouTube watcher so I have been watching TONS of videos over the last month in preparation of using them.  I made my first purchases from Simon Says Stamp and bought some Neenah Solar White cardstock and a cute stamp from C.C. Designs and from Two Peas in a Bucket to add to my marker collection in a few hues I was missing.  My orders came in and I was anxious to play with all of my new goodies.  Of course I "needed" to buy a new set of Spellbinders dies to highlight my adorable new stamp.  Well, what do you think?

I'm still working on techniques and I'm thinking about buying the Copic Coloring Guide book.  Do any of you have it?  What are your thoughts on it?

Well I hope to be back really soon to share more of my creations.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Baby Cradle Favor

Ok, so I think it was Cricut's January's Hello Thursday release that I really loved.  I have become a "shower queen" and when I saw this cartridge, I knew that I had to have it.  I totally could have used the Bridal Shower cartridge about a year ago when I was doing my sister's wedding shower, but anyway I just stuck with the baby shower one. 

As I said in my Sunday post, I'm helping host a baby shower for a friend at church.  I played this past weekend with a few options and this is another option that I came up with.  This cut in itself is why I bought the cartridge.  I know it's a bit silly to buy a cartridge for really one cut, but I'm in love with this cut for real!!  I know this is not the last baby shower I will be crafting for!!!!

The nursery colors are lavender and coral mainly with accents of chocolate, bright pink, bright yellow, and a pool blue.  I really like how this cuts out and how cute it is.  I still don't know what to put in it though.  Maybe a nice pouch of Hershey's dark chocolate Kisses (because they come in a dark purple wrapper???)

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

Cupcake Favors

I am helping host a baby shower for a sweet lady in my church along with a friend of mine.  Of course we are making everything that we can and only buying things that we cannot make!

I got into my scrapbook room this weekend (for some much needed therapy) and came up with a couple of ideas for shower favors.  The baby's room will be done in cupcakes which is why our theme for the shower is cupcakes.  The main colors are lavender and coral.  I bought the sweet tooth cricut projects cartridge several months ago and this is my first time to play with it!

 

So, what do you think?  I think this is my favorite option so far.  I still don't have a clue what to put in it????  Later this week I'll post the second favor item that I made. 

Check back over the next few weeks.  I'm sure that I'll have many more fun projects for this shower to show you.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of Love Cricut Card

I had the idea for this card in my head for a while.  I finally found some time to put it all together.  I wanted to use the jar from the Doodlecharms cartridge.  I punched out several small hearts with a small heart punch in various shades of pink and red.  I then cut out the jar on white card stock, silver card stock, and then with a transparency.  I cut off the lid and accent from the silver piece and layered them on top of the transparency.  I glued all the hearts down to the white card stock piece and then used a 2-way glue pen to attach the transparency to the white card stock. 

For the sentiment, I used THIS set from Martha Stewart to create my exact phrase.  I topped it off with 2 more hearts covered in glossy accents.  I used the Elegant Edges cartridge to cut out the pink heart background piece.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Thanks for looking!!

Valentine's Day Banner

I wanted to create a Valentine's Day banner for my mantle this year.  I started out with my trusty, well used banner cut from the Tie the Knot cartridge. 

I layered it up with lots of sparkley goodies and pretty cuts.  I used SU!'s red glitter paper and one of their new sizzlits dies to create the doily (so much prettier in real life).  I used the Tim Holtz rosette die for the center and the Storybook cartridge for the lettering.  

I also used black glitter on the hearts on the ends.  I embossed the pink layer with the cuttlebug houndstooth folder.  If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks for looking!!!

Canvas and Vinyl

A friend of mine came up with this project and asked for my help in making her canvases.  After we finished her's I thought...."that would be great for all my nieces and nephews this year!" 

All the canvases are 11"X 14" (except for the family tree)  I started by painting all of them with regular acrylic paint and a sponge brush.  I then designed all the images on my Gypsy and cut them out using my cricut and matte vinyl.  Many of the images I did have to use my craft knife to get the layering just right, but it wasn't too bad. 

My sweet husband then sealed all of them with a Krylon clear gloss sealer.  In all I created 15 different canvases. 

I created to of the tractor canvases.  On the sports ball canvas--after it was sealed with the sealer, the layers under the football were not nearly as harsh.  In fact I think that was the best one of all. 

Leah's canvas was covered in layers, and layers, and layers of spray glitter.  this picture does not do the glitter justice.  I also attached some pink rhinestones onto the crown.  She is the only girl in a house of 3 brothers.....she was in love with her princess canvas!

For the sister and brother-in-laws, I created a family collage canvas.  In the one above, I used a gold metallic acrylic paint to create the fleur-de-lis.  In the one below, I used a copper metallic paint to create the star atop the base taupe layer.  The canvas above is prior to sealing and the canvas below is after sealing.  You can tell how much more "finished" the canvases look after being sealed.

For my twin nieces, I created mirror canvases for their room.  I also sprayed them with the spray glitter, but their coats weren't quite as thick as Leah's.

My nephew LOVES Transformers.  Oh how I wish that Cricut would have come out with a Transformers cartridge.  I used metallic vinyl and hand-cut this image.  I found a .jpeg online and used adobe to create two layers of the image (the black background and then silver layer).  He loved it!!!

For my mom and my mother-in-law I created family tree canvases.  These canvases were 16"X 20". I cut the leaves out and layered them on one by one.  I then used timber brown stazon to add some dimension to the leaves.  On the second one that I made I randomly layered a darker green leaf to add more contrast.  The hearts are red vinyl layered onto cardstock and then popped up on top of the canvas so the family can be easily expanded!!

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

Classroom Valentine's Day Treats

I'm always thinking of something special to make my students for the holidays.  I know that they will probably rip into them and tear them up, but maybe one of them will remember how special they were to them.  I loaded up some small cellophane bags with the all time favorite conversation heart candies.  I used the Doodlecharms cartridge to create the letter die cut and used a white gel pen to accent the die cut.  I cut a pink heart and popped it up onto the die cut.

My students always love pencils and erasers.  I also used Doodlecharms cartridge and my gypsy to create the holder.  I designed the scalloped heart in one layer of my gypsy.  I used the oval shape from George and created the holes for the pencil.  I then created the heart (red) later in a second layer in my gypsy.  I grouped the holes from the scallop heart and then copied and pasted them onto the second later with the red heart.  I lined them all up on top of the scallop layer so that when I cut them both out, they would line up perfectly!  I then stamped a sentiment and used metallic pencils to color the hearts in.  I then attached a heart eraser above the sentiment with a glue dot!

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

LSU GEAUX TIGERS

In honor of tonight's game, I'm sharing with you a shirt that I made to wear to the LSU homecoming game this year.  It was my first applique shirt to make.  After much youtube research, this is what I came up with!!

The silver is a lame fabric.  I cut the heart and letters out on paper first with my cricut and the attached heat-n-bond to the back of my fabric. I then traced and cut out the patterns.  I ironed them onto my shirt but it still needed something.  I then pulled out the sewing machine, experimented with a few stitching options and then started sewing the mess out of it!!  I had so much fun I plan on making more of these in the future.  I paid $2 for the cotton t, the silver fabric was about $4/yd and I only used a 12"X12" square piece and the sequin dotted fabric was around $1.  Shirts like this sell for $25-$40 at boutiques and I made mine for less than $5.  It was a lot of work but I saved a TON of money!!!

Thanks for looking!!!  GEAUX TIGERS!!!

It's Been a While.....

Yep, it's been a while since I've posted.  I'm sorry.  Life has gotten a bit busy for me lately.  I spent some time in my scrapbook room this weekend and I'll have projects to show you later this week.  I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year and is enjoying some crafting fun!!!  One of my goals this year is to get back on track with my scrapbooking.  Weddings, showers, weddings, showers, and more showers have put my scrapbook stories on hold for the last year and a half.  Yes, I said a whole year and a half!!!  I always date the back of my pages as to when I complete them and while looking through some of my scrapbooks today, I noticed the last one that I completed was in July of 2010.  That's WAY to long!!  That means that I have a LOT of memories to catch up on!!  I hope to get a great deal of that accomplished this year.  I have the pictures and the supplies....now if I can just find the time!!!!!

Until later....happy crafting! :)

Amazing Give-A-Way

Head on over to Creating From the Heart for some awesome give a way prizes. You can click the link below for all the info. Hurry because it all ends January 1!! http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-annual-end-of-year-christmas.html

Twins Diaper Cake

A lady at my work is expecting twins!  We gave her a baby shower the week before thanksgiving and I was asked to make the diaper cake.  Here is what I came up with.

You would think that with all the diaper cakes that I've made this would be easy peasy.......it was probably the hardest one that I made.

I think the challenge was that I didn't have a 'theme' to go by.  Usually, I check to see what the nursery bedding looks like and then I go from there.  In this case, she was doing ladybugs for the girl and the boy bedding had a turtle, snail, frog, and chick.  That totally didn't go together for the diaper cake but the beddings are really cute for the babies!

                                  

I opted for a twins theme.  Let me tell you.....it was very difficult to find pink and blue grosgrain ribbon in the exact same length!  I really wanted more of a baby pink, but this was the closest that I could find!

I used Peachy Keen baby assortment face stamps for the cutouts.  They came out super cute!!  I also used Car Decals (names), New Arrival, and Baby Steps cricut cartridges.

For directions on how to make a diaper cake, click HERE.  If you have any questions, let me know.  Thanks for looking!!

Rag Quilt Blankets

My absence from my blog is due to the busy, busy month of November.  Here are two rag quilts that I completed this month for two dear friends of mine.

The first one is for my best friend who had her fourth baby this month.  This was my second raq quilt to make, but the first time that I used flannel.  I wasn't exactly pleased with how a couple of the prints 'ragged', but you live and learn.  The blanket was really, really soft so I guess it was all worth it!

 

The friend I made the second blanket for is the friend that has the embroidery machine.  She let me use it to add the baby's name to the blanket.  Needless to say, that's what I want for Christmas!!  I think I might have to save up a while for that one though LOL!

The second one is for a baby boy.  The nursery is in a western theme.  When I went to the fabric store I couldn't decide on the prints.  I wanted to use flannel, but I could only find the cow print in cotton.  I settled for cotton fabrics.  They ragged much better, but the blanket is not as soft as the flannel.

 

My husband found the print that we used on the back.  He insisted that we buy that fabric, so I made the back out of one print and the front out of the three prints.

Overall I was pleased with both blankets and the mommies were very glad to have them. 

I found a really great tutorial HERE on how to make the blankets.  Instead of using 4" squares like she did, I used 6" for my outer layer and 5" squares for my batting.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks for looking!!!

Baby Gifts

Oh, this is a busy time of the year.  Baby showers, wedding showers, and they holidays.....oh my they are keeping me busy.  I don't mind though!!  It's all worth it! I have a couple of projects that I'm working on now and when I get those finished I'll share with you! 

For today, I wanted to share a simple baby gift that I put together for a friend of mine who had a baby a while back.  It was super simple and easy to make.  I purchased an inexpensive 8 1/2" X 11" frame and put my gypsy to work.  I used Going Places cricut cartridge for the images and Base Camp for the name.  I just used DCWV textured cardstock.  Thanks for looking.

Wedding Shower Favors

I was asked to help with a shower for a girl I go to church with.  Being the "shower diva" that I am (LOL) I said sure!  They needed me to do some favors. This is what I came up with.

Like I said earlier this week, these pillow box favors are becoming my go-to favors.

Since I am making 100 of these cute little things I found a way to shrink the pillow box favor by cutting it out once from a transparency sheet and then moving the box down a bit and aligning it again on the die and cutting it a second time.  HERE is a link to a youtube video that shows what I did.  This way I can get 2 of the Hershey nugget treats into the box instead of 3 which is what it will hold when cut regularly.

My sweet hubby bought me the Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge for my birthday and I couldn't think of a better time to use it.  After some youtube research I settled on this flower design. 

The spiral cut measures about 2.5 inches wide.  The finished flower rosette measures just over 1/2".  They are very small, but perfect to put on this tag.  I used the scallop 1 cut (see picture below).

Here is a close up of the label that I created using the finished flower.

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

Teacher Gifts 2011

I'm back!  Sorry for the long break but back to school this year has been very busy and hectic!!  Things are finally starting to fall into a routine, so I've had a bit more time to do some work and updating.  

Every year I make gifts for the teachers in my grade level for 'Back to School.'  Teachers always can use a little afternoon pick-me-up those first few days back to school.  I decided to put together a little candy snack.  I found the little holders at the dollar store and I made everything else (except for the chocolate!!  I left that up to the Hershey people!).

This is a regular Hershey bar that is covered in some red cs and dsp from Stampin' Up!

I saw this idea a few years ago in a Creating Keepsakes magazine.  I put in into my inspiration binder but forgot about it until a couple of weeks before school started.  I stumbled onto a thread post on the cricut mb about these and I knew I wanted to add them to my candy snack.  The inside is made up of a pkg of Rolo candy (these were hard to find!!  I ended up buying them at the gas station/convenience store and they were the most expensive project of all, but well worth it!!)  You could also use a roll of sweet tarts or any other roll candy.

I bought this stamp somewhere a couple of years ago and I thought I would try my hand at coloring it with my Copic markers.  I'm still learning how to use them, but I thought they weren't that bad considering!!!  I used the Stampin' Up! builder wheels for the black images on the red cs.

These little pillow box treats are becoming my new favorite form of treats.  They are super easy to make.  The pillow box die is from Sizzix and the stamped images are from a set by Stampin' Up! that is made for this purpose.  It fits perfectly onto an Avery label and then wraps wonderfully around the Hershey nugget treats!!  Be looking for another favor idea using these same items.

 

This is a fun bookmark that I made for the ladies.  I wrote a little "good luck" message on the back.  I used a set from Stampin' Up! for the bus and colored it with my SU! markers.

 

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