Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Some ladies on the scrapbooking board I post on did altered clocks, and I had this project on my virtual to do list. I had a cheapo clock in my former craft space in the attic, but I had pulled the battery out of it years ago, because the ticking annoyed me one time that I slept up there in the guest bed (Jason snores something awful!)

I definitely need a clock in my new craft space, since it is easy to lose track of time back there...no windows, the hypnotizing whir of the furnace, Jason equally unaware of the time while he plays computer games... In fact the other night while I was finishing this very clock, he peeked back into my craft area and said "you gonna head up to bed soon...it's five to twelve" WHAT?!?! Good thing I am working on a clock for this place, I thought!

It definitely isn't the design I had originally intended. I planned to make it purple somehow (yes, I know, I am a tad purple obsessed), but then I saw the music paper I had...gotta go with musical stuff, if not purple. Then when digging through my embellishment drawer to find something to mark the numbers, I found these suns that I haven't used on a project in years. Hopefully, I can make another clock for someone at some point that is fancier than this one. While this one is pretty, it isn't as cute as I had originally envisioned.

All Aboard!

This is the train cake I made for Nathan's 2nd Birthday. I used a recipe/instructions on the Betty Crocker website. Well, I had to alter it a bit, because on my first (failed) attempt the night before his party, I used 2 boxed cake mixes as it calls for. When going to "crumb coat" the cake after it was cut into the train cars and engine, all I got was crumbs everywhere, flaking off the cake. The cake was too moist and delicate (which is very yummy, but hard to cut and ice without it falling apart). Into the garbage with what I like to call the "train wreck"

Before completely giving up, I checked around online that night and came across a different train cake tutorial that recommended using frozen pound cakes. *Light bulb goes off above my head* Pound cake, being a more tightly packed cake, would fare much better being trimmed and iced and manhandled. So, in the end it all worked out, and we had an adorable train cake...and one happy little boy, yelling "choo choo" and "it's Thomas!" Certain people questioned why the heck I bothered stressing myself out for a monkey cake last year and then a train cake this year...Nathan's smile and reaction made it all worthwhile. THAT is why I put all the work, and deal with icing all over my kitchen, and curse at the thing at midnight, and throw it away to start over the next morning...for him...

Recent Cards

Now that everyone has received and opened their cards, I can post pics!

Birthday card for my sister:

I forget exactly the wording inside the card, but it said something about hoping you have a great birthday and that the year "blooms" into something beautiful. The only thing cricut on this card is the circle...2" circle cut from George cartridge. On the inside of the card (not shown), there is a sunflower cut from Walk in My Garden.

Valentine's Day Card for DH:

Inside says: To the man who puts the light in my life, the spring in my step, and the song in my heart...Happy Valentine's Day!

Branches and bird from Home Decor. Bird cut at 1", I forget what I size I cut the branches. The music notes are a punch I have had for a while.

Valentine's Day card for DH from DS:

Inside says: my STAR, my hero, my role model, my Daddy...Happy Valentine's day

Stars from Home Decor cartridge, paper from DCWV stack 6

Valentine's Day card for grandparents from DS (made one for each set of grandparents):

Inside says "I couldn't ask for a more perfect pair than you Grandma and Grandpa" (other version says "Grammie and Grandad")

Shoes are from My Community cartridge, cut at 2", glitter on shoe laces, pink eyelets in shoe lace holes.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of my Dad's birthday card before sealing it in the envelope. He just turned 60! The card had the whale cut from Life is a Beach, as well as the "A Whale of a time" phrase cut from the same cartridge. I trimmed off the word "time" and cut out "TALE" in the font on this cartridge. The sentiment inside said "I heard a whale of a tale that you are 60... I don't believe it; I am going to need to see some ID"

Valentine's Day creations

I had a relaxing day on Friday with my little man. It was his 2nd birthday, so we spent most of the day keeping things low key. Other than the cranky spell when he woke up from his nap, it was a great day. While he napped, I got in some crafting time...probably the first real time I have had to sit down and use my new space. Can I just say... I sat down in my chair and just grinned prior to starting to work. Goofy, yes, but I have been called that (and worse) before! During nap time, I worked on 4 valentine's day cards... 2 for grandparents from Nathan, 1 for Jason from me, and 1 for Jason from Nathan. I finished them all except for the printed out greetings for the insides of the cards...I finished those tonight. I will post pics in the next few days, once all the recipients see them first.

My New Craft Oasis - Before and Afters

The before pictures...

space used as storage and pretty messy... The "long side" is on the right when you walk in the doorway. The "short side" is on the left (past the furnace and hot water heater)

long side, view from back:

long side, view from entry:

shorter side, view from entry:

Cleared out and now my blank canvas!

After pictures:

Overall View from entry

The doorway in the back, straight ahead of the entry is a storage closet that has no door. I might hang a curtain so I don't have to look at all the stuff in there. right now, I dumped some stuff in there temporarily, so it is more disorganized and unsightly than it usually is!

"Long Side"

"Short side"

Close ups of storage shelves, etc. I might still do some reorganizing/rearranging, but for now, here is how everything is organized...

Not quite a craft...

...but still an outlet for my creative side. These are the cupcakes I whipped up for Nathan's daycare buddies for snack tomorrow. His birthday is Friday, but he doesn't go on Fridays and their V day party is Friday. I used the 1M wilton star tip and my wilton icing gun (LOVE IT) to ice the tops. This was just a pilsbury box mix for Funfetti cake...and funfetti icing. Bonus...I got to use my exciting cupcake caddy that MIL gave me for Christmas.

Very yummy! The exciting cake creation is coming for the birthday party with family...it will be so cute!

"Choo Choo I'm Two"

So I made Nathan's Valentines Day shirt way early, only to procrastinate his birthday shirt. Bear in mind, his birthday is 2 days BEFORE valentines day. One event or the other is bound to get neglected...this year, thanks to the snow of epic proportions, I haven't crafted enough for either...eep! Anyway, the one bright side to all the snow...I got 2 snow days from work and got crafting done. His birthday party theme is trains, and I thought up the design for the shirt weeks ago...of course just now got around to doing it. The only things I am not happy about are - the smudge behind the front wheel and that the train isn't quite centered. Both of these mistakes are due to me trying to rush and get it done. I will not stress about this (as obsessive as I may be), since he will only wear it twice.

I used the following:
* tulip "soft" fabric paint
* reynolds freezer paper
* cut the stencils on my Cricut Create with the following cartridges and settings:
- don juan for font, letters cut at 1 1/4 "
- My Community train engine cut at 3"

Nathan's Valentines

I made these Hershey kiss holders for Valentines for my son to give to his daycare "classmates" I made them while we were snowed in and had no power on Saturday. These were the perfect craft at the time, since I didn't need any of my stuff that plugs in (my Cricut, my computer, etc.) A fellow scrapbooker/paper crafter posted instructions for these...she originally found instructions on another blog. These
are super cute and super easy (I made 16 in about an hour)

The abridged instructions...
* cardstock cut 5"x5.5"
* score at 4", 2.5" and 1.5". This will give you two large (1.5") sections, one small (1") section, and a third large (1.5") section
* decorate the second large section on the outside with patterned paper, stickers, etc.
* place adhesive along the inside of the small (1") section, place 5 kisses on here
* place adhesive along the inside of the last large (1.5") section, and fold this side over to form a triangle.

I used red and light blue cardstock that I had on hand. The patterned paper is from DCWV Stack 6

Sorry my instructions weren't the best...if I ever come across the original blog instructions, I will send you that way.

Some highlights from this weekend

This weekend, I worked on a bunch of layouts for the "virtual crop" on the Scrapbooking forum I participate in. These are just some of my faves...

Finally tried one of those freezer paper t-shirts

I wanted a Valentines Day shirt for my DS, but I hate spending all that money on a shirt he can wear a few times and then grow out of. So I decided to try my hand at the freezer paper tee's that I have seen on the Cricut message boards before. It was difficult at first to think of a cute phrase for Valentines Day that wasn't girly. It also had to be shape I could cut with the Cricut cartridges I have. After tossing around a few ideas, the bee was the simplest to paint onto a shirt...or so I thought, haha!

I browsed threads on the Cricut message boards to get tips on this project, and I also watched this video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRyXlSTtHPA It still took a little trial and error, but it was an easy, fun project. It is also a cheap way to get cute, customized shirts for family and friends.

For this one, I used the cricut cartridges Walk in My Garden for the bee (cut at 4") and Don Juan for the "bee mine"

Quick Thank You's

I made 6 of these Thank You cards using the Walk in My Garden cartridge. I wanted something quick yet cute to use as thank yous for my patients at work who gave me Christmas presents. I was inspired by a video tutorial on mypinkstamper.com. You can view the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jomgOi2VYRQ&feature=channel

Here are the settings I used for these cards:
* card 2 cut at 4" using teal cardstock
* daisy 2 with card feature selected cut at 4" on brown cardstock
* daisy 2-shift with card feature selected cut at 4" on yellow cardstock
* "thanks" cut at 1" on yellow cardstock, used for sentiment on inside.

I embossed the brown cardstock (after cutting the daisy card feature) using the Sizzix Texture Boutique. I used buttons I had on hand as the center of the flowers, and some cream colored ribbon to dress it up.

My first paperdoll

This is a birthday card for my DH, Jason...a Penn State alum and die hard fan. The inside reads "...here to wish you a happy birthday."

I used the following cuts (all at 4") from the PDDU cartridge to create this little Nittany Lion guy:
* One piece suit - outfit 1
* Ears - outfit 2 (reindeer ears, trimmed off the antlers)
* Tail - outfit 2
* Belly - outfit 2
* Hair - pirate boy (I trimmed this so it wouldn't stick out behind the ears)
* Scarf - Frankenbride (I trimmed all but one side and turned it sideways)

A little bird told me...

I made this as a birthday car for my aunt. The inside reads "...that it's your birthday!"

Paper used: DCWV spring mat stack (used Bazzill solid teal on the inside, not pictured)

Cricut cuts from Home Decor cartridge: branches (branch and branch shift) cut at 2", bird cut at 1". I did some creative trimming on the branch on the right, since the cut ripped a little.

Anniversary card for my parents

The inside reads "The rest is history"

The only thing I am disappointed with is the glue spot on the ribbon at the top! Oh well...

The solid paper is Bazzill cardstock, and the patterned paper is from a designer mat stack (Brenda Waton Small Wonders Boy).

Cricut cuts are from Graphically Speaking using the word feature. "Girl" and "boy" (word shift) cut at 3", "found" cut at 1/2"

Here goes nothing...

So I decided to start a blog...GASP! I know, the interwebs already suck enough of my time up, but I have good reasons for starting this blog. I want a place to display my crafts and also be able to keep track of how I made them (example - what size I cut that shape on the cricut, what materials I used, etc.) That way, I can make another just like it sometime if I want, without having to keep a notebook full of sketches and notes. Also, by posting my stuff here, hopefully some fellow crafters will find some inspiration...I can't promise anything though ;-) No pictures to post yet tonight, but I have finished 3 new cards that I will take pictures of when there is (hopefully) some natural light tomorrow during the day. That is the one upside of all this snow...