Monthly Archives: October 2010

So cute I’d carry it!

Cards, Stitching Leave a comment

School is in full swing and I miss the days I could craft from dawn till dusk day in and day out.  One of the things I created over my most recent break were cards cards and more cards.  The one I’m featuring in this post came from yet another Splitcoast Stampers tutorial.  Man I love that place.  Anyway, I created this card for my Visiting Teaching Companion to thank her for being awesome.  The tutorial for it can be found here, my version is below.

Gotta love UTEE!

I used Core’dinations paper.  The Gemstones line in black for the wallet itself.  Chipboard, ribbon, and prima flower accents.  I lined the inside but forgot to take a picture of it.  The paper must have been pink and blue because that’s what color the embellishments are on the front.  Then I paper pierced and hand-sewed the edges to give it added dimension.  I used UTEE for the embossing powder and it gave my wallet a look of patent leather.  Until I gave my Visiting Teaching Companion the card, she thought it was my wallet :D !!! Oh yeah I almost forgot…I also cut a layered card (pink blue and white) to fit inside and wrote a little thank you note to my Companion.  The wallet is closed with industrial Velcro because I couldn’t find the cute little magnets shown in the tutorial and video.

My favorite way to re-sticky my Cricut mats.

Money-Saving Tips 2 Comments

I recently commented on one of my Facebook Friends’ photographs about using a Zig pen to re-stick her Cricut Mat.  While this method works well, it can be expensive for avid crafters like me and I have found a method I like better.  Please enjoy this video from Laurie at Hiding In My Craft Room.

I prefer this method because it’s cost effective, I can control the sticky (by the glue to water mixture), it’s super fast to re-stick/cover my mat, it dries fast too, the glue doesn’t require being cleaned off before you re-stick it again, the mat glue doesn’t transfer to the paper sometimes (like my Zig can do on occasion), oh yeah and I did say it’s CHEAP right?!?!  I have only found  the glue at Michael’s and it’s about $5 of $6 dollars a bottle.  I always use a 40% off coupon to save money though.  With one bottle of Tack-It Over & Over, you can literally refurbish your mats hundreds and hundreds of time.  Plus, if you want to be even thriftier, you can use it to make your own glue dots also.  Check out Pink Cricut or YouTube for some great videos on how to do that.  This is what it looks like:

Make sure you get this EXACT stuff.  Regular tacky glue won’t work.  It only takes a couple of tablespoons to make a substantial amount of glue too.  The image below is of the last glue batch I made.  When I originally watched the video, I was distracted and skipped right over the part about keeping the glue for other uses.  I poured just enough glue into the jar to cover the bottom and added an approximate equal amount of water.  I have used my glue on 6 different mats a couple of times and it’s still sitting pretty much where it was when I made it.

I have it covered with stick wrap stuff just to protect against spills...I have kids remember. It's like what about a quarter of the jar? Anyway...I give it a good shake before I open it up to re-stick my mats. I'm not sure this is necessary, but it's how I do it.

Captain Caaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyve Man

Random Leave a comment

As a little girl one of my favorite cartoons was Captain Caveman.  I guess this makes me an expert on the “Early Man Village” because Sass Master just got an A on her project.  She had to take a 12 x 12 base (good thing Mom’s a crafter/album maker huh?) cover it in a natural product and build an early man dwelling.  She could only use natural materials (well except for the glue gun of course) and it had to have a visible door.  For added measure, she added a fire pit too.  What you can’t see very well in this image are the rock walls underneath the leaves.  The project was worth 25 points, she got all 25.  Never thought I would be as crafty with rocks, leaves, twigs and glue as I am with my Cricut Expression, paper, and adhesive but…well you judge for yourself.

I think I prefer my apartment thanks.

I may have created an addict

Albums, Life's A Beach, Paper Doll Dress Up 2 Comments

During my two-week break from school, I spent the majority of the time crafting my little heart out.  With the amount of classes I take, there isn’t much time for anything else when school is in session.  I got a text from Lil Bit asking me to help her make an album for her friend who’s recently gotten engaged.  I was all too happy to help.  This is what she came up with:

Queen B's Book

The dolls on the front were created using Paper Doll Dress Up.  On the beach page below we used Life’s A Beach of course!  Here are some of the inside pages:

First Page

Beach Babes

Lil Bit LOVES scrapbooking now.  So much so that she said she may have to bug me even when I’m in school (her and my machine might be the only bugging I like to happen to me) and said if I hold an “official” scrap event, she’d gladly come.  I’m very impressed; this was her first album and it was so cute when she finished.  Not only that, the recipient just LOVED it!

I ♥ Temples

Albums, Storybook Leave a comment

The temple is a very special place to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints like myself.  It is especially significant to me for many reasons.  I have now been a member of the church for more than half my life and the temple is my favorite place on earth.  I have been privileged to see 10 up close and personal and take part in sacred ordinances in 4 of those 10.  The Minis have been to 7 different temples in their short lives.  It is a privilege and honor to be able to take them to the temple at such a young age.  I hope they have or will develop the same love for the temple that I have.  We decided to make mini temple books to remember the experiences.                   Here is mine:

I love to see the temple! It was really simple to create and I'm looking forward to filling the album with pictures of all the temples we've been too.

To make this book you’ll need the following:

Cartridges Used: George and Basic Shapes, Hannah Montana, and Storybook
Paper Used:  DCWV Rainbow Squares 12 x 12, Core’dinations Gemstones Moonstone, and Chipboard
Embellishments Used: Candy Cane, Star Dust and Yellow Stickles

 

Using George, I cut the rounded square pages at 4 inches.  I could get 4 of them per page when cutting with the machine, and 9 when using Design Studio; I opted for Design Studio to make my kids’ books.  I then covered both sides of the interior pages with the Moonstone paper and covered both sides of the covers with the Rainbow Squares paper.  I sanded the edges using a $15 Dremel I got at Wal-Mart.  Sorry, but I’m too lazy to spend the time filing it all by hand and the Dremel makes it SOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy.  After sanding the edges, I mod podge’d them to seal them (thanks Loves2Smock for telling me about this), and then mod podged both sides of the covers.  Once the glue dried, I bound the book using my Cinch (man I love that machine).  I then went into Design Studio and used Hannah Montana for the “I” and the “♥” and Storybook for the word “TEMPLES” and made sure they were all welded together.  I used  my Xyron for the “I ♥ TEMPLES” , adhered it to front cover and stickled using the colors stated.  I will likely add some ribbon to the binding coil as I don’t much care for it plain.