And These are a Few of My Favorite Things!

ccc"And these are a few of my favorite things!" ccc And yes The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies......but this post is about My Favorite Things to scrapbook and craft with!  (Do you have that song in your head now?  I do!)  :) Well, the Craft Junkie Too Design Team is sharing with everyone their Favorite Things to craft with that is!  Check out Tracy's site, Craft Junkie Too to see each design team members' items and stories! Now onto my favorite things...... First of all I'd have to say my first favorite is my Cricut Expression!  Getting this fine 'bug' is what started me into scrapbooking and papercrafting in the first place!!  My wonderful hubby gave me my Expression for Christmas last year (2010) and I've hit the ground running!  Whether it's a scrapbook page layout, a card, or a banner, The Cricut Expression has so many uses!  From cutting paper to chipboard, to fabric, and to vinyl....the possibilities are endless!  This is definitely a 'bug' I'll always keep around!  :) (Do you see my newest creation....my dust cover for my bug?  This was my first sewing project ever!  I was so proud that I finally used my sewing machine!)  :) In using my Cricut, having the essential tools are important!  The spatula and the hook tools I could not do without when cutting smaller, detailed images especially.  You all who have a Cricut too know what I'm talking about trying to remove that little "happy birthday" sentiment from the mat and punching out those little piece within the letters and numbers. Yep, I love having these essential tools!      Next are my Fiskars Glue Dots, Tombo Dot Runner adhesive and my Zig 2-Way Glue Pen!  It's important for all of your stuff to 'stick' together and these items get it done!  :)  I love to use glue dots especially for buttons and bows on my projects....they are great to hold the little heavier items on!  Now, I use my Tombo Dot Runner on almost everything....paper, ribbon, and fabric!  The Zig 2-Way Glue pen is awesome for those tiny and skinny images that you can't use regular runner adhesives on!  I use all of these on almost every project I do! And if I don't use one of those adhesives, I get out my super glue gun!  Yay!  Everyone owns a hot glue gun, right?  Or at least a mini one?  haha!  :)  But seriously, some things just need a stronger hold of course.....just don't burn yourself!  (Yes, I'm talking from experience here.)  :)  Love, love, love my hot glue gun! Then there are sometimes with projects that you just need some dimension and this I accomplish with my 3-D Pop Dots & Tape!  Love some pop dots!  But some images just need little pieces of pop dot tape.....especially with the words and sentiments cut from my Cricut.  You can cut this stuff to any length and size!  Works great and makes my projects pop! Another tool I like to use is my paper punches......but especially my Martha Stewart Doily punch!  It's a cute, yet classy touch to many of my projects.  It gives just that little extra detail needed sometimes.....much like my Inkssentials Glossy Accents!  Love this stuff too!  It can add some needed sparkle, some shimmer, and some shine to my projects.  Love it for highlighting or pointing out items that normally would be wet or shiny!  Awesome stuff! Then last, but not least......B-U-T-T-O-N-S!  Yes, I love buttons!  That little box lid in the pic with a few buttons in it, is just a very, very small portion of the buttons I have in my collection!  I love simple, colorful, flowery, textured, flat, round, square, metal, shiny, fabric, paper, shaped, new and old buttons alike! :)  I have a TON of buttons I tell ya!  A lot of my buttons were passed down to me from my mom in a collection of many recycled buttons.....so there are some very interesting buttons from who knows what year in that container!!!  Seriously! :)  Well, I hope you have enjoyed my collection of My Favorite Things!  I know many of you probably have very similar or very different favorite things....and that's the beauty of it all......all together, we can make this world a beautiful, crafty place and share it with each other!  ccc"And these are a few of my favorite things!" ccc :) Remember to check out my fellow CJToo DT members' favorite things! Cheryl ~ Cards by CG Indira ~ Crafty Homemade Kadie ~ Kards by Kadie Kristy ~ Craftin-on-my-Door Shawn ~ Shawn's Fireside Crafting Room Roberta ~ TX Scrapper Mom Happy crafting with your favorite things! ~Shelley~

                       

It's "Sew" Cool!

Sewing that is!  :) 

Now, I don't know why, but it's taken me like 5 years to actually "use" my sewing machine!  Why I let it intimidate me so, I have no clue!  Silly I know......but my mom came over today and we had Sewing 101!  :)  And no, I didn't make a shirt or a dress......but a girl can dream though, right? 

But rather, I had downloaded a pattern from CustomCrops.com like 6 months ago and just now finally made me a Cricut Expression dust cover!  Yay!  I found these really cool fabric pieces at Wal-mart months ago on clearance so I finally cut out the pattern, pinned it on, and cut out my pieces.  So then I started sewing....I was even proud of my zig-zag stich along the bottom!  I'm just so excited that I finally sewed something and now the possibilities are endless! 

I love the colors of course since it matches my "bug"; but I love the contrast of the stripes and the floral pattern too!

Again, I was just so proud that I didn't mess up the zig-zag along the bottom!  My mom said I "rocked"!  Yayyy!  :)  It wasn't that hard to do really......so check out the patterns available on CustomCrops.com and make one for yourself today!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Shelley

Entered at T.G.I.F Linky Party #22, Amaze Me Monday and
Made It Myself Mondays

  

Happy Birthday Sheena!

Happy Birthday Sheena! 

Hope your day is great!

Sheena is one of Carley's daycare teachers and I think very much of her!  She is very caring and takes care of my baby girl!  For her birthday, I made this card!  Everybody loves birthday cake, right? :)  Well I hope she has an awesome day and an awesome birthday cake to eat too!

On this card, I used the Sweet Treats cartridge.....man, I always want something sweet while using this!  :)  The background paper is from a new paper pad I just recently got from KI Memories called "Marry Me".  It has some really cute papers in there. I added some ribbon from my stash as well as the birthday sentiment stamp, and some "M" brads to spell out "Mmm"!  I inked the bottom layer of the image as well as the edges of the card with a brown ink.  On the inside, I just added a strip of the patterned paper and inked it after I finished off the front with white gel pen accents and a bow.

Sheena!

Love,

                               Shelley and Carley (:

Entered into the Birthday Sundaes Challenge #22 - It's All About the Brads,

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #73 - Piece of Cake,

and T.G.I.F. Linky Party #21 at Craft Junkie Too

                                        

             

"I now pronounce you"....

This is what we all commonly hear at a wedding, right? 

Yes, so for my next project, I was thrilled at how they turned out.....and they were so much fun to make!  And right before I started on them, the UPS man delivered the perfect thing......my free Cricut points rewarded cartridge....Tie the Knot!  :)

My friend Cassie from Cake Monkey had asked me to make her some cards that she wanted to give to her clients when she delivered their wedding cakes!  How sweet!!!  So below is the set of 10 wedding cards I made for her....Bear with me as it is a long post with lots of pics of the cards....yes, I was a little proud of them!  :)

So what I did, was make 10 cards.....but I essentially I made 5 pairs of matching cards.....well sorta matching.  :)  The cards in each pair had the same background papers, Cricut images, embellishments, and even all 10 had the same "Congratulations" stamp sentiment to the happy couples!  But I made each card to be its own....different colors and even maybe a little rearrangements on the cards.  :)  I did a lot of inking and even went through almost two Tombo adhesives to make all of these cards!  :)

So to begin, I had never stamped on ribbon before....and well I thought they turned out beautifully!  On these two cards, I also added some brads (which for that reason, I'm entering these into a challenge!  ;) See the bottom of this post). 

Close-ups of these two cards

On the inside, I added a simple heart to accent the matching strip of patterned paper.

Then onto the next two cards......I decided to do these as portrait cards (just to have variety) and I added Stickles to these in various spots on the patterned paper. (Hopefully you can see this in the pics...I laid them down instead of standing them up.) And mainly here, I just swapped the colors on the tag and inked them both in the same purple ink.  I also used the same paper strip and lace behind them.

 Inside this card, I simply attached a matching strip of the patterned paper. (Sorry, no photo.)

Close-ups of these two cards 

For these two cards, I used my Martha Stewart Doily Punch, rhinestones, and some Black Licorice Traditional Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot.  Like the "I Do" card, I simply added a strip of the patterned paper but forgot to take a pic. :)

Close-ups of these two cards 

And these were my favorites I think......eh, I loved them all actually! Hard to choose!  But on this one, I switched sides for the chapels and the word images to make them a bit different.  I even stamped the ribbons on opposites sides too. 

Close-ups of these two cards 

On the inside, I used the little heart cut-outs from the chapels (instead of throwing them away) and added them to accent the strip of matching paper.

And finally for the last two cards, I actually used the Songbird cartridge.  On these, I made a couple of cute bows and added some white gel pen accents to finish them off. 

Close-ups of these two cards

On the inside, I added a little matching bird to the strip of matching paper.  Isn't he adorable?  I thought so!  :)

Now, after creating the cards, I printed Cassie's logo and a message onto cardstock and adhered them onto the insides of all the cards directly above the matching paper strips.  And viola....they were finished! :)  Isn't he cute?  :)

This was really a challenging, yet fun set for me to make.....I really liked making them!  Again, it was a hard thing to do for me since I did not know who the recipient would be for them; but I'm trying to do this more so that anyone can enjoy them!   Each card was different much like each of Cassie's customers will be different and I hope that the cards can correspond with each couple that receives them.  Thank you Cassie for asking me to create these and I'm sure your customers will love you for them!  :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Shelley

*First card with brads entered into the Whimsical Wednesdays "Three Times A Charm" Challenge
and all cards entered at T.G.I.F. Linky Party #21 - Craft Junkie Too

     

Girlfriends are the best!

A girlfriend is probably the only person in this world, who understands exactly what you are saying even though you may not really be talking at all.
Anonymous

Girlfriends are the best!  Aren't they though??  :)  They'll be honest with you and tell you when you need not to leave the house "with that on!"  And they'll tell you when you have something in your teeth!  And you can confide in them with your joys, troubles, and fears.....they are just simply the best!

So as all my "girlfriends" inspire my next couple of cards.......I totally was able to just use scraps of paper I had been saving (I'm such a packrat when it comes to scrap paper!) and just added some ribbon and bling to "purdy" them up! :)

I used my Paisley cartridge for the ladybug and the "girlfriends" sentiment.  This cartridge has so much "girly" stuff on it and it was one of the first cartridge I purchases after getting my Cricut Expression last Christmas!  It has so many fun possibilities!

On the inside, I used the heart cutout from the ladybug on the front of the card, then added the arrow piece from another image on that same cartridge.  I also used a stamp from the My Pink Stamper - Fabulous Phrases set.

Again, I used my Paisley cartridge for the heart buttons, the butterfly circle cut-out, and the "girlfriends" sentiment.  The backbround paper was of course some scraps that I had to turn and trim them and be creative with the ribbon to cover the card.  So I then sewed the paper heart buttons onto actual buttons and then onto the center ribbon strip before attaching it.  I wasn't sure how this card was gonna turn out, but I think this card turned out really cute!

On the inside, I used the same paper heart button image that I had cut too large for the front (haha - using the scraps!) and again used the same sentiment stamp from the My Pink Stamper - Fabulous Phrases set.

  Well, these are just two cards I have made for "Girlfriends" but I could stay so busy making more of them to equal the amount of girlfriends I have!  I am certainly blessed to have such good friends including all of my online scrappin' girlfriends too!  :)  Thank you all for being such a blessing and inspiration to me!

And so...........as I said before.......girlfriends are the best!

Shelley

Entered into Paper Cuts Challenge #104 - Project using Turquoise, Red, White and Black ONLY,

Made It Myself Mondays - Week 11 @ You Had Me At Craft,

More Than Favors #47 - Wacky Wednesday - Friendship

My Pink Stamper - My Pinkalicious  Blog Hop Friday and the

My Craft Spot Challenge #20 - It's Hot Out There - Using hot, bright colors