Family Birthday Tracker

Hello friends. Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.  I enjoyed every minute of our celebrations with our families.  We are so blessed. : )

I did my first real Pinterest project.  My mom saw this birthday tracker on pinterest and told me that was what she wanted for Christmas.  So I did my best to create one for her.  I think it turned out pretty good.

I bought the base from Michael's.  I added the hooks to the bottom. They were gold which I didn't care for but I decided I could spray paint them along with the base.  I used Krylon dual Paint + Primer and it worked beautifully.   I cut the letters for "Family Birthdays" using my Cricut and DCWV paper.  I wish I had centered it better but I'd already mod podged them and couldn't move them. Poor planning on my part.

The letters for the months of the year, I just stamped on the wood.  It didn't come out quite dark enough so I went over them with a Sharpie.  I also used the sharpie around the edge of the frame.  The tags are  circle tags you can get at an office supply store. I think there were 50 in the package. I gave my mom all the extras so she could add anyone else to the bithdays that I might have missed. 

I hot glued a flower to the center just to add a little interest.

Not bad for my first attempt. ;-)

I received some super scrapbooking products for Christmas.  Hopefully I'll have some nice things to post for you coming up in 2014.  

Thanks for taking a look.

God bless.

-Chris

November Stack a holic Challenge DCWV

Hi all!   Here's my layout for the DCWV November Stack-a-holic challenge.  

(click on the picture to see it larger)

I used the DCWV Kidlet Stack for this.

I've been having so much fun continuing to work on my nieces albums.

She's a teenager now. So it's extra fun to work on these older pictures. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sorry for the super short post but life is keeping me busy, busy, busy. I'm thankful for it.

God bless.

-Chris

DCWV October Stack-a-holic challenge

So happy to be getting back into a creative mode.  I played along with the DCWV October Stack-a-holic sketch challenge. Nothing like waiting till the last second, right?    Here's my take on the sketch:

I used the beautiful Primrose stack from DCWV.  So many pretty papers in this stack.  It's all DCWV except for the embroidered butterflies.  It's hard to see in the picture but I inked all the edges with my new Clearsnap cats eye inks!  LOVING those. 

I know it's too late to participate in October's challenge but check them out for November.  I always have fun with their stacks and their challenges.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are having a wonderful craft-filled day. 

Chris

Name Frame and Card

Wowsers...I've been gone a long time.  I've been super swamped with family life.  We are homeschooling our kids this year ( a first for us) and it's been a challenging start.  I'm happy to say that I think we've found a routine that's working and we are loving that the kids are at home.   The stress of getting things going and some other things left me with no creative mojo.  But I just won 14 totally awesome cats eye inks from Clearsnap from their World Card Making Day contest and I feel inspired to create again!  Yay for me.  Thanks Clearsnap!

So my project for today's post is a name frame that I made as a gift.  A couple from our small group at church just had a baby girl and I wanted her to have something personal and you can't get more personal than your name, right? So here it is:

I used my Cricut to cut the letters, the shaped layer and the butterfly.  I inked all the edges using my new Clearsnap inks!  It's hard to tell from the picture but I also stamped a flower pattern on the cream shaped layer using curry colored Clearsnap ink.   The frame was originally black but I spray painted it using Krylon ColorMaster paint in a watermelon color.   I'm so happy with how it turned out. I super glued the flowers on the outside and added some pretty gems to the inside to finish it off.

Here's the card I made to go along with the gift.   All the patterened papers are by s.e.i..  The shapes are cut from the Cricut and the hearts were embossed using the Texture Boutique.  Again I used my new Clearsnap inks for the edges and the sentiment.  I used Curry, Berrylicious & Arctic Deep inks.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

Hope you're having a wonderful craft-filled day. 

God Bless.

-Chris

DCWV June Template Challenge

Here's my take on the DCWV June 2013 Template Challenge.

(click on the picture to see it larger.)

I used the DCWV Primrose stack for this creation and stayed pretty close to the sketch.

Here's a look at the sketch they provided for this month's challenge. 

Things are still pretty busy around here and though I am spending a lot of time creating cards and layouts, I just don't have a lot of time to post.  Thanks for sticking with me though. I'll share as often as I can.

Have a blessed day.

-Chris

Its that time again

It seems lately like the only time I'm posting is when I'm participating in the DCWV monthly challenges.  At least it's getting me to post. : )   I've been really busy and I've done over 20 pages for my nieces book. I've still got a gazillion to go but I'm moving along.  At least I'm making progress.  So anyway, back to today's post.  I made two layouts using the DCWV April Stack-a-holic Challenge and I also made a card.

Here's version one of the layout:

(click on the pictures to see them larger)

I made this using the DCWV Kidlet stack 

I cut the puppy and the "Ruff Ruff" title using the Create a Critter Cartridge

The circles were cut using Elegant Edges Cartridge and

 the other letters were cut using the Cricut Craft Room Basics

This is my second version of the layout --- I turned the sketch on it's side to make this one.

This was made using the DCWV Neon Chic Stack.

The circles were cut using Elegant Edges.

The Letters and Numbers were cut using the Cricut Craft Room Basics

and the eggs were cut using the free Easter cuts in Cricut Craft Room

I also made a card for the sketch challenge:

This was made using the DCWV Birthday Wishes stack.

As an added bonus, here's a few of the layouts I've made so far for my niece's 16th birthday scrapbooks. (Cause seriously I don't know when I'll post again.  LOL.  I hope it's before next months challenge!)

This one was actually for the March challenge but I didn't get it turned in. :(

Thanks so much for stopping by and putting up with my sporadic posting.  Hope you're having an amazing crafty time.  

Big hugs.

Chris

Cute Lil' Pumpkin

I love to participate in the DCWV sketch challenges each month.  They really help me experiment with different designs and I'm truly enjoying them.   Today's post is a layout I made for my niece's scrapbook and I used the DCWV February Stack-a-holic Challenge as my inspiration.

Here's my layout:

The sketch shows hexagons all over and I am shocked to say that I didn't have a single hexagon I could cut with my Cricut or my punches.  (I'm not very trendy, I guess.)

So I used pumpkins instead of the hexagons. 

I like how they turned out.

 Here's a little closer view:

I used the DCWV Autumn Melody Stack.

The "pumpkin" title is foam letters.

The banners were stamped using Studio112 stamps.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

God bless.

-Chris

From the bottom of my heart

I was the lucky winner of a stamp set from Paper Smooches from their latest blog hop.  I won the I Heart Art set.  I received it in the mail and made my first card with it.  

inside

I used the Carta Bella Alphabet Junction collection for my papers.

It's really hard to see in the picture but I used glossy accents on the pencil and on the easel. It looks cool in person. : )   I also used foam dots to pop up the pencil.

I know I'll get a ton of use from this stamp set.  Especially since my little 4 yr old sweetpea is such an artist.

Thanks Paper Smooches for the prize!

Make sure to check out their website HERE. They have such fun stamps. 

Thanks for stopping by.

God Bless.

--Chris

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, since tomorrow is Valentine's day, I thought I would share with you some of the things I made in the last few weeks for this occasion.   I'll start with the card I made for my husband.

Here's the inside:

 Here's the envelope:

I used the Carta Bella Devoted 6x6 paper pad to make this card.

The moon chipboard, glitter heart and glitter banner are from DCWV Immortal Love Chipboard collection.

Next I'll share a card I made for my Dad.

This also used the Carta Bella Devoted papers. 

Here's another card I made for a relative:

This one, believe it or not, actually uses the Carta Bella Merry & Bright (Christmas collection.)

That's supposed to be a Christmas tree with Christmas presents on it.  But I covered the presents with little hearts and I think it looks very much like a Valentine card. 

I thought I was going to be able to share the cards I made for my kids but I guess I forgot to take pictures of them.  I also forgot to take pictures of the treat boxes I made for my daughter's class.   Oops!  

Oh well.  I tend to be a little scatter brained. lol

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Big hugs.

-Chris

"Its Your Day" DCWV card

Hi!  DCWV has posted their February 2013 card sketch challenge. You can check out the details of the challenge HERE.

This is my card.

(you can click on the picture to see it larger)

It's hard to tell in the picture but I made mine 3D by pop-dotting all the strips of paper. I don't know if you can tell in the picture below but I even "bent" the middle strip of paper in the center too.  It looks really cool in person. :)

The papers are from DCWV Sweet Stack.  

The stamped sentiment is from Fiskars. 

I'm off to work on making a layout for the February DCWV layout challenge. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a wonderful craft-filled day.

God bless.

Chris

Ok......after posting this I kept staring at my card and thinking it needed something else.  Does anyone else do this, or is it just me???   Anyway, I added a few pearl gems and now I like it better.

Here's a pic with the gems

Here's a little better view to see the dimension too. 

Ok.... now I can move on to the next thing. LOL!  : )

January 2013 Stack-a-holic Challenge

So I had mentioned in my last post that I wanted to also tackle the DCWV January Stack-a-holic Challenge for the layout.  I struggled a little with this one but in the end I'm happy with how it turned out.

Here's the sketch:

I turned it on it's side to make my layout.

Here's my version:

(you can click on the picture to see it larger)

My niece is turning 16 at the end of March and I'm making her scrapbook albums as her present.  This is page one. : )        ( I need to get crackin'!  )

I mixed and matched the DCWV Neon Chic Stack and the DCWV Green Stack.

I used DCWV Green Stack chipboard elements plus a few pearl gems and some fabric flowers from my stash.  I used foam letters to spell out her name but I don't remember what company those are from.

Thanks for taking a look.

Have fun getting crafty.

-Chris

Partly to Mostly Awesome

Happy day to you.  My post today is a birthday card I made for my niece who's turning 10.  I saw over on the Create Blog that they posted a January 2013 Card Blog Challenge and it's based on a color challenge.

I combined this with the DCWV Jan 2013 Card Sketch Challenge that's based on this sketch:

And this is the card I came up with:

(click on the picture to see it larger.)

Because of all the glitter and shiny paper (and ok, because I'm not a great photographer,) I couldn't get a great picture but this really is super cute in person.

I fussy cut the yellow sun and the duck images and used pop dots to give the card some fun dimension.

The sentiment says ... "you're partly to mostly awesome"

It's from Paper Smooches. 

So are the sun and cloud stamps I used to showcase the # 10 for her 10th birthday.

The papers are all from DCWV. 

The light gray base is from the Black Currant Stack

The "Chartreuse" green is from The Shimmer Stack

The patterned paper is from the Doodlin' Around Stack

I hope to be participating in the DCWV layout challenge too. That will probably be my next post.

Thanks for looking.

God bless.

-Chris

More Gift Card Holders

A very happy new year to you!  Hope you're off to a great start to 2013.  I'm afraid to type this for fear it will turn out to not be true, but I think we are all finally healthy (for the most part.)  One of the 5 of us has been sick since Thanksgiving.  I'm one exhausted Mama. From what I've seen from everyone's posts on Facebook, it's been a rough time for sickness all over the country. So here's to a HEALTHY new year.

In my last post I shared a gift card holder that I made following a step by step instruction from another blog.  I needed a few more card holders at the last minute and was trying to think what I could do and I came up with these.

I made each of these really big... I fit them to fill a 12x12 cutting mat on my Cricut.  I cut each image normal and then one flipped for the backside. I figured out that if you score the back side that it allows your image to stand up when opened and doesn't mess up your image on the front.  I just glued the top portion together to leave enough room to add the gift card and sentiment on the inside.  Because I didn't want my gift recipient to peek or really to know that there was anything inside the "Tag", I added velcro to keep it closed.  That worked out really really well.  The Reindeer one turned out to be my favorite as I made it stronger and with more decoration than the others and it can be used as a decoration next year.  These were a huge hit and I share them with you now because you can use any image and do them for any occasion. 

I really had fun with them. 

Thanks for looking and have a blessed craft-filled day. 

-Chris

Supplies:

My Minds Eye patterned paper

Colorbok textured cardstock

DCWV cardstock

ATG Glue gun

Zots Glue dots

Zig 2 Way Glue Pen

Googly Eyes

Flowers from my stash

Snowman & Penguin images cut from Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge

Reindeer cut from Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge