Apologies...it's been too long!

Hello craft world!  I have been somewhat MIA.  After looking at my blog today I realized I have not posted in 3 months!!!  Oh my....where did all that time go?  I have been hard at work on some awesome projects.  And I have even been looking into doing my very first video.  Just trying to figure out exactly how that's done :)  I have a few things to share today.

This time of year is super busy, but this year was especially busy because my family was VERY involved our churches production of "The Christmas Post".  If you've never seen this musical, it is truly something special and SO much time and effort went into making it a success.  My family and I live in a pretty small town and pulling this off really impressed everyone in our community.  They are already talking about next year!  Being a part of it was truly a blessing, but it was a ton of work.  We spent nearly every weekend at chuch and two weeks before the performance, nearly every day!  Here is a video of one of our songs from the show.  If you ever get a chance to be a part of something like this, I highly recommend it.



Now that all that is done, I have also had a ton of things to do to get ready for Christmas.  Like many, the economy has really had devastating effects on my family.  I am SO blessed and thankful to God that we have been able to continue on this long keeping food on the table, a roof over our heads, and utilities paid.  Tax time can't get here soon enough! :)  So due to our money situation, this year is going to be a lot of homemade Christmas. 

I've always bought all of our gifts and have never tried to undertake a big project like this.   I now know why everyone does just buy things.  It's so much easier!  But it's also so much more special.  Over the next few days I'll be sharing with you the Christmas projects I've been working on. 

Last week, we had a Christmas party for our cub scout pack.  We have a very large pack, and every year at our Christmas party, Santa visits and gives the boys presents.  I wanted to have something for the siblings too so I made goodie bags for all of them.  I did 20 goodie bags.  Here's a picture of them:

To make them, I just filled cello bags from Clear Bags (size 3.75" x 6") with a variety of miniature candy bars and made toppers for them.  The toppers are from last year's DCWV Christmas stack cut at 4x2 and folded in half.  The layer used paper from both the DCWV Christmas stack and Cosmo Cricket.  The stamp was from Clear Dollar Stamps "Christmas Blessings" set (I LOVE their stamps by the way.  Check out their website, the stamps are inexpensive and awesome quality) and the ink is from their Clearly Coordinating Collection in Spring Leaf and Red Velvet Cake.  The images on the bags are from Cricut cartridges Paper Doll Dress Up and Create a Critter.  It probably only took about 2.5 hours to make all the bags from start to finish.  Not bad!

I hope you enjoyed this post for today.  I'll have another post either later today or tomorrow.  I have so many things to post.  I promise I won't be so far away from now on.....and keep in mind that I'm still trying for 100 followers.  If I get there, I'll have a Cricut cartridge giveaway!!!

Happy crafting!

It's embarrassing how far behind on scrapbooking I am....

Yes, it's true.  I am so super far behind on scrapbooking that it isn't even funny!  And you'll see just how far behind I am in a few.

First, I wanted to say how lucky I was to be one of the first members of the new Club Ruby.  It is really exciting to get a kit in the mail at the beginning of each month and I have promised myself that I will use this kit to help catch up on my scrapbooking!  Many times I buy material and end up only making cards or other projects and never create a single layout.

The kit from August included paper from Sassafrass Lass and it was very summery! Not that that is even a word, but oh well.  I created this layout to put on some of my summery pictures on :)

yep, that says 2004....six more years of layouts to go!

I am excited to once again be the guest designer on The Bug Bytes!  I realize that the cartridge of the month is Robotz, however, I don't own that cartridge so I chose to do use the August cartridge, Just Because Cards. I love making cards and I love giving sets of cards to people. When this cartridge came out I just had to have it and I got it! Here are the cards I made from the cartridge:

In a Pickle?, You Take the Cake, You are my Sunshine, and Apple of my Eye. These are just cards I made up to use when I needed something fast. All four cards were made in a little over an hour. Most of the paper was from my stash of My Mind's Eye and DCWV. I kept them really simple because I wanted to make a box to put them in. Card sets are so cute and this cartridge is great for making sets.

I saw a tutorial on you tube for a box and it was so easy! The best thing about it is that I didn't have to buy clear boxes to put my card sets in anymore. Here is how you make it. You will need a sheet of cardstock, something to score the cardstock, scissors, bone folder, adhesive, and corner rounder.

You start with an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock...you need a sturdy kind because it will be a box :)
Put the cardstock portrait, and score it at 1", 1.75", and 7.75". Then turn it landscape and score it at .75", 5.25", 6" and 10.5". After that, fold on all the score lines. It should look like this.

Next you will place the sheet portrait with the double score line on the left. Cut out the bottom left two tabs. Then also cut out the top four tabs. See picture. It's a little hard to explain.

Then cut out the bottom right tab, and make slits only down the rest of the right side.

Place adhesive on the back of the top right tab, and the back of the small tab on the right in the middle. Then place adhesive on the front bottom tab, and the bottom right.

Peel off the backing and stick the box together.

To make it fit together more easily, the opening tab at the top should be rounded. This will make it much easier to open and close.

When you are done you can decorate it any way you choose. For my box, I chose some scraps that were left from making my cards. Since these are "Just Because" cards, I decided to make a label that is "just bee cause" and put a little bee on it. The background and the bee and the ink are from Clear Dollar Stamps. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The box will hold at least 6 cards and envelopes depending on how many embellishments you have on them.
I hope you've enjoyed this project. If I make it to 100 followers I'm going to do a giveaway!
Happy Crafting!
Amanda :)

I am a little sad today, but it's been a really long day.  Issues at work are taking their toll on me, and I had too much to do when I got home to craft! 

Unfortunately, I didn't any links to submissions for the challenge so I won't be able to give the stamp set away.  But thank you everyone for the wonderful comments on my box.  I will keep looking ahead for the 100 followers.

Here are some things I've done over the last few weeks.  One of my end of summer projects was to clean up my craft room.  In the process I decided to use up all my scraps.  I literally used everything I had that was big enough to make a card and ended up with seven cards.  They are pretty blank but they are a start to my card stash.  Next time I need a quick thank you card, i won't have to start from the beginning....which will be SO nice.

Some of them came out really neat looking.

I also have my July DT project for Scrapper's Delight to share with you.  I used one of my pre-made cards in the picture above and paired it with the cutest digital stamp.  If you've never been over there, you should visit Bugaboo stamps.  They are so adorable and there is such a wide variety of styles of stamps.  I chose the fat mouse and colored it in with my copics.

When I wasn't paying attention, I put the stamp on....and it came out crooked.  But oh well.  That just gives it the handmade look. :)

I hope everyone is having a good evening.  I have to get back to what I'm doing.  It's my husband's birthday today and I didn't even make him a card!!  He knows what kind of stress I've been under and like the wonderful man he is, doesn't seem to mind at all.  But I do have brownies in the oven that should be ready when he gets home :)  So at least I did a little something, even if it was last minute. 

Wednesday I am the guest designer on the Bug Bytes and I'm working on a super cute project that I'm going to finish up tomorrow!

Good night all!

Challenge Ends Aug 29th!

There is still time to make a creation for the Scrapper's Delight Sweet as Candy Challenge!  It ends on August 29th so be sure to visit their blog here to get your entry in.  And keep in mind that I will also be choosing a winner from my own blog to someone who leaves me a link to their creation for the challenge.  And since there aren't many entries, your chances of winning a new cute stamp set is pretty good!  So get those entries in!  I'll be back later today with a few of my latest projects :)  My craft room and I have a date!

Happy crafting!

Want a chance to win a prize??

It's the SWEET AS CANDY challenge on Scrapper's Delight! 

If you've come here from their blog, then welcome!!  To find out what this is all about, please visit their blog here.  If you hop on over there, you will find links to all of the awesome project for the design team.  The inspiration for the theme of this challenge comes from snacking while crafting.  What do you all snack on when you craft?   Personally I tend not to simply because it drives me nuts getting stuff on my fingers (like potato chip grease).  Just a thing of mine anyway :)

Now, onto the project I created.  For this challenge, I pondered over what to do for awhile.  Many times I tend to make cards but I wanted to do something a little different.  My husband's birthday is coming up next week and he LOVES Recee Cups (however you spell it) and I tend to get him a bag to go along with whatever gift I give.  So, since we're thinking candy for this challenge, I decided to make him a cool container and put them in there.  Here it is:

This box is 3.5"x5"x1.5".  I started with an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock and just went from there.  The top is actually hinged so it's kind of like those doughnut boxes.  I kept the colors similar to what would be found on the candy I was putting in it...unfortunately I did not have time to get to the store to buy candy to put in it before I had to send off my picture.  The little candy corn (isn't it just adorable?!?!?) is from the cricut Mini Monsters Cartridge.  BTW, there are a ton of cool cuts on that cartridge.  With Halloween coming up I'm definitely going to explore some more projects with it.  Other supplies I used were cardstock (from my stash and scraps....no idea what some of it is), stamps and ink are from Clear Dollar Stamps, Stickles, and the circle and scallop are some Nestabilities dies I just got and had to try out.   Oh, and I used a glue pad and Martha Stewart glitter for the tag. 

To be eligible for the Scrapper's Delight giveaway, you'll need to enter on their blog.  I also wanted to give something away to another lucky person who follows my blog.  After going through my stamps, I have an extra, brand new set of Fiskars stamps.  It's a coffee/tea set that I just thought was adorable.  To be eligible to win this stamp set, please leave a comment on this post with a link to your creation for the Sweet as Candy challenge.  So for those participating in the challenge on the Scrapper's Delight blog, just also let me know where to find your project and you might win these stamps! 

If I can make it to 100 followers, I will do another giveaway of a Cricut Cartridge.  So please follow me!!!

Here are some other pictures of my project.  Thank you for stopping by!

Winner of Joy's Life Stamps!

It is Monday!  I am sorry for the delay in posting this.  I have been at work all day and have to do the mom thing when I get home.  Thank you all for your patience and nice comments.  I am slowly but surely making my way to 100 followers. :)  It will be so exciting if I reach it and get to give something else away!

The winner of Joy's Life "Lots of Pun" stamp set is:

Mary Beth!!

mbchoj said...


What an adorable card! You used a great cart and stamp set. If I don't when will need to buy them both.Mary Beth

I will be contacting you for your information so Joy can get the stamps out to you.  Thank you for everyone who played along!