Glitter It Ornaments - A Christmas Gift I forgot to share

What a night it was with all those Ustreams going on!  I managed to see part of all three of them (My Pink Stamper, My Creative Time, and Above Rubies Studio).  Above Rubies Studio had several big announcements and I can't wait to see what comes in the future.  I am a member of Club Ruby Designers and I have LOVED the kits I get.  Emma (My Creative Time) announced her new DT.  I would love to be able to buy her stamp sets but I'm on a buying freeze....and I already spent my craft budget for the month on 2 new cartridges.  My craft budget is very small :)  Robyn (My Pink Stamper) announced her new DT and unfortunately I didn't get picked but it was still fun to participate in the challenge.  She is coming out with a brand new product that she hasn't been able to announce yet.  I cannot wait to hear what that is!

When I was doing gifts for my family this year, I saw the post on My Pink Stamper about Glitter It!.  I had been trying to think of something I could easily make for my each member of my family and this was perfect.  I bought the Glitter It online from Signature Crafts.  It was very inexpensive ($3 I think) and I found glass ornaments online also.  I bought 16 and with shipping only paid $20 for those.  These were SO easy to make, I just couldn't believe it.  Literally all you do is pour in the Glitter It, coat the inside, let it drain, pour in the glitter, coat the inside and dump out the excess.  It only took my an hour to make all 16.  And let me tell you, they were SO PRETTY!  Here's a few pictures.

Once that part was done, I wanted to personalize them.  I used my Songbird Cricut Cartridge, some white vinyl, and Armour Etch.  My initial plan was to glass etc the initials of who they were for into the ornaments.  This did not exactly work as planned.  The glass etch cream says to leave it on for 10 minutes.  I left it on for 30 minutes (after reading some recommendations from other blogs from people that have used it).  It still did not have a very strong image.  So after that, I decided to use the letter cut out on the other side of the ornament.  So each one was etched with the initial on one side and had the vinyl initial on the other side.  My family completely LOVED them. I was so excited that I was able to give them something so pretty that they actually liked!  Here are the pictures of the finished ornaments.

After going through my pictures, I found out I have a couple more projects to share from things I made over Christmas so I hope you'll come back when I get them posted.  I hope you all have a great day!

~Mandy

My Pink Stamper Challenge Submission

Robyn, My Pink Stamper, is having a challenge to pick 2  members for her upcoming design team.  I have never submitted anything before, mostly because I don't think I have a chance, but I decided to take some new chances in this new year, so here goes!

The challenge was to make a project (card, scrapbook layout, etc) using the following colors:
Pink
Green
Brown
and one optional color (I chose blue)

The details for the challenge and the design team are (from the MPS site):
*You will need to have a blog



*You cannot already be serving on a DT that has product that is a conflict of interest (most DTs are just fine as long as they do not sell product that is similar to My Pink Stamper Original Cricut Stamps idea)


*Your project must be made just for this challenge


*Post a pic on your blog with a full recipe along with what the challenge is about


*This needs to be a new project that you make just for this challenge


*Only one entry per person, please


*You must have either a Cricut or Imagine to serve on the team


*No experience necessary but you must have a love for the craft! :)

I decided to make a scrapbook layout.  All of the paper was DCWV.  The green patterned paper was a scrap from my stash.  I used the Celebrations Cricut cartridge for the party hat and noise maker.  Happy New Year was from the Wild Card cartridge.  The banner (incl. numbers), the ballons, and porcupine are from Birthday Bash.  Birthday Bash is definitely my favorite of all my cartridges.  There are so many images on the cartridge and I love the font.

If you want to submit something for the chance to be a My Pink Designer, you have until tonight at midnight to post your project to Robyn's blog here.

Thanks for letting me share :)  I hope everyone is having a great day!

~Mandy

Quick Journal with Bind It All

Good morning fellow crafters! Today I am a guest designer over at The Bug Bytes. Thank you Pam for having me back to share with everyone this hobby that I love so much. Crafting is a such a release in my crazy life.

For this project, I have been wanting a new journal. I am getting close to filling my current one and since we have begun a new year, I wanted to start it off with a new journal. I am not making many resolutions this year, but the few I am making I want to put a lot of effort into. With that said, I made a journal with my Bind It All tool that I acquired several months ago but haven't gotten to use yet.

I used the Graphically Speaking cartridge and my Gypsy to design the cover. I kept it very simple and with the exception of the Stickles drying time, this only took about 30 minutes to make. I used my big Carl cutter, O wire, Bind it All, wire cutters, adhesive, plain white paper, and colored cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Later I added some stickles and glitter for embellishments.

I believe the Papertrey Ink colors were Simply Charteuse, Aqua Mist, Plum Pudding, Pinefeather, Linen.....and I can't remember the others :) Getting old...the memory is going. I started by laying out the cuts in my Gypsy and cutting all of my paper to size.

While the cricut was working on the cutting, I punched holes in my cover and in my pages. I need some more practice at this though. I didn't exactly end up with them all lined up correctly.

Also, when it comes to cutting the Papertrey Ink cardstock, because it is thicker, using the multi cut function is a good idea. I also find that this type of cardstock is good for cutting more intricate designs...at least for me, because it doesn't tear as easily. I don't usually have good luck with thinner cardstock or paper when it comes to making detailed cuts.

Once the cuts were done, I put everything together. The cuts I used were all from the Graphically Speaking cartridge. The flower was on the "icon" creative feature and the enjoy life was from the "phrase" creative feature. I cut the "enjoy life" twice in two colors and pieced them together. The background was also from this cartridge. I used my ATG to put adhesive on the background piece and completely covered the holes with adhesive. After sticking the background to the cover, I poured gold glitter over the holes and it stuck to the adhesive.

Next I glued my other elements to the cover.

After everything was assembled, I followed the instructions that came with the Bind It All and bound my book. My O wire didn't exactly come out "O" shaped since I'm not very practiced but hopefully it will get better if I try to make another one. :)

I hope that you enjoyed my project for today. I'm so thankful that Pam has allowed me to share with you all. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Use up some scraps! Wrap a box!

If you're like me, you always have a ton of scraps and you're too stingy to throw them away :)  I cannot bring myself to get rid of paper....I love paper.  I am a total, complete, paper addict.  They should have a support group for people like me, LOL!

I am making monogrammed ornaments for everyone in my family this year.  I purchased kraft boxes to put them in.  Well, because I don't want just "kraft" colored boxes, I was going to wrap them.  Then I decided that I had some Christmas paper from my scrapbook stash left over and why not use that?  So I took some measurements and cut a few pieces and used my ATG gun to adhere them to the box, cut out a few decorations, added the initials and a bow and TA DA!  I don't have enough Christmas paper scraps to do all my boxes (since I'm doing about 20) but still I like how simple it came out.

The paper is Cosmo Cricket, as are the picture embellishments on the side.  The letters are Thickers....pretty glitter ones, and then just some silver cord I had in my stash.

Christmas Gift Idea: Stamped Candles

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.  I spent my Saturday getting up and going to work (I don't normally work on Saturdays but due to the weather here Thursday I wanted to make up some time rather than use vacation) and when I got home I was so exhausted.  I put my 2 yr old down for a nap and preceded to take a nap myself.  My husband let us both sleep for FIVE HOURS!  Wow I must have REALLY been tired!  Shortly though I'm going to step away from the computer and work on my family Christmas gifts.  Both my mom and mother-in-law recently acquired cricuts and I'm also pondering shopping for a good cartridge deal.  Just don't know if I could get it by Christmas or not :(

Anyway, today I have a cool cricut-less project to share for you that as made as gifts for 2 of my co-workers.  Next week I'll have another similar project where I make a matching set and matching packaging, but for today we'll stick to the candle.

Did you know that by using a few things you may already have around the house you can make awesome, super easy, decorated candles??  Well you can!  Candles can be expensive but there are several online sites where you can get them pretty cheap.  The sets I'm making next week involve using online purchased candles, but for this I just picked up a pack at Meijer.  It was $5 for the set of two.  White and Cream colored candles work the best.  I haven't experimented too much with other colored candles but if you do, let me know as I'd love to see what kind of results you get.  In addition to candles, you need tissue paper, wax paper, stamps of your choice, ink pads in the colors you prefer to use, and a heat gun.  A blow dryer will not work for this.

Since this was Christmas themed, I chose a stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps called Holiday Patterns. The ink I used was from their Clearly Coordinating Collection in Spring Leaf, Wild Huckleberry, Deep Sea, Turquoise Gem, and Bubble Gum.

First I measured my candle and cut a piece of tissue paper that would fit around the candle exactly.  I then cut a piece of wax paper larger that when wrapped around the candle would completely cover all the tissue paper.  You place the tissue paper in front of you and stamp away!  Anything you'd like...this can be decorated in any way you choose.  Once you've stamped all over the tissue paper and you're happy with how it looks, wrap the tissue paper around the candle.  Then wrap the wax paper around the candle over the tissue paper as tightly as possible.  Secure the wax paper down with a piece of tape.  Next you take your heat gun and run it over the wax paper.  You will be able to see the tissue paper change.  Keep the heat gun moving though.  Spending too much time in one spot can cause it to melt too much wax out of the candle and make pits and bumps in the candle.  Believe me, I've found this out the hard way in the past.  When you've gone all the way around the candle, turn off the heat gun and roll the candle on a hard surface.  Next remove the tape and was paper and VIOLA!  A perfect, pretty, festive candle that anyone is sure to love!  Here are some pictures of my finished candles.  Feel free to leave comments.  I love comments!  To see a video tutorial of this technique, My Pink Stamper has a great one.....it's Episode 38.  This is where I learned how to do it.  I love all of Robyn's videos, but I think this technique is my favorite :)

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!