Ocean Frame

A great story...my mom bought two frames from a local store and was really disappointed in the frames after looking it over (and spending $20 on each one). So, she called me up and asked me to take a look and see if I could duplicate it. When I asked what she was using it for...I quickly realized that a girls trip to the beach would need a much more special type of frame than what she had just bought. So, I went out, found a blank frame and this is what I came up with...and it worked great with her picture of the group!

More Journal books

These were books I made for our MOPS this year. One for our sign in and one for our prayer requests. :)

Composition Books

BORING!!!

AWESOME!
Who knew that just some paper, cricut cutting, ribbon and other embellishments that a composition book could be so pretty?

polka dots

Latest cake made for my friend's daughter who turned 12. This was her request...she even over saw the entire process :)

More cards

(above) for a bridal shower I have on Saturday afternoon

(below) for a Pony party we are attending Saturday morning! :)

Moo says the cow

Once again...Martha Stewart crafts to the rescue. We were having one of those afternoons...and well...thankfully, we had something different to occupy our time before the kids were put into a permanent timeout! :) THe only problem I had with the balloons is they wanted to float away...when I was trying to decorate them.

P.S. The next morning...Madison woke up to shrunk animals...oops.

Organizing

I've been busy organizing my craft/scrapbooking stuff...

Making Memories and Craft Mate storage bins for ribbons and embellishments (above)

Below I used three ring folders and organized all my stickers and stuff by holidays and various other things to make it easier to look for and see everything I have (below)

(below) Cropper Hoppers to organize my 12X12 paper...I sorted it out by holidays, boy, girl and then left one hopper just for my plain colored paper

Teacher Cake

An apple a day! :) This cake was made for a special friend who worked at Madison's school (for her birthday)

Cakes

I made two cakes this weekend...one for my ex-husband's girlfriend, Earlanne...and one for Olivia and Josie's 2nd birthday!

baby album

I made this for my cousin's baby shower last month. I forgot to take photos and last minute took them in the car with my phone before handing it off to her. Just something personal from me for her - something to start putting his first pictures in - a keepsake. And then on top of it ... mom and I loaded her up with clothing for a year! LOL...we love dressing babies! :)

Under the Sea....

We decided (after arriving home from the beach yesterday) to make a sea cake....I'm still playing with fondant...and cutting everything by hand...and I'm exhausted! I thought I would do more, but really...I have no more strength in my arms after coloring the fondant! lol Her arm...looks puny, but oh well...she is suppose to be swimming off...waving good bye! We made the sand with graham crackers and icing and then everything else was cut by hand....

Decorative Cans

Father's Day anyone?? :) These are soup cans (thank you Betsy) that I cleaned, decorated with paper, ribbon and tags.... "Happy Father's Day 2009" These decorated cans work great for the desk of any daddy...they can hold pens, pencils, scissors, etc....and easy for any kiddo to make!

Cards

Baby shower cards made with Animal Kingdom cartridge from the Cricut

Birthday Cake

I'm so thankful for the creative friends I have!!! I had an idea for a cake...but fondant? I'm certainly no "Duff" from "Ace of Cakes"...so how in the world do I make a cake with fondant? I mean, Publix my main source for cakes doesn't use it! So...I found out that Miss Lisa at Scrap, Paper, Scissors makes fondant cakes! And..she was willing to help me out! Madison's invitations were chocolate brown and pink so it only made sense to make a cake with the same colors. This was the final product and for my first shot...I'm very happy. I'm already planning on a Father's Day cake when I go to my family reunion in a few weeks.

Teacher Gift

I've seen this before. In fact, the first time I saw it, one of my Sparklers did it for their kid's teacher...and then it appeared again recently in another blog and I thought...hmmm...must do.

I threw it together in about a half hour...had I taken the time, it would have been really cool...but I was really pressed for time this evening and I know it won't get done tomorrow night, and Thursday is her last day! whew.

Anyway, I cut the H with the cricut and overlaid the crayons over it and cut them. It would have been easier to cut with shears I think...but I used a box knife.

I used a window box since the crayons are raised and wouldn't fit in a normal frame. I didn't realize it was an actual memory box and not shadow box...if that makes sense. The backing on mine is satin and came with pins to attach memories. Eh, whatever works...it worked for us.

Calendar

Madison is learning the days of the month and the teacher asked that we review the months and days with the kids...I took it a bit too far. In my inability to sleep one night I decided I was going to MAKE her a calendar....her own special calendar for the summer....which now has turned into a determination of mine to make an entire year. This is what I have so far...June, July and August. Expect more months to follow. Very time consuming. I didn't bother trying to line up my days of the month...so spare me the "those lines are straight" bit...I know, I don't care. It is what it is. I used the Cricut to cut the squares (border squares were 1 1/4" and the top squares were 1") Some of the embellishments and month names were also cut with the Cricut.

Letters

I thought it would be fun to experiment with letters for the kids room. No real reason...they certainly didn't need it...but I did it anyway. Madison got ribbon, Olivia got buttons and Carter got a frog. You can get the white letters at Michaels for a few bucks each. The rest of the supplies I already had.

Painting

Madison's birthday is coming up and she asked me to make her another painting for her room. I actually used the cricut to cut the shape of a butterfly, painted, decorated with ribbon and buttons and I was done. I'm going to surprise her with it for her birthday.

Learning the Basics

So, Olivia had the ABCs on flashcards which were on a ring...and then she figured out how to get them off and we ended up losing a letter here or there...so I figured, what the heck, I'm going to MAKE her something becasue she really enjoys learning and reading. Madison had an photo album that she wasn't using any more (thanks Aunt Jenny) and I thought, hmmm....I could put flash cards in there...4X6 not bad. And then it all came together. Melissa had a 12X12 animal sheet with their faces on there, so I cut those out to use...and then I realized that I had zoo pictures and along with the Cricut...it became a themed book. Amazing huh? Melissa also gave me the great idea to take chipboard for the inside and wrap with paper and then attach a bow between teh book and the chipboard so that it could shut. Thankfully, I happen to have all sorts of craft stuff laying around so with a little gluegun and patience...this was the final product. I am going to add more colors and shapes. I may even do a little more with the numbers because I still have empty pages at the end of the book. My hope is that she will continue to learn with this book and one day be able to show use it with her kids....wishful thinking? I took just a few pictures from pages to give you an idea of what it looks like.