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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fall Card


Well, here is my second card sharing here, after my new goal to never buy a card again!  I have been determined to use my new Cricut Cartridge that I got from Creative Memories lately.  I have this thing that occurs with my Cricut between uses.  My children are fascinated with the dials on it and turn it on me.  So when I sit down to use it again (and I've only used it a few times, I can't seem to remember how to run the thing!  Because I'm not very good at the Cricut, it takes me a few times to figure out what's wrong!)

Here's what you need to make this card:
  • Pre-made card & envelope
  • 8x8 Halloween Paper*
  • Chalking Inks*
  • Cheerful Seasons Cricut Cartridge*
  • Tape Runner*
  • Square Maker*
  • Foam Adhesive*
  • ABC Stamp & Stamp Pad
*Items from my website.

  1. Cut out 3-inch pumpkin shadow in black on Cricut.
  2. Cut out 3-inch pumpkin in orange on Cricut.
  3. Cut out 3-inch pumpkin stem on Cricut.
  4. Chalk edges of orange pumpkin with black ink and adhere all parts together with the tape runner.
  5. Cut out two different sizes of squares with coordinating paper and chalk the edges.
  6. Stamp F-A-L-L on Squares and adhere them with Foam Adhesive to the card next to the pumpkin.
  7. To add a touch on the inside, you can put a strip of paper on the inside side to tie it in.
Hope you enjoyed my card!  Let me know what you think!  Don't forget to link up your Christmas gift ideas to my Saving Christmas Party.

I am linking up to:
DIY Fall Festival - The DIY Show-Off
Check Me Out Saturday - A Vision to Remember

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Saving Christmas - Week #1

While I usually make something for everyone for Christmas in past years, I don't always stop at just that, I usually go on to buy things to pair with those handmade gifts.  So, this year, we are finding ourselves with a tight to almost no budget for Christmas gifts since my husband is scheduled to have surgery over the holidays.  I have made it my goal to do the best I can to "Save Christmas" by making all of our gifts except a few purchases for my kids for Christmas this year.  I am going to host a Link Party so you can share your Christmas Gift Ideas on a budget.

My first gifts that I have made throughout the summer as the harvest has come in, are a variety of jams and jellies for our close family members.  We've made Cherry Rhubarb Jelly and Rasberry Rhubarb Jelly and we've made Strawberry Jam this summer.  We also have a large amount Grape Jelly that we have from last year (for whatever reason, our grapes weren't good this year) that I'm thinking about adding to them.  I'm working in mind for an idea of a handmade carrier for them, so stay tuned for that in the future!

Time for you to share what you are doing to Save Money for Christmas this year in the way of gifts.  Please link directly to your post and refer back to the Saving Christmas Liny in your post.  Also, be sure to visit others on the list and comment about all the great ideas!


I am linking up to:
Have a Homemade Christmas - Proverbs 31 Living
Penny Pinching Party - The Thrifty Home
Transformation Thursday - The Shabby Chic Cottage
Thrifty Thursday - Tales from Bloggeritaville
Making it with Allie - What's Allie Making Now?
Frugalicious Friday - Finding Fabulous
Frugal Friday - The Shabby Nest
Saturday is Crafty Day - Along for the Ride
Check Me out Saturday - A Vision to Remember

Friday, October 22, 2010

Thank you Cards

I have had a new conviction lately that I want to share with you!  Here's the story:

I am an Independent Creative Memories Consultant (that's my plug for my business, please take the link to support our family!) so I have all of the papers, makers, cutters, pens, and stickers that a person could possibly want from scrapbook projects.  I seem to have no creative ideas on how to make my own cards.  I've made hundreds of scrapbook pages, but cards have alluded me.

So, I have made a new commitment to myself: I will not buy anymore cards at the store.  Here I am trying to save money in my grocery bills, my everyday life, my decorating, and in so many ways, and I continually go out to the store to pay ridiculous prices on cards - how hypocritical am I?

The moral of this whole story is that I am going to share my weekly card ideas with you here in blogger land.  Please don't laugh at my efforts, as this truly is the the area where I think that it is the thought that counts!  And hopefully you will see improvements in my creativity and techniques.Since we just had a baby, I've been writing tons of Thank you cards, so I figured this would be my first project since I needed some.  I think that I have always thought I had to have a new card every time I make one, because I need a new page layout every time I scrapbook.  Then I realized that I can use the same technique and make the same card over in over, and just change the paper and decorations.

What you'll need to make these cards are:
  • Pre-made 5x7 cards & envelopes (You can use whatever size card you like)
  • Double-sided scrap of scrapbook paper*
  • Ribbon
  • Tape Runner*
  • Glue
  • Foam Adhesive*
  • Pens*
  • Personal Trimmer*
  • Scissors*
  • Pocket Punches*
  • Square Maker*
  • Chalking Ink*
* Items that can be found at my website: www.mycmsite.com/doristowell


What I did for this project:
  1. Cut a scrap of scrapbook paper to be just smaller than the size of the card.
  2. Cut approximately 1/3 of the paper off.
  3. Use the Tape Runner to adhere the two pieces of paper onto the card front with opposite sides showing.  This is the great thing about Creative Memories Papers, is that they are double-sided and there are coordinating papers on each side, so they match, but aren't the same.  I like the fact that I don't have to think about it.
  4. Cut a piece of ribbon the width of the paper.  This part I eyeball for size.  Then glue (I use Elmer's glue) the ribbon over the seam of the two papers.
  5. Cut a square with the Square Maker out of white paper (or whatever you choose) and chalk the edges.
  6. Cut a coordinating paper with the Pocket Punch shape that you like.  I used the leaf and the dragonfly in this case.  Glue the shape on the square.
  7. Adhere the square on the ribbon with a foam adhesive so it is raised. 
  8. Write Thank-You or whatever your greeting is.
Let me know what you think for my first card project.

I am linking up to:

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Fall Book Wreath

Remember my original book wreath that I did with my daughter?  Be sure to go back and check out the original here.  Well, with the fall decorataion coming out, I wanted to spruce it up a little, so I randomly stuck leaves in between the book pages to make look like the fall has arrived.  I love the pop of color, and best of all, I can remove the leaves!Oh, and by the way, my daughter got a blue ribbon on it at the fair with a comment to add some color.  Do you think that the judge knows it's in style to do the black and white?

Let me know what you think1  This one cost me nothing and I'll be trying to think of how to spruce it up for Christmas soon.  I am linking up to:

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Monogram Wreath for Free!

 I was so excited about my new curtain look, but was trying to figure out what to do to my empty space in the middle that didn't look just right.  (Check that out here.)  Thankfully, many of you commented and gave me some ideas, so I decided to go with it!  Thanks so much to Terrel at Frou Frou Decor all the great ideas!   So, I've wanted a large monogram letter in my house somewhere, and just haven't been fortunate enough to find an antique one in my price range.  So, in the middle of making loads of applesauce, I just had to do a craft!  Here's what I did:
Materials I used: (By the way, the cost was free because I had everything!)
  • Cardboard from scrapbook page packing (I save all those clean cardboards tht come with album supplies hoping for a craft someday.)
  • Letter stencil or Cricut Cut-out (Ok - it finally pays off to be the general leader for a 4-H club and storing all their supplies in my house!  I have their stencils in 3 large sizes.)
  • Scissors
  • Ribbon
  • Spray Glue
  • Newspaper to spray on
  • Moss

Did you notice the applesauce in the back ground of that first picture?  Mr. Right was working on the applesauce with my daughter while I was supposed to be taking care of the baby.  I got her to go in the swing for a little bit while I got my crafting in.  I am so thankful for my understanding Mr. Right for not getting mad at my messing around at that moment! 

The first thing I did was cut out the "S" out of the cardboard. 

Then I spread the moss out on the newspaper and separated.  Then came the fun - spraying the glue! I turned the glued board into the moss and pressed.  This was my first experience with moss, so I found it hard to stick down on the board.  I ended up going back and respraying some of the spots that were showing cardboard and resticking the moss.  The last step before hanging the "S" was to give it a haircut (this part my husband actually laughed at me for!)

Well, I then took a ribbon and hung it from the middle and tied a bow to hold it there in the middle of our window.  Low and behold, this didn't totally fix the gold curtain rod that was really bothering me.  So I took the tan curtain panel off the gold rod and put it on the black rod higher up.  I don't like that the panels don't go to the floor like the swag does, but for the most part, you don't notice it.
Here's a close up of the wreath and the bar moved out of there.  Please let me know what you think now! 

I am hooking up to:

Friday, October 8, 2010

Second Hand Swags

I got these two really long swags at a rummage sale last year for $2.  They were marked $10 and when I started looking at them, the lady told me I could have them for $2!  I didn't even have to ask for the discount!  Well, I got them home and washed them, and realized the lady wanted to get rid of them so badly because someone had decided to paint off white and didn't think to take them down first.  The good news is that with a little fiddling, you can hide the little paint spots (very little!), you can make them non-visible.

I have had them on the pole swagging with 6 swoops and it was just too frilly looking for me, so I took them down and washed them.  Then, they sat on the chair for a month, because I didn't know what to do.  By the way, I tried to take a before picture, but it didn't turn out with the sun coming in the front window!  Sorry!I think the best thing is the very close match to my couch they are!  This was all no-sew...I just used a rubber band on each side and hung it over the curtain rod on the end.


Then we took two safety pins and pinned the center up on the rod hanger in the middle of the swags to cover them there.

So this is the part where I am stuck.  This knot took a good hour to get right, because it is made up of the two ends of the swags.  I love how the knot looks, but I don't like how that gold rod looks in the middle.  I'm thinking about hanging a picture or wreath there of some sort.  Please let me know what your ideas are...and what you think of my "new-to-me" curtains!

I'm linking up to: