4th of July Accordion Envelope Mini Album

I started this mini album by constructing a base out of legal size envelopes. I got the idea from Laura over at Following the Paper Trail. That girl has crazy good ideas for mini albums. Love it!

I covered my pages with an assortment of red, white, and blue cardstock and patterned paper. I found some awesome 4th of July Cricut cuts on A Child's Year and Wild Card. I just love those carts - there's always something I can use on them.

This is the front cover of the mini album. Nothing says 4th of July better then stars and stripes...and a rosette and rickrack. Ha!



When you open up the accordion envelope mini it's about 28 inches long. The accordion folds help the mini to stand on its own. Folded up it's about 4 inches by 6 inches and not very thick.

Doesn't it look so cute on a mantel! 

I just love these kiddos all lined up for the parade. The phrase "4th of July" was welded together using my Gyspy and the Cuttin' Up font.

The red firecracker is attached to a tag. There are tag pullouts throughout this mini for photos or journaling.

Front and back covers again.

I hope you enjoyed this 4th of July accordion envelope mini album I made. I had a blast making it. And a special shout out to my sister (who made her own mini with me) and my mom (who let us use her new Cricut Expression)! Love you.

I will be entering this mini in the Celebrate the Occasion and the Fantabulous Cricut challenge blogs.

Graduation Scrapbook Layout

I created this scrapbook layout with my sister-in-law for her son's high school graduation. His parents wrote some wonderful and loving words to him and my SIL wanted to give it as a gift. A couple photos, some awesome paper, and some manly embellishments later our layout's done.

I started by gathering some paper and embellishments. Can't get anymore manly than Tim Holtz. I used his Distress Ink, cardstock, Hinge Clips, Memory Foil Tape and Grunge board. I also got some gears from Hobby Lobby that look a lot like Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears.

The only cut from my Cricut is the half circles from Gypsy Wanderings. It's the shadow from the orange slice. I love thinking outside the cut!

I also used the Tiny Tags from Papertrey Ink. I just love that set - I could use it on all my projects I swear.

All framed up and ready to go. Don't I have a handsome nephew - we are all so proud of him!



Wedding Jewelry

When I'm not paper crafting or chasing after my adorable (but very fast) kiddos, I'm doing other hobbies of some sort. I love to make jewelry!! Five years ago when I got married I created all my bridal jewelry. I gave a necklace and bracelet to each of my bridesmaids. They had pearls and crystals and I LOVED them.

Here are some quick pics I took of some wedding jewelry I made for my friend's sister's wedding. Photos never do jewelry justice. Trust me - the crystals sparkle so brightly!!

Matching earrings of coarse. And this last little necklace is for the flower girl. Can you tell the wedding color? Yup. I just love pink weddings!!

ABC Wedding Scrapbook

With wedding season in full swing, I feel like all my crafting projects are wedding related. Which is awesome for me cause I LOVE weddings.

For my cousin's wedding shower I created a pre-made 8x8 scrapbook. Each page has a wedding word starting from A going all the way to Z. I welded each word with my Gypsy - yikes!! Most of the images are cut using my Expression machine, but there are some stickers mixed in too. Her colors are pink, gray, black and white, can you tell?? LOL!

Each page has enough room for a 4x6 picture (either horizontal or vertical) and space for journaling. I can't even tell you what cartridges I used, but I'm pretty sure I used something from all of them!!

My cousin loved the scrapbook too! I can't wait to see her pictures in it. 

Sweet Blog Award

I got this Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award from Crafty Lu over at http://craftingwithlu.blogspot.com/. Isn't that just the sweetest! Miss Crafty Lu has amazing projects and layouts on her blog. Fun fact : Lu got to ride in a limo to school when she was little - how sweet is that.!!

Here are the rules for this sweet award:
1. Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2. Answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blogs.

^*^*^*^

1. Every year my entire extended family (about 50+) people go on vacation together. We have been to Italy, Alaska, Mexico and a ton of resorts in the Midwest. We just love each other.

2. When I'm not paper crafting I moonlight as a nurse.

3. I would rather have an appetizer then dessert any day. Savory vs sweet - savory wins.

4. In high school I was a drum major (head nerd) and played the clarinet (but not very well). Don't worry I'm not ashamed, I'm band loud and proud. I just love music!!

5. I got my Cricut this past Christmas and haven't put it down since.

6. My sister is also my sister-in-law; we married brothers. We got married in the same year (along with another sister), we both work at the hospital, and our husbands' own a business together. Weird huh.
7. My baby sister is getting married New Year's Eve! She has found a wonderful guy. And you know what weddings mean - more paper crafting for me!!

Below are links for 8 blogs I find delicious. Not only are their blogs sweet but their projects are super tasty. Take a few minutes (and just a handful of clicks) visit them and send them some sweetness. Love it!

1. Angie at http://www.overthekitchencounter.com/ is always cooking up or crafting up something delicious.

2. Mel at http://melstampz.blogspot.com/ is making intricate and impressive projects.

3. Michele at http://chelemom.blogspot.com/ creates the most beautiful cards. Love the glitter.

4. Dawn at http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/ displays her lovely Papertrey Ink creations. I have spent a lot of money at PTI because of her.

5. Annette at  http://charlottescricutweb.blogspot.com/ makes the most adorable mini albums.

6. Tammy at http://www.thepurplemuse.blogspot.com/ makes amazing Cricut projects and layouts.

7. Arlene at http://waterdots.blogspot.com/ has wonderful cards and inspiration.

8. Deborah at http://www.debgrossink.blogspot.com/. She is an amazing illustrator!! And an amazing mom!!

Thanks again to Crafty Lu for giving me a sweet blog award. You're such a doll! Thanks for being one of my first followers.



Many Father's Day Cards

Here are some photos of the quick and easy peasy cards I made for the other father's in our lives. They're 3x3 postcards.

The stamps are from Papertrey Ink and Hobby Lobby.

My son helped remove all the cuts from the mat. Thanks buddy!!

Happy Father's Day Fishing Card

I made this card for my husband for Father's Day. I love the cute little boy and girl cuts. My husband said "are these our kids?" when he opened the card. I laughed so hard!! Then I told him it was cut from the Cricut. I love how amazed husbands are by the crafty stuff we do!

I cut the boy, girl and fish from A Child's Year Cricut cartridge. Then I went Tim Holtz ink crazy on the cuts to give them a more manly aged feel. The ink practically turned the paper into leather. I used a combo of Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. Love it!!

I cut the tag and the phrase from the Wild Card cart. I ran a bunch of cuts through different Cuttlebug folders to add more texture. The base of the card is actually a paper bag. I cut the top off so the tag could fit in and you can still read "Happy Father's Day". And of course I inked the heck out of the bag too. (My fingers were brown!!)

Wedding Card with Bells

I made this card for my cousin who's getting married in two weeks. Her main color is pink, so I made this card with a lot of bling and a lot of pink just for her.

I started by making a 5x7 rectangle on my Gypsy. Then I layered the lacy circles until I liked the way it looked. I love that you can do a card layout right on the Gypsy. You can add more images and adjust sizes and edit without cutting anything wrong.

My mom owns the Sweetheart cartridge and I knew I wanted the bell image. So I pulled up the image on my Gypsy, adjusted the size the 2.25 (something I knew I could cut with the cartridge in my Expression) and sized the other pieces around the bells. When I borrowed the cart from my mom I cut the bells out really quick cause I already knew the size.

I used Glossy Accents over the layered part of the bell and covered it with Martha Stewart's glitter. Then I popped it up using dimensionals. The butterflies are glued down and popped up with dimensionals - I love doing both so they looks like they're flying. Bling around the lacy circles finished the card.

The inside sentiments are from Papertrey Ink and Stampin' Up. I hope my cousin likes her card. I know she will have a beautiful wedding.



Think Outside the Cut

There are so many images in a Cricut cartridges. And when you have a lot of cartridges it's hard to remember what image is where. Sometimes you need to find an image in a pinch. There's a great website to find images called My Cut Search. Have fun searching!!

Some images can double as somethings else too. Here is a dog house image from Create a Critter. If you turn it on its side - now it's an arrow. Think outside the cut!!

Dalmatian Birthday Card

My baby nephew is turning 1 and we are celebrating his birthday this weekend. My son and I whipped out this birthday card for him while my daughter napped. I just love how eager my son is to help craft. He can load my Cricut, change the size, push all the right buttons in the right order, move the blade, cut, unload and then dismount from the mat. He does all this while mommy is working on the layout!! How lucky am I!!

I love using scrap paper and filling up my mat with all the little pieces. Then I only have to load and unload once. I used the dalmatian image from Create a Critter Cricut cartridge and cut all the layers. My son insisted on cutting out the dog house too. Good idea buddy!

I used my Cuttlebug with Argyle embossing folder for some added texture.

Inside the card I used a Papertrey Ink fillable frames die set and stamp. It was my first time using the set and it worked like a charm. So easy to make a quick sentiment. Love it!

FCCB Winner!!

I entered my "Dad Your the Bomb" card on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog. I was a "Top 5 Winner". Hooray!! This is my name and card on their blog right here. I am excited cause it's my first time entering a challenge and my first time winning.

Thanks y'all!!

Paper Bag Mini Album

I have seen so many variations of a paper bag mini album on youtube and on other blogs. There are just so many ways to do it!

This is my first attempt at a paper bag mini. I found a package of paper bags at Hobby Lobby in bright green and hot pink. Just my colors!

To make the mini you line up the bags and fold them over, making sure bottoms are on the inside and the openings are at the top. Then you adjust the length of each bag so there are four pages that vary in length. Like this...

I punched two holes on the inside pages, punching all the way through the two bags, where the "spine" should be. Then I attached eyelets on the inside and outside of the mini. Stringing ribbon or fibers through with bind the book together.

I layered patterned paper over all my pages. A quick tip: to make the mini look more consistent I put green paper on the pink pages and pink paper on the green pages. I added several cute cuts from Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. You can only see the owl and butterfly. I cut them out in all layers with coordinating cardstock.

The last two pages have pockets on the inside (where the opening for the bag is). There's a lot of photo relastate on those pages. I loaded them with pics. Then I journaled throughout and added other pockets where I put tags and photos in.

My favorite paper bag mini album tutorial is by JewelsPaperJewels. She put a lot of detail into her mini. Gotta love it!