I love this Stationary Box!

Well, for my Mother-in-Law for Mothers' Day I really wanted to make her something. I came across this tutorial to make a Stationary Box and adapted it to her taste and what I had for supplies. I absolutely love this and can't wait to make more of them!

I'm not putting any instructions here as they are all explained so clearly in the tutorial. I did make some adaptations, though. I didn't make an address book and put less pockets.

 

It has 6 cards, a book of stamps, a cute little pen and a bunch of clear stickers with greetings on them for her to add to the cards before she sends them out.

 

The box is made using 12x12 card stock. The original instructions use only two pieces, but I used some extra patterns.  I also added velcro dots to help keep the box closed better and they work very well.

The cover is also made of cardstock. I used Mother's Day Bouquet for the flower embellishment (as well as for all the cards). The cover sits on top of the box to help keep it closed.

Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

My favorite line from you've got mail "I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address".

I have a fetish for school supplies. I love them. Really love them! The smell of pencils is intoxicating, lol. So, when I saw a friend post this project I had to do it too. It's teacher appreciation week and we're sending this in for my daughter's teacher in the morning.

The flowers are 2 inch flowers from Mother's Day Bouquet and the paper is a combination of random scraps. Then I just used a hole punch in the center and stuck the eraser through.  The projects cost me $2 ($1 for pencils and the bucket was from the $1 bin at Target).

I'm entering this at the Fantubulous Cricut Challenge to make a project with at least 3 flowers.
Also at Cooking with Cricut for a similar challenge that must include purple (I know you can't see it well, but there are at least 5 purple flowers in there, lol!. Also at Amber's Crafts and Stuff where the project is to make a project for a special lady (my daughter's teacher!).

Stylish Blogger Award

Wow! Thanks to Ellen over at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/ for giving me this award. It is still so strange to me that total strangers are looking at my projects (let alone that they are enjoying them!) I appreciate all the positive and encouraging comments from people!

So, the rules of this award are:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award by sharing a link back to them
2. Share 8 random things about yourself
3. Award it to 8 bloggers you have recently discovered and tell them about it

8 more random facts about myself:
1. I love the smell of fresh cut grass and can't wait for spring to finally arrive so the lawns get mowed!
2. My family suffered an unimaginable loss 5 years ago when my sister died in a car accident. They say everything happens for a reason, which I hate. However, I will say that since she passed away my other sister and I are so much closer than we ever were before and I wouldn't trade that for anything.
3. Without planning it, the first letter of the names of my kids and my sisters kids spell my mom's maiden name. CARR (Caitlyn, Annie, Ricky and Ryan).
4. I hate/despise any sort of fantasy or alien movie, book, idea.
5. I am a sucker for any romantic comedy. I love how predictable they are, the corny jokes, and the kiss at the end where the camera rotates 360 degrees around them. Can't help it. I just love it.
6. I am a nurse and I love taking care of confused, elderly people. I never thought this would like that aspect of nursing but I have grown to love it.
7. I think I like American Girl dolls and catalogs as much as my 5 year old.
8. I love homemade popcorn with lots of butter and salt.

Now for 8 blogs I have recently discovered (in no particular order): They all have projects that I am inspired by and love (and some ideas I wish I had thought of on my own!)
1. www.lemonlimetangerine.com/
2. scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/
3. jayne-designs.blogspot.com/
4. crafty-shell.blogspot.com/
5. sonyaspapertrail.blogspot.com/
6. littlescrappieces.blogspot.com/
7. ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
8. dreiter.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter

So, I've struggled a lot with coming us with a fun Easter card idea and I love what I came up with. Cleaning out the closet this week I found a bag of mini pom-poms and I realized this would be super-cute as bunny tails!
I did by myself an edge puncher this week. I like it, but I need to get better at lining it up. Now I reallllly need something to emboss the paper; I think everything looks too flat/plain without it!

The bunny is from Create a Critter, the patterned paper is American Girl.

 I'me entering this card into the following two challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut "Spring Fling" make a spring card using green, yellow and pink
Celebrate the Occasion make an Easter card and you must use a punch

First project with my Gypsy !!!

So, first I have to admit that the night I got my Gypsy I was having a lot of buyer's remorse. I bought it on a whim and felt guilty about it. Then, I tried to use it and it kept freezing up, wouldn't update etc; After about 5 hours I figured it out and was able to play with it.
It is absolutely going to take some practice as I've come really accustomed to using the books, key pads etc; with the cartridges. However, I LOVED how I could cut so much at one time and being able to weld letters together to make words is awesome.

I made this for the Tacky Tuesday Challenge hosted by septemberninth. The challenge was to use a cow and a sentiment using either "moo" or "udderly". So, this is my cute (and a little cheesy) submission!

 The cow is from Create A  Critter and the moon and stars are from Toy Story.

Crafting Misfit's "A New Season, A New Skill" blog hop

Welcome to our blog hop where we are all showcasing projects that make us try something new!


If you have come from teachdanz.blogspot.com then you are at the right place, if not head over to  Crafting Misfit's site  to start from the beginning. She also has some blog candy there so make sure to visit!   You can also link up your own project there to show off your own new skill.


The twist to this blog hop is that all projects have to have us try something new!  Either a new project, a new technique, or a new material/supply. I've only had a cricut for a few week so just about anything I try is new. I decided to try and make a card that wasn't your standard shape: a new way to fold it or cut it. I've also been anxious to use twine on a card. Lastly, my cartridge "Straight From the Nest" has a lot of slides and I've wanted to use those. I followed the instructions in the booklet that comes with straight from the nest (adapting it to suit my tastes better) and here is what I came up with:

It is a trifold card. The square on the front is attached only to the left side of the trifold and you pull it open there. It was a gift for a baby shower and was a big hit.

 So, the slide has twine folded under. It then wraps around the back of the printed paper. The printed paper is attached with foam dots to the lilac square. (The lilac square is glued to the left side of the trifold).

Here you can see the basic shape of the card.

 I don't usually use my cricut for the inside of the card, but I loved this sentiment for the baby shower as my kids and I had chosen the gift together.





 So, that's my little project. Nothing to jaw-dropping, but for me it was an accomplishment. I just got my gypsy in the mail today so I'll be off playing with that all evening to come up with even better ideas!

Thanks for joining us on our blog hop! Now you are off to see Sue-Ann's project!


teachdanz.blogspot.com

Melissa at http://craftygator.blogspot.com/  **That's me**

Sue-Ann at http://sueannscrafts.blogspot.com/  ((**Go here next!**))

Lolis http://lolis-mycorner.blogspot.com/

Tammy http://cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com/

Meaghan http://craftingwithmeg.blogspot.com/

Amanda http://.whiteruffles.blogspot.com/

Karen http://littlescrappieces.blogspot.com/

Then had back to see Rebecca at http://craftingmisfit.blogspot.com to share your project!

Baby Shower Cake

Well, the baby shower is tomorrow and I just finished the cake. It's not perfect, but I love it. One more project to do tonight and then what will I do with myself? lol.

Now off to make the card to go with her gift!