I wish I had...

a lot.  But then I look back and realize all of the wonderful things that I do have.  At this point in my life, I unfortunately do not have the time I would want to dedicate to my craft room.  Instead I'm off getting vaccinated for yellow fever and some sort of Japanese disease I've never heard of and cannot pronounce (for the record, I'm not being racist...the vaccination is for some sort of disease that is named Japanese....something.)

Just because I don't have as much time to create as I would like does not mean that I don't enjoy following others' blogs and looking at the wonderful things they are able to do with their time.  For example, Provo Craft just released 5 new cricut cartridges today!! (To see them, check out Obsessed with Scrapbooking-she's got a great look at each of them.)  How cool is that?  And there's even a musical cart. now!!!  Anyone who knows me will know that this has got be my favorite, hands down!  And with the other 4 carts there is a whole new world of creations that will come about.  Watching everyone use their talents to create is just wonderful to me-and I love that we share them!!

So regardless of the time I don't have, I am grateful for the time others currently have, and how I am currently living through them to fulfill my crafty urges :)  But don't worry; I'm sure there will come another time in my life when I do feel like I can budget in some time to dust off my old cricut friend and do some crafting.  That desire never really goes away.

BOO!!!

With Halloween just around the corner, how could I not make a Halloween card?  :)  This card was inspired by candy corn.  You know, that white, yellow, and orange (or occasionally chocolate) candy that makes it appearance around this time every year?  Well, rather than stuff myself with sugar, I decided to get my candy corn fix through a much more diet friendly conduit ;)

(It also helped that challenge #219 over at 365 Cards was to make a card whose motivation was candy corn!)

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, my paper sugar rush:

I had a lot of fun with this card.  I'm sure I'm not the only to use the orange, yellow, and white paper stripes idea, but I like to think my card still turned out to be original.  I felt very proud of the netting across the yellow paper-I knicked it from my dad's construction supplies (he's currently finishing our basement, so there's lots of it around, although I can't remember exactly what it's called...).  My little spider was from the Doodlecharms cart and my BooHouse came from Jubilee-welded together using design studio.

My eye candy :)

More Cards :)

The challenge at 365 Cards-Day #218 was to create a card using 3 sheets of patterned paper all from the same paper stack.  I have a couple of DCVW stacks, and I just got the "green" stack the other day-so that was the stack I used.  I love this simplistic little thank you card.  Let me know what you think!

A sketch or so...

I decided I needed to make a couple of cards with the little bit of time I have left.  So I went to my favorite card challenge site (365cards) and decided to do the sketch for day #217.

I was over at Capadia Designs and I was looking at some of her ideas for creating your own "patterned paper" in a way, and I decided to give it a shot.  I think it turned out nicely!  It was rather small, which meant a good 10 minutes or so getting all of the little pieces out, but looking at the card as a whole, I think it looks great!

Back to Work!

For someone who doesn't have anything going on in her life, I've managed to keep surprisingly busy :)  It was my cousin's birthday yesterday, so I made her this card to send to her.  She loved it!

Gorgeous Girl

So I made this card for a friend whom I haven't seen in a while, and once I got done, I realized that it went along perfectly with challenge #212 from 365 Cards!  It's got a girl, a green purse, and some glittery hearts in the corners!

Almost everything on the card was made from the Forever Young cartridge I got last week!  (The scalloped circle was from Home Decor.) This is such a fun cartridge and I'm so glad I added it to my collection ($18 on ebay and it's wonderful!)  The hearts were chipboard cutouts from Scrap Works. I think it turned out really nicely.  Let me know what you think!!

I Can Crochet Too!

Ever since I was a young girl, I have watched my mom crochet.  When my cousins were old enough and started getting married, she would crochet them a beautiful afghan for their wedding gift.  After watching her do this for many years, I decided that when my close friends got married, I would make them an afghan as well.  While mine might not be quite as good as hers, I think I'm getting the hang of it.  I can almost read crocheting instructions!

One of my best friends got married this past August.  This is the afghan I made for her.

 I like the ruffling on the bottom and top of the blanket.  I fournd the pattern in a book that was fairly simply to follow.  One thing though-it isn't very wide.  It's only big enough for one person, really.  My mom was able to later alter the pattern to make it wider, although that would require more skeins of yarn.  Oh well!

This afghan was made with Lion Brand Yarn-Pesto.  Green is my friend's favorite color, so I figured this should work well in her new home!  It is so comfortable to cuddle up in too!

Time Card :)

No, I'm not talking about that little piece of paper you punch in and out every day at work.  The challenge
365 Cards is ad inspired.  Basically I took this ad-


and decided to make a card based on/around what I saw/felt from the card.  The sentiment I decided to portray was "Thank you for your time."  There are so many people around me who give the time to benefit me in various different ways.  This one was fun to do as well!  Check out my card!~

You know how sometimes a picture just cannot do its subject justice?  Well, this is one of those times.  There is a lot more dimension that it looks like right now.  The flowers are quilled (at least, I think that's what it is called). I got the idea from the Cricut Messageboard HERE.  I just followed the instructions, put the right shapes into my DS and the cut the out.  Afterwards, I inked the long strips of soon-to-be flowers with Distress Ink, and then rolled them up.  I stuck some pretty brads in the middle to give the flowers their center.  I also was able to cut out the awesome frame with my DS (just using a silhouetted square and a circle welded together from George cart.)  The sentiment came from MM (Making Memories) rub-ons, and the cute little tag that time is on?  DS. I just welded a rectangle from George cart. and a couple of brackets from my favorite Home Decor cart. together.  I think it turned out very nicely.

I'd love to know what you think, and thank you for your time! ;)

Shape Up!!

Man, I am on a roll!!  Anywho, challenge #185 at 365 Cards-Shape Up.  We had to pick a polygon that had more than 5 sides (and thanks to my elementary ed math class last semester, I have polygons fresh in my mind).  I chose to do a decagon.  A what-a-gon?  Yep.  A decagon!  10 sides, my friends! (Some may say this looks like a star....which...it is! :)

I also think it's kind of funny how the colors I ended up using in this one were pink and orange-the same colors I used for challenge #184 (although there is a lot more brown in this card as well)

The decagons (or stars) were cut out from George cart.  I used DS to create the swirlies from my new favorite Home Decor cart. and the phrase "shoot for the stars" came from the Doodletype cart., welded together with my DS. (I guess I should have put decagons instead of stars, but I don't think it would have had the same meaning ;)    The patterned paper on the background on the card came from DCVW Glitter Stack.

This is a 5.5 x 5.5 card, with half of the big star sticking out from the rest of the card.

Well, what do you think?

Pink and Orange?

So day #184 at 365 Cards got me thinking about which colors I use and which ones I don't.  This challenge was to take two different colors and make a card using shades of those two colors.  One color had to be a color that you use a lot, while the other one is a color that you don't really do a whole lot with.  Lately I've been using a lot of pink/red, so I chose pink as my first color.  And then I thought about the colors that I don't use that often, and I automatically thought of orange.  Who uses orange?  I don't...  But this card was fun to experiment with.  I think it turned out cute.

I found the paper with orange and pink squares in an old paper stack I've had for a long time, and thought it would be perfect! I made the arrow using my DS, and the little bird came from the Home Decor cart.  The "thank you" rub-on came from an American Craft set of rub-ons.

Pretty in Pink (And Purple...and Winnie the Pooh...)

My best friend had a little baby girl about a week ago.  She is the most precious little thing I've ever seen!  I'm so excited for her and her husband to raise this beautiful little child of God.  Being the crafty best friend that I am, I helped her decorate the room that her little girl is going to be in.  And what is being crafty without my Cricut?!?

Before the baby was born, we had had some ideas, but the one we liked best was to put a Winnie the Pooh border around her room.  Fortunately, I have the Pooh Font cart. which also includes some absolutely adorable baby Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore characters.  So we set to work, finding vinyl from Robert's Arts and Crafts.  However, Provo Craft's cricut vinyl color selection isn't the greatest, especially when you are trying to find the specific yellow and orange to make a Tigger.  Luckily for us, I had recently started up blogging again, and had stumbled onto Expressions Vinyl.  Awesome?  You bet!

After a couple of Cricut crafting sessions, her room was almost done!  We just had a few things left to put up when....the baby came!!  So her room didn't get finished before she came.  Luckily for us, newborns don't really have an opinion about what is on the walls of their rooms :)  A few days after she was born, I was able to go over and help my friend and her new little one (Allisyn is her baby's name) out, and finish up the room!  It's a beautiful room for a beautiful girl!

Piglet

Winnie the Pooh

Eeyore

Tigger

This is how the characters are essentially spaced out on the wall. 

Oh-and a close up of the cute clock I made for the room as well!

Maybe one day Allisyn will be able to tell time :)

And then to top things off, we put her name over her crib.  I think it looks just wonderful!

The font I used was Alphalicious (my friend's choice) and the swirlies come from Home Decor cart. 

Very elegant!

You get the picture :)  

Basically, I can't wait to have my own kids so I can decorate their rooms all cute and pink and/or blue.

My room was definitely never this cute! ;)

Hobby Lobby

So I hadn't heard of this store until I joined the blogging community.  It seemed to pop up everywhere!  Anything crafty can be found at this Hobby Lobby store!  But I had never seen one in the relms of where I live.  Until....today. (Dundundun!!!!)

I was driving home from a rather refreshing trip to the temple when I saw a sign for Hobby Lobby next to a shopping center.  I decided to do some investigating, to see if this store was really all it was cracked up to be.

And it was!

Oh my word! SO not good for my wallet!  But so wonderful for my creative scrapbooking/crafty inner-child.
Too bad it's so far out of my way.  I guess that will soon become "my way."  YAY!!! :D

Spring has sprung

This was a fun challenge from 365 cards-Day #183 required me to dig through my wonderful collection of craftiness and find the following items:

• An item (not paper) that is at least 6 months old (The Flowers)
• 2 sheets of patterned paper that you've never used (Flowers and Green Polka Dots)
• An embellishment that you've had for more than a year (The Puffy Stickers)
• A stamp that you've never used but you've had for at least a year (Spring has Sprung)

Forever

I've decided to start challenging myself to take on more challenges :)  Day #182 over at 365 Cards is to create a card based off of the following sketch:

I decided to turn the card upside down, and instead of using circles to make snowmen and what not, I decided to turn the circles into squares and make a wedding cake instead!

Most of this card came from my Home Decor cart for my cricut, although the frosting decorations on my cake came from Joys of the Season.  It's quite the elegant card, no?

Shoe Love, True Love

Day #179 at 365 Cards was to create a card with mostly white space, while keeping what decorations there were in the corner like so.  I used my DS for my cricut to make the heart shaped half rainbow, and I absolutely love that!  The font for the words came from my Doodletype cart.  And of course, who could not like a card about shoes?!? :)

Cup Full of Love

So the challenge over at BBTB2 for this week was to use the cup from the Joys of the Season cart.  I haven't used that cart. much at all, so I was excited for the chance to experiment with it.  

(P.S.-love love love LOVE Design Studio! I just got it at a 50% off sale at Roberts...now if I could only convince myself to buy a Gypsy...)

I used Design Studio to cut a heart in the middle, and then cut out the word "love" from the Home Decor cart.

This card is more simplistic than some I've done in the past, but I find it kind of refreshing.  

Glass Etching

So I'm at the stage in my life where a lot of my friends are getting married.  As I was with one of my friends while she was opening her wedding gifts, she got a Pyrex dish with her new last name etched into the glass, and I thought that was such a smart idea!!  Since then, I have decided that I'll do that for all of my friends getting married, and it was so easy!  Using my Cricut was a no-brainer!  I used Design Studio (my new favorite toy!) to combine the font (alphalicious) with one of the swirly designs from the Home Decor cartridge.  I gave this to one of my friends at her bridal shower today, and she absolutely loved it!

The "front"

Part of the back

The word "joy" comes from the Joys of the Season cart.  

I absolutely love this idea!  Putting it together with hot pads and other kitchen things made it the perfect gift!

I'm Back!

I'm home for the summer....?  Wait a second.  Okay-so this summer I decided to not move back home.  I decided I was officially moved out.  Until I realized I needed to go on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This means I'll be gone for 18 months.  I'll miss 2 years of school because I'll be teaching the people in Piura, Peru about God and about Christ (check out mormon.org!).  I'll leave on November 3.  Right in the middle of the semester (this means that for the first time in 16 years, I will not be starting school this August/September...weird!).  This also means that I'm living back at home for 2 1/2 more months!  Which means I have all of my crafty stuff available to me for a little bit longer!

So for the next 2 months, I'll try to keep this updated with my crafty endeavors (and maybe mixed in with a little bit of missionary preparation ;)  Enjoy!