Showing posts with label Valentine's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine's. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Treats for Valentine's Day

Sharing a look at the classroom pass outs that I made for the twins to carry to school today. I found the cellophane bags at Hobby Lobby for 75% off after Christmas, and I knew that the red and white swirls would be perfect for Valentine's day (and when you have 4 kids you save money wherever you can!). I snatched them up for less than a dollar,and filled them with a bit of candy and a pencil (my kids love the cute pencils they get on holidays, and I know I appreciate any treats that they get that aren't sugar!).  I dusted off my Cricut Expression to make the tags, using the Sweethearts cartridge. It has some of my favorite designs of all the Cricut carts that I own, but I have found that it is also the most difficult to get a clean cut from, as well. Here are a few tips for getting a clean cut:


*Biggest tip: make sure the paper is fully adhered to the mat! If it slides around, obviously, it won't cut cleanly. If it is only partially adhered, it is more likely to snag the tiny blade. I use a pan scraper from my kitchen for this, but you could use an old credit card or store loyalty card just as easily.

*use a mat that is sticky (if you want to know why, see #1 again!)

*Not too fast, not too slow. I used speed 2, pressure 4

* Smooth cardstock works better. I only had textured in the white, though, so I worked with what I had.

Looks ok, though I see a few problems:

And a few more when I peeled off the outer edge:

*next tip-work slowly removing intricate designs from the mat
*"weed" the image from behind, in case the cardstock peels or rips slightly-then it wont show when glued to the back tag.
Not too hard, and I cut the backgrounds out of smooth red cardstock, and they cut perfectly. This is the completed treat bag:

and a lovely pile of treats for the twins to carry to school:
All they had to do was sign their names on the back ! For the tags, I used the scalloped heart tag on page 34, cut at 2 1/2 inches, and the background was the tag on page 79, also at 2 1/2 inches. I cut using the paper saver and auto fill functions, and it only took 2 sheets of cardstock for each color.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Love Notes

Well, I know Valentine's Day is past, but I still have lots of Valentine's day layouts and projects with my Counterfeit kit that I haven't shared yet, and that doesn't even count the pictures I haven't printed yet from this year!So, I guess you get to share the love with me for a little while longer ;-) Today's layout is one that I did for the Counterfeit Kit challenge blog. They challenged us:
LOVE LETTER CHALLENGE: Include a "love" letter on your layout to let that person know how much they mean to you.
Here is my layout:
I used the February 1st sketch from Stuck Sketches:

I chose to write a "Love Note" to my son-I worry sometimes that I don't tell him often enough how much I love and appreciate him, so I jumped at the chance and I am so glad I did!!

Supplies used: patterned papers from Teresa Collins, Making Memories, and Basic Grey, with stickers/embellishments from Cosmo Cricket, Martha Stewart, Echo Park, Pink Paislee, and Heidi Grace. The corrugated letters are cut from kraft paper with my Cricut and Plantain Schoolbook cart, and run through my Fiskars crimper.

The beautiful photograph was taken by a photographer friend of mine, Nicole McCoy.Love how it shows his soul in his eyes! And I have always loved his eyes!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Valentine's Day Treat...

Or diet drink?
You be the judge!
My Red Velvet Brownie Body By Vi shake:
I have to say, this is the yummiest, most filling diet shakes I have ever had! Alot of my friends are doing the program, so I thought I would try it, too, since my weight loss kind of stalled a bit... The Body By Vi Shake mix smells and tastes like cake mix... SOO GOOD! There are so many recipes to try, but this one (I made it up) is my favorite so far! The recipe:2 scoops of Body By Vi Shake mix, 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 container red velvet yogurt, 8 oz fat free milk (I used unsweetened light vanilla almond milk by Silk), 1 Tbsp fat free sugar free cheesecake pudding mix, several drops red food coloring, and about 6-8 ice cubes, and blend! So yummy!(oops I think I said that already!) If you are interested in finding out more about Body by Vi, click the link to be taken to my Body By Vi website:


If you are doing Body By Vi already, I would like to know it's working for you and if you have any favorite recipes!

Monday, February 7, 2011

February Counterfeit Kit

I had soooo much fun playing along with the Counterfeit Kit Club blog last month, so I couldn't wait to see what they had for us this month! They didn't disappoint! The kit they chose to scraplift this month was an awesome kit from Scraps Of Darkness kit club, shown below:
The first thing I thought when I saw this kit was, "Very French, very sexy, and a little, well, dark." Not exactly my normal style, but gorgeous, and I want to push my creative boundaries, so I made a kit as similar as I could, and even made my own version of all of the add on kits from my stash:
My February Counterfeit Kit:


Kit contents:
Making Memories Red Glitter Love Notes
SEI Chocolat Noisette (2) , Eclair
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Starry Night, Berry Frost
Teresa Collins Damask Invitation and Damask Decor
Creative Imaginations die cut flourished paper
GCD Studios Paris Nights Collection Black shimmer with cream polka dots(2), Vintage parisian collage
Bazzill Wild Pansy Diamond Print Glazed cardstock
3 printed digipapers:
Red Uptown Houndstooth from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff from MyGraphico
Hearts and Diamonds from Family Game Night Papers from Design House Digital
Argyle Print from Jessica Sprague Echoes of Asia kit (was green, I played with it in Photoshop)
decorative vintage pins that I received in a swap
Spare Parts gemstone flower brads
2 ANCIENT red leather photo corners from Making Memories
pink twine
Prima Say It In Crystals
Prima pink and black Crystal Flowers
2 ZVA Creative flourishes (pink and lavendar)
1 light green Prima flower
Basic Grey Painted Brads
With Charm mini golden frame
Doodlebug rub-on letters (partial pack)
Anna Griffin Peyton Collection journal tags
American Crafts Remarks journaling sticker books
1 vintage ephemera french receipt
black tulle
black grosgrain ribbon
small pink and white flowers



A close up of my patterned papers:


My Cardstock Add-on kit: ( I ran out of cardstock very early last month, so I needed some more this month!)So here is my cardstock list:
SEI Chocolat Raisine, Rose (1 each)
2 Wasau White with silver shimmer
1 Bazzill burgundy Swiss Dots
2 Bazzill ?blueberry?
1 Paper Studio textured burgundy cardstock
2 Bazzill pale lavendar
2 Bazzill light pink
2 Walmart black

My Romance Add-On Kit:
Thickers Tiara Accents Glitter Shapes
Thickers Sprinkles white glitter chipboard letters
Making Memories Garden Party shimmer letter stickers partial sheet
Maya Road Cherry Blossoms rub-ons
ZVA Creative flourishes
Jenni Bowlin Journaling Cards
Tim Holtz Grungeboard shapes
Basic Grey Undressed chipboard shapes
assortment of seam binding and trims-pink, red, and lavendar
Pink Heidi Swapp Felt Butterflies
Making Memories Vintage Findings medium kit-"Love"

My Color Add-On Kit: I made my own Glimmer Glams for some of these colors:
Crimson, Silvery Onyx, Concrete shimmer, Hot Lips hot pink sparkle, Ruby Shimmerz, Homemade dark Cherry Shimmer, Homemade Plum Crazy shimmer, Pink Sparkles puffy paint, Pink, Lavendar, and Denim Distressed Stickles, Silver Making Memories paint(if yours are sort of dried out like mine, you can add a bit of warm water and shake really well to get them flowing again),Rose Tea Glimmer Mist, and Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle paint. I plan to make some stencils/misting screens with my Cricut, and I will share those when I am finished!

This was so much fun to put together, and I cant wait to make some decorative pebbles, flourished heart and masks, and maybe turn some of that Grungeboard and chipboard into faux metal accents! And make pages and cards too, of course! And of course I'll share it all here when I do it!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Ooh La La...


Is the name of the svg file set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I used to create this sexy Valentine's Day card for my hubby! But- it could also be used for a bachelorette party invite, or a lingerie shower... Anyway, I cut it out of black Swiss Dots Bazzill Cardstock for the outer layer, wedged half of a white doily that I ruffled for the white peek-a-boo lace and cut red cardstock for the inner layer, and punched holes with my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite (any hole punch would work), and "laced up" the corset card with sheer red ribbon. The background you see in the photo is from Lindsay's Bold Black And White digipapers, printed out on red cardstock.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today, now head over to Lindsay and the rest of the DT's blogs for a freebie and lots of eye candy!

The challenges that I am linking up to are:

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Margie Visnick(me)
Micki Harper
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tracey Allen

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

His and Hers Valentines


For today's post, I followed a couple of challenges, and put my own "His and Hers" spin on it.I started with this week's sketch from 2Sketches4You, and used the Caardvarks challenge to use Red and Hearts. And of course, it's Thursday, so they're made using digistamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.
On the "Hers" card, I used a white card base, a light green patterned paper from the Sweet Stack by DCWV, a scrap of white cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder, then I wrapped the bottom with a sheer red ribbon, then attached it on top of a red grosgrain ribbon. In Photoshop, I dropped the Heart Cherries digistamp from the Love Grows Here digistamp set inside of the Love You digistamp from All Around Phrases digistamp set, printed it in the size I wanted, colored it with my Copic markers, and edged the cherries with red Stickles. I punched it out with my scalloped circle punch, and attached it to the top of the Cuttlebugged square.
For the "His" card, I used some Basic Grey cardstock and patterned paper (from the Marrakech collection), and inked the edges with a red ink pad, attached red grosgrain ribbon, and printed the Love Bingo Card from the Love Grows Here digistamp set, cut it out and inked the edges. I have to stop myself from getting too fancy with the cards when they're for guys,'cause they seem more masculine when they're simpler(to me anyway).
Now, head over to Lindsay's blog to see what fabulous projects (and freebie) she has for you, then drop by the other designers' blogs for lots more eye candy:
Tamara
Lisa
Shannon
Leanne
Melissa
Cindi
Erin
Tracey
Micki
Janet
Diana

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Valentine Banner

Do you ever feel a little let down when you take down your christmas decorations? I know that I
do! I even teased my husband and told him that I was going to take the christmas ornaments off of the Christmas tree and turn it into a Valentine's tree, lol. But instead, I decided to start making some Valentine's decorations. I LOVE the banners that I have seen on 2 Peas and some other blogs. Well, now Lindsay has made it easy to make some FAN-ta-stic ones using the Cricut and SCAL, called Pretty Banners svgs,with several different types of banners-swirls, plain, scalloped,circles,and stars. She also includes printable JPGs for you to cut by hand if you do not have one. And, even better, everything at her My Graphico Shop is on sale, 25% off for today and tomorrow only! Run, don't walk, to get your digistamps and svg files while they're on sale!
I made the whole banner with one sheet of white shimmer cardstock (which I used for the scalloped banners and the lettering), and one sheet of purple cardstock (that I used for the swirl and plain banners), some eyelets, ribbon, and digistamps from Lindsay's Love Grows Here digistamp kit. The challenge at the Digital Tuesday blog this week is to use embossing, and I am using my new Cuttlebug as much as possible, so I embossed the plain banner shapes with the D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, which I think added a nice touch, and went well with the other swirl cut out banners. I added tiny light purple heart shaped eyelets to the corners of the banners and threaded a sheer pink ribbon through. I am really happy with the way it turned out!
Now, hop on over to Lindsay's blog, 'cause she has a freebie and some eye candy for you-and then you can make your way on to the other designers' blogs for a lot more great projects!