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.

A "Something Blue" Bridal Shower

My *baby* sister is getting married in August, and she asked me to be the matron of honor, so of course, I had to think of the perfect bridal shower for her. Let me tell you, the logistics of being the matron of honor while I am in Tennessee and she is in Florida is a little bit tricky! But we finally worked out a date for the shower, and it was off to the races! I finally thought of doing a "Something Blue" shower, after tons of research on the internet.
First, I made the invitations. I cut the words, "Bridal Shower" with my Cricut and Sweethearts cart, and embossed aqua shimmer paper with the "Friends Forever" embossing folder for the Cuttlebug, and embossed the envelope flap with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Here's another photo of the invite with a couple of the favors ( I will tell you about them in a minute, bear with me!):
I decorated a clipboard for the gift list:I cut the presents from the Sweethearts Cart (after coating the clipboard with an ENTIRE can of white spray paint and clear sealant), and added an adhesive ribbon from DCWV to the bottom and tied lots of aqua and white ribbon and lace scraps to the top.
Next, I made a ton of these little favors: The white dress box is from the Tie the Knot cartridge, embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. Some tips: MAKE SURE your paper is pressed very firmly to the sticky mat before cutting- a brayer would be a great idea! I tied an aqua ribbon around the waist, and used a huge roll of pearls that I picked up at Hobby Lobby when they had their half off bridal sale to decorate the bottom of the dress, and just taped the ends around the edges of the dress. The purse favors are svgs from Dan's blog, and embossed with the Textiles Cuttlebug folder, tied with a tiny white satin ribbon.
Then I made a little lingerie gift box for the tiny blue undies I gave her:
I used the pillow box svg file from Penny Duncan's website, added a black and white sticky border strip around the middle, and tied with an aqua ribbon with black stitching from Doodlebug, and embellished with some pearl corsage pins from WalMart, and a corsage cut from Tie the Knot.
I made some gift bags for the game prizes, using some yummy satin ribbons and cuts from Tie the Knot (the scroll heart and the bell), and Sweethearts (the presents).
Here is a close up of the towel cake I made for the centerpiece. I used the Grungeflowers svg file from Dan's blog for the roses I put on top, and tied some pretty aqua satin ribbon around some plush white towels. The monogram plaque was created with the Tie the Knot cartridge and Swiss Dots embossing folder. My mom's gorgeous crystal cake stand really made it perfect.
Our cousin, Jocelyn, made the cake. It was red velvet and sooo yummy! The "pearls" in front of it are actually Sixlet candies from the wedding section of Hobby Lobby. We had a coffee punch with chocolate and vanilla ice cream in it, which everyone slurped down (3 punch bowls full!).
A side view of the cake:A picture of Jocelyn, my other sister Elisabeth (in the back), the bride-to-be, and myself.A photo of the corsage I made for her with Dan's Grungeroses svg file, paper, ribbon, and tulle. A photo of the banner that I made with the banner , monograms, and lovebird from Tie the Knot, tulle, ribbon, and I "Glimmer Misted" (yes I made that word up) the plaque in the center and embossed with Swiss Dots before attaching the lovebird.A pic of Bethany and me (I think she was very happy with the shower-which makes all of the hard work worth it!)
A photo of Bethany opening gifts -she got tons of great presents (we had a beautiful sunny day-about 72 degrees, and a fantastic turnout). Bethany and our Mom:Bethany and my oldest, Caitlin (they are so close, and you can really tell how much she loves her Aunt Beth!): All in all, It was a gorgeous day and everything went fairly smoothly-Hopefully it will be a treasured memory for my little sis!