A Cut Above

This morning as I was browsing facebook I spotted a Twinery post about Teacher Appreciation gifts. I'm always on the look out for GOOD teacher gifts.  Something that doesn't have to be apple themed, that is useful, that is heartfelt, that shows a teacher that we really appreciate their efforts.  Twinery had some fun ideas on their blog, one of which was these personalized scissors!  So I clicked over to Crap I've Made to check them out.  She had me at Spiffy Scissors! Laundry was gonna have to wait. 

While you can get all the specifics on how to make these little beauties at her blog, I will add a few clues that helped me out.  First, if you're a bit OCD and you want to trace your scissor blade to get the shape make sure that if you trace on the back of the paper that you also flip the blade over. That way the curve will match. (yes, it's true. I cut out the first piece of paper before realizing my error.)

Second, feel free to free hand the curve where the base of the blade meets the handle. Or, scrounge around under the couch cushions for some loose change. A penny is nearly the identical shape. Just trace and cut. (Yay!)

I haven't bagged mine for gifting just yet. Crap I've Made says frosting piping bags work wonderfully. And according to her pictures she is SO right!

Oh, and if you have some other kind of dimensional glaze in your craft stash feel free to use it. I didn't have the Modpodge brand that Crap I've Made used. And as you can see, my scissors turned out just fine.

THANKS Crap I've Made for sharing your terrific idea!
Have a wonderful day!
Toodles........

Supplies:
Summer Mat Stack	E6000	Glossy Accents	Scissors	Other: Sanding Block

Bazzill Blog Candy....

My friend Whitney just let me in on a Bazzill Blog Candy she discovered at TurboBubbleGum.blogspot.com.  You really should check it out! Look at all those crafty goodies!

Holy Moley!!!

I won! I won! I won!
I can't believe it!!!! I'm a Cricut E2 winner!!

My sweet hubby was sitting here eating his cereal (yes, my laptop lives on the kitchen table) and he and I were scrolling through the pictures of the announced winners... when all of a sudden *click* my layout was on the screen.   Do you ever have one of those moments when your eyes are telling your brain something but your brain doesn't believe what your seeing??  Yeah! That was me.  I was totally flabbergasted.  Once my brain caught up to my eyes I yelled, "Oh my gosh! I won!"  Even he didn't clue into the fact that what he was seeing on the screen was my winner announcement. LOL (glad I wasn't alone in my quandry.)

This makes having to go to jury duty tomorrow a little less painful...

Hope you're day is great! If you're interested in seeing more of the winning layouts you can find them at the Official Cricut fan page on Facebook, also on Jinger Adams page on Facebook.
Toodles....

Now He's Ready Too!

My nephew and his wife are expecting their first born in a couple weeks. It's so exciting! And, not to be left out of the fun, I altered the hat pattern a wee bit and created a Mickey version.

Then as luck would have it, I found the cutest little Mickey Mouse onesie, red jacket, red pants and blue tennis shoes to make the outfit complete. 

(Yes, the picture above was taken prior to the buttons being added.)
I thought I was all ready to ship this little giftie off but as I looked at the hat I realized that it was just too plain. It needed something to finish it off.  The two buttons on Mickey's shorts.  And while the Mickey on the ones has yellow buttons, Mickey should have white buttons on his shorts. See HERE.

Just popping in for a few minutes today. Need to get all of my chores done so I can be ready for the big Cricut reveal tonight on HSN.
Have a great night!
Toodles......

Happy Birthday....

....Pardner!

My sweet little buck-a-roo had a birthday over the weekend. I can't believe it. My baby is six.

I used my DS software and a handful of cartridges to create the elements:

• The cowboy, the grass, and the top layer of the picture mat came from A Child's Year.
• Happy Birthday is from Storybook.
• pardner is from Stone Script.

To create the banner I used Paper Doll Dress Up and A Child's Year.  I layered the pieces and then glued them to some jute which I lassoed at one corner.
And to add some more texture I punched holes in the base of the picture mat and whipstitched it with some thin twine.

I think you can see it better in the picture below... the banner is only attached at the the ends so that it's easy to slip the picture underneath it.
Of course everything is inked to give it a rustic appeal.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy trails y'all.

Supplies:
A Child's Year cartridge	Bic Mark Its	Cricut Expression	Beige, Brown cardstock	Guy Stack patterned paper
Vintage Photo Ink	DesignStudio	Fiskars 1/16" punch	George and Basic Shapes cartridge	hot glue gun
jute	Paper Dolls Dress Up cartridge	Rustic Jute Button Twine	scissors	Scotch Quick Dry
Stone Script Solutions cartridge	Storybook cartridge	Tonic 12" trimmer

Cookie Chaos

Hiya!
I had a couple different events to make cookies for this week. I needed to come up with aobut four dozen cookies and I didn't really want to do the same old thing. What to do? What to do?  Oh, how vast the ideas are on the internet. I found a cute idea for some fun bunny cookies and tips to make them dimensional at Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle.

 I didn't have time to roll and cut cookies using cookie cutters. I took a shortcut and simply made a simple rolled sugar cookie instead. Then free-handed the bunny on the cooled cookie base.

Once the royal icing was firm (about 15 minutes) I took a thinner royal icing and filled in the bunny.

A bit of thin icing tinted with a touch of red color to give me a pink was added to the white ears. Because I filled all of the bunnies at the same time before changing colors to add the pink, many of the bunnies had dried so that the pink sat on top of the white instead of blending in. That's ok with me. I like the dimensional effect.

Then I filled the blue background.  I used a toothpick to coax the icing into the corners and tiny areas that were smaller than the tip on my icing tube.

Hmmm... No black food color. Even if I mix all of the colors in my little color box I could only get a icky, muddy purpley-brown. Bleh. Off to the craft store I go...  Ta-da!  Black icing for eyes.

Time to pipe one little cheek.  This is key. Don't pipe them both at the same time or they're puddle together. Believe me, that's not what you want.

Wait till the first cheek is firmed up or dry then pipe the second one.  Wait a little bit longer and pipe a tiny pink nose.  That's it. And they're so cute.

Thanks SugarBelle for sharing your tips and tricks.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Toodles......

Ready for her first Disney trip

Hiya!
Hope you all had a delightful weekend.  We had rain and it was GREAT!!
After spending the morning helping out at the Cub Scout Day Camp on Saturday, I made a b-line to a local Michael's because they were having a 50% off sale on yarn.  Normally, this would not trigger a response from me, but.... after the crocheted flower I created, my dear sister decided to show me a link to a pattern to make a baby hat.  Not just any baby hat either. A Minnie Mouse baby hat!

Once again let me say, I don't crochet.  In fact, the last time (before the flower) that I had a crochet hook in my hand was when I was twelve years old and I vaguely remember trying to make a potholder.  (yes I know knitting isn't crocheting, but they didn't have a crocheting smiley.)

I have no idea what motivated me to attempt this except that I have this adorable new great-niece and her mom and big sisters love to visit Disneyland.  My husband doesn't believe I made it. He told me that since he didn't see me stitch it I could have hired it out to someone to do for me. What a joker he is! I can't help it that he takes 2 hour Sunday naps during which I can be very productive. 

Well, that's it for me.  No I'm not give up on my love for cardstock and paper. In fact, I've nearly completed a layout. Need to finish putting some details on that.
Special thanks to CrochetDreamz for sharing her adorable design. Besides the fact that I used red instead of pink, and I'm sure I messed up the pattern in a few spots.... (I am a novice after all) the biggest difference between mine and her sample is that she used white buttons for the polka dots. I crocheted my own buttons using a tutorial from Beat Knitting. 

Oh, and thanks to my son for letting me borrow his small soccer ball to use as a model to try on the hat.
Have a great day!  I love spring!
Toodles.........