Mother's Day Presents

I made these blocks for my mother in law for Mother's Day.  The whole project probably took me an hour.  A few months ago, the idea was posted on Little Birdie Secrets and I saved it knowing I would one day tackle this project.  The great thing is that these 7 blocks can make a total of 16 words.  So that my mother in law would know what words can be spelled out, I wrote them on the bottom of the blocks.  The best thing is: these are very inexpensive!  Each block at Michael's cost $1.29.  I already had the antique white paint and mod podge.  Using my Cricut and a piece of patterned black paper, the letters were cut out in no time.  Now I just have to find a way to wrap them so that the blocks can say "mothers" when the package is opened!

The Wild Card Cricut Cartridge

When my friend, Jen, first showed me this Cricut cartridge, I was amazed! I currently have four cartridges (they are expensive!!!) and a couple of them make cards. My card making has just begun and I either use what I have or just make my own. Recently, with the addition of embellishments like ribbons or buttons, the products have come out pretty adorable, but nothing like what experienced card makers can create!

So Kammy, another crafty friend of mine, has the Wild Card Cartridge as well and she so graciously offered to let me borrow it anytime I desired.  That time came this week.  With so many events happening in May (Teacher Appreciation Day, Mother's Day, birthdays, weddings, etc...) I figured it would be a good time to test it out.  Kammy also told me that it is now available at Michael's so hopefully I will be getting one of my own soon!

Here are some of the cards I was busy making yesterday:

For my mom, who has been visiting her sisters for a few weeks.

Teacher Appreciation Day card and envelope

Thought this was just beautiful!  I ran out of navy 

cardstock or it would have been a bit more embellished.

This was the card I gave the secretary at Chris's preschool 

for Administrative Professionals Day.  She also got a disposable

coffee cup with coffee beans and a Starbucks giftcard!

Magic Boxes

My Google Reader gave me a pleasant surprise the other day!  One Pretty Thing is a recent addition to my blog roll and I LOVE it.  If you don't know, it is a site that many crafty and creative people send in their projects and then they are shared with the world!  This project from Skip to my Lou caught my eye.  These magic boxes seemed like another amazing gift for teacher appreciation week.  I am not yet sure what I am going to fill each compartment with but I think I might do something like this.  

Magic box: What is so magical you ask???

Remove the lid and four compartments unfold!

Lid off

Top view

Still need to add some ribbon and embellishments, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

Teacher Appreciation Day Gifts!!!

Teacher appreciation day is coming up so I decided to start working on gifts for CB's teachers.  File folder organizers seemed like a cute idea for a teacher so I headed to Michael's for some adorable paper!  To personalize them a bit I added their first initial on the front.  In order to make them a bit more durable, the entire organizer in Mod Podge.  It added a nice sheen to them too!  

Wedding Card

Some friends of ours got married at the end of March.  Here is the card I made for them.  I used the Opposites Attract Cricut cartridge.  

Top: envelope 

Bottom: card

Rainy Day Art

It was a very rainy weekend this past weekend and Chris wasn't feeling all that great when he woke up Sunday, so we ended up not going to church. Since it was raining I took advantage of a cute craft idea I had seen on a blog.  First, you have the children color a picture using markers and be sure they cover most of the paper with color.  I think Cameron had more marker on his hands than he got on the paper, but he had fun!  That is what matters.  
Next, you hold the paper out in the rain for a minute or two until the drops start to spread the marker.  It gives it a watercolor look. The harder it is raining the less time it will take for your art to take shape!
Finally, let it dry and enjoy!  The boys made several pictures.  It is hard to see exactly how they turned out from the pictures but we had fun and made some cool pictures!

File Folder Menu Planner

For my sister-in-law's bridal shower, I decided to put together a "basket" of cooking items.  She got dish towels, pot holders, a cookie cookbook, and it was all put into a cute lime green colander that I found at Marshalls.  She really likes to cook and so that got me thinking.  A file folder organizer doesn't just need to be used for a Christmas Planner or an organizer.  I decided to make it into a menu planner.  The four pockets became holders for various recipes: appetizers, main dish, side dish, and dessert.  The look on her face when she opened it was great!  She loved it.  This is something I can continue to add to for her as well by typing up more recipes and giving them to her!