12 Days of Christmas Glass Nativity Ornament

12 Days of Christmas Nativity Ornament Day 3

I hope you are enjoying the projects this week, as you have noticed, there has been a bit of a theme... this will be my last Nativity ornament for this 12 Days of Christmas series.

I love how easy this project is, I cut the Nativity scene using my cameo, rolled it around a paint brush and placed it inside the ornament. Then I added iridescent glitter and tried to tie a bow (still working on these, and still need much practice, lol).

I will be back tomorrow with some tags based on my Merry and Bright post earlier this week (it will be an extra freebie).

 Check out my Link Parties to see the badges of all the lovely places where I am linking to.

May your days be Merry and Bright!

12 Days of Christmas Nativity Ornament

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

I cannot wait to share all the projects with you, this is a nativity ornament. I will be back tomorrow to show my throwback post that has one of the other ways I've done this project.

I used one of my purchased Silhouette cut files and cut the nativity scene on black paper, glued it to a red tag that I had (I believe I purchased these from an office supply store), added lots of crystal glaze and glitter. Attached a star and some pretty flower shaped sequins and there you have it.  When I started this project, I was looking for an easy to make ornament, that would be inexpensive to make because I was donating them to my son's school for their St. Nick Shoppe. They try to offer items that they can sell for $1 - $3 each so that they are affordable for all the students, so you can see why I needed to keep the costs down.  I attached a ribbon for the hanger and was ready to go.

As you can see, there was some variation to the ornaments as I was assembling them. I think that is half the fun of creating these kinds of projects.

Do you make your own ornaments for friends and family or even perfect strangers (lol)? Around this time of year my son will ask me what I am making for his teachers. I always try to make ornaments for each of his teachers, but that was easier when he only had one teacher who taught every subject. These days I try to draw the line at no more than 3 or 4 ornaments and the rest get a gift card with a fun gift card holder.  I would love to do more, and perhaps if I started making them earlier I would be able to. Last year I may have given away more than 4, lol.  Who needs sleep anyway!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Personal Favorites

As we prepare to say good bye to 2013, I wanted to share my favorite projects from 2013...

There were quite a few different types of projects, so I will categorize them

Cards - here is a collection of some of my favorite cards!
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I cannot think about my favorite cards without sharing my spooky spider card! This was such a great card, I loved everything about it.


No year is complete without remembering mom...


You can never have enough Thank You cards, and this one is so pretty


Boo! Don't let this little ghost frighten you!


Don't forget about the gift cards... as the children get older and are very unimaginative and ask for money, we may as well spruce them up in some way.


This stacked present birthday card is embellished with a multi-strip quilled element

Printables - I am truly enjoying sharing my printables, expect many more in 2014!
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Some of my Keep Calm collection...




If you want to smile, don't forget this cutie...

Cut Files - My plan is to share more of these in 2014... time is my biggest hurdle...
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As we wind down 2013 and get ready for 2014, I am grateful for my wonderful family and collection of friends like you! Thank you for your support and beautiful comments, they make the journey worthwhile!

May you and your family have a Safe and Happy New Year!

Freebie Friday Ghost Shaped Card Cut File

Ghost Shaped Card

Another Fabulous Freebie Friday! Tis the season for all things Halloween, and this little fella fits right in. This little ghost will be going to a good home. I love the fact that he looks a bit surprised, I wonder if it is the spider webs and the spider crawling about?

I started with a black base, and cut the card shape.  Then I cut the ghost out on white, you will notice that there are pre-cut holes for his eyes and surprised expression.  Before I glued anything down, I placed the little guy down on the card base and used my crafting paint brush with some glossy accents to mark where the eyes and mouth were.  Then I safely moved him to the side and filled in the entire area with glossy accents and sprinkled some really pretty purple shimmer glitter over top.  You can see the shimmer, but cannot tell the color from the photo.

While the glitter was drying, I ran him through my Cuttlebug, and used the Cuttlebug Spots & Dots Embossing Folder.  Oh no, do you think that's why he looks surprised? Can you see the embossing in the photo? I have started embossing some of my layers more and more lately, I love the added texture and depth it gives to my projects.  Do you like to emboss parts of your projects too?

I had some extra spider webs and a spider from another project I was working on at the same time, and by happy coincidence one of the spider webs fell on my ghost and I said, "hmmm, that might not be a bad idea" when I asked my creative consultant (my son) what he thought, he liked it! Since this is going to be his cousin's card, he gets final say, lol.  So I added the lovely spider webs and spider and then added some of this fabulous yarn (I love it because it is fun, but when I added it to the card, it kinda made him look like he had hair).  I kept the hair for the photo, but my son consultant doesn't think it works for a boy, he may be right, lol.

To finish him off I had to add some bling, so I've added some rhinestones and some sequins and he was finally ready.

What do you think about using him as a Birthday card, he can just as easily be an invitation to a Halloween party, or how about your next block party or maybe a Bunco card night out with the girls?

Ghost shaped card studio cut file - click to download

The cut file contains the ghost shaped base and two ghost layers, one with eyes for the front and one without for the inside so that you have something to write on.

As always, I am happy to share my tutorials, freebies / printables (and now cut files) with you, I only ask that you do the following:

• Please leave a comment if you download a  freebie / printable / digi, etc, because I would love to hear from you

• If you enjoy the things I share with you, please become a follower so that you will see all the new stuff when it is posted (no pressure, join only if you want)

• Please do not share any of my digital images, printables, or tutorials directly with others, but please do send them on over to me so that they can peruse and collect the images themselves.

• I would be thrilled and honored if you would send me links to any images or posts that you've done using something that I have shared with you.  If you say it is ok, I will even feature your work here!

• If you want to recolor the images, feel free! 

• If you have a special request, please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Most importantly be Fantastically Creative You!

I will be linking up to these parties over the next few days, hope to see you there!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Freebie Friday Free Silhouette Cut File Deepest Sympathy

Deepest Sympathy Silhouette Cut File - Freebie

Happy Freebie Friday!

I promised on Tuesday that I would share with you the cut file I used to create the "Deepest Sympathy" for the sympathy card I posted here.

This file is for the Silhouette Cameo.  I used my favorite cut font!  I love it because it is delicate, but thick enough to cut and pull away from the cutting pad without ripping.  Believe me, I have left many a phrase in pieces, lol.  Haven't you?  Click here to see the original card.

As I sit here writing this post, I glance over at my cameo and have to chuckle because it is always a challenge to decide if I am going to connect up to it and cut something or pull out my dies.  Do you have a cutting machine and/or dies? How do you decide which one to pull out?

FYI, check out this cute cut file from Daniela Dobson



I am or will be sharing this at the following link parties (buttons are in my link party tab above):

• Make It Monday - http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/
• The Happy Housie - http://thehappyhousie.com/
• The Answer is Chocolate - http://www.answerischoco.com
• Craft Frenzy Friday - http://www.craftdictator.com
• Made to be a Momma - Homemade by You - http://www.madetobeamomma.com/
• Whipperberry - Friday Flair Link Party - http://whipperberry.com
• Practically Functional Link Party - http://practicallyfunctional.com
• A Marvelous Mess Link Party - http://www.marvelouslymessy.com/
• Alderberry Hill - Make the Scene Monday - http://www.alderberryhill.com/

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Valentines Free Silhouette Cameo Cut File

I Love You  Card

Happy Valentines Day!!! I know, it is a little early, but I wanted to share this card I made with everyone today.  I used so many of my fun toys with this project.  I chose a white card base and ran it through my cuttlebug to emboss it.  Then I attached my "I Love You" frame with heart pendants (check it out below, I made this myself).  I mounted it with pop dots to give it depth.  I knew that I wanted to soften this a bit more by adding some ribbon, so I ran over to my fibers and since I was thinking of "love" I grabbed my pink ribbon and tied it to the card - phew, the color matched the pink I used on my cut file.

Yeah! I have played around with my Silhouette Cameo and I have this free cut file for you (this is why I had to post so early)! I knew that I wanted to make something for Valentines and I am drawn to all the frame cut files I see so I think I will make many more of these :-) You cannot tell from the picture, but the first heart has a flower in the corner.  Please know that I do not have the designer software, so this was created with the software that ships with your Silhouette and I have used the basic shapes and fonts to create this gift for you.

See below for your free Silhouette Cameo studio cut file.  For the card I made I used only the frame cut file and then created a complete card because I thought some of you may prefer that (Note: I haven't tried to cut that one yet, so I hope this is ok).

I Love You - Free Silhouette Cameo cut file

Click this link for the free Silhouette studio cut file

As always, I am happy to share my tutorials, freebies / printables (and now cut files) with you, I only ask that you do the following:

• Please leave a comment if you download a  freebie / printable / digi, because I would love to hear from you
• If you enjoy the things I share with you, please become a follower so that you will see all the new stuff when it is posted (no pressure, join only if you want)
• Please do not share any of my digital images, printables, or tutorials directly with others, but please do send them on over to me so that they can peruse and collect the images themselves.
• I would be thrilled and honored if you would send me links to any images or posts that you've done using something that I have shared with you.  If you say it is ok, I will even feature your work here!
• If you want to recolor the images, feel free! 
• If you have a special request, please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Most importantly be Fantastically Creative You!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

I am sharing this project with:
Joan's Garden - where we had to create a card that is pink and white, uses at least one heart, and has a pretty border.

Linking up at Marvelously Messy! and making a marvelous mess - lol

Also linking at The Answer is Chocolate Link Party #89

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Ribbon

Alderberry Bill - Make the Scene Monday

Quilled Nativity Ornament and Snowflakes for Newton

Good Morning Everyone!

Today I am going to share with you one of the new ornaments that I made this year... I usually share ornaments from prior years (lest someone get a sneak peak and ruin the surprise - lol)... I made an exception this year, because I think this ornament is perfect to go with the "Snowflakes for Newton" request I have included today.

I made this ornament (and have hand delivered it) to my friend Lucy.  I cut the nativity from my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine (yes, it is all Lucy's fault - lol)... The image is one I purchased during a sale they had recently... I am getting used to the cutting machine, and am still in the learning process...

I don't know how it works with you, but I truly believe that I am an "accidental" creator... Here is why... I cut the image from a few different colors, and as I peeled them off I placed them on the table I was working on, as luck would have it, I happened to place this one on a purple piece of scrap paper. As I laid it down, I was struck by the color combination and said that's it (see what I mean by "accidental")!

I have a cuttlebug (and you know how much I love my dies) so I whipped out my Spellbinders dies and tracked down my purple paper and cut an Oval and then layered that over a double sided paper that had that antiqued cream look to tie back in the image that I cut with the largest Lacy Oval die.

No project is complete without glitter, so I added glitter to the purple oval and then glued down the nativity.  I had my quilling supplies out and added a quick quilled element (we can call it a flower maybe - lol)... pulled out some pearls and added them as well.

Before I leave you today, I wanted to let you know about a special project I learned about from several online friends and bloggers.  This is for those affected by the recent tragedy in Connecticut.  If you are like me, every time you think about it your heart breaks.  So many lives and families hurt by the actions of one.  I have a young son, and cannot imagine him not returning from school one day.  That is why I selected the ornament above, it is through His mercy that these families will get through each day!

Snowflakes for Newtown

When school resumes for Sandy Hook, it will be in a new building.  There are many parent-volunteers who are working to ensure that the students are welcomed back by a winter wonderland.  They are doing this by decorating the new school with as many unique snowflakes as possible.  This is how you can help, and get everyone in the family involved young and old alike.

From the organizers: 

"We encourage senders to be as creative as possible, remembering that no two snowflakes are alike. Please make and send snowflakes by January 12, 2013 to the Connecticut PTSA"

Here is the Address for those wishing to contribute:

Connecticut PTSA

60 Connolly Parkway

Building 12, Suite 103

Hamden, CT 06514

I know it is a small thing, and hope that those who return find some wonder and awe in the snowflakes that will surround them.

I am joining these linky parties:
One Stop Craft Challenge - A Christmas Carol - mine is "Silent Night" inspired
The Answer is Chocolate - Link Party #84 - anything crafty
Alderberry Hill - Tis the Season 2012 Holiday Link Party

I hope you have a wonderful day!