Baby Gear - Animal Style

A family member told us last year that she was expecting, so of course, a baby quilt and some baby gear were put on my project list. I found out through her pinterest page that she liked zebra stripes and black and pink, and eventually, it was revealed that they were expecting a little girl. So I made her a few zebra themed things. A quilt, a bib, some burp cloths, some tiny shoes, and of course, a card (not zebra themed). I've had these things done for a couple of weeks now but was waiting for the baby to arrive to post them. She had her Friday night! A perfect and beautiful little girl.

the quilt:


the back-very wild!


My usual curved corners-here's a close-up. I did my binding a little differently this time. Normally I sew it to the back, fold it to the front, and zig zag the edge-not really caring how it looks on the back. This time I accepted a challenge from my sister and sewed it to the front, folded it to the back, and sewed in the ditch on the front, catching the back. It was a little slower but I like how it turned out!


a close-up of the label, which I made on my new embroidery machine using EQ Stitch to trace my signature. You can also see the serpentine stitch I used for the quilting. I love this stitch and learned how to program it into my Janome 6600 on the Janome 6500/6600 yahoo group.


The shoes, made from a pattern by Lena's Patterns on Etsy


The bib, made from this tutorial


from the back-it has little armholes and gives pretty good coverage


Half a dozen burp cloths made from cloth diapers-using this tutorial (with a few changes):


And the card-another clothespin card.

ingredients:
kraft and pink card stock, patterned paper, clothespins, and cloud embossing folder: Stampin' Up
white card stock: Georgia Pacific
dies: nestabilities
twine: Divine twine
onesie shape: Lettering Delights Baby Simple Shapes set
font: Hipster Script

Hogs and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day! These are the treats that my daughter and I made for her dance classmates. Easy peasy this year-I waited until the last minute, as usual, so I needed something quick. These were quick. I just used Jin's idea for bag toppers and this tutorial. This graphic is great to use with Hershey Kisses, and since we are farmers, it couldn't be more perfect!



Ingredients:
Hogs and Kisses Paper Pack
Hogs and Kisses Graphic Set
Neenah white card stock
Clear envelopes trimmed to about 5" long
Silhouette

Christmas cards, part 1

Here are 3 of the cards I made. I used my silhouette for all 3 of these, along with some other tools.



For the one above, I used the following:
The tree from the Lettering Delights Feliz Navidog SVG Set.
Madison Window die from Poppy Stamps
Stampin' Up scalloped border punch
Stampin' Up Merry Messages set
Ink: Stampin' Up
Patterned paper: Stampin' Up
Green and yellow solid cardstock: Stampin' Up
Blue solid cardstock: Bazzill
White cardstock: Neenah 



For the one above I used the following:
Presents from the Lettering Delights Tannenbaum SVG set
EK Success scalloped punch
Red cardstock: Stampin' Up
Green cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Die Cuts with a View
White cardstock: Neenah  
Stampin' Up Seasonal Sayings set
Ink: Stampin' Up 


For the one above I used the following:
Shapes from the Silhouette store
Colored cardstock: Stampin' Up
White cardstock: Neenah  
Glitter: Art Institute
Embossing folder
The picture below shows the glitter a little better :)



Tomorrow I'll post the other cards I made.

Halloween pull up treats

I saw this on pinterest and thought it was a cute idea to use for my daughter's dance classmates. The original source is right here at Splitcoast Stampers. This picture shows how it looks with the candy bar inside:


And this one shows how it looks with the candy pulled out (the lighting caused some funky coloring at the top-it's actually orange up there).


Here are the details:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie and Black
Witch image: Lettering Delights Best Witches Cupcake Toppers
Bat shape: Lettering Delights Best Witches Cut Set
Scallop Shape: Silhouette
Glitter (for bat): doodlebug
White Gel Pen (for bat's eyes): Sakura
Stamp: Stampin' Up The More the Merrier
Ink: Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy
Fence Punch: Martha Stewart
Ribbon: American Crafts
Adhesive: Miracle Tape and Tombo Mono Multi
Candy Bar: Hershey

Ornaments card

I have officially started on Christmas cards! Only I just made one and have a lot to go. Hopefully I can keep up this momentum. ha.

The ornaments are from the Lettering Delights Christmas Dee-Licious svg set and I cut them out with my Silhouette SD using Silhouette Studio. All of the paper is from Stampin' Up except for the white, which is from Paper Trey Ink. I think the twine is from Divine Twine. I also used my little sewing machine to sew around the red patterned paper. The white squares are embossed with the Sizzix stars and swirls embossing folder and punched with a 1.5" square from Creative Memories. One ornament is hanging crooked but I'm leaving it. I used a sketch from Retro Sketches.


In case anyone is wondering, these are the settings I use for cutting out Stampin' Up cardstock: blade 5 (4 might be enough), speed 5, pressure 33, double cut (it will cut through with a single cut but some sharp corners do better with a double cut).

Cards & Things Sketch Challenge #119

I made this for the Cards & Things Sketch Challenge. I got the idea for the rest of it on the way home from dropping my kids off at the library. I'm trying to do more challenges, so if anyone knows of any other favorite challenge blogs, please feel free to leave a comment with a link. I started off using Make-the-Cut. I used the Mahalo set from Lettering Delights to make the coconut drink. When I make a shape to go on a card, I make a card-sized rectangle in Make-the-Cut first and then I can resize the shape to the right size for the card front. Then I just delete the rectangle or turn off that layer when I cut. For the letters I used a font called Grilled Cheese. I added the letters to the mat, then I used the bezier warp thing to make them curve the way I wanted them. This was done mostly through trial and error since I don't really know how all the controls on the bezier warp thing works. I added some tiny rectangles to some letters and used boolean join so that I wouldn't have to deal with putting the center parts on separately, but I made a couple of them too small and had to deal with it anyway. Once I got the word all done and sized, I found that the lines on the virtual mat in Make-the-Cut don't match up with the lines on my silhouette mat. So I exported the svg and opened it up in Silhouette Studio Designer Edition to do the cutting-it was a little easier to make sure the text was in the right spot for my card front. Before I cut, I did a test sketch on some white paper to make sure I had it in the right spot. The card stock is all from Stampin' Up and Bazzill. I used a Sakura Gelly Roll pen to make a little shiny spot on the cherry. The bottom border was done with a Martha Stewart border punch. I made the blue card base about an inch short on the front, then I added the orange card stock (after punching the border) so that it could be seen through the cut-out letters and on the bottom. I could have sworn I had it centered when I punched it but maybe that punch doesn't center as easily as my other ones do. Or maybe I just messed up.

2011 Christmas Cards

Yep it's been a while. So anyway, these are the cards I made for Christmas this year.



This first one I made with a freebie file from the Silhouette store. I used my new favorite embossing folder, which is the stars & swirls from Sizzix. The baker's twine is Martha Stewart brand, the white card stock is Neenah and the red card stock and green patterned paper are both from Stampin' Up.



The next one was made with a file from Lettering Delights and cut out with the Silhouette SD. The embossing folder is from the evil Provo Craft. White card stock is Neenah and the rest of the card stock and the patterned paper is from Stampin' Up.



This is almost all from Stampin' Up. The off white card stock is Bazzill, the border punch is Martha Stewart and the baker's twine is Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics. I cased this card from Wrestlermomx2 on Split Coast Stampers. Thanks Wrestlermomx2!




This is a card I made to hold a gift card for my nephew. I used a tutorial from Jennifer McGuire. White card stock is Paper Trey Ink and colored card stock and stamp from Stampin' Up. I'm not sure about the patterned paper. The inside card stock is Bazzill. The image is stamped with memento ink and colored with copic markers. The inside scallop is from a Stampin' Up punch and the outside shapes were cut with nestabilities.

MTC Blog Hop-MY TURN!

It's finally my turn for the Make-the-Cut Blog Hop. If you've gotten lost, just click the blog hop button on the right to find the main page with the list of all the participating blogs. Also be sure to read to the end of this post for the blog candy info! As many know, MTC does not work with the cricut anymore. But fear not! It works with plenty of other cutters, including the Black Cat Cougar, Black Cat Lynx, Bosskut Gazelle, Silhouette, Craft Robo, US cutter MH/Laser point series, ECraft, Pazzle, KNK, and any cutter using an HPGL printing support feature.

So on to my projects. I have the Silhouette SD and although it's not yet a native plotter in Make-the-Cut, it is possible to cut with it through the print menu. It works perfectly and I wanted to focus on using both a graphic and an svg file.

My first project is this summer card. I made it for my daughter to give her speech therapist since she only goes to speech therapy during the regular public school year. So it'll be a nice 'Have a Great Summer' type card. I used the pixel trace function in MTC to trace some images from the Sunshine Fun graphic set. I had to trace some of the images more than once, but usually only twice, to get all of the shapes I needed. (For tutorials see the end of this post-I will post links to them.) Patterned papers are from KI Memories and Stampin' Up. Cardstock from Bazzill and Stampin' Up.


For my next project I wanted to use an svg set. So I imported some shapes from the Doug's Outer Space svg set and cut them out for this cute boyish spaceman card. Using svg files in MTC is so easy and I love that Lettering Delights has so many to choose from. Cardstock is all from Bazzill, Neenah and Stampin' Up. I also wanted to mention that despite popular belief, the Silhouette SD does cut heavier cardstock without any problems whatsoever. I used Stampin' Up, Bazzill and Neenah paper on both of my projects and did not do any multi-cuts. All of the cuts came out perfect and clean, even in the corners and on the smallest shapes. Both cards here are 4.25 x 5.5 so you can just imagine how tiny some of these cutouts are!


And now for the blog candy. I'm offering a $10 gift certificate to Lettering Delights!! To enter, just leave a comment-that's it! If you want to follow my blog I'd be grateful but it's not necessary to be eligible for the gc. I will draw a name a week after the hop ends. And be sure to check the main hop page every day to see whose blog to visit next!!

Here are the tutorials I promised:
How to use pixel trace in mtc
How to import svg files in mtc

More Silhouette cards

Can you tell I'm having fun with my new toy?? I ordered some of the Silhouette sewable interfacing so I am hoping to have a fabric craft done soon. I am also working on a quilt for a friend and will probably start posting a few pics of my progress (so she doesn't wonder what is up with her quilt).

Last week I wanted to try making a card using Silhouette's Studio software to cut from, but using an SVG file. So I picked out a design from the Lettering Delights Spring-a-ling set. I opened it in Inkscape, did a path/object to path (this seems to make it work better), and then saved as a dxf file. Then I opened it in Studio and went from there to resize. Then I made a shaped card base by doing an offset on the flowers and added a rectangle to the bottom. I duplicated the shape, mirrored it, aligned the two sides, and welded them to make the base. Then I cut all the pieces out with the Silhouette. I used Paper Trey Ink cardstock for the card base, Stampin' Up patterned paper for the flowerpot, Lasting Impressions and Stampin' Up patterned paper for the flowers, Bazzill cardstock for the stems and Stampin' Up cardstock for the flower centers. The gray on the bottom is Bazzill cardstock I cut in a strip (with my paper trimmer). I am loving the shaped cards and they're so easy to make in Make-the-Cut or Studio software.



On this next card, I wanted to try out the Silhouette's print and cut feature. So I found a graphic I liked from the Lettering Delights Harajuku Girls set and used the Studio software to print it and then cut it out with the Silhouette. My first try was about a millimeter off. I don't know what I did wrong but the second try was a success! I used Make-the-Cut to cut out the letters from a font called Mouseyer (I don't think the Studio software has the ability to load a font that isn't installed) and I also used it to cut the pink oval. Card base and oval are Stampin' Up cardstock. The letters and background paper are KI Memories patterned paper and the design is printed on and cut from Neenah Classic Crest cardstock. When I showed this to my 13 year old daughter, she got that look in her eye. I think she's already decided to give this to her teacher or one of her friends.

You're Tweet

I decided to upgrade from my Cricut to a Silhouette SD. It arrived yesterday so I got it all set up to work with Make-the-Cut and today I made this little shaped card. I used tutorials from my friend Jin's website, underacherrytree.com, to make the shaped card base and used svg files from Lettering Delights to cut out the images. The bird is from the Twitter Park svg set and the letters are from the Sweet Nothings set. There isn't a "you're" in the set, so I combined images to make it and used an apostrophe from a regular font. The silhouette cut like a champ once I got the hang of it (I have a cold so it took me longer than normal. That's my excuse, anyway)! The card base is Paper Trey Ink 110# cardstock and the rest of the papers are from Stampin' Up. Everything cut easily with just one pass of the cutter (something I was concerned about but had no reason to be-while I was "learning" I cut clear through my mat somehow). Even the intricate parts, like the flowers on the wing, cut perfectly. I am very happy with the Silhouette so far!

It's a Birthday Blog Hop-with prizes!!

Welcome to the Joyslife.com Birthday Blog Hop where we are wishing Joy a very happy birthday!! This is my very first blog hop so I hope I don't mess up! You may have come here from Ann Marie's blog. If not, then you can do the whole hop by going to Joyslife.com and clicking through to each blog on the hop. In case you get sidetracked, here is a list of all the stops in this hop.

Joy - http://joyslife.com/
Amanda - http://amandascraftsandmore.blogspot.com
Rosy - http://sweetdelightspapernmore.blogspot.com
Jin - http://www.underacherrytree.com
Melissa - http://melissa-moecreations.blogspot.com
Tammy - http://tammyjennings.blogspot.com
Jennifer - http://scrapaholicjen.blogspot.com
Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com
Laura - http://www.lauraleesdream.blogspot.com
Zeni - http://www.scrappyzeni.blogspot.com
Theresa - http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Kyle - http://thegreencricut.blogspot.com
Ruthie - http://www.septemberninth.blogspot.com
Ann Marie - http://www.yourstrulee.net
Gale - http://www.stamps-and-stitches.com (You are here!)
Erika - http://crafty-creations-by-erika.blogspot.com

So here is my birthday blog project. I decided to do a birthday place marker and cupcake picks. I love the new Lettering Delights Frogs and Kisses graphic set and svg set. Even though it seems to be a Valentine themed set, I thought it would make a cute froggy birthday theme. I did want to change the colors of my frogs so I used Photoshop to do that.




I used Make-the-Cut and my Cricut to cut out the parts for the place marker. The frog was directly from the svg file but I used googly eyes instead of the cut out eyes. I think frogs look great with googly eyes! I used various MTC functions to make the place marker with the sticking up part (technical terms here). The balloons were made from a balloon graphic I found online and converted to a cut file. For the two-tone balloons I cut out two, used punches to punch the holes, and then layered them together. I used some wire I had on hand to attach them to the place marker.


For the cupcake picks (easy peasy) I just chose a graphic from the Frogs and Kisses set, changed the colors in Photoshop, and resized and printed it onto card stock. For the other side I used a stamp from the All Around Sentiments set from Joyslife.com. I punched my stamped images and my printed images with a circle punch, matted it onto a larger colored circle, and then layered those onto scalloped circles cut with nestabilities. I stuck them together with Stampin' Up Dimensionals with a toothpick in between to stick into the cupcake. The doily is cut from a file I found on this blog and modified.


The bags were from Target. I like to keep bags on hand because I hate wrapping gifts. Hate it. The cupcakes are topped with crushed Smarties. Smarties are the Canadian version of M&Ms. Since my daughter is allergic to nuts, we don't buy M&Ms but Smarties are just as tasty and perfectly safe. I collected the red ones (had to eat a lot of other colored ones to get these), crushed them a little, and sprinkled them on.

Now for the blog candy, courtesy of Joy! Up for grabs is one of her amazing stamp sets, Lots of Pun. This is such a cute set! If you have the Create a Critter cricut cartridge you NEED this set-it goes perfectly with so many of the critters.


Here is how to win this set:
1. leave a comment on this post
2. become a follower and leave another comment letting me know you did. If you are already a follower of my blog, leave a comment letting me know that instead.

Sign ups end at midnight eastern time on Feb 22nd. Please make sure there's a way for me to get ahold of you. If you don't have your email in your blogger profile, please leave it in the comment for me. If you are interested in buying this or any of Joy's other stamp sets, just go to Joyslife.com's products page. Joy is offering free shipping right now too!

And now on to the next blog in the hop. Just click here to go to Erika's blog to see the next cool birthday project! But first, be sure to grab Joy's cute new button!! To add this button to your blog, simply copy and paste this code:
<a href="http://joyslife.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Joy's Life.com" src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r143/joyd12/JoysLifeBlinkieNEWESTONE.gif" /></a>

Kitty Cat Valentines

I made these for my daughter to give to her dance classmates for Valentine's day. I saw them on my friend Jin's blog and let me tell ya, she is a dedicated crafter. It was all I could do to make these without throwing it all out the window and Jin made dozens! Good thing Sammy only has 4 other girls in her class. So I made 6 (but there are only 5 in this pic) so she could keep one for herself and also give one to her teacher. The svg file is called Animal Valentines and is from Lettering Delights. All paper is Stampin' Up. The original file had cut out eyes but I decided I liked the googly eyes better. The texture plate that I used for the body is from Sizzix. You can't see the texture on the first picture but you can in the closeup.