I Want My Own - Gifts For My Wine and Whine Party

I am having a girlfriends gathering at my house that I am calling Wine and Whine.  It's a time for us together together and just destress and let off some steam.  I asked everyone to bring their favorite bottle of wine and I am providing all the yummy appetizers (I love to entertain!). 

When you have a group of women together and drinks are involved, you can forget whose glass is whose.  So I made monogrammed wine glasses for all my guests!

Carts and Materials

• Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art - font
• Cindy Loo - flourishes
• Vinyl - Cricut Vinyl in red, pink and black

It took me a couple of times to get this right.  I found these glasses at the dollar store and the vessel is a really good size.  My first cut of vinyl was too large.  It went down to the bottom part of the glass and therefore started to ripple and curl.  I also started with a frame around the letter which also was not a good idea.

I traded the frame for accent flourishes and made the monogram smaller.  I used 4 different flourishes to make them a little different from each other.  I cut my "R" out of red vinyl and used pink for all the others.

These glasses came together quickly and easily.  I hope you have enjoyed this project and I am sure these glasses will get some miles put on them this evening!


Smooches,

And the winner is....

The winner of the Mystery Box for the It's A Wrap Blog Hop is number....

 and that is Patrina Jones (aka rakiya32)!!!  Congratulations lady!  I will be sending you an email shortly to get your address.  Please allow up to 2 weeks to receive the package.  Congrats!

Smooches!

Robin

It's A Wrap Blog Hop - Clownin' Around Birthday Bag

Welcome to the It’s a Wrap Blog Hop hosted by Cool Beans By L.B. Do you like to receive gifts? How about give them? Well this hop is all about the outside…the wrapping; Gift bags, boxes, baskets and more. There are 22 wonderful stops on this hop and we hope you will take some time to stop in and see everything we have created for you.

You should have arrived here from, Everything Digital Scrapbooking. If you are just finding our hop in the middle you can go to the beginning at Cool Beans By L.B.

For my project I made an adorable clown gift bag.  I recently went to my friend's twin's birthday party and needed a gift bag for their gifts.  The party theme was circus so I made this clown bag.

Carts and Materials

• Birthday Bash- clown hat, pennant
• George and Basic Shapes - circle, oval
• Once Upon A Princess - heart for the lips
• Paper Doll Dress Up - clown head, hair base
• Tulip Puffy Paint - for clown hair

I cut a head from the Paper Doll body at about 4.5 x 5.  I cut just the head on my Gypsy by having the rest of the body hang off the mat.  There is a clown outfit on this cart and one of the accessories is hair.  So used that cut for the base.

I looked up clown faces on the internet to decide what I wanted him to look like.  I don't have a cart with lips on it so I decided to use a stretched out heart as my lips.  I added pink cheeks and ovals for the base of he eyes.  I then found some oval googly eyes that were perfect.  And no clown is complete without a pom-pom red nose!  I used some ruffle I had in my stash for the fluff around his neck.  I love the ric-rac and the look it adds.

These just may be my 2 favorite parts of the bag - the hair and the ruffle on the party hat.
For the hair - I used Tulip Puffy Paint.  What you do is you add a generous amount of the paint to your base.  Once you have covered the entire thing, you then heat it up with your heat gun.  After a few seconds, it will puff up like popcorn and give your project great texture.  Try using white in the Winter for snow!

For the hat ruffle - I used a couple of pieces of crepe paper (use the old fashioned rolls we used for streamers) and folded them in half.  I then stapled them to hold them together.  I pulled out my MS Fringe Scissors and cut the fringes.  I attached it to my hat with glue and fluffed it out.

I added a yellow pom-pom to the top of the hat, added the birthday pennant and this bag was complete.  I really hope you liked my project and leave me come blog love!

I
 am offering some fun blog candy on this hop in the form of a Mystery Box!  The only thing I am going to tell you is that it will include some fun chipboard from Maya Road!  Here's what you have to do:

1. Leave me some blog love! ( I love comments)
2. Become a follower
3. Leave your email address in the post

That's all you have to do!

Thanks for stopping by on this fun hop. Your next stop is Gamma's Creative Corner.  Until next time...

Smooches!

Texas, The Lone Star State Pennant

I'm back again with another project this week!  My scissors and cricut machine are getting some miles put on them this week.  I'm entering another contest on the Cricut Circle and this time we had to create a pennant that represented our state, country or province.  Here is my project.

Carts and Materials

• 50 States - shape of Texas, Bluebonnet
• Birthday Bash - Pennant
• George and Basic Shapes - star
• Indie Art - rose
• Old West - font, hat, boot, longhorn, cards

The background of the pennant is the Texas State Flag.  To make the star more dimensional, I pinched each point and then put pop dots on the back to raise it up.  I cut the title shadow twice to make it standout more.  I like the old west typeface which harkens back to the state's history.

I hand drew a map on the green Texas shape.  It shows some of the most popular cities with a small shout out to Frisco where I live.  I also included the official (Bluebonnet) and unofficial (Yellow Rose) flowers of Texas.  They are tied together in friendship.  The Spanish word for Texas is Tejas, which means friendship.

The cards represent Texas Hold 'Em, the most popular form of poker.  An no self respecting cowboy would ever be caught without their well worn boots and trusty hat.

Longhorn cattle are legendary in Texas and also the mascot of The University of Texas.  And you will need a lasso to catch one or practice your trick roping.

I used lots of pop dots on this project so I hope it gets to Utah in one piece.  Thanks for checking out my post and sharing this project with me.  I hope you will leave me some blog love!  Until next time...

Smooches!

Lots of Blog Awards!

Hi everyone!  I have been so busy crafting away for gifts, contests and the like that I have forgotten to post some of the blog awards that I have received.  I hope all the awardees don't hold it against me.  Let's start the roll call.



No, you are not seeing double.  I received this award again from She's A Sassy Lady on June 26th.  I will never get tired of seeing this cutie because the desert looks soooo good!  Thanks Sassy Lady!



I received this award from The Cricut Couple on June 29th.  I love that they create and work on projects together.  That is so sweet to me! 




My super crafty friend Elizabeth gave me this award on July 9th.  Check out her blog on 217 Creations.  I have to tell you 5 crafty things about myself so here I go.

1.  I am just really starting to realize my creativity!
2.  I love to watch videos and deconstruct the projects in my head.
3.  I get my creativity from my mother who is super creativty herself.
4.  I truely believe that it is all about the details.
5.  I am giddy everyday when I wake up as I run to see what is new on the Cricut Message Boards.

Have a good one!

Smooches,

Parisian Mini Album and Video

Hi eveyrone!  Got a new project today that is serving me double duty.  It is a mini album for my mom as well as my entry into the Teresa Collins Cricut Circle Challenge (try saying that 3 times!).  This post is chock full of pics and there's even a video at the end.  So let's get to it!

Carts and Materials

• French Manor - fleur de lis, Paris, frame, borders, dress form, lattice frame, chandelier
• Birthday Bash - cover and page shape
• Destinations - Paris tag (pink glitter and black)
• Summer in Paris - Eiffel Tower
• Tags, Bags, Boxes and More - pocket and tag
• Teresa Collins - paper, blingage, stamps, sentiments, various other elements
• My Stash - ribbons, pins, doilies, rosettes, bling, charms

I'm not going to go into the details about the elements in the mini like I usually do because all that information is in the video.  But I am posting pics of all the pages and a few closeups.

And now here's the video!



I am really proud of this project and I know my mom will love it.  I enjoyed making it and pushing my creativity.  Leave me some blog love and I'll talk with you later!

Smooches,

Coasters for My Bunco Gift

In my last post, you saw decorations that I made for the 4th of July Bunco that I hosted at my house.  Everyone loved the decor but the project that took the cake were the custom coasters that I made.

I made 3 sets of 4 coasters for the "Necklace Winners" in my Bunco group.  Here's what you need to make a set of your own!

Carts and Materials

• Kate's ABCs - font for wording
• Home Accents - flourish
• Vinyl - I used brown Cricut Vinyl
• Transfer Tape - I used Cricut brand
• 4x4 Travertine Tiles - I found these at Home Depot
• Self Adhesive Felt - for backing on the coaster

Making these coasters is really pretty easy.  I used my G to put my design together.  I was able to get 9 sets on one mat.  The test really came when it was time to remove the backing from the mat.

Once you have your design together and cut out, "weed" out the extra pieces of vinyl you don't want that are in the middle of letters like O and E.  Put your transfer paper on to your mat, rub and remove your cut out image from the mat.*  Before you apply the image, you need to wipe off each tile with a damp sponge to remove the grit.

*I put a post on the Circle MB because I was having some problems removing my paper backing from my mat once my image was cut.  I learned a few things fron this post.

1. Use the settings 3-3-3 when cutting vinyl (speed, pressure and blade depth).  This will give you a "kiss" cut that only cuts the vinyl and not the paper backing.
2. Use an older mat, not a really sticky new one.  This makes it easy to remove the paper backing.
3. Once your image is cut, remove the negative before you apply the transfer paper.  This makes it so much easier to lift your image off of your mat.

I applied squares of self adhesive felt on the bottom of each tile.  I chose to do this because the little circles seem to come off easily.  But you could certainly use thos if you like.  Once I had all the tiles ready, I wrapped a stack of 4 with a pretty red satin ribbon.

I may have created a problem for myself.  Once the gifts were opened, everyone wanted a set!  I hope you like these coasters and try making them when you need a quick gift.  Don't forget to leave me some blog love and I'll see you later!

Smooches,

4th of July Bunco Decor

Hi everyone!  It's been a while since I have posted.  I decided to take a break over the holiday while I spent time with my family and also prepared for the Bunco Party I hosted on the 5th. 

I have seen so many great decorations on the Circle Blog and on all the MBs that I had to make some for my Bunco party to make it special.  Here is what I made!

Here are the carts and materials I used.

Carts and Materials

• Shall We Dance - Hat
• Cindy Loo - exclamation marks on the hat
• George and Basic Shapes - Stars
• From my Stash - various buttons, twine, doillies, and paper

Notice that I did not mention the Stand and Salute Cartridge.  That's because I don't have it.  So how did I make the hat???

I found a hat on my G that I liked.  I then put some exclamation marks inside the hat to make the cutouts (I hid the dots).  I then made a second hat without cutouts for the background.  I cut out some blue stars seperately and added them to the hat with popdots.  I think it came out great!

I also made some pinwheels in small and large sizes.  These are very easy to make since I didn't have the Mother's Day bouquet cart either.  Once I pulled my corners together on the large one, I put a doily and 2 stars in the middle.  I finished it off with a button with postmail twine running through it.

The small ones were a bit more simple with a scalloped circle punched out of white glitter paper in the middle.  I then placed a star that had a contrasting twine bow glued to the middle of it on the circle. 

The red tissue paper bursts of color are what I call my "fireworks".  Don't they look like the fireworks once they have exploded in the sky?  I made these by folding 3 sheets of tissue back and forth like you are making a fan.  Snip the ends in a V for a decorative edge.  Next I stapled the fan in the middle and then spread the sheets of tissue paper apart.  Last, I hot glued some dowels in the middle so I was able to put them in the jar with the other stuff.

You can make multiples of everything so you can place them all around the room to carry the theme to everywhere your guest will be.  I even put a few in the bathroom!

Lastly, I welcomed my guests with a Southern Living plate that I ran holiday ribbon through.  I finished the plate off with a bow and a cute sentiment. 

I hope you get some inspiration from this project and make some cut decorations for your next gathering.  Until next time...

Smooches!