A new Puppy!!! :)

Wow... what a whirlwind it has been around our house the last few days.  We got a puppy!! :)

His name is Wilbur (Willy for short) and he is soooo stinking cute I can hardly stand it. :)  He is a Golden Retriever.  Needless to say, I haven't had much time to craft, but hope to get back into the swing of things this work.  Puppies are definielty a lot of week, but TOTALLY worth it :)

Monkey birthday card using George & Basic Shapes

Today is my husband's 35th birthday!!  This year I decided to make him a monkey card since he was called a monkey when he was a baby.

The idea for this card came from this post. http://therobbsbloggingalong.blogspot.com/2008/07/cricut-monkey.html

It was SUPER easy to make.  I cute the shapes out directly with my Expression which I haven't done is forever!  It was kind of fun to use the Expression and not cut shapes out through Cricut Craftroom.  I followed the instructions exactly at the above post and this my version of the card.

Sorry for the shadows on my pics.  I need to get my "real" camera out and stop using my phone camera.  

I am just entering into the world of stamping and so far LOVE it!!!  The "it's your birthday!" and the "let's party!" stamps are from the Birthday Cheer pack from Fiskars.  The six pack is from a company called Stamps Happen and the set is called Summer Fun.

The envelope for this card was made with the Martha Stewart Scoreboard.  I cut out a piece of card stock at 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches and then scored each side at 3 1/8 inches.  Glued the sides together and viola!  

Sand Jar Labels

Earlier this year, my friend Amber and I had a genius idea to collect sand from every location we travel to and put into jars.  I decided to use Kerr wide mouthed mason jars which you can purchase at Walmart for about $11 for 12 jars.  Using the Cricut and my various cartridges, I have so far managed to make each one with a different font and layout. 

On the bottom of each jar I wrote the date as well.  The plan is to have them nicely displayed somewhere in the house, but my husband and I haven't quite figured out where yet. :)  It is really cool to see each jar side by side to see the different color and texture of each jar.  Unfortunately, it's hard to see it in the pictures, but there is definitely a difference between each one.

Birthday card using Wild Card Tweety

Hi Everyone!  My craftroom is coming along very nicely, but isn't picture worthy yet.  Crafting has resumed which makes me (and my husband, haha) VERY happy!

Yesterday I made a birthday card for my husband's Grandmother.  She is turning 84! :)  I used the Tweety design on the original Wild Card Cricut cartridge.  I cut the card and envelope out at 5 inches, along with the envelope liner, card, card liner, frame, and the little bird. :) 

I added some little diamonds for the eye of the bird as well as to accent the Happy Birthday.  I cut the Happy Birthday and the word "grandma" out from the Lyrical Letters cartridge which was some great fonts!

Hope everyone has a good week! :)

Wedding binder :)

My sister-in-law got engaged on 4th of July (YAY!!)  We were chatting about plans and she mentioned she needed to get a binder to collect all of her papers in.  So.... I made a quick trip to Michael's to get some paper and embellishments and Staples for a 1 1/2 inch binder and white dividers.  The wedding will be sometime in October 2013 and their colors are going to be slate grey and rusty orange. Super cute!!

Using my Cricut Expression, I cut out the words Brandi & Kyle 2013 using the Lyrical Letters cartridge with the Connected Font.  My favorite adhesive right now is my ATC gun, but unfortunately I couldn't use it with this project.  I used Tombo Mona Aqua liquid glue to stick on the letters.

For the dividers, I used a font called Giddyup Std in Word 2010.  I also put some fabrics leaves on each divider.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with them but HAD to use them! :)  

A free weekend! :)

This weekend my husband and I have NO plans!  WOOO HOOO! :)  Summer is usually so crazy that we hardly ever have a weekend where we aren't out of town or running around.  I plan to get LOTS done in the craft room this weekend and hopefully start crafting.  I have a few birthday cards to make and have been thinking of something special for my sister-in-law. :) 

Hope everyone has a good weekend and a happy Friday the 13th! :)

Desk completely finished!! :)

WOOOHOOO! The desk is all sealed, dried and moved back into my craft room.:)  It looks fantastic and I am very happy with the way it turned out!  Thanks again to Centsational Girl http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/04/how-to-paint-furniture/

 Of course, Daisy had to check things out :)

Tonight I hope to start unpacking and things back in order.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  I know two special people who sure did!  CONGRATS on your engagement BRANDI & KYLE!!

Desk painting done!

I was finally able to put the final coat on the desk and the drawers last night.  Whooo hooo! :)  I ended up having to move the pieces inside because it was so windy yesterday!

Tonight on the way home from work, I am going to pick up the sealer and seal both pieces along with the drawers.  We have a few more busy days, which will be perfect for drying time, since I am soooo impatient. :) 

Hope everyone has a great 4th! 

Painting the desk

Yay! The desk is coming along nicely. I was able to put one coat of white paint on the desk and the second coat of blue on the drawers last night. :) (even though the desk does look blue, it is indeed white)

 

 The next 3 nights and the weekend are booked, so I probably won't be able to do any work on the desk. :(   Hopefully next week, the desk makeover will continue!  I REALLY, REALLY want to get back to crafting!!

A little side project - desk makeover

So, I started putting the room back together this morning and was looking at my oak, L-shaped desk, thinking how nice it would be if it was white. Well, a while back I pinned (yes, another Pinterest idea, hehe) a how-to on painting furniture.

After a trip to Ace Hardware, I finally had all the supplies to begin. The first step was to sand the parts of the desk I wanted to paint with 80 grit sand paper and an electric sander.  I did not sand any spots that wouldn't be seen, like the underside of the desk or the sides of the drawers. 

Then I wiped everything down with a damp cloth to get all the dust off.  The next step was to primer everything that was previously sanded.  This was a LOT of work, but hopefully it will pay off in the end.

I decided to put 2 coats of primer on the tops of both desks since they are so heavily used.  After a few hours of patiently waiting (which was SUPER hard!) I very lightly sanded the surfaces of the drawers to get rid of any drips and brush marks from the primer and started with the first coat of paint.  The first drawer was painted with a crappy paint brush and I was very unhappy with the way it turned out.  Referring to the trusty Pinterest article, it said to use something called Floetrol to help with brush streaks.  So, off to Ace again to pick up a better quality brush and a bottle of Floetrol. :) 

I painted the drawers the same color as the walls of my newly painted room since there was some left over paint.  I was able to get 1 coat on all the drawers and desktop organizer before it got too dark and chilly.  Tomorrow after work, I hope to put 1 coat of white paint on the desks and then 2nd coat of blue paint on the drawers.  Can't wait!!

Here is the link to the tutorial I followed from Pinterest.  Thanks Centastional Girl!!  http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/04/how-to-paint-furniture/