Birthday Party Favors 01/25/2011

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Hi there!  I've been finishing up some orders and trying to get pictures together for you.  I've been bad about updating this blog, but I'm trying.  Things are crazy with trying to do the orders, working, and trying to look for another job and updating my resume.  Such is my life.

But that is not what you came for.  Here are the latest birthday favors that I'm making for my friend's son.  He's turning five and has been wanting a fire truck theme party forever.  My friend saw some favors she liked and asked if I could re-create them.  I played around on my computer and this is what I came up with.  I was actually glad to do this project for my friend because it forced me to learn different techniques that could be used in Microsoft Word.  I'm getting a lot better about incorporating computerized art in my crafts.  I used the drawing features in Word (it's the tool bar on the bottom of the word screen).  Prior to this project, I never knew what those button were for.  It is amazing what we can learn from the internet just by doing a google search.  I love the little ring of dots around the name.  It was a pain in the but to center the name in the middle of the circle.  I think I just gave up and moved the circles instead.  The fire truck is from clip art.  I think everything turned out well and I look forward to making more projects like this. 
Next month I was invited to the "For Love of Chocolate Festival" in Escondido on Feb 12th.  I just love the name.  I've been trying to make some new cards, favors, clothes, and projects for that event.  Hopefully I remeber to take pictures of everything, so I can show you some of my new designs. 

Have a wonderful week and I hope to write more soon.  Wish me luck at my job interview this Friday.  I'm going to need it.

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Cricut Quilt 01/05/2011

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Happy New Year's!!!  I'm so sorry I've been MIA during December.  Like everyone else I was running around like a crazy woman trying to get everything done in time for Christmas as well as try to sell stuff at the craft fairs.

Hope you had a great Christmas.  This year I made most of the gifts I gave this year.  We've been on a budget crunch and trying to make ends meet, but I still wanted to give people gifts.  But dummy me forgot to take pictures of the things I made before I gave them away.  I'll just have to make them again, so I can show thme to you.

I am super excited about this new project.  I have to go to a baby shower this weekend for one of the girls at church.  I didn't want to make a diaper cake or a pillow again, so I decided to do some research on the internet.  Did you know that you could use your Cricut to cut material?  It is so awesome and oh so easy.  I had bought a bunch of remenant fabric from the thrift store and I was able to use that along with the fabric that I had left over from the last project to make this fabulous baby blanket. 

So here's how you cut material with your Cricut.  You have to buy this stuff called Heat and Bond.  You can pick it up from JoAnn's for less than $2.00 a yard.  They usually sell it with the Pellon and web backing supplies.  Take that home and this is where the magic happens.  I used my Make the Cut Software for to determine the location of where to place the material on the mat.  I cut the material to the size I needed for the project (in my case it was a 6x6 block of dark brown and a 6x6 block of the light tan I also had another material on there that didn't quite cut right, so I didn't use it).  You are going to want to use a piece of light cotton material, as other materials don't cut very well and the fibers get caught in the razor blade.  Take the material you cut and cut off a piece of the Heat and bond to the same size.  Then you iron the tacky side of the heat and Bond to the back of your material.  You iron on the paper side of the heat and bond for about 20 seconds.  Make sure you are ironing on the paper side so you don't get the glue all over your iron.  Do not remove the backing from the material yet (i tried it both ways and it cuts better with the backing left on). Take the prepared material and place it on your mat (paperside touching the mat).  It's best to either use a newer mat or devote one mat specifically for fabric and spray it with tacky glue so it doesn't move around while it is cutting.  I had the pressure settings on my Expression on High and the blade pressure at 6 and the speed on medium.  I also had the multi-cut function on and set it to cut twice.  Then you load the material into your Cricut paperside down and cut.  When it's finished cutting remove the paper backing, center it on quilting block and iron it again.  The Heat bond will stick to the material and you can leave it that way or you can embroider it over with your sewing machine.  How cool is that. 

Here are the rest of the pictures of this project.  I made the quilt, then I had some left over material so I made another pillow with the elephant.  Then I decided to use one of the pillows I had made for a craft show and I added the giraffe.  Once my friend has her baby, I told her I'll put the photo on the pillow to complete the project.  I think she is going to love it.  I had fun making it and am really excited about using this new technique in more of my crafts.

Have a wonderful New Year and I hope to be here on a more regular basis.  I'm busy looking for a new job, so no guarantees.  But one of my resolutions is to at least get in here at least once or twice a week to post pictures of a new project.  I look forward to hearing your comments and sharing my crafts with you this year.  Enjoy 2011 and I pray that it will be filled with love, laughter, and joy of being with friends and family.  Happy New Year!!!

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Photo Pillows 11/12/2010

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Hi there.  Last week I went on Etsy and looked through the Alchemy listings to see if I could find any crafts that I could make for someone.  I ran across this listing from this military family.  The lady was looking for a pillow or a toy for someone to make for her daughter because both her and her husband are supposed to be deployed for a year.  The listing just broke my heart.  I didn't know exactly how to make her original request, but I e-mailed her and told her that I could make a photo pillow for the little girl free of charge.  I also offered to make a pillow for her and her husband also free of charge because of all the sacrafices that their family was going to make on behalf of our country in the coming year. 

She was so grateful that I offered to do this.  I asked her to e-mail me the picture.  When she sent this picture I was so glad that I had committed to doing this.  I didn't realize how young their daughter was.  She looks like she is about a year and half or younger to me.  No wonder the mom wanted me to put these taggies on it.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  I kept thinking she wanted dog tags sewn on the pillow.  Apparently, there is a blanket called a Taggie for young kids.  It is different textured ribbons with bright colors sewn around a blanket.  Once I figured out what it was, I was able to make it with all the ribbon that I had around the house.  I used some remenant fabrics that I found at JoAnn's for the rest of the pillow.  I'm not that great of a seamstress, so I think this turned out rather good for my ability levels.  I was just grateful that I could make this for their family.  I hope that during their deployment they will find much comfort by seeing the picture of their family while they are homesick and start missing each other. 

If you have a chance, take the time to make a difference in the life of a complete stranger.  Simple random acts of kindness have deeper impacts than you will ever know.  I took these pictures before I finished sewing them to show the mom.  I haven't uploaded the finished ones yet. Have a great day.

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Onesies 11/08/2010

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Hi there.  I did it.  I finally designed some new onsies.  I had so many stashed in my closet, I finally added a design to them and they are ready to go on the market.  It was fun coming up with all the sayings for them.  A friend and I had come up with the sayings on a slow day at one of the markets in the summer.  It took me long enough to finally use them.  I'm so glad I wrote them down, because I never would have remebered them.

I used the Comic Sans Font on most of them.  A few of the fonts were downloaded from a free fonts site.  I think it was called urban fonts.  I used the make the cuts software to create the design and the cricut to cut it out.  I used heat transfer vinyl for the lettering and I had bought the onsies a long time ago.  Make sure to cut out your image by using the mirror image key.  It is so much easier to cut the sayings out with the make the cut software because it has the mirror image key.  With the cricut cartridges, you have to think about writing the phrase out backwards and then hitting the reverse key. 

I'm going to try to sell these at the Lawrence Welks Farmers' Market today if it doesn't rain today.  I have a feeling that the market is going to get cancelled.  But I can still sell these online or at one of the other shows I'm doing this month.  I'll be at the Killer Pizza From Mars in Oceanside on Nov 9th and Nov 23rd.  They have a craft fair inside that pizza parlor every week.  They use the booth fees to buy pizza and drinks for all the vendors and the visitors that visit all the craft booths.  I committed to these 2 dates, but I don't know if I'll do it any more after that.  There's also going to be a show in Carlsbad on State street on Nov 27th that I'll be selling at too.  So if you're in the area, be sure to stop by and say hi.

Here's the pictures.  Enjoy.  I hope you have a blessed week and remember that you can make a lasting impression through crafts.

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Dress favor boxes 11/05/2010

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Hi there.  Life has been crazy.  I have spread myself so thin, I haven't been able to keep up with all the demands of work, family, dog, bills, and everything else.  I had to take a break from writing the blog until things around here started settling down, but now I'm back.  I'm going to try to post the pictures of all the stuff that I've been making, but haven't yet had a chance to tell you about.  There are a lot of new products in production at this time.

I'd like to start off by telling you about my latest project.  I had a friend ask me to make her favors for a bachelorette party with a theme of 27 Dresses.  I had never seen the movie before, so I googled the trailer of the movie to get the basic idea of what the movie was about.  27 bridesmaid dresses that some girl wore before she got engaged herself.  So I suggested to my friend that the favors be these dress favor boxes.  She loved the sample.  They had used several different kinds of paper to make the invitations, so we used several different colored papers to make the dresses and added some ribbon to tie them together.  Each favor can hold about 3 tootsie rolls....I tested it with some left over Halloween candy.  They were really quick to make using the Make the Cut software and the .svg file that I had.  I finished all 20 in one night while I was watching tv.

I need to finish writing the November newsletter, make some more crafts for Tuesday night, and try to fight off this cold.  The change of weather here is killing me.  Tommorrow I get to change the brakes in my car, and hopefully we can be driving around again tommorrow night.  Have a great week and I hope that you have an awesome weekend.

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Nativity Craft Block 10/03/2010

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Hello!!!  I'm sorry I have been neglecting to post any articles in awhile.  Like everyone else, I've found myself caught in the I'm too busy trap.  But I'm back and I will try to post more this month than I did in September.

So here's what I've been up to.  I've been experimenting with a lot of different craft techniqes.  I've been making ornaments, trying to come up with halloween crafts, and trying to make some inventory for the upcoming shows that I have.  I'll be at the Moose Lodge in Lemon Grove this coming Saturday, the Bonsall Festival on October 16th, Carlsbad on Nov 27, and in Oceanside on December 4th.  It is crazy trying to make enough crafts to cover all these shows, working as a tutor, and also working as a senior home care provider.  I barely have enough time to breathe, but like everyone else I'm trying to do it all.  Unlike everyone else, I don't have kids, so I have a little easier time trying to do this.

So here's the details for the Nativity Block.  I picked up the glass block from Michael's.  It already had a hole cut into it.  I used the Make the Cut Software to cut out the nativity scene out of black vinyl from an .svg file I found.  I bought a little light switch and put into the hole and wrapped the box with the ribbon.  The picture doesn't give it much justice.  It was really difficult to photograph this thing, but I hope you like it.

I have some other projects I need to try to complete.  So I'll post the pictures, and let you go.  Have a great week.

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Christmas Already!!! 09/18/2010

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Yes I did go there!!!  Yes my friends are flakes, and yes I am the flakiest of them all.  I can't believe I'm already doing Christmas stuff.  Actually, being the true ADHD crafter that I am, I have to admit to you that I have Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween projects going on all at the same time.  Everything is blurring together and it is only September---agghhhh!!!

I actually set up a Christmas tree when we did the show at Pala Casino last week.  Amazingly, people actually bought some ornaments.  Of course, I did have some Halloween Skull Ornaments on the tree.  I didn't have a whole lot of ornaments made, so we filled the holes with my cousins' bibs and burp cloths.  I even hung some of the wreaths on the tree.  It was quite a site.  This week I started making the glass ornaments.  They are turning out so cool.  I'll have to show them to you next time, because I haven't taken pictures yet. 

Yesterday, I called the lady at Viejas to see if there was still room at the craft show at Veijas next week.  She told me that the spaces were full, but she would see what she could do.  They really loved the stuff on my website, so they let me in.  I have to start making more inventory so that I can have something to sell there.  It is going to be a crazy week, but then I'm always better under pressure.  Since I found out that I was doing this show, I've made 5 wreaths, 5 halloween ornaments, 12 Christmas ornaments, and I have a ton more that I should be doing now. 

So here are the pictures of some of my projects earlier this month.  Enjoy.  I'll try to get the others up soon.  Have a great weekend!

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New Jackets 09/16/2010

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Hi there!!!  Things are going well.  Last weekend I did the craft show at Pala Casino.  There were a ton of people and I made more sales than I ever had.  I went there with my cousin and she sold many of the upcycled bibs and burp cloths she makes.  She gets gently used shirts and sews them into these super cute bibs and burp cloths.  If you get a chance check out her website at www.bibsagain.weebly.com.

I just received a new order of heat transfer vinyl, so I am starting to make more of the jackets and t-shirts again.  People seem to like the onsies and bibs that I make that are a little bit more sarcastic/funny in nature, instead of all the cute stuff that I have.  I had to go out and get a part time job to make ends meet.  I'm working as a care provider for the elderly.  It isn't that exciting, but it helps pay the bills.  I haven't had too many sales at the Farmer's market, and I might have to give that gig up once they switch the hours.  I think I'm going to try to make this business work for another year or two and after that, I'm not sure if I can keep it up after that.  I enjoy it, but the way the economy is right now, I'm not sure how much longer I can last.

Here are the new jackets that I made with the heat transfer vinyl and the Make the Cut software that I just got this month.  It has been fun playing around with the new software.  It makes it a whole lot easier to make the phrases in the mirror image with the Shape Magic tool on this program.  I am trying to get ready for all the holidays.  I started making some Christmas ornaments, some wreaths, and some Harvest items.  With all the packing and unpacking, some of the items are getting damaged.  I need to figure out a better way to transport all of this stuff.

Anyways, I better let you see what you came for and then go to sleep.  Have a great week!

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MIA 09/09/2010

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Hello!!!  Sorry I have been missing in action.  I've been swamped with things to do.  This weekend I'm doing a craft show at Pala Casino, and I'm hosting my cousin's baby shower at my house.  I supposedly started working in the homes of seniors, but they haven't scheduled any hours for me yet---thank God.  I must have 20 different projects going on at the same time.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with every dead line that I've made for myself.  I started making Christmas crafts, butterfly crafts, tried to teach myself how to use the Make the Cut software, and tried to get more organized and mange my time better.   It has been a losing battle and my house looks like a battle field.  I have until Saturday to clean everything up and figure out how I can pull off this back to back event this weekend.  I don't know what I was thinking by agreeing to host the baby shower the day before one of the biggest craft shows that I have to do this year.  I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.

Sorry about the ranting and raving.  Just had to get it out of my system.  Ok so I'm just going upload some random pictures of some of the projects that I've been working on as I try to get ready for this craft fair this Sunday.  If you want to see if I pulled it off, you can join me at Pala Casino on Sunday Sept 12 from 11am-6pm.  There will be a raffle, a craft fair, and a butterfly release.  It sounded like a good time for me. 

Here's the pictures you came for.  How do you like the new Calendar.  Pretty nifty, huh?  I've gotten more computer saavy, since I tried to update this blog.  I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way for you all to upload your pictures.  Some day.  Oh the pictures---Have a great weekend---I think my husband is right--I am a spaz.

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Make-up Bags 08/30/2010

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Happy Monday to you all!!!  It's been awhile since I last wrote.  A lot has changed in that time.  Last Friday I went on a job interview and I am now the newest member of Accent Care---I'll be helping the elderly with their daily needs in their homes.  I couldn't make ends meet with crafts alone, so I have to go back to work.  They are going to work around my schedule so that I can still go to the weekly Farmer's Markets.  It will be kinda nice to be around people again, because working from home does get lonely.

Last week I found these cute little make-up bags.  I decided to take them home and see if I could dress them up some more with my Cricut.  I love the way the turned out.  I used the sayings from Home Accents and Pink Journey.  I love these cartridges.  They have such cool designs on them.  Actually I was reminded again how much I loved my Cricut when I tried to sketch a drawing out for a customer last week.  I cannot draw worth beans.  Even a drawing impaired person like me can be creative with the Cricut. 

Instead of buying another Cricut cartridge, my next purchase will be the Make the Cut software.  It is a program that works with the Cricut to cut out JPEGS, .svg files, and a whole lot of other stuff I don't understand.  It works with your computer to cut out graphics.  Once I get enough money to buy it, I'll show you some of the cool stuff you can do with it.

Have a great week.  I have a ton of other ideas in my head that can't wait to get out and greet you.  Until next time.

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