Christmas Is on It's Way!

I was inspired by Pinterest to make this card and to be honest, it was terribly difficult lol.  I wan't able to find a template for the inside mats and it was that part that I had trouble with, not the pop up part.  I think the card turned out very well and I know my daughter will love it.

What I've been making....

What have I been up to?  I've been having fun in my craft room...

The first set of photos is from the Tim Holtz Chronical's Journal kit....yes, a Kit! it's great and I had so much fun putting it together.  There is lot's of space to add to it, so I did.  I added pockets and elements and whatnots.

This is the card that I made for my niece and her bride for their wedding and the box that I made for it, since it was too dimensional to fit in a normal envelope.  

This is the mixed media canvas gift that I made for the newly weds.  The idea was the first initial of each of their first names and the large initial of their last name.  But, I found out too late that my niece decided to take her bride's last name...ah well.  I bought the box below the photo at Michael's to put the gift in with the idea that they could later use it to store their wedding cards.

My loving husband bought me a Cricut Explore Air for my birthday!  I've been experimenting with it.  This is a very intricate, print then cut doily....came out awesome!

I went a little crazy with the purse shaped gift bags and turned them into Halloween themed treat bags using Graphic 45 paper.  I forget the name of the paper stack, but I just love it.  These are hanging on my display board in my classroom.

That's it for now, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more of.....well everything!

My Poor Blog!

My poor blog gets so neglected sometimes, I feel badly about it.  I tend to keep up my facebook page and then when I post here, it's mainly stating again what I wrote there.  But then I realized, that my facebook page is about the classes that I teach at Micheals and my blog is about anything I want it to be about, because it's all about me, me ME! lol

I have been having such a wonderful time teaching classes at Michael's, it would be the greatest job in the history of jobs if I actually made any money at it.  Don't get me wrong, I do get paid and the pay isn't bad at all, but I work in a CRAFT STORE.... I walked into work and my eyes get boggled by all the pretty and shiny things!  I have spent much much more than I've actually earned.  I keep telling myself "Stop it" "You don't Need That!" but as with most things, myself doesn't listen one bit!

So, what have I been making lately?

Fall Themed Scrapbook page - September beginner's project.

Exploding box card with lid.

Back to School scrapbook page for classroom, inspired by Pinterest.

Time for School scrapbook page. This was made using ABC Primer paper stack by Graphic 45.

Inspired by Pinterest, Table top center piece for Halloween based on a stair step card, it's 12 inches wide.

Now that is everything i've done lately for the classroom.  I will post on the rest of the things I've been doing in just a minute...

Cricut Explore Air

Well It happened, the long awaited and much anticipated event....I finally got my Cricut Explore Air!! I'm so thrilled that I can hardly contain myself.  I bought it on sale at Michael's Arts and Craft store and brought it home.  I was disappointed that I couldn't carry it to my craft room, hook it up and play with it immediately, but I had class to teach and it had to wait.

By the time I was able to lift that beautiful machine out of the box, set it up, download the software my excitement had built up to a feverish pitch.  One of the main reasons I wanted the machine was to cute small intricate embellishments and I was actually disappointed on the first go around.  The cut tore up the paper and wasn't the nice finished piece that I saw on the youtube videos that I watched.   Then I realized that I didn't have the paper dial set correctly and once I figured that out, it worked much better.

For normal sized stuff I was truly amazed.  I cut out a 4 inch, extremely intricate doily on medium weight cardstock and just couldn't stop looking at the beauty of the cuts, all sharp and perfect as though it was from a cuddlebug and not a cricut... LOVE IT!!!

Now I'm wanting to play around with the writing feature and the ability to import images and so many other things, oh and CHIPBOARD.... I just bought a deepcut housing and some .50mm chipboard that I'm going to play with....I feel so happy.

Steam Punk Box Card

I just love Steam Punk and it saddens me to see steam punk papers and embellishments leaving the shelves of the craft stores.  I don't want the Steam Punk phase to end, but alas I suppose it must.   But before it does, I made a Steam Punk themed Box Card and I just had so much fun.  I will be holding class on box cards for advanced papercrafting in August at the Lee's Summit, Chipman Mall location, so check the schedule.

Box Cards!

I've been obsessing over box cards lately lol.  I saw the cutest box card on Pinterest that looked like a birdhouse so I had to make one for a friend's birthday, she just loves flowers and birds and I knew she would get a kick out it.  I basically just used paper from my scrap pile, so I can't say what papers they were.

It's A Jungle Out There!

I saw a very similar card on Pinterest and fell in love with it.  So stinking cute!  I had such fun putting all the layers together and figuring out where to put what on the card base.  I started out thinking this would be such a nice project for my Beginner card making class but sadly no, it's not going to work.  All the fun layers take lots of fun time to put together, putting it over the 90 minute allotted class time.  I have so many projects romping through my head that I have to discard because of that pesky time limit!

Classes for April - June, 2015

April 13,  I have the Sizzix Test Drive from 4 to 5 pm, this is a fun demo/class where you get to not only see how this die cut system works, but get to make some cut yourself and take home a little project.  It's really a nice demo so come check it out.  Click the "Sizzix Test Drive" for the link to sign up.

I also have on April 13, a Mixed Media class from 6:30 to 8:30 pm for beginners where you will paint and decorate a really cute wooden heart frame.

April 14, from 11:00 to 1:00pm is Paper Crafting for Beginners - Instructors Choice.  This class will get you started on basic card making.  I plan on making 3 different cards with a Mother's Day theme, but honestly, you can use them for any occasion.  This class will utilize the Cuddlebug and some really great die cuts, plus punches and embellishments.  We will shop for supplies together, so arrive a bit early if you can.

Paper Crafting Advanced - Instructors Choice, One Page Mini Album class, where you will make a Mini Album from ONE piece of 12x12 paper!  Once the mini album is made, we will decorate it! This album is perfect for all those small school photos that we acquire and don't really know what to do with. I don't have the Syllabus made up yet, but I will come back and edit the post once I do have it.

The dates for this project in May, 2015 are:
May 3rd, May 12th, May 16th and May 18th.  The calendar is up online at Michaels.com where you can check the times of the class and you can also pick up a calendar at the store.

Also for May, I have the Paper Crafting Advanced, Instructor's Choice class for a more complicated One Page Mini Album.  Again, this Album is also made from a single piece of 12x12 Scrapbook paper.  Once the Album is made then it will be decorated using other patterned papers. 

The dates for this class in May are:

May 3rd, 12th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 27th and 31st.  The Calendar is up online at Michaels.com where you can check for the times of the classes and sign up.  A printed Calendar can also be picked up at the store.

Paper Crafting Advanced - Instructor's Choice class but this time we will learn how to make Paper Flowers using die cuts from the Cricut and Cuddlebug. 

The dates for this project will be in June, 2015:

June 9th, June 15th, June 16th and June 21st.  The Calendar for June is up online at Michaels.com and you can pick up a paper calendar at the store.

They will look something like this:

The Syllabus is available at the store, just remember that it's the Chipman Mall store in Lee's Summit.

I also have  Paper Crafting Beginners, Instructor's Choice class for June where we will make a Paper Purse Gift Bag, it's super cute! and looks hard but it's not.  

The dates for the Gift Bag are June 1st, 7th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 20th, 22nd and 25th.  Again, you can check for the different times of the class online at Michaels.com or stop by the store and pick up a printed Calendar.

Here are some photos of the bag, although the colors are different than what we will make in class.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been busy crafting my little heart out for my upcoming Micheal's craft classes.  You can check the Classes tab for the project sample's I've got done to date, fun stuff!

My head is jammed full of things I could make and turn into classes, it's hard to think of anything else lol.

I've been at my local Michael's store every day this week, familiarizing myself with the store layout, getting to know some of the staff and of course spending a great deal of time in the class room prepping for upcoming classes.  While I was there yesterday, the Classroom Coordinator came in and said she was sorry but that she had to kick me out of the classroom because someone wanted to use it.  I didn't mind because I learned something new.  Apparently, anyone can come in with their kids and use the classroom for a few hours, have some fun finger painting with the kids!  I mean who knew that Michael's offered that? for FREE! (paints, crayons, markers and aprons included).

Small Painter's Tray

I was shopping at Michael's the other day and found this little Painter's Tray from 7 Gypsies and had such fun decorating it.  I used paper from Graphic 45's Ladies Diary and Botanical Tea, some from my mountain of scrap paper ( it's insane how much scrap paper I have!).  I added a pretty ribbon that I've been keeping around for just such an occasion and finally found a use for the odd bit's of jewelry.  This is a very forgiving project, you really can't go wrong with whatever you use.

Another Hardanger piece

I made this for my Sister-In-Law Josie's birthday and I'm a little late.  Her birthday was in May and I've just finished it.  I had reason though, I suffered an eye trauma and was out of commission for a bit.  All is better now and I'm right back at it.