First Bind It All Project

So, I finally decided to get a Bind-It-All, after talking one of my best friends out of buying it! In my defense, I had a coupon and I plan on using it to make my wedding guestbook - spend $50 on the book I wanted and use it once, or spend $50 on the BIA to create the book of my dreams and still get to use it again!

This was the first thing I made with my Bind-It-All...a notebook for my fiance! :) I put his name on it, so just in case he forgets to lock it up in his drawer at work, people will know it's his, but I edited the picture so y'all can't see his full name! lol Sorry, safety first! :-P

He's a huge football fan, and his favorite team is (my LEAST favorite team) the Dallas Cowboys, so I did my own rendition of their logo for him.

I'm officially addicted to making things with my BIA, so I promise, this will not be the last BIA project I share with you all!

Project Collages

I made some collages of the most recent things I've created for swaps. The goal was to post them all individually, but blogspot and I don't get along when it comes to posting multiple pictures!


The above photos are of paint cans I did for a Princess Paint Can Swap, and a Sizzling Summer Paint Can Swap.

Hello Kitty Mini paint can and the journal I altered.

A bunch of cards I made for different swaps.

These are actually items that my partner sent me in the Box On A Budget swap! So wonderful!!

The items I made for my partner in the Box On A Budget swap! I altered a magnet, a small and a large composition book, paper clips, a little pocket calendar, and some coasters to make a mini album. I also altered a little box to hold the notecards I made for her. I made a post-it note holder (the Christmas House Mouse pictures), 2 gift tags (one shown b/c they were the same), a bookmark, a card kit (card shown above in the "cards" collage - it's the "a little birdie told me" card), card candy, and an ATC. The collage isn't fantastic this small, but it gives you an idea! :)

And now I'm off to attempt to post some of these pictures on the Cricut Boards...I'll probably wait until tomorrow, though, because I'm really tired and I have one more picture to post on here tonight! :)

Goth/Rock Paint Can

Here are some pictures of the paint can I sent to my partner for a Goth/Rock Paint Can Swap on the Cricut Boards (I don't know why I even say that...it's the only place I do swaps!).



As soon as I get my act in gear, I'll post pictures of the one she sent me - it's FABULOUS!!

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July, and need your help. To enter, all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as a follower, and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com!



Someone's got to win, right???

So excited!

I can't wait to post pictures of the things I'm creating for the "Box On A Budget" swap I joined!!! I'm really proud of my creations. This swap is pushing me to go outside my comfort zone, and I'm discovering I really like some of this stuff!!

Just thought I'd share...hehe

As soon as I mail it out, you can bet I'll be posting everything here!!!

Wedding Invites

My wedding invitations are finally made!! Ok, well, ONE is made...hehe I'll actually start putting the rest together this weekend.

The whole reason I got the Cricut Expression was to create my wedding invitations, and after all that, I ended up not even using the Cricut!! I did use the Provo Craft paper trimmer, though...does that count?? ;)

Anyway, here's how they turned out:



Not the greatest picture, but they're really pretty! I used Amelia Glitter Velum paper, which is layered over a 3x5 piece of ivory paper, glued onto a piece of 4x5.5 black cardstock. I had the ivory pieces printed/cut at Office Depot, and I got the black cardstock in a pack of 200 pieces of 5 different colors at Michael's. It came with envelopes for all 200 pieces, too.

Some lovely ladies on the Cricut boards sent me pieces of the velum and pieces of the matching paper (I had some pieces, and couldn't find more, so I asked for help, and 5 lovely ladies came to my rescue!). I'm using the paper for our favor boxes, and the velum for the invitations!

I originally wanted to print the wording straight onto the black cardstock, but no one could do that, so my friends suggested layering ivory paper over the black, since my colors are black and ivory anyway, and it turned out so much better than I had ever dreamed!!

Trinchies

These are the two "trinchies" I created for the beach themed swap. The top one took me 6 freaking hours to make 10 of!!! What the hell was I thinking??? It turned out fantastic, though!

The top one was made with my Cuttlebug and the Distress Stripes folder for the "wood" parts of the tiki bar, and then I cut everything else (the tikis, the pineapple drinks, and the words) with my Cricut and the new Life's A Beach cartridge. I glued some rafia on the top, and then glued ribbon over that to help keep it from falling off.

The bottom "trinchie" was the first one I did, and less involved. (Even if it had been the second one, after what I went through for the top one, it probably would have come out just the same...)
I used a palm tree wooden stamp, a clear Studio G beach chair stamp, some LePlumme (or whatever they are) markers, my cool nifty wave punch, and then Life's A Beach for the sun. I added some "Distress" Stickles to the background...blue for the sky, and a gold-ish color for the sand. The picture makes it look more sparkly than I think it looks in person. Not sure how that happened...

Thanks for looking!!

Cards

These are some of the cards I made this week. Like an idiot, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of them!!

The first one is the wedding card, the second and third are cards I made for the 6-month card swap, and the fourth one is the anniversary card for the "choose your theme" swap.

My First Blog Post!!

Whoohoo!! First craft-related blog post, EVER!

I figure with all the crafting I've been doing lately, I may as well let the world in on what I've been doing!

The new apartment is fantastic for crafting - Jeff & I have a "craft room" in the third bedroom. We have a recliner in here for him, my flat screen, all our computers, a DVR, and one of the X-Box 360's. He plays his video games while I'm scrapping, and all is good! Its nice not to be on the other side of the apartment from him. Even if we aren't talking, he's still there if I need him.

So yeah. I've been creating like crazy the last few days!!

Here's everything I've done this week:
*Finished & mailed bridal shower invitation fronts for an "invitation card front" swap (7 cards).
*Finished & mailed cards for a 6 month card swap (6 themes, 10 cards of each theme).
*Created & mailed anniversary cards for a "choose your theme" swap.
*Created & mailed cards for a "wedding card" swap.
*Created 20 "trinchies" (3"x3" pieces of card stock, decorated) for a beach-themed swap.
*Started working on my "Box On A Budget" swap, for which I've altered a mini composition book, created my first ATC (which I'm very proud of), and created a sticky-note holder.

I also decided about an hour ago to get the pictures off my two memory cards and organize them on my computer. That wasn't too bad, actually. I've been putting it off and putting it off, but I think between the two, I only had about 250 pictures! Now I have two fresh memory cards; one for crafts and one for everything else.

And now I've created my blog!

Hopefully, I'll learn how to add pictures, and I can post pictures of everything I've done (minus the Box On A Budget things, just in case my partner decides to check out my blog! hehe)!

Thanks for looking!!