Not too much paper crafting going on, but lots of knitting! Finally, huh?!? The first picture is the beginning of an embossed leaves sock from Interweave Knits. Yes, the very meager beginning. I don't like knitting on my bamboo dpns, so this might get scrapped soon. The yarn is Panda Silk. It has this wonderful sheen and is much more golden than the picture would suggest.

This is the completed back of my Julia sweater from RYC Classic Summer. One sleeve and the front to go!

Here is a criss-cross card from okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com. If you enlarge the first picture, I hope you can see that it is embossed with the word birthday.

This is a card I made from a tutorial available at www.dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com. It is a great resource for ideas and tips and tricks.

I made a quick card for a RAK (random act of kindness) today.

Owl Miss You

Here's a card I made today for a friend who is about to move. I used the Cricut, a 3D sticker from Michael's and some skittles (the small greenish-yellow dots next to the owl).

I used 2 strands of DMC embroidery floss and a size 12 crochet hook to make these, smaller, squares. I think I'm going to make enough so I can make a bracelet out of them. They are pictured with the smaller of the squares from yesterday.

This was my first attempt at Granny Squares. There are patterns everywhere, but I used one from the Martha Stewart website - annoyingly found in the knitting section... Sure she's a craft goddess, but she can't tell the difference between knitting and crocheting?!? These were made just to say I made them, but I'm working on small, colorful bracelet. We'll see, as the emphasis is on SMALL! The paper clip is in the pic to show the scale of the squares. They were crocheted using a size 2 hook and size 20 crochet cotton (might be size 10, but I lost the label).

Here are some cards that will go with yesterday's entry. A lot of the things posted are photographed and quickly sent/mailed to someone else. This will be for me. I'm always wishing that I had a card for a particular situation, and rather than buying them, I'm making them with the supplies I've got on hand.

It doesn't look like much now. Stay tuned!

Someone on the Cricut MB was looking for a pillow box similar to the one on the Weddings Solutions Cartridge. Here's my version cut using on George. It's about 4" long and 2" wide. If you put film behind the flower before putting it together, it would be perfect for small candies.

Below are 4 background from Zooballoo. I cut them for a fellow MB member for the Cricut Cut RAK (random act of kindness). I don't know how random it is since she asked for this specifically, but I digress. "M" doesn't have ZB, but wanted to have the backgrounds. I was happy to oblige. Hope she likes them. I had to stretch them in CDS, and they are roughly 5.5" x 11".

Here are the items I sent in to my swap partner, Linda. The theme was birthday.

The cards with final touches.



Picture frames, 4x 6.

Three gift bags with tags.

Four thank you cards.

My "altered item". Its a small can (sort of like a paint can) that I covered with paper and some ribbons.

This is my centerpiece for the Cricut MB swap. It's my first centerpiece and I might be addicted. It was dead simple. Just cut shapes and attach to skewers. I backed each object with the same shape, but the back isn't decorated. I used Doodlecharms (ice cream, present, hat, cupcake, and balloons), Doodletype (tags and happy birthday), and Stamped (Celebrate).

Simply arrange (and cut skewers if you'd like) and place into a vase, bucket, cup, etc.

ETA: I love chalk! I didn't think I would use it as much as I am, but it's so nice to add a bit more dimension to each cut.

So it's been a while. Thanks for point that out Karen and Royce - LOL. I was doing so well, and then Annual Conference at church happened and serving 300 people lunch a couple of times wears you out! Now VBS is taking over the craft time. Anywho, I have been making new things. Here are some, and I will try to be more consistent...

Some birthday cards I'm working on for a swap that I'm participating in. 1) cupcake in an oval aperature, 2) a card inspired by Susan of susanbluerobot.blogspot.com, 3) a card with letters cut out again inspired by Susan, 4) a waterfall card (you pull the tab at the bottom, and each square flips over to reveal a new image (okieladybugscrapnmore.blogspot.com), and 4/5) a simple card with birthday cut out at the bottom.

My new fave is an album/minibook made of paper lunch bags. Here are three that I made using 2 different configurations. Pictures 1 and 2: the inside isn't complete, but there are extra pages that you can make that will fit into the opening of the bags for extra journaling/photo space. Pictures 3-7: A small paper bag album and a picture of the inside pages. This album also has some tags inside for extra journaling space. The last couple of pics are another album I made that has a beachy, birthday theme for "I's" mermaid party.

A number mesh made with CDS. It didn't quite cut right. The "6" in the lower right quadrant is a bit off. I think I'll have to use a new mat next time. This took 7-10 minutes to cut out!

Well, almost a thing a day... Yesterday was pretty busy, so nothing crafty was accomplished. I did get a card done today. It's pretty neat-o if you ask me. Carol Duvall had this on her show years and years ago, but it seemed too complicated back then. Susan made one with the CDS (my new best friend) and Jenny has the tutorial for making one by hand. It can be pushed flat to mail, and because of the rubber band in the middle (very tricky to get in) it pops up when you pull it out into a cute little hexagonal cube (for lack of a better word).

I didn't cut it out, yet... I'm in a swap on the Cricut MB, and my partner's birthday is coming up. Here's what her card looks like in CDS (Cricut Design Software). I'll probably cut it out tomorrow. The Mole is on tonight and will get my full attention.

This is what Mario's overalls and hat look like in CDS (to the left). The right is what I pieced together to make the onsie card. It's loads of fun designing, but a bit tedious at times.

I love this! Although, it does mean that J will be entering Kindy shortly. Not so ready for that, but I am ready with my mini-album. It's about 6 inches tall and 10 inches long. There are pages for the highlights, and of course (well, hopefully) I'll be scrapbooking the other things about Kindy as well. Again, this was done using the Cricut Design Software. The letters are from Doodletype and the bus is from Doodlecharms. I'll also be adding some embellishments to the pages (apples, stars, etc.). This book was inspired by the Cricut Chirp.