Merry Christmas

I wanted to share some Christmas vinyl projects I made this year. 

I'll have more to share after the holidays after the other things I made are received by the recipients but until then I hope you'll enjoy these. :)

This first one is an ornament I whipped together after seeing a friend and member of my Steeped Tea team comment that she would really like to win an ornament similar to this from someone else's crafty page giveaway they were doing. She very recently lost her grandfather who she was very close with.

 

I also made one for my own tree in memory of so very many we love and miss making new memories with at this time of year in particular. 

I also made a few glass blocks this year. This one has been gifted already so it's safe to share the pics of it with you.

I had a hard time photographing this one. I used blue tubular mesh LED lights by Martha Stewart along with a few pieces of white mesh fabric gift wrap inside the glass block. I found the glass blocks at Home Depot with the hole in the bottom already cut out.

The image is a combo of two different images from the silhouette design store.

Merry Christmas everyone!

How to Take Your Art into the Next Dimension with Cricut

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It started out as a doodle, something small, casually tossed in the margin of your grocery list. But somehow this graphic element took over and before you knew it, it became the decorative element to everything in your world. Unfortunately all those minute details that you added make it virtually impossible to transform it into the third dimension. Not true. If you can print it, you can cut it with the Cricut Explore machine. 

Now with the newest feature of the Cricut Explore machine, you can choose your image (either your own or one of 50,000+ in the Cricut Design Lab), flatten the image and then click 'Go'. Once printed, the Cricut Explore machine works its magic to bring your 2-dimensional idea into the 3rd dimension.

Take a look at this super short instructional video (less than 4 minutes) and see just how easy it can be… 

Cricut Explore? Yes please!!

Save Big on Cricut Explore Bundles 
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It's not too late to save big with September savings at Cricut! Save an additional $10 on Cricut Explore® Machine + Basic Starter Set and Cricut Explore® Machine + Premium Bluetooth Setwith code SEPTSPECIAL. Also, don't forget about Free shipping on all orders $35+ with code FREESHIP35! Simply enter the free shipping code at checkout. 

  

Why would you want a Cricut explore? 

One reason would be...

If you have seen all the great things I've made using non-Cricut cartridge images for those 'one of' projects that I simply did not want to purchase a cartridge to use for one thing I used files like SVG files. The Cricut Explore can cut these SVG files. 

The Cricut Explore is also capable of doing print then cut projects as well as being able to trace your stamped images in the free program that Cricut has provided so you don't have to fussy cut anymore! Yay!!!

September Mystery Box now available

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This week, get your mystery on! The September Mystery Box is here, plus a mystery deal. Plus, save $50 to $100 on Cricut Explore™ machine bundles. Last but not least, get Free shipping on all orders! Simply enter code MYSTERSHIP at checkout. 

Thinking outside the box

I have to start this post off by showing you the Stamp of the Month for this month so you know where this started from...

Last night a fellow consultant (thank you Dominique) posted this picture where she was trying to turn the owl stamp into a raccoon but felt something just wasn't quite right..

Me being the kind of person I am, saw this as a challenge.
I decided to do what I do with all things that don't quite look right... I immediately turned it upside down. It's a strange trick for your brain to be forced to see it differently.

I then of course had to immediately go draw all over it with the drawing program in my phone. (Oh did I mention it was almost midnight and I was in bed but couldn't sleep? LOL)

Here's what I came up with...

What do you think? 

I also want to show you the owl could also be a sock monkey... Check out Dominique's post about that here


With a minimum qualifying purchase, get your D-size Stamp of the Month set for a discounted price! Add the stamp set to your cart on this page at full retail price or, with your qualifying order, add it at checkout for the promotional price.

Win a Cricut Explore

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Sign Up for the Cricut Newsletter and Enter to Win a Cricut Explore™! 

Have you ever thought to yourself...

"Man, if only I didn't have to cut up all this paper/vinyl/vellum/cardstock/chipboard/aluminum/leather/felt/acetate/fabric by hand! What I wouldn't do for a Cricut Explore™!" 
OR
"I'd really love to be able to use all of my existing cartridges, the newest Cricut software AND cut SVG files! What I wouldn't do for a Cricut Explore™!" 

 Here's what you do! Sign up below to receive the CricutNewsletter by August 19th, and you'll be automatically entered into a drawing to win a Cricut Explore™! Use your email or login with Facebook and you will automatically sign up for the Cricut newsletter and be entered to win the giveaway. 

In the meantime, get yourself ready to receive that winning Cricut Explore™ and go shopping on Cricut.com. You can get free shipping on all orders of $35 or more, when you use the promo code: FREESHIP35 at checkout. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fast, cheap and easy!

Now normally that would not make a good title on a woman entrepreneurs blog....

Of course it's a great title when it has to do with the time and cost involved in making this great necklace!

This cost around $10 and I literally completed this in under 5 minutes! 

Now of course the phrase would have been in there straight if I didn't stick it in while walking away from the craft table at the Rediscover Close To My Heart event to get a group photo taken with everyone who was there from our team but it truly shows just how easy it was. 

You can see that I am wiping off the excess liquid glass from the glass cover in the group photo. LOL

I also have to share the funny story behind my choice of image in the necklace. 

Back in February I attended a Women's Wellness retreat for military family members (which was an absolutely incredible, life changing experience). 

A close friend and myself actually helped create a lot if the decoration, handouts and workshop stuff ahead of time including clothing items made from paper for everyone to write their worries on to hang on a clothesline between two trees for the weekend, a map of Canada with speech bubbles to record various postings and events that have happened as part of each persons story, a mini tag album and some cards for everyone to complete and more....

We showed up a day before to help the facilitators set everything up and while asking if there is anything else we could do my friend was handed a large stack of paper with leaves printed on them and a pair of scissors... 

Yup... You can imagine the look! 

Us who just cut using two Cricuts (some days even used 3) for weeks leading up to this and now we are given scissors with printed images to cut out???

Needless to say the printed images were handed back to the facilitator and the 60+ page sized leaves were cut out in a matter of about 30 minutes and on nicely patterned paper too!! LOL

The facilitator was then dubbed "she who runs with scissors".

Now you can understand why when staring at a large table covered in a massive variety of little images from Close To My Heart that make this project so ridiculously easy my choice was obvious and a gift for the facilitator "She who runs with Scissors" was made. 

Ivy Lane Cards

After cutting and assembling the Ivy Lane card kit I realized I still had enough paper to make a few more with just a little more colonial white added.

I still used the cuts from the guide but used them a bit different from what the guide that comes with the kit says to.

I taught these cards at the Crop for the Cure that just happened last weekend and will be teaching them again at a crop put on by Scrapbookingcafeonline.ca May 9, 10, 11 weekend. 

What do you think? 

My new venture and a teapot!

I just joined Steeped Tea Inc as their 3850th independent consultant in Canada on a March 27 and I am sooooo excited about it! 

Here's a photo of Michael and I while we waited for the very first tea from the consultant kit to steep. He insists that I must now wear my apron every time I make tea because that's what professional tea makers do. LOL

Their teas are divine, sales quotas are easily reached just by ordering the amount I personally drink and they have a fundraising program that is amazing (pays 40% to the fundraiser... Ask me for details) I get to have tea parties for my job and my kids love helping me do my job too! What could possibly be better?!?!

This past weekend I was at a Crop for the Cure which was an absolute blast!! The people were awesome, made great new friends, reconnected with some others and had an absolutely wonderful time!! I even won a trip to the spa (though I passed it on to someone else since I live 5 hours away from where the crop and the spa were). 

What does this have to do with my new venture???

Well, I taught 4 different classes while I was there but still managed to fit in a little crafting for myself as well including this awesome 3 D teapot from SVGcuts that I will be giving out with a tea sample in it to all of my hosts/hostesses as a thank you for hosting. 

I am in love with it!! 

I think I may mod podge them though to make them more durable oh and add some pearls around the edge of the lid and on the base. Thoughts??

Want one?? Book a party with me and you'll get one for your very own!! :) 

Even better is that you'll earn FREE delicious product when you host a party as well. Talk about a win win!!

Now I also have to share a few pictures of my business partners sharing this wonderful product with me because they are simply too adorable not to share with you (and yes I'm completely biased). 

Here's a picture of the very first cup of tea we made and you can see who claimed it! 

Of course Samantha decided to be the party hostess the next time and being the   hostess with the mostest (my dad is probably rolling his eyes at that bad grammar.. Sorry dad I had to!) she pulled out her tea set and even served us some plastic cookies and snacks. 

Okay so since this IS my paper crafting blog... Let me remind you again what this post has to so with paper.... 

It is made with White Daisy cardstock and Ariana patterned paper. :) You can find the cut file I used over at SVGcuts here

Want to see a few other things I made at the crop??? Come back!! I promise to share more over the next few days. Yeah, I know... Tease!! Already enough photos in this post though don't you think??

Happy sipping! Enjoy!

Cascade Card

Here is a cascade card I made with a great crafty friend of mine Jolene.

I cut and scored the card base, she cut the layers to fit. I coloured and cut out the images and she decided on the placement of them. 

We were very happy with how this turned out.

I will be teaching this one as a class both at the Crop For The Cure in Cape Breton, NS the April 11, 2014 weekend and the Scrapbooking Cafe Crop in Truro, NS May 9, 2014 weekend.
Class fee is $5 with everything supplied except adhesive. 10 people per class.

We used Twilight cardstock, Timberline paper and white daisy cardstock to stamp on. The stamps I used were D1579 Windy Day and D1581 Give a Lift with Crystal Blue ink.

Jolene and I also have our own full day scrapbooking crop in Halifax for just $20!! A large portion of the proceeds go to support the Halifax Military Family Resource Center. Come check it out and join us! More info on it here.

Products Used: