Happy Birthday Mermaid

My daughter woke up yesterday morning, and asked me if I could make a card for her friend's birthday (her party was later that evening).  First I had her look through the bucket of cards I've already made to see if she found one she liked...guess what, she didn't.  So, out came the paper and Gypsy and I got to work.  She mentioned that her friend liked mermaids, and I just happened to have the Life is a Beach handbook memorized (since I've been using it for school stuff).  I knew just what I wanted to do. 

Using the Just a Note cartridge as a template, I welded together some squares from George and Basic Shapes and a liner from Wild Card to make the card base.  Then, using the Don Juan cartridge, I welded the shadow for "Happy Birthday" to the card base (after flipping the letters so they would be correct once the card was folded.  I did the same for the base of the mermaid on the other side of the card. 

Once all the pieces were cut, assembly was super easy.  I did hand cut some rectangles to add to the sides before adding the letters and mermaid...felt like it needed a little something.  The mermaid was finished off by embossing her hair (with my Cuttlebug and the divine swirls folder), adding adhesive pearls to her waist, and stickling (yes, that is a word, lol) her top, flower and fin.  I also added just a tiny bit of chalk to her cheeks...what a difference it makes.

I think this might be my new favorite card.  Now that I've set it up, it should be really easy to switch out the main image to fit any birthday.

School Calendar

 It's that time of year again...back to work.  As much as I hate to see the summer end, I'm glad to have been called back.  Last year I used a color theme throughout my room...black, white and pink.  This year, I've decided to go with an ocean/beach theme.  So, I decided to make a few things for myself and the room.  Today's project is a calendar that I made for myself.  I keep one on my desk all the time, and it's always been something plain (and cheap).  As you can see, not plain...but pretty cheap.

I printed off some free calendar pages I found online, and used my YourStory to bind them together in one of the YourStory "leather" binders.  This one is 8 1/2 by 11.  After binding and letting it cool, I got busy decorating.  All of the images on the front were cut using my Cricut and the Life is a Beach cartridge.  Of course, I used my Gypsy to plan it and make sure everything was cut to the correct size and would fit before cutting. 

Once assembled, I added some stickles to make it really shine.  These pictures just don't do it justice, it is sooooo pretty in person.  Now I think I'll make myself a post-it holder to match, and maybe pretty up my hand sanitizer as well....

Back to School

Only a few weeks left for summer vacation...UGH!  Time to start planning some classroom decor.  This wall hanging was made to hang outside my classroom door.  I cut the base shapes out of old cereal boxes, then cut the layers from cardstock.  All the images came from the Locker Talk Cricut cartridge.  I'm thinking about making some calendar pieces next......

Diaper Cake for MacKenzie

I made my first diaper cake a few weeks ago, and thought I'd share how EASY it was to do.  The picture you see above is in the beginning stages of decorating.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a good pic of the finished cake.  I do have a few more pics to share, but they were taken on a cell phone, and the lighting was really bad.

Making the tiers for the cake was super simple.  You'll need diapers, small ponytail holders (I found clear and black near the hairbows and barrettes at my local Target), a large rubber band for each tier you plan to make, ribbon and your items to use to decorate.  I also used a baby bottle in the middle of the first tier to give me something to build around.  I filled it with M & Ms for mom. 

Start by rolling up each diaper from the fold out.  Wrap it with a small band to secure it.  When they're all rolled, secure them together in a circles around the bottle (or building out around a single diaper in the center)with the large rubber band.  My top tier had a total of 7 diapers...1 in the center and a "ring" of 6.  The middle would be 1 in the center with 2 "rings" around that.  In my case, it was built around the top of the bottle.  The bottom layer has a center and 3 "rings".  All that's left to do is deocrate. 

I wrapped each layer with 2 different ribbons, securing them with terrifically tacky tape where they met in back.  I used leftover ribbon and a glue gun to make the bows tha were added to each tier.  Each bow was attached to either a barrette or alligator clip (so that they can later be used in MacKenzie's hair or on a headband or hat), and attached to the cake using glue dots. 

Here you can see the other monkeys (cut from Create a Critter, using my Cricut) and the letter cards that were added to spell out her name.  The shape comes from the images on the Cricut Imagine.  All of the parts were printed and cut using white paper and the Imagine.  Around the back of the cake I added some soaps, lotions, socks and onsies that were decorated with images from the CI Nursery Tails cartridge (and, here's a surprise, I forgot to take pics!).

Welcome and thank you for joining us for Jenny's Big 3-OH Birthday Blog Hop!   You should have arrived here from Monica's blog.  If you just happened to stumble upon this hop, please be sure to go back to Jenny's blog, so you don't miss any of the wonderful projects we have to share.

Jenny asked us to use 3 colors and some bling.  I decided to make a birthday card (since it's Jenny's birthday), but went with something my daughter could give to a friend that would soon be driving.  The cuts were made with my Cricut (big surprise, huh?), and the papers were some that I had in my stash.  It's difficult to tell, but the car is cut from glitter paper, and the wheels have some extra bling for good measure. 

Thank you so much for joining us for Jenny's Big 3-OH Birthday Blog Hop!  Your next stop is Nikki's Blog!  Here is the line up in case you get lost:

Jenny www.papercutcreations.blogspot.com
Linda http://www.fancyframework.com/
Jennifer http://scrap-a-tude.blogspot.com/
Katie http://kwilliamskreations.blogspot.com/
Jennifer http://craftyfulgardens.blogspot.com/
Kathie http://kathleessnippitsncricuts.blogspot.com/
Jen www.jenscraftcorner.com
Diana www.daisylovecreations.blogspot.com
Kristen http://fantabulouslypink.blogspot.com/
Nadia www.nadiasbeautifulmess.blogspot.com
Giselle www.crossmyheartpapercrafts.blogspot.com
Belinda  http://theembellishedcard.blogspot.com/
Savannah http://www.simplecricutcrafts.blogspot.com/
Amber www.amberscraftsandstuff.com
Monica  http://www.stampindaisies.com/
Michelle http://www.madebymisha.blogspot.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
Nikki http://www.theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Juel http://jandjsyummycreations.blogspot.com/
Sher  www.patternsbysher.blogspot.com
Darlene www.talesoftayandbay.blogspot.com
Kara http://www.karassweetcreations.blogspot.com/
Jamie http://cutecardsandcraftsbyjamie.blogspot.com/
Jessica www.bakingupcrafts.com
Elaine www.ExpressionsByElaine.blogspot.com