Silhouette Sunday #1--Littlest Pet Shop

*With the new year, I want to try out a new weekly (hopefully) blog post.  On Thanksgiving in 2013, I won a Silhouette Cameo--I still cannot believe it!!!  I try to use the machine, but normally my desk is a mess.  Also, I don't want to spend a ton on cuts since I bought a whole bunch of Cricut cartridges that I never use :/  But with the Cameo, it is so easy (not really easy) to find cuts or logos online and make them into cuts.  I say not really easy because it usually takes me a while to remember how to get it to cut what I want :)  Well...without any further ado...my first Silhouette Sunday.

My 6 year-old niece just started to collect Littlest Pet Shop figurines, but she also has a 6 month-old sister that is going to be crawling soon.  So for Christmas, I wanted to get her a box to keep her "pets" in, but I wanted it to be personalized...I thought what perfect way than to use the Cameo to make "Ava's Littlest Pet Shop".

Now, I am not sure if this is actually legal to do, but here is what I did...shh!  I found the logo to "Littlest Pet Shop" in PNG form and saved it to my computer.  Then in Photoshop Elements, I deleted the 'shadow' and colored the 'Littlest', 'Pet', and 'Shop' black (I don't know if you have to, but it makes it easier for me in the Silhouette Studio).  I am not really sure if you can do this in the regular Studio program--I have the Designer version just for things like this.  So I pressed a bunch of button in Designer Studio and finally it was a cut!

Because I am kinda cheap (haha!), I ended up just getting black Cricut vinyl at Michaels...I don't need a bunch of colors and I think I will use the black more than if I got pink or another color.  This was my first time using real vinyl...I have used Contact paper before, but this seems a lot sturdier...I hope it lasts for her.

After I resized and cut "Littlest Pet Shop" to fit on the top of the box, I realized I forgot to add 'Ava's' :(  That is why 'Ava' is on the side of the box instead.

Thank you for looking!  I hope to inspire people to use their Cameos as well in this new year! 

Gift Card Holder via Pinterest

Every year, I give out gift cards for Christmas.  Not because it is easy (I mean fighting the mall traffic and standing in those crowded lines isn't easy!), but because it allows the recipient to choose a gift they truly like/want and not have to either return the gift or give it to goodwill.

Normally I just wrap the gift card by placing it in a cute box or bag.  This year, I thought I could make some cards!  So off to Pinterest I went and found lots of ideas.

This idea came from Inking Idaho.

I used white card stock as the base.  Then I dug into my Christmas paper stash and everything else I used are papers/stickers from the Holiday Slab by Rob & Bob Studio (back from 2006!!!).  I rounded all the edges because I am currently into that look.

Here is a peek inside--this is not the gift card that will be accompanying this card--just the only one I had on hand.

Dimensions of the card:

White Card Base- 6.5 x 5

Striped paper-6 x 4.5

Green solid-5.5 x 4

Burgundy/Pink-4.75 x 3.75 (made from the Cricut Elegant Edges Cartridge) Here is the link

Plaid paper-5.75 x 3.75 (made from the Cricut Elegant Edges Cartridge)  This time I only put paper in 1/2 the size of the cut so that the paper fit--you can always just trace and cut the plaid paper without the Cricut machine though. 

One down...(I haven't even started shopping yet--shhhh!)

Chunky Slouchy Beanie

Last week, I found this cute crochet hat pattern on Ravelry by Polkdot Squirrel.  I asked my daughter if she thought my niece would wear it and she said yeah (my daughter doesn't wear crocheted hats :/ ).  So I bought the pattern at Etsy.

Since I liked the look of the hat on Ravelry, I used the same yarn from Michaels called Loops and Threads Charisma in Off-White.

I usually crochet very tightly, so I used a bigger hook than the pattern called for, but it was way too big.  Then I used the size the pattern called for and it was still a bit big, so I went with a smaller hook.  I thought it was pretty cute--a bit big, but cute.  My daughter thinks it is way too big still--I am not sure if I will pull it back a couple of rows or not.  

I was going to give it to my niece for Christmas, but since she is coming over on Thanksgiving, maybe I will see what she thinks about the size.

Gift making

I wish I was more organized and would think of gifts in plenty of time to make all my Christmas gifts, but I am not.

This past week, I came across the cutest slouchy pattern via Ravelry.  It was by Julie King at Gleeful Things.  She was generous enough to share her Waffle Cone Slouchy Hat Pattern for FREE!!

I have searched for the perfect slouchy beret type pattern forever and even came up with a pattern last year, but this one is much better.  The only person I knew that might enjoy it was my niece.  I went to Joann's with my 50% coupon and came home with the same yarn the awesome pattern maker used.  This was the first time I used Lion Brand Yarn's Hometown USA...and I love it!!!!!

Here is the hat that only took less than 2 hours to make while waiting for my son at the dentist! :D

One Christmas present down...too many to go.

I am thinking about offering to make anyone a hat for free on my Facebook page.

Mini Album ~Birthday~

About a month ago, my friend ask me if I could take pictures at her daughter's 10th birthday party.  She wanted me to take pictures of the birthday girl with each guest so she could give them a copy of the picture in a frame as part of their favor. 

I set up using my D50 because it is way easier to use than my D300.  Then I printed the pictures out using my PoGo that I haven't used in forever.

That made me think about doing a mini album for her since I already had the pictures.  The theme of the party was "Circus", so I searched my mini album books and found a cute cupcake mini album (it kinda went together).  I wasn't sure how I was going to attack that one, so I googled to see if I could find some albums.  Well I found lots of cupcake mini albums made from a $1 mini album found at Michaels, problem was that they were made over a year ago and Michaels no longer carried the mini album (I checked a couple of Michaels just in case).  

So the wheels in my head spun around.  Finally, I found a sample of cupcakes clipart online and enlarged the picture on my screen.  I took plain printer paper and traced the cupcake on it--using my monitor as a light box.  Then I transferred my tracing to some chipboard to use as my template which was then used to cut the cupcake in different colors.  There may have been an easier and better way, but I was on limited time.

The completed project:

Supplies used:  Basic Grey Blush Be Mine and Basic Grey Lollipop Shoppe Fruit Punch, Primary Colors cardstock by Recollections (Michaels), assorted ribbon, binder ring, EK Success-Binding edge punch and some colored reinforcement circles.  All older supplies from my overstocked stash.

I found the reinforcement circles at Staples quite a few years ago on clearance for 50 cents.  The clearance sticker says 2008 and this is the first time I have used them.  I use them to reinforce (duh) the holes punched for the binder ring.

As you can see there are normal circle ones and cute flowers ones.  In the flower pack, there are also some red heart ones--someday I may use those as well :)

Hobo Bag

A few weeks ago, I started this Hobo Bag on a road trip and I finished it a couple of weeks later in time to give it to a friend's daughter for her birthday.

I used 2 skeins of Sugar N Cream "Over the Rainbow" and 1 skein of Sugar N Cream "White".  The cute pattern was found via Ravelry by ~sarahndipities~.

The only trouble I ran into was at the beginning/end of each round.  You couldn't really see it too badly on the rainbow part.

But on the white part, the gaping holes were more apparent.

I could make sure that the front was very prominently noticeable.  Or I came up with the idea of making this the front and hiding it with flowers.

It was risky, but I liked this solution the best.  The birthday girl and my friend loved it and I got some compliments on my crocheting skills :)

Mini Album ~Prom~

I have not scrapbooked in a long time.  Scrapbooking was my first hobby!  I have so much stuff because I think shopping for supplies was my second hobby :-p  Whether it was time or my other hobbies getting in the way, I just haven't scrapbooked in a while.

Then, I bought the latest issue of Mini Albums.  I normally try to steer clear of buying these because 1. they are kinda pricy 2. I have too many idea books already and 3. I never use said idea books I already have!

But this issue, not only caught my eye, it was 10% off (ok, free tax) and my awesome Aunt had given me a gift certificate to Joann's...so really it was free--she rocks!

Well I have a ton of idea books that I like things, but never go back and actually do them.  But this time, I seen a mini album for a prom and the light went on!  Last month, I took pictures of my Goddaughter before her Senior Prom.  I was totally going to make her one.  Problem, it was already late Monday and I wanted to give it to her on Saturday.  Plenty of time for normal scrapbookers, but I usually take forever to get something together.

Timeline:

~Monday--only time to print some pictures (I really need to calibrate my monitor because all my pictures are so dark when I print them!).  I also pulled out the perfect chipboard book that my equally awesome Scrapbook Bestie gave me a while back.  It is now discounted, but I finally found something cool to do with it. Cloud9 Board Book 8 x 3.25

~Tuesday--we had plans and didn't get home until late :(

~Wednesday--I went "shopping" in my craft room to find the perfect papers (DCWV All Dressed Up--totally old, but perfect!), ribbon, and looked for anything I thought I would love to use!  I started the book and only finished the front and back covers.  I was kinda bummed I hadn't finished more.  I didn't think I was going to make the deadline.

~Thursday--Finished the box and a few more pages in the book.

~Friday--Got into a rhythm and finished it in no time (like in 2 hours!)  Then I was so excited that I had to share a sneak peek to my aunt...even though I wanted her to be surprised as well.

The book comes in a box, so here is the front    

and the back

 

The DCWV papers are pretty thick and luckily the box had some extra room, but the booklet snuggly fits inside

The front cover 

Showing off the details including her beautiful shoes and his comfy sneakers.  The journaling (the only journaling I did because I hate that part of the process) says "Important Details *Hair *Makeup *Shoes Beautiful Perfection".

Her and her girl friends

Her, her friends and their dates

Her and her boyfriend

More of her and her boyfriend

Last page is a picture of her boyfriend carrying her shoes and her and her parents

Back of the book.

I really had a great time doing this book.  And I was so excited that it didn't take me forever to do!  I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.