Crayon Monogram and CWC winners!

Cooking with Cricut 25 days of Christmas winners are posted! Head on over to see if you won!


Here is a gift I made for my son's preschool teachers for Christmas.  I originally saw this idea on pinterest, by Creative Gift & Party ideas, which I think they did an awesome job!

So this photo was taken with my camera phone...I literally texted it to my friend to show her what I was making while talking to her on the phone and when I sat down to blog about it, I realized this is the only photo I have! So, at least I have a photo!

Want to make one?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

What a special time of year to spend with those you love the most!  This year was very special! It was our daughters first Christmas!

Photo taken by Barb Zappia photography

Look at her, she is enamored by her brother and this photo totally captured it!  I just love it!  Anyways, I hope everyone had a special Christmas as well!


Here are some of our Christmas decorations this year

Don't you love our Charlie Brown Christmas tree?  My husband and I were saying that we need to get a real tree next year.  My daughter is into everything, which she puts in her mouth...fun times, so we didn't want her to choke on a pine needle or something.  Honestly though, this Christmas season was super crazy!  How about for you?  We were lucky to have decorations up at all. I'm glad we did put them up.  My son got into it this year...  he called his stocking "his sock"....two year olds are awesome! I love after Christmas sales and I did end up getting my son and daughter new Christmas stockings so I'm really excited to put them up next year! What are your favorite decorations or holiday traditions?

I hope everyone was able to enjoy their Christmas!

I will be posting some gifts that I made for my relatives....I didn't want to post before Christmas because then they would see their presents, but don't worry they are gifts you can give throughout the year!

Happiness,

Featuring My Mom Friday!

My Mom is one crafty genius!  I was at her house the other day and I LOVED her wreath! She nonchalantly said, "Oh yeah, I made it. I saw it for $100 dollars in a magazine and decided to make one like it, so I did for $20."  She's Awesome, right?!

All she did was take a wreath frame wrap a couple different varieties of tinsel around the wreath frame and added some ornaments she found at Hobby lobby! So easy but what an impact, hugh?!  Good job, Mom!

Hope you have a wintry weekend!

Linked this up with:
I heart Naptime 
and

Paint Shaker Ornament kid's project

Remember when I told you that I was in charge of  the kid's crafts at my husband's office party? I said that I made a Gumdrop Tree kit for the family to take home or work on together (you can find that post here) and we made an ornament.  Well, here's the ornament.  It's so fun to do with kids!  When I went to Hobby Lobby I had a different idea in mind of what I wanted the craft to be.  They didn't have any of the supplies I needed, they were all out!  So it was onto plan B, I thought of a craft I did as a child and LOVED it.  We also did these at my mom's group this year and all the mom's really enjoyed it.  Here it is:

They are so fun to make and super simple!

Want to make one?

Family Time!

Last Saturday, my husband's work had a kids' Christmas Party.  I was in charge of crafts! Yay! So fun!  Anyways, we made a couple of things, an ornament...I will post later.....and a craft they could do as a family at the party. If they didn't finish it, they could take it home.  

I saw the idea to make gumdrop trees at  Make and Takes, but I decided to make Gumdrop Tree Kits. Since there was a lot going on at the Christmas Party, (food, Santa, making ornaments, chatting with friends, etc...) I wasn't sure they would get the Gumdrop Tree done, so I put all the supplies into a plastic bag with the family's name on it.  I was thinking this would also be a cute gift for neighbors or grandparents (they could do the activity with your kids).

Want to make one?

Sit Back, Relax, and Look at all the Loveliness

Anything Goes

Need a last minute gift?  I made these coasters in no time at all!  Actually, my two year old son helped me make the coasters! I sold some things at a craft fair and the booth next to me the lady was selling these, only I think she used napkins instead of paper.

1.Anyways, you just take a 4X4 tile (16 cents at the Home Depot, Lowe's etc..),cork for the back, E6000 Mod Podge, and some cardstock.
2.Just take Mod Podge and apply it all over the tile using a foam brush (the part my son helped with)
3. Add your paper (make sure it's cut to the 4x4 square before you apply the glue) right on top and smooth it out...you don't want any bubbles
4.Apply Mod Podge to the top of the paper and all over the tile
5. Let them dry
6. Cut the cork to fit the back of the tile
7. Apply E6000 glue to the back of the tile
8. Place the cork on top of the glue
9. Let dry
10.Enjoy!


The card I made for our friend who just built a new A-MAZING  town home.  It's cut from the Cricut Wild Card Cartridge at 4 inches.

I'm linking this up to
The Paper Variety Link Party-Anything Goes,
I Heart Naptime-Linky Party,
Patches of Pink-Christmas project
The Girl Creative-Link Party


Have a GREAT weekend!

CWC Day 9

I created a project for the Cooking with Cricut 25 days of Christmas Crafting fun!  Head over to CWC to see all the AMAZING prizes you can win! There are also free cutting files! There are different ones each day, fyi!

Here's my project:

I used the free rose file and added stickles to make it sparkle. I also used the cartridge Imagine More Cards.  I used some trim from joann's along with a fabric rolled flower.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Sit Back, Relax, and Look at all the Loveliness!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

We are super excited to bring you this wonderful event! The Design Teams have been hard at work coming up with some deliciously creative ideas to share with you! This is how the event will work --

EACH DAY:

•  Different Designers will be showcasing their projects for your creative inspiration.  
• We will have a different theme and the themes will not ALL be Christmas or holiday related. So be sure to visit everyday for creative inspiration you can use through out the whole year!
• We will be giving away FREE digital stamps, FREE electronic die cutting files and other printable graphics. There will be something for everyone. Please note: The freebies will expire at the end of their 24 hours and new ones will be available. You won’t want to miss them!  
• We will showcase projects using your Cricut and Cricut tools. 
• We will showcase projects using your OTHER electronic cutters too! Tools such as our Pazzles, Silhouettes, Gazelles and other electronic cutters. Along with all types of crafting tools and essentials.
• You will want to leave a comment for your chance to win one of our weekly prizes as well as one of our GRAND PRIZES!!!  
• You HAVE to be a follower of the PaperCraftingWorld.com or CookingWith Cricut.com blog in order to win a prize, sorry no exceptions.

So without further adieu . . . Here is my project for DAY 4

The theme is Love. I was thinking ahead and made this card for my husband for Valentine's Day!

Recipe:

Old jean pocket

Bakers twine I made using this tutorial

Heart from Imagine More Cards Cart

Love from Imagine More Cards

Paper is K & Company 4x12 scored at 6

Spray adhesive for jean pocket

This Week (Dec. 1st through December 8th) enter at CookingWithCricut.comfor a chance to win the following great prizes:

• Spring Holiday Cards Cricut Cartridge
• $15 Gift Certificate to Quick Quotes
• Quickutz Embossing Folder & Dies
• Snowflake Embossing Folder, Snowflake Die and Candy Cane Die  (These will work in “other” machines too.)
• $20 Download from PaperCraftingWorld.com
• *Pazzles Craft Room 1 Year Subscription
• *The Twinery Ultimate Sampler Pack
• *Cutter’s Creek $25 Gift Certificate
• *Stamp, Stamp Pad & Block Set

(* Indicates a prize that will be awarded at the conclusion of the 25 days event.)

 Simply enter by doing the following:

• Be a follower of CookingWithCricut.com . . . . sorry, no exceptions.
• Leave a comment on at least one post during December 1- 8 (for this week’s prizes). Winners will be randomly selected from comments, checked for blog-following compliance and announced on Saturday, December 10.
• Please only one comment per day, per visitor. All prizes will be awarded through random selection and will need to be claimed according to sponsor specs. Sorry, prizes that need to be mailed are limited to participants within the United States. Prizes that are “Online or downloadable are good world-wide.” Please also see each sponsor’s site for additional international shipping details.

BE SURE TO VISIT OUR SPONSORS AND SUPPORT THEM! Check out the wonderful prizes AND extra discounts available exclusively through us during this event.  Discount coupon codes available at CookingWithCricut.com!

Now head on over to CookingWithCricut.com and check out the other "pear" projects and download some great freebies!  Melin has created a pear cutting file and a pear digi stamp for you and there is a wonderful vintage graphic available, too!  Check back each and every day for more great projects and freebies!

Happy Holidays!

Pin It

Santa Cookie

I love making Christmas cookies!  How about you?  Today I went with my family to a "Journey through Bethlehem".  What a fun time!  The event was so organized and ran very smoothly, especially for all the activities they had going on!  After seeing camels, sheep, goats, donkeys, and baby Jesus, my son got to decorate a camel cut out cookie! They even gave us an ornament and a picture with the camel.  What a nice church! It was unbelievable...it was a free event too!  Anyways, while my son was eating his cookie I went through the "cookie walk" and got some yummy cookies.  Look at this cute one:

I'm not sure who made it, but look at how cute it is!

I wasn't given a recipe, but I'm going to make them.  This is how I'm going to do it.

Recipe:
Melt white chocolate in bowl (follow instructions on package)
Dip both sides of Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate
Put red sprinkles on the top portion
Dip the back of a small marshmallow in white chocolate and adhere to red sprinkles
Dip Small chocolate chips in white chocolate and adhere to Nutter Butter for  eyes
Dip a Red Hot candy in white chocolate and adhere to Nutter Butter for noes

Enjoy!

Holiday Crayons

What do you do with all your broken crayon bits?  Make new crayons of course!  Here are some holiday crayons I made with my 2 year old son.....

Would you like to make some?

Blinked

Don't blink because then you may totally miss a whole month!  Seriously, where did November go? I can't get over how quickly it came and went!  Anyways, I thought I would share 2 shirts I made with/and for my kids for Thanksgiving.

This shirt my son made using his hand.  I painted his palm with brown fabric paint and then painted each finger a different color.  He haphazardly placed his had on his shirt....I love 2 year olds!  So I had to add a title at the top to offset the craziness, even though he smacked his hand down quicker then I could say "WAIT.... for Momma to help!" I love it though...probably even more!

This project was really fun to do.  We made these turkey shirts several times!  We made them with our play group friends and we also made them with our family on Thanksgiving! We couldn't get enough of them!  My nieces really got into it and even made turkey tracks up the arm sleeves!  They are very creative!

                                                      

Here's the shirt I made for my daughter and God daughter.  It was super fun to make! Just cut your ribbon to the size you like. Mine were around 4".  I folded them in half and ran them through the sewing machine.  I then took some brown fabric very soft, and ironed on Heat n bond.  Then I drew the turkey shape onto the Heat n Bond and cut it out.  I ironed the turkey body onto the ribbon and then sewed around the turkey body using a zigzag stitch.  This helped to secure the ribbons.  I then sewed 2 black eyes on using black beads.  Yellow tulle for the beak and red felt for the gobbler.  I also stitched the ribbons down under the flap so they stayed against the shirt.  It was a really fun project!

Hope everyone had a Great November! 

December here we come!

Thanksgiving Pop

Welcome to Jaihart  and the CookingWithCricut.com “Giving Thanks” Blog Hop!  If you've come from visiting Celeste at Touched By A Butterfly you're in the right place! Did you see Celeste's cute turkey card she did recently? Oh so cute, if you didn't go back and check it out. Anyways, If you've just happened across my blog and would like to hop along with us, you can go to CookingWithCricut.com and start at the beginning. Today’s hop is all about Thanksgiving decorations – for your home and table.

I love the idea of decorating pop bottles...or do you call them soda bottles?  I'm from Northern Indiana and we call it pop! So I decided to make these turkey styled pop bottle covers. I just used an xxl circle punch from fiskars along with the xxl scallop punch from fiskars to punch out the circle and scallop.  Then I used the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge for the turkey head ( I actually cut off his body and just used his head) and stamped "Celebrate" in black.  It was a simple project but added a holiday feel to my Jones pop bottle. By the way, I love Jones Pop! It's so tasty and delicious.  I love all the colors too! They are quite festive! So then, of course you need a matching straw.  I was thinking you could write each child's name on the straw to double it as a place card. One piece of advice if you're going to make the straw....get extra long straws!  The straw I used was not long enough to reach the bottom!

I thought I'd share another cute little decoration I saw on either Parents.com or Family Fun Magazine. com  they start to run together.  I loved this idea so much I just had to make it!  What a cute place card for the kid's table, right? So fun!

I literally, just took a brown paper bag and shaped it to my liking and then added a white paper bag around the bottom and fringed the end of the white. So easy and fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  YES, I do have Blog Candy!  You do not have to be a follower to win, you can of course be a follower if you wish or you can follow me by email. It's up to you.  In order to win though, I would like for you to answer one question.....What do you call a fizzy drink.....pop or soda?

Now head on over to Debbie at Workin Scrappin Mom of 4  to see what she's cooked up for you! Debbie just recently did a cartridge spotlight and showcased Sports Mania Cricut Cartridge.  If you need a sportsy idea, check out her ideas! I love her usage of embossing on her projects!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm entering these into
Fantabulous Cricut - Red, Brown, Orange
                                    Patches of Pink- Link up Party
                                    The Playdate Cafe-Color Challenge
                                    Frosted Designs-Die Cuts
                                    I Heart Naptime-Link Party
                                    Be Different Act Normal-Show and Tell

PHEW!

It's over... finished, done, whatever you may say...The craft fair I participated in was this past Saturday and boy do I love craft fairs!  It's a lot of work and time consuming, which is why I have been M.I.A.  I've been getting some emails from people "Where are you? Are you ok?". So, Yes, I'm ok...I did get the flu, but mostly,  I was consumed with getting ready for the craft fair... but I  loved every minute of it!  Here's my booth:

The show went very well!  I even had my 6 month old daughter with me.  She was a saint!  She was so happy and smiley. All the customers loved her!  I think she sold a lot of items for me actually. She modeled the headbands for me:) Here she is napping.

FYI...This Saturday, November 19th, I will be participating in a Blog Hop for Cooking with Cricut.  Join in the fun!  We will have Thanksgiving decorating ideas for you!  I'm excited for my project! Hope you can come!

Enjoy your day,

Cookie Purse

This week at Cooking with Cricut (CWC) our challenge was to use a clock since Sunday is when we change our clocks back an hour ( I always remember by saying "Fall back in the Fall") or we could use a cookie since Wednesday, November 2nd is National Cookie Monster Day.....there are some new holidays I've learned since I joined this design team!  So, I decided to make a cookie purse!  This is basically a treat bag, but it looks like a purse.  Here it is:

Recipe:
Imagine More Cards
Felt Flower I made
Rhinestone
Black Cardstock
Cellophane bag
Cookies
White Cardstock

Cute little Treats!

I just loaded up the treats for my husband to take to his office and I had to take a picture and share! I just love them in this pumpkin!

I showed how to make the treats in an earlier post. For the tutorial click here.

                       Have a FALL-tastic day! (that's for you Lucas;)

Pumpkin Time!

My friend (she's awesome) came to visit me and we had the best time plus...we carved pumpkins!  Isn't it fun when friends come to visit?! Little did I know, that she actually had a pumpkin carving contest at her work.  So of course, we had to make her pumpkin super cute!  She wanted a princess theme, so we got out the Once Upon a Princess cartridge! Here's her final product:

So basically what we did was cut the crown and eyes out at true 2.6 on vinyl from the Once Upon a Princess Cartridge. We put the transfer tape on the vinyl and put it on the pumpkin.  The eyes were HUMONGOUS so we cut those down to fit. For the top of the crown she cut halfway through so you could see where it was supposed to be cut but not take it all the way out and then she cut the inside of the crown.  Make sense? This was the trickiest part. The eyes were super easy! She just cut around the vinyl eyes and pulled them out.  I think she totally should win....I don't have to even see the other pumpkins! Look at how cute it is! She even added eye shadow! Fun times....well, another Fun Halloween Project!

Go and enjoy,

Trick or Treat?

Need a last minute Halloween treat for neighbors, teachers, good friends?  Chocolate dipped marshmallows are not only super easy to make, they're super delicious!

Giveaway Winner and Fall Day

 Thank you so much to those who hopped along with us over the weekend for the Adopt a Shelter Pet, Cooking With Cricut blog hop!  It was a fun time!  I'm ready to announce my winner!  It was so fun to hear all of your pet stories and pet names, but

Patti Ross's dog "Jacob Marley the Christmas Dog" is the winner!

When I was in third grade, my brother and I got a dog for Christmas.  It brought me back to that day!  It was a happy day!  Congrats Patti Ross! 

SO............. IT'S GORGEOUS OUTSIDE! 

 I love beautiful fall days! The colors are fabulous! It's not too hot and it's not too cold! It just makes for a cheery day! 

Cooking With Cricut Blog Hop

Welcome to Jaihart (J♥) and the CookingWithCricut.com “Adopt A Shelter Pet”  Blog Hop!

October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, but we wanted to honor and celebrate all of our furry friends!   If you've come from visiting Nita at Nita Notes, you're in the right place! p.s. She's from Canada and my husband was so excited when he found that out;) He has Canadian relatives! Also, she made the cutest teddy bear chef card for our #55 challenge (check it out)! If  you've just happened across my blog and would like to hop along with us, you can go to CookingWithCricut.com and start at the beginning.

 Here is my Rhodesian Ridgeback, Leo! He's 5 years old and is the best dog ever! He is wonderful with my children and very protective of us.  We love him very much!

Isn't this just hysterical!  We had these taken when my son was 14 months! I just had to share it!

Giveaway, WINNER!

Congrats to Moira on winning my blog Giveaway.  Moira visited StarSunflower Studio and said "What a great idea Jill! So creative!" 

Moira's choice for her prize is a tie onesie! Congrats again, Moira!

I'm a guest blogger today + Giveaway!

Head on over to Starsunflower Studio!

I'm a guest blogger and check out the tutorial I did on how to make an easy baby toy!

 I'm going to be doing a giveaway! The winner will receive your choice of a set of notecards or anything of your choice from my shop. 

Christmas Cards already...? Yes! My Pink Stamper Challenge

I was in the store the other day and heard Christmas music! Yes, that's right, Christmas music!  Someone shouted, "Christmas music already? Come on People!"  I just started cracking up!  It may be a little early for Christmas music, but not Christmas card making! My Pink Stamper has a challenge going on so I decided to make a card. Here it is:

Bitten By the Bug 2 Wheelbarrow Challenge/I'm a Winner!

So my husband made a craft room for me in our unfinished basement. You can check it out here.  There was a lot of left over scrap wood.  My husband was getting ready to throw it all away until I stopped him and said "You can't throw away all that wood, think about all the decorations I could make with this wood!" ha!  He gave into my idea, and so I was able to keep the scrap wood, save the environment, and make this cool sign:

I will be entering this sign into a challenge at Bitten By the Bug 2.  

The challenge was to use a wheelbarrow in your project. Check it out here.

By the way................................................................

Pumpkin Project for Kids

Last Friday, my mom, my kids, and I went to a pumpkin patch in town.  Oh my goodness, do they have the varieties....wart looking, white, Cinderella, Long with white stripes....I can't even remember them all there were so many. Which pumpkin did my 2 year old choose, you ask..... ?

The little pumpkin.
The ones that are 4 for $1....which is great for the pocketbook, but out of all the choices...big, tall, skinny, striped, white, bumpy, warty. Yep that's right, the little pumpkin:) He's so funny!