So I was sorting through my ribbon last night (mostly trying to think of a way to organize it all), when I came across this one style of ribbon that I have had for a while. I got it in one of those scrap ribbon bags that Hobby Lobby sells for like a dollar, and I have never really liked it.  It is really wide and feels like paper; the only thing it had going for it in my opinion is that it is purple (I love purple!).  I was contemplating throwing it out when I remembered a Facebook post from Cricut-The Official Page about the ever so popular bib necklaces and headbands.  I figured... What the heck.  So I gave making those cute little flowers a shot.  After several Google searches and about an hour later this is what I came up with.

I made one big flower that I attached to a couple bobby pins using hot glue (hot glue is a woman's duck tape!).

I also made several smaller flowers in varying sized and attached them to a head band that I covered in white ribbon.

I had a little bit of fun doing some modeling!  =-)

Happy New Year Everyone!
Stay Safe and have fun!

Olivia

Finally Home

After being gone for over a week; sleeping on foreign beds, leaky air matrices, floors and couches; killing invading bats at 4:30 in the morning; being awaken by my beautiful niece and nephew; I cannot even begin to express my joy of being able to sleep in my own bed tonight! =-)  This Christmas was absolutely wonderful; so many laughs, smiles, and memorable stories, but I am glad to be back home and start getting back the norm.

I know that I told of  a huge post; however, in all of the excitement I forgot to photograph most everything. I know... I know... I hate that, but the time machine has not been invented (yet) so this is what I got.

This is a picture that I made for my mother.  It is 3' by 2'.  I got the frame from a local antique shop; it had no glass and was an awful green color.  I sanded and painted it and had glass cut.  I cut the 'Gibbs," corner and middle embellishments from vinyl, and I etched all of the names around it (using the negative from vinyl cuts).  All of the names are cut from Christmas Cheer cartridge and the embellishments are from Storybook. I have everything layered on the back side of the class (so they vinyl would be protected); therefore, I had to cut everything backwards and flipped.  FYI: when using this method, to layer you must put the top layer on the glass first; the opposite of layering regularly.  I used Design Studio to weld all of the letters in each name and also to get all of the layers correct (I am not sure of the measurements but if you are interested I can look it up for you).

This project took up most of my time; however, I did make 3 other vases (using vinyl and etching), a set of personalized snap-wear containers, and a framed mirror (done much the same as above).  I had so much fun making all the these gifts for Christmas.  It is the first time I have done things like this, and I plan on making it tradition!  Hope you enjoy.

Olivia

Merry Christmas!!!

So it's only 20 more minutes until Santa gets here!!! Well technically Santa's Little Helpers (AKA: my Mother & Sister - in - law and me) have already done  his job here.  LOL.  I thought that since I have not posted in a couple of days I would just quickly wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope every house is full of joy!  I probably won't be on here for the next couple of days (I will be pigging out on amazing food and being with family).  But I will have a big post after Christmas of all of the gifts that I made this year!

Before I go I wanted to share this thought from one of my friends.  Can you imagine what it was like that night when the angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields?  I wish I was there to hear them sing "Glory to God in the Highest."  Can you imagine what that must have been like? Honestly, I can't....

Merry Christmas Everyone
Olivia


Luke 2:8-14

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Scrappin' With Granny!

If you have read any of my other posts you probably know that my Granny is in! I am so happy; I do not get to see her much at all.  And of course I brought my Cricut with me to my parents house.  My husband jokes that that I can not go more than 18 hours away from it.  =-)

While there was some free time, I decided to work on some of the My Pink Stamper 12 Days of Christmas Challenges.  I got a little behind this past weekend.  My Granny jumped right in and helped me pick out some of the images and colors.  We had a blast!

The first one we worked on was for the Day 6 Christmas Challenge.  This is the first layout that I have ever made, and I think it came out pretty good.

I think this next one was Granny's favorite.  It is a very simple card made for the Day 8 Color Challenge.  The challenge was to use teal or blue, green, and brown.

Like I said... Extremely simple, but I really like it.  And what makes it more special is that Granny had fun.  Who knows, maybe there will be a  new scrapper in the near future...  =-)

Happy first day of Winter (even though it looks like fall here)

Olivia

It's Almost Christmas Time!

So, I know I say this every post, but this past weekend has been crazy.  My grandmother came up from south Louisiana, my brother came in on leave from the Marines, my husbands grandfather was rushed to the hospital for severe chest pains...  Most are good busy times but the couple of days in the hospital were nerve racking.  Everything turned out fine though, and he was released tonight; we praise God for that.   


Sadly, I have nothing new craft-wise to share. I did finish some things, but they are Christmas presents so I am waiting to post them until later.  


I did however want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season.


I also wanted to shout-out to some of the wonderful comments I have gotten lately.  They are are all so sweet; thanks to everyone.


Merry Christmas
Olivia


"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." - Luke 2:14   

Gift Tags...

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this or not, but I am married to the best  man in the world!!!  This week has been so crazy for me; getting all of the Christmas presents bought/made, wrapped and ready to go.  I have literally been coming home at 5ish, going to my office, and staying there until almost 9 or sometimes 10. I am in such a hurry because we are leaving Monday.  My brother is on leave from the Marines, and my Grandmother will be in! I am so excited; I do not get to see either of them much at all.  Anyways, every night this week he (my husband) has made me supper, did laundry, AND dishes!!!  I don't know how I got so lucky!  =-)

Part of tonights agenda was to make tags for all of the presents.  They are pretty simple, but I think they turned out great.  I used the Winter Woodlands for the whole thing.

Have a great night, and Merry Christmas!!!

Olivia

Tip of the Day!

So, today has been a pretty productive day! After getting off of work I put the finishing touches on my card sets, made a vase (well etched), and jazzed up a set of glass cookware with etching as well.  This is the first year I have literally 'made' so many Christmas presents. It is fun, but tiring as well.

I don't know about you, but I have been having a hard time getting the wording and phrases from my cartridges to cut out good.  Mostly I am wanting to use them as sentiments for cards, and it just isn't happening for me to cut them that small.  I have seen allot of people use stamps for their sentiments, and I really like that look.  However, being a novice, I do not own any at the moment.  I did figure out a creative way to get it to work, most of you may already know this, but it is new to me.  I used the Cricut markers to 'cut' the phrases then colored the middle in with colored Sharpies.  They turned out really great in my opinion.  I love that the markers have the settings to use on them, but I found it works best to have the pressure on 1 or minimum so there is enough room to see the coloring.

Now for what I was doing I cut out this scalloped oval from Storybook (Just Because is from Wild Cards).  You must use the Center Point feature on your Cricut to work.  Also, you will want to test it out on some scraps a time or two, because the sizes do not always match up. (Please excuse the quality of these photos, I am having problems with my camera)

I used just a regular colored Sharpie.  I am sure that stamping markers would work fine as well, but this is what I had.

Tah - Dah!  What was really cool is that the Cricut marker did not smear!

 This is the finished product! you can dazzle or distress as much as you like.

Have a Marvelous Day (or night)

Olivia

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." - 1 John 4:4

My Pink Stamper Color Challenge!

My Pink Stamper is having a 12 Day's of Christmas extravaganza! Today is Day 2 and it is a color challenge.  Interest? CLICK HERE. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Olivia

What A Day!

I do not think I have ever been so happy to be done with a semester of school.  Today I turned in my last project and it felt great!

And I spent the rest of the the day finishing Christmas Shopping and card sets that I am making.  FYI: If you are making multiple sets of anything, do not torture yourself by choosing designs with tons of small layers... it is brutal.

Animal ABC flash cards:
This is one of the materials I made for my preschoolers this semester.  They are alphabet flashcards with an animal to correspond with each.  Letter 'a' has an alligator; letter 'b'  has a bear; 'c' - cat; etc.  This was to help the children recognize and learn the sounds each letter has.

Olivia

"The King is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for He is your Lord." Psalm 45:11

Gift Bags!

So for Christmas, I decided to do something special for all of the women in my family (My mother, mother-in-law, my two sisters-in-law, and my niece).  I am going to make a set of generic card for each of them (with thank you, get well soon, happy birthday, etc.) to send to family or friends.  I am not finished with all of the cards, but I wanted to show the cute bags I made to put them in.

I used Plantin Schoolbook for the bag, and Winter Woodland for the tree.  I hope they like them.

Olivia

Challenge!

So this is the first time I am competing in any type of challenge (and I am doing two... = 0 ).

The first one is the Birthday Challenge from My Pink Stamper.  The challenge is to make something "birthday." So I made a card, well, two cards.  My nephew is turning eight in a couple of weeks so I made one for him, and as I was going through my scrap paper I found myself putting the second one together.

Now onto the second challenge.  It is the Emboss It challenge by Peachy Keen Stamps, and it was to create a card or layout using some type of embossing technique.  I used "dry" embossing.

So, I know that I have not perfected my technique for anything yet, but I am having so much fun doing all of this crafting.  I'm discovering a whole new world!  = )

Olivia

Writing Journal

This piece of material that I made is not very creative looking.  It is a writing journal for the pre-school class.  They are learning to write their names and different letters, so I thought I would make each one of them a journal to practice in.  There is also space in the journal for them to draw a picture of them and their family, and to write a letter to the family (with teacher help/translation of course).  I made them several different colors to appeal to all the boys and girls, but I left the cover blank so the children could add their own creativity to it.  I used the YourStory to bind all of the journals.  The students absolutely loved them! Some even chose to sit and write instead of playing in centers the day I introduced them.

I'm Back!

So I know it has been forever since I have uploaded anything, but this semester has been a crazy one.  However, one good thing about it is that I have been crazy busy making materials for the children in my the classroom I was in.  I LOVE doing that.  I cannot describe the feeling of bringing something in that I have worked so hard making [almost] perfect (if it were perfect I would have bought it =) ), and seeing the children not want to stop using or playing with it.  Over the next few posts I am going to spotlight some of the materials I have made.  I used the Cricut Expressions or YourStory for every single one of them.

The first one I am going to show is a pattern and recognition book centered around the Fall season.  I was in a Pre-school class this semester and  had to assess the students I was with over various benchmarks they need to meet. When I assessed in patterning, the little girl I was working with had mastered the benchmark of sorting material and making patterns using one medium (put all green items here).  So, I wanted to challenge her and add a second medium (put the green pumpkin here).  Please excuse the photography; I forgot to change the settings on my camera when I took these pictures.

There are eight leaves and eight pumpkins that are used for the activities throughout the book.  They are held on with Velcro dots.

 You take the leaves and pumpkins off the first page and place them where they go in the book.

The last page is for the children to organize the objects where they would go in the environment.

Tick-Tick Tock

Has something every gone so fast that you haven't even realized it was moving?  That is how time has been for me lately.  I have been so crazy busy that I barley have time to breath; however, I can't say that I don't like it.  I think that I have come to realize that I thrive on being busy.  If I have nothing to do, I feel like I am being lazy.
Anyways... Allot has happened since I have last been here.
First, I am in the most insane semester of my college career, and I have to say that I AM learning.  For instance, I am not going to college to be a babysitter (i.e. work in an infant/toddler setting), and though I adore the pre-schoolers that I get to spend this semester with, I am pretty sure I don't want to continue to do bathroom checks/reminders.

Next, it was homecoming weekend here at ASU, and my in-laws graced us with a visit.  We did some shopping, tailgating, eating. It was great.  Though out team got their bottoms handed to them on a silver platter its always nice to see family.

So, God and me have been talking quite a bit lately...  I struggle allot with with being a control freak.  I like to know what is going on, to have my hand in it, and better yet have the final say.  This is not something I am proud of, and I have been trying to work on it.  It is so amazing to me all of the different ways God shows his love and grace. He is stronger than anything I can face, and when I hand over the steering wheel, we will make it.  The journey may not always be smooth, but He will never let me (or you) go if I only let Him carry me.

About the Author

Hello, I am Olivia.  I first created this blog so that I could upload some of the projects that I have been working on for home and my classroom; however, the more I get to thinking about it, it will probably become a place to tell my story as it is being written. Isn't that what blogging is about? =-)