Random Card

This is just a random card I made. I was super bored and this is where my mind lead me.

I don’t know who it’s for or for what occasion but I’m definitely saving it. I will probably end up giving it to my boyfriend at some point 🙂

Back to School Layouts

Hi everyone!!
Oh-m-gee have I been super busy!! Since my “Christmas in July Cards” post, I have been dealing with a lot of personal family drama. To keep myself sane, my form of therapy is always crafting. My boyfriend Dan has a daughter who is starting Kindergarten this year while my son, Liam, started first grade. Of course I wanted scrapbook a page for each of them for their first day of school so these are the page layouts I came up with.

They’re were super easy to whip up and didn’t take much time at all. I think they turned out super cute and will look amazing in our family scrapbook. I left a space for them to document what they enjoyed about their first day of school-even though I’ll more than likely have to fill it out.

I have to thank Cricut for their Locker Talk freebies of the week which is where I got the glue, scissors, and crayon cut outs. I made sure to take advantage of them 🙂

Christmas in July

Hi everyone!!

I hope everyone has been doing great! These past couple of week have been hectic for me lately. We  had our family reunion last weekend and my mother was the host of it so I was back and forth with helping her with everything. On top of that, I’ve been dealing with some personal family drama and also fixing to move with 4 kids and starting school with 2 of them and myself being in college has us all running around like chickens.

Somehow, on top of all the madness, I was able to create 5 cute cards for Christmas. I am a part of a group on Facebook and one of the challenges that was posted was a Christmas in July where we make Christmas cards. Believe it or not, right now is the time to start making them if you plan on selling them and keeping a stockpile for yourself like me.

Everyone’s cards were very nice but I wanted to do something different. I had seen 2 cards on Pinterest that were made using the Create a Critter 2 cartridge for the Cricut I couldn’t resist making them and some others.

This is my set of 5 cards I made:

Aren’t they cute?!! I got the mouse, bird, and penguin idea from Pinterest and just used paper and products I had on hand.

 

I think these are super cute, especially for kids to send grandparents, family members, or classmates (and teachers). I am hoping to sell some of these sets on Etsy and locally.

Each card measures a standard 4.25″ X 5.5″ and is blank inside.

Each will come with a white envelope.

If you would be interested in ordering, please feel free to email me at: lavendervinedesigns@gmail.com or CLICK HERE to be directed to the listing on my Etsy page.

Cost is $10.00 for a set of 5 + 5.50 shipping.

I hope everyone has a great night.

Happy Crafting.

 

Engagement Card for My Bestie

Hi Everyone!!

 

I had to take a break from my scrapbook yesterday to make a special card for one of my best friends. She recently got engaged and I decided to make her a card to congratulate her and her fiance. They are huge Alabama football fans so their wedding colors are crimson red and white. Of course, I had to use those colors when making her card to make it more personable and something she’d love. 

 

I decided to make this simple card and I love how it turned out:

 

 

 

Ashley & Adam, after so much waiting & anticipating, two hearts unite for a single beat. May you find love, joy, peace, and happiness. Congratulations on your Engagement!!”

 

Of course, I typed it in crimson red ink.

 

This is why I love having so many craft supplies on hand. You never know when you need to make a quick card for someone. I also love that I didn’t have to go buy one and it’s one of  kind.

 

I mailed it off today so I really hope she likes it and is something she’ll keep. 

 

Catching Up & Greeting Card Showcase

Hi everyone!!!

Sorry for neglecting my website. I have been super busy with family, kids, work, and life as a single mommy. I also lost one of my favorite Aunts two weeks ago so I’ve been trying to be there for my mom. 

 

I had a lot of success with my Father’s Day cards:

I had a few requests for special orders and also just making a few for people here and there. 

 

Another card that I had a blast making that I thought turned out super cute was those cute Cherry on Top Birthday Card:

 

I love, love, love this card. I have a few of them on sale in my Etsy store for $2.50 and they are perfect to keep on hand when I need a cute birthday card for a friend, coworker, or relative. 

 

I had a request from a customer to make a card for her father who was turning 58. His birthday was coming up and he loves hunting and fishing. I haven’t had much luck with masculine cards but I accepted the challenge and figured there was no better time to start on masculine cards than now. After much thinking and planning, I was able to produce this:

I had too much fun with the camo and gun that I decided to stick with the hunting alone instead of fishing. Shelved it thankfully so I hope her dad loved it as well!!!

 

I decided to take a small break from cards to work on my boy’s scrapbooks. My poor youngest doesn’t have any scrapbooks while my oldest has about 4 and I’m working on his 5th which is his Kindergarten scrapbook. Sadly, my laptop got stolen in Dec 2011 so I lost a lot of baby pictures of my youngest. Thankfully, his Nana and my mom are getting their photos of him from 1 year old and under and letting me have them for his scrapbook. 

 

I can’t wait until my boyfriend and I decide on a house so we can work on our hobby/craft room for his baseball cards and my crafting. I need so much lot room than my bedroom floor to work on all this stuff and be more organized.

 

I can’t believe we are already in the middle of June! It’s almost time to get the kiddos back to school stuff. Speaking of school, I registered for my Fall classes. I’m taking 3 in the Fall and my last one in the Spring. I’m so excited. I changed my major from Nursing (RN) to HIT (Health Information Technology). This fall I’m taking Intro to Computers which I don’t need, I already love computers, English 102, and Math 116 which focuses on dosages and calculations. In the Spring, I’m taking my last Anatomy class. I despise Anatomy.

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! If I can, I’ll post some of my scrapbooking progress. I’ve joined a few scrapbook groups on Facebook for inspiration because it’s been a while since I’ve worked on scrapbooks. Any advice or good group suggestions, please feel free to send them my way!!

Smile Greeting Card & The Hunt for Patterned Paper

Hi guys!

 

I wanted  to share another card that I made from Mary at CardCrazy09 (YouTube).

 

While I was trying to find inspiration for my previous card- The Father’s Day card from a child, I came across this card that she said she needed quickly for a young man. My hardest thing in making cards has been making cards for men. I’m so girly that I always end up wanting to use polka dots or “cutesy” images and they revert back to a card you would give a woman or girl.

 

This card I made wasn’t for anyone-it will probably go in my stash of cards in case I need it for someone’s birthday later. 

 

This card is filed on her channel under Create a Critter Masculine Birthday Card and it’s super fun and super  cute to make.

The making of this amazing card:

My finished card.

Inside of card

It took me a while to find the camera patterned paper. I found some at Joann’s in a 6×6 paper pack. However, I later got a few orders for people who wanted to buy it so I had to find a better way of buying it. I went to Michaels and they didn’t have any individual paper patterned with cameras. I then went to Hobby Lobby and they had it plus all their paper is 50% off so I got about 4 sheets of 12×12  for a $1.00. 

 

I would also like to credit Hobby Lobby for having the biggest selection of patterned paper (well, at least where I live). We have a Micheals, JoAnns, and Hobby Lobby. I work at JoAnns and we only have like a half an aisle of single scrapbook paper and 75% of it is solid colors so it’s definitely not the place to look if you need patterned paper.

 

Michaels had a bigger selection, but just couldn’t find any camera paper or number patterned paper.

 

Hobby Lobby has almost 2.5 aisles of paper with 90% of it being patterned so it was like paper heaven when I found the camera paper.

 

The next time you need a quick card for a male birthday or just a “hi there” card, remember this one. It’s quick and easy and you probably have everything you need in your stash.

Review: Fiskars Paper Trimmer

Hi guys,

I am fixing to start working on some wedding cards, but before I do that, I wanted to take a few minutes to review 2 paper trimmers, both by Fiskars.

I had an older paper trimmer by Fiskars that was guillotine style where you pull the arm down and the exposed blade cuts your material. I bought it in 2007 when I started scrapbooking after having my first son and I loved it. However, now I have two kids and the last thing I need when they’re trying to “help” me when crafting is for them to get their fingers caught in the blade.

I did some research, yes, I research products online and in the store before buying, and decided it was time for a new trimmer where you slide the blade that is usually position downward where it doesn’t come in contact with any fingers.

I went online and the best trimmer that I narrowed it down to was the Fiskars Euro Paper Trimmer. Online, it has about 3.5/5 stars so it’s so-so I guess but I was mainly attracted to the swing out ruler. My old trimmer only went out to 5.5″ by about 7.5″ (maybe 8″) so it was extremely hard when I was needing to cut a 12×12 piece of paper.

I work at craft store so I took advantage of my coupons and employee discount and bought it for about $12:

Yes, I needed a corner rounder punch as well 🙂

Fiskars Euro Trimmer unpackaged.

First off, I love the color. While most of Fiskars trimmers are orange, I was attracted to this one right away because it’s white and also I loved the pre-measured bold lines that let you quickly measure cuts like 4 x 6, 4.25 x 5.5, and 3 x 5.

I was so excited to try it so I got to work and decided to cut my first 4.25″ x 5.5″ card. I got my paper and measured to the 5.5″ at the top and cut. It wasn’t a straight cut. No worries, I figured I was just so excited that I didn’t measure right. I got another piece of paper and carefully measured 5.5″ and cut. It still came out uneven where I cut and at the top.

 

After a while, I realized why this was happening. I was using this on my bed and not a flat surface. I do most of my craft on my bedroom floor because it’s more spacious so I decided to try it on the floor. It still came out uneven. I was beginning to get frustrated because by this time it was too late to return it because it was about 10:30pm at night when I decided to use it. I started to examine it and found out why I officially hate this trimmer:

1. If you look closely at the top and bottom, you see the trimmer kind of slants up and narrows from left to right.
2. There is no clear 5″ mark. The trimmer goes up to 5″ and then you unfold the arm for measurements between 5″ and 6″. So, if you’re needing to cut something and it’s 5.25″, it’s difficult to find.
3. It has no where to hold your paper in place while cutting so you’re having to hold the paper on one side as well as up top.

Besides the packaging and the name brand, this trimmer did nothing for me. 

 

I dug my packaging out of the garbage and repackaged it and put my receipt in my purse to return it and hoped back online to research additional trimmers. The next best trimmer that I found by Fiskars was the 12″ Premium Portable Paper Trimmer .

Fiskars 12″ Premium Portable Paper Trimmer

Can you tell I was excited?

 Now, when you click this link and notice the low star reviews, ignore it. Most of them are from people that I believe roughly used the product and are complaining the wire broke. The wire is an awesome feature because it shows you directly where it’s going to cut. 

 

I love this trimmer! It’s spacious for when I need to cut my 12 x 12 pages, has the premeasured bold measurements already on it like the previous trimmer, had the fold down arm with a finger/hand placement for an easier way to hold your paper in place. The measurements don’t gap at the swing arm so I don’t have to guesstimate where my measurements are.

 

I HIGHLY recommend this trimmer to anyone who scrapbooks or makes cards on a daily basis. I use heavy duty card stock, regular card stock, and computer paper as well as photos, and I have had no issues with the wire snapping. Now, if it snaps within a few months or a year, Fiskars I’ve heard has amazing customer service and warranties and they’ll replace it.

 

What is another trimmer you guys would recommend or do you have your own pros and cons of either of these two trimmers? Please share so I can be aware.       

 

Quick Father’s Day Card

Hi everyone!

I was in a rut trying to figure out what I wanted to do as far as Father’s Day cards for my kids to give to their Grandfather’s. Now that I have started making cards,  I refuse to buy a card unless I need it within the hour-I’m actually thinking of making a few cards to just keep on hand for back to back birthdays for friends and family.

Any way, I figured I would scour the internet for ideas and inspiration and I found some great ideas. In the end, I got this card idea from Mary from Cardcrazy09 on YouTube and thankfully I had everything on hand except for the tape measure craft tape. I ended up finding some similar at work and I was able to make this:

I love how it turned out! This is just perfect for a child to give to a Father, Brother, Grandfather, etc. 

 

If you’re a  beginner or intermediate card maker, you should definitely check out Mary on YouTube. Her username and channel is listed above or you can just search Cardcrazy09. She shows you step by step, yes step by step, how to make some quick and amazing cards. Some people fly through a video to where you can’t understand them or don’t know what materials they’ve used. Mary shows you at the beginning everything she is using for that particular card, she starts from the card base and tells you sizes, and works all the way up to the finish product telling you what size she used on her Cricut to cut items to the type of glue she uses. She’s amazing. And at the end of each video, she lists all her measurements for the video like so:

Screen shot from my iPhone of the measurements/credits from CardCrazy09.

My son was super excited when I showed him the card. He’s all ready to write in it and give it to his Grandfather.

 

List of items used:

• Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge
• Marigold Card stock
• Brown Card stock
• Number patterned paper (preferably dark/dull colored. I almost used a bright pattern and it didn’t look right)
• Button
• Embroidery Floss/Friendship Bracelet Thread
• Craft Tape/Washi Tape with Measuring Tape Pattern (I ended up having to get some adhesive ribbon from JoAnn’s that had tape measure print. I later found some tape at Hobby Lobby by their brand that’s wider and more similar to what Mary used in her video)

If you’re looking for a quick and easy card for your children to give out for Father’s Day, I’d definitely recommend this one.

Finally, A Member of the Cricut Family

Hi everyone!!

My, oh my how I have been busy!! I’m going to break this post up into 2 separate posts because I’ve been super busy with my crafts, school, kids, and work.

I work at JoAnn, yes the CRAFT STORE, so you can imagine where most of my paycheck goes. I’ve actually made up my mind I’m done for a while shopping. I have mainly everything I need for my current scrapbook projects, and as for cards I try to use what I have on hand. I did recently stock up on some items because we had our Memorial Weekend sale and on top of everything, instead of getting a 20% employee discount, we got 30%.

I recently bought a Cricut Expression from a lady locally for $90 because she said she didn’t have time to use it because she has a little girl and another baby on the way. I have been wanting a Cricut for the longest but they are just super expensive, along with all the cartridges and accessories. When I saw she listed it for $125 and someone got her to lower it to $100, I talked her down to $90 and she said sold.

First day with my Cricut. My boyfriend was even amazed!

The only complaint I have about my machine is that it is soooo bulky and heavy. I am definitely going to need a craft room soon to set it up. Thank goodness my boyfriend and I have been thinking about adding on to our homes in the event I move in with him or vis versa. We know for sure we want a hobby/craft room (I do paper crafts and he collects baseball cards).

Anyways, for Memorial Weekend, we had our Cricut Cartridges on sale for $19.99. Usually, our sale price for them is $29.99. On top of that, I got our 30% discount so over the weekend I bought 4 cartridges. The day that I got my Cricut I bought one that we have on clearance for $9.97 called Creative Cards. I thought since I make cards it was fitting. 

 

I’m still figuring out the cartridges. I know they have like Cricut Projects, Cricut Everyday, etc. The Project ones have like 50-70 images while the Cricut Everyday has like 700+ images.

 

I will say that I used to think people were weird when they would buy the Create a Critter cartridges. I would look at them like, “Really? That cartridge looks so childish.”. However, now that I’m a Cricut owner, I am now the proud owner of Create a Critter and Create a Critter 2, lol. I had a little help buying those two cartridges so the money I was going to use for them I got to use on an additional 2 cartridges.

 

I was going to buy Lyrical Letters because I wanted a general font cartridge but after researching and then looking at it a few times, I decided to go with Story Book and Southwest. I actually came across the Southwest one accidentally. When I went to work to buy some paper (we had the individual scrapbook paper on sale 5/$1, they’re normally $0.69 each so this is the time we all stock up on paper). Well when I got up front where we keep the cartridges locked up, I couldn’t decide if I wanted Lyrical Letters. I had Story Book all picked out and set aside and I told my manager to give me a minute to look. I started shifting through all the cartridges and found Southwest sitting in the corner by itself. The tribal images on the front is what attracted me at first along with the colors. Then I noticed the font on the back is to die for. It reminds me of one of my favorite computer fonts called Oswald. I was sold. It also comes with phrases I can use with anything for anyone.

 

My cute craft bag I got on clearance from JoAnn’s for $0.97. I actually got 2!!

My haul from work. Paper for my kids scrapbooks and for cards I’m wanting to make, Southwest and Create a Critter 2 Cartridges, 2 Tape Works Patterned Tapes, and 2 packs of Card stock that were 2/$5.

Do you see why I was attracted to the Southwest Cartridge? It’s so pretty and bright!

 I can’t wait to start working on some projects. I’m always looking for inspiration and suggestions for my next card ideas and scrapbook layouts. I live on Pinterest and have deleted a lot of my boards to make room for inspiration with all my new cartridges.

My next post will show few cards I’ve made with my cartridges.

I hope everyone is having an amazing night.
“When in doubt, get crafty!!”-
Krystal

Pinwheel Birthday Cards

Hi everyone,
I am in the process of merging everything over from my old website on WordPress to this one on Blogger. I found that Blogger gives me more freedom and more flexibility with posts, especially when it comes to posting photos which is primarily what I post.
Meanwhile, Tuesday night I finished up some birthday cards I had been working on all afternoon. I was trying to get them ready to be sold on Etsy:

I think they turned out super cute! I am currently selling 2 of each color in my Etsy shop so click here to view these and possibly purchase one. They are $2.75 each and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

 

I am just in love with the bright colors so they are perfect for anyone’s spring or summer birthdays, especially kids.

 

I am also working on some wedding/anniversary cards. I got an idea from a fellow card maker in a Facebook group I belong to so I’m going to be working on them in the next couple of day.

 

Let me now what you think of these!