Mother's Day Card

With Mother's day just around the corner, this is a great way to show your appreciation for her. I created this design based on the book I mentioned on an earlier post. I also made (and aesthetically) attached a necklace I also made to go with the card. This was the first of several necklaces I made.

Using my Cricut

I've been trying to utilize my Cricut Machine more than I have since Charlie gave it to me. So when I found this book on Card Making with Cricut, I decided to invest in it since I own the Wild Card cartridge that is used many times in the book.

What I love about this book is that you are not obligated to make a particular card design. You can improvise the template or change its theme if you wish to do so. For example, originally this was a "Thank You" card but I changed it to be a birthday card instead. Another feature I like about the book is that it guides you step by step on the instructions in order to create your card. It doesn't have step-by-step pictures, but it does have a picture of the end product and the inside of it. I wish it did though. I still love the book and I have already created three of the designs presented in the book, which I will publish on another post.

The card came out nice and I love the color scheme! I love how the green "pops" out. I created it for my colleague and friend, Alma. Happy Birthday, A-Rod!! :D

Cupcake Card

This is another project using the Wild Card Cricut Cartridge

Fourth of July Camping Trip

We love going camping with the family! After we came back from our trip two years ago, I started to download all the pictures from the memory card and accidentally erased ALL my pictures including these!!!! If this has ever happened to you and you're anything like me, you cried your heart out for this unintentional mishap. Needless to say, I was upset at myself and heartbroken at the same time. I could't believe what I had done and I was not about to let it go. Pictures are an extension of my life. So I made some calls and they referred me to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. After explaining what had happened, the technician still didn't guarantee that my pictures would be recovered. Luckily, they were!!! Of course I paid a pretty penny for them and in the end I had the pictures backed up into a CD. I was so relieved and got to work right away. Here are some images of the album. Can't wait for August to go camping again!

Graduation Favor

Wondering what to do with all those pictures you buy from your child's graduation? Well here's a quick idea....using the school's colors, mat his/her picture on cardstock. Then select some ribbon (also with school colors) to accent the card and tie them around. Type the name, graduation information and glue on the back of the card. That's it! Send them out or give them as a "thank you" for joining you on their accomplishment. You can even add a small sentiment to really express your gratitude.

Happy Kindergarten Graduation, Carolina!!! Go Knights!!

Baby Album Brag Book

Every time I create any projects or albums about babies I get very nostalgic about my own. So when I found out one of my friends was expecting her second child I was drawn to create this simple and economical baby album.

Here is what I did:

-Choose three to four white(or brown) lunch paper bags
-Fold them in half and hole punch on the edge of the fold
-Choose theme papers and cut to size
-Determine where holes go before punching and cover
-Embellish with stickers, brads, ribbon, buttons
-Finally tie ribbons through holes to bind

Flower Power

During my spring break I took advantage of the week and visited my sister in Austin. One evening we had an awesome family get-to-gether with relatives that reside in Austin too. One of my cousins brought a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. It was beautiful, delicious and yet so simple. That is where my sister got her inspiration for the theme of her best friend, Ana's Baby Shower. So she asked me to make her some invitations. Upon my return to Laredo I purchased a sunflower to mimic the cake's eye-catching centerpiece. I thought it was a good idea and was inspired to run with it!
This is a picture of the original cake

Here is the finished invitation!

Since the Nothing Bundt Cake inspired me so much...I decided to make my own version for my daughther's First Holy Communion celebration! It was easy and inexpensive to make.

Side view
Top view

Religious Keepsake

Created with Cricut Machine
Cartridges Used:
- Tags, Bags, Boxes and More

Instructions: -Cut purse from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More
Cut one time at 3 1/2 inches out of heavy card stock.
-Fold along scoring marks and glue at sides to make the purse.
-Attach desired ribbon to the inside of the flap to create handle.

Decorate the purse with flower and desired ribbon. Since this is for a religious event, I added a small cross and tied it through one of the slots inside the flap to secure it. I also wrapped the rosary with tulle and placed it inside the purse for an added touch.

My daughter's First Holy Communion invitation

I can't believe Charlie made his last year and now my daughter, Cristina is making her First Holy Communion in five weeks. In the tradition of personalizing their things, here is a "prototype" of Cristina's invitation. I really liked the outcome of it. I only visualized it in my head while I purchased the supplies on Saturday. I have to admit that when I get inspired, I can't stop. I have to follow through or it escapes me and I take the chance of loosing the thought. So here it is. Now to make them...thank goodness I have Spring break coming up!!
The outside cover

The invitation

Sympathy Card

"Handy Man" Card

Chipboard Letters on a roll!!

I made these for my nieces, Elena and Marisa, to start them with new wall decor in their new house in Austin; where my sister lives now. I tried to capture their personalities with the word plaques, suitably placed by the embelishments.

More Christmas Cards!

Creative Memories Album

I was very reluctant, at first, to make this album because I had been recently introduced to the Creative Memories PicFolio Album line by my friend Irma, who is a consultant for Creative Memories. But when I wanted to make an album for my mother-in-law and give it to her as a Christmas gift from us, I was up for the challenge.

Putting the album together was actually not the difficult part to do. It was just difficult for me to part with the details that a traditional scrapbook takes me to make. I didn't want to let go of the idea of creating pages without using scissors, glue dots, paper trimmer, etc....all the tools that a typical scrapbooker uses to create an album. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I LOVE and ENJOY doing the hard work. This seemed to easy for me to do and would take the fun out of "scrapbooking" and all that it implies. In the end, I was very pleased with how it turned out. I liked the pre-cut theme papers, that I got to embellish with themed stickers, and especially the fact that I just had to slip the photos in!

Finished!!!

I was very excited when I recieved a Hobby Lobby Gift Card from my Secret Santa at school. So without hesitation, I went to Hobby Lobby to purchase this organization kit. I had already wanted to purchase it for the final phase (and to complete) my scraproom. Charlie immediately took on the small project over our Christmas holidays and completed it in no time. I guess all we needed was the motivation to get it done!

This is my side of the window.



This is what is on his side of the window.

My Daughter's Baptism Album

It took me eight years to complete this album. Why so long? I think that the saying, "All in due time" is the best way I can put this into perspective. I had started it on an 8x10 album but was not content with how it was turning out so I kept putting it off. I also didn't have that many pictures to fill up the entire album pages I had special ordered. So during my Winter Break, I had planned to work on my son's First Holy Communion book but ended up tackling this one instead! I didn't plan it this way-it just happened.

I took this unused chipboard album that I had purchased on clearance a while back and started to cover it with the beautiful and simple theme paper I had for my son's book. The best part of all this is that I didn't have to spend a dime...I already had all the materials I needed to complete this project!! I was so happy to have finished it in one day. Now my daughter gets to see it and cherish the memories of her special day.

Man's Best Friend

Charlie asked me to make a special memory book for his friend Able, who had just lost his most faithful friend, "Bandit." I was touched by the unexpected request and created this unique and simple book.



I originally wanted to create a dog bone shaped album out of chipboard but since they didn't have sheets of chipboard to cut it into to do it; I found this "FRIEND" shaped album and added the phrase "Man's Best" on the letter F(cover)to say: Man's Best Friend.


I hope it will be a keepsake he will treasure forever and help him remember his beloved pet.

More Letter Chipboard!!

Here is a close-up of the embellishments

Tinkerbell Decor

Here is another chipboard letter project I made for my cute niece, Baby Yvette. Since she was photographed as a Tinkerbell for Halloween I used that picture as my inspiration for the theme. I used her photograph and mounted it on the letter for a personalized and special touch.



Hope you like it Yvette!! Love, Tia Carmen :D