Crafty Cards

Card

A wonderful couple we know had their house warming party this last weekend and we were at a loss of what we could get them - so we decided to make something!  Mike gets most all of the credit for this project... We printed out the map, he pre drilled the holes and hammered in all the nails, then started lacing through the twine.  We finished it off by putting their name on it and a cute saying in vinyl.  We had seen this idea all over pinterest lately.... Also I looked around on piniterest and found lots of cute ideas like this for their housewarming card!!  Thanks pinterest-ers!!

State String Art

 

This past weekend I got a jump start on my Nutcracker gifts... Gail and my mom helped me make twenty some Nutcracker glitter ornaments for all the different dancers - putting vinyl on all of them and finishing them up will most likely be my November craft : )  I also made all of their cards -- Gail helped me cut out all the half circles and then I added stickers, snowflakes and stickles to make them more fun!  Thank you guys for all your help! 

Fronts

Backs

Everyday Cards

This month Allison made some cards that work for any occasion.  She took photos she had of her parents garden and used them as covers for the cards.

Anniversary Gift

This month my sister and brother-in-law celebrated their 3rd anniversary and I decided to make a fun little gift for them.  I looked at items I pinned on Pinterest and various websites that suggested dating ideas (The Dating Divas website is still one of my favorites!) and then I typed up a whole bunch of dates in different columns in a word document.  Most of them I tried to keep to a few sentences.  Then I printed out the pages on different colored card stock and cut them all out.  I put all the strips of paper into a little box that I decorated. I also included a homemade card and a gift card to Caribou Coffee (some of the dates may need some extra motivation:)

I did a mix dates and most of the ideas were inexpensive ones.

Some are normal dates (go bowling, try a new restaurant, go to a museum you have never been to, etc.)

Some adventurous/unusual dates (find the best climbing trees - test them out an document it, go indoor mountain climbing, etc.)

and some at home dates (have a living room camp out, write love letters to each other and seal them up for a date night 20 years from now, Game Night, Food Taste Test Night, etc.)

Hope they have a good time!  

I am totally going back through the list to pull out all the at home dates for me and my hubby to do.

Card Books

This month Kelly made card books so they are easier to save and to look at again.  She saw the idea originally here.  

She cut out pieces of cardboard, decorate them, punched holes in them and cards and used book rings to put it all together. 

So far she put together 3 books and did them by themes.  One booklet is cards from her parents, another is cards from her bother and family and the 3rd is cards from when she lived in Spain.  

Wordy Thirty Birthday Party

Karen and I decided to throw our Middle Sister a Surprise Party for her upcoming 30th Birthday.  We decided a "Wordy Thirty Party" would be a great theme after we searched the internet/Pinterest for ideas. Val really enjoys a good read and is going to school to be a "Book Doctor." Here are some of the decorations that we did.  It turned out great and it was a lot of fun to put together.  We spent a fun night of playing games, eating and lots of laughing! (P.S. The only book harmed in the production of crafts was an old Encyclopedia for the letter A - the only one of the set that we found at my Grandparents house.)

Here is our version of a book wreath after seeing this one.  I cut 2 -  8 inch circles out of card stock to be more durable, glued them together, then I rolled and glued/taped pages down.  On top of that I cut 2 - 6 inches pieces of card stock, glued them together, then again rolled and glued/taped pages down.  Then I cut a 4 inch piece of card stock out, lettered it with stickers, inked the edges with black ink to make it stand out a bit.  Then I laminated it and taped it down onto the other rings with double sided tape.  Used masking tape on the back to attach a ribbon to hang the whole thing.

We made two of these hanging garlands.  The hearts were made out of the encyclopedia pages after seeing this tutorial.  (BTW, these were super easy to put together and I totally plan on doing this as a Valentine's Day Garland in Red Tones:)).  Then flowers were added to the ends to hide where we taped it up.  Found the tutorial for the flowers here.

Here is a closer look at the Garland.

Here we made several items.  Karen pre-made the poofs, so all that needed to be done party day was the "poofing" - Mike and Zoe took care of that:)  Here is how to make those.  We also had two vases that we  decoupaged encyclopedia pages onto and placed tea lights in them.  In the center is a mini sign with a quote: "Don't Drink to Get Drunk. Drink to Enjoy Life." - Jack Kerouac.  Instead of making Jack Kerouac's favorite drink we made Mojitos, a favorite drink of Hemingway.

Here is the "corsage" we made Val to wear.  We just took one of the flowers, cut out circles, on the Silhouette and attached them with double sided tape.  Then used a big safety pin to attach it to her!

The dinner table!  Made a table runner out of torn out book pages.  Embellished the ends with a fancy daisy punch.  Then cut the sides of the runner with decorative scissors.  Some light dinner reading - haha!  We used books Val had as a center piece, then took a bowl, filled it with cut and rolled encyclopedia pages.  On top of that was a sucker ball (Styrofoam ball with dum dums stuck in it).  Then we made a party sign with book worms and stuck that in there as well.  Beside the center piece was a "book" I made with the silhouette and then it was filled with book marks that we had all made.  Everyone that came to the party made a book mark with a special message, book quote, or drawing for Val.  Then I laminated them and tied ribbon to them.

Close up of our center piece.

Close up of the "book" that held our handmade bookmarks.

Upcycled Christmas Cards

This month Kelly went through old Christmas cards and recycled them to make a new batch of Christmas cards.  She cut out a portion of the card to fit onto folded card stock and used a glue stick to paste it on.   She then used the card scraps to make gift tags.

Cards Galore

 This month Val got crafty with the cards.  She used patterned paper, stamps, colored pencils and markers.