Theme Challenge - Holiday

Happy Friday! Is anyone else beginning to be in a dead panic that Christmas is just over a week away? My hand is up!! I decided to make this week's theme "holiday" and not just Christmas because I don't want to limit what you can do! So any holiday would count for this challenge! My daughter must have learned about Kwaanza today because she came home asking if we were going to celebrate that too this year.

I decided to share with you a simple tag I created for a Cricut Circle swap (right before they snipped off my antennae) so if you are a Circlet friend I will apologize that this is not new to you. I am getting excited that the time to finally use my tags from that swap is here! Now only if I can bear to part with them - some I just want to keep and look at!

I started with a kraft paper base and then because these were made for a swap I didn't want to mess with adhesive or even bust out my trusty Xyron, so I decided to use vinyl - adhesive included and my problem was solved! The tag shape is from Winter Frolic and cut out at 5 inches. The poinsettas are from the Christmas solutions cart and that cut is 2.30 inches. I believe I did not cut out the middle layer, choosing instead to replace it with some heat set gems which always seems like a good idea until I am in the middle of having to put a million of them on. Apparently I wasn't a big enough glutton for punishment because I also added metal heat set studs to the ends of the scrolls too. I am thinking I must have more patience for Christmas in the summer than in December!

I hope you are inspired to share your holiday projects with us - they don't even have to be new! I think it would be nice to have a spot to get those last minute ideas! I sure as heck will need them! Happy crafting and happy holidays!

---Allison

Theme Challenge - Being Thankful

Happy almost Black Friday!! (My personal favorite holiday!) But since it is still a week away *sigh* I suppose I will have to give you a challenge! It's the third weekend of the month so that means a theme challenge and since that other holiday is getting near - you know the one where if you are lucky the stores open early? - this weekend's theme is being thankful. And in a little twist, I don't have a thanksgiving project.

Instead I have this altered gift bag I put together for a colleague because I know how thankful they are that their baby girl! The phrase is from the Sugar and Spice Lite cart and I cut it at about 3 inches (you can't tell from the pic but it is a tiny bag). It is also hard to see some of the sparkle of the DCWV Lemon Flower Mat stack paper - but it was glittery! 

So I can't wait to see your thankful projects and I hope I have shown you that they don't necessarily need to be about Thanksgiving - although that is okay too! Let's all get some crafting done before we start our shopping! Happy crafting! 

---Allison

Theme Challenge - Halloween

Hey everybody! Our fall - themed month continues this weekend with a focus on Halloween! I want to see what you guys are making!! Halloween is my favorite FAVORITE holiday - I just love it and I maybe perhaps even go a little overboard when I see Halloween stuff in the stores. And it is almost that magical time when they will start to clearance and it will all be mine!! I have a really quick and easy project to share with you - canvas bags that will be the goody bags for my daughter's class.

These are 9 by 7 canvas bags that I picked up last year at my local dollar store for 6 for $1 and so I decided that this year I would use my Pumpkin Carvings cart and my heat transfer vinyl to dress them up. (Last year I used glow-in-the-dark vinyl  - you can see that post here on my personal blog.) I asked my daughter to pick out her favorite faces and used the hide contour feature to hide the outline.All of the faces were cut at 5 inches.  I can't say enough how much I LOVE Pumpkin Carvings - definitely my top pick for best Halloween cartridge - it is just so versatile. 

Oh and if you haven't used heat transfer vinyl yet (yes I see all those guilty faces and I am giving you the stink eye) don't forget that it was the focus of this month's Technique Tuesday - click HERE to see it. I would like you to know that I timed myself putting these together tonight. Mind you I cut them all out the other night - but from start to finish (including weeding the vinyl) I finished 20 of these in 25 minutes. Not too shabby! If you are wondering what they will be filled with - let's see - I got them each a Halloween book and then there will be an assortment of goodies - kazoo, parachute guys, glow-in-the-dark bracelets and fingers, pencil, gross frogs, bouncy ball...... I did mention I tend to go overboard for Halloween right?? 

So let's see what you guys are up to for the "best time of year" (according to my daughter - yep that's my girl)!! Happy crafting!

---Allison