Bird-Themed Luncheon Table

I'M BACK!!!!!!!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, and I do apologize for the long hiatus...moving to a new home took over my life for a bit, but things seem to be settling down (finally!) and I'm back in the crafting mode!  :)

Recently, I volunteered to host a table at our annual mom's group luncheon.  Each "hostess" plans a theme for her table and decorates with whatever she wants.  I chose "birds" because I have a slight obsession with them!  Here's another pic:

The "tree" in the middle looks a little lopsided in the picture for some reason, but didn't look that way in person!?!?  Why am I posting this on my crafty blog?  Because I used my BFF Cricut to make a lot of the little embellishments on the table of course!

These little favor bags are just tulle bags from Hobby Lobby, filled with birdseed and tied.  I used my Storybook Cartridge "D (+shift+shadow)" for the bird base and "D (+shift)" for the top layer of the bird.  I ran the birds through my printer after cutting them to print "Thank You" on them.  You can see my tutorial on how to do this HERE.  Then I just hot glued them to the little bag!

I also used the bird cut from the Storybook Cartridge for the tree centerpiece, adding about 8 birdies to the branches.  To add a little more detail to the tree, I also cut about 35 flowers from the Florals Embellished Cartridge "Flower7 (+shift+Layer1)".  I cut a slit in each one to the center, overlapped the cut edges and glued, making them 3D.  Then I glued a pearl in the center of each and attached to the branches.

For napkin decorations (instead of napking rings), I folded the napkins using a "bird nest napkin folding" tutorial I found HERE.  I placed a twig in the center of each, and then a small grapevine birds nest complete with a little birdie (supplies from Hobby Lobby).  Isn't he cute?!?!

And here is the table all set up!  I used a bird embellished planter to hold the tree centerpiece, wooden birdhouses, framed bird prints, wicker decorative balls, bird embellished tea light holders and other bird decor from around my house.  To finish the table off, and add a little "treat" for those sitting at my table, I made birdnest cookies!

I must say that I do NOT like coconut, but I made these and tried them and they were actually really tasty!  You can find the recipe HERE.  The "eggs" are Jordan Almonds I found at Wal-Mart.  I put each cookie in a bad and tied with raffia.

The last crafty thing I did was to make prayer verse cards.  I printed three prayer verses onto cardstock, trimmed them into rectangles, inked the edges and stamped a bird image on the center.  These were displayed in a trio of birdhouse place card holders from Willow House (pg. 29 of current catalog). 

So that's it!  Here are some of the other FAB tables my girlies decorated...

Mari & Lindsay: Pink, Black & White

Leslie: Picnic

Nicole: Black, White & Lemons

Charity: Back To School

*I didn't get a photo of Gretchen's table because these were taken before hers was set-up.  :(  It was a great luncheon (with yummy food!) and we had 13 new moms attend!  SUCCESS!!!

Thanks for looking!

Teacher Appreciation: Thank You For Helping Us Bloom!

It's National Teacher Appreciation Week, and although the Mess Maker's preschool doesn't really "celebrate" the occasion (which I think is a travesty!), I wanted to do something for the teachers to let them know how appreciated they are!

The idea for this plant stake came from an original design by "Dimple Prints" HERE.  I designed a similar sentiment in Word, and then punched it out with a circle punch.  I added a green and white circle mat (Cricut: George cartridge), and then a yellow scalloped circle (Cricut: Storybook cartridge) for the flower. 

I attached the flower to a wooden skewer.  But I wanted to make sure the teachers knew it was from the entire class, so I decided to add each child's name to a leaf (Cricut: Doodlecharms cartridge).  The leaves were cut at 3/4", and then I ran them through my printer to print the names on them.  I have a tutorial HERE on how to do this if you're interested!

I hot glued the leaves to the skewer and added a narrow green ribbon.  Mrs. S gets a green Hydrangea plant because green is her favorite color, and Mrs. T gets a Gardenia plant because that's her favorite flower.  :)

To all of the wonderful teachers out there who educate, nuture, entertain, shape and encourage our children...

THANK YOU!!!

Custom Christmas Gift Tags!

My friend Tommie, "The Seriously Sweet Party Expert" at OhMyGluestick! designs adorable party circles for any occasion or holiday you can think of...including Christmas.  I would normally use these as cupcake toppers attached to candy sticks, but since I'm not making cupcakes for the holidays, I decided to make gift tags out of them.

Now I don't know about you, but I think some of the stick-on type labels are kind-of tacky (not all, but most!).  Unless I shell out the bucks for them, they're usually cheapo and have somewhat of a glossy surface, which then makes my ink smear and look awful!  Unfortunately, they are absolutely necessary to keep the gifts going to right recipients!  :)

So here's the perfect solution:  use printed party circles and attach them to bows to make your own custom, perfectly-coordinating gift tags!  The set I used for these projects are from the Red & Green Holiday Set:

Aren't these super-cute?  There are several other holiday options available at the OhMyGluestick Etsy shop as well.

I used a 1 3/4" circle punch to punch out the circles, leaving a bit of the printed border surrounding the circles.  Then I used my Cricut (Storybook cartridge) to cut 2" scallop circles to mat the printed circles.  I used a cardstock from my scrap stash and made these little cuties for nearly nothing!  And the best part is that my writing (on the back of each tag) didn't smear a bit because I was able to write on mat cardstock!  :)

I also added tags to these little gift bags (20 for $1.00 in the $1 bins at Target) which hold The Mess Maker's handmade Christmas ornaments to give to family this Christmas:

Thanks for looking and have a creative day!

You Are My Sunshine Layout: FCCB Challenge #38--Ribbon!

I love ribbon...along with Cricut cartridges, it's an absolutely obsession!  I use it on almost every project I make.  So how fun is this week's Fantabulous Cricut challenge: Ribbon!?!?!?!  You can use any cartridge, any cut on any project...you just have to incorporate ribbon!  :)

For this layout, I used George to cut a 6" circle for the sun in the upper left corner.  I trimmed the sides to be flush with the page and punched holes along the bottom border to thread my ribbon into.  Both the ribbon and the strips of patterned paper mimic the sun's rays.

For the title, I used Storybook and used hot pink to make the shadow for each letter.  I also used Accent Essentials to cut the layers of the flowers.  I curled each petal, inked them, layered them together with a brad and then added a button (with ribbon!) for the center.

I used my CTMH Edge Distresser on almost every piece of this layout...so fun!  Gave it some fun texture, too.

  I also used my Autumn Terracotta ink (CTMH) to give everything an orange, "sunny glow"!

Hop on over to FCCB and link up your own Cricut ribbon project for your chance to win this week's prize!

Happy crafting!  :)

Using Party Circles On Cricut & Scrapbooking Projects

My friend Tommie, The Seriously Sweet Party Expert from OhMyGluestick!, gave me early access to her new Harvest Party Circles to prepare some projects and a tutorial over at Fantabulous Cricut!  How stinkin' cute are these:

Adorable!!!

My tutorial shows how to use your Cricut to assemble these cuties into everything from cupcake and treat toppers (which they are designed for) to magnets to cards and more.  Click HERE to go to FCCB and see the tutorial. 

Here are some of the projects I made with the Harvest Party Circles by OMG!:

1.  Cupcake/Treat Toppers (tutorial at FCCB)

2.  Glass Marble Refrigerator Magnets

3.  Custom Brads

4.  Greeting Card (Owl is from Storybook cartridge)

5.  Gift Tag (acorn is from Create a Critter cartridge)

Head over to FCCB for more information!  And be sure to check out OhMyGluestick! for adorable graphics for your next party or Cricut project!

Have a creative day!  :)

Fall Wine Glass Charms: FCCB Challenge #32 Leaf Theme

This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut is to create a project using a leaf for Fall!

I haven't made wine glass charms in a while, and thought this was the perfect opportunity to make some new ones to celebrate this gorgeous season!  They're soooooo easy and really turned out pretty cute!  To make the leaves, I used the Storybook cartridge and cut the leaf (shift "B") out of clear shrink plastic at 2 1/2" three times.  I inked each leaf using a different color of Adirondack (Tim Holtz) alcohol ink with a sponge dauber.  Then I punched a hole at the top of each with a standard size hole punch.

To shrink the plastic, I used my heat gun.  The two sides of the leaves wanted to overlap a little while shrinking and not lay completely flat, which actually made them look a little more "realistic" and less one-dimensional.  One shrunk, I added them to a silver ring and added some coordinating glass beads and the ring of leaves to a metal charm loop.

That's it!  Hope you check out Fantabulous Cricut's FANTABULOUS prize for this week and enter your own Fall leaf project for your chance to win!

Have a creative day!  :)

"Royal Cupcakes": FCCB Challenge #30 Natl. Bake & Decorate Month!

This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut is called "National Bake & Decorate Month": create a project that has something to do with baking...and if we have the Cricut Cake, we can use that to create something tasty as well.  Well, I don't have the Cricut Cake.  :(  But that didn't stop me from whipping up something tasty!!!

I made some chocolate chip cupcakes and decided to dress them up a bit in honor of this week's challenge.  I have to brag a little on the super-cute graphics...because I didn't make them!!!  My friend Tommie, from OhMyGluestick! designs graphics that you can use for party decorations, including these little "party circles" which I used as cupcake toppers.  This set of four designs is from the "Alice In Wonderland" set (which was one of the featured free sets a while back!) and features the ace, spade, heart and club.  How fun would these be for a card game get-together or royal-themed party???  OMG! has an Etsy shop with TONS of graphics for party decor, and she does custom designs as well.  Go check her out!

Okay, to complete my cupcake toppers, I punched each image using a 1 1/2" circle punch.  Then I used my Cricut to cut a 1 3/4" circle (George & Basic Shapes) to mat the image and a 2" scallop circle (Storybook) to mat the circle.  I added stickles to the dot borders on each image to give them some sparkle and added a rhinestone in the center of each.  To finish, I attached them to lollipop sticks and tied coordinating ribbon around the sticks.  Super-easy and super-quick, and I think they're pretty stinkin' cute!

Hope you'll visit both OMG! (for fabulous party decor ideas) and Fantabulous Cricut to enter your own "Bake & Decorate" project. 

Have a creative (and yummy) day!!!  :)

FANTABULOUS CRICUT CRAWL: Button Up For School!

Welcome to Organized Chaos and the second "Fantabulous Cricut Crawl": Button Up For School!  It's Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop!

If you've come from visiting Melin at Cooking With Cricut, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start HERE.

In honor of Back To School time, we're calling our second Fantabulous Cricut Crawl "Button Up For School"...each design team member will be featuing a button somewhere on their project!  Here's a sneak peek of mine...scroll down to see my project!

Each Design Team member will be featuing an original project featuring a button AND a Cricut cut somewhere on the project. Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration! There will be prizes along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be a grand prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a project meeting the the "Button Up For School" challenge criteria!

How fun is that?

Here's my project for the Crawl:

I made a card for my daughter's pre-k teacher using the Cricut "Just Because Cards" cartridge for the apple and layers, and the Storybook cartridge for the marquee-shaped frame.  All pieces were inked and the frame was popped off the page with foam adhesive.  The "bite" mark was made by punching a small scallop on the edge of the apple.

Where are the buttons???  Look closely...they make up the little worm peeking out of the apple!  I used four mini green buttons.  For the face, I used a white ink pen to outline the holes to make the eyes.  On the other three, I punched a small green circle and adhered the circles on top.  I also added little antenna!

You might be wondering what the rest of the sentiment says...well, here ya go:

Hee hee!  :)

Okay, time for prizes!!!  I am giving away a super-fun prize for the Crawl...a brand NEW full-size Close To My Heart clear stamp set!!!  The set is called "Piece of Cake" (retired!) and features different cakes and sentiments, perfect for using on those handmade birthday cards:

Here's how you can win this fabulous stamp set:

1.  Leave a comment on this post...let me know what your favorite subject was in school!

2.  Become a follower of my blog.

Now it's your turn! See if you can incorporate a button on your own "Button Up For School" project. Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project, too!

Next stop...Leigh's blog, My Scrappy Journey.  Go see what she has in store for you today!  And when you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest for the GRAND PRIZE!!!!

Happy Crawling!

Monkey Birthday Invitations (Create a Critter)

My neice (who is also my God-daughter) is turning one on May 29th and I got to make her birthday invitations!!!  My sister and her husband call Avery their "little monkey" so the theme for her first birthday was pretty much decided a long time ago.  :)

My sister likes the "Pink Mod Monkey" themed party supplies, so the colors and girly monkey are inspired by those.  For the monkey I used Create a Critter...can I just tell you this is my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE cartridge?!?!?  I used black cardstock for the base, medium brown for Layer 1 and light brown for Layer 2.  She's cut at 3".  I added a flower to her head to make her a "girl monkey", which was cut from Wedding Solutions.

I added some leafy ribbon I purchased from my LSS to the top left corner, punched a mini hole in the monkey's hand and added a small ring to hang her from the vine...she swings!!!  The scallop circle and circle were cut from Storybook and I printed the wording onto the circles after they were cut.  I added a ribbon to ground the circle and attached the the circle with foam adhesive to make it pop.

I made the inside by just running the cardstock through my printer before trimming it and constructing the card base.  The monkey is from my Micorsoft Word Clipart...how cute is she???

Thanks for looking and have a creative day!

Paper Orchid

I found a tutorial by a really crafty lady named Tarah Faulkner on YouTube on how to make a paper orchid.  She cut the petals for each flower by hand and used cardstock to wrap  the stems.  Since I'm "busy" (read: "lazy") I decided to use my beloved Cricut to help me make one of my own!

For this project, I used the following Cricut cartridges and sizes for my flowers:
1.  Accent Essentials: Accent33 (+shift) at 4" for narrow petals
2.  Storybook: "B" (+shift, +Accent/Blackout) at 2" for wide petals
3.  Walk In My Garden: Leaf1 (+Blackout) at 1 1/4" for ruffled petal

Using the Cricut took only a fraction of the time it would have taken to cut these petals by hand.  Additionally, I did not attach each petal to a piece of floral wire, as was shown in the tutorial for this project. I simply curled each petal with my stylus and then hot glued them to the center piece (which is attached to floral wire).  And instead of using dampened cardstock strips to wrap the stems, I used floral tape!  This also cut my assembly time tremendously!

Hope you enjoy this project!  Have a creative day!!!  :)

Vegetable Garden Stakes For My New Garden!

We've been out of town for a couple of weeks so I haven't had a chance to post photos of my new vegetable garden!  Compliments to my dad who basically did the whole thing thanks to my lack of muscle strength and inability to effectively shovel dirt.  :)

More on the vegetable stakes I made in a minute...

Now keep in mind that I was just thinking about a basic wood box with dirt thrown in...but, if you know my dad, you know that nothing (I mean NOTHING) can be a simple project.  I suppose it's the engineer in him.  Due to concerns that untreated wood might be a lure for termites and that treated wood might have chemicals that could seep into the vegetables, we went with stone pavers to contain the garden.  I must admit it looks nice, but OMG it was a LOT more work.  :)

The CFO was 100% against having a garden, which he describes as "work".  I, on the other hand, consider a garden to be FUN.  I obviously won the fight.  :) 

As you can see, the Mess Maker was in favor of a garden, too, because she wanted to "grow the vegetables" (aka water them).

We decided to go with tomatoes (two varieties), carrots, onions, bell peppers, radishes and cucumbers along with some herbs: basil, oregano, sage, thyme, parsley and rosemary.  The cucumbers are in a whiskey barrel next to the fence...I didn't want them to completely take over my little 4x8 foot garden. 

Now for the stakes:

Not that I can't identify the vegetables just by how they look, but I thought it'd be fun to "jazz" it up a bit by adding the garden stakes.  I used my Cricut, of course, some inking to make the signs look weathered, and LOTS of piecing together to make the individual vegetables.  For durability, I laminated each sign and then hotglued them to a stake to insert in the ground. 

Here is a rundown of what I used:

Sign:  Walk In My Garden (WIMG)

Lettering: All Mixed Up

  Tomato: pumpkin and palm tree top from Doodlecharms (DC)

Radish: bee from WIMG

Pepper: popsicle from DC

Carrot: pine branch from Joys Of The Season (JOTS)

Onion: bulb from JOTS

Basil: leaf from Blackletter

Sage: leaf from Blackletter

Rosemary: branch from Storybook (SB)

Parsley: branch from SB

Thyme: vine from SB

Oregano: branch from SB

And here is the finished result:

Thanks for looking and have a creative day!  (And if you have any tips on keeping my currently green vegetable plants alive, please, do share...I'm not exactly known as a green thumb!)  :)