A Kreations by Kim original MTC file - scalloped gatefold card!!

My first one!  I saw a similar card in Cards magazine, decided to challenge myself by trying to make a file from scratch in MTC, and I did it - here it is!!  I know it wasn't rocket science or anything, but I was pretty excited.  I took a 6x6 square, welded two scalloped circles to it, then put the small circles in the scalloped areas to create the cutouts.  The butterfly is from SVG Cuts Edisto Island card set, and the papers are SU!  I needed to add something to the butterfly, so I got out my trusty gel pen and some adhesive gems from Michael's.  On the inside, all of the stamps are SU! except the "happy birthday' which I got at Michael's also. 

Not to be conceited or presumptive, but if anyone is interested in the MTC file, I will more than happily share it with you via e-mail.  Just leave me a comment with an e-mail to send it to, and I will gladly send it!  Thanks for visiting!

Happy Easter (and Passover)!!!!!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish all of my blogger "friends" a wonderful, happy Easter and Passover.  I had a wonderful Easter dinner with my Mom and boyfriend today (the rest of the brothers and their families were all elsewhere), and then my Flyers had an awesome win.  So, I enjoyed today, and I hope all of you did as well!! 

So embarassing, I should not even post...

My first explosion boxes are REALLY, REALLY bad. They are so elementary, it looks like a 5 year old did them. UGH! I ran out of both time and ideas on these, but they were for my niece and nephew for their birthdays. She is 14, he is 17, and the good news is, since they have never seen one, they kept saying how awesome the boxes were. I used a couple of double sided cardstock sheets from Martha Stewart's birthday stack, and some SU! and Recollections accent papers. The numbers on the bottom are cut from Celebrations, and the inner stickers are all Recollections, and the pockets on the outer squares were where I put the money!  I had so many cards to do last weekend that I got really lazy and used stickers as I ran out of time. Anyway, thanks for visiting today!

Cute lion birthday gatefold

I made this for my niece who is turning 14 this week.  She still likes some cutesy things, so this was OK for her, lol.  The lion is from Life's A Party, the card base is DCWV Animal Crackers, the animal print is a special pack from Recollections, and the inisde stamps are SU!  The outside stamps are from two different Clear Dollar Stamp sets, and the tag is from LAP also, with a couple of SU! buttons to accent it.  I also made the lion a wobbler with my homemade wobble springs, even though you can't tell from the pic.  I think that covers it all, so thanks for visiting!

Well, I got lazy.

I used the exact same file from my boyfriend's birthday card, and made one for my friend at work.  They turned 30 within days of one another, and with all of the craziness going on for me right now, I just didn't have the energy to start from scratch.  So, here is another waterfall card with some different SU! patterns, all from a pack that was recently on clearance.  The butterfly cardstock is from a DCWV stack.  The stamp on the top is also SU! and the one on the inside of the pull flap is from a set at Michael's.

 Thanks for visiting today!

Waterfall birthday card

This was my card to my boyfriend last week.  I did the flower waterfall card from SVG Cuts and picked some nice, springy colors and patterns to try to pick up his mood.  All of the patterened papers are from Stampin' Up!, but I don't remember the name of the pack, sorry.  I used the Curlz font from Windows to cut out the 3,0, and exclamation points, and the chipboard on the inside is from a DCWV Sweet Stack embellishment pack.  The stamps on the inside of the pull strip are SU! also, and I hand wrote the inside later.

The second flap is a 0 under there - I just realized when I uploaded these that I didn't get a pic of the middle flap, but you get the idea, right?  LOL.  Thanks for visiting today!

Second birthday card for my boyfriend

I wanted to make a simple, silly card for him with the skunk from CAC and the saying "Happy stinkin' birthday".  Haha...I used a few stickers from a DCWV birthday stack, and patterned paper from Joann's.  the sentiment was made using the gel pen and holder from Amy Chomas.  Since this was a really, really simple and easy card, I amde this from my cat, Tigger.  LOL!!!!  I drew a paw print on it and signed her name to it.  I know, I'm weird, but he needed a laugh and that is exactly what this produced.  Thanks for visiting today, and I hope this brings a smile to your face too!!

Happy birthday to my honey!

Yes, you are reading that correctly.  My boyfriend really did have surgery 3 days before his 30th birthday....poor guy.  I made three cards for him, and here is the first. 

I decided that since he was laid up from surgery, I wanted something happy and upbeat, so I used an SVG from Lettering Delights called Pucker Up.  I also put a layer of acetate on top of the "glass" to give it a mor realistic look and feel.  Stickles were applied to the entire outside of the acetate, and the tag is from the MTC gallery.  The buttons are from Joann's, and th border on the inside is from a K&Co embellishment pack.  Both stamps are SU! and the background mat is from Making memories Just Chill stack.  I think that about covers all of it, so thanks for visiting and stay tuned for the other 2 cards over the next couple of days!

Get well card

I made this for my boyfriend for my family to sign, so I intentionally left it mostly blank.  I also intentionally used a crab on the front - JEEZ he has been crabby.  With very good reason, though.  Surgery went well yesterday, and he is on his way to recovery, two plates and 6 screws later.  Anyway, on to the card details!

I used a crab from a google freely distributed image, and then brought it into MTC to make into a cutting file.  I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the squares folder, and I cut the band aid from an MTC gallery file, so thank you to whoever uploaded that file!  I cut the top layer from vellum to give it a sheer look, then accentuated the holes with black marker.  The card base is from DCWV, the outside sentiment was printed and hand cut (boring, I know, but I just wanted to get it done and had to improvise having no crafting materials at that point in time), and the inside stamps are Clear Dollar Stamps on the top and a stamp from Michael's on the bottom.  Thanks for visiting today!

Just when I was getting my groove back...

...my boyfriend has to go and shatter his ankle.  How dare he??  LOL!!  Sorry, I shouldn't laugh.  The poor guy was playing ice hockey in his league on Sunday, and he text'd me that he was in an ambulance with a broken ankle.  Well, that was putting it mildly - his ankle should be two pieces (the medial and lateral malleolus, for those in the medical field), and instead he has about 10 pieces now.  YIKES!  So I have been taking care of his every need, and have had NO time to even look at my craft stuff.  Surgery is next Tuesday, so if anyone wants to say a little prayer for him (and me too!), that would be great.  I also made him aware of how supremely lucky he is to have a girlfriend who makes a career out of sports medicine!!  I guess I will be crafting during his percoset naps over the next couple of weeks.  Wish us both luck!

Another birthday card

Again, for my 20 year old niece, lol.  This one is from the Life's a Party cart, and I used some loose double sided paper from AC Moore.  The "flames" on the candles are SU! So Saffron, and the stamps are both SU!  I did the cake "layers" in a coordinating pink and brown flowered print and added a borwn ribbon at the top.

I felt like doing a brown and pink theme today, so that's what I did for this one!  It's really simple, since all of the work was done by the cartridge, so there isn't much to say here!  Thanks for visiting. 

Berry happy birthday

This card is for my niece's 20th birthday tomorrow.  I am loving this Lettering Delights dollar sale, and these are two sets I got last week.  I alos need to thank Jin at Under a Cherry Tree.  Disclaimer:  she also used strawberries and the pun "berry" on hers, but I SWEAR I had this idea before I saw that!!  But yes, it is a scraplift technically, so thanks Jin!! The card base is from the Sweet Nothings SVG set, and the strawberries are from a graphic set called Love is Sweet.  I did print and cut with the berries and lettering (with a free font from Urbanfonts.com),  and I did the layers in MTC so I could align them with the windows in the card - yay me!  I added some ribbon to each of the tabs/windows, a couple of color coordinated mats for the inside, an SU! stamp.  This card was so easy, it's unreal.  I feel like the front is still a little plain, but with the tabs, I'm not sure what else I can do.  Thoughts???  The third picture is the front with the wondows all opened up.  Thanks for visiting today!

Finally - a card!

This is for my niece's birthday Friday, and all cuts are from Simply Charmed.  I thought it turned out kind of cute.  I used DCWV Glitter stack for the card base, and a Recollections pack from Michaels for all of the cuts.  The "frosting" is DCWV glitter cardstock, and it had to be cut twice to go through.

I must say, I got the Roland blades in the mail yesterday and used them for these cuts and they are MUCH better than the Cricut blades.  They cut through the varnish on the cardstock perfectly, whereas the Cricut blades always have had a hard time doing that, so I'm happy with my new blades!  But I digress....I used SU! stamps and ink on the inside, and a white gel pen to add some dimension and a little pop.  This card has to go to Miami, so I didn;t want to make it 3D and have it get messed up in the mail.  I always keep snail mail cards simple and flat, boring as that is.  If you're interested in the blades, go here.  The 45 degree blades are equivalent to the standard blades and the 60 degree blades are equivalent to the deep cut.  Thanks for visiting today!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

OK, well, I'm not Irish, but I was going to make a card for all of YOU, my blogger friends and follwers last night.  BUT....I forgot my flash drive at work, and it is still sitting in my work computer from yesterday afternoon.  Therefore, all of my good intentions went for nothing, LOL!!  However, since Lettering Delights is so wonderful and allows you access to your purchased files any time through their website, I was able to retrieve one of the files I planned to use, so here is how I feel about all of you:

 

I am very appreciative of all of you and your comments.  I know I haven't been doing much lately, but my head just hasn't been into crafting much these days.  However, I am coming up on many, many family birthdays and occasions, so I will be back at it regularly very soon.  Thank you for your patience and your friendship.  Enjoy your day, everyone!

Spring facelift and a blog award!

It's been a crazy week, but I finally got to sit at the computer for a minute or two, and do some spring cleaning and sprucing!!  So, what do you think of the new look???  I was definitely ready, and I hope it's easy on everyone's eyes.

Second, Stacy over at Love that Bug (love her!!!) bestowed upon me this awesome blog award a couple of weeks back, but I am just getting around to posting it (sorry, Stacy!!).  BTW, she has an AMAZING Create a Critter series going on over on her blog, so please stop by and give her some much deserved love over there!!  I really need to get out that cart again, she is so inspiring!  I'm not sure that there are 8 new things I could tell you about me, but here are a few:
1.  I tried ice skating for the first time ever last month.  It did NOT go well, lol.
2.  I love adult cartoons - Archer, South Park, The Simpsons.
3.  I got 4 carats of diamonds from my boyfriend for Christmas after 3 years of being together.  None of them were in ring form.  LOL!!!
4.  I get choked up when that stupid commercial with Sarah McLaughlin comes on with all of the abused animals.   : (

That's all I could come up with, sorry!!!  OK, now to pass it along to 8 deserving blogs:
1.  Jin at Under a Cherry Tree
2.  Barb at Snowmanlover's Paperie
3.  Melissa at Melissa's Scrappen Place
4.  Kristie at 2 Ducky Designs
5.  Amber at Staying Crafty
6.  Tanya at Nonna's Craft Corner
7.  Lorraine at Card Creations By Lorraine
8.  Elizabeth at 217 Creations

Thank you again Stacy for this award!!

Probably my favorite card yet!!

I LOVE the way this card turned out, but I can't take any credit for the design of it, lol!!!  This is one of the waterfall cards from the SVG Cuts set, and I am SO glad that I went ahead and got this!!  It took a while to put together all of the pieces, and the part that took the most time was picking out all of the different colors and patterns!!  This is a birthday card for a good friend of mine, and I really can't wait to hear from her about how she likes it!  I even included a video this time so you can see it in action, because it is awesome!!

OK, here are the specifics: all papers and stamps are Stampin' Up, which made it really easy to coordinate.  I wish I could remember all of the colors and patterns I used, but unfortunately, I cannot.  However, Barb over at Snowmanlover will probably be able to tell you, if you want to head on over and ask her!  I also used the Divine Swirls on the icing cuts, added some pale green MS gems to the tops of the cupcakes, and the ribbons and brads are from Michael's.  There were a lot of components and details to this card, but I think it is well worth it, don't you??  OK, and finally, here is the video showing the waterfall card in action.  Thanks for visiting today!

Major panic attack!!

Wow....it's been a crazy week!  I have not gotten ANY crafting done for two big reasons.  First, I have been working late nights with my basketball team in the playoffs.  Most important, and definitely most SCARY, was the fact that I LOST my flash drive with ALL of my thousands of SVG, MTC, JPG files, etc.  WHAAAAAA?? 

This flash drive had not only free files that I downloaded, but many, many that I had purchased from my fave SVG websites.  I searched everywhere for this thing the last two days, when I actually had projects to do and a little time to do them.  Finally, this morning, after scouring the house, I looked out in my car, and there it was, lying on the seat where I had my computer bag when I left my boyfriend's Monday.  Apparently there is a huge hole in the small pocket where I put the thing when I left his place Monday, and thank God it fell out in my car!!  I am going to Best Buy TODAY to get a new one and copy everything on to a new one for a back-up.

So, has anyone else ever had this panic, and thought they lost all of their files???  UGH!!  Anyway, I hope to be making something tonight because I have lots of birthdays coming up in the next week or two.  Hope everyone has had a great week!!

More wedding invitation stuff

I did a couple more pieces for my niece's wedding invites, so here they are!  The first is a response card I made up, and the stamp is one I got off of eBay, with SU! Tempting Turquoise ink.  I thought it was perfect!  The flourish in the corner is an SU wheel stamp, and the cardstock for both projects here is SU! Early Espresso and Tempting Turquoise. 

This second piece is a place card I found at a wonderful site by a woman who has a Craft Robo machine, and shares some AMAZING SVG files.  You absolutely need to check out her work here.  Her name is Monica, and her site is Monica's Creative Room, and she has some seriously intricate cards, 3D objects, etc.  Please go visit her if you have MTC or SCAL.  OK, on to the actual project.  She made an amazing place card with a heart theme, so I decided to go ahead and give it a shot and see if my niece would like these.  She has not asked me about seating cards, but I figured, what the heck, I'll ask her!  So, what do you all think???

I altered it slightly by creating a shadow layer for the heart in MTC so I could incorporate all of her colors, and then to finish it off, I used a white gel pen around all of the hearts.  Thanks for visiting today!

Puppy shaped card

How adorable is this little guy????  Oh my....SVG Cuts could NOT have made this easier to make.  It's from the new Charm and Chance set, and I think this is going to be my niece's birthday card this spring.  She loves her little dog, and I just thought of her as soon as I saw the cut.  The card base was cut to fit to a 12x12 page, and the final product is 4x5.  A little smaller than I usually like, but it's fine.  The flower gem in the collar is from some random embellishment set that I can't even remember!  LOL.  You should really take a look at this kit - it has this card, a clover shaped card, a pot of gold treat box, and even more cute stuff!!

I left the inside plain for now, until I am 100% sure what this card is going to be used for, but I added some dimension to the front with a white gel pen and pop dots for the ears.  It's so simple, there is nothing more to say, so thanks for visiting today!  **DISCLAIMER**  Just to let everyone know, I have NO affiliation with any graphic/svg site, company, etc.  Just in case anyone was ever wondering, LOL.

A couple of updates and a thank you!!

OK, first, let me tell you the update on the Christening cards.  My brother and niece (she's 12) came to mom's after the party, and my niece was recounting how the girls liked the cards.  She said the older one asked her if she made the card, because Hello Kitty is her absolute favorite, and the card was awesome!!  I said, "Wait a minute.  A four year old said that???"  She said, "Aunt Kim, she's not 4, she's almost 8!!"  LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I cracked up.  So the moral of the story is do not trust a single 30-something man to tell you ages of children that aren't his own.  While he said 4 and one and a half, they are actually almost 8 and 3!!!!  HAHAHA!!!!  Too funny.

Second, I want to THANK all of you with your encouraging and kind comments on my post earlier about possibly having to sell my Cricut and carts and stop crafting.  On Monday, another of my brothers (I have four!) said, "Hold on a second, something isn't right.  Let me have your W2's."  He called later to tell me that I must have done somehting wrong (not a shocker), because he worked it all up and I only owe NJ $450, not $2,000!!!!  Thank God for small miracles.  Does this solve my overall financial porblems??  NOPE!!  LOL.  However, in the short term, it does solve this crisis.  I really appreciate all of your support and kind words, so I wanted to thank everyone for that. 

Thirdly, I have today off and I plan on working on a bunch of fun things, so I hope you all decide to come back over the next few days and check it all out!!

Christening Wobbler cards

My brother was asked to be a Godfather for two sisters today, and one of them is four, the other is 15 months.  I didn't really have any carts or images appropriate for a baptism or christening, so I figured using cute angels would work.  I can't believe that I typed all of this out at first, only to forget to write that I made them WOBBLER cards!!  WOW....the wobbling action was really cute, since they are angels.  Kitty actually looked like she was flying!  One is from Hello Kitty font, and the other is an SVG Cuts bear from Candy Cherub Bears.  The tags are from Once Upon a Princess, and I used Amy Chomas' gel pen holder and Staples gel pens for the sentiments on the tags, and on the inside of the HK card.  The pen I wanted to use for the other card was really acting up, so I gave up and used an SU! stamp for the inside of the pink one.  I used Divine Swirls for the pink bear, and the patterned papers are just loose sheets from Michaels.  The cross stamp on the inside is also from Michaels dollar bin, which I love, PS.

The font for the inside of the HK card was French Script, and I used MTC to do it all!  Well, I think that covers it all.  I didn't realize until I wrote this post how much I had going on with these cards!  Thanks for visiting today.

Valentine Treats

I made one of these for each of my nieces and nephews to go with the printed LD Valentine cards.  I filled them with assorted candy, attached the Valentine, and put a word search / crossowrd with it for all of them last Sunday.  The pattern for the heart box was generously shared for free at Kalo Designs, and it really is simple and CUTE!  The crossword and word search were more printable files from Lettering Delights, and all of the paper is from K&Co's double sided pack that came out this year. 

These are from the LD set Valentine Game Night in the printable files.

The last picture here is the finished product for them.  I just glued the card to the heart, and put the word search combo under them.  I wanted to put a ribbon, but most of them are boys and/or older than 12, so I figured the ribbon was a bit to frilly.  LOL.  Thanks for visiting today.

Valentine's gifts from yesterday

Well, as some of my readers may know, money is tight these days (lol, understatement of the century).  I love to get my boyfriend the Edible Arrangements for Valentine's Day because he loves them so much, but they are SOOOO expensive.  SO, I decided to try to MAKE him one this year for V Day.  Yep, you read that right, make one.  His favorite part of them are the dipped bananas that are half white chocolate, half milk chocolate, so I knew I had to put some in there.  Wow, did this take a while.  Here are the details:  I used a heart shaped regular cookie cutter for the pineapple; the "greenery" on the foam base is just kale; skewer sticks are holding everything up; and I used white, milk, and peanut butter Nestle chips for the strawberries and bananas.  They were the most difficult, because I had to dip one flavor on half, then put it in the freezer without it dripping, then dip the other half after a few minutes.  Whew!

I was disappointed how sparse mine looked, and it definitely does not make the grade in comparison to the real thing.  But when he walked in and saw it, he thought it was actually bought until I told him I made it.  So that's good, right?  What do you think????

So, for my gift.....I got some beautiful roses, an adorable stuffed gorilla couple with chocolates, and......drumroll please........A DIAMOND RING!!!!  Here it is:

HAHAHAHA!!!  I laughed so hard when I saw this.  He is too funny.  So, there's my ring!  Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day today!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day!  My Valentine's Day was tainted a bit because my boyfriend had to have an emergency root canal.  I told him he can make it up to me this weekend, lol.  In the meantime, I am obssessed with Lettering Delights lately.  Here is a printable set I bought last week called Dinomite Valentine Cards.  They are so cute, and I chose one to give to each of my nieces and nephews. 

 Secondly, here is the card I made for my honey for today.  This is also an LD set, called Stuck on You.  I got the SVG set, but with that comes a PDF, so I decided to do a print and cut for this card.  I also printed extra peanuts and strawberries to add some dimension to the "jars".  The paper is from K&Co Valentine double sided stack, and I printed out a nice saying for the inside.  Thanks for visiting today!

I'm back...with a Valentine's project!

Well, the whole tax issue isn't settled yet, but I decided to wait until April this year to figure out things and file, so in the meantime, it's time to craft again!

Wednesday, I was at my Mom's, and my nephew had a note that said the kids would be exchanging Valentines on Thursday, the next day, and he needed to make a box for receiving cards.  WELL, I immediately told my sister-in-law that I could make him an actual mailbox if she wanted, so that's what I did!  This is from an SVG Cuts set, and I didn't do the greatest job, but it was kind of a rush!  I used K&Co paper, and cut the double heart from the file, then joined his name into it with MTC to create the cut out name tag.  I cut the pieces at 11.4 in MTC and it came out a perfect size.

I just took a red marker and made some faux stitching on the hearts to give it a little detail, and that's about it.  I also gave him some stickers to finish it off as he desired.  No sense in me doing ALL of it for him, lol.  If you are interested in the file, go here.  I plan on working on some more V-day projects this weekend, so hopefully I will have plenty more to share this week!  Thanks for visiting today, and for hanging in there with me!

No more crafting????

Well, I think I may have reached the end of the line for crafting.  I sat down to do my taxes, and apparently the state of New Jersey expects me to pull $2000 out of my rectum for taxes.  Ummm....well.....I made $22,000 last year, and have $75,000 in student loans from a Masters Degree, and another $7,000 in credit card debt from paying for basic essentials (gas, groceries, tolls), because all of my pay goes to student loans.  I no longer have any pride in hiding my debt numbers, so it's all out there now.  I no longer have any shame, nor do I care - I didn't get into debt from gambling or drugs or even shopping addiction - so whatever.  I went back to college, that's it.

Unfortunately, this most likely means I am going to have to sell all of my Cricut and craft stuff, which is going to break my heart, but oh well.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Once I started trying to hatch plans for getting money that involved illegal activity, I realized I have hit rock bottom financially.  No more trying to keep my head above water and paying bills.  I can't do it, and it's time to just accept it and move on.  If by some chance I don't get enough $$$ for my Cricut stuff to pay this tax bill, then I guess I will hold onto it and someday get back into using it. 

Thank you for listening to me vent, and thank you for all of your following and your wonderful comments over the last year.  If anyone knows of anywhere I can get a miracle, please feel free to let me know!!  Take care, everyone.  And thank you again!