WOYWW 445 - A Clean Up and Progress

It is Wednesday and that means it is time to take a picture of my desk and share it on Julia's Stamping Ground for the whole world to see.  But even more fun than that is going and snooping around the desk of fellow crafters from around the world.

Here is my desk this week:

I have dog grooming tonight so I will be late in getting around to visit.

Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Luke 2:  4  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Bubble Greeting Cards - Hello Friend

It's time for another break from holiday shirts.  I will say I pressed 2 more shirts so there will be more coming.  In the mean time, I have been making some cards with the one of the stamp sets from last months Taylored Expressions release called Bubble Greetings.  Love, love, love these big 'fluffy' sentiments.  So many possibilities.  As a matter of fact, I am doing a class with them at Craft Inn using three different sentiments and three different techniques.

Hello Friend Card Recipe

This card was very simple, but doesn't necessarily look simple.  I stamped the Bubble Sentiment in Versamark ink and heat set it in black embossing powder.  I took Tim Holtz oxide inks in the pastel rainbow colors and rubbed the pad on my craft mat.  I spritzed the ink with water and used that to paint the letters in the word friend.  I made extra purple and flicked it on the water color card stock with my paint brush.  I matted the card front on a piece of purple card stock and put that on a card base.  That was it.  I might have added some enamel dots after I took the picture.  All cards need enamel dots - right?

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another t-shirt or card project.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Luke 2:  1 - 3   In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while[ Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.

Holiday Series T-shirt #6 - Jingle

Yep - the holiday shirts continue, but I was only able to make one for myself this weekend so I am behind.  I struggled with the color combination for my Twas the Night Before Christmas t-shirt and then I got busy making everyone else's t-shirts.  Today's shirt was a cut I bought from the Silhouette Design Store.  It's just a fun shirt along the lines of the Believe shirt we did last year.

Jingle T-shirt Recipe

I started with one of your traditional holiday color t-shirts - green.  Jingle came from the Silhouette Design Store.  Since I used scraps to cut out the vinyl, this shirt was quite economical.  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another t-shirt or card project.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Matthew 2:  9 - 12  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Holiday Series - T-shirt #5

Yep - I have yet another holiday t-shirt.  You might wonder why I made my Christmas shirts using t-shirts instead of long sleeve shirts or those fabulous raglands or baseball shirts.  Those fabulous raglands and baseball shirts can't be found on sale at Michaels and JoAnn's for $2 - $2.50.  But being cheap is not my only reason.  I am always cold.  My furnace not working when it's 25 degrees outside is not the only reason I am cold.  And don't worry we have a new one on the way and a gas fireplace to keep us warm.  But I digress.  Back to my always being cold.  I am always cold and I like to layer.  T-shirts can always be worn over the top of a long sleeve t-shirt which keeps me warm.  And if I make a mistake on my shirt, I don't feel like I have wasted a lot of money.  I've made a mistake on a ragland and it always bums me out.

Here is t-shirt #5:

Gina's Christmas T-Shirt Recipe

I am calling this Gina's Christmas T-shirt because she found the original online.  

When I saw it I wanted one too.  I didn't want to buy this one - I wanted to make my own.  I mean Gina's.  I wanted to make one for Gina.  LOL  I searched high and low for an image of a deer with Christmas lights in his antlers.  It was nowhere to be found.  I tried to create one myself using my Silhouette Studio, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted.  I found one that was close on Etsy, but it had ornaments in its antlers instead of Christmas Lights.  There was a custom order button so I contacted the designer and she created this image.  I highly recommend her Etsy Shop - JenCraftDesign.  I am making Gina's this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another paper crafting or t-shirt project.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Matthew 2:  7 - 8 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

Holiday Series - T-shirt #4

Card break is over and it's time for holiday shirt #4.  Shirt #4 and shirt #5 are going to be similar but different.  They are both deer with lights on their antlers.  The deer shape is different though.  Both of these deer were purchased from Etsy shop JenCraftDesigns.

Here is shirt #4:

Snowflake Deer 1 T-shirt Recipe

I found this deer on Etsy, but it had ornaments in it's antlers instead of Christmas lights.  I noticed there was a custom order button for the seller and requested the deer with Christmas lights.  She created this lovely creature.  I pulled it into Cricut Design Space and cut it out with my Cricut Maker.  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another card or t-shirt.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April 

Matthew 2:  5 - 6   “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Quick Shirt Break for a Card

I have a couple classes at Craft Inn this month and I finally finished up the cards for both my classes.  These cards are for my Fur and Snowflakes Class.  My Favorite Things had a great release last month and I am using a stamp set and a die set from that release for these two cards.  This class is eligible for the free class coupon offered in your coupon book for the month of December.  Contact Craft Inn if you're interested.

Fur:

There is one for the dog lovers and one for the cat lovers.  I stamped the images on Bristol card stock in Versamark Ink and heat set with black embossing powder.  Zig Markers were used to color the images.  The paw prints were stamped using Tim Holtz Oxide Ink in Black Soot.

Here is the snowflake card:

Snowflakes were cut out using Silver sparkle card stock and red metallic card stock.  It is hard to get the true beauty of the red card stock in this picture.  The black background was cut out using a stitched die from a My Favorite Things Blueprint set.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another project.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Matthew 2:  3 - 4  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 

Holiday T-shirts Series - Shirt #3

This shirt will probably not be mass produced.  I saw a version on Etsy and created my version of the saying.  The reason it won't be mass produced is that it is a bear to press.  Just lots of pieces and bunches of different cuts.  It's a good shirt to make with scraps. 

Here is 'Is it too late to be good?'

Is it too late to be good t-shirt recipe

I struggled with what color shirt to put this on.  Gray seems to be my fall back, but everything looks so good on gray.  I didn't want a red or green because some of the saying would be lost.  So gray it was.  Evidently I am partial to red glitter because I have green glitter, but I end up using green flat and red glitter.  In my defense - red is my favorite color.  This type of image would be way easier to cut out using my Cricut Explore or Maker so if I make another one - I will be uploading this to Cricut Design Space.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in next time for another project.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Matthew 2:  1 - 2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

WOYWW 444 - Sheer Chaos

It is Wednesday and once again I need to take a picture of my desk and share it with the world.  The world will be going to Julia's Stamping Ground Blog to check out crafting desks from around the world.  My desk is a nightmare.  My To Do List is a nightmare.

Check it out:

My desk has stuff everywhere and lots of half done projects.

The naked mannequin in the background is what I put my t-shirts on to take pictures.  Poor guy - he's gonna get cold.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  I have no plans for this fine Wednesday except for eating sushi and desk surfing.  Oh yeah and finishing the cards for my two classes this month.  I'm almost done with the cards for the second class.  Close on the first - just need to finish up.

Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Matthew 1:  22 - 25  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).  When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  But he did not consummate their  

marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The Twelve Shirts of Christmas - Shirt 2

Welcome back to my Christmas Shirt series.  I have posted several shirts on Facebook prior to this series on my blog so you will see shirt #2 in the title, but I will refer to it as Shirt #8 below.  This shirt looks nothing like the initial vision in my head.  I'll fill you in later on in the post.

Here is shirt #8:

Let It Snow T-shirt Recipe

This shirt was originally going to be purple (yep the purple shirt from yesterday's post).  The purple holographic vinyl was going to be perfect and I was still struggling with what color the 'let it snow' was going to be.  I have been working on this design for weeks.  I even did a video sharing how I designed this image.  

You can see from the colors I chose during the design process were totally different from what I ended up with.  I started out thinking the design was going on a pink shirt with pink glitter and black vinyl.  Then I remembered I had some holographic vinyl that I wanted to use.  What a pretty snowflake - purple holographic vinyl.  

I sent my image to be cut out on my Silhouette Cameo.  Evidently I didn't group my white together or my holographic together on my mat so I decided to be fancy and I cut out by fill color.  I expected the white design to be one big piece because it was the mat for the snowflake.  Nope.  It cut out the outline of the snowflake.  It is a knockout design so there are pieces that would have to be weeded in the middle.  I thought it was going to be a pain - but not so much.  

Then I sent my snowflake to be cut out on my purple holographic vinyl.  I did test cuts, but didn't notice the test cut was all the way through the masking tape.  Even wosre, my machine stopped cutting on the bottom right hand portion of the vinyl.  Ugh!  It only cut out part of the image, but not the whole thing.  Double Ugh.  

There are no mistakes in crafting I tell myself.  I pulled out the only piece of holographic vinyl I had left that was large enough for my snowflake.  I test cut the vinyl several times making sure the test cut didn't go through the masking tape.  The machine made it through the whole cut this time.  But it went through the masking tape in some spots.  I was determined to persevere.  I removed the vinyl from the mat and I weeded it carefully.  Holographic glitter is a cool peel.  It worked like a charm.  The Let It Snow was cut out in flat burgundy vinyl without issue.  I think I like this shirt, but it is definitely not going to be my favorite.  :-)  The beauty of this shirt is I can wear it through the winter.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my trials and tribulations with vinyl.  Tune in tomorrow for WOYWW.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

Happy birthday Eric.

April

Matthew 1:  20 - 21  But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

The Twelve Shirts of Christmas - Shirt 1

Welcome to my holiday shirt series.  For some reason I am now obsessed with making Christmas shirts.  Well, maybe shirts in general, but Christmas shirts are definitely my current focus.  I need to make some cards, but I spent this afternoon ruining some vinyl and pressing some shirts.  I have been sharing my holiday shirts on Facebook, but I will go into a little more detail on where I got the image and how I made the shirts on the blog.

Shirt #7:

You Are Never Too Old To Believe in Magic Shirt Recipe

This is a design that I have been eyeing in Etsy for quite some time.  I filled my cart with Etsy images and the total was about $45.00.  Now for the number of images I had in my cart, that price is very reasonable.  However, my funds were pretty tight and I wasn't able to spend $45.00 on t-shirt images.  So, I went into Silhouette Studio V4 and proceeded to come up with my own versions of the sentiments I had loaded into my cart.  This image, however, was different.  No matter how I tried, I couldn't recreate it.  You can't mess with perfection.  So I purchased it from Etsy here. 

My Silhouette Cameo has been giving me some trouble.  It might be because I am using the BETA version of the new version of Silhouette Studio and I haven't updated lately.  I chose to cut this one out with my Cricut Maker.  Here is the video showing how I cleaned up the image so that I could cut it out the way I wanted using Cricut Design Space and my Cricut Maker.

I love my Cricut Maker.  Check out my video for some tips on bringing in svg's from outside vendors.

This might be my favorite Christmas shirt.  This purple heather t-shirt is such a pretty color.  It was originally going to be my Let It Snow shirt which you will see tomorrow, but that changed.  I will share why in tomorrow's post.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Tune in tomorrow for shirt #2 in my Christmas T-shirt series.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

Happy Birthday Joan.  :-)

April

Matthew 1:  18 - 19  This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

Winter Fun 4 Kids

It is the first Saturday of the month and that means it is time for a new challenge at the Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge blog.  The theme for this challenge is Winter Fun 4 Kids.  Our wonderful sponsors are Bugaboo and Kitchen Sink Stamps.  Enter this fun challenge for a chance to win a 4 digital images from Bugaboo or a $25 gift card from Kitchen Sink Stamps.

Send a Smile 4 Kids charity is dedicated to collecting and distributing handmade cards to children who are inpatient at Children's Hospitals.  Please send us your handmade kids' cards for holidays, birthdays, and everyday cheer.  Help us put a smile on our kids' faces.

Here is the card I made for the Design Team for this challenge:

I broke out the Copic markers and my white gel pen and colored this adorable image from Bugaboo.  The snowflakes are from My Favorite Things as is the sentiment and the stitched tag.

Thanks for stopping by.  Consider entering the challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids.  More importantly, consider sending some cards for our kids who are in the hospital.  Have a great day and enjoy the journey and some chocolate.

April

Luke 10:  22  “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”