Straight from the Nest Birthday Card

Last night I realized I needed a birthday card for my brother so I decided to give my new Pink Cricut Expression Machine a test drive. I know, I know, there is absolutely no difference between my regular Cricut Expression Machine and the pink one, but the pink one just makes me feel happy. Besides it was an early anniversary gift from my wonderful hubby. Guess I drooled at the advertisement one too many times and he got the hint!

 Any whoo, I made this cute owl card using my Straight from the Nest cartridge. The card is 5 x 5 inches so I cut the owl (on page 30 in the handbook) at 2 3/4 inches. The branch (on page 42 of the handbook) was cut  at 1 1/2 inches. (I think - My memory is not what it used to be!) Even the sentiment (page 67 in the handbook) is from this adorable cartridge. I used a stamp from my stash to create the banner and kept the color palate very simple but I could not resist the temptation to bling it up just a bit - I added Glossy Accents to the beak and a few brown mini brads along the bottom of the card. Now if I can just find some wrapping paper, I'll get this gift in the mail.

Elmo and Cookie Monster Bags

This morning when I should have been cleaning my house, (BORING!!!) all I could think about was crafting. I was anxious to see if I could adapt the treat bag I demonstrated yesterday to look like Elmo and Cookie Monster. It really didn't take long, because I hadn't put away a single one of the things I used yesterday (how shameful!), and this is what I came up with. 

I used the Stampin Up Scallop Border punch along the top of the bag and I used the same 2 1/2 inch circle punch from yesterday's project to make the mouths. Elmo's nose is a 1 1/4 inch orange circle and the cookies are 1 1/2 inch kraft colored circles. To make the chocolate chips I used some brown ink on an ordinary pencil eraser and I sponged the edges with brown ink. Use any old scalloped circle punch to take a bite out of each cookie. Hope this inspires you to make something creative today.

Check out the video I posted yesterday for complete instructions on how to make this treat bag without a die!

Angry Birds Treat Bags

Have you ever seen something really cool on the internet and wondered how it was made? That just makes me crazy and I can't stop until I figure it out. Well, I saw a picture of some Angry Bird Fancy Favor Treat Bags but there were no directions and I have no idea who designed them. (Whoever came up with this idea did an amazing job! Thank you :-) I am pretty sure that the original bag design used the Stampin Up Fancy Favor die but I don't have that so I had to improvise.

This is my version of an Angry Bird Treat Bag and it is made without a die. I did use several punches because I have lots of them in my stash, but you can experiment with whatever you have.  Go ahead and give it a try. This super stinkin' cute treat bag will just make you  feel happy!

 P.S.       The embellishments for the pig were made using the following punches
      
Nose: 1 1/2 inch circle punch in green ( I sponged the edges with a coordinating green ink for added definition)  
Nose Holes: 3/16 inch hole punch (I used my Crop A Dile) Put a scrap of black cardstock behind the holes and apply nose to treat bag using a piece of foam tape or a dimensional glue dot
Eyes: Made just like the Red Bird's except I pupils are more centered 
Eyebrows: Punch a piece of black cardstock with a 1 1/4 inch circle punch. Punch the same cardstock again with a 1 1/2 inch circle punch - centering the 1 1/4 hole in the center of the 1 1/2 inch punch. Cut the resulting ring shaped piece in half. Stack the halves on top of one another (so both eyebrows will be the same) and trim the pieces to the desired size
Ears: Stampin Up Large Oval punch in green with Stampin Up Small Oval punch in black layered on top