Dance Team Gifts (Lots of Pictures!)

My daughter's dance team is preparing for Nationals in Orlando, FL.  I wanted to make something special for all the girls on her teams.  They have worked so hard this year and accomplished so much. 

After much debating, I decided to make memory books for each girl (18 of them!!) that they can then add their own journaling, photos, and momentos to.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out and the girls LOVED them!  The really didn't take long to make; the longest part of the process was inking the edges and around the perimeter of each page.

The front cover of each girl's book was personalized with her last initial with her first name cut out of it (welded with the Gypsy) - cut with the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge.  "Orlando" was cut using the same cartridge and the "ticket end caps".  The tag is also on the cartridge; I used the Gypsy to hide the inside cut and leave it whole and welded the year on the inside.

The Mickey head was cut using the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge and I welded DMA inside it (Dance Masters of America).  The stamp doesn't show well in the photo, but it is a custom stamp I had made with K-E Kreations and my e-mail address on it.

Here is the inside of the book unfolded:

And, here is the flip side...



There are a ton of supplies used on this one, so I will try to put them in by page order.  If you have any questions about what I used anything for, drop me a comment.

- 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase from Close To My Heart

- Fanfare Level 2 Paper from Close To My Heart

- Cricut Mickey Font Cartridge

- Cranberry Ink Pad from Close To My Heart

- Pacifica Ink Pad from Close To My Heart

- Sky Ink Pad from Close To My Heart

- Black StazOn Ink Pad

- Just Blooms White Daisy Variety Pack from Close To My Heart (these were inked)

- Stickles in a variety of colors

- Sheer Shimmer Spritz by Tsukineko

- Fanfare Level 2 Brad Assortment from Close To My Heart

- Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon from Close To My Heart

- Dancing Dreams stamp set from Close To My Heart

- Brads Red Assortment from Close To My Heart

- Brads Blue Assortment from Close To My Heart

- Star Power stamp set from Close To My Heart

As I said, the girls were thrilled with the books.  I worked on them the last few weeks for several hours a day as I waited on my daughter to finish dance classes, so they had seen me working but didn't know what I was up to.  I didn't want to make anything too elaborate so that they could be personalized by the girls easily or just simply have photos added (and they are mostly 12- and 13-year old girls with their own individual styles).  Each one was unique; they had slight variations in which color brads, how the cover was laid out and how some of the patterned paper looked when cut.

Enjoy!!

TinkerBell Card and Scrapbook Pages

Today is my niece's third birthday (Happy Birthday Sweetie!).  The party is tomorrow, so I've been busy creating not only a card for her gift, but a two-page scrapbook layout for her mom to capture tomorrow's party.  I'm going to apologize in advance for the poor photography.  Winter seems to be hanging around here and with it the poor light.

She is having a TinkerBell cake for her party tomorrow, so I stuck with the theme for both her card and the layout.  I was VERY tempted to go out and purchase the TinkerBell cricut cartridge, but commonsense took over.  It really isn't a cartridge I would use enough to justify the cost; my daughter's too old, and I only have one niece.  I happened to come across a TinkerBell scrapbooking page kit at Hobby Lobby and decided it had enough stickers and paper to create both a card and matching layouts (and I decorated a plain green gift bag) and it didn't cost me nearly as much (and it was on sale).

Card front (sticker says Perfectly Precious)

Card Inside

Envelope

Two-page layout (white place markers for my sister-in-law to add photos)

Close-up left page

Close-up right page

Supplies used:

• Paper and stickers from Disney Fairies Theme Pack by Sandylion
• TinkerBell Stickers by Sandylion
• Gypsy inkpad from Close To My Heart (Z2190)
• Lime Green Stickles by Ranger
• "3" cut from Cuttin' Up cricut cartridge cut at 4"
• All other words cut from Mickey Font cricut cartridge (who is cut at 1", look cut at .66" and negative image used)
• Layout was based on the Supporting Cast layout from the Imagine book by Jeanette Lynton

Mickey Mouse Birthday Card

My niece is turning two next week - the same one who I made invitations and thank you notes for earlier this month.  She LOVES Mickey Mouse; her parents can't figure out why she knows him.  I told them that every little kid knows "the mouse".  Her party isn't for a couple of weeks yet, but I made this for her actual birthday, and I'll make her another for the party.

This card is for the Day 25 DIY Challenge over at 365 Cards.  The challenge was to create a do-it-yourself, glittered brad and/or pearl.  I didn't have a brad I liked, so I covered a green one in black diamond stickles by Ranger.

The papers for this project come from DCWV except the black and white.  The DCWV stacks I used were Neutrals and Fun in the Sun Summer.  All the cuts on this card came from the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge.  Mickey was cut at 3-1/2".  The "Oh Boy!" charm was cut at 1-3/4".  The inside sentiment was cut at 1".

The colors didn't turn out as "true" as I had hoped in the photo.  They are really much brighter in person.  The photo at the left is a close-up of the charm and brad I stickled.

Have a great day!  I'm off to my craft room for some Easter creations.

5th Place Sucks Bouquet

My heart is breaking for my poor son.  He placed 5th at the wrestling tournament last weekend and the top four places get to move on to the state tournament.  He is the alternate, meaning he had to practice all week, cut weight again this week, and hope someone wouldn't be able to wrestle.  The state tournament started today, so off he went to sit and wait.

I got a text message from him around lunchtime saying he was "officially a spectator".  It made my heart break all over again for him.  I know today has been hard for him, so I decided to make him something.  I bought him some cookies and cream ice cream; he loves ice cream and hasn't had it for MONTHS due to watching his weight.  I also made him this bouquet.

I found the bucket at Jo-Ann's.  I put orange rick-rack around the top and bottom edge of the bucket.  The wrestling stickers are from my stash and are from EK Success, I believe.  It then has a styrofoam ball covered in orange tissue paper on top.  The words were cut on the Cricut machine using the Mickey Font cartridge at 1" and 1-1/2".  They have some curling ribbon tied around the sticks.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy National Crafting Month!