back to school

It's that time of year again. My favorite time of the year... A time for new backpacks, school supplies and (to quote my favorite movie) bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils.

Avery and I made a special banner to celebrate the start of the school year.

And, like her Momma, Avery could barely contain her excitement for the start of a new school year.

Here's how Charlie felt about it.

sweet.

school banner

Thought I'd share the Welcome banner that I made for my Preschool classroom door this year. 

I made it with my Cricut using the Mini Monograms cartridge for the squares and the Simply Sweet cartridge for the letters. I cut out an apple using the Doodlecharms cartridge to add a little somethin' somethin' to the ends of the banner. 

I hung it at what I believed to be a totally appropriate height, but forgot that I just barely qualify as a person of "average height".

So maybe I'm not the best judge.

My height issue may be the underlying reason for my obsession with Little People.

I think they are totally fascinating.

Especially these guys:

How cute are they???? 

Anyway - back to the banner thing...

I've noticed that every time a dad or person taller than 5' 7" comes in the room, he/she has to duck.

Like...a lot.

Oh well.

It makes me happy.
Kind of like Little People do.

sweet baby girl

I made this banner for my friend Ari who just gave birth to a precious little baby girl.

I found scrapbook paper at Michael's to match the colors of Ari's baby bedding.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but the banner says, "sweet girl".
Banners are really hard to photograph...especially when your camera is STINKY.

I made the circles with the Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge.
The inner circles are 5 inches and the outer are 5 1/2 inches.

Making the circles the right size can be kind of tricky. I do a lot of pre-cutting with scrap paper to test sizes beforehand. As a result, it takes me for.ever. to do one.

While I was making this banner, I had an epiphany: a little bit of wisdom from the paper-crafting muses. It went something like this:

Um...Genius... It would save you a lot of time and paper if you would just make templates out of scrap paper beforehand and label them with the sizes. 

My muse is kind of a jerk.

Well, Paper Crafting Muse. That's novel idea, but one that requires forethought. And planning. And organization. Things I'm not so good at these days.
So, that's not going to happen.
Thanks, though.

How much longer can I use the "sleep deprivation" excuse for inability to function and lack of sanity? Any ideas?
 

halloween banner

Here's a banner I made the other night at Craft Club.

I cut the pendant shape by hand.

The letters were cut with my Cricut using the Simply Sweet Cartridge.

I used the Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge to cut the spiders.

This banner ended up hanging in Avery and Charlie's playroom. Halloween can be kind of scary when you're a three-year-old, so I tried to keep all of my Halloween decor light and silly for Avery's sake. I think it turned out more goofy than scary. Avery loved it.

something blue...and brown

This is my latest banner - created for a sweet, precious, amazing friend who will be having a baby boy very soon.

One day, I'll actually give it to her... If we can ever manage to catch up with each other!




I made this one with my handy Cricut (shocker).

I used the Mini Monograms cartridge to cut the squares, and then the Simply Sweet cartridge to cut out the letters and safety pins.

For this banner, I also figured out how to use the Outline Feature to make my letters pop a little more.

I say this all the time, but I'm pretty sure that everyone in the world needs a Cricut. That and clean water. And shelter. And maybe some food. But that's it.

Oh and just FYI: I've recently discovered that buying the cartridges on Ebay saves sooo much money. Cartridges can be up to $80 at Michael's and Jo Ann Etc - which is definitely a Budget Buster for me. And just totally wrong.
Totally.

Instead, I've been "sticking it to the man" by buying a cartridge a month on Ebay for no more than $25.

Oh yeah. Kiss it, Michael's (But I still love you. Don't be mad at me. I'll see you soon.)

brown and pink banner

My friend Breanne, asked me to make a banner for a brown and pink themed baby shower. Here's what I came up with:

I used the Mini Monograms cartridge with my Cricut to cut the double scallops onto cardstock.

Then I cut circles out of coordinating brown and pink scrapbook papers and glued them on top of the scalloped circles.

After that, I found a chipboard glittery letter set to put the baby's name on the banner.
Finally, I punched the holes, added 2 kinds of ribbon, and a couple of cute little flowers.
Banners are so fun!

baby gift

Our youth pastor and his wife just had a sweet little baby boy this week.

Evidently, our church is in the Baby Making Business. There have been over 20 births in the last year or so.
That's a bunch of friends for little Charlie to play with!

We're just stimulating the economy through Doctor's bills and diaper purchases. You know, doing our part...one kid at a time.

Anyway - I made a little banner and thought I'd show 'ya what it looks like. Baby Dutch's room is brown and blue, so I stuck with that theme.

I love my Cricut.
Love it.
Want to marry it.

Is that weird?

valentine banner

I did it.
I finally cracked the cricut code.
I took a deep breath and jumped on in.
Minimal paper casualites occured. I was pretty proud.
Here are some pictures of the fruits of my labor:

one for you. one for me.

After making my Halloween banner, I decided to make a banner for my friend Jamie. Her baby is due just a few weeks before Charlie. I loved it so much that I decided that I had to make one for my little man too.

I'm planning on using it at the hospital as a door decoration and again for his homecoming.

I love making things for my little guy.

Here's a peek or two: