Thanksgiving Invites with Cricut

My Dad's family and extended family get together every year for Thanksgiving but in the last few years it seems to be hit or miss.  Since I've moved into the old family home, I don't think everyone, especially those from out of town, realized that I was continuing the family tradition.  So this year I decided to do things a little differently.  We usually call or email everyone to remind them of the get together and to let them know what dish we'd like for them to bring for lunch.  But this year I thought it would be fun and interesting to send and invite with an RSVP and let everyone choose their own dish to bring, let it be a true pot luck lunch.  And with plenty of time, as I sent these out at the first of October, I could plan to fill in any gaps in the menu that may occur.  The response I've received so far from family far and wide is that they loved getting the handmade invitation and RSVP card.  It seems that it made everyone feel quite special, not only for being personally invited but also because of the hand crafted nature of the card.  You might want to consider something of this nature for your next big family get together.  This simple invitation has already made this a Thanksgiving no one will ever forget.

I made the cards in assembly line fashion.  Instead of making one complete card at a time, I repeated the same step on each card before moving on to the next step.  For instance, I adhered the inside mat to each card then moved on to the next component for the inside of the card.  It seems to me that repeating the same action over and over went more quickly than trying to make one cart at a time.  I've attached the instructional video to this post so you can get a visual of assembling the cards.

I also hand made all of the envelopes from patterned scrapbook paper with the pattern on the inside of the envelope.  It is the little touches like that that take the project to another level.  It is so impressive looking with you open an envelope and there is this beautiful pattern to greet you!

Video Tutorial for this Card.

Products Used for this Card

From WalMart:

6X6 Colorbok Paper Pack - Darling Jewel

12 X 12 Colorbok Paper Pack - French Prep

12 X 12 Colorbok Paper Pack - Boardwalk

8 1/2 X 11 Colorbok Cardstock - Craft

Matte Photo Paper

Gold Glitter Glue

Elmer's Tape Runner

Elmer's Dot Runner

Aleene's Clear Tacky Glue

From Amazon:

Deco Foil - Gold

Kuretake Watercolors

Memento Dew Drop Ink Pads - Rich Cocoa and Lady Bug

Stamps:

GodBlessYourArt Etsy Shop - Label Maker Alphabet

Cricut Cartridges/Images:

Thanksgiving: PlseJnUs

Thanksgiving: CardLyr

Autumn Celebrations: Plgrm1-s

From the Dollar Tree:

Metallic Colored Sequins

"Handmade By" Custom Product/Gift Tags

God bless my darling husband!!  He sees all of the things that I make as works of art and was very bothered by the fact that I didn't sign or label my hand made goods in some way that let people know I made them.  Due to his encouragement I decided to purchase a "Handmade By" stamp.  Off to Etsy I went to find the perfect stamp that would suit my taste and personality.  I was so pleased to find one that featured a butterfly.  The butterfly has long been a symbol I relate to.  It represents to me the struggles we go through before we emerge in beauty and take flight.  I had been using my stamp on the back of cards and other paper crafting projects and then it occurred to me that I could make tags to put on items I've crafted that couldn't be stamped, like knitted objects.  The idea of tags utilizing pretty scrapbook paper came to me so off to the computer and Cricut I went!  After a long search, I settled on a fairly simple tag design with just a little flourish to it.  These tags can be customized in so many ways to adorn any hand made object.  I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Video Tutorial for this project.

Products Used for this Project:

From WalMart:

Colorbok 8 1/2 X 11 Card Stock - Craft

Colorbok 6X6 Paper Pack - Hootenanny

Colorbok 6X6 Paper Pack - Darling Jewel

Satin Ribbon

Elmer's Spray Adhesive

Cricut Cartridges/Images Used:

Lovely Floral: Tag1

Lovely Floral: Tag1-s

Lovely Floral: Frame4-s

From Etsy:

Handle Mounted Stamp from MyCustomStamps

From Amazon:

Ranger Archival Ink - Watering Can

Bead & Resin Paperweight

I truly love resin casting projects.  It's so fun to see objects suspended in clear resin, completely preserved.  For this project I used:

Famowood 2 part epoxy resin
Plastic beads
Silicone Spatula/Stir Stick
Plastic Cups for mixing and measuring
Silicone Mold

Rustic Chalkboard Style Christmas Ornaments

Hello fellow crafters!  In my last blog post I described the DarbySmart.com web store and monthly subscription service in detail.  If you'd like to read more on it just click here.  This is the product I purchased in addition to my monthly subscription box as a project for my son and I to complete together.  We had a lot of fun, the project was fairly simple and the end product was super cute.  The kit cost $19 and I feel was well worth it.  You can order the kit here.  I am not being compensated in any way for demonstrating these products or directing you to them. We enjoyed it so much we are trying to get my husband to cut us some more wood slices so we can make more!  There was plenty enough Chalkboard paint left to do it and of course, plenty of inspiration!!  I listed the rating for this box as well as the link to the instructions below the video.  Hope you enjoy and Thanks for crafting with me!

The instructions as per the Darby Smart website can be found here.

Score for this project out of a possible 5 is as follows:
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 3
Instructions - 3
Finished Product - 4
Overall Score - 3.75

Hand Crochet Scarf ~ December 2014 Darby Smart To DIY For Box

Darby Smart is a craft supply website with a twist.  You can purchase individual craft supplies or you can purchase curated kits that contain all the products needed to make a DIY craft project from beginning to end.  There is a very wide range of projects to choose from in an equally wide range of prices.  Another thing I found interesting were the "Starter Kits".  Let's say your thing is wood burning or it is something you really want to try, just purchase the starter kit for $39 and you'll receive a wood burning pen, alphabet stamps and a wood coaster set to get started on.  This is a really cool concept for crafters like me who get a little overwhelmed when trying to get started in a new craft.  I don't always want to make huge investments to try a new craft out.  This is a much more affordable way to test the waters.

They also have a monthly subscription box called t"To DIY For" in which they send you all the products needed to complete that months project but the contents are a surprise until you receive them.  The monthly cost is $19 per month.  This month's To DIY For box contained a skein of bulky yarn and a small roll of a regular acrylic yarn.  The instructions on their website, which the link to is printed on the card in your box, show you how to hand crochet a scarf.  Below is the video I made taking you through the how to with pictures of the contents, screenshots and the finished product.  I am going to continue to subscribe to the monthly subscription and bring you videos each month of the projects and as often as I can I will purchase additional boxes with projects that interest me and bring you videos of those as well.  I've also come up with a scoring/rating system for these products to better help me evaluate the overall value of the product.  I listed the Rating for this project below the video.  Thank you so much for crafting with me today!

Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5)
Value - 2
Ease of Use - 4
Instructions - 2
Finished Product - 3
Final Score - 2.75

Instructions for this project as per Darby Smart can be found here.