Catching Up!

Good morning! The last few months have been a little hectic around here. After the rush of summer orders came in, school started in full swing. I was offered a position at a high school, so that has taken up a LOT of my time recently. Not going to lie, most days I go home and fall asleep, even though I try hard to fight it! When I don't fall asleep, my time has been taken up with work orders. Luckily, or unluckily, the orders have settled down, so I have had a little more time to work on some new items!
Here are a few of the new items we've been working on in the little free time the last few weeks. There are a few Halloween items (in the little time that's left before the holiday!), along with some new themes. Here are my favorite new items!

These "Monsters, Inc." cuties are the newest party favors! How cute are they?! (I don't usually toot my own horn, but 'toot-toot'!) These are probably my favoritest (I know it's not a real word) item for sale! They match our other "Monsters, Inc." party decorations. We also have a few other Halloween-y items coming soon!
As promised, we have some other new items and themes available.The first is this little bird garland.

Each piece is about 5" high and is on white thread to make it look like they float. (Right after this one was done, I started planning a Christmas one! Hopefully my thoughts get onto, or turned into, paper!) The last two pictures for today are the new themes we have to offer. Not all the pieces are made, but we can do custom colors and shapes! The first are our mermaid cuts and the other are zebra-print napkin rings and lollipop covers! (Pink would work well for a bachelorette party!!)

Stay tuned this week (hopefully tomorrow, but probably Tuesday) for a new party theme! I love how it's coming out so far, and I'm sure there'll be others who fall in love with it too!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

A Plethora of Projects!

Good morning, friends!! It has, unfortunately, been quite a long time since we’ve posted something new. Between the usual, school and work, we’ve been pretty busy. And on top of that, the kiddos have passed on the cold bug, so we had been fighting that, too. That was a huge pain, but it seems to have cleared up. Hopefully that’ll be the last of it, although the fall/winter season is in full swing here. The rain does help with the productivity- who wants to go outside in the rain?! In the little bit of healthy free-time we’ve had, we’ve been uber busy with our crafting projects, and a few projects for ourselves. We’ve had a handful of superhero projects- some invitations and a ton of bags, and this little set of a card and a banner we created for our little cousin’s Hulk-themed birthday:

We were also tasked with creating a few new bag designs. Here is a picture of some of our new ones, which include The Incredibles (no capes!), Robin, and the Ninja Turtles, though only two are shown

We also worked on some cards in the last few weeks, including these two “punny” cards. The first one is a card we sent out to our family and friends- a little farm-themed card that reads “Cow’s it Going?”. The other is one we wanted to post a while back, but never got to it. It is a fall inspired, little shape card that features a fox in a pile of leaves. The inside of the card reads “Sending you piles of smiles”

 

The biggest, most exciting news of the last few weeks is that our very close friend (hopefully she still thinks this…) and her husband are expecting a little one this April!! It’s all very exciting! We made a few cards to send to congratulate them:

How cute are these two?! The Winnie the Pooh card was inspired by the scrapbook paper that was used in some of the details, like the crib sheet. It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s there. And the paper has been in our collection for a while now, so we figured why not use it?! We also included a little basketball because they both used to play and are now gym teachers. And like all of our projects, we used a ton of pop dots! The second is a super cute side step card designed to look like a baby’s nursery. We included the dresser, with clothes and all, along with some toys and dolls. We couldn’t forget the crib with the sleeping baby and the mobile hanging over!

The last two projects we have to share are some Halloween ones we were working on. The first was a set of cards we made for our sister-in-law (don’t mind the pajama pants in the background- we got an early start that day!). These easel cards feature a little googly-eyed witch and her broom. We also embossed a spider web on the background and added some rhinestones in the corner of the card. The inside of the card reads “Witch-ing you a Happy Halloween” and a little bat that holds the easel up. And as with all cute, “girly” cards, there’s some sparkle, too!

The last project we’ve worked on was a banner we made for a customer. This one was a personalized Halloween banner that features two teddy bears, one a ghoulish witch and the other a spooky jack-o’-lantern.

We, of course, used pop dots on the characters and letters. We finished off with some rhinestones on the letters. Each piece is tied together with multiple colored ribbons and some glitter tulle!

Phew! Quite a long post today, huh?! Sorry about that! We probably could have (and maybe should have) done them individually. Hopefully we’ll finish and post some of our new holiday items that we've been working on and some holiday projects we have planned! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Cute New Halloween Projects!

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend so far! We are enjoying one of the last weekends of summer, hoping for fall to come along with its cooler weather and pumpkin flavors- both perfect for getting those creative juices flowing! While we have been busy with some finishing touches on classroom decor (which is super adorable and pictures will be shared once everything is complete!), we have found some time to add new items to our Etsy shop. Our newest listings are some Halloween party decor items we've created. This is the start of our newest line:

The first project we want to share is a party invitation featuring the cutest little witch and her cauldron. Of course we used a ton of pop dots on the embellishments! This party theme would be perfect for any little ghoul or boy! The next picture is of a matching banner:

This banner reads "Happy Birthday", but we also made one that says "Happy Halloween". Both banners feature the same little witchy teddy bear and her cauldron from the invitation. The last spacer has a cute little teddy, all ready to go trick or treating in his pumpkin best:

These little guys, and the letters, are also pop-dot embellished. We wanted to add a special touch to the letters with some rhinestones.
Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully we'll have some more items to share later!

A Saturday Night Treat!

Happy Sunday Afternoon! We hope everyone is having a superb weekend. We are having a gorgeous fall weekend here. Not to brag or anything, but our last few weekends have given us amazing weather! And we have some leaves changing colors, which is always a nice little reminder of a New England fall. The only thing missing is some pumpkins. We wanted to carve some last night, but couldn't find any at the store. It was a sad night.
So, what do we do instead? Watch Harry Potter and make these delicious drinks:

These are pumpkin pie milkshakes based off the recipe found at Our Best Bites for their Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes. (These two ladies are awesome! We'd try all of their recipes if there was enough time in the day!) This drink has a base of vanilla ice cream and pumpkin puree. I kind of went off track from there. I added some vanilla and a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice. Unfortunately, or fortunately I guess, we didn't have any milk left in the fridge. We did have some apple juice, so we improvised a little. It was probably close to a quarter of a cup of juice. It definitely adds a bit more "fall" to the drink!! We decided to rim the glasses with some crushed graham crackers and chocolate syrup, and then dripped some chocolate down the sides of the glasses. (You could also use caramel syrup, which would also be pretty delish! And last, but not least, we added some whipped cream on top, with a garnish of a grahammie square!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hopefully we'll have a few new projects to share, and at least one more of Our Best Bites delicious recipes!!

Bone Appetite!

Happy Monday! We hope everyone is having a great start to the day. It was definitely one of those mornings that was tough to wake up to. And then once you wake up, you don't want to get out of your blankets. That's what a warm cup of coffee is for, though!! And, the second cup of coffee has really helped us be  productive today. (OK, or just me. Hopefully Sister is having a good day, too...) Now that all of our clothes have been washed and hung (which is a HUGE deal for us!) and the apartment picked up a bit (also an accomplishment...), we have a quick set of Halloween tags we made last night.

These little guys are so much cuter than I imagined! So, as you can tell, they read "Bone Appetite", with a little skeleton! And, of course, the little guys have googly eyes! We used an orange ribbon on these, along with a black tulle bow near the flowers. This is a little easier to see in the picture below:

These were attached to a small loaf of delicious pumpkin bread for Robyn's 'suite-partner', or her neighbor teacher. I'm pretty sure it's for all the pencils she's sharpened for Robyn because someone broke her sharpener...
Now it's time to get back to work. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday afternoon!

Happy October!

Happy Tuesday! We know it's been a while, but we hope everyone had a great few days. We spent the weekend hunkered down. I know...we live in Washington, it's supposed to rain. But when it rains for three days and you get more than four times the monthly total in that three-day period, it makes it hard to want to do much, other than curling up in a warm blanket and reading. Or catching up on movies. Who could complain about that! So, now that the rain has finally stopped (for now), we can go back to our 'normal' schedules!
We can't believe it's already the first day of October- where has the time gone?! In our opinion, today starts the super-busy holiday season. It seems that we have a ton more projects to add to our always-growing list of things to do. So, for today's project, we have a quick Halloween invitation to share.

This invitation was inspired by the challenge at "Decorate to Celebrate" (a pretty awesome blog for some cute ideas). This is an invitation we came up with for an "over-the-hill" birthday party. It seemed like the most fitting thing to include was a little skeleton:

And why wouldn't he be wearing a little party hat?! We included some tombstones (hopefully they won't be needed!) And there isn't much that's creepier than a little spider making its way down near you...
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!

A 'Boo'tiful Sunset

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a wonderful work day. It's about time for a nap around here. Only a few more hours to go. We have a Halloween card to share with you today:

This card has actually been a few years in the making. Since we started making cards, we always had the idea to make layers that opened up, ie- the gate in the front opening as one layer. (If that makes sense. Maybe the picture below helps my case.)

It's a little easier to see that the gate opens up, revealing the haunted castle. With a few color changes, a princess castle is quickly transformed into a spooky, haunted abode. As for the background, it is our take on a fall sunset. It didn't come out quite as well as we wanted (especially the line down the edge), but it's not too shabby using markers. As the sun sets, the creatures of the night come out to play. There are two bats that were glued to the card. The third is on a thin wire, so he can pop out at you! The image was then attached to the card base and the inside reads "Witching you a Happy Halloween"
We are entering this card into this week's SOUS Challenge- "Gates"
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ghosty Center Step Card

Today we have a fun little card to share with you. We used it as an "invitation" to a Halloween party, but it is definitely cute enough to use for any other uses, like just saying hello!

 We made the front center flap open up to reveal a little poem on the inside. And all of the party information is on the other inside.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Gatefold Invitation

Hey there! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far, enjoying the waning days of summer before school starts again. Today I have a very simple card to share with you!

It is a gatefold card, set up as a party invitation! Who wouldn't want to be invited to a party where the animals are dressed up?! (Reminds me of one of our aunts, but not in the best way... story for another day) I welded the three shapes together in craftroom (rectangle and two matching frames) and cut it in black. The top layer was just the frames cut again. The flap wasn't staying down all the way, so the "It's a Party!" is there for gravity to pull it back closed.

I stamped and embossed the "bewitching hour" and tried to color in the moon and stars. Neon yellow doesn't do a great job covering brown. Who knew? At least the moon looks good enough. Also, I have realized that no matter what the project, I should always have someone else do the handwriting. Mine always looks so sloppy. You'd think as someone who teaches kids how to form letters I would be better, or at least neater! Sometimes I try to make it look fancy and it ends up looking kind of foolish. I should probably stick to Photoshop or Word. Oh well...

Thanks for stopping by!

Some Boo-tacular Halloween Decor

Happy Wednesday! We hope everyone is having a great day, and everyone is as happy as a camel on hump day! We've been super busy, working on holiday projects, some new and some that were supposed to be done last year. Oops. Anyway, today's post is part of a new Halloween party we are working on. This is the centerpiece we designed:

There are four different pieces to the centerpiece. The haunted house is 9" high and the two little monsters are about 4" tall. (Googly eyes make everything better, unless they are very different in size. Granted, the size difference is in the design, but still.)

The little moon is probably my favorite! It's not really that small, but it's just so darn cute! And the little bat just adds even more cuteness to it!

 Like we mentioned before, it's part of a party line we've been working on. We have a ton more projects to share coming up!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a superb day!

A Happy Boo to You!

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. We've been super busy this weekend. We spent yesterday working on a ton of projects that will *hopefully* be up soon. Anyway, today's project is a cute little Halloween banner.

It's a little hard to read, with the glare from the window, and the fact that it's pretty busy. It reads "Boo to You" (hence, the title of the post!) and it has a few little monsters on it. Here are two pictures of the banner, up close:

There are three little monsters that wouldn't be complete without their googly eyes. And each flower is handmade, which took a little (a lot) longer than it should. Trying to come up with a placement for the flowers. I tried to make a pattern, but it didn't work out quite right. Luckily, it came out well, in our opinion!
Thanks for stopping by today! We hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Have a Bewitching Halloween

Today we have another Halloween card to share with you. We have been in the Halloween mood, even though there are still three months left. It's never too early to start, right?

This is a really neat folded card. It's diamond folded, so it's more interesting than a regular folded card. It started off as a 12x4 strip, and folds down to 4x4. There isn't a lot of writing room on it, but that's alright since the sentiment is embossed on the front.

Thanks for stopping by!

Everything's Just Beachy!

I just want to start by channeling the camel on the Geico commercial- It's Hump Day!
Now that that's out of the way, here's today's project. It's a beach theme layout with the title "Just Beachy."

There are three mats for 4x6 pictures, perfect for showing off those beach pictures. I used some shiny papers for the sand and water.

This layout was entered in the BBTB2 Beach Time Challenge here.

And here's today's holiday project.We made some fun Halloween cards to share with you.

The frames were embossed with our new embossing toys. Do I need more excitement in my life if watching the powder heat up is fun? The silhouettes in the middle were also embossed, cut out, and mounted with puffy adhesive to give them more dimension. And all frames need a little bling, so we added some around the outside of them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy November!

Good evening, all! I can't believe it's already November! Where has the year gone?! We hope everyone had a fun-filled night last night. All I can say is that we were rather disappointed with our turn-out of trick-or-treaters. Back at home, the only two kids who ever came to our house were our neighbors. Over the years, it went from two to one. So, this year, we figured that there would be a ton of kids coming, especially since we live in a pretty big apartment complex. We bought some bags of candy and were all ready to hand it out. We decided a while back that we were going to have movie night on Halloween, and so we watched "Dark Shadows" (What's better than spending the night watching Johnny Depp? However creepy he might be in it...) At 10:00, when the movie was over, we still had the bowl of candy- no one showed up!! How disappointing!
Anyway, today's project is a quick little layout that we created, in order to scrap all of the fun memories of this year's festivities!

My favorite part of this project is the little ghost and his treat bag. It reminds me of Charlie Brown's Halloween costume, before he cuts all of the holes in the sheet! This layout features room for three 4x6 photos. The pumpkin paper for the photo mats sparkles, which is always a nice touch! Each mat is also bordered by a spider web, which adds a nice touch.

This is a close-up of the bottom of the page. You can see the ghost and the bare tree. The dark purple paper also has a shimmer to it.
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone is having a great week so far. Or at least trying to find things to keep the boredom away back East. We're sure everyone is all set for tonight's festivities, or at least those of us who haven't had Halloween "cancelled" again this year. Although, we must admit, we haven't gotten any of our candy yet...looks like it leftovers for the kiddies who come tonight! I wonder if they would accept our business cards...
Anyway, today's project is a little something we whipped up. It is a little home decor project we made for the occassion.

We wrote out "We're here for the boos!" Get it?! Hilarious I know! :) (I am fully aware that it actually says were, but the apostrophe didn't want to cooperate, so I ask that you use your imagination and pretend it's there!) And of course a ghost's favorite wine would be a white wine, right?! We used some wiggley eyes, as well. The lights are actually candy corn lights, but it's a little hard to tell in the picture. This would also work well as a little hostess gift.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone has a safe an enjoyable night!

Another Halloween Card

Good morning, everyone! I hope our east coast readers are all safe and sound. We're thinking about all of you. (I expect that once power comes back, this will be the very first place you check :) )
Anyway, we have a cute little Halloween card to share with you, a little late to send out for tomorrow, but that's okay.

It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but the pumpkin and frame are in the same glittery paper used in yesterday's layout. And, for some reason, purple comes out blue-ish on our camera, but the top spider web is supposed to be purple.

Thanks for stopping by!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Today we have a layout to share with you to put all those great Halloween pictures on.

The glitter paper adds a nice touch to the design, and I love the cute little accents up the side. No tricks, just treats for this layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Miss Muffet

Good morning, everyone! I hope you're all having a great weekend so far, and that our friends out east are ready for the big storm coming. Nothing like going to the grocery store and staring at empty shelves! At least this Halloween won't be quite like last year.
Anyway, today's project is a quick little Halloween card we'd like to share with you.

We used the Nursery Rhyme cartridge to cut out Little Miss Muffet and the Doodlecharm spider. The googly eyes added a nice little touch to him. The inside of the card says:

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

One spooky Halloween Day;

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! I'm so excited to share this week's cupcake with you. These ghoulishly glowing cupcakes would be a great touch to your Halloween party! I originally saw these somewhere on pinterest, but found a great set of directions for them here. These cupcakes glow under a black light. Here they are in normal light:

 We used a regular chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting. The milk in the frosting was replaced with tonic water, which makes it glow. The glow effect was increased by dipping the cupcakes (frosting and all, nice and frozen) into a jello-tonic water mixture.

I'm not exactly sure why they ended up orange instead of glow-in-the-dark green, but I think it's even cooler that they changed color. Any other science-y people out there know?

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sweet Treat, for a Little Witch!

Happy Friday! I know it's been a few days since we've had a new project up, but it's been one of those weeks when all you want to do after work is take a nap. And then fall asleep until 8:00 and decide to just go to bed. We've also been pretty busy with our Etsy shop orders, which is always exciting!!
So, getting on with today's project! After coming up with four or five different ideas (which we'll probably end up posting sometime this week), today's project kind of just came together, and we love how it looks! It is a little witch hat treat container:

How cute is this?! It is actually a cake box from Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More. The opening for the box is actually underneath the brim of the hat. It looks small, but it can hold quite a bit of candy and other treats. We were inspired by all the nicely decorated witch hats you can find on-line, with all their flowers and glitz.  We had thought of making a centerpiece, with just a cone shape, but then decided to make the box into a treat container.

These two are close-ups of some of the decorations. I love these flowers! We got the Flower Shoppe cartridge and now everything is going to have flowers on it!! Can't wait!  And of course, the little creepy crawlies that are hanging around, including the bat flying out of the flowers.

We are entering this project into a few challenges:
* Cooking with Cricut- 3D Treats
* Bitten by the Bug2- 3D Halloween Treat Containers
* Decorate to Celebrate- Halloween Party Part 2
* My Sheri Crafts- Halloween
* Cricut Fanatics- Creepy & Spooky Halloween
* Go Fish Challenges- 3D Halloween Projects
* More than Favors- Halloween

Thanks so much for stopping by! And for being patient with our little break! :)