Crafting on a Budget

These lovely birdhouses are just a couple of the many 3d svg designs you'll find at Dreaming Tree.  With a few fun touches, like little birds and moss from the Dollar Tree and even a few of the silk flowers they have, you can have a beautiful gift for a friend or neighbor, or put a touch of sping in your home decor.


 

Although I've been quiet on here, I have been pretty busy with a few projects.  They range from birthday t-shirts, to Halloween wreaths!  I thought I would take a few minutes to share them with you.


 I spent a day running around to several Dollar Tree stores in my area looking for the sparkle tulle, and the metal wreath rings to make these.  After watching a YouTube tutorial and seeing how easy it was, I wanted to make one for myself.  It's the top picture.  I then made one for my daughter and a son.  I was able to make these for a cost of about $10 each.  And they all have led lights.  It was fun, but very messy.  I have glitter everywhere.  The video is from 2016, and I didn't find the Halloween mesh, so I used the tulle.  I still love the way it turned out.

I have also been designing and making t-shirts for birthdays.  I made one for my grandson's #2, (not pictured) and one for the son of a friend.  The "Cinderella" themed shirt is for my granddaughter.  I will also be making the svgcuts pumpkin carriage for a center piece.  I have made additional shirts for the grand kids, but I don't always think to take a picture before they are "worn away"!

In the mean time my massive paper collection is sitting idle wondering when I will start using it again, while my heat transfer vinyl collection is growing.  But I have my papers picked for the coach and I'll be cutting and gluing it this weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Someone may be wondering where I disappeared to, so I thought I would take a minute and update by blog.  In September,  a new grandson was born.  Then in October, and new granddaughter was born.  I watch the grandson and his sister (who turns three in a few days) Monday through Friday and I watch the new granddaughter about 2 Saturdays each month.  That doesn't leave much time or energy for crafting these days.  I do manage to sneak in an item or two here and there.  I did make a free file from Dreaming Tree for preschool teachers.

If you are wanting an easy but mind blowing project be sure to check them out (Click here)

Back in the spring, when Cinderella first came out, I took my grandsons and a friend to see it.  I fell in love with that version of the movie.  I had planned to make the pumpkin coach by SVG Cuts, but never got around to it.  This week, I rented it at Redbox and watchd it with my granddaughter. (She's 2 1/2).  After we watched it a few times, I knew for sure I wanted to make the coach.  So I picked out my papers and got to cutting.

 
This fun Stingy Jack Lantern 3 from Dreaming Tree is my Halloween give away.  Head over to my facebook page (click here) and leave a comment on the post to be eligible.  Winner will be announced on October 15, 2015.

Happy Friday!

I'm finally back in my craftroom with a free SVG file to share.  If you haven't seen the new Dreaming Tree website, then I highly encourage you to check it out.  Right now they have the cutest coffin SVG to download for FREE!  Yes!  FREE!  (update there is also a free Santa Paperscape Box card and Stingy Jack Lantern for a limited time)

Free Dreaming Tree SVG File Spooky Coffin

Did I mention Free?

I was able to make this coffin with one sheet of 12x12 cardstock and some scraps.  The base and lid were made from a Making Memories Toil & Trouble collection from 2010 that I have been hoarding.  It's a lovely 2 sided cardstock I bought from an online craft company that has since gone out of business.  The purple is scrap from some Halloween projects I made last year, and I always have black and yellow scraps!  I did a little inking around the edges.  This little guy is 3 1/2 inches tall and 2 inches wide at the biggest section.  It will be fun to fill for the grandkids!

I got an email today from a company called Dreaming Tree.  At first I hit the delete button, but as it was whisked away to my trash bin, I saw SVG in the preview line.  So I went searching for it again.  I was sad to read that this new company was due to the parting of my beloved SVG Cuts. SVG Cuts is still around, and Mary is still delivering wonderful projects, but what Leo is bringing to the world of 3D paper crafting is going to appeal to a whole new group of crafters! I am mad for the Christmas Paperscape Boxcards!  They look so cool and different!

Christmas Paperscape Boxcards

He also has a more manly vibe going with the Vegas and Halloween kits.  One of the bonuses is you can buy indivdual projects, or bundle them.

Good Morning!  It's time to set a new facebook goal and have a give away!  I've been sitting at 213 for some time now.  I would like to see that number grow to 250.  When we get to 250, I will have a give away!  I'm thinking the lighthouse, but I haven't made a definite decision on that.

June 14th is Sunday and that is Flag day.  That means you can get out all of your patriotic decor and enjoy it for almost a month!  

I feel inspired to make the lighthouse from SVG Cuts.  I think that will be my project this weekend.  I have the Graphic 45 paper By the Sea, so I should put it to good use.

Sorry!  I'm running behind on my blog posts.  But I have been in my craft room creating!  I'm a little hooked on these word albums.  There are so many possibilities!  Personal names, sports, teams, cities, events!  What a lot of fun.  The first two I did were at the requests of others.  I did the grandma album first, then had a request for a name.  The name album came out so adorable.  I used papers from DCWV Nina's kids and Kidlet collections.  Then I wanted to do one for myself and actually add embellishments.  So I picked my granddaughter Cora and made my own album.

Day nine saw the successful completion of the teapot from SVG Cuts Tea for You and Me kit.  This was a great project to do.  I love how well it went together!  It looks so real and is so sturdy.  This teapot will be part of my Facebook 200 page likes give away.  I will be making the entire kit for the lucky winner!

 For the base I used AC cardstock.  For the panels I used DCWV's The Butterfly Garden stack.  It has a real English teapot feel to it.  I added some little sticky pearls on the lid and lid handle, and tied a ribbon to affix to the top.  It's going to be hard to let it go!

Once again, thank you for stopping by my blog.  Be sure to check in again for more crafting adventures!

First, let me start today's blog with a customer service story.  Yesterday's project didn't turn out the way I had invisioned, and I want to make another cap, correctly.  One of the problems I encoutered was the shape I wanted to cut didn't maintain the score lines when I broke it apart and copied it to a different page.  This is something that is really easy to do, if you know what you're doing.  Clearly, yesterday I did not.  I had to hand score the tabs for the front panels.  I don't enjoy scoring by hand.  I knew that what I wanted to do could be done, I just didn't know how to go about it.  So, I sent an email to SVG Cuts.  They are the designers of the file I was using.  Within 2 hours I had a response and a link to the video I needed.  2 hours!   That's just the kind of service you can always expect from SVG Cuts.

Now on to todays challenge.  It was a double challenge, because my granddaughter is sick, and that always limits any time I have for anything!  This project is going to take two days.  I spent this evening cutting it out and will put it together tomorrow.  Here's a picture of my progress

I didn't sell a lot of what I had made for the craft show on February 7, but I did get a few nice orders for bunnies.  I finished the first order today.

Well,  I made it.  Got to my first craft show and actually sold a few things!  Unfortunately for the vendors and crafters,  Wichita had a February temp of high 68 so the traffic was a little light.  Most people chose to spend the day in the great outdoors on such a glorious day.  We've had some really cold temps, so I don't blame them!  I met some really nice people and bought some wonderful jams from Steve's Jams and Jellies.  I opened the Cherry Cheesecake right away to try it.  It really taste like Cherry Cheesecake!

Ok, back to my experience.

We could choose to set up either Friday evening, or Saturday morning.  I chose Saturday morning, so I could do a mock set up at home first.  (I also had to finish up pricing and packing my items)  I got up just before 6am, took my shower, loaded my car and drove over to pick up my niece, who was helping me.  We arrived right at 8 am and got busy setting up.  We were done by 9 and I am very pleased with how our booth turned out.

 One of the things my family highly suggested was for me to take the Easter bunnies from last year and see if anyone wanted to order them.  That was the best idea of all!  I ended up with orders for 10 bunnies!

All in all, I am very pleased with my first attempt at craft showing.  I'll be keeping a look out for another small craft show for the future.  In the mean time, I have some bunnies to make!

Be sure to visit my Facebook page and give it a like!

Well, I did it.  I committed to a craft show on February 7 at Explorer School in Goddard, KS.  I have been busy, busy, busy picking, and cutting and gluing lots of things to take with me.  I have a goal to take 100 crafty cre8tions with me to the event.  I admit, this takes a lot of planning and a person really has to dig in to get things done!  And, I'm proud to say that I'm not neglecting the rest of the house!  I have figured out that I can make 6 things each day to meet my goal.  So the most time consuming thing is picking the papers.

Pricing items has me a bit puzzled.  I had pretty much decided how to price my items, but then my husband said, "you're pricing them at wholesale, and this is retail!"  So now I need to involve a third party so I don't end up taking home all my stuff!

Anyway, I'm excited and glad I finally made the commitment!

Stay tuned for the rest of the adventure!

It's time to give something away!  Go to my Facebook page for your chance to win a clutch purse like this one shown!