**Edit** I also have a print and cut template available, you can download it here.
Happy Tuesday folks! I was playing around in design Studio before Christmas because I wanted to make a cute holder for a Starbucks gift card that I bought my sister for Christmas. Here is what I came up with:
On my first attempt I kept the saucers welded together so that the card is free standing but I think I like the other version better but I still like the (steam I made by welding the letter s from the george cart together with an oval) and this has an overlay for the front of the mug. The overlay and steam are on the same mat (second layer in DS) just put the pattern paper on one side and the vellum on the other. I cut them all with the small Cricut. if you have the Cricut Personal cutter you can cut it with the free version of design studio and your george cart.
Fot my Sure Cuts a Lot pals I made the cards (no steam or overlay) with the saucher and without (like the pocket). I like it cut out of double sided cardstock.
My terms of use: I want to thank everyone who visits my blog and takes the time to download my freebies and comment, you are why I do this. Feel free to use my designs to make handmade cards. If you want to sell your embellished creations at a craft fair or shop go for it and good luck! Infact I’d love to see what you make. If you are a store or die cut company and would like to add my creations to your die cut catalogue you may contact me to pay a small licencing fee so you can do just that. I am also available for custom die cut designing. You can contact me via email: lindsayweirich@ymail.com. Thanks again for visiting my blog and as always happy crafting!
I know, I know, we just finished Christmas and here I am with a Valentines project. I love Valentines day! The crafts, the sweets and the colors red and pink! Plus there is no pressure on the day as opposed to Christmas…well for us ladies anyway he he.
Stamps by The rubber Cafe
I made this card with the Scroll Border and From The Heart stamps from The Rubbe Cafe The die cut is by Stampin Up/Ellison (although i lost a couple of pieces and put it together in the wrong order LOL). Be sure to check out the revamped Rubber Cafe Website to get some goodies for valentines day, I’m thinking some romantic stamps, red velvet flocking and maybe some Cuttlebug heart embossing dies! She just keeps adding new products every day, what is a frugal crafter to do?
Oh boy, it’s that time of year again…time to walk the strait and narrow and make up for all of our holiday indulgences. Before you run out and but the latest Zone, South Beach, Atkins, Best Life book on the self save yourself $20 and follow my plan: The Craft Diet! It really works! Here is what you do, Don’t eat between meals, craft something instead! When you slum on the couch in front of the TV at night instead of reaching for a bowl of chips reach for a knitting or beading project instead. Yes, folks, it’s that simple. Here is why it works. There are two parts of your brain, Left brain (it is the logic side, it tells you when to eat, sleep,what time it is your checkbook balance ets.) and the right brain (it’s the la-de-da artistic side that takes over when you are painting, scrappin and stamping and has your family asking “where’s dinner?”). You see you lose all sense of the logic side when the right brain takes over. When I taught painting classes my students would say “I worked on my painting yesterday and the next thing I knew it was dinnertime and I realized I was still in my pajamas!” It is so simple! Instead of snacking go create! And it helps if you get some exercise too, I just bought the Dancing With the Stars Latin workout video, I can’t wait to try it!
***I just did the whole Dancing with the Stars workout and it was a blast!!!**
BTW my friend Melissa has some awesome blog candy, she is giving away a big old stash of goodies, check here out here.
I have lots of deadlines and 3 kids home on Christmas vacati0n so the posts will be light this week but I’ll check in here and there…after all I have a new Expression to play with. Also If you haven’t been by The Rubber Cafe lately there is lots of new stuff there including fun flock, I’ve been dying to try that stuff, I actually tried to make some but grinding felt in my coffee grinder..not recommended and it totally did not work LOL! But that’s OK cus The Rubber Cafe has a good price on theirs. Check them out here.
Happy day after Christmas everyone! I had a fantastic holiday, we spent Christmas Eve with my Husband’s family, Christmas Day with my parents and today we lounged around in our jammies and played with our new toys (one of my new toys is a Cricut Expression!) How was your holiday?
The Calendars I made for gifts this year were a hit. Here is a preview of my finished one:
A Crafty Green Tip: Save the plastic packaging that your kids toys come in. You will end up with large thick clear plastic sheets suitable for making mini albums or “Ghost shapes” It cuts easily with scissors or a woodburner with a fine tip, best of all it is free! You can also use it to make clear greeting cards. Regular transparencies are too flimsy for that but the thick packaging works great and it keeps the stuff out of the landfill!
Last but not least the freebie!
A little giftie for you!
I took a photo of frost on our window the other day and used it to make this frosty alpha. It is all in one png file with some bonus snowflakes! No unzipping! to use the letters simply use your “magic wand” selection tool, click on the item you want and copy/paste it onto your project. Grab the freebie here. Enjoy.
Thanks for stooping by. I hope you have a happy safe holiday weekend (and I hope you got some crafty goodies too!) Happy Crafting!
Make a gift in less than 10 minutes? Something someone would actually want? Yes you can. Take a look at this:
Earrings by Lindsay Weirich 2008
If you do any beading at all you will have the supplies on hand, if not you can find what you need at a craft store or even wal*mart. You will need:
Silver headpins, French ear wires, small round metal beads, metal bead caps, round or oval beads (I used resin since they are beautiful and lightweight but you can use whatever you have on hand, beware glass and stone beads may be too heavy with the thick metal bead caps), round nose pliers and a wire cutter. BTW I got my flush wire cutter at wal-mart for $4 and it is high quality and a dream to use, also you can get a kit for about $4 that will let you make 6 pairs of earrings, I like to buy in bulk for the best prices though.
lay out your supplies
On a bead board or towel (so the beads don’t roll away) lay out your design.
Slide beads on the headpin
Slide the beads on the headpin.
make a loop
Use the plyers to make a loop in the headpin 1/8″ above the beadcap.
wrap the wire around to secure
Slip on the earwire. Wrap the headpin wire under the loop.
Repeat for the other earring.
Simple earrings by Lindsay Weirich 2008
Who wouldn’t love that! The blue and pink beads I used are from Fire Mountain Gems. I received a gift certificate to them as compensation from Bead Trends Magazine when they published some of my Jewelery last summer (July August 2008). They have million of beads to choose from, I was overwhelmed so I vent to the value pack section and found these cute lightweight resin beads that looked like jellybeans! how cute! I got a lot of other stuff too with my $20 gift certificate and they sent a free strand of beads with my order!
Well, I’d better start making rolls for our Christmas celebrations around here (I’d rather make some more earrings though LOL) Have a happy safe Christmas Eve!
Hi folks, the countdown is on, I have presents to wrap (in some cases buy!), cookies to bake, a house to clean…then my husband asks “Do you have any more Christmas cards left?”
Card's made with my kid's artwork and an envelope cut with my Cricut!
Never fear the Frugal Crafter is here! Here is a way to make quick handmade cards and envelopes! The envelope is made in Design Studio (free version here) and the George cartridge and cut with my little cricut. You can get one invitation size (half a sheet of 8.5×11 cardstock folded in half) envelope out of a 6″x12″ piece of paper. This pattern leaves very little waste and the best thing is you can use up all of the leftover paper from those seasonal stacks! *Note I did not make a SCAL version because everyone with scal has at least the trail version of DS and if you have the personal Cricut (the one that cuts 6″x12″) you can cut this file for free. Also the cutting area in Design studio is 1/4″ larger and you need that extra room to make this envelope work. That said you can download my .cut file here. When folding the envelope, fold the bottom flap up and the sides over it then place the bottom fold over the side flaps and glue. Place your card in the envelope and fold the top flap down. You will have 1/2 ” overlap to work with so this is best for flat cards (not thick embellished ones.)
The cards were fun to make. I took two of my son’s drawings, scanned and reduced them so two would fit on a sheet of 8.5×11″ cardstock, printed them and cut the sheets in half. Fold them and you are done.
A quick treat box. Image: Vintageimagecraft.com, Cardstock: DCWV
Here is a quick teacher gift. I downloaded the vintage clip art from Vintage Image Craft, they have lots of good holiday projects there too BTW if you need a last minute gift. I took a 3″x7″ strip of red vellum and accordion folded it and stapled it in the middle then spread out the pleats and glued them on with hot glue. I added buttons with the glue as well. You can grab the printable pattern or SVG file and instructions here.
More holiday crafts/freebies and such tomorrow! Happy Crafting!
I used to spend more time reorganizing my supplies than actually using them….or hunting for an elusive stamp, button or roll of wire. If you’ve been there maybe you can use some of these storage ideas…They are cheap (mostly free!) and effective!
Binders hold unmounted stamps.
I have a large collection of rubber stamps. My clear and unmounted stamps are stored in binders. I have them sorted by manufacturer except for holiday stamps, they are in one dived binder. I put my small dollar sets in baseball card sheet protectors ($3 for 10 sheet at staples and each sheet will hold 9 sets), I put smaller sets in 4″x6″ protectors (Also at Staples) and the big sets are on their original storage sheet in regular 8 1/2″x11″ sheet protectors. The binders are 4 for $8 at Sam’s Club. I love this, I can grab a binder and find my stamp in seconds!
Recycled (free) storage!
I scored this rack (originally made for sandpaper) at a hardware store. The no longer needed it and it was free! I put my wood-mounted stamps in clear acrylic frames (they were $1 each at a discount store) and put labels on the end describing their contents! BTW most of the wood mounted stamps here I bought for $1 at the same discount/surplus store! They had a truckload of them once, lots of k&co, Inkadinkado and they were big ones $12-$16 regular! That was my best sale ever, If you are ever in Maine, USA you need to find a Marden’s, you won’t believe the stuff they have there!
In the olden days all my stamps fit in this HA!
I love these crop in style drawers but at $10 for 2 drawers they are too pricey for me, I’d rather spend my $$on the stamps rather than the storage! I have labeled these too. Labeling is key, I used to think these women were nuts when labeled everything in their craft rooms but it makes such a difference!
Drink three bottles and call me in the morning!
We received a 3 bottle boxed set of wine for Christmas last year and behold, it fits my stamp wheels perfectly…now if I could get another one of those…hmmmm, maybe I’ll pick one up before the next craft night, I’m sure the ladies will approve!
a wooden cassette rack holds my ink-pads
An old record cabinet hold paper.
I bought this cabinet made for holding record albums, remember those, for $10 at an antique shop. Hubby painted it and it holds my 12″ cardstock perfectly! Note: bare wood is acidic, line the shelves with contact paper or paint them with acrylic paint before storing any paper. I also put lame scrapbook paper against the dividers to buffer any acidic materials.
This pen rack holds my markers/pens/pencils and was only $10 when my LSS closed 😦Stack of Iris and Steralite carts with the wheels removed
This set up used to be in my bedroom. I sewed a canvas cover that snaps closed at the sides with strong snaps to keep my mess out of sight and to keep curious kids out of my paint! I would but these carts when they went on sale for 50% off at Rite-Aid but you can get them for less than $25 at Target or Wal*Mart.
Crop in style cubes (a gift from my mommy 🙂
These are pricey, $30 a cube but it is designed to hold 12×12 paper. I love these especially the ones with 5 paper shelves. Each shelf hold 2 big DCWV stacks of paper, we’re talking the 180 sheet stack too! If you are handy you can make ones just as nice from plywood and paint it white!
My yarn stash...most of it LOL!
Here is another freebie, the black shelves are made to hold caulking, you know that stuff in the big tube you need a weird gun to use at the harware store. They had extra, yay me! Notice the brightly colored filing cabinet? check out the little translucent embellisment holders. My brother in law works at a paper mill and they get rolls of tape in these little containers, they just through them away so he saved them for me! I used E6000 glue to glue strong magnets to the back and they work great to store brads, sequins, band-aids…you get the picture and since they are translucent I can see what’s inside! If you know someone who works at a paper mill ask them to save you some!
Thanks for reading through this long post, I hope it gives you some ideas on how to organize your supplies and save a little cash too. Untill next time happy crafting!
Happy weekend everyone! I’m sure you are a busy as I am this time of year with only a few days til Christmas. So here is a quick post and a couple of freebies:
Click on the links to download below. Enjoy!
Here are 3 snowflake border png (3″x12″, 300dpi) files to use on your winter scrapbook pagers. Download the pink border here, the green here and the blue here. No unzipping!
And a little something for my Cricut pals. Chirp!
And for my Sure cuts a lot buddies here is an svg version of the snowflake border you can cut with your Cricut! BTW if you are looking for a gift for you Cricut lover see if they have SCAL and if not buy it for them, it lets you cut almost any font you want as well as svg files with your Cricut machine!
As promised I’ll have the craft storage ideas up soon as well as a Christmas mini scrapbook kit…hopefully before Christmas LOL!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 