Proud Son In Law - File Available

I haven't forgotten about this thing or been on a hiatus. Instead I have been going from one project to another and haven't had time to sit down and upload and edit pictures and write out posts but I'm going to try and catch up with posting my projects, some of which were quite time consuming!

As I scroll through Facebook there are always advertisements about t-shirts and say "order now" or "hurry" "while supplies last" and some of them are hilarious and of course I don't ever think about ordering since I have HTV and a heat press so when one particular t-shirt showed up I knew I was going to have to make it but tweak it just a tad bit.

Since I don't have a son but do have a son-in-law who may or may not think I am freaking awesome I still wanted to make him this t-shirt. I even told him I was going to make it and I didn't care if he wore it to work, as long as he wore it at least once. By the way, he does outdoor maintenance work so I knew the t-shirt would get ruined if he did wear it to work. 

I changed the son to son-in-law, mom to mom-in-law, and the bought to made to customize for my use. 

I did like how some of the words were box negatives and kept that idea and while weeding I forgot a few times that is what I was doing and I took out the little triangle of an A but luckily I was able to put it back in there. I finally decided to just work one area at a time instead of skipping around and that helped me focus on what I was suppose to weed where. 

Here is a picture of my son-in-law wearing his shirt. I had to him put it on for a picture and figured that would be the end of that shirt but my daughter told me he did wear it when they went to a friends house for a get together *okie feels a tinge of pride* and I think has worn it another time as well. Years ago when Chuck first came to be in our lives I made a lot of things for him due to him playing football and he usually was the one to tell me what he wanted and where he wanted it. I guess you could say he is actually the reason I got into the whole HTV and heat press thing in the first place. 

 As always I am sharing the file for free *okie thinks most people slide by the donation button really quickly and act like they don't see it*.

Police Officer Quote - File Available

Ya know there are plenty of times when you are browsing through Facebook that you see something and you think to yourself "OMG! Self you need to make that" but you really don't have a reason or purpose for making such a thing you are looking at so you just toss it to the wayside. 

When I saw this quote about police officers and their families while scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed I had that thought but I knew exactly who I could make it for. There is a young couple that my kids know, actually the wife was my daughters matron of honor and the husband played football with my son-in-law, and the husband is a member of the police force here in town and I just knew I had to make it for them. Having a degree in Criminal Justice also tends to make me have a very strong respect and love for officers of the law. 

I messaged the wife and asked about what color frame and was glad when she said off white because I had picked up some of these frames at Wall's quite awhile ago and hadn't used any. They were actually for a retirement picture and had a bit of a shadow box look but I figured I could rip out the guts and use them for my own use, which obviously I did with this one. She also said she liked the burlap look of the original quote and luckily I had burlap. On a side note, thanks to my Aussie friend Janell I know know that burlap is called "hessian", so if you are ever on Jeopardy this information might come in handy. 

The process of removing the guts and getting the burlap on there was a process. I tried several things, and I won't bore you with the details, and ended up just cutting the piece of burlap the size of the back of the frame and gluing it down. 

In this picture you can see how there is room between the glass and the back of the frame where the burlap is glued and if you look at the bottom of the frame between the glass and burlap you will see a thin line of chipboard. In order to get the glass to stay in place I had to come up with something and since I don't have any glazier points handy and it was around midnight when I was working on this it was the best I could come up with. I think I cut about 4,827 *okie wonders if she might have just exaggerated a little bit there* strips of chipboard at 3/8 of an inch and then glued strips together until I got the thickness I needed, which oddly enough was about 3/8" of an inch as well. I used some Terrifically Tacky Tape on two sides of the strips, with one side going on the glass and the other on the lip of the frame, to hold it in place. 

Since I have a number *okie is too lazy to walk to her craft closet and count them* of these frames I will be picking up some glazier points for future use. 

While I probably could charge for this file I won't and offer it freely, I figure what's the difference since if someone wants it they can just do a trace of one of my pictures and make their own and it just saves someone time in the future if they want to make one *okie figures she has probably give thousands and thousands of dollars of cutting files away over the years for this very reason, plus she is too lazy to email people back and forth about such things*. 

4th of July Banner - File Available

I am going off to Branson for a few days to teach my cousin and her friend how to make cards. My sister and my Aunt Betty will be making the trip with me and I am sure we will have a great time on the 5 hour drive as my family always has a fabulous time when we are together. Before I get going and will likely be out of pocket for a few days I wanted to get this project posted. Last month I had posted A Little Laminating Tip now I am going to show you what I was working on when I found out how to do a little fix when laminating. 

It was really hard to get a good picture of the banner at full length since the finished project is probably around 9 feet long. It might look better if you click the picture and make it bigger. I had planned on making this last year for Andrea but a few things got in the way of me getting it done. 

I used cardstock for the pennants and for the letters I used silver colored vinyl. I wasn't sure my laminator could take 4 layers of cardstock and it's probably a good thing I didn't since I did have some problems with the laminating sheets sticking together due to the thickness. I used 5mil laminating sheets and maybe if I had used a thinner sheet it might have worked without having to get out the heat gun.

In order to break up the wording I cut some star and put them between the words. I think they worked out well and I did think of several different things to try but the stars just seemed to work the best. The stars laminated easily since they are only one layer. 

I think in this picture you can see the stitching I did on the pennant and that was done with a white gel pen. I'm not sure how well you can see the way I joined the pennants but it was rather simple. I used my Crop-O-Dile to punch holes and then used some Maya Road cord for tying them together. 

If you would like to make a banner you can download the file below:

It Comes In Handy! Layout File Available

As many of you know I go through spurts of designing layouts and then I don't get around to using them until much later and the other night it sure came in handy! My Goddaughter Amber had asked if I would help her decorate two 4x6 pages for some kind of birthday scrapbook for one of Chi-O sister's birthday that she and the other girls would be doing and I told her I would help her. Of course in my mind I was wondering what kind of decorations could be used for a 4x6 scrapbook! I had forgotten about the project until Amber came by the night before she needed it, which she is famous for doing, and asked me about it. After she showed me some examples I told her that the pages were 12x12 and the pictures were 4x6 and her reply was "oh I didn't know, but whatever, it doesn't matter". *okie sighs in exasperation* Those who don't scrapbook just don't get it do they?! 

Luckily I remembered the  Party Owl Night Long layout that I had designed back in 2013 that had an owl on it and talked about party so I quickly opened it up in Make The Cut and showed Amber and she said it would work just fine. 

I was going to cut all the pieces and leave them for her to put it together but Amber gets distracted easily and isn't always the best on realizing how much time this stuff takes so I did go ahead and put it together for her and all she had to do was pick it up. Besides, the girl works two jobs right now and time is precious. I will give her props for helping me pick out the paper for the layout.

For the stars I just used a punch because it would be faster. After I looked at the picture I remembered she wanted both of them going portrait but OH WELL TOO LATE NOW and she never mentioned about it being turned wrong. The patterned papers are from Graphic 45 Mother Goose collection and the title is done in some Bazill Bling cardstock. 

Since some may not know *and okie wonders why just the regular joe would know* the owl is the mascot of the Chi-Omega sorority and that is the reason I thought this would work for her purposes. 

I added the ribbon along the bottom as an after thought because it just looked too dang plain without it for my taste and Amber wasn't here to tell me not to use it *okie cracks up laughing*. The yellow and red of the owl are also with Bazill bling cardstock. 

Amber was pleased with the layout but she is really easy to please. 

I am so glad I do a lot of designing of files because I never know when they are gonna come in handy!

Established Sign Vinyl Project - File Available

Some of y'all probably remember the 3 Funerals and A Wedding post back in October when my daughter gave me 4 days notice that she was getting married and my friend Carmen just happened to be visiting from Houston and with some quick thinking and fast decorating we were able to pull off a wedding and reception right here at my house. If you don't know the story you can check it out in the link above.

Now that your memory has been refreshed I'll share the "established" floating picture that I made for my daughter and son-in law. I have to say I really like the whole "floating frame" thing since you don't have to worry too much about making a backing to match what decor people might have because it just shows the wall behind it so ya know it's gonna match!

I am always on the look out for frames when I go to Goodwill for projects such as this and I can usually find them for a buck or two, at least I could before the new manager came into play and started pricing things so high. Anyway I did get this one at Goodwill and I think I got it for $1.99, not a bad price! I think the size on it is about 20" x 14.5". Since I don't have a hobby store close I had to get creative with the mat on the frame and I wasn't sure what to do until I remembered I had some Cricut Foil Vinyl!

I used some cardboard and measured out the pieces and then miter cut them using a quilting ruler as my guide and then just covered the cardboard with the foil vinyl. I really liked the look of the "metal mat" and it gives the picture, sign or whatever you want to call it a nice classy look. I do still need to get a large sheet of acetate or have another piece of glass cut to put over the top before they can have it to hang on their wall. 

If you would like to cut this design and add your own initial, name and edit the year, you can download the file below:

Patriotic Medallion Banner - File Available

Today another French Country project was scheduled to post but I wanted to share this project so I pushed that post back. A few days ago a really cool looking 4th of July Decor popped up on my newsfeed from Hobby Lobby and I fell in love with it and thought "I can make that with paper!" I immediately, well almost immediately, got into Make The Cut to design a file. The file is available for download in MTC and SVG formats at the bottom of the post.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock - White, Red, Cream, Navy, Silver

Cardboard

Burlap

Red Velvet Ribbon

White and Navy Blue Ribbon

Liquitex Matte Gel

Krylon Maxx Satin Acrylic Sealer

Sobo Craft Glue

Cricut Explore

I used the Liquitex and Krylon Acrylic Sealer on my so I could make it somewhat waterproof in case I wanted to hang it on my front door, which was my intention when I thought about making it in the first place. The burlap ribbons are cut from a sheet of burlap I had left over from my daughter's wedding. I added some Sobo glue along the edges to keep it from fraying. I also used the same glue to put the pieces together, this stuff is awesome! The stripe ribbon is from a roll I found at Zipp Outlet a few weeks ago and the red velvet ribbon is actually some Christmas Ribbon I got after Christmas on clearance. 

Here is a close up of the medallion part. I did make a "4" to put in the center since that is what was on the original and afterwards I had wished I had put a Uncle Sam in the middle instead but it was already done. I did get back in the file and make a hat to use so if I make another one I can put it on there instead. The file below does contain the 4 and the hat but you could always put something else in there as well. I cut the white base piece at 11.5 inches so I could make it as big as possible with one sheet of cardstock. If you use the file you will need to resize for what you want to make. 

After applying the Liquitex I thought the pieces would look better if I added some shape to them and I was able to get a little shape to the pieces. Next time I will shape the paper BEFORE I add the Liquitex or Mod Podge since it will be easier to shape. I am still pleased with the results, or at least half way pleased. 

I used my McGill Flower Shaping tools to do a little of it but mostly I just used my fingers to manipulate the paper how I wanted, and again...next time I will shape before adding sealers.

To get the layers to pop away from each other I used some regular cardboard and cut it to the size I needed for the back of each layer. This step really made it look a lot better. I wasn't worried about it not being acid free since there are no pictures on the project *okie knows someone will probably wonder about that*. 

I forgot to take a picture of how I attached the ribbons but I actually just stapled them to the base layer on the back. If you are going to staple your ribbon on the base I would suggest doing it before putting the layers together, it would make it easier....and we won't discuss how I know.  I didn't have a hanger made for it when I put it together so I had to make a hanger with some ribbon but the file now has a built in hanger that will cut on the base layer.

I think I want to make another one of these with an Uncle Sam hat just to see what it looks like. I think a star would look nice or USA, there are a lot of different things you could put in the center.  

Here is a picture that Hobby Lobby had posted. I thought you might want to see where I got the idea from. I would like to have a tassle hanging down but I didn't have anything handy to make one and that is why I opted to use the red velvet ribbon on the project. 

Webster's Pages Clean and Simple - Altered Box

I got another one of the boxes covered and this one was a bit harder but I think only because I didn't have all the little extras to choose from with the Webster's Pages paper like I did with the Graphic 45. I might have overdone it with the flowers but I really like how they turned out and wanted to use as many as I could. I did end up with some extra white daisies that I can use some other time. 

Supplies Used:

-White Paperboard Box

-Webster's Pages Clean and Simple

-Daisies Cutting File (available below)

-Cuttlebug Daisy Quillng Kit

-Sizzix Dies Label, Ornate #2

-EK Success Medallion Border Punch

-Stampin Up "Define Your Life" Journey

-McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit

-Colorbox Chalk Ink

-Glimmer Mist

-Smooch Spritz Tea Party

Here is a straight on view of the top of the box. The white flowers are the daisies that there is a cutting file for at the bottom of the post. The pink flowers were made using the Cuttlebug Daisy Quilling Kit. The center papers were cut using then Sizzix dies. I stamped the "journey" definintion and then adhered the yellow paper on some orange and used the Stampin Up Decorative Label punch to punch it out. 

On the close up side view you can see the ribbon on the side of the box a little better. I found some Sobe glue at Zipp Outlet and I have to say I love this stuff! It was great to put the ribbon on the box and also for the little dangling "Spirit" embellishment that I used as a open/close apparatus. 

You might be able to tell from the photo but in case you can't...I used mounting foam and a lot of it! That is one thing I love about altering items is that I can add a lot more dimension than I can on cards or scrapbook pages. 

I think you can see the "shimmer" on these flowers better than you can on the last box I did. I used Glimmer mist on the white daisies and Smooch Spritz on the pink daisies. For the centers of the white daisies I ran some yellow circles I had cut, that are included in the cutting file, upside down through my Xyron and then covered with flock. 

The quilling kit has a plate that cuts some straight strips that I used in the center of the pink daisies but then it looked a little plain to me so I popped in some pearls to jazz it up a bit. 

When the last box posted on Facebook someone asked if I had covered the inside as well and asked for me to post pictures if I did indeed cover the inside. I don't know why I didn't think about posting pictures of the inside then and I thought I should go ahead and post a picture of the inside of the box so you can see how the inside is covered as well. 

  

Chalkboard Project with Vinyl, Cricut Vinyl!

Well I finally made something for myself and I think I really like it!

I got this chalkboard a few months ago at Goodwill and kept wanting to do something with it but instead of just drawing with chalk I thought I would do vinyl. I finally got around to it yesterday and decided to use some Cricut Vinyl and do a quote on the chalkboard. 

I found a quote but the problem was trying to get it to fit within the bounds of the red. I didn't want it too small because I thought it might look funny but I didn't want to make it too big and have it not fit within the curves. My solution? To put it on the floor and take a picture of it!

Of course after I did that I needed to load the picture into MTC and do a trace. I didn't need a perfect clean cut image, just the basic shape so I could enlarge it to the same size as the board and then I could find out what size I needed to do the quote. Of course me being me I did end up cleaning up the edges a bit just because I could stand all the jagged edges from the black lines. As you can see in the picture all the lines are not clean and neat though so I didn't go overboard *okie is proud of herself for not wasting hours making clean edges on something that wouldn't be cut*. I was able to measure the original and then set the size on my image making it easier to set the size of my quote.

Since the quote ended up being more than 12 inches wide I had to split the quote in two so I could cut it. In order to get it placed correctly for application I put it back on the mat after weeding so I could line it up how I had originally designed it. 

I have heard a lot of negative about the Cricut vinyl but I have to say for this project it really worked out great. I did notice that it is a bit more crisp than the Oracle vinyl which makes it more fragile during the weeding process and one of my letters did tear a bit. Had I been doing this for someone else I would have recut the letter but since it was just for me I used it anyway and you really can't tell where it tore now that it is up on the wall. I certainly wouldn't use this vinyl for permanent applications but for wall quotes or items like a chalkboard I think it is fine since it will be easy to remove if I decide to put something different on my chalkboard at a later time.

I opted to use the paper transfer tape instead of the clear transfer tape I usually use since it is less tacky and I knew it would release from the chalkboard easier. I worked in sections from bottom to top, going horizontal to apply the transfer tape to the vinyl, over lapping the transfer tape on each layer. 

I was worried at first about being able to see through the paper transfer tape and getting the quote lined up correctly but since the background was red it was really easy to see and get it down okay.

Since the Cricut Vinyl is not as tacky as the Orcale or Avery vinyl I am use to working with I used a brayer to help the vinyl adhere to the board better.  For removal I just worked backwards, from top to bottom to remove the tape. This method allowed me to save some of the transfer tape for later use. I didn't get to save it all because I was not paying attention and some of the taped curled and stuck to itself and I didn't feel like fighting it to straighten it out. 

And here is the finished project! I know there are probably some great quotes out there but since this was going in my kitchen and this is pretty much how I feel about kitchens I thought it was perfect! When I showed it to my daughter she cracked up laughing and I think she probably agreed with it.

I do like the idea of the Cricut vinyl being less tacky and leaving me the option to do something else with the board later on. I have to admit it wasn't as horrid as I thought it would be and I think it works great for some applications such as what I mentioned earlier. I will have to try something more detailed later on and see how it works as this was large and there were no problems cutting or weeding the vinyl. 

I have several colors of the Cricut vinyl and I might have to try some wall quotes to see how well it works for applying to walls or doors. 

Happy Thanksgiving - Turkey File

Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The kids and I are going to Seminole to spend the day with my Aunt Betty and her family. Not sure if Shiane and I will do any shopping tonight or not, we still have to look through the ad. 

I just wanted to share this file that I made last night because I know people will be doing some Thanksgiving layouts. I think I will use him for the layout I do for this years Thanksgiving. 

Don't forget there are still 2 more days to enter the giveaway for the Cricut Explore Air!

Grinch Project - Repost

This was a project I made last year when I was reviewing the Cricut Explore while using vinyl.

I actually used the finished project for a dirty Santa gift at school and the girl who ended up with it loved it. The following post was the original post and has the download file available at the bottom of the post. 

Since Christmas is coming up I thought it was worth reposting now in case anyone missed getting this file last year. 

ORIGINAL GRINCH POST:

So last night I was going to work with some vinyl on the Explore for my next review and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I looked through my files and started playing with a Grinch file and a quote file I had and came up with a new file. I posted it in the Design Space Facebook group to see if it could be read and my friend Jackie pointed out that one word was hard to read so I went back and edited the file and it did work a lot better! THANKS JACKIE!

A few people said they would pay for the file and I had to giggle to myself because obviously I guess there are a lot of folks out there that don't know I very, very, very rarely charge for files I make! Anyway I thought about charging but then quickly decided to make this file free as my Christmas gift to my readers! So many of you guys and gals have been with me for over the years and have shown such loyalty even when I was on my hiatus from crafting that I thought I should show my appreciation! You really have no idea how much it means to me to have people stick with me even when I was gone for months and months!

I did import the SVG file into Design Space, it imported just fine so it should be ready to use once you download the file and then upload into the program and of course as always I have the MTC file available as well.

So to all of you MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ME TO YOU! And thank you so much for always being there to read all my dribble even when I have no files or projects to offer.

Card Challenge - 3 Flower Card

I am going to admit that I really don't know what to call the card challenges and I absolutely don't know what to call the card designs that I am posting so if the title sounds weird forgive me. 

This weeks challenge is a 3 flower card. And since people seem so curious as to where I am getting my designs I will tell you...I see something, trace it, make a file out of it. As for the ideas for the designs I get those from various locations and by the time I adjust tweak and save I honestly can't remember where the original idea came from so it's not that I am trying to cheat anyone, it's just that I have too many squirrels. 

The following are to be used:

- Basic design of card (layer shadow optional)

- Oval frame

- 3 flowers, more if you want

- Leaves, amount of leaves are up to you
- Feel free to add other embellishments

The oval can contain a stamped or cut out sentiment. I left it large enough so a cut out sentiment can be used. 

Cards will need to be completed by midnight Thursday November 12th. If anyone would like to send a picture of their card to me to post just send it to me by EMAIL and I'll be glad to post your project. 

SVG users if you are importing into Cricut Design Space you will need to select all and resize to 4.25" x 5.5" to keep ratio that is show in the picture.

Who's Up For A Challenge?

So as y'all know I haven't had time for crafting in quite sometime and BFF Carmen and I were talking about how fun our challenges were when we use to do them and how much crafting we got done and we have decided to start doing a few again and I thought it would be nice to post the challenge in case anyone else wants to play along. Another reason for the challenge is because BFF Carmen has decided she is a fraud, meaning she has all that craft chit but never uses it, and by doing the challenge she can vindicate her fraud status. 

I asked Carmen if there was a specific theme she wanted and she said she didn't want a theme but more of a general card and I came up with this bee card. I figure you can add what ever sentiment you want to the card. 

The file is available Make the Cut and SVG formats so it doesn't matter what machine or program you use you can take part if you can use either of those file types. The only rule is that you have to use the honeycomb and at least one bee, more can be used if you want and use the general layout of the card, meaning the square in the middle and the half circle at the top. Other elements can be added if desired but use the basic elements there. 

Cards will need to be completed by midnight Sunday November 1st. If anyone would like to send a picture of their card for me to post next week just shoot me an EMAIL and I'll be glad to post your project. 

SVG users if you are importing into Cricut Design Space you will need to select all and resize to 4.25" x 5.5" to keep ratio that is show in the picture. 

Sweet Summertime - Layout

This is another file I did a few weeks ago and I don't think I ever think about summer without thinking about watermelon.

As a kid I remember my parents having neighbors over for watermelon. We never had enough lawn chairs and people would be sitting on tailgates, cinder blocks, buckets turned upside down or whatever else was handy.

I tried to leave enough room so elements could be moved around easily, such as adding more photos or changing the sizes in the file.



SVG USERS - select all elements and resize to 12x12  if you want the exact size that is in the design.

Beat The Heat - Layout

It seems like so many towns are getting those splash pad water parks for kids these days I thought this would be a good layout for those type of pictures. And we all know it has been hot hot hot this summer but in Oklahoma it is always hot hot hot in the summer.

I'm not sure I'll ever cut this layout and sometimes when I design a layout I dont have any intentions of using it but always feel like someone can use it, or at least I hope they can. I told Carmen one day that I think I enjoy designing things more than making them. It's such a dilemma for me at times.

This is one I think could be embellished even more to be made super cute. Glossy accents would add ice water drops in places.

 SVG USERS - Be sure to do a select all and resize to 12x12 for elements to cut the appropriate size.

Ice Cream - Layout

I love ice cream and have been quite depressed since our stores quite carrying ice cream. Okay that might not be totally true but in my book unless it's Blue Bell it isn't ice cream. I have heard rumors that they are starting production again on a small scale and I hope they expand quickly because a bowl of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla sounds so delicious right now!

Now I have to be honest with you folks and tell you that most of the layouts I'll be posting this week were designed with my friend Carmen in mind. She has the most gorgeous granddaughter and in almost each of these designs I could just see little Kaci's face in the photo areas with her beautiful smile. I have some photos of my own of her and I know I am going to have to make a bacon layout because I got some great pictures of her eating bacon.

Anyway I really loved this ice cream cone I found on the internet and that is what prompted this layout.


SVG USERS - Remember to select all and resize to 12x12 if you want the pieces in the size they were designed for the layout.

Days of Summer - Layout

As promised I am getting the layouts I've designed recently posted this week. I think all of them are summer themed so they might be great for those who are getting their kids back in school and have a little more time to sit down and scrapbook.

The first one is Days of Summer and I think it would pretty much be good for any pictures of summer activities. Of course the colors are only a suggestion and I do the colors on the pieces when I am designing because it is easier for me to visualize the layout that way. If you would like more photos in the layout it would be easy to change the photos and size around. 

SVG USERS - Remember to select all and resize to 12x12 if you want the pieces to cut the size they were designed for the layout.

When It Rains...Wall Quote

I'm not sure why my friend Amy has me make wall quotes for her when she has a machine and could cut it herself *okie wonders if Amy is just lazy about weeding*, but anyway she told me the other day she was needed a new quote to go with a picture. She sent me a quote and then told me what size she wanted.

I'm sure it will look a lot better on the wall when applied permanently but of course I couldn't do that for the picture since I have to send it to Amy. I really can't remember what size it is set to in the file you can download and since this is something people would want to re-size for their own use it doesn't really matter. This particular one is approximately 24 inches wide. I had to cut it in two pieces since the height was too tall for a 12" mat. 

I had shared the design on Facebook for Amy's approval and a few people asked about the file so thought I would make it easy and just have it available here instead of having to email it to people. 

Once again if you download please at least leave a comment so I know my files are used. Thanks! 

Celebrating Freedom - 2 Page Layout

I have often said to myself, and probably a few others, that I think I enjoy designing projects more than making them. I love to come up with layout designs, whether the idea is in my head somewhere or if I am putting a spin on a sketch I see in a book or online. This particular layout sketch just screamed "I WANT TO BE PATRIOTIC" to me when I saw it online and so I made it what it wanted to be. 

Here is the list of dimensions for the base and stripes:

• Blue base - (2) 12x12
• Red stripes - (2) 12 x 1.5, (3) 12 x .5, (1) 8 x .5
• White stripes - (2) 12 x .75, (2) 12 x .5
• The photos sizes are suggestions.

The scroll cut is what I will be using for adding my date and journaling when I get ready to cut this layout. 

SVG USERS - Remember to select all and resize to 12x12 if you want the pieces in the size they were designed for the layout. 

Together We Make A Family - Layout

So while digging around in my files I found this layout I made back in January and never posted *okie thinks she should write sticky notes sometimes for her to keep track of her life* and thought I should get it posted in case anyone would want to use the file.

One of my first loves of paper was Basic Grey and while I still love it I have slowed down on buying it because...*okie looks from left to right and then right to left, leans closer, puts her index finger to her mouth and whispers* let's face it, I dont really have much room left for more paper. The papers used in this layout is from their Origins Collection and was probably the first collection I ever bought. 

I wanted to make the tree a little more interesting and stole the idea of using the buttons from my friend Carmen who made me a card years ago that had buttons embellishing the tree on the card. These particular buttons are from the same collection, I believe I have brads for this collection as well. That is one thing I love about collections, being able to have matching embellies and not having to dig through everything to find something that matches. I also thought the buttons were more interesting than cutting a bunch of leaves out of paper...*okie takes a deep breath and ponders for a moment then sighs deeply and hangs her head* okay I'll tell the truth...I was just too damn lazy to cut a bunch of leaves and put them on the tree and branch. Are you happy now? Are you happy that I admit I'm a lazy crafter??? *okie pouts for a second and then raises her head and puts her nose in the air* But you have to admit that the buttons are a very creative idea!

I liked the idea of the title swerving with the tree branch and that took a little finagling *okie is amazed she spelled that word correctly and knows it is correct since spell check didn't underline it* and right now I can't remember exactly what I did to make it curve. I might have adjusted each letter separately and then welded them together. 

I hope someone does use the file because I think it is a nice design. 

If you download please leave a comment of "thank you", "downloaded" or even "kiss my ass bitch" so I know my files are getting used. If they aren't being downloaded then I don't want to go to the time of converting them, uploading them to Google Drive, editing to share and then posting them. 

You Are My Sunshine - Completed Layout

The You are my Sunshine layout was a design I posted back in July of 2013 and it is one I did when I was playing around with the Samantha Font that everyone so loves. I really had a hard time finding pictures I wanted to use when I got ready to cut this layout this weekend. Finally I went to my daughters album that has her baby pictures in it and as soon as I saw these to pictures I knew they were perfect!

The papers are from the Basic Grey Picadilly collection and the main reason I chose it was because of the yellow and orange hues I needed fo the sun rays. I think the dark pattern paper that came in the collection was perfect for matting the photos and I generally don't use a pattern paper fo that purpose because I always feel like it is a waste of beauty to cover it up but I decided to live on the edge this time *okie feels quite proud of her ability to take such major risks in her life*. I did cheat a bit and used the stickers in the collection for the date in the bottom right hand corner.

Here is a close up of one of the butterfly's and a swash from the Samantha font collection. I cut the butterfly out of orange and red and layered it. I used some fine wire to make the antenna and then used my Tim Holtz tiny attacher and stapled them to the white shadow, this way the butterfly covered up the wire and staples. There is mounting foam between the orange and red layers to give them dimension. The body is Black Diamond Stickles. Little story there...I went to use the Stickles and the bottle was almost empty and I kept shaking it hoping to get a little out and it was actually dried up. I was about ready to freak out when I looked down and had a brand new bottle! I told my friend Carmen "yeah people think I hoard supplies but I call it being prepared!". 

I had posted the sun rays on Facebook because Carmen wanted to see what they looked like and my friend Amy said "I can never get those to line up" and I replied "Surely you don't think I did them without a cutting file" to which she posted "I should have known" *okie wonders why anyone would ever try to cut something by hand when they certainly have capable machines to do so*.  I used my white Signo UM-153 gel pen to add some stitches on the rays and the sun pieces. 

Oh the title is glittery because I ran it upside down through my Xyron and then added Doddlebug Sugar Coated glitter. To me that is a lot cheaper than buying $2 a sheet glitter paper. Plus, if you mess up you aren't out as much money *okie hates making mistakes with specialty papers*.

I had made the file available before without the title but the file now contains the title and as promised I have added the download for the SVG version as well. 

Download File Below: