Sympathy Card

A friend just lost her husband and I made her this card. It is such a hard time for her and her family, and I want her to know how sorry I am for their loss.

For this card, I used pieces from my Anna Griffin stash and embossed a piece of card stock.

Thanks for visiting.

Anna Griffin Pop-Up Cards Digital Cricut Cartridge

Anna Griffin Pop-Up Cards Digital Cricut Cartridge lets me design and size my own pop-up cards. I recently received this cartridge as part of an HSN auto ship, but it is available now as a single ship.

I wanted to spend most of my time making the pop-up, so I used a card base and stickers from my Anna Griffin stash. The cut file also comes with a card base you can use.

This was my first pop-up card so I kept it very simple. Next time, I will add additional embellishments and use glitter paper! The Cricut cartridge includes envelopes and  print and cut files.

This is a fun project, but it takes a while to cut and assemble all the layers. I wanted a 5 x 7 inch card, so I sized my cut to 7 x 9.971 inches to fit inside the Anna Griffin card base.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday!

Simply Organized Sunday

Welcome to Simply Organized Sunday…SOS for short. Every Sunday I showcase blogs, websites or posts that provide innovative approaches to organizing and designing your craft space as well as other areas in your home.

This craft room makeover makes me smile. I love all the bright colors!

I love how Mandy organized her yarn!

She made this table! Wow!

Did I mention, I love how she organized her yarn?

Click here for tons more photos.

I hope you are having a simply organized Sunday!

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to Fab Five Friday. For those of you that are new to this blog, every Friday I showcase five blogs, websites or posts that I think you will enjoy.

I am in love with this new stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. What a fun look!



Thanks to Laura for another great video!

If you are looking for a summer remodel project, be sure to click here for all the details.

Speaking of summer, check out these yummy recipes from Tater Tots and Jello!

Be sure to visit Silhouette School for all the information and a great tutorial for cutting these labels with your Silhouette machine Wow!

I am always looking for new ways to use sentiment dies and I can’t wait to try this.



Thanks Altenew for the tutorial!

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous Fab Five Friday!

Sympathy Card Using Anna Griffin Window Frame Cardmaking Kit

I recently received Anna Griffin Window Frame Cardmaking Kit and Cutting Dies from HSN. I purchased this kit as part of an auto ship. I love this card kit and this is the second card I have made from the kit.

My friend just lost her father and I wanted a special card for her.

I think the Anna Griffin Window Frame Cardmaking Kit and Cutting Dies from HSN is my new favorite kit.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Camper Van Pop-Up Box Card

My friend recently purchased a camper van and I could not wait to make her a card to celebrate. This card folds flat and can be easily mailed.

I purchased the Pop Up Box Card Camper (#143159) image from the Silhouette On-line store and made a custom van, instead of using the camper that came with the file. You can purchase an SVG file from Lori Whitlock that you can cut with your Cricut Explore.

My friend named her van Frida, and is in the process of a major make-over. I used the car (#M34B889) from the Cricut Campin’Critters cartridge and resized the image to fit on the pop-up card. I used vintage Basic Grey papers from my stash and I was thrilled with the final product.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday.

Simply Organized Sunday

Welcome to Simply Organized Sunday…SOS for short. Every Sunday, I showcase blogs, websites or posts that provide innovative approaches to organizing and designing your craft space as well as other areas in your home.

I can’t wait to try using a cleaning caddy!

I love how Jillee organized her cleaning supplies. Click here for details and ideas on how to make your own cleaning solutions.

My cleaning supplies need to be organized and I can’t wait to try making my own. Maybe if my supplies are pretty, it won’t seem like cleaning. She even links to a lot of the supplies.

Who knew that baking soda had so many uses. I am going to use it to get coffee stains out of my cups.

I hope you are having a simply organized Sunday!

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to Fab Five Friday. For those of you that are new to this blog, every Friday I showcase five blogs, websites or posts that I think you will enjoy.

I love this clever post from Rejoicing Crafts. I so want the Simon Says Stamp funny food set!

Be sure to check out the Silhouette Blog for a step by step tutorial.

I was so excited when I saw this post detailing how to make 10 homemade spice mixes in under an hour. I am making the ranch dressing mix tonight. Thanks Jillee for another yummy post. The taco seasoning looks great too!

I am seriously addicted to planners and want to make a Graphic 45 one.



Be sure to check out the video tutorial from Magda. Her planner is stunning!

Be sure to check out this beautiful home decor piece by Jennifer.

Jennifer did an amazing job making the flowers. Stunning!

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous Fab Five Friday!

Get Well Card using the Cameo 3 and Silhouette Studio V4.0.837 Software

I made this card for my nephew and love how it turned out. Normally, this card would be quick and easy to make. It actually took me five hours to make, because I installed the new Silhouette Studio software version V4.0.837 on my newer Cameo 3 machine. I currently use an older version of the software on my Cameo 2. This is a long post, so you may want to grab some coffee!

I purchased the A2 Card Get Well Soon file (#132392) and used paper from my stash.
In my opinion, Version 4 is the biggest software update ever. The installation went smooth, but there is  a  learning curve. The menus have been completed redesigned. I was lucky and received the new Silhouette Handbook free of charge. It was very helpful, but I also found some additional resources you might want to explore. Here is a post from the Silhouette Blog explaining more about the handbook.

If you have the V4 software installed, you can go to the help menu and access a new manual for version 4. This manual is not as comprehensive as the handbook, but very useful. Or, you can click here if you want to read a pdf version of the manual even if you don’t have version 4 software installed.

My first challenge was using the built-in Bluetooth wireless. It worked once, but continued to be unreliable, so I disabled it. Next, the optical sensor did not read my registration marks for the print and cut sentiment portion of my card. I added another light source and it worked perfectly. I need to take a break before I spend more time on the Bluetooth challenge.

I also had a challenge with the cut settings. Some of the machine settings that I used on my Cameo 2 with older software had to be changed, including the speed, thickness and blade depth. The new send panel and cut screens are very different and took me a while to learn.

I finally got the Cameo 3 and v4 software to cut the tiny holes in this card. I am running two different Cameo machines using two different versions of the software, on two different computers. I really wanted to test the differences, so I tried numerous settings and compared the results. It took some time to get the Cameo 3 to cut as precisely as my Cameo 2 machine, and I am still struggling a bit, but it is getting better.

Now for the good news and more great resources.

I am starting to love the new detachable floating panels and the dynamic top tool bar. These changes will make designing with V4 even faster. I need to play more with the new tracing tools, the walk through tutorials, new project start-up options, and the much anticipated object on path feature. I love having the dual carriage and can’t wait to make more projects.

One of my all-time favorite resources is the Silhouette Message Board. Click here for more information. I love this message board and they have been a great help to me. I have been going there for help since I bought my very first Silhouette.

This post from the Silhouette Blog is also very helpful.

If you upgrade, or are a new user, the past Silhouette tutorials will look very different than the new v4 software. Silhouette School’s recent post explains the differences. Another informative post from Melissa is on how to transition from V3 to V4.

What about future upgrades?

Silhouette School recently wrote a great post on the eleven new features in Silhouette Studio V4.1. Also the send panel is getting a major overhaul. I am thrilled because it is  a little complicated. I figured out the various cut functions, but it took some time.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share my Cameo 3 and v4 thoughts.

Have a wonderful day!

Anna Griffin Window Frame Cardmaking Kit and Cutting Dies

I recently received Anna Griffin Window Frame Cardmaking Kit and Cutting Dies from HSN. I purchased this kit as part of an auto-ship. I love this card kit and it is one of my new favorites.

I took a few days off to celebrate the Fourth, so I have not tried the cutting dies, but hope to have a video soon.

My first auto-ship was the Window Box Card Making Kit. Just in case you missed it, I have a video and photo below.

This kit is so fun.

Click here to see the entire post.



I really love the cutting dies too!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Simply Organized Sunday

Welcome to Simply Organized Sunday…SOS for short. Every Sunday I showcase blogs, websites or posts that provide innovative approaches to organizing and designing your craft space as well as other areas in your home.

I can’t wait to try this idea. My pantry is about the same size. Yahoo!



I love the Do It On a Dime channel and blog. Enjoy!

We just organized our refrigerator, now we need to do the pantry.

I hope you are having a simply organized Sunday.

Fab Five Friday

Welcome to Fab Five Friday. For those of you that are new to this blog, every Friday I showcase five blogs, websites or posts that I think you will enjoy.

I love these free planner printables from Vintage Glam Studio and currently have these in my planner.



I love glitter paper and I can’t wait to try these techniques. Thanks Kristina for another great video. Click here to check out her post.

My friend Katie, from Crafting with Katie designed the cutest personalized notecards ever! Be sure to visit her blog for more details. What a great gift idea!



I did a happy dance when my sister sent me this link. Be sure to watch this video from Tim Holtz showing the brand new colors of distress oxide inks.

For tons of free Fourth of July printables be sure to check out Martha Stewart’s post. I love the rosettes.

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous Fab Five Friday!

Make it in Minutes Monday

Welcome to Make it in Minutes Monday. I thought it would be fun to feature quick and easy cards and projects that take only minutes to make, but look like you spent more time making them. I recently returned from a mini vacation, so I am a little behind on my projects. In the meantime, please enjoy this post.

I am in love with Anna’s giftable Cricut cartridge and wanted to share her recent tutorial with you.

The gift card fits perfectly into the holder pocket.



Love the video too. If you are looking for the sizing info for all of her giftables, click here.

I made this holder several weeks ago. I wish I would have used glitter paper for the handle like Anna did!

I love this gift holder!

Thanks for stopping by and have a marvelous Monday!