For my Kids Room

I put up that Chanukah banner and thought it really spruced up the big white walls in my kids room. So I made something for my son's side of the room and my daughters side. I think they will really liven things up:)








I used Mini Monograms (one of my black friday buys!) for the squares and the frames. I used PS for the letters and EDPD for the lion (my other black friday cart....) I then used the cuttlebug to emboss the backgrounds. I used the dots and the "going places" (I think that is the name) The patterned paper is from a package from EK Designs that I got at Amazing Savings. The Shadow on the letters though is from DCWV Kids Stack. The plain paper is from some chep-o poaster board pack I got as well at Amazing Savings. The ribbon is all from Michaels. I used Fabric Tack to glue the ribbon between the letters rather then tie it to make sure it can survive my kids room for a little while.

Then I made this for my daughter:





I took three plain wood frames from Ikea (they are like 1.50 for three) I took pattern paper (from a K and Co stack that I LOVE and need to find again ) the green background is from Nanas Nursery by DCWV. I then took some chip board from a k and Co box (I also got it at Amazing Savings- if you don't live in the east you don't have one, but it is really an awesome store) and the furry ribbon is from a package by EK Success. Also from Aamazing Savings. The flowars are Prima Flowars.
I was inspired by my good old friend Rivky of Crafting Jewish for both of these projects!:)
If you like these or you use them as insperation please post here so I can see!

Bless this home

I posted this picture on the Cricut Message Boards yesterday and am now running late to take my kids to school- but I wanted to put it up here before my Friday gets insane with Shabbat prep!

I went away for a Shabbat to someones home a few weeks ago and I wanted to make them a gift I hoped they would enjoy. I did not know what colors were in their home or their style (I later found out that this was NOT their style, and she gave the gift to her daughter who loves the colors I made it in. Which makes me happy that someone is enjoying it.)

In Hebrew the words say "Brachos HaByim" that translates to "Bless This Home". It is a traditional Jewish Art piece. I am putting the "recipe" below the picture. Please let me know what you think of it!





I took a 9x9 frame from Ikea (they have funny sizes there but I LOVE their frames) and I took out the 4x4 matting. I cut the pattern paper (from K and Co I think) to 7x7 and took some card stock from a pack of Recollections Card Stock (from Michael's, not the best quality but I like the colors a lot) I cut the letters from SCAL (because Provo Craft does not have much Jewish Content AT ALL) in the same deep red as the matting and did the Shadow in Silver. I then used Story Book to cut out the two corners. I did them in white and embossed them in gold to give them a gate effect. I put them over the letters to give the sence of protection of the home.
The boarder in the center is also from Story Book. I used the fit the length feature and cut it in white. I then inked it in red and put clear embossing powder over it to give it the same effect as the "gates". Thats it. It actually took very little time once I figured out my color combonation. I think it was nap time and I had time to myself.

I am almost sorry I gave this away, I think I am going to make one for my house soon.

I hope you enjoy!!!!!

A great kit I got to try!

So I know I have been talking about it but I FINALLY did it! I was given a new Chanukah Banner kit that was made by Ricky Koenig who wrote the book Crafting Jewish. She is coming out with a line at CHA of kits and die cuts for Jewish Crafts as well as standard crafting stuff. I think what will set her apart from other craft company's is her chic and clean style. It is modern, urban and and sophisticated. Her crafts can be adapted to any situation for anyone. I just love them and am so honored and touched that I get to try these things out!

Below the banner I am posting the recipe so you can do it for any holiday or a birthday, a shower, anything you want to decorate for! Enjoy!





7 pieces 12”x12” heavy scrapbook paper in assorted colors and patterns
Pencil
Scissors or paper cutter
1½”-2” yards ½” thick ribbon
Clear tape
Pop dots
Optional: Hole punch and brads

You can just cut out your squares, cut out lettering (from your Cricut maybe??) and pop dot up the letters. Put it all together on a long ribbon and Tada! Its super cute! Please comment to let me know you stopped by!

Birthday Hat Lady!

I got this hat stamp about a month ago and it is my all time fav! I love it so much! I only had dye based ink in pink so I tried to heat emboss it but it didn't work perfectly. But it is ok I still am in love with this card. I sent it to my niece for her 13th birthday. I loved it so much I made another one to have in my collection:)

I used the Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder.

Let me know what you think-

Also I have something so cool to show you tomorrow! I got a preview kit from a new line by the author of Crafting Jewish . It is a great great craft book even if your not Jewish. The ideas are super awesome and her style is really fresh. I actually am going to get to review the book soon and GIVE ONE AWAY! Here is a link to a review on Skip To My Lou. She is not Jewish but also writes about how it is good for everyone. I am going to post about it from the Jewish Perspective since, I am Jewish and all. But the ideas are what matters. I am going to post the stuff I made from the kit. I know the new sets are going to be at the Crafting Jewish booth at CHA so I will see if I can get some teasers before she gets there :)

Any way here is my birthday card!! Sorry to the wholllle long thing!:)

I am back!

Hi everyone!

I know I have been a little Missing in Action lately. But I have been crafting away and am so excited to show some of my new things!

Also I have a give away coming up this week. I know I am a no body but I have something to give away and I thought this would be a good venue to do that in!

I am posting a bligned out birthday card I sent to my best friend. She was having a low few weeks so I sent her something that would really cheer her up.






I used A Child's Year cart for the happy birthday and the cake, I then used Martha Stewart glitter (best stuff on EARTH!) to make it all bling. I used the cuttle bug for the back ground and K and Co paper (I forget the stack)

It really cheered her up.

I have sooo much more to post but right now I am rushing so I will be back later tonight and tomorrow morning with more. Promise!

Thank you and Baby Card

I made these cards in the past, I have some new lay outs I am going to post soon also.

This first card is a Thank you card that I made a BUNCH of.
Here is the Recipe- kind of:




The card itself is a 8 1/2 X 11 Piece of Recollections cream card stock cut in half.
Then I made a 5x4 piece out of Recollections paper and put it through my Thank You cuttlebug folder.

I then took come matching pattern paper, cut it 1 1/2 in X 4 in.
Then the Cricut came out! But only for a little. I used AE square at 1 1/2 inches and the scalloped square at 1 3/4in. I used a Thank You stamp from G Studio and colored it in. I did The Pink Stamper cheater method for the ribon and voola! I made a bunch of these to have on hand.



My next card I made a while ago for my collection of baby cards. I used New Arrivals- I think the boxes were cut at 1in and the blackout in the same size on glitter paper I got at target. I used pop dots and there you have it!


I hope you enjoy these and I will be posting my layouts and a BLINGED out card next!

Matting on my Cricut

So I just wrote a small novel on the Cricut message board about this....I will copy and paste it here in a moment. I have A LOT of new things to post. I have my first ever lay outs, some super duper cute cards ect. As i mentioned my family was in town last week so I was a little MIA. We went to the zoo with the kids and made a big birthday party. It was a lot of fun and I have A LOT of lay outs to make from it. For now I will post my revalation about matting on my Cricut for scrapping. None of this applys really if you have DS or a G. I am planning to get a G for my birthday in a month (little does the DH know!) and since my birthday is on Thanksgiving I am hoping it will go on sale for the holidays OR find some amazing black friday deal on it (yeah right!)

About the matting- Basically I decided rather then going out and buying a new cutter for my photos I would just take a little time and make templates out of some basic images from my Carts and then use those to pick the mat sizes for my photos. I would be able to use center point for my photos on my Cricut without worrying about the people getting cut out.

I am going to scan a PDF of my templates and post them here for all to use. I used AE and SB- I think most people have AE since if comes with most Cricuts right?

Here is the post I put on the message board- by all means skip it if you read it already.

So I have only recently started useing my Cricut for actual Scrapbooking (I just ordered 250 pictures from Snap Fish- I am a little behind but I WILL catch up!) And I was working on how to make matting for my photos. I asked on this amazing board how others use their Cricuts to mat and I found that most people don't. They use other paper cutters.

So I started looking online at other cutters and found the one I want, and started collecting coupons to the various stores to get it (ACM and M) and then I thought "You know Rachel, you have a $250 cutter in your den, why are you buying another $45 item? Can't you figure out how to make the one you have work?"

So I did JUST that!

I went through the carts I have and found basic circles, squares, rectangles ect. Then I took some plain card stock, tan, white and black (I get it in 100 page packs from M for 2.79 a pack-much less then getting the cutter!) and made templates out of the shapes I figured would make good mats. I did them from 1/2 inch to 4 inches. I used mostly AE and SB. But I am going to keep going through the carts I have for more basic shapes to use. I ended up useing my templates on EVERYTHING I made last night (and I did not make any lay outs!) I was able to pick the side of a circle I wanted to stamp on before I cut it, pick the matting ect ect and not have to worry about trying time and time again to pick the right size.

And when I DO get my pictures from Snap Fish I will be able to use these templates and then put the photo in my E using center point to cut pictures.

I was trying to find a way to share these templates with everyone. My idea is to tape them on paper, scan them and make them into a PDF. The way you can print them up and cut them out and they SHOULD be true to size. I will test this out and post here when I get it up on my Blog. I would also be willing to make sets of templates for people and mail them out but I would have to charge a little tiny bit for that because its time and material.

Anyway this is a long post that I am sure no one will read but I felt it was time harness the real power of the Cricut and stand up to our right to not have to buy yet one more thing.

Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any Carts that you recommend I look at for basic matting shapes.

Out of touch

My Grandparents were in town this week visiting so I have not been crafting or in blog land. But I will be back soon with my new lay outs and I will be posting more and promoting more soon!

Super simple cards

My DD was home sick yesterday so between that and the holiday this weekend that I am getting ready for I was not able to blog or craft much. I did work on an invitation that I am making for a dinner party we are throwing in honor of our friends wedding. I will post those soon. For now here are two SIMPLE SIMPLE cards. One is a Thank You card I made for some baby gifts that we got for our DS and the other is a get well/happy new year card for a cousin of my fathers who was very helpful and kind and loving when we lost my Father a year and a half ago. He had some medical issues this summer and I wanted him to know that he was in our thoughts. These are also my very first attempts at stamping. Not the best. I got La Plum II markers, are Copic significanly better? I think these are good, I am just getting the hang of it.
Leave a coment with any advice on my stamping!

ACM Coupons work on Cuttlebug stuff at M's!

Yesterday while I was getting my La Plum Pens I picked up a new Cuttlebug folder (the Thank You one) I had gotten two ACM coupons in my paper this week, but I am not a huge fan of our ACM so I threw them in my bag to see if they were unsaleable at Michael's- Guess what- they are! So I used my 50% off coupons and I got the Cuttlebug folder for half price! It was anouther exciting discovery.

Zip Dry Glue Tip

I had a very productive day yesterday craft wise. I will post those pics when I get the chance. I am rushing now but I wanted to keep up my momentum on posting and post something I figured out yesterday.

I learned about Zip Dry Glue from watching vids on MyPinkStamper.com (I LOVE her blog, I have learned SO much from her!) I was not so happy with my zip two way glue for cards (But it is GREAT for other stuff, like glitter!) Zip dry works soooo well but I was having a problem when I needed to clean out the applicator top. I actually broke the first one and had to get a second container of the stuff. But yesterday I figured out a solution!

All one needs is to take a paper clip, open it up and use it to clear out the dry glue in the tip. It comes out in one clump normally and then you just poke through the top lightly.

It was my brillant break through of the day.

Also I got my first stamp pens! I got La Plum II pens. I got them at M's.

Some cards I made and wall art!

I made these two cards for my grandparents. This first one I made a bunch of and sent off to them in CA. They were Shana Tovah (Sweet New Year) cards for Rosh Hashana. There is a tradition of eating apples dipped in honey on the new year- you are supposed to eat sweet things to have a sweet new year- so there is an apple on the front. I cut the apple from PSB and the scallop from AE. I used Martha Stewart glitter for the apple and Reflections card stock from Micheal's. I forget what pad the pattern paper was from.
(I took these pics on my Black Berry so they are not the best)


This next one I made for my grandparents but it was an anniversary card. I used Storybook for this one and MS glitter. I LOVE her glitter. I got the big pack of all her different colors and I figure if I use one up ever I can just get refills but this way I have all the colors. It often goes on sale at Micheal's for 30% off.



This last one is for one of my best friends. She just moved into her own place and I had been meaning to make her a house warming gift. I actually made this for her:


It is a "Mizrach" the word means East in Hebrew, and Jewish people put up pretty art that says this word so we know which direction to pray in (we pray towards Jerusalem) but I liked this SO much that I kept it for my living room.

So she was over for the Holidays this weekend and I was showing her my Cricut Carts after the Holiday was over right before she went home. She noticed that she LOVED the bath tub in New Arrival so I made her something for her new bathroom wall!


It is in a frame similar to the one above but there is a matting. It is a 4 3/4 by 4 3/4. The frame is from Ikea and they have weird sizes. The frame without the mat can hold a 9 x 9.

Anyway I hope you enjoy looking and checking out my crafts! Comment to let me know you were here!

Got new Stamps!!

So I just started stampping this week. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about! I got a basic greetings one last week at Michaels then I went online to Paper trey Ink and found that they had something I had been LOOKING for. Jewish Stamps! I have found that I may be one of the few Jewish crafters around and therefore there are very few options in way of stamps, SVG files or paper ect for us to use for our holidays. There are also a TON of Jewish Holidays and more often than not if I find ANYTHING Jewish is it only for Chanukah. And thats great, but there are so many more that I want to send cards for or craft for. Paper Trey Ink has a "Mazel Tov" stamp set! It came with all the basics....Chanukah, Rosh Hashana (New Year) Passover (they even use the Hebrew spelling Pesach which is very exciting for me) and Purim (which is lesser known in the Non Jewish world) It has symbols and separate pieces that you can use to put together what ever you want, like Shabbat, and Shalom and Bat and Bar and Mitzvah and Girl and Boy ect ect.

I am just so so excited. If there are any Jewish crafters out there (or anyone for the matter) that knows any good places to get good Jewish craft material let me know!

A second Post in one night!

Can you tell my kids are sleeping?
Here is a card I really thought was super pretty. I made it as a Thank You Note for a neighbor that always drops off little gifts for my DD at my door. It is one of the sweetest things and I wanted to thank her for all the nice things she does for us.
I used ACY Cricut Cart.

Jummping on the band wagon

So I decided to make the plunge and to start my own crafting blog. I live in an area that is not a huge crafting place, and I have zero friends who are into crafts. Crafting is even seen as a bit nerdy or silly among my friends. Even though I love it! Thus I am the "closet cricut crafter"!

I have always loved crafting and would scrap book here and there in high school. But in college I was not that into it. Now I am married with kids and I saw a Cricut infomercial one night. My Mom also saw it and called me to tell me I HAD to get it. I wanted it and I decided to take the plunge! I found the best deal I could (I got it on EBay from OhMyCrafts, with 8% back from bing and free shipping!) I watched tons of YouTube vids and looked up blogs and had NO idea there was a WHOLE world of crafting and I was just jumping in! I have started slow, I have been making cards and some cute wall art for my kids. This week I got my first stamps so I am starting in on that now! If anyone can recommend the best inks or techniques I would really appreciate it!

I also am going to start scrap booking soon! It is a little intimidating because I want to start from when my Husband and I were dating- till now and we have two kids! So there is an engagement and a wedding and then two babies! But I think if I just start making pages as the mood hits me I will be able to catch up and then keep up. Any advice on that?

I have a lot of pics of my stuff on my camera but this is bag and card was on my comp. This is from the beginning of my crafting, I have advanced since then!

Please follow me I will be posting my stuff and maybe make a vid some day?

Enjoy!