I am Thankful...

Autumn is my favorite time of year.  I love the crisp feeling in the air, the colors, the smells, the tastes!!!!  I was married in the fall, had both of my children in the fall.  I just love the fall!!!  It is a time when I am reminded how truly blessed and thankful that I am.

I thought that I would share a few photos with you today of some simple Autumn decor that I have added around my house to remind us of the Abundant Harvest that God pours into our lives on a daily basis.  I hope it inspires you to Count Your Blessings, as well.

Happy Fall Ya'll...

My fun Subway Art that I did in golden yellow vinyl on a piece of metal that I spray painted black.  And, a pumpkin full of cany corn!

Vases that I filled with layers of black beans, great nothern beans that I used yellow and red food coloring on, and then green lentils.  Very fallish colors!

My totally sweet plate that I made using the Cricut Damask Decor Cartridge and a plate from the dollar store.

I added a little wooden pumpkin that I have had for years with some bite sized candy bars, just for my son!

Aren't these pumpkin candles cute.  My husband's Aunt Nancy gave these to me several years ago and I just can't bring myself to burn them.  I love being able to pull them out each year.

Our Kitchen Table complete with burlap and lace.  I used a piece of burlap for the underneath table cover and then added the crotched table topper along with a bit of pumpkin and harvest themed fabric right under the old dough bowl.   I pulled out my mustard colored plates and made cute napkin rings.

My mother's old dough bowl full of harvest goodies!

The napkin rings that I made using copper strips that I found at Hobby Lobby.  I ran them through my Sizzix and embossed them.  Added a little black paint and green glitter paint and then wiped off the excess for an antiqued look.  I used a paper towel roll cut into 3 inch sections as my base.  Added a bit of black cardstock paper cut at 3 1/2 inches and embossed with a dotted swiss pattern over the paper towel roll.  Then added the copper strips and then tied a piece of burlap string up through the middle of the tube before adding my napkins.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

My $6 Michael's pumpkin that I cut the top out of and made into a planter.  I used copper vinyl for the wheat stalk and black vinyl for "thankful."  Then I made an arrangement out of flowers and cat tails that I picked up at the dollar store.  The entire arrangement costed around $10 to make.

On my downstairs counter, I added a little wicker pumpkin basket that I have had since my children were little and some yellow leaves.  That's my totally awesome children and hubby in those photos!  Yes, I am proud and oh, so 

THANKFUL!

I also pulled out these little figurines that my MIL bought for the children 15+ years ago from Hallmark.  I sent my daughter, who is now in college,  a picture of them and she got pretty nostalgic!  They used to spend hours at the kitchen table playing with these characters.  Maybe one day I'll be passing them on to some precious grandkids.

I repurposed this wire basket that I had into a fall planter using flowers that I already had for the wall by my front door.  Nothing like a splash of color to say "Hello & Welcome."

And, lastly my cute as pie "Welcome" pumpkin.  I cut "welcome" out in black vinyl and applied it to a pumpkin that my hubbie picked out.  He always picks out the BEST shaped pumpkins.  Then we added two yellow mums to the pots on either side.  I am planning on adding pinecones into the bottom pot.  I just haven't had time to pick them up out of the yard yet.  

Well, I hope that you enjoyed the quick tour of my home.  I hope you will be inspired to pull out all of your old deocrations and see what you can come up with.  But, most importantly just spend some time reflecting on the blessings that have been poured into your life and purpose to live with "An Attitude of Gratitude!"

Once Upon A Time Baby Shower Card

Just wanted to share this Baby Shower card that I made recently for a friend.  I used the Cricut Storybook Cartridge and a piece of paper from Die Cuts With A View's Once Upon A Time Stack.

It is a size A2 card,

with a burgundy background cut at 5 1/4 X 4, 

then a white background cut at 5 X 3 3/4 and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder,

then a pink and brown piece of DCWV paper from the Once Upon A Time Stack cut at 2 1/2 X 5,

and a piece of irridescent ribbon with gold edging taped around the white layer.

The Once Upon A Time was cut using the Storybook Cartridge in burgundy and white card stock and popped up with pop dots.

I printed the saying on the inside of the card on my computer and punched around the edges and then taped it in.

It says, "...There was a little Princess named Dakota.  And, she lived happily ever after!"

Another Quickie Gift Idea from The 31 Woman

Here is another quickie gift idea I wanted to share with you.  Hopefully I will get some videos done soon, but this summer has been pretty busy.

The other day I was at Michael's and they had these cute little candles on sale for 50¢.  I picked up several just to have for a quick gift.  Well, I have already given them all away.  I came up with the cutest way to decorate them, and have been able to give them as hostess gifts, a little gift for a friend and 2 birthday gifts.

For this candle, I cut a last initial out of yellow vinyl to match the lemon candle.  I tied a little piece of raffia around the top.  Then I used my favorite Cricut Storybook Cartridge to cut out a design for the top.  The candle has a little plastic cover on it that is about 2" in diameter.  So, I choose one of the flowers from the cartridge and cut out a 2" blackout flower and then the cooresponding 2" cutout flower and glued the two pieces together.  I added a little brad in the middle of the flower and used pop-dots to attach it to the little plastic cover.  

Very Cute!  I used this one as a hostess gift.

Here is another one that I made again using the Storybook Cricut Cartridge to cut out the vinyl for the side of the candle and to make a topper for the candle.

I used little rhinestones to decorate the butterfly.

Another quick tip is that I always try to keep these three things on hand for quick gift giving:

Personalized Labels For That Special, "I Made This Just For You" Touch

And, clear bags and basket filler.  I have lots of sizes of clear bags and many different colors of basket filler.  They come in so handy.  I buy my bags from Nashville Wraps and/or ClearBags.com

I hope this gave you a few ideas for your quick gift giving needs. 

Using My Cricut to Be A Blessing!

Just wanted to share a quick idea today with you of how you can use your creative talents and the tools that you are blessed with to be a blessing to others.

I have a friend who works with a women's ministry in my local town.  They recently moved their offices and had not been able to get a new sign for their front door.  I just happened to stop by one day to say hello - God was leading.  She mentioned the sign  and I took a look at it.  I thought that it would be pretty easy to use my Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) software to design their sign.  I am the one who desinged their logo several years ago.

So, I took the logo and made an .svg file of it using Inkscapes.  I then pulled that .svg into SCAL and designed the rest of the sign.  I cut it out in their colors and applied to the back of their old sign.  It turned out great and they were so happy.  It would have cost them a good bit of money to have a sign company do all of those steps for them.  So it was a blessing for them and it made me happy.

Here is the front door sign for their office.

When I delivered the sign, they were in shock and overjoyed.  They mentioned that they had a new mission statement and had hoped that as some point they could have someone paint it on their wall in the reception area of their offices.  After seeing the front door sign, they were sure that vinyl would work better!  So, off I went again to design some vinyl wall decor from their new mission statement.

Again I used the Cricut Expression and SCAL software and cut the vinyl our of chocolate Oracle 631.  Here is the vinyl as I was hanging it on the wall.

A work in progress...

And here is the final product!

So the moral of the story is to use the gifts and talents God has given you to be a blessing to others.  You never know what fun things you will get to do!!!

A Quick & Easy Dry Erase Kitchen Menu Board

Today I have a quick and easy project idea for you to make a dry erase kitchen menu board.

I used a square plate that I found at Walmart for just a few dollars.  Then I pulled out the trusty Cricut Expression and used my Sure Cuts A Lot software to design some quick decor for the plate.

I cut the design out of black vinyl and applied the vinyl using transfer tape.  And Voila, a cute menu board in minutes.  It works great with dry erase markers!  Write on and wipe off.

I picked up a metal plate holder at JoAnn's to display it on my kitchen counter.  There you have it - Quick & Easy!

A Quick & Simple Tea Towel Bag

Here is a quick tutorial, literally 5 minutes, to make the cutest little Tea Towel Bags.  They are perfect to use as  gift bags, bread bags, or cute storage bags.

All you will need is an 18" X 24" tea towel, a 28" piece of ribbon, and a sewing machine and in 5 minute you can have a beautiful little bag ready.




Hope you enjoyed the video!

Be Blessed,

Baby Shower Invites Using Digital Scrapbook Paper

I have been working on a Baby Shower designing invitations, favors, menu, and decorations.  I am really enjoying myself.  I knew to do all that I had in mind was going to take quite a bit of paper, so I decided to use digital scrapbook paper and print it myself, so I could control my supply.  There are so many places on the web to get digital designs now.  Just do a search for digital scrapbook paper and you will hit the jackpot!

The first item that needed to be decided on was the invitation.  I made three different ones to choose from.  Two are the same basic design with one being square and one being A2 size.  

 This is the square card, but I decided against it since the post office now charges extra to mail square envelopes.

I thought the "Bundle of Joy" was cute, but the rattle and "Here Comes Baby!"  won.

Here is what I did:

Paper cut at:

White Base - 8 1/2 X 5 1/2 then folded in half to make it 4 1/4  X 5 1/2

Yellow Layer - 4 X 5 1/4

Tangerine Layer - 3 3/4 X 5

Lime Layer - 3 1/2 X 4 3/4

White Layer - 3 1/2 X 2, then punched with scallop lace Martha Stewart Punch

Yellow - Rattle cut out with Sure Cuts A Lot on a Cricut Expression then decorated with a white bow attached with Zot Dots

Be Blessed,

A Witty Invention

We had some family and friends over for the fireworks on the 4th of July.  While we were waiting for the show to begin, I was able to spend sometime getting better acquainted with our Pastor's wife, Elizabeth.  I did not realize what a smart business woman this gal is, and sweet and gorgeous, too!  Her husband is truly a blessed man.

While we were talking, it was obvious that God gives her great ideas all of the time.  Being an idea person myself who routinely wakes up in the middle of the night with inspiration, I asked if she had a journal to keep all of her witty inventions written down in.  The Word tells us that God gives us Witty Inventions, and we need to keep up with what He gives us.  We may not be able to implement every idea immedietaly, but if we are patient I believe God will help us get it all done.  I mean why would he waste good ideas on someone who can't do it?

Later that week, while I was out and about, I picked up a journal for her.  But, I wanted it to be personalized, so out came the Cricut Expression and some lovely vinyl.  In no time, I had a cute little gift to take to her on Sunday.  Now she has a place to journal all of her inspiration.

Be Blessed,

A DIY Monogramed Designer Clutch

I simply love getting a great deal and this one rank's right up there!  I had to run in Walmart the other day and was racing down an aisle when this little wallet clutche just screamed my name.  When I looked at the price tag, it screamed even louder.  It said that I had to take it home with me!  Honest.  And, for less than $5, I was happy to oblige.  I wish I had bought more, because when I got home my daughter wanted one, too.  I have been to three other Walmarts, and haven't found anymore.  Glad I listened to that wallet when it was calling my name.

I decided to use a great monogram font that I have and cut some lime green vinyl out on my Cricut Expression using my Sure Cuts A Lot.  This is how it turned out.  Too cute!

Moral of the story is, listen closely when those cute wallets call your name!  And, do what they say - Take Them Home With You!

Be Blessed,

Paper Rosettes

I am so excited, I have finally figured out a sure fire way of making beautiful paper rosettes!  When I made my first three this morning they all popped and tore when I began to flatten them.  I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.  But, then the light bulb went on and I realized that most of the tutorials on the internet showed using a 12" long piece of scrapbook paper that was no more than 1  1/2" wide.

My problem was that I was trying to make 2" and 3" wide rosettes.  To make them that wide you have to add extra length to the paper.  Problem solved.  Once I got going, I made a pile of beautiful paper rosettes to use in a project for a baby shower (which I will share with you soon.)

Enjoy the video.  Hope it helps you make some pretty paper rosettes of your own.

Linked up to:

A Paper Rosette Name Frame for Delaney

My AWESOME niece, Delaney's, birthday is today.  Happy Birthday, girl.  And, I wanted to make her a little something-something for her room since she is getting older and wanting to redeocrate a bit.  I have just figured out a quick and foolproof way of making beautiful paper rosettes and made a big pile in her favorite colors: PINK & LIME GREEN!  What a girly girl.

I decided to make a Name Frame using the pink and green colors and paper rosettes (which I will be showing you how to do later this week - wink, wink.)

Here is what you will need:

A picture frame painted any color you like

Some card stock cut to fit the frame

A Name cut out in vinyl 

Embossing folders and embosser, optional

Ribbon, optional

Paper Rosettes

Here is how to do it:

Be Blessed

Quick DIY Gifts

I wanted to share two really quick ideas for great gifts with you.  And, they are very inexpensive, too!

Frist, I picked up these really cute latte mugs at Dollar General a few months ago.  They were a few dollars each.  I loved the pottery look with the black and brown glaze.  My kitchen's base colors are brown and black with splashes of lime, deep red and golden yellow.  I knew these mugs would look great.  I used my Cricut Expression to cut out Oracle 631 vinyl in black and tan and layered it on the mugs.  I'm very pleased with the way that they turned out.

My other super quick tip is for making custom coasters.  I was in Home Depot looking through the tile and noticed some glass ones in tan and olive that already had a nice backing on them and the edges were nicely finished.  They were less than $2 each.  I cut out black vinyl using a great set of monogram letters that I got from My Vinyl Designer.  Once I applied the vinyl the only thing left to do was add little cork feet to the bottom, which is optional.

There you have it - 2 great gifts for just dollars!

Be Blessed,

Custom Acrylic Tumblers by Glorified Designs

I have been really busy this summer making custom designed acrylic insulated tumblers.  They are too cute!  I have done flowers, retro circles, tennis themed, golf themed, high school themed, collegiate themed, cocktail themed, fundraisers and so much more.

Just thought that I would share a quick photo of them with you.  You can purchase your very own in my store, or be inspired to DIY.

Be Blessed,

FREE Printable Labels & A Sassy Salsa Gift!

My daughter is heading out tomorrow for a family vacation with her wonderful boyfriend and his family.  She wanted to take a little gift to be hospitable.  Her request was to take a large jar of my Glorified Sassy Salsa and her boyfriend readily agreed.  You can find the recipe for it here.

So obliged and whipped up a large jar for them.  But, it needed a little Glorifying!  So, here is what I did...

First I designed a printable on my computer.  I am a Mac girl and love, love, love Pages for graphic design.  It is just so easy to use.  Then I printed it out on Printable Vinyl which simply rocks!  I get my Cricut Vinyl from here.

You can download this label or another version without the name and ingredients on it at the bottom of this post.

I added it to the front of the jar.  But, it still needed more, so a little bit of lime and black raffia helped.  It was looking better, but not Glorified enough, so out came the Cricut Expression.  I used my Storybook Cartridge, which is one of my favorites and cut an adorable lace flower out of lime and black scrapbook paper that was the diameter of the lid.  Then I cut out the shadow of the flower in solid black card stock.  I glued the 2 pieces together with my Zig 2 Way Glue Pen and added a precious black jeweled brad in the center.  Now we're talking.

I used some 3D Glue Dots to adhere the flower on to the top of the jar.

Look how cute this turned out!  And, of course it tastes good, too.  I think the family will enjoy this little gift on their vaca.

Download the Salsa label by Clicking Here.

Download the Blank label by Clicking Here.

Hope you enjoy the labels.

Linked up to:

Be Blessed,

Judy's Sleeptime Elixir

I told you the other day that my Mother-in-law just celebrated her birthday.  I just was not sure what to give her and as I was sitting in my office thinking over craft/gift ideas, I had the funniest brainstorm.

First I should give you a bit of background.  Judy has never been a drinker, but my husband, father-in-law and I love our glass of wine now and then.  Earlier this year when she was having trouble sleeping, she decided to take a small drink to see if it would help.  She calls it her medicine that she needs from time to time even though she hates the taste.  She also says that she has to drink it sitting on the side of the bed, because it makes her sleepy instantly.

Well, we have given her some ribbing about it - all in love - I promise!

Okay, my idea - design a wine glass that said, "Judy's Sleepytime Elixir."  I was thinking back to the old "Doctor Feel Good's Elixir Days."

I had some beautiful wine glasses that I had picked up at Dollar Tree of all places for - you guessed it - $1.00.  I used my Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts A Lot to design and cut out the vinyl that I applied.  I used a Yellow and Gentian Blue Oracle 631 vinyl that I purchased from Expression Vinyl.   The font that I used was Mussica Swash.  The Moon image came from ScrappingTable.com.

It turned it out really cute.  And, when she opened it at lunch everyone got the best laugh, especially her.

I also made a cute card for her using the Provo Craft Storybook Cricut cartridge with a cute 3-D butterfly.

Be Blessed,

A Little Cup To Unwind With...

I LOVE my life!!!!  I'm so glad God made me - well me, even with all my quirks.  But, life does get pretty hectic sometimes and you just have to take a little time to unwind.  This summer we have a house full of folks: me, my handsome and excellent in everyway hubbie, our totally cool teenage son (future Oscar winner in the making for Best Director and Movie of the Year), our amazing daughter home from college (future Best Selling author and clothing/accessory designer) and her wonderful boyfriend (all around great guy and awesome connector of people - a true gift).

With this many talented, creative folks under one roof and ideas flowing constantly, we have found that "unwinding" time is essential.  So, my honey and I have taken to sitting by the pool every afternoon, unless we have rain, for about an hour or so and just going over our day and any ideas that we need the others help with.  It has been so enjoyable, plus my tan is not too bad either.

I just got the cute Provo Crafts Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge in and it had the cutest designs, so I decided to make us Pool Cups.  They turned out so "ADORABLE."

I love the olives and retro feel.  And, our fav treat to nibble on by the pool has been Triscut's and cream cheese with an olive on top.  So, how perfect!

Oh my, it's almost time to go catch some rays with my honey!  Yippe.  

Be Blessed,