Using my Gypsy to Make Cuts That I Don't Have

Hello everyone!  I hope that you enjoying a wonderful holiday week.  We recently went to stay overnight at my parents' house, and, like every good mom, I made sure that we had everyone's clothes and pj's.  However, just before we left our house, the DirectTV guy had been late for his appointment with us and it was a little crazy at our house to say the least.  So, when we arrived at my parents, I realized that we had everything except my pajama's and change of clothes.  Ooops.  So I borrowed a pair of my dad's pajama pants and a white tshirt.  So I wanted to send them a quick thank you note for still taking care of me, even at 38.

I looked through all my cartridges, and I have about 15 great cartridges, but I couldn't find a tshirt and pants.  So I used my Gypsy to create them.  I found that the pants could be from a scarecrow on my Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons cart and the shirt from a dress on my Paisley cart.  But hide contour didn't work, so I ran the scarecrow off the mat so only the pants were showing, and then used hide contour to get rid of the buttons on the pants.  For the shirt, I ran the dress off the side, and then used hide contour to get rid of the heart.  (Ignore the other paisley shapes on the mat, I was working on two projects at once.)

A double mat under the shirt and pants finished off the card.  I've been so impressed about what I've been able to do using my Gypsy.  If you haven't checked out Emma's blog at www.creativetimeforme.com, she has a lot of fantastic gypsy videos.  Have a great day!

Finishing Up the Last Homemade Gift

I hope you are all enjoying holiday festivities.  I've finished wrapping everything except the seven gifts which haven't yet arrived from Amazon.  (Yes, I'm very worried about this.)  But my two little elves were wonderful wrapping helpers today.

My last homemade gift for this Christmas has actually been in process for several months now.  Thanks to some time to work on it early this week, it is now completely finished.  It's an ABC album for my youngest daughter who just turned three.  I made one for our older daughter several years ago and she still loves looking at it.

I used a retired Creative Memories 7x7 album along with my CM 1 1/2 inch circle and square punches.  The stickers are from the CM Primary Power Palatte.  Once I decided on which pictures to include, putting it together went very quickly.  I do recommend laying everything out before you begin though.  That was how I realized that I was missing two of her uncles for the letter U page.

I will be entering the 'W' page in the My Pink Stamper challenge.  It's a bit of a stretch since the only brown I could put on the page is in the leaves, but I thought I would go ahead and share.  I'm also sharing it on the Fantabulous Cricut blog.  If you are visiting from either site, I would love to have you as a follower and/or read your comments.  Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

A New Twist on the Sock Cupcake...a Cherry on Top!

I love to look at the ideas other bloggers share on their blogs. In several places, I've seen sock cupcakes. They look so cute that I kept thinking about making some, but I wanted them to have a little something extra on top. After mulling it over, I came up with the idea of wrapping a tube of lip balm in the middle. And it turns out that Carmex makes a cherry flavored tube with a dark red lid. Perfect! It adds to the gift as well as making the cupcake look more authentic.


I don't own a cartridge that has a cupcake wrapper on it. But, after much trial and error, I discovered that I could use a rectangle and two triangles from George and the trees from the Christmas cart to create one. The actual cut file has been improved from the one in the photo. The edges are now angled to make it easier to wrap. Using the magic of the Gypsy to weld the shapes together, I was able to create my own wrap. (I just love my Gypsy!) You could also cut a sentiment or use a punch in place of the trees.


Once the wrap was cut, I rolled up the sock with the lip balm in the middle. A tight wrap seemed to work the best.






Then I wrapped the paper around the base. Wrapping a little more tightly at the bottom gave the cupcake a more realistic look.

A clear celophane bag from Michael's with a little curling ribbon finished the gift. I'm planning on making them for the wonderful ladies who help take care of my girls at preschool and afterschool.