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On Saturday Andrew & I celebrated the fourth anniversary of our first date. On Friday night, Anniversary Eve, we went to dinner with his parents and hung out for a bit. As we were leaving Andrew A.K.A. “Coffee Fein” said he was craving a ‘tasty coffee drink’ and suggested we go to Bongo Java, the coffee house where we had our first date. I was surprised but went with it, looking up when they closed on my phone. It was 9:36 and their site said they closed at 10 since Belmont’s classes hadn’t started, Andrew said “Well lets try anyway” much to my surprise (The site Andrew looked at earlier said they closed at 11).  We get to Bongo’s interstate exit at 9:55 and Andrew takes the exit, at this point I know something is up. We get a parking spot easily, and walk over to the coffee house just barely before 10, we sneak in the door and grab some iced coffees and then sit outside on their patio where we talked forever on our first date. We talk for a bit about our first date and the funny things that happened like my Dad calling me right in the middle of it. Then Andrew keeps messing with the toe box of his shoe, being me of course I go total “mom mode” and pester him about cutting his nails etc. After playing with his shoe some more, he gets up to ‘inspect it further’ and he’s down on one knee, with the “dream ring”. I of course say “yes” grinning ear to ear.  We then finished up our coffees and took a walk around the empty Belmont campus (where I went to college) and sit and chat in one of the Gazebos that dot the main quad, staring down every 3 seconds at my new “sparkly”. the-ring-2-hello-kirsti

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On our anniversary morning I surprised A with a crockpot breakfast casserole, a card, and his mug.

I got the mug idea from the sharpie mug pinterest thing, some googling revealed that the sharpie only lasted 2 runs in the dishwasher so I went the ceramic paint route, a little harder to paint than draw but I was able to start over by wiping the wet paint off with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel.

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I used the website Note Flight to ‘compose’ the music for the mug, Andrew’s a musician who plays drums and trumpet, and his nick name is A Sharp, so I started it off with A sharp note, I used a Scrabble dictionary to figure out what words I could make with A-G and decaf popped up, and the irony of “A Sharp Decaf” was born. Ever the perfectionist Andrew played ‘his song’ on his trumpet and felt something was missing, so some more playing with noteflight we created a great collaboration you can see here. 4/4  time of course for our fourth anniversary!  Custom-Ceramic-Music-Gift-Mug  Custom-Ceramic-Music-Gift-Mug-001

I used my Cricut and the Shark Army font to create this card based on this pin. I used one of my favorite handy sites TimeAndDate.com to figure out the times, Andrew thought it was totally fitting since I am “statistic fact girl”. (Check out last year’s drum inspired card in my 3rd Anniversary post.)

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Saturday morning after coffee we headed over to his folks to hang out and make the calls to family and such.

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That night after a week of joking about how Andrew had got us reservations at Shoney’s we enjoyed a wonderful meal at a ‘new to us’ restaurant, The Palm. It was delicious! I even got to wear my dress!

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Cricut-Shadow-Box-Wall-Art-005I’m so excited to finally get to share these with you! This year my Mom’s Birthday and Father’s Day were the same day which happens every few years. I decided since they lined up to do relating gifts, which worked out well. I did have these done by the 17th but I didn’t see my folks until this past weekend for Bestie’s Wedding in Fort Lauderdale.

Materials:

  • Shadow Box Frame
  • Craft Cutter
  • Card Stock
  • Pop-dots or foam tape
  • Embellishments
  • Strong scrapbook adhesive

Growing up Winnie was always one of my favorites, and a favorite of my parent’s too, Pooh-isms and wisdom are definitely something special to the three of us, so it was the perfect gift!

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Winnie is a 12 x 12 shadowbox frame ($9.99 Jo-Ann’s during 60% off Sale). I cut him, and the other elements from the Pooh & Friend’s Cricut Cartridge and used this free “Pooh” font for the words. What’s great about doing the wall art is since the cutouts are bigger than you usually make they cut easier and cleaner. 


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Piglet is an 8 x 8 frame, I decided to be cutesy and sub the word “heart” for a heart. On the kite I added a eyelet for the sparkly ribbon ‘string’ for Piglets kite. It’s hard to tell in the photos, but the ‘dimension’ element is what makes these look very professional and cool, so don’t skimp on your pop dots, shadow frames are pretty deep, so go for it!

These came together really quickly and nicely, the most frustrating part was getting the glass clean!

I also made the cute cards to go with their gifts. Pooh for my mom.

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My Dad’s company logo for his father’s day card, and a nice bass for Andrew’s dad.

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This post is partying here.

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Using the "Happy Graduation” Seasonal Cartridge for the Cricut I created this cute card for Bestie who graduated with her Masters in Education and got engaged in the same weekend!

Bestie my “card swami” has sent me tons of beautiful cards, and thanks to the Cricut I’m sending her some decent ones too!




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I made these cards with my new Cricut Cake, unfortunately in the many hours I worked I only made 12 cards much to my dismay, so a lucky 12 people got a copy this year, and the rest got this email, I think it still turned out nice!
Lots of great ideas and posts already planned for 2012!

Much Love,
Kirsti

So my Bestie’s best friend Charleston had surgery last Tuesday to remove two tumors. (Today we found out they were benign!! Very good news!!)

Here he is playing on the beach like the super model he is!

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(He is my wallpaper at work and never fails to make me smile!)

Bestie is a STAMPIN UP addict and is always sending me the cutest cards, so I decided to play with my Cricut and return the favor by sending Charleston his very own card =)

I still have much to learn and yes I did spend a long time on a card for a puppy dog… but not a bad first try!

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One  of the things I was excited about when I got my sewing machine was getting to sew paper, funny I know but look!
How cute is this Friend-aversary card?  100_4008(Created for my lovely Little Sister Amanda, we’re celebrating 4 years together!)
This was my first time doing this, I was always too scared of messing up my Mom's fancy machine.  I didn’t have any issues but does anyone know if this is "bad"? 


Plus it’s super easy here’s a quick tutorial if you can call it that:
1. Create your design using your various patterned stitches, then if you have a monogram function, you can write a message.
100_40012. Carefully zig zag stitch the front and back of the card together to create a hinge.
100_40023. Fold carefully to break it in, and trim your threads.
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Tip Junkie handmade projects
Last night Andrew and I celebrated the 3rd anniversary of our first date, which was at Bongo Java across from Belmont’s campus.
I made him a custom card of course, but for it to make sense I’ve gotta explain it a bit.

Andrew’s one 80’s lovin guy, remember that 80’s party I threw him last year?
Well one of his FAVORITE movies is Manhunter. In fact when I met him there was a Manhunter poster in his bathroom! Well his favorite song from Manhunter is Red 7’s Heartbeat, and it one of those tunes he’s constantly humming.
Listen you'll recognize it. Ok yeah it's not really what you think of as an anniversary song, no worries we listened to romantic Diana Krall in the car on the way to the restaurant.

Now on to the second half of the back story. Andrew is a VERY talented drummer, I’ve attempted to become one too…
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so since that hasn’t worked out for me I’ve decided to become a drum tech pro instead, I can proudly say I can assemble and tear down most of his kit and tell you what the parts are.
Now combine those two things and you’ve got my inspiration for my super awesome anniversary card.

Front featuring his actual bass pedal (told ya I was a good tech)
listen-to-my-hear-beatInside (Featuring his favorite Dave Weckl sticks)
listen-to-my-hear-beat-insideBack
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And of course he totally loved it!
We dined at the Capital Grill at the Hermitage Hotel downtown where we shared a rib eye (something I totally wouldn’t have eaten 3 year ago, such a good influence this guy is..)


Glen Leven Beef Filet


Jack Daniels Semifredo

Jack Daniel’s Semifreddo for dessert. Swoon

We made the major mistake of taking our picture after our food fest, when we were full and sleepy. This was the best of the bad, sorry A.

It was a wonderful day!!