I wanted simple invites I could do myself that looked nice, I just couldn’t see spending $3 per invite, so this is what I landed on.

They looked nice, but were simple enough that I wasn’t cursing myself on invite number 60.

Front Paper:  Staples coverstock 67 lb. in Ivory
I chose this paper because it was the thickest I could get through my color laser printer well, and even then I did have to dry iron the pages flat.

Backer Paper: Colormate Textures Ribbon Cardstock 105 lb. in Navy
This was the perfect solution to add texture and beef up my 67 lb. paper. The 105 lb. gave it some bulk.

Envelopes:  Staples Easy Close Invitation Envelopes in Ivory
These were more see through than I hoped, but the self stick was awesome. In the end the envelope lasts about 15 seconds with recipient, so I wasn’t too worried. To jazz them up I embossed the flap with our monogram.

Font: Contribute
Contribute is a free font, the free version doesn’t have numbers or symbols so I swapped those for a different font.

Embosser:
My smartest wedding investment by far. I used this throughout and I can still use it moving forward.Wedding wise our embossed monogram made an appearance on the envelope, invitation, cocktail napkins, and goodie bags.

Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
My trusty scrapbooking tool didn’t fail me, this strong adhesive and comfortable tool made sure all my invites arrived intact.

The price breakdown without the embosser or toner:

Front Paper	$0.02878
Back Paper	$0.2054
RSVP Insert	$0.02878
Envelope	$0.08795
Total w/o postage	$0.3509

Layout Tips:

I built my invites to minimize cuts. The backer paper is a 8.5x11 sheet cut in half, the front paper is .5” smaller, so I printed them in the bottom left corner of the page so I only had to make two cuts. Play with how you layout your invite to print and do lots of experimenting.

Other Tips:
If using a laser printer, flatten your print outs by ironing with a dry iron printed size down over parchment paper, they’ll flatten out quickly, do this before you cut.

I had so much fun crafting up a monster themed 2nd Birthday Present.
Last year my Superman Cape was a hit, so I knew I had to come up with something fun and cute.
Look for posts on the Monster PJ pants, and the tee shirt appliques this week, but I’ll share the drum and the monster card with you now.

Monster PJ Pants Tutorial Post

I made the card from the Cricut Cartridge Bump in the Night.


Using cream contact paper, I used the font “Impact” to cut his first and middle name. I’ll definitely use this font for a vinyl sticker again, it cut very well. I also cut out a couple superman symbols to add to his drum, and the back of his card.
The Little Tikes drum was a hit, and even drummer boy Andrew had some fun with it.

This past weekend we celebrated my parent’s 25th Anniversary. Bestie and her new hubby were able to drive up to Maryland from Raleigh for the weekend.

The Happy Newly Weds

Bestie is a card and gift champion so I’ll share her cleaver idea with you.(She writes a ‘mean’ thank you note too!)

She looked up all the major traditional ‘yearly’ anniversary gifts and built a gift basket around them, too clever!

She made the card with her new Cricut Mini, and also included an ‘explanation card’ linking each item to it’s year.


Year 1 : Paper : Cookbook
Year 5: Wood : Cutting Board
Year 10: Tin : Baking Tin
Year 15: Crystal : Bar Set
Year 20: China : Cupcake Boxes made in China (too funny!)
Year 25: Silver : Silver Serving Pieces
How clever is that?


Here it is all laid out with it’s basket.

Mom and Dad at their party =)

My Mom sent me this fun little “Cut & Craft” free project via the Gucci Facebook Page.

Gucci has created print and folds for three of their iconic purse shapes, but leave the design up to you!

I went with Pink Snakeskin with pale green trim on “The New Bamboo” , I cheated though and colored it in with Photoshop, printed, then assembled it.
Easy and fun, you even get to upload your creation to their page!

These would be a fun easy activity for a preteen girls party too!

Happy Crafting

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Featured by Be Colorful!

Bestie moved from Virginia Beach to Raleigh right before her wedding, with just a prompt of here’s the address I set off to design something. Taking a little inspiration from the Save the Date I designed (see it here) I came up with this.

Well actually I came up with this obnoxiously colored version of it… (We’ll call it classic Kirsti Easter egg color pairings) Bestie’s color choices suit it much better. The dotted line even follows the interstates =)

Here’s the cute one I made for her last move.


If you’re interested in either design I’m happy to provide you a ready to print version for very nominal cost, just email me at Kirstin@HelloKirsti.com to learn more.

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I ended up designing Bestie’s Save the Date following the state shape trend.

She had them printed as a 6 x 6 at Ritz Photo, and mounted them on card stock, and stuck them in a pink envelope.
I did a few other crafty thing for the wedding, but when it came to coming up with a crafty wedding gift I was stumped.
After I made the Pooh shadowbox wall art for Mom and Dad, I had the perfect idea, a “Save the Date” inspired shadowbox. Since the font I used for the Save the date was so skinny (Ostrich Sans) I decided to simplify it. 
The shape is from the 50 States Cricut Cartridge, it’s mounted using several layers of foam tape, and the ‘heart’ is over the wedding location in Fort Lauderdale. The date is mounted directly to the 12 x 12 black cardstock.

Note: I did go back redo the numbers, since in this photo I realize just how crooked that 7 was… and of course a sappy sweet message was written in paint pen on the back =)

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I’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!

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. 

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.

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

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The longest part of this whole project was waiting on my Cricut to cut all my sea critters!
You can make this easily using any computer compatible craft cutter, I used my Cricut Cake and the legacy Sure Cuts A Lot 2.
The creatures are from the awesome stencil dingbat font called HFF Aqua Stencil, which I downloaded from DaFont.com (Have Fun with Fonts has also made a bird stencil font, which will be great for spring banner)
Set up your selected creatures to cut in your cutter’s program, then cut. Since these are fonts some of the cuts were not perfect, but they cleaned up just fine with an exacto knife.
Once you’ve got all the pieces detached, outline the it with adhesive (I used my ATG) and be sure to add some on the ‘big’ middle parts too.
Back with your accent color, square the edges, and hang with super cute tiny clothespins.
These turned out so pretty I just might make some to hang as well. All it took was some time and 7 pieces of paper. Also since it’s a stencil it’s not time consuming placing and layering like most cricut projects =)

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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

A works in IT for a healthcare company.

They recently switched their office coffee to Flavia, this didn’t work at all for my Mr. Coffee.

So A has a 12 cup coffee maker

in his cube.

Can we say addict?

Hahaha

Well other’s have discovered that his coffee is much better than Flavia,

So I made him this little coffee fun jar

so far lots of people have picked it up and said “how cute” and put it down.

I guess my next project is gonna be a sign that says “No really…”

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!

(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!

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?  (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.
2. Carefully zig zag stitch the front and back of the card together to create a hinge.
3. Fold carefully to break it in, and trim your threads.


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