Checking In...What I have been up to

Hi Dandi Crafters! I know that my blog has been rather quiet lately. I wanted to check in and say that I am still around but I have been busy with what initially seems to be totally unrelated to my blog and to crafts in away. I have decided to learn to use Illustrator. If you are a regular follower of my blog then you know that I am pretty proficient at drawing on the computer already, however I didn't use Illustrator, I mainly used Paint Shop Pro. I am finding that there are more and more things that I want to do that seem better suited for Illustrator. I am sure that in the very near future this will lead me to providing even better files on my blog and website. However at the moment I am often left feeling like a beginner and very untalented. At those times I try to keep the bleeps to a minimum and realize that even though the steps are different the concept is all the same and it really is the concepts that are most time consuming to learn.
I have been playing with the text tool and made a new watermark that you see on my image. Although the little girl doesn't look much different than anything I would have created in Paint Shop Pro, aside from it taking quite some time to complete because I am new to illustrator and don't know all the little tricks yet, the steps to create the image were much less woman labor intense, meaning that illustrator seems to automate much of the steps that I would have had to do myself.
Well wish me luck...

Happy Spring Glitter Glass Note & Photo Holder

Hi Dandi Crafters. Today I am sharing with you this darling Note and Photo Holder I made from an upcycled glass bottle.
The bottle had been sitting in my daughter's room for eternity. When I found it the other day the bottle had a medley of stickers on it all under gray electrical tape with sharpie marker all over it. You could tell that she had been using it for this play idea and that play idea before loosing interest and abandoning it to a corner of her room.

I rescued it and after cleaning it up, I had a go at decorating. I used pledge floor wax and glitter on the inside to get a pretty glitter look. I thought of using as a vase but I know from the glitter ornaments that I made a few years ago that the glitter can be scratched off quite easily and wasn't sure that it would pretty that long if I re purposed it as a vase. Also I had been wanting to try my hand at a few flower techniques that I had been pinning to my Craft Flower Board on Pinterest. I decided on this foreign tutorial on hydrangea flowers.

 After giving it some thought I decided I wanted to add purpose to the bottle so I took some wire and made it a photo holder. I also added a clip that can hold a note or another photo. I covered the lid with little hydrangea flowers and tiny faux pearls. It came out too cute. The lid would also make a darling place card holder too I think.

Pretty Ornate Spring Butterfly

Hi Dandi Crafters. Look how sweet this ornate butterfly came out. This is sure to add the perfect touch of pretty to any of your spring cards. The butterfly as it is shown here is cut at about 3.75 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall. I also scored and folded the wings up. It gave it a very cute look.

Go to DtsArt.com website to purchase the SVG Butterfly Ornate Swirl Die Cut File.

Fairytale Love SVG Download

Hi Dandi Crafters! It is February and Love is in the air. Well whether or not love is in the air it is definately in the download. You can download this cute love word and use it for card marking or your layouts. The cut file is available in svg, mtc and scut formats. You will also find copyright, terms of use, and size measurements in the folder. Love as it is shown here meaures about 3.5 inches wide by just shy of an inches tall.

Dowload SVG File: FairyTale Love is the Word SVG Cut File Download
If you missed the free download or would like to have the accompanying scallop love heart square you can go to DtsArt.com to purchase the Fairytale Love Scallop Heart Square.

Vinyl Friends Make School Bear- able Panda Head

Hi Dandi Crafters. My daughter's 3 ring binder started falling apart so she needed another one and she asked if we could decorate it. After thinking about it for a bit. She decided on this panda head. She didn't want classic panda colors though. My tween decided that pink and purple were best suited for this job. We both thought the saying was perfect for her school binder.

Go to DtsArt.com website to purcahse the SVG Panda Head w/ Sentiment Die Cut File.

Chipboard Frame Hook Note Holder

Hi Dandi Crafters. I am always writing notes to myself and laying them on my desk. Unfortunately I then inevitably lay something over the note. I like to be able to look up and see the reminder. In other words I like the note to stand in front of me. I can only have so many post it notes stuck to my computer. :^) I had looked around for something like I had in mind but nothing seemed to really meet my needs. I want to be able to write a note and place the note back so I could be reminded. I also needed to be able to grab another piece of paper and not have to have a second note pad.

This is what I came up with. I designed it in Illustrator and brought it into Make The Cut MTC and cut it with my electronic cutter. I cut the frame out using chipboard (think cereal box. I try to upcycle when I can.) I actually use 2 layers of cereal boxes for the frame. I then used some 3M small wire hooks. I used E6000 Glue to secure the hook instead of the strips it came with. I wanted permanent placement. Before I attached the hooks I dabbed them with some alcohol inks to improve the look of them. After I attached the hooks I dressed them up a bit further with faux pearls. I cut out some paper for the pad using my cutting machine. The paper sheets are 4.5 x 3.5. The frame itself is a 5x7 turned on it's side. I was actually pleased and a little surprised how sturdy the note holder turned out to be. Usually my first attempts at an idea need quite a bit more tweaking. Maybe because I had this idea rolling around in my head so long the semantics and how tos worked themselves out. :^) Now I have a cute note pad that has the functionality that I need.

Glass Etched Personalized Casserole Dish

Hi Dandi Crafters, check out this cute casserole dish I made for niece. It turned out super cute. It was rather hard to get a nice shot of the Pyrex dish though. When I thought of personalizing the casserole dish I initially thought I would put her name on the sides but when I got home I realized that this particular Pyrex has a raised pattern around the sides of the dish, so I was going to have to decorate the bottom. I had seen so many cute casserole dishes in blogger land and Pinterest at first I didn’t know how to decorate it. I did know I wanted it to have a bit more of a food theme than I had seen. After giving it some thought I decided I wanted a Bistro Café Sign type of design, so I this is what I came up with.
I created the design in Illustrator
Then used my Make The Cut enabled electronic cutting machine to cut out the design on black vinyl. This design was mirrored before cutting.
I then used Armour Etching Crème to create the design.
After 25 minutes of letting the Etching Crème sit I rinsed it off.
I was pleased with the results. Now everytime she take the casserole dish to a potluck everyone will always know that this dish belongs to Monique.

Pinning and Pinning my way to a Healther 2012

Happy New Year Dandi Crafters! Like many you I found Pinterest. I LOVE to sit at my computer pinnin' and pinnin'. As you can see by my board that I spend a lot of time on that site. If you are not careful you can look up and time has just flown and you have been on Pinterest for far too long and then vow to manage your time better. Yes that happened to me before too. That was before my New Year's Resolution though. No my New Year's Resolution is not to give up Pinterest. "OOOHHH THE HORROR!! Bite your tongue." No my New Year's Resolution, like so many people, is to get fit. My resolution actually started in October. Let me share with you how I spend my hours pinnin' on Pinterest guilt free and a bit healthier too. My husband bought me a Fitdesk Exercise Bike. I LOVE IT!!

Now it doesn't matter if my hour on Pinterest stretches on to an hour and half. I am not wasting time I am getting healthy. Now this isn't going to get me ready to enter the Tour De France but like the pin says,"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch."  Well see you on Pinterest, I have to go "get healthy now" :^)

DtsArt Design Team Project Gift Card SVG Die Cut File

Hi Dandi Crafters,today the design team has some great inspiration for those that have a few people on their list getting gift cards this holiday season. The design team really did a fantastic job not only with the gift card files but with the whole Fall Term! It has gone by so fast. I was bless with wonderful design team this term. They really took my breathe away with their creations this term. The DtsArt Design Team will be back in the new year with new design and new team members too, so be on the look out for a Design Team Call after Christmas if you want to join the DtsArt Design Team.
Due to WAY TOO many Holiday obligations I haven't had time to list the gift card in my store yet, but will try to get it up later tonight. The SVG Gift Card Die Cut File has 3 different gift card die cut files for you to choose from, the classic, majestic, and merriment. You don't have to use the same exact gift card for everyone on your list. You can browse many great designs at my website DtsArt.com
The DtsArt Design Team:

Team B
Nicole
Stacie
Christina
Kim

Team A
Carolyn
Lillie
Ruth
Tamie
Jennifer
Tanya

Let's have a look at all these great gift card designs now.

DtsArt Design Team Blog Hop Winners!

Hi Dandi Crafters
Thanks so much for playing along with the Design Team and hopping to our blogs. The winners are...
Cat. You won your choice of either the Lila May Leaning on a bush digi or the Chinese Take Out Box SVG.
The Grand Prize winner is ShersL84bed. You won your choice of either 5 digis or 5 svg or combination of either.
Congrats to you both! Please contact me and let me know your winning preferences!

DtsArt Design Team Blog Hop: Memory Lane

Hi Dandi Crafters! Welcome to the DtsArt Design Team Memory Lane Blog Hop. This week we will all stroll down memory lane and reminisce about our favorite projects. You'll want to hop to each blog and leave a comment, so you can win what that blog is giving away. All blog participants are giving away something. You can even enter to win the grand prize by hopping to each blog and collecting the secret word from each blog and emailing the secret phrase to [removed]. You want to start here, follow along in the order posted below so you can send your secret phrase in to win the grand prize.

For my part of the blog hop I will draw one winner from random.org and give one winner their choice of either the DtsArt Chinese Take Out Box svg cut file or the DtsArt Digital Stamp of Lila May Fairy Leaning on Flower Bush. Be sure you leave a comment along with your email address or a way to reach you.  Winners will be picked next Wednesday when the the design team post again! Winners have 7 days to claim their prizes.
Grand Prize the winner will get to pick any 5 svg or any 5 single digis or a combination of svg and digis from DtsArt.com. So get hopp'n and collect those secret word and send your secret phase to [removed].
My secret word is Sleigh
Now Hop On to Nicole.

DtsArt Design Team Blog Hop: Memory Lane
Dardi: DtsArt Blog
Nicole: Teachdanz
Ruth: My Hobby=My Art
Tanya: My Little Craft Corner
Christina: Christina's Creative Corner
Stacie: Hestia's Helper