Sweet Treats Birthday Card

My awesome grandmother let me load her 'Sweet Treats' Cricut Cartridge onto my Gypsy.
I have wanted that one for SOOOO long!!
...but, I wasn't able to make anything for a while with the holidays coming, sick kids, new year, a sick ME, school, life, household chores, feeding the family, etc...
(did you know you have to feed kids EVERYday? who knew? Apparently, they get hungry every few hours, too!)

ANYway...
I was tired of doing chores, and the 'mom' thing, so I sat & made a card. I finally used the Sewwt Treats cart, and I LOVE IT!
So, here's my birthday cake card...
... and no one to send it to!

...(maybe I'll mail it to myself for my birthday in February!! heehee)

T-shirt bag tutorial!!

Oh. My.
I recently came across a few sites of re-purposing clothing.
(I know, nothing 'new'...)
But I found something I thought would be easy enough to try out, and would be perfect for our upcoming DISNEY MAGIC CRUISE!! woot woot!!
oooh yes.
Disney cruise.
in April.
bring.
it.
on.
ANNND, my parents are going on said cruise!!! They've never been on one, and I just know it's gonna. be. a. BLAST!!!

ok, ok.... moving on.
T-shirt bag.

sooo stupidly simple, that you HAVE to at least try this one.  (kinda makes me wish I hadn't given away all our old shirts...arg.)

ANYWAY... go grab you some old/new/too small/too big, etc t-shirts.
Here we go...



Random shirts I had to use.. I know, I know... my Hawaii ones. SOMEHOW The Disney Store shirts are incredibly sturdy!!!



Open it up, lay it out flat as possible

Cut under the pit, all the way up. The lower you cut, the bigger the loop is to sling it over your shoulder.

See... like so. Not rocket science.

Then, flip the cut piece over to the other side as a template & cut it!

snip. snip. snip.

hula. hula. Minnie looks so happy! This is what it should look lik so far. With me?

See the 'tagless tag' markings? see??? OK... I don't want that in my 'bag', so I'm gonna cut just below that so no one knows the 'size' of my bag. Personal prefrence.

Fold in half as best as you can, making sure at least the neck hole area matches up...

snip. snip. snip. again.

eeeee! it's coming along!

tank top? nooooo.... cute beach bag! (almost)

Flip it inside-out. Time to sew.

Match up the bottom hem & sew along that line.

Just like so. sew? so. super-duper easy stiching here. Nothing fancy-schmancy.

Here's my stitch line. blue. See? no fancy stuff here.

My finished hula Minnie beachy/pool bag.

See this sad one? yea. This *was* one of my favorites. Sadly, it met it's doom in the dryer with a yellow crayon. And seeing as how I have ONE child that LOOVES 'lellow', I know who the culprit was. But that's OK.... cause it's getting a new life as a beachy/pool bag that's coming along on our cruise!

sigh.

All my purdy wittle bags!

my husbands uniform stars. cute, no? Well, now it's a super cute bag!!!

A few things I have thought about these are
1. It's totally recycling. (awesome!)
2. EASILY washable!!!!
3. Light enough for kids to 'tote' around.
4. ROOMY enough for a towel, sunscreen, change of clothes, sunglasses, book, mp3 player, wallet, etc.

All these shirts were either a size L or XL. The bigger the shirt, the bigger the bag, obviously. And vise-versa.
It took me about 30 minutes to do up these 5 little bags. Who doesn't love an easy sewing project?

Really. You have to try this one. Lemme know how yours turn out!!

New Die Cuts!

Alright, so these aren't technically for sale anymore in my store, but I thought these were just TOO cute!
a VERY good customer of mine wanted some things, and this is what she wanted.
I am so crazy over the Santa Sleigh with the green leaves, red & white flowers & the more traditional "Mele Kalikimaka" that...um... she may not get it!!
:o)
I kid, I kid ....
BUT, they are supre cute, no??

OH, and just because they are no longer available, doesn't mean I can't re-create them.

Paper Roses! Now for sale!

I have had NUMEROUS people email me, asking how I did my roses, do I have a video, or do I have them for sale...
Well, to answer them...

1. I honestly watched a TON of videos on youtube on 'paper roses', and tried it out to find my own style & technique. To me, it's kinda like handwriting. Everyone has their own style.

2. I have tried about half a gagillion times to make a video. Either I totally SUCK at it, or I'm not doing it right. I can't do them! I have researched everything (I thought) on how to film them where it's 'above you', and I have failed each & every time.
If you know *HOW* I can do this, or give me direction, please do so!! I would LOVE to do a few videos on random things here & there, but I have NO idea how to go about it!

3. yes. I finally have some sets available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Right now, I only have a few in there, but I am working on paper roses ALL the stinkin' time!
I LOOOOVE making them, they're my stress relief!

SO, if you have some color combos you want, or another idea, PLEASE email me! I would love to do up some! AND, I love new ideas!

Anyway, if you're interested, here's my store Aloha Paradise

And, here's what's in there as far as paper roses go!


Set #1 Valentine Hues

Set #2 Purple Hues With Rhinestones

New Year... New DiE CuTs!!

Okay, so ....
after all the holiday running around, shopping, cooking, BIRTHDAYS, etc... I am exhausted.
I had an AWESOME idea of using my Gypsy to create some ONE OF A KIND Hawaiian Christmas Die Cuts!!!

(SO, if you see them anywhere else, they were off of MY idea!!)

Anyway... here they are!

I am also taking custom orders of just about anything, so if you have an idea, and want me to piece it up for you, lemme know!

Oh, and I have listed these new ones in my Etsy store, btw..Aloha Paradise!