English bulldog greeting card

My neighbor recently gifted me an old Cricut machine--the Expression 2 model, to be exact, because she bought the Explore and no longer needed this one. It's probably one of the most generous gifts I've ever received! Having used a Silhouette machine before, the Cricut Expression 2 is less flexible because it's only compatible with Craft Room software, which requires that you buy the whole set of images in each cartridge (about $10 per set). Whereas Design Space, which is compatible with the newest Cricut model, Explore, allows you to just buy single images (99 cents) and to create your own too. In any case, I'm happy to have any paper-cutting machine to cut out intricate designs like the bulldog below!

My coworker asked me to make this card for her sister, whose English bulldog recently passed away. While Googling images of English bulldogs, I came across really adorable pictures of baby English bulldogs! Only bulldogs can make wrinkles look so cute.

Twine-wrapped monogram door wreath

It's been awhile since I've posted! With Andrew on an away rotation for his residency, it's actually been harder to stay motivated, eat something besides frozen pizza for dinner, exercise and blog more regularly. This past week my neighbor took me under her wing and taught me how to knit and how to make organize handmade soap. That gave me the little kick I needed to get going on some craft projects! P.S. I now have newfound respect for anyone who knits because it took me FOREVER to knit 4 rows...

I recently made a twine-wrapped monogram wreath for a friend who just bought a new house. Surprisingly, wrapping the twine around the cardboard took longer than I expected. I finished playing 3 Settlers games while hot-gluing the twine to the letter. My husband pointed out that I trailed small bits of dried hot glue all over the Settlers game pieces. Oops. And sometimes I was in the middle of wrapping the twine, when it was my turn to roll the dice for my turn. Needless to say, Andrew ended up rolling the dice a lot for me.

Click below for the tutorial for the twine-wrapped monogram!