Tag Cricut

2026: April update

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I took a day off work and managed to make a few cards. I’m easily distracted so it did take the majority of the day. I also recorded myself making them, so be sure to check out my Instagram for that. The base paper I used is from a wallpaper piece featuring sunflowers. The initial card was a commission for a 70th Scrabble card.

To work through my stash more efficiently I am trying to use a sheet to its fullest before moving on. I have the rest of this sheet plus a couple others I’m trying to finish up to use up as much of the pages as possible. It is a challenge, but I am hoping to get through some scraps and be able to start fresh soon.

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. Follow my Instagram to see official progress photos when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+598

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+635

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+677 and a room finish!

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+411

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+510

Monopoly update

I landed on an unowned property and the WIP number corresponded to Dolphin Family. That means only one pattern isn’t started yet. It got off to a bumpy start. This pattern has several nuances to it with floss amounts. Hopefully as I work on it, I’ll get more comfortable with it.

+558

How did April go?

I only longer-term track my stitch counts on the ‘Big 5‘. I added more math to my tracker to attempt at an estimated completion date based on my current rate of work. McGonagall came in at being finished sometime in 2100…

Here’s how I did in April for chipping away at these: 2,831 stitches across the five.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 4.24% complete with all five, which isn’t bad considering I have limited time to work on them.

Need to make it an FFO

There is one project, Red Panda, that has been sitting fully stitched since October. I entered it as an auction item in the St. Jude fundraiser MocoMade hosts. It’s an application process, and I don’t have this finished yet to show them what it will be. But the board is cut so I can get started now.

Happy crafting!

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

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2026: March update

CraftyK Leave a comment

One of my cousins had a milestone birthday in March, so one card was made! I was really struggling that day. The card was supposed to be horizontal, but ended up vertical because I stamped happy upside down. Whoops. Cursive font threw me off. Here it is:

I do like the purple paper as a cutout versus a background as I have been using it. I set out the last (I hope) of the purple paper for another card, but working multiple jobs has left me with little time for card making or stitching.

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. So far the progress on these has not resulted in an official update photo, but there should be progress photos coming in April. Follow my Instagram to see them when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+587

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+339

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+626

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+1,013

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+968

Monopoly update

So far only Safari has come up for Monopoly and was a new start. McGonagall is also coming up and getting more stitches completed on that one as well.

Turtle Tower from DailyCrossStitch.com, Dolphin Family, and Nativity remain unchanged.

How did March go?

I only longer-term track my stitch counts on the ‘Big 5‘. All five are now in progress. I put in a total of 3,533 stitches on those in the month of March. Which is more than February with a total of 1,515.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 4.03% complete with all five, which isn’t bad considering I have limited time to work on them.

Need to make it an FFO

There is one project, Red Panda, that has been sitting fully stitched since October. I’ve decided to turn it into an ornament, but that’s as far as it’s gotten. Once that gets finished up, there will be a blog post for it. (Yay bonus post!) < This is the same update from February, no progress has been made.

Happy crafting!

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

$ Buy stuff $

2025 Cards

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My annual card gallery is here! Check out every card created in 2025 by month of creation. The end of 2024 brought on just shy of two dozen new cards. Each year I strive to improve, learn and try new techniques and create some beautiful cards. 2025 saw twice as many with 49 new cards created. I started up my Ko-Fi shop at the end of 2024 where you may find some of the cards below listed for sale.

I set out the year to grow in the card making space. This meant posting about it and at the very least making at least one card per month.

For 2026 I plan to release a post each month with the cards made the previous month. There may be a little more info about how they were made, but I still strive to keep my musings short. I feel that you shouldn’t have to wait all year before seeing all the cards created.

Use these as inspiration for your own cards!

Most of my supplies are second-hand, so I’m not always able to point to where you can buy more.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See finished projects on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

$ Buy stuff $

2024 Cards

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If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2024, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. After the surge of cards made in December 2023, I hope these cards don’t disappoint. I’m also hoping you see an increase in quality and creativity.

Use these as inspiration for your own cards!

February

May

June

September

October

November

December

Follow current projects on Instagram @craftyk.3
Also on Snapchat

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Secret Snowflake

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The company I work for decided to take a twist on Secret Santa and offered a Secret Snowflake. On a bit of a dare, I decided to take part.

The total limit was $20 and gifts are to be dispersed across 8 work days. It wasn’t specific if you are supposed to do multiple things, but I decided to get something for each day.

I did stick with the spend limit with three days of handmade using materials already on hand. I’m not sure how many people at work know I do crafting on the side, but I think many more know now.

To learn more about our Snowflake, everyone filled out a form answering questions about favorites, likes, dislikes, that kind of thing. My person likes Universal Monsters, crows, and Pokรฉmon. The other things were related to food and drinks, which was where my $20 went.

I made a journal/sketchbook (the last time I attempted this was 2013), this attempt went much better. I created it with two covers so my Snowflake wouldn’t have to pick where to start. I also figure they could make a second book if desired. For the covers I used the Universal Monsters and a crow. Because of the general theme, the parts that pull off worked out great.

The next thing I made was a window cling cut out of a crow. This I packaged up and did not photograph before delivery. I happened to have black window cling since I got my Cricut in 2017. It was never opened, so I took this opportunity to give it a try. I hope it’s clingy!

The last handmade was for the Pokรฉmon theme. I did use Co-Pilot to help me figure out which Pokรฉmon would be pink, purple, or green (favorite colors) and small enough to fit in the mini keychain I have. I found a site with lots of free individual characters and pokeballs. Something I learned was there are multiple pokeballs, which took me back to Co-Pilot to ask what you catch a Ditto with. Which is how I landed on stitching an Ultra Ball. Turns out the Ditto is pretty cool.

All the gifts were a hit. I’m glad I chose to participate. It was the highlight of my week for sure. All the planning and plotting to keep my secret and deliver above expectations.

Stitching

Ditto started: December 8, 2024

Ditto finished: December 11, 2023

Ditto stitching time: 5.5 hours

Ultra ball started: December 12, 2024

Ultra ball finished: December 13, 2023

Ultra ball stitching time: 1.75 hours

Follow current projects on Instagram @craftyk.3
Also on Snapchat

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Class of 2024

CraftyK Leave a comment

My nephew is graduating high school this year. I designed this pattern based on the other two I made for his older siblings (Class of 2018, Class of 2021). This pattern is 1,118 stitches in total, no backstitching. I used his favorite color for the text and school colors for the triangles.

I did some correcting to the triangles. This time they are all the same pattern. Rotating the ones on the end was a challenge. I am not very adept at WinStitch. I thought it was supposed to be easy to use, but it was a lot harder than I thought to select, rotate, and place the triangles.

I’m working on a couple of full coverage pieces and using Pattern Keeper to track progress. I exported this pattern for Pattern Keeper since I am now used to being able to zoom way in on a pattern and have the current color selected throughout the project.

While the design was supposed to be 5×7, somewhere along the way it ended up narrower than that. Of course I was being lazy about trimming it up and ended up cutting too much off the left side and to even things out, cut the same amount on the right, leaving a small gap on each side.

My nephew loves Star Wars and I have been using a page at a time from a daily calendar I received several years ago and didn’t open. So on the edges, you can see just a little hint of that.

I also made my signature graduation card using adhesive foil and thread from the cross stitch project.

Stitching

Started: April 4, 2024

Finished: April 23, 2023

Stitching time: 9.25 hours

Follow current projects on Instagram @craftyk.3
Also on Snapchat

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2023 Cards

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If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2023, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Regardless of life circumstances I was determined to get some cards made.

Hope this provides some inspiration for your own cards!

March

cards_0323_003

May

June

July

August

September

December

2022 Cards

CraftyK Leave a comment

If you don’t want to read the nuances about the cards I created in 2022, this is where you can see them all by month of creation. Regardless of life circumstances I was determined to get some cards made.

Hope this provides some inspiration for your own cards!

February

May

mothers-day-2022

June

July

September

October

December

20221227_195602-01

For real-time updates
follow along on Snapchat!

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Also on Instagram @craftyk.3

Make Your Own Kind of Music

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I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to finish this one before my friend turned the big 4-0, in November. Clearly I was on top of it with plenty of time to spare.

I’m writing this in late July and you will be seeing this in November. I don’t want to share it early even though I’ll be sending it in a few days.

My friend is not only an amazing photographer and writer, she also has a passion for music. I found this pattern on dailycrossstitch.com and just had to make it for her.

I did a little modification of the pattern. For the arrows I used variegated thread to add some dimension. I also added backstitching around the word music. It wasn’t standing out enough against the lines.

I used a purple sparkle paper for the frame and cut it out with my Cricut. The back of the cross stitch is stabilized with interfacing fabric.

Stitching

Started: March 30

Finished: April 10th

Stitching time: 11.25 hours

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

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Also now on Instagram @craftyk.3

70 is 13 in Scrabble

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In a panic I realized my mother in laws birthday was a little under 2 weeks away. I had all these ideas for gifts months ago and decided it was too early to start. Now it’s a bit too late.

What sparked my memory was a box of sandpaper and little wooden squares my mom had me make for her friends who were turning 70 and 80 years old. She found a card idea on Pinterest and asked if I could make the letters with my Cricut and if my husband could cut out the squares.

I still had leftover squares from the flurry of birthdays and got them out to start my own card. Since my mom didn’t take a photo of her cards, she told me to head over to Pinterest to see what these cards looked like. I took it from there and made my own version of the card.

Follow along on Snapchat
for current projects!

wp-1517196741806..jpg

Also now on Instagram @craftyk.3