Little Baby Layout

I completed another 2 page layout for Taylor's baby book yesterday.   These photos are her getting on the first scale of her life and weighing in at 6lbs 8.8 ozs which is much smaller than her own mother weighed when she was born which was 9lbs 7.5 ozs!  LOL!!!  I am about a foot shorter than my daughter....yet I had the big baby and she had the nice teensy one.  Anyway, here they are... Left side first:

I did some stitching with the Beast on K & Company Sparkly Sweet papers.  I cut out a couple of butterflies for a little embellishement.  They are glittered papers so add a nice bit of sparkle! 
"Little Baby" was cut on my Cricut Expression with the Nursery Rhymes cartridge.  I was so hoping this would fit into my personal challenge of using all of my cartridges but unfortunately for me, I've already completed projects with it!  Oh well....
Here is a close up of the cut:

And I added a little bling because baby girls can always start off with a little bling, right?
Here is the right side...of her feet getting stamped and then just a cute photo of her teensy foot with her identification band on it.

 

The little feet die cuts were done on the Silhouette Cameo (which was a KI Design I purchased from the Silhouette store) as was the journaling spot.  I was able to cut the teensy printed frame on the inside of the purple frame with no difficulty at all. 

Isn't that a cute little teensy foot?

Happy Crafting!

The Mailboxes and Cricut Challenge 30: Once Upon a Princess

My very good friend Christine told another friend of mine (Cyndi) and me a story about mailboxes that her father, Larry,  had for all his grandchildren.  Many years ago when the oldest grandchild was quite small he had a decorative mailbox in his house.  The grandchild would come in and look at it. One day he put a quarter in it and when the child opened it she was very surprised and excited!  This started the GREAT MAILBOX IDEA!  He began to put money in the mailbox for when the child visited.  As he had more grandchildren he got more mailboxes so that all the grandchildren now have their own mailboxes.  He even has extra boxes for when the children's friends visit.

Cyndi and I thought this was a great idea and decided to incorporate this for our own grandchildren.  I bought a couple of little mailboxes at Joann's and cut some simple shapes out on the Cricut with vinyl.  

When David arrives at my house he makes a beeline for his mailbox!  I love it.  I think I'm training him well.  When he gets to be a teenager and Omie  is not the most important person in his life I will put big bucks in which will keep him coming back! (I hope!)  

Here are the mailboxes...I just finally did one for Taylor yesterday:

I didn't spend a tremendous amount of time on these...they need to withstand little hands and hopefully will for a long time.  OH...and I used the Cricut cartridge Once Upon a Princess which is the first time I've used this cartridge so this counts towards my personal challenge of using every one of my Cricut cartridges!  Although I'm loving my Silhouette Cameo...I still have a soft spot for my Cricut and have no plans to break up with him anytime soon!

So what do I put in the mailboxes?  Stickers, Matchbox cars, candy....that sort of thing.  I am saving the money for when they get older!

And here's a video of David from the other day heading straight for his mailbox when he visited Omie's house on Monday:

Vinyl...I have not worked with it much but boy oh boy did I do it the hard way the first time!  I didn't know about transfer tape and just peeled and stuck with my fingers! LOL!  What a mess!  And I would think...how on earth do people get those wonderful sayings onto walls?!  And then I learned about transfer tape!  I did Taylor's mailbox yesterday in about half an hour and that included finding the designs on the Gypsy and setting that up!  Yay for transfer tape!  

I'm working on a two page layout that just is not coming together.  Does that happen to you?  The idea in the head does not compute to the paper! LOL!  Hopefully I'll get it done today.

But for now...I need to fill the mailboxes as my little kiddos will be here shortly!

Thank you, LARRY BARRY,  for the fabulous idea!

Happy Crafting!

Valentine Gift Containers

I made these Valentine Gift Boxes last year for David and his soon to be born little sister, Taylor.  I purchased the plastic red heart shaped boxes at Archiver's and just dressed them up with some pretty papers, trims, bling and cuts from the Cricut.  And I love that they can be recycled year after year! Yay for that!

Here's Taylor's...and this will be her first Valentine's Day:

 And a closer-up:

And one for my little man, David:

And a little close up:

They were a lot of fun to do....I don't know if David was all that impressed but his mother and I were! :)

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 28 and 29: Baby Girl Card

I've had two friends in the past couple of weeks who became grandmothers to baby girls.  Exciting times for me as some of my friends are also entering the era of grandmotherhood!  Congratulations, Debbie and Nancy!

I recently purchased the book All Occasion Cards for Cricut through Blitsy which, by the way, is a FABULOUS site for discounted products for the crafter....lots of great scrapbooking and cardmaking stuff there at wonderful prices.

Anyway, this card was in the book and I made my version with Martha Stewart girly papers I had gotten on clearance at Michael's before my own grandbaby girl was born.  I used Graphically Speaking (my friend, Deb Wing used to emphatically refer to this cartridge as "THE BEST EVER" and she would state it complete with wonderful hand gestures) and Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridges which, DRUM ROLL PLEASE, are two more cartridges I can knock off my personal challenge to make something with every Cricut cartridge I own.   I love that...two birds with one stone...two cartridges with one card!  :)

Here's the card for the cutie patootie baby:

And a closeup....did you see the Nichol Magouirk podcast on photographing your cards and scrapbooking pages.  Well, she says to take angled pictures of detail so that's what I did here:

This angled closeup shows the glitter on the stars which was a huge mess to work with! LOL!!! 

Sometimes angled photos which have become so popular give me vertigo.  Seriously.  Especially when there are people in them! Just thinking about it makes me feel queasy....  (not really...)

This was simple to do other than the mess with the glitter (!)...all the cuts and sizes are in the book and I just followed it with my own papers.  It actually worked up pretty quickly. For me quick means under 3 hours! Haha!

Does anyone out there want to come reorganize my scrapbook room for me?  It's getting way out of control!!!

Happy Crafting and for me that also means Happy GET YOURSELF IN YOUR ROOM AND CLEAN IT UP BEFORE YOU START ANOTHER PROJECT OR BUY ONE MORE THING!

(hmmmm....wonder if my Paper Trey Ink order will be here by tomorrow?)

Cricut Challenge 25: Happy Hauntings...Ghoulish Fun! (Fantabulous Cricut #83)

Onwards with my personal Cricut Challenge to make at least one project from each cartridge I own.  Since Halloween is very near I pulled out Happy Hauntings which I bought last year and have not used!  Yep, I confess!
Here is my little card:

I used K&Company papers from a little mat stack I picked up the other day as well as lots of paper scraps I had in my scrap box.  I used my Gyspy so was able to just lay out the scraps where I wanted them and cut all the pieces in one swoop.  Love that...and what a time saver.
This card came together quickly...no new technique on this one...just a little inking of edges, some google eyes on the ghosts, a little heat embossing for the sentiment, some glitter on the raven and other than cutting the ghosts out twice and offsetting them for a little shadow and a bit more dimension...well, that was about it.
Came together fast and was easy....but of course I destroyed my craft room in the process and now will need to spend 45 minutes cleaning up what it took me 1/2 an hour to make! HAHA!

And this card was entered in the Fantabulous Cricut #83 Challenge to use a ghost on a project.

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 21: Florals Embellished

I am plodding along on my personal Cricut Challenge.  If you are new here and peeking in I have made it a personal challenge to use every single one of my X# of Cricut cartridges (I'm too embarrassed to say how many I really have!) on some sort of project!  So, today I chose Florals Embellished to work on.  I don't even remember buying the cartridge!  I could not tell you when I got it but I don't think it was long ago as it is one of the newer cartridges.  It has really pretty cuts on it...I definitely need to look more closely at this cartridge and search the great big old web to see what other projects people have done with it.  It has really pretty flowers, birds, butterflies, word art, silhouettes...it has some beautiful cuts on it...that's for sure.

And here is my card:

For today I chose a butterfly that I cut at about 2 3/4 inches.  I used Hazel My Mind's Eye Papers (Stella Rose),

a sentiment from Papertrey Ink, some bling, cardstock from Core'dinations, a Fiskars scallop punch,

and a Stampin' Up word punch (can't remember what it's called but it is the rounded word label that the sentiment is on).  I also embossed the card base with the Victoria Cuttlebug Embossing folder

and inked the edges with some distress inks:


I also entered this in one of my favorite challenges (because I love to see what others are doing with their Cricuts) the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #72  (Challenge Me Monday) challenge which was to use a bug on a project as well as the 2 Sisters Challenge to use the following color palette: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla.
  (Wow...that must be a world's record....to use the word "challenge" 5 times in one sentence!  But it's late and I'm not rephrasing...you get the idea, right???

Happy Crafting!

Scrapbooking Time!

I wanted to share a 2 page layout I did with my Cricut.  This was a lift from the Scrapbooking with Cricut book published by Annie's Attic.  I think it turned out really cute.  I love when I use my Cricut to do layouts...it sure cuts down on the cost of additional embelllishments.
(Although, I know...when you factor in the cost of the Cricut, cartridges and supplies this layout probably cost about $49.73 to make! HAHA!)

This might actually count towards my personal challenge of using each Cricut cartridge I own in a project of some sort but right now I don't recall what cartridges I used!  So, I'll take a raincheck on posting this for my own challenge later! ;)

I've had a couple of busy days.  Tonight Little Monster Man (also known as Adorable Grandson or AG) is staying with us.  My house looks like it has exploded!  And he's only been here 10 minutes! :)

Here he is on his 1st birthday...next month we will be celebrating his second.
Papers by Martha Stewart.

Happy Crafting!

Cherished Time Together

I didn't get a chance to get in my creation mode on Monday.  We took the Little Guy to the pool and the heat just wiped me out!  We had fun, though...and that little 22 1/2 month old does not have any fear!  I think he will be swimming by next summer if not sooner!

I did manage to get in my craft room last night and played around with alcohol inks for a while but all I ended up with was a muddy mess.  But I had fun playing...one thing I learned is that glossy paper does not do well with an embossing gun.  LOL!  It warped my paper and created a bubble.  It was pretty funny looking!

So...I decided to pull out some of my Unity Stamps that I haven't used yet and came up with this card:

Sometimes you just make something and it works!  A lot of times I make something and it doesn't! HAHA!  But the process is what I do this for...not the end result...I just like making...you know?

I used DCWV Linen Closet cardstock and papers.  The stamps I used were all Unity and were from Cherish the Time, Throughout All, Roots and Wings, and Togetherness Generations cons.  I used Close to My Heart Desert Sand and Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip inks.   The flower was made with the Spellbinders Carnation die (I just double cut each layer, but didn't do the largest layers).  The ribbon is from Wright and the pearls are from my stash and I don't know where I got them but they could be from Michael's.  I used the Tim Holtz distress tool to scuff up the edges of the mat and my CM corner rounder to round one corner of the mat and card.

The picture doesn't do it justice...the colors are really nice and subtle.

I also made another Cars character from the Cricut Cars cartridge...this time I did the inimitable Mater!  I think he turned out cute, too. He sure did have a lot of pieces!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Cricut Challenge 19: Disney Pixar Cars and Bonus!

Continuing onward with my personal Cricut Challenge of making something with each cartridge I own meant that today I would work with the Disney Pixar Cars cartridge.  I never was interested much in Disney characters...especially as related to the Cricut...but of course that's before I had a grandson.  My grandson is not quite 2 years old...but he is into CARS!  It's so funny.  I didn't know kids would be "into" something at this age but I guess with all the bombarding of media...well, it's bound to happen.  He had gotten a Cars book...then we got him the Cars video...and he loves it!  He also has quite an assortment of little cars now and can name them.  His first real sentence was "Ido wahwah" which of course, meant "Guido is in your glass of water, Mommy.  I accidentally on purpose put it in there and now I can't get it out.  I need your help, Mommy". 

See?  You can also see Lightening McQueen peeking out in dismay from behind the cup of water!

So I bought the Cars Cricut Cartridge because I thought I could make something for David with it.  I finally pulled it out today to work with it.  Let me say I am royally ticked at Cricut for not including better photos and instructions for these images!  There are so many layers and you have to hunt to see where they go!  
I first decided to do Lightning McQueen...the star and I did complete it but boy oh boy was it tough!  Lots of teensy pieces that don't make any sense!  The second one I did...Guido was a bit easier.

Here they are:

They are cute....I think I'm going to put them all in a book after I laminate them and use my Cinch to bind it.  I'm hoping I get it done before David is "into" something else!

My bonus is a little treat I picked up for myself at Joann's today.  Pretty much all their paper crafting stuff is 40% off and I bought a Spellbinders die that was new to my Joann's.  It is the Donna Salazar carnation...and creates 3 dimensional flowers that are so easy and fast to do.  I tried it out and used some old Marcella paper I had...here they are:

You just stack all the flower pieces from small to large on a brad and then sort of mold the layers into a 3 dimensional flower.  Very easy and I love the look.  So many possibilities!!!

Cricut Challenge 17 AND 18 and CAS-Fridays Challenge CFC 13

Well, aren't I rocking???....I knocked off two cartridges in my own personal Cricut challenge to use each cartridge I own.  I thought that was pretty awesome.  I didn't plan it that way....it just happened!  Like I said...I rock! :)

I also did this card for the CAS-Fridays Challenge CFC 13 which is "the long and short" of it...making a card 4x9 inches.  I tell you what...I struggle with Clean and Simple.  I like stuff...I like lots of stuff...I like lots of layers...it is hard for me to leave parts of my cards NAKED (or as we say in the heart of Dixie..."NEKKID!!!)!!!  So this card which I should have gotten done in about 15 minutes took me 2 hours.  It is a very complicated process to be clean and simple, I think.  Simple does not mean EASY!...or fast, for that matter!

So this is what I came up with:

I actually like the way this card came out (sort of)...but it needs stuff! HAHA!
The bird house was cut from April Showers and the bracketed mat was cut from Elegant Edges.  I changed the proportions of the mat as I wanted it to be a little more rectangular than the square way the cut is set up to be.  That's where the Gypsy sure comes in handy!  The scalloped circle is actually a piece of felt...thanks, Judie of Cards by Judie, for reminding me to use fabric! I used a Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug and the felt cut beautifully.  I tied a bit of hemp at the base of the little bird house.  The sentiment was stamped with Stampin' Up Real Red (Craft) and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I found a little heart button I had and cut off the shanks and stuck that baby down with a glue dot. The papers are Cosmo Cricket except for the base cardstock and the Kraft paper. And I tried to de-naked-fy my card by adding some inking to the edges.  My card thanked me.

And that's it for today!

Happy Sunday and Happy Crafting!

Cricut Lovers...You Gotta See This!

Check out all the new cartridges and wonderful projects on the Cricut blog HERE,  I am LOVING the card feature on SOPHIE!!!
My friend, Christine, is a CTMH consultant and so I'm hoping to pick up the package from her....the way I understand it is the CTMH cartridge comes with stamps that coordinate with the cuts.  Way cool...
I'll post again later....I have a layout I worked on...just need to take a better picture of it!

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

I'm still at my daughter's helping out after the birth of NBG (new baby girl)!  We are all amazed how content she is...AG (Adorable Grandson) who is now nearly 21 months was one of those babies who was never content...he always had to be walked!  You couldn't sit down...you had to walk him! LOL!  Amazing how siblings can be so different.  Of course, we realize NBG is only 6 days old and may just be tricking us!

I came across this card I made early in 2010 for a friend.  I cannot for the life of me figure out which cartridge the word art and card cut came from!  I've tried the My Cut Search the fabulous search engine for Cricut cuts but the word "Thanks" gives me 47 images...and none are the cut shown in the card below.  Oh well...So, if anyone knows which cartridge this came from...let me know...I might like to use it again! :)

When I made this card I was just so pleased with it...loved the Close to My Heart papers...love the colors, etc.  I put a couple of naiheads on it...and was pleased as punch with this card.  Now I look at it and think "You've Come a Long Way, Baby!" because I would certainly add MORE to it if I were creating it now.  LOL...Cricut has come a long way, too...and the cuts now are more intricate and detailed...Have I told you how I love LAYERS???!

Anyway, here is the card and the envelope made with my Cricut, too!

I am actually truly going to my house today...won't be bringing all my scrapbooking things up here to my daughter's but hopefully will bring a few projects to work on! 

Cricut Challenge: #6 Birthday Bash

I am continuing on my personal challenge to use EVERY single Cricut cartridge I own in a project....Still in the B's...but this is #6...I only have about 75 more to go!  (and I amended my challenge to exclude font only cartridges because a font is a font is a font....and because it's my challenge and I can make and change the rules as I go!)

So...without further ado.. here is my project for today made with the Birthday Bash cartridge:

Birthday Bash is another newer cartridge from Provocraft for the Cricut.  It has some very cute and happy little images like this little bird above...there are other cute animals, birthday cakes, balloons, cards, and more.  The features include several layers, some cards, some word art, etc. 

One thing I noticed when I adhered the layers for the little bird image above is that they didn't always fit exactly right and sometimes I had to do a little trimming so that the layers underneath did not show.  No biggie...but usually the images from most of the cartridges I've worked with seem to fit well. 

The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket and is a mini deck called DeLovely.  This deck is made up of really fun and vibrant prints that you would expect from Cosmo Cricket.  I used the Happy Birthday embossing plate from Cuttlebug, a bit of ribbon from Paper Trey Ink, the tinsel wrap from Stampin' Up and some cardstock from Cooredinations.  I also used a Close to My Heart "Happy Birthday" sentiment.  I used some Bazzill bling for the little eyes of the birdie...

I rarely make square cards because I am too cheap to mail those due to the required extra postage...but this one I'll be hand delivering to my daughter on Friday for her birthday!

I think this is a great cartridge to have with lots of verstality and this was one I've had for a little while and done nothing with it! 

The next cartridge I'll be using will be Boys Will Be Boys...So, stay tuned!!!

Cricut Challenge: #5 Beyond Birthdays (or THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A 5 MINUTE CARD BUT TOOK ALMOST HALF AN HOUR!)

Today's project was done with Beyond Birthdays....a great card cartridge that has all kinds of celebratory word art and cut out cards.



And here's my cute little card which I also entered in the CAS-Friday challenge (this week's challenge was to make a graduation card).

Yeah, yeah, yeah...this card shouldn't have taken long at all.  You look at it...you think...well, woohoo...it's just straight cuts...you think "I can whip this out in FIVE count 'em...one, two, three, four, FIVE minutes!" 

And why did it take me nearly 30 minutes??? Well, let's begin. First of all...things always take longer than I plan because I have to fiddle with it for the longest time before I'm satisfied.  I can easily spend 10 minutes getting my bow just perfect! Secondly I cut the card the wrong size to fit an A2 envelope...TWICE before getting it the way I want it on the third try!     Anyway, I decided I was going to make a "Congrats" card for another high school graduate.  I wanted something simple because the graduate happens to be a young man and I didn't want anything too ornate or frilly.  I thought this pre-cut card base and "Congrats" wordart would be perfect.   I decided to cut out another front (frame) from the star paper to give it a little something extra but there is not a frame feature to this card so I had to cut out the card again...and then I just trimmed it down to get the look I wanted.  I added a tinsely ribbon and was just about done!

 I decided to make a gift card holder with the leftover star paper from DCWV and used my Martha Stewart Scoreboard to make it with a 5 1/2" by 5 1/2" piece.  I punched out a small star with white paper and secured it to some foam tape to make a "button" closure.  I learned to do that at one of the Archiver's Make 'n Takes!  Love those free flowing ideas! :)

It really is a simple card but sometimes simple is best and I think this young man will be happy with it.  Well, he probably won't care about the card but will love what's in the gift card enclosure!  Let's get real.... :)

And that's it for today...tomorrow I will try to have something with Birthday Bash...the next in line in my Challenge!

Cricut Challenge: #3 Accent Essentials with Fabric Flower

Today I worked with the Accent Essentials Cartridge, some fabric, and a sheet of clear acetate.  (You'll have to look close to see the acetate in the picture below...the card is slightly open and the embossed purple cardstock is on the inside of the card.)

It is an older cartridge...probably one of the first shape cartridges I purchased.  I think I purchased it because I loved all the flourish images in it and I have used it several times...althought not in quite a while. 
Interestingly...there are some basic images but many of the creative keys are non functional...you basically get the shape and a shadow and that's about it.  Still there are some cute things on this cartridge.

I decided I wanted to try my hand at cutting fabric on the Cricut.  I purchased some cotton fabric pieces at Joann's and ironed some fusible webbing to it.  I read several tutorials and watched some videos as well and most said to place the fabric on the mat with the fusible webbing up and the fabric against the sticky part of the mat.  I made sure I used a new blade...put my speed on slow...my blade pressure high and the depth at the maxium.    I cut several flower shapes in different sizes from the Accent Essentials cartridge and glued them together with a hot glue gun.  I had bought some acetate at Michael's today...first time I'd seen an entire pad of acetate in the scrapbooking section...the brand was "Recollections" which is Michael's own brand. 
I wanted to use the acetate so decided on a card...put some embossed cardstock on the inside (which I embossed with the Thank You Cuttlebug folder).  I secured the fabric flower to the front and tied some Stampin' Up ribbon near the top.  The Many Thanks sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink Fillable Frames 1 and was punched out with the SU word punch. 

I thought it turned out nicely and really didn't take long to make!

Cricut Challenge: #1 3 Birds on Parade

If you look at my post for yesterday you will see a herkin' (thanks, Donna!) big box of Cricut cartridges.  I have gotten obsessed with collecting them!  But many of them I have never really used nor could I even tell you what is on the cartridge.  So, I'm ready for a CHALLENGE!

I have decided to work my way through my cartridges and make at least one thing with each cartridge.  It may be a card, a scrapbooking layout, a vinyl project, a title for a layout...I'm not going to limit myself in that way but I will use each cartridge at some point.  That's my challenge.  I may not do it every day but I think this will be good for me because it will make me look at the books or overlays and see what all is on each cartridge!

For Challenge #1 I pulled out my never used 3 Birds on Parade.
 
I looked through the boook and saw some wonderful word art and a great looking font.  There are several creative keys...layers, shadows and more.  This cartridge could be used for many occasions...there are cute little layered birds for special events and holidays.  They are adorable.

I made this little princess card to announce the arrival of my soon to be born granddaughter ( we are about 2 weeks from the due date!). 



This cute little card was made with Paper Trey Ink papers, a Nestabilities Die (Labels Eleven), some grosgrain ribbon, and a Fiskars scalloped border punch.  I added a few gems so that our little princess would have some needed bling! The sentiment is from a set by 3 Bugs in a Rug.

One cartridge down...over 90 to go! :)

More Gift Wrap

I don't love to gift wrap.  I sort of tolerate it...it's ok and I love pretty packages but I just don't like spending the time doing it.  Probably sort of weird since I'm a paper crafter but that's just the way it is...
My mother used to love to gift wrap...she would come up here each Christmas and we'd spend a day or two wrapping all the Christmas gifts...at my kitchen table...we'd have paper, scissors, tape, ribbon all over the place.  We'd share cups of coffee or if we were doing it in the evening...well, we'd have wine! :)  I miss those days...and I sure miss my mother!

:)

My daughter's shower is this Saturday and pretty soon we will be welcoming our new little baby girl into this world. I wrapped a few gifts with some white craft paper and then used my Cricut and my Tim Holtz rosette die to spruce up the boxes a bit. 
I used the Nursery Rhymes and the Storybook cartridges...these were fast and very easy!
Some of the paper is Martha Stewart and some is K&Company.  I made the flowers from a flower template off the DCWV blog.

And that's it for today!