Cricut Challenge 32: And How the Years Pass!

I came across this layout I did back in 2008 before my grandkids came into our lives.  This photo was actually when they were just "twinkles in their parents' eyes".
It's hard to remember when it was just us...how much David and Taylor have both enriched our lives. And one day maybe my son (on the far left) will also give me a few more grandchildren!
This is the photo I used for our annual Christmas card...it has a filter over it To remove lines from the grandmother to be's face so it looks a little fuzzy but it really was such a pretty photo of all of us.

And all I can say is....boy, am I short! 

DCWV papers were used in this layout.  My Cricut was used to cut the title "Blessings" with the Jasmine cartridge.

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!

Cricut Challenge 27: Wrap It Up/ Our Budding Artist and Sculptor

David goes to a Mother's Morning Out program twice a week.  Good for him to go and be with some other children and good for his mother to get a breather.  He wasn't too sure about it the first week and we had lots of tears but now he goes happily and seems to enjoy himself.
Just before the break for the holidays the class had a Christmas party.  One of the activities was for each child to decorate a sugar cookie.  They were given the sugar cookie complete with icing and sprinkles and then were handed some gumdrops to "decorate" their cookie with.
All of the other children just plopped the gumdrops on the cookies except for the few who ate them...David took his job very seriously and very,  very carefully placed the gumdrops on his cookie and then looked up at me and declared, "Castle!".  He had sculpted his very first castle!  After he was finished he looked at his work and proceeded to remove the gumdrops and then ate his cookie!  Such a smart and creative little two year old. :)

So, I created this one page 12x12 layout to commemorate this event.  Here it is before I finished it up on my brand new Scrap 'n Easel that I received as a Christmas Gift from my daughter.  Did I say I love it?  It's so wonderful to see your layout at an angle that does not cause neck strain! Here the castle and circle are not adhered but are being held down by the super strong magnets.  I love this thing!

I used this page from the February, 2012 Scrapbooks, Etc. as inspiration...what caught my eye were the pictures...all done at about wallet size.  I just liked the way they were clustered together and I liked the white edges to them. Ooops...I confess...I tear up my magazines.  Yep, it's true...as I read them (and I usually just go through them once, now)...I tear out the ideas and pages I like and then I throw the magazine away.  If I use a page as inspiration once I done with it out in the trash it goes!  I love my system but I am reckless when I rip magazine pages....!

I used October Afternoon Sidewalks papers and baker's twine (LOVE THIS LINE...it reminds me of the Sally, Dick and Jane primers I learned to read from). Stickers were from the Lunchbox line (also October Afternoon).  I cut the circle out with my EK Success Circle Scissor (haven't used that must have tool in years! LOL!), and the castle at 4" from the Wrap it Up Cricut Cartridge.  I inked edges with the new We R Memory Makers Sweetheart Inkers (brown).  I also used the new Creative Memories border punch tool.  I don't own it but I was cropping with my friend, Cyndi, who has one of everything known to man (or at least to scrapbookers) and she let me borrow it.

And here's the final page with some journaling strips:

Here is a  better photo of it:

Well, sort of better....but I'm still loving my Easel.
And here is a closeup of the castle.  I love the mixes of prints.

I love the way it turned out.

I love my little guy and artist/sculptor and castle builder.

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 27: Kate's ABC's, Calendar Book Part 2 and WHO DID IT?

OK....first of all...who is responsible?  I had the mother of all head colds this week and I want to know who is responsible for giving it to me???
Actually I know exactly who the responsible parties are...here they are...let's call this Exhibit A:

 

Yes, both kids have been sick with upper respiratory stuff.  I had been bragging about how I had not had a cold in yadda, yadda, yadda years even though I had been around the kids a bunch...but my mouth must have been open during the bragging because one or both surely must have coughed or sneezed in my mouth...and yep...the New Year rolled in for me with a massive head cold.  

So I've been under the weather so to speak this week...couldn't hear, couldn't talk in a way others could understand me, couldn't taste...and couldn't breathe!  

But I found a wonder drug so if you get to where you cannot breathe I highly recommend this:

 I hate nasal spray...there is something about sticking something up your nose and spraying stuff in it....just very unappealing to me but this stuff is a wonder drug.  I sprayed that stuff and within 3-5 minutes I could breathe!  It was just amazing.  I was demonstrating to my husband how I could breathe.  It was like I had finally learned a new SKILL! HAHA!

So, this hasn't been the most creative week...it's been a mostly nose in a kleenex kind of week....but I will survive.

I did finally get the cover of my calendar book done and TA DAHHHHH.....drum roll, please....I used Kate's ABCs cartridge for the first time (so this counts towards my personal goal of using all my Cricut cartridges...wooohooo!)  to cut the year numbers out of Tim Holtz Grungeboard.  I used the deep blade housing and did 2 cuts....probably needed a little more depth or a 3rd cut but it cut out pretty well.  

I painted the Grungeboard numbers with a Pearl Paint Dabber...I used a Hero Arts background stamp for the left side of the  book...also inked with the Pearl paint.  Added a little ribbon and that was it.  I really didn't want a  bunch of stuff on the cover as this book will be used daily during the year and I didn't want a lot of embellishments that would be knocked off easily.

So I'm happy with it...and I will say I've written on each page and have a picture for the first week in mind that I will get printed and adhere...I think I'm liking my new little calendar and journaling book.

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 26: Winter Lace and Happy New Year to You!

Wow...2012.  Wow....It just seems like we were all dealing with that Y2K stuff not long ago.  Do you remember that?
I have been able to get back into my craft room the last couple of days for an hour here and have been working on a project which I hope to share in the next couple of days.  It's not quite finished...had hoped to finish it up today but we had the whole family here (my son, daughter, son in law and 2 grandkids) for our traditional southern New Year's dinner.  Black eyed peas, greens (we prefer turnips to collards), mashed potatoes, corn bread and ham.  We eat black eyed peas, greens and corn bread at New Years in the south for good luck.  The black eyed peas represent coins, the greens represent paper money and the corn bread represents gold.  I love old traditions.  Anyway, dinner was yummy and now we all have full tummies with good luck foods!
Anyway since the family was here I couldn't finish my little project so it will have to wait a day or so before I can share it with you.
Here are a couple of cards (bad angle, bad photos) of two cards I made with all Paper Trey Ink products.

I love the little penguin die and shared a card I made with him the other day.  He was so worth the price I paid for him...which I think was just $5.  He's just as cute as can be....the little coordinating stamp set is also inexpensive.
I made these cards for my kids as New Year's wishes.  I thought the cards turned out cute...I think they liked what was inside better! HAHA!
I did cut the snowflake with the Winter Lace Cricut Cartridge and WOOO HOOO...I haven't done a project with that cartridge here so I get to add this to my personal Cricut challenge of making a project with each Cricut Cartridge I own!  I am up to #26...that means I'm about 1/5 of the way there...and I keep acquiring more cartridges!
Life is good...
Well, tomorrow will be the day to take down the decorations and pack them up for another 11 months.  Haha...before you know it we will be dragging it out again!

Happy Crafting and Happy New Year!

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 25: Simply Charmed....Best Friends Layout

This is a layout I did of my very, very close friend, Ronni.  We met in 1979...well over 30 years ago.  Although she lives in south Florida we do try to see each other a few times each year.  She really is a treasure to me.
And no...she doesn't read my blog! LOL! But she does a lot of other great stuff so I don't hold that against her!

So....here is the layout...a 2 page spread...do you do 2 page spreads?  I do... but I'm not so particular about it anymore.  I used to not be able to stand if my layouts that adjoined in the albums I had did not MATCH! LOL!!!  I have freed myself of that requirement, though...and if they don't match up now....well, TUFF!
But for today's posting...they do match up perfectly to make a quite nice (in my own very biased opinion) 2 page layout.

I did get the inspiration for this layout from an issue of the Cricut Magazine.  I spotted that tree and thought it was so cute and knew I really wanted to use it on a layout.  And proceeding with my personal challenge of using each Cricut cartridge I own on some type of project...I used Simply Charmed on this layout for the tree, sun, and clouds.  And, I'm pretty happy with this happy result!  I cut the tree at a little over 7 1/2 inches and since it didn't have a shadow feature I just slapped it on some white and using my surgically steady hands cut out the shadow freehand.

Now that I look at the photographic images here I think..."Hmmmm...looks a little busy to me."  But trust me it's not...it's just danged cute.  (oh...dang is a word we use in the south to put emphasis on things. "It's danged cute."...which means..."mama is happy with her effort here" or  "That was a danged good slab o'  ribs.", "or "Did you see the hair on that danged Walmart customer?" or more customary usage in my region.... "Where is my danged paper trimmer?")  Anyway, I'm happy with it.  If I hated it I wouldn't be showing it to you!

For this layout I used papers from the Sophia Collection from Close to My Heart. This paper pack is wonderful...pretty pinks, greens and white with a touch of yellow.  I also used some Color Core'dinations by Tim Holtz.  The word art was cut out with the A Child's Year Cartridge.  The buttons are from CTMH as is the Friends 4 Ever sentiment which was stamped with Coffee Archival Ink on a small tag bought at an office supply store.  I also used the fringe scissors by Martha Stewart to make a little grass for under the tree.  I used a Chocolate Zig Writer to pen stitch and journal.  And I used some twine for the buttons and wrapped around the tree as well as the Fiskars scallop punch for the white strip of paper and an EK Success punch to make the notebook paper edging on my journaling block.  And lastly there was a liberal use of pop dots and foam tape to raise everything up so that my scrapbooks can only hold 4 layouts because they are so thick!

I should have set my timer....but I think it took me about 4 hours...maybe longer!  Time flies...as they say!

I also entered this in the Fantabulous Cricut challenge which was to use a splash of yellow...I did use a tad of yellow for the sun!

Happy Crafting!

Froufrou and Cricut Challenge 23: CTMH Art Philosophy

I'm back from my week NORTH to see family on Nantucket and Cape Cod.  It was great and I took some fabulous weather with me.  Despite forecasts for rain we only ever got a few sprinkles!
I did get to an AC Moore in Hyannis (we don't have AC Moore in metro Atlanta...boohoo) and found the Tim Holtz small and medium rosette die.  I was able to use my virtual coupon on my phone from Michael's towards the purchase so saved a whopping $8 on it!  Woohoo!!!
I already have the larger one so now I have the full set.  You know how I love those dimensional flowers!











While I was gone my order from Close to My Heart came which included the Art Philosophy cartridge.  It was $99 but it came with all sorts of other stuff...stamp sets that coordinate with the cartridge, chipboard pieces...it really was a pretty good bargain.  I think the promotion only runs for a few more days so if you have a CTMH consultant grab it while you can.  My friend, Christine, is a consultant so if you want to order from her let me know and I'll send you her information!  I think it's worth it!
I am also counting this in my personal Cricut challenge of using each cartridge I have (this is number 23 if you're keeping count! :)).  I will use it more...this cartridge is fabulous and with the coordinating stamp sets is really a great addition to my collection!
So....last night I went to my playroom/toyroom/studio/scrapbook room and created this froufrou card!

I didn't even know if froufrou was a real word.  Guess what?  IT IS!  I checked it out in the Websters online dictionary! And this card definitely counts as froufrou!  I made it with scraps leftover from a Teresa Collins mini album I made....it has wonderful damask looking papers, velvet paper, lace and bling.  Almost all supplies are Teresa Collins...she sure loves that black, white and pink...definitely a girly girl!  The little medallion in the center was cut with the new CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and then stamped with the coordinating stamp that comes with the package.  I used Versamark and then embossed it with white Zing embossing powder.
Simple but froufrou-ish...don't you think?
Oh....and I finally finished the mini album I started for ABG just after she was born in May.  All I needed to do was punch some holes for the jump rings and add a few little touches...it took me about 5 minutes...why it took me 2 months to complete it I'll never know!!!  Here's the front of the finished album...

Cricut Challenge 22: Old West..."Ride 'em Cowboy!" (Cricut 360 Challenge #7)

I'm waaay behind on my scrapbooking...but that's ok.  I never make it my mission to get caught up...I make it my mission to enjoy the process and in terms of that challenge I am ALWAYS successful!  Some layouts take an hour or two...some take longer.  I actually went to a crop once and spent 8 hours on a layout....seriously!  It wasn't any award winning layout when I was done but I loved it and had the greatest time working on it.  That's how I am...I'm about the process...I'm not a crank it out sort of gal...
:)

Back to my personal challenge of using all my Cricut Cartridges on a project....(and btw if you look to the right sidebar you will see all the things I've posted on my blog and I have more than 22 projects posted BUT I didn't start my personal challenge until after I'd already posted some projects!).  Of course, I am going out of order a bit...skipped down to the "o's" (Old West) for this project.  And this is entered in the Cricut 360 Challenge #7 to use the Old West cartridge on a card or layout.

This is one of the older cartridges... it doesn't have a ton of image layers but it does have a couple of cute western looking fonts.  I picked this cartridge up fairly recently at Michael's when they were having one of their super duper Cricut cartridge sales.  I think I got it for $9.99!

So here is a two page layout I did of LMM (Little Monster Man...previously known as AG...Adorable Grandson).  He still maintains a good amount of AG in him...but the LMM is definitely there, too!  Of course these photos were taken before he morphed into LMM! Actually LMM has entered into the Terrible Twos.  Remember those days???  Actually, he is a fun, funny, loving, smart little boy but is trying to exercise some independence and do things HIS WAY! LOL!!! Just getting him in his car seat is a challenge because he wants to do it HIS WAY!

Back to the layout...we took LMM out to the barn one day and set him up on one of the horses out there for his first horse ride.  My daughter is a horsewoman so I imagine there will always be horses in this little boy's life. 

I really like bigger images on my layouts and cards...don't like seeing dinky things that get swallowed up.  This was as big as I could make the horse without swallowing up my photos! :)  Another tip is to "ground" you items...don't have them floating off in space.  Here the horse is "grounded" by the grass.  I loved the banner feature, too, and thought it worked perfectly with this 2 page spread.

I also used Accent Essentials to cut the large scalloped mat and Lyrical Letters to cut the banner.  I loved what those extra layers added to my layout.  Yes...I love layers!

And now LMM just needs a cowboy hat!

(He has boots, of course!)

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!

Cricut Challenge 20: Forever Young and FCCB Challenge 71...You Gotta Have Friends!

Remember the song "Friends" by Bette Midler...(showing my age here)...it was popular when I was in college in the 70s.  We used to sing it in our dorm.  "You gotta have friends."

I'm fortunate....I have some wonderfully close friends and am grateful for each one.   

I made this card tonight celebrating friendship with the Forever Young cartridge (another knocked off in my personal challenge...Yay Me!) which is a cartridge I've had for some time and never used.  I am also entering it in the FCCB #71 "Let's Be Friends" Challenge.

I made this card which is a scraplift of a card in the June/July issue of Cricut Magazine.  I used printed papers from My Minds Eye (Grand Vignettes) and some paper scraps of red and white.  The ribbon is Offray...the printed black and white ribbon is wider but I folded it and secured it...I like the way the folded ribbon looked.  I also used a lacy punch from Martha Stewart and a Friends sentiment from Paper Trey Ink.  Fast card...  (the ladies were all cut out at 3.25 inches).  I added just a touch of bling...a besides friends...a girl's gotta have bling, too!

The Forever Young cartridge also has a purse feature.  There are at least 3 dozen shaped purses on the cartridge.  I made this one very quickly with one piece of 12 x 12 cardstock and a small piece for an insert.  I used my Gypsy and made the purse as large as I could (which was about 5.25 inches).  I didn't do any embellishing...but I think the purses are so cute and would make such cute gift card holders or a holder for small things like BLING!

Here it is:

It was so fast and easy...very cute with lots of possibilities... a few extra touches like some ribbon, flowers, etc. would make this so cute!

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 Challenge 14: Flower Shoppe/Bloggers Challenge

Continuing on with my personal Cricut Challenge of using all my cartridges....  Again, I'm jumping out of order here but I recently ordered the brand new, hot off the press FLOWER SHOPPE which I was just itching to get my hands on.  Anyone who knows my crafting tendencies right now knows how much I love these three dimensional flowers that are quite popular in all kinds of crafting now.  So, I was happy when Cricut jumped on the wagon and designed this cartridge.

I think I will need to play around with it a bit more. One of the first flowers I attempted would be great on gift bags or gift wrap or frames, etc because it was quite thick and very 3D...it would not have worked well on a card that needed to be mailed.

OK...now that I look at this card and I look at the bottom right it looks like there is a SHRIMP there.  Does it look like a shrimp to you?  What the heck!!!  This is from the K&Co Que Sera Sera paper stack....It's all abstract floral designs with really pretty colors but now I see a shrimp!  Oh well.... :) 

The only other items I used on this card were a couple of small pearls that I placed in the center. 

I am also entering this in the Bloggers Challenge which provided this sketch for the week:

 

I don't know about you but I am always losing things in my craft room...I spend some of my time relocating things I've set down and can't remember where I put them.  But I do have a tip for you Gypsy users.  I put my stylus on a long lanyard and wear it around my neck...that way I am free to use it but I don't lay it down somewhere and forget where I put it!  Of course, last night I wore it upstairs and realized it as I was getting ready for bed and took it off and left it in my bathroom.  So, again...this afternoon when I went to my "playroom" I said "YIKES, WHERE IS MY STYLUS?!"...and then I remembered it was in my bathroom so I had to trudge up the stairs to get it.  But I like thinking positively...so I figured I burned another 10 or so calories retrieving it!  

I keep thinking I should get a pretty lanyard but for now this is what mine looks like:

Functional, functional, FUN!

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 13: Just Because Cards

Plugging along with my personal Cricut Challenge...and that is to make at least one thing from all the cartridges I have. I'm sort of going out of order but like I said...it's my challenge and I am the queen of my blog so I can amend the rules when I like!  Anyway, I made this card for AngelCakes' mommy who is a tad under the weather.

I decided to use the pickup truck because I thought it was really cute...but "girly-fied" it up by using purples and soft greens.  I also put a bit of foam tape under the car to pop it up a bit. A little purple ribbon also made it a little more feminine I think.  I thought it turned out pretty cute and I loved the cut.

I used all scraps I had...mostly Bazzil and Core'dinations cardstock, I believe.  I also used Stampin' Up! Sage Shadow ink for the sentiment.  The mat shape is a Nestabilities and then I just hand cut the green mat around it because the next size up die made too fat of a mat for my liking.  I used a white Signo pen for some pen stitching and although you can't see it in the photo I also edged around the lettering with a glitter pen to give it a little more something or other. I don't exactly know what it gave it but it finished it off nicely, I thought.

Happy Crafting!

Fun Shaped Cards and Cricut Challenge 11: Creative Memories Stork's Delivery

Like my friend, Kim, who hangs out in her BASEMENT and was talking about this the other day, I too am a linear scrapper.  I like straight edges...it's something for me to round the edges of a card.  I do it from time to time but it really takes effort.  I like those 90 degree angles much better for the most part!

So what showed up in my inbox last Friday?  A challenge at CAS-ual Fridays for a shaped card.  Yikes...that meant probably no straight edges.  Today, one of my favorite bloggers Christina of Creations with Christina made a shaped card using her Gypsy and I thought to myself, "Self...you can do that!"

I ended up making these two little cards:

Both were made for enclosures for baby gifts.

The first one was made with cards stock scraps I had in my scrap box.  Some Core'dinations cardstock and some Bazzill were used for the little zebra.  I used a little tag I had and stamped "Sweet Baby" which is a Paper Trey Ink sentiment from the Mega Messages set. He has a little Bazzill bling for eyes.

You can see the cute little zebra a little closer here:

The image came from the Creative Memories Stork's Delivery Cricut cartridge.  I think he's just so cute!

The second one shown below was done with the Baby Steps Cartridge (another newer cartridge):

was done with Martha Stewart papers and a little white ribbon.  I think he's kind of cute, too, if I say so myself!

I had not used the Stork's Delivery Cartridge before so this is another one knocked off my Personal Cricut Challenge! Yay!!!  I will come back to this, though...it's a great cartridge and I need to look at it a bit more closely.

And my dear friends...that is it for today I think!  Hope you all are staying cool...we are having a huge heat wave in the south here....I think today is going to be worse than yesterday with temps in the mid 90s.  And of course here in Atlanta we have HUMIDITY!  It is oppressive but I try not to complain too much as I'd rather have it hot any day as opposed to that cold that some parts of this country get!

Happy Crafting!



Cricut Challenge 10B: Country Life

My dear friend, Jeanne, from Kansas who is a loyal blog reader (we'll see if she is really paying attention!) asked me to make a farm type card for her.  A friend of hers is retiring from full time banking and farming to just full time farming.  He farms wheat.  Wheat does not grow in Georgia.  We have cotton, watermelon, peaches, and peanuts!

I have known Jeanne for over 30...wait, NO...40 YEARS.  We went to junior high school together in Frankfurt, Germany back in the wonderful days of the Cold War when there were lots of  US troops and support personnel based in Germany.  We had such a good time over there and did all kinds of fun and dumb things....like lighting fireworks and throwing them out of a third story window after they were lit!
Her parents didn't know about that, though....and mine never found out either.  We hid the evidence!

It's amazing Jeanne and I have kept in touch all these years.  Remember snail mail?  That's how we communicated for about 30 years...and we pretty much always stayed in touch.  When we both got on the WWW we have been able to keep in even closer touch.  Technology is amazing, isn't it?

So, I pulled out the Country Life cartridge once again and made this card:



And except for the card base (which is 5.5 by 8) and the Kraft mat on top I pulled out my neatly organzied (and more importantly) LOCATABLE scrap box  (because it's in my nice, neat and organized room!) and used pieces of this and that to make the rest of the scene.  Some inking was done although not shown in this picture.  I used a small button on the door....some foam tape to pop up the farmer and the monstrous wheat and used a Paper Trey Ink sentiment that says "Happy Retirement"....all things I had on hand!  I like that!  Although I do like shopping for new stuff, too, of course.

Speaking of shopping run to your local Joann, Etc. today.  All single sheet 12x12 paper is 5 for $.96.  That includes the wonderful Core'dinations cardstock.  My Joann's had the new Tim Holtz distress Core'dinations

cardstock in some wonderfully fabulous new colors....there are 36 new colors available....I got 2 of each! :) 

Paper addict, I know....I confess...

Happy July 4th to all Americans...my husband and I were talking last night about a very memorable 4th of July for us.  We had taken my son who was about 12 at the time to Washington, DC and went to the Mall area to watch the national fireworks.  We were just in front of the Washington Monument...the White House was to our right and the Lincoln Memorial with the reflecting pool was straight ahead.  We really enjoyed the show...with about 500,000 other people! It was really crowded but was worth it....not that I will ever be inclined to do it again but was an experience that my son still talks about today. 

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 11: Create a Critter

Since this is my challenge I can change the rules as I go along.  It's good being Queen of your own blog, you know.

I will confess I am cheating a little bit on today's posting.  I've used Create a Critter several times so  I didn't feel the need to make something new just yet.  I just couldn't get motivated to go into my "studio" (doesn't that sound high fallutin'?....btw...what exactly is a "fallutin'"??) today.  I had a tennis match this morning (we lost...boo!) and then ran up to see my daughter, AG and NBG.  They are all doing great by the way.  AG has learned to say "Omie" which is my 'grandma' name.  Did you know that it is possible to say "Omie" 132 times in 60 seconds?  I know because I was there! LOL! That little 21 month old is learning all kinds of new vocabulary and boy is he using it!!! 

And NBG is getting chubbier and chubbier...we meant to have a photo shoot today again but after we went to the mall for a little while this morning we were just all too tired and elected to take naps instead!  But she's doing great and getting bigger and bigger...and starting to look at your face.  She turned 3 weeks yesterday.

So, I confess I didn't make anything new for today but I do have two things to share:  one card I already made with Create a Critter is posted HERE and is another of my favorites.  I bet you didn't know that the postage stamp was on the cartridge...that's what's so fabulous...you find all kinds of goodies with Cricut!

Create a Critter has all kinds of cute images...birds, animals, fish, reptiles...even a dinosaur or two.  It also has lots of cute layers for the images so you get a more "complicated" but visually pleasing figure.  And there is some very cute word art on this cartridge!  It's really a fun cartridge made up of happy little characters!

The other card (picture at the top of this post) was an invitation I did for my grandson's 1st birthday party.  

I used some very old (greater than 5 years!) Making Memories paper and some plain old cardstock and kraft paper I had around.  I used a Fiskar's border punch.  The little horsie was run through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder.  Simple but cute for his little western themed party.
Here is a picture of AG on his birthday in his western wear.  Howdy Pahdnuh!  Wow...he'll be 2 in 3 more months!  I guess I'd better be thinking of an invitation design!

I also entered this in the CAS-Friday challenge (to use a border punch)...I think it's Clean and Simple...don't you?

Cricut Challenge 10: Country Life

I LOVE THIS CARD!  You know how it is...sometimes you just make something and just love it!  I loved this finished card so much that when I showed it to my husband I asked him if I should just send it to him so that we could keep it in the family!!!  I have issues...I know...I know...

Today's cartridge is the really cute Country Life.  The more I look at it the more I see some really cute things on this cartridge.  First of all there are some really cute country images...farmers, farm animals, foods, vintage looking images, as well as a great fonts, a banner and other nice features. 

I did another card from this cartridge back in April....you can see it here if you'd like.

For this SEW SWEET card I used papers from DCWV Linen Closet (including the cardstock stack)

and a sheet of chocolate brown cardstock I happened to have on hand.  I always love when I can find things to use I have on hand! 

I used my Gypsy and my Expression 2 and cut all images and layers at 4 inches (this card is actually a 5x7 card).  It assembled nicely...I just used my Zig 2 Way glue pen (the greatest)

 and all those little babies just adhered nicely!

The measuring tape and the Sew Sweet sentiment are Unity Stamps (love that brand...those stamps are such great quality!)...and are cobranded stamps with Cosmo Cricket and are from the Material Girl sets.  The top label is an EK Success punch and the label that I used as a mat is the Fillable Frame Die from Paper Trey Ink.

I added some metal flat head beads and did a little pen work on the sewing machine as well as a little dark brown satin ribbon I picked up at JoAnn, etc.

and that's it.  It really is SEW cute!  I don't think the picture does it justice but trust me....it is adorable if I say so myself.   Don't you just love that vintage sewing machine?  It reminds me of my grandmother.... :)

Happy Crafting!