Circut Circle Art Inspiration Challenge

Below is my project based on the inspiration.  I decided to use my Cricut Imagine for this one because it hasn't gotten much use.  I really liked the femininity of the rose and butterflies, so I stuck close to those in my design.  All of the cuts and papers are from Lori's Garden Imagine Cartridges.  My other favorite thing to do is to use Distressed Inks on the edges of the cuts for an extra pop.

Circut Circle - Silly Scavenger Hunt

My entry for the Cricut Circle Silly Scavenger Hunt.  They provided a list of 20 items and we were given 2 hours to use our cricut and cartridges to cut out each item. 

Even More Mexico Layouts

Hi Everyone!

Blogger is finally working for me again - yippee!  It's super slow, but at least I can post pictures now.

I have another layout to share with you from my Nov 2009 Mexico trip.  I know it doesn't look like it, but there is a Cricut cut on there. . . it's the red border cut from Paper Trimmings - a Cricut Circle Exclusive cart.

The paper is DCWV - I love the value of their stacks, especially when they're on sale at Joann's.

Since I had way too many pictures I wanted to scrap from this vacation, I really tried to narrow them down and maximize where I could.  I think I did pretty good by putting smaller sizes at the bottom of the page so that I could fit 13 total pictures on this 2-page layout.  My record is 19 photos. . . on one page, which I just realized I've never posted, so I've included it below.  That layout is also from my Nov 2009 Mexico Trip

I trimmed all of these into 1.5x1.5" squares.  Some day I'll have to learn how to work Photoshop and save myself some time.  All cricut cuts are from Pack Your Bags.  Paper is mostly DCWV.

Blogger Issues

Hi Everyone!

I was hoping to post a project or two, but unfortunately I can't get Blogger to upload any pics.  Hopefully it will be working this weekend.

Riviera Maya

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for a little while.  I was actually on vacation in Riviera Maya (Mexico) for 10 days.  It was great to relax in the warm weather, but by the end I felt like I was moving in slow motion and was ready to come home.

We stayed at 2 different resorts - Barcelo Maya Palace and Azul Sensatori - which really helps to break up the trip.

One of the days we went to Maroma (rated one of the most beautiful beaches in the world) and did some snorkeling and drove the speed boats.  I was terrified during the speed boat, can you tell in the picture below how hard that I am holding on?  They said it could not possibly tip over, but with salt water splashing in my face during the sharp turns, my 6 y/o taking turns driving it and being jarred every time we hit a big ocean wave, I didn't believe them!

Hmm, for some reason Blogger won't let me add any more pictures. 

I hope to have some projects to share with you soon!

Jinger Adams Design Team Call

Hi Everyone!

I was super thrilled when a few weeks ago, I saw posted on the Cricut Circle MB that Jinger Adam's and The Scrapbooking Queen are having a design team call!  I decided to create the following layout as my entry.

Paper used is DCWV Cafe Mediterranean.  Cartridges used are Cindy Loo for the flourishes cut at 5" and Teresa Collins Sophisticated for the phrase cut at 1.5".  I thought about adding more to this layout, but decided I liked it a bit more simple with clean lines so that the picture is the main focus.

If you'd like to see more of my projects, click on the Project Gallary link at the top of the page.

Thanks for looking!

Cappuccino, Cappuccino!

Hi,

I have some more layouts from our Mexico trip from 2 years ago to share with you.  I need to either scrap faster or take less pictures; I still have the two trips after this one to scrapbook and we have yet another trip to Mexico coming up in a few weeks.

Anyway, a little bit about this layout:

With dessert every night, I would have a decaf cappuccino to drink.  I don't drink coffee normally and I never drink caffeinated beverages, but I can't pass up a good cappuccino ever since I was in Italy for my honeymoon.  I thought the cappuccinos we got at the restaurants in Mexico looked pretty, so I had to take a picture.  My daughter loves the foam and always asks to all of mine after I put the raw sugar on top.

Paper is DCWV and is based on a layout from their website.  Font is from Nate's ABCs and the cappuccino is the Love You a Latte Cricut Lite Cartridge with the edges inked with Ranger Distressed Ink.

St. Patricks Day Dessert

Friends of ours came over for dinner last night - just a low key evening.  For dessert, I made Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes - very yummy!  Since I wanted to have some green with it being St. Patrick's Day, I added Creme de Menthe over the vanilla ice cream.

I haven't had much time lately to play with my Cricut.  Just a few backpack notes for my daughter.  She loves getting these, but after making so many (she wanted one every school day), I'm getting a little burned out on them.  I've missed several days and keep forgetting to take pictures.

The owl is from Create a Critter and Liquid Pearls are on the beak and feet. 

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #53 - Wearing O' the Green Challenge

Hi Everyone!

This is for the Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge.  The Challenge: Create a pin, necklace, bracelet or something else that you can wear on St. Patrick’s Day that includes the color green. 


Rules and Guidelines: Circle Blog Challenges are open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your project must be newly created for this challenge and include at least 2 Cricut Image Cuts. You must submit a project to be entered into the Challenge Prize Drawing. One entry per person, please.

My project submission is a leprechaun pin.  I used Celebrate with Flourish for the clovers and Simply Charmed for the adorable little leprechaun.

He did turn out a little bigger than I envisioned, but the good news is that bold statement accessories are very trendy right now, so big is in!

Drinks in Mexico Layout

Good Evening!

Time for another layout from our trip to Mexico 2 years ago.  I didn't use the cricut very much on this one.  Pina colada is from Don Juan and H2O is from the H2O cartridge - my girlfriend cut this out too big for her layout and it seemed to work well for mine.  I inked the edges in blue.  Papers are DCWV Tahiti Stack. 

My First "Cricut Cake" Cake & Circle Blog Contest Entry

Well today was really a test in patience.  Not to mention lots of trial and error.  I started the day at 8:30A after having made the cake, buttercream frosting, marshmallow fondant and gum paste the night before.  I was finally done decorating the cake at 2:30P.

First off, some pictures from last night.  Mixing the marshmallow fondant, it was very sticky but a lot of fun to mix!

Here it's finally getting to the right consistency.

Our cake frosted first with a 1/4" layer of buttercream frosting that we made the night before.

The fondant colored a light blue and rolled out to about 1/8" thick.

I used a pizza cutter to cut off the excess fondant.

Everything went perfectly up to this point.  So, we moved on to the gumpaste.  I used the Linda McClure recipe and had watched all of the videos.  I'm not sure what went wrong, but it was not good.  The color wouldn't incorporate into the paste and it was very brittle.  Not to mention that the gum tex made it smell and taste like vinegar - yuck!  I know that Linda recommends a kitchenaid mixer, but I don't have one, so maybe that added to my string of bad luck.

So, into the garbage this went!

I decided at this point, to just try using the fondant in the Cricut Cake.  Hmm, the blade did not like the fondant - too soft.  Put the fondant on the mat and into the freezer for a half hour, this worked better but still not ideal.  I definitely need to find a better recipe for gum paste IF I ever try this again.

After several hours, here's what I finally ended up with.  I'm also entering this into the Cricut Circle MB February Monthly Challenge.

In the end, I was pretty happy with how my first attempt turned out.  Not sure when I'll try this again, since it took the majority of my weekend.  If anyone has a gum paste recipe that works in the cricut cake machine and doesn't taste horrible, please let me know.





Buttercream, Fondant and Gumpaste - Oh My!

I won the Cake machine from Provocraft several months back and now I have a reason to try it out.
 My daughter and I spent a good portion of the day making a cake, buttercream frosting, marshmallow fondant and gumpaste.  Tomorrow we will frost the cake with the buttercream frosting and then cover with fondant.  We'll use the gumpaste {hopefully} in the Cricut Cake machine to cut out some decorations.  Wish us luck! 
My dad requested that I make him a birthday cake using my Cricut Cake machine for his 71st birthday.  Only one problem, I've never used the Cricut Cake before and I've never made Fondant or Gumpaste. 
 
I'll post on our cake decorating progress in a day or two.
 
I also received my Disney photopass CD - it was so worth it, the photos are magnificient.

Valentine Treats

Today my daughter and I made her valentine treats for school - Chocolate Covered Oreos - 74 of them to be exact.  The Wilton Chocolatier, mold and melts were a Christmas gift from my daughter.  I think our creation turned out fabulous for our first time trying this!

Animal Kingdom

Greetings from Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom!

Valentine Box

Guess what I was doing at 1A this morning!?!  I was using my cricut to create a valentine box (from a cereal box) for my daughter.  It's year end close at my job, so I didn't get home from work until 8P and the project was due today (Friday).  My daughter helped, but I finally made her go to bed at 10 - she's only 6, so that's really late for her.

You know, I often get asked by my friends and people I meet at crops, "How do you do all that and work 50+ hours a week?"  Well, often times I don't get it done and I have to convince myself that it's alright.  And other times I'm staying up like last night to get treats or crafts completed because it just needs to get done and that's the only time I have.  My daughter is very appreciative of everything I do, so that helps to motivate me.

So, are you ready to see the project that kept me up most of the night?

The box was a Rice Krispies box and I folded in the top flaps - inside and the whole outside of the box are covered with the printed paper.  Paper was printed from the Imagine Industrial Glow Cartridge.  The monkey, dog and sayings were cut from Sweethearts and the koala is from Create a Critter.  Font is from the Hannah Montana cartridge.

Snorkeling in Mexico

Hi!  Today I'm sharing another double page Mexico layout with you.  This is scraplifted from a layout in the "Scrapbooking with the Cricut" book that I thought fit in well with the snorkeling pictures.

Title is "Up for a Swim?"

I just adore this little diver.  The "bubbles" are Rain Dots by Cloud9 Designs.

More Mexico Pages

Happy Sunday!

Today I have a double page layout to share with from last weekend.  These have minimal Cricut cuts on them - just the title.  During weekend crops, I tend to notice that the later it gets, the less Cricut cuts I tend to use on my layouts - sometimes I think the process of deciding what to use and the colors for the cuts actually slows me down.

Paper is DCWV - Tahiti Beach Stack

More Layouts

Hi Everyone! 

Hope you all had a great Tuesday.  I have more layouts from this weekend to share with you.

Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest, but I was too tired to take them out of the page protectors.  Paper is DCWV and the cartridge used was Pack Your Bags.