Birthday Dude

The fall months are always extremely busy for me.  Lots to do and only so many weekends to cram it all in.  This weekend was jam packed with events.  Friday was Halloween Hauntings at our public museum where the kids dress in costumes and trick or treat throughout the exhibits.  Our favorite was the creepy corridor which was like a mini-haunted house.

On Saturday, we went to the Carroll University homecoming game.  Just as we got there for the parade it started to downpour.  Luckily we were prepared with umbrellas.  The weather cleared up nicely for kick-off and the sun even came out.

Finally, today (Sunday), we went to our second pumpkin farm this season.  The weather was a tad cold/windy but not too bad.  We had a great time    

Today is also my nephew's birthday and with all of the activities, I hadn't had time to make him a card.  Once we got home, I knew I had to get one put together.  I bought the Cricut Dude cartridge a while back since I knew he'd be outgrowing the cutsie cuts that are on most of the cartridges that I own.

Here's what I came up with:

It will go out in the mail tomorrow - better late than never is my motto these days!

Splish Splash

Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies!  Things have been busy, so there hasn't been much time for crafting the past month although I did manage to finally get a one-page layout done.  

The title is from Animal Kingdom.  Bath is from Baby steps and the adorable bear is from Teddy Bear Parade.

Christmas In July Blog Hop - Anything Goes

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop!  We have a great line-up of talented Cricut crafters who will be sharing their creativity with you today. And, we have a giveaway - a Christmas Village cartridge!  You can earn entries by following and commenting on each of the blogs in the hop. You get one entry for each comment!  Since this is the fourth and final posting of the series, all entries will also be eligible to win the Christmas {Noel} cart on July 31st.

If you arrived here from Brenda's blog you're in the right spot.  If not, you'll definitely want to start at the beginning with Paulette http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ so you don't miss any of the fabulous projects.  

I was hoping to have more than one project for you this week, but unfortunately life got in the way.  So, the project I'm sharing today is a 12x12 Christmas layout.

Patterned paper is DCWV The Homemade Christmas Stack and DCWV The Heirloom Christmas Stack.

I cut Merry Christmas from the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge at 2" in a dark red and a dark grey cardstock.  The red cardstock was slightly offset on top of the dark grey to give a shadow appearance.   The present is cut at 2.5" from the Christmas Solutions cartridge - gold paper was hand trimmed to fit behind the cut out.  Lastly, I cut the ornament at 2.9" from Winter Frolic.  I added some silver stickles and pop dots for dimension.  It's pretty simple right now, so I may come back at a later date and add some more Cricut cuts to the page.

Thanks for stopping by!  Your next stop is Donna

In case you get lost along the way, here's the full line-up.

1~Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

2~Sis at http://papercraftscissors.com/
3~Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/
4~Laura at http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/
5~Brenda at http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
6~ Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/     
7~Donna at http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/     
8~ Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
9~Angela at http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/
10~Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
11~Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
12~Betsy at http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/
13~Loraine at http://www.lorainespaperplayhouse.blogspot.com/

Christmas in July - Christmas Card Blog Hop

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop!  Each Saturday of the month there will be a different hop featuring holiday themed projects.  We have a great line-up of talented Cricut crafters who will be sharing their creativity with you today. And, we have a giveaway - a Christmas Cards cartridge!  You can earn entries by following and commenting on each of the blogs in the hop. You get one entry for each comment!

If you arrived here from Diane's blog you're in the right spot.  If not, you'll definitely want to start at the beginning with Paulette http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ so you don't miss any of the fabulous projects.  

Now on to my projects:

For the first Card, I decided to use blues as my main color palette.  The pattern paper is from DCWV Winter Combo Matstack.  The snowman is cut from Winter Woodland at 2.7".  Snowflakes are cut at 2" from Accent Essentials.  I used the iRock to adhere 2 blue and 1 green gem to the snowflakes to add a little sparkle.  Broken China Distressed Ink was used on the edges of the light blue square.  Finally, pop dots were used to adhere this friendly little guy.

This next card I used more traditional Christmas colors.  Pattern paper is from DCWV The Christmas Matstack.  Santa is cut at 2.5" from the Christmas Solutions cartridge and white flocking was added to his hat and beard.  He is adhered with pop dots for added dimension.  The circles were cut in graduating sizes from Plantin Schoolbook.  The smallest circle was cut from white paper and colored with Peeled Paint Distressed Ink to give it a shaded look.  Prima Flower poinsettias and 3 black iRock gems were added as finishing touches to help balance the card.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Your next stop on the hop is Linda at http://ladybuglair.blogspot.com/. But before you go, be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win this week's cartridge giveaway.

Here's the line up:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

Sis at http://papercraftscissors.com/

Diane at http://dianesdribble.blogspot.com/

Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/   << You Are Here

Linda at http://ladybuglair.blogspot.com/       << Next Stop

Donna at http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/

Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/

Fran at http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/

Colleen at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/

Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/

Christmas in July Blog Hop Starts on Saturday

Hi Everyone!

You won't want to miss the Cricut Christmas in July Blog Hop.  Each week in July there will be a different Christmas theme to help inspire your Christmas Creativity.  The hop will start off Gift Card Holders on July 6th. 

And, if the inspiration isn't enough, there will also be a prize each week and another one at the end of the month. You can earn entries into the prize drawings by following and commenting on the blogs in the hop! 

The prizes are:
Week One- Gingerbread Cart- Hop starts July 6- Winner to be drawn July 12
Week Two- Christmas Cards Cart- Hop starts July 13- Winner to be drawn July 19
Week Three- Trim the Tree Cart- Hop starts July 20- Winner to be drawn July 26
Week Four- Christmas Village Cart- Hops starts July 27- Winner to be drawn July 31

Here's a list of blogs for the first week (July 6) ~ Cricut Christmas Gift Card Holders
1~Paulette http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
2~L.B. http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/
3~FranTimme http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/
4~gonescrappin' http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/
5~scrapsbygracie http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
6~SeaSwan http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
7~BetsyBoo http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

Happy 4th of July!

Circleville NSD 2013 - The Crazy B's Challenge (button, brad, bling and a baby)

My entry for the Cricut Circle NSD Crazy B's Challenge.

The baby is from the Baby Steps cartridge.
The bling is the the pearls on her hair bows and the crystal microbeads on her bib.
Three pastel colored brads and
One translucent pink button complete the challenge.

Circleville 2013 NSD~ Go Big or Go Home! Challenge

Here's my entry for the Go Big or Go Home! Challenge.  A few years back we had some gorgeous fall colors in our neighborhood.  They were so spectacular that I just had to capture some pictures.

CIRCLEVILLE NSD " OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO" - CARD SKETCH

Here's another card!  This one was a sketch challenge.

I made this card for my 7 yo daughter - she had team dance auditions today and she made it to the next competitive team!  This is such an accomplishment since she's only been in competitive dance for a year and all  of the other girls on her current team, who have been taking competitive dance much longer, stayed at the same level.  I am so proud of her passion and all of the hard work it took her to make it to the next level.

Circleville NSD Celebration! Ease On Down The Road

Another project for the Cricut Circle NDS challenges.  I'm quickly running out of time to submit any more projects, but I've definitely been having fun getting some accomplished and stepping outside of my crafting comfort zone.

This one is an Easel Card.  I still have the sentiment to add to the bottom, but will be waiting until I decide the lucky recipient of the card.

CIRCLEVILLE NSD 2013~It's All About Perspective

I've wanted to use this cute from Nate's ABC's Cricut Cartridge for the longest time.  Today it dawned on me that this cut would be perfect for the Cricut Circle NSD - It's All About Perspective Challenge.


I cut the base layer 4 times and trimmed the boots out of it 3 times. On the boot furthest away, I just layered the cardstock boots to add some extra dimension letting it pop a slight bit away from the cattails and on the closest boot I trimmed the boots apart and used pop dots to bring it closer to the front. For the umbrella, I inked the edges and used pop dots in the middle but glued down the bottom and the edges to give it a curved appearance. I completed the cut by covering the boots with diamond glaze to give them a shiny rubber look.

CIRCLEVILLE NSD 2013~TIC TAC TOE~ THREE IN A ROW

This challenge for NSD is to simply choose 3 elements in a row to complete a project!

I chose to use the last row - use a flower, buttons and ribbons.

Another Teacher Appreciation Gift

I have another teacher appreciation gift to share with you.  My daughter and I decided to make a pencil vase similar to some I had saw online.  We went to Dollar Tree and bought a drinking glass and 3 packs of pencils for a total cost (without flowers) of $4.  I put the hot glue on the glass and my daughter affixed the pencils.  I think it turned out fabulous!

We also purchased Water Beads from Michael's in order for my daughter to more easily transport this to school and not have to worry about spilling water from the vase.  Water Beads are polymer beads that hold and then slowly release water over time.

We added colorful flowers, a ribbon from my stash and a cut handwritten tag that said "Thanks for helping me bloom."

Thank You Cards

Today I'm sharing some Thank You Cards that I needed to make.  They're pretty simple because I needed to make them rather quickly and wanted something nice but not too whimsical.

Circleville NSD 2013 -- What's It Owl About? Challenge

Here's another project created for a Cricut Circle NSD Challenge.  The challenge was to use an owl cut.

This owl is cut from Kate's ABCs at 3".  Patterned paper is from DCWV The Green Stack Mat Stack.

Circleville NSD 2013 - Did-I-MENSION? - Challenge

The Cricut Circle challenge was to use one of our Cricut carts to create a box, bag, etc.  Quite a while back, I just HAD to have the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge.  I saw all of the great projects everyone was making and had all these great ideas of creating boxes to hold cupcakes and treats for every imaginable event.

Well, as you can imagine, I purchased the cart but never used it (gasp)!  It seemed like a great idea but really, when was I ever going to have the time to bake treats AND create the box for them.  Well, I can finally say that I've now actually used the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge - not only for this challenge, but it will also double as a super cute box to hold cookies for my daughter's teacher in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Yippee!  I just love it when my projects can multi-task!

Here's what I have so far.  I'm still deciding if I want to add some more bling to it.

The patterned paper is from DCWV - Serenity Stack.  All other paper is from my stash.  You can't tell in the picture, but the rook is made from paper with a metallic sheen to it.  The cuts were inked with numerous colors of Distressed Inks.  The box is topped off with a note that says "Thanks for making me one smart cookie."  Now I just have to decide what kind of cookies to put in the box.

Thanks RockinRenee for a great challenge and a way for me to finally use my lonely Sweet Tooth Boxes cart!

CIRCLEVILLE NSD-2013 E-I-E-I-O CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone!

Over on the Cricut Circle MB an amazing group of members put together some challenges for National Scrapbooking Day over the weekend.  The weekend was too busy for me to be able to participate but luckily most of the challenges have been left open for a while.  

This challenge was to create a project using a barnyard animal.  I've wanted to use this rooster from Just Because Cards for a while so I decided to use it today to create a card.

Patterned paper is Recollections - Bold Basics paper pack.  All other paper is from my scraps.  Rooster is cut at 6".

Teacher Appreciation Projects

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  I didn't see anything come out from my daughter's school (which is very unusual), but I still wanted to do something to celebrate it.

Today I'm sharing 2 of the projects that we did.  The first uses the pint sized mason jars.  We separated the M&Ms by color and layered them into the mason jars.  Then attached a saying that we found on the internet.  There are 10 jars in total so that my daughter can also give one to each of her encore teachers (Spanish, Art, PE, Music) as well as the principal and vice principal.

We purchased 2 really big bags of M&Ms and noticed after we sorted each bag that we had a lot of the  blue, green and orange ones but significantly less of each of the red, brown and yellow ones - even though, they still turned out nice and colorful.

For the next project, we attached a printable found on the internet to her teacher's favorite soda.  A very quick and easy project.

I'll be posting more teacher appreciation projects later this week.

Kate's ABCs Cards

I've been in a bit of a funk and really haven't been feeling very crafty lately.  As I was checking out some of my favorite blogs hoping to get inspired to create, I came across a post on Jana Eubank's that I just fell in love with.  She used the Kate's ABCs cart to make 3 precious wall decor pieces.  Once I saw those, I was inspired to take her designs and make them into beautiful spring cards.  I especially love the soft colors she used, so I stuck fairly close to her design.

I think they turned out really cute and hopefully now I'll start feeling in a creative mood again.

Checking in -

Hi Everyone!  

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted any projects.  We were in Jamaica for spring break and I've just had so many other things going on.  I also haven't felt very crafty lately, although I did find some inspiration to make some cards that I'll share later.

Here's a few pics from Jamaica:

BBTB2 Challenge - Bring on the Bunnies

This week's Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge is "Bring on the Bunnies" - use a bunny from any Cricut cartridge.

For this challenge, I knew that I wanted to use my absolute favorite bunny cut - Thumper from the Disney Classic Cricut cartridge.  Throughout my life, I have had several bunnies as pets and this Cricut cut reminds me so much of them.  At one point I had 5 house bunnies; 3 were adopted from the local humane society and the Wisconsin House Rabbit Society.  Bunnies are very intelligent creatures - they can be litter box trained and they love to hop around and play with toys.

Now, on to my card.  Thumper was cut at 1.5" and popped up on the card using foam squares.  The circles were cut from Cricut Craft Room Basics.  Isn't Thumper just precious?!?!

Below are some pictures of my bunnies.

Tolstoy and Copernicus (Copper for short)

Clover - Mini Lop

Dusty - Blue Dutch pedigreed

Bugsy - Mini Rex

Harvey (short for Harvard) - Mini Lop

School Project - Ask the Expert Fair

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while.  My daughter has had some 2nd grade school projects that needed some of my time.

Today I'm going to share with you her project for tomorrow.  Her school is having an Ask the Expert Fair.  This is a voluntary event for the 2nd and 3rd graders.  The child comes up with a topic that they needed to submit in advance and then they have a few weeks to put together a presentation board on their topic.  The board will be up in the gym all day tomorrow for the kids to see and from 4:30-5:30P parents can come to see the boards and ask the kids questions on their topic.  

My daughter's topic is "Cats are Love Bugs."  She came up with this idea entirely on her own and she wanted to use pictures of our cats as part of the project.  Of course there are always school rules - no liquid, no candy, no live animals, no food, etc.  These completely ruined my idea of having candy at the booth to attract people to come and ask her questions.  So, our next idea was to give out bookmarks.  "We" made the bookmarks by hand (which really means that I ended up doing this part), including the tassels which are made with crochet thread.

We even added lights to the board and a sound recorder that has a 30 second introduction that she recorded.  It is great to see her so excited about her project.  She already has bigger and better ideas for next year!

The font is from Cindy Loo and popped up with foam squares.

Dinah (Alice in Wonderland's Cat) was cut at 11" and mounted on 3 base layers for added stability.  Dinah is freestanding and not adhered to the board.

Figaro was cut at 7.77" high (11.5" in length).  His body was cut out of dark brown suede paper from Hot off the Press ($1.99 for an 8.5X11" sheet at J's) and I used white flocking powder on the tip of his tail and around his mouth.  I also used 3 base layers here for stability and popped him up from the board with foam squares.

Edited to add how I cut the suede paper on the cricut:  I used a new blade and a very sticky mat.  I place the suede paper with the paper backing on the mat - suede side up.  I used a pressure of 4, multi-cut 2.  Since I used my gypsy for the cut, I did not do anything with the speed setting (left it at 4) as it always cuts at the same speed for me with the gypsy regardless of the machine setting. 

Below is a picture of the front and back of the bookmarks.  I was able to tie 6 tassels an hour - to which my daughter replied, "why can't you tie 10 an hour, then it will only take you 10 hours to make 100."  LOL.  I ended up getting about 30 of them done.

BBTB2 - Amethyst Color Birthday Cake

Hi Everyone!

I created the below card for this week's Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge.  The challenge is to use the February birthstone color of amethyst and create a cake or cupcake project using your Cricut. 

The cake is cut from the Elmo's Party cartridge at 3.5"
I added Smooch to the candles and Distressed Stickles to her eyelids for some extra sparkle.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a very happy valentine's day!

This year my daughter handmade her class valentine's.  She selected cute animal pictures from the internet, printed them, cut and matted them.  She then drew and colored in hearts around the pictures.  I love that she is so creative and crafty!

We decided to recycle and use last year's valentine collection box (the one that took me until 2A to complete for her).  It was still in almost perfect shape.  Of course it did take some convincing on my part and she agreed as to "not cause mom any more work."  Lol....I'm glad at 7 she is starting to understand how much time crafts can actually take to complete.

Hmmm...do you think it would be pushing my luck to get her to use it again next year too!?!?!

For my daughter's competitive dance team, I put together some treat bags for her to share with her teammates.  Yep, they had practice on Valentine's day - every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are team practices.  The bee is cut at 2.5" from the Create a Critter Cartridge.  I used the gypsy to weld hearts onto his antennae and embellished with Cotton Candy Distressed Stickles.

I have really enjoyed seeing all of the CAC2 cartridge projects, but cannot justify buying it at this time since it seems that many of the critters are the same with just tiny variations to the original CAC cuts.  So, until I breakdown and buy it, I figured I could just modify what I have to be similar.

The treat bags are Ziploc snack bags - they're what I had handy and the cost can't be beat at just a few dollars for 100.

Last Pages...

Hi Everyone!

Here are the last pages for my friends' album.  The "finished" book is 30 pages.

They were coming over to dinner last night, so I wanted to finish up the album for them.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  And, of course, I hope that they love it and really enjoy looking through the pictures for many years to come.

Now...on to the last pages...

This first one uses papers from DCWV The Guy Stack.  Circle, stars and font are from Plantin Schoolbook.

For this next one, I didn't use any cricut cuts.  The alphabet stickers are Tim Holtz Alpha parts and the numbers are Tim Holtz Alpha Cards.  Paper is DCWV Heirloom.

Patterned paper is Paper Pizazz Navy Suede.  The lighter blue paper is Bazzill Cardstock printed using the Imagine Teresa Collins Black and White cartridge.  Font is Kate's ABCs

Patterned paper is Paper Pizazz - Mixing Carlee's Papers.  The Dream and Love phrases are from Teresa Collins Sophisticated.

Paper is DCWV The Natural Stack.