Mandie's Scrappin'

Picture It Perfect Blog Hop

2012-01-28T03:00:00.002-06:00

Well, you've reached my blog in the "Picture It Perfect" blog hop! If you have just stumbled upon my blog today, you can start the hop at Gill's Blog. The challenge for this hop was to take a photo, magazine picture or postcard and create a card with it. Well, I had recently cleaned out a LOT of my clutter (AKA Magazines) and I wasn't about to cut up my Scrapbooking Magazines so I started looking around the house for something I didn't mind cutting up. Well, I stumbled upon an old AAA Guide Book to Southern California and Las Vegas. Besides making me want to take a nice vacation, there were lots of beautiful photos. The only problem was, some of them were a little small, and I couldn't decide how to choose just one... so I picked a BUNCH! Then I got the idea to create a "Quilt Block" of my photos. Well, I loved the first one I did so much that I did several! Here's the progression:

This first card I simply made the block 3.5" x 3.5" (all of the strips are .5" wide) and made my card base 4" x 4". I wanted this to have a real quilt feel to it so I used my pen to "stitch" the strips together. I think it turned out really cool! I call this my "City" card because I used some of the cool Vegas and LA buildings highlighted in the travel guide.

For this card, I did things a bit different. I took a bunch of my strips and randomly laid them on a diagonal on a 3" wide scrap of paper. Then I cut that into .75" pieces and then did my quilt pattern. Then I cut really skinny strips of black to outline my pieces. I love the effect this has!

The block for this card is one of my favorites! I mixed some really cool architectural photos with some more famous ones to get a really funky feel. Then I used some strips along the bottom and used my label maker to spell out "it's the JOURNEY" and the inside reads "not the destination". What a great reminder...

For my last card I'm only going to show you the block. You will have to watch for the actual card in an upcoming May Arts blog post! I used the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint to get the cool effect on this card.

This challenge was really freeing, and got me to try something new, which in crafting is usually a good thing! So, grab some photos, advertisements or what ever and try it yourself! I betcha' can't make just one!

You next stop in the hop is Lisa's Blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2

2011-10-16T06:11:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Day 2 of the Halloween Blog Hop! If you just happened upon my blog today you can start at Angela's Blog to hop from the beginning. If you came here from Becky's Blog you are in the right place!

There are a number of reasons that I love Halloween, the first is that it shares the same month as my birthday! I also love dressing up and now dressing up my kids too. It also happens to be in the fall which here near Chicago, IL is just GORGEOUS this time of year.

For today's project I decided to show a little Halloween Decor that I made last fall. When we were pulling all of the stuff out of the boxes this little beauty popped up and I decided she had aged quite well, and I like her even more!

I cut this frame and silhouette from the Happy Hauntings cartridge, have I mentioned how much I LOVE this cartridge? I used a vellum as my background piece to let the light shine through and really pop the silhouette!

I originally cut the witch out of plain orange card stock and it looked okay but I felt it needed something... so I grabbed my Xyron 510 sticker maker and my Martha Stewart copper glitter. I just ran the cut through my Xyron upside down so the FRONT would be covered with adhesive. Then I coated it with the glitter. LOVE this trick! Then I popped her up with some Helmar black Zap Dots for a little dimension. I also popped the bats on the side of the frame up also.

I think this turned out really cool and I love the way it looks in the window too.
Your next stop on the hop is Nicole's Blog but before you hop away, become a follower and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win my Blog Candy - a Treat Bag with some Spooky Scrapbooking Treats! Check back tomorrow for another great project!

Kimi's Baby Shower Blog Hop!

2011-10-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Kimi's Baby Shower Blog Hop! If you are here for the Happy Halloween Blog Hop, scroll down one post (or stay and check out this hop too). If you are just happening upon my page this lovely fall morning and you want to start the hop from the beginning, head over to Pam's Blog to start from the beginning!

As some of my regular readers may know, I am blessed with 2 beautiful daughters who are now 5 and 2, and my scraproom is filled with many, many pink papers. So when I heard that Kimi was having a girl I was excited to get to play with more pink paper! I decided to do a first feeding layout because those are some of my favorite photos of my own daughters. The faces that babies make when tasting real "food" for the first time usually run the gamut from displeasure to thoughtfulness to joy in mere seconds so it's a fun time to be camera ready! I made sure there was plenty of room for photos, of course!

The large pink block in the center of the layout can hold either 3 vertical 4" x 6" photos, or 6 horizontal 4" x 3" photos. Then I added another space for a horizontal 4" x 6" photo on the side.

I made this mat a pocket so that the journaling about baby's first foods can be tucked away a bit so the focus is on those great photos where it belongs! The adorable baby girl is from the Cricut Baby Steps cartridge and I used a Peachy Keen Stamp for her face. Both the spoon she is holding and the spoon in the top left of the layout are cut from silver mirror paper (which is really hard to tell in the photos).

I also used the Baby Steps Cartridge to cut the title "Fun Food" and hand wrote the word "with" with my silver glitter pen so it now reads "Fun with Food"! I had so much fun creating this layout and I hope Kimi is as thrilled with it as I am!

We all have a message for Kimi... use this letter - S - and continue through the blogs to get the full message. Leave your message on the last blog for a chance at some awesome Blog Candy!

The next stop in this hop is Martha's Blog and before you hop away, make sure you are a follower of my blog and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win a great Blog Candy prize on my blog too! I'm giving a super sweet party favor to one lucky hopper - a goody bag with the stuff to create a mini album for yourself!

Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 1

2011-10-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Day 1 of the Halloween Blog Hop! If you just happened upon my blog today you can start at Angela's Blog to hop from the beginning. If you came here from Becky's Blog you are in the right place!

There are a number of reasons that I love Halloween, the first is that it shares the same month as my birthday! I also love dressing up and now dressing up my kids too. It also happens to be in the fall which here near Chicago, IL is just GORGEOUS this time of year.

For today's project I decided to create a fun little treat box for my 5 1/2 year old daughter. Her latest obsession is Monster High and for Halloween she is going to dress as her favorite character, Draculaura.

The coffin treat box was really simple to make with my Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and some plain black cardstock. Draculaura loves pink and black and girly things so I added so hot pink glitter ribbon to the edge of the box lid with my Scor Tape. Then I added the lace ruffle to the inside of the lid with more Scor Tape. Then I cut my "D" from the Elegant Cake Cricut Cartridge from White Glitter Paper and tied a bow with the same pink ribbon. I will fill it up with some Gummy Body Parts and slip it into her Trick or Treat bag on Halloween! I'm sure she will scream.... with delight!

Your next stop on the hop is Martha's Blog but before you hop away, become a follower and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win my Blog Candy - a Treat Bag with some Spooky Scrapbooking Treats! Check back tomorrow for another great project!

What I LOVE About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2

2011-10-08T07:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the What I Love About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2! This hop is scheduled from Oct. 7 at 8:00am through Oct. 8 at 11:00pm CST.

If you just happened to drop by my blog today, you can start at the beginning with Lisa's Blog. If you just came from Vicki's Blog, then you are in the right spot!

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects, along with some great blog candy, and a great Grand Prize for this hop.

The hop is a 2 day hop so you will have plenty of time to make it through the whole hop lineup twice. Check out each blog and see what blog candy you can win at the individual stops. Please come back both days to see great projects.

For today's project I made this super cute paper pumpkin! I saw the recipe on The Kraft Journal Blog and she picked up the original instructions from Archivers! When I saw it I knew I had to make one too...

Isn't it the cutest? The rosettes are pretty easy to make. You simply cut your Bazzill cardstock (from Michaels Crafts) strips to size, score them every 1/2" with the Martha Stewart Score Board (also found at Michaels), and then accordion fold your score lines. Then you adhere them together end to end with Scor Tape (love it because you can tear it rather than cut it). Then flatten them and kind of squeeze them into a circle shape. Then you glue a 1 1/2" circle to each side using a hot glue gun. It takes a little practice but once you've made a couple it goes pretty quickly. You need 8 sheets of orange cardstock, 1 sheet of Kraft cardstock and any inks and embellishments you want to use!

So here's the measurements for any of you who are interested in making one of your own:
Top Rosette: 2 strips at 1 1/2" x 12"
2nd Rosette: 3 strips at 2 3/4" x 12"
3nd Rosette: 3 strips at 3" x 12"
4th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
5th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
6th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/2" x 12"
7th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
8th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
9th Rosette: 3 strips at 2 1/2" x 12"
Last Rosette: 2 strips at 1 3/4" x 12"

Stem: 3 strips at 1 1/2" x 12" fringed - you can make this taller or shorter depending on your preference. I used the Martha Stewart Fringing Scissors and it made this job really quick! I was originally going to add glitter to this one but decided to make another in black in a few days (when my hands have recovered from all the scoring and folding) and glitter-fy that one...

Here is the complete lineup:

Lisa's Blog
Lisa P's Blog
Kristy's Blog
April's Blog
Jamie's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sher B.'s Blog
Amy's Blog
Gina's Blog
Dena's Blog
Melinda's Blog
Shannon's Blog
Janet's Blog
Tammy's Blog
Barbara's Blog
Christina's Blog
Kari's Blog
Theresa's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Mandie's Blog - You are HERE
Suzanne's Blog
Jearise's Blog

To be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each blog and leave a comment at each stop. Also if you have a Facebook account, please go "Like" Scrapping With Lisa"s Facebook Page HERE. Besides the Grand Prize that Lisa mentioned at the beginning of the hop you can also win a fun Goodie Bag on my page to! Make sure you leave me a comment both days and I will choose one winner each day!

Your next stop is Suzanne's Blog! Go see what awesome project she has in store for you after you leave your comment here!

Have a great day and please stop back tomorrow for another great project!

What I LOVE About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 1

2011-10-07T06:00:00.007-05:00

Welcome to the What I Love About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop. This hop is scheduled from Oct. 7 at 8:00am through Oct. 8 at 11:00pm CST.

If you just happened to drop by my blog today, you can start at the beginning with Lisa's Blog. If you just came from Vicki's Blog, then you are in the right spot!

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects, along with some great blog candy, and a great Grand Prize for this hop.

The hop is a 2 day hop so you will have plenty of time to make it through the whole hop lineup twice. Check out each blog and see what blog candy you can win at the individual stops. Please come back both days to see great projects.

For the hop I have created this picture frame from some scraps I had left of Echo Park Apothecary Emporium. I created a Paper Bag Album using the 6" x 6" paper pad that you can see HERE. So I had a lot of odd shaped scraps and I decided that I would make a patchwork frame by Mod Podge-ing them to my frame. I painted the edges with black acrylic paint before I adhered all my pieces. Then I inked around the edges of the whole frame to distress it a bit. Finally I added my floral embellishment because things just don't feel "finished" to me without flowers, buttons and/or ribbon!

Here is the complete lineup:

Lisa's Blog
Lisa P's Blog
Kristy's Blog
April's Blog
Jamie's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sher B.'s Blog
Amy's Blog
Gina's Blog
Dena's Blog
Melinda's Blog
Shannon's Blog
Janet's Blog
Tammy's Blog
Barbara's Blog
Christina's Blog
Kari's Blog
Theresa's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Mandie's Blog - You are HERE
Suzanne's Blog
Jearise's Blog

To be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each blog and leave a comment at each stop. Also if you have a Facebook account, please go "Like" Scrapping With Lisa"s Facebook Page HERE. Besides the Grand Prize that Lisa mentioned at the beginning of the hop you can also win a fun Goodie Bag on my page to! Make sure you leave me a comment both days and I will choose one winner each day!

Your next stop is Suzanne's Blog! Go see what awesome project she has in store for you after you leave your comment here!

Have a great day and please stop back tomorrow for another great project!

Operation Write Home Blog Hop!

2011-10-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

I'm so honored to be a part of this AMAZING blog hop for Operation Write Home! I wanted to keep my card fairly simple so it is easy to make in larger quantities, but I also wanted to make it beautiful! So, I pulled out my Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium papers and made this simply beautiful card:

I added a tiny bit of sparkle with a couple of Spica Pens, which is embedded glitter that will not flake off. We don't want to accidentally endanger our troops! It's hard to see in the photo but in person this card shines. Thanks for checking out my card today! You can hop to the next blog in the line-up by clicking on the link below:

An Oldie but Goodie and a Winner!

2011-09-27T10:36:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of you who hopped along our Echo Park Paper Blog Hop over the weekend! I hope that we inspired you to play with your paper too. Remember, Kim has lots of beautiful Echo Park Paper for sale in the Cutters Creek online store. You can click HERE to buy some of your favorites!

This "BOO" sign is one that I created last Halloween with the Echo Park Happy Halloween line. I bought the wood letters at JoAnne Fabrics and painted them black. Then I Mod Podged the letters with some of my favorite sheets of the patterned paper. I really wish the D'Stress tool was out then, it would have been handy for sanding the edges! Then I used my Cricut and the Happy Hauntings cartridge to cut a variety of shapes, as well as the stickers from the collection kit to decorate the letters. Then I added the ribbon to hang it and promptly hung it by my front door. I'm looking forward to pulling this out of the box again this year!

You could easily create a beautiful sign for your home with any of the great Echo Park Paper Collection Kits that are available in the Cutters Creek store! I'm thinking that I want to use either the Season's Greetings or Holly Jolly Kit to create something special for Christmas...

Now, I bet you are wondering WHO my blog winner is....

I used random.org to select my winner and it decided that this one looked like a good number....

And that person is...

Congrats, Joni! I will be emailing you shortly for your information. Thanks again to all of you that hopped and welcome to my new followers!

Brew Crew Layout with Echo Park Paper

2011-09-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today I have a layout that I created using my FAVORITE Echo Park Paper Collection - Happy Days! I am in love with the vintage flavor that these papers have.

I started with a Kraft Cardstock base and used 5" x 5" squares of the Happy Days paper for my background. Then I simply mounted all of my photos (2 - 4" x 5", 1 = 4" x 6") to a couple of cardstock strips and lined them up on my paper. (Note - the only change I would have made would have been to not line this up right in the middle, I had to cut my daughters face in the photo). I used my Pink ATG to adhere every thing. Then I cut the title "Brew Crew" from the Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge and ran the letters through my Xyron 150 to add the adhesive. It's a quick and easy way to add your adhesive and there's no mess! I used the stickers in the Happy Days kit to spell out my other words and then added a few embellishments from my stash with Glue Dots. Finally I added my journaling with the Inkssentials White Pen. I'm really happy with how this layout turned out, but Echo Park's gorgeous papers make it easy to create works of art!

Cutters Creek Echo Park Blog Hop!

2011-09-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to stop #2 on the Cutters Creek Echo Park Blog Hop! You should have come here from the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog, if not you can pop over there to start at the beginning. Today I used one of my favorite Echo Park Paper collections, Apothecary Emporium. I used the 6 x 6 Paper Pad because I like the smaller scale of the patterns for my little book.

I put together a basic paper bag album and used my Pink ATG and Scor Tape to assemble it. I always make sure to use a good quality adhesive so that my creation will last a long time!

I used my Cricut and the Happy Halloween cartridge to cut a variety of spooky shapes to decorate my album.

For these pages, I added Glossy Accents to the tree on the patterned paper to really make it pop! For the Spider, I actually covered him with Glossy Accents and sprinkled Black Flocking Powder over it while it was wet. I made sure I used my Bazzill Splat Mat under it so it wouldn't stick to anything while it dried. Once it dried, I added googly eyes with a dot of Glossy Accents.

To get the bit of orange on the left side page I masked off a section and sprayed a couple of Glimmer Mist colors to get just the right orange-y color since I didn't have just the right color on hand. I also used it all over the small piece of paper on the center flap because I really wanted more orange in my book. It's a great way to alter papers and add a bit of sparkle!

I also used a lot of Black Soot Distress Ink on my book too. I distressed the edges of just about everything I added!

There are large tags throughout the book in the pockets of the pages but I decided to add one more at the end. I cut the tombstone shape from the Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and also the skeleton. I used the Inkssentials White Gel Pen and a Sakura Stardust Pure Glitter Pen to accent my tag as well.

For the back of the album I cut the phrases from the Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge from Glossy White Cardstock. I used the same Glimmer Mist combination to spray it orange so I have sparkle and shine!

I had so much fun creating this book, I can't WAIT to make another! Make sure you are following my blog and leave me a comment and you will not only qualify for the Grand Prize for the hop, you will also be entered to win my own personal blog candy... the 6 x 6 Victoria Gardens Paper Pad! When you're done, hop on over to Lori's Blog to check out her amazing project! Here's the hop line up if you get lost along the way:

Cutters Creek Blog (Chris)
Mandie's Blog - You are Here!
Lori's Blog
Deanna's Blog
Mindy's Blog
Laura's Blog
Melissa's Blog
Kim's Blog

Echo Park Cool Cat

2011-09-22T14:10:00.002-05:00

Today I have a quick and easy card that I made using one of the papers from the Echo Park Papers Happy Days Collection!

I love these beautiful papers! The vintage 50's style of these papers is one of my favorites so I grabbed my Nifty Fifty's Cricut Cartridge and cut this awesome "Cool Cat" shape. The background paper is a mirror finish paper that I have been hoarding for quite some time!

I think this is a great any occasion card and I'm planning on creating a few more to put together as a gift set for some one special!

Come back tomorrow to check out the FABULOUS Cutters Creek Blog Hop! All of the designers have made some great projects using Echo Park Papers! Rumor has it there may be prizes involved...

Michaels Classes Announcement

2011-08-25T07:00:00.005-05:00

For those of you that don't know I am a Certified Scrapbooking Instructor for Michaels Stores. We have a TON of new, exciting classes and I can't wait to teach them! Just wanted to give a little preview of a SMALL portion of the Halloween Party class.

In the Halloween Party class we will create a banner, invitation, table decor and favor boxes as well as a layout to commemorate your party!

I hold classes Thursday and Friday evenings and can always work with you if you want to arrange a class for a private group! Here is the September Class Schedule with a brief class description (just click to make it bigger):

I'm hoping to add a calender to my blog soon that will have all of my classes listed on it!

To sign up for any of these fun classes just head over to the Michaels in New Lenox to register! I hope to see you there! Oh, and CROP NIGHT is only $5!

Fun With Summer Days!

2011-08-24T00:01:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to share a few things that I have made with the awesome Echo Park Paper Summer Days line! This line is sooooo cute and has such fun colors, it really feels like summer!

I have been using the amazing Scrapbook Generation Sketchbooks a lot lately and I really like how my pages turn out! The sketch for this one isn't my typical style AND I decided on a WHITE background... how strange, even for me! But I LOVE the finished layout and am so glad I decided to go outside of my comfort zone a bit. So where can you get these AMAZING sketch books as well as all of the NEWEST papers??? So glad you asked! You can buy them from my new on-line store, Pink Whimsy! That's right just click HERE and it will take you right to the page to begin shopping. Or click any of the hyperlinks I have listed with the product info!

I made this quick card with the Once Upon A Time Cricut cartridge and my beautiful Summer Days papers. It came together really quick and I used an Action Wobble to make my cone Wiggle Jiggle! They are so much fun to play with! I thought this would be a fun Birthday or even Just Because card!

In celebration of my new business I am giving away some fun goodies from my CHA stash! Make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a fun prize! Want to double your chances of winning? Check out yesterday's blog post too! Keep checking back because I have lots to giveaway and lots to share with you too!!!

Echo Park and Ecstasy Crafts Card

2011-08-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Welcome to another edition of Tutorial Tuesday for the Cutters Creek Design Team blog! Today I decided to play with a few of my favorite products: Echo Park Paper, Ecstasy Crafts Kits and Flower Soft!

I assembled this adorable little penguin image from the Christmas Penguins and Hedgehogs Set from Ecstasy Crafts. I love the adorable characters on this sheet! It only took me a couple of minutes to layer this little penguin with the Joy! Foam Pads. Then I grabbed my Flower Soft Glue (after a short hunt all over my desk for it) and my Polar White Flower Soft and added it to the white parts of his hat to make it extra fuzzy!

For the card I used the Echo Park Paper Winter Wonderland set. Cutters Creek is currently sold out of that line BUT the new Holly Jolly kit will be in stock soon and it's another GORGEOUS kit! I just used the "Merry Christmas" words from one of the border sheets and added a little of the peppermint paper and of course inked my edges in black to make it pop and in just a few minutes I have another Christmas card finished and ready to send in just a few short months!

If you are a follower of my blog, leave me a comment and you will be entered to win a fun prize from my CHA goodie bag!

The winner of my Westcott Scissors giveaway was.... Lucky #13 - CATHY!!!! I'll be emailing you shortly... congrats!

Confessions of a Paper Ho - Part 3

2011-08-12T09:00:00.005-05:00

I still can't get over how FAST the days fly by at CHA! Did I mention that we were also in the middle of some record setting HEAT days? Yeah, glad the convention was indoors! So here's some more of the fun we had:

Here's me doing a Make and Take and the We Are Memory Keepers booth. It was a really cute Halloween treat bag! The super nice person working the booth also gave us each one of the new adorable Heart Shaped Ink Pads in SILVER!

I really loved the October Afternoon booth! The fun saloon set up was just ADORABLE and all for their new lines are YUMMY!

Outside the Provo Craft meet and greet for Bloggers I ran into Jess from Kinderstampo! She is just as sweet in real life as she seems on-line! She was one of the instructors for the McGill Punch classes and check out these SHOES...

Yeah, these shoes are covered in PAPER!!!! Yeah, I was pretty amazed too!!!

I just had to share this super-fancy bathroom on the upper floor of the convention center! The one downstairs is tiny, dark and cramped...

We were also lucky enough to score tickets to the CHA Diva's event! Free food and music with a Diva twist... the band was not super but we made up for that with a LOT of laughter! Above is the crew from the Westcott Brand booth, they were behind us in line at the photo booth. I need to get the copy of our crazy Cutters Creek photo scanned in soon!

While waiting to pick up our photos we had a bit of fun on our own... here's Kim, lighting up the room with her... smile :)

Here's Laura and her awesome candle... that's right, she STOLE the centerpiece from our table, shh! Just kidding, she WON the center piece and got to take home her very own Brittany Spears candle! I bet it has a place of honor on her mantle...

Lori and I are just a crazy duo and by this time had like 20 new inside jokes... we we created #21 when I said "Ready, Set.... Do something STUPID" which lead to 3 tries to get this pic... LOL!

Yep, this is me the Party Animal! Occasionally I do get out from behind the camera...

After the Diva Event, Lori and I headed back to our room to pack. Here is a look at our prize winning Minute To Craft it Creations! Lori won a TON of Plaid Fabric Paints and Jewelry components for her Shrine and I won a Spellbinders Presto Punch and 3 Sets of Dies for my Multi-Media Canvas! Not to shabby for a 10 minute, no preparation craft project!!!

So we packed up our goodies... and yes, these tote backs are all full of the SWAG we scored... seriously!

Of course I was sooooo busy having a BALL in Nana Campana's Bind It All class that I totally FORGOT to take pictures!!!! Let me tell you she is an AMAZING instructor and I was LUCKY to be in 2 of her classes!!!! The Bind it All one and the Echo Park Papers class! I made two GORGEOUS mini-albums which I will share another day...

After our first amazing class we headed over for a Meet and Greet with Sarah from the Pink Cricut blog and Jess from the Kinderstampo blog!

So the final day of the show is also the shortest! And it seriously flew by with all we had left to do and see. We got to do a Make and Take at Graphic 45's Booth... a CHA First for them! I made a spectacular metal flower and I LOVE it! It will be gracing a project very soon!

And Noon we had a Fiskateer Meet Up at the CHA Consumer Supershow. The Fiskateer Leads were all there and shared limited edition punches and goodies for all of us (thanks again!)

A very nice bartender took this lovely group shot for us! It's always fun to meet other like minded people :)

After helping a few friends disassemble their booth we headed out for the Split Coast Stampers event! We got to meet even MORE wonderful people and make some new friends too!

All in all, another amazing CHA experience!!! Now, since you've managed to read this far I would like to give away some GOODIES!!!! Hmm... I'm thinking some Westcott Brand Scissors... so if you want 'em just make sure you are a blog follower and leave me a comment! I will give you an extra entry if you share it on your Facebook or Twitter page too (make sure to leave the linky to that post in your second comment)! In addition, if you subscribe to my blog (there's a box on the top right side column) and leave me a comment letting me know you did you will get a THIRD entry! So that's up to THREE comments per person. *edited* I will close the contest on Tuesday night at 11:59pm! Apparently blogger was having issues this weekend so I'm leaving open an extra two day :)

Confessions of a Paper Ho - Part 2

2011-08-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

So I couldn't wait to show off the awesome T-Shirt I created using the blinkies that Echo Park had created for a Facebook contest. The contest was to use on of the blinkies as our Facebook Profile photo and then they would randomly give away paper if they spotted you posting on Facebook. Well, I took it to a whole new level buy grabbing some iron-on transfer paper and one of my hubby's white T-Shirts and creating my own shirt!

Now, I've been a fan of Echo Park since the very beginning and I started a tradition of getting my picture taken with Madison at each of the shows... All of the guys LOVED my fun shirt idea! Living up to my Paper Ho name they gave me the new Happy Days line as a thank you! Seriously, Echo Park is the BEST!!!!

Next we had to head by the ProvoCraft booth to score some free magazines and were asked to stay for one of the Classes! Jinger was our fabulous teacher and we got to play with the E2 machines. The project was SUPER cute... but it was about 20 worth of LUMBER! Seriously!!! When I get them assembled I will post them. I was REALLY grateful for my rolling suitcase at that point!

We also ran into Nikki Sivils in our Day One wanderings. And I just had to snap a photo of her for my friends Tessa and Natalie! Nikki is a sweetie!

Then I had to take a brief brake from my schmoozing to take a Copic class. It was basically an informational class but I did learn some good things! I *wish* that we could have taken home the markers with us, LOL! But I'm glad we got to play with them a bit!

After class we wandered some more and stopped by the Globecraft Memories booth! I had to visit the sample that I had created for them! Yep, I wanted to get in the whole wall so I will do a separate post to show off my project but it's the middle one on the bottom row...

Here's a look at a truly showstopping booth, the Graphic 45 Booth. I could spend hours in there looking at all of the gorgeous projects that they put together for the show!!!

Lori and I also got to take the Tube-A-Licious class from SRM Stickers. There were 200 people in our class and space was TIGHT but we created some really fun decorations! I will be sharing those in a post very soon!!!

Check back tomorrow for more fun from the CHA Show and possible a giveaway announcement!

Confessions of a Paper Ho - Part 1

2011-08-10T14:06:00.009-05:00

Hey everyone! Yes, I'm back from CHA and finally have a day to kind of get caught up!!! My seasonal job is winding down so I will soon be home a LOT more! But, I will still be super busy... I'm not only teaching scrapbook classes at the Michaels in New Lenox, IL but I am also starting on the ground floor with an awesome new Direct Sales company, Pink Whimsy. If you are interested in becoming a consultant, please send me an e-mail! I will do a longer post about Pink Whimsy soon...

So I wanted to share some of my CHA experience with all of you! So this post will be VERY photo heavy... but I used my iPhone camera, so the pics aren't huge files and I will also apologize that some are a bit fuzzy or dark but it's hard to lug a huge camera with all my goodies, LOL!

Where to start? How about the beginning! The show officially started on Tuesday July 19th but the Monday before is full of classes and workshops that you can sign up for. Many of the workshops are given by manufacturers to introduce and teach you about new products. There are also classes and workshops during the show as well but if you take those you are also taking away from time you can spend on the show floor scouting new products.

My very first CHA class was the StampingScrapping workshop. We made two beautiful cards as well as a rosette to wear on the show floor. If you were spotted wearing it, you would win a set of stamps! And we got to KEEP the amazing EXCLUSIVE stamp set!

I was lucky enough to get to take this class with Kim from Cutters Creek! We had a ball together in this great class! The above photo is Kim hard at work, while I'm goofing around snapping photos, LOL!

We decided after our morning class to actually eat a decent lunch so we walked across the street to the Hilton and had some AMAZING food! I'm not normally one who photographs food but I felt this delicious ham and cheese sandwich and French onion soup were a work of art!

After lunch I decided to wait-list for a class. My fellow design team member, Laura and I were disappointed that we didn't get into our first choice class, and decided to give the Asian Knot Tying class a try. This is my "good" knot, LOL! Had they had a dozen teachers this class probably would have gone a bit more smoothly. Let's just say it was a semi-fiasco but I did learn a little something....

After class, Lori and I (my roommate, neighbor, fellow DT member and best scrappy buddy) meandered on over to the Hyatt to meet up with a friend. On our L O N G walk through the tunnels we spotted a window over looking the show floor!

You can see many of the companies setting up their booths! It's amazing how fast they can set up and tear down the booths.

Did you know about 5 minutes after the closing announcement for CHA the Convention center starts tearing up the carpets to get ready for the next event? It is chaos, but kind of fun when you are on the sidelines!

Anyhow, after our little adventure we headed back to the Convention Center for "The Taste of Rosemont". This was a fun event that had free food samplings from many of the local restaurants as well as an open bar! The only bad thing is the event started at 4:30 and most of the food was gone by 5! Happily, Lori and I got there right on time and were able to taste many wonderful dishes... including several little chunks of cheesecake... Mmmmm..... Anyway, we had a fun evening and the next day was OPENING DAY!

We decided to hop on the 8am shuttle from our hotel to get over to the Convention Center area and avoid traffic. Well, that took all of 10 minutes to get there and the show opened at 10 so we had a bit of a wait... but it turns out that we did the smart thing... we hung out at the front and started the "line".... (BTW, did you notice my shirt... more on that in tomorrow's post...)

So we laughed, talked, played on Facebook and took lots and lots of photos of the growing mob in the lobby! We were also quickly joined by our good friend Betsy who took this lovely photo for us...

Well all watched excitedly while people from all of our favorite scrapbook companies streamed through the growing mob and into the show.

Westcott Brand even came out into the lobby handing out tote bags. Some of them even had a fabulous new pair of scissors in them! I was lucky enough to snag a pair of these pretty purple shears!

As it grew closer to 10 they set up this ribbon. Then one of the people asked, "So who's been waiting here the longest?" to which I shouted "US!" and then they invited the Lori, Betsy and I to help cut the ribbon!!!! WHAT?!?!?!

How stinking cool, we all got a hand on those giant scissors and took off for the show floor! First stop... Echo Park Paper's booth...

Adding Gems to a T-Shirt

2011-07-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

This month on the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog we are talking about one of my favorite tools to use... the I-Rock by Imaginisce! We are also making some Christmas projects to get you in the holiday crafting mood.... mine isn't exactly Christmas but you could certainly translate this idea into a fun Christmas craft!

This summer my 5 year old went to a fun Vacation Bible School and she had this really cute I Heart VBS shirt but it wasn't "girly" enough for her. So I grabbed my I-Rock and my Gem Compact and went to work!

First I did a dry fit of the stones in a pattern I liked. Then I grabbed my I-Rock and let it heat up for about 30 seconds. Then I started adhearing them. *Special Note* when you are doing a project like this make sure you have fresh batteries in your tool, it will save you a LOT of frustration! You only need to hold the tool on the stones for about 10 seconds... maybe a few extra on the big ones. You will kind of see the glue at the edges melt and you know it's done.

After I finished the front I added a few stones to the back too... the State Of Liberty's Crown, the Top of the Chrysler Building and the Taxi and got a bit of bling!

Here's a shot of the completed heart. I will say, I SHOULD have done the stones on the FABRIC of the shirt and NOT the paint. The stones on the back stayed put but the ones one the heart shed off during the day. But, my friend who also did this with me did her's around the outside of her heart and they worked perfectly!

You can wash your shirt after it is blinged, just make sure to turn it inside out and hang to dry! You can easily personalize a store bought shirt with many of the gorgeous gems available at the Cutters Creek Store!

Fun in the Sun Echo Park Card

2011-07-05T18:15:00.003-05:00

Thought I would share the fun card I made for the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog here on my blog today too!

First I stamped out the image from The Greeting Farm, Cheeky Beach, and colored her in my my Copics. I've been very slowing expanding my collection so I actually have a couple colors besides the skin tones now! I'm still learning about my Copics too... like use GOOD paper, this one got a bit runny. My coloring wasn't awful but the colors traveled in this paper. But I still thought she was cute enough to use! If you click the close up picture you can see how I added a bit of sparkle with my Stardust Gelly Roll Pen.

Next I made the sandy layer. I started with a tan cardstock for my base then used Yellow Daisy, Walnut Gold and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist to create the sandy look. Then I grabbed my Echo Park Summer Days 6 x 6 Paper Pad and grabbed the blues for the sea and sky. I tore the paper by hand for the "waves" and I really like how they came out. Once the sea, sand and sky were in place I decided that I needed a big blingy sun! So I cut a 5/8" circle from white cardstock and used the Yellow Daisy Glimmer Mist to color it. Then I grabbed my i-rock and the Hot Rocks Compact and added the yellow rhinestones to my sun.

Finally I stamped "Fun" and "Sun" with some Close to my Heart alphas from my stash and wrote "in the" in between for my sentiment. What a fun summery greeting to send!

A few of my Favorite Things...

2011-06-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! This month over on the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog we are sharing a few of our favorite things! Hope you will pop over and check out what the other designers have listed! Now on to my favorite things.... I decided to use American Crafts Glitter Cardstock, Stickles, Glimmer Mist, The Greeting Farm Stamps and my Cricut to create this card.

It is a bit hard to capture all of the Bling Factor in this card in a photo but it really sparkles! I started with a piece of black cardstock. I guess-timated where to cut the star on a larger piece so I could cut it down exactly. I used my Cricut and the Plantin SchoolBook Cartridge to cut the star out at 3 1/2". Then I cut it to fit the 5 x 6 1/2" card base that I had.

Next, I spot spritzed with my Gold Glimmer Mist. I wanted a kind of blobby look so I depressed the sprayer slowly and only about 1/2 way with each spray. The gold on the black really pops! The picture above has my plain black paper and the spritzed one for comparison.

Before I put away my Glimmer Mist I stamped the phrase "you Twinkle more than stars" from The Greeting Farm Because of You Stamp Set on a scrap piece of white cardstock with my Staz-On Black Ink and spritzed that with some Glimmer Mist too. I matted it on a piece of the spritzed black before I added it to my card.

Next I grabbed my bottle of Golden Rod Stickles. This one seems to match the Glitter Paper perfectly. I added a few stars and a few little dots here and there for even more dimension. I also decided to cut a few tiny stars out of the Glitter Paper as well. Then I used a scrap of the American Crafts Gold Glitter Cardstock along the bottom to put under my sentiment.

Finally, I adhered my 4 x 4" square of American Crafts Gold Glitter Cardstock to the base of my card, under where my cut out is. Then I used some Pop Up Dots to attach the front of my card. I love the look of this card and I can't wait to use it! All of these products are available right now in the Cutters Creek online store!

Sock Monkey Card

2011-06-24T16:17:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post for today. I can't believe I've let photographic and posting get behind! So I'm catching up! By the way, I hope you will sign up to get my posts delivered right to your inbox with the Feedburner link provided in my sidebar! I needed an awesome card for my cousin's son's birthday and I had this cute monkey card already made in my stash of cards.

But it was plain (no cupcake) and didn't really scream "Birthday". So I grabbed a really cute Hero Art's stamps set and stamped and colored my Cupcake. But it still felt plain so I free handed a #2 candle and attached it! I think it came out great!

For the rest of the card I'm going from memory but the Sock Monkey cut is from the B is for Boy Cricut Lite cartridge. I added flocking on the yellow parts of hit hat for texture. And I love adding Googly Eyes to my cuts. The background is embossed with Cuttlebug folders; D'Vine Swirl, Argyle and I can't think of the name of the circles one but will update when I figure it out (i.e. go look, LOL!). The birthday boy loved it so much he immediately pulled the monkey off the card! At least I know he liked it, LOL!

Summer Fun Blog Hop - Day 2

2011-06-04T15:53:00.003-05:00

* Sorry my post is a bit late today!!! I had some computer issues this morning and had to work till 2. Hope you enjoy! *

It's time to get ready for Summer! So I gathered up some of my favorite crafting friends to help me get ready for this great summer season!! So grab you favorite comfy chair, flip fops, and iced tea and get ready to hop with my friends. I do have a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to... be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you came here from Patricia's Blog you are on the right track! If you have started here at my blog, you can go back to the beginning HERE and hop along with us.

This hop runs from June 3rd and 4th, so you have plenty of time to make it all the way through the hop. Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!

My project for today is my California Dreamin' Layout!

Ok, so technically this page is from the winter but it sure felt like summer! I was lucky enough to get to go to CHA in LA this past Winter. But while I was there I got word of the huge blizzard predicted for the Chicago area. They actually canceled my flight a day ahead of time! Naturally, Betsy (who I got snowed out with) and I were concerned about our families and friends back home but....

It certainly didn't stop us from making the most of our extra day in LA! I was very lucky that my husband has some terrific family in LA that picked us up and showed us around the town. We spent the afternoon at Manhattan Beach! While all of our friends back home were posting pics of the snow and the "digging out" we thought we should show the view from where we were... Betsy and I were "digging in" the sand, LOL!

So, we spent the day after the blizzard frolicking in the surf and shopping and dining in some fun LA neighborhoods! I have a funny feeling it may be MUCH harder to talk my hubby into letting me go back to CHA next Winter though....

Become a follower and leave me a comment to be entered to win some sweet blog candy! One comment per person, shipping to the US only. When you're done, hop along to Mickie's Blog to check out her amazing project!

Our Line up....

1. Robin - http://thecricutscrapper.blogspot.com/

2. Rachelle - http://rachelle-rachellesplace.blogspot.com/

3. Suzanne - http://cricutcraftingrammy.blogspot.com/

5. Patricia - http://creativediva98.blogspot.com/

6. Mandie - http://mandiesscrappin.blogspot.com/

7. Mickie - http://littlescrapcorner.blogspot.com/

8. Deborah - http://scrappingmamma.net/

9. Tristan - http://tristans-time-4-craftin.blogspot.com/

10. Monica - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

11. Christine - http://crabbycakescrafts.blogspot.com/

12. Carla - http://racincrafts.blogspot.com/

13. Shawnee - http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/

Summer Fun Blog Hop - Day 1

2011-06-03T08:14:00.002-05:00

It's time to get ready for Summer! So I gathered up some of my favorite crafting friends to help me get ready for this great summer season!! So grab you favorite comfy chair, flip fops, and iced tea and get ready to hop with my friends. I do have a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to... be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you came here from Patricia's Blog you are on the right track! If you have started here at my blog, you can go back to the beginning HERE and hop along with us.

This hop runs from June 3rd and 4th, so you have plenty of time to make it all the way through the hop. Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!

My project for today is a super fun Flip Flop Mini Album!

This album was inspired by a kit my good friend Betsy bought. We were cropping at Michael's and I decided I was gonna grab a pair of flip flops and make myself one! I also grabbed a sheet of poster board and the Recollections Girly Girl paper stack.

I actually used the template from Betsy's kit to design mine but you could easily make your own by tracing the flip flop and then cutting it just inside your like, buy a 1/4 inch or so. Then just figure out how you want to connect them. I just left paper tabs in between but you could also use ribbon or what ever else you can think of!

Because the paper is busy I figured I would just use simple photo mats when I add my pictures. Summer is just beginning here so I thought I would print photos as I go through out the summer!

The little butterflies are actually Flip Flop adornments that Michael's also sells. They just tie on with a lace. Then I added foam letter stickers, tied it shut with a piece of ribbon and done! Once I had the pattern down this took me about an hour tops to assemble. I do also want to mention that I adhered the pages to the flip flop with SUPER strength ATG tape but at home I think I would have to use a liquid adhesive (since I don't own the framer's ATG). Hope you like today's project!

Become a follower and leave me a comment to be entered to win some sweet blog candy! One comment per person, shipping to the US only. When you're done, hop along to Mickie's Blog to check out her amazing project!

Our Line up....

1. Robin - http://thecricutscrapper.blogspot.com/

2. Rachelle - http://rachelle-rachellesplace.blogspot.com/

3. Suzanne - http://cricutcraftingrammy.blogspot.com/

5. Patricia - http://creativediva98.blogspot.com/

6. Mandie - http://mandiesscrappin.blogspot.com/

7. Mickie - http://littlescrapcorner.blogspot.com/

8. Deborah - http://scrappingmamma.net/

9. Tristan - http://tristans-time-4-craftin.blogspot.com/

10. Monica - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

11. Christine - http://crabbycakescrafts.blogspot.com/

12. Carla - http://racincrafts.blogspot.com/

13. Shawnee - http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/

Adding Ribbon to Cards

2011-05-26T21:16:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone! I'm so excited to share one of my favorite tricks with ribbon. We all know that ribbon can add beautiful texture to all of our fabric projects but do you think of ribbon when I say "cards"? And if you do, have you ever tried adding ribbon in place of paper on a card? I used one of my favorite sketches to create this fun card!

First I grabbed some fabulous Echo Park Papers from the For the Record 6 x 6 Pad and some Kraft Cardstock. I cut my Kraft to 5-1/2" x 8" and then folded it in half for the base of my card. Then I started digging through my ribbon stash to find something that would co-ordinate nicely. I was instantly drawn to my May Arts 3/4" Brown Velvet Corduroy Ribbon (357-347-33). It is very soft and had the texture that I was looking for.

So I cut 3 4" long pieces and trimmed my papers to fit my card front. Then I rummaged around my stamp collection and found this pretty butterfly stamp set, I used one of the large butterflies on a 2-1/4" square. Then I cut a 2-1/2" square from the red cardstock and inked all of my pieces. I assembled my card with my Pink ATG for the paper pieces and 1/2" Scor Tape to attach the ribbon. I used some foam adhesive to pop up my butterfly and mat. Then I stamped the sentiment and a couple more butterflies on the inside of my card.

A few pretty buttons gave it the finishing touch I love. I hope you will consider trying this technique of adding ribbon in place of paper some time!

Echo Park "Fly" Card

2011-05-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one element that you made just to try out a technique and end up loving it sooooo much that you then create an entire project around it? When I experiment I usually make something I like and put it in the "Someday" pile... and for most of that stuff Someday hasn't come yet. But when I was playing with my embossing folders and Glimmer Mist I created a super cute paper that I LOVED and had to create a project with it! Add my Cricut (of course), the GORGEOUS Echo Park For The Record papers and a few odds and ends and I came up with....

... this beautiful card! So here's what I did to create this. It all began with a one of the Tim Holtz Texture Fade Embossing Folders. The one I used is called Patchwork Card which isn't currently in the store but a great substitute would be the Postal Folder. First I embossed a sheet of plain white cardstock which I had cut to fit the folder (4 x 5.5 if I remember right). Then I grabbed my Yellow Daisy, Walnut Gold and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mists and started spraying. I dried everything with my Heat Tool and then used the Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink with my sponge dauber to bring out the embossing even more. Then I tore the edges off my paper down both sides and inked those too.

Then I grabbed my Echo Park For The Record 6 x 6 Paper Pad and started flipping through it. I will admit, I LOVE the smaller paper pads for card making not only because of the scaled down size but also I don't feel like I'm *wasting* a whole sheet of 12 x 12 paper that I may want to use in my scrapbook one day (yes, I'm a TOTAL paper hoarder)! Anyway, I selected a few sheets and decided that I wanted a big butterfly for the front of my card. I used the Once Upon A Princess Cricut cartridge to cut out my butterfly and inked all the edges of my cuts with the Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I actually used a makeup sponge to get into the small spaces on my cut. Then I added the patterned paper to the background of my card and decided to adhere my Glimmer Misted Patchwork Card at an angle. I trimmed it to fit and inked all the way around the card. To adhere my butterfly I used some Pop Up foam only on the body of the butterfly so the wings can flap. I inked my Baker's Twine a bit and wrapped it around my card 3 times and tied it off. Then I decided to add antenna to the butterfly with a scrap of the twine. I wish I had thought of it before I had adhered the butterfly but I just tied a knot in it and stuck it on with a Glue Dot. Then I stamped "Fly" on a scrap and matted it with another scrap after inking them both. Finally I added my green Chick'N Feed buttons with more Glue Dots. I love the way my "experiment" ended up and I can't wait to play more!

Quickie Post

2011-05-24T18:42:00.003-05:00

So I've been working like a crazy woman so I don't have a project to share today. I should have one up Thursday though :) I got pics, just need to edit and write the post. My daughter graduates from Pre-School tomorrow and I'm so excited for her! I know I will be a sobbing mess, LOL! I'm also going to get a MUCH needed haircut tonight, YAY!!!! Anyhow, enough rambling, I do have a point to my post! My Best Scrappy Friend, Lori is doing some AWESOME giveaway's on her blog all week and as much as I'd LIKE to win all of the great giveaways myself, I thought you might like to enter too... So go HERE to check out her awesome blog and the giveaway details!!!

The prizes that SHE is giving away include a green Scrap'n Tote; a pink Scrap'n Tote; a Bags, Tags, Boxes & More Cricut cartridge (used), some American Crafts ribbon assortments, and more! So go check out here great blog!!!!

Howdy Card by Mandie

2011-05-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Howdy, ya'll! Thanks for dropping by the blog today! Since my card has a sort of Western theme I thought I'd get in the spirit of things! LOL! I'd like to share this fun card that I made.

I had so much fun creating this one! I started with a 5x6.5" card blank. I cut a sheet of black card stock to 5"x6.5" to cover the front. Then I used the Echo Park's For the Record 6x6 paper pad and cut my papers down. The floral is 4.75 x 2.5" and the newsprint is 4.75 x 3.75". I stamped out the Cheeky Shooter image using my Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I didn't have a red marker that matched my papers so I decided to stamp my image on a piece of red and white polka dot paper from the paper pad and cut out the elements that I wanted red (hat, scarf and skirt). Before I glued them down I colored the rest of my image. For the skin tones I used Copics E000, E00 and E11 and the cheeks are R20. I used Bic Mark-It's to color the rest because I'm still trying to build my Copic collection. I used my Quickie Glue Roller Pen to adhere the red paper to my image. Then I trimmed my white sheet to about 3x3.25" and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Then I added the black mat to make it pop even more. I also inked all of my papers before adhering them. I decided that I wanted to add a bit more texture to my card and normally I'd grab some ribbon. Since we are talking about Cuttlebug techniques this month I decided to pull out my machine! I used the Gridlock Texture Fades embossing folder and embossed my strip of gold cardstock (I think it's 2" wide). Then I inked up a sponge dauber with more Distress Ink and swirled it over the pattern and the edges. Then I used the alphas from the For the Record Collection (not currently in the store, but I bet if you asked real nice Kim could get it) to spell out "Howdy". I still wanted just a little more... something, so I decided to add some Bling! I pulled out my i-rock and added some black gems under the letters. I am thrilled with how this card turned out!!!

Cutters Creek Shopping List:
Echo Park's For the Record 6x6 paper pad
Cheeky Shooter
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers: E000, E00,E11 and R20
Quickie Glue Roller Pen
Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Gridlock Texture Fades
sponge dauber
i-rock Gems

Playground Adventures Layout

2011-05-11T07:46:00.004-05:00

Yes, the blog has been quiet again. Sorry! I work for a lawn care company in the Spring (AND I work for a craft store chain on the weekends) so any free time I get I like to spend crafting! Happily, for Mother's Day I got to spend a few peaceful hours in my craft room so here's one of the layout's I completed!

While I was picking papers for this layout I was thinking of my friend Natalie. She has a blog called Scrappy Natty. We've gotten to be on-line friends through the Scrapbook Chicks Tuesday Night chats. She always says she shutters when she hears that we are using multiple patterned papers and as you know I'm a patterned paper LOVER! Yep, I used 4 different patterned papers, all from Echo Park Paper! The main papers are from the Playground line and the two smaller strips are from Little Boy. I love that the colors in these lines can be mixed and matched so easily!!! The title is from the sheet of stickers that comes in the Playground Collection pack. I used the letter stickers from the pack to spell out the word "adventure". Then I went to my massive stash of embellies and dug through my Chick'N Feathers and my Chick'N Feed boxes and other goodies to find the perfect flowers and buttons to accent my layout! I think it turned out great!!!

Oh and I have some winners to announce!!!! The Royal Tea Party Blog Hop winner is:

And the Scrappy Birthday Blog Hop Winner is:

Congrats to both of you!!! I'm sending you both an e-mail too! Thanks to everyone who hopped and WELCOME to my new followers!

Scrappy Birthday Blog Hop!

2011-04-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

It's April's scrappy birthday! Join us in hopping through some of my favorite blogs to celebrate April’s favorite color - GREEN!We’ve had so much fun planning this hop, and we have a wonderful line up with some oh-so-talented creators. You will see some lovely projects and have a chance to win some blog candy along the way, including a fun grand prize for this hop. This hop runs all day on April 30th, so you have plenty of time ...to check out each project!

If you have just happened upon my blog today you can start at April's Blog to see the line up!

I decided to make a really fun Frog Card! Click the picture to make it bigger.

I found this frog on the Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge. I cut him at 2 1/2" from some green cardstock and some of the brand new Echo Park Summer Days patterned paper (from the 6 x 6 pad). I hand cut the crown from a scrap of gold glitter paper. I then hand cut the shadow from white cardstock. I covered the front of the card with another sheet of Summer Days paper and then mounted my frog with foam squares.

I used the Pooh Font Cricut Cartridge to cut the words "HOPPY Birthday!" at 1" and the paper strip is a scrap that I had left over from the front. I am so happy with how this card turned out!!! I wonder if my Mom would mind if I made her a "Hoppy Mother's Day" card... LOL!

What would a birthday be without gifts? Aprils birthday gift could be yours - an overall grand prize for one random person, just for hopping with us! The grand prize is sponsored by April from Curls & Grins Creations (the first blog on the hop). In order to be eligible for the grand prize you must leave a comment on every blog in the hop and become a follower of April’s blog.

Speaking of blog candy, I will be giving away a fun little Grab Bag from my stash to one lucky follower who leaves me a comment. Make sure you leave me a way to get a hold of you if you are my lucky winner!

After you've left a comment, hop along to Jennifer's Blog!

Wedding Bliss Photo Frame

2011-04-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

I am so THRILLED to not only be a part of the Royal Tea Party Blog Hop today but also to be a guest designer for My Creative Time today! I'm hoping to add some more pictures if the weather clears up at some point so you can see just how blingy this frame really is! But here's a look at my creation:

I used the Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge to make my frame. It's the Spiderweb Frame with out the Web layer! I cut it first from chipboard, all pieces at 8". Then I cut it from my papers. I covered the back and stand with plain white. The front is some really cool paper I found on clearance that was just begging to be Glimmer Misted! It was already embossed with the gorgeous pattern so I just used my Sapphire Glimmer Mist to cover it. The GORGEOUS sentiment is from My Creative Time's My One and Only stamp set. This set is so cool because it has the blank scroll stamp and some great romantic sentiments like "Te Quiero", "The Best is Yet to Be" and "I Love You". These stamps are AWESOME quality too, you get a crisp image right out of the package! After I used some foam tape to pop up my sentiment a bit I I decided I needed MORE bling, so I used my i-rock tool to add some gems around the frame opening. I still wasn't completely happy with it so I decided to add some Imaginisce Roly Rosies. They were pink but I used some Mel's Diner Glimmer Mist to make them red. I didn't spray them until after I rolled them so I still have some pink in them, I LOVE the effect I got!

So if you are here from My Creative Time, feel free to check out the blog hop. You can catch the beginning of the hop at the Card Monkey Blog. If you are here as part of the hop, when you are done with my post you should hop over to Christel's Blog next!

BLOG CANDY ALERT!!! No matter the reason you are here, if you like what you see and you want to win some blog candy, simply become a follower and leave a comment (ONE per person) and one or two lucky winners will win a fun Grab Bag from my stash. I'm quite the hoarder so I have some FUN goodies to share. I will pay for shipping to the US or Canada. You can win if you are in another country but YOU will be responsible for all shipping costs. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you are the winner!

Easter Layout!

2011-04-25T08:18:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been a bit neglectful of the blog this week! I've been crazy busy with working at 2 "real" jobs, plus a scrapbooking job... not to mention a pre-school Easter party, Women's Club.... sigh. It's been a BUSY week! I wanted to quickly share the final layout that I created for the May Arts Design Team Audition:

I used the Jillibean Soup papers that I recently purchased over at Scrapbook Chicks! I used the Egg Drop Soup papers to create this layout. It was REALLY hard to cut it up (luckily I bought 2 of each sheet, LOL) because BOTH sides of this paper are SOOOOOO cute!!!
Then a used this awesome 1" Grosgrain Ric Rac from May Arts along the top as an accent. The flower is from my stash and most of the buttons are Chick'n Feed from Scrapbook Chicks. If you haven't seen it yet, hurry over to Scrapbook Chicks to check out the NEW Neutral Colors Chick'n Feed Gift Pack... it's on special right now... Finally I used my Cricut with the All Mixed Up Font cartridge to create my title. And we took LOTS of photos yesterday so I should have a completed layout soon!

May Arts Design Team FINALIST!!!!

2011-04-17T08:08:00.003-05:00

Oh my gosh!!! I'm soooooo thrilled! I found out on Friday that I've been chosen as a FINALIST for the May Arts Design team! You can check out the post I wrote for their blog HERE. Then I would LOVE it if you would go vote for me HERE. Every comment that is left is also entered to win a gorgeous May Arts package!

This is one of the layouts that I have up on the May Arts Blog. You can check out all of the details there! Thanks for reading!

Little Love Bug Layout

2011-04-14T09:28:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share another sweet baby layout that I created. I used A Walk in My Garden to cute these adorable little lady bugs.

The beautiful papers are all from Close To My Heart which my good friend Lori happens to sell. The striped paper is from the Mayberry line which is so pretty! The ribbon that I used is from May Arts. They call it "Chenille/Center Dot" ribbon... I call it Teddy Bear ribbon, because it is so soft it's like a well loved Teddy Bear! Finally the buttons came from my Chick'N Feed Stash. You can Chick'N Feed and all of the newest papers at a discount at the Scrapbook Chicks on-line store!

Lots Of Winners!!!!

2011-04-11T11:02:00.007-05:00

Ok, I have a LOT of winners to announce so I'm just gonna get down to it!

First, I just realize that I hadn't posted my winner from the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog Hop! The lucky winner is....

I decided to go ahead and pick one winner for each day of the "It's Easter" Blog Hop and here they are....

Day 1's winner is...

Day 2's Prize goes to....

And Finally Day 3's winner is....

Congrats to all of my winners! Make sure you contact me within 48 hours. I would like to mail out all prizes on Friday. Thanks for all of the lovely comments that were left on my blog throughout both hops!!! I love reading all of them :)

"It's Easter!" Blog Hop - Day Three

2011-04-09T07:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to the “It’s Easter” Blog Hop to help you get ready for this wonderful Easter season. Joining me in this fun celebration are some of the most talented crafters that I know. There are a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you have just stopped by to check my blog you can find the beginning of the hop HERE.

This hop runs from April 7th - 10th, and there will be new projects posted on each blog each day! Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!

Today's card was simple and I LOVE how it turned out :) I cute this adorable bunny at 3" from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. Then I used Imaginisce papers and this WONDERFUL May Arts Grosgrain Ric Rac. It started white and I colored it with my Lime Green Tattered Angels Chalkboard spray. Then I stamped "Hoppy Easter" with my Hero Arts Tiny Alphas set!

Now you might be wondering about my blog candy... I have a TON of goodies in my stash from CHA so I will be drawing one name for every 50 comments that are made during the entire run of the hop to win a mystery gift! So, if you come back and comment (only ONCE per day) each day you will have a total of 4 entries into each drawing! I will pay for shipping to the U.S. and Canada. If you are outside of this area, you can win but you must pay for shipping. Please make sure that you are following my blog as well, because the more followers I have, the more goodies I giveaway! After you leave your comment your going to hop on over to Mickie's Blog!

Here's the line up for the hop in case you get get lost along the way....

1. Shawnee's Blog
2. Rachelle's Blog
3. Lisa's Blog
4. Suzanne's Blog
5. Patricia's Blog
6. Shelly & Kitty's Blog
7. Rhonda's Blog
8. Mandie's Blog - You are HERE!
9. Mickie's Blog - Go HERE next!
10. Deborah's Blog
11. Kristy's Blog
12. Tristan's Blog
13. Ellen's Blog
14. Monica's Blog
15. Robin's Blog
16. Christine's Blog

"It's Easter!" Blog Hop - Day 2

2011-04-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to the “It’s Easter” Blog Hop to help you get ready for this wonderful Easter season. Joining me in this fun celebration are some of the most talented crafters that I know. There are a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you have just stopped by to check my blog you can find the beginning of the hop HERE.

This hop runs from April 7th - 10th, and there will be new projects posted on each blog each day! Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!

Today's card is a super simple card that could easily be mass produced! I cut my card base from light pink cardstock at 5" x 10" and folded it in half to make a 5" x 5" card. Then I cut the dark pink layer from the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge at 5" from using the Card Frame function. The little bunny is on the same key with a basket. I used my Gypsy to hide the basket in the cut and the layer. I set the size to 2 3/4", then I cut the top layer in white and the bottom in dark pink. Then I added some Polar White Flower Soft to his tail so it would be super fluffy!

Here's a closer look at my happy little bunny. You could easily use this card for invitations to an Easter celebration or just as a sweet card to mail out to friends and family! Don't forget to come back tomorrow and see my next creation!

Now you might be wondering about my blog candy... I have a TON of goodies in my stash from CHA so I will be drawing one name for every 50 comments that are made during the entire run of the hop to win a mystery gift! So, if you come back and comment (only ONCE per day) each day you will have a total of 4 entries into each drawing! I will pay for shipping to the U.S. and Canada. If you are outside of this area, you can win but you must pay for shipping. Please make sure that you are following my blog as well, because the more followers I have, the more goodies I giveaway! After you leave your comment your going to hop on over to Mickie's Blog!

Here's the line up for the hop in case you get get lost along the way....

1. Shawnee's Blog
2. Rachelle's Blog
3. Lisa's Blog
4. Suzanne's Blog
5. Patricia's Blog
6. Shelly & Kitty's Blog
7. Rhonda's Blog
8. Mandie's Blog - You are HERE!
9. Mickie's Blog - Go HERE next!
10. Deborah's Blog
11. Kristy's Blog
12. Tristan's Blog
13. Ellen's Blog
14. Monica's Blog
15. Robin's Blog
16. Christine's Blog

"It's Easter!" Blog Hop - Day 1

2011-04-07T00:01:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to the “It’s Easter” Blog Hop to help you get ready for this wonderful Easter season. Joining me in this fun celebration are some of the most talented crafters that I know. There are a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you have just stopped by to check my blog you can find the beginning of the hop HERE.

This hop runs from April 7th - 10th, and there will be new projects posted on each blog each day! Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!

For day one, I created a really fun card using my Cricut, some Imaginisce paper, and my Action Wobbles! To start, I made a short video so you can see the Action Wobbles in action!

Isn't that fun? I used a plain white A2 card base and covered it with this adorable Imaginisce Easter paper that I've been hoarding for a L O N G time! I cut my Chick and the Egg from the Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge. This is one of my absolute FAVORITE cartridges!

To make the bottom of my egg stationary I just used some foam adhesive to lift it up. I actually stacked these 3 high so there would be plenty of room for my chick to wobble around. This is one of those cards that would be best hand delivered, or mailed in a box! My 5 year old daughter has already decided that we should leave this card for the Easter Bunny!

Now you might be wondering about my blog candy... I have a TON of goodies in my stash from CHA so I will be drawing one name for every 50 comments that are made during the entire run of the hop to win a mystery gift! So, if you come back and comment (only ONCE per day) each day you will have a total of 4 entries into each drawing! I will pay for shipping to the U.S. and Canada. If you are outside of this area, you can win but you must pay for shipping. Please make sure that you are following my blog as well, because the more followers I have, the more goodies I giveaway! After you leave your comment your going to hop on over to Mickie's Blog!

Here's the line up for the hop in case you get get lost along the way....

1. Shawnee's Blog
2. Rachelle's Blog
3. Lisa's Blog
4. Suzanne's Blog
5. Patricia's Blog
6. Shelly & Kitty's Blog
7. Rhonda's Blog
8. Mandie's Blog - You are HERE!
9. Mickie's Blog - Go HERE next!
10. Deborah's Blog
11. Kristy's Blog
12. Tristan's Blog
13. Ellen's Blog
14. Monica's Blog
15. Robin's Blog
16. Christine's Blog

My New Baby Sister Layout

2011-04-01T21:17:00.003-05:00

Before I announce my super lucky Scrap'N Tote winner I'd like to share this layout that I made recently! I used the gorgeous Imaginisce Garden Party papers to create this one and I think is just beautiful!

The little flower embellishments are from the Precocious Paper Etsy store and are called the Little Emmy Sweet Spots and I think they are so cute! I just love how the co-ordinate with this paper!

Here's a closer look at the title that I created with my Gypsy. I'm starting to get more comfortable with designing on my Gypsy now. I know I just need to PLAY with it more.... I'm working on it!

I also wanted to share this card that Penny made! She wanted to create something for her dance teacher and spotted this Ballerina cut that I had already assembled. I used the Once Upon a Princess cartridge with my Peachy Keen Wide Eyed Kids stamp set to make her. Then Penny embellished the rest!

I think I've got a future paper crafter on my hands! So.... by now you *may* be wondering WHO won the Scrap'N Tote Giveaway..... NEW WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry but I never heard from my first winner so I used the trusty Random.org again.....

And that LUCKY lady is.....

PLEASE, send me an e-mail within 48 hours to claim your prize or I will have to redraw the winner!

Thanks to all of you who commented and I hope you will keep following! I have more great giveaways... lots of goodies from CHA too still to share!

Pink Cricut Guest Designer!

2011-03-30T08:07:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited to be a guest designer today over on the Pink Cricut blog! For today’s project Sarah sent me the beautiful Sympathy set to work with. I have the HARDEST time creating sympathy cards. I like to be “fun” in my creating but I think it is good to go outside of your comfort zone occasionally! Funny thing is, when I got the set in the mail I knew I had the perfect stamp to compliment it! I got the praying hands stamp at CHA as a giveaway from a new stamp company called La Blanche.

Once I had the sentiment and image stamp I just had to grab a pretty sheet of paper and make this simple, yet elegant card. In real life the plaid isn’t quite so orange. I used a parchment type paper to stamp the sentiment and hands on to and then just trimmed them with my paper cutter. I inked the edges of all of my layers. Finally I added a champagne colored satin ribbon for a little extra texture.

I also wanted to share a couple of my “fun” cards too! I used the Country Living set for all three of these cards! It’s got so many fun phrases on it!

For the Hog’s N Kisses card I used my Cricut to cut the adorable piggy from the Create a Critter cartridge. The beautiful patterned paper is from Echo Park! I punched the edges with a Fiskars punch and stamped the “XOXO” also from the Country Living set! I added a little extra bling to her bow with my i-rock tool.

To make my Thinking of Ewe card, I again used the Create a Critter Cricut aartridge to cut the adorable lamb. I embossed the white layer with my Cuttlebug D’Vine Swirls folder. My patterned paper on this card is from Imaginisce and I also used the i-rock again to add some gems. I used a Martha Stewart border punch and a piece of pink satin ribbon for some additional texture.

Finally I want to share my SMOOches card. Bet you can’t guess which Cricut cartridge I used to cut the cow…. I’ve had this paper is my stash FOREVER and I love how it looks on my card! I inked all of my edges and added some pom-pom trim for good measure!

Thanks for checking out my cards, and please stop by my blog! I’m giving away a Scrap’n Tote Cricut cartridge storage binder. They are fabulous!!! Just look for the link to that post at the very top of my blog!

Also, today is the LAST day to enter to win my Scrap'n Tote giveaway! Just go HERE to enter!!!!

Cutters Creek Spring Blog Hop!

2011-03-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Cutters Creek Spring Blog Hop! All of our designers have created some wonderful Spring projects featuring products that you can purchase at the Cutters Creek Store! The Cutters Creek Design Team Blog is the first and last stop in the hop! Each blog along the way will have a link to the next blog in the chain. Don't forget to make sure you are following each of our personal blogs and leaving comments along the way to enter to win a box full of CHA Swag and maybe a few other goodies along the way!!!!

For my project today I decided that nothing says "Spring" quite like a newborn baby! I finally got some of my almost 2 year old daughter's baby pictures developed and I had this GORGEOUS Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper in my stash so I created this layout!

I used some Star Dust, Diamond and Icicle Stickles to add a bit of glitter to the wings on my fairy. I also used one of the postcard cut-outs as a base for my title. I used my Cricut to cut the "Little Baby" phrase from my Nursery Rhymes cartridge. Then I cut one of the fairies out of the paper and added her to the center of the heart.

I really tried to keep my embellishments simple so that I didn't overpower my photos. This is one of my new favorite layouts!

I am giving away a blog candy goody bag on blog today too! Simple leave a comment and make sure you are following my blog and you could win some fun blog candy. I'm going to fill a tote bag with some fun surprises, like the new Cricut Magazine, a chipboard album, papers, pens and MORE (U.S. and Canadian residents, I will pay for shipping, all others you can win if you pay the shipping costs)! Plus you comment here will also give you another chance to win the FABULOUS prize package on the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog! After you leave me a comment, hop on over to Kim's Blog to see the gorgeous project she has created!

Flower Soft and Ecstasy Crafts Tutorial

2011-03-23T17:40:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to share a tutorial that I wrote for the Cutters Creek Blog! If you would like to see the original post and enter to WIN the Flower soft prize package just go HERE and leave a comment! Also this weekend will be the Cutters Creek Spring Blog Hop and my blog is one of the stops on the hop! Make sure you don't miss it!

For today's project I decided to show you that you can use other images besides the Flower Soft Toppers with your Flower Soft. I chose to make a card with one of the three adorable images from the Wedding Bears & Cats diecut set from Ecstasy Crafts. Here's a look at my finished card:

To begin I cut out the backing image and began punching out all of the shapes that belong with it. I love that I'm not trying to cut these shapes, you just need to punch them out (and they punch out great)! Then you add the Ecstasy Crafts Joy! Foam Squares to the back. These are really cool because they are thin and give just enough lift for really nice dimension.

Notice I only added the very first layer to my card before I added my Flower Soft. I thought it would be easier to add my Flower Soft with out the other stuff on there... and there would be less chance of me making a boo-boo :) So I grabbed my Flower Soft Adhesive and a jar of Polar White Flower Soft to add to my tree.

Next I added small dots of glue to the flowers on the trees. You want to make sure you keep the bottle upside-down the entire time you are using the glue. And you really don't need a ton, just make small dots. Then just sprinkle your Flower Soft over the top. You can either use a small spoon or just pinch it with your fingers.

Here you can see I divided my tree in thirds. On the left is the Flower Soft added to the glue, in the middle is just my glue dots and the right is waiting to be done.

Yes, Flower Soft should be "fluffed up" a bit before you use it. Notice how fluffy it gets... yep, I just stuck the lid on top and it went right back on! And no, this isn't a brand new jar! I've actually used this on several projects! You can get a LOT for mileage out of one jar!

Here's the image at an angle, you probably want to click on it to make it larger so you can see the layering. Notice I decided to add some of the Baby Pink Flower Soft to the brides headband and bouquet too.

To finish off my image I added stars to the sky with my Gelly Roll Stardust Pure Glitter Pens. I just made little dots all over. I also added a little glitter to the inside of the flowers but it didn't show up in the photos... it looks great in person tho! Then I simply stuck it to a plain white A2 card base with my Pink ATG!

Here's one more look at the finished card! Don't be afraid to try your Flower Soft on ANYTHING!

500 Follower Celebration!

2011-03-14T10:11:00.005-05:00

I'm so excited to have made it past the 500 follower mark! Even better, to celebrate I have an AWESOME giveaway.... The ContainYa Crafts company is GENEROUSLY allowing me to GIVE one lucky winner their very one Scrap'N Tote!!!! Now, if you haven't checked these out yet there is a blinkie on my sidebar... right up at the top! Give it a click and check out this awesome system... right after you read my post of course, LOL! Before I get to the nitty gritty details (requirements are NOT hard, I promise) check out these two layouts that I created yesterday!

For this first layout I used my absolute FAVORITE paper company's papers... Echo Park Paper! The top and bottom strips are both from the Springtime line. I used a sheet from the Little Girl line to create my scallops. The light pink cardstock in the background is from my stash. I love the fact that I can mix Echo Parks' lines so easily. Makes me feel like I know what I'm doing, LOL! I just found out that Echo Park is giving away paper on their blog for the next 10 days! Make sure you go HERE to follow their blog too!!! These are some of my favorite photos from Evie Lynn's first days on earth. Her big sister Penny was so enamored with being a big sister and having a New Baby in the house. I think Evie was over a year old before Penny stopped referring to her as My New Baby Sister! I actually used my Gyspy and my Cricut to make this title too. I used my Lyrical Letters font with the Connected feature to make the word Sisterly. Then I used the word art for Love from the Sweethearts cartridge. I think I'm starting to like my Gypsy a little bit!

And let me just quickly draw your attention to the flowers and heart accent that I used on my page. You can order fabulous containers full of Chick'N Stuff from Two Chicks Designs to add that little something extra to your pages! I actually got one of the Chick'N Feed 7 Color Gift Packs and was so shocked by how many buttons and goodies come in the container! It's really awesome!!! You can also find these at the Scrapbook Chicks website (same fabulous owners) when you are picking up your Echo Park Paper too!

The other layout I created with some really yummy Fancy Pants Road Show papers. How gorgeous are these? She's probably gonna kick me but these photos are of my best friend Christy's baby shower. We have been friends since 7th Grade thanks to Girl Scouts! I was sooooo happy when she and I were able to get pregnant at the same time! Our babies are only 3 months apart in age! Anyway, I added some fabulous ribbon and cut the title from my New Arrival Cricut cartridge. I also used my Hero Art's Cute Letters stamps to stamp out "Christy's". My journaling card is part of a set I picked up from Tattered Angels. I found 2 of these sets at the fabulous Lorraine's Memories Scrapbook Store in Woodstock, IL. Both sets have 3 Bingo cards, 3 Journaling Cards and 3 little title pieces and are made for Glimmer Mist. So I misted my card with Bazzil Pink and Starfish and then pained both of my dragon flies wings with some turquoise Glimmer Glam. I LOVE how it turned out... and wish I had bought more than 2 sets of these fun cards!!!

So now you are probably wondering about my GIVEAWAY, right? Well, it's simple! All you have to do is make sure you are a follower of my blog and leave me a comment! If you refer a friend to my blog, tell them to leave your name in with their comment and you could win a separate prize package! I will leave this giveaway open until March 31st and will announce the winner on April 1st!

The Scrap'N Tote Storage binder will hold 36 Cricut Cartridge AND the books and overlays too! You can even double up your Solutions, Lites and Limited Edition cartridge too!!! I have been saving my pennies because I need 3 of these awesome binders for my cartridges. If you can wait to see if you won there is also a 20% OFF sale on these until 3/20/11... just use the code IHEARTIRISH at the check out! You can use this on the Scrap'N Tote OR the NEW Scrap'N Easel!!! Just click HERE to head over to the Scrap'N Tote website!!!

Not A Baby!

2011-03-04T08:00:00.004-06:00

The Week #3 Tally Scrapper Challenge is to create a layout about something that is starting to take shape in our lives. The actual layout itself needs to be ANY shape, except a square or a rectangle. Well, I wasn't sure just how to attack this one... I was originally thinking of finding a baby photo and a recent photo of Penny so show how she's changed but I though... nah, that's TOO obvious! So I came up with this:

What's really funny about this photo is that it's actually staged! I was messing with the camera one day and said, "Give me your BEST mad face" and THIS is the result! She does mad quite well... Anyway, I used the Echo Park Little Girl paper line and some cardstock to create my "Flower". I popped up my photo and added some pretty lace to the edges of it. Then I popped up my Sugar and Spice sticker too.

I added a little extra about the letters with my black pen to make them pop! I really like the way this turned out... Then I added some adhesive rub-ons from 7 Gypsies that have been in my stash forever. I used the Silver Glitter sheet with them so they would be all sparkly. I just love how the super girly layout contrasts with my pouty-faced little girl!

It was suggested that I enter this project into the K Andrew's Simply Sunday Challenge at Getting Cricky so I am! I hope you will all check out this challenge too :)

I Wish....

2011-03-03T09:51:00.002-06:00

I created this layout for the Week #2 Tally Scrapper Survivor Challenge. This weeks challenge was to scrap about regrets. My grandma died almost 6 years ago, right before my oldest daughter was conceived (we had to use IVF). I like to think that she had a hand in helping us from her new spot in Heaven.... anyway, I haven't been able to scrap about her yet... until now.

This was a very difficult layout for me to do but I wanted to include things she liked. She loved Teddy Bears and this tear bear was made by Aunt Margaret Designs, she makes the most ADORABLE Tear Bears and other adorable creatures. She also loved birds so I used this gorgeous October Afternoon Cherry Hill line for my background. I recently got 3 packs of this line from Scrapbook Chicks, one of my favorite on-line stores! I added the lace and ribbon because they make me think of her too... One of my favorite items in my scraproom is a big jar of buttons that she had given me about 20 years ago. The buttons in that jar are so special to me so I don't usually use them. But I had to add some buttons to this layout because they make me think of her too. The journaling reads, "I am hearby granted permission to remember all of the things I loved about my Grandma and to stop regretting the time I didn't get to spend with her..." I'm looking forward to eventually doing a book about this wonderful woman who was so special to me.

Cricut CircleWeekly Challenge #22: Once Upon A Time Challenge

2011-03-01T16:09:00.003-06:00

So glad you stopped by to check out my blog today! I have the WINNER of the Hello, Cupcake Blog Hop to share with you but first... I want to show you my latest Cricut Circle Challenge entry!

This week on the Cricut Circle Blog they challenged us to use Fairy Tale characters! Gee, that's a tough task when I have to beautiful little girls in my house. The only requirement besides that was that we use at least 2 Cricut Image cuts. So.... what do you think?

I created a little play set for my girls to play with. I'm debating whether or not I'm going to cut a slit and add sticks to the dolls or if I want to just create a little stand for each doll. I started with the 6 x 6 Imaginisce Enchanted paper stack. I bought the stack with Cardmaking in mind but I thought this sheet I choose made a brilliant background! I just added some Stickles and Glossy Accents for bling and shine. I also added some Liquid Applique to the clouds. The box I created with my new Martha Stewart score board... the woman may annoy me but she makes some awesome tools! Next I created my dolls....

I used my Once Upon A Princess Cricut Cartridge to cut out all of the dolls. I also used my Peachy Keen Wide Eyed Kids stamp set for their faces. Isn't this little fairy adorable???? I thought she was sort-of Tink-ish. But I loved the pink hair! I added a few gems with my i-rock to bling her up!

I thought this dress was a bit Cinderella-ish in style so I decided to use my blue Pearl American Crafts cardstock for the main part of her dress. Sorry about the shadows... the lighting kind of stinks at this time of day.

Here's the third princess in this happy little set! I'm just so in love with these... I don't know if I want to let my kids play with them, LOL! The nice thing about using my Cricut to create these is I can always add more dolls or make a duplicate if I need to!

Here's one last look at the set! If you notice the lump to the right of my box that's my cat Ally... UNDER the comforter. Yep, she's an under the blankets kind of cat....

Now you're probably wondering about who one that FABULOUS My Pink Stamper Punny-licious set the Robyn so GENEROUSLY donated to my blog.... it was:

Lucky Commenter #22!!!!! And her name is.....

Congrats, Melissa!!!!! I will be sending you an e-mail shortly!

I just want to say "Thank You" for each and every one of the 229 WONDERFUL comments that were left on my blog!!! I really appreciate them all! Oh, and a quick bit of news... I made it to 500 followers!!! I'm sooooooo excited and have a FABULOUS prize all lined up for a huge giveaway... now, the baby has been sick the last couple of days so as soon as she is feeling better I will get up the post with all the info!

Hello, Cupcake! Blog Hop

2011-02-26T00:01:00.006-06:00

Hello and Welcome to my little stop on the "Hello, Cupcake!" Blog Hop. If you came from Liz's Blog you are on the right path! If you just happened to pop in and see what I had for today and you want to play along in the hop just start back at Janis' Blog! Many of the blogs are offering some yummy Blog Candy (including mine) so make sure you are commenting along the way!

For today's project I wanted to make a Cupcake Birthday Card. I'm not much of a baker and my cakes and cupcakes tend to come from a box... but they are still YUMMY! Here's a look at my card:

I used my Gypsy to weld two of the cupcakes from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge together. I set the height at 5" so it would be easy to make the other cuts just using my Cricut. I used a double sided pink cardstock so the inside of my card would be cute too! Then I used just my Cricut and cut the black base layer, purple wrapper, silver glitter cherry and pink glitter frosting all at 5".

Because the purple cardstock wasn't blingy at all, I decided to grab my Pop Rocks Glimmer Mist to add some shimmer. It really added just the right amount of sparkle to my card. I also added some Christmas Red Stickles to the fruit of my Cherry cut. I just love the way it turned out!

To finish off my adorable little cupcake I added some Googly Eyes! I think they add just the right amount of whimsy! I hope you enjoyed my card... Now before you hop along to Laura's Blog I wanted to offer you the chance to win some Blog Candy!!!! Just make sure you are following my blog and that you leave me a way to contact you if you are the winner! What am I giving away.....

This fabulous Punny-licious Stamp Set from My Pink Stamper!!! Thanks so much to Robyn for sponsoring my blog!!! I will leave comments open until Monday at midnight and announce the winner sometime on Tuesday! Ok, now leave your comment and check out the fantastic project on Laura's Blog!

Cricut Circle February Challenge: Banners!

2011-02-25T15:21:00.005-06:00

Banners are hot, hot, HOT in the papercrafting world so this month's Cricut Circle Challenge was to create a banner! I've been wanting to make one for a while now and this gave me the perfect excuse. Is it my little girl's 5th birthday on Sunday so I wanted to make her a gift that we could not only display at her party but also hang in her room.

I used the Country Life Cricut Cartridge to cut all of my banner shapes at 10". Then I used Nursery Rhymes to cut the letters in her name at 4" (I think). Then I used Once Upon a Princess to make Princess Penny and a sort of Ariel (hey, she needed to be pink). I used my brand new Peachy Keen Stamps "Wide Eyed Kids" for the faces, aren't they ADORABLE? I just want to make a TON of dolls now! Finally the birthday girl and I went through my mounds of stickers and embellishments to pick out stuff to represent her favorite things: Ballet, Princesses, Hello Kitty, Littlest Pet Shop and Dress Up. I'm really happy with the results and she is too! Here's close-ups of all of the letters to see what we did:

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #21: Animal Magnetism Challenge!

2011-02-24T20:53:00.003-06:00

So the challenge for this weeks Cricut Circle said, "This week in we have been paying tribute to the critters in our lives and now we want you to do the same! For this challenge your project must include something related to an animal. You can create your project for or about an animal, include an animal cut, use animal print, etc. Project must also contain at least 2 Cricut image cuts to qualify."

I created this fun card for my brother and sister-in-law doe their wedding showers. He loves penguins so I used the Jolly Holiday cartridge and cut the penguin with umbrella two times, flipping one of them. Then I cut away one umbrella so they could share :) The background I Glimmer Misted and them used a piece of packaging from a new cartridge and embossed it with my Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder. I hand cut the hills from some glitter paper and added some Snow Tex to the umbrella for snow. Then I attached the clear sheet with brads and glued everything else down!

I'm just so happy with how this card turned out!

Cricut Circle February Everyday Cricut Challenge

2011-02-22T16:34:00.004-06:00

This month's magazine challenge for the Circut Circle is to use at least three cuts from the new, exclusive Cricut Circle Cartridge, Cricut Everyday in a project to define yourself at Meet-Ups, Crops or other events. I decided that I would make a little sign that I could hang in my scraproom or take places with me.

My nickname at work is actually Cricut Girl because I'm the go-to gal for any questions regarding the machine or cartridges. I might even take it to hang on my locker there.... but it's so stinking cute, I may have to enjoy it at home for a while!

I used one of the layers from the "Cricut Imagine" logo to get just the word "Cricut". I set my dial to 1 1/2" and turned on the Real Dial Size function. Then I cut "girl" at 1" from the All Mixed Up cartridge at 1".

The Bug Head is a cut from the cartridge and the background is actually the Cricut Cake logo! I just didn't cut the last layer with the words on it. I have a feeling I will be using this cut a LOT! Then I added a little bling with my i-rock and attached the ribbon so I could hang it up. A fun and easy project!

Castle Queens Layout

2011-02-22T12:04:00.005-06:00

I just love being a part of the amazing Scrapbooking community. I have met some really wonderful people both at crops and on-line and the support and encouragement is incredible! When I heard my friend Pinky was going to be taking over the website Tally Scrapper I gave some thought to joining up. Then when she announced Tally Survivor I decided to join up and play along. Basically every week they present a challenge and you make a layout to fit those requirements. I thought that it sounded like a lot of fun and would help me to experiment with my art in a new way. I don't normally create one page layouts but I think I will do an album of my layouts for this challenge!

This is what I came up with to fill this week's requirements which are:
Must have WHITE SPACE or NEGATIVE SPACE
Must have at least one Photo with MORE than one person in it.
Must have Tan/Brown AND Blue!
Must have at least 2 staples and a piece of recycled scrapbook packaging.

I used a sheet of Glossy Cardstock for my background. Then I took some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Tide Pool and kind of just dripped it all over my paper. It's funny, I was going to just brush it in "waves" randomly on my paper and then before I could even start it went, "drip, drip, drop" and I said "COOL!" and kept dripping it all over my page. Then I grabbed my Puerto Rico and Sapphire Glimmer Mists and spritzed them on my background. I sped up the dry time a bit by using my heat gun carefully. I didn't want to blow the drops around... just dry them quicker. Once it was dry I grabbed the packaging from my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and trimmed it a bit. I was going to mat my photo on it but decided that the flourish looked like waves so I just offset it a bit. I decided to use my brand new D'Stress Tool by Imaginisce to distress my photo and the packaging piece. Then I used my Tiny Attacher to add the staples to my photo and fill that requirement. I love the way that it just added a little something to it! After adhering the photo and packaging to my layout with my Pink ATG gun I cut my title. I used some Kraft Cardstock and cut it using the "Skinny" font feature on the Ashlyn's Alphabet Cricut Cartridge. Next I added my ribbon to to bottom with some Scor Tape. The ribbon and the flower both came from my Precocious Paper March Sampler Kit. After adding a tiny bit of journaling (hey, I've gotta remember where we were) I used my I-Rock tool to add some bling to the flourish.

I'm so proud of this layout! I didn't start with a sketch like I normally would. I just sat down with my stuff and started playing.... I can't wait to see what our next challenge entails!!! Don't forget to come check out Tally Scrapper sometime soon!

A Wedding and A Winner

2011-02-21T18:25:00.007-06:00

I am so happy to share that my brother's wedding was BEAUTIFUL! My oldest daughter was a flawless flower girl who distributed her petals like a pro! Yes, I colored out the faces of the ring bearers, out of respect for their privacy.

My youngest also behaved beautifully. No flowers actually made it out of her basket but when the ceremony was over she picked up every single petal and added it to her basket. It was adorable!!!

I'm looking forward to scrapping the photos from the wedding. I'm making them a scrapbook for their gift and I'm so excited to be doing it!!! I sure hope they LOVE it! I will share the pages as I complete them.

Here's a look at the handsome groom with his beautiful bride:

I took this during the ceremony and uploaded it to Facebook before they even finished the vows, LOL! Isn't technology amazing? I'll post some better pics eventually....

Anyway, I'm sure you're here for another reason... like maybe to find out the lucky winner of the Cricut Magazine Premier Issue....

Well, as usual I enlisted the help of the Random.org Random Number Generator and it came up with....

And that means that our winner is:

Congrats, Mary!!!! I will be e-mailing you for your shipping info shortly! Watch your inbox!

Thanks to all of you who commented! I will be posting more blog candy soon. I have SO much fun stuff to giveaway... and when I hit 500 Followers it will be a HUGE prize... I promise you that! I already have the prize secured. I will be in a really fun blog hop this weekend and will be giving away a My Pink Stamper Stamp Set so don't forget to check back here often!

Please Help Baby Aiden

2011-02-21T18:04:00.003-06:00

Tanya from Scrappin KY Momma needs help from all of us crafters. She knows this little boy and his family and would like to send him cards. Here's his story...

Aidan is a sweet lil 2 year old who was recently diagnosed with T Cell Leukemia. On Wednesday, he had a port installed in his chest, spinal tap, bone marrow, and chemo in his spine. He did GREAT! This lil guy is such a trooper. His parents have accepted that their BABY has Leukemia.. NOT the easiest thing to accept, but their faith in God and their support system have kept them going. T-Cell Leukemia has a high cure rate although chemo will be continued for quite a while. Lil Aidan LOVES mail, like any 2 year old does. So....

Let's get our crafting supplies out and send this lil guy some LOVE!!! Pass this on to all your crafty friends. I think we can all take a couple minutes and make something special for him that will bring LOTS of smiles and he can look at over and over. We all know how laughing and smiling can be good for the soul. Let's give him this much for him to enjoy while he's battling this horrible disease. I have no doubt in my mind that God can perform a miracle in this beautiful child. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

You can mail your cards to:
AIDAN
c/o Tanya Stilwell
P.O. Box 143
Cecilia, KY 42724

Thanks to Sarah at Pink Cricut and Zeni and Scrappy Zeni for posting this!!!

I will be back in a bit to post the winner of my blog candy....

Precious Baby Boy

2011-02-18T15:00:00.004-06:00

This month for my Precocious Paper Design Team assignment Tessa sent me the fabulous March Sampler called "A Walk in the Woods. This set is a gorgeous combination of teal, green and brown and is so beautiful! Besides the gorgeous handmade flowers she also send co-ordination ribbon, leaves and pins in the kit. Well, I sat down with the set of flowers and rummaged through my stash of papers and created.....

A baby boy page? Yep, I have two little girls but my bestie has an adorable baby boy, Tylen, so I grabbed a stack of photos from when he was just one day old and started getting scrappy. I used one of my all time favorite paper lines, SEI's Chick A Doo. I just bought another pack of this paper last week because I love it so much! I actually used this line when Ty was born to create a mini album for his baby pics. You can see the posts about it HERE, HERE and HERE! I just love adding flowers to my layouts, even when they are about baby boy's and the Precocious Paper ones are my favorite!!! Hope you will give them a try sometime!

BLOG CANDY ALERT: So I have a TON of goodies from CHA and I'm itching to give some of them away! How about the premier issue of the Cricut Magazine?

All you need to do is become a follower and leave a comment on this post and you could win! My brother is getting married tomorrow and both of my girls are going to be flower girls so I will announce the winner on Monday! Make sure you leave me a way to contact you...

Hot Air Balloon Card

2011-02-17T17:07:00.003-06:00

It's Tutorial Tuesday on the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog! Yes, I realize it's Thursday but a mouse invasion in my scraproom put a damper on my mojo (not to mention my DESK). Thankfully, I believe the problem has been resolved! This month we are focusing on Stickles! Stickles are a great way to add a little bling to any project!

I got this really cool sheet of images on a transparency from the Prickly Pear booth at CHA and couldn't wait to play with them! So I grabbed my Stickles and started coloring with them on the back of the image. I used Christmas Red, Silver, Turquoise and Diamond to color my balloon. Just remember, there is a lot of dry time here so I recommend letting it dry overnight.

This is actually the second day. I added the Red, Turquoise and Silver first and let them dry. In the morning I colored in the rest of the balloon with the Diamond Stickles and let it sit all day. Well, last night when I went to finish my project I guess I had made my layer a little too thick and it was still wet! So I moved on and made the background for my card.

I'm including two photos of the background I created because it was really hard to get a good photo. I used my Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Glam to create the sky.

I first sprayed a light turquoise for the background. Then I added the Glam in a few random spots with a paint brush. It acts as a resist when I spray the 2nd color, a little darker turquoise over the top and gives a really cool effect! I'm thinking I'm going to create a water themed page next with this same technique... Then I had cut the clouds from white cardstock and glued them down.

When my image was finally dry I added some foam squares to the back of the transparency under the colored part of my image. I really wanted the balloon to float off the page.

And here's the finished card! I added a little red foil paper from my scrap drawer and stamped the phrase "Ain't Life Swell" from my Pink By Design Country Life stamp set. I also used my Pink ATG to assemble the rest of my card.

Now on with some business... make sure you head on over to the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog and leave a comment on my post over THERE and you might just win some Blog Candy! I appreciate any comments you leave here as well!

I Like You More than Puppies....

2011-02-15T13:23:00.000-06:00

So Kim and I are back from CHA and sort of back to normal now... it's hard to believe how being gone for a week can throw you off so much!It was so amazing to see all of the new products! I'm so happy that Kim decided to add The Greeting Farm stamps to the Cutters Creek store. They are made from high quality, deep-etched, red rubber for wonderful impression every time! They are also mounted on gray cling cushion. All you have to do is trim and use with acrylic blocks. I have two cards that I created with these images. I used some of my favorite Echo Park Paper scraps (and one piece of patterned cardstock from my stash) on both of these cards.

The first card I used the Cheeky Shooter stamp from The Greeting Farm! When we saw the Cheeky Cherry Collection we were both super excited! These stamps are great to color and they stamp beautifully! I hope you guys love these images as much as I do! I used my Flesh Toned (E000, E00, E11 and R20) Copics for her skin and my Bic Mark-It's and Tombow Markers for the rest.

Then I accented the gun, star on the boots, studs on the belt and her eyelids with my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pure Glitter Pen. After she was all beautifully colored just the way I wanted I grabbed my oval cutter... and realized that I need to get a set of the Spellbinder Ovals, LOL! So I inked up the edges of my oval with a little Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain to disguise the imperfections... The outer oval I actually just colored with the same marker I used on the cowgirl hat.

Then I used some Pop Up Glue Dots to lift my ovals off the card. The only other addition I made was a piece of brown felt ric rac adhered with some Scor Tape. Oh, and I should mention I used my Pink ATG to adhere everything else on both of my cards! I am sooooo happy that I broke down and bought one. I have loved using it!

The second card uses the Because Of You sentiment set from The Greeting Farm. When I saw the "I like you more than puppies" phrase on there I BEGGED Kim to add this set to the store! The other phrases on this set are: Today is Brighter because of You, It Doesn't Get Much Better than This, Everyone Needs a Friend Like You, You're the Rainbow After the Storm, Life Would be Boring without You, and You Twinkle More than Stars. What a great multi-purpose set!

And at only $14.99 - what a STEAL! I'm sounding like a serious commercial right now, LOL! But I'm super excited about this set. The little girl I used is from the "Roll Call" set which isn't currently in the store BUT I'm sure if you ask nice, Kim could look into getting it. The set comes with 8 of the characters plus a set of phrases and retails for $48.00. I used my Flesh Toned (E00, E11 and R20) Copics for her skin and my Bic Mark-It's for the rest.

I added the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pure Glitter Pen to her shoes, shirt and bows and a little for eyeshadow. Then I added one of the Color Me Crazy flowers with a corduroy yellow brad for the center.

I hope you enjoyed both cards I have to share today!!!

Cutters Creek Shopping List
Cheeky Shooter stamp from The Greeting Farm
Because Of You sentiment set from The Greeting Farm
Echo Park Paper
Copic Markers: E000, E00, E11 and R20
Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pure Glitter Pen
Spellbinder Ovals
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain
Scor Tape
Pink ATG
Color Me Crazy

So You Think You Can Dance???

2011-02-07T18:58:00.003-06:00

So one of the MOST amazing parts of the Provo Craft Cricut Gala was the evening's entertainment! I'm a HUGE fan of So You Think You Can Dance and I was rooting for Twitch and Joshua all during Season 4. Joshua was the winner that season and here is a video that I shot at the Gala!

Joshua really is an amazing dancer and I feel soooooo blessed to have not only got to see him dance in such an intimate setting but I also got to MEET him and the other dancers. I have to get the pics from my friend Betsy because I only had my iPhone and sadly it has no flash so the nice dark Conga Room wasn't idea for photos....

We have a Winner!!!!

2011-02-07T11:11:00.004-06:00

The stars were aligned today for one super lucky commenter....

But first I have another fun CHA photo to share!

We were lucky enough to have dinner with Kim's Notions rep, Kelly (who is so super sweet by the way) and Cricut came with. We ate a The Farm Beverly Hills and the food was yummy! I had a Blueberry Pomegranate Martini and a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger.

Ok, TWO photos! I thought this one just needed to be shared. Cricut really enjoyed my drink too :)

I'm really looking forward to hitting my craft room this afternoon. I have so many fun new things to play with including some SUPER cute The Greetings Farm stamps... WAIT till you see them!

What? Oh, you want to know WHO my winner is??? Well, I guess I can let you know... after I first tell you that I hope you will share my blog with your friends! I got confirmation that I will have an AMAZING giveaway when I hit 500 followers!!! For a hint as to what it *might* be you can check out my list of blinkies on the right side of my blog....

On to the winner!!!! Once again, I turned to Random.org to choose for me and it picked:

And the 31th comment was left by none other than....

Yes, Pinky, I shut the front door!!!! Guess Random.org is loving you today!!!! In case you haven't checked out her amazing blog it's called Much Ado About Nothing and I highly recommend you check it out! Thanks so much to each and everyone of my followers and to everyone who commented! I really appreciate you all, and don't forget to spread the word... the 500 Follower giveaway is NOT to be missed!

Pinkie Pie's CHA Adventures

2011-02-04T21:22:00.004-06:00

So I'm sitting in the airport on Friday with my friend Betsy and I feel something in my coat pocket.... I reach in and pull out Pinkie Pie! My daughter's happy meal toy from the day before got left in my coat pocket somehow. So of course I decided to take photos of Pinkie Pie having some fun at CHA! I will be doing a mini album about her adventures but I thought I'd share a few of the fun photos.

Pinkie Pie and the CHA show logo. We accidentally got up a little too early on Saturday but had a great photo op for this pic!

Pinkie Pie made all kinds of friends at the show, including her new BFF, Cricut. Cricut told Pinkie Pie the secret of whether Cricut is a boy or a girl but Pinkie Pie isn't sharing with me :(

In case you were wondering Pinkie Pie and I also managed to score an invite to the Super Secret Cricut Gala and these FABULOUS people were part of the evening's entertainment. I'm a HUGE fan of So You Think You Can Dance and this is Joshua (in blue - Season 4's winner), Twitch (center) and Comfort. It was incredible to see them dance LIVE and to meet them all!!! I got sweaty hugs from all of them and I was in heaven!!! Gotta give a shout out to my fabulous friends Sarah over at the Pink Cricut blog and Emma at the My Creative Time blog for their assistance! If you haven't checked out their blogs, you must, they are fabulous! And both of these super talented ladies have amazing stamps sets that are awesome!

This photo was taken during the Tattered Angles 201 workshop that we attended. It was an AMAZING class taught buy Wendy Senger, the CREATOR of Glimmer Mist! I actually attended both the 101 and 201 classed but Pinkie Pie slept through 101... I guess the Gala was too much excitement for that little pony.

Everyone who gets to go to an event like this where Tim Holtz happens to be has to get a "Tim Picture". So of course Pinkie Pie needed her Tim Picture too! Tim thought the idea was hilarious and very graciously agreed to do a comical photo with Pinkie Pie and me! Glad such a talented man has a great sense of humor too!

The Fiskateers had a great booth at CHA and they decorated it different every day. Here is lead Fiskateer Angela posing with a Pinkie Pie martini! If your not a Fiskateer yet, head on over to the Fiskateer site to sign up... and let them know that Mandie and Pinkie Pie sent you!

Paper dresses were a HOT item at the show but the DCWV booth had an AMAZING set up, complete with a runway! Pinkie Pie needed to strut her stuff on the catwalk too. You can see her next to the peacock dress if you look carefully....

We found this adorable pair of Smooch covered shoes in the ClearSnap booth and of course Pinkie Pie HAD to have her photo taken with them! Aren't these shoes adorable? If they were just a little bit bigger.....

For those of you that don't know, I live in the Chicago area and of course Tuesday there was that huge Blizzard that dumped almost 2 feet of snow where I live and left drifts up to 6 feet tall ALL over the place! So we had to spend an extra day in LA.... while our friends and family were digging out of the snow, we were digging our toes into the sand! Here we are playing at Manhattan Beach....

As fun as our adventure was we had to come back to reality... here's Pinkie Pie looking out of the window at the snow covered Midwest. She really tried hard to get me to stay in LA but I really missed my hubby and the kids :) So we are home safe and sound!

I will post pics of the album as it is created :) Watch my blog for more pics of the CHA show and the Gala too!

CHA fun!

2011-02-04T10:45:00.003-06:00

I had an amazing time at CHA! I will be sharing lots of pics a bit later today! I need to spend some time with the kiddos this morning though. Thanks to Snow-mageddon I got to spend an extra day hanging out with my traveling buddy, Betsy!

Yep, we sent this photo to all of our friends who were back home in Chicago! They were posting pics of the weather outside so we thought we would share the weather where we were :) Really, it was very nice to have an extra day to hang out but we both missed our kids. I'm glad to be home and ready to get back to crafting... now where's the mailman with my boxes of swag?

Crusin' Layout

2011-01-25T12:47:00.003-06:00

Hey, everyone! Sorry I've been so quiet! I'm trying to get ready for CHA.... there's still so much to do! If you want to see HOW I created this adorable layout check out the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog for all of the details!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll have more from CHA this weekend!!!!

Hello Thursday!!!

2011-01-20T18:50:00.000-06:00

Hello again! So now that the Hello Thurday posts have officially gone up I can share the new ones here on my blog as well! I showed the ones that "leaked" earlier but the pics were not as good as I would have liked. But I wanted to make sure that I didn't leak ANYTHING that I wasn't supposed to... so I used the photos from the JoAnns.com website... but I have bigger ones from my *other* source! Just click on the photos to make them larger and thanks for checking in!

Campin' Critters

This is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE of the new releases! I MUST have this NOW! I've been waiting for a fun camping/outdoor cartridge like this for a while and the character are soooo cute!! Plus the 3D objects on this one are really fun!

Florals Embellished

This has some really cool cuts and I would love to play with it to see if it's for me. It does look really pretty though.

The next couple I posted about earlier but I have better pics now:

Kate's ABCs

Formal Occasion

Baby Steps

All Sports

A brand new Cricut Cake Cartridge:

Martha Stewart Birthday Cake Art

I think this is set up beautifully! What a fun idea!

And the NEW Imagine Cartridges:

Bubble Gum Art Cartridge

Some really fun patterns here!

Buccaneer

I am in LOVE with this one!

All Wrapped Up

I'm looking forward to seeing more info about this one...

Well, that's it for this edition of Hello Thursday! How many of these new releases are on your MUST HAVE list?

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #16: Cute As a Button Sketch Challenge!

2011-01-20T17:05:00.004-06:00

This week on the Circle Blog they said "Babies are definitely “cute as a button” with their sweet little faces and tiny features. In honor of our Baby Theme, this week we challenge you to create a SCRAPBOOK PAGE or CARD using the sketch below. Your project doesn’t need to follow the sketch exactly, but it should be apparent that you used it as inspiration. Feel free to turn it on it’s side or move elements to fit what you are doing. In addition to using the sketch, (and at least two Cricut Cuts) we also want you to incorporate STAMPING and BUTTONS (of course!)."

So since I have ALL of Evie's newborn pictures that I need to scrap.... I decided to scrap some pictures from the Pumpkin Farm, LOL! I know, I should have done baby pictures BUT I won these My Mind's Eye Blackbird papers a couple of months ago and I really wanted to use them! Since I'm a 2 page scrapper I decided to S T R E T C H the sketch a bit and I am just THRILLED with how it came out!

Yes, that IS a Pumpkin Man mooning you in the middle of the layout! You just went back to look at it bigger didn't you? Bengston's Pumpkin Farm has some of the BEST decorations! Now to scrap some of the rest of the photos from that day! I cut my title from the Hello Kitty Greetings and Birthday Bash Cricut Cartridges...

Are you wondering where I incorporated stamping in this layout? Check out my ribbon. I actually hand cut the scallop in the ribbon and then stamped the pumpkin row from the matching My Mind's Eye Stamp set (yep, won that too!) and then added little dots along the scallops with my marker. I was really happy with how this came out! If you're wondering where the cute flowers came from... some we in my stash box which is a mix of Primas and Close to My Heart flowers mostly and MOST of them (including the puffy orange heart) are Chick'n Feed from Two Chicks Designs!

Here's a close up of my "Pumpkin" flower... the stem and leaves are a Pine Tree button turned upside down! It's fun to occasionally feel clever when you come up with something like this, LOL!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my layout! I really had fun making this one and I'm inspired to finish scrapping all of these pics from this outing... now to find the TIME!

Hello Thursday: Part 1

2011-01-20T11:31:00.004-06:00

In the Provo Craft world today is Hello Thursday, the day when they show all of the new release cartridges! Even though I am in the Cricut Circle and have see ALL of the new ones, I'm going to share the ones that you can currently see on the Joanns.com website. I figure I'm not giving anything away if it is publicly available.... So with out further ado, here are the newest Cricut cartridges from Provo Craft:

Baby Steps
I think this one is so cute! What a great addition to the New Arrival cartridge. I am looking forward to adding this to my collection as I still have a TON of baby pics to print, let alone scrap!

Kate's ABCs

I am so in love with the cartridge. The sister to Nate's ABCs (from last Hello Thursday) this is also on my wishlist!

Formal Occasion

This is fun, especially if you have some school dance photos to scrap. I have some of the posed pictures from when my friends and I went... way back in the day, LOL! I have been wanting to get them in a book and now I have to perfect cuts to compliment them.

All Sports

This is a pretty fun sports cartridge. I think I may break down and get this one too because Penny decided that she want to try soccer this spring. But I'm going to wait for a pretty good sale because there are so many others that I *need* night now!

I'll be back later today with MORE once the release is official! I also have a layout to post today too!

300 Follower Celebration!!!

2011-01-19T20:18:00.006-06:00

I'm so excited that I made it to 300 followers! I would like to say "Thank You" to each and every one of you for taking the time to look and my projects. I appreciate each and every comment that is left on my blog too. So I'm sure you're wondering what I'm going to give away.... well, I'll tell you... right after I show you another one of my projects!

This is one of the layouts I submitted for the Imaginisce Design Team call back in December. I am super proud of it! I used the Twitterpated paper line from Imaginisce and my Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. The title is cut from 3 Birds on Parade (if I remember right) and I also used my i-top to make the cute little fox brad!

So... isn't Evie a cutie pie... of course these photos are almost 2 years old now... Time really flies! Anyway, I'm sure by now you REALLY want to know what is up for grabs... It's one of my favorite Cricut Cartridges:

PAISLEY!!!!

Yep! This has some of the cutest images on it! So how can you win?

1. Well, if you're NOT already a follower, become one!
2. Leave me a comment (only one per person please) on this post before 11:59pm on February 2, 2011 (I will be at CHA for 6 days so I won't be here to pick a name... but I will be blogging from CHA so keep your eyes peeled!!!

***** EDIT ******

I got snowed out of Chicago so I just got home! I am going to leave this contest open through the weekend so please leave your comment before 11:59pm Sunday February 6th! And tell your friends because if they mention that YOU sent them and they are the winner I will be sending you a gift too!!! I sent home 2 boxes stuffed to the gills with goodies from CHA... not to mention my suitcases were also full..... so I have some swag to share!

I will pay for shipping to the US only. Other countries are welcome to enter but shipping will be your responsibility if you win. If I hit 400 Followers before I return I will add a mystery goodie bag to a 2nd winner so please, share this with your friends!!!

Precocious Paper Hair Clips

2011-01-18T00:01:00.001-06:00

I wanted to do a different sort of project this month for my Precocious Paper Design Team project and I've been seeing all these really cute hair accessories lately.... so I decided that the Sweet Dots Felt and Fabric flowers would make the perfect hair clips! They would be so fun for any little or big girl to receive as a gift and they were pretty simple to make!

I simply covered a clip with some cute red ribbon. Then ran a line of hot glue and stuck my Sweet Dots Flower into it! But I also wanted a fun way to present them as a gift...

I created this card with my Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut Cartridge and instead of cutting out the flower that goes on her head I just skipped that step and clipped on the flower clip that I made instead! Now I have a beautiful gift to give to a special little girl :) Now you should hurry over to the Precocious Paper Etsy Store and grab some of these fun flowers to play with too!

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #15: Feeling Frosty!

2011-01-13T22:30:00.002-06:00

Whew, I made it... just under the wire! I wasn't going to play because I've been so busy on other projects that I almost said "Forget It!" I was down with a migraine most of today and the dog has been sick so I finally took her to the vet... waiting on test results so I'm guessing that the stress isn't helping my creative juices any. Oh well...

This weeks challenge was to use Winter-inspired elements to fuel your creative juices on your next Cricut project. The challenge is to incorporate white paint, metal, and a snowflake cut on your project this week.

I used my Cuttlebug and the Snowflake folder to emboss my background sheet. Then I swiped my white paint dauber around the edges. Next I added my 4" snowflake from the "When It's Cold Outside" cartridge and the two 1" ones are from Accent Essentials. The word "peace" is actually a metal brad and I attached it to a piece of ribbon. Then I blinged it out with my i-rock, of course! I think it took me about 20 minutes to create this and I think it's really pretty! It's amazing what a deadline can do!

Glimmer Mist Flowers

2011-01-11T17:43:00.003-06:00

So did last weeks Tutorial Tuesday post on the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog make you hurry over to the Cutters Creek Store and stock up on the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist? If you did you're going to want to try the ideas in this post! If you didn't I sure hope this post will put you in the shopping mood!

Grab some scrap White Cardstock and a scalloped circle punch or Cricut or Spellbinders die and punch a bunch of circles! The punch I used makes circles that are about 2" but you can actually go a little smaller or larger based on your preference!

I punched about 15 circles here. I figured if I'm going to make my own embellishments I might as well make a couple while I have all of my supplies out...

Next I grabbed one of my favorite script background stamps and my Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. You can really use whatever image you want but I LOVE the look of the words. You could even grab a single word stamp or use some alphabet stamps to spell a word and stamp it repeatedly. I like to stamp both sides of my punch but you don't have to... in fact you don't really need to stamp at all!

Next I grabbed three bottles of my Glimmer Mist, Walnut Gold, Coffee Shop and Tattered Leather. I really want a lot of depth in this project. As you will see a bit farther down the post you can also do this technique with a single color... Also notice I have my Bazzill Splat Mat covering my desk. This is really important because it will keep you from dying your desk as well as protecting it from the heat of your heat gun.

The first layer is the Walnut Gold. I just did about one or two sprays per flower. Two things to remember, mix your spray WELL before spraying and keep your hand moving while you are spraying.

I repeat the spraying with the Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist trying to sort of hit different areas.

Finally I used the Tattered Leather. Then layer another paper towel over the top and flip it over and repeat on the other side!

Next you're going to want to crumple your circles up into a nice wrinkly ball. You don't have to crush it... you just want some nice wrinkles. Now, grab your heat gun and dry them a little bit.

Next you are going to un-wrinkle them a bit. You want some of the creasing to stay so don't totally flatten them out. Grab that heat gun again and dry them all the rest of the way.

Here's what you will end up with. At this point these should be completely dry. On a side note, you may tear one or two while you are unfolding them (if you look closely you will see I did) and it's NO big deal. It adds to the character of your finished flower. But, if it bugs you... it's a good idea to initially punch and stamp a few extras...

Now, before I put my heat gun and my Glimmer Mist sprays away I decided that I wanted to create a card for this lovely flower to adorn so I grabbed a piece of lace from my stash and spritzed it with Coffee Shop and Vintage Pink.

Then I stacked up 5 of my scalloped circles and stuck my paper piercer through the center. Then I carefully added my brad to the center. This brad is covered in pink corduroy but it looked too "new" to go with my card so I gave it a little spray of the Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist.

Then I stuck a Pop Up Glue Dot to the back of my flower. I used the Pop Up Glue Dot because my flower has so much dimension I really wanted it to stick to the front of my card well.

After adhering the lace this is my completed card! I haven't decided what occasion this card will be for yet. I love that I could literally use this for ANYTHING! Sympathy, Birthday, Thinking of You... it really is what ever you make it!

I also have one more quick idea for you. I used the same technique as above with punching and spraying these flowers. I only used only one color, Purple Pansy, to mist these and I didn't have to stamp them because there was already a pattern on the paper.... any guesses to what this started life out as?

Here is one with out the mist.... give up? It a security envelope that one of our bills came in! Take a look at some of yours next time you are paying the bills. There are some really fun patterns that most of us just toss in the trash or shredder! This paper is a bit thinner than cardstock so you want to be a tiny bit gentler with it when you are crumpling and uncrumpling it!

Poke through your stack with a paper piercer and find a pretty brad for the center....

And you end up with THIS beautiful flower! You never knew garbage could look so amazing did you? Now, Glimmer Mist adds beautiful sparkle on its own but you can add a little more by pulling out your....

Icicle Stickles! Yep, I had to add even MORE bling to this flower! But what should I do with it.... another card.... nah, been there done that.... a layout? I should but I just don't have the TIME! I know....

A hair clip! I just hot glued some green ribbon to a plain clip. Then added a looped piece to make the "leaf" and finally hot glued my flower on top of that!

And here's my daughter modeling it. Yeah, the flash sometimes makes her eyes go funny... but doesn't she look cute?

Want to find out how YOU can win some Glimmer Mist of your own from the Cutters Creek Store? Check out my post one the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog for details!

Cricut Cartridge Font List

2011-01-10T14:10:00.003-06:00

Oh my gosh! This really nice scrapper named Narelle Darley, Girl From Oz, created this fabulous list of all the Cricut fonts with examples onto her blog, Cricut Lovers Guide to Design Studio! And she's providing the download for free! Just click HERE for the download link!
Here's a preview of the document she created:

Isn't this a GREAT list? I know I'm printing a copy for my idea binder today! Thanks, Narelle!!!!

Elmo Card

2011-01-09T11:04:00.004-06:00

So I've already been neglecting my blog this year, LOL! It's because I've been so busy creating projects and planning my trip to CHA-Winter (The Craft and Hobby Association trade show)! I'm super excited to have the opportunity to go... even if it means leaving my girls for almost a week. :(

So on a happy note, there are a pair of new babies in my family, my husband's cousin had a baby boy, Evan, and my cousin had a baby girl, Kyrsten! I will share the baby cards later but I wanted to share the Big Brother card I made for Evan's big brother. I used the Elmo's Party Cricut Cartridge to make this Pop Up Card. I am so thrilled with how easily this card came together. And the matching envelope is sooooo cute! I'm going to need a TON of red paper because I decided that I am going to make Evie's birthday invitations with this same card and envelope....

I used Fit to Page to size my envelope. I don't remember the size now but I think it was about 5 or 5 1/2" for the card and envelope. Remember to get the envelope size first so your card won't be to big for it's envelope!

The Elmo cuts in 2 pieces and you score him and then attach the top to the bottom. I was sort of surprised that this was so simple. And it's so cute! I made sure to use high quality Bazzill cardstock to put this together so that the Elmo would be sturdy. Then I just cut the blue squares to cover the front and back of my card (the card has some marks to show you where to place Elmo in the card and they do go all the way through the card). Then I cut Elmo's face and used my Gypsy to weld "Christopher" for the from of the card. I think I used the Sesame Street font for the name here. Anyway, if you have a kid that loves Elmo, or are thinking of having kids, this cartridge is super cute and easy to use!

Sparkly Cat Card

2011-01-04T13:24:00.003-06:00

Today I just have a super quick post. This is a new card I created with Glimmer Mist, American Crafts Glitter Paper, my Cricut Create a Critter cartridge and my i-rock.

Want more details? Check out the Cutters Creek Design Team blog for the new Tutorial Tuesday!

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #14: Getting In Shape!

2011-01-03T19:49:00.002-06:00

According to polls, “getting in shape” is among the Top Ten Resolutions people make each New Year’s Eve. Let’s do it! Let’s start the New Year off right by getting in shape . . . a shape other than a rectangle.

This week's Cricut Circle challenge is to create a project in a shape other than a square or rectangle. The project must also include 2 Cricut Cuts from any cartridge, a number somewhere and bling of some kind (to go along with this week’s theme of “Blinging in the New Year”! So of course I made a CROWN!

The crown is cut from the Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge. I used an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper and used "Fit To Page" on the Cricut Expression machine to get the largest size possible. If I remember right it cut at 3 3/4". Then I turned off the Fit To Page function and set my dial to the correct size and cut the back of the crown. I was able to just turn the mat around to cut the back, I didn't need to add another sheet of paper.

Now one of the elements of the challenge was to add some bling. When I hear "BLING" I immediately think of American Crafts Glitter Cardstock and Stickles! For liner of the crown I grabbed my Silver Stickles and painted them onto the sheet of gray cardstock that also cut from the Once Upon A Princess Cricut Cartridge.

Then I cut the numbers 2011 from the Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge from Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper. The BEST part about this paper is how thick it is. I didn't need to cut the numbers out of chipboard or something first. I just used Multi-Cut 3, Pressure Max and Blade Depth 6 on my Cricut Expression Machine and it cut beautifully. Then I used my i-rock tool to add the rhinestones.

Next I twisted some silver pipe cleaners around my pencil to curl them and then hot glued them to my numbers and the crown. To finish it off I added pipe cleaner trim to the bottom of my crown! Then I grabbed my two adorable daughters to model it for me! The baby liked holding it but wasn't keen about actually wearing it. The 4 year old Fancy Nancy wannabe LOVED it and has since laid claim to it. Glad I was able to get a few pics of it before it disappeared!

Cutters Creek Shopping List:
Cricut Expression Machine
Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper
Silver Stickles

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T21:25:00.005-06:00

Wow! I can't believe how fast Christmas and New Year's flew by! I have been trying to craft like crazy but actually got more cleaning of my scraproom done than anything else! It's far from clean but.... at least I can see part of my desk top!

I was lucky enough to get a few samples of the new Action Wobbles that will be released to stores soon. I haven't figured out how to download videos from my phone to my computer yet but as soon as I do I will post a video of this card in action! For now, here's a photo:

I cut this adorable lamb from the Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge. Then I used some fabulous Imaginisce papers, my i-rock, a Martha Stewart border punch and my Pink By Design Country Life stamp set to put together this card! I embossed the white layer with my D'Vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder. Instead of adding Pop Dots to my lamb like I normally would I decided to add the wobble feature. It's like a little spring and the lamp jiggles around! I will seriously try to figure out the video stuff ASAP! I can't wait until I can get a bigger pack of the Action Wobbles!!!!

2010-12-24T08:27:00.000-06:00

I'm about 2 years behind in my scrapbooking and photo printing right now, I'm sure others are in the same boat! But the magic of Christmas morning can surely be seen in the photos so I wanted to create a layout to reflect that. The patterned papers I chose are by Echo Park from the Merry Christmas line.

I used my Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges of all of my paper pieces and photo mats. Then I used my Create A Critter Cricut cartridge to cut the strands of Christmas Lights at 1". I was initially going to use my American Crafts Glitter Cardstock for the light bulbs but after the silver cut very nicely for me, I decided to use my Gypsy to remove the "shine" from the light bulbs. For some reason, even on Multi Cut 3 it didn't want to cut all the way through my paper. My Cricut doesn't seem to press as hard with the Gypsy connected but I will be experimenting more in the future with some larger cuts. So I opted for plan B! I cut the remaining bulbs from plain white card stock and after gluing them down I used my Christmas Red, Holly and Gold Stickles to color the remaining bulbs.

Next I created the "Christmas Morning" title with my Gypsy and the Nursery Rhymes Cricut Cartridge. Basically I just nudged and welded the letters together so you could easily recreate this title without a Gypsy. Then I used a little more Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink to distress the letters a bit. Next I cut the present from the Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge at 1 3/4". I used more Gold Stickles on my bow. To hide my journaling I made a little pocket from my scraps. I just rounded the corners with my Corner Chomper and scored it with my Scor Pal for the fold. I wrote my journaling and then accordion folded it to fit in my folder. Then I used a red photo turn to keep it closed. So remember to take lots of photos during the excitement tomorrow morning!

Cutters Creek Shopping List
Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Create A Critter Cricut cartridge
Nursery Rhymes Cricut Cartridge
Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge
American Crafts Glitter Cardstock
Stickles:
Christmas Red
Holly
Gold
Corner Chomper
Scor Pal

Cricut Circle December Monthly Challenge: Holiday Gifts

2010-12-21T16:58:00.005-06:00

Yep! I'm actually getting a project done BEFORE the last minute! The theme for this month’s challenge is geared towards helping us cross off one of the names on our holiday gift list! The challenge is to please create a Holiday Gift Item. The project must be newly created for this challenge and should include the following elements to qualify: use a tag made with a cartridge (there are so many great tags on so many cartridges), use the color red somewhere, use ribbon, and use the Phrase Feature from one of the cartridges. This is what I created:

It's a hair bow holder for my 4 1/2 year old daughter, Penny! What's funny is that this started as just a wall hanging. I started by cutting the ballerina at 7" with the Twinkle Toes cartridge. I really want to get some Peachy Keen stamps for the faces on these characters. I actually backed the eyes with white and added the details myself. I knew I wanted to use ribbon on the skirt and since one of the requirements I found this fun red Christmas ribbon. I love the fur! I almost pulled the wire out of it but then realized I could make pleats in the skirt by accordion folding my ribbon! This project was full of revelations!

I had already cut the skirt, shoes and bows from red card stock but once I added the ribbon skirt layer the red looked kind of dull. Well, what better way to brighten things up then by adding GLITTER? I grabbed my Christmas Red Stickles and carefully added it to the shoes and bows. I also ended up just leaving the red skirt layer off and trimming the brown base a bit so the skirt would sit right. I used some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to attach the skirt. This glue holds its shape kind of like hot glue and it was perfect for attaching the skirt. Once the Stickles and Scrap Dots were dry I wanted to add a little more bling to my little girt so I pulled out my trusty i-rock from Imaginisce! This is SERIOUSLY one of my favorite tools, it's right up there with my Cricut! I added large jewels to both bows and then added a little sparkle to her eyes with tiny crystals. For the background I cut the beveled tag from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge (TBBM) at 7 1/2" tall from some chipboard. I covered it with a pretty sheet of patterned paper from Crate Paper and then inked the edges with some Walnut Stain Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I also covered the back with plain brown card stock to finish it off.

Next I cut the banner from another piece of chipboard and covered it with more patterned paper and inked the edges. I also used a piece of scrap paper so that I could ink the shadow onto the banner. The phrase "I {heart} Dance" is also on the Twinkle Toes cartridge. The word heart actually prints to attach to the heart but I skipped that in favor of blinging out my heart with glitter! I also used some Pop Up Dots to attach the heart to the banner for even more dimension. Then I used the same Pop Up Dots to adhere the ballerina to the tag and then used some Scotch Quick Dry glue to attach the banner to the bottom. It was at that point that Penny comes over to my desk and tells me that she needs some ribbon because she has made a new hair bow holder for herself. I had a total "Eureka!" moment and told Penny she was a genius as we decided that the sign I was making would be an AWESOME hair bow holder! So here is a look at the one Penny created:

And here's another look at the one I created! I had so much fun playing with my stash to make this project and I just LOVE the way it all turned out in the end. It's funny but sometimes when we have no particular plan we can come up with the coolest stuff!

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #11: Card or Tag Sketch Challenge!

2010-12-16T16:52:00.004-06:00

Because we are all so busy this holiday season, they decided to be kind to us over on the Cricut Circle Blog and give us a pretty simple sketch challenge. The only requirement was to use two different cuts and the following sketch:

And here is the cute little card I created! I used my very favorite papers again... Echo Park Paper's Merry Christmas Line. But, if you look close you may notice that I actually used the packaging from my papers! That's right, this paper is to beautiful to waste even a tiny scrap.

I also used my Jolly Holidays Cricut Lite cartridge. This has some of the cutest images on it! I cut my snowman at 4" and the presents are cut at 2". I used some Liquid Applique on his hat. I accidentally scorched it though so I used some Snow Writer to cover it up. It also added the beautiful sparkle!

The phrase "Be Jolly" is from the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge. I'm not a huge bird fanatic or anything but this cartridge has some of the best phrases on it! And they are good page titles too, instead of just card sentiments.

To adhere my snowman I used 2 layers of Pop Up Dots and 1 layer on the presents to give this card some nice dimension. I'm so happy with how this turned out!

Hogs N Kisses Card

2010-12-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

Today I want to share a quick card that I made. I'm going to send it to my husband's cousin, Heather, who is away at Boot Camp. She can only receive snail mail and I thought this would make her smile!

I used some American Crafts cardstock and glitter paper, Echo Park patterned paper, the Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge, my new Pink By Design Country Living stamps and, of course, my i-rock to make this fun card! Now to pop it in the mail!

Cream City Ribbon Blog Hop Winner

2010-12-15T17:40:00.003-06:00

I just realized this afternoon that I never announced the winner of the Cream City Ribbon Blog Hop! The lucky commenter who was selected by Random.org was....

And after some careful counting...

Congrats, Bonnie!!! I sent you a message a few minutes ago. Make sure to send me your info ASAP! Thanks to everyone who checked out our hop!

Cutters Creek Poinsettia Card

2010-12-15T00:01:00.000-06:00

This year I've been procrastinating mailing off my Christmas cards. I have no good reason, just haven't gotten it done yet. But I am still finding so many beautiful cards to inspire me! Have you ever really looked at some of the extra features on your cartridges? Unless they are fonts, I generally ignore them. But something on the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge caught my eye... the Card Feature! I used it to make this stunning card:

I've had this cartridge for over a year and have made a few cuts with it here and there but never really thought about using the card bases. I really didn't know where to begin. I thought it would be nice if the layers were made to fit the card bases but I didn't see how to make them fit.... or could it be as simple as cutting the card and measuring the design? Couldn't be that easy, right? Well, it is! I cut my card base from the poinsettia cut on the Winter Woodland cartridge at 5". Then I used my Scor Pal to score my card.

Then I grabbed my Tim Holtz Design Ruler to measure the height of the poinsettia in the center of the card. It was about 3 3/4" tall so I cut the poinsettia at 3 3/4" with Real Dial Size off. Well, I looked at the cut that was way too small and turned Real Dial Size ON and tried again. Perfect fit! The cut normally has a set of leaves with it that aren't on the card front so that is what happened. Anyway, I didn't toss that 1st cut, I decided to layer it on top of the other one after I distressed them both with the Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I also cut the center of the flower at 5" (Real Dial Size OFF). Before gluing anything down though I pulled out a roll of packing tape and some clear micro beads that I've had unopened forever.... you could also use glitter for the same effect. Now, laid my card face down on my Bazzill Splat Mat (make sure you have a non-stick mat and NOT paper under your card) and carefully tore a strip of packing tape (don't get your fingerprints on it) and stuck it to the back of my design. You will need 2 strips to cover the whole opening, one strip for each side. Then pull your card up and add your beads or glitter to the sticky part. I love the stained glass effect my transparent beads created here.

Once it's totally covered I used my Zip Dry Glue to adhere my large poinsettia flat to the card base. Then I used some Pop Up Dots to attach the smaller flower after bending the petals a bit for more dimension. Then I used the Pop Up Dots cut in half to pop up the flower center. Finally to finish off my card I used my Crop-A-Dial to punch a hole about an 1" from the top and bottom along the score line and tied a ribbon through the holes. The directions seem like a lot but it took me about 15 minutes to whip up this card and I think it is so pretty!

Shopping List:
Winter Woodland Cricut Cartridge
Scor Pal
Tim Holtz Design Ruler
Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Bazzill Splat Mat
Zip Dry Glue
Pop Up Dots
Crop-A-Dial

Red & Green Blog Hop Winner!

2010-12-13T10:06:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to say Thank You too all of the wonderful people who stopped by my blog this weekend! I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments! I also want to thank Kim at Cutters Creek for sponsoring all of our blogs with great prizes. This is just the beginning for tons of fun coming up at the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog! Make sure you keep checking there for new projects and inspiration. In January we are going to start some new challenges and other fun stuff so I hope you will play along with us!

Now with out further ado.... the winner of my Blog Candy, the Cuttlebug 5X7Christmas Countdown Embossing Folder is......

Comment # 14!!!! Congrats go to Bonnie who said:

Bonnie, there was no e-mail address in your profile so I left you a note on your blog. You have 48 hours to claim your prize or we will redraw a name! Thanks again to everyone else who stopped by!!!