Appetizers page

I had a little trouble thinking of an image to put on the appetizers page for my friend's recipe album.  I decided to use sketch #6 from Card Positioning Systems, using some of my scraps from the previous pages instead.  The font is from A Child's Year and the flourish under it is from Gypsy Wanderings.

This page will be entered in the following challenges:
Desert Island Crafts Challenge #68  die cuts (the letters and flourish), 2 or more papers, make a gift
Cute Card Thursday--#301 anything goes

Side dishes page

This is the latest divider page I made for my friend's recipe album.  It was based on sketch 261 from Card Positioning Systems.  My friend was visiting today and I was able to borrow her Country Life Cricut cartridge for the veggies.  The words were from the Holiday Cakes cartridge (welded with my Gypsy).

This page will be entered in the following challenges:

Desert Island Crafters Challenge #68--die cuts, 2 or more papers, make a gift

Cute Card Thursday--#301 Anything goes

Little Claire's--#40 Make a gift

Soups page

This is the latest installment in the set of divider pages I'm making for my friend's recipe album.  The layout is based on a sketch from Pamela's World of Scrap.  The bowl and spoon image is from the From My Kitchen cartridge.  Although hard to see in the picture, the background behind the bowl and spoon was run through the Scalloped Dots embossing folder by The Paper Studio.  The word "soups" is from A Child's Year  (I welded the letters with my Gypsy) and the tag behind the word is from Gypsy Wanderings.

This page will be entered in the following challenge:

Little Claire's--#40 Make a gift

Christmas Cards 2013 version 2

This is the second design of the Christmas cards I made today (yes, December 21st!).  I used the Christmas Tree embossing folder by The Paper Studio.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Paper Playtime--#25 Winter fun
Simon Says--use a stamp
Die Cuttin' Divas--#146 Anything holiday related
Scrappy Moms Stamps--Christmas greetings
Tuesday Throwdown--#176 What Christmas means to you

Christmas Cards 2013 version 1

It is December 21, time to start making this year's Christmas cards!  Since I got going so late, I needed a REALLY simple design.  I decided to let some embossing serve as the design rather than a multi-layer Cricut image.  Here is one of the two designs I made, using the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder:

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Paper Playtime #25--Winter Fun
Simon Says--use a stamp
Die Cuttin' Divas--anything holiday related
Scrappy Moms Stamps--Christmas greetings
Tuesday Throwdown--#176 What Christmas means to you
Totally Papercrafts--#197 Christmas using non-traditional colors

Candy Trees

It's that time of year when I need to think of a little something for my coworkers.  (This is the last week of school before break--nothing like waiting til the last minute!)  This year, I came across a great tutorial from Qbee's Quest.  It has lots of photos and even some time saving tips.  So, I made a whole forest of these little beauties:

This project will be entered in the following challenges:

Paper Playtime--#25 Winter Fun

Cute Card Thursday--#299 Christmas Catch Up

My Craft Spot--#121Christmas Neighbor Gifts (Technically, I made these for coworkers, but they would make great neighbor gifts as well!)

Little Claire's--#40 Make a Gift

Crock Pot page

This is the latest page I created as a divider for my friend's recipe book.  I used a sketch from Card Positioning Systems for inspiration.  To create a Crock Pot, I used the pot from the From My Kitchen cartridge.  I stretched it on the Gypsy to make it wider and hand trimmed the handles down.  I also used part of the timer image from the same cartridge to make the dial.  I had thought about cutting out one of the other appliances from that cart that has a cord, but after adding the dial I thought it looked close enough to a crock pot that I didn't need it.  The words "Crock Pot" were cut from Gypsy Font.

This card will be entered in the following challenge:

Paper Playtime--#24 Anything Goes

Canning page

This is the next divider page I made for my friend's recipe album.  This will probably be the only page with pictures.  She is the one who got me into canning a few years ago.  She posted a few pictures of her goodies on Facebook, and we took a picture together this year after a day of canning, so I decided to use some of those pictures on this page.  I used a sketch from Card Positioning Systems that I found on Pinterest.  The word canning came from the Cricut Preserves cartridge.

This page will be entered in the following challenges:
Paper Playtime #24--Anything Goes
Simon Says--Anything Goes

Desserts

My friend and I have both started printing out the good recipes we have found online.  We've discovered that if you don't, it can be hard to remember later where the recipe was, and sometimes the recipe is no longer there when you go back to it!  I saw my friends giant binder of recipes the last time I was at her house.  They are all in sheet protectors.  I asked her if she had them organized by categories, and she said, "Not yet."  I decided that for my Christmas gift to her, I would help her organizer her binder.  I went to Office Max and purchased a set of tabbed sheet protectors.  There are 8 in the pack.  I'm going to make sheets for different sections of a recipe album.  (I just hope I make categories she will use!)  Here is my first one:

The sketch for this page came from Sketch Saturday.  The word desserts is from the Cricut cartridge Cursive 101 (I welded the letters together on my Gypsy.)  The oval and piece of cake are from the From My Kitchen cartridge.  I ran the oval through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.

This page will be entered in the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays--CFC121  8 of something (There are 8 letters in desserts.)

Sketch Saturday--week 286  I really need to start watching the ending times for challenges.  I just missed this one!

Paper Playtime--#24 Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday--#297 Anything Goes

Simon Says--Anything Goes

Butterfly Birthday Card

I am invited to a birthday party next weekend for a little girl who's turning 6.  I went with a simple design for her card:

The butterfly is from Create a Critter.  The background is embossed with D'Vine Swirls (one of my most used Cuttlebug folders!)

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog #185 Anything Goes
Paper Playtime #22 Googlie Eyes   Oops!  Looks like I just missed the deadline for this one!
Cute Card Thursday #294 Animal Magic
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Clean and Simple
CAS-ual Fridays #119 Embossing
Little Scrap Pieces  Linky Party
Jo's Scrap Shack #25 Things With Wings

Simple Card of Thanks

I will be having a Pampered Chef party in about a week.  This is the second home sale type of party I've ever had.  I like to give my guests a thank you card along with their order.  Since I need to make quite a few cards, I wanted a really simple layout.  I found one in the sketch at Atlantic Hearts.  I also used some of the fall challenges I came across as inspiration.

The yellow strip was run through the Argyle Cuttlebug folder.  The apple is from My World and the word Thanks is from Opposites Attract.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts sketch challenge #21

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--#178 use at least 1 Cricut letter or number

Cardztv--#36 Colors of fall

Paper Playtime--#19 apples

Die Cuttin' Divas--#133 Use an apple

My Craft Spot--#111 Favorite technique--mine is using the Cuttlebug

Desert Craftin Divas--#15 Fall

40th anniversary card

My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today and this is the card I made for them:

The sketch came from Mojo Monday.  The numbers are from my Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  I made 2 cards, thinking that this could also be used as a 40th birthday card.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday 300 celebration
Cute Card Thursday #276 Stars and/or Stripes

Stenciling on a scrapbook cover--learn from my mistake!

The album I bought for my trip to Michigan had a plain blue cover.

I decided to try to stencil a title on it, so I cut out the letters from vinyl using my Cricut.

Then I used some fabric paint and a sponge dabber (What are these things called?) to apply 2 coats of fabric paint.

I thought I should let the paint dry completely before I took the stencil off, but I was a little anxious, and started pulling the stencil off a bit before that.  As it turns out, I think maybe I should have pulled it off when the paint was still wet.  The paint was stuck to the stencil on the edges.  This picture shows the worst part. 

 I was able to touch it up a bit with a paint brush, but I don't think this paint is going to stay on in the long run.  

See how it kind of rolls up at the edges of the letters?

Has anyone ever tried this successfully?  Did you use a different kind of paint or remove the stencil earlier?  I was pleased that the paint didn't leak under the stencil (I think the smudge in the M is from my fingers as I pulled the stencil off, not from leakage under the stencil.) so I have hopes of making this work in the future.  Any tips from readers would be greatly appreciated :)

Despite the less-than-perfect results, I did cut vinyl with my Cricut to make the stencil, so I'm entering this in the vinyl challenge at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.

Have a moo-velous birthday!

My friend Kristie is married to a farmer and we got into a habit several years ago of giving each other cow-related birthday cards.  It occurred to me this afternoon that her birthday is in 2 days, so I needed to get to work!

I used Animal Kingdom for the cow and Create a Critter for the hat.  The white paper was run through the Cuttlebug Spots and Dots folder and the pink circle was run through Swiss Dots.  My ribbon across the middle is recycled from a shopping bag handle.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Pamela's World of Scrap--I used sketch C5 from the sketchbook.
Really Reasonable Ribbon #74 I'm seeing dots & ribbon

Last page of my Michigan trip album

I finished scrapping the last layout of my trip to Michigan and had the backside of a page leftover, and PLENTY of pictures!

I used Campin' Critters for the sign at the bottom and 50 States to cut out Michigan.

This layout will be entered in the following challenges:
Pamela's World of Scrap--I used sketch number 177 from the sketchbook.
Paper Playtime #12 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Transport (My husband is by his bike in the upper right picture.)
CAS-ual Fridays--travel

Michigan album title page

I had saved the title page of my album of our Michigan vacation for last, since I knew I would want to use leftover pictures on it in some way.  There were LOTS of leftover pictures!  My husband gets a little camera-happy and I need to get better at narrowing them down before I print them.  I could probably make a whole other album with the leftovers!

I even used pictures to cut out the title using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.

This page will be entered in the following challenges:
Pamela's World of Scrap--I used sketch #180 from the sketchbook.
Paper Playtime--#12 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Transport  (This album is of a trip during which we took boats, a car, and our bikes.)
CAS-ual Fridays--Travel

Sunset layout

Last summer my husband and I vacationed in Michigan.  On our last night there, we took a rowboat out on the small lake at our campground.  We took along a bottle of wine we bought locally and the fudge we had purchased on Mackinac Island a few days earlier.  We got some beautiful sunset pictures.  I was taking forever choosing a layout (I've found I always like layouts better when I find them online rather than when I slap the pictures down myself.)  Today, I happened to find a layout via Pinterest that had the same number of photos I was working with, and in the same direction.  That had to be the layout for me!  And, even better, the layout was part of a current challenge!

Here is what I came up with:

As I was taping down the last items on the second page, I realized that I had focused a little too much on each individual page and not the 2-page spread.  The line of black stars across the middle doesn't line up at all.  Oh, well.  I'm not going to tear it apart now.  At least the pages coordinate.

The black circles were cut with a punch and embossed using the Tiny Stars folder by The Paper Studio.  Here is a close-up of the embossing on the black circles:

The sentiment on the left hand page ("Recipe for an Enchanted Evening") came from a tourist booklet I picked up in Michigan.  The black stars are from Doodlecharms.  The "Under the Stars" sign on the right hand page is from Campin' Critters.

This layout will be entered in the following challenges:

Pamela's World of Scrap--layout #237b (I flipped the left and right pages.)

Desert Island Craft Challenge--#56 diecut/punch, dry embossing, sentiment

Paper Playtime--#12 Everything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Transport

CAS-ual Fridays--CFC105 Mapquest/Travel theme

Congratulations Grad!

I was invited to a graduation party for a friend who used to work as a paraprofessional at my school and has now completed his teaching certificate.  I used Everyday Paper Dolls for the graduation hat and one of the mini folders from the Cuttlebug Congrats 4-piece set.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--Congratulations Graduate
Friday Sketch Challenge--sketch 43 (I rotated it in order to make the embossing folder work.)
Little Claire's--#33 Open

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is tomorrow, so I finally got around to working on her card.  I decided to make an identical one for my sister.  This is her first Mother's Day and my mom and I secretly "helped" her babies make her a gift.  My dad took pictures of the process, and I'm going to include those in the card.

Anyway, here is my card:

The rose and the oval came from Quarter Note.  The oval was run through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.  The ribbon is recycled from a shopping bag handle.  I added some i-rock gems on the corners.  The stamp on the front is from the "Spring in Bloom" set from Sweet Cheeks Stamps.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas challenge #114--sketch

Scrappy Moms--Mother's Day

Desert Island Crafts Challenge--I chose a rose, emboss it, and recycle it from their itinerary.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog--#159 Mother's Day

Cardztv--There's no other like my mother

Paper Playtime--embossing

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge--Mother's Day card

Totally Papercrafts--#166 CAS

Celebrate the Occasion--#111 Mother's Day

My Craft Spot #96 Mom

Tuesday Throwdown--#146 My Mother, My Friend

Cash gift: Don't "blow it" all in one place!

When I gave my son's friend his last gift and he said "Aw, no bills?" I knew what I would be getting him for his birthday!  I came across this idea on Pinterest and thought that would be a fun way to give him the cash.  I taped together the bills, rolled them up and placed them in an empty tissue box.  They seemed to need something to keep the first bill from falling back down into the box though.  So, I created a top out of cardstock and taped the first bill to that.

The recipient likes alligators and crocodiles so much, he chose green as the first color for the bands on

 his braces!  This alligator is from Create a Critter.  I ran the brown background through my Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder.  The sentiment was printed on my computer.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog#157--3D project

Simon Says--Anything goes

Celebrate the Occasion # 109--Clean and Simple

Through the Craft Room Door--Anything Goes

CAS-ual Fridays--Clean and Simple Birthday

Tuesday Throwdown--Make your own background.  I took inspiration from some of their DT members and used my Cuttlebug for this.

Desert Island Crafts--The items I chose from their itinerary are:

• No flowers
• No markers
• Use a birthday sentiment (the embossing has a Happy Birthday sentiment)
• Make is square not rectangle

Have a TEArrific birthday!

I used the card feature on A Child's Year to make this card for my mom.  The card feature always seems like a good idea, but then I'm never happy with the results.  I think it is the lack of layering.  I ran the background through the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder to add a little something to it.  I was in a bit of a hurry, so I wrote the sentiment by hand this time.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

More than Favors--birthday theme

Celebrate the Occasion--Tea for two

Totally Papercrafts--monochromatic

Have a "scent"sational birthday!

My niece's birthday is coming up and she gets to take a friend up to her family's cabin to celebrate.  So, I decided to make her a card with a woodland critter on it!

The skunk is from Create a Critter.  The scalloped circles and flowers are from Gypsy Wanderings.  I ran the light purple circle behind the skunk through the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug folder and put an i-rock gem in the center of each flower.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Little Claire's--sketch challenge & spring theme

More than Favors #83 Birthday

My Craft Spot #95 Anything Goes

Scrappy Moms--include a flower

Happ-"bee" birthday

This card was created for my sister's birthday.  I used the bee from Create a Critter and my Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas #109--sketch challenge

Cute Card Thursday #263--Something borrowed.  I borrowed this pun from http://badanimalpuns.com/2011/07/05/happ-bee-birthday/

Simon Says--Happy Birthday

More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday #83--Birthday Theme

Paper Playtime #7--Use a pun

Sympathy card for a Vasectomy

Today's card is rated PG-13, and it was all my sister's idea!  She asked me today (jokingly, I think) if I was going to make a card for her husband's upcoming surgery.  I asked if she had any suggestions, and she suggested a squirrel and nuts.  This is what I came up with:

Inside:

The squirrel and acorns are from Create a Critter.  I used my Cuttlebug folders Swiss Dots and Distressed Stripes and the Spots folder from the Animal Print set.  The sentiments were printed from Microsoft Word

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Mojo Monday 287--sketch challenge

Paper Playtime #7--Use a pun (I hope this counts--my pun is implied with the die cuts inside the card.)

Thinking of You

One of my coworkers is going through a difficult time, so a group of us is chipping in for a special gift and needed a card to go along with it.  Of course, I volunteered to make the card!  I used the Cuttlebug cutting and embossing combo of Everyday Greetings.  I just used my scissors to cut the "I'm" off from the phrase "I'm thinking of you," since this card is from a group.

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

cardztv #26  It's so you--favorite color challenge (purple)

Simon Says  Easter/Spring (I sure would love to see some spring flowers around here, but have to wait for all this snow to melt first!)

Really Reasonable Ribbon  Flowers and ribbon

My Craft Spot #91  Embossing or glossy accents

Cards for my little Valentines

I was browsing the clearance racks at Office Max not long ago and came across some cute rubber heart bracelets and thought of my nieces.  So, I wanted to make them some Valentine cards to go with them.  I decided to keep it simple and use a design from Holiday Cakes.  I just used my Gypsy to stretch the image a bit to fit a tall (in this case, long) card.  Here are the finished cards and the bracelets that will go with them:

These cards will be entered into the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut #148--Be my Valentine

Simon Says--Have a Heart

Scrappy Moms Stamps--Valentine's Day

More Than Favors--Wacky Wednesday #80; Valentine's Day

Craft Spot by Kimberly #86--For your Sweetheart
Cute Card Thursday #255--Love Struck

Have a COOL birthday!

I needed birthday cards for my brother-in-law and my dad.  Man cards are always tricky, and I was flipping through all my Cricut handbooks with no inspiration when my husband walked in.  He was actually the one who chose the image I used, the snowman from Smiley Cards.  The sketch came from Die Cuttin' Divas.  I do have to confess a goof, though.  I cut out my images and shut my Gypsy off without saving.  Usually I make sure everything is good before doing that, but of course not this time.  As I went to put my snowmen together, I realized that I must have chosen the shadow image for the base.  His hat and other accessories are too small!  I didn't want to start over at this point though, so I just went with it, hoping it looks like I did that on purpose!  The oval is from A Child's Year (It was a tag, but I removed the little hole with my Gypsy).  I ran it through my Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder.  The little glittery snowflakes in the upper corners were leftover from my Christmas cards, so they are actually the center of the O from the word JOY from Create a Critter.

I always like punny sentiments, so I used my computer to print "Have a COOL birthday!" on the cardstock before I cut it for the card.

This card will be entered in the Die Cuttin' Divas sketch challenge mentioned above.

Drawstring backpacks from scraps

I had previously made my Godson and his brother some pajama pants, each with their favorite superhero.  I wanted to make something to use up the scraps.  When I came across this tutorial for drawstring backpacks (that didn't require grommets!) on Pinterest, I knew I had found my project.  I was a little bit short on material, so on each of them I added a bit of corduroy (also scraps).

I think they're going to love them!

Twin giraffes

My sister's doctor told her it should be about 4-6 more weeks until the twins are born.  The nursery is decorated in a jungle theme and she does not know the genders, so I decided to make a card using giraffes in gender neutral colors.

The giraffes are from Create a Critter.  I flipped one of them using my Gypsy.  The orange rectangle was run through my Spots n Dots Cuttlebug folder.  The orange accents at the bottom were added with my iRock.  The sentiment was printed from my computer.

This card will be entered in the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas--sketch challenge

Scrappy Moms--Tic Tac Toe challenge.  I did the right hand vertical column--glitter (It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but the green paper is glitter paper.), sentiment, die cuts.  The Secret Phrase is "Baby New Year."

Cute Card Thursday #249--Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant--Anything Goes