Furry Baby Christmas

I made this card for the vet's office and the grandparents. It was hard to get the coloring of the furry babies just right, but I still like the way it turned out. Thought it made a great entry for the Cardz TV "Crafty Christmas" challenge.

Purple Monster

This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut was to include the color purple and a monster. I figured it was a great time to make Halloween cards for my beautiful nieces.

I used the Mini Monsters cartridge for this project. The ribbon was a great find last year at Wal-Mart after Halloween. I am just glad I remembered that I had it.

Sound of Music

The challenge at Fantabulous Cricut was to "Make Some Music". My mom had actually recently asked me to make a music themed thank you card for her to give someone. I kept it simple using the music note from Gypsy Wanderings.

Splash of Color

This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut was to use yellow somewhere on your project. Yellow is definitely one of those colors I rarely use, especially if it is really bright. I have seen many variations of flower pot cards and thought I would try my hand at one. Here is my version.

Birthday Bash

This week I was tasked by my mother to create a couple of cards. One of these was a birthday card for my brother. Now it is important for me to mention that I had not yet made a card for him myself, so he is receiving a very simple card from me. Creating two masculine cards in one week was more of a challenge than I could handle on the first week of school.

Fortunately, this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut (I was last week's random winner for a different birthday card--woohoo!) was Birthday Bash, so I was able to enter this one.

This card was made using the Pagoda cartridge and is perfect for my brother. My mom got to go see him for his birthday this weekend. I asked if he had liked the cake she had taken. She said yes, but that he really loved his card. :)

Bake a Cake

Whew! I cannot believe I am still up. I really wanted to go to bed three hours ago, but my husband convinced me I needed to stay awake so I would sleep all night. He was so right, because I start back to work tomorrow. Summer is over and it is back to school we go for our first workday. Plus I have several cards I need to make in the next few days, so I need to get busy. This card was inspired by this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut (Piece of Cake!) and my desire to use Cricut cartridges that I had not used before.

This is the first time I have ever made a scene card. I think it is okay for a first time (just don't look to close at my pen stitching--must be too tired to make that straight). I rarely cook, so making this card is the closest I will come to making a birthday cake for someone. Thought it would be a nice change from the traditional birthday card.

Forever Young was used to create the female figure.

From My Kitchen was used to make the oven and the slice of cake.

Sweet Treats was used to create the cake.

Sweet dreams to all. I am finally off to bed.

What a Peach

The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut was Melon Time. I really did not want to create something with a melon, so I was really glad to see that another fruit could be utilized. This challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to use my brand new Preserves cartridge. I was so glad to see it on sale at Michael's this week.

The card is 9.25 x 4.0 and fits in a regular business-sized envelope. The peach, flower, and the word "peach" are all cut from the Preserves cartridge. "what a" is cut from the Gypsy Font. The faux stitching is done in brown and the flowers are inked in brown. This would make a great thank you card for someone.

Back to the Craft Room

Well, I finally returned to the Craft Room this week. I have been in there very little throughout the summer. I have done some rearranging and spent some time placing pictures on completed layouts (I have an entire storage crate full of layouts), but I just could not seem to get around to producing something original. Finally, I have determined my issue with crafting in my room. I sit down with my Gypsy and try to create cards, I get frustrated, and then I quit. While sitting in my room I feel like I need to be creating, so now I sit outside or in the living room to design my cards and then go to the Craft Room to begin putting them together. Hopefully this will help with my lack of production here lately.

My first card from a long hiatus is actually scraplifted from the Sweet Treats cartridge guide book. All of the directions for this card can be found on the opening pages of this booklet. My niece's 4th birthday is coming up, and I knew this was the perfect card for her. She is all about princesses and pink is her favorite color.

Please vote for my video on Follett $100K Challenge!

This is not at all scrapbook related, but I would really appreciate your help. I am a school Media Specialist and during a really tough budget year winning this contest would be great. Thanks so much for your support. Please vote for my video on Follett $100K Challenge! Please vote daily between now and Sept. 1st.

I'm a Winner

So excited to be the random.org winner for Challenge #76 at Cricut Cardz! This is the first time I have been a winner of a challenge, so I am very excited. Hope I win the monthly drawing!

All About School

Since I was in a crafting mood, I thought I would make a graduation card for a friend's daughter who will be graduating soon. She is such an awesome kid!

Locker Talk was used to make this card. I love the paper. It is from "The Hittin' the Books" stack and I use it for all my school related projects. The base paper actually resembles a bubble sheet. Stickles are used on the tassel and the cap has pop dots to make it stand out.

There are two challenges that this card can be used for this week. First, The Paper Variety is hosting a school related challenge. Second, the Cricut Cardz Challenge is all about graduation this week.

Blue Skies

This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut is to use blue and at least one cloud. This worked out perfectly for a project that I had planned. A friend of mine is having twins, and we are having a shower for her tomorrow. The gift we got her had to be ordered online and won't arrive in time. I started to just wrap a picture of the gift, but I thought this "ticket" might be better.

Before they knew the gender of the babies, they referred to them as Sprig and Twig, so I thought it might be nice to incorporate that in some way.










On the back I am going to indicate the gift. I used stickers to indicate a special delivery was on the way.



The clouds were cut using Create a Critter and embossed with a QK folder. The ticket was cut from Locker Talk. The other cuts were also cut using QK dies. The text is from some stickers I had stored away.

Retirement

Wow! This is the first time I have been in the scrap room for two months! I cannot believe it has been that long, but other things just got in the way.

This week the challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut was to create a project that included a rectangle and a triangle. That worked out for a card I already had planned, so here it is....

This is a retirement card for one of the Media Specialists in our county. She has been such an inspiration to so many of us and her departure is a real loss. However, I am sure she is looking forward to leisure reading and gardening.
I used Locker Talk to cut out the books and the triangle was cut using George and Basic Shapes. The base of the card was embossed with a QK embossing folder and then sanded.

Just for Fun

Two new cards for the day. Did not even use my Cricut.

Christmas Cards??

Through all my blog reading I came across a new challenge site: jingle belles. The goal of this site is to make a Christmas card every week all year, so as to avoid that rush to get all your holiday cards completed. The challenge this week was "Text Me". I incorporated text using paper I picked up at Michael's. It was only fourteen cents. It has basic holiday words printed on the paper: Santa, ornaments, reindeer, etc.

The gold punch is a Spirelli punch that I then added red stickles to each petal of the punch. This is the first card I have made in a long time where I did not use my Cricut.

Swirls and Twirls

The challenge at Cooking with Cricut this week was Swirls and Twirls. Yesterday I went to Michael's and there was a sale on Recollections flowers, so I knew I wanted to use one of those today.

The  flourish was cut using the Sweethearts cartridge. I hid some of the smaller elements of the cut with my Gypsy.

Smile for the Camera

The Jitterbuggin' challenge this week was to create a shaped card. I am so amazed by the shaped cards people create. They are always so creative. Trying to create one of those cards myself always proves to be challenging. I generally just take a shape, duplicate it, flip the object and weld the two with my Gypsy. This summer I hope to be able to really explore more elaborate, creative shaped cards.

The camera was cut using the Create a Critter cartridge. Glossy Accents was used for the lens.

Sunglass Beautiful

Wow! It has been awhile since I have been in the crafting mood. Between being sick and being so busy at work, I just could not motivate to be crafty. I like this card a lot more than I did last night when I first made it. This card was completed with two challenges in mind. First, the goal of Cricut Chaos Challenge #7 was to use the Paisley cartridge. This is one of my favorite cartridges, but I wanted to try and use an image that I might not use otherwise.

 The sunglasses seemed to fit the bill. I used glossy accents for the lenses.

The second challenge that I combined to create this card is Challenge #48 Emboss It! at Fantabulous Cricut. The card base was embossed using a Quickutz folder, although the embossing is difficult to see in the picture.

Stylish Blogger Award

Thanks to Pat at Pat's Scraps for awarding me with the Stylish Blogger Award. I am so excited to be recognized, especially on a week when I have not been motivated to scrap. This might just be the motivation I need. Pat's projects are very inspirational, so hop on over and check out her blog.

When you receive a Stylish Blogger Award. you should:  1) thank and link back to the person who awarded it to you, 2) share 8 things about yourself, 3) pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered, and 4) contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards.  

Eight Things About Me

1.  I have three furry babies - two dogs (Sydney and Katie) and a cat (Jack).

2.  I have two amazing nieces.

3.  I have an addiction to Michael's coupons. Every time I receive one I feel the need to purchase something.

4.  Edwin McCain is my favorite singer.

5.  My favorite TV show of all time is "Alias."

6.  I am a middle school media specialist.

7.  My husband and I like to visit different universities when we go on vacation.

8.  I am an author stalker. I like to have books autographed and have my pictures taken with the authors that I meet.

Eight blogs I would like to recognize:

1. http://juliescraftyspot.blogspot.com/

2. http://lightwhimsy.blogspot.com/

3. http://ratherbecraftin.blogspot.com/

4. http://smallbitsofpaper.blogspot.com/

5. http://www.cricutyourclassroom.com/

6. http://idratherbemakingcards.blogspot.com/

7. http://lauraleesdream.blogspot.com/

8. http://princesspaperprojects.blogspot.com/

A special thank you goes to the bloggers for always inspiring me.

Cooking with Cricut Challenge-Hearts and Flowers

This card was inspired by a picture a friend sent me and fortunately it matched up with the Cooking with Cricut challenge this week. The goal was to incorporate hearts and flowers. I have to admit, I am rather tired of Valentine's cards at this point, but I enjoyed making this card. 

The flowers were accented with stickles and cut with the Sweethearts cartridge. The hearts were cut using George and Basic Shapes. The sentiment was cut using Paisley.

If this is my mom, don't look at this card!

My mom recently reminded me that she liked birds and that she hoped she was getting one of the great Valentine's cards I had made. This week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut goes along with their Cricut Crawl and the theme is "Share the Love." The word "love" had to be somewhere on the project, so I thought this was a great opportunity to make a card for my mom.

Cricut cartridges used for this card:
Sweethearts: heart tag, used hearts on bird's wing
Four-Legged Friends: bird
Create a Critter: Love sentiment

YBW-Thinking of You

This week's Wacky Wednesday Challenge at More Than Favors was to create a card using yellow, blue, and white. That was a nice change of pace from all of those Valentine's cards. I used my new cartridge, Sweethearts, to cut the flowers on my Cricut. The paper was again from my scrap drawer--I will eventually get that drawer down to a manageable size. The pearl stickers are from Recollections.

Different Kind of Valentine

This is my first card in several days. Oh, how I have missed my craft room. Tired tonight but really needed some down time. This card is for two challenges this week. The first is Cricut Cardz Challenge #60 where the goal was to make a Valentine's Day card for a man. The second is Jitterbuggin' which specified a Valentine's card with no red or pink. If you have read my previous posts, you know that I already created my hubby's Valentine. Well, I was not really happy with it, so these two challenges really inspired me to create something else for him. My husband is a math teacher, so a math-themed card seemed appropriate.

Cricut Cartridges used:

Printing Press: #1 (hide feature used to hide box)
Blackletter: + and =
Gypsy Font: me and you
Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More: heart
George and Basic Shapes: tag behind 1+1

Monogram Card

Thought it might be nice for us to have some monogrammed cards to have on hand. Created this one tonight. The bling is really a light green color but looks a little washed out in the picture.

Magnets

Decided to branch out tonight and create something a little different, so I created title blocks for each of my furry babies. The monogram letters are from Gypsy Font while the rectangle is from George and Basic Shapes. The rectangle was made large enough for a 4 x 6 print even though I cut down one of the frames for my picture of Katie. The letters are cut from Recollections paper and glued onto the brown card stock. Everything was inked with VersaMagic Coffee Bean. I had some magnetic sheets and placed strips on the back of each picture so that I could have pictures of the furry babies on the fridge.

Sorry the pics are a little grainy. The iPod usually takes decent pictures, but I think the lighting just wasn't enough for better pictures.

Just purchased two new cartridges on ebay! Can't wait until Sweethearts and Pack Your Bags arrive....

Lucky

I made this card prior to finding out that I was recognized as staff member of the month at work today. I missed it due to a doctor's appt, but I feel so lucky to work with the great staff at my school. It just turned out to be a fitting card for today. This week's Cricut Cartridge Chaos Challenge this week is to use one of the cutest cartridges, Create a Critter.

I spent last night laying this card out on my Gypsy as well as welding the bamboo and grass. The bamboo, grass, panda and sentiment were all cut from the Create a Critter cartridge.

Paper Pups

The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge this week is to make a project using a Cricut cartridge that you have not used in the last 6 months. One of my favorite cartridges is Paper Pups, but I never seem to use it. That might be because it is more for my layouts with the furry babies and I have not done one of those in forever.

I even used chalk to create spots on the dog. I rarely use chalk, so it was nice to try something a little different.

Floral Sweetness

This week's Cooking with Cricut challenge was to use 3 or more flowers and follow an optional sketch. I did opt to follow the sketch this week. That makes it so much easier! Again, all the papers are scraps from my scrap drawer. I keep trying to cut down on the paper in that little drawer, but I don't seem to be making much progress. Anyway....

The hearts are cut from my Four-Legged Friends cartridge. I have had this cartridge since Black Friday, and this is the first time I have used it. I think it is such a cute cartridge, and I have really neglected it. Determination made me find a way to use it for this project. The paw print is filled in with Glossy Accents. I used VersaMagic Purple Hydrangea to ink pretty much everything on the card. The sentiment is a rub-on and the flowers are Prima. The flourish was cut with Gypsy Wanderings.

I am going to have to find the perfect animal lover to send this card to. This would be super appropriate for me, but it might be a bit strange to send it to myself....

Snowman Dreams

Here is my card for this week's Cricut Cardz Challenge. The goal was to incorporate a snowman and any colors.

The snowman was cut using the Joys of the Season cartridge. The brown background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. After embossing I used sand paper to sand the tops of the snowflakes. Stickles were used around the stars, for the hat, gloves, and nose. I just used silver letters to spell out "DREAM" for the sentiment.

To be honest this card did not turn out the way I envisioned. I just could not get it to come together. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

For the Birds

I came across a new blog this evening - Jitterbuggin'! Well, of course, they have a challenge that I decided to enter. The deadline was tonight by 11:59. Had to do some fast thinking for this one! There was a sketch on the blog and the requirements were to use a bird from a Cricut cartridge and the color pink. I have to admit I was not really in a pink mood tonight, but I found the perfect combination for me. Even better is that I was finally able to use one of my new Cricut cartridges, Pagoda.

This card is much busier than cards I usually create, but I wanted to extend beyond my comfort zone. I had some matching paper and I used a piece from almost every sheet. There were also some punch out tags that I used as well. The interior of the smaller circle is actually a tag. There is also a tag behind the friend sentiment. I looped some yellow ribbon through it and popped it up with foam tape. The dots in the Kanji for friend are done with copper Stickles (how did I ever exist before Stickles?!). Originally, I had not placed the bling around the larger circle, but it really needed soemthing to help it stand out. The larger circle is a muted pink with brown tones. It is not your bright, vibrant pink, but it worked for me today. Glad I was able to fulfill the guidelines of the challenge and do something that fit my mood.

Happy Scrapping.

Wonder how many days I can go with this card a day business?

Sweet Treats

The theme for this week's Fantabulous Cricut challenge is "Sweet Shop".  I still needed to make Valentine's cards for my two beautiful nieces and had been thinking of something that had sweet treats on the front. This challenge really helped me bring it all together. I have to also thank the Fantabulous Cricut blog for the background too. Recently, there was a blog entry about quilting classes and how the instructor advised using black or purple to make things pop and how that can be applied to scrapbooking as well. I would have never chosen purple for the background had I not read that blog post. I have to admit I am really pleased with how it turned out.

The sentiment is cut from yes, you guessed it, Paisley. I love that cartridge. The cupcake is cut from the Sweet Treats cartridge.

Also entering this card in the Cupcake Challenge for CARDZ TV.

Card for New Additions

I am trying to create cards to have enough on hand for any event. One card I never have is a baby card. Well, not anymore. Here is a giraffe to welcome those new additions.

I bought a stamp set with baby-related sentiments, so I would always have some on hand. The giraffe was cut using the Create a Critter cartridge. I inked the card background and sentiment with gingerbread by VersaMagic.

xoxo

No challenge entries today. Just making cards for Valentine's Day. The heart and sentiment were both cut with my Cricut. The sentiment was cut using the Paisley cartridge. I cannot for the life of me remember which cartridge was used to cut the heart. That might have something to do with the fact that I was working on those late last night/early this morning.

All my cards lately have been made of paper predominately from my scrap drawer. It was just getting too full and I refuse to use a bigger drawer. It is amazing what I have found in there.

Crazy in Love

Here is my entry into this week's The Paper Variety Challenge. The prize this week was sponsored by My Pink Stamper, so the challenge was to use pink, white and/or black only. This card is for my hubby for Valentine's Day. He has not read any of my blog entries so far, so let's hope he does not start now.

Most of the time I feel like my cards look better in the picture than in person. This time it is definitely the other way around. The pink stickles I used on the sentiment look much better to me here at home. Oh well. The heart and shadow were cut using Indie Art as was the black flourish. The sentiment and its shadow were cut using Paisley.

I have really spent a great deal of time lately looking at blogs about scrapbooking/card making. I am so amazed at the talent of others. Maybe one day I will be able to do some really elaborate pieces. I have been playing a great deal with my Gypsy, and can I just say that I love it. Still have a lot to learn. Fortunately, I just won "Gypsy: A to Z"! I participated in Monique Griffith's UStream video this evening and still cannot believe I won this prize sponsored by Tammy at Creative Critters Cricut Club.

I think I am going to also enter this into the Cooking with Cricut challenge: Glittermania.

Love Bug

This week's Cricut Cardz Challenge required the use of black, red, and white ONLY. Well, it could be any theme, but Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so.....

The card is at an odd angle because the red is shiny, therefore I could not take the picture straight on without my reflection. Images and the text were cut with my Cricut. The lady bug was cut using the Create a Critter cartridge, the hearts were cut using George, and the letters were cut using Gypsy Font.

Winter Warmies

I am so excited to be entering another challenge. These challenges are really keeping me motivated to scrap (or maybe it is the snow outside). Hopefully, I can enter a challenge every week. That is the goal anyway. This card is my entry for FCCB #42. The goal was to incorporate some type of winter weather clothing.

All of the pieces were cut using my Cricut. The phrase was cut using George, the mittens and snowfakes are from Joy of the Season, and the scarf is from Create a Critter.

Winter Wishes

This week's challenges at Fantabulous Cricut and The Paper Variety had to incorporate snow in some way. How appropriate given that we are expecting 10-12 inches on Sunday night/Monday morning. We had a little snow today, so it has been a great day to work in my scrap room. Have I mentioned that my scrap room is also the cat's room? It makes for some challenges sometimes, but it is great to have a space. Here is my entry for the challenge.

This picture was actually very difficult to take. The shadow behind winter and the snowflake are both silver foil, and I kept getting my reflection. The word "winter" with the shadow were both cut from Gypsy Wanderings. The flake was cut using Christmas.

The Journey

I am not a great scrapper, in fact, I am not a good scrapper. I am good at copying what others create. That is why sketches are so great for me. My goal this year is to continue challenging my creative side. Maybe I will finally be able to get all the right colors and patterns without help. Here's hoping.

Here is my first entry into a sketch challenge for Lucy's Cards. Simple, but believe it or not it took me forever!