DT Submission for My Pink Stamper - You're Elephantastic!

One of my all-time favorite bloggers, My Pink Stamper, has issued a design team call. I love Robyn's blog and have been following her since back when her blog was still on blogspot! In fact, I think her blog was the first one I ever followed after getting my cricut. I got to know her work on the old Cricut messageboard. I love her designs and am proud to say she is from Oklahoma! She has issued a Design Team challenge, and I was excited to participate. I've never been on a Design Team, and if I was selected by Robyn I would be thrilled!

The challenge she posted was to make a project with the cricut that incorporated her three favorite colors:
Pink
Green
Brown
And we can add an optional color of our choice.

The recipe for my card is as follows:
White card base
The following pieces of cardstock and paper from Close to My Heart
2 pieces of Chocolate cut at 6 7/8" x 4 7/8"
2 pieces of Sweet Leaf green cut at 6 1/2" x 4 1/2"
1 piece of pink spotted paper from the Cherry-O paper pack cut at 2" x 4 1/2"
2 Elephants from Create a Critter cut at 3" and 1 1/2"
The Elephants were cut with background in Chocolate, body and ears in Heavenly
blue with the inside of the ears in Baby pink

I layered the chocolate, sweet leaf cardtock for the front. The boarder on the sweet leaf was punched using the Swiss Cheese border punch. I added the pink spotted paper and used the Pink Stamper method to add brown ribbon and a bow. Last I added the Elephant and stamped the sentiment that says "You're Elephantastic" which is by Close to My Heart. I love decorating the inside of my cards as well. For this one I simply used the other chocolate and sweet leaf layers, and added the 1" elephant.

I hope you enjoyed my card. I realized when I was finished that I didn't use much pink! (Sorry, Robyn!) Anyway, I want to wish everyone that entered good luck!

Organizational Journal

Today I want to share a great New Years project with you. Like many of you, the new year always gets me thinking of ways to be more organized. My life is insane with teaching full time, two children, and being very involved in the church we pastor. I like to keep a notebook in my purse to write down list or jot something down as I need it. I know we live in a high-tech age (my husband would be lost without his iphone!) but when it comes to things like that, I do better with a piece of paper. My goal was to make something pretty and fun that would keep this lists organized for me rather than just random scraps of paper or notebooks. It also helped me in another New Years goal which is to use the products and tools I've been collecting!

I started by cutting a test cut for dividers to see how big I wanted everything. I used the wonderful tabbed cards on From My Kitchen and cut them at 5" which ended up being just the size I was looking for. I then cut the covers out of my favorite chipboard--cereal boxes!! (Honey Nut Cherrios are some of the sturdiest.) I cut the covers at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" I then covered them with a layer of black cut the same size, red at 5" x 8" and patterned paper cut at 4 3/4" x 7 3/4". All of the patterned paper and solid colored paper was from a Christmas pad of paper I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. It has the most elegant patterns and several that had no Christmas designs at all which I used. I then cut the medallion from French Manor at 4" in red with the layer in black. The medallion got a little lost on the patterned paper, so I cut a layer of cream at 7 3/4" x 4". This layer was ran through my cuttlebug using the textile folder for texture and layered under the medallion. Before putting all the layers together, I used the Pink Stamper method to add black satin ribboon and a red and black satin bow. Once the cover was assembled, I used my irock to add the clear crystals to the medallion. The back of the cover was covered with patterned paper cut to fit. The inside of the back cover was covered with patterened paper like the front, then the outside was oovered in black with contrasting pieces of red and patterned paper .

The dividers were a lot of fun to do. I cut each one out in white cardstock at 5" using From My Kitchen so they would be sturdy. I then cut them out in cream, black and red to cover the front of each one. The back of each one was covered in patterned paper. The pattern that you see on the contrast piece on the front is what is on the back. The contrast pieces for each one were cut at 5" x 7" for the patterned paper and 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the solid cream piece. I decorated each divider with French Manor with Heritage for the tea set. The clock was cut at 5", the table 3" and the dress form at 4". The tea set I cut at 1 1/2" All of the stamps I used to decorate were from Close to My Heart. The cream colored piece on the one with the table was run through the cuttlebug using the textile folder. For the tabs I labled them using the font from Quarter Note cut at 1/2". I cut regular copy paper for the inside pages at 5" x 8 1/2". Then I bound it using my bind it all with 3/4" wires.

I hope you have enjoyed my project today. It was my first time making a journal type project. This was one of those that started out as one idea, then evolved as I went. But, I'm thrilled how it turned out. So what are you doing to get organized this year? Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year - 50th Anniversary Layout

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone has had a great start to 2011. One of my plans and goals for this year is to do more to develop my blog. More posts, entering and hosting challenges, and videos. I know that there is some amazing talent out there and I am not trying to compete with it. I am trying to challenge myself to grow and develop my talents as a crafter and I hope by adding some of these things I can do that.

Anyway, on to my first post of 2011! I have a project in the works that I will posting tomorrow. I didn't get it quite finished and really wanted to post on January 1, so here is another one. This is a layout I made for my parents and framed as a Christmas gift. This past June they celebrated their 50th anniversary which is something to really be proud of. I am working on a scrapbook of their pictures from their party, but this fall was so hectic that I've barely started. This layout was a quick and simple one that I framed in a scrapbook frame from Hobby Lobby. The background paper is from Martha Stewart that I bought in a pad last summer when Walmart was getting rid of all of their Martha Stewart stuff. I matted the photos with cream, then gold from the same stack. The title was from Winter Woodland cut at 2" in cream and shadowed in gold. I didn't feel like this needed a lot of embellishment as the paper was so pretty and I wanted the focal point to really be the pictures. All I added was some gold ribbon which I got at Walmart.

By the way, in the picture where they are facing each other my dad is singing to my mom "Always" which is the song he sang to her at their wedding! I hope you've enjoyed my first post of 2011. Keep checking back for more!!

Christmas Gifts - Glitter ornaments

Yes, I know, Christmas is over! Things were so nuts right before Christmas that I made these gifts but didn't have time to post them. They turned out so cute, that I wanted to share even though it's after Christmas. Maybe they will inspire you for next year. The first gifts are glitter ornaments. I know that many people have posted these this year. I made them last year for my son's 1st grade teacher and for my little one's daycare provider but this year I got a little more inspired!! I have to give a great big thank you to Joy at the Everyday Cricut blog which is where I saw these posted last year. I made mine just like she did using Pledge with future shine to coat the inside, then Martha Stewart fine glitter. I love this project because my kids can shake the glitter around so they have helped make it. This year I decided to make one for my oldest son's teacher, and also for the music and P.E. teacher. The red one I've posted was the one I made for the music teacher. She does such and amazing job and I wanted her's to be special. I used Garnet glitter, then cut the B from Winter Woodland at 1 1/2" with the shadow in white and then in black. I wanted to put music notes around the ornament and didn't have Quarter Note yet. (I got it for Christmas!!) I had just gotten my Winter Frolic cartridge and was thrilled to find the music boarder that went with the carolers. I cut it four times at 1" in black vinyl and then put it around the middle. The blue ornament was for my other son's daycare provider. I had given her one last year with her initial, so I wasn't going to do one again. But, my 3 year old wanted to do one like his big brother. I did this one with lapis blue. I cut the nativity from the Inspired Heart cartridge at 2" but the curved borders would not lay flat so I cut them off. I cut the Bethlehem star from one of the boarders on Winter Frolic and the star border was from Winter Frolic as well cut at 1" I hope you enjoy these!! Thanks for looking!!

Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge

I'm so excited that I'm finally doing one of the challenges on the Cricut Circle blog! It's just under the deadline, but that's ok! The challenge this month was to make something that would be a gift. We had to use at least two cricut cuts, the color red, ribbon, a tag from a cartridge and a phrase from a cartridge.

I made a gift bag to hold the candle I made. It's a belated Christmas gift for someone, so I went with a snowman theme so it would work for winter as well. I cut the "bag" portion by using box #1 from the Christmas Village seasonal mini. Thanks to an earlier post from the circle blog that inspired this idea!! I cut the box at fit to page in white cardstock so it would be sturdy, then again in blue snowflake paper from the DCWV Christmas stack from last year to cover it. For the front and back of my "bag" I cut snowman #2 from the Winter Frolic cartridge at 6". I cut the body in white textured cardstock which I ran through my cuttlebug using my Swiss Dots folder. The shadow I cut in dark blue. I cut the layers in light blue for the top of the ear muffs then again in red so the other parts would be red. I flocked the mittens, scarf and ear muffs with red flock from Doodlebug. I used the carrot layer for the nose, but I didnt' like the pink cheek layers so I simply chalked the snowman's cheeks with pink. Then, I used my glue glider to attach the snowmen to the front and back of the box. The tag was also cut from Winter Frolic from the same snowman. I cut the blue at 3" and the patterned paper at 2 3/4" so it would be solid. The phrase was from the same snowman and cut at 2 1/2". The ribbon for the handle and the tag was from some Christmas ribbon that walmart had last year that I stocked up on after Christmas!

The candle was made using a technique that I first saw on the Stampingscrapping.com blog. I stamped the image which is by Great Impressions on tissue paper. I added some color with bic markers. Then, I laid the tissue paper on the candle and covered it with wax paper. Using my heat gun I went over the candle until the tissue paper had melted into the candle.

I hope you enjoyed my project. Good luck to all those who entered the challenge!!

Butterfly Thank you Card

Life is crazy!!! And as it usually works out, right after I join the blog motivation support group on the Cricut Circle Message Board, life gets so crazy that I haven't had time to post on the Message Board, much less my blog.

Last month my grandmother passed away. She was an amazing lady. One of her favorite things was butterflies. I made these thank you cards for my church and the school where I worked for the cards and flowers. I decided to use butterflies in her honor.

The base of the card was made from white 12x12 cardstock that was cut in half, then cut at a length of 9". This makes a card that is 6" x 4 1/2" and fits perfectly into the invitation envelopes that you can find the the Walmart office supply section. The brown and rose colored cardstock were both from Core'dinations the Nostalgia stack. I cut the brown 1/8" smaller than the front of my base, and the rose 1/4" smaller than that. The patterned paper is from the Laundry Line stack from My Minds Eye and was cut 1/4" smaller than the rose piece. All of the layers were inked with Chestnut Cat's eye ink. The butterfly was cut with the cuttlebug combo die and embossing set. I used cardstock from the jewled Core'dinations stack and sanded the embossing. Some pink skittles acctented the body. The tag was from the Heritage cartridge and cut at 3/4". The sentiment was from Penny Black, and stamped in Chocolate ink from Close to my Heart. I attatched in on brown satin ribbon from Walmart, and added the antique embellishments from the Paper Studio in the corner.

On the inside of the card, I cut the layers the same size as the front, substituting the cream colored cardstock for the patterned paper. The butterfly inside was cut at 1 1/2" from Home Decor in the patterned paper with a shadow from the rose color.

I hope you have enjoyed this card. I know my grandma would have.

Seasons Change

Life has been insane!!! Between teaching school, responsibilities at the church we pastor, two kids which includes scouts and flag football I have been running crazy! Unfortunately, that means I've had precious little time in my craft room lately and when I have been there, I'm too tired to think! I do have a card in the works that I was hoping to post tonight, but hopefully I'll get it done to post tomorrow. I did, however, want to post a picture of the bulletin board I finished at church last night. It's kind of funny that I haven't posted a picture of any of my bulletin boards from church or school on here since this time of year that's what I use my cricut for the most!

The board is covered with brown craft paper. The ribbon boarder is from some seasonal ribbon from Walmart. I love using ribbons for my boarders because I roll them back up and they are already cut the right size to use again! The leaves in the corners are from Stretch your Imagination. The ones without the gold outline embossed on my cuttlebug with the Divine Swirls folder and inked with copper Cats Eye ink. The letters were cut at 4" from Nursury Rhymes. The pumpkin is from the Thanksgiving mini cartridge. I cut it at fit to page on my 12' x 24' mat. The green and orange are from pack of cardstock from Hobby Lobby. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy!!