This Is The Life

Hello everyone!  Although it's the last day of August, it certainly feels like summer is in full force.  Today and tomorrow our temperatures will be in the upper nineties.  I did get to play a little this afternoon and made some cards to share.  All the cuts for this card came from the Pack Your Bags cartridge and the sentiment came from Pink By Design's Summer Vacation set.

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #75

Paper Playtime - Challenge #54, Vacation

Cricut Cardz Challenge - Challenge #90

I'm off to soccer practice, have a wonderful rest of the week!

Dance Upon A Falling Star

Hello my creative friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I cannot believe it is already the last weekend in August.  This month has flown by!  For tonight's card, I used the Nursery Rhymes cartridge.  I need to look at this cartridge more often, there are some cute cuts.  I have had it for awhile and think this is the first time I have ever used it.  The sentiment that was used came from Pink By Design's All Girl set.

PKS Sketch Challenge - Challenge #59 with a Twist

Paper Cutz Challenge - Challenge #106

Whimsical Wednesday - Inspiring Words

Thanks for stopping by, I am off to bed.  Between soccer practice and Boy Scouts, Monday nights are always busy!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #89

Hey everyone!  I hope you all have had a wonderful Saturday.  Mine was not too eventful.  My step-son had his first soccer game of the fall season today.  They won 3-0 but it got a lot warmer than they said it was going to.  My husband and I were worn out and all we did was sit in the sun for a couple hours.  Needless to say, we all came home to relax afterwards.  My card today was made for Cricut Cardz Challenge #89, make a jungle themed birthday card.  The elephant came from Birthday Bash and the balloon from Create A Critter.  As for the sentiment, it came from My Creative Time's Wow! So Many Candles set.  Some brads were added to the balloon and the edge from the orange paper came from a random border punch.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, I am off to watch the Big Bang Theory and then bed.

Bitten By The Bug 2 - Happy Hauntings

Friday is finally here.  It has been a rough week but I am so glad the weekend is finally here!  This weekend should be nice and relaxing.  We do not have too much planned.  My step-son has his first soccer game of the fall season and the weather should be gorgeous.  I absolutely love this time of year.  The weather is getting cooler and I love when the leaves change.  All the images from today's card came from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  As for the stamps, the sentiment came from Pink By Design's A Haunting We Will Go set and the faces on the pumpkins came from Peachy Keen's Jack-O'-Lantern Face Assortment.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

It's My Day and I Can Do Anything I Want

Hello my creative friends!  I hope you all are having a wonderful day.  Today has been calmer compared to the last two days, no major tragedies yet.  :)  I am looking forward to the weekend though.  The temperatures are supposed to be a bit cooler.  The last couple of days have been ridiculously hot!  I am so ready for fall weather.  The base for today's card came from the Wild Card cartridge and the ice cream came from Sweet Treats.  I used Distress Ink to ink around the edge of the card.  As for the stamps, I used Peachy Keen's Princess Face set and the sentiment came from My Creative Time's Wow! So Many Candles set.

Birthday Sundaes - Color Challenge #23

Celebrate the Occasion - Challenge #27

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #74

I am off to bed, have a wonderful night everyone!

PKS LFIF - Our Furry Friends

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Yesterday was extremly busy but I did make some time today to play with my craft stuff.  Today's cute little card was made for Peachy Keen's LFIF Challenge.  The skunk came from the Create A Critter cartridge.  His face was heat embossed and came from Peachy Keen's Wide Eyed and Bushy Tailed set.  Pink By Design's, Tiny Dots set, was heat embossed with clear embossing powder on the background paper.  The sentiment came from My Creative Time's Happy Mail set.  I then added some flowers and a heart brad.  Super simple, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

This week has gotten off to a rough start but hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Thanks for stopping by!

Have A Moo-velous Day

Hello everyone!  I can't believe it's Sunday night already.  Although our weekend was pretty uneventful, it seems to have gone by very quickly.  For tonight's project, the barn and cow came from Create a Critter and the fence came from My World. Using my Gypsy, I welded two rectangles on the barn to give the appearance of the barn opening.  The cute little face on the cow is from Peachy Keen's Critter Faces and the sentiment came from My Pink Stamper's Punnylicious set.

Paper Cutz Challenge - Challenge #105

Whimsical Wednesday - Three Times A Charm

I hope you all had a good weekend!

First Easel Card

Hello everyone!  I hope you all have had a relaxing Saturday.  Mine has been pretty lazy but sometimes that is exactly what is needed.  I did play a bit this evening and created my first easel card.  For the card I cut a piece of paper 41/4" by 8 1/2".  I then scored the paper at 4 1/4" and 6 3/8".  The two score lines are then folded in opposite directions and a 4 1/4" by 4 1/4" piece of paper is attached to the outer scored piece.  This is what the card looks like propped up as an easel:

Side View:

This is the card folded down:

Celebrate The Occasion - Challenge #26

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #73

These are so easy and so fun to make.  I see more of these in my future.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Materials Used:

Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge

Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

Twine from The Twinery

Sentiment: My Creative Time Wow! So Many Candles

Explosion Box

It's Friday!  I am so glad the weekend is finally here.  This week has been very hectic and I am looking forward to relaxing and spending some time at home.  Today I made my first explosion box.  I have seen some different varieties but wasn't exactly sure how to make one.  However, Google always has the answer and there are several different tutorials.  Click here for the one I used.

Several people are having Back To School Challenges.  At first, I was unsure of what to do but then decided to make my mom a little something for her classroom.  She is a Science Specialist for elementary and a wonderful teacher.  Last year she received The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science. She and a guest (me :)) got to go to DC for the week and do all sorts of amazing things.  So I decided to make her a little something to remind her why she is such a good teacher.

Here is the pop layer before it went into the base:

An overview of the box popped out:

The sentiments are hard to read from the picture but they say:

Determination: makes all things possible

Commitment: is always rewarded

Strength: comes from within

The whole box put together:

Cricut 360 - #8 Back To School

Die Cuttin' Divas - #28 Back to School

Cupcake Inspirations - #123

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bitten By The Bug 2 - Baseball

Good evening everyone!  This week has been kind of crazy and I haven't gotten to spend as much time crafting as I have wanted.  I did get a chance to make another shape card though.  This one was made for Bitten By The Bug 2's baseball challenge.  All the images came from Sports Mania.  I  used my gypsy to hide all the "detailed" cuts on the glove for the back side of the card and then welded the gloves together.  Tea Dye distress ink was used on the layers.  The more I use distress ink, the more I like it.  It is a bit addicting.  The sentiment was heat embossed and came from Pink By Design's Oh Boy set.

I am off to bed, it has been a long day.  Have a good night!

PKS - Sketch Challenge #58

Hello to all and welcome to another PKS Sketch Challenge.  Here is the sketch they gave us:

Since my sister's bridal shower was Sunday, I decided to take this sketch and turn it into a card for her shower.  The bottom cut came from Elegant Edges and the cake came from Sweethearts.  I heat embossed the sentiment which came from Pink By Design's Here Comes The Bride set.

I hope you all are enjoying the last days of summer!  It seems that the school year is back in full swing.  My step-son returned Sunday night.  He doesn't start school until Thursday, but last night was soccer practice and tonight was back to school night.  Tomorrow night, soccer again!  Have a good evening!

Link Up Love Party with K Andrew

Hello everyone!  K. Andrews, at Getting Cricky, is having a Link Up Love Party.  Basically it is a way for people to get to know one another and find inspiration and tips on other people's blogs.  Since my blog is so new, and I love looking at other people's blogs for new ideas, I decided to participate.

I would have to say my favorite blog project is this cute little penguin card.  I absolutely love everything about it, especially the colors!

I would have to say the thing I am most grateful for is my family.  Through thick and thin they are always there.  I could not ask for a more supportive and fun group of people to be around.  Although it is a bit cliche, my family means the world to me.

Check out the details of the link party and join us in the fun!

Throwback Thursday Challenge

Hello!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I had a nice weekend away with my mom and sisters.  Although I may be biased, I honestly have the best family ever.  Today's project was made for My Creative Time's Throwback Thursday Challenge.  The only rules were to use a retired cartridge.  An old friend of mine has a birthday later in the week and she loves dogs.  So, I decided to use Paper Pups, Doodlecharms, and Create a Critter to make her a birthday card.  

I hope you have a wonderful Monday!  My step-son returned from his mom's last night so we will be doing some back to school clothes shopping today.

Cricut Cardz Challenge #87

The weekend is finally here!  I have one final project to share with you before the weekend begins.  This super simple card was made for the Cricut Cardz Challenge.  The only requirements were to make a thank you card with hearts without using the colors red or pink.  Both the koala and balloon came from Create A Critter and the border came from Elegant Edges.  Of course the adorable face on the balloon is Peachy Keen.  I love their Wide Eyed Kids set.

I hope you enjoy my last project for the week.  I am of to finish things up for my sister's bridal shower!  Have a good weekend!

Peachy Keen LFIF - Shape Card

Welcome to Thursday's second post!  Fall has to be one of my favorite seasons.  I love the cooler temperatures, changing leaves, and fall holidays.  Since we are so close to that time of year, I decided to get a jump on my fall cards.  I love this little scarecrow and his face, which came from the Monster Mash set, works so well.  The image came from Simply Charmed.  I welded the two shapes together on my gypsy to make his outline and then heat embossed the sentiment which came from Pink By Design's Bountiful Blessings set.  Thanks for looking and have a wonderful afternoon!

Happy Thursday!

Happy Thursday!  This week seems to be flying by but I am ready for the weekend.  My sister's bridal shower is Sunday. I am so excited to spend the weekend with her and celebrate.  Today's images come from Simply Charmed and Elegant Edges.  I must say, I love the shadow feature on Elegant Edges.  There are just so many shapes to choose from.  I heat embossed the sentiment from My Creative Time's This & That set.  The adorable face came from Peachy Keen's Princess Face set.  I had lots of fun playing with several different embossing folders.

Die Cuttin' Divas - Challenge #27 

Bitten By The Bug 2 - Pie Challenge

Have a good rest of the week!

Enjoy the Simple Things In LIfe

Hello again!  I have somehow gotten behind in my posting and have more cards to share than days are left in the week.  So, today you get two posts.  This is the card I made for Fantabulous Cricut's Challenge Me Monday #72.  All of the cuts were taken from Walk In My Garden.  I added distress ink to the brown background and the blue background was embossed with my Cuttlebug.    As for the sentiment, it was heat embossed and came from My Creative Time's This & That set.  

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #72

I love to heat emboss but have always hated getting the extra embossing powder off of the paper.  As I was browsing Sarah's blog, Pink Cricut, she shared an awesome trick and I am passing it on.  She uses an Anti-Static Bag, which I had never heard of until I saw her post. The above link has a tutorial but essentially it is a bag that you rub on your paper and the embossing powder will only stick to the ink.  I bought one at Michael's over the weekend and was amazed!  It works so well!  Just thought I would share because it makes life so much easier when heat embossing.  Enjoy!

You Brighten My Day

Good afternoon!  I have another summer card for you.  The temperatures this week have been awesome.  Eighty degrees is the kind of summer weather I can get into.  All of these images were taken from Pack Your Bags.  The sentiment came from Pink By Design's Summer Vacation set.

Cricut 360 - Refresh

Scrappy Mom's Stamps - Pack Your Bags

Hope you all have a good rest of the week and I hope you are able to get outside and enjoy the cooler temperatures!

My First Home Decor Project

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope you had a fabulous weekend, mine was good but super busy.  I almost needed another day to just recuperate.  My sister is getting married this fall and her bridal shower is Sunday.  I wanted to give her and her fiance something a little more personal than a typical shower gift.  I took some of their engagement photos and made the following project:

 I am so happy with the way it turned out.  Here is what I did.  I used tea dye distress ink to darken the paper a bit before I put it on my mat.  I went through the cartridges I had looking for flower cuts that would be easily layered to create a 3-D effect.  The images I used came from Calligraphy, Forever Young, Gypsy Wanderings, and Walk in My Garden.  Once I found the flowers, I cut images starting at 2" and decreasing in 0.25 increments until I reached 0.5".  Here are my cut outs:

 I then proceeded to layer the flowers so it looked like this:

I found that I had so many cuts, I did not need to add more dimension to the flowers so I used glue and not pop dots to hold them together. After that, I proceeded to put things where I wanted and then inserted the page into the frame.  Here are a few close ups.

I hope you enjoyed my first home decor project.  Have a good week!

Celebrate the Occasion #24

Happy Friday everyone!  Todays project is a birthday card I made for Celebrate the Occasion's challenge #24.  The Cricut cartridge that I used was Birthday Bash.  I did some clear heat embossing to the cake but it turned out messier than I would have liked.  As for the stamps, I used Peachy Keen's Critter Faces and Pink By Design's Take the Cake for the sentiment.

Celebrate the Occasion - Challenge #24

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  My sister and her fiance are coming to town and we are going to see one of my favorite bands, Bright Eyes, so it should be a good weekend!  I am now off to clean my house so it is presentable when they get here. :)

Crab-u-lous

It's Thursday and I have another project to share.  One thing is certain, with the heat wave we are currently having, it has given me plenty of time to play with my craft stuff.  Todays card has an under the sea theme.  The crab came from the Life's a Beach cartridge.  I embossed it with my Cuttlebug and added some googly eyes.  As for the sentiment, it came from My Pink Stamper's Punny-licious set.

Paper Cutz Challenge - #102 Under the Sea

I hope you enjoy my under the sea creation and have a wonderful day!

New Stamps!

Good afternoon!  I love getting new stamps in the mail!  I placed an order with My Creative Time last week and they came in the mail on Monday!  Since I got new stamps, it gave me an excuse to play.  I have to say that these (Inspiring Words and Inspiring Word Accents) will probably turn out to be one of my favorite stamp sets just because they are so versatile.  My inspiration for this card came from this sketch.  This card was super simple.  I used Elegant Edges to create the border and heat embossed the right hand side of the card with clear embossing powder.

Here is a close up on the clear heat embossing I did.

Die Cuttin' Divas - Sketch Challenge #26

Getting Cricky - Positive Things to Come

Have a good evening.  I am off to clean up my mess.  

You're My Best Friend

Hello my fellow crafters!  In general I am a pretty big Disney fan.  While I like most things Disney, for as long as I can remember I have LOVED Winnie the Pooh.  My favorite has and will always be Tigger.  His silly bounciness puts a smile on my face no matter what.  I even dragged my mom and teenage sister to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie.  Despite the fact we were the only adults there without young children, I loved it.  With that said, here is my project for the day.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge - Challenge Me Monday #71

Both cuts came from the Pooh and Friends Font cartridge.  I LOVE this Tigger, he is just too cute.  The sentiment came from Pink By Design's Animated Greetings 2 set.  I hope you enjoy my project for the day.  TTFN - Ta Ta For Now. :)

The Stockings Were Hung...

Good afternoon everyone!  I am so happy to be getting a jump on my Christmas cards this year.  This card combines some of my favorite aspects of Christmas.  As a child, I loved to listen to my parents read The Night Before Christmas.  When I saw that sentiment on Pink By Design's Christmas Wishes set, I knew I had to do something with it. To this day there is something nostalgic about fireplaces. I come from a large family and there was always something magical about turning off the lights after the Christmas decorations were up and just sitting in front of the fire.  So, my childhood was a lot of my inspiration for this card.  As for the cuts, the fireplace came from Joys of the Season and the stockings came from Simply Charmed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week.  Try to stay cool!

My Creative Time - Throwback Thursday Challenge