Exploring Cricut and More - Happy Birthday Challenge

Happy Monday! Well school is underway and everyone seems to be off to a great start. With that past me, I need to start thnking about fall birthdays and what better way than to have a birthday challenge to get some great ideas. The challenge this week is to create a card, craft or layout using a birthday theme. The catch is to make sure you have some sparkle or glitter on your project.

I created this birthday card to share with you today using glitter paper and of course, Stickles for my cupcake. My Cricut Expression along with Doodlecharms and Create a Critter were the images I used to make this.

This is a A2 size card and the pattern papers are from DCWV Citrus, one of my favorite stacks. The swiss dot white paper is from Bo Bunny with some great red, yellow and orange Stickles. Gold Stickles was used for the flame on the candle. I used some black ink on the red borders.

Don't forget to check out my DT Sisters for some more fantastic projects. Hope to see what you all create to for the challenge!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Annette

Exploring Cricut Challenge - Cricut Choice

Hello Friends! Time for another challenge at Exploring Cricut. This week it is "Cricut Choice". You are to create a card, layout or paper craft using any Cricut of your choice. It must include the color blue, 2 images and at least 1 pattern paper. Please head over to Exploring Cricut and take a quick survey for us. As you know, Cricut has come out with a new machine and we are wondering how you feel about it. With the Cricut changes comes new ways to craft and we would love to hear what your thoughts are. The survey will be up until Saturday. Thank you!!

I decided to create a card for the challenge using Doodlecharms. I have always liked the chunky images on this cartridge. They are so easy to work with. 

I attached vellum over my jar so that the stars would be more visible. There was not a separate jar lid for this particular image. However, not a problem. You can take the image and have the part you do not wish to cut hang off of the mat on the screen with either CCR or Gypsy. The lid was then edged in black ink. You can also cut the entire image out and then use only the portion you need for your project by cutting as needed. I also popped the sentiment up with pop dots.

Recipe:

A2 card base

Papers - Stash

Jar, Lid - Doodlecharms 2"

Stars - Doodlecharms 1.5"

Sentiment - Joy's Life Stamps

Blue and Gold Ribbon, pop dots, black ink

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see your project this week and hear your thoughts on survey:)

Annette

Exploring Cricut - Christmas Tags

Good Morning! This week has flown by, but I'm sure it has a lot to do with all the activities for the last week of school before the holidays. It is my turn today to share a project with you at Exploring Cricut. 

While wrapping presents I realized that I had used all of the ready made tags and had none left. So, I decided to create some quick tags using my Cricut. I created them using my Gypsy to get them to line up properly. You can also do this in CCR.  I create 2 layers one with the tag and then a layer that has the images. This way when I take the pen out and put the blade back in my tag will be the only thing that will cut. The speed and pressure I used with the pen was 4 for each. 

The measurement of these tags allows you to get 12 tags in a 6 x 6 area on your mat. Using the Gypsy I can pause to change pen colors if need be. Make sure that when you are ready to cut you do not remove your mat from the Cricut. Your alignment will definitely be off when you go to cut your tags out if you do.

The red tag is definitely more subtle with the silver pen. I used a snow pen to make the stocking look fuzzy.

Different color Stickles were added to the tree for some character. I inked up the edges of the tags with the coordinating color of the pen.

Joys of the Season has tags with images all ready to go. I used a stamp for the "to" but you could certainly choose a font from the cartridges like I did above.

I still like making the elaborate tags with layers of paper for those special gifts, but these were really fast and got the job done:)

Recipe:

Tag - Plantin Schoolbook 1.12"

Tree - Winter Frolic 1"

Stocking - Doodlecharm 1"

Snowflake Tag - Joys of the Season 2.52"

To From - Lyrical Letters .29", Walk In My Garden .20"

Stickles, Cri-Kits Glitter Pens, Black ink, Snow pen

Thanks for stopping by!

Annette

Exploring Cricut - An Honorable Award Layout

Good Morning! Hope your day is off to a great start and thank you for coming to visit. It is my day to share a project at Exploring Cricut. I have been really trying to get caught up on my scrapbooking and I have to say it is coming along nicely.

This particular layout was last fall when my father-in-law was given an award for his years of service on a board in his home town. He was so excited that we were there at the nursing home with him to share his moment.

Recipe:
12x12 page
Papers - DCWV
Maple leaf - Gypsy Wanderings 2.54"
Blue leaf - Gypsy Font 2.18"
Red leaf - Gypsy Wanderings 2.54"
Small leaves - Doodlecharms 1"
Postage mat - Create A Critter 1.50"
Rectangle - George and Basic Shapes 1.50"

Thanks for stopping by and remember the challenge at Exploring Cricut ends Saturday. Hope you decide to join in the fun:)

Annette

Exploring Cricut Project - Back to School 2012

Good morning! Glad you popped over today as it is my turn to share at Exploring Cricut. I have a 2 page layout of my girls on their first day of school. I used quite a few cartridges for this one and really had fun with the apple theme.

I used white on the eyes and then Glossy Accents over the entire eyeglass.

Recipe
12 x 12 2 page layout
Apples - Doodlecharms .95", 2.37"
Catepillar Create A Critter 2.46"
Face on catepillar - Peachy Keen Stamps
Border - Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art 1" x 12.25"
Pink Tag - Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 3.29"
Rosettes - Ribbons and Rosettes 1"
Creme note - Storybook 2.08"
Sentiment - My Creative Time
Metal sentiment - Making Memories
Black and Diamond Stickles, Glossy Accents, ribbon, black ink, white pen

Thanks for stopping by and remember, the challenge ends Saturday, September 1st.

Annette

Chillin' With a Popsicle

Hi Everyone! I am super excited that I had some time to craft this morning and am entering this card into a few challenges. Hope your day is going well!

I used Doodlecharms to weld (with my Gypsy) the popsicle together to make a card. I added Glossy Accents, but forgot to add to the tongue for this picture. I love Glossy Accents and really think it just gives such a nice look. I also took chalk and went around the edges of the entire popsicle on the front and back of the card. I added the green card stock on the back of the card too so that it would be uniform to the front:)

Recipe:

Popsicle - Doodlecharms -6.33" for green cardstock and base measures 6.41"

Chillin' - Paisley 1"

Faces - Peachy Keen Happy Lashes

Chalk, Glossy Accents, Red marker, White Signo Gel Pen

Entering:

Fantabulous Cricut - Yummy, Yummy

Little Scrap Pieces - Sweet Summer

Stay cool and thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Annette

Easter Card

Good Morning! Are you all ready for Easter? Today, I want to share a card I made for the occasion. I hope you can tell in the picture how awesome this paper is. It has such great shimmer. It is also double sided. I'm also entering a few challenges. Hope you all have a great holiday:) The eggs were created by welding circles inside to get the polka dot using my Gypsy.

Recipe:
A2 card base - Stampin' Up
Papers - Scraps
Eggs - Doodlecharms 3.79"
Embellishments on eggs - wave Plantin .25", circles Plantin .24"
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Seeing Spots

Entering:
Anything Goes Challenge Blog
Craft Your Days Away - Easter
Fantabulous Cricut - Project with an Egg
Getty Cricky - Easter
Wacky Wednesday - Easter/Spring theme
Scrappy Moms - Easter
The Pink Elephant - CAS

Thanks for stopping by!

Annette

Exploring Cricut Challenge #12 - "It's a Spring Thing"

Good Morning! Time for another challenge at Exploring Cricut. The challenge is to create any card, layout, or papercraft celebrating Spring in the colors pink, green, yellow, purple, blue and white. Doesn't that sound like fun? It was for me. I haven't been able to craft much lately and I really enjoyed making this happy card.  I hope you decide to join in the challenge too:)

I embossed the butterflies before coloring them in and added some touches to the face stamps.

Recipe:

Card base - A Child's Year 9" x 5.75"

Grass Tufts - Create A Critter 1.85"

Grass Strip - Paper Doll Dress Up 1.14"

Tulips - Create A Critter 2.61"

Sun - Doodlecharms 1.74"

Tulip faces - PK Princess Face Asst.

Sun face - PK Everyday Character Faces

Sentiment and butterflies - Hero Art Stamps

Black embossing powder, Versamark, pop dots, white Signo pen, back .005 Zig pen, chalk, Copic markers, Glossy Accents

Thanks for stopping by!

Annette

Guest Designer for Exploring Cricut

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be a guest designer at Exploring Cricut today. Thank you so much Diane for inviting me! I am busy working on Thanksgiving items and have been wanting to try a banner for sometime. I needed to dress my mantle for Thanksgiving and thought this would be perfect.  I used quite a few carts to get this one done.

I used papers from 2 DCWV stacks; Autumn Splendor and Harvest Gathering.  The papers have glitter, foil and a nice shene to them. I started with laying the design out on my Gypsy. I cut the base from Twinkle Toes at a height of 7.39". The letters were from the cartridge Gypsy Font cut at 4.08".  I used the layer feature as well so that the letters would have the nice flourish behind them. The rosettes were made with the Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art cut at 1.5" with a width of 12". I used 2 of these together to make sure that the diameter would be big enough behind the letter. I also cut a circle at 2.23" in height for the rosette.

The acorns were cut using Create A Critter at 7.15". The leaves were cut at 3" using Doodlecharms. I used Argyle and Paisley embossing folders from Cuttlebug.

The tulle was a great buy at Joann Fabrics; 25 yards for about $2.99 even less expensive with a 40% coupon. It is a rich chocolate brown.

To make the rosettes I used my Martha Stewart scoreboard. I scored them at 1/4" all the way down. I did use two 1.5" x 12" borders together to get the dimension I wanted. I used 3M glue them to put the 2 pieces together, but hot glue was used to attach the circle to them. The tricky part of rosettes is scrunching and holding to get the hot glue and circle secure. There are quite a few videos out on youtube that show great tutorials on exactly how to make them. The nice thing when making your own is being able to customize what you want the strip to look like. I wanted to have a decorative edge so I chose one with a scallop and hole punch. I think they are all so pretty; even the plain edge.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that I have inspired you to make a banner for your home:)

Annette

Bear Hugs

I am playing along with M.A.G. Challenge By The Page challenge #45 today. The challenge today was to use Doodlecharms page 105, the cute little bear. I thought it would be fun to use the border on this one. I layered the individual bears on top of the border and pop dotted them up.

Recipe:
A10 size card 4" x 9.25"
Solid Papers - Stampin Up
Floral Paper - Crate Paper Farmhouse
Bear Border - 2.74" on gypsy
Bear layer - 2.74" on gypsy
Twine- PinkPaislee Soiree
Stamp - My Pink Stamper
Brown Zig Pen, Pop dots, brads, black ink

Entering:

M.A.G. Challenge By The Page - bear
A Muse Studio Challenge - twine


Thanks for stopping by:)

Annette

How 'Bout A Challenge?

There are some great challenges out there and this will help keep me motivated. I have always admired and gotten great ideas from other bloggers but never participated. Once again, time to give it a

try:)

For the ribbon, I cut a slit in the side of the card and threaded it around to the front.

Tree - 2 1/2" Stretch Your Imagination

Apple paper- K&Company Greenhouse stack.

Note paper - Karen Foster.

Red matte - Bazzill

Buttons, stamp and ribbon - Michaels

Tag- 1 1/4" made from scraps of stash, Doodlecharms

Ink-Tim Holtz Walnut

I am linking this card to:

frosteddesigns.blogspot.com for the school paper

http://heather-bittenbythebug2.blogspot.com/ for the tree

http://peachykeenstampschallenge.blogspot.com/ for the buttons

Thanks for looking!

Annette