Another Design Team?!?!?!

Sooooo, as I was still enjoying my big announcement day for the Fantabulous Cricut Design Team....I got an email from the blog admin of Celebrate the Occasion!! I had submitted my dinosaur birthday card as part of my application to their design team, and apparently my email was bounced to their SPAM folder!! They found it today, and even though the DT was already announced, and started last week...they STILL WANTED ME!!! So, now I am on not one, but TWO, super cool design teams!! I am in my crafty heaven right now!!
Celebrate the Occasion is a fairly new weekly challenge blog. Each Tuesday, there are new themed challenges posted and participants have until the following Sunday to complete their projects. A winner will be selected every week and entered into their monthly drawing.

There is a new challenge that will be posted tomorrow, and although my designs will not be featured this week, I WILL be joining in on the challenge!! And you should too! I will, however, be there starting March 8th, every other week until July!! ROCK ON!! :)

FCCB picked ME!!!!

So, I've been busting at the seams, but I can finally announce that one of my favorite Cricut blogs picked ME....little ole ME....to be on their DESIGN TEAM!!! I was so thrilled when I got the word from the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and I am so excited to begin my new adventure!!!

If haven't visited the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog yet....let me tell you a little about it. The lovely FCCB ladies feature Daily Inspiration posts where you can get your craft-groove on any day of the week! For example, you can get a weekly challenge on Mondays, Quick Tips on Tuesdays, Tutorials on Thursdays, Scrappin' Saturdays, and more....something different EVERY DAY! It truly is one of the coolest Cricut blogs on the web....and now I'm a part of it!! How awesome is that!! :)

The Challenge Me Monday was just posted...create a SHAPED CARD. It is due by Midnight on March 6, 2011. Head on over to FCCB with your creation, link it up below the post, and join in the fun!!

Thanks for letting me share my GREAT news! Check out my new little Design Team Button on the sidebar....isn't it awesome!! I can't wait to see you over at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!!!

Snow Day Challenges!!

It's a snowy day here in Maine, and what else would I do??? Pull out the Gypsy and create!! I made two cards that I will enter into some challenges....the first is a cute little birthday card....

I will enter this one into the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog: Emboss It!
SEI Challenge by Abby: Use the color PINK
Celebrate the Occasion: Anything Goes Birthday
Scrappy Moms Terrific Tuesday Challenge: Create A Critter
Wacky Wednesday at More Than Favors: Farm-Themed
Creative Sister's Monday Challenge: Emboss It!


(I messed up mildly on the hand-written sentiment....not sure if I'll re-do before I give it to someone, but it's ok for now!)

Recipe:
Cartridges: Create A Critter, Sweet Treats, New Arrival
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug folders: Happy Birthday, Swiss Dots, Bloom Dots
White Sakura Gel Pen
Martha Stewart Glitter Glue in Platinum
Black Embossing Pen
A bit of Pebbles chalk around the pig snout

*****************************************************************************
My second card is a "thinking of you" card which my husband will give to a co-worker for a sympathy card. I will enter this in only one challenge:

Cooking with Cricut: Swirls and Twirls



Recipe:
Cartridge: Cindy Loo
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug Folder: Tiny Mosaic
Pebbles Chalk
White Sakura Gel Pen

Thanks for looking!!

Dinosaur Birthday

I made this tongue-in-cheek card for my FIL for his birthday. The inside read: Sorry your old friends couldn't make your party! Meaning the dinosaurs, of course!! hee hee!


Recipe:
Dinosaur Tracks Cricut Cartridge
Stampin' Up! Cardstock
Green Tea paper stack from DCWV (patterned paper on T-Rex)
Background Patterned Paper is also from a DCWV stack, but I have no idea what the name of it is...it is maybe 5-7 years old!!
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain, for the edges of everything!
Pop-Dots under the dinosaurs, to add a little more dimension

Thanks for looking!!

Celebrate the Occasion *and* Karen-Kakes-Krafts Challenge!

I have combined challenges again with this card!! Love it! My hubby got me the Best of Pixar cartridge for a surprise late Christmas gift, so I HAD to use it for his birthday card....of course, since he is my Mr. Incredible!! LOL!! I am entering this card in the Celebrate the Occasion challenge for this week---Create a Masculine Birthday project, card, or layout. I am also entering it in the first challenge of Karen's-Kakes-Krafts blog! Her challenge was to create a card or a layout for a Celebration of any kind.

Here you go!!



Recipe:
Best of Pixar Cricut Cartridge
Preserves Cricut Cartridge (tag)
Batman:the Brave and the Bold Cricut Cartridge (Happy Birthday sentiment)
Solid Cardstock--Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper--DCWV
D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder
Pebbles Chalk
White Sakura Gel Pen

Cooking with Cricut--Sweet Shop Blog Hop Entry

I had a blast today, going through Cooking with Cricut's Sweet Shop Blog Hop! Those ladies I visited today were sooooo super talented! Nice Job, Ladies!!

There were a few ways that we could join in on the hop! The first was to collect letters along the hop and enter a secret phrase (did that!!), comment on the blog posts (did that, too!!), or enter a "sweet" project (that's what I'm doing here!)!!

This is the card that I made....a SWEET thank you card that I'm sure I will use at some point down the road!!



close-up....


Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: Once Upon A Princess, Cindy Loo
Solid Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Bliss by My Mind's Eye
Embossing: Tiny Mosaic Cuttlebug folder
White Gel Pen

Thanks for looking!!

Flaunt it Friday--Raggedy Ann from PPDU

I have been working the past couple days on a few challenges, and I didn't really combine them this time, so be prepared for several posts over the next day or so!!

My first post is for a challenge that I am entering over at Flaunt it Fridays, a super cool challenge blog. Feel free to click on their name and check it out for yourself! For their #11 challenge, we were to use the Raggedy Ann and/or Andy from Paper Doll Dress Up for a card, project, or layout. I haven't picked up Paper Doll Dress Up in such a long time!!! It was great to get it out again!! This is the card I made!! TFL!!



Here is a close-up of my hand-drawn face!! I didn't have an appropriate face stamp and had to make sure it looked 'rag-doll'! I was pretty impressed with how it turned out! (I'm a crafter, not an artist!! LOL!)

Recipe:
My Gypsy!!
Cartridges: Paper Doll Dress Up, Jasmine, Preserves
Solid Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Patterned Papers: MerryMint from American Crafts, Bliss from My Mind's Eye
From my stash: White grosgrain ribbon, buttons
Embossing: Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder
Chalk: Pebbles, Inc.

Bling!!

This scalloped-shaped birthday card was made with the Cindy Loo and Once Upon a Princess Cricut Cartridges. I welded 2 scalloped 'shadows' together using my Gypsy, and cut the adorable doily scene with the deer and squirrel. I wanted to add some color and dimension, so I used my Gypsy to size and match up the deer and squirrel individual images with the doily scene, cut them in shades of blue and purple, and pop-dotted them over the top of their silhouette images on the doily scene. I added some BLING (gotta love BLING!) to the trees in the form of clear, silver-backed 2mm rhinestones by Nicole. (I'm thinkin' I need an i-Rock tool!!) I added a white gel pen dot to each critter for a twinkle in their eye.




The inside sentiment was cut from OUAP, and I used the same colors as I did for the deer, as well as adding more BLING to tie it all together! This pretty card was given to my MIL for her birthday.



Thanks for looking!!

My first Blog Award!

WOW! I got a blog award! I was thrilled when I received a comment from Brandi at Scrappy Brandi that she had given me this little piece of happiness! You made my day!! Thank you so much! And all of you should check out Brandi's site as well...she is SUPER talented herself!
So, as part of this award, I must pass this award on to 8 other "Stylish Bloggers" and tell you 8 things about myself....so here goes!

The following are 8 super crafty people...please, please check them out!
Click on their names to visit their blogs and you, too, shall see why deserve this award!!

1. Raechel's Cards
2. Glue Meets Paper
3. Ever After Papercrafts
4. Got Scraps?
5. Mr. CricutCrazy
6. Stuck on Glue Crafts
7. Mrs. B's Craft Room
8. The Cricut Bug

Now, for 8 things about myself:
1. I'm a Labor and Delivery RN and I absolutely LOVE my job.
2. I went to college on a field hockey scholarship...graduated 11 years ago now, and HOLY COW! I don't feel that old!! :)
3. I could papercraft ALL DAY LONG....however, I have only ever made one scrapbook layout, and I have never actually put pictures in it!
4. My junk food weakness is anything salty and crunchy...and chocolate kills my diet, too!
5. I wish I could find more papercrafters around me (I live in Rural Maine).
6. My favorite movie of all time is TOP GUN....(but NOT for Tom Cruise!)
7. I love the Boston Red Sox and have a lifelong goal of going to a game at all of the Major League ballparks at some point.
8. I have a really, really, really strong memory for specific things. It's scary to me sometimes, and I worry that people find it a little creepy.

Another Shaped Birthday Card

Here is another very simple birthday card that I made with the Hello Kitty Greetings shaped card feature. (another go-to for when I forget birthdays!! OOPS! I must do that often, if I now have 2 go-to's!!) I did add a little extra to this one though, with a matching Prima flower, simple white button, and a little embroidery floss! I think it gave it just a little oomph that it needed!



Thanks for looking!!

It's a CHALLENGE!! (or two, or three, maybe four, how about five or six....Ok,ok...Seven?!?! ;)

I promised myself (sort of a New Year's Resolution) that I would enter more challenges this year...get lots of inspiration from different crafters, and hopefully do some inspiring of others! Here are some cute Valentine Treat Bags that I made for my daughter's daycare friends....I needed to make Valentine's for her anyway, and when I saw some challenges on my regular blog visits, I decided to incorporate!! Yes, I am entering this in more than one challenge....SEVEN, in fact!! I was able to combine challenges with this!! I have never even combined 2 challenges before....let alone SEVEN!! But it worked this time!! Yippee!!

I am entering this into the following challenges:
My Pink Stamper...Secret Challenge...go watch her video to find it out! But this project fits it!
Crazy About Cricut's Thankful Thursday Challenge...Valentine Treat Bags
Paper Playtime's Challenge...Use Cupid or Hearts
Creative Cutter Room's Design Time Thursday Challenge..."Love Bug"
Cricut Sister's Monday Challenge...Use Create A Critter
SEI Challenges with Abby #2..."LOVE"
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog's Cricut Crawl..."Share the LOVE" (must have the word 'love' in the final project.



Ingredients:
Create a Critter Cricut Cartridge
Stampin' Up! Cardstock
Patterned Paper from my stash (sorry, not sure who it's from!)
VersaMagic Chalk Ink in Perfect Plumeria
Martha Stewart Glitter Glue in Obsidian and Garnet
Cellophane Treat Bags
Staples/Adhesive/Corner Chomper
Assorted Valentine Goodies!! YUM!

Recipe:
Cut the Ladybug and all her layers at 2.5". Assemble accordingly. Cut the 'LOVE bug' saying and its layer at 1.75". Assemble accordingly (I off-set the layer of the saying to create a 'shadow' look). The treat bag topper background paper (I used white) should be cut at 4.25"x4", and score and fold at the halfway point of the 4" side. Pick a coordinating pattern for background paper and cut at 1.75"x4", and round edges with Corner Chomper. Fill cellophane bags with goodies (I used Fruit by the Foot, a Ring Pop, a Tootsie Roll Pop, Sweetheart Candies, and 3 Hershey Miniatures), and staple folded bag topper to the top of the cellophane bag. Ink the edges of the patterned background paper and attach to the topper with adhesive (I used my ATG gun, but any adhesive will work). Attach the assembled die-cuts to the topper, fill antennae and heart with glitter glue, and VOILA! a super-de-duper Valentine Treat Bag!!

I bet you are wondering how I knew about all of these GREAT challenges??? Well, I frequent MANY craft blogs daily (I have them saved to my browser 'favorites'), and sometimes I have a hard time keeping them straight...which ones had challenges, blog hops, etc. Well, Momo and Paula (2 sites I visit regularly) combined their efforts in a GREAT new site to keep everything in order!!! It's called The Craft Hot Spot and people can submit their crafty events and get them posted, and get some free press along the way!! It's a one-stop-shop for those looking for inspiration!What a SUPER-DUPER idea, ladies!! Thanks for giving me a "EUREKA" moment!! :) I highly recommend others to check this site out!!
***The My Pink Stamper Challenge was not listed on The Craft Hot Spot...but Robyn's site is my favorite...I've been visiting her daily for about 2 years!!***



Thanks for looking!!! And I challenge you to enter a Challenge, too!! :)

Simple Shaped Birthday Card

My wonderfully scrapping-supportive hubby came home with an armload of cartridges for me a few weeks ago! YAY! One of them was Hello Kitty Greetings and I have LOVED playing with this one! It is so stinkin' cute! And a lot of it is not really "Hello Kitty" oriented. I made this using the 'shaped card' feature. I usually like to use my Cricut Design Studio or my Gypsy to add my own twist to my designs, however, I found this to be a pretty card that was very quick to put together, and could be a go-to card for those I-forgot-it-was-your-birthday moments (we all have 'em, right?!?!).


I couldn't quite get all the small pieces into the letters...the 'APPBRDA' letters should have more blue in with the black...but I guess I think it looks just as good without!!


A close-up photo of the papers I used...The Green Tea paper stack from DCWV. I am in LOVE with this stack, especially for 'boy' cards!!!

Thanks for looking! Remember, I LOVE your COMMENTS!! :)