Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Almost a New Year - Open up the Smiles

It is almost time to say good-bye to 2013 and what a year it has been.  My family just arrived home form an amazing trip to Disney World and now we will celebrate Christmas and the New Year with our family tonight.
Before we head out we will be opening up our smile jar and looking back and all the things that brought us joy over the year. It started out just like this....
Original Post Here
But now it is overfilled with joy to send us smiling into 2014. I for one am ready for a new year and wish each of you a Happy New Year as well. 

I so look forward to returning to crafting and sharing my projects with you.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Crafting My Way to Disney - Holiday PJ's

When you want to have matching Pajamas for the holidays you have a few options...usually for me that means running all over looking for the right thing and making it all work out. It also means borrowing my mother's wonderful sewing skills to make pants for the young ones in the family (often out of larger ones the rest of us have bought).
This year I also used...The Cricut.  I cut out large Mickey heads and my Mom traced and cut them out and sewed them onto our shirts so we could once again be matching...Only this time we will be matching in the Magic Kingdom!  Only  few days until we leave!!

Happy Holidays all!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Happy Holiday Projects - Die Cuttin' Divas

Today welcomes a new challenge over at Die Cuttin's Divas. This week we are all about Holiday projects. I was going to make my project to share with you over the weekend, but life happened....meaning I had to have my appendix out instead.

I thought I would share some past Holiday cards with you instead and remind you to be part of this great challenge.

Here is a tag I made over the summer...

My favorite ornaments

A fun tree decorating layout


Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Head over to Die Cuttin' Divas and join in the fun! Have a wonderful holiday. This will be our last challenge of the year. See you back January 7th for our new year of fun challenges!!


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Tag, your it!

Tag your it...meaning it is your turn to share your holiday tags with us at Die Cuttin' Divas. This week our challenge was to create some holiday tags. Let me tell you the Design Team has been busy making great tags for their gift giving. Here are the ones I created.
I went looking for a snowflake and found this one on A Child's Year..love it (and did not know it was on this cart!!) It  worked so well with the papers I found in my stash plus a little embossing and a special gem center.

I hope you will join us this week and get some special tags ready to top your holiday presents.

Supplies:
- A Child's Year Cricut Cartridge - snowflakes
- Splish Splash Cricut Cartridge - tag base
- Medium Polka Dots embossing folder - The Paper Studio

Monday, December 9, 2013

Happy Holiday Cards

Welcome to a new week (only 2 more full ones until Christmas!!) and a new challenge with Fantabulous Cricut.  We are getting into the holiday mood this week by making fun holiday cards.
I actually do not send out holiday cards until Valentine's Day (just too busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get them done the way I want them) so I made this one to attach to a gift I am giving. I started with the cute snowflake embossing folder.
Once I had the base I knew I wanted a tree so I searched and found this one on MS Seasonal Cake Art and what tree is complete without a star. I added one on top from Cricut American Alphabet.
Once I had it all together all that was needed was a little sparkle - bring in the Stickles!  Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. This is my last challenge is the year for Fantabulous Cricut so I wish you all well.  Be on the look for our holiday showcase coming up soon and new challenges at the start of the New Year!!

Supplies:
- MS Seasonal Cake Art Cricut Cartridge - tree and sentiment
- Cricut American Alphabet Cricut Cartridge - star
- Cuttlebug embossing folder - snowflakes
- Candy Can Stickles.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

December Sketch with Die Cuttin' Divas

Welcome December and Welcome Tuesday! We have a new sketch at Die Cuttin' Divas this week and it is a great starting point for your holiday cards or tags.
The wonderful Georgiana from Carson's Creations created this sketch for us and everyone made such fun cards. I hope you will check out their designs as well as take part in the challenge this week.
I created this card with one of my favorite candy cane ideas - turn one in and you get a sweet little heart! These were cut from the Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge.
Funny story...I made this card upside down so in the end it got cut off and placed on top of a holiday package for my sister!!  Oops turned into a ice wrapping solution! Have a wonderful week everyone.

Supplies:
- Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge - candy canes
- DCWV Year Round Stack papers
- Me & My Big Ideas Primary rinestones

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Happy Tuesday everyone. This week at Die Cuttin' Divas we are giving thanks. Each member of the team created a project to say, "Thank you."
I was stumped at first on what I wanted to do for this project, but I saw a card made from a sketch at Soapbox Creations and it gave me the inspiration for this card.  I did not follow the sketch to a tee, but loved the idea.
I cut out 3 matching tags and added them to my card base with some basic brads and a touch of ribbon.
I was happy I was able to find 3 different Thank you stamps to fit my tags. I thank you for stopping by and hope you will visit Die Cuttin' Divas and see the rest of the fun DT projects and think about playing along with us as well.

Supplies:
- Splish Splash Cricut Cartridge - tags
- Pink By Design - Fresh Goodies Set
- Pink By Design - Artisan Tags 2
- Close to My Heart - Petite Perks Thanks stamp
- Memento Dew Drop - Rich Cocoa

Monday, November 25, 2013

Sparkle and Bling on Lunchbox notes???

Welcome to Monday. I hope everyone is gearing up for a wonderful week (including some family time and turkey!!) It is time for a new challenge at Fantabulous Cricut and this week we are getting the party started with some sparkle and bling.
What happens when you take a few simple Cricut cuts, some embossing and small 3x3 cards...
You get some sweet and fun lunch box cards ready for that last week before Winter break. BUT wait? Where is the bling and sparkle?
Right here.  A touch of stick on gems, ribbon and of course my favorite glitter glue, Stickles and these cards are all set to help one little girl get ready for the holiday break and a fantastic Disney trip. I hope you will share your sparkle and bling projects with us this week and of course stop over at Fantabulous Cricut and see what the other DT members have created.

Supplies:
- Mickey Font Cricut Cartridge - Mickey head
- Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge - Heart (still my favorite)
- Tie the Knot Cricut Cartridge - heart snowflake
- Disney's Happily Ever After Cricut Cartridge - crown
- Cross My Heart - Cuttlebug folder
- Stickles - Waterfall and Black Diamond
- Me & My Big Ideas stick on gems
- AC Christmas date stamper - "merry&bright"
- LePlumeII Markers to color stamp and no date

Friday, November 22, 2013

Crafting My Way to Disney - Mousekeeping Envelopes

When visiting Disney World everywhere you turn people are doing wonderful things to make your trip better and that includes the amazing staff of Mousekeepers who clean up your room each day while you are out having fun. Often they leave fun towel decorations and cute displays with your children's stuffed animals.
Tipping is totally optional but we try to leave a few dollars each day as a small "Thank you". This year I made these simple and fun envelopes to leave for our Mousekeeping staff. I started with an envelope cut off the Spring Holiday Cards Cartridge.
After getting all the envelopes cut, folded and pasted together I cut some Mickey Mouse heads and created some flags using Silhouette Studio and the print and cut feature.
I used a Walt Disney Script font I got for free online. I am getting the hang of the print and cut feature especially  for making repeated tags and labels. The final envelopes were treated with some magic a.k.a. Stickles and are now ready to be stuffed and packed!
WE ARE ONE MONTH AWAY FROM OUR DISNEY VACATION!!!

Supplies:
- Mickey Font Cricut Cartridge - Mickey heads
- Spring Holiday Cards Cricut Cartridge - envelopes
- Silhouette file - Triangle Flags Design ID #41915
- Walt Disney font
- Stickles - Patina, Candy Cane, Cooper, Xmas Red, Baby Blue, Fruit Punch & Platinum 




Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Thankful for You - Die Cuttin' Divas Thanksgiving Challenge

Welcome to a brand new challenge with Die Cuttin' Divas. This week we are getting a jump start on Thanksgiving.
I got this super cute owl from Miss Kate Cuttables and knew right away I wanted to make a card with it. I used nothing but paper in my scraps and lined it all up on my Cameo mat before cutting out my pieces.
Once I had him all put together I needed a card  for him to go on. I selected this lattice design from the Silhouette Store. It  cut so smooth.
Soon everything was put together and all I needed was a cute sentiment to pull it together.
Thanks so much for visiting today. Hope you head over to Die Cuttin' Divas and see everyone's fun projects and join in the challenge

Supplies
- Miss Kate Cuttables - Thanksgiving Owls
- Pink By Design - Artisan Tags - die and edge stamp
- Pink By Design - Fresh Goodies - sentiment
- Dew Drop Memento - Bamboo Leaves ink
- Silhouette Store - Criss Cross Lattice Card Design ID #35295 


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Balloon Animals with Die Cuttin' Divas

Welcome to Tuesday and a brand new challenge with Die Cuttin' Divas. This week we are all about buttons.  I love to add buttons to projects and your can be pretty creative with them.  Here is what i came up with for this week's challenge.
Button Balloons and this adorable elephant from Miss Kate Cuttables. I embossed my white layer and placed my buttons where I wanted them before stitching them onto the base.  I added the whole base to my pink card.
Next came the elephant.  I cut only 3 of the 4 layers and used markers to color in pink cheeks and black eyes - he is super cute if I do say so.
I added the hand cut banner piece for a quick number later - and there you have it a simple birthday card ready to go. Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you will check out the other projects the Design Team made and join in this fun challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas.

OH yeah - The challenge this week at Fantabulous Cricut is Buttons & Ribbons so maybe you could double up this week, just make sure you use Cricut cuts.

Supplies
- Miss Kate Cuttables Birthday Elephant
- Tim Holtz Swirls embossing folder

Monday, November 11, 2013

Love is Hard Card for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge

Welcome to a new week and a new challenge with Fantabulous Cricut. Fantabuous Cricut Challenges are all about using that Cricut machine you love (even if you have other machines you know your place holds a special place for it and what you have created with it past or present).

This week's challenge is Buttons & Ribbons.
Make a project that features a button and ribbon along with your Cricut cut. I made a card for my hubby to help celebrate 10 years of marriage.
I often forget to make him cards for his birthday and he has dropped several hints that it stings a little when I make them for everyone else. So this year he will be getting 10 cards all leading up to our anniversary.
I started with what is left of my DCWV Midnight Chic Stack - one of very few that I have used almost the entire one. I created these blocks and added my letters using Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art. I added my ribbons and a simple white button to the front before adding a simple stamp on the inside.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you will join us this week for our challenge and check out the other design team members projects at Fantabulous Cricut.

Supplies:
- MS Seasonal Cake Art Cricut Cake Cartridge- letters
- DCWV Midnight Chic 8 1/2 x 11 stack - black and white papers
- Pink By Design 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

November Sketch with Die Cuttin' Divas

Welcome to a brand new challenge with Die Cuttin' Divas.  It is the first week in the month and that means a brand new sketch by the wonderful Georgiana (photo below).  This one was a simple one and fun to work with.  I decided to flip it for my card.
I started with this cute digi-image, Benson Bear, from this week's sponsor Crafty Sentiments Designs.  I thought he was super sweet.  I printed him in brown and cut an oval around him on my Cameo.
After I colored him with some colored pencils I selected some papers to match the colors I had selected. I created the base with the green and cut a simple scalloped circle to frame the image.
Once I was happy with the image I selected the fun sentiment stamp for the card and added a simple burlap bow to the top.
I still think he is super cute and I print and cut an extra bear so maybe a new card will be coming soon with this cutie. Hope you will join in the fun with us this week at Die Cuttin' Divas.

Supplies:
- CC Sketch November 2013
- Benson Bear Birthday from Crafty Sentiments Designs
- Pink By Design Stamp from Love Today set
- DCWV Everyday Essentials Stack - green pattern paper
- Scallop Circle from Silhouette Store

Monday, November 4, 2013

Fantabulous Cricut Crawl - Anything Goes

Welcome to a Fantabulous Cricut Blog Crawl. A blog crawl is our version of a Blog hop. Hopefully you made it here from Joneita. This week our sponsor, blitsy, is giving away a bag of crafty goodness to one lucky participant...
 
We are also opening up a DT call so make sure to check out the details! Be sure to visit each of the Design Team members' blogs to see their projects. If you get lost along the way, you can go back to Fantabulous Cricut or look at the list below.

When you are done with the crawl, go back to the FCCB blog and link up your project. The challenge is Anything Goes! We want to see your Cricut projects. To qualify for the weekly prize from our fabulous sponsor, you need to make sure to have at least 1 Cricut cut.

NOW onto my fun Anything Goes project.
This week we fell under the 50 day mark for our upcoming Disney Trip so my project had to be all about Mickey. This is my daughter's autograph book for the trip.  I found this great blank book in my stash of all places and knew it would be the perfect size for those large gloved hands some of the characters have (TIP: if your autograph pages and pen are too small those characters can not hold them well.)
She really had to think about what she wanted the cover to look like. At first she was all about a Christmas Tree, but she saw me doodling some Mickey heads and we got to talking...
A few snow inspired papers later and she knew she wanted this simple but fun design.  I laid out the whole thing in Cricut Craft Room so the square and all the Mickey heads cut evenly.
All I had to do (HA it took a little while) was place the papers behind the stencil piece and attach it to the cover.A little Mod Podge and it was ready. I added in inside cover page using the paper she had selected as her favorite.
Her response, "Best autograph book ever!!"
Thanks so much for joining us this week - I hope you will finish up this great crawl and take part in the fun challenge as well.  Your next stop on the crawl is Amy T!
Full List:
Cindy
Jackie
Kim 
Amy HS
Emily
Heather
Lynn 
Missy
Nikki 
Rebecca
Michelle
Caterina
Joneita
LB (that's me!)
Amy T 

Supplies:
- Disney Mickey Font Cricut Cartridge - Mickey heads
- George & Basic Shapes Cricut Cartirdge - base square
- Billionaire Cricut Cartridge - Inside lettering
- Cricut Craft Room Software  - to create stencil
- DCWV Christmas Combo Stack (few years back) -  papers
- Mod Podge