Shop Pumpkin Spice Design Team

I have just about the best news ever!! I was chosen to be a part of the first ever Shop Pumpkin Spice design team.

Pumpkin Spice is an amazing online paper crafting store. It's motto is "Memories are priceless, budgets are not". Everything you find at Pumpkin Spice is soooo reasonable. The products are name brand and top quality. Click here to go directly to the Pumpkin Spice store. I can't stop buying the 6x6 paper pads!! They are so great for cards.

Directly linked to the Pumpkin Spice store is the Pumpkin Spice Blog. Myself and 4 other amazing talented designers will be featuring the products you can find at Pumpkin Spice. Click here to go directly to the Pumpkin Spice blog.

We have so many great ideas already to make this design team awesome! Can't wait to start creating!!

Glitter-it! Ornaments

I am currently on our annual family vacation. We always bring a craft (usually several crafts) to do as a family. We create together, and chat, and at the end we have a great keepsake!

Our first project were these glitter ornaments. I bought these square glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby. I purchased the Glitter-It! at Michaels. I followed the instructions on the back of the Glitter-It! and washed out all the ornaments with a vinegar/water mix.

We used a combination of Martha Stewart glitter and Recollections glitter, depending on the color. Everyone picked their own glitter color and filled the inside of the ornament. The trick with Glitter-it! is to move fast. Put a lot of Glitter-it! in and swirl it around. Get the glitter ready first and then pour it in FAST and SHAKE it around.

Of course, those ornaments would be so plain without a Cricut cut!! We cut out an assortment of Cricut images from various cartridges in vinyl purchased from Expressions Vinyl.

Here are my mom and my Cricut Expressions. We set up my mom's cabin as the "craft cabin". That way we didn't have to clean up everyday and the kiddos wouldn't get into all the stuff.

Here are the finished products. We made a lot more, but some people took their's to their cabin before I could snap a picture.

Don't they look awesome!! I love how they all turned out. And the best part is that my family is hooked on the Cricut. Aren't they crafty peeps for being brand new Cricuteers and vinyl users. Love it!!

Making a Watermelon Cut

I love creating for challenge blogs. But sometimes I don't have the right image for the challenge. That's when I say "think outside the cut".

Honoring the awesome Fantabulous Cricut challenge blog and their great "Melon Time" challenge, I have a couple quick tips on how to cut a watermelon with your Cricut without using a watermelon image.

I've used some basic shapes to create 4 different kinds of watermelons. Starting in the upper left corner are a pair of parentheses. Almost every basic font cartridge with have a parentheses cut. Next are some little piece I will use later as the seeds. You can cut small leaves, commas, or raindrops for seeds. Of course you can use two slightly different sized triangles to make a watermelon slice. On the bottom left are a pair of "U"s from the Cuttin' Up cart, but any U will do. And last are a pair of circles in slightly different sizes.

Here are the images laid out on the Gyspy according to color. Upper left I cut out in red. Upper left I cut out in black. And the bottom I cut out in green. Easy peasy.

Here are the cuts all laid out. Remember to keep the negatives too, you will need them later.

I have layered the circles, glued them together and cut down the middle. Instant two watermelon slices.

For the parentheses and the "U" I saved the negative paper and cut a slice of red from that. It will fit perfectly with the green part to make a slender slice!

Here are all the watermelon slices lined up. On the left are slices with the seed cuts glued on top. On the right are slices with the seeds colored in with a Sharpie. Either way is real cute!!

I was inspired to make these "think outside the cut" creations because I only had 1 watermelon cut on all my cartridges. So if you don't have the image you want, you can always create it another way!

FCCB Challenge #70 : Melon Time

Hello everyone! I am so thrilled and excited to be the Guest Designer today at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.

This week's challenge is "Melon Time" : make a project with fruit or a melon on it!

Melons feel so summer to me! So I decided to make a picnic tote and matching cup with watermelons and fruit.

I was shopping with my mom at Michael's and she spotted this tote for $3. I couldn't pass it up. I knew I wanted to make an altered project for this challenge. What would be cuter than a picnic tote! I bought some vinyl at Expressions Vinyl to layer on my tote.

The watermelons are cut from A Child's Year Cricut Cartridge. The black flourishes are from Cindy Loo. And the lemon wedges are from Gypsy Wanderings.

For the tag I cut the same watermelon and lemon wedges. I added a cherry from Gypsy Wanderings too. The letters are from Cuttin Up and the flourish is from Cindy Loo.

And of course I needed a drink cup to go with my tote! Same images just layered in with my cup. All the images were cut using the same sizes. I clicked the "quantity" button on my Cricut Expressions and cut out multiples. Easy peasy.

Thanks for joining me at Fantabulous Cricut! Can't wait to see all your melon and fruit creations! And great big thank you to Fantabulous Cricut for featuring my designs today.



Spotlight Sunday at Fantabulous Cricut

I am happy and delighted to be featured today at Fantabulous Cricut for Spotlight Sunday.

I just LOVE this challenge blog. There's a new post everyday! Each day has a theme:

Spotlight Sunday

Challenge Me Monday

Quick Tip Tuesday

Wednesday's Winners

Thursday's Tutorials

Fantabulous Friday

Scrappin' Saturday

I'm always inspired to see what's new!

Thanks FCCB for featuring me today. I'm so thrilled to be a member of this super talented Design Team. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see what the design team and I have created for the next Challenge Me Monday.

If you want to become a FCCB fan, grab their blinkie and post it on your blog!

Packing for Vacation

I have been feverishly packing these last couple days. My extended family goes on a family trip every summer and next week we go to Minnesota. I am so excited to spend the week with my family relaxing, swimming, playing with the kiddos, and crafting of course!! For the last 5 vacations, my mother and I have packed crafts for all of us to do. We have made our own flip flops, created jewelry, croquet flowers and made totes, and every year we make a Christmas ornament. It is so FUN!! All the ladies participate and we have such a blast chatting and crafting.

This year my mom, my aunt, and I are all bring our Cricuts!! And of course all of our crafts have to do with Cricuts. Hehe. It's gonna be great.

Here are some sneak peak pics of my prep.

I will be posting Sunday and Monday for sure! After that I hope to have some vacation pictures to share!

A special thank you to my grandparents and Aunt Julia. We couldn't do these trips without you. We are all so blessed to do this together every year. THANK YOU!!

Fantabulous News!!

Hey everyone, I have the most fantabulous news!! I have been chosen as a Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Design Team member!! Yes that's FCCB for short. I am going to be creating fantabulous Cricut designs with the most wonderful women! Thank you Robin and Amy Jo for the opportunity. I am looking forward to making fairytale dreams of crafting delights come true!

Check out FCCB and see the daily inspirations. There is always something new and exciting to learn. To check out the other DT members click here!

Fairy and Butterfly Wind Chime

My craft room is decked out with fairy statues and fairytale items I've been collecting since my childhood. It's my happy space and these things make me happy! It reminds me of my youth and of whimsy and delight. Keeps me creating whimsical and delightful creations!

I came up with this wind chime idea while napping on the couch with my daughter. She was very into Disney TV and I was spacing out. (One can only see those shows so many times before the brain melt starts!)

I started with a cut from the new Flower Shoppe Cricut cartridge. I cut "Fun4" at fit to page. I taped the flower together to give it it's 3D shape. Then I cut an image from the Paper Lace cart both in chipboard and white cardstock. I hot glued my new Paper Lace "bracket" inside the flower.

This is what the top of my wind chime looks like upside down.

I cut two different fairies from A Child's Year cart and butterflies from Paper Lace in varying sizes. I attached them to 24 inches of green and turquoise ribbon with glue and hot glue. At the bottom of the ribbons I attached varying sizes of flowers from the Mother's Day Bouquet cart. In between the flowers I hot glued a penny for weight. Lastly, I attached rhinestones along the ribbon for some sparkle.

For the top of the wind chime I glued a variety of Mother's Day Bouquet flowers in varying sizes and colors.

I took these pictures outside on my deck. My neighbors beautiful garden is the perfect backdrop for these photos.

Recipe

Cricut Cartridges : A Child's Year, Flower Shoppe, Paper Lace, Mother's Day Bouquet

Paper : Basic Grey "Urban Prairie" and My Mind's Eye "Where the Heart Is"

Ribbon : $1 bin at Michael's

Rhinestones : The Paper Studio Gemstones from Hobby Lobby

I am entering this project at My Pink Stamper for her design team. The challenge was to make anything Cricut with the colors orange, turquoise, green and brown.

I had a lot of fun making this fairy and butterfly wind chime. This morning my son said "I really like your hanger mom, can I have it." To impress a 4 year old boy is compliments enough.

"You're the Best Around" Card

I made this card for my brother for his birthday. We grew up watching Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Karate Kid. So I made this card with Karate Kid in mind. I love the "pow" fist!! 

And of course the words "You're the Best ... Around" come from the theme song. Gotta love 80s movies!

I welded the words together with the Blackletter Cricut cartridge. The pow and fist are from Indie Art. 

"Camping Fun" Layout

Growing up, my family went camping every summer. We've been out east to Boston, south to Florida, north to Canada and west to Yellowstone. I have the best memories of my brother, sisters, and parents in our pop-up camper. And we have some pretty killer photos of that time too! We had the big hair, the even bigger glasses...and yes...I rocked a fanny-pack for several summers. I'd never scrapbook any of those pics - EVER.

I was inspired by the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge for this layout. Nothing says camping like cute adorable woodland creatures. I tried to make them less whimsical and more rustic by using some awesome paper. I used the following paper recipe:

My Mind's Eye : "Where the Heart Is"

DCWV : "Linen Closet"

Echo Park : "Summer Days" and "Splash"

I started by welding the phrase "Camping Fun" with my Gypsy. I used fonts from A Child's Year and Cindy Loo Cricut cartridges.





Next I cut out these four adorable critters in all layers from Create a Critter in varying sizes. I had them surround the campfire (I hid the face that suppose to cut out in the fire using the Hide function in my Gypsy). Can't you hear them singing camp songs! LOL. 

 

The little raccoon wanted to hang out by the photo mat. For the tent I welded a tepee with a rectangle with my Gypsy. I kerned the rectangle so it slanted and fit the tent shape. I don't know what I would do without my Gypsy. I love doing all sorts of crazy things with it.

I used a ton of Colorbox Chalk Ink all over these guys. Really adds some depth and character. A couple brads, another photo mat, and some scenery trees cut from the Christmas cart and I'm done.

I am showcasing this 8x8 layout at Fantabulous Cricut (challenge : outdoor/camping theme), My Craft Spot (ink it up) and at Pumpkin Spice (show two different paper company papers).

Round Paper Lace Thank You Card

This round cut from the Paper Lace Cricut cartridge was so cute I knew I needed to make it into a shaped card. I used my Gypsy to weld the shadow feature into a card. Then I cut the base lace twice on coordinating My Mind's Eye paper. I pieced the turquoise paper over the green paper, shaping and bending the leaves forward for a more dimensional look.

I used a Papertrey Ink die and stamp to make the tiny "Thanks" tag. Added some rhinestone bling and done!

For the inside of the card, I used the negative cut of the bird and made a "stencil" with ink daubers. Then I stamped some more "Thanks" and added some more bling.

I'm showcasing this card at the Cricut 360 Challenge blog. Challenge : circle thank you card. This card was a bit putsy to make, but I think it turned out super cute!