Monday, February 27, 2012

Not Quite 12...BUT so so fun

Okay I did not get 12 layouts done in 12 hours...BUT I had a wonderful time yesterday scrapping with some new friends.  I spent the day getting to know new people who I had only known via the blog world and I did make some wonderful layouts to share with you once I get the photos uploaded.  Just had to pop by and say how much fun I had.  If you want to see what others in my group got done yesterday check out...


Not only did I get to meet these wonderful bloggers but also a few other new Circle friends.  I am super happy to have had this chance and again look forwards to sharing the pages I did get done soon. Happy Monday!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Planning Planning

I get to go on an all day crop this Sunday!!!  I am super excited to get this chance to work on some scrapbook pages for the day!  I have been trying to get at least 1 scrapbook page completed every other week, but for this weekend's crop I am going to try and finish 12 layouts.
12 in 12 Hours!!
I figure the best way to get all 12 done is to be fully planned, so this week instead of creating projects I am in full on plan mode...
I have selected the photos for the pages I am going to work on..
I have drawn out some sketches for these layouts (or found ones I like)

I have also started thinking about paper selection so that I have what I need. Wish me luck.  I cannot wait to share my results with you no matter what I finish at this fun event where I get to meet all bunch of brand new people and some Circle sisters!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Butterfly Bucket


Awhile back I decorated a large toy bucket for a friend of the family. It turned out super cute and someone else in the same family asked if I could make one for a baby shower they were going to this weekend. They brought over a cute pink bucket and I added the rest using my Imagine and some printable vinyl.

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I printed out a sheet of printable vinyl using the lavender off Imagine More Cards and than cut the letters and little butterflies off Kate's ABCs. In order to add a little something to the the butterflies I used a Permapaque Silver marker on the body part of each one. Just a simple little gift for a friend of a friend.
This weekend I am doing a lot of planning for a crop I get to attend next Sunday. I want to make sure I have everything ready so I maximize my time. I am super excited to be attending and will get to know some Cricut Circle members while there!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

No Cricut Thursday #9: Paper Doll Play Time

Has anyone else bought this fun stack from DCWV?
I waited and waited to get it until it was on sale and now I am so happy I did. My daughter loves paper dolls and this stack not only has a set of 4 different dolls, complete with fun backgrounds to play in (multiple pages of each in case of ripping), but also fun scrapbook papers for me to use...maybe for photos of my kid playing with her new toy.
Anyhow I wanted the backdrop papers to be able to stand up so I did some quick work with 4 sheets of chipboard, leftover ribbon and some super sticky red tape.

I used my ATG gun and applied one backdrop set to the chipboard. Than making sure I had them lined up correctly I put strips of ribbon with the tacky tape attached and made the two pieces stick together. I made sure there was enough give so it could stand up, but not pull apart to much.  All that was left was putting on the background papers of a different doll onto the back side and cover the tape...

Super easy and it all folds up to put away very nice.  After I did this my daughter spent the rest of the afternoon engrossed in playing.  Simple and quick and wonderful. What a simple and wonderful thing!Happy Thursday!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

After Valentine's Treat Share

So I started sharing my Valentine Treat bags with you over the weekend and realized I never finished showing them off. I used the You Are stamp set from Pink By Design (store)for all my Valentine's this year. This set is just super fun and all my co-workers thought they were cute. I made 88 treat bags in all (89..one for my hubby).
I used Sentimentals to make this set:
For the "you are the icing on my cupcake" treat bags I used the cupcake off From My Kitchen and the heart from Sweet Treats. I also added Stickles to the embossed frosting and hearts.
Finally for the adorable you are the bacon to my eggs treat bags I pulled out my Kate's Kitchen Imagine Cartridge. I printed a whole sheet of the salt and pepper paper and a bunch of the wonderful breakfast plates (with bacon and eggs of course!)
What fun it was to get these all finished and handed out yesterday.  I did not put my name on them and one of the new teachers in the building,not knowing it was me who had made them was showing it off to me. "Check out how cool this is. I wonder how they made this! Did we all get these? Who made them?" I gave a huge laugh and he figured out it was me, but it totally made my day!

On a side note: Over at Pink Cricut (Sarah Hamer Designs) blog, Sarah selected the flowers I made for my friend with breast cancer as one of the featured projects from her Link-Up Party last week (she has one every week...totally check it out!) I felt so great.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day ...for me it is about family and friends and the kind of love I have for them. My husband and I actually do not really celebrate it, but every year right around this time he always gets me an "I Love You Day" gift. This is his way of saying he loves me everyday not just on Valentine's..cute right? The flowers he sent me yesterday were so beautiful!

Anyways I have a cute little gift for him as well. When making my treat bags for my co-workers I used the You Are stamp set from Pink By Design and the whole reason I bought this set was for one stamp. This is basically a statement I have used with him since meeting him in college. I had to make my hubby a little treat bag as well using this one. I even promised to make him dinner on the back!
This was made using the cheese off From My Kitchen and hearts off Love Struck 2010. I have a feeling he will get a kick out of it and love that i will be making him dinner. Out favorite meal...Mac and cheese of course!!!

I also get to add this sweet little gift to the challenge over at Paper Playtime



Sunday, February 12, 2012

Valentine's Day Treats: Part 1

Last year I made treat bags for ll my co-workers. I was not planning on doing it again, except one of my co-workers made mention on them to me a few weeks back with a cute little smirk, "I hope someone does that for us again. They were so cute!"

Well...I happen to really like this co-worker and he is not the kind of person to give compliments openly like that, so I decided to make treat bags once again...I know way to easy.
I just bought the You Are stamp set from Pink By Design. It has the most fun sayings. I have selected a few out to use on my treat bags this year. The first set of 20 was made using, "You are the milk to my cookie".
I cut out the backing piece using two different cuts from Lacy Labels (I even used Cricut Craft Room and had 2 machines going at once!) I scored each label in the center and stapled them onto the treat bags. Next I selected the gingerbread cookie and milk bottle cuts off Just Because Cards. Using my Zig Chalk Markers I added heart buttons and faces to my gingerbread men. I glued these pieces onto a separate backing and added the stamped sentiment.
Now only 60 left to finish....check back for my others in the next few days.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Balloon Gift Bag

My daughter had a fun birthday party last weekend and after we picked out the gift she gave me her design ideas for the bag we bought to wrap it in!! She is super sweet when she asks me to create bags for her, but very specific about what it should look like. This one needed a bunch of balloon, ribbon and the words Happy Birthday...oh and it needed to be red, white and pink...hopefully I did okay!!
I cut this bunch of balloons as large as my 12x12 mat would fit them off the Birthday Bash cartridge. Next I cut each balloon layer in a different pattern paper and using the Gypsy and the hide/contour button cut the dots for  one balloon in a white. I decided to emboss the polka dots using Swiss Dots.
After getting the balloons together (which a touch of ribbon on the bottom) I cut out the words using Doodletype (a great cart to work with when going big) and got them onto the bag as well. I had to have some sparkle so my i's got bling stickers and all was well with the world 9according to my daughter who was super happy when all the other girls at the party oohed and ahhed over the bag she gave her gift in!!)
I am adding this project to the Hiding in My Craft Room Color Challenge. The challenge was to use the colors red, white and pink. I meant to post this much earlier than the very last moments of the week, but at least I got it done. Happy times. Also too Really Reasonable Ribbon Ramblings.

Hope everyone is going to have a nice weekend. We have plenty of Valentine work to get done this weekend and a fun family get together so should be nice. Look forward to sharing my Valentines with you soon.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Breast Wishes Bouquet!

I am super excited to share the bouquet of flowers I made for a dear friend who just went through a mastectomy. I have to say she is so strong and is carrying so much hope and well she is just wonderful and today the good news is no chemo or radiation at this time so !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways I wanted to make her a fun gift and decided on fun paper flowers. I wanted the centers to feature the sentiments from the Breast Wishes set by Pink By Design...BUT I did not have this set and it was out of stock..BUT fail me not a wonderful member of the Cricut Circle, Karen, sent me a bunch of circles with the stamped images so I could complete my project on time!!
My favorite stamp from the set
I just cut the sunflower layer from Hello Kitty Greetings in several sizes that I knew would fit the circles I had and added the centers. After applying the center I used a glue gun and large adhesive dots to put the flowers on the sticks and place them into a foam center inside my pink bucket!
I wanted a simple image for the bucket and wen searching found the perfect cut on Gypsy Wanderings. The word hope with a simple flower embellishment was just what I needed. Add a touch of pink bling and I was all set.
I wanted to give her some little treats as well so I used some of my extra flowers and added them to a little gift bag for the chocolate yummies.
I am excited that this is getting linked-up to the Pink Cricut What are You Up to Link Party seeing as I used Pink By Design Stamps!! Also as this was a gift for a loved one I am entering it into the Circle Monthly Challenge as well Thanks again Karen and to all those Survivors out there...YOU ROCK!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Monday Planning 2

The week is starting off great. From a work prospective my student teacher is fired up about planning and ready to go..which makes is easier to start walking away form my classroom.

From a family prospective everyone is feeling good and my daughter is still super giddy over her 100 days project.

And from a crafting prospective....I am keeping to my goals...1 layout worked on last week and finished, at least 3 blog posts each week (last week I did 5 Sunday to Saturday and I already am on number 2 for this week) very successful AND NOW...I am super happy to get started on a project for a friend and have a new friend to thank for it.

I have a friend who had surgery relating to breast cancer last Friday and I wanted to make her a special gift this week to remind her how strong she is. I wanted the stamps from Pink By Design called Breast Wishes, but they are out of stock...well leave it to my Circle Sisters.  I put out a call for cut circles with the stamped sentiments inside so I could do my project and several people got back to me to help. One wonderful person, sent me all these...
Now I can not wait to get started on the flower arrangement for my friend.  THANKS SO MUCH KAREN!!! More pictures will follow when I finish up.

As for planning Monday, I am working on my treat bags for Valentines Day this week and had my Cricuts busy...I was using my E and E2 both at once (thanks to my Gypsy and Cricut Craft Room) super fun. More on those this week as well.

Hope your week is great!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Hula Hoop Girl Layout

My sketch with the hoop idea.
On Monday I started planning for a layout using photos of my daughter hula-hooping in front of the Castle at Disney World this past October. My new goal is to complete 2 layouts a month, but to work on one a little each week to help with that goal.

For this layout I had the idea of putting a bunch of hoops in the background. I found a good hula-hoop shape on Lyrical Letters (circle frame) and I played around on my Gypsy for a little bit re-sizing and shaping a bunch of them then welding them together. I should have taken a photo of the mat with the leftover cuts..it looked so cool.
Yes...All one piece!
I selected a black background and after gluing the hoop piece on I added pink letters using the Feeling Groovy font. I also cut a simple banner off Jubilee (I got rid of the heart at the end) to use for my journal box. I felt that the layout of missing something so I used the leftover pink paper and after cutting the edges off the main black page add the pink to the back.

Hope you have a wonderful week. For those rooting for a team during the Super Bowl...hope they win?? I do not care who wins this year so just off to eat BBQ and have fun with family.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

100th Day of School: 100 Flowers in a Pot

My daughter will celebrate 100 days of Kindergarten this coming week and each student was asked to create a project. They had to either glue the items onto a poster or create a model of some type. We brainstormed as a family for a long time the other night. Sophie knew she wanted me to cut her 100 things using the Cricut, but what to do...
- 100 circles with sparkles glued in the shape of a star 
- 100 hearts joined into one larger heart 
- 100 bananas with a monkey sitting on top of the pile. 
- a cut out dress with 100 polka dots painted on.

On and on we went until we got silly with ideas (on and on my hubby and I went later getting naughty with ideas)...After all was said and done she announced yesterday night that we would do....
100 FLOWERS IN A POT!!
This was one of my favorite ideas so it was very exciting. First we selected papers and flowers to cut out. I basically let her run wild in my random paper bins. We selected 4 flower cuts using Bloom and Hello Kitty Greetings and laid out the cuts on the Gypsy. After I had cut out over the amount needed, Sophie selected her 100 counting in groups of 10. Next we counted out 100 beads to use as the center of each flower.
Next came assembly. We poked holes into each flower (Sophie thought this was super fun) and set up an assembly line. I put the pipe cleaner into each flower and Sophie selected the perfect color bead for the center. When we were done with that I folded and poke the top end back into each flower and twisted. All that was left was putting them in the pot..BUT WAIT...
Sophie knows that pots can look better than that and requested letters for the front. Out came Hello Kitty Font (her and my favorite) and we added some fun white vinyl letters.
When all was said and done we had to have a photo shoot to honor the occasion. Glad we have survived 100 days of the school year (almost.) It has been hard, but she is happy!!
This is my end of the week link up to What are You Up to? with Pink Cricut.