Core Challenges #1 - Hexagons, Whales, and Colors, oh my!

Okay, so when I started this challenge I felt super inspired. When I finished this challenge, I felt super defeated. I pulled this card apart like 4 times trying to get it right, but I'm not super duper pleased with it. I LOVE what Lydia did with the challenge. Hmm. Oh well. It's still okay. :)

Here is the inspiration photo:

Recipe:

• Core'dinations Roy-G-Biv 6x6 stack™
• D-stress by Imaginisce™
• Cuttlebug Folders:
• Swiss Dots™
• Seeing Spots™
• Tiny Bubbles™
• Argyle™
• D'vine Swirl™
• Glossy Accents™
• Crate Paper: Little Boy Blue™
• Cricut Cartridges:
• Gypsy Wanderings™
• Art Deco™
• i-rock by Imaginisce™
• Glam rocks in Pearl by Imaginisce™

You Make My Rainy Day Bright

I. Love. ShopPumpkin Spice.

I. Also. Love. 3 Birds On Parade.

Haha! I'm SO sorry if two of the chubbiest cute blue birds in a row are too much, but I just love them! This was actually the first card I made and I made it for Shantaie. 

I won her blog candy which was 3 Birds on Parade and I have been having a lot of change going on in my life and it's been pretty hard on me. I'm a creature of habit. Husband got new job, new car (that's the fun part), moved out of our house in 5 days flat... just a lot for me. I know that we're right where we are supposed to be and change is sometimes hard, but there is SOOO much to be thankful for EVERY day. And when I won that blog candy I teared up and I wanted to let her know that on a rough day, her generosity was the thing that made me smile from ear to ear. 

Everything on this card came from Shop Pumpkin Spice except for the crinkled ribbon.

This also might be one of my favorite cards I have ever made.

Recipe:

• Cartridge: 3 Birds On Parade™
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots™
• Patterned Paper: 
• My Mind's Eye: Lost and Found Two: Sunshine "Memories" Blossoms Paper™ (yellow stripe)
• My Mind's Eye: Lost and Found Two: Sunshine "Lovely" Sewing Paper™ (blue polka dot)
• My Mind's Eye: Lost and Found Two: Sunshine "Two of Us" Lovely Paper™ (newsprint)
• Solid Cardstock:
• Core'dinations Vintage Collection: Autumn™
• Core'dinations: Tim Holtz Kraft Core™
• Stickers: My Mind's Eye: Lime Twist: Happy Go Lucky "Together" Alphabet™
• Ribbon from Kris Swain's Etsy Store in Bright Teal (please let her know I sent you if you purchase some from her! Thank you!)

ALSO, SHOP PUMPKIN SPICE now has Echo Park Times and Seasons, WINTER PARK, AND STYLE ESSENTIALS in stock and ready to ship for ridiculously good prices! Check it out!!!

Have a BEAUTIFUL day! 

Nuts about You!

Hello! I pulled out last year's Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg for this entire card! Remember to pull out last year's collections and mix them into new ones if you would like! I got this from Pumpkin Spice and you can click on the links in the recipe to take you to the page where you can get individual sheets. :)

Recipe:

• Cartridge: Create a Critter™
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folders: 
• Swiss Dots™
• Leafy Branch™
• Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Punny-licious™ 
• Patterned Paper:
• Cosmo Cricket: Nutmeg "Acorn"™ (blue and green background)
• Cosmo Cricket: Nutmeg "Cinnamon"™ (pink and acorn red)
• Cosmo Cricket: Nutmeg "Clove"™ (red)
• Cosmo Cricket: Nutmeg "Maple"™ (brown)
• Burlap from my stash
• White Gel Pen
• Ink: Momento in Rich Cocoa™
• My ATG Gun of course! 
• Foam dimensionals 

I made this for the Cricut Circle Magazine challenge of using Cosmo Cricket, at least three Cricut Cuts (squirrel, acorn, and 6 leaves), and embossing! 

Core'dinations Color Challenge! :)

This is my first time participating in a Core'dinations Challenge. I am excited about it! It's a color challenge. Check it out HERE.

I made a 3x3 card.

Recipe:

• Cartridge: Kate's ABC's™
• Cuttlebug Folder: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™
• Paper:
• Core'dinations Nostalgia Pack
• October Afternoon
• i-rock™
• Hot Rock Compact in Jewel™
• Crinkled Ribbon: Kris Swain's Etsy Store in Sunflower (let her know I sent you if you decide to buy there please! :) 
• Glossy Accents
• Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Artful Delight - Thank You Snail

This is another card I made with the Artful Delight August Card Kit! 

I don't know if there are any left, but there might be one or two. 

Recipe:
Artful Delight August Card Kit
Things not in the kit:
pink cheek paper
Cuttlebug Folder: Swiss Dots™
Cartridge: Birthday Bash™
white gel pen
i-rock™
Hot Rock Compact in Pink, Black, and Clear™ (antennae)
Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Sweet Baby™
Ink: Momento in Rich Cocoa™

Make sure you play in the sketch challenge HERE as you could win next month's kit!!!

Artful Delight July Kit - Moo-chas Gracias!

While you are reading this, I am or will be shortly on a plane to CHA!!! I am so excited! I'm so sorry if I haven't gotten back to your comments recently, but I will most likely be more off than on the internet for the next week too! After CHA I am road-tripping with my best friend Kourt (yes, both C/Kourt's will be at CHA - double trouble!) to our other close friend's Michelle's! It is going to be a crazy-fun week!

This thank you card is for a couple of friends who had us over to dinner! Here in San Francisco, we are in to CSA's (community supported agriculture), Farmer's Markets, and organic meat shares. Our friends had just gotten their portion of a cow they had put money into and had us over for hamburgers with all the fixin's! It was SO good and so much fun! So I thought this card would make them laugh even though it's a bit of dark humor. I hope it doesn't offend anyone! 

MOO-chas Gracias! 

There is only one kit left and it is selling for $32.50 + $7.50 shipping (if you only do a single month purchase. It decreases if you buy multiple months!)

Recipe:

Cartridge: Create a Critter™ (cow and grass)

Cuttlebug Folder: Swiss Dots™

Patterned Paper:

Jillibean Soup: Watermelon Gazpacho Soup “Ice Cubes”™ (yellow check)

My Mind’s Eye: Lime Twist: Fly a Kite “Spring” Stars Paper™ (green dots)

My Mind’s Eye: Lime Twist: Fly a Kite “Genuine” Sky Paper™ (clouds)
Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Even More Punny-licious™

White Gel Pen

Raffia from Michael's

Ink: Colorbox in black

Foam Dimensionals

There are still a couple of June kits left - a rare event - and they are now selling for $23.50 + $7.50 shipping. You can get it HERE. 

My First Guest Design Post for My Mind's Eye!

Hello! 

I am SO excited to show you two of the projects I have been working on for My Mind's Eye! But because there was YET another FABULOUS collection released today, it got pushed back to this evening! :) So here is a sneak peek and some of you already got the full thing! :) When I get the okay to launch, I will re-post it up here! :) 

 Close-up:

I'll be back later with all the information! :) 

Beach Day Layout

For the Cricut Circle Crop there was a Crops of Love donation. We were asked to make two page layouts in a variety of different themes. They are given to the families and children who are going through terrible things and are granted a wish - like a beach day. So then they take scrapbooking donations and put in the pictures and give them to the families. What a wonderful thing to cherish as times get harder for them. I chose the beach theme!

The elements on the right page don't look straight, but trust me, I measured them from all angles and they are as straight as can be! 

I will have to add links to the recipe for this tomorrow because I am exhausted and need to go to sleep. But here are the highlights:

Recipe:

• Patterned Paper: Imaginisce: Animal Crackers
• Cartridges: Everyday Paper Dolls, Cake Basics, and Designer's Calendar
• Stickers from My Little Shoebox
• Cardstock: Coredinations Paper and Paper Trey Ink
• Embossing: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder
• pom-pom ribbon: My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy
• Splatter paint is Smooch in Carrot Cake
• Crop-a-dile and eyelets
• i-rock by Imaginisce
• Hot Rock Compact in Jewel 

PKS Guest Designer - Woodland Themed Party - Banner

This is the last day as a Peachy Keen Guest Designer and it certainly has gone by quickly!!! Thank you SO much to Peachy Keen for having me! I hope you all enjoyed my projects!

This week's Let's Face it Friday challenge is to use a banner on your project or make a banner, etc. Hop on over to Peachy Keen to see the prize that you could win for playing along! It's on my Peachy Keen wish list! 

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :) 

Close ups of the banner:

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :) 

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :) 

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :) 

ALL of the paper I used came from Pumpkin Spice! They are all things My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, and so much more! Definitely check them out!

Recipe:

• Cartridges: Create a Critter™, Sweethearts™(tree), Birthday Bash™ (banner, letters, balloons)
• Embossing: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™, A2 D'vine Swirl Emboss Folder, A2 Argyle Emboss Folder™
• Stamps: Peachy Keen Stamps 755 ™, Peachy Keen Stamps 490™
• Cardstock: 
• PaperTreyInk (True Black, Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate)
• Cricut (green for the tree)
• Paper: 
• My Mind's Eye: Stella and Rose: Mabel "Joy" Woodgrain Paper™
• My Mind's Eye: Good Day Sunshine: "Writing on the Wall Paper"™
• My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy: True Blue "Daydream" Paper™
• My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy: True Blue "Splendid" Paper™
• My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy: Tickled Pink "Radiant" Paper™
• My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy: Tickled Pink "Delighted" Paper™
• My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy: Tickled Pink "Lovely" Paper™
• i-rock by Imaginisce™
• Glam Rocks in Pearl™
• (for the cheeks) Design Memory Craft: Mix and Match Sampler™
• Black Sharpie 
• White Gel Pen
• Ink: Colorbox in black
• Twine from the Twinery in Caribbean™
• Stickles in Christmas Red and Waterfall™
• Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares™
• Glossy Accents
• Ribbon from my stash
• Crop-a-dile
• Eyelets
• Foam Dimensional Tape

drum roll please.......................................

For my Friday giveaway and the last of my blog-aversary prizes is a YourStory machine! I LOVE my YourStory and bought one just for one of you!!! 

Thank you SO much for taking this journey with me! I just started crafting in January of 2010 and from then until now it has been such a wonderful adventure. I have met SO many wonderful people and new friends! You all encourage me every day! 

PKS Guest Designer - Woodland Themed Party - Thank You

Day 4 already...?... Thank you SO much for all of the support you have shown for my Woodland Critter Party Theme! I am so glad you all are enjoying it!

Naturally you need THANK YOU NOTES as guests are always so generous! So wouldn't this be a fun one to show up in the mail? 

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :) 

I used the Critter Faces again - PK-755:

Recipe:

• Cartridges: Create a Critter™, Wild Card™
• Embossing: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™
• Stamps: Peachy Keen Stamps 755 ™, My Pink Stamper: Sweet Baby™
• Cardstock: PaperTreyInk (True Black, Spring Rain, and Summer Sunrise)
• Paper: My Mind's Eye: Stella and Rose: Mabel "Little Lady" Fine Flowers Paper™(both the blue on the bird and the card base), My Mind's Eye: Stella and Rose: Mabel "Joy" Woodgrain Paper™,  My Mind's Eye: Good Day Sunshine: "Quite a Connection Paper" (red for the party hat)™,  My Mind's Eye: Holly Jolly "Holiday Plaid" Paper™(leaves)
• i-rock by Imaginisce™
• Glam Rocks in Pearl™
• Black Sharpie 
• White Gel Pen
• Ink: Colorbox in black
• Buttons from October Afternoon and My Mind's Eye™
• Twine from Paper Trey Ink™
• Stickles in Christmas red™
• Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares™

I have SUCH a huge treat for you today in the way of the prize you can win. When I went to CHA in January I stayed with Robyn (My Pink Stamper), Karlee, and Tammy Skinner (Creative Critters Cricut Club) -  names you probably know. But I also stayed with two fabulous blog-less ladies (we keep trying to get them to start blogs!!!) who are best friends with Tammy. Angela and Myrel.

Now, they are both extremely talented and Myrel makes Gypsy bags!!! They are SO adorable. This is the one she made for me (I JUST LOVE IT) and it's on its way to me right now so that is not my Gypsy, it's Myrel's.

My Gypsy (named Benjamin Franklin because I bought it for $100) has a green cover - and you know how I feel about green - so Myrel made me this one with the green wording!! Benjamin is going to feel SO loved in this! Isn't this the cutest thing that you ever did see???


Now, she has offered to make one for one of YOU!!! I couldn't be more excited about this giveaway! THANK YOU MYREL!!! If you aren't the super lucky person who wins this gift, then you can contact Myrel at myrelf@aol.com about ordering one for yourself. 

Remember to leave a comment! Join me tomorrow for the project that definitely took the longest to make!

Guest Design Post for Monique Griffith Designs!

I am SO thrilled and honored to be a guest designer for my good friends Monique and Wendy! Pop on over to their blog: Monique Griffith Designs and say hello there too if you would like! Monique sells these FABULOUS layout and card kits that the 4 women come up with. They are ever-so talented and I know you will feel inspired there too! 

 I will be going to Monique's Crop for the Cure on May 1st and hopefully some of their future events! If you are in the San Francisco - Sacramento area you should definitely check them out! They are worth traveling for! Monique holds regular classes too if you are interested!

If you are going to be at the Crop for the Cure, say hello! I'll probably be one of the only redheads there! Well, that depends on what color Monique's hair is going to be... but something tells me pink! :) 

Thank you ladies for having me today! 

I wanted to make something Easter themed since Easter is this Sunday so I hope you enjoy some last minute inspiration and I hope you get to spend some wonderful quality time with your family.

Monique, Wendy, and I are HUGE fans of Echo Park so I was excited to pull out their Springtime collection and have some fun!

Wendy and I are on My Pink Design Team together so I wanted to use some of Robyn's stamps as well. As per usual, I picked up everything from Pumpkin Spice! She is having a sale this weekend - If you buy 4 of Robyn's stamp sets, it's $60! That's $15 each! What a steal! Coupon code is: HappyEaster!

I can't believe I didn't fit any Imaginisce on there! The bling queen is going to be so disappointed in me! (Wendy is the self-proclaimed "bling queen"!) Okay, next time I will BLING it out! 

Designer's Notes

I used my Stickles to put little dots in the middle of all of the polka dots so that it sparkles. It's a fun way to make a big print look like a smaller print.

Who says you can't have two types and colors of ribbon on one project. Have fun! It's YOUR creation!

Recipe:

• Cartridges: Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More™ (favor bag), Sentimentals™ (stamp shape), and Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art™ (remember to use those Cake carts in your normal Cricut!)
• Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: More Faithful Sayings™
• Embossing: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™ 
• Paper: Echo Park Springtime™
• Scalloped Border: It's a sticker from Echo Park's Springtime!
• Stickles
• Ribbon: the yellow and white are Offray I believe. The purple is from my stash.

I loved being a guest designer this week! Have a beautiful day everyone and Happy Easter!

Little Cutie Release Party - Boy

Welcome to the Little Cutie release party for boys!

Make sure to hop over to the Imaginisce blog to see all of the wonderful inspiration we have brought you!

We have a new little cousin in the family and his name is Braydon so this will be headed his way soon! But I wanted to share it with you first! I took the block shaped card from the Wrap it Up cartridge and used the hide/contour feature to hide the letter "A". Next I took the "B" from Storybook and made it the appropriate size and slanted it so that it would look like it belonged on that side of the cube. The rest was easy peasy! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at any time!

I have to say that I had the HARDEST time putting the canvas stickers on this card as they are SO adorable that I wanted to hoard them forever. But we all know that doesn't get us anywhere so I just had to use them. Check them out! They are so darling.

Recipe:

Imaginisce: Little Cutie: "Snips and Snails" and "Boy oh Boy"™

Little Cutie: So Adored Baby Canvas Stickers™

Imaginisce: i-rock™

Imaginisce: Hot Rocks Compact in Jewel™

Cartridges: Wrap it Up™ and Storybook™ 

Gypsy™ (on sale for $99!)

Glossy Accents™

******************

This card was inspired by my sweet friend June. Over at Betty Bee's Buzz where I am a DT member, we had a baby week last week and June used the little lamb from Wall Decor and More. I had forgotten about it and just think it is darling. So she inspired me to pull it out and use it! 

I have to say that I am very excited about this card. Usually I don't put too much stuff on a card, but this one has a lot of detail. 

Recipe: 

Imaginisce: Little Cutie "Snips and Snails"™

Imaginisce: Little Cutie Baby Babble Boy Sticker Stacker™

Imaginisce: Little Cutie Mommy's Little Boy Chipboard Sticker™

Imaginisce: Teddy's Toy Box Boy Die Cuts™

d-stress by Imaginisce™

Cartridge: Wall Decor and More™

Embossing: Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™

Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Sweet Baby™

Twine from the Twinery in Cappuccino™

Core'dinations cardstock from the Nostalgia pack™

Paper Trey Ink: Lemon Zest cardstock™

ribbon from my stash

White gel pen

fine tip Sharpie in brown

Ink is Momento in Cocoa™

Make sure to hop over to the Imaginisce blog to enter into the giveaways where you could win the ENTIRE collection! 

October Afternoon, Pink Paislee, AND My Mind's Eye???

That's right! All three of these fabulous companies are in the April Kit for Artful Delight along with chipboard from Maya Road, mini clothespins and so much more! 

Today, however, the Artful Delight Design Team was asked if we wanted to participate in the challenge reveal for the Paper Variety. Of our 4 person DT, two of them are on the PV's DT too so this is fun! :) Artful Delight is also sponsoring a bunch of the challenges there where you could win the kit including this week's challenge! So play along HERE and see if you can win because it is PACKED with goodness!

The challenge is a 1, 2, 3 Recipe Challenge!

My Combination is 1 Chipboard Die Cut, 2 Words, 3 Buttons! 

Recipe:

Artful Delight: April Kit™

Cartridge: Creative Memories: Cheerful Seasons™

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Emboss Folder™

EAD Designs Paper Smooches Thank You Sentiment Rub-ons™

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I LOVE reading your comments so thank you so much for taking the time to leave them. And head over to the Paper Variety, play along, and hopefully win this kit! 

Happy Birthday!

Hello! I have been MIA for a little bit. My husband's birthday was last week and he found out he had to go on an impromptu trip to Poland and China! So the rest of my week was spent getting him ready for that and a good portion of it was at the Chinese Consulate. He left on Saturday for two weeks and I am so lonely! But luckily a friend needed help with her kiddos so I have spent the week with her gorgeous 1.5 year old and their 7 week old son. It has been so much fun! 

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN DOWN FOR PUBLICATION!!! :) 

This card is for my best friend's husband named Phil for his 27th birthday. He's just a big kid so he will love this! 

Designer's notes: I fussy cut the owl and 2 and 7 from the patterned paper that came in the kit. ***I have gotten a few questions about what fussy cut means (I love getting questions and helping out so ask me ANYTIME - You can always email me directly at the email address listed on the top right of my blog!) Here is the answer: 

Fussy cutting is cutting out anything with a pair of scissors that is not in a normal shape that you punch out. For instance, it is used a lot when stamping an image, coloring it, and then cutting out the exact figure - instead of using your Nestabilities, shape punches, or Cricut Center Point feature and cutting it out that way. So I used a pair of embroidery scissors in this case to cut out just the owl out of the pattered paper. If I had used a oval punch to simply punch it out, it would not have been "fussy cut". I hope that makes sense and thank you for asking ladies! 

I used Glossy Accents this time to make the line that twine was going to sit on to make the banner and that worked great! I got that tip from Jenny at Wee Memories. 

I also used the Glossy Accents on the party hat, balloon, nose, feet, and leaves. It definitely added a nice "pop" factor. 

Lastly, I bent the "Happy Birthday" stamp to fit the contour of the branch which worked wonderfully! 

Recipe: 

Artful Delight's March Kit (only 4 left!!!)

Twine from the Twinery in Cappuccino™

Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Sweetest Cupcakes™

Glossy Accents™

Cartridges: Birthday Bash™ (banner) and Straight from the Nest™ (branch) 

Cuttlebug Folders: Swiss Dots™ and D'vine Swirl™

i-bond (cordless glue gun) from Imaginisce™ (to glue the rope to the card)

d-stress (sander) from Imaginisce™ (I sanded the blue edges of the banner)

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro™

This card also qualifies for the Cricut Circle's contest of a man card with three elements that they listed. I used distressing, twine and string along with two complete Cricut cuts (banner and branch).

I hope this brings you inspiration on doing boy/man cards which are hard for a lot of us! 

Don't forget to play along with Artful Delight's sketch challenge this month where you could win next month's kit! It's rumored to have papers from 3 different collections! Don't quote me on that, but I am really excited about the possibility! 

Also, Artful Delight is having a GIVEAWAY over at their Facebook Page (click on the link). Like them and let them know Courtney sent you over to say hello and good luck winning! Leeanne is always very generous! 

EAD Designs Blog Hop - Turtle Love

Hello!

I am SO sad that today is my last day of being a guest designer for EAD Designs. Thank you SO much to Emily for giving me this opportunity and to the design team for being so welcoming to me! 

Today I have a fun post made with EAD Designs Stickerz! You should have gotten here from the fabulous talented and wonderfully sweet Jenn's blog! If not, start back at the beginning at the EAD Designs blog for fun fun fun! 

Recipe:

EAD Designs Turtle Love Stickerz printed on white™

Gypsy™

Cartridge: Create a Critter™

Paper: Echo Park: Little Boy Line "Rad Plaid"™

Cardstock: Core'dinations™

Swiss Dots Embossing Folder™

White Gel Pen

Googly-eyes bought at Michael's

Now you are off to Lauren's blog! I LOVE what she does with EAD Designs stickerz! 

Valentine using Imaginisce!

So we Design Team girls wanted to create some valentines using paper that you still have. So we are trying to take the lines that you wouldn't think of and turn them into valentines. The girls have some awesome inspiration for you over at the blog and I am just showing you my simple card made from my last remaining scraps of a Cottage Christmas piece of paper! 

Recipe:

Paper: Cottage Christmas "Christmas Countdown" and Enchanted "If the Crown Fits" by Imaginisce™

Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink Vintage Creeam™

Stamp sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Love-alcious™

Cartridge: Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art™

Cuttlebug Folder: Swiss Dots™

***Scroll Down to see my first EAD post and for a giveaway!***

Be Mine

Hello to you all! It is the day after Robyn's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBYN!!!

Today at My Pink Stamper's website the Design Team has been showing you projects made with either Love-alicious or Happiest Moments AND the color pink! I LOVE the Love-alicious stamp set! I think it's fabulous. For this project, I decided to use the "Be Mine" for a card and treat box. I hope you like it! 

 Recipe:

Sentiment: My Pink Stamper: Love-alicious™

Cartridge: Cake Basics™, Tie the Knot™

Embossing folders: D'vine Swirl™ and Swiss Dots™

Cardstock: Paper Trey Ink™

Paper: Echo Park: Be Mine™

3D flowers: Roly Rosies by Imaginsice™ (LOVE these)

Twine: The Twinery

Ribbon: stash

Black bling: Want2Scrap

i-rock by Imaginisce™

Hot Rocks Crystal Compact by Imaginisce™

white and black embossing powders by A la Mode™

Heat Embossing Gun by EK Success™

Buttons: Paper Trey Ink™
The flowers were put together and adhered to the box using the i-bond™ (LOVE it!)
My d-stress™ was used on the edges of the flowers as well as smoothing out the Cricut cut of the heart.

Crop-a-dile and eyelet™

 I really love this treat box. It just makes me happy on the inside! :)

*****EDIT*****
I have been getting a lot of questions on how I made the treat box and I am SO excited that it inspired a few of you!!! So here are the instructions! :)

The box was cut from Tie the Knot on "fit to page" on a 12x12 mat using Echo Park Paper. 

Next I used my petal roller by Imaginisce to make some roly rosies. I also used the D-stress to smooth and distress the edges.

I adhered those using my glue gun to the side (flatten it out of all of the next parts - but keep putting it together to make sure you are getting things where you want them on the box - and then flatten it again) 

Then I used my i-rock and the template for swirls that comes with the green and pink flowers i-rock kit. But I used the i-rocks from the crystal compact (all links to these things are above under "recipe" except for the green and pink stencil kit which is found here: http://www.imaginisce.com/ProductDetail.aspx?id=1243). 

Lastly, I cut out a heart from the Tie the Knot cartridge (it was the "blackout feature" of the heart that says "thank you") at 1.75 inches. 

I heat embossed that with white embossing powder and of course MPS Love-alicious stamps. I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole and add a silver eyelet and then put some pink twine through it and tied it around a roly rosie. Clip the end, and you're done! :) 

Let me know if you have any more questions! I am happy to help! :) 

I made the card to match because the Cricut Circle is doing the month long contest where you have to "case" one of the projects on the blog along with using two cuts from the Cricut and two sponsors. My two sponsor were Echo Park Paper and Imaginisce! Here is the card I cased which was by Michele Kovack:

My card ended up a lot "busier" than hers, but all of the elements are still in there! :) 

Thank you SO much for stopping by today and make sure you pop on over to the My Pink Stamper blog to see what the rest of the DT has created! 

Train Banner for Malakai using Echo Park's Little Boy line!

I won the Little Boy Line from a contest that Echo Park Paper was having on their Facebook page. (You should go over there. They are always giving things away!) I was THRILLED because we are extremely proud Godparents to one little one year old named Malakai. Isn't he precious? I know I am biased, but seriously... 

So I wanted to make him something for his room to put on the wall above his crib. This Little Boy Collection was PERFECT! 

This picture was taken on his first birthday in October. He received a wooden train and really liked it, so that became my inspiration piece. 

I thought, why can't a banner be a train? 

Recipe: 

Paper: Echo Park Little Boy Line™

Gypsy™

Cricut Cartridges: Everyday Paper Dolls™, Cake Basics™ (letters) 

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders: Swiss Dots™, Seeing Spots™, Argyle™, and OMC Exclusive Checkerboard™

Buttons, Twine, Stickles in "Waterfall" and "Christmas Red"™

Glossy Accents™

Crop-a-dile™

Adhesive: Glue Arts™

Instructions:

I used my Gypsy to make the cars with the yellow stripes show some of their holes and others with no holes. *Note* You can do the rest of this without the Gypsy - You will just have holes in the cars for all of your trains.

Cut out all desired letters and their shadows using the Cake Basics™ font. 

Glue font to font shadow and apply Glossy Accents to the front of the font. Let sit overnight. *Note* This can be done last if you would like to let the whole thing sit overnight. That is what I usually do, but for this I did it ahead of time.

Cut out all cars  from solid colors (shadows) at 3.75 inches - flipping the engine and the caboose so that the train is going left to right. This is only because there is not shadow feature on the Everyday Paper Dolls Train.

Cut out all cars again from Echo Park Paper at 3.5" - Again, remember to flip the engine and caboose.

Run desired layers through the Cuttlebug using desired embossing folders. 

Next adhere the fronts of the cars to their shadow layers using your Glue Glider Pro.

Using foam dimensionals, adhere letters to their corresponding train cars. 

Add buttons as the wheels.

Punch holes through the edges using your Crop-a-dile™ and add the eyelets. 

String the twine through the holes and cut extra pieces of twine to tie on as bows in between the letters. 

Lastly, apply Stickles to the desired areas of the train - I chose a few stars on the front and the light blue stripes on the caboose. 

Give it to a little person that you love dearly!

I have received a few blog awards that are long overdue to be posted so those will be coming up shortly!

Thank you SO much for visiting today! Have a beautiful day!

Imaginisce blog hop and winner from Rockin' New Years hop!

Hello out there in bloggy world. Today I am sharing my first project made for the i-top intensive week at the Imaginisce blog where we will be showcasing different ways to use your i-top! :) 

Today Liz, Kim, and I are showing you cards using the i-top. You should have gotten here from the Imaginisce blog and now you are headed over to Kim's blog!!! 

I was trying to think of something super fun to share with you and I hope that you liked that I used the i-top for the ladybug's spots. :)

Recipe:
Cartridges: Wild Card™ (shape of the card) and Create a Critter™ (ladybug)
Embossing folders: Swiss Dots™ (Ladybug's spots) and D'vine Swirls™
Pattern Paper: Imaginisce Garden Party Collection "Brambleberry Flowers" and "Wild Flowers" from the 6x6 Paper Pad
Flowers: Imaginisce Foral Flourish- Pinks™
Solid pattern paper: Cricut™ and Core'dinations™
Stamps: My Pink Stamper: Family and Friends™
i-top™
16mm brad daddies (small)
i-rock™
Hot Rock Compacts - Crystal™
Extreme Adhesive Squares from Glue Arts™

Designer's notes:

I used my i-rock to set the stones on the top of the ladybug's antennae and the middle of the flowers.

I sanded the Core'dinations paper after embossing it with swiss dots to create the "polka dots" on the brads.

I used my Extreme Adhesive Squares from Glue Arts™ to layer and attach the flowers - they aren't going anywhere! :) 

Oh! The winner of the Rockin' New Years blog hop is my good friend Stacy! 

Stacy said...

This is super cute Courtney, love the horn on there.

Stacy, email me at CourtsCraftsBlog@gmail.com and I will get that right out to you!

Don't forget to hop on over to Kim's blog
and see what other card projects the ladies have created for you!

Don't forget to leave a comment here and on all the other blogs (including Imaginisce) for your chance to win the i-top collection!!!

Imaginisce will graciously be giving one away each day this week so be sure to do the mini hops every day on the blog! :) There will even be a "SECRET" prize on Friday! EEEk! So excited! I don't even know what it is!

Also, don't forget to play in Pinky's challenge of re-purposing an item to win $75 in Imaginisce goodies! :)