I promise new crafts are coming

I literally just got back from sunny Puerto Rico on Monday and it has been a whirlwind week trying to catch up at work and catching up on my sleep.  I had an early flight (6am) which meant I crashed when I walked in the door (bad, bad idea!).  I'm still paying for that long nap.  But boy oh boy did I have fun celebrating the happy union of my dear friend and her adorable hubby!


Anyway, I haven't been able to take part in some of the fun challenges this week that are due tonight and tomorrow, but I promise to make them anyway.

Project 1 was for the Cricut Circle Blog Monthly Challenge...a "Kid's Play" challenge which asked me to create some sort of game for kids.  I started a Mexican loteria, but definitely won't have time to finish it within the next 45 minutes! 

Project 2 was the Cricut Circle Blog Weekly Challenge..a "Just Because" challenge which asked me to create a layout or tag or card with some everyday theme.  I'm not sure what I would have created, but I'm going to come up with something for sure!

The last project was from The Paper Variety Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  I had an old card that qualified, but I thought this concept was brilliant!  

I'm definitely going to keep this tic tac toe card for future "stuck" moments, but I'm also going to create a few of my own that include favorite embellishments, cricut cartridges, sayings.  I think they will be so fun to choose from randomly!  I'm going to challenge myself to come up with a sample for each of the 8 possible items within the next two weeks!

Taking a little crafting break

I'm currently on the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico gearing up for my best friend's wedding.

I'll be unable tl craft anything while here because I'll be too busy soaking up as much sun as I can. I don't think I'll want to leave here.

Apparently I can't upload a pic from my phone so I'll have to tease you all with a picture later.

I'll be back with something crafty later!

Blanca's Baby Shower Gift

For almost 4 years now, I have taken dance lessons at a great studio in Chicago called Latin Rhythms.  I've made some great friends and learned a lot.

One of the people I met early on was a very young instructor - trained in dance - by the name of Blanca.  There was a group of instructors in her age group and I was often left in awe of their incredible artistic beauty and seriously fit bodies.

It came as no surprise to me that Blanca was also a yoga instructor. Her calming spirit was infectious and she was effortlessly beautiful.  So I wasn't surprised to see this incredible photo of her today...

Kristie Kahns Photography

I can't even do that on my own (with my own single occupancy body)....she's super woman!

The studio and her family surprised her with a shower this weekend, so I put a little something together to add to her unique essence.

I wanted to give her a little something she could reuse but that also spoke to her creativity.  I thought a cute little alterable pail with a fun future message would be a great substitute "bag" for my gift.

I forgot to write down what papers I used, but the scrapbook baby pattern I had had these adorable little images in blocks.  I cut out the cute ducky and glued it onto a rosette.  If you've ever made a rosette, you know how difficult they can be!

See the cute baby paper?  I then added a few ribbon strands on the handle and some buttons on the blue strip I adhered to the outside of the pail.

I then added a quirky card...totally simple to make with the silhouette found on the Cricut New Arrival cartridge.  

Simple to make but what a fun effect!

The Paper Variety Challenge: Jana Eubank Sketch

I am a self-proclaimed Cricut-a-holic....and being a member of their blog means that I get see postings from Jana Eubank almost daily!

How tickled was I to see that one of her design sketches was the challenge on a separate blog that I had just discovered - The Paper Variety. I knew I was going to have to take part in this challenge, and I would need to shoot her a quick message at Provocraft to tell her thanks for sharing the sketch.  You see...I had just been emailing her the week before from my Cricut Circle challenge win.  It's funny the way the world works.

Anyway, this is the incredible sketch design she share with us.

And this is my interpretation of it!

I made this page for one the beautiful girls on the page, Marissa.  She joined me at a long crop this weekend to start her first album.  I brought a mess of supplies for her to keep and play with, and my friend Katwanya and I provided support and tips to help her along.

I had so much layering the bright colors and patterns.  Marissa thought it was awesome...and I have to admit, she was fearless in her personal layouts too.  Look at the glee on her face!

I gave Marissa the final product for her album.  She was so cute to proclaim that she hoped I would win the contest because she thought the layout was beautiful.  I told her that she will one day create pages like this...I've had not only many years of practice, but I've also discovered great sites that give me inspiration (and sketches).

Loooooved this layout.  Will have to recreate it again one day for something for me!

Cupcake Couture

About two weeks ago, the International Home & Housewares Show took place in Chicago.  I was hired to help out at two booths - a cupcake wrapper company and polish pottery.

Both of the companies I helped were based in Seattle.  How did I make this connection?  Well, funny enough...through facebook!

I know that we all sometimes hate facebook, but there are times that it amazes me.  How so?  Well, I've had the chance to reconnect with some friends from high school. In this case, a friend who has followed my crafting adventures thought I might want to connect with these women for mentorship purposes.  I jumped at the chance.

I was beyond thrilled to spend the three days with these entrepreneurs and definitely learned more than I could ever imagine about wholesale, distribution and manufacturing.  It was an exhausting three days...but it was mentally stimulating and invigorating to my full-time crafting path dream.

To show my thanks for my main contact, I made a cupcake card in one the design patter of one of her wrappers.  I didn't write down the specs for the card, but I wanted to share it anyway.  It was really cute!

I'm pretty sure the cupcake was from the Celebrations Cricut cartridge, and that I used Accent Essentials to make the various size circles for the "wrapper" design. Super quick card to make...I credit the overall look to her adorable company.  I'm not providing a link because I want to avoid any contact with her competitors.  But if you need a cupcake wrapper referral for a future party...let me know!  I know a place for ya :)


Full disclosure:  I have received payment from this company for assistance at a trade show.

It's wedding week!

Unfortunately, not my wedding, but I'm super happy for this weekend to come. One of my best friends is getting married this Friday, and I've had so much fun helping her get her paper items ready for the big day.  

One of the first items I fully finished last week was the place seating decor.  My bff is having an outdoor wedding, so we toyed around with several ideas for options that wouldn't blow away in the wind.  My research came up with a lot of fun options that were up for consideration, but the final decision was to use a vellum covered votive for a simple elegance.

Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, boy oh boy, was I surprised to discover that this was going to be a lot more work than I anticipated.

Why?  Well, I didn't take into account that the votive itself was beveled, as opposed to being completely perpendicular to it's base like a cylinder. This meant I had to find a template that had a curve built into it so that when I cut it out (yes, each wrapper had to hand cut per votive), it would wrap around easily.  MUCH easier said than done.

Thankfully, there are many DIY brides out there that are willing to share their templates.  I managed to find one that I could save onto to my desktop to manipulate.  I fortunately had downloaded a free trial of Adobe Illustrator (my DREAM software) which allowed me to manipulate the pdf template.  

The votive template I found had beautiful designs on them (clearly someone who had knowledge of graphic design, but that's not what I needed.  I just needed the outline.  So I was able to cancel out the beautiful design and lengthen the wrap so that it would fit the size of our votives.  Success!

Our vellum is soft peach in color.  Side note:  Who knew peach paper in bulk would be so hard to find.  Thank goodness for Paper and More for having it in cardstock and vellum (after much searching!).

A word to the wise regarding adhesives...

For the overall wrap, I was able to use regular double sided tape.  It shows through the seam, of course, but it'll do.  It got trickier when I wanted to attach the names and table numbers to the front.  I tried vellum tape and glue dots and both were glaringly obvious.  All I could think about were the potential photographer photos, and I was mortified at the thought of the glue showing through with the flash in pictures for years to come!

What seems to have worked beautifully (only time will tell) was the Xyron machine!  I turned each name label into an overall sticker.  This allowed for the the adhesive to be evenly spread out on the whole label which eliminated the "obvious" presence of adhesive.

Yay!  I did a test run with the tea light and the votive looks beautiful.  Once lit they will be great on the tables as the sun goes down.

I'm happy to share my template with anyone whom needs it!  Just leave me a comment below with your email and I'll shoot it over to you.

Project 16: The Rubber Cafe, Charity Wings, Crops of Luv connection

I'm purposely holding off on publishing this post until it's officially March 16th :)

As I have mentioned in past blogs, I'm one of the volunteer bloggers for a California based agency called Charity Wings.  Charity Wings helps crafters, like me, organize and/or participate in events that benefit various charitable causes.  As someone who has made a career of working in the non-profit sector, I jumped at the chance to use my creativity for community benefit.

In late January, Charity Wings broadcasted a webcast from CHA in which the "fee" paid for viewing benefited an agency called Crops of Luv based in Arizona. Crops of Luv makes scrapbook albums for families of youth who are dealing with critical illnesses. 


I've just made contact with Crops of Luv to see how I can help out from Chicago, and I plan to send them my first package next Monday.

Anyway!  During the webcast, I was the random winner selected to get a Candy Rosenberg designed stamp set from The Rubber Cafe.  This stamp set ironically benefits Charity Wings!  Of all the prizes that I could have won that weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to win this one.

The Rubber Cafe is currently hosting a challenge where we were supposed to make an "easel" card and use one of their stamp sets.  I jumped at the opportunity to learn something new and to use my great Charity Wings stamps!

How cool is this shape.  The top standing part folds out and lays on top of the base for easy shipping.

see the Charity Wings logo?! Also, please note...I used some of my brand new Copic Markers for the first time.

I heart this quote!

My supplies!  Would you believe me if I told you that I went old school on this card....NO CRICUT!  What?!  I must be coming down with something :)

• The Rubber Cafe - Cling Mount Rubber Stamp S-113 "Steampunk" Charity Wings
• Stampin Up! Classic Stampin' Pad - Soft Suede
• Stampin Up! Classic Stampin' Pad - Basic Gray
• Adirondack Lights - Acrylic Paint Dabber, Sandal
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Old Paper
• Recollections Boutique Fleur - Floral Embellishments, 170947
• Recollections Boutique Fleur - Floral Embellishments, 170945
• Kaiser Scrapbook Rhinestones - SB751 Soft Pink
• Foam dots

15 days of March = 15 new projects completed

When I started my March posts, I declared that I would try to make a project for every day of National Craft Month.  I would have ideally liked to post one each day, but that hasn't quite happened....there are often days where I post many things at once.

So today I decided to check on my count...and boy was I happy to discover that today, the 15th of March marks my 15th project (below).  How fun!  This post would have actually counted as my 16th post, but I had to take down one of my submissions on behalf of the company that will publishing it in one of it's books.  So I'll let that one slide ;)

I have a long scrapbooking crop ahead of me this weekend, so I'm hoping to make up for my time away from home next week.  I'm going to Puerto Rico for my best friend's wedding!  Woo hoo!!!!  I'll have lots to make up when I get back (unless I save some to post while away - we'll see).

I've made a lot of the stuff for my BFF's wedding, and I'll post pics of the items after I get back...I want to take pictures of  them in the full element of the wedding decor.

On to today's project!  Last week was one of my favorite kids' birthdays.  He's not my god-kid and he's not related to me, but boy do I think he's great.  March 9th marked the celebration of Finnr's 11th's birthday!  I totally missed it...but that was no excuse to leave him card-less.

So early this morning, I cranked out a simple, fun card for him to hopefully receive tonight (if dad remembered to give it to him of course).

You might be wondering why it says Red Wedge.  Well....my red-headed cutie pie is a soccer star.  He's smaller in stature but his skill level has awarded him the chance to play in older boy leagues, which only makes him appear even smaller.  But that does not stop this dynamo!  He intercepts plays like no other...he's a little red wedge in their plans.  I've only had the chance to see pics of this happening and hope to one day be on the side lines cheering my buddy along.

Red Wedge's cool mom (Chef Mel) took this pic for me....isn't he just the cutest!  I heart him!

Cricut cartridges and cuts

Ashlyn's Alphabet
block setting - "Red Wedge" - 1 inch

Celebration
[1-s] - 1.5 inches

Stamping
"happy birthday" - 1.25 inches

Cricut Circle Blog: Weekly Challenge #24 (St. Paddy's Challenge)

The Cricut Circle Blog Challenge: Use rainbow colors OR a monochromatic green color scheme on your project.  We also want to see you add a touch of gold somewhere on your project.

I can't say this is my most favorite card, but I'm just glad I was able to find some papers that would work well together. I realized that I don't have a lot of green in my inventory, so it was a bit challenging to create a monochromatic feel.  I think I did an okay job on this project, but I would have definitely liked to introduce other colors and patterns that would have complimented each other better.

Monochromatic layouts/cards are also not my strength or the style I gravitate to, so I appreciate being forced to try it out here.  I'm definitely going to have to try this out again so that I can feel better about the overall look.  I think my lack of variety of green papers held me back a little.

I heart banners but boy are they tough to use on a standard size card.

I have a pretty busy week, so I wanted to make one project for two different challenges.   This card is also qualifying for a challenge with the Paper Variety Blog.  Their challenge asked me to create a "get well" card, care package/project, or a layout about being sick, hospital stay or recovery.

This card was created for a friend who is a battling a very serious illness.  Her recovery and treatment is slow, but she's a tough little cookie.  She's even trying to plan her summer wedding through all of this....just to show you that she has NO plans of slowing down for this illness.  Her precious life is continuing as planned!  So there yucky illness!!!!

Me and my doodling again...didn't quite work out the way I wanted.  I was clearly trying to incorporate the polka dots again, and I was trying to follow the rule of three with the Kelly Green color on the page.  Eh!  I don't love it, but it works.

I also found these little gold "buttons" in my button bins....subtle sparkle.

I'm not sure if I'm going to send this card to my friend...I might need to recreate it with a different color palette.  At the end of the day, it's a new design to play around with, right?

Non-Cricut Supplies
My Little Yellow Bicycle Lucy Me Collection - LM-104, Stripe/Green Tiny Dot
DCWV - The Guy Stack
Recollections Boutique Fleur Lace Embellishments
Embroidery Floss - DMC 911
Zig Memory System - Millennium Collection (green marker)


Cricut Cartridges and cuts

Ashlyn's Alphabet

Block Setting - B, R, A, V, E (1.5 inches)
f, r, i, e, n, d - 0.5 inches
cursive My - 1 inch

Celebrations
tribannr - 1 inch
shadow, tribannr - 1 inch





Non-Cricut supplies

Cricut Magazine Challenge: February

I think it's rather fitting that my project for this challenge was so timely.

This month's magazine challenge asked us to use the Cricut Everyday cartridge (something you get when you sign up for the blog).  We were supposed to create something that we could use to define ourselves at Meet-Ups, Crops, the Stampede or any other circle event.

I knew instantly that I needed to make something that I could have at crops with me, but I didn't know what.  Then it dawned on me.  I'm known for carrying around notebooks, notepads to jot down thoughts, create lists and/or create sketches. 

For my crops, this often means pieces of loose paper are carefully guarded as I jot down my latest creation.  So I needed a place to store them.  A place where I could save all my blog posts (with pics), my submissions for publications, and my actual sketches.

So I created my own sketch binder!

sorry about the glare...it's a binder with the plastic cover to insert a cover.  I'm up-cycling something that has been sitting on my shelves for months.

This is sooooo true.

I just love the cricut "uneven" eyes and quirky smile.

self-aware of my illness

side pocket for all the loose idea sheets

my tabs

When I envisioned making this project, I made myself add a "published" section in the hope that I would one day move one of my creations to that section.  Well, I'm super thrilled to say that as I was finishing this up last night, I received an email from Provocraft letting me know that they wanted to use one of my submissions in a future Birthday Idea book.

Holy What?!  The crazy thing is that the card they selected was the VERY FIRST card I had sent them!  Here's hoping I have similar luck for future publications! 

For their future Birthday Idea Book - I had submitted three cards and honestly didn't think I stood a chance at all!

For their future Card Idea Book - I submitted 10 cards, so here's hoping I have increased my odds of getting published a second time!

Supplies
DCWV - The Ultimate Premium Stack (green background paper from the Fall section, cut 10x11 inch) 
DCWV - The Green Stack
The Paper Company - White Cardstock Sheets
Paper Source - Chocolate cover weight paper
DCWV - The Guy Stack
K&Company, Marcella by K - Wedding Floral Accents

Cricut Everyday
cake-s -- 5 inches
cake -- 5 inches
album, font 1 -- 1 inch
cake, phrase -- 1.5 inches
circle -- 3 inches
cricut2, layer 1 -- 8 inches & 8.25 inches
screen, phrase -- 3.25 inches

Platin Schoolbook
cover title (Nubia's Sketches) - 1 inch
inside title (ideas), roly poly settin - 2 inches

I'm getting published!!!!

My hands are shaking so much I can barely type this, but I'm super excited to report that I just got an email from Cricut (Provocraft) letting me know that they want to publish one of my cards!

I'M GETTING PUBLISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was asked to remove the photo until after the book is published.  I'll repost later :)


The crazy part is that this was the very first card I sent them!  I'm in complete shock...super happy...crying tears of happiness...and my stomach has butterflies that are in a frenzy.

This is a feeling I always want to have! Everyone should feel happy like this all the time. Holy moly!

Cricut Weekly Challenge #23: Guy Stuff

First of all, welcome to all my new followers!  I was totally stunned to see the number increase today.  You all have made my day!  Please do leave your comments/feedback/suggestions as I know that my love for the craft has only increased due to the inspiration of other blogs and the comments left.

So many, many GRACIAS from me!

If you are new and haven't yet noticed, I'm OBSESSED with my Cricut Expression.  I honestly can't believe I waited so long to invest in one and now can't imagine scrapbooking/cardmaking without it!

As a member of their blog, I get the chance to take part in a lot of cool challenges which keep me constantly creating something new.

This week's challenge was to:
Incorporate at least three of the following types of materials on your project. (Hardware items, stars, raw cardboard or chipboard, twine, string, paint, buttons, staples, or distressed edges)

Hee hee hee....this card makes me chuckle.  I can already imagine myself sending this to some of my guy friends who are new dad's to beautiful little girls. I know that any boy that tries to date their daughters will have no chance what-so-ever. (Sorry about the font, I can't seem to take out the italics!)

My supplies:

Paper Source stamp- "You have no chance in hell"

Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabber - Sandal color

Embroidery floss

buttons

kraft paper

plain colored carstock

Martha Stewart Art & Craft Marker set

Cricut cuts and cartridges

Storybook

Marquee4 - 4.75 inch

Plantin Schoolbook

word boys, roly poly setting: 1.75 inch

the last submission for the Cricut Card Idea Book 2011 - woo hoo!

A simple birthday card for the Spanish speaker in your life.  This is card #10 that I submitted for possible publication to Cricut.  I had set a personal goal of designing 10 cards to submit and just made the deadline.  Whew!  I'm exhausted!

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
DCWV - The Green Stack
Paper Source cardstock - pool color
Foam dotz
3/8 inch grossgrain ribbon

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Plantin Schoolbookletters, roly poly setting - 1/2 inch

Accent Essentials
Accent30 - 2.5 inches
Accnt44s - 1 inch

Winter Woodlandbldg3, font shadow - 1 inch
gloves, font shadow - 1 inch
Deer1-s, font shadow - 1 inch
Bird2, font shadow - 1 inch
LetItSnow, font shadow - 1 inch

Love note for your fella

Making cards for men can sometimes be real tough.  I find that a lot of the paper I purchase is pretty feminine and that the more masculine feel stuff tends to not seem up to par.  That is, until I discovered the vintage and distressed looks.  There are so many great options to help you create something special for that special guy in your life. 

This card is something I would give my fella...just because, it's our anniversary, or because it's Valentine's Day because at the end of the day, the message is still the same --- I love you more than I did last year!

stitching and staples

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
DCWV - The Old World Stack
The Paper Company - Natural Fashion Colors
Embroidery Floss - DMC 334
Stampin' Up Mat Pack - helps create stitch line
Studio G - Alphabet Stamp Set, Series 3
Classic Stampin' Pad (Stampin' Up) - Basic Gray
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood
Tim Holtz min-stapler

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Plantin Schoolbookheart, roly poly
3.5 inch
3 inch
2.5 inch
2 inch
1.5 inch

square - 4 inch

side note: as I keep staring at this card, I was inspired to think of all my Physician friends.  Perhaps rather than stitching straight across, I should instead try creating a "heartbeat" stitch.  Ooooooh! The wheels are turning!

This card makes me laugh - the U Suck! card (cricut mag submission)

Most of us can remember that time when you found out one of your friend's was moving.  If it happened to be yoru BFF in grade school or high school...then it seemed like the end of the world.  With them help of the cute High School Stack from DCWV (I love the wide-ruled paper I used as my background), I was able to recreate the doodling that would occur when emotions were at play and I could do nothing to change the fact that my BFF was leaving me 4eva!

I chuckle every time I look at this card!  It feels so familiar!

I promised myself that this was the year that I would experiment with doodling.  This "wide-ruled" paper from the DCWV High School Stack was the perfect opportunity and reason to whip out the sharpie!

I've also forced myself to play with textures and layers.  When I first started scrapbooking, I would keep things flat for the purpose of being able to archive without damaging my photos.  While still important when appropriate, I've given myself a lot more freedom to add depth (physical) to my work.

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
DCWV - The High School Stack
Paper Studio - Blue cardstock
The Paper Company - Chocolate Linen Textured Cardstock
Permanent marker - black
Foam dots

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Plantin SchoolbookU - 3.5 inches
U, shadow - 3.5 inches

Ashlyn's Alphabetsuck!, block - 1.25 inches
4, block - 3/4 inches

The Elisa inspiration - Thank You

This card submission for Cricut was really inspired by a friend of mine - Elisa.  She had made a card that used a scallop punch (of the same size) layered on top of each other to make a 3-D flower.  Her color palette is often monochromatic, so I when I decided to use her inspiration in my own way, I felt it was only right to please her visual palette (perhaps she might see it in her mailbox one day).

it's very vintage-like

I'm really trying to stand out as I make my cricut card submissions - so I'm pulling out the spanish stamps wherever I can!

Look at the layers on the paper flower on top of the lace.

This is me trying to be artsy in my photography.  LOL.  I really need to take some classes on how to best take pics for this blog.

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
DCWV - The Lace & Linen Stack
Stampabilities stamp - Gracias
Lace trim - about 8 inches
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tattered Rose & Vintage Photo
Recollections brads - copper mini cricles
small cream button - about 3/8 inches

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Storybookclover, shadow

1.75 inch
1.5 inch
1.25 inch
1 inch
0.75 inch

Marquee4, Shorty/Holes

4.25 inch
4 inch

Feliz Aniversario - Cricut Card Idea Book submission #5

Sorry for all the crazy posts today :)  My goal is to submit at least 10 designs to the cricut call out, and they are due tomorrow.  I've been writing down designs for the past week and have been busy trying to create them.

This is submission #5....I'm trying to give myself a fighting chance of getting published and I have no idea how often they ask for submissions, so this may be it for the year (who knows!).

Anniversary cards are really hard to find, so I wanted to make something simple that could be replicated in various colors and papers.  Because I've really gotten into Kraft paper, I also tried to add paper that complimented the natural texture and color of the kraft paper.

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
The Paper company - Natural Fashion Colors
DCWV - The Luxury Stack
DCWV - The Guy Stack
2 cream buttons (1/2 inch)
5/8 inch ribbon (orange)
Recollections brads - copper mini cricles
Distress ink - Vintage Photo

Stampin' Up! Frases basicas- feliz, aniversario

Embroidery floss - DMC 3825

Cricut cartridges and cuts
StorybookOnceUpon, Accent Blackout - 4.75 inches (cut in half)
Florish3 - 5.25 inch (cut off two scallops of edge)

3/4 inch strip of cream paper...mounted ribbon on top of this

Not sure why the photo is on it's side, but I took this picture so you could see the dimension that the tag and buttons add to the card.

Baby Card - submitted to Cricut Magazine for 2011 Idea Book

I am at the age where many of my friends and cousins are having babies, so I'm constantly having to make cards for baby showers, welcome home baby, etc.  This is one of the more recent designs that people seem to love.  Some folks have already received this card or soon will :)

sweet baby

I love these inkadinkado stamps - so versatile

My goal is to use up some of my inventory this year, and this ribbon has been sitting around for quite some time!

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
The Paper Company - white paper
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - pumice stone
K&Company - Suze Ultman Designer Paper, Lion Sleeps
1/2 inch solid colored ribbon
embroidery floss
foam dots
inkadinkado - 98625 Scrapbook Sentimentals, clear stamps

Cricut cartridges and cuts
New Arrivalonesie - 5 inches
bottle, bottle-s: 1 inch
baby-s, shadow - 1 inch

Accent EssentialsAccnt1s - 5 inch
Accent27s - 1 inch, 1.25 inch

I then used the Stampin' Up! mat stack to create a zig zag stitching guide to add the embroidery floss.

I love when I can add a little stitching because it makes me feel like I'm cross-stitching on my papers :)

I won the Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #22!!!!

I've only been a member for about three weeks and despite the fact that I know the weekly challenges are weekly winners, I honestly didn't think I would anything any time soon.

** Check out the blinkie that they sent me (to the right)!  I hope to one day have a whole wall of them! **

So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the blog to see that my fairy place seating was chosen as this weeks' winner!

 

What does that mean exactly?  Well, the winner gets to be a side bar on the blog all week (if you're the weekly winner), where people will see your winning project, name, and where you're from.  It's going to be soooo weird and cool to see my stuff up there (they update their page on Fridays).

I've been giggling all morning!

Because Big Sisters are the best (I should know...proud card carrying member)

I recently reconnected with my first best friend (from grade school).  When I last saw her, I had no idea she and her husband were planning to expand their family, so it was a pleasure to make a welcome to the BIG SISTER club card for her daughter.  She was now a part of my club so I had to celebrate with her cute little self :)

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
DCWV - The Green Stack
The Paper Company - Chocolate Linen Textured Cardstock
DCWV - The Guy Stack
AC Cardstock - Heavy Weight White
Martha Stewart Crafts - Craftstock Value Pack
Ink - a Colorbox Queue Cat's Eye (now discontinued but very similar to the palette in the current Rich Rustic)
Recollections - Boutique Fleur Lace Embellishments

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Serenade
 Branch3 - 2 inches

Stamping
Bird, 1 inch
BrdBrnch - 1.25 inch

Accent Essentials
Accnt1s - 1.25 inch, 1 inch

Heritage
Truck2, word - 1/2 inch (I cut off the s so it was a singular word)

New Arrival
 iambig - 1 inch (I only used the word big)

Once Upon a Princess
 Fairy, tag - 1.75 inch

The pinata card

Being of Mexican decent, I often struggle with not being able to find embellishments, stamps or papers that represent my heritage.  It's fun when tools like the Cricut Expression can help me achieve something so personal.  Here, I've chosen to make a traditional pinata.  The five point star pinata is seen at Christmas time, birthday parties, etc.  It's the standard shape.  This design has been in my head forever, so it was fun to make it happen.

Machine used:  Cricut Expression

Supplies
Various colored cardstock - solid colored
DMC embroidery floss - number 762
Stampin' Up! Frases Basicas - Feliz, Cumpleanos

Cricut cartridges and cuts
Plantin Schoolbook - roly poly, star, 5.5 inches (cut three times)

Directions1. Cut three stars (sizes and cartridge above)
2. Cut 1/2 inch x 3/4 inch strips of various colored paper
3. Attach tiny rectangular strips onto one star in whatever pattern you like
4. Cut 1 inch long strands (all 6 strands of the floss) of embroidery floss
5. Bunch 5 strands per point of star and use a 1-strand thin floss to tie them at the very edge....make it look like the floss is coming out of the point.

Because I taped the floss to the back of the star, I matted the back with a duplicate star (like a cover).

On the third cut out star, I scored the top and attached to the others to make the card.

I sort of over did it with the liquid glue, so if chosen for the Cricut magazine, I promise to make a cleaner version - no glue smears for the photographs!