You Did It!

It's time for another installment in the Cricut Cardz challenge series and our team has some awesome designs to share with you this week.

Of course this challenge came just in time for me because my #4 child graduates from highschool tomorrow evening.  It's amazing how quickly the time flies, but we'll have next year off and then the two years after that our last two will graduate.....

For my card this week I used:

Autumn Celebrations for the stack of books
Create a Critter for the owl
Locker Talk for the graduation cap

My background paper was some that I had left over from the graduation announcements I made last month.  It's from Sandylion and is called graduation caps - clear foil.

And now that you've seen my creation for this week's challenge hop on over to Cardz TV and take a look at all the fun designs our team created to inspire you.  Then create  your own, link up and play along with us.

Slouchy Tam Re-do

I was somewhat disappointed with the results of my first slouchy tam hat so I had to sit down and make another one until I was satisfied with my results.  Thankfully this second one fits the bill.    This time rather than using two strands of a #4 weight Bernat yarn I chose to try one strand of #5 weight Loops & Threads (Michael's brand) yarn.

Another thing I did differently was that I didn't pull my crown of the hat so tightly on the bind off.  Doing that I believe has helped it to lay a little flatter.

This was a great hat to loom knit.  It required less than a skein of yarn (if you're using one strand) and only took me 4 nights to complete.  (I'm only able to knit for an hour or two a night)  Oh and I used the 48 peg adult hat loom, but you can also use the 66 peg CindiWood or another loom that's comparable to either of these so long as it has an even number of pegs.

You can purchase this pattern and a couple of other hat patterns created by Jeannie Thompson Phillips here.

Mardi Gras Hat

Can you believe the weekend is almost here?  I am uber excited to see it get here because I have a lot of family coming in town for the week.  My husband and mom are both celebrating birthdays next week and my #4 son is graduating from high school so it's getting ready to get crazy!!!!!

Today I wanted to share another in my line of woven top hats that I've created.  This time I chose a Mardi Gras color scheme and love the results.  I especially love the way these hats are turning out when I use a variegated yarn for the "brim" rather than a straight solid for the entire hat.

My yarn choice for this hat was Lion Brand Hometown USA.  One of the things that I love about this yarn is that I can make a hat using only one skein.  So I have enough of the variegated left over that I can create (and will ;o) ) make another one.  Only the next one will have an orange top.

But first I have to finish the slouchy tam that's currently on the loom......hopefully that will be done by the weekend if all goes well.

Telefono Penne Recipe Page

Can you believe how quickly this month is going by?  Before you know it it'll be all over and all of our children will be out of school for the summer.

Today I'd like to share a recipe page I created for one of my daughters.  I don't remember where I found this recipe but as soon as I saw the name of it I knew exactly what I was going to do for my cuts on this page.

Only one cartridge was needed/used for this project.......From My Kitchen.  And this is going to be my entry for the BBTB2 kitchen challenge for this week.  You won't believe the creations their DT has put together this week!  Talk about fabulous - you should really go take a look.

Merry Christmas Bingo

I was doing some cleaning in my craft room the other day and came across these great little bingo cards from Jenni Bowlin studios and I couldn't resist making a card or two.  (See I told you I was going to have my Christmas cards done early - lol)

Using my Jolly Holidays cartridge I cut out this cute little racoon so that he would fit nicely on the bingo card.  Then I added a little ribbon with some snowflake print to help tie in to the background paper and viola - another quick and easy Christmas card.....

So am I the only one who's had the urge to make some Christmas cards this early in the year?  C'mon on now be honest.  ;o)  If you've had the urge I'd love to see what you'd created.

Sisters Layout

Today I'd like to share a layout I created using one of my favorite pictures of my two beautiful daughters.  This layout was inspired by one I saw in Flip, Spin & Play.  When it comes to creating layouts or other paper crafting gifts I find plenty of inspiration in this book, and here's one example......

I know that this layout is very simplistic looking and that's exactly what I wanted because I wanted the picture itself to be the focal point.  Especially as you see the transition that is going to take place when pulling the tab to expose the hidden journaling.

Because I wanted a clean and simple layout the only cuts used for this layout came from George and Basic Shapes.  All my circles that provide the background for the picture and the pull tab (a circle and rectangle welded together) were cut from this one cartridge.

Now on to the transition...............

Notice that the picture is black and white.  But look what happens as you pull the tab so that you can read the hidden journaling. 

It becomes a full color photograph. 

And so that it can be interactive in my album I just cut a slit in the side of the cover large enough to accomodate the pull tab.

Slouchy Tam Hat

Finished another knitting loom project this week.  This time it was a first attempt at a slouchy tam hat.  I'm not sure if it's the way I have it placed on the head or if I knitted just a little bit too much or what but it didn't seem to "slouch" as much as I thought it should.  Who knows. 

Either way I really had fun making this hat and it was super easy to do so I'll be giving it another whirl.  In the meantime, I've been getting back to work on my plastic canvas nativity as well as getting a jump start on my Christmas cards for this year.  (Yep - you can never start too early.  Remember that.  LOL)

May Day Flowers

Happy Wednesday fellow bloggers and welcome to Cricut Cardz Challenge #108 - May Day Flowers.  This week's challenge was to make a card using flowers from any cartridge/cut we desired.  And since I have a friend who's birthday is this week I took the opportunity to make my May Day card in to a May Day Birthday.

For this card I used:

Forever Young for the flower.  Before cutting the green layer I created a text box in MS Word and filled it with the text Happy Birthday in a font that would be compatible with the look and feel of my card.

Paper Pups for my pup and the stack of birthday presents balanced on his nose.  I also pop dotted the pup and presents to give the card some dimension.

My background paper is from my stash.  I thought that this print was perfect for the flower cut I chose because the petals look so much alike.

Now that you've seen my card for this week's challenge, hop on over to Cardz TV and check out the rest of the fabulous designs our team created this week.  Then when you've finished taking in all the inspiration create your own card, link up and play along with us.

Snowflake Kisses

I know, I know, but c'mon it's NEVER too early for Christmas.  LOL  Seriously though, I just recently purchased this cartridge and I finally broke it out of the box.  Even though there aren't that many cut choices on this particular cart I really like it and can envision having a lot of fun.

For this card I used only the Snow Day cart. 

My background paper is from a Recollections mat stack (Warm Wishes) that I picked up on clearance after the Christmas season.  It has some really great prints in it - some of which will be perfect for my hot chocolate mug holders.

The snow covered ground and snowflake were coated with Martha Stewart glitter in Carrara Marble.  I love this particular glitter for snow effects because it's subtle with just the right amount of bling.

And there you have my first Christmas card of the year.  Now if I keep this up I'll have more than enough cards done on time this year.

Scat Hat

I'd never heard of a "scat" hat before last week, but thanks to Jeannie I was introduced to this lovely 'breed' of hat that combines a hat with a scarf all-in-one.  It took me about 5 or 6 nights of loom knitting for 2 to 3 hours a night to finish this project and it was certainly worth the wait.

The pattern called for a different loom and type of yarn than what I had on hand at the time I began.  She made her scat on the adult hat loom, which I didn't know existed before now.  So immediately sat down and ordered one from Joann's.  However, I didn't want to wait for it to come in so I found the loom that came with my Reader's Digest loom kit and used it instead.

My yarn is the Michael's 'brand" Loops and Thread, Charisma - which I LOVE.  I have used this yarn for a couple of hats and socks as well.  This particular color is Black Raspberry and it took me about 2 1/2 skeins for this pattern.

Updated May 2014:  Thanks to a fellow blogger I have learned that this pattern is available on Ravelry.com.  You can find it here.

Birthday Easel Card

So last week my boss was talking about her birthday and how she's getting old so I decided to have some fun and make her somewhat of an over the hill birthday card.  To make it even more fun I decided to make it an easel card since I haven't made in what seems like forever.

For this card I used:

• Life's a Party for the Buzzard.
• Paper Doll Dress Up for the fence.  After cutting out the fence and drawing over the fence lines I also crinkled it up a bit before adhering it to the paper.
• Zooballoo for the tufts of grass.  After removing the cut from the mat I cut down into individual tufts.

My sentiment was made using MS Word and I cut that out with a pair of scissors and then pop dotted it to the card.

Sparrow Sympathy Card

One of my friends just lost her husband to cancer this week and while trying to decide what I wanted to do for a sympathy card I came across the saying, "His eye is on the sparrow" along with a picture of a sparrow in a hand.  Of course that got me going and thus this card was born.

I used A Child's Year for the hand and Home Decor for the bird.

I love using this hand for things but I've really got to figure out how to make it look more dimensional and not so 'flat'.

No Other Like My Mother

Happy Wednesday everyone.  It's time again for another  Cricut Cardz Challenge .  This week our directive was to create a Mother's Day card using any cartridge/cut we desired.  And since Mother's and flowers go hand-in-hand I decided to create a card with a flower as my focal point.

The flower on my card was cut from Mickey and Friends.  My first cut was of the flower on the stem - cut at 6 1/2".  I then cut the flower 'icon' in four varying sizes ranging from 1 1/2" to 3".

After removing the flowers from the mat I crumpled each one, inked them for color definition and then ran them through my Xyron before assembling them into one flower.  Once assembled I sprinkled flocking powder all over the flower ensuring that I worked the flocking powder into all the little knooks and crannies on the flower petals.

My butterfly was cut using Indie Art and then pop dotted onto the flower.

And now that you have seen my creation for this week's challenge be sure to hop on over to see all the other wonderful cards that our design team has created this week.  I promise you'll be glad you did.