Hero in Disguise

Today I'd like to share a project with you that I created as a thank you gift.  I initially created this for a customer contest challenge for Jaded Blossom but we were asked to wait until after the contest to post the projects to our blogs.  Since that contest has been over for a bit I can now share the project with all of you.

For my card I used this adorable Mary Poppins bear cut file from PPBN Designs (aka Paper Piecings by Nikki).  As soon as I saw this file I knew it was perfect to go along with this sentiment.  After all wasn't Mary Poppins a great hero in disguise?

The handbag treat box is from SVG Cutting Files.  And as you can see I was sure to use coordinating papers on both the treat box and the card so that they would match when given to the recipient.

The stamped sentiments on the card and the candies are from the Super Hero stamp set over at Jaded Blossom.

And with that I'm off to enter this into the following challenge:

Die Cuttin Divas - Anything Goes

UPDATE:  My card was chosen as a showcase winner for this challenge at Die Cuttin Divas.
 

Eat Ice Cream

Welcome to the first Skittles Design Team Challenge.  All design team members will be featuring a variety of skittles handmade by the wonderful Carri over at DoubleClick Connections.  Each challenge will also have a theme and our first one is all about ice cream.  What better way to celebrate National Ice Cream Month?

For my project I used the Cricut Cartridge Sweet Treats.  The cone was embossed using one of my cuttlebug folders to give it that waffle cone look.  For the ice cream I smeared a little glitter dimensional fabric paint over the cut, sprinkled with a smidge of green glitter tinsel and then used my heat gun to dry it all together.  Once dried I added a couple of the summer release skittles in Grinch Green, Caramel and Purple.

Now that you've seen my card for the challenge be sure to check out the other wonderful designs our team has put together.  Then after you've been amply inspired, create your own, link up and play along with us.

Remember the challenge ends August 5th and you are not required to use skittles but you are required to use ice cream..........

As for me, I'm going to enter this in the Anything Goes challenge over at Die Cuttin Divas.

Baking Spirits Bright

Yesterday I received the stamps that I ordered from Craftin Desert Divas and was so excited that I ran straight to my craft room and went looking for a cut that I wanted to use to make my first project.  This is what I came up with using the Holly Day Punnies stamp set.

This precious little gingerbread girl is from Too Cute By Jessica and is part of a set.  After cutting the file out I knew that I had to do something with that drippy, gooey frosting or batter that's on the spoon so I decided to coat it with some of my Tulip dimensional paint and then sprinkle on a tiny bit of Martha Stewart snow glitter.  While it didn't yield as much puffiness as I had hoped for it still turned out beautifully.

Running with that drippy goo I decided to use my Martha Stewart drippy goo punch and punch just underneath my stamped sentiment.  And since the sentiment is a pun take off from a line in Jingle Bells I decided to use Christmas themed sheet music as my background for the card, thus tying it all together.

And now I'm going to enter this card in to a couple of challenges this week including:

Hiding in My Craft Room - Christmas in July - Ends August 2nd


Exploring Cricut - Christmas in July - Ends August 2nd  (Thank goodness for my Cricut Explore so I can cut these cute SVG's and still use my favorite machine)

Craftin' Desert Divas - Christmas in July - Ends August 3rd

Red Carpet Studio - Music - Ends August 9th

Blue Eyed Monster Beanie

It's the beginning of a new week and that means all kinds of new challenges have popped up in blogger land. However, I took the weekend off from papercrafting so that I could get some hats knitted.  All in all it was a successful weekend too since I was able to finish one I had going and get two others completed as well.

Don't fret though as I will be back in the saddle this evening getting things underway.  So be on the lookout. I have plans for some more Christmas items as well as sports and music related.

In the meantime, I'd like to share one of the beanies I knitted with you.  This one I call my blue eyed monster.  I wanted to do something just a little bit different so I added in a little fun fur to give it that furry 'monster' look.

Magical Birthday

It's been a while since I've created a child's birthday card and since Cardz TV is currently hosting a challenge for that very theme I thought I'd play along.  Of course it didn't hurt that SVG Cutting Files recently put on a Hello Kitty blog hop and one of the files released was Hello Kitty dressed up like Harry Potter.  

I thought this was a great cut so I decided to use it for my birthday card.  Now I realize it's not all cutesy with balloons and such hovering around but what's 'wizardly' about that?  Instead I left her there with her wand in hand (actually it's just a toothpick that I stained).

The stamped sentiment is from the Good Times stamped set.  And on the inside of the card the sentiment reads (in Harry Potter type font) "Have a Magical Birthday".

And now I'm off to enter this card in the following challenges:

Cardz TV Child's Birthday - ends July 31st

Dear Santa

As Christmas in July starts winding down I decided to get a start on making some Christmas tags and I have to tell you this Santa file over at My Scrap Chick makes up quick and easy.  Not to mention the end result is one heck of a cute tag.  The sentiment is from the Cardz TV stamp set "Very Merry".

I've only made three of tags so far and for each one I've used a different "background" paper.  I had even given some thought to making one or two of them in non-traditional colors.  But then I got a little concerned about Santa's hat being red and how would that look....Right now it's still up for debate.

In the meantime though I'm going to run off and enter these guys into the following challenges:

Hiding in My Craft Room - ends July 26th

Die Cuttin Divas - ends July 28th 

Craftin Desert Diva's - ends August 3rd

Thanks Sew Much

I found this die cut in my stash.  It's one I cut out some time ago during one of Cricut's free previews and I cannot remember what cartridge it came from.  Regardless I knew this dress form was perfect for pairing up with Cardz TV's stamp set titled Sew Much Fun.

To create this card I added in some twine, memory thread and small button to cinch up and dress up the dress form.

Just another quick and easy put together.

Doubleclick Skittles Design Team

Ever hear of a little embellishment called the skittle?  I admit I hadn't heard of 'em until recently and now I'm pleased to announce that I have been chosen to be a part of the DoubleClick Skittles Design Team.  Carri creates her own wonderful skittles and offers them for sale via her blog an in order to help promote her Skittles Embellishment line she created her first official Design Team to help showcase ways to use them.

Our Design Team consists of the following members:                

Carri from DoubleClick

Georgiana from Carson’s Creations

Kymona from Kreative Kymona

Faith from The Crafting Professor

~~Me~~

Shirl from Creations by Shirl

Now today begins our first challenge; however, the design team will be posting their  projects on July 30! 


So what is the challenge you ask?  Create a project using ice cream.  That's it.....now, Head over to the DoubleClick website for more details.

We look forward to seeing what all of you create!

Challenge Dates: July 23 thru August 5, 2014

Challenge Theme: Ice-Cream

And while you wait for the team to post their first projects you can check out the Crafting with Skittles board on Pintrest for some cool ideas.  Members of our team will posting some of their favorite projects including ones they've created featuring skittles from DoubleClick.

Sweets of the Season

Well we've made to hump day everyone!  Today I'd like to share another Christmas in July card with you.  This one I made using an adorable gingerbread man from My Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.  When I cut this little cutie out for whatever reason my machine did not like my paper and kinda chewed up the trim pieces.  Problem was I had already cleared the file before I checked all my cuts and I had no idea what 'size' I had cut my file.  

So what did I do?  I rose to the challenge.  I grabbed my bottle of Tulip glitter dimensional paint and I painted on that trim.  After letting it dry it might not be as white as the original trim would have been but now I think my gingerbread man has a bit more character than he might have originally.

My sentiment that you see up in the top corner is from the Winter Candies stamp set over at Jaded Blossom.  

And now I'm running off to enter this little fella in to the following Christmas in July challenges:

Hiding in my Craft Room - ends July 26th (Laurie also has a blog hop going on this week with her DT showcasing their Christmas in July projects and it's all complete with blog candy)

Craftin' Desert Divas - ends August 3rd (Tara is also in the middle of a stamp release sneak peek 'party' that I promise you don't want to miss.  I know I'm anxious for the full release this Friday because there's some must haves on my list that I'll be grabbing.)


Die Cuttin Divas - ends July 28th

Back to School

Today's a two-fer Tuesday, and this afternoon I'd like to share a project I put together for the back to school challenge going on over at SVG Cutting Files.  A couple weeks ago they released these really cute Chibi kids as icons and I thought they were too cute not to have so I bought and used them.  Then I saw this adorable Kawaii pencil treat box and thought, "yep, gotta have it too".

So I used these files to create a new cover for a composition book.  I used the pencil chibi kid and then found a scrap of what looks like notebook paper that I stamped using a stamp from Fresh Squeezed Stamps.  Of course I couldn't stop there so I cut out one of the chibi kids as a crayon and used him to create a wrap for a bottle of hand sanitizer.

To wrap it all together I cut the pencil box out, wrapped a few nuggets of hershey's chocolates with some scraps of ruler patterned paper and viola - it a set of back to school supplies any kid would love to have. 

And with that I'm off to go enter this into that challenge I was telling you about.  Challenge ends August 14th.

I'm also going to enter this into the Challenge over at Red Carpet Studios.  The challenge is to create a project that features "a kid at heart."  Amusement parks, summertime fun, family get togethers.  Now I don't know about you guys but I always get excited when it's time to go school shopping and this year will be my last year as my sixth and last child is a Senior this year.  So yeah, I'm going to be like a kid at heart as we shop for supplies.  This challenge ends July 26th.

Jurassic Park Layout

Folks have we got a challenge for you this week!  The PDE Linky Party design team was challenged with creating a project using 3 or more different patterned papers.  Sounds easy right?  Perhaps for some of you, and certainly depending on the project your designing.  However, I admit it did not come as easy for me.....at first.

I chose to use this challenge to get some more of my scrapbook layouts completed from our trip to Universal Studios last May.  After all we're going back in November and it would be a shame to not have the pictures from our last trip done before taking new ones this go round. 

All of my cuts on this two page layout are from the Cricut cartridge Dinosaur Tracks.  My main papers are from the DCWV Kidosaurus mat stack.  I don't know if you can tell but other than for the main page and the picture mats I used patterned paper for the green portion of my mountains, the palms of my trees and the dinosaur tracks (faint polka dot print).

Now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge be sure to check out he other awesome designs our creative team have put together for you.  Then create your own project, link up and play along with us.  I can't wait to see what you create!

Lookin' Good Birthday Gift Set

I don't know about where you live, but here in the Panhandle of Florida it's been a crazy, rainy weekend. Needless to say this has left the tourists in town with nothing much to do other than shop so our family decided to stay home rather than fight the traffic.  On a good day this time of year it can take hours to get anyway in town so imagine what it's like on a rainy day.

That's okay though because it gave me a weekend with a lot of crafting time.  And trust me I got a lot of paper crafting done.  Today I have a project I made using files from My Scrap Chick.  I saw this shirt bag set and fell in love with it.  It makes up nice and quick too.

Of course I had no one in mind when I put this set together.  Rather I was thinking about the 3D masculine birthday challenge that's still going on over at Cardz TV.   Speaking of Cardz TV, the birthday sentiments I used on my project are from her stamp set titled Good Times which you can purchase here.

Now I'm off to enter this project in the following challenges:

Cardz TV 3D Masculine Challenge - ends July 24th

Little Scrap Pieces Show it off Saturday - ends July 25th 

Pumpkin Spice Anything Goes - ends July 25th 

Day at the Beach

It's a dreary, rainy weekend here in the Panhandle of FL so all the tourists are actually out at the shopping malls - and the locals - well most of us are just trying to stay clear of the congested traffic.  At least that's what my family is doing and so I've been spending a lot of time in my craft room working on challenges.

The challenge themes are summer and beach.  So pack your bag.  Don't forget the sunscreen - especially if you're beaching it on one of our sugar white sand beaches here in the Panhandle.  I can't tell you how many tourists I see in the store that look like lobsters after just a few hours on the beach.  Of course you have to have a good book to read, sunglasses and a towel to lay on....

Admittedly this was a quick, simple one but it follows the theme for a couple of challenges that end today.  Plus I wanted to take a break from creating a card and go with something a little bit different.  And then when I was going through my stamps I remembered this set I won months ago but never used from Fresh Squeezed Stamps.  Thus my summertime, beachy gift tag was born.

Oh and that cute little Cricut head in sunglasses cut - that's from the Cricut Decals cartridge that was a digital freebie with one of the many purchases I've made along the way.

Now I'm off to go enter this into the following challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenges - Day at the Beach

Craftin Desert Divas - Summer Challenge

Happy Birthday Smartie Pants

The card that I'd like to share with you today is one that I scraplifted from Luv Scrappin Together after I saw it on Pintrest.  Immediately I was sucked in with that gotta have it mentality.  I mean it was brilliantly cute, fun and irresistible.  Best of all it was perfect for this quote I've been wanting to use and have had posted by my computer screen for weeks just waiting for that perfect cut.

So what is the quote you ask?  Well it's.........

     All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.  
     ~  Martin H. Fischer

Now let's talk about how the card is made.  You see this is actually three files combined.  All are from My Scrap Chick.  I (we) used:

Science Lab for the test tubes

Pumpkin Box for the body of the mad scientist

Halloween Treat Toppers for the mad scientist's head

Unfortunately I didn't save my files so I don't remember was sizes I cut everything at, but I do believe I cut the pumpkin box at the recommended size and then sized the other cuts accordingly.

Waiting for Santa

Okay, I made it half way through the month before I broke down and decided to create a Christmas in July project.  Honestly though I never really thought about it until I started seeing all the wonderful projects running around blogger and Facebook.

I decided to make a card, and since it had been so long since I've made an aperture type card that's what I went with.  I found this adorable SVG file over at Scrappin Bugs and immediately fell in love with it.  My rounded globe aperture cover is from Flower Soft.  What I love about this display globe is that it comes with a stencil to help with placing and cutting out the oval needed for the globe.  But after doing one or two I created one the size I needed in my Cricut software so I'd have a much smoother cut than my manual scissors provide.

After laying my cuts together I placed a little bit of Martha Stewart glitter to the center along with a couple of snowflakes I had.  Of course if I'd given it much thought I'd have just added the glitter because depending on how you look at the card the snowflakes will cover and hide my cute little bears peeking out the window. That aside I still think it turned out pretty good and now I'm going to link my project up to the following challenges:

Red Carpet Studios - Grown Ups ends July 26th  (Create a project featuring a kid at heart.  Can't get much better than waiting for Santa.)

DL Art - July Linky Party - Anything Goes ends July 31st

Little Scrap Pieces - Saturday Linky Party ends July 19th

Pumpkin Spice - Anything Goes ends July 25th

Dream Catcher Tam

This morning I wanted to take a quick break from papercrafting and share a new hat that I finished the other night.  Sometimes it's not easy finding that perfect balance for my hobbies, but I'm sure trying.  For the longest time I wasn't loom knitting, and now add in that I'm once again trying to learn how to crochet.....

This hat is another new pattern from Once Upon a Loom.  (She has it and several others for sale on Ravelry.)  The yarn is from the Deborah Norville Serenity chunky tweeds collection and the color is Claret. I admit I was a little concerned that the weight wasn't enough but it made a great, light hat and I'm very pleased with the end result.

Celebrate You

Today I'd like to share a project that I put together for a guy's birthday.  This is one of those themes that I struggle with - adult men.  Give me a male child and tell me what he likes and I'm on it.  But give me an adult and it's like OMG what do I do now?  So when I saw the 3D Masculine Birthday challenge going on over at Cardz TV I said, "challenge accepted".

So for my project I used the vertical nugget box from SVG Cutting Files.  Now they give you this 1" circle as a way to gauge how large to cut your file so once I figured that out I deleted the circle and was left with the card file to cut at 9.69" tall and 7.44" wide.  At first I had difficulty cutting the file because the score lines and the cut out for the nuggets wouldn't line up.  After a couple of cuts it finally hit me to try welding the layers. When that didn't work I noticed the little paperclip that said attach and I clicked on that and viola - it all worked!

My guy on the front of the card is Mr. Noodle from Sesame Street - Elmo's Party.  He was cut at 3 1/2".

The stamped sentiments on the card and my candy nuggets are from three different Cardz TV stamp sets: Good Times, You're the Man and Happy Days.

I'm also entering this in the Anything Goes challenge over at Pumpkin Spice - challenge ends July 25th.

If you want to try your hand at the 3D Masculine Birthday Challenge you have until noon on July 24th to link up.

Summer Sidekicks

Remember when I told you that I'd be creating more of those video game cards?  Well today I'd like to share one with  you that I made using the Yoshi and Toad characters from the Mario games.  My stamped sentiment is from the Super Hero stamp set over at Jaded Blossom. Together this cut - which I received during a blog hop with SVG Cutting Files - and stamp pair up beautifully for a friendship card.

But what does that have to do with summer you ask?  When I look all these great colors I am reminded of the warm sunshine and being outdoors.  Of course if you ask my 16 year old he'll tell you summer is the perfect time to stay inside and play video games all day.  And right now I can't tell who's worse - my 16 year old son or my husband.  I guess that's okay though because it affords me more time to hurry and get the house work done so I can hide up in my craft room and get down to business.

And now I'm going to run on over and link my card up in the July Challenge - Summer Theme over at Jaded Blossom.  Challenge ends July 26th.

July 4th Color Run Shadow Box

Ah, the fun runs of summer.  As you all know by now I love being outdoors this time of year and while I'm not really much of a runner I enjoy signing up and doing the fun and mud runs.  So when I found out that a special edition of the Color Run was coming to town on July 4th I didn't hesitate to sign up.  And this year I got to run with my good friend Millie so that made it even more fun.  We had a great time and pushed each other to keep on running.

Of course my husband was there to cheer me on and take pictures as he always does so when I got home I chose my favorite shot and went to work creating this shadow box.  Thank goodness I had the foresight to keep my water cup at the last water station and my girlfriend thought to pick up some of the confetti as we crossed the finish line.

I used the running border cut from the Sports Mania cartridge and cut it in three different colors to represent the Patriotic spirit of July 4th and the colors they threw on us throughout the race.

And since this was a summer time event I'm going to enter it in the Summer Time challenge over at Craftin Desert Divas where anything summer goes.

Birthday Tag

It's time for another PDE Linky Party everyone!  And this week it's all about tags.  Create a tag, any tag, link it up and play along with us.  And the beauty of it is that  you can create your tag in any crafting medium you desire.  

Now for my tag I started with one already pre-made and wrapped some paper from the All About Girls mat stack by DCWV.  My cut file is from the Spa gift set by My Scrap Chick.  This is the first time I've used one of her files and I gotta tell  you I'm in love.  She was having a great sale when I bought this one so I picked up several new files from her that I'll be making in the come days ahead.

And my stamped sentiment is from the Cardz TV stamp set Good Times.

Now that  you've seen my tag for this week's challenge be sure to check out all the other ones our team has created for you.  Then after you've been amply inspired, create your own, link up and play along.  I can't wait to see what you create.

Come N Get It

Today I have a quick card to share that was chosen to be printed in one of Cricut Magazine's issues this summer but then I was told they were going to have to drop my card due to space constraints.  Even though I was saddened by the news I decided it was okay since I've been published two or three times already.  So now I bring it to you guys and gals here.

This was a quick card to put together.  I used one cartridge and one only - Block Party.  However, I did "cheat" and use a sticker for that yummy  plate of food mom's bringing to the table.  I was too afraid to cut those out for fear of things not cutting quite right.

And now I think I'll go enter this card in the following challenges:


Summer Treats challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut Challenges. Sure it's not a sugar treat but hamburgers and hot dogs are still one heck of a summer treat.


Summer Time over at Craftin Desert Diva's.  Anything to do with summer goes for this challenge, and what says summer better than a good ol' BBQ


Food, Food, and More Food over at My Sheri CRAFTS.  Anything that features food.

UPDATE:  My card was chosen as one of the Design Team's top 5 over at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge.  What an honor!

A Little Bit Country

Have you seen the country themed files over at Kadoodle Bug Designs?  If not you need to head on over and take a peek because those guys and gals are cute as can be.  My card today was made using the Mud Pie Mikey file, but I did his face just a little different.  Not because I wanted to but because I had to as I messed up a little bit putting it all together.  Sometimes I get ahead of myself and next thing I know I'm in a pinch and have to re-cut pieces or re-work the cut.  I still love the way this guy turned out though.

This is a 4 x 5 1/2 card and I cut my file at 8.27 inches tall by 6.62 inches wide.

The stamped sentiment is from the Cardz TV Stamps  set titled Country at Heart.  And on the inside of my card I typed the following sentiment:

          Stop being a priss

          and come make

          some mud pies!

Isn't that just perfect for this card?

Have a Smashing Good Day

It's always nice when I finally have some time to sit in my craft room and play.  Sadly the opportunity doesn't seem to come as often as it used to.  But this time of year that's more because I'm outside playing.  Like today.  Bright and early we were on the road to Panama City Beach (an hour away) so that I could meet up with one of my girlfriends for the Color Run that started at 8AM.  But I digress.....

Today I wanted to share a card with you that I made using one of the SVG files I got from SVG Cutting Files after participating in their video game blog hop recently.  I love all the files that we received and after my son brought home the first wave of Mario Kart toys from McDonald's my inspiration kicked in to use them.  Needless to say I'll be getting a few more of these made as time presents itself.

The stamped sentiment on my card is from the Super Hero stamp set over at Jaded Blossom.