Trying New Things - And A Challenge

Howdy friends!!  I'm just popping in quickly for a short post.  I wanted to try out the Center Point button on my Cricut - and after a year and a half of owning the Expression, I've finally decided to give it a whirl.  I made a card for the Challenge Me Monday: Try This Angle Challenge at Fantabulous Cricut.  The butterfly on the inside of the card was made using the Center Point Button on patterned paper from Glitz.  Pretty close for the first time - OK, I admit that it was my 2nd try because I had the paper upside down the first time!!

 Inside the card:

Ok - enough playing around for me.  I gotta get busy on my Sis-in-law's baby shower party this Saturday - cookies, cake balls, and decorations - oh my!!

Supplies:

Basic Cake Cricut Cartridge - ProvoCraft

Cardstock (Gecko) - Bazzill

Patterned Paper (Polka, Butterlies, Plaid) - Glitz

Butterfly Clear sticker - Pink Paislee

Ribbon - Target

Ink (Amaretto) - Quick Quotes

Adhesive - Scotch

Spring Banner

Howdy friends!!  Wow!  Some crazy weather we've had around here!  One day we are riding in the 'Stang with the top down, and the next we are wearing jackets and have the heater on in the house!  Yikes!

So, if you happened to see my post yesterday, I had a picture of my mantel for a project I just did with the mirror.  On the mantel is a Spring Banner that I made with Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line.  I was inspired to make the Spring banner for this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut since we were to make a Spring project. 

Fresh and Spring-like - unlike the weather out my window right now.  Gloomy and drizzley.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I love to read your comments and really appreciate the time you spend here!

Supplies used:

Cricut Cartridges (Storybook, Simply Charmed, Stretch Your Imagination) - Provocraft

Patterned Paper (Twig) - Little Yellow Bicycle

Cardstock - The Paper Studio

Stickles - Ranger

Twine, ribbon and other random embellies - from my stash

Shaped Card Challenge - And a Color too

Howdy friends!  Hope this Monday finds all of you well!

Today's post is my shaped card for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday.  Since St. Patrick's Day is approaching, I thought about making a card for that - and what better shape than the Four Leaf Clover!

And of course, you need a Pot 'O Gold at the end of a rainbow, right?

 I cut out a piece of 'gold' from yellow paper and wrote "May you find your pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!"

Now it's your turn!  Head over to Fantabulous Cricut to play along!!  Until next time....

***ok friends - I'm editing this post to add that I also entered this into a challenge at a new site called The Paper Variety!  Looks like a REALLY cool blog over there with some fun challenges!  Can't wait to see what they have in store!

Jennifer

Happy Valentines Day and a Fantabulous Cricut Weather Forcast

Howdy friends!  Happy Monday and Happy Valentines Day to all of you - it has been gorgeous here this weekend and we are expecting more beautiful weather this week!  Speaking of weather - this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut happens to be about weather!  How about that?! 

Your challenge is to create a project featuring your favorite seasonal weather (i.e. sun-summer, leaves-fall, snow-winter, rain-spring).  We've been so cold here, very unseasonably so, that I decided that I'm ready for some pretty Spring weather!  Check out what was going on in my Studio this week:

I'm so ready for convertible top-down, flowers growing, birds chirping, Spring weather!  I made a topiary using a pot that I had made about a year ago at my local art studio.  We painted the ceramic pot, then Mod Podged paper pieces on it.  I then used craft foam to put inside the pot to anchor the stem, and more foam for the ball of the topiary.  I made paper flowers and cut out some bugs from Walk in My Garden cartridge.  A bit of hot glue, and voila!  Hope you enjoy and if you have any questions about my project, please let me know.

Now it is your turn.  Make sure you post your project on this week's Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut!

Supplies:

Walk In My Garden Cartridge - ProvoCraft

Ceramic Pot - JoAnn Fabrics

Mod Podge - Plaid

Twine - Hobby Lobby

Hot Glue

Patterned Paper and Cardstock Pieces - my own stash of stuff

Stickles - Ranger

Moss - JoAnn Fabrics

Ribbon - my own stash of stuff

FCCB Challenge and An Update!

Howdy and Happy Monday friends!!!  Wow - where did the weekend go?  It has been a super de duper weekend here in Texas and we've been out enjoying it before the **gasp** snow and ice make it here?!!  I have been crazy busy in The Studio lately and have lots to share soon.  I've decided I need to decorate a bit for Valentine's Day this year and you'll get to see some of those projects over the next few days as I finish them up, but in the meantime - ON TO THE FCCB CHALLENGE!!

This week your challenge (should you choose to accept it, and why wouldn't you - hee hee) is to make a project in honor of a cause near and dear to you or a loved one's heart (i.e. breast cancer awareness, autism, MADD, etc.).  Here is the card I decided to make to honor every new life!

The inside of the card will say "A baby brings music to your heart."  I am planning on sending this to my brother and sis-in-law who are expecting their first baby in a few months.  I hope you will head on over to Fantabulous Cricut to see what the other designers have made this week, and participate too!  There is always a Fantabulous prize!!

See ya'll back here soon!

Jennifer



Happy New Year and A Snowy Challenge!

Howdy friends and Happy 2011!  Can you believe it? 2011!!  I am ready to get back to 'normal' and into the usual routine - so how about starting off your 2011 with a challenge from Fantabulous Cricut!!!  Yea - we are back with lots of fun!

The challenge this week is titled Snowy Delights.  Please create a project that incorporates snow or snowflakes - and as always, you need a Cricut cut somewhere on your project!

 Its been rather warm here so I don't have a lot of inspiration for snow - but a girl can wish, huh?  So, I used a stamp phrase "Let It Snow" - maybe someday soon it will!  Here is my project this week:

Don'tcha just love blue and purple for winter?  I cut the large snowflake in purple paper using Designer's Calendar, then heat embossed Distress Powders in Milled Lavendar for texture.  I cut out a jar with a Paper Trey Ink die, then stamped snowflakes hanging inside the jar, adhered rhinestones and stickles.  Stamp sentiment, tie bow, send to a friend!

TIP:  Using clear rhinestones, you can color them with markers to match your projects!  Let it dry and then use.  No more buying every single color - only to run out of what you need!!  I used Copic Markers with this project, but I've used other markers too - use what you have!

Supplies:
Die Cut - Designer's Calendar, Provo Craft
Cardstock - DCWV, Bazzill, The Paper Studio
Marker - Copic Sketch BG13
Gemstones - The Paper Studio
Die Cut - PaperTrey Ink - Friendship Jar
Stamp - PaperTrey Ink - Frienship Jar Holiday Fillers
Lavender Ink - Stampabilities
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink - Ranger
Tim Holtz Distress Powder Milled Lavender - Ranger
Purple Ribbon - Hobby Lobby
Stickles - Dusty Concord, Ranger

Get Ready for a Fantabulous Cricut Crawl....

....also known as a Blog Hop!! 

Howdy friends!  We are getting ready for a Fantabulous Cricut Crawl on Monday, December 13th!  Now, this will be my VERY FIRST blog hop, er, I mean Crawl  and I have an exciting project to share with you.  Here is a peek:

Let me tell you - this is a fun project!  And - it didn't really cost much to make either!  I would love it if you would come back and Crawl along with us, see amazing projects, and maybe win a prize too!  I may just have to give away something in celebration of my first Crawl - POSSIBLY might could give away 2 prizes if you bring a friend along with you too!  See ya'll soon!

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday - 1st DT post!!!

Howdy friends!  Today I am so SUPER excited!!!  This is my first official post as a DT member of Fantabulous Cricut!!   Thank you to the gals over there for the opportunity!  So hang on to your hats, here we go........ (said in a Peter Pan voice!)

The challenge this week is to incorporate the color GREEN and use a CIRCLE on your card, layout, or project.  I immediately thought of a wreath and decided to adapt from a project I learned about at a local studio I love to visit, The Little Blue House.  The original project was Halloween, so I took some of the same techniques and applied it to my project.  Here is the full project:

I was at the dollar store the other day and came across this CIRCLE platter - yep, only $1!  I started gathering supplies from my stash to create the project.  For the circle embellie, I used an accordian fold techique for the larger circle, then layered on a second circle with paper, then black felt, and finished it off with 2 buttons and twine.  Super easy! 

Then I cut out the tree and letters using Lyrical Letters and Winter Wonderland.  I cut a rectangle piece out of a scrap of paper, then on a second piece of paper I cut just the Merry Christmas and inked it up, then pop dotted (official term!) so it gave some depth.  Then I distressed and inked away! 

The Merry banner is a strip of 2 x 12 piece cut in a banner shape, then added German Glass glitter around the edges, and also the the edges of the circle embellie!

 Finally, I took a few more scraps and cut out the holly images, used Glossy Accents for stability and glued them down.  Add a nice little ribbon of whatever you have at home and admire your project!!  I just love the sparkle and the fact that I only had to purchase the platter (remember for $1), the rest was stuff I had already!!! 

Thanks for stopping by today and if you have any questions, please feel free to email me!

Supplies:
Cricut Cartridges Lyrical Letters, Winter Wonderland - Provocraft
Silver Platter - Dollar Tree
Vintage Christmas Paper Pack - Hobby Lobby
Black Cardstock - DCWV
Black Felt - Michaels
Buttons, Twine, Red Ribbon - Hobby Lobby
Crop-a-Dile - We R Memory Keepers
German Glass - The Little Blue House
Distress Tool - Tim Holtz
Brown Ink - Staz On
Pop Dots - The Paper Studio
Glossy Accents - Inksentials