Cricut Cardz/Cardz TV Hootie Halloween

This has been a tough week of travel for me and my husband.  As my followers know we're living fulltime in our RV and traveling.  It was a relief to stop in North Carolina for a few days and have some time to craft.  It's time for another Cricut Cardz/Cardz TV challenge.  This week's theme is Hootie Halloween.  Mary asked the DT to use an owl in a Halloween design.  I recently got the Hoot n' Holler cartridge clearanced at Walmart to $10.  I snapped that cartridge right up along with several others and was so excited.  I found this owl with curved legs and thought it was perfect to put on a broom and give a witch's hat.  I cut the owl at 3".  The witch hat with the spider dangling from it is a cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.  I cut the hat at 1.75".  For my broom I went to the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and cut it at 6".  I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge for the swirly frame and it's cut at 5".

For the inside of the card I used a Hero Arts stamp set for both the spider webs in the corners and the sentiment.   Now I'm going to take a few days to enjoy our time in NC and visit with the youngest of our four daughters.  Then we'll pick up and move a little farther south from the Raleigh area towards Charlotte to visit with one of my husband's cousins.  I'm really excited to see the next campground because it's right on Lake Norman.  I'm really missing our summer campground on the shore of Lake Huron in Michigan.  I have to say we are getting a little bit tired of moving around so much.  We're ready to get to Florida and settle in for the winter in one spot. I hope you can play along with us this week and create your own Hootie Halloween card.  Thanks for dropping by and for the wonderful comments you leave. I'm so grateful for them and they really brighten my day. 

The Cutting Cafe Welcome Fall

This week's featured set at The Cutting Cafe is the Welcome Fall Printable Stamp Set.  This set features 46 images to use in your fall themed projects.  I made an A2 size card from kraft cardstock, rounded the edges on one side, and used a scrap of Colorbok paper for my background.  Now that I'm living and traveling full time in an RV it's more important to use my scraps because I don't have a lot of space for storing supplies.  I paper pieced the pumpkin on scraps of My Mind's Eye Stella Rose papers and printed the sentiment on kraft cardstock that was the leftover cut from my window card featured last week.  I pop dotted the pumpkins to raise them off the twine that I added for embellishment.  I sprinkled a few rhinestones around in the center of some of the flowers for a little sparkle to finish it off.  You'll want to head over to The Cutting Cafe to see the awesome and inspiring designs from the rest of the DT. 

Follow this link.http://thecuttingcafe.typepad.com/cutting_cafe_blog/2011/09/case-it-tuesday-winnerand-inspiration-projectswelcome-fall.html

We've been camping in Virginia for a couple of weeks where we've had the opportunity to visit our newest grandson, Kameron.  He is a real sweety and the spittin' image of my son when he was a baby.  Our campsite is in the middle of the forest so I thought I'd share a little story and photo.  My son made this gnome for me when he was in high school and I just adore him.  He's a traveling gnome and I brought him with us.  While doing a little hiking at the campground I came across the biggest mushroom I've ever seen.  I just had to get a picture of it and thought my gnome should be in the picture.  There was a little notch in the mushroom at the exact height for my gnomes elbow to fit perfectly.  What a coincidence!

And here is a photo of my wonderful new grandson.  He's four months old now.  It has been a real delight to spend time with him and see his smiles and hear his laugh.  Memories that will have to last us for awhile.  We won't see him again until the spring when we make our way back north from wintering in Florida.  He's trying on his new hat with the Detroit Tigers (baseball team) logo on it.  Isn't he adorable!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me indulge in a few extra photos.  We will be leaving Virginia in a couple of days and heading to Raleigh, NC to visit our daughter.  On the road again!!! 

BBTB2 Walk in My Garden

It's the last Monday of the month and that means it's time for this month's BBTB2 challenge and blog hop. Can you even believe it's the end of September already?  You should have arrived here from my good friend  Shelly's  blog.  If not you'll want to start at the beginning and you can find the list of designer's at the BBTB2 site.  This week's challenge was picked by the incredibly talented Donna.  She asked us to use the Walk In My Garden cartridge for the wheelbarrow cut.  If you don't have this cartridge you can use a wheelbarrow from any other cartridge or a wagon.  That's what I did.  I used the Freshly Picked cartridge.  For my base card (cut at 5" from white cardstock) I used the card feature on Stretch Your Imagination.  It had this adorable apple tree cut out card.  I envisioned apples in my wheelbarrow since it's the time of year for apple harvesting, so I thought the apple tree was perfect.  My background paper is from an old Recollections paper pad I got clearanced at Michael's a couple years ago.  The wheelbarrow is cut at 1.75".  My apples in the wheelbarrow are a printable stamp from The Cutting Cafe's Welcome Fall set.   This printable set features 44 (yes, a whopping 44) fall images  and sentiments perfect for Autumn card designs or scrapbook pages.  I altered the pile of apples to fit in the wheelbarrow by cutting off a couple to make them the perfect size.  My sentiment is also from an older Cutting Cafe set called Autumn Days.  I'll be giving away the Welcome Fall printable stamp set from The Cutting Cafe.  To be in the drawing for this fabulous set you'll need to leave me a comment.  Your next stop on the hop is Carri's blog.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the wonderful comments you leave.  They are so truly appreciated.

The Cutting Cafe featuring Bingo Cards

This week at The Cutting Cafe Blog the Design Team is featuring cards made using bingo card printable stamp sets.  Regina has several sets with bingo cards.  For my design I used her newest set Fall Time Bingo Cards which come with 60 images and bingo cards in three sizes---mini, medium and large.  If you would like to see The Cutting Cafe's other bingo card sets click HERE.  Last year I made two adorable bingo sets using the Halloween bingo and Christmas bingo sets.  I have photos of the Christmas set at the end of this post.  For the base of this card I used another Cutting Cafe set called Assorted Scallop Set 1 which comes with an SVG file that I cut from kraft cardstock.  On top of the base I used a black cardstock mat, a check print from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose, an orange printable frame included in the Fall Time Bingo Card set, a brown cardstock mat and then the bingo card.  I pop dotted the mats, frame and bingo card.  I inked all the edges with Colorbox Charcoal chalk ink and doodled with a white gel pen.  I simply embellished with ribbon, twine and a leaf button.  I know I've said this before but my favorite thing about Cutting Cafe printable stamps is they allow me to put together a classy card in a short amount of time.  Always a good thing.

My Christmas Bingo set was a huge hit with the grandkids last year.  If you are looking for an inexpensive gift for a child in your life, consider putting one of these bingo sets together.  I simply printed the cards and cut them out, I used a punch for the bingo pieces and I cut the colored markers from cardstock using my Cricut machine.  The box the set is in is also a Cutting Cafe set called 8 by 5.5 box with dividers and is a pdf template that's quick and easy to put together.

Make sure you head over to The Cutting Cafe site to check out the rest of the DT designs using bingo sets.   Thanks for stopping by.

Cricut Cardz has moved to Cardz TV

Yes, it's true and fantastic.  Cricut Cardz Challenge is now part of Cardz TV.  Both Design Team One and Design Team 2 have joined forces to bring you even more card designs.  Our challenges will now be every two weeks and let me tell you---you are going to see some fantastic designs and lots of them.  For our first challenge Mary asked the design team to make a project with "something that goes bump in the night" or that was spooky and scary.  Now I must say, I don't really do scary.  I don't watch spooky, scary movies and I don't read spooky, scary books.  No Twilight stuff for me.  I'm also one of those rare people that does not like Halloween.  It probably comes from having to get Halloween costumes ready for my five children when they were small.  I'm so glad those days are behind me.  LOL   So I had to step out of my comfort zone for this.  I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge for my coffin treat container and card.  I used black cardstock for my coffin, it's cut at 5".  I used the phrase Enter If You Dare for the top of the box.  The skull and crossbones is cut from the Indie Arts cartridge.  This is a great container for halloween treats for that special child in your life.  My card is a 4.75" square made of white cardstock.  I have a black mat, red mat and my patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose.  I used the same phrase but reversed the red and black cardstock.  I added a couple of bats giving them red rhinestones for eyes.  My Dracula is cut at 3".  I used some red Stickles to highlight his cape and finished off the card with some doodling with a white gel pen.

The Cutting Cafe-With Gratitude

This week's highlighted set at The Cutting Cafe is called With Gratitude.  This set includes 75 printable images for easy card making.  I also used a cutting file from the Cafe called Window Cards.  That's the wonderful thing about shopping at The Cutting Cafe, you can get your cutting files and images in one place.  Regina offers cutting files in PDF, WPC and SVG form.  You can easily put together a beautiful card in under 15 minutes as I did.  I used kraft cardstock for my window card and didn't change the size at all.  Using it, as is, for a perfect A2 size card.  I printed my sentiment from the With Gratitude set on polka dot paper from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose stack and attached it to the inside of the card.  My beautiful flower was cut using the new Cricut Flower Shop cartridge.  There are ten different spiral cut flowers on this cartridge.  You cut them out and roll them up for the perfect flower every time.  I added a light aqua pearl to the center of the flower and then attached it along with a gingham bow.  The flourish in the other corner is a Cricut cut from the Home Accents cartridge.  Using my Martha Stewart Sepia pen I added faux stitching around the frame cut window opening and the edges of the card. A touch of white gel pen around the flourish and the card was complete.  You can visit The Cutting Cafe Blog to find more inspiration using this printable stamp set here.

BBTB2 Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 3-D Container

It's my turn to host this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 (BBTB2) challenge.  It's always fun to get to choose which Cricut cut the DT will use for the week.  I chose the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge (an oldie but goodie) and asked the team to make a 3-D container that could hold a treat or gift.  I used the triangle box for my container.  As you can see in the photo I have a clear window (which qualifies this project for the challenge at Our Creative Corner) on the front of my box.  This cut on the cartridge does not cut a window, but I was able to add the window with my Gypsy using a triangle from the Just Because Cards cartridge.  I couldn't believe that was the only cartridge I seem to have with a triangle shape.  Anyway, I sized it to fit inside one of the box panels to cut the opening and then backed it with a piece of acetate before putting the box together.   I embellished the box with this cool pleated ribbon I found at a scrapbook store in my travels.  I'm not sure who makes it.  I also got the orange ribbon and twine at the same store.  I cut a leaf from the Mickey and Friends cartridge and then printed candy corn on it.  The mini words came from the Fall Mini Words printable stamp set at The Cutting Cafe.  If you'd like to play along with this challenge and you don't have the TBBM cartridge you can use any other cartridge that has a 3-D container on it.  Remember though, it must be a new creation made especially for the BBTB2 weekly challenge.

The Cutting Cafe-My Favorite Set Giveaway

I'm so excited to post my first project of my return to The Cutting Cafe Design Team.  Regina asked the team to highlight our favorite set.  Just picking one set for my favorite is like pulling teeth because all of Regina's sets are simply fabulous and I love them all.  I decided to use the recently released Assorted Shapes Milk Carton set for my project.  I love making containers to put little treats in and Regina has many to choose from.  I've been wanting a milk carton template forever so I was so glad to see Regina come out with this set.  This file comes with 12 different window cutouts so no matter what the occasion you can put this set to use.  The windows included are:  a square, frame, baby bottle, heart, circle, butterfly, duck, flower, cupcake, house, star and apple.  You can also find holiday specific milk cartons for Christmas, Halloween/Fall and a plain carton with no window cutouts.  Just click on the set for a link to each one.

For my project I made a S'mores kit.  You may or may not know that my husband and I recently sold our home so we could live full time in our RV and travel the country.  So we are always in a campground somewhere.  My granddaughters will be coming to visit this weekend and one of their favorite activities is making S'mores around the campfire.  Inside my milk carton are all the makings--marshmallows, mini Hershey bars and graham crackers.  I thought they would get a kick out of having their own little ready-to-make treat.  I cut the container from beige cardstock and added a piece of acetate to the window before assembling the box.

I used my Cricut Campin' Critters cartridge to decorate my carton. The S'mores sign is from this cartridge and it's cut at 1.5".   One side has a little critter, I think it's a porcupine, roasting a marshmallow over the campfire.  How cute is that?  The porcupine was cut at 2".  The campfire came from the Cricut Camping cartridge and it's cut at 1".

The other side has a bear with a sign saying "Don't Feed the Bears".  The bear is cut at 2".  The sign came from the Camping cartridge and it's cut at 1.5".  I just hand wrote Please Don't Feed the Bears.  To finish the carton off I added a brown gingham ribbon with a button and some twine.

Here's another idea for a carton using the Fall/Halloween Milk Carton set.  For this carton I used the template with the spider cut out. 

The purple spider paper came from the new StudioG products line that Walmart is selling for 97 cents.  This paper comes in a package with seven different prints.  I have to say that they are thin papers so if you want to use them on these containers you may need to back them with a heavier cardstock.  That's what I did for this container.  I cut the template twice, once from black cardstock and then again from the purple print and glued them together before folding the carton up.  I tied a small black and white twine bow and added a button to the center for the spider to dangle from.  Then I used one of the sentiments for the milk cartons and printed it on a tag, it says Got Treats.  The final touch was the googly eyes and a gingham bow at the top.  I'll be making lots more of these adorable cartons for other holidays.  The possibilities are endless with The Cutting Cafe Milk Carton templates.  If you'd like the chance to win the Milk Carton template I used for my project just leave me a comment.  You'll want to make sure you check out the favorite cuts from the rest of the DT.   You can find the list of designers at The Cutting Cafe Blog.

Winner of the BBTB2 Blog Hop featuring the Heritage Curly Tree

Happy Labor Day everyone!  Hope you're all enjoying a day off from laboring!  LOL  I was not able to participate in this week's BBTB2 challenge because we had unexpected company show up at our camper for the holiday weekend and had no time to craft, but it's always nice to visit with family.  Especially since we are packing up and starting our migration south in the morning.  We will travel for two days and make a slow journey down to Sterling, Virginia to visit with our son and daughter-in-law and our newest grandson, Kameron.  We had a very short visit with him on the Fourth of July weekend when our son made a surprise visit.  It was such a hectic weekend for us because we were closing on our house sale, packing and moving.  This will be a nice leisurely time for us to get to know the little guy better.  I can't wait to hold him again.  I love babies!  We will be spending two weeks there then traveling to Virginia Beach.  I will start sharing photos and stories of our journey as we go. 

Now on to the winner of last week's blog hop.  My prize is the Cricut Lite Cupcake cartridge and it goes to, drumroll please....

#23---Sharon from MeeMee's Creations she said...

I think I'll stick around and see what else you can dream up, 'cus this is just fantastic!!
I loooooove it!!! I've built cards around other things, but never have thought about doing it around a quote. I'm gonna give that one a try! And I agree with your DH, this will be perfect for a graduation card. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!!!!! :)

Congrats, Miss Sharon.  If you can email me at thomasjeri55atyahoodotcom, I'll get your cartridge mailed out to you.  Allow me a few extra days until we get settled in our new campground and I find a post office in the area.  Thanks so much for following my blog and leaving such a sweet comment.  It sure means a lot to me.