"Bee" Day Invites

My cousin's daughter is turning two soon and I was once again asked to make the invites and decorations for her birthday party. This year the theme is "Bee" Day so I made a beehive shaped card for the invitation. I used Create a Critter for everything. The beehive is cut at 5." I cut out two of them, hiding the inner contours in Cricut Craft Room. I then glued the hearts at the top together to create a shaped card. I used a heart, also on Create a Critter, and cut it out so that it fit over the heart at the top of the beehive. I used some cotton candy glitter by Martha Stewart on the heart. The bee is cut at 3" also from Create a Critter. I used a Peachy Keen face on it because I thought it would be adorable...and it is! I also cut the bows from Create a Critter. I used Cricut Craft Room to get them sized right, then also used the cotton candy glitter on them. I used some dimond Stickles on the bee's wings. The sentiment is by Fiskars and I stamped that on the beehive with black ink. The party info will be on the inside. I made 46 of the invites and will be working on the rest of the party stuff now that the invites are done. I will post the decorations as I get them done. Enjoy!

I made these for the following challenges:

• Peachy Keen: anything goes
• Die Cuttin' Divas: anything goes

Down on the Farm

My husband went to the Twin Cities this weekend. We visited the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota Zoo. The current challenge at BBTB2 was perfect timing then, and it gave me an excuse to scrapbook some of my pictures right away. Their challenge is to create a project with a farm theme. One of the sections we visited in the zoo was the farm section, so I used the theme and the pictures we took in that section. I also used the challenge at Exploring Cricut, which is to use a Disney cartridge, to create this layout. I like how it turned out and I hope you do too!

The layout is a 12"x12" double layout. I used two pieces of light blue cardstock for the base of my layout. I then ripped two pieces of patterned green paper by K&Company for the grassy hills. I matted all my photos with white cardstock and added a second mat to the photo of the horse and piglet. All the mats are cut 1/4" larger than the photos. I used County Fair for the barn, it is cut at 3 1/2." I embossed the front of the barn with Distress Stripes and the hay with Forest Branches for some texture. I also added glossy accents to the silo. I used Graphically Speaking for all the clouds. I added flocking to the two clouds that I didn't use for journaling. I used Country Life for the title, the font is cut at 1 1/2." I used Toy Story for Woody and Bullseye. Woody is cut at 5" and Bullseye is cut at 4." I used pop-dots to adhere the smaller journaling cloud and the picutre of the little piglet.

Pretty as a Peacock

This card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." I used a dark purple cardstock for the card base, then cut some white cardstock 1/8" smaller. I used a glittery teal cardstock for the larger rectangle, which is cut at 4 1/16"x2 7/8." The two smaller rectangles are 2 7/8"x2" and one is the same dark purple cardstock as the card base, the other is a light teal carsdtock. I embossed all three rectangles with my Cuttlebug. The largest one was embossed using D'vine Swirls and the other two smaller ones were embossed with Polka Dots. I used Elegant Edges for both mats. I used the oblong feature and cut both the shadow and regular mat at 4." I turned them sideways and stamped my image on the white mat. I used my Zig markers to color it in, then added some blue gems to the peacock's tail and some grape Stickles to its crest. I used some teal ribbon to tie a bow and added it to the corner of the mat. I used a stamp from Scrappy Moms for my sentiment. I adhered the mats to the card with some pop-dots for some dimension.

I also finished the inside of this card as well. I cut some light teal cardstock at 4 1/4"x6," and some white cardstock at 4"x5 3/4." I used a peacock feather stamp and colored it in, again with Zig markers. I used a combination of My Craft Spot and Fiskars stamps for the sentiment.

I made this for the following challenges:

• Color Throwdown: rich razzleberry, pool party, very vanilla, bermuda bay
• Mojo Monday: sketch #251

Alphabet Flash Cards

I just want to warn you that this will be a long post, with a LOT of pictures.

The July Monthly Challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog is "Family Fun." The challenge is to create a project or game your family can enjoy together. My friend has a little boy and is expecting her second in February, so I thought I would make a little alphabet matching game for her and her kids. I know the one on the way won't be able to use it for a while, but he or she will eventually...right? ;) I created four sets of flash cards. I used an uppercase alphabet, a lowercase alphabet, and two different sets of objects that begin with all the letters of the alphabet. I figure this way they can use them to match the uppercase to the lowercase letters, either set of objects with either set of letters, or the sets of objects to each other. I think it should be a fun little game for all of them, and me when I visit. :) I cut the cards out of black cardstock at 3 3/4"x5 1/4." I then cut some white cardstock at 3 1/2"x5," this is the side of all the objects and letters. I cut some patterned paper at 3 1/2"x5" as well for the backs of the cards. I used two types of patterned paper for each set of cards. The paper for the backs of the cards are from the Basics Stack by DCWV. All the letters, both uppercase and lowercase, are cut from Birthday Bash. They are cut at 3." The patterned papers I used for the regular letter cuts are from the DCWV Prints for the Year Ultimate Stack. All the images are sized to fit the card. Most are cut at 3" but some are a little larger or smaller. I came up with my list of images, then picked the cartridge I wanted to use to create that image. Some were easier than others. I also added glossy accents, crackle accents, glitter, Stickles, flocking, dry embossing, and even some heat embossing on different images.

Here are the patterned papers I used for the backs of the cards. The top two are the backs of the uppercase letters, the next two are the backs of the lowercase letters and the last four are the backs of the the two sets of objects. Here are all the cartridges I used for the images.

A - apple: Doodlecharms, anchor: Going Places

B - bee: Just Because Cards, beach ball: Pack Your Bags

C - cow: County Fair, cookie: Sesame Street Friends

D - dog: American Alphabet, duck: Sesame Street Friends

E - elephant: Holiday Cakes, egg: From My Kitchen

F - frog: Boys Will Be Boys, flower: Create a Critter

G - grape: Preserves, giraffe: Noah's ABC Animals

H - hot dog: Block Party, horse: Country Life

I - ice cream: Doodlecharms, igloo: Create a Critter

J - jellyfish: Art Nouveau, jack-in-the-box: B is for Boy

K - kangaroo: Noah's ABC Animals, kite: Boys Will Be Boys

L - lion: Life is a Party, lemon: Just Because Cards

M - monkey: New Arrival, mouse: Four Legged Friends

N - nest: My Quiet Book, nails: Handy Man

O - owl: Straight From the Nest, octopus: Pack Your Bags

P - penguin: Create a Critter, pencil: Locker Talk

Q - quail: Nate's ABCs, queen: Fantasy

R - rabbit: Create a Critter, rake: Chore Chart

S - shovel: Garden Soup, snail: Boys Will Be Boys

T - turtle: Pooh & Friends, tooth: Baby Steps

U - unicorn: Pailey, umbrella: Everyday Pop Up Cards

V - vulture: Life is a Party, vacuum: Chore Chart

W - wagon: Everday Pop Up Cards, whale: B is for Boy

X - xylophone: B is for Boy, x-ray: Sugar and Spice

Y - yarn: Meow, yo-yo: Nate's ABCs

Z - zebra: Noah's ABC Animals, zipper: Kate's ABCs

Mr. & Mrs.

The magazine challenge for the Cricut Circle this month is to use the Circle exclusive cartridge Out of Character. I need a wedding card for my husband's cousin who is getting married next month and thought I would combine these two and create a wedding card for her using Out of Character.

I used Cricut Craft Room to create my shaped card using the "Mr. & Mrs." image from Out of Character. It is cut at 5." I welded two of the images together, then cut all the layers. I used some non-traditional wedding colors since my husband's cousin and her fiancee are not really all that traditional. In fact, they are getting married at the Minnesota State Fair! The black cardstock is from The Paper Company; the glittery yellow cardstock is from Core'dinations, the Glitz & Glam stack; the red and shiny gold are both from DCWV, the Gilded Orchard Stack; and the shimmery green cardstock is from my stash, I have no idea who made it. I adhered most of the layers with foam tape for dimension (since I won't be mailing this one) and finished it off with some bling.

I made this for the following challenges:

• Fantabulous Cricut: wedding or anniversary
• Pinspirational: picture inspiration (I went with the theme of the photo, and the non-traditional feel of it, for my inspiration)

Relax & Enjoy!

Here is my third card using Just a Note. I also wanted to be able to enter this into the current weekly challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog. The challenge this week is a sketch, so I used that for the layout of my card. Here is the sketch:

Here is my interpretation of the sketch using the clouds from Just a Note:

The card is 5 1/2"x4 1/4." I used black cardstock for the base and rounded two corners. I then cut a piece of cloud patterened paper at 5 1/4"x4" and rounded two of its corners. I used Just a Note for the clouds, they are cut at 3." I flocked both of them, one in white and one in light blue. The large blue cloud is adhered with foam tape for some dimension. The sun is cut from Create a Critter at 1 3/4." I used a 1" circle punch for the light yellow inner layer of the sun since I didn't want the face. I tied a button with some light yellow floss and added that to the middle of the sun. I stamped the sentiment, which is actually three separate stamps and all by Scrappy Moms Stamps, on some white cardstock that I cut into the shape of a banner. A quick and easy one this time!

I also made this for the following challenges:

• 365 Cards: "Day 139" - use a twisted or braided material
• Fantabulous Cricut: yellow sun
• Perfect Sentiments: anything goes, with a sentiment
• Tuesday Alchemy: use a button