Guest Designer at Cooking with Cricut!

I am so excited to be a guest designer at Cooking with Cricut! They are such a great challenge blog, with fun challenges and an awesome design team. I am honored to have been asked and I can't wait to show you what I came up with!

I am featuring the Campin' Critters cartridge. When this cartridge first came out I couldn't wait to get it. My husband and I love to camp and the images on it are so cute! For my first project I created a double layout showcasing some pictures of a trip we took to Valdez, AK with some friends of ours. The background paper is from Debbie Mumm. All the pictures are 3 1/2"x5" and I double matted them with red and blue cardstock. The mats are 1/8" larger than each layer. I used Campin' Critters for the moon, sun, bear and wolf. The moon and sun are cut at 3" and the bear at 3 1/2" and the wolf at 4." I embossed the dark blue layer on the moon with Swiss Dots, then used some flocking on the light blue portion of his hat. I added a light blue pearl and some orange Stickles on the star, then finished him off with some black enamel accents for his eyes. I used the black enamel accents on the eyes and nose of the bear and also pop-dotted him for some dimension. The sun has orange Stickles, glossy accents on the bugle and black enamel accents for his eyes. The wolf has glossy accents on the triangle and his nose, white flocking on his hat and black pearls for his eyes. The picnic table is from Camp Out, cut at 2 1/2" and the title is from Pooh Font Set, cut at 1 3/4." I used pop-dots on the title as well. The "dinner" and "breakfast" parts are from Cursive 101, cut at 1," and welded together with my Gypsy.

For my other project I created a birthday card. I actually made two of these, they are for my cousins. They are both born on the 30th of a month, so their golden birthdays are coming up. My mom requested a couple of cards for them. I decided to use one of my favorite cuts on Campin' Critters....bigfoot!

The card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." The two patterned cardstocks are from The Guy Stack by DCWV. The tan piece of carstock is cut at 5 3/4"x4." The green plaid piece is 1/4" smaller. Bigfoot is cut at 3 1/2." I used Birthday Bash to cut the numbers at 1," which I then covered in gold Stickles. For the inside of the card I used the same green plaid and tan cardsocks. I used my computer to do the sentiment, then cut the paper to size. I covered the word "golden" with gold Stickles, I also drew gold Stickles around the edge of the tan cardstock.

Fishing Boy

This card is 4 1/2"x6 1/4." I used white cardstock for the card base. I cut piece of blue cardstock at 6 1/4"x1 1/4." I then wrapped it with a white ribbon and a black and white ribbon. The zig zag piece came from an EK Success border punch. The little fishing boy is from A Child's Year. He is cut at 3." The circle behind him is cut at 3 1/2" and I distressed the edges of it. The white sqare is cut at 3 3/4" and the blue square is 4." I stamped the sentiment, which is from Fiskars, in night sky ink by Tsukineko. I trimmed the white layer to 2"x1 1/4." The blue layer behind it is cut at 2 1/4"x1 1/2." I then distressed the edges of the blue layer. I adhered everything to the card base and added three black buttons to finish off the front of the card.

I also decorated the inside of the card. I cut a piece of blue cardstock at 4 1/4"x6" and then distressed the edges of it as well. The fish were cut from Camp Out. The one in the upper right corner was cut at 1 1/2" and the one in the lower left corner was cut at 1." I then stamped the sentiment on the inside. The stamp is from Fiskars and I used the same ink as the sentiment on the front of the card.

I made this card for the following challenges:

• 365 Cards: "Tuesday Trio"-blue, distressing technique, button
• Alphabet Challenge: Q for Quotes/Sayings
• BBTB2: fishing boy from A Child's Year
• Mojo Monday: sketch #179
• Die Cuttin' Divas: silhouette
• Always Crafting: "Whimsical Wednesday Challenge"-distressing
• Celebrate the Occasion: anything goes birthday

Northern Lights

This one is for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge this week, which is "the great outdoors." This is a set of northern lights wall hangings I made for my house. The ironic thing...I have yet to see a really good display of the northern lights up here in Alaska. So far all I have seen is some mild greens, none of the fun colors. Maybe someday. These were created using 4"x12" canvases that I streched some northern lights fabric over. I used a home dec stapler to attach the fabric on. I then used the Camp Out cartridge to cut out the moose and wolf. I used the cut to length feature to make sure they fit the width of the canvas. I adhered them onto the fabric and then hung them in the arched pattern. I think I want to make some more and make it look even more like it is moving, but it will have to wait because I am making a set of these for a friend of mine who just moved from Alaska down to Georgia. I think she will appreciate them since she won't be able to see them anymore.

Over the Hill

This is a card I made for the Paper Cutz Challenge, which was to make something with wheels; and for the Alphabet Challenge Blog, this week is "M is for Men," so make something for a man. This was such a simple card to make, but I really like how it turned out. I used DCWV paper, this one was the Guy Stack. I used the diamond plate paper for the background and the diagonal stripe for the accent paper. I used Camp Out to cut out the ATV. I cut it at 2 3/4" out of black paper. I then cut it out again using the blackout feature and grey paper. I used a stamp that I thought was appropriate for a card with wheels on it. I used the striped paper on the inside again, then used a light tan and Camp Out again for the ATV tire track. I cut that one out at 1 1/2" out of dark brown paper. Masculine cards are tough to do, but I think this is a good one. I need to make more so I have them on hand when I need them.