I've got a new NEPHEW!! :)

When we got the news last night that my SIL had her baby, I just had to throw together a cute little card to bring to them in the hospital. They didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, so I made a unisex card for her shower, but needed a gender-specific card for the actual arrival! So, I took a look at some of the challenges available to me and came up with this!
I'm entering this in the following challenges:
Cooking with Cricut: Use a Lion or Lamb
DieCuttin' Divas: Use a Baby animal cut
My Craft Spot: Tie a Bow
Cards for Men: Embossing


Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: B is for Boy, Sugar and Spice, New Arrival
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots
Queen & Co Green Rhinestones
Pebbles Chalk
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Ribbon, button, and embroidery floss from my stash

FCCB Design Team Day!! Challenge #53--Pic Heavy!!

Well, guess what? It's another Challenge Me Monday over at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!! Let me tell you, I am having so much fun on this Design Team...I have been really trying to expand my creative comfort zone and make some new and different things. This week, we were challenged with the theme, "Looks Like Spring".
If you follow my blog, you know that I am not a layout type of girl. And if you are one of my many new followers, WELCOME!! As you look around my blog, you will notice I mostly make cards and 3D items. But, I have been following Monique Griffith's blog for quite some time now, and always said that if I was to attempt some layouts, it would be in her "style". I just love her design style!! If you haven't visited Monique's blog, she is a Cricut instructor who designs layout and card kits (along with 3 other talented ladies), and sells them, complete with super detailed directions and a Cricut cut chart to follow. If you are not familiar with Monique...please head over to her blog and check her out....she's AWESOME!!
So, in the spirit of trying to step outside my creative comfort zone...I decided to attempt a SPRING LAYOUT, 'Monique-style'! This is only the second layout I've EVER made!! And what do you know?? I'm pretty impressed at how it turned out!! I have a feeling that I will become more of a layout girl pretty quickly!!!


I used the Freshly Picked Cartridge for the whole layout.

The full layout is hard to see in the photo, so here are plenty of up close images...





This is the left hand page up close...








And the right hand page......







Some of the gardening tools...





Hard to tell but I used Gold Stickles for the Overall buttons! :)





These mushrooms flock either side of the "freshly picked" title...


And Window Boxes are atop of the top 2 photo mats...




Aren't these Gnomes simply adorable???




Green Stickles were used to add detail to some of the flower leaves.













I cut the images from 1.5" to 4", and inked all edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain.

The Photo Mats are 3x4" and I used my Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen, Sakura Black Glaze Embossing Pen, and Pop Dots to add dimension on everything.

Papers were from Stampin' Up! and My Mind's Eye "Bloom and Grow" Paper Stack.

Thanks for sharing this Layout with me!!! Now, head over to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and see what else the Design Team has cooked up for you!! And then...create something of your own and link it up to play along!!

2nd Challenge Submission of the Day!!

Here's the second card I made today....it fulfills requirements for the following challenges:

Cards for Men--Sketch
Wacky Wednesday at More Than Favors--Manly Challenge
Throwback Thursday at My Creative Time with Emma--Use any older cartridge and the color green



Recipe:
Cricut Cartridge: Mini Monsters
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots
Cardstock: DCWV Green Tea Stack and Stampin' Up!
Pebbles Chalk
Queen & Co. Rhinestones
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Sakura Glaze Embossing Pen in black and purple

Thanks for looking!! Please come back Monday for my fantastic layout!! (totally tooting my own horn, but wait 'til you see it!!)

1st Challenge Submission of the day!!

I've been working on a project lately...a layout for my Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog design team assignment for next week...and I haven't been doing much else, at least in crafty terms. But, let me tell you...I LOVE THIS LAYOUT! I am soooo excited about it!! So, please, please...come back and visit on Monday when that post will go up! I'm very proud of it...and I'm not a layout girl...so please come back and encourage me...I love it so much that I think I'll be designing MORE layouts!! Oh, the possibilities!!
Anyway, I finally finished that layout this morning, and had some extra time on this lovely day off from work...so I whipped up a couple of quick cards to fulfill some challenges.

I am submitting this card in the following challenges:
Birthday Sundaes--Anything Goes Birthday theme
The Cuttlebug Spot--Use Buttons
Cricut Cartridge Chaos Challenge--Doodlecharms
Bitten By the Bug 2--Daschaund from Paisley



Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: Doodlecharms, Paisley, Don Juan
Cardstock: DCWV Citrus Stack and Stampin' Up!
Stickles, Martha Stewart Glitter Glue
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Sakura Black Glaze Embossing Pen
Button from my stash



Thanks for looking!! I'll have another post up in a bit with the 2nd challenge submission for the day!

More Blog Awards!

I have been lucky to receive some blog love from some of my followers over the last few weeks. I haven't gotten around to actually posting them, though, until now. So here they are, in random order......



Stylish Blog Award from Barb at BugBites, and Kristen at My Fantabulous Life



Leibster Blog from Patti at Patti-Lynn Creations and Judy Ann at CraftyJAR



Verstaile Blogger Award from Cheryl at the Craft Nut at 32

There are several requirements for accepting these awards, so hang on to your seat...(this is what I get for taking so long to accept them!!)

For the Stylish Blogger:
Tell 8 things about yourself, and pass on to 8 bloggers!

1. My favorite color is blue
2. My name is spelled after Raquel Welch.
3. I have 1 child, a daughter named Sofia, who looks just like her daddy.
4. We moved into our house 4 years ago, and still have yet to paint any of the WHITE walls except for my daughter's room....and have barely decorated....I get nervous that I may want to change things....CRAZY!!
5. I have 2 cats...one I love, and one I could do without :(
6. I never drank coffee until I hit 30 years old...and when I started working the DAY shift...I survived several years of night shifts without it!! Talk about backwards!! :)
7. My drink of choice is Flavored Sparkling Water.
8. I still have yet to tell many friends and family about this blog...only those super close (my BFF and husband) actually have the URL!!

I'm passing the Stylish Blog Award onto:
1. katieO's
2. Creating a Crafty Life
3. Handcrafted Simply By Us
4. Victoria's Creations
5. Carol'S Creative Corner
6. Country Lady Designs
7. Teachdanz
8. Sparkled Memories

For the Leibster Blog, the requirements are:
1. Creating a post where you blog about the Liebster award & reveal your 3-5 blog picks--done
2. Let them know you chose them by leaving a comment on their blog--will do as soon as this post goes up!
3. Copy & paste the blog award on your blog--done
4. Have faith that your followers will rally & show their crafty love back out to those you awarded--hopefully done!
5. Have Fun!!--done!

So, I am passing the Leibster Blog Award on to:
1. Crafting with Lu
2. Scrappin' Suzy
3. KilgoKrafts

And finally, the Versatile Blogger Award requirements:
1. Thank the person who sent it to you--done
2. Tell 7 things about yourself--done....See the Stylish Blogger Award above
3. Send this to 15 bloggers--I'm choosing 5...hopefully that's ok

I am passing this on to:
1. Live from the Pit
2. LadyLuvBug
3. in the big blue house
4. Paper Memories
5. A Caffeinated Crafter

PHEW! I'm done!! Now I have to go back to these great blogs and let them know that they got an AWARD!! I hope all you visit them as well!

Thanks to everyone who gave me these awards....and thanks to MoMo for the awesome LINKY post that allowed me to find so many AWESOME new blogs to follow!!

It's time to Celebrate the Occasion!! Challenge #6!!

The task put before us (and all of you!!) this week at the wonderful challenge blog, Celebrate the Occasion, is: a thank you card, but it must have a tag. I ran so many ideas thru my head, and finally came up with this as my DT entry. It is my first try at an easel card, and I think I'll be making more of these! I like how it turned out!!

Without further ado.....


And here's a view at an angle, so you can actually see the easel card:

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridge: Preserves
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Tiny Mosaic
Ribbon from my stash: Found it in a dollar bin at JoAnn's
Rhinestones: Queen & Co.
Sakura Glaze Embossing Pen
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Pop Dots



Now, get moving on your own Thank You card, and head on over to Celebrate the Occasion. You can link up your project there, and the weekly winner gets a chance at being selected for the monthly prize....which for March is the ROCK PRINCESS cartridge!! It can't get better than that! You have until Sunday, March 27th at 11:59pm (EST) to link up!! Good luck!!

Happy Everything!!--I'm a WINNER!! :)

Well, it seems like all I'm doing lately is entering challenges, or creating a Design Team Submission for a challenge blog!! LOL!! But, I don't have a ton else to create for right now....so, challenges it is! And I am able to build my card stash!! I also created a double-page layout today with my Gypsy, but haven't cut it out yet...that's to come! I'm very excited about it, as I'm not a layout girl....but I'm trying to branch out a bit!! :)

This is a card that I created for 4 challenges today. I'm not sure how I like it. It didn't turn out how I expected it to...but I guess it's ok. I suppose it's colorful...to say the least!!

I am entering this into the following challenges:
Jitterbuggin' Challenge: Rainbows and Butterflies
Creative Sisters Monday Challenge: Springtime project
K Andrews Simply Sunday Challenge at Getting Cricky: All a Flutter
BugBites Challenge: Use a Buggie cut

Here it is!!

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridge: Tinkerbell and Friends
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Embossing Folders: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and D'vine Swirls
Stamped Sentiment: Stampin' Up!
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
VersaMagic Dew Drops Chalk ink in Purple Hydrangea




UPDATED 3/17/2011!! LOOKY HERE!! I was noticed at Jitterbuggin' Challenges!!

Thanks for looking!! Let me know what you think!! I love comments!!

Get Well Card

I decided to enter a few more challenges today....and here is the card that I made to combine the requirements!!

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Scrappy Moms Terrific Tuesday Challenge: Use either Sugar and Spice or B is for Boy cartridges
The Paper Variety: Get Well Card
Cricut Cardz Challenge: Create a 9x4" card using any cartridges, colors, and theme that you like
Sugar Sweet Paper Treats: Use a cut that you have NEVER used before!

Here it is!!

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: Sugar and Spice, B is for Boy
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! and DCWV
Embossing Folders: Cuttlebug 'Feel Better' and 'Swiss Dots'
Sakura White Gel Pen
Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress ink


Thanks for looking!!

FCCB Challenge Me Monday!!!

Happy MONDAY!! And yes, it is a Happy Monday!!! Why, you ask? Because it's my first Monday on the Design Team for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!!! YIPPEE!! The challenge put forth is called "Hip to be Square" and we were asked to create a square-shaped card using green and gold. Now, automatically, I thought of St. Patrick's Day...but then I nixed that one. I'd already created 2 projects for the Irish holiday, and I'm NOT EVEN IRISH!! LOL! I decided to go for a simple, yet elegant, 'thinking of you' card...here it is. I used 3 shades of green (the lightest shade actually looks ivory in these photos!!) on top of a brown patterned background, and simply added some gold accents in the form of stickles and silver brads that I made gold with gold glitter embossing powder. I hope you like it and maybe I've inspired you to head on over to FCCB and link up your own project for the challenge!!



Recipe:
Cricut Cartridge: Blackletter
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! and DCWV Green Tea Stack
Gold Stickles
Glaze Black Embossing Pen
Gold Glitter Embossing Powder
Brads



Thanks for visiting!! Now, take the challenge!!! :)

Celebrate the Occasion DT post--St. Patrick's Day Challenge

It's my first week on the Design Team over at Celebrate the Occasion!! This week the challenge is to create a project, card, layout, or 3D item that has to do with St. Patrick's Day. I put my mind to work. The obvious choice of Cricut cuts would be the Leprechaun from Simply Charmed. But I wanted to make it different and add my own twist....so I used my Gypsy to weld the Little Guy to an open box from Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More, and decorated the sides with shamrocks and a sentiment from Designer's Calendar. I used the 'Hide Contour' feature to hide his facial features, so I could add some Peachy Keen goodness to him! Chocolate gold coins are the perfect touch to add to my Irishman's Pot o' Gold. Without further ado, here is my St. Patrick's Day treat box!!



Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More, Simply Charmed, Designer's Calendar.
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Peachy Keen Stamps: Everyday Character Assortment
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
Pebbles Chalk

Now, hopefully this wee one has inspired you to head on over to Celebrate the Occasion to join in on our St. Patrick's Day Challenge! You have until Sunday, March 13th at 11:59pm EST to link up your project!



Thanks for stopping by!

St. Patrick's Day Challenges!

I created this card today to enter into a few challenges! I don't usually make St. Patrick's Day cards, but I thought this turned out ok.... I am entering it into the following challenges:

Anything that Sparkles--Card Creations & More's So Saturday Challenge
Paper project using Mostly Green--The Paper Variety
Anything Green/St. Patrick's Day--Crazy About Cricut's Thankful Thursday Challenge
Any Older Cartridge/St. Patrick's Day theme--My Creative Time's Throwback Thursday

Here it is:

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridge: Indie Art
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: don't know! From my stash...
Stamped Sentiment: Studio G
Martha Stewart Glitter Glue
VersaMagic Dew Drop Chalk Ink
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen



Thanks for looking!!

The Paper Variety Challenge

I needed to make a baby shower card for my sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend...and this is what I came up with. I thought I would add a little bit of faux stitching so that I could enter it into The Paper Variety's "Sew Much Fun" challenge!!

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridges: Create A Critter, Mini Monograms, B is for Boy
Cuttlebug Folder: Tiny Mosaic
Papers: Stampin' Up! and Paper Pizazz (Hot of the Press)
Pebbles Chalk
Sakura White Gel Pen
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain
Pop Dots

Thanks for looking!!