I am attempting to maintain a blog filled with random bits from my life and family as well as my adventures in crafting.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Cut It Up - New Beginnings!

Happy Friday!!!

Hope you all had a FABULOUS Christmas
and that everyone survived :)

We have a super fun challenge starting
over at Cut It Up today!

Cut It Up

New Beginnings -- BABIES!!

This theme was chosen by Evelyn

Make a baby project.  
(And don't forget to include a die cut!)

This challenge runs from December 26, 2014 until January 7, 2015 (noon EST)

This challenge is sponsored by:

Digital Delights by Louby Loo
Prize:  $5 Gift Certificate


Here is my project:
I love this cute owl from Create A Critter 2
and I found some adorable paper from Echo Park.

The yellow pattern papers for the owl
were just in my scrap stash.

I cut the scallop border from Elegant Edges.

The sentiment is from CardzTV's "More Critter Captions".

I hope that you will join us over at Cut It Up!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

BBTB2 - Christmas Ornaments

Happy Monday!!!
Welcome to another challenge for BBTB2!!!
This week we want to see your Christmas projects featuring an ornament.
Here is my project:
I used Simply Charmed and George for this card.
My paper comes from American Crafts and The Paper Studio.
The sentiment is from CardzTV.
The sketch came from my awesome friend Georgiana from Carsons Creations.
Please join us for this fun challenge over at BBTB2!
Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Friday, December 12, 2014

Candy Lane Christmas

Happy Friday!!!

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!!!
Time to mail out the cards :)

But in case you still need some inspiration
check out the challenge that is starting over at Cut It Up
then share with us your creation
before you stick it in the mail!

Cut It Up

Challenge #60

Sponsor
$20 Coupon Code

My Project
I have had the Simply Charmed cartridge
since pretty much the beginning of my Cricut crafting,
but I have never used this cute peppermint candy cut.

I was happy to find some fun paper and sentiment stamps
to put this card together.
The paper is from American Crafts
as well as the "Candy Lane" stamp.
The "Christmas" stamp is from a Hero Arts.

I followed the sketch from Mojo Monday this week.

I hope you will join us over at Cut It Up
for our Christmas Card with Buttons challenge!!!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!




Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Decorate To Celebrate #90

Happy Wednesday!!!

Welcome to another challenge over at Decorate To Celebrate!!!
Today I have a fun project that I have been meaning to finishing for over a year...oops!!!


So my husband cut out these 2x4's from scraps we had lying around last year.

I finished it up by sanding the pieces then I used acrylic paints to coat the pieces then Mod Podged some fun pattern paper from Echo Park on the fronts.
I inked around the edges with Tom Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink.
I used some wood glue to glue the whole thing together.
So easy!!!
I think it turned out great
and I am so happy that I finally finished it
for this year!

I hope that you will join us for this challenge and remember it's
Anything Goes!!!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Monday, December 8, 2014

The Stockings Were Hung - BBTB2 & FCCB

Happy Monday!

Today over at BBTB2 and FCCB
there are a couple challenges starting!

Bitten by the Bug 2
Our fearless and fabulous leader, Susan has chosen the theme
"And The Stockings Were Hung"

LOVE it!!!

And over at FCCB...


Challenge #240 Anything But a Card

This Weeks Sponsor




~This Weeks Challenge~
Create any project, that is not a card!

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used.

So here is my project:


I decided to make a tag to add atop one of the presents
I am giving out.

I used the stocking from Art Philosophy
and the mat is from Elegant Edges.

The paper is from the American Crafts 6x6 paper pad "Jolly".

Used some white tulle and Trendy Twine to top it off.

I hope you join us for these challenges!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!


Monday, December 1, 2014

BBTB2 - Christmas Tree Card

Happy Monday!!!

Can you believe it is December 1st?!?!

This month is going to be crazy,
will it be for you too?

Well, why not get a start on some cards by joining us
over at BBTB2 for a Christmas Tree Card Challenge?

Bitten by the Bug 2



I used Winter Woodland for this Tree Card.
I cut it out at 5 1/4".
The paper was an open stock 12x12 I picked up a few years
ago, but can't remember from where.
I tied a red ribbon around the side
and called it good :)

Doesn't get much easier than that!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!


Friday, November 28, 2014

Cut It Up - Non Traditional Christmas Card

Happy Friday!!!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving
and are recovering from the food overload :)

And if you are like me and avoid Black Friday
at all costs, then it would be the perfect time
to join in our challenge over at Cut It Up!

Cut It Up

Challenge #59

Non-traditional Christmas cards.

*****  Please pay careful attention to the requirements for this challenge. *****
1.  Create a Christmas card.
2.  The card must NOT be SQUARE OR RECTANGLE.
3.  NO red or green.
(And don't forget to include a die cut!)

This challenge runs from November 28, 2014 until December 10, 2014 (noon EST)

This challenge is sponsored by:

Prize: $20 Coupon Code!

Here is my project:
I used Art Philosophy for this shape card
and the mats.  The star is also from this cartridge.

I used Divine Swirls Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
for the black mat.

I wrote Silent Night with a Black Gel Pen.

This was a bit tricky coming up with
a card without using Red or Green.
I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Decorate To Celebrate - Anything Goes!

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to another Anything Goes Challenge

For my project today
I created Thanksgiving Home Decor
from Wood Letters.


I bought these letters at a local crafty wood cut out store
and then found some fun fall papers to decorate them with.

I painted the wood with some brown acrylic paint,
traced the letters on the paper and hand cut them out.
Then I glued them on with some Mod Podge.

I sanded the paper around the wood to get clean edges.

The "a" was cut out of brown vinyl using the Jasmine Cartridge.

I just love how it turned out.

I hope you will join us over at Decorate To Celebrate!

And I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Thanks for checkin' in!


Monday, November 24, 2014

Give Thanks - BBTB2 and FCCB Weekly Challenges

Hey All!

Happy Monday!

Today over at BBTB2 and FCCB we have challenges
all about Giving Thanks!

Here is my project:
I used Celebrate with Flourish
to create this card.

The papers are all from Colorbok (Wal-Mart)
and the stamp is from a little $1 set I picked up
at JoAnn's.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanks for checkin' in!

Monday, November 17, 2014

BBTB2 - Anything Goes!

Happy Monday!

Bitten by the Bug 2

Today over at BBTB2 we have a new challenge starting -
Anything Goes!

Create any project featuring any Cricut die cut.

Here is my project:

So I wanted to play around a little with the
Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More 2 cartridge because
I finally ordered the Scoring Blade.
Now, I don't know about some of the boxes on this cart -
they seem ridiculously difficult and some don't make any sense,
but I really like a lot of the ones they have.
And I really LOVE the tags on this cart.
I haven't played around with the phrases
because I don't have the pens yet,
so that is next on my list to get.

Anyway, this is one of the treat bags
as well as one of the tags on the cart.
The scoring blade really does make a difference
when putting these together,
but I have found that I need to use Multi-Cut 4
to get the score lines to be the most beneficial
in folding the boxes up.

I used a Fiskars stamp for the sentiment
and some twine from American Crafts.
The paper is from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies.

I like the size of this treat bag
and can't wait to give it out :)

I hope you will join us for our Anything Goes
challenge over at BBTB2 this week!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Friday, November 14, 2014

Cut It Up - Let's Talk Turkey!

Happy Friday!

Seriously time FLIES!!!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away now!

In honor of this holiday and the
bird we love to eat
we want to see your projects featuring a
TURKEY!
over at Cut It Up!

Cut It Up

Our Sponsor:
Craftin Desert Divas
One Stamp Set


Personally, I am all about the sides on Thanksgiving,
not necessarily the bird :)

But here is my project:

I used the turkey from the Animal Kingdom cartridge.
All my papers were in my scrap stash,
so they are from different packs.

My sentiment is from CardzTV "Going in Circles"

I did follow the sketch from Mojo Monday this week.

I hope that you will join us for our challenge
this week over at Cut It Up!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Decorate To Celebrate - Pumpkin Home Decor

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to another Anything Goes challenge
over at 

I have a fun, easy, and inexpensive decor project
to show you today...
If any of you have scraps of 2x4 hanging around,
this is a perfect way to get rid of it!

Just cut them down to the sizes you want
and stack them to create a pumpkin.

I painted the blocks with some orange acrylic paint,
found some fun orange pattern paper and used
Mod Podge to glue them on to the blocks.

I did use some wood glue to adhere all the blocks
together.

The stem is a 2x2 scrap piece of wood
that I painted green.

The rafia bow was adhered with a glue gun.

SO EASY!!! 

So I hope that you will join us over at
and show off a project or two!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Monday, November 10, 2014

FCCB & BBTB2 - Thankful

Happy Monday!!!

Today over at BBTB2 and FCCB
we have some fabulous challenges starting!

One is a sketch, the other is to use a pumpkin....

Bitten by the Bug 2
So over at BBTB2 our Sweet Caroline (dun dun dun)
sorry a little Neil Diamond is on the brain :)
Yes, the most talented Caroline has issued us
all the challenge to use a pumpkin on our projects

AND


Challenge #236 Sketch Challenge


This Weeks Sponsor
~This Weeks Challenge~
Sketch Challenge

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut
on your project and if it's not obvious,
let us know what cartridge you used.

Now for my project after
combining the two :)
I have never used the pumpkin from Freshly Picked,
so I wanted to give it a try.

I really love the leaf/stem on this cut.

I inked around all the edges with
various colors of ColorBox Chalk Ink.

My paper is from My Mind's Eye and
the pearls are from Recollections.

The sentiment is from CardzTV "Many Thanks" stamp set -
LOVE LOVE LOVE this set!!!
And I stamped it with Frost White Colorbox Pigment Ink

I am also going to enter this in over at

I hope that you will join us over at BBTB2 and FCCB this week!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!



Monday, November 3, 2014

BBTB2 - Football Season!!!

Happy Monday!!!

I hope you all have recovered from the weekend!

Bitten by the Bug 2

Today over at BBTB2 we have a super fun
challenge all about FOOTBALL!!!
Our lovely Brenda has chosen this theme and
I couldn't be happier!

I LOVE FOOTBALL!!!

So I decided to create a Good Luck card
with a Broncos theme (LOVE the Broncos!)


I used Create A Friend for my little football player.
I used pieces of paper from my scrap stash
and the "Good Luck" sentiment comes from
a TPC stamp set.
The enamel dots are from Recollections.

I hope you will join us this week over at BBTB2!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Friday, October 31, 2014

Cut It Up Challenge - Tags Tags & More Tags!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hope you have a "fang"tastic day!!!

It's Friday, which means another challenge
has started over at Cut It Up!!!


tags, Tags, TAGS!
This theme was chosen by June.

For our Tags, Tags, Tags challenge, 
use more than one tag on your card, LO, or project.
(Don't forget to include a die cut!)

This challenge runs from October 31, 2014 until November 12, 2014 (noon EST)

This challenge is sponsored by:


Sponsored By: Pretty Cute Stamps
Prize: $15 Gift Certificate
Thank you so much for your generosity!!

Here is my project:

My sister's birthday was yesterday and I
ordered her some fun eyeshadows from Younique.

Anyway, I wanted to package it super fun
so I created a present tag from TBB&M2
and a sentiment tag from Art Philosophy.

Purple is her favorite color,
so I found some fun purple glitter paper from The Paper Studio
and fancy pattern paper from DCWV.

Added some purple tulle and whalla!

Close up of the present tag

The sentiment tag is stamped with one of Tara's
Say It Big stamps "Happy Birthday".

Another view.

I hope that you will join us over at Cut It Up
for our Tags, Tags, Tags Challenge!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Decorate To Celebrate #87 - Too Cute To Spook!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Only 2 more days 'til Halloween!!!

Do you have any parties in store?
I have 2 that I am in charge of this year!
One for my son's Kindergarten class and one for
just my extended family at my house!
EEEK!!!
I've been busy!

Luckily, over at Decorate To Celebrate we are starting another
2 week Anything Goes Challenge that helped me get crackin' on
a project for one of the parties!
Hopefully you will be able to join us and show off
some of the fun projects you have been working on!

So here are the little party favor gift bags
I am putting together for all the kids in my son's class.
I wanted to keep it SUPER simple because I am making 30.
There are only 24 in the class, but I always want to make extra
just in case :)


The tag is cut from TBB&M and the ghost is from
Simply Charmed.

I used a PKS Everyday Face stamp for this cutie pie of a ghost.

The "Too Cute to Spook" sentiment comes from
Joy's Life Halloween Pun set.

The ribbon is from Michael's.

Here is a close up of the tag: 

I can't help but think of all these tags getting ripped off
and thrown away, so I always go for
Simple and Cheap :)

The bag is full of a little box of tattoos I found at Wal-Mart,
a Glow Stick, two Halloween erasers, and two Dum Dum Suckers.

Hope the kids will like them!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Monday, October 27, 2014

FCCB & BBTB2 - Don't Be Afraid!

Happy Monday!!!

So sorry I have been MIA for the past little bit!
Ever have those times when life just gets the better of you
and you don't seem to have a handle on things,
well, thankfully I have recovered!

So we have a couple new challenges starting today
over at FCCB and BBTB2 that I hope you will join in!

Bitten by the Bug 2
The Fabulous Jayne has chosen our challenge this week over at BBTB2
all about Gift Boxes.

AND
over at FCCB


Challenge #234 Halloween Projects

This Weeks Sponsor
Stamp set from Kitty Bee Designs
Be sure to visit our sponsor!
~This Weeks Challenge~
Halloween Projects

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut
on your project and if it's not obvious,
let us know what cartridge you used.

Here is my Project:



I created a Coffin Gift Box just in time for Halloween Week!!!

This box comes from the Life's A Party cartridge
and I decorated it up with some skeletons and spider/web
from Create A Critter 2.

I also added some fun enamel dots, tulle and thread.

The sentiment comes from a $1 stamp from Studio G.
I inked around the edges with Slate Ink from CTMH.

Now it's all ready to be full of some fun treats
and given away as a Halloween gift.

Happy Halloween!!!

Thanks for checkin' in!!!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Cut It Up Challenge #56 - Purple, Orange, Lime Green with Black

Cut It Up


Use Purple, Orange, Lime Green & Black

Sponsors:
One Stamp Set

$20 Coupon Code

My Project:

Hey!!!
Happy Friday!!!

Today over at Cut It Up we have a super fun challenge
to help you get ready for Halloween!
But you don't have to necessarily create a Halloween project!
Just create a project using the colors
Purple, Orange, Lime Green and Black.
So yes, those are your typical Halloween colors,
but if you check out all the DT projects,
you can see that not all of them are Halloween related!

Mine of course is :)

I loved the sketch over at Mojo Monday this week,
so I have followed that and will enter this card for their challenge.
I will also enter this in over at

My papers come from lots of different paper packs,
so I am sorry that I don't know the names,
but I think there is some Basic Grey paper,
Ki paper and some open stock.

The bat comes from TBB&M2.
There is a fun Halloween tag on that cartridge,
and this is the negative image that is left over
LOVE IT!!!
So I just adhered the body down with a glue dot
and the wings are flapping up.

The scallop border comes from Elegant Edges.

My twine is from American Crafts and We R Memory Keepers.
The enamel dots are from Recollections.
My sentiment comes from a Studio G $1 Set I picked up
at JoAnn's.

So come on over to Cut It Up and join
us for our color challenge!

Thanks for checkin' in!