FCCB Challenge #61 - Blue Skies

**  For information on where to vote for me, click here  **

Since we are finally starting to have some blue skies here, I thought I would celebrate by participating in this week's challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.  The challenge for this week is to make a project using the color blue, and a cloud.  I am also using my recently purchased Kate's ABCs cartridge, which I love!  So full of little girl sweetness.  The stamp I am featuring is from the My Pink Stamper set called Sweet Baby.  Robyn always has just the perfect sentiments!  For more information on where you can purchase her stamps, click here.

The color blue, well that was easy.  I love the combination of blue and yellow for little girls - probably because I have two girls.  My favorite color on my oldest is light blue, and my favorite color on my younger daughter is yellow.  And they both have dark hair, so you might say that this little girl is the perfect representation of my daughters - although they're not so little anymore (sniff).  The cloud, on the other hand, was a bit of a challenge.  I don't think I have any cartridges that have clouds on them (oops, just thought of one!), so I used my Gypsy to weld some circles and an oval together.  My cloud looks ever so slightly like a frog's head, but that's OK!  ;-)

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Sweet Baby
Cricut Cartridge:  Kate's ABCs, George and Basic Shapes, Gypsy
Embossing:  Cuttlebug Textile Texture
Paper:  AC Cardstock, Stampin Up, CTMH
Embellishments:  American Crafts (ribbon), Recollections (pearl), 3D Foam Squares, Stickles

And don't forget, if you have a Facebook account, I'd love your support in the Craftiest Cricut Mom contest that Cricut is hosting right now.  The prize is a limited edition Cricut Expression II!  For more information about my entry click here, or to go straight to Facebook and vote click here.  Thank you! 

Oops, I did it again....

**  For information on where to vote for me click here **

I can't believe I did this, but I missed the deadline for the Peachy Keen Let's Face It Friday challenge AGAIN!  Now, in my defense, the deadline was a day earlier this week.  The challenge was Organize It!  I have a million of these adorable tins that I picked up at a Quickutz warehouse sale, and I decided to decorate one to hold my Christmas gift tags - since it's that time of year (ha ha).  ;-)

Stamps:  Peachy Keen Stamps Wide Eyed Kids Assortment
Cricut Cartridge:  Quarter Note (font), Simply Charmed, Paper Doll Dress Up
Embossing:  Cuttlebug Victoria
Paper:  American Crafts
Border Punch:  EK Success Holly Bow Edger
Embellishments:  DCWV (button), American Crafts (ribbon), Stickles

Just a little something for a swap

** Information on where to vote for me here **

I am participating in a swap this month where the theme was Monochromatic (plus neutral) and bling.  It ended up being a really good Get To Know Your Cartridge kind of exercise.  I used Florals Embellished and relied heavily upon my Creative Features keys.  I love this cartridge, but let's face it - the images are extremely detailed and to make a large quantity of these cards would have taken forever had I done all the layering and piecing.  So I decided to use the "shift" key with the Phrase feature to create a simplified butterfly, and then matted using the Silhouette Blackout and Shadow keys.  Here is what I made:

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Spectacular Sayings
Cricut Cartridge:  Florals Embellished
Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart
Paper:  AC Cardstock, Colorbok Rose Stripe
Embellishments:  white organdy ribbon (3/8"), white pearl (Recollections), Stickles

My Pink Design Team - May

Welcome to my blog for this month's My Pink Stamper design team project!  This month's theme was the ever elusive, ever challenging, MAN project.  LOL!  Is it just me, or is it really hard to create projects for the men in our lives?  Well, I can think of lots of projects for my husband:  cutting the grass, re grouting the the tub...

Seriously though, my work definitely tends to err on the side of whimsical and sparkly, with bright colors and ribbon.  Definitely not man material.  But I happen to have the best husband and best father on the planet, so Father's Day is something that is definitely worth celebrating.  It's good to stretch our creativity - just one of the many reasons I like "challenges", and especially love being a My Pink Designer!  Robyn's stamps are the best!  And I am especially loving the sets from her recent release.  For more information on where to purchase My Pink Stamper stamps, click here.  The stamp for today's project comes from the set Spectacular Sayings:

Do you like to shop in the dollar section at Target?  My girls LOVE to go to Target for that reason alone.  I love it when things are on sale for 75% off.  My project today comes from one of my Target Dollar Spot finds - a little Red Hots lunch box, that I embellished and made a coordinating card for.  My husband does a lot of traveling, so it was only natural to adopt a travel theme for my project:

I thought that the little "suitcase" would be a perfect gift card holder!  And what do you need when you travel?  A passport of coarse!  Now I admit that a gift card to Mimi's may not be the most manly of gifts, but this is what I had on hand to show you.  I'll have to replace it with a gift card for Cabela's or something like that.

You will notice from previous posts that my relationship with my Gypsy had a bit of a rocky start.  But I can honestly say now that I rarely make a project without it!  I used the Gypsy with this project to weld both "Dad" and "Passport", and for the cart Gypsy Wanderings for the star emblem on the passport and the tag on the card and suitcase.  I also used the hide contour feature to remove elements on the tag.

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Spectacular Sayings
Cricut Cartridges:  Cricut Classic Font, Gypsy Wanderings (star on passport, and tag), Gypsy
Embossing:  Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set (plaid)
Paper:  Honestly, most of this paper was SO OLD that I'm not even sure anymore where it came from.  But the plain brown cardstock is from Roberts Crafts, and the tweed is from Making Memories
Embellishments:  Hemp twine

If you haven't already, be sure to go to My Pink Stamper to be inspired by all the creations from my fellow designers!

Let the voting begin!

Are there any Facebook fans out there?  Have you been following the Craftiest Cricut Mom contest that is taking place right now?  At the beginning of May, Provo Craft started the contest on Facebook and the grand prize is a new Cricut Expression II!!!  We were told to submit a picture of the project of which we were most proud.  Well, I submitted this:

If you have been following my blog for a while, you may remember that I originally made this cake for a different contest.  This is definitely a project that I put my everything in to.  For the Craftiest Cricut Mom contest we also had to explain why we were the Craftiest Cricut Mom.  Here is what I wrote:

You know you’re the Craftiest Cricut Mom when:

* You show up for parent-teacher conference and one of the first things the teacher says is, “You do a lot of crafts at your house, don’t you?”  (true story...)
* You pull into the parking lot of your favorite craft supply store and your son just yells, “Noooooo!”
* Your children come home from school and know exactly where to find you – in your craft room!
 
I love working with my hands and doing crafts of all kinds, but my creativity rose to a whole new level when I got my Cricut!

I am going to do some shameless begging now...

If you like my project, and if you have a Facebook account, I would really love it if you would vote for my project.  To do so, you can click here or go to the Cricut fan site on Facebook, and on the left hand side click on "Contests".  I would really like to help you out and tell you what page my entry is on, but it seems to be moving around.  Most recently it was on page 4.  You can vote once a day, and thank you!

A Waddle Thanks!

May has been a crazy month!  It normally is with all of the end of school activities:  concerts, auditions for the coming year, testing, etc.  But what is adding to it this year is all the rain.  I have never seen a spring in Utah like the one we are having this year.  Normally it is so dry around here, and I joke about what a novelty it is when it rains.  Not this year!  Winter began with a huge cold spell in November, and it has been hanging on for dear life ever since.  The ground is saturated, the mountains are still covered in snow, the reservoirs are filling up and it is STILL raining - a huge thunderstorm last night in particular!  I still have tulips in bloom in my garden for crying out loud!  They're my favorite flower, so I'm not complaining, but normally we see tulips at the end of March, beginning of April!

I have a drainage canal that runs through my neighborhood, and this morning when I stuck my head outside to see if I'd be able to go on my morning walk I heard lots of voices coming from the next street over.  My first thought was, "Oh no, the river is overflowing and they have started sandbagging!"  Thankfully that wasn't the case, but it gives you an idea of the conditions.  I know that there is flooding going on in many areas of the country, including parts of Utah, and my heart goes out to the individuals that have been affected by these crazy and potentially destructive weather patterns.

The weather was my inspiration for my latest project.  That, and the super cute stamps from the latest My Pink Stamper release.  I just love all of Robyn's "punny" stamps - they're just so fun, just like Robyn!  "A Waddle Thanks" comes from the set Biggie Punnies.  What do you do when you're waterlogged and stuck indoors?  You make a ducky card!

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Biggie Punnies, Peachy Keen Stamps Critter Faces
Cricut Cartridges:  Kate's ABCs (bath tub), Simply Charmed (duck)
Paper:  The Paper Studio (duck paper), Core-dinations, AC Cardstock, Stampin Up
Edge Punch:  Fiskars Apron Lace
Embellishments:  Offray (ribbon), DCWV (button), Stickles, white gel pen

Banner Up!

Now that I have my oh-so-fabulous Peachy Keen Stamps I thought I would try my hand at their Let's Face It Friday Challenge - only I'm a day late and a dollar short!  Oh well, another time.  The theme for this challenge is Banner Up - use your Peachy Keen Face stamps in a project that contains pennants.  As much as it makes me feel really old to say this, I have a niece that is expecting her first baby any day now so I thought I would make her a card to celebrate the occasion.  I am also excited because this is the first time I've been able to use my My Pink Stamper Sweet Baby stamps!

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Sweet Baby, Peachy Keen Stamps Wide Eyed Kids Assortment
Cricut Cartridges:  Simply Charmed (baby carriage), Country Life (pennants), Simply Sweet (letters in pennants), Gypsy
Paper:  Doodlebug Design (baby girl stripe), AC Cardstock, Georgia Pacific, Stampin Up
Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Scallop Dot
Embellishments:  Stampin Up (buttons), Stickles, safety pin, white gel pen

The Scrapbook Fair

There's a great event going on this weekend for those who live in Utah - The Scrapbook Fair!  It is taking place at Utah Valley University in Orem, UT, and promises to have lots of scrappin' deals!  I know that DCWV is going to be there, as is Lifestyle Crafts, and a number of other great vendors.  For more information you can click here.  See you there!

Winner!

Here's what you've been waiting for - the winner from my National Scrapbook Day giveaway:

Heather said:
Great card! I love your tag!! ra6352 (at) gmail (Dot) com

I've got your email, so I'll be contacting you.  Congratulations!

Cricut-tastic Award!

Karen of Karen's Cricut Creations was kind enough to award me the Cricut-tastic Award!  Along with this I have to tell 5 Cricut related things about myself:

1. I got my "baby bug" Cricut for Christmas in 2009, and my Expression & Gypsy for Christmas 2010.
2. I used to shop at the flagship Provo Craft store (when they were still a small, local operation) in Provo, UT, and I've been to their corporate headquarters in South Jordan, UT.
3. I teach Cricut classes at my local Joann.
4. I have been on the design team at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog, and am currently on the design team at My Pink Stamper.
5. I don't think I could narrow down to only one favorite Cricut Cartridge.  My favorites are:  Simply Charmed, Create a Critter, Sweet Treats, and Winter Frolic.  The next cartridge on my wish list is Best of Pixar.

My 10 favorites Cricut blogs are (in no particular order):

1. My Pink Stamper (of coarse!)
2. Creative Critterz
3. Obsessed with Scrapbooking 
4. Courtney Lane Designs
5. Everyday Cricut
6. Monique Griffith Designs
7. Believe Dream Create with Maria 
8. The Serendipitous Scrapper
9. Meesh's Pieces
10. Create with Expression

That was really hard, especially since I love ALL of my fellow DT members' blogs.

Thank you for the award!

NSD Challenge #1 - Cupcake

**  Giveaway info here  **

OK, so this is totally out of order, but I love anything cupcake so I was really excited when I saw that Robyn had chosen a cupcake theme for the first challenge of the day.

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Sweetest Cupcakes
Cricut Cartridge:  Sweet Treats
Embossing:  Cuttlebug Perfectly Paisley
Paper:  Doodlebug Design, AC Cardstock
Embellishments:  The Paper Studio (flower), DCWV (button)

NSD Challenge #8 - Summer!

** Giveaway info here  **

I'm getting there - really I am!  I think all the challenges at My Pink Stamper for this year's National Scrapbook Day celebration were just fabulous and I want to do them all, but a few things have been getting in my way.  My girls had auditions with our local community theater for a few hours on Saturday, and then yesterday was Mother's Day of coarse, and then on top of it all I am having a major allergy attack!  I love spring, but spring does not love me!  LOL!

I am so excited to show you my first card using Peachy Keen Stamps!  I have been wanting some of the Peachy Keen face stamps for over a year now, and so I when I got some money for my birthday I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  You could say that this is a card of favorites:  my favorite color (red), my favorite paper company (Doodlebug Design), my favorite stamps (My Pink Stamper), and my favorite new toy (Peachy Keen Face stamps).

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Fruit & Veggie Puns, Peachy Keen Stamps Wide Eyed Kids Face Assortment
Cricut Cartridge:  Preserves
Paper:  Doodlebug Design, AC Cardstock
Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Scallop Dot
Embellishments:  Doodlebug Design (cherries brad), American Crafts (ribbon)

Happy Mother's Day!

**Giveaway info here **

I'm so glad that one of the NSD challenges over at My Pink Stamper was to make a Mother's Day project!  I have two wonderful mothers in my life - my mother, and my mother-in-law.  So I was glad to have the opportunity to make them something special and take the time to recognize them today.

OK, OK, I know - they're pretty much the same card, just different colors.  It was a blast preparing the samples for Robyn's new stamp release and for National Scrapbook Day, but it was exhausting!  I needed to simplify a little, but that's where having great paper and a great cut comes in so handy!

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Love-a-licious
Cricut Cartridge:  Florals Embellished
Paper:  AC Cardstock, DCWV (The Blossom Song Stack), American Traditional Design (yellow floral paper), Paper Pizazz (green gingham)
Decorated Edge:  Martha Stewart
Embellishments:  Offray (pink satin ribbon), American Crafts (white ruffle ribbon), DCWV (buttons), Stickles, linen thread

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #6 - Tag You're It! **GIVEAWAY**

The party continues for National Scrapbook Day at My Pink Stamper with challenge #6 - Tag, You're It!  Incorporate a tag into your project.  If you would like more information about this project and to join in the fun, head over to My Pink Stamper!

Giveaway
In celebration of National Scrapbook Day, and since it was just Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would give away the My Pink Stamper Set Spanish Sayings.  To be eligible you need to leave a comment here, and I will choose a winner on Wednesday, May 11.

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Today there will be a day long celebration of National Scrapbook Day at My Pink Stamper, and it all begins at 10:00 am CST!  There will be challenges posted every hour, with lots of inspiration from my fellow designers and giveaways.  In fact, for the grand prize Provo Craft has donated a Cricut Imagine for Robyn to giveaway!  My challenge is coming up this afternoon, and I have a giveaway of my own so be sure to check back.  ;-)

More My Pink Stamper New Releases!

And the fun continues with another new set from My Pink Stamper called Biggie Punnies!  I love all of Robyn's "punny" sets - they're just so fun and work so well with Cricut cartridges.  This set is one of her larger 6 x 8 sets.

Biggie Punnies

Don't you just love the expression on my son's face?  What can I say?  He's four...

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Biggie Punnies

Cricut Cartridges:  Country Life (carrots), Winter Frolic (tag - enlarged and elements removed with the Gypsy)

Paper:  American Crafts (City Park line), AC Cardstock, Provo Craft

Edge Punch:  Martha Stewart Apron Lace

Embellishments:  DCWV (buttons), American Crafts (ribbon), linen thread

One of the many really great things you can do with these stamps is bend them a little as you are mounting them on your acrylic block.

Stamp:  My Pink Stamper Biggie Punnies

Cricut Cartridge:  Create a Critter

Embossing:  Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl, Sizzix Zebra

Paper:  AC Cardstock, Stampin Up

Accessories:  Eyelet Outlet (frog eyelets), Stickles

My Pink Stamper New Release!

There are BIG things happening at My Pink Stamper this weekend, starting with the release of new stamps!  I just love this new release!  You can find a list of retailers that sell My Pink Stamper stamps here.

Spectacular Sayings

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Spectacular Sayings
Cricut Cartridge:  Quarter Note
Embossing:  Cuttlebug Allegro
Paper:  The Paper Studio, Doodlebug Design, Roberts Crafts
Embellishments:  Eyelet Outlet (note eyelets), The Paper Studio (flower), Apple Pie Memories (clear button)

Freedom Rocks

Stamps:  My Pink Stamper Freedom Rocks

Cricut Cartridges:  George and Basic Shapes, Quarter Note

Embossing:  Cuttlebug Script

Edge Punch:  Fiskars Apron Lace

Paper:  The Paper Studio (denim), AC Cardstock, Core-dinations

Embellishments:  Offray (ribbon), blue button, linen thread

Don't forget to come back to My Pink Stamper tomorrow for the fabulous National Scrapbook Day Celebration!!!  There will be lots of challenges and giveaways all day long! I will be participating and having a giveaway of my own, so see you tomorrow!

A quick update

I just wanted to let you know that I am busy getting for National Scrapbook Day!  As you can see from my new blinkie there is going to be a NSD celebration at My Pink Stamper this Saturday, May 7th, from 10 am to midnight CST.  I participated last year and it was a blast - you don't want to miss it!  Lots of challenges, inspiration and giveaways - what could be better?