Sketch~N~Scrap Inspiration Challenge!

Do you love a good sketch? 

I know I do! And each month, Sketch~N~Scrap has a scrapbook layout inspiration challenge. This challenge sketch is taken from a completed layout. The layout originator is then revealed!

I have been wanting to push myself to do more scrapbook layouts of my granddaughters, and this has been the key to my actually doing just that! Come play along!

Here is the sketch for February:

And here is what I have done, featuring Miss Koralee Rose:

I love having these sketches to encourage me to do these pages. Here are some close-ups:

The strawberries were cut with my Cricut, the words from my Silhouetete, and the pretty little embellishments are Dew Drops from The Robin's Nest.

Let me know what you think! Leave me a comment and share this if you like!

Hope to see you play along! Head over to Sketch~N~Scrap now to see all the wonderful takes on this sketch and add yours!

WE ARE WOBBLING!!!

Be Mine Action Wobble Bug!

Today's post is all about cute and wiggly.  Valentine's Day is approaching, so it's not too early to start on those cute little Valentine projects.  I have for you today a sweet little card featuring an adorable bug with an Action Wobble.  How cute is he?

Want to see him in action?  Watch the video below:

This busy little guy was created using the Create A Critter cartridge. I cut the bug at 2-3/4", the heart with wings at 3", and the sentiment at 2.25" (I think).  I used the Cricut line of papers. They cut so clean and nice.  And what special Valentine would be complete without an Action Wobble?  

After layering all my parts, I stamped the cardstock with a Stamps By Judith peg stamp and added some Stickles to the hearts and wings. I love how it turned out, and my granddaughter, Kaileigh (she's 3-1/2) thought it was the coolest thing ever.  This one is for her little sister, so I guess I need to make one for her next. 

Action Wobbles are so much fun. If you would like more information on purchase, click on the link below. I would love for you to visit the Action Wobbles Blog and see all the great projects the Design Team has to share. New projects are being posted all the time. And join us for the Wednesday Wobble Challenges. 

Til next time, keepin' it crafty!

Supplies used:

Action Wobble%u2122 Springs

Cricut® Create a Critter Cartridge

InLinkz.com

FCCB #184: Signs of Fall

What Are The Signs of Fall?

Changing Leaves, Cooler Temperatures....Glittery Dogs????  

Ok, so that last one might not be a sign of fall, but it is a sign that I have been crafting glittery fall cards with a craft room full of dogs.  Seven of them.  What can I say, they love me.  
And if you have ever crafted with glitter, you know that it gets EVERYWHERE!  Nothing that a lint roller can't fix though.  

So here is what I created...

While the picture doesn't totally do it justice, IRL (in real life) it is so twinkly and colorful and, well, fall-y!!

I started by cutting my gold cardstock to 6"x8" and scored in half.  I then cut another piece of gold at 5.75"x7.75" and ran that through the Cuttlebug using a folder from the Fabric Swatches set.  This has to be on of my all time favorite folders. It's a basket weave and I just adore it.  

The gold cardstock that I used is fairly thick, but I still managed to get a beautiful impression.  Want to know the secret? Lightly mist both sides of your cardstock before placing it in your embossing folder. That will help it hold a beautifully detailed impression.

I then added foam tape to the back of that and adhered it to the front of the card for a little dimension.

For the glittery trees, I used a brass stencil (LG745) by Lynell Harlow (Dreamweaver) and a bunch of fine glitter in several colors.

I used a coconut soap to coat the back of the stencil to keep it sticking to the double sided mounting paper.  This paper is created especially for use with glitter and stencils by Dreamweaver.  With the stencil in place, I added the blue glitter and a little bit of green toward the bottom.  I then removed the stencil and added little bits of glitter in various colors to signify a variety of changing leaves.

Once I had the bits of leaves filled in, I added the trunks and remainder of leaves and borders.

I then removed the backing and placed that on the front of my card.

Once that was done, I used my Cricut Expression to cut out the word "Blessings" using the Gypsy Font cartridge which came in stalled on my Gypsy.  I cut the letters out of the same gold cardstock that I used on the card base and adhered them to the front of the card.

For the inside of the card, I found a verse on line and printed it on vellum.  I then cut that and glued the four corners to the inside of the card.  I used a Stampin' Up! punch to cut the corners out of the gold cardstock and embossed them using the basket weave folder.  They also act as an added way to make sure the vellum stays adhered without seeing the glue.

Glittering the scene took a little time, but the results were oh so worth it!

I hope you visit Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and play along with this week's challenge: Signs of Fall.  I would love to see YOUR designs!

Til next time, keepin' it crafty!

Cricut Cartridge Storage

My Never-Ending Quest for the Perfect Storage Solutions

I have redone it and redone it. But I'm closer each time. I'm talking about my craft room supply storage. I swear I spend as much time organizing and reorganizing as I do crafting. Can you relate?

As I was moving my craft room, I had condensed my Cricut and supplies down to a 2-drawer wheeled printer cart, which seems to be working perfectly.  I moved my handbooks from my cubes to photo boxes in my Cricut cart. I "deboxed" the cartridges previously and made little trays for the carts for the new Cricut cart, but I just wasn't quite happy with that. 

I made little labels which I intended to just stick on the tops of the carts and be able to identify from the top which cartridge was which. Yeah, that didn't work.  The labels did not want to stick to the curvy cartridge tops. So I had to come up with another plan.  {LIGHT BULB MOMENT}

I made up some tiny little boxes that the cartridges fit in and applied the label to the top so I could store them in my CriCart (clever, eh?). The boxes fit into my flimsy trays, but they were still flimsy. So I decided to redo the boxes using some sturdy cardboard. Perfect-o!

The storage trays are 6"x11", scored at 2" on all sides. The tiny boxes are 3"x3.5", scored at 5/8" on all sides.

Now, all I have to do is cover the ugly cardboard with something pretty...I'm thinking pink zebra duct tape. I even made a few extras so I have room to grow.  

Well, that's my quick little blurb for the day. Off I go to finish up that craft room move (SO close to being finished!).

Til next time, keepin' it crafty!

I've Been A Busy Girl!!!

What I've Been Up To...

For the past couple of weeks since returning home from vacation (hubby and I celebrated our 25th anniversary [last year] by going on a cruise [this year]), I have been diligently working around my house.  My daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters finally got their house finalized and moved the weekend we came home.  And my 80 year old mom is going to be moving in very soon, so we have a LOT of redoing to do!

First up, 

I decided that since I live here 24/7 and we have guests only a few times a year, I should have the bigger of the two spare rooms for my craft space.  I have been packed in my teensy room (without much complaining) for a long time.  It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates over the years.  Luckily I knew a couple scrapbookers who are more than happy to take the excess off my hands.

I had a plan of how we needed to accomplish the move...Hubby painted and helped me move a couple of pieces from my mom's house into my room....and I worked on the rest.  And worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And am still working.  Wow!  I had no idea in my little brain that it would take this much WORK!  But that was the deal I made ("But, Honey, all you have to do is paint and move two pieces of furniture and I will do EVERYTHING ELSE!")  What was I thinking! But I'm about 95.3% done now.  Just need to figure out what to do with the extra crap important items I haven't fit in the new room yet.  I can almost see the floor of the old room.  lol

Here are a couple of pics of the old room as a reminder of how much I had crammed in there. Mind you, every single cabinet, basket and drawer is FULL!

Didn't I tell ya?  A lot of STUFF!!!

Here is the new room, 95.3% done. (And I have several drawers and baskets that are still empty.  Hoping to get a couple more drawers cleaned out and condensed when I have more time.)

Fish Eye Looking Into the Room (Taken with my fish-eye lens for my iPhone)

The walls are a soft grey and I kept all my pink and orange storage from the previous craft space which adds a really nice pop of color without overdoing it.  Now I just have those pesky little things from the other room to put away yet and I will be done and can get back to my passion of crafting!  Oh, how I've missed it.  WEEKS I've been working on this!

Next up,

I got a new toy piece of very important equipment....A Silhouette Cameo!  And my first cut?  The "designer" control panel.  Pretty darn slick if ya ask me!  Cannot WAIT to get to play with it some more.  Check this out!

Now all I need to do is find time to play with it and make beautiful things!  That is, after I finish cleaning out the old craft room, mudding and painting it, painting my mom's new bedroom, repainting the living room since there seems to be a lot of unexplained chips out of the wall (they weren't there when the kids moved in!), and creating a utility room so Mom can access the washer and dryer.

Also,

I have been playing around with revamping my blog a little.  Finally figured out how to do a header.

It's not perfect, but it's a start! Once I get it how I really want it, I will move on to figuring out how to do my very own blinky.  I have zero money to spare with all the remodeling I need to do (not to mention the Cameo...thank goodness for flex pay), so I am determined to accomplish this on my own.  (Of course, by the time some of you read this, I will have already changed the header numerous times! lol)

And finally,

I reorganized my Cricut supplies and condensed everything down to one cart that I can roll to wherever I choose.  I used a couple of photo boxes for the manuals and overlays, and I created a few "holders" for the cartridges. (I used to have them in one of the stacked drawers). I just need to print out the labels for the tops of them for easier identification.  What do you think?

Hope you enjoyed my "shares" for today.  But for now, I have a terrible backache.  Time to take a break and hug a chihuahua.  Next week I will have more ditties to share with you, including something for the FCCB Design Team.

Til next time, keepin' it crafty!