A Christmas Story layout

I am proud to bring to you a little Christmas in July. I had scrapbookers block with this layout. I had difficulty choosing papers, titles and who knows what else BUT I am so pleased that once I got my creative juices flowing I was able to make some good choices and get it done.

I have to give you the story behind the photos. Every year since my youngest daughter was born 9 weeks premature we have been invited to Christmas, Easter and Halloween events just for the NICU babies at the hospital where she was born. In December 2010 was our 1st Christmas event and we quickly found out that my youngest daughter does not like Santa Claus. As soon as we put her down on his lap she began to cry, we began to laugh, we encouraged our oldest daughter to hold her sisters hand to comfort her and as you can see in the last photo it worked. To this day we still do not have a picture of her smiling on Santa's lap and she will be 5 this November.

I used these items to create my layout:

• Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge - part of the title "Christmas"
• Calligraphy Collection Cricut cartridge - part of the title " A Story"
• Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge - Rudolph and Santa
• Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge - peppermint candies
• Pattern Paper from Recollections Bright and Joy Paper Pad
• Better Not Pout embellishment from Recollections Bright and Joy Paper Pad
• ribbon
• Red corners and star from DCWV The Christmas Speciality sitcker stack
• Red, green and iridescent stickles
• Glossy Accents - Rudolph's nose
• Google eyes
• Foam squares 

I am entering this layout in the following challenges and linky parties:

• Little Scrap Pieces - Linky Party
• Craft Your Passion Challenge #223 - Christmas in July
• Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #175 - Christmas in July
• Paper Take Weekly - Its a Jolly Holiday
• DL ART - Thankful Thursday - July Linky
• My Sheri Crafts Challenge #138 - Christmas with lots of Layers
• The Corrosive Challenge #204 - Christmas in July
• Craftin Desert Divas - Linky Party #36 - Christmas in July

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my A Christmas Story layout.

Chicken Pot Pie recipe layout

 

Here is a little better pic.

 



First I must say sorry about the awful photos I will replace them ASAP but I wanted to make sure I was able to enter my Chicken Pot Pie recipe layout in the following challenges and linky party:

• Red Carpet Studio Challenge #24 - The Notebook - include journaling (mine is hidden)
• Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #149 - Kiss the Cook - use a recipe
• DL ART- Thankful Thursday Linky Challenge - Anything Goes

This is the recipe.

 

 

 

This is my hidden journaling.

 

 

 

The 2nd page is my girls and my Mom

 



 

The chicken

 

 

I used these items to create my Chicken Pot Pie recipe layout:

• Design Studio - weld the letters
• Fabulous Finds Cricut cartridge - file folder and insert
• Jasmine Cricut cartridge - title font
• Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge - rolling pin (2nd page)
• Animal Kingdom Cricut cartridge - chicken (2nd page)
• Misc. clear stamps - "Traditions" and "Family"
• computer generated font - recipe and "Family" journaling
• Fiskars Sea Pearls corner punch - recipe
• round metal clip - hold file folder and hidden journaling together
• Black Sharpie Marker - rolling handles
• google eyes - chicken

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my Chicken Pot Pie recipe layout.

 



Santa in a Chimney Pocket card + a BONUS

Today I give you my 1st Christmas card of this year!!!  It seems everyone is doing something for Christmas in July so I just had to join in.

I created this pocket card with these items:

• Design Studio - welded the shadow of the chimney to create pocket
• Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge - Santa and Chimney
• Martha Stewart glitter - the snow
• Recollections flock - Santa's beard, hat trim and ball
• Glossy Accents - Santa's nose, belt and boots
• google eyes
• misc. clear Merry Christmas stamp
• ribbon

Now for the BONUS...

...they are BOTH ornaments!!!

Here is the a close up of both pieces:

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• Exploring Cricut - Christmas in July - open til 7/21
• Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #74 - Christmas in July - open til 7/23
• More than Favors - Wacky- Wednesday #74 - Pocket Card/Layout - open til 7/24
• DL Art - Thankful Thursday Challenge - Christmas in July - open til 7/28
• Go Fish Challenge #21 - Christmas in July - open til 7/31

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my Santa in a Chimney Pocket card.

Jeepers Creepers easel card

Today I bring to you a very, very early Halloween card.  Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and I have no problems creating projects early for it.  My inspiration came from the challenge over at Haunted Design House - Macabre Monday  The challenge is HDH130 "Eye Can See You."  You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween-based art piece that is to use eyeballs or optical themed images.

I started looking through some old craft magazines and noticed someone had used the title "Jeepers Creepers" and WHAM...I have it, the idea for my card.  I decided to use the lyric from song and this is what I came up with.

I used these items to create this card:

• Design Studio
• Computer generated font - for the "Jeepers Creepers where'd ya get those...Peepers"
• Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge - for the jar
• Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge - for the "Happy Halloween"
• Martha Stewart edge punch - for the slim
• Google eyes
• Glossy Accents - for the slim in and out of the jar and the "Happy Halloween"
• Misc. stickers

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• HDH130 - Macabre Monday - Eye Can See You - open til 4/29
• The Cuttlebug Spot - Easel Cards - open til 4/30
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #49 - Use something that starts with the letter B - I used black cardstock - open til 4/30
• Go Fish Challenge #15 - Anything Goes - open til 4/30

Thank you so much for checking out my Jeepers Creepers card!

Easter Fence Basket

This was such a fun project to make.  I wanted to create a little Easter scene and found this perfect fence box on on the Wrap it Up Cricut cartridge and this is what I made. 

I used these items to make this Easter fence basket:

• Design Studio
• Wrap it Up Cricut cartridge - for the fence box and grass
• Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge - for the eggs
• Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge - for the bunny
• Flower brads - to attach the strip of cardstock to create the handle of the basket
• Recollections flock - for the bunny
• google eyes -  for the bunny
• Pink Sharpie marker - for the bunny nose
• Martha Stewart glitter - for the eggs
• brown ink - to dirty-up the fence

I just added the stuffed bunny and eggs for display purposes.  I plan on giving this to my mom with some Easter candy in it.  I also thought this stuffed Easter froggie I got her would fit in it, but no he was too big.

Here are some other views of each side and an angel view to see 3D look created with the foam squares:

I am entering this Easter fence basket in the following challenges:

• Paper Sundaes Challenge #114 - Happy Easter - open til 4/7
• Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #105 - make a project with an egg on it (I have 8 eggs) - open til 4/8
• Scrappy Moms Stamps - Terrific Tuesday Challenge - Easter - open til 4/9
• Cooking with Cricut Challenge #80 - Easter - open til 4/10
• More than Favors - Wacky Wednesday #68 - Easter/Spring - open til 4/10

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my Easter Fence Basket.

Sweet Puppy Love - Valentine

I did my final Valentine (I think), this one for my oldest daughter Kaitlyn.  She is a HUGE dog lover and the color pink, so naturally I had to incorporate those elements in her Valentine.  I think the little puppy dog on the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge is just too cute so I had to use it.  In fact, I only used the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge and I've had this cartridge for who knows how long and have NEVER used it.

I used these items to create this card:

• Design Studio
• Sweethearts Cricut cartridge (which I've had forever and I Never used it before)
• craft, pink, and grey card stock
• pattern paper
• heart brads - on the corners and used as dog tag
• misc. chipboard (which I've had forever) - the flower and heart
• gem - on the flower chipboard
• Google eyes
• brown ink - for the edges of the dog and chipboard
• Cuttlebug
• Swiss Dots embossing folder - for the large pink heart

Here are some close ups:

 This is where I thought a little sparkle was needed:

Here you can see the grey collar and the heart brad I used to look like a dog tag!

Then the perfect phrase to go along with the Valentine:

I am entering this Valentine in the following challenges:

• My Craft Spot - Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Our Creative Corner - Love is in the Air - Make a St. Valentine's Day paper craft item (card, scrapbook page layout, 3-D item, or an altered item) using the colors Pink, Grey, and Kraft - The add some sparkle to your paper craft item (rhinestones, glitter, metal) anything that shines!  And don't forget to include a heart-shape.
• Whimsical Design - Bringing Out the Old - Whimsical Wednesday - Create any themed scrapbook LO/card/project but you must use or include something old.
• Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #50 - Anything Goes
• Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #97 - include a heart on your project

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my Sweet Puppy Love Valentine

Kaitlyn's School Turkey Project

November 2008 Kaitlyn, being in 1st grade at the time, had a project that the entire family had to help her make.  She came home from school with just the base of the turkey and she was instructed to be creative and this is what we came up with. 

We took apart a pine cone and glued all of the pieces to the base and spray painted it gold.  While we waited for it to dry, my husband shaped pipe cleaners, some into the back tail feathers and the others into feet for the turkey.  I cut out the hat and the blurb on my Cricut.  I stamped the blurb with a Happy Thanksgiving stamp and attached some shiny leaves to the blurb.  I also used a gold pen to doodle on the hat and color in the band around the hat.  Once the body was dry we attached the tail and legs, hat, google eye, eye lash (left over from Halloween), fancy fur yarn, and Kaitlyn drew the details on the face of the Turkey.  Done!  I think it turned out so cute. 

Here's a close up of the face and blurb:

This is Kaitlyn with her turkey at school:

Today I finally put this treasure in a shadow box to be a perminant decoration for Thanksgiving.  I love the way it looks in the frame and with the other Fall decorations:

I hope you enjoyed viewing our little family Thanksgiving project and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kaitlyn's Halloween Spider

My 9 year old daughter Kaitlyn loves to create just as much as I do and she seems to have a knack for recycling/repurposing things around the house.   Kaitlyn happened to be going through some of my craft supplies and found a piece of floral foam that was left over from a previous project and decided she wanted to make something of it...and this is what she made!

Kaitlyn used these items to create this spider:

• floral foam
• black craft paint
• toothpicks
• black tinsel-like balls
• google eyes
• white foam sheet
• fancy fur yarn
• floss
• tacky glue

Kaitlyn painted the foam and toothpicks with black craft paint.  She glued on the little black tinsel-like balls to the ends of the toothpicks and inserted the toothpicks into the foam.  Kaitlyn then glued on the google eyes.  She then cut out 2 teeth from some white foam sheets and glued them on.  Lastly, Kaitlyn glued on the fancy fur yarn around the body of the spider and some black floss to hang it from.

We are entering this project into these challenges:

• Forever Night Challenge - Trick-or-Treat - Kids Challenge - children under the age of 18 are to create a Halloween themed project and can submit up to 3 projects (this is #3 for Kaitlyn) 
• Craft Your Passion - Kids Challenge #1 - children 16 and under are to create a Fall/Halloween project

I think she did an amazing job and best of all this was all her creation...no help needed from Mom!

Kaitlyn's Monster Treat Bags

Well, after my daughter created her 1st treat bag she wanted to make more and she did just that.  Kaitlyn decided to make a monster treat bag for all the kids in our cul-de-sac, a total of 8 monster treat bags!!!   Each treat bag was created in different color combinations, one specifically designed for each kid.  Kaitlyn made all of these by herself, I only helped her by putting on the ribbon.

Here's a view of some of the ribbon we used:

These items were used to create these treat bags:

• Cricut cartridge Mini Monsters - for the treat bag cut at 5 1 /2
• misc. ribbon
• google eyes
• eyelets

We are entering these treat bags in these challenges:

• Crazy About Cricut - Thankful Thursday - Monster Mash - create any project featuring some type of monster and we were encouraged to involve children
• Forever Night Challenge - Trick-or-Treat - Kids Challenge - children under the age of 18 are to create a Halloween themed project and can submit up to 3 projects (this is #2 for Kaitlyn)
• Craft Your Passion Kids Challenge #1 - children 16 and under are to create a Fall/Halloween project

Thank you so much for looking and we hoped you enojoyed Kaitlyn's Monster Treat Bags!

Froggy Witch Halloween Easel card

Hey there fellow crafters I have a card I am sharing with you today that I created for my mom for Halloween.  My mom loves frogs...in fact in her backyard, by her pool she has frog land.  You'll find all types of frogs there, all except for real ones.  I knew right away what froggy I wanted to use and of course it would have to come from one of my favorite cartridges *Creat-a-Critter*

I am entering this card in these challenge:

• Cricut 360 - Spooky Halloween Blog Hop and Challenge - 10/26
• Crop Stop Challenge #42 - Halloween - 10/26
• Paper Sundaes Challenge #92 - Sundae Bar - create a project using black, sparkle, flowers, and distressing but you only have to use 2 to participate

I used these items to create this card:

• Design Studio
• Cricut cartridge Creat-a-Critter - for the frog
• Cricut cartridge Happy Hauntings - for the hat
• Martha Stewart punch - for the inside of the card
• google eyes
• Cuttlebug
• green and purple stickles - the hat and frog
• misc. stickers - for the inside of the card
• My Moments peel n stick ribbon
• open stock pattern paper from Hobby Lobby

Here's an up close view of the froggy's hat.  I show you this because my 9 year old daughter suggested I emboss the hat to make it look like the hat on the paper and this is how it turned out.  I think she had an excellent idea and it works perfectly.

Here's an up close view of the inside:

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed my Froggy Witch Halloween Easel card!

One Eyed One Horned Flyin' Purple People Eater*Treat Bag*

I think the title says it all...this is my One Eyed One Horned Flyin' Purple People Eater * Treat Bag* I created it for a few challenges and because I LOVE these little treat bags!!!

I created this little guy in Design Studio but I had to make a few modifications to him before I could cut him.  He is cut at 6 in. but I hid the eyes so I could give him just one eye.  I also had to give him a horn, which is actually a welded on ice cream cone from Once Upon a Princess.  The rest is all cut normally.

I used these items to create this treat bag:

• Design Studio
• Cricut cartridge Mini Monsters -  for the treat bag
• Cricut cartridge Happy Hauntings - for the hand
• Cricut cartridge Once Upon a Princess - for the horn
• google eye
• Purple stickles

I am entering this little guy in these challenges:

• My Pinkalicious Blog Hop and Challenge - make a goodie bag or 3D item for a holiday (any holiday or occassion) 10/21
• Paper Sundaes Challenge #91 - Halloween or Fall
• Getting Cricky - Simply Sunday - Halloween Treat Holder - 10/22
• Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge Me Monday #82 - Purple People Eater - create a project using purple and include a monster or bug - 10/23
• My Craft Spot - Monday Challenge #30 - 3D Halloween Project - 10/23
• BBTB2 - create a Cricut project using the color purple - 10/25
• Whimsical Wednesdays - No Tricks Just Treats - create bags/boxes or anything that you can package up Halloween treats - 10/26

Here's a view of him without the candy:

And here's a view of him up close:

I totally recommend Mini Monsters to any newbie...the images are cute, fun and easy to layer!!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed my little One Eyed One Horned Flyin' Purple People Eater * Treat Bag*