Leaping Lizards - Happy Leap Day!!

Hello Everyone!  I feel like I never have enough time for everything I want to do, so any time I can gain an extra day, I'm happy!!  I haven't play along at Fantabulous Cricut for soooo long so I decided to make a special card for Leap Day with their color challenge in mind! 

I used the lizard from Life's A Beach.  The colors for the challenge are the Fantabulous colors

 purple, green and turquoise.

I didn't have a stamp for leap day so I hand wrote my sentiment (I hate doing that but since the day only comes every four years, it would be silly for me to have a stamp specifically for it)!   I finished it off with some Twinery Twine from My Craft Spot!

I also made some special projects with the preschoolers today.   They had a blast making and playing with their "leaping lizards"!

They just coiled pipe cleaners to make their lizards leap! 

Thanks for stopping by today!   

My Craft Spot #46 - Make Us Laugh (but keep it clean)

Hello Everyone!  It is time for another Monday challenge at My Craft Spot!  This week we are challenging you to "Make us Laugh (but keep it clean)"!!  Sounds fun!  Here is what I came up with for your inspiration! 

Who doesn't get a good laugh out of this bird for an aging friend?  He is from the Life's a Party cartridge.  I used the "Another Birthday" stamp from My Craft Spot Inside and Out Set #1 which is now back in stock...YAY!!

To give him some dimension, I added some fuzzy feather boa to his neck! 

The DT has come up with some amazing projects as usual!  Stop by My Craft Spot to get a good laugh this week.  I can't wait to see what you make!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Shark Birthday Card

Sorry, just another scheduled post today!  I'm still MIA!  Just a reminder that we have a super fun inspiration photo challenge at Birthday Sundaes this week!  Check out this delicious photo!

(Source)

Here is the super simple card I had made for the challenge!  I used it for shark themed birthday party this past weekend!  No frills or anything special!  Just a cute card for a little boy!

  Another reminder...we are having a deliciously fun Birthday Sundaes Blog Hop this weekend!  Please join us on Sunday July 31 to see the new Design Team in action and to say goodbye to a few of our talented term 1 members!  Hope to see you there!

My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #18

Hello Everyone!  It is time for another Monday Challenge at My Craft Spot!  This week we are "Embossing It"!  Who doesn't love to add a little embossing to their projects!  Well here is what I embossed for your inspiration this week!

So, how is that for embossing?  I used 5 different folders for this one and my bone folder on the rim of the shell!  The inspiration for this card came from a movie my husband and kids were watching the other week.  There were baby sea turtles hatching and the girls were thrilled with them!   Of course my mind started working immediately on what I could make with sea turtles and this card is what came out!

I added a Milk Chocolate Crinkle Ribbon and a button from my stash with a Cappuccino Baker's Twine bow.  The sentiment is from my favorite stamp set, Sweet Sentiments Set #1 and I used my machine to stitch around the border.  The sea turtle comes from Life's Beach cartridge!  I inked it after embossing to really let the embossing shine!

Here is a shot of the dimension on the card.  I used a mixture of Stampin' Up! Dimensionals and Helmar Zap Dots to get the effect on the different layers.  You can't see it that well here, but the shell has an actual convexed shape to it with the center at a higher point then sloping down towards the rim.  It really looks amazing in person!  Emilie was completely thrilled with it!

 Products Used:

• Stampin' Up!
• Soft Suede CS - Base
• Whisper White CS - Mat
• Crumb Cake CS - Sand
• Island Indigo CS - Water
• Pool Party CS - Sky
• Old Olive CS - Turtle Base
• Lucky Limeade CS - Turtle Shell
• Soft Sued Ink
• Old Olive Ink
• Basic Black Stampin' Write
• Dimensionals
• Cricut E2 and Gypsy
• Life's Beach Cartridge
• My Craft Spot
• Sweet Sentiments Set #1
• Milk Chocolate Crinkle Ribbon
• Cappuccino Baker's Twine 
• Embossing Folders
• SU Perfect Polka Dots - Sand
• CB Divine Swirls - Water
• Tim Holtz Rays - Sky
• CB Tiny Bubbles - Turtle
• CB Mosaic - Turtle Shell
• Helmar Zapdots
• Recollections Brads

I hope you will join us and "Emboss It" this week for our fun Monday Challenge!  As always, the rest of the My Craft Spot Design Team came up with some amazing projects that you must see!  Please stop by My Craft Spot and show them some love!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Thankful Thursday All-American Blog Hop

Hello Everyone and Welcome to your last stop on the

 Thankful Thursday All-American Blog Hop! 

We are celebrating the All-American Summer with 4th of July, BBQs, and so much more!  There are fun projects and blog candy to be won along the way so please hop along with us!  If you hopped here from Leah's blog Leah's Card Designs then you are heading in the right direction! ***Leah must still be having blogger problems today so if you came from the talented Ruby Rose then you are still in the right place, stop back later to see Leah's fun project***  Aren't my fellow teammates amazing!!  If you just happened to stop by to see me today (thanks), you'll want to start at the beginning of the hop with Jenny at Crazy About Cricut!  So, enough chitty chat...on with my project!

Since I've been posting 4th of July projects all week and our Hop theme was "4th of July, BBQs and more", I thought I would mix it up a bit and create a project that falls into the "and more" category!  I made an All-American Summer Vacation layout! 

This year our All-American Summer Vacation means heading to the Jersey Shore! 

 I'm really excited because we haven't even made it to the beach yet and I already have some LOs ready for pics (which I'm sure there will be a ton of pics)!

I used the Imaginisce Splash Dance paper line for my LO.  The title is cut from Life's A Beach and I added a few buttons tied with colorful Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot!

This adorable Jellyfish guy was cut from Once Upon A Princess (are you wondering where the jellyfish is on that cart???).  It is a cupcake top that my Oldest E stretched with the gypsy, cut, added some google eyes and drew a cute little face on him!  

We added some Pink Sorbet Bakers Twine and I tacked it down in the swirly design with Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue (just little dabs, a small amount goes a long way).

I was a little sad that some of the original chipboard stickers disappeared from my LO.  I am guessing since neither of the girls would confess and/or rat the other out, that they must have been partners in crime!  There was an adorable chipboard crabby here but since I have not found his new hiding spot, I had to use some of the puffy stickers.  Still cute, just not as cute as the original element!

Again, I had a really cute school of fish up in this corner which magically disappeared!  Lesson learned, take a pic immediately upon finishing a LO so my little scavengers do not have time to snatch the goods...hehe!

While we worked on the LO, the girls and I talked about the beach, and they drew me pictures of what they think our All-American Beach Vacation will be like! 

We added their pics to the LO until I have the real ones to put on there!  I know it will look a lot better with the real pictures but any Mommy knows that these pictures tell a story just like the real ones will!

OK, so who wants some BLOG CANDY?  Today I have something fun for you!  I have a 30 yard spool of Black Licorice Baker's Twine from My Craft Spot, a set of Imaginisce Splash Dance Rub-Ons, and a Stampin' Up Stamp Set! 

THE BLOG CANDY RULES:

1. To be eligible for the blog candy, you must leave a comment letting me know how you like to spend your All-American Summer!  I love my friends all over the world so you are not being left out!  Let me know how you like to spend your summer too!  I'll be happy to ship this candy to any corner of the earth! 
2. You do not need to be a follower, but I would love if you were!
3. Because I appreciate my awesome friends (aka followers), my followers can have an extra chance to win my candy by adding a second comment letting me know that you are a follower (old and new)!
4. I'll be drawing a winner on the 4th of July, so stop back to see if you have won!

Oh but wait, there are more prizes to win today!  There is a Scrap n' Tote to be won and there is also an AWESOME prize pack from Post-It (which includes the Party Time stamp set from Pink By Design)!

To enter to win these prizes:

1. You must leave a comment on all of the blogs in the hop.

2. You must be a follower of Crazy About Cricut.

Winners for this candy will be announced July 7th at Crazy About Cricut! 

Thank you so much for joining us today for our All American Blog Hop!

Here is the lineup in case you got lost or missed a stop along the way:

Jenny @ http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com
Cheryl @ http://www.cardsbycg.blogspot.com
Sharon @ http://www.simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com
Tanya @ http://www.scrappinkymomma.blogspot.com
Bobbi @ http://www.rockgirlcustomdesigns.blogspot.com
Angie@ http://www.sitrestdownplay.blogspot.com
Paula @ http://www.owlbescrappin.com
Jen  @ http://www.mccalleyhouse.blogspot.com/
Sandra @ http://www.sweetpeascards.blogspot.com/
Lola @ http://www.purplepeepstechniques.blogspot.com/
Ruby @ http://www.paper-junkie.blogspot.com/
Leah@ http://www.leahscarddesigns.com
Amber@ http://my3escrapbooking.blogspot.com


Products Used:

• Imaginisce Splash Dance
• Coral Reef Paper
• Water Words Paper
• Polka Dot Bikini Paper
• Ocean Treasures Chipboard Stickers
• Coral & Crew 3D Stickers
• 3D Puffy Stickers
• Stampin' Up!
• Taken with Teal Cardstock (background)
• Crumb Cake Cardstock (title)
• Melon Mambo Cardstock (Jellyfish)
• Melon Mambo Ink
• Soft Suede Ink
• Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker
• Taken With Teal Stampin' Write Marker
• Tombo Multipurpose Adhesive
• Glitter Brads
• Cricut E2 & Gypsy
• Life's A Beach
• Once Upon A Princess
• Create A Critter
• Queen & Co Pearls
• Bo Bunny Buttons
• Signo White Gel Pen
• Google Eyes
• Twinery Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot 
• (Click HERE to order)

I hope you like our Sea Shore Summer layout!  If you came here today hoping to see a more Patriotic LO, you can click HERE to see the details on this layout I posted earlier this week!

Thanks for stopping by today!



Inking it Up Crazy Birthday Week

Goodmorning my crafty friends!  I was so, so excited when my very talented friend Kassidy invited me to join her and her friends as a Guest Designer for Birthday Week at Inking it Up Crazy!  She is celebrating all week long with inspiration for everything birthday related!  Come check out all the creative projects all this week!

  I was asked to create a Birthday Favor for Birthday Week!  I had summer swimming parties on my mind so I created a personalized sand bucket/beach towel favor!

 My middle E is lucky enough to have a summer birthday and after attending her BFFs Pink Flamingo Party last month, she put in her request for a Pink Flamingo Birthday Party!  I am so excited I get to re-create all the fun (not to mention the cute LO I made for her friend, SEE HERE) 

I love how easy and fun it is to work with vinyl!  I order mine from Expression Vinyl and for this project I use the outdoor vinyl (because the buckets are going to be spending a lot of time in water).  When cutting vinyl, you need to have your Cricut set at Speed 3, Pressure 3, and your Blade set at 3.  You want to cut the vinyl and not the backing. 

 Set up your vinyl on a very tacky mat and start cutting.  After cutting, I trim away the un-cut areas of vinyl so I can use it again. 

Peel off the portion of vinyl that is not part of your cut image making sure you get all those holes and slivers.  Use your choice of transfer paper to pick up the individual cuts and carefully layer them.

 Then apply them evenly to the bucket.

 I turn off the Paper Saver for my lettering because then you can easily pick up the names in one, even shot and apply them!

Of course, I am never happy with what I make so I had to move my letters around several times. 

 Add a Thank You Tag, fill your bucket and you've got yourself a cute Birthday Favor!

Products Used:

• Bucket from Michael's
• Towel from Target
• Vinyl from Expression Vinyl
• Life is a Beach Cricut Cartridge
• Tags, Bags, Boxes & More Cricut Cartridge
• Stampin' Up! CS, Ribbon and Family Phrases Stamp Set

Thanks for stopping by!  Please join us at Inking it Up Crazy for a fun Birthday week! Kassidy has a whole team of awesome Designers lined up to share their Birthday creations!  Thanks Kassidy!



Snappy Birthday LO

I couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I would throw together a quick LO for a few challenges using my Imagine! 

Now I have no clue why I did another page for my Middle E's 3rd Birthday.  I already completed an entire scrapbook for that birthday (Click Here and scroll to the end of this post if you would like to see it)!  I started with a sketch for the PKS challenge but I strayed from it!  Oh well!  You can never have to many scrapbook pages..hehe!

I used the Hopscotch Imagine cart and Life's A Beach for most of the LO.  I did pull a few pieces from my scrap pile.  For some reason, I have double the amount of blue scraps than any other color so I felt the need to use some of them for the water!  

I printed this cute little guy out using Hopscotch but I didn't think he popped enough.  I decided to heat emboss him with Red Craft Ink and Clear Embossing Powder.  I wish you could see it better in the pic but I love the way he turned out!  I stamped a My Pink Stamper Stamp on a label because I thought it was a cute addition!

The title is all printed and cut using the Hopscotch Cart and the banner is from a leftover scrap piece from the LO.  I'm still trying to use my scraps up for Sonia's challenge at Scraps 4 Fun!  I've been putting a pretty good dent in the pile.  Sometime this week I will tally up how many projects I've done so far with them!

Now doesn't this palm tree make you want to pack your bags and head for the Beach!  After spending a few days this past week at the Great Wolf Lodge and Indoor Waterpark, it makes me want to head for the beach!!  I am ready for the warmer weather!  I actually had my Imagine and Expression both going at the same time for this tree!  The palms and sand are printed using patterns from the Imagine More Cards cart and the trunk was cut from scraps using the E!  I also gave my dear sewing machine some attention for this LO!

Challenges:

Scraps 4 Fun Use Your Scraps

Simply Sunday Challenge Pack Your Bags (I would love to head for the Beach...the Lake would do too!!)

Challenge Me Monday #52 Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday Robin and FCCB)

GAB Challenge #8 Your Favorite Technique (Embossing wet and dry for me!!)

Crafty Creations Challenge #111 In Stitches



Thanks for stopping by! 

PS...Can you see my gadgets?  If I view a single post they are there but when I view my whole blog they are gone.  I haven't changed anything and it shows up fine when I go to my Design Page.  Where did they go?  Maybe it is a glitch with Blogger tonight.  I'll play with it later!  Thanks!  ***FIXED IT AND I REDESIGNED MY BLOG WHILE I WAS AT IT!  THANKS FOR YOUR HELP TO EVERYONE WHO RESPONDED!!!***

This LO was Top Five Pick at FCCB

This was a winner at GAB



Pink Flamingo Birthday LO

Finally, a post for last Mondays FCCB Challenge Me Monday.  The challenge was Tree Time and it really had me stumped...hehe (like my pun).  Over the last 2 weeks I've posted several projects with a tree as the main focal point but every time I tried this week, something completely different ended up on the paper.  Well, I made this today and it has trees on it so I guess it will have to do.  I made this for our Goddaughter's 2nd Birthday.  Her Mommy threw her a fun Pink Flamingo Birthday Party this weekend!  It was so much fun and all the kiddos had a blast!  I wanted to make her something special to go in her scrapbook for her special day! 

These were the awesome cupcakes her Mommy made for the party!  Aren't they adorable!  They were delicious too.  They were strawberry cake and icing made from scratch...mmmmm!

 I was excited to wake up this morning and see the CCCC#9 Challenge is Life's a Beach so I can share this over there too!

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up Solid CS
• Scrap Pile Paper and Ribbon
• Life's a Beach Cricut Cartridge
• Divine Swirls CB folder
• Signo White Gel Pen

Challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #50 Tree Time

CCCC# 9 Life's A Beach

Scraps 4 Fun Use your Scraps Challenge

Thanks for stopping by today!

FCCB Top 5 Pick