Birthday Sundaes Challenge #22 - Brads

Hello Everyone!  It's time again for another fun Birthday Sundaes challenge!  If you are looking for a great way to build your Birthday Card stash, then please join us!  This week our challenge is to use at least 3 Brads on your Birthday Card!  The DT has come up with a very nice selection of Birthday Cards with Brads to inspire you!  We have a talented Guest Desinger joining us this week too!  Here is what I came up with!

I hand-cut these little pinwheels, added my 3 Brads to the centers and adhered a bakers twine bow to each one to match the brads.

I stamped the "Happy Birthday" stamp around the corner and doodled around the three panels.  Then I popped them up to give the card lots of dimension!

Products Used:

• Bo Bunny Double Dot
• Stampin' Up! Cardstock
• Stampin' Up! Pattern Paper
• Bo Bunny Brads
• Helmar Zap Dots
• My Craft Spot Inside & Out Set #2 Stamp Set
• My Craft Spot Bakers Twine

I hope you'll dig into that stash this week for our Brads Birthday Card Challenge at Birthday Sundaes!  Remember you must use at least 3 brads and your birthday card must have birthday wording or a birthday sentiment on the card front!  Please join us!  Thanks for stopping by today!

My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #20 - It's hot out there!

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It's time for another fun Monday Challenge at My Craft Spot and we have a good one for you this week!  The theme this week is "It's hot out there" and the challenge is to use hot, bright colors!  Perfect for this weather we are having!  Here is my card.

I was planning on using the bicycle from the April Showers cartridge but it's almost too hot out there to turn my Cricut on!  Well not really, but I found this fun sticker so I went with it! 

I LOVE how the ribbon and the sentiment from Sweet Sentiments Set #1 went perfectly with these Bo Bunny papers!

Products Used:

• Bo Bunny
• Sunkissed Stripe PP
• Ocean Dot
• Kiwi Double Dot
• H2O + Sun Cardstock Stickers
• Stampin' Up!
• Whisper White Cardstock
• StazOn Ink
• My Craft Spot
• Sweet Sentiments Set #1
• Candied Orange Crinkle Ribbon

I hope this inspires you to hit the air conditioning and create a project using hot, bright colors for our "it's hot out there" challenge at My Craft Spot!  Make sure you swing by and check out the rest of the Design Team's "HOT" projects this week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Sundaes #13 - Birthday Card with Embossing

It's Birthday Sundaes time again!  The Design Team has come up with some amazing cards to inspire you this week!  Our challenge #13 is Embossing!  You can use heat or dry embossing on your Birthday card!  Here is my embossing creation!

I used several different embossing folders on this card because hey, it's an embossing challenge..hehe!  The Turquoise background is embossed with Spots & Dots, the sand with Swiss Dots, the Green Octopus is Tiny Bubbles and I think the embossing on the seaweed is called Textile Textures!  I layered all my embossing fun onto an Orange card base!  I'm entering this fun creation into the Color Challenge at My Pink Stamper this week!  Can you tell what the colors are? 

I added little goggle eyes to the cute little octopus and inked him some cheeks! Everything is outlined, inked and popped up (after being embossed of course) to create this fun little ocean scene! 

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up!
• Tangerine Tango Cardstock
• Whisper White Cardstock
• Tempting Turquoise Cardstock
• Crumb Cake Cardstock
• Garden Green Cardstock
• Family Phrases Stamp Set
• Soft Suede Ink
• Melon Mambo Ink
• StazOn Ink
• Oval Punch
• Bo Bunny Kiwi Double Dot Paper on the Octopus
• Cricut E2 & Gypsy
• Create A Critter Cartridge
• Paper Dolls Dress Up Cartridge
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folders
• Spots & Dots
• Tiny Bubbles
• Swiss Dots
• Textile Textures
• My Craft Spot Mandarin Bakers Twine (Click HERE to order)
• Journaler Pen
• Google Eyes

Challenges:
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #13 Embossed Birthday
My Pink Stamper Color Challenge Orange, Turquoise and Green

There is still one day left to enter the Orange, Turquoise, Green Color Challenge at MPS and you have an entire week to play along with our Embossing Challenge at Birthday Sundaes!  Make sure you check out the rest of the DT cards at Birthday Sundaes for some inspiration!  I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!  Thanks for stopping by!

Splish Splash LO for MPS Pinkalicious Blog Hop

I enjoy the My Pink Stamper Pinkalicious Blog Hop every month!  The Design Team always posts the most amazing projects!  This month's theme is Summer and the projects are fantastic!  I can't believe I actually had the energy to put together a layout for this challenge after my week of making favors!  I am almost all crafted out for the week but this went together pretty quickly since all the paper and embellishments were still close at hand from my Pool Party LO I made last Friday.  These are all the leftover pieces!

My poor Middle E does not like water which is a great misfortune because we spend a lot of our summer in the pool!  She just cannot stand it to touch her face.  There are not many pics of her in the pool, which is why this one of her smiling is amazing!

I used My Pink Stamper Punny-licious stamp set for the "So Cool"!  Punny-licious was the first My Pink Stamper set that I ever purchased and I still use it quite frequently!  As a Create A Critter lover, it was the first set that peaked my interest.  Now I'm hooked! 

Products Used:

• Bo Bunny Sun Kissed Afternoon Paper, Double Dot, Buttons
• Stampin' Up! Cardstock, Soft Suede Ink  for Sponging
• American Alphabet Cricut Cartridge
• My Pink Stamper Punny-licious Stamp Set
• My Craft Spot Bakers Twine

It's 2 am so I am off to bed for a few hours until the kiddos wake up!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Celebrate the Occasion Pool Party Blog Hop

Hello Everyone!  It's summer time here and we are Celebrating the Occasion with a Pool Party Blog Hop!  My CTO friends and I have some amazing projects to inspire your Pool Party crafts and there is BLOG CANDY to be won at every stop!

If you are hopping today, you should have arrived here from Nicole's blog Nadia's World.  If you just happen to be stopping by to see me (thanks, that makes me feel special) you'll want to start at the Celebrate the Occasion Challenge Blog and see all the fun Pool Party projects! 

Lately, I feel like I've been neglecting my scrapbooks so I figured I would make a Pool Party themed layout for you today!  I have been wanting to scrapbook these pics of my Oldest E for the longest time.  This was 2 years ago when she was three and she was having a pool party (by herself)!!  It was one of those priceless moments caught on camera!

I'll apologize now for the terrible pics! Baby E is getting another tooth and she is has been screaming at me all day!  I took these pics with her on my hip and most are uneven.  Also, she has sabotaged my camera again and now there is a black spot on every pic! Sorry!  OK, no more chatty, on with the layout!

I used Bo Bunny paper for my LO.  I've been hoarding this collection since last year and it was screaming out to be used!  

The title is cut from American Alphabet and the postage stamp cut on the bottom right is from B is for Boy.

My poor Cricut didn't get used much with this one, but I think this LO turned out pretty cute!

I hand cut the flags because I was using up the tiniest scraps of my Double Dot!  I was thrilled when the mail came Friday with my new Baker's Twine!  Don't you just love the bright colors!  It is a Twinery collection and it is the newest product over at My Craft Spot! 

Speaking of My Craft Spot, would you like to know who my sponsor is for the Hop today???  You guessed it...It's Kimberly from My Craft Spot! 

 Kimberly has given me an extra set of this bright and summery colored Baker's Twine to give away to one lucky winner!  Thank you Kimberly!!

Now the blog candy rules...

1. You must leave me a comment telling me what your favorite part of summer is! 
2. You do not have to be a follower but if you like what you see today, you are welcome to become one! 
3.  If you are one of my followers, you may leave a second comment letting me know that you are (because I truly appreciate all your encouragement and support)!!  
4. After the hop, make sure you stop by and check out all of the great product and inspiration at My Craft Spot!  
5. I will draw a lucky winner on Tuesday afternoon so make sure you stop back to see if you won! 

OK, I've taken enough of your time today!  Your next stop on this Pool Party Blog Hop is one of my Best Bloggie Friends, Rayna at Purple Peep Techniques!  If you are hopping and have lost your way, you can go back to Celebrate the Occasion to find the line-up! We Celebrate the Occasion every Tuesday, so please stop by and join us!

Thank you for stopping by today!  Have a great day!

Products Used:

• Bo Bunny
• Sun Kissed Chillin'
• Sun Kissed Stripe
• Sun Kissed Squeeze Me
• Grape Dot
• Kiwi Double Dot
• Buttercup Dot
• Orange Citrus Dot
• Paprika Double Dot
• Sun Kissed Cut-Out
• H2O + Sun Cardstock Stickers
• Buttons & Bling
• Stampin! Up!
• Crumb Cake 12x12 Cardstock
• Soft Suede Ink for Sponging
• StazOn ink on the Stamps
• Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker
• Cricut E2
• American Alphabet Cartridge
• B is for Boy Cartridge
• My Craft Spot
• Lilac, Honey Dew, Lemon Drop Baker's Twine (Click HERE to order)
• Sweet Sentiments Set #1 Stamps (Click HERE to order)

Challenges: 
I've been missing out on some fun challenges so I thought I would make this LO with a few in mind!  Thanks for the inspiration!  I hope some of you can find the time to hop along too!  There is really great blog candy at every stop!  I just hopped and it is really good stuff too : )!!
Getting Cricky with K Andrews Simply Sunday Challenge - Banners and Pennants

Getting Scrappy Challenge #9- Use a Stamp on your Scrapbook Page

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #9- Fun in the Sun Must Include a Stamp on your Scrapbook Page

I'm also going to link this up at You Had Me at Craft Made it Myself Mondays

Thanks for stopping by!!

Teacher's Apple Box Set

Since the end of the school year is upon us, I wanted to make another teacher gift!

Doodlecharms has one of the cutest apples! 

 I decided to make another box set of cards like my last teacher appreciation project!

The box apple is cut at 6" and the card apples are cut at 3".  I used my Gypsy to weld them into cards. 

I added the little tag with Bakers Twine from My Craft Spot and stamped it with a My Creative Time stamp.  The tag was missing something so I sponged it blue (which actually worked out great because now the project fulfilled a Throwback Thurs requirement)!

The little apple shaped cards are stamped with "...just a little note" but it does not show up well in the pictures. 

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up! Solid Cardstock, Stamp, Bermuda Bay Ink
• Bo Bunny Double Dot Paper
• Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge
• My Creative Time I Believe in Leprechauns Stamp Set
• My Craft Spot Black Licorice Bakers Twine
• Stickles

Challenges:

FCCB Challenge Me Monday #59 Teacher Feature

My Creative Time Throwback Thursday Doodlecharms must use blue somewhere

More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday #38 Anything Goes

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #6 Take Shape
 ***I'M ALSO ADDING THIS TO YOU HAD ME AT CRAFT'S FIRST OFFICIAL MADE IT MYSELF MONDAYS!!  WHAT A FUN WAY TO SEE NEW CREATIONS!***

I hope this inspires you to thank a teacher this year!  Thanks for stopping by! 

This project was a Top 5 pick at FCCB!!



Happy Birthday Hubby

Today is my hubby's birthday!  He and his twin sister are April Fool's Babies!  So naturally, we like to play some friendly jokes on each other each year.  Last year I got him good!  I had found an old positive pregnancy test from our last Baby E.  I laid it on the bathroom sink so he would see it when he got ready for work...hehehe!  Now, we've had 3 kids in 4 years.  It is not in our best interest right now to have more any time soon so of course he woke me up in a panic!  I went along with the joke and it wasn't until later in the morning that he realized I played him good...hehehe!!!  I'm kind of worried what he has planned for me this year!
I've been waiting to post his card, because I didn't want him seeing it.  He loved his Grilling Fever LO so much that I wanted to make him a card similar to it.  This is what I came up with!

I would have like to use the hamburger, but I couldn't find a funny or punny stamp to use with it!  Happy Birthday Honey! 

Products Used:

• Scraps of Stampin' Up CS and Scraps of Bo Bunny Double Dot Paper
• Pink By Design Simply Everything Stamp Set
• Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge
• Stampin' Up! Oval Punch
• White Gel Roll Pen
• Michael's Ribbon

Challenges:

Cooking With Cricut C-23 Funny Quote, Saying or Pun

Wacky Wednesday #32 Something Funny
Scraps 4 Fun Use Your Scraps

Thanks for stopping by!

This card was a winner at Cooking with Cricut!



Grilling Fever LO

Springtime in our house means the start of Grilling Season.  As soon as Daylight Savings Time hits, my husband feels the need to grill almost every night (even when it is still freezing outside)!  Next week is my hubby's Birthday and he is getting a new grill!  I thought it would be appropriate to make him a LO for it!  He even came up with the name for this page!  I think he did a pretty good job!  I can't wait to get some pics of him with his new grill!

I've been wanting to use the burger and dog since the Simply Charmed cart came out! 

I sponged both of them and popped them up with dimensionals!

This little chef looks a lot like my Hubby!  Happy Birthday Honey! 

I curved my Hot Diggity Dog Clear Stamp on my block and stamped around the circle for a cute little border!

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up! Solid CS, Classic Ink Pad and Dimensionals
• Bo Bunny Double Dot Paper
• Simply Charmed Cricut Cartridge (Hotdog and Hamburger)
• Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge (Circle)
• Plantin Schoolbook Cricut Cartridge (Title)
• Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge (Chef & Grill)
• Pink By Design Simply Everything Stamp Set
• Signo White Gel Pen

Challenges:

Scrappy Saturday's with the Bug Challenge #4 Spring with a Twist of Green

Throwback Thursday Use any Older Cartridge and Use the Color Green

Wacky Wednesday #31 Manly Challenge

The Paper Variety Tic Tac Toe Challenge ( LO, Spring Colors, Used a Stamp) 

Scraps 4 Fun Use Your Scraps Challenge

Amber's Crafts and Stuff Challenge #2 Use Die Cuts

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #1

It's an exciting day!  Today is the opening challenge for the new challenge blog BIRTHDAY SUNDAES!!!  These challenges are going to be so much fun because we all need Birthday cards!  The challenge this week is Anything Goes Birthday and the Design Team has some fun cards to inspire you today!  Kristie, the founder of Birthday Sundaes will be sponsoring the prize this week.  This week you'll be playing for the chance to win the super cute Cupcake Ruby from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! 

Here is my Birthday Sundaes creation for this week!

 I apologize for the light to dark pics this week.  My baby E got a hold of my camera and did some major damage to the settings!  I have gotten it back to where the pics are not all blurry but I still need to work on it!  Anyway, I used Doodlecharms, an oldie but goodie cart for my first Birthday Sundae creation.  I dug into my scrap pile for the Bo Bunny Sun Kissed Line as well as the coordinating Double Dot paper for this fun card.

I added tons of dimensionals to get lots and lots of layers.  This isn't a card that is going to be mailed to anyone, that is for sure!!  I may even have a hard time giving it away!

If you've visited my blog lately, you'll see that I've been playing with ribbon in some different ways!  This cut has a little topper but I wanted something bigger, so I used my scissors to cut that off and added ribbon to the top!

And I added a little ribbon ruffle accent to the bottom of the hat too.

Here is an inside look at the hat.  I sponged the circles, the bottom ribbon was sewn on and the top ribbons were taped onto this layer!

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up! Solid CS, Ink, Ribbon(retired), Dimensionals, Birthday Stamp and Punches
• Bo Bunny Sun Kissed and Double Dot Paper Lines
• Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge (Party Hat)
• B is for Boy Cricut Cartridge (Background)
• Signo White Gel Pen
• Michael's Ribbon

 
If you haven't already, stop by Birthday Sundaes to see all the creative cards from the rest of the DT and be sure to link up your fun cards!   I can't wait to see your "Anything Goes Birthday Cards" this week and please let me know you were here!  I love to hear from you! 

We are packing up and heading out to the Great Wolf Lodge for a few days so I will see you again on Tuesday!  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Exciting News!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week Celebrate the Occasion announced their new Design Team.  I was very excited to see the entire team full of very creative and talented ladies and a few of my good blogger friends.  I was however a bit disappointed that I was not chosen but I did not get myself down about it.  I figured I would just keep crafting and posting away and try a little harder next time.  So I got to work on all the fun challenges out in bloggerland last week and I made sure to submit my challenge entry for CTO "Anything Goes Birthday" challenge.   Well, let me tell you that good things do come to people who wait because I got an email tonight (maybe lastnight depending on when I get this posted) that my submission had ended up in a Spam folder and hadn't been received.  They asked if I was still interested in joining the Design Team!  Of course I accepted it!!!!!  Here is the card I submitted for the Design Team Call.

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up Solid Cardstock, Top Note Die and Birthday Sentiment
• Bo Bunny Double Dot paper
• Create A Critter Cricut Cartridge
• Country Life Cricut Cartridge
• My Pink Stamper Punny-licious and More Punny-licious Stamp sets
• Peachy Keen Critter Faces and Everyday Character Faces Stamp sets
• Signo Gel Pen

I am so excited to be designing with such a talented group and I can't wait to share my crafty projects with all of you!  Be sure to stop by Celebrate the Occasion every Tuesday for a fun new challenge!  I can't wait to see your projects!!

Have a Great Day!

I Love my Butterfly Girl

My kids are home sick again today!  BLAH...  I'm hoping tomorrow we can get back to preschool because Mommy is tired of looking at the walls of this house!  You would think since they are not feeling well that they would not be on their normal path to destruction through the house, but no...I am not that lucky!  The longer we are here, the worse it gets!  It looks like our tree tornado spread into the house today!

Well, since I haven't had to run anywhere, I've taken advantage of the extra time by doing a few scrapbook pages.  This is one of the pages I made this morning and as you can see, my sewing machine received some attention again!  She has been feeling neglected for the past few years (since Cricut moved in) so I thought since she is out, I am going to use her! 

 This is the picture that will be taking up ownership on this page.  I know it is printed but I have not been able to locate it!  I hope I didn't scrapbook it because I've already journaled this page!  My oldest daughter, like most little girls, LOVES butterflies.  She however has a very special connection to them.  Her Native American name is Memengwaa which is Butterfly in Ojibwe.  There is more to this story but that will be for another day.  She has a loving compassion for these creatures and they seem to know it.  For being such a young child she has a very gentle touch with them and can often attract one to her. 

Products Used:

Bo Bunny Petal Pushers Pattern Paper, Double Dot Paper & Buttons

April Showers & Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridges

Queen&Co Black and White Pearls

Stampin' Up! Solid CS

Stickles

Challenges:

Cooking With Cricut C-18 Challenge Swirls and Twirls

Scrappy Saturdays with the Bug Challenge #2 Something Lovey...Mine is a LO of someone I love, holding something she loves!

Paper Variety Challenge 22 Sew Much Fun

Confessions of a Paper Hoarder

"Hello, my name is Amber and I am a Paper Hoarder."  Yes, I like so many other Papercrafters have a bit of a problem.  I can't help it, but I LOVE PAPER!  Whenever anyone asks me what I would like for my birthday, holiday, etc, my reply is PAPER...  Then I get the look.  That puzzling look of "what is wrong with this woman?"  Paper makes me happy, it is pretty, and I would love to fill my entire scrap area with it.  My problem is that I sometimes have a hard time using it.  It is not that I can't come up with a way to use it, because believe me, there is never a shortage of projects I am working on.  It is that I am always afraid once I cut it, I will want it for something else and I will not have it.  This was the biggest clincher in my NEED to purchase the Imagine the morning it launched on HSN (I was one in the first 200 sold as it hit the air on Sept 14 - Thank you Hubby)!
Anyway, my husband had put me spending freeze over the summer and I was desperately wanting to buy the Bo Bunny Sun-Kissed Paper Line.  He said I needed to use up what I had.  GASP...I really, really wanted a sheet of Sun Kissed Adventure so I decided I would make it myself! 

I used We Are Memory Keepers paper.  I believe most of it came from the Over the Rainbow Pad.  This made all the edges look uniformly distressed (Yes I also have a small OCD problem).  I sponged the sun and the rays using SU Crushed Curry and the tree plus sentiment were cut from Tinkerbell.  I showed my hubby and he thought it looked great.  Then I told him I had to use 10 sheets of paper to make this one page so I would need to replace them now.  He laughed at me.  He may not understand it but at least he supports it!