Tic Tac Toe Challenge

So I was looking for a project to do for Jacob's Preschool teacher for her classroom, and along comes the May Monthly Challenge. Julianna did a beautiful wreath of flowers for a possibility for the monthly challenge and I have to admit I did a major "scraplift". Her wreath was amazing, and mine is no where close to hers, but I am pretty happy with it.

For May's Monthly Challenge for the Cricut Circle we had to use three squares in a tic-tac-toe row from the image below. We also had to include atleast 2 different Cricut images.

I chose:
1. Use BUTTONS somewhere on the project
2. Use Paper, Ribbon, or something else to create a ruffle on your project
3. Use a cutof a FLOWER SHAPE on your project

So here is my version of the wreath using the Mother's Day Bouquet Seasonal Cartridge.
I started by wrapping a circle with orange ribbon.

I then cut out all the floweres, inked all the edges, and stickled each flower with glitter.

I also decided I wanted to put the teacher's name on it and decided that was where I was going to add my ruffle.

I hope you enjoy it. Jake's teacher liked it!

Mother's Day - Jake's First Ride

Here's my little boy on his first Harley ride. 5/8/2011

He did such a great job! I'm so proud of him.

Mother's Day - Jake

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #24: St. Paddy's Challenge

Weekly Challenge #24: St. Paddy’s Challenge!
The Challenge: Use rainbow colors OR a monochromatic green color scheme on your project. We also want to see you add a touch of gold somewhere on your project.

I decided to pull out another one of Jake's professional pictures to use. Like the last contest this is another picture that hangs in my living room. I have loved this pictures since the day it was taken so it was pretty easy to work with. I have also been a very give fan of St. Patrick's Day, ever since college.

I started with different wording for the title, but ended up with the saying "Simply Adorable" off the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge. All the Shamrocks are cut from the Paper Doll Dress Up. I then hand stitched around the large shamrock with gold thread, and paper punched the shamrocks on the left and right side with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Weekly Challenge #23: Guy Stuff Challenge!

Weekly Challenge #23: Guy Stuff Challenge!

The Challenge: Incorporate atleast three of the following types of materials on your project. (Hardware items, stars, raw cardboard or chipboard, twine, string, paint, buttons, staples, or distressed edges)

Well, it's Sunday and I sat down to start this project and before I knew it was done. This is one of the quickest pages I have ever done. It did help that this is one of my favorite pictures of Jake and Daddy, and even hangs in the living room so I look at it a lot!

I knew right away I wanted to use the Blue Peacock paper (from CTMH), and then flipping thought some of my K & Company paper I found the red paper and thought it went together really well. I collect decks of cards, so I had to go steal two King of Hearts (I hope no one decides to play poker with those decks). "In Good Hands" is cut from the Rock Princess cartridge. I love the little hearts in the letters.

To meet the contest requirements I added some buttons, the chipboard, and the little stars on the bottom.

Cricut Blog Feb Monthly Challenge - BANNERS

Our challenge this month with the Cricut Circle was to create something with a "banner". So I decided to create a layout with a banner.
We lost a friend this week, so I am working on a scrapbook for the family. Here are the first two pages. I titled it "FAMILY TIES". I am trying to focus the book on the positive aspects of the "family".

Swarm Pics

Mid-Michigan SWARM

Here are some pictures from the SWARM this weekend. Lynn and I had a great time.

Look at our "Pink" table.

Hotel Room Door for Weekend Retreat

Here's our Hotel Door Decorated for our SWARM this weekend.

I found a great new way to store all my Cricut cartridges. Thanks to the Gypsy I rarely need to pull out the cartridges, although I do still use the manuals (until I get all the PDFs downloaded).

I found these great jewelry holders at Michaels for only $18 (this week they are on sale for less than $11). They come in both pink and black, which are pretty colors for me. There are 7 rows and you can but between 6 and 9 carts per row. I have put 6 rows of 7, and 8 in the 7th row for a total of 50 carts per hanger. Right now I only need 3 of the hangers for the 140+ carts, but I bought extra hangers since I know I am no where near done collecting cartridges.

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #11: Card or Tag Sketch Challenge!

This week we had to create a quick tag or card using a sketch provided below.

Jake's preschool teacher is having a baby girl this month, so I needed a baby card to go with the present. Once again I decided to use another cartridge that I have not had a chance to use yet - Simply Charmed.
The little baby girl came together really simple and easy, and turned out so cute.

After putting the baby stroller together I found out I couldn't use the shadow in black since the wheels were black.

I tried cutting a white circle, but since I tore it I needed another one. I decided to cut one out of one of my nestabilities, and then emboss it with a cuttlebug folder.

With everything cut out, I am ready to put everything together.

And my finished project!

With a final 2 stamps (1 on the inside of the card and another on the envelope) the card is complete.

Weekly Challenge #10: Holiday Recipe Challenge!

Weekly Challenge #10: Holiday Recipe Challenge!

This week we had to create a project that is about, includes, or holds a holiday recipe. It could be a scrapbook page, a mini album, a recipe box or book, or a Gift. But we had to pay tribute to a holiday recipe in some way.

Since I don’t have a lot of time this week, and I just started my Scrap-Recipe Book the choice was easy. I choose to do a page for my book featuring one of my favorite cookies – Chocolate Crinkles. These are one of those cookies that don’t get made too often, due to the amount of time you have to invest in them. Since the dough needs to sit in the refrigerator overnight, you need to have 2 nights in a row with time to spare (which rarely happens in my house).

I also choose to use one of my favorite cartridges - Hello Kitty Greetings. The little Hello Kitty Elf turned out cute, especially after adding some Stickles.

December Magazine Gift Bag/Box Contest!

DECEMBER MAGAZINE GIFT BAG/BOX CONTEST!

We had to create a gift bag or box using a base from one of the many Cricut cartridges available. And embellish it to fit our style! We had to use at least 4 Cricut cuts in our design and incorporate something from one of this month’s magazine sponsors.

I choose a gift box from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cartridge. This was the first time I have cut from this cartridge. I used the Gingerbread Seasonal Cartridge for both the Gingerbread house and the stocking, and the Christmas Cheer Cartridge for the Candy Canes and Wreath. I inked most of the edges, used glitter glue where ever I could, and used the iRock to adhere the gems to the Gingerbread house.
I'm very happy with the outcome. Now I understand why everyone loves the TBBM cart. I have to admit it was nice that I could put it on the Gypsy and then deside how big to make the box.

Well, that's 2 more carts used. I'm working on finally using each cart atleast once. Only about 80 carts or so to go. :-)

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #9: Black Friday Challenge!

Weekly Challenge #9: Black Friday Challenge!

Our challenge this week had a “Black Friday” twist! We had to include the color black in our project AND recycle or repurpose something.

So looking around my scraproom I found this little plastic container. It had flowers in it at one time, but I switched them to another jar months ago, and had not figured out what to do with it yet. So I decided to use it for the challenge and make a jar to hold some of my scrap tools.
First step was to clean up the jar and get it ready for decoration.
Since pink and black are two of my favorite colors, choosing colors was easy. I cut out a capital B from the Blackletter Cartridge along with the shadow. I cut the hearts from Cake Basics Cartridge, joining 3 sets of hearts together to go all the way around. Add a couple of flowers and some pearls and we are done.