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.

November Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge: Home Sweet Home

Our assignment for the Cricut Circle NOVEMBER MONTHLY CHALLENGE was called HOME SWEET HOME. We had to create a home decor project. Our project had to include atleast one Cricut Cartridge Cut, the use of the Cuttlebug in some way, Felt in some form, and the color GREEN somewhere on the project.

Here are the cuts I started off with. They are all from the Hertiage Cartridge.

I cut the green ovals and large rectangle out of the green felt using nestabilities and the cuttlebug (cover 3 requirements at once).

I embossed the red paper with the cuttlebug.

I put this in a frame sitting on a table. It could also be framed on a wall.

Additional November Projects

First, here's my helper. Jake loves helping mom when she's trying to scrapbook. His favorite thing to do is play with the overlays for the Batman and Superman Cartridges.

During the month of November I had a lot of trouble with computers. I would work on a project all week just so that when the deadline came to post it, I couldn't get online. So here are two of the projects.

This first one was a layout that we had to work with from a sketch. I used the sketch for the first page of Jake's 1st Birthday (see above). I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The additional 4 pages finish off the rest of the party.

The second project we had to use "birds" and sticthing. I stepped outside my comfort zone on this one, but it turned out really good. I was most disappointed about not being able to enter this one in the contest. Everything seemed to go together so easy with this layout.

November Magazine Ornament Challenge

This is my submission for the November Cricut Circle Magazine Challenge. We were asked to create an ornament to hang from our tree. We had to use at least 4 Cricut cuts in our design and incorporate something from one other Provo Craft Product… like the YuDu, Cuttlebug or Knifty Knitter.

I choose to create a snowglobe from the Joys of the Season Cartridge. I then used the Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder to create some snow swirls which I highlighted with baby blue chalk. I also cut an ornament out from the same cart to attach to the back of the snowglobe. I then cut a cute little snowman from the Snow Friends Cartridge and decorated him. Lastly I attached some snow flakes and then placed on the Christmas tree (which has been up for 2 weeks).

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #7

This week for the Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge they asked us to create a Thank You card using Cricut Cuts and 4 colors that they gave us to use (Deep Olive, Golden Yellow, Magenta, and Apricot).

I chose cuts from the new Thanksgiving Seasonal Cartridge.

OCTOBER MONTHLY CHALLENGE: CELEBRATING CREATIVITY

This month's theme was about celebrating why we love to create. We could create a scrapbook page or home decor project "CELEBRATING CREATIVITY". We needed to use 1) the Shadow Feature, 2) patterned paper, and 3) embellishments to enhance one of the cuts (I choose buttons).

For this challenge I decided to start my cookbook scrapbook, and "celebrate" my creativity in the kitchen.

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #4

Weekly Challenge #4: BOO! Challenge

This weeks challenge from the Cricut Circle Blog was to create a Halloween project that incorporates some kind of transparent element (vellum, acrylic, plastic packaging, overlay, etc.)

I desided to create a Halloween card. I took the protective film off an old cricut 6x12 mat, and ran it through the cuttlebug with the Pumpkin Vine embossing folder. Then I inked the back side with orange ink. I cut the gate, the pumpkin and vines, and the Pumpkin Patch sign all from the October 31st Seasonal Cricut Cartridge.

Scrapbook Pages

Here are some of Jake's scrapbook pages.

Here are some pictures of him trying to eat yogurt. Funny now he won't touch the stuff.

Every year for Jake's first 3 years we would take him to Dominoe's Farm in Ann Arbor, MI. It's a small petting and feeding farm with goats, pigs, chickens, and other farm animals. This year we left daddy at home and went with some good friends.

This is Jake's bounce house that's in the basement. This is one of the best buys from Walmart.

We took these pictures before a friend's wedding, one nice summer day. I finally got the boys to wear their matching shirts.

This is one of my favorite pictures! My little Kansas City boy.