Saturday, March 31, 2012

Just Elements #2: What's the Buzz Notepad



Don't you just love the dollar bin? This week at Micheal's I found this cute magnetic notepad in the dollar bins and picked it up thinking...I could change it up a bit. We will not talk about what else I picked up at craft stores this week (Spring Break shopping can be dangerous).

I looked at what I had laying around (okay yes, some of it is newer!) and decided to play with my new favorite embellishment: FLOWERS! These cute bottles of flowers are all on clearance at Micheal's and I have been picking them up slowly over the last 2 months. I knew I wanted to add them to this remade notepad in some way. First I had to cover the notepads.
I measured, cut and scored a piece of paper from the DCWV Summer Days Stack. I scored around the magnet in back and cut it out by hand. I used the super strong red tape to adhere the paper.
Next came the flowers. I added them on with some small Zots than used my I-rock to add a little sparkle to each one. Finally I selected a fun stamp from My Pink Stamper's Buggy Punnies set to add on a hand cut label.

No Cricut, just fun elements so a perfect entry for week two of the Just Elements Challenge at Get Inspired With ChatterScene .
When all was said and done I was so happy I ran out to Micheal's to get some more of these notepads for later use. Hope you will join in this fun new challenge. It offers a $10 Paypal or Hobby Lobby Prize (winner selects 1) and also a smaller extra prize as well!

Friday, March 30, 2012

First Day Of School Layout

I have been wanting to finish a layout using the photos from my daughter's first day of Kindergarten for some time now and I did not have an idea, but the Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs is what I have been waiting for for inspiration. Today the challenge is to Recycle/Upcycle. I had just the thing to use.
This is the bag I made for my daughter to hold a little gift on her first day back in August. It has been sitting in her play room ever since BUT today it became this...

I cut off the bag and trimmed the front design before adding a great stamp from My Pink Stamper Lunchbox Thoughts. I placed it on the layout and added my photos. 
In order to match the facing page, I placed a pink ribbon down the color line and added the title to match the Simply Sweet font already on the bag. I needed a splash of yellow on the facing page so I picked a glitter button form the Oriental Trading Company set I recently bought. Success! What a fun challenge. Happy Friday to all.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

No Cricut Thursday #12: DCWV Stack-aholic Challenge

Today for No Cricut Thursday I decided to play along with the DCWV Stack-aholic Template Challenge. This is my first time playing along and I really liked the sketch, but I also wanted the added challenge of not using my Cricut and I found that a little harder than I expected. Here is the sketch and stack I selected:
The challenge is to use the sketch and one of DCWV's stacks. I just bought the new Creamy Cardstock stack and I wanted to play with all the bright and smooth colors. *NOTE: I found that a permanent marker works best on this so you do not smudge.
I went into my Creative Memories cutting tools to cut my shapes and I pulled out a punch from EK Success to do the fun border on the paper. I have not used it much so I practiced first.
I also used some letter stickers from Creative Memories for my simple title. In the end, I was happy with the layout, but I do wonder what I could have done differently with my Cricut?  The biggest critic of them all, my daughter, loved it so no worries I guess. Have a great day.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Flowers for Grandma

My daughter wanted to "make things" in my craft room. She had a lot of ideas, but the first one was making flower bouquets for her grandmas. She is going to have a sleepover with each of them during her break this week and she wanted to have a little gift to give them when she arrived.
We made these the same way we made all her flowers for her 100th Day Project except she wanted to use some different flower cuts. We used flowers off: 3 Birds on Parade, Create A Critter, Everyday Pop-Up Cards, and Hello Kitty Greetings for these bouquets. All the paper is from the DCWV Fresh Floral Stack. So many great soft colored floral prints.
She also wanted them to have fun tags so I pulled some out of my stash and let her write in them the way she wanted. We added the cute ribbon she recently picked out when we went craft shopping. It is from the Princess set by The Paper Studio.
So happy to share her fun creative adventures with you. We hopefully will get in a few other projects over the break and I hope to share those with you soon (some are works in progress right now). Have a great day! Tomorrow is No Cricut Thursday!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Count Your Blessings Card

Good morning everyone. Spring Break is offering me so much time in my craft room and yesterday I went through my blog list and found 2 challenges I knew I could combine into one project and at the same time use one of the brand new carts I bought over the weekend, Country Life.

When I looked through the cart book I fell in love with these cute sheep (page 41) and they were perfect for the Fantabulous Cricut: Challenge Me Mondays #104: Out on a Limb (use a gentle animal). I embossed the fur and added the faces using the smallest stamps off the Wide Eyed and Bushy Tailed Face Assortment set from Peachy Keen (love the laughing one).
I cut the sentiment off the same page of Country Life & put it all together.
When I added the color pencil stitches to the card it made the cut for challenge number 2 the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge #10: Just Cards and Faux Stitching. All the paper (except the black sheep base) is from the new paper I bought this weekend: DCWV Spring Fling stacks. Thanks for stopping by today. Seeing as it is Tuesday I have linked this up to Sarah Hamer's Link Up Tuesday as well.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Pink By Design: Spring Inspiration Blog Hop


Welcome to the Pink By Design: Spring Inspiration Blog Hop
I am so excited to be part of this great line-up of projects. Hopefully you have made your way here from Melisa's Blog, but if you are finding this hop in the middle I hope you will hop over to the start at Pink By Design and see all the great projects, plus find out how to take part in the fun challenge that goes along with this hop.

Each of us was asked to create a project inspired by the spring time photo above. The photo gave me a few ideas, but in the end I took my inspiration from the peach/orange color and the banner images. I searched for just the right photo and papers and went from this:

To This:
All my paper is from a stack I recently bought from SEI called Bright Blossom. I especially love the sheets that have no pattern, but fade from light to dark in the color and did not want to waste the whole page on the back so I cut out the center to cut my banner pieces off the Celebrations Cricut Cartridge.

After cutting my banner pieces I pulled out the My Type stamp set from Pink By Design and added these great words to my banner. The flowers came next with some fun brads and for the final touch I cut out the title off the April Showers Cartridge.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I would love to read your comments before you hop over to Annette. Here is the whole Hop line-up in case you get lost along the way. 


Remember to head over to the Pink By Design Blog when you are done and create your own Spring Inspiration Project. You will have 2 weeks to add your link. 

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Create Day!

Today I am creating! We went and ran all our errands early today so that we could each spend the day doing what we wanted when we were done. Now I am happy at play in my craft room, with some new treats to explore:
I have already finished my project for the
Pink By Design: Spring Inspiration Blog Hop TOMORROW!!
I Hope you will stop by tomorrow to see what everyone has created. I am off to work on some other project goals. Enjoy your day!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Miss you a Latte Card : No Cricut Thursday on Saturday

Over at Get Inspired With Chatter Scene Chris is trying a new challenge. The Just Elements Challenge is all about putting those wonderful cutting machines down for a bit and exploring what kind of fun elements you already have in your craft space. If you visit me often, you might know that I love a good non-machine project every now and than for my No Cricut Thursdays so I was all about getting in on this new challenge (I just did not get my project finished for Thursday).
My Elements!
I went over to my sticker stash (that I hardly ever visit anymore) and found a sheet of coffee themed stickers.  I decided to make a card to add to my growing collection. I pulled out some cardstock to match the sticker colors and got working.

I cut and scored the card than added an embossed layer and a piece of braiding cord I bought last summer. I added the fun cafe sticker over the cord and tied a bow. I wanted to put a label on the front and I found a set of journal mats I had from Creative Memories. I hand wrote the sentiment and added it to the front.
I left the inside mostly blank, except for a few more coffee stickers. I never know when or why will need a card so leaving it blank is best. I can always add a stamped sentiment to the inside later.
I hope you will go check out the Just Elements Challenge over at Get Inspired with Chatter Scene. This is the first one and you need to link up your new project (as of March 15th) by midnight tomorrow (March 25th). She will be picking a random winner to receive a $10 Pay pal credit or Hobby Lobby Gift card (winners choice of one!)

As for me...First official day of Spring Break has begun!!!
I hope to get in a lot of craft time. On Monday I will be part of the Pink By Design: Spring Inspiration blog hop and I would love for you to stop by! Have a great Saturday!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Disneyland Treats

You may not know this (if your read my blog often you probably do) I am a Disney Nut! I have always loved Disney and now that I have a daughter, well it is even more fun. Even my husband has become a nut for it all. We are planning our next trip to Disney World and wish it could be sooner, but for now we get to live vicariously through my sister and her family. My niece is getting to go to Disneyland for the first time this week! I am so excited for her and had to make some little treats to send along.
I bought this little water bottle at Hobby Lobby for about a dollar and using Mickey Font added "Disney 2012" and some Mickey heads to it. I told my sister no worries about keeping it forever I just wanted a little something for my niece.
I was also allowed to make her an autograph book. Again, Mickey font heads, but with the added Glossy Accents. I also put some stickers on the inside to show where the Princesses should sign. This photo was taken last minute (before being packed in my Mom's suitcase) so it isn't the best. I cannot wait to see their photos and hear the stories!!
Happy Disney Dreams!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Movie Shower

This past Saturday my Mom and I held a wedding shower for a close family friend. I have mentioned that they will be having their reception in an old movie theater and that is what inspired us to have a movie themed party. I made the invites and tags for the favors using the downloadable cartridge, Movie Night. I had to have it being such a movie buff.  Here is how the whole theme came together

A large version of the invite made with Movie Night (heart from Designers Calendar):
The red fabric to cover the front entry rug and make our red carpet entrances and the menu printed out and pasted to a clapboard:
This fun frame from Ikea with photos of the bride and groom to be:
The cupcake tags that I made after printing out movie posters related to weddings and pasted them to backing paper and toothpicks (there were big hit..check out the some of the silly titles I used)
And finally, my Mom found these wonderful popcorn boxes at Target and we filled them with popcorn. I used Movie Night once again to make these simple tags like a walk of fame.

It was a wonderful shower and we look forward to celebrating the wedding in June. Hope everyone has a great week. One week until my Spring Break!!