Spring Wall decor with the Explore!

A year or so ago, I pinned a Spring wall hanging from Cricut Crazy Scrapper.  It had been entered in a BBTB 2 challenge and I loved it!   Unfortunately, I don't have the cart Nate's ABC although I do have Kate's ABC. 

Fast forward to this week and I was delighted to find that Nate's ABC was part of the HSN Design Space subscription.  I placed the images from both Nate and Kate on a 12 x 12 canvas and was able to arrange them to my liking.   It's much easier to do this when the images are colored!  (Sorry, Gypsy girl!)  The software grouped the images on the virtual mats and I went to cutting.  

Kate's ABC is one of my favorite carts because the images are cute without being cartoonish.  KWIM?  I have cut this little lady and her dog a couple of times before and have never made a satisfactory scalloped layer under her hat.  Look what the Explore achieved!  

  

Here's the finished cut: -

I am linking my Wall Art with the BBTB2 Favorite Cartridge challenge here.

It's interesting to see which carts are favorites.     Here's the finished project although I'm not sure if I'll remove the flowers or not.  Guess I'll wait for Spring!  

                      Thanks for visiting with me today. : )  Christine

And one last picture of my DGS who was sitting on my lap throughout the photography process and determined to get some part of himself in the picture!

Birthday Box

DH graciously allowed himself to be persuaded to go golfing so that I could play with my new Explore without being interrupted with foolish questions like, "What would you like for dinner?"
He is so sweet!

I have tons of left over DCWV pattern paper that is partially glittered.  I did not like using it because I always had to take my micro tip scissors to it to complete the cut - even after double cutting!  So, my goal today was to do a project using this cardstock and figure out the setting on the dial.

When I opened up Design Space to look for a box to make for the Exploring Cricut challenge here, I saw the boxes in the new cart, Box It Up and thought I would try the scalloped box.  I did not think that I needed this cart since I have similar carts, but this baby makes large, useable boxes!  (It's now on my list for when my 3 months trial subscription runs out. That Cricut is so sneaky!)

Here's what I learned:

Setting the dial between Fabric and Poster Board ensures a perfect cut of the DCWV cardstock.

I NEED the score tool!

That you CAN move the elements around on the virtual mat before you cut.   This is going to be a huge time saver.

Here's my box.  I love the detailed 'Happy Birthday' cut on the top, don't you?   Thanks for visiting with me today.  I'm off to M's to see if they have the scoring tool in stock!  : ) Christine

She's here!

My new Cricut Explore, I mean.  She came yesterday via UPS and the driver was quite taken aback when both DH and I went hurtling up the drive to meet him at the gate!  Cocoa was mightily relieved too because I made him sit on the porch, on alert for the delivery, all day! 

This is my first project and it's a 'sampler' since I used every brand of card stock in my stash, paper, DCWV Glitzy Glitter and the writing tool.  I only have a silver pen right now, so the writing is not as visible as I would like.  Didn't she do great??????

I have an idea for a card, so I'm heading back to the craft room.   Thanks for visiting with me today!
           : )  Christine

Shamrock Treat Boxes

    My poor Expression is tired out from overwork and I keep asking my Gypsy girl to do things she is not capable of and then I get frustrated with her limitations.  : (   So sad that they have to make way for the Explore and her new software, Design Space when they have served me faithfully for 5 years or so.  But it is what it is, as my sister says, and now, I'm waiting, waiting, waiting!  My new Cricut has shipped and is wending its way westwards from Tennessee complete with Anna Griffin projects ready to cut at the touch of a button! 

The crafting must go on!  This little shamrock box comes from the Silhouette on-line store and was resized to about 1 1/2 inches square.  Just right for 8 pieces of gold - well, Rolos really!  They are all ready for the reception area at OHM.  I just love making these little treats each month!

Thanks for visiting with me today and don't forget to stock up on Girl Scout Cookies!      : ) Christine

Thinking of you

Master J was here yesterday and we 'crafted' together.  He sat in his high chair and tried to decide which hand to hold the crayon in, dropped his paper on the floor (this is a good game Grandma!),  and discovered that if he put the crayon in his mouth, Grandma gave him a teeny, tiny Teddy Graham!   I sat next to him at the kitchen table and played with my February card kit from Simon Says Stamp.  Here's my "Thinking of you" card -

and here's the rest of the story!

My delightful DGDs were here on Sunday afternoon, (with Mom and Dad!) and S was wearing a beautiful, sparkly sequined shirt in a lovely color between teal and turquoise.  After they left, we found that S had shared her sequins with us upstairs and downstairs and all around the house!  LOL!  It was like following a trail as we picked up as many as we could find and I considered, briefly, doing the same thing with gold sequins for the DGDs on St. Pat's Day.

If you look carefully at the centers of the stamped and fussy cut flowers, you will see SOME of the sequins on their way back to Miss S!    Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's my last card for Valentine's Day.   This one is for the DD who likes bling as much, if not more, than her Mom!

I could NOT wait to try out my first ever Karen B. die.  I love how dimensional this is and see how many surfaces there are to decorate?  The red mat is from Elegant Edges, and the font,  Letter Envy. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  We have Master J with us today and this afternoon we will attend a Literacy Tea at our DGD's school.  What a lovely, lovely day!   Thanks for visiting with me.  : ) Christine

Lame joke...

I know, but I promise you that my DGD thought it funny when I gave her the card and her valentine candy, last night!

S loves pandas and for her last birthday, my DDIL cut bunches of them from Create a Critter and hid them throughout the house.  The party guests had to find them all, count them (without moving any of them) and report the total to my DDIL.  What a fun game!  Lots of running about and squealing!  LOL!

Back to the card.  I searched and searched my stash for a newspaper print that was black and white rather than antiquey looking yellow - nothing!  Instead I had to go for a chalkboard look and I achieved this by inking inside my Cuttlebug Script embossing folder with black ink, adding white textured cardstock and rolling it through the Big Shot.  Very cool!

The panda comes from Animal Antics and the heart from Create a Critter.  The flowers are from Art Philosophy and I added three little red gems to the banner so that I could link my card with the Valentine Challenge at Exploring Cricut.

I am also linking with the FCCB  # 197 "I Heart you!" challenge here!


I'm not quite Valentine'd out, one more card to share later this week.   Thanks for visiting with me today!  Christine  : )

Valentine Mailbox - SVG Cuts

One of the hardest things to explain to a Kindergartner is when it's necessary to 'tell tales' and when it's a situation that can be dealt with by the children themselves.  And, of course, a teacher wants to know everything that's going on in the classroom.  LOL!

Educators have come up with lots of innovative ideas to solve this problem, and the one I 'teacher -lifted' had many positive results, especially towards the end of the year.   I bought a Melissa and Doug wooden mail box and provided fun notepads and gel pens.  The Kindergartners wrote, using phonetic spelling, about problems they were having in the classroom and mailed the notes in the box.  Often, they enlisted a 'writing expert' to help them compose the letter.  Lots of learning opportunities there!  (It sounds dreadful, but their letters were sometimes most amusing and very few required more than my keeping an extra eye on the complainer and complainee!)

The mail box came home with me when I retired and has since been a source of fun for my DGDs and DGS.  J in particular likes to post cards through the slot and open the door to discover them - surprise! - inside.

I HAD to make him a mailbox for Valentine's Day and found the perfect one at SVG Cuts.  I did enjoy decorating it and making little valentines to go inside.  Hope he likes it!  Thanks for coming with me down memory lane today!  : )   Christine

Valentine Treat Boxes

One of my favorite things about Martha Stewart stacks is that you get 3 pieces of each design.   That gives me one piece of card stock to mess up on and two to do the project.  However, there are always a couple of designs that I have NO idea how to use and I usually cut a sample project from this kind of paper.   To my surprise, this busy, busy pattern worked very well with this simple little box cut from the Artiste cart!  Ha! 

The label and decorative flourish were cut from matching foil and also come from the Artiste cart. 

The sentiment, "Happy Valentine's Day" is from the Silhouette store and I used the Offset button to create the shadow.  My machines play so nicely together.  Wonder if they'd like another playmate - one that has its world launch this week?  I think so!!!!! 

I am linking my treat boxes in the Cardz TV 3-D Valentine challenge.  Have a look at the DT's creations here.    Lots of inspiration!

Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Birthday Card in a Box!

XX years ago today, I received an early Valentine - my DD!  Since she shares my interest in pop -up books, I resolved to make her a Card in a Box which lays flat for mailing, but pops up when taken out of the envelope.  You can see a video on the process here.

I love the idea that both of my DDs have metamorphasized into beautiful young women, both inside and out and therefore, both of them have butterflies on their cards this year!  The background papers come from the Mariposa stack and the flower and butterfly cuts are from Botanicals.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!  LYM.

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Hopping by with Lots of Love!

Although Ms. Kangaroo and her joey are meant as a birthday card, I think it will work as a Valentine's Day card.  I stamped 'Happy Valentine's Day' on the back just to reinforce the intention!

All the cuts are from the Cricut cart, Birthday Bash.  This, along with Create A Critter are my go-to carts when I want cute images.  Now I have to confess that I am tired of 'cute' and ready for something more sophisticated!  Hmmm.

There are so many challenges out there this week!  I am linking this card with the 'Heart' challenge over at Bitten by the Bug 2

and the 'Seeing Red' Challenge # 196 at FCCB

Both DTs have done a terrific job and I'm totally intrigued by a couple of the projects.  I feel a 'sophisticated' scraplift coming on!    Thanks for visiting with me today.   : )  Christine

Happy Valentine's Day from the DGD!

Our wonderful DGDs came for a visit this weekend.  Such fun!  I dug out our ancient collection of Fisher Price Precious Places houses and they happily assembled the prettiest little village ever.  We taught them a card game we used to play with our DS many years ago and read the silliest story EVER about Arnie the Doughnut.
In the morning, after 'helping' Grandpa with the wood supply for the week, they came inside to make valentine cards.  I cut hearts and embellies with the Cameo and supplied the card bases and mats.   Then they cut and glued and wrote messages for two hours.  (I could not resist joining in. LOL!)   They made a little card for Cocoa that I am going to have to scraplift because it is so pretty!
I told them that I would post some of their cards on my blog - and here they are:-

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Valentine Treats - Part Deux

There are SO many adorable animal cuts on my Cricut carts and I obviously need more DGKids!  (hint! hint!)  I finally decided on this sweet mama kangaroo and her joey because of the heart shaped balloon.  This cut is from Birthday Bash and I think that I'll use the card key and replicate mama kangaroo on G's Valentine card. Should be a cute card for a cute DGD!

Since my head was full of cute 'holder' ideas, I thought that I would cut the baby from Baby Steps and have him holding a basket of goodies and a gift card for an upcoming baby shower.  Again, the heart border holding the box - all the baskets I have in my stash were too large - is cut from Paper Trimmings and the flowers are from Art Philosophy.  Inconsistent, I know, but somehow I don't mind his huge head!

I am linking my big-headed baby in the Bitten by the Bug 2 Baby Challenge

and this week's Exploring Cricut  Cricut Choice challenge - use the color blue, two Cricut cuts and patterned paper.


Now I'm off to pick up Master J for the afternoon.  Hope you have a fun day, too!   Thanks for visiting with me.  : ) Christine

Valentine Treats Part 1!

 I was wandering around the aisles at Freddy's looking for Valentine candy for the DGKids.  There were the CUTEST heart shaped boxes of candy attached to the CUTEST stuffed animals and I was so tempted to buy them!  But, really, S and G and even J,  have bedrooms full of stuffies and have no room for any more.  Then it occurred to me that I could create a paper animal that would look just as cute since I have a gazillion carts!

My first thought was Teddy Bear Parade and the way Nadia morphed them into other animals - here
but I really, really, really don't like the bear's big head.

Her paws are holding a heart border cut from Paper Trimmings and the flowers are from Art Philosophy.   Back to the drawing board, as they say!

 I found this panda on Animal Antics and cut her out after 'hiding' the vacuum cleaner.  I DO like this one. 
I used three different patterned papers for the flowers so that I could enter my panda in the FCCB  Challenge # 195  Mix and Match

Again, I apologize for the quality of the photos since I took the pictures this evening and my DD, who was lending me her Lightbox to see if I like it, has not brought it up yet!!!!!

I'll be back with Part 2, tomorrow!  Thanks for visiting with me.  : ) Christine

Get Well Soon!

Both DGDs have been sick this week.  : (  This sparked some reminiscing between DH and myself about being sick when we were children.  It soon took on the tone of "three miles to school and back, through the snow, in bare feet" and we had to laugh!   Children were relegated to bed to rest and recuperate on spoonfuls of broth and glasses and glasses of Robinson's Lemon Barley water!   If you were lucky, you were permitted to read a book.   No TV, games, or apps to entertain and distract as you suffered!  

This image from the Imagine cart 'The Good Old Days!'  (Uh, right!)  popped in my head and I set out to make a get well card for the Bitten by the Bug 2 -  Get Well challenge.   You can see the DT's fabulous designs here.

I am not too comfortable with creating 'vintage' although I love the look.  Hopefully,  paper from MME and lots of inking helped with the look and feel.  (I seem to be on a yellow kick, don't I?)
The book comes from another image on the cart, and I played with the colors a bit as the original  was just too pink!  I had fun making this card and thank you for visiting with me today.   : ) Christine

Think Spring!

Around February 1st,  my sister calls me so that we can reassure each other that yes indeed,  Winter is on its way out,  and Spring is just around the corner!  It's a tradition.  : )

I thought that I'd send her a 'Think Spring!' card this year and use the opportunity to try out the pinwheel card from the Cricut Wild Card cartridge.   I remembered this cute image from the Imagine Enjoy the Seasons cart (one of my all time favorites) and by cutting away the snow from the windows, I was able to place a snowman looking in the windows so that I could enter the

FCCB Challenge # 194 Use a snowman

(Visit the FCCB blog here.  I was amazed at all the creative ways paper-crafters can use snowmen! )

Here's the front:-

And the inside.

Here's the pinwheel mechanism.  I think that next time I use this card, I will add a liner to conceal the brad.

Here's another one of the Spring images that appear in the thought bubble when you turn the pinwheel.  I have NO idea why the tree looks so yellow; it really is light green!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  And the card is in the mail, Sister!   

Look...

at the little beauty that has taken up residence in the craftroom!  (Thanks, honey!)

It is so sturdy and just perfect for cranking (sorry!) out this month's treats for OHM.

Thanks for visiting with me today.   : ) Christine

Winter Fun

It's happened again!  The Christmas wall decor is packed away in the attic,  it's too early to get out the Valentine stuff, and there's a great expanse of nothingness above my mantel!

Fortunately, this wonderfully shiny foil paper jumped into my cart at J's and an idea was born for the challenges over at FCCB and Exploring Cricut that would help fill the void.

Here it is!  I used Heritage for the little village of houses covered in snow, and Winter Lace for the snowflakes.  The phrase 'Winter Fun' comes from Winter Woodland.  

This was SO difficult to photograph because of the shiny paper!  (It didn't help that I have Master J. here today and he wanted to be in all the pictures!)

Pop over to FCCB here to see all the wonderful projects in the Challenge Me Monday #193 Winter Fun challenge.

Don't forget to visit Exploring Cricut here for the Winter Wonderland challenge.

Thanks for visiting with me today!  Gotta run!   Someone is demanding that I take him down to feed the chickens.  He ADORES the rooster, Barney!  : ) Christine

Scrapping Your Hobbies...

is the subject of last week's BBTB2 challenge.  I had a couple of pieces of wall art that I wanted to complete and here was my chance. 

The first piece was inspired by Charmaine Stack here and I added a further layer of vinyl on the front of the glass for dimension.

For the second project; I have always wanted to create a piece of subway art from scratch.  It was a little harder than I anticipated!  However, after 5 attempts, here it is!

Then realization set in - both projects were created with the Silhouette, NOT the Cricut!   Duh!  LOL!   So much for THAT challenge and on to the next!  

Thanks for visiting with me today.   : ) Christine

A Beary Happy Birthday!

Cocoa is NOT happy with me today!   Here in the PNW we have, thankfully, escaped the effects of the Polar Vortex but have endured a typically wet and soggy winter week instead.  I played in my craft room for most of the day supposedly reorganizing my clear stamp collection but actually making this birthday card for a three year old.  Cocoa finds the craft room very boring!

I do like cascade cards.  There are 6 little vignettes contributing to one interesting whole.   KWIM?  Each Bear represents a stage in the life of the three year old and it was fun putting together the baby, and the toddler in her nightgown and bunny slippers, and the little birthday girl with her pink dress and cupcake.  I used the font from A Child's Year for the numbers on the cup cakes.  The 'bear' sentiments come from MCT.

This weeks' challenge over at Fabulous Cricut Challenge Blog is use a sentiment.

Since I have three sentiments on my card, I think I qualify!  

 

Thanks for visiting with me today!   : ) Christine

Happy New Year!

This retirement thing is taking some getting used to!  I would usually be back at work today trying to help the Kinders understand the idea of a 'resolution' and then helping them write their own.  ("Not bug my brother" was one they often came up with through the years.  Bet that lasted maybe 5 seconds! LOL!) 

We always made a glittery poster featuring the year and here is my grown - up version on my first ever New Year's Card!  One of my favorite 'Friends' episodes is the one where Monica and Ross dance on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve TV show - or at least they try to!  I love Ross' robot dance, hence the dancing robot on my card. 

I used paper from My Mind's Eye and the DCWV Glitsy Glitter pack and the font and robot come from the Robotz Cricut cart.   'Happy New Year' comes from the Wild Card cart and since there is no font shadow, I cut it twice and offset them to make the sentiment 'pop!'

I am entering my card in the Exploring Cricut

               It's a Happy New Year Challenge

 

 and the Bitten by the Bug 2 

              New Year's Linky Party

Thank you for visiting with me today!  : )    Christine