BBTB - Thank you/graduation

Hi all!

We got to enjoy our first run at the local swimming pool yesterday.  Other than that we have been cleaning cleaning around here.  The clutter and toys get completely out of hand!  Once she is back at school tomorrow the house will be clear so I can get some cleaning done!

We are also winding down the school year here and our challenge at Bitten By The Bug this week is graduation or thank you so I have taken the opportunity to get my thank you gift card holders made.  I always give Starbucks cards out and Hollyn has quite a team due to both 3rd grade changing classes with all 3 teachers plus her gifted program.  So far I have 2 done:

I use this file ALL the time for gift cards.  I just change up the front - I might use a card sketch for my design and then I change up the focal cut depending on the occasion.  For these Hollyn picked a set of files from Little Scraps of Heaven called Bookworm in Training - there are 4 different bookworm pics.  There were so many tiny pieces I went against my steadfast rule of inking all my edges but I think it's still ok!

I use a cut from Fabulous Finds called card holder and the coordinating insert.  The striped layer is Stamped Border from Ribbons and Rosettes.  Then I use glue dots to attach the gift card to the insert, have Hollyn write on the back and then slide it into the holder.  Easy peasy!

Here's a screen shot of the file I use over and over again with a past design - this way it's always sized correctly and I just have to work on the focal part.  I also keep some various gift cards on hand for birthday parties in case I forget to get my butt out and get a gift for a party.  Now to get the other 3 done!

Swing by Bitten By the Bug and check out what the other team members have made for the challenge and then join in on it yourself!

BBTB - Towel Challenge

Hi all!

It's fitting that we just spent the weekend at a water park since that is what I scrapped for today's challenge!  But today's pics happened way back in 2012!  I am a little behind in y scrapping, though I tend to skip around.  This weekend we went to an indoor water park at Massanutten Resort - I highly recommend it to anyone living in VA!

Our challenge this time around at Bitten By the Bug is to use a towel cut out on our project - perfect time to pull out some swimmy pics to scrap!

I used cuts from all sorts of places on this one!  Let's start with the towels - I cut out a little girl from Paper Dolls for Every Day - I had to use to different poses - the bathing suit girl had something else in her hand so I replaced it with a towel from a girl who was ready for her bath.  I also decided to "hang" towels on corners of 2 of the frames.

Every now and then I come against something I can't figure out with my Explore - this time I couldn't figure out how to cut her out without the facial features )I like to use my Peachy Keen face stamps instead.)  Now if I was thinking clearly I would have just added a blank circle to my design in Design Space so it would be the right size but noooooooooooo.  I thought SURELY I could just cut out a circle using a nestibility.  However, NOPE so the face is awful but I waited until the last minute so too bad so sad.  Anyway, I used a scallop square from Elegant Edges as the mats.  The splash and the sun are SVGs.  The green double border is from Holiday Cakes - GREAT borders!

The water slide is another SVG - there are some great sites to buy SVGs!

Another thing I LOVE about the Explore - I can make my own SVGs!  I made this title using Make the Cut and then uploaded it.  Make the Cut is so easy to use and I don't need the internet.

I hope y'all will head over to BBTB and check out projects by the other design team members and join our challenge!

Gift sets

Hi all!

Is your weather as schizophrenic as ours?  I was wearing shorts in February and March and this weekend it was SO cold!  I was planning on getting my veggie garden in since I missed it last year and it hasn't stopped raining long enough to get anything done!  The local store had seedlings out over a month ago - I don't know that there is anything left to buy now!

I wanted to post some little gift sets I made for my closest mom friends, I don't know what I would do without them!  I worked for the last 8 months at our local quilt shop which I have been shopping at for years and I saw some great fabric that I just HAD to use for my friends.  I decided to make them each a set of 2 potholders and made some big gift tags like my Mother's Day cards to go with them - easy to do in Design Space.  I just kept the flower design, popped in some tags and cut:

In addition to my paper crafting I absolutely love to sew/quilt!

I made 5 of each style - I have 2 other friends in mind for the last 2 sets.  The first style has this amazing wine themed fabric on the bottom and a strip of fabric with corks across the top.

The backing fabric is pretty awesome too!

The second potholder is beer themed - I couldn't decide between 2 different ones so I used both.  Then down the side I added some peanut fabric.

They were a hit!  Do you have any other hobbies in addition to paper crafting?

BBTB: Tree challenge

Hi all!

We finally went on our first camper outing this year last weekend.  We were a little late getting started but finally made it out for a quick trip up to Twin Grove Resort in PA - our first time there and we will definitely be going back!  Our goal for this trip was to do a little coal mine touring/learning.  Hubby's dad's family worked in coal mines in that area until they were closed in the 30s.  They lived in a small town called Centralia which is the site of an underground coal fire that has been burning for more than 50 years!  The town is completely gone now - razed by the government after they forced everyone out due to the fire.  Hollyn's favorite part of the trip was playing in the stream that ran through the campground with a couple friends she made:

Which is funny since my project for Bitten By The Bug is a layout of another camping trip in which her favorite part was a hike along a stream:

The challenge this week is to use trees on a project so I thought it would be a perfect time to pull out some camping/hiking pictures.

This is my tree cut from the Zoobaloo cartridge.  I decided to give several of the trees a little embossing to jazz them up (I don't use my embossing folders nearly enough!)

I thought this hiking boot from the Campin' Critters cartridge would make a perfect little embellishment.

The best thing about the Cricut Explore versus the previous machines is the ability to use SVG cuts and I added cuts from Miss Kate Cuttables and built up several little scenes.  (Right now her entire store is 20% off - you have until the 14th!)

I added some embossing to my rocks too!  I just love the versatility I get with my Cricut Explore - one machine that can do it all now.

Please join us at the Bitten By the Bug Challenge these week and show us some trees!

Flowers for Mom

Hi all!

I don't know how the weather has been where you're at but we have had a bit of a cold wet spell.  Unfortunately I think my body has already turned off my heating mechanism for the summer!

We have a great challenge going on at Bitten By the Bug this week - in honor of moms we would like to see bouquets or vases of flowers!  There are so many great choices and I have so many moms in my life I made FOUR!

I used the following cartridges - Kate's ABCs, Sweet Treats, Elegant Edges, Serenade, Bloom.

Here they are individually:

I finished each one of with a few light yellow glittered skittles and stamped a Studio G sentiment.  I hope you can join in the challenge!