BBTB2 - Birthday Challenge

Hi all!

Birthdays birthdays birthdays!  I am hosting the challenge this week over on the Bitten By the Bug 2 Challenge and I chose birthdays as the theme.  I am always in need of birthday cards/tags/gift card holders plus bday party pictures that I need to scrap.  I ALSO threw Pezza's birthday party this past weekend - yes 6 months late.  We couldn't make it happen in November so we promised a "half-birthday" party.  She wanted a spa theme so that's what we did.  I will put some pics at the end of this post.

For this challenge I chose to make a couple gift card holders to add to my stash.  I usually try to make 2 at a time when I do this - 1 boy and 1 girl:

Making gift card holders is SO EASY with your Cricut!  The cartridge Bags, Tags, Boxes and More has quite a selection of cuts that fold to form little pockets.

You can size them to fit a gift card and then decorate the fronts like a tag or card.  A birthday Cricut cut, embossing, a few glittered skittles, and some pretty ribbons tied off with embroidery floss makes for a sweet little gift card holder.

 Turn it over and you can see the gift card peeking out of the pocket.  This cut is called Card Holder Tag - #M33F69 if you want to look for it and I cut it at 3.5" wide.  I put them together with Scor-Tape so I know they will hold up to handling and not come apart.

This is a cut I have used many many times for gift card holder.  This is a cut from the Fabulous Finds cartridge called Uniqueness - #M37D21 and I cut it at 5.75" wide.  The pull out piece is on the same cartridge and is called Note Card - #M3708A and is cut at 3.08" wide.  The little green tab pulls out and you can attach a gift card to it and slide it back in.

Sizing whatever pocket cut you choose is easy in Design Space - gift cards measure 3.5" x 2.25" so determine what portion of the design has to be slightly larger than the gift card and drag until your cut is large enough.

I hope y'all join our challenge over at BBTB2 - head on over there and check out the other DT designs for some inspiration and then link up your project!

I was inspired by the following other challenges:

• Color Throwdown - blue, green, yellow & white
• Freshly Made Sketches

Now a few pics from Pezza's Spa Party:

BBTB2 - Graduation

Hi all!

As I mentioned in a previous post - we have 6 brand new baby kittens!  We foster kittens so we have kittens running through here from early spring until late fall - this is just the first batch for this year.  Anyway, I have pics!

This is Momma, Wendy.  She is a bit timid but once she is comfortable there are not enough pets in the world!  She is an easy going, relaxed Momma.  The vet was pretty sure she had done this before.....

And here's a pile of squirmy babies!  Not the greatest pics but it's hard to get good shots at this point.  Everyone is doing well and gaining weight.  had a bit of an eye infection issue but I have seen it before and knew what to do - I'll spare you the gory details.  It's all taken care of and babies are doing quite well.  We have been socializing them and doing important training in loves and pets and kisses and belly rubs.

I don't know about you but we are ready for the school year to wind down and come to an end over here.  In light of that our challenge this week at Bitten By the Bug 2 is graduation.  I have been skipping around doing my albums but I really need to go back and actually finish each year and move ahead.  In light of that, it was the perfect time to make a page for her measly pre-school graduation pics.  I have vague memories of this age where she was wearing me out like nothing her brothers ever did so it's probably lucky I have pics at all - even bad ones!

A simple layout with soft colors.  Allergies are still kicking my butt so I went with simplicity this week.  I hope you can join our challenge and even if you can't, please head over and see the projects created by the other DT members! Click here - BBTB2

BBTB2 Challenge - Bugs!

Hi all!

Anyone else dying of spring allergies?  OMGosh all 3 of us are officially miserable!  However, I am excited this morning because I also woke up to spring babies!  If you have read my blog for awhile you know we foster rescue cats - specializing in pregnant ones and sick kittens.  I got this momma 6 weeks ago and she has been getting huge so I knew it was going to be a big litter and this morning she came strolling up for her breakfast looking considerably trimmer.  It took a bit of searching but I discovered SIX new teeny babies!  SO HAPPY!

In honor of the arrival of spring the challenge on Bitten By the Bug 2 this week is bugs/insects of all kinds.  I found these cute pics of Pez making faces from about 3 1/2 years ago and thought they would be perfect for a cute as a bug layout.

I used a ton of cartridges on this one and had lots of fun designing each little component - Serenade, Sweet Treats, 3D Floral Home Decor, Garden Soup, Elegant Edges, Sentimentals, Just Because Cards, Paper Lace 2, Create A Critter, 

Here are a few up close shots.  Even been remembering to add some cuttlebug embossing!

Once I had all the pieces glued I sort of scattered a few pearls and rhinestones around a bit.  These flowers from Sweet Treats are my all time favorite - I just love them!

And now I am off to inspect each new little baby closely to make sure they are healthy!  I hope you join us at BBTB2 for our challenge this week!  We would love to see your projects!

I was inspired by the following challenges:

• Glitter and Sparkle - Flowers
• Crafty Calendar - Spring
• Die Cuttin' Divas - Chevron or Polka Dots
• Tuesday Throwdown - Embossing

BBTB Challenge - Spring Flowers

Hi all!

Is everyone enjoying some Spring weather?  We sure are - hoping it lasts for a bit.  I got my front flower beds cleared and mulched but not the back :(

The challenge this week over on the Bitten By the Bug 2 blog is spring flowers.  I wasn't sure at first what I was going to make and then But then it seems the word got out in my daughter's school library that I have a Cricut and might be useful in helping them decorate the bulletin board in the lobby.  (My best friend volunteers in there once a week so you can guess how I got tapped to help!)

Anyway, they told me the theme was April Showers bring May Flowers and sent me this pic from Pinterest - PERFECT!

Our board is horizontal not vertical so we had to make a few adjustments....

And here it is!  The librarian made the actual rainbow and rain drops but me and my Cricut did the rest.  I was a bit limited size wise of course but I thought I had gone big enough.  However, once it was put up I do wish I had done it a bit larger by splitting up the words.  (I'm sure there will be a next time - I have already been asked for wording for the lunchroom board!)

Here is my garden - almost entirely Cricut cartridge cuts - just the little bugs are SVGs - they were too cute to pass up.

I did my wording in Make the Cut so I could add the umbrella SVG and then make a shadow for the whole thing.

The second portion of wording plus my sun and cloud SVGs - again done in Make the Cut first so I could do the shadow.  I am glad I can do them in MTC and then import them into Design Space but I really do wish Design Space would get a shadow feature on it.

I am also including this in the following challenges:

• Kitty Bee Designs - In the Garden
• Fab N Funky - In the Garden

I hope you bring some of this spring weather into your projects this week and join our BBTB2 challenge!

BBTB2 - Sweet Challenge

Hi all!

We have a new challenge up for Bitten By the Bug 2 - Sweet.  This can be interpreted in several ways - sweet treats for birthdays, sweet designs for a baby, etc.

I chose to make a birthday tag with this fantastic ice cream cut.

Both the tag and the ice cream came from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  I love the tags on that cartridge!  I used the current card sketch on the Tuesday Morning sketches for my tag front.  I dug out my old SU corner rounding punch for the corners of the polka dot paper I put on top of the tag base.  Three little brown glittered skittles and a big brown bow balanced it perfectly I think!  Pink and brown has always been one of my favorite color combinations.

I gave the whipped cream on top an extra special touch by covering it with white liquid pearls and some pink microbeads.

When I was making the first tag I came across this little party hat on Sweet Treats and decided I should make a second tag as well with the same layout.  I envision this one being for a boy's gift so I wasn't sure I wanted to put the brown bow on it - haven't decided what I will put instead.....perhaps some curling ribbon when I add it to the package.

I hope you'll join in the BBTB2 challenge and show us YOUR projects!

I was also inspired by the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning sketches
• Ooh La La Creations - Birthdays
• Tag You're It 
• Aud Sentiments - Birthday
• Southern Girls - Favorite Color Combo
• Through the Purple Haze - Use a tag
• Shopping Our Stash - Punches or dies

BBTB - Easter Challenge

Hi all!

It's Easter time over on the Bitten By the Bug 2 Challenge blog!  If I were really good I'd have some adorable little Easter projects for ya to give to Pezza and the grandbabies but nope!  How I have less time now than I did when she was little is beyond me but I suppose I do volunteer for way too much.  I also don't have a housekeeper the way I did back in the day :P

Anyway, instead I did a layout of Pezza with last year's Easter pics:

Oh how I do love completing a good 2 page spread!

I love the pics on this page because of the great action sequence I somehow managed to catch when she reached up for an egg that was too high - her poor sad little face!

I couldn't help but include all these pics - she tends to take herself way too seriously when I pull out the camera which makes it hard to get good natural facial expressions.  For some reason on this morning she was relaxed and hamming it up.

I used several other challenges as inspiration for this page and one in particular really spoke to me - it was a picture challenge at Stampin' Royalty:

I really loved the color scheme - mostly kraft and off white with greenery, glittery turquoise and hints of pink and yellow.

Of course I had to include a bunny cut - this one comes from Kate's ABCs - probably one of my MOST favorite Cricut Cartridges.

The glitter in the inspiration picture made me decide to pull out some glitter paper I have had for at LEAST 5 years and never used.  I do love the way the paper looks and it cut well in the Cricut but the back is a very slick almost plastic feel and I am skeptical about it sticking to what it's glued on to for the long haul.  I guess we'll see......

One of the things I love doing when I make a grid style design is to use card sketches for some of them.  I used more glitter paper and even remembered to pull out my Cuttlebug and embossing folders!  Yay!

 I went over the embossing with a kraft colored chalk Dew Drop ink pad to enhance it.  I would have liked a pink glitter paper here but no luck :)

I hope some of you will join us for our challenge at BBTB2!

I went through lots of challenge blogs this week looking for inspiration - I miss participating in all the challenges all over the interwebs.  I remember when there were just a handful of them - now there are dozens and dozens!  I was inspired by the following:

• Stampin Royalty - Inspiration picture
• Tuesday Morning Sketches (I remember when this challenge started - so happy for a chance to use one of their sketches.)
• Die Cuttin' Divas - sketch
• Shopping Our Stash - Tie one on - use ribbon, lace or twine
• Cuttlebug Mania - Easter Bunny
• Creative Moments - Easter
• Crafty Gals Corner - 3+ layer

BBTB2 - Tree challenge.

Hi all!

Well I am back to posting after a bit of a break.  I am still on the design team for Bitten By the Bug 2 and this week's challenge is trees in honor of Arbor Day.

I wanted to get these beach pics scrapped from a few years ago so I went with a palm tree.

I loved this title SVG cut I found at Treasure Box Designs.  The flower accents came from the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge and the flip flops & sunglasses came from the Pack Your Bags Cricut cartridge.

The palm tree is an SVG cut file from Kadoodle Bug Designs - I really loved the little zig zag accent going up the trunk so I just had to have it.  My little Crabbie is from the Create A Critter Cricut cartridge - This particular trip was to Outer Banks, NC and Pezza and I were obsessed with waking up really early to walk to the beach and watch the dozens and dozens of little crabs pop up out of their holes and scurry around on the beach.

My second page includes a couple more of the flower accents as well as a shell from the Life's A Beach cartridge and a border from the Ribbons & Rosettes cartridge.

I love doing beach themed layouts mostly because I love the colors.  Perhaps I need to incorporate these fun beachy colors in my house!

I hope you will come join in the challenge over on BBTB2!

I am also entering this layout in the following challenge:

• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - critter