You're tweet! valentine card

Happy Wednesday!  I'm a day or two behind...you'll be amazed to know that I somehow did NOT get the flu despite the sickness at home....don't ask me how that happened, but I'm very grateful.  I believe I've gotten my money's worth from the vast quantity of hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes I used last week!  Or maybe my flu shot worked, although the kids got flu shots too.

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to make a child's Valentine card.  I dug out my favorite Create A Critter 2 cartridge and cut this cute little Valentine bird all in shades of pink.  I don't think my boys will object to pink if it's on a Valentine, although this one is more likely to go to one of my nieces.  Go check out the adorable Valentines over at BBTB2 and get creative this week!

Cricut:
Create A Critter 2-bird
Paper-American Crafts Valentine 6x6 prints, CTMH solids
Stamps-My Pink Stamper Buggy Punnies
Ink-Stampin Up Rose Romance
Ribbon-Stampin Up Pretty in Pink
Oval and Oval Scallop punches-Stampin Up

Penguins

Happy Monday!  It's not such a happy Monday at my house, as the flu has found us.  I knew it was only a matter of time for the kids, as it began circulating around school district....and the hospital I work at has had very high levels of flu activity and been very busy.  At work at least I am protected by mountains of isolation gear.  I haven't got it yet but I can feel the invisible ticking clock of doom as the inevitable germ here at home breaks through my cloud of hand sanitizer, lol!  One news article I read this week said flu levels were high in every state except Hawaii, with the peak level here in Missouri.  I think that means I should go to Hawaii immediately!  For my health, of course.

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is penguins.  Who doesn't love penguins-they always look so cute and adorable at the zoo!  I did a thank you card featuring this guy from Joys of the Season.  Since it's a thank you for one of the teens to use, I thought a little text-speak would be on point (or maybe it's on fleek-I never get the difference), so UR Cool as my teens would say to someone providing an awesome gift.  We have lots of adorable penguin cards over at BBTB2 and hope you will take the opportunity to make something too!

Cricut:
Joys of the Seasons-penguin
Lyrical Letters 2-font
Paper-American Crafts Jack Frost paper pad print, CTMH solids

It's a Big Day birthday card

Happy Tuesday!  On the good side of the ledger-the kids have school off today due to the cold.  On the bad side-it's COLD here in KC!  I'm not a fan of arctic air masses, or whatever they are calling it.  Do you ever feel like punching the weather person on TV when they cheerfully announce there will be a -20 degree wind chill?  But back on the good side-I intend to spend a good part of the day in front of a space heater in my crafting area and chicken noodle soup is in the crockpot.  Snowy cold days are the best craft days, right?

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is all about the birthdays and you can dive in and make your birthday cards for next year now!  I used the Beyond Birthdays cartridge for my bday card title, as I made this card without a specific recipient in mind.  The birthday candle paper behind it should be enough candles for anybody's birthday...or maybe not, LOL!  In any case, the design team over at BBTB2 has a whole variety pack of birthday cards for you to see and you can link up yours.

Cricut:
Beyond Birthdays-It's a big day, gift
Paper-Bo Bunny

Snowflake card

Happy Monday!  Since it's been rather cold and frosty in many places all over the US this last week, my pick of a snow theme for the BBTB2 challenge this week seemed very appropriate!  (I even learned a new word- bomb cyclone!).  Anything snow related made with your cricut is perfect for this challenge!  I am in the middle of making some thank you cards for all our Christmas gifts and did a card with one of the snowflakes from the Winter Woodlands cartridge.  It was hard to decide on a single snowflake-I wanted to use ALL the snowflakes, but loved this pretty layered one on Winter Woodlands.  I'm looking forward to doing some crafting and trying to stay warm and toasty inside while it's cold outside!  Stay warm and have some crafting fun!

Cricut:
Winter Woodland-snowflake cut at 3 1/2 in.
Paper-Bo Bunny prints
Ink-Stampin Up Night of Navy
Stamp-so old, I'm not even sure where I got it!

So, moving to non-crafty matters-have you recovered from the holidays?  We went on vacation in San Francisco over the Christmas break, but came home to -12 degree temps the night we returned to KC.  It was a bit of a shock to the system, let me tell you!  San Francisco is supercool and I definitely want to go back again!  Here's a few vacay snaps for those who like travel:

 riding the open top bus for city tour

 Chinatown!

 of course we visited Alcatraz!

 the row of "Painted Ladies" famous from Full House

 the iconic Golden Gate bridge

 city lights of San Francisco at night

 the beach across from our hotel

the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate park

the redwoods in Golden Gate park

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2018!  This last year has been full of difficult news, hurricanes, floods, and fires-I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a fresh new year.  While I'm not one to make resolutions, I think I'm going to try to look for the good that come up and focus less on the negative this year.  I expect that may be rather challenging to actually do when I am depressed over the news, lol!  

While we are not having a challenge this week over at BBTB2, we are sharing some Christmas or New Year projects.  I've got a Christmas layout below, using the Beyond Birthdays cartridge for the title and Jolly Holidays for the holly.  I used some of the paper from one of my CTMH Christmas papers for the printed paper accents and the overall layout design is tweaked a bit from one of the CTMH layouts I've seen.  I have a LOT of wonderful Christmas photos to put in the scrapbook!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy New Year!  We returned December 30 from a week of vacation in San Francisco and I am working at the hospital over all the New Year holidays, but we nurses did squeeze in a sip of sparkling grape juice at midnight to toast 2018!  I appreciate all of you blog readers who spend a few minutes here letting me share my scrapbooking and cardmaking projects-thanks for reading and sharing our passion for crafting!

Cricut:

Beyond Birthdays-circle, title

Jolly Holidays-holly

Paper-CTMH solids, prints