Pinecone Christmas card

 Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe it's almost Christmas?  The presents are mostly wrapped under the tree and cookies are baking as we speak.  While we are FaceTiming in the grandparents to keep us all safe, I'm grateful for technology that will allow us to virtually be together.  I still love getting good old fashioned Christmas cards from family and friends, so I'm sharing another one I sent out this year featuring a pine cone.  Don't forget, we still have our challenge running over at the BBTB2 blog with Double Trouble for any Christmas project using any die cutting machine.

Cricut:

CTMH Flower Market-pine cone

Paper-Through the Woods (Catherine Pooler) 6x6 pad, CTMH solids

 Happy Wednesday!  I've finished making Christmas cards and thought I'd share one below.  I'm getting them all in the mail today!  There's only one more Christmas gift to order and most of my online orders have come in-yay!  Santa's elves are clearly very busy working for UPS, FedEx, and Amazon this year.  

Cricut:

Christmas-bell

Paper-Through the Woods (Catherine Pooler) 6x6 pad

Stamp-have lost the name of the set-it's old!

Ink-SU Crumb Cake

Christmas layout

Happy Monday!  Are you hanging in there in this December 2020?  I hope you are all able to find a few moments for some joy in the season.  Crafting is sort of my happy therapy during these difficult times, and I had fun planning and making some Christmas scrapbook layouts and cards this week. 

The BBTB2 challenge for the month of December is a partnership with Double Trouble.  You can go read the exact challenge requirements over at BBTB2, but essentially it is a Christmas themed challenge and you can use any type of die cutting machine this month, not just a cricut.  There are some optional twists and prizes involved too!  I used the Close to My Heart Artbooking image collection for all the cuts on this project and I love how it turned out!  All ready for some Christmas pictures!  Take a look over at the BBTB2 site to see the other design team projects and you have the whole month to link up a project and maybe even win a prize!  

Cricut:

Artbooking-all cuts

Paper-CTMH

Coffee & Friends layout

Happy Monday!  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving this week and hope you all are able to celebrate in some way, even if it's a little different this year.  Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a coffee theme.  Since June, a few friends and I who live within a few blocks of each other have been meeting on Monday mornings for coffee, spreading out across our back yards to follow the covid guidelines to social distance.  It's a BYOC...bring your own coffee and chair!  It has been such a blessing to sip our coffee, even spread out outside together, on Monday mornings, when nearly all of our other community activity is on hold.  Unfortunately covid is spreading like wildfire in the metro area where I live, so we are going to have to pause for awhile, as we all have college students coming home (potentially with germs).  As a critical care nurse working in the covid ICUs, I'm going to remind everyone to please mask, social distance, and avoid holiday gatherings to help the hospitals where ever you are.  We are approaching critical numbers of patients in my area and across the country.

Back to crafty things, I browsed cricut access and found this great collection of coffee sayings and images called Coffee Helps, which I used for my page (combining a few of them).  The paper is from a cute fall Doodlebug collection I had recently gotten called Pumpkin Spice.  The design team has shared projects over at the BBTB2 site and you can link up a project there also to share with us!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Cricut:

Coffee Helps-all cuts

Paper-Doodlebug Pumpkin Spice prints, CTMH solids

brown chalk ink for edging

Thought I'd add a shot of the completed layout with pics!

So Thankful layout

Happy Monday!  The BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks has a Thanksgiving theme.  While Thanksgiving will be a little smaller than usual at my home (normally we have family over), I'm planning a traditional turkey dinner for our immediate household and we are going to share dinner via FaceTime with the grandparents.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday since it's all about being thankful.  

I made layout for Thanksgiving photos from the CTMH Complete Creativity collection of images I got recently.  All the pieces for the whole layout are cut with the cricut and then assembled.  It took awhile to cut all the elements but was very easy to put together.  You can see all the design team projects for the Thanksgiving challenge over at the BBTB2 site and link up a project of your own.

Cricut:

CTMH Complete Creativity-all cuts

Paper-CTMH solids

sports Super Bowl layout

Happy Monday!  The BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a sports theme.  My project for this challenge takes me back to what I'm calling the "before times" (meaning pre-covid).  One of the last big gatherings I attended was a Super Bowl party, where the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last February.  Looking back at the pictures of all of my extended family watching the game together and celebrating really brought home how life has changed.  

I had so much fun making this layout.  The base was this football paper I had in the stash.  I used the CTMH You Are Here image collection for the football helmets.  Then came the fun part, using my cricut to print and cut svgs I found of each team's helmet logo and a football svgs that had the final score.  I also discovered that there is a free NFL Chiefs font, which I was able to download and cut with my cricut.  And when I googled to see if there was a font for the 49ers, I was able to find a font called Clarendon Bold that is close to what they use for their branded gear.  I cut each of the team names with their respective fonts.  Love being able to personalize the fonts like this for my project!  You can see the rest of the design team's sports themed projects over at BBTB2 and link up your own project to share.

Cricut:

CTMH You Are Here-football helmet

cricut print and cut-downloaded team logo svgs

Clarendon Bold-font for 49ers

NFL Chiefs-font for Chiefs

Autumn Days layout

Happy Monday!  I hope you are getting to enjoy some beautiful autumn weather where ever you are!  I am hosting the BBTB2 cricut challenge for the next two weeks and selected a fall theme for the challenge.  I had recently purchased the Close To My Heart Complete Creativity cricut image collection and used one of the gorgeous layout cuts for my Autumn Days project.  The black outline cuts as a single overlay and then the background solid pieces are cut to provide color.  I loved how it turned out!!!!  I'm excited to try out a few more of the layouts in this collection.  You can link up a new project cut on with a cricut machine and see the BBTB2 design team projects over at the BBTB2 site.  Hope you have a wonderful week!

Cricut:

CTMH Complete Creativity-left page

CTMH Artbooking-tree

CTMH Bloom-pumpkin

Paper-CTMH solids

Halloween

Happy Monday!  We are heading into October in a day or two and the BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a Halloween theme.  I am planning to send  Halloween cards with treats to my college students, so here are some cute little teddy bears all dressed for trick or treating.  I'll pop these in the mail with some yummy candy goodness.  Gotta have some chocolate in stock for late nights studying, right?  You can see the design team Halloween projects and link up your own new cricut project over at the BBTB2 site.  Have a wonderful week!

Cricut:

Teddy Bear Parade-bears

Paper-background check is The Paper Studio, all other is CTMH

Punches-Stampin Up

Ribbon-Stampin Up

Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black

3D baby diaper

Happy Monday!  Hope you are all having a good week!  Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is to make a 3D project.  While I rarely make anything 3D (between my boys and crazy cat, things don't survive), I made this cute little diaper, complete with pins, from the Artiste cartridge for an upcoming baby shower.  It will probably have to be a drive-through and drop off kind of baby shower due to the pandemic, so I wanted something extra cute to jazz up the gift.  I'll write a message on the removable scalloped insert.  I sponged a little pink ink around all the edges for a little extra pizazz.  You can see the rest of the design team projects over at BBTB2 and link up a new project cut with a cricut there.

Cricut:

Artiste-all cuts

Paper-Doodlebug

Ink-Stampin Up Pretty in Pink for edging

back to school

Happy Monday!  Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a back to school theme.  I've taken a picture of my boys every first day, kindergarten through senior year of high school.  This year will be the last "first day", as my youngest is going to be a high school senior.  His first day will not be the traditional grabbing the backpack and heading off to school, but will be online from home instead, as his school is starting in a hybrid format due to the pandemic.  It's going to be an interesting school year for sure.  And that's not even getting into what may happen with my college kiddos!  All of us parents of school age children are facing the uncertain future this year!  My oldest, a college senior, moved into the dorms and 4 days later came home very sick with covid!  He has recovered and we are just finishing our 2 weeks of quarantine for the family.  I won't be surprised if we are doing this again with the other kids.

I used the Locker Talk collection of images for the calculator and ruler and the Varsity Letters font for the Senior Year lettering, plus some fun school themed paper from Echo Park.  You can link up a project over at the BBTB2 site and also see the rest of the design team's school projects!  Hope you all have a good week and stay safe!

Cricut:

The First Few Years-ruler

Locker Talk-calculator

Varsity Letters-font

Paper-Echo Park Teacher's Pet collection prints/stickers, CTMH solids

brown chalk in for edging

Summer Days layout for watermelon challenge

Happy Monday!  Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a watermelon theme.  We've been enjoying BBQ (my husband is a wizard with the smoker!) with watermelon and baked beans often this summer, which inspired my layout.  I found the watermelon title and other cuts from some of the Miss Kate Cuttables collections available on cricut access.  And I thought this dotted red background paper seemed kind of like juicy delicious watermelon!  Hope you will join us with some fun projects at the BBTB2 site!

Cricut:
Miss Kate Cuttables Chill Out-banner, BBQ with watermelon, soda bottle
Miss Kate Cuttables Summer-Summer Days title
Paper-Echo Park Happy Days
brown chalk ink for edging

Summer Fun layout

Happy Monday!  Happy to say the poison ivy is gone...but I managed to catch a respiratory virus with a cough and fever!  Of course the first concern was covid, but I was able to get a covid test from my hospital quickly which I'm very grateful was negative.  I'm really glad I already had my project for this challenge completed ahead of time though, as I haven't felt like doing much for several days, but am finally on the mend.

I'm hosting over at BBTB2 and the challenge for the next two weeks is a summer fun theme.  While this summer is a little unique in that some of our normal summer activities aren't possible, I'm sure each of us has some special things that make summer enjoyable.  Whether that's gardening, swimming, biking, traveling, or having a socially distanced back yard gathering, any new project made with a cricut related to your activity for summer fits the bill!  My layout below uses some images from the Summer Celebrations cricut collection.  You can hop over to the BBTB2 site and see the design team projects and link yours up too.

Cricut:
Summer Celebrations-all cuts
Paper-Echo Park Dots and Stripes, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink for edging
square punch for photo corners

cute critters Here Kitty layout

Happy Monday!  I managed to get poison ivy (even around my eye!!!) while working in my yard last week....the steroids to treat it have left me unable to sleep.  But the silver lining is that I have been sorting and rearranging my craft area, which has needed to be done for a long time!  It's just so much more fun to craft than clean that I don't get around to it often enough!  I've realized I really have a lot of paper I'd forgotten about and am excited to be crafting in a more organized and tidy space.

Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a cute critters theme.  We have taken a ridiculous amount of iPhone pictures of our crazy cat, so I knew my project would involve making a cat themed layout!  I used the Meow image collection for all the fun cat images and phrases.  Fortunately I had some cat themed background paper in the stash that I found during the cleaning process!!!   The rest of the design team has some very cute projects over at BBTB2 and you can link yours up as well.

Cricut:
Meow-all cuts
Paper-Echo Park Meow collection prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink for edging

July layout for stars challenge

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a good 4th of July!  My family celebrated at home, smoking some ribs and watching Hamilton.  I highly recommend Hamilton- it lived up to everything I had heard about it!  We've decided watching it as a family will be a new July 4 tradition!

Our BBTB2 challenge for the the next two weeks is to use 3 different sizes of stars on a cricut project.  My scrapbook layout below is for photos I took at home on the 4th.  We grilled, swam, played with sparklers, and watched Hamilton (which Disney released on the 4th).  I used two Miss Kate Cuttables collections, Summer Memories and Chill Out, for all the cricut cuts.  I fell in love with the July title with all the stars!  The designers at BBTB2 have some great star projects to dazzle your eyes and you can link one up too.  I hope you all have a good week and stay well!

Cricut:
Miss Kate Cuttables Summer Memories-popsicle
Miss Kate Cuttables Chill Out-July title, hot air balloon
Paper-Echo Park 4th of July prints, CTMH solids

Summer Sunshine layout

Happy Monday!  I hope you've been able to find some avenues to enjoy a bit of summertime, despite the pandemic.  It's been sunny and hot the last few weeks here in Kansas City, and since we aren't taking a summer vacation this year, we've been trying to enjoy all the sunny days here at home.  My adventures this summer will be tame, but I am finding satisfaction in the quieter pleasures like gardening, sitting on the porch reading, and swimming in the pool.  It's definitely made me appreciate being home in a new way!

Our BBTB2 theme for the next two weeks is the summer solstice-show me the sun.  I had this fun pink paper I've been wanting to use, so my layout is all in shades of pink and brown.  I was trying to make a layout for pictures of relaxing by our pool.  I used two of the CTMH collections with cricut that are favorites of mine, You Are Here and Artistry.  You can see all the fun design team projects that are full of sunshine over at BBTB2 and link up a new cricut project.

Cricut:
CTMH Artistry-polaroid frames
CTMH You Are Here-all other cuts
Paper-Echo Park Summer Party prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink for edging

wedding or anniversary

Happy Monday!  I've missed getting to be crafty recently, as a member of my extended family had to have emergency major surgery a few weeks ago and I've been helping take care of them when not working.  I wanted to participate in our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks despite being a little pressed for time, so I managed to get a pretty uncomplicated layout done quickly.  Our challenge theme for the next two weeks is weddings and I had pics from a wedding last year in our extended family waiting in the pile!  I cut the rings from the CTMH You Are Here cartridge and used a font called Shorelines downloaded from Da Fonts for the words.  The cool feature of this font is being able to have the flourishes on the end letters that you see in the names.  I thought it looked really pretty, though it was a bit tricky to get cut out in the gold foil paper.  I hope you all have a great week and you can see the rest of the design team projects over at BBTB2 and link up one of yours too.

Cricut:
CTMH You Are Here-rings
Shoreline font-downloaded from Da Fonts
Paper-from Hobby Lobby, including gold paper

Graduation card

Happy Monday!  I'm hosting the BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks, which has a graduation theme.  While graduation ceremonies and parties everywhere have been cancelled due to the corona virus, it still feels important to me to mark the occasion with a card or special gift.  My oldest son's girlfriend is graduating from college this year, after having her senior abruptly transitioned to online classes like most students in the country.  I made her a graduation card, using her school colors of black and red.  I used the Varsity Letters cartridge to cut 2020 and added a graduation cap from the Wrap It Up cartridge, as I had a "Hats Off!" sticker for the inside sentiment.  Some embossing on the red mat with the trusty Swiss Dots folder added some texture.  Of all the embossing folders I own, that is the one I use the most!  I love being able to make personalized graduation cards with the school colors and year.  You can see all the design team projects over at BBTB2 and link up a new cricut project of your own to share with us.

Outside

Inside

Cricut:
Varsity Letters-numbers font
Wrap It Up-graduation cap
Paper-CTMH solids
Sticker-Doodlebug graduation collection
Swiss Dots embossing folder
brown chalk ink for edging

Memorial Day flowers layout

Happy Monday!  I hope your quarantine is going alright.  All the kids in my household seem to be getting used to this new normal, although we seem to be operating on the college schedule of up til 3:00 AM and start the day at noon.  But since no one has to be up early for online class and I work the night shift, it's all good.  My husband already worked from home, so his daily routine hasn't been disrupted at all.  We are all missing seeing family and friends, but are doing our social distancing to stay safe.

Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a flower theme.  Mother's Day and Memorial Day are all around the corner and spring flowers are already here, so there are a lot of possibilities with this challenge.  While my scrapbook layout incorporates flowers, it is for some pictures related to Memorial Day so I used very neutral colors.  I have some photos of items from my grandparents' funerals and gravesite that I have always wanted to preserve.  I used several of the CTMH cricut cartridges that I own to make all the accents and the Botanicals cartridge for the font.  You can see the design team projects and link up one of your own over at BBTB2.

Cricut:
Art Philosophy-flowers
Artbooking-background shape, border
Artiste-banner shapes
Botanicals-font

Change Your Altitude layout for get outdoors challenge

Happy Monday!  How's your quarantine going?  While life is so very far from normal and we are staying home (except for going to work), getting some fresh air by taking a daily walk around the neighborhood has really been a boost to my spirits.  Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a "get outdoors" theme.  I chose some pictures from a year ago when I could get outdoors beyond my street, which is hard to imagine at the moment.  My scrapbook layout below is for some hiking pictures in the Rockies.  It uses images I found on the cricut access collection called "And So the Adventure Begins".  The title and compass added the perfect touch to complement my pictures!  It's not very fancy, but I haven't been able to craft as much as usual.  You can see the rest of the design team projects over at BBTB2 and link yours up as well.

Cricut:
And So the Adventure Begins-title, compass
Paper-DCWV The Lodge Stack bg paper, CTMH solids

Easter treat boxes

Happy Monday!  It seems the news gets a little worse every day, as the corona virus continues to spread.  Sometimes it's nice to have something crafty to distract myself, as I'm working on the front lines as a critical care nurse and it's pretty scary out there.

Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is Easter treat bags, boxes, etc.  I made five adorable little bunny pillow boxes that I plan to stuff full of jellybeans for the five high school and college kids living at my house.  They all need some fun treats, since like all of us, they are all confined at home, with their school year abruptly ended.  All of them have classes online for the rest of the semester.  I used the Easter 2010 cartridge and these were super quick and easy to make!  I cut pieces off of the clear plastic covering of an old cricut mat to make the transparent window where the bunny cutout is.  This challenge will run for two weeks and you can see the rest of the design team projects and link up your own over at BBTB2.  I wish you all health and safety as you get through the coming weeks!

Cricut:
Easter 2010-bunny pillow boxes
Paper-My Mind's Eye Happy Day 6x6 paper pad
clear cover of a cricut mat

Spring in Bloom layout for spring equinox challenge

Happy Monday.....although I'm not sure how happy it is, as life is changing so rapidly in such unexpected ways with the coronavirus that I find myself anxiously starting every day to see what the news brings.  My college kids have all received word that they are not going back after spring break and switching to online classes.  It looks like our local high school may do that also.  My husband's company is also working from home.  So everyone in my house will be home except me.  As I am a critical care nurse, my work is expecting to soon be very busy.  I hope all of you stay well during these uncertain times.

Crafting may have to be my happy therapy to brighten up my day.  Our BBTB2 challenge in combination with Double Trouble is Spring Equinox using a die cut and can include a bee for an extra twist.  I have pictures from a trip to a botanical garden in Denver last spring that will go on this layout of Spring in Bloom with the bunch of tulips.  I have pictures of the gorgeous tulips at the garden that will go on here.  My bee is buzzing around the bunch of tulips, pollinating away!  You can see all the challenge rules and the design team projects over at BBTB2 and we hope you'll link up a project.

close up of the tulips and bee

Cricut:
CTMH Flower Market-tulips, bee
April Showers-title
Paper-CTMH solids, Echo Park Spring Market prints
brown chalk in for edging
square punch for photo corners
Stampin Up stitched circle die for circles

Anything but a card challenge-2 scrapbook layouts

Happy Monday!  I have been trying to get my 2019 scrapbook done before we get too far into 2020, so for this next BBTB2 challenge, I made two layouts!  The challenge theme is anything but a card, which leaves you room to get super creative.  One of my layouts is for pictures I took in the ChinaTown area of London when we traveled to the UK last October.  My second layout is for photos from Son#1 and friends trip who went snow skiing in Colorado over their winter break.  I had so much fun finding the images and fonts to cut for each of these layouts!

Project #1

For the ChinaTown layout, I downloaded a font to my computer from da fonts, called ChinaTown.  I love da fonts and have had so much fun perusing some of the fonts....you can find a font for almost any kind of project there.  The rest of the images are cut from the Pagoda cartridge and the China collection on cricut access.  There were paper lanterns strung across all the streets in the London Chinatown area, so I knew I wanted to have some of those on the layout.

Cricut:
Pagoda-lanterns
China-dragon, pagoda
ChinaTown font-downloaded from da fonts
Paper-PhotoPlay Paper Crane collection print, CTMH solids
brown chalk in for edging
square punch for photo corners
enamel dots-Echo Park Jack and Jill collection

Project #2

For my skiing layout, I found the perfect title on the Go Canada cartridge.  There are lots of images of skiers on cricut access, so I had a hard time picking just one.  I was surprised there are so many skiers and snowboarders to choose from.

Cricut:

Go Canada-title

Miss Kate Cuttables Snow Day-skier

Paper-Simple Stories Snow Patrol print papers/letters, CTMH solids

brown chalk ink for edging

square punch for photo corners

Just the Guys layout

Happy Monday!  Did you have a good Valentine's Day?  Or perhaps celebrate by shopping the after Valentine excellent candy sales?  (Gotta appreciate a good candy sale!  Stock up for those chocolate emergency days, lol).  The challenge theme for the next two weeks over at BBTB2 is "for the men in our life".  While I find cards for men exceptionally difficult to make, most of my scrapbook layouts lean more masculine as I have three boys and no girls.  This one is explicitly about just the guys, as I snapped some shots one day where they were horsing around in a parking lot.  I dug out one of my old favorite cartridges, Boys Will Be Boys, for the cricut cuts.  Hope you will join us with a masculine themed project and you can see all the great design team projects over at the BBTB2 site.

Cricut:
Boys Will Be Boys-all cuts
Paper-Carta Bella Boys Will Be Boys print, Bo Bunny blue bg paper, CTMH yellow
brown chalk ink for edging

Valentine "lovebirds" scrapbook layout

Happy Monday!  It's been an exciting weekend here in Kansas City, watching our Chiefs play in the Super Bowl!  My extended family had a huge party and we cheered our hearts out to see KC bring home the win! The grocery store pre-game looked like there had been a zombie invasion with empty shelves, so I’m pretty sure all the Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos and anything that could be made into a dip along with anything that could be smoked got consumed in the super bowl party feasting!  There’s probably not a burnt end left anywhere in town, lol.  I know we ate our share!

Moving on to crafty things, the BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is a Valentine theme, since Valentine's Day is coming right up!  I have always wanted to use something from the Songbirds cricut cartridge, so I designed my whole layout around that title cut!  My husband and I usually try to do something fun for Valentine's Day, but I don't know exactly what yet, so I wanted it to be pretty flexible.  I've actually used this general sketch on lots of projects, as it adapts well to any theme.  You can see the rest of the design team projects over at the BBTB2 site and link up your creations too.  We'd love to see what you make!

Cricut:
Songbirds-title
Heart to Heart-heart
Paper-Echo Park Lucky in Love collection prints/stickers
brown chalk ink for edging

use something new challenge

Happy Monday!  As we dive into the new year, our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is to use something new to you, whether that be a new product, new cricut cut, new technique, new materials....the list is endless.  I used some new cricut cuts for my title page for my new 2020 scrapbook.  I'm a chronological scrapper, so I have a new album (or rather multiple albums) for each year.  I find title page ideas hard to come up with sometimes, so I'm showing my title pages from 2019 and 2018 too.   (In case you're a little behind, ha ha.).  I found a new cricut image collection called New Year 2020 on cricut access, and also added a frame from a cartridge new to me called Gingersnap Phrases and Sentiments.  You can see the rest of the BBTB2 design team projects over at the BBTB2 site and can link up your projects there too.

Cricut:
New Year's 2020-title, 2020
Gingersnap Phrases and Sentiments-frame

Big Ben travel layout

Happy Monday!  Christmas and New Years are over and it's back to real life....I enjoyed all the family time though.  All the teens/young adults living under my roof are still home for another week before heading back to school, so I'm soaking up every second of fun.  We have five staying with us, my three boys plus two extra kids, so it's a FULL house!

Our BBTB2 challenge for the next two weeks is to use a cricut clock on a project.  I chose to make a scrapbook layout featuring some pictures from my October trip to the UK.  While we were in London, we saw the famous clocktower  Big Ben (although it was covered in scaffolding while repairs are being done).  I used the Destinations cartridge to cut the Big Ben image with the London title and the England title block and added my pictures.  You can take a look at all the design team clock projects and link one up over at the BBTB2 blog.  Hope you have a great week!