Holly Jolly Christmas layout

Happy Monday!  I wish a Merry Christmas to all of you!  My family will all be home spending the day together and I am looking forward to it so much.  The tree is lit up and the packages are all wrapped, just a little baking left to do, which is always a challenge as the kids eat all the cookies as fast as they are baked.    

My Christmas layout for the BBTB2 holiday challenge, which will run for 2 weeks over at the BBTB2 site, features holly and a wreath plus the fun holly jolly title on some old DCWV paper from the stash.  It came together pretty quickly and is all ready for those Christmas Day photos!  I hope everyone is able to have some moments of Christmas cheer during this holiday season.

Cricut:

Holly Jolly Christmas-title

CM Cheerful Seasons-holly and wreath

Paper-CTMH solids, DCWV All Seasons 2 prints

brown chalk ink for edging

square punch for photo corners

Christmas card with holly accent

Happy Monday!  Are you getting the Christmas spirit yet?  Or feeling a little overwhelmed with all the stuff to do?  Maybe both?  This is the time of year there are SO many evening events to attend....while I enjoy them all, I find myself craving a little more downtime to relax in comfy clothes with a book and some hot chocolate.  One of my favorite parts of December is getting to correspond with all the friends and family that I don't see all the time.  And our BBTB2 challenge for this next two weeks is here to help you get going on the Christmas cards!

So, moving on to the actual project.  I got the Stampin Up cable knit embossing folder (featured below) as a Christmas gift last year and have used it on several of my Christmas card designs.  I cut a sprig of holly from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge as my bright and cheerful accent piece to go with my stamped sentiment. Sort of like wearing a pin on a big chunky sweater!  The designers over at BBTB2 have some gorgeous cards up to get you inspired and we hope you'll link up a project!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-holly
Stamps-Stamping Up Heard from the Heart front sentiment
Embossing folder-Stamping Up cable knit
ribbon-American Crafts
Ink-Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler
Paper-CTMH solids

Fall layout

Hello Monday!  For anyone who lives in the hurricane affected areas, I know it is not such a great Monday...and I pray you come through the storm safely.  Everyone at my house is sick and cranky, so my week is going to be a drag.  I think large quantities of ice cream might make it better though-I'll report back next week if that works, lol!

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is fall leaves.  I used the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for my fall layout with leaves and pumpkins.  We have several fall festivals on the calendar in the next month, so this layout is made with some of those pictures in mind.  All the cuts are from Cheerful Seasons.  Check out the design team projects and link yours up over at BBTB2.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Carta Bella prints/letter stickers, CTMH solids

Dreams flower layout

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend!  I am finally recuperated after returning from the marathon trip to New York City last week and back to work as usual.   Our BBTB2 challenge is bulb flowers this week, so I used one of my favorite flower cuts from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge.  The title cut "dreams" and the word "laughter" in the journal spot are also both from Cheerful Seasons.  I thought the bunch of iris went well with the lovely background paper I have hoarded in the stash forever.  I took pics of my boys dressed up for Easter that will go on here.  The design team over at BBTB2 has some beautiful flower projects to inspire you and you can link up a project of your own this week!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Colorbok bg paper, Paper Pizazz purple floral print, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

Sending warm fuzzies card

Happy Monday!  It's been a frosty and cold weekend here in KC and BBTB2 has the perfect winter challenge this week- to use a cricut mittens, a hat, or scarf on a project.  I used my favorite winter hat from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge to make a thank you card for some of our Christmas gifts.  I found some snowy mountain background paper that seemed most appropriate.  I am personally trying to pretend I'm at the beach as it's a chilly 17 degrees this morning, but it's not really working so I'm glad I have my hat and mittens!  I hope you will join us in whipping up a warm winter project over at BBTB2 and stay warm this week!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-hat cut at 2 1/2 inches
Stamp-
Paper-CTMH solids,
brown chalk ink

Holly Christmas card

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.  I enjoyed my Thanksgiving day off, although I had to work some shifts at the hospital the rest of the weekend.  I did get a little online holiday shopping done though!

Well, Christmas season is upon us and our BBTB2 challenge this week is the hanging of the greens: use a Christmas plant or tree.  I love holly and I make at least one card design with a holly leaf each year, so I'm sharing one of my Christmas cards.  This is my favorite cricut holly leaf (from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge) on a kraft card base.   I popped up my holly leaf on some foam tape and added a border with my pen to frame it.   Sweet and simple!  I hope you'll take this opportunity to check out the projects at BBTB2 and maybe create a few special Christmas cards yourself to share with us by linking up over at the BBTB2 site.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-holly cut at  3 1/2 inches
Stamps-Paper Smooches
Paper-CTMH kraft and solids
brown chalk ink, Stampin Up cherry cobbler ink for sentiments, black pen for doodling

Delicious Autumn layout

Happy Monday!  I am hosting the BBTB2 challenge this week.   I am ready to enjoy all things fall, like  drinking hot apple cider and watching Friday night high school football games.  Since the first day of fall was last Wednesday, I thought a theme using the word fall or autumn seemed just the thing for our BBTB2 challenge. My layout uses the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for the the delicious Autumn title, basket of apples and apple slice.  The paper is from the Carta Bella fall line. I hope you will check out the fabulous fall projects over at BBTB2 and link one  something you make.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Carta Bella prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

wonderful winter layout (for BBTB2)

Happy Martin Luther King Monday!  We all have the day off from work and school, so it's officially a pajama day at our house today.  I'm not getting out of my PJs except maybe to get takeout!  Son #1 is taking his driver's test this week, so by next week, maybe we'll be able to send HIM out for takeout, lol!  Hope you are set for great week too!

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is use any cricut phrase or letters -should be super easy to play along, right?  I made a winter layout with the "wonderful winter "phrase from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge (actually, all the cuts are from Cheerful Seasons).  I've been on a winter roll with this fabulous paper from Carta Bella the last few weeks.  I think I could find a use for that woodgrain paper on everything, lol!  There probably needs to be an intervention, STAT!  So go whip up anything with some letters and link it up with us at BBTB2-we will look forward to seeing projects!  Also, we are having a DT call, so if you've ever wanted to join us in showing your projects at BBTB2, the submission requirements are on the blog.  

Cricut:

CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts

Paper-Carta Bella Warm and Cozy collection prints, sticker, CTMH solids

brown chalk ink-Versamagic Jumbo Java 

Two layouts: Snow and Bushels of Fun (for BBTB2)

Happy first Monday of 2015!  Christmas week was super fun and busy- I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!  I had some fun scrapbooking cozied up in the basement in the relaxing week after Christmas, which was super nice!  I am bit depressed that the kids and I must stop wearing pajamas all day now that our winter break is over.  We're having to break out the thermals and polar fleece instead, because baby, it's COLD outside right now here in KC!

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to use our favorite cricut cut in a project.  Oh my goodness-this was HARD!  I concluded I just can't pick a single favorite cut-it's sort of like trying to pick your favorite child…it's more like I have a group of several favorites for each season.   I'm showing you two layouts featuring one of my favorites-the barrel from Doodlecharms.  I have filled it up with leaves, hearts, snowballs, apples, and more in the past. I like how it can be customized with brads or eyelets and some inking to change the look.

Layout # 1 is a winter layout with my Doodlecharms barrel full of snowballs!  This will be for some winter sled and snow pictures.  (It also features my favorite cricut snowman of all, from CM Tis the Season, plus the stand of trees and sled from there).  The title is from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge.

Cricut:
CM Tis the Season-snowman, trees, sled
Doodlecharms-basket, snowballs
CM Cheerful Seasons-title
Paper-Carta Bella Warm and Cozy collection prints, CTMH solids
Versamagic Jumbo Java chalk ink for edging

Layout #2 is a fall layout that also has my Doodlecharms barrel, this time full of apples!  It looks a little different with silver brads and two different colors of brown paper-and of course is filled with apples, also from Doodlecharms.   I spent a day this fall with my sis and nieces picking apples from their neighbor's bountiful apple trees and then making making homemade apple butter and freezing apples for pie this winter!  (We ate the best apple pie EVER that night-from tree to pie in one night!)

Cricut:
Doodlecharms-barrel, apples
A Child's Year-bowl/spoon
Everyday Paperdolls-apron
CM Stork's Delivery-Frogs and Snails font
Paper-Imaginesence apple paper, Doodlebug Happy Harvest bg paper, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

You will find a whole variety of favorite Cricut cuts over at BBTB2, so do go check them out!  I must confess I am quite curious to see what the rest of the team will pick for favorites!

Holly Jolly Christmas layout (for BBTB2)

Merry Christmas week everyone!  The kids are out of school this week and my husband is off too, so we are going to be doing lots of baking and gift wrapping, while wearing our PJs all day!  (I already tried to bake Christmas cookies last week to freeze for Christmas day, but the kids mowed them down like a flock of locusts-not even any crumbs left!!!!)   Now I can hardly wait until Christmas Eve-we are having a huge extended family party and then all going to Christmas Eve services together to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Always so special!  And I still love watching my teens run downstairs Christmas morning to see what appeared in their stockings.  

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is anything Christmas.  My Holly Jolly layout is all from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for Christmas pics (OK I'll confess they are for Christmas pics from LAST year…).  It's been rather dark and snowy here for days, so my lighting is not the best for this layout photo, but I was really happy with how it turned out (the layout, not the lighting).  I was singing Have a Holly Jolly Christmas along with my Bing Crosby Christmas CD while I made this until my hubby threatened to shoot either me or the stereo!  Perhaps he needs some Christmas cookies, lol!  Emergency Russian teacakes to the rescue.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get to spend some time with the people you love.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Echo Park Reflections collection prints, CTMH solids

Thankful card (for BBTB2)

Happy Monday!  It's been a rainy weekend here in KC and I've been cozied up in my basement enjoying some crafty time.  Our BBTB2 challenge this week is Giving Thankds.  I used the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge, one of my faves, for the pumpkin and thankful sentiment on my card.  The BBTB2 team has some gorgeous projects you can look at and then link up a project of your own!

And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I'm looking extra forward to Thanksgiving this year because I don't have to work a shift in the ICU over the Thanksgiving holiday this year for a change.  So bring on the turkey and pie!  My husband is smoking a turkey and my mom and I are making pies and our relatives are coming over to celebrate with us.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of delicious eats and the opportunity to reflect on the blessings of the year!  

  

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-CTMH prints and solids
brown chalk ink
ribbon-American Crafts

Delicious Autumn layout (for BBTB2)

Happy Monday!  I've had a really fun weekend watching Son#1's bluegrass band play in one of the local fall festivals Saturday and getting to spend Sunday making Christmas cards with my mom and nieces all day!  And I didn't have to work!  And we've been glued to the TV at night watching the KC Royals sweep the Angels (in extra innings!!!!), so we've all been up incredibly late.  I might need a rest day from my weekend, lol.  But on to scrappy goodness….

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is leaves and since the leaves are really starting to come down in my yard this week, I decided to incorporate fall leaves into my project.  I took a bunch of pics from the fall festival this weekend that will go on my autumn layout.  I used the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for all the cuts.  Love the beautiful layered cuts on this cartridge.  We'd love to see your leaf projects (fall or otherwise), so link 'em up at BBTB2!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-title cut at 2 3/4 in, leaves cut at 5 in, acorns cut at 5 in
Paper-Colorbok Beach House stack for background paper, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink
square punch-squares cut in half for photo corners

Laughter and smiles layout (for BBTB2)

Happy Monday!  It's feeling a bit more like fall here in K.C., and I'm enjoying the cooler temperatures (although not so much enjoying the pollen…).  Fall means crisp Friday nights watching football and hot chocolate and fall festivals.  I've got to mentally change gears from summer!

So we have a wide-open challenge at BBTB2 this week-use ANY cricut cut on a project!  How easy is that!  I made a layout for some family pics of all the cousins playing together outside earlier this summer, using the Doodlecharms cartridge for the dragonflies and flowers and the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for the title.  I've kind of been on a Doodlecharms kick!  I used some bright happy Echo Park paper, since the pictures are full of happy kiddos running around having fun!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-title, cut at 3 inches
Doodlecharms-flowers cut at 3 inches, dragonflies cut at 2 1/2 inches, heart cut at 2 1/2 inches
Paper-Echo Park Summertime Bliss collection prints/stickers, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink
white gel pen

I hope you check out all the fabulous design team projects over at BBTB2 and link up a project with us this week!

Summertime Fun layout (for Exploring Cricut)

Today is my day for the daily project at Exploring Cricut!  I have a layout full of sunshine for you to capture that summertime feel for any occasion, using the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for all the cuts.  The super fun monogram font, called Cheerful Shapes, is also from this cartridge, which I really like.  I picked some sunshine yellow background paper and put a variety of cricut cuts that sort or screamed "SUMMER" to me.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Colobok Beach House collection prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

Snow layout (for BBTB2)

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to use our favorite cricut cartridge.  Oh, this caused so much angst-WHICH cartridge is really my favorite?  I narrowed it down to about five before I became paralyzed by the decision making.  I did a version of rock paper scissors to come to the final pick, LOL!  This turned out to be my CM Cheerful Seasons cricut cartridge, which I've made 27 projects with that are shown on my blog (plus many more at home)-it's truly been a very versatile cartridge.

My project is a winter layout, since there is still plenty of winter going on-we got 5 inches of snow yesterday!  I have lots of pics of the kids playing outside in the snow with their friends to scrap.  All the cuts are from Cheerful Seasons and the paper is from the Fancy Pants Timbergrove collection (love the soft colors of this collection).  The beautiful layered snowflake on the Cheerful Seasons cart is one of my absolute favorites from any cartridge!

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-all cuts
Paper-Fancy Pants Timber Grove prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

In case inquiring minds want to know, the five carts I was trying to decide between were Doodlecharms, A Child's Year, Create A Critter, Winter Frolic, and Cheerful Seasons.  I've made A LOT of projects with all of them!  Check out all the favorites of the DT at BBTB2 and we would LOVE to see your favorite cart!

Heard You Caught a Bug get well card (for BBTB2)

It's a new Monday and that means a new challenge at BBTB2!  A get well card is the theme for this week and those are handy to have in the card stash!  It's such a great pick me up to receive a sweet get well card when you've been miserable and sick!  Since I work at a hospital, I'll tell you that something to read, lip balm, hand sanitizer, soft tissues, or lotion make great little gifts for a patient or family.  Along with a thoughtful or funny card, of course!  I used the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge for my dragonfly card, which was inspired by the bg paper from My Mind's Eye.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-dragonfly, cut at 3 inches
Paper-My Mind's Eye Moments 6x6 collection prints, solids CTMH
Stamps-outside from My Pink Stamper set, inside from Stampin Up Wellness Wishes set
Scallop and oval punches-Stampin Up

There are some beautiful get well cards to inspire you over at BBTB2 and we hope you'll join our get well challenge!

Winter Wonderland ski layout (for Exploring Cricut)

Is it cold and snowy where you live?  We've definitely had both (kinda frozen with the whole "polar vortex" -30 degree wind chill thing last week!).  Our challenge at Exploring Cricut this week is winter wonderland, featuring a winter or snow theme!  I have a fun winter layout with Everyday Paperdolls and CM Cheerful Seasons to show you this week.  (I'm using this for some old pictures of us skiing at Vail, but I think it would work for any cute wintertime fun photos.)

Cutting out the winter gear for my two little paper doll people was so much fun and they are staying toasty warm with their boots, gloves, and scarves!  The title is from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge, but you could cut it with any font.  The snowflakes are from Accent Essentials.  The print paper is from the Echo Park Winter Wishes collection from last year.

Cricut:
CM Cheerful Seasons-title, cut at 1 1/2 inches
Everyday Paperdolls-people/accessories cut at 5 inches
Accent Essentials-snowflakes, cut at 1 1/2 inches
Paper-Echo Park Winter Wishes collection prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink, white gel pen
My Mind's Eye twine

Go check out all the cool (get it??? lol!) projects from the Exploring Cricut design team!  We hope you'll make something and link it up to join us this week!

Autumn Days layout (for BBTB2)

Our BBTB2 wonderful leader Susan has selected the maple leaf from Art Philosophy for our challenge this week, but since I don't have that cartridge, I went with a similar leaf on Artbooking.  The title font is also from Artbooking.  The scarecrow, basket of apples, and wheelbarrow are all from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge.  The pretty print papers are from the Doodlebug Happy Harvest collection, which if you a paper junkie like me, is really really cool!

Cricut:
Artbooking-title font, leaves
CM Cheerful Seasons-all other cuts
Paper-Doodlebug Happy Harvest collection prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

Note:  Artbooking is proving to be a bit tricky for me, if I'm not cutting the projects exactly as shown, for the sizing.  I used the real dial size for my cuts from Artbooking, as I was using individual elements (the font and leaves).   Also, there is no shadow for the font, so I cut it twice and offset it to give a shadow effect.

We'd love to see you link up with us at BBTB2 with a leaf project-you can check out all the fabulous projects the DT has made for inspiration!

Remember This wedding layout (for Exploring Cricut)

It's my turn for the Exploring Cricut daily project today!  I've been scrapping some pictures from a cousin's wedding and had lots of candids of the reception and our extended family that I wanted to scrap.  I don't know about you, but I always end up taking lots of snapshots of family and friends at weddings, and leave the actual wedding ceremony pictures to the professionals.  But then, what to do with my snapshots?  I've made several pages for all the family candids I took at the reception.  Here are two of my pages.  The wedding cake page has a cake from the Sweethearts cartridge, which was very cute and fun to put together.  The other page (of family shots) has cuts from the CM Cheerful Seasons cartridge.  I used the circles, also from Cheerful Seasons, to tie the two pages together.  The font is also Cheerful Seasons.  Hope you enjoyed my little foray into wedding layouts.  Someday I'm going to get it together enough to do my own wedding pictures from 17 years ago!

Doesn't this cake look delicious?

Cricut:
Sweethearts-cake
CM Cheerful Seasons-all other cuts
Paper-not sure of the bg paper line, as it's been in my stash for a long time
brown chalk ink

 Every day, each one of the designers at Exloring Cricut has a Cricut creation to share with you, to help you get ideas for using all your cartridges, so drop by for some inspiration any time!  Exploring Cricut also has a Facebook page, if you are an FB person, where you can see the project of the day.  

24/7 mini album (for BBTB2) warning-pic heavy!

There is such a fun challenge for you this week at BBTB2-it's called Pass It On-Celebrate the Joy of Giving.  You can use ANY cricut cut to make something new to "pass on" to someone else to spread some joy.  The design team has some wonderful projects to inspire you over at BBTB2 and I hope you'll make something and link up to share with us.

I've had such fun making a little mini album with overlapping pocket pages (each has a pull out for more pics) of the kid's school year to give them, to remind them of all the good times this year.  I was trying to make it have a bulletin board feel (inspired by the cork board paper) and I wanted the photos to feel kind of like an Instagram or Polaroid- they are a 2x3 size.   I used my cricut to do most of the titles and added some embellishments.

I made my mini using a tutorial from Ginger of My Sister's Scrapper.  It's available on YouTube:

Part 1

Part 2

Ginger's Finished Album

I used some recycled chipboard (cereal boxes!) for my covers and the paper/stickers are from the Simple Stories 24/7 collection. Each of the 6 pockets holds a pull out with both sides available for pictures, so this mini holds LOTS of pics!  It has a magnet closure for the front and on the little back pocket.   I will admit this took me several nights to make and put together, but it was enormously fun!  My kids LOVED it and asked me to make more!  Now on to the pictures of the album (warning-there are a lot and I think I got them slightly out of order).

the cover (there is a hidden magnet closure under the flap)

Here's the first page with the front covers opened up (the yellow zigzag paper is page 2).  There are 3 pages attached on each side:  Page 1 is attached on the left, Page 2 on the right, etc. and they overlap.  Each page has an insert in the pocket with 2 sides for more pics. 

 I squeezed a LOT of pics into this little 6 page album!  They are in the following pics.

Page 6 insert-ready for some May pictures

Bottom of album with magnet flap closed for more pics

Flap opened-spot for more pics on the polka dot mat

Cricut:
Plaintain Schoolbook-font
Locker Talk-apple
Doodlecharms-spider, Christmas tree
Sports Mania-football
CM Cheerful Seasons-friends
Mickey and Friends-Mickey head

Paper-Simple Stories 24/7 collection
brown chalk ink
Stampin Up scallop border punch
Tim Holtz metal corners
magnets

Whew!  Lot of pics, I know!  It's much easier to see how it all goes together on a video, which is why I included the link to Ginger's video showing her finished album.  It was a SUPER fun little project!   This challenge is the perfect excuse to make that card or mini or little set of notes for someone, so jump in and join us with a project at BBTB2.

I'm also going to link this to the Cut It Up challenge this week to make a mini!