Umbrella card

Happy Monday!  Although it's the first day of April, it snowed yesterday!  My daffodils look very sad, covered in white stuff.  The good thing about April snows is they usually don't stick around long.  But WHERE is the spring, I ask you?  Obviously not here yet!  Everyone at church yesterday for Easter was bundled up!

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to use an umbrella on a project, because April showers bring...apparently SNOW here in KC, lol!!!!  My umbrella card is for much happier weather, using the cute little umbrella with a butterfly from the Paisley cartridge on some bg paper with spring flowers.  I added a little Liquid Glass to the butterfly for some shine and sparkly glitter brads for some pizazz.  The rest of the BBTB2 team has umbrellas for any kind of weather that you can see over at the BBTB2 site and link up your project too.

Cricut:
Paisley-umbrella with butterfly
Paper-Doodlebug prints, CTMH solids
brown jumbo java chalk in for edging
Liquid Glass on butterfly
brads-Doodlebug
punches for sentiment-Stampin UP
stamp-CTMH

Lots of Laughs layout (for BBTB2)

Happy Monday!  It's been a cold, snowy weekend here in KC!  I was working on one of the upper floors of the hospital this weekend and it was rather pretty watching the snow come down, until I had to make the long, cold walk to my car!  My boys were disgusted that it keeps snowing only on weekends so that they haven't had any snow days off from school, lol!

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to use a cartridge we haven't used in a LONG time.  Well, I have a number of cartridges that would probably qualify for that distinction, so I had a little rock, paper, scissors action to narrow it down and the Paisley cartridge came out the winner.  It is one of the first few cartridges I ever bought and one of my favorites.  Truthfully, I have a lot of cartridges, but since I scrapbook A LOT, I can't say any of them go unused very long.  I have my favorites that I use the most, but I try to make the most of my collection of images by using them all.

This lots of laughs layout is for fun, lighthearted pictures from a big family gathering over the holiday season, with lots of people laughing and talking, but I think could work for pictures for almost any occasion.  I love all the whimsical animals on Paisley and I also added some of the actual paisley cuts, which I've never cut before.  For the words, I used the blackout feature in addition to the shadow to get extra color contrast to make the words pop.  The print paper is two sheets leftover of an old My Minds' Eye collection.  The design team has projects from their long unused cartridges that you can see and we'd love you to show us your project with an old friend of a cartridge over at BBTB2 this week!

Cricut:
Paisley-all cuts
Paper-My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection prints, CTMH solids
Versamark Jumbo Java brown chalk ink
pop dots

Shop til you drop layout (for BBTB2)

Happy Monday!  The BBTB2 challenge this week is "stylish purse", which made me smile because I'll confess I have a serious weakness for designer handbags!  I also like fun quirky purses, so I have quite a collection.  My layout (which has pictures of us shopping in Grand Lake on vacation this summer) uses a purse from one of my favorite cartridges-Paisley.  All the other cuts are from Paisley also.  The background paper made me think of the boardwalk in Grand Lake, which ran in front of all the shops.  We had so much fun exploring all the cute little shops and the boys got a kick out of running along the boardwalk.  Good memories!  I hope you will check out the fabulous variety of design team projects over at BBTB2 and join us with some kind of purse project of your own!

Cricut:
Paisley-all cuts
Paper-Echo Park Everyday Eclectic prints, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

Totally Crazy layout (for BBTB2)

Our BBTB2 challenge this week is to use a dog on a project.  I made a fun layout for some crazy pictures of Son#2 and his friends goofing around before the school talent show, using the Paisley cartridge.  The dog with the hula hoop and the monkey doing a handstand sort of gave me that crazy and fun talent show vibe where anything goes and I added some stars since they all want to be a star like on American Idol!!  The "totally crazy" title is also from Paisley.  The pictures are super colorful, so I wanted kind of neutral photo mats-the layout looks much snazzier with the pics on it, but since some of the pics have children who are not mine in them, I didn't want to post the photo with the pics included.

Cricut:
Paisley-all cuts
Paper/Stickers-Echo Park It's a Boy collection bg papers, CTMH solids
brown and navy chalk ink

The DT has a whole pack of dog projects to get your ideas flowing, so check them out at BBTB2 and link up!

Sweetheart anniversary card (for the BBTB2)

It's Monday and time for the BBTB2 challenge, which is to make a wedding/anniversary themed project.  My DT sisters have lots of great ideas for inspiration, so check out all their projects at BBTB2!  This challenge was just in time for my wedding anniversary, so I wanted to make a special card for my honey, as  the last sixteen years together have flown by and he is still my sweetheart.

I used three cartridges for this 6x6 card.  I decided to go with a 6x6 size to have plenty of room for my silhouetted couple.  The sentiment is from Paisley and the background heart is from the Sweethearts cartridge.  The silhouetted couple are from my new Suburbia cartridge.  I just recently got it and have so many ideas-there will be more projects with it in the next few months!  It also has two really pretty fonts, although I didn't use them on this card.

Cricut:
Paisley-sentiments
Sweethearts-heart
Suburbia-couple
Paper-print is American Crafts Color Crush, solids are CTMH

We'd love for you to link up your projects at BBTB2 this week!  Spring and summer wedding season is coming up, so make something for your stash!

Rainy Day Play Time layout (for the BBTB2)

April showers mean umbrellas, which is the theme for the BBTB2 challenge this week!  I got out one of my favorite cartridges, 3 Birds on Parade, and made my Rainy Day layout, for pics of the kids playing on a rainy day.  I love the bird in his cheery rain boots with his colorful umbrella-he's so darn cute!  I also have a ridiculous fondness for the font on this cart with the bird foot on each letter!!!

The background paper is from The Paper Studio and gave me that rainy day feel, but my bird has his happy umbrella and rain boots to perk him up (the rain also has helped the spring flowers bloom for Mr. Bird).  Plus, stomping in the puddles is very satisfying!  My kids still feel compelled to stomp in puddles, even as big as they are!

Cricut:
3 Birds on Parade-all cuts except puddle and flowers
Paisley-flowers
Everyday Paperdolls-rain puddle
Paper-background is The Paper Studio, CTMH for the solids
brown chalk ink, white gel pen

My DT sisters have some marvelous umbrella projects at the BBTB2, so check them out!  We'd love to see any new projects with a cricut umbrella-so link up :)

new iPod layout

I finished another catch-up layout that has been buried under the pile:  from Son#1's birthday last year, where he got an iPod touch.  I used a bunch of carts on this one to show all the party fun, as he and his cousins played games and also had jam session playing their instruments and dancing.  The iPod cut is from Paisley, as well as the words crazy and jammin'. The font is from Robotz, the deck of cards from Old West, and the violin from A Child's Year.  The wonderful background paper is an older line from Basic Grey called Life of the Party.

Cricut:
Paisley-ipod, words
A Child's Year-violin
Old West-deck of cards
Robotz-title font
Paper-Basic Grey Life is a Party collection
pop dots, brown chalk ink

I'm going to link this to the fun Fantabulous Cricut challenge this week "Sound of Music".

Wahoo! layout

The paper doll cartridges (Paperdoll Dress Up and Paperdoll Teen Scene) helped me make this layout for the last pics from our trip to the 1800s themed fall festival.  I cut the Teen Scene boy cowboy and Indian, imagining them getting together to listen to music or trade in the 1800s town square.  (Son#1 was performing in the square on his fiddle.)  The teepee is from Paperdoll Dress Up and the guitar and title are from Old West.  The stamps on the journal box are from a set I won at PauseDreamEnjoy Challenges!  It is called Buffalo Spring, by Mark's Finest Papers.  I was so excited when I opened the package-thanks Janis!-because I had a project for them right away :)

Cricut:
Old West-title, guitar, barrel
PDDU-teepee
PD Teen Scene-cowboy and Indian
Paper-Reminisce leaf print background, CTMH solid card stock
Stamps-Buffalo Spring by Mark's Finest Paper

I'm going to link this to the Paper Playtime Anything Goes challenge this week!

You're so fly card

This card is from one of my favorite cartridges, Paisley.  If it's not in your stash, it should be!  The sentiment is from Buggy Punnies, one of the My Pink Stamper sets.  I've had the dragonfly in my head to go with this stamp ever since I got the set (maybe now it will get out of my head and leave me alone!) and finally got around to making this! 

Cricut:
Paisley-dragonfly, flowers, leaves
Paper-The Paper Studio
Stamp-Buggy Punnies set by My Pink Stamper
Ribbon/brads/ink-Stampin Up lucky limade
Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampin Up scallop square punch
I'm linking this to the Paper Playtime challenge this week to make something with a bug :)

Girl Time mini album

I've had the idea for this mini in my head ever since I saw some of this Crate Paper left on clearance!  (It is much too pink and girly for me to use in our family scrapbooks, which feature all boys, so I had to find another way to use it.)  This mini uses Paisley, which is one of my favorite cartridges.  I absolutely love the word art on this cart.  I gave it to my niece for her birthday recently, along with the Paisley cartridge.  I love the shoes (especially the basketball shoes-she plays on a team) and the purse!

Cricut:
Accent Essentials-shapes on cover
Paisley-all other cuts
Paper-Crate Paper Paper Dolls

The album pages are 5x7.  I pop dotted the embellishments so photos can be slipped under the edges to accomodate 4x6 pictures.

I am linking this to the Fantabulous Cricut challenge this week to use a label shape or scallop (other than a plain circle) on a project.

cheerful cards using Paisley

For my niece's birthday, I am giving her the Paisely cartridge (for her baby bug), as it's one she has used a lot while scrapping with me.  I have made her birthday card, a mini-album, and 2 more cards for her stash to give her along with the cartridge, all using Paisley.  (I'll be showing the mini on the blog soon.)  I copied and adapted two of these three cards and bright colors from the fantastic http://www.smallbitsofpaper.blogspot.com/ and made the third from the same general design.  I used some My Pink Stamper stamps for the sayings and added decorations from Paisley for the inside. 

Cricut:
Accent Essentials-scalloped squares
Paisley-all other cuts
Paper-mostly CM cardstock from my stash, the green is Bo Bunny double dot.
Stamps-Happy Birthday is from a Stampin Up set called Birthday Wishes, all other stamps are from My Pink Stamper Buggy Punnies.

I'm going to link this to the Exploring Cricut challenge this week to do a birthday project using the colors red, green, blue, yellow and white.

2011 calendar month pages

This was my calendar that I had hanging this last year, with all the pages together.  I've shown a few of them separately.  I used Designer's Calendar for the grid and month/day names and numbers, and a whole variety of cartridges for the decorations.  Doodlecharms and Simply Charmed were the carts I used the most (besides Designer's Calendar).

January:

Stretch Your Imagination and Graphically Speaking

February:

Doodlecharms and Paisley

March:

Simply Charmed and Stretch Your Imagination

April:

Simply Charmed and Paisley

May:

Doodlecharms and Simply Charmed

June:

Doodlecharms and H2O

July:

Doodlecharms and Graphically Speaking

August:

Mickey and Friends and H2O

September:

Doodlecharms and Locker Talk

October:

Doodlecharms

November:

\

Doodlecharms and Simply Charmed

December:

Doodlecharms and Winter Woodlands