I have two posts today:

Are you excited about the three day weekend with the 4th of July this week?  I have to work the night shift before the 4th, but I plan to be up in time for some BBQ and the fireworks show!  I have two posts today.  For Exploring Cricut, I have a layout for our vacation (including a sign) challenge that I made for pictures of our upcoming vacation to Estes Park, CO.  We are planning to do some hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park!  Scroll down one post for my layout for the BBTB2 4th of July challenge-I'm planning to take some family pics at the fireworks on the 4th!  Hope you have a great week and get to enjoy some extra time off with the holiday!

Take a Hike layout (for Exploring Cricut)

It's a vacation challenge at Exploring Cricut this week, with a twist-include a sign on the project.  I have a hiking/outdoor themed layout for you.  We are going hiking in the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park on our summer vacation to Estes Park, Colorado.  I am expecting to shoot a few (OK, a lot!) of pictures on the trail!  I used a whole bunch of cartridges to try to capture the outdoors feel for my layout.

I used the Outdoor Man cartridge for the hiking boots, binoculars, compass, and moose.  Then I added the sun from Doodlecharms.  The stand of trees is from the Disney Classics cartridge.  The title font is the Frogs and Snails font from the CM Stork's Delivery cartridge.  And last, trail sign is from Campin' Critters.    The base paper is from a really old Echo Park collection and the print paper is also from Echo Park.  I hand cut the ground strip, using a wave template.

Cricut:
Doodlecharms-sun
CM Stork's Delivery-font
Disney Classics-stand of trees
Campin' Critters-trail sign
Outdoor Man-all other cuts
Paper-Echo Park print and bg paper, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

There are lots of vacation projects to see from the design team at Exploring Cricut-hope you'll link up to our challenge with a project!

Red, White, and Boom! layout (for BBTB2)

Hi guys!  I get to host the BBTB2 challenge this week!  Since the 4th of July is almost here, I thought that should be the challenge theme.  So make a new project related to the holiday in some way, using a cricut cut.  I made a layout for the pics I'll take of us at the fireworks, using the CM This and That cartridge for all the stars and the Type Candy cartridge for the font.  The design team over at BBTB2 has a whole bunch of inspiring projects to get your creativity started!  I hope you'll make something fun and link it up with us!

Cricut:
CM This and That-layered stars, star border
Type Candy-sugar script font
Paper-The Paper Studio blue bg paper, CTMH solids

Cool in the Pool layout (for BBTB2)

It's a Summertime Fun challenge at BBTB2 this week!  We've been enjoying some summer fun time in the pool, so I have a "Cool in the Pool" layout.  I used the H2O cartridge for the sun, beach ball, and sunscreen and the CM Traveler cartridge for the flip flops and sunglasses.  The font is from the Robotz cartridge-I wanted a big fun chunky font for this layout.  The supercool print papers are from the Echo Park Paradise Beach collection from last year-I thought the background paper resembled swirling water perfectly.

Cricut:
H2O-sun, beach ball, and sunscreen all cut at 3 inches
Robotz-font, cut at 1 1/2 inches
CM Traveler-sunglasses cut at 2 inches, flip flops cut at 3 inches
Paper-Echo Park Paradise Beach collection prints/stickers, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink

I hope you will check out the DT projects at BBTB2 and link up a project with us!

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

Graduation layout (for BBTB2)

Anybody graduating this year?  Our BBTB2 challenge this week is graduation!  My 5th grader just graduated from elementary school so I made a layout for the pictures using the Teddy Bear Parade cartridge for the dapper looking graduate bear and Recess Lite for the diploma and cap.  The cute paper is all from my favorite paper company, Echo Park.  I added a little stamping and stickers from the paper pack and was very happy with how it all turned out!  My 5th grade dude looked almost as cool as the graduate bear at the ceremony-we were so proud of him!  I have to brag-he received the Presidential Academic Excellence Award for making straight As all through 5th grade!!!!  He definitely rocks!

Cricut:
Teddy Bear Parade-graduate bear cut at 4 1/2 inches
Recess Lite-graduation cap cut at 3 inches, diploma cut at 2 1/2 inches
Paper/Stickers-print papers Echo Park School Days collection, stickers Echo Park Paper and Glue collection, CTMH solids
brown chalk ink
Stamps/ink-TPC graduate set, Memento tuxedo black

Wedding bells card (for Exploring Cricut)

Our challenge at Exploring Cricut is to do a wedding project using black and white with a touch of another color.  I made a wedding card to have in the stash, as we don't have any upcoming weddings this summer.  I'm not good under deadlines at coming up with card ideas, so I'm glad to have one in ready to go (I have to have plenty of time to let my ideas sort of gel….)!  I used the CM Divine Wedding cartridge for my wedding bells, but any bells would substitute if you don't have that cartridge.  My card has lots of layers-I put the wedding bells on the oblong shapes from Elegant Edges and used two different embossing folders to add visual interest to the white mats.  I think I could customize this design using one of a couple's wedding colors in place of the pink.  Of course, gold or silver would look pretty awesome too.  I may be making more than one of these, lol!

Cricut:
CM Divine Wedding-bells cut at 3 1/2 inches
Elegant Edges-oblong-shift and shadow (on p. 63) cut at 4 1/4 inches
Paper-CTMH pink, white and black card stock from Hobby Lobby
embossing folders
Stamp-Ink-a doo